The European Commission: Tracking financial commitments to the Syria crisis response

We were commissioned by the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Commission (EC) to track financial contributions to the Syria response by countries and international financial institutions (IFIs) between 2016 and 2020.

Our brief

Since March 2011, the Syrian crisis has affected millions of people, both in Syria and neighbouring countries. More than 400,000 Syrians have lost their lives and across Syria more than 11 million people are currently in need of humanitarian assistance. The EU and its member states have been mobilising international assistance to support the humanitarian response in Syria and neighbouring refugee-hosting countries.

To ensure that pledges translate into real spending, it is essential that there is transparency around donor commitments. With this in mind, we were first commissioned by DFID in 2016, and later by the EC, to track financial contributions of country donors and IFIs against pledges made at pledging conferences.

What we delivered

Over the last five years, we have produced nine financial tracking reports that summarise progress towards the pledges made at the Brussels I, II and III conferences to support the Syria response. In June 2020, we produced the ninth financial tracking report, Supporting Syria and the region: Post-Brussels conference financial tracking – Report Nine.

This was published ahead of the Brussels IV conference and presents the contributions of donors against their pledges made at Brussels III. We also produced two recommendations reports that drew lessons from the tracking process to improve future tracking exercises.

We took a leading role in all stages of report development to deliver high-quality and robust Syria tracking reports – from formulating the methodology and designing and distributing the survey to collecting and analysing results, designing data visualisations and writing the final report. We also provided technical support when required.

We were commissioned due to our expertise in humanitarian assistance and crisis finance, developed over 20 years of producing the Global Humanitarian Assistance report. Our diverse expertise provided valuable insight, from economic and statistical analysis, rigorous quality assurance, data science, data management mechanisms and data visualisation, to knowledge of concessional financing data, policy, and regulations in fragile and conflict-affected settings.

Through leading these tracking exercises over the last five years, we have developed a strong and effective methodology and solid relationships with key actors in humanitarian financing.

Results

The Syria tracking exercise supports transparency efforts in humanitarian assistance. Publishing data at regular intervals has acted as an incentive to donors to hold one another to account and meet their pledges. It also supports donor coordination and decision-making processes by providing macro-level information on who is contributing what and where.

The exercise also builds and maintains political momentum for concerted and sustained financial support to the region, acting as a platform to enable more targeted and effective campaigning.

Additionally, the Syria tracker links humanitarian, development and resilience financing information, including both grants and loans, making information on a range of financial instruments available in a complex crisis.

The eighth Syria tracking report and earlier reports are accessible via the EC documents and publications library.