Unlocking Humanitarian and Resilience Investing through Better Data

The report argues that while there is investor demand for impact-driven capital in fragile contexts, a critical shortage of standardized, initiative-level data prevents the scaling of Humanitarian and Resilience Investing (HRI). It identifies gaps in social data and the lack of HRI-specific investment themes, proposing a 'virtuous circle' of increased disclosure and standardized benchmarks to attract private sector capital.

• Humanitarian and Resilience Investing (HRI) is defined as capital that creates a financial return while providing measurable benefits to people and communities in contexts of fragility, conflict and violence.
• Traditional humanitarian funding is insufficient to meet global needs; in 2019, UN humanitarian agency funding fell over $11 billion short of appeal requirements, and by November 2020, the Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19 and other appeals had a $22 billion shortfall.
• A primary barrier to scaling HRI is the lack of 'decision-ready' data at the initiative, project, or business level, as most existing humanitarian and development data is aggregated at the country or supranational level.
• Social indicators are the most difficult HRI-enabling data to collect and analyze, with significant gaps regarding the net impact of companies on resilience building and the role of business in reducing fragility.
• Case studies demonstrate that specific data can unlock capital: for example, the ICRC's Humanitarian Impact Bond (HIB) relied on historic operational and impact data to set performance targets and attract investors, while Vita's use of carbon emission data allowed for the generation of revenue through carbon offsets.
• The report proposes three priorities to improve the data landscape: increasing standardized disclosures by initiative owners, widening the adoption of existing standards (such as the IFC Performance Standards and Minimum Economic Recovery Standards), and leveraging digital technologies for more efficient data collection.
• Data collection in fragile contexts must adhere to 'do no harm' principles and stringent data protection controls to prevent the re-identification of individuals and protect the privacy of vulnerable beneficiaries.

APA

World Economic Forum (2021). Unlocking Humanitarian and Resilience Investing through Better Data. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Unlocking_Humanitarian_and_Resilience_2021.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Unlocking Humanitarian and Resilience Investing through Better Data. 2021. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Unlocking_Humanitarian_and_Resilience_2021.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Unlocking Humanitarian and Resilience Investing through Better Data |date=January 2021 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Unlocking_Humanitarian_and_Resilience_2021.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2021unlocking, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Unlocking Humanitarian and Resilience Investing through Better Data}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2021}, month = jan, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Unlocking_Humanitarian_and_Resilience_2021.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }