Secure Access in Volatile Environments (SAVE)

The Secure Access in Volatile Environments (SAVE) programme explored how humanitarian aid is delivered in some of the most challenging conflict environments. Based on three years of fieldwork in four countries – Afghanistan, South Central Somalia, South Sudan, and Syria – it is the first major effort to answer some of the aid world’s most critical questions about how much aid is getting to war zones and how much that aid is helping.

Research Areas

Presence and Coverage

Are humanitarian agencies delivering aid in the most dangerous places, or are they mostly staying away, leaving the most vulnerable without enough support?

Access and Quality

What are the critical factors which enable some aid agencies to maintain a presence, and what impact is insecurity having on the quality of their assistance?

Accountability and Learning

How are aid agencies monitoring the effectiveness of their programmes, and are they ensuring accountability to people affected by crisis as well as their donors

About SAVE

SAVE was a three-year research programme (2014-2016) conducted by Humanitarian Outcomes in partnership with GPPi. An international team of researchers worked with local partners in the world’s four most dangerous aid settings, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. This included field and global-level primary data collection, over 900 interviews with aid workers and surveys of over 4,000 affected people. Thirty workshops were held in the case study countries to verify the findings, as well as workshops in the US and Europe.

SAVE was funded by the Research and Evidence Division of the UK Department for International Development, and supported by an Advisory Group of senior humanitarian aid experts.

Questions?

For questions about the SAVE programme and its research products, contact Abby Stoddard.