The European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO): 1992-1999 and beyond

The European Community Humanitarian Office (ECHO) was established in 1992 to co-ordinate and administer European Union (EU) humanitarian aid and by 1994 had grown to be the world's largest humanitarian aid donor. Since it was set up for an initial period of seven years, ECHO's performance and the question of its continuing existence will be reviewed next year; it seems unlikely to be abolished. In light of this, this paper starts with a description of how ECHO functions: its mandate, sources of finance and funding mechanisms. It looks then at some of the ongoing challenges that ECHO faces--its relations with Member States, its links to other Commission services and its attempts to establish a distinctive role within the humanitarian aid field. In terms of this last issue, the paper concludes that ECHO should focus instead on establishing itself as a credible donor agency.