Our work with governments, multilateral organisations, research institutes and NGOs spans the last couple of decades. That means we've got quite a lot of material we can share. Below are some selected pieces of work from the last few years:

• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
• Health Systems Development
• Human Development Report
• Irish Aid
• OCHA
• OECD-DCD
• Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Save the Children (UK)
• Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
• Tearfund and WaterAid
• Tufts University
• World Food Programme (WFP)

You can also access some of our back catalogue – such as Reality of Aid – by visiting the thematically organised sections from the left-hand menu.

Worked for the technical co-operation department/investment centre on resource mobilisation options for transitional investments in food security in the Horn of Africa.

For more information on our work with FAO, please contact Tasneem Mowjee.

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We worked with the HSD programme to help communicate policy-relevant findings on the factors that constrain health systems from meeting the needs of the poor.

Our job was to clarify the key messages arising from the research, identify people, institutions and events where those messages could be relevant, produce outputs suitable to those audiences and create opportunities for HSD to engage with policy makers on the issues.

1. We produced a brochure, People, patterns and policy: making health systems work for the poor. Download brochure.

2. We helped to organise a joint meeting with Oxfam and the All Party Group for Debt Aid and Trade (APG DATA). Panel discussions centred on: key points from DFID's new thinking on health; health systems in fragile states, and the role of heath access in breaking the poverty cycle.

For more information on our work with HSD, please contact Lisa Walmsley.

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1. Development assistance for water and sanitation, 2006 – a background paper for the HDR report, Beyond scarcity: power, poverty and the global water crisis.

2. New thinking on aid and social security, 2005 – a background paper for the HDR report, International cooperation at a crossroads: aid, trade and security in an unequal world.

3. Gender aspects for development cooperation – a background paper for the Human Development Report Office (HDRO) report, 1995.

For more information on our work on the Human Development Report, please contact Tony German.

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1. Most humanitarian assistance analysis focuses on the efforts of official DAC donors and the relevant multilateral agencies – for whom data is readily available. The significant contributions made by non-DAC donors, host communities and through direct remittances are not captured – and neither are the voluntary contributions to NGOs, UN agencies and other international humanitarian organisations such as the ICRC and IFRC.

Focusing mainly on the activities of the 19 largest non-governmental humanitarian actors (such as Oxfam International, CARE, MSF, Save the Children), we were able to report a more detailed analysis than has been attempted before of this additional contribution to the global humanitarian response.

The total humanitarian expenditure of the 19 NGOs examined – a sample of 114 member organisations raising funds in 23 countries and together accounting for something like 60-80% of all humanitarian spending by NGOs – was an estimated EUR2.4 billion from all funding sources in 2006.

We identified volumes and characteristics of private givings to NGOs as well as the implications of the scale of private funding. We reviewed and validated key findings with EU NGOs and coalitions.

For more information on our work with Irish Aid, please contact Judith Randel.

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2. The concept of 'vulnerability' has repeatedly emerged as one that can help inform and frame thinking and approaches towards enhanced poverty reduction.

Development Initiatives worked with Irish Aid with a view to identifying if/how its programme could be improved to better meet the needs of vulnerable populations. We were commissionned to:

• clarify the rationale for a vulnerability-focused approach to pro-poor development
• enhance knowledge within Irish Aid of the vulnerability concept
• conduct comprehensive mapping to identify opportunities for enhanced vulnerability reduction within Irish Aid's programme
• identify a possible strategy for Irish Aid to refine its approach to vulnerability reduction.

For further details on our work with Irish Aid, please email or phone Judith Randel on +44 1749 671343.

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1. ERF review

ERFs are project funds, managed by OCHA in-country, for short-term NGO projects.

Development Initiatives was engaged by OCHA to advise on:

• whether all emergency situations should have an ERF
• what the best system would be for managing ERFs
• whether ERFs should be part of the consolidated appeal process (CAP).

Since NGOs are the main recipient organisations – both at international and national level – we worked with NGOs in the five case study countries (Angola, DRC, Indonesia, Liberia and Somalia) to answer some key questions.

• How do field-based funding mechanisms add value to humanitarian response?
• What experience do NGOs have of the timeliness and flexibility of these funds?
• Are reporting requirements appropriate?
• What field-based flexible funding mechanisms would make the optimum contribution to the humanitarian response capacity?

Read the review>

2. Common humanitarian fund (CHF) evaluation

We carried out an external evaluation of CHFs in Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The study aimed to build on the 2006 ‘baseline’ evaluation and consolidated and augmented existing evidence around the CHF pilots. The key objective of the study was to inform key decision makers on the functioning of the main components of the pooled funds in both pilot countries.

For more information on our work with OCHA, please contact Tasneem Mowjee.

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We ran a training programme for the DCD Peer Review Team on the assessment of humanitarian assistance and supported the DCD on peer reviews for Spain and Finland in 2007.

For more information on our work on DAC peer reviews, please contact Tasneem Mowjee.

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We investigated and explained the impact of unearmarked funding on multilateral disbursements. We identified patterns, exploring the need for visibility and researched examples of best practice.

For more information on our work on earmarking and visibility in humanitarian assistance, please contact Tasneem Mowjee.

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1. We produced an evaluation and summary of Save the Children (UK)'s advocacy on nutrition. The evaluation itself combined desk-based research, telephone and face-to-face interviews in Bangladesh, Washington and the UK.

2. We reviewed the extent to which DFID, the EU and USAID address children's needs and rights as part of their humanitarian responses.

For more information on our work with Save the Children (UK), please contact Tony German.

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Humanitarian aid flows through a number of layers on its way from donor to recipient – bilateral donors disburse funds to UN agencies, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, NGOs and commercial service providers. When funding flows through an organisation, it is often subject to an overhead charge.

The Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs commissionned Development Initiatives to:

• research and document basic information on overhead charges in the context of the cost structures of the organisations concerned
• review the implications of the Ministry's approach to overheads
• identify possible recommendations for consideration by the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) initiative.

For further details on this piece of work, email or phone Tasneem Mowjee on +44 1749 671343.

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1. We reviewed the European Union Water Initiative (EUWI) on behalf of WaterAid and Tearfund. Our report, Glass half empty provided in-depth analysis of Europe's response to the urgent nees of the poorest for clean water.

Read the report >

For more information on our work with Save the Children (UK), please contact Tony German.

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We carried out the case studies on DRC and Sudan for 'Humanitarian Agenda 2015: Principles, Power and Perception', a study by Feinstein International Center on the post 9/11 challenges facing humanitarian aid organisations.

The Sudan country study was selected as a featured document on Scribd.com – a site that enables users on slower connections to read and leave comments.

View the Sudan case study on the Sribd site >

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We worked with WFP to see how pooled funding mechanisms – such as multi-donor trust funds and the DFID-proposed recovery fund – could be better used to support WFP’s strategic objectives and overall programming needs.

The work fed into the WFP's resourcing strategy for 2008–2011, which is linked to its strategic plan and the UN reform process. The work was carried out under the overall guidance of the Government Donor Relations Division in close liaison with other divisions and field offices.

For further details on this piece of work, email or phone Tasneem Mowjee on +44 1749 671343.

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