Looking back at 2024 – impact for people in crisis realized

In 2024 we reached people in several countries and regions, including Fatima and her children with clear drinking water in Ethiopia. We do this in collaboration with our 14 our Dutch partners, each bringing expertise and commitment from their constituencies, and more than 90 local partners. In this way, we strengthen both our global and national reach. We have provided food, shelter, money, medicine, water and toilets and provide aid to everyone, regardless of origin, religion, age or political beliefs. Together with affected people, governments and local aid organizations, we identified who needed help the most.

We proved once again in 2024 to be a leader in locally-led action. We achieved this exceeding the Grand Bargain commitment by far, which states that a minimum of 25% of humanitarian funding should go as directly as possible to local and national aid organizations. Final 2024 data will be released later this year, but in 2023, within our Joint Responses (JRs), 34.3% of funding within Protracted Crisis Joint Responses (PCJRs) and 41.9% within Acute Crisis Joint Responses (ACJRS) was spent by local partners. We described our locally-led approach in this publication Grand Bargain 2024

Also, in collaboration with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we pursued Risk Sharing with our pilot initiative in three countries: DRC, Ethiopia, and Yemen. This pilot explored Risk Sharing as a new form of risk management. Read more about the lessons learned from this pilot in our Risk Sharing Publication

In 2024, we once again demonstrated the power of collaboration in humanitarian assistance. Our Acute Crisis Mechanism (ACM) enabled us to respond quickly and effectively to urgent humanitarian crises worldwide, we responded to crises in Haiti, Chad, Myanmar, Sudan, Nigeria and South Sudan. Often within 72 hours. Within this context, water and food represent the alliance’s key sectors of expertise. We were also able to respond to escalations in Gaza and Lebanon in 2024. The additional funding for these emergencies allowed us to provide immediate emergency assistance to the most vulnerable. The success of the DRA’s capacity to respond quickly and effectively highlights the strength of our joint approach and reinforces our commitment to continue supporting people in the most vulnerable situations in 2025.

That joint action can contribute greatly to effective humanitarian assistance is reflected in our work last year. Through joint advocacy with authorities in Gaza, we were able to secure access to emergency aid in a very challenging context. In Nigeria, through intensive collaboration, we have put together comprehensive aid packages that meet the specific needs of affected communities. In addition, in Somalia, we organized peer learning visits that allowed partners to learn from each other and share best practices.

These initiatives highlight the power of collaboration within the DRA and demonstrate how joint positioning directly contributes to our impact in crisis situations.

The progress is clear: famines are decreasing, life expectancy is rising and the number of disaster victims is decreasing. Emergency relief, reconstruction and prevention have all played a role in these improvements, saving lives and providing a safer future for millions.

Your involvement and commitment have helped make these achievements possible. For this, our sincere gratitude.

Looking ahead to 2025 – 10 years of DRA and new challenges

In 2025, the Dutch Relief Alliance will celebrate its 10th anniversary! This is not only a time to reflect on the people we have been able to help through our work, but also an opportunity to strengthen our shared mission.

This year we also face new challenges. The ever-increasing number of crises, both in scale and complexity, presents a growing challenge. Hampered by reduced humanitarian access and violations of international humanitarian law, it continues to cause great insecurity for affected communities and humanitarian workers. Globally, humanitarian budgets are shrinking, leading to difficult choices as humanitarian needs are greater than ever before.

Stronger together

Despite the challenges, we continue to innovate, learn and adapt, proving our valuable role in delivering fair, effective and impactful emergency relief.

Since our founding, we have provided assistance to millions of people in more than 45 global crises, in partnership with more than 100 local organizations. We continue to do this driven by a commitment to put the Grand Bargain principles into action, implementing commitments such as locally-led action, multi-year funding, accountability and community engagement.

Despite our progress, humanitarian aid remains indispensable. Therefore, in the future, we will continue to build on the knowledge and experience we have gained over the past 10 years and continuously improve ourselves. Together with our local partners, we will continue to provide effective emergency relief and respond appropriately to the increasing complexity of humanitarian crises. We want to ensure that aid reaches those in need and helps build a more peaceful, stable world.

Our wish for the new year

Looking ahead to the new year, we wish that we as DRA, through our partners, continue to make an important contribution through humanitarian aid, that we continue to innovate and through this may contribute to systemic change.

New year, new team

We are immensely grateful for the more than 400 committed colleagues worldwide who are involved in the Alliance and committed to making an impact for people in need. In addition, we are delighted that Garance Reus, on behalf of Plan International, is taking over the chairmanship of the BoS from CARE’s Reintje van Haeringen. And that Christel Sjauw-Koen-Fa-Mulder is taking over the daily chair role from Tram Nguyen. We warmly welcome Jessie van Bokhoven as a new member of the BoD and are pleased that Anton van Wijk will remain active in his role as Alliance Manager on behalf of Dorcas. We also welcome James Keah from South Sudan as the new LAG Chair. To make these changes run smoothly, we have also provided new email addresses.

On behalf of the board,

and on behalf of the Board of Supervisors: