Flowing from its unique formal mandate from the Geneva Conventions to protect and assist victims of armed conflict, the ICRC has operational access in conflict zones that few humanitarian organisations can match. But like many humanitarian agencies, it faces further cuts, including a projected 16.9% reduction in 2026. The question is how the ICRC can […]
Flowing from its unique formal mandate from the Geneva Conventions to protect and assist victims of armed conflict, the ICRC has operational access in conflict zones that few humanitarian organisations can match. But like many humanitarian agencies, it faces further cuts, including a projected 16.9% reduction in 2026. The question is how the ICRC can sustain its work with significantly fewer resources.
Agulhas is pleased to have delivered the first MOPAN assessment of the ICRC, with Nigel Thornton FRGS and Heidi Gilert as co-team leads and support from Glyn Taylor, Kirsty MacDonald Mellor, Mazvita Mutambirwa, Logan Smith, Emily Akdogan, Sanum Downton-Jain, Dr Anne Hammerstad and Dr Marcus Cox. The assessment found that the ICRC is a credible, principled and field-resilient organisation. It scored well (satisfactory or highly satisfactory) across all of MOPAN’s performance KPIs.
The assessment highlights the ICRC’s clear, legally grounded mandate and its distinctive operating model. It also finds that the ICRC has emerged from its 2023 funding crisis sharper and better governed, with the 2024-27 strategy setting clear priorities under tight resources while reaffirming the ICRC’s foundational principles.
But it faces both contextual and structural challenges: Contextually, respect for the laws of war and humanitarian principles among parties to conflicts is dwindling, making access to the populations the ICRC is mandated to serve both more difficult and more dangerous. Structurally, the ICRC relies on a small group of government donors and still cannot fully measure or communicate the outcomes of some of its most important work. There are also risks of its institutional memory eroding as a result of the cumulative workforce cuts over the past years.
The report sets out seven considerations. For donors, these include supporting diversification and providing patient, flexible funding so the ICRC can measure its most significant impacts over time.
