Humanitarian aid is material or logistical assistance in response to crises including natural and man-made disasters. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain human dignity. Humanitarian aid differs from development aid, which seeks to address the underlying socioeconomic factors leading to a crises.
Aid is funded by donations from individuals, corporations, governments and other organizations. The funding and delivery of humanitarian aid has become increasingly international in scope. This makes it much more responsive and effective in coping with major emergencies. With humanitarian aid efforts sometimes criticized for a lack of transparency, the humanitarian community has initiated a number of inter-agency initiatives to improve its accountability, quality and performance.
The People in Aid initiative, for example, links seven areas that would improve the operations of aid organizations - health, safety and security learning; training and development; recruitment and selection; consultation and communication; support management and leadership; staff policies and practices; and human resources strategy.
Prominent humanitarian organizations include Doctors Without Borders, Mercy Corps and the International Red Cross. Major humanitarian projects include the Berlin Airlift, in which U.S. and U.K governments flew supplies into the Western-held sectors of Berlin during the Soviet blockade of 1948-1949. Another example is the aid efforts for refugees felling from the fighting in Bosnia and Kosovo in 1993 and 1999, respectively .
Humanitarian aid
Aid for refugees of the Kosovo War