On  6.11.2009 COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES in Brussels published document SEC(2009) 1566 (link to .pdf) final, also known as Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid - ECHO; Operational Strategy 2010.

What is Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid - ECHO; Operational Strategy 2010?

This operational strategy is presented in a global humanitarian context that is fundamentally  unchanged, if not worsening. The problems that are raised time and again in the description of  specific country situations are similar all over the world: they  include a tightening of the humanitarian space by governments and non-government actors  who disregard even the most basic protection afforded under International Humanitarian Law  (IHL); brutal methods of warfare, targeting civilians and frequently using sexual violence as a  weapon of war; attacks, expulsions and killings of humanitarian aid workers; the increasing  humanitarian impact of climate change; and local communities and humanitarian actors that  are ill prepared to cope with this impact.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, there were "some 42 million forcibly displaced  people worldwide at the end of 2008. This includes 15.2 million refugees, 827,000 asylum-seekers (pending cases) and 26 million internally displaced persons (IDPs). The EU (which already provides over 50% of all development aid worldwide) has agreed to increase its official development assistance to 0.56% of its gross national income by 2010 (on the way to achieving the UN target of 0.7% by 2015). The EU and its member countries are committed to making the aid they provide more effective, particularly through better coordination and ensuring it complements other development support and work in the beneficiary country. That makes EU as biggest provider of development aid in the world.

But first of all, I want introduce to you the EU budget 2010 in figures. Sustainable growth. Remember that these numbers are Expenditure estimates for EU policies in billion EUR. 

Sustainable growth 64.3     + 3.3 %

• Competitiveness, including: 14.9             + 7.9 %
• Education and training 1.1                       + 4.4 %
• Research 7.5                                            + 11.7 %
• Competitiveness and innovation 0.5        + 3.4 %
• Transport and energy networks 2.0         + 10.2 %
• Social policy agenda 0.2                           + 22.7 %
• Energy projects  2.0                                 - 1.0 %
• Cohesion, including: 49.4                         + 2.0 %
• Convergence 40.4                                    + 3.7%
• Regional competitiveness and employment 7.6  - 6.2 %
  Territorial cooperation 1.2                                  + 3.7 %

Overall the change from 2009. budget is +3.3 % It seems that global crisis has not affected the EU budget for this year. Even more: the 3.3 % increase for Sustainable growth is excellent result.

How we will spend it?

Cohesion & Competitiveness for growth and employment 45%; Citizenship, freedom security and justice 1%; Direct aids and market related expenditure 31%; Rual development enviroment, fisheries 11%; The EU as global partner 6%; Total administrative expenditure 6%

In the EU budget of 2010  €800.5 million will be spent in  sub-Saharan Africa. The Commission has identified  39  countries or territories that are experiencing at least one crisis. Of these, 16 are very  vulnerable, and 13 of those are in sub-Saharan Africa. 58% of the geographical budget is  allocated to the 16 most vulnerable countries, says Operational Strategy 2010.

It is said that approximately 17% of the geographical budget allocation is dedicated to  12 “forgotten  crisis” situations - in other words  five more than the previous year.

They concern the Lao  Hmong minority in Thailand;the Rohingya refugees and the Chittagong Hill Tracts crisis in  Bangladesh; the inter-ethnic conflict in Burma/Myanmar and the related Burmese refugee  situation in Thailand; the populations affected by the internal armed conflict in Colombia, by  the conflict in the north of Yemen as well as the refugees from the Horn of Africa; the  Sahrawi refugees in Algeria and the populations affected by regional conflicts in India  (Kashmir, north-east India, Naxalite affected regions). The four newly identified crises  concern the populations affected by the internal armed conflict in Central African Republic,  the Somali refugee crisis in Kenya, the Mindanao crisis in the Philippines and the Bhutanese  refugees in Nepal. Finally, one crisis must be considered as having been forgotten, even if the  FCA methodology is not fully applicable in this case: namely the crisis in the Sahel region  (mainly Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger), which is suffering from a  continuing series of external shocks (poor rains, political instability, high food prices,  epidemics etc) aggravating an already fragile situation but not attracting the attention of the media.

Type of intervention; Aid Distribution

The need for Humanitarian Food Assistance continues to increase. The main problem is that food prices at the point of delivery in most food insecure countries remain high, which in turn keeps the cost of humanitarian food operations high and increases the number of vulnerable persons. Increased aid needs are also compounded by implementation difficulties in some countries, such as Sudan, Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka. Therefore, food assistance in  2010 will concentrate resources on the most immediate life-saving interventions, in order to respond to well-defined life-threatening risks and to support the most appropriate and effective combination of response options and tools, is said in Directorate-General for Humanitarian Aid - ECHO.