Belgium
The Belgian strategy for humanitarian aid is based on a principled approach motivated by the International Humanitarian Law, the principles of Good Humanitarian Donorship, and the consensus of the European Union (EU) on humanitarian aid. With the exception of the Belgian First Aid and Support Team (deployable for a short term in case of sudden-onset natural disasters), Belgium has no national humanitarian agency active on the ground. Belgium supports international and civil partner organisations and seeks to strengthen systematically the collective responses to humanitarian crises.
Our country is a team player, but has its own identity. For this reason, Belgium also chooses to take into account a number of geographic and thematic priorities in its contributions to humanitarian operations. This focus is mainly motivated by the experience that Belgium has built in certain countries and certain themes. When determining the priorities, we try to see where synergies and complementarities are possible, where there are gaps and how a division of labor between donors, primarily in Europe, can lead to better results.
Following up the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid and the recommendations of various peer reviews and evaluations of the past, Belgium has decided to develop several specific forms of support. These allow a differentiated and customized approach in the form of rapid and flexible funding in critical periods and in the form of greater predictability and burden sharing within the global system of humanitarian aid.