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The Emergency Capacity Building Project (ECB) is a
collaborative effort of seven humanitarian agencies
that are jointly tackling common problems in
emergency response and preparedness.
Over a two-year period, these agencies and their
strategic partners are addressing issues pertaining
to staff capacity, accountability (primarily to
affected populations), impact measurement, risk
reduction, and the use of information and technology
in emergencies.
While seeking to improve the way the seven agencies
respond to humanitarian crises, ECB is deeply
committed to contributing to reform in the
humanitarian sector as a whole. ECB will work
closely with other humanitarian organizations and
share findings widely.
 
How ECB Got Started
In 2003,
Oxfam-GB,
Save the Children-US,
World Vision International,
Catholic Relief Services, the
International Rescue Committee,
CARE
International, and
Mercy Corps formed the Inter-Agency Working
Group (IWG) on Emergency Capacity Building.
An assessment of the agencies’ emergency response
capabilities in 2004 identified four main areas
where collaboration would be highly beneficial. With
a grant from
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
and, later from
Microsoft Corporation, these areas
formed the basis of the Emergency Capacity Building
Project.
Starting in March 2005, the IWG is using this
funding over a two-year period to leverage the
agencies’ substantial resources – $3 billion
annually for programs carried out in over 100
countries with 50,000 staff members – to build their
capacity for emergency response.
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