Luxembourg's humanitarian efforts simplified

Luxembourg has released an updated version of its strategy for humanitarian aid, aimed at making its activities more transparent.

The document was developed in close collaboration between Luxembourg Cooperation and a group of NGOs and better defines its activities in humanitarian interventions as well as make funding of projects more flexible so that they can be sustainable long-term.

Luxembourg Cooperation hopes the strategy, which is available on its website, will make its partners more aware of how it delivers humanitarian aid emphasising the importance Luxembourg gives to the principles of humanity impartiality, neutrality and independence.

Luxembourg's humanitarian work is based on three pillars: emergency, transition (rehabilitation/reconstruction) and prevention help.

The Ministry allocates more than twenty percent of its annual budget for humanitarian aid to Luxembourg NGOs, mainly to five NGOs in humanitarian aid.

Funding is distributed between the three pillars of humanitarian aid with three quarters of the humanitarian budget allocated to emergency projects, 20 percent to transition and 5 percent reserved for prevention and resilience support.

In 2012, the Department supported 83 projects for emergency assistance, 33 reconstruction and rehabilitation projects and 13 prevention and resilience initiatives implemented by Luxembourg NGOs at a cost of 8.5 million euros.