The four principles of humanitarian aid as codified by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) are humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. These principles guide the efforts of humanitarian aid:

  • Humanity: Under the principle of humanity, volunteers providing humanitarian aid are seeking to address human suffering, particularly for people who are the most vulnerable.
  • Neutrality: Responses during a conflict should not favor any side. Therefore, humanitarians should not take sides in any ideological, religious, racial or political controversies, which is often one of the most challenging aspects of humanitarian aid efforts.
  • Impartiality: These efforts should be provided on the basis of identified need alone, without discriminating among affected populations. All programs should be designed to support people who are left most in need after a disaster or emergency.
  • Independence: The purpose of humanitarian aid is to prevent and relieve suffering, so humanitarians should not be influenced by military, economic or political objectives. Additionally, humanitarian policies should be implemented independently of government actions or policies.

Some struggle to differentiate humanitarian aid from development aid. While humanitarian aid is assistance provided during emergency situations, development aid is provided to address underlying socioeconomic factors that may have led to an emergency or crisis. In other words, the intention of humanitarian aid is to relieve suffering, and the intention of development aid is to address ongoing issues that lead to human suffering. Therefore, humanitarian aid tends to directly benefit people, and development aid usually improves structural systems.

Development Aid vs. Humanitarian Aid

Development aid differs from humanitarian aid in what it aims to accomplish and in what timeframe it seeks to achieve its goals.

Generally, humanitarian aid is designed to relieve suffering in the short term or during emergencies. When a hurricane strikes in the Caribbean or when civil war breaks out and refugees need immediate access to food and medical care, humanitarian aid helps provide relief and save lives.

Development aid, on the other hand, is designed to alleviate long-term, systematic issues, such as entrenched poverty. It works over the long term by promoting economic, political, social or environmental development.

A medical development aid project might provide funding for reducing the prevalence of diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis or AIDS. An educational development aid project might provide resources for education in STEM fields to help local citizens improve their knowledge, find work in growing sectors and contribute to the local economy. An environmental development aid project might provide resources and education to help a developing country transition from fossil fuels to renewable resources to combat climate change and build a more sustainable economy for its citizens over the long term.

Types of Development Aid

Below are a few different types of development aid:

  • Tied aid: Tied aid is spent in the country where it originates rather than in the country receiving the aid. At least 20 percent of developmental aid is formally tied. Much more is informally tied — that is, organizations spend money in countries other than the ones they are aiding, thereby supporting other economies rather than the developing economy.
  • Untied aid: Conversely, untied aid can be spent wherever the recipient country wishes. For example, an NGO might spearhead efforts to build a new hospital in a developing nation and also hire local engineers and construction contractors to complete the work. By making use of untied aid, the donor country invests both in improved medical services and in the local economy.
  • Project aid: Project aid typically involves providing funds for a specific project, such as building a school or hospital. Project aid can allocate NGO funds to different areas such as procuring supplies and coordinating workers.
  • Resource aid: Resource aid helps supply resources in areas of critical shortages. These could be supplies of food and water in a drought- or famine-stricken area, or they could be medical supplies to refugee camps. NGOs might also use their local connections to create reliable supply lines in politically unstable areas.
  • Technical aid: Development aid can also provide technical assistance and training to help give local business owners, construction workers, engineers, doctors, nurses and educators the tools they need to assist their communities and teach others.
  • Voluntary aid: Voluntary aid incorporates volunteers who donate their labor as a form of aid. Doctors who use their medical skills in areas where there is a shortage of physicians or to help run vaccination programs, for example, provide voluntary aid. Volunteers who help provide educational programs in local communities do the same. 

Examples of Development Aid

Refugee Aid

For decades, Lebanon has run refugee camps for Palestinian refugees. Because of the civil war in Syria, in recent years, many Syrian refugees have come to the camps as well in search of safety. For these reasons, Lebanon hosts the highest concentration per capita of refugees in the world. Almost 75 percent of the refugees in Lebanon lack legal residency, and many also lack documentation, so they are unable to get the services they need. They also face a competitive market for employment when they are legally eligible to work.

Although the Palestinian refugees who arrived in Lebanon in the 1940s lived in 12 formal camps, authorities have not permitted the construction of formal housing for Syrian refugees. Many refugees, therefore, live in makeshift shelters such as garages, warehouses, unfinished buildings and tents, where conditions are often primitive.

NGOs such as Anera have created programs in Lebanon to improve the lives of the refugees living in camps. Programs to provide math and literacy education help ensure young Syrians and Palestinians have the skills they need to gain jobs and help provide for their families. Training programs give preschool teachers the tools they need to provide safe, supportive educational environments for young children traumatized by war and dislocation. Health programs provide medical and dental treatments and health awareness programs, such as parasite detection training for mothers, to ensure that the refugee camps remain healthy places to live.

Jordan has also recently experienced an influx of refugees, mainly from Palestine and Syria. Like Lebanon, Jordan has shown exceptional generosity in hosting these refugees, but the conditions in the refugee camps are often difficult there as well. Refugees in Jordan often experience shortages of water and limited employment opportunities. In Jordan, Anera’s programs have distributed quilts, sewing kits and school kits to Palestinian refugees. Anera has also coordinated shipments of books for schoolchildren, helped facilitate refugee camp health visits to educate women about breast cancer and worked to meet the needs of refugees with disabilities.