The Humanitarian Finance Forum and AidEx, with support from Aon and Reed Smith, recently hosted the inaugural Humanitarian Finance Summit in London. The event convened senior leaders, experts, and practitioners to explore innovative financial solutions for humanitarian challenges, emphasising urgency and actionable approaches. The Summit welcomed 227 delegates representing 165 organisations across 32 countries.

Ahead of the Humanitarian Finance Summit in London (14 February 2025) and The 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Seville (30 June – 3 July 2025), our Humanitarian Finance Forum asserts that innovative and sustainable financing solutions, including market-based approaches are needed to foster long-term resilience beyond traditional aid. The need is substantial and urgent which demands for cross-sector collaboration. It is a shared responsibility that requires concrete commitments with tangible actions from all stakeholders. 

This edition of our newsletter wraps up 2024, while looking forward to our very first Humanitarian Finance Summit, co-hosted by the Forum and AidEx in London next month. Our 2024 highlights include a spotlight on the Red Cross and Red Crescent Innovative Finance Report, followed by a roundtable discussion on developing a frontloading mechanism for mine action. We also delve into the exciting outcomes of our AidEx Geneva side event, which explored the potential, challenges, and tangible projects supported by private capital in the humanitarian sector. Insights from this important event are also available in the Humanitarian Logistics Association’s inaugural magazine digest. To further enrich your understanding of humanitarian innovative finance, we recommend two insightful must-read papers published last year.

The Humanitarian Finance Forum, in partnership with the Humanitarian Innovative Finance Hub (HIFHUB) and Aon, co-hosted an AidEx side event in Geneva, “Bridging Finance and Fieldwork: Innovating for Impact” on 23 October 2024. This event convened key thought leaders from humanitarian and private sectors to explore innovative finance solutions for humanitarian needs, particularly to address the critically widening humanitarian funding gap.

A feasibility study exploring innovative financial mechanisms to address the massive demining challenge in Ukraine.

The latest data on global humanitarian assistance, as well as progress on Grand Bargain localisation targets, cash and voucher assistance, and anticipatory action.

The Centre for Disaster Protection’s recently published second annual benchmark report on ‘The State of Pre-arranged Financing for Disasters 2024,’ highlights the urgent need for more equitable and accessible disaster financing in vulnerable regions.

This quarter’s edition invites you to our key event of the year taking place on 23 October 2024, the HFF Innovative Finance Side Event at AidEx, which will be held in Geneva with an option to participate virtually. We also provide insights into how the insurance industry can address the humanitarian crisis caused by climate change, developing innovative financial tools that safeguard vulnerable populations.   In June, the Grand Bargain Strategic Dialogue on Innovative Financing convened to take stock of the potential and challenges of scaling up innovative finance in the humanitarian sector, and in August after hurricane Beryl, Grenada suspended its bond payments by triggering its ‘hurricane clause’. Then, in September the IFRC triggered its first-ever insurance payout for its disaster fund, which means for the first time, a single, global commercial indemnity insurance policy is covering the emergency humanitarian costs of a disaster. Indeed, innovative finance mechanisms are demonstrating its effectiveness in supporting humanitarian needs.  Coming up are two exciting opportunities to continue exploring and implementing innovative financial solutions. Consider signing up for the IMD Driving Innovative Finance for Impact (DIFI) programme, and to partner with us as we co-host the Humanitarian Finance Summit with AidEx next Spring. Find out more within. 

A first mapping of the humanitarian impact finance continuum to identify different sources of funding for each respective actor and thereby lower the barrier for innovation and successful implementation.

The world’s first social impact bond was launched in 2010 at the Peterborough prison in England. Since then this partnership model has been stretched and flexed to fund a growing array of social programmes in health, employment, education, social care and beyond. This publication provides a comprehensive yet accessible anthology that can help both those new to social impact bonds / social outcomes partnerships as well as those more familiar with this approach to navigate the evidence that has emerged from the practice in the UK in the past fifteen years.

A new PRIO policy brief explores the potential of Islamic social finance (ISF), particularly zakat, in addressing the global humanitarian crisis. The report highlights the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency's Refugee Zakat Fund as a pioneering initiative, that taps into zakat donations for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).

A toolkit featuring case studies for the design of subsidies in off-grid solar and clean cooking