The UK aid-funded Humanitarian and Stabilisation Operations Team (HSOT) has published their seventh annual report. It tells the story of how the team has flexed over the past 12 months, supporting the UK Government in response to crises across the globe. HSOT provides the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) with capacity and specialist expertise to effectively respond to disasters, crises, and complex emergencies around the world.

The report shares the impact of over 80 core staff members and hundreds of consultants working alongside FCDO in some of the most difficult environments in the world. “This has been a devastating year for so many communities affected by conflict, instability and natural disasters,” says HSOT Director Rebecca Pankhurst-Lapina. “This year has tested the humanitarian sector in many ways.”

According to Pankhurst-Lapina, spikes in new and protracted crises, such as Gaza, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia, have exacerbated internal displacement and refugee flows.

“The year also saw global malnutrition and famine trends worsening with alarming levels of acute food insecurity,” she adds. “Simultaneously, humanitarian access in many crises has deteriorated, with aid delivery repeatedly impeded by security threats, political interference, and logistical and bureaucratic barriers.”

Despite these barriers, HSOT continued to leverage the team’s extensive expertise to work closely with FCDO teams on humanitarian and stabilisation priorities, preparing for possible scenarios and responding quickly to crises.

Over the course of the year, from Sudan to Ukraine, the Middle East to the Caribbean and beyond, HSOT has provided early warning, analysis, contextual insight and operational response. Pankhurst-Lapina adds that all of it has been provided at pace and at scale whether it is remote advice or on-the-ground support.

The team’s annual report tells the stories behind the scenes of the four major humanitarian disasters the team responded to including in Gaza and Papua New Guinea, the over 95,000 relief items delivered, and the 202 deployments and remote advisory tasks and trips the team took.

Alongside the complex response work, the team has undertaken exciting work on AI, climate resilience, and ‘greening’ the supply chain. “As a team, we have focused on AI as it plays a critical role in enabling humanitarian data analysis, enhancing disaster prediction and supporting decision-making,” says Pankhurst-Lapina. “Our expertise has helped shape solutions-thinking on climate resilience within FCDO and among international partners as we encourage the linkage with humanitarian preparedness across the department.”

In addition, the team is continually working on building sustainability and greening into its work, looking across its supply chains to explore specification and supplier-based improvements upstream as well as local recycling and reverse logistics for packaging downstream.

The report showcases the depth and breadth of HSOT and much of the work that goes on behind the scenes of their large-scale humanitarian responses. HSOT manages a roster of over 200 humanitarian experts and the teams dedicate significant time and effort to be equipped and ready to respond to crises in real time.

Ultimately, the aid HSOT provides is focused on saving lives. But it’s more than that. For the family who loses their home to conflict, aid provides them with basic necessities, ensuring they have access to food, clean water, shelter, and medical care, which are often scarce in the midst of emergencies.

For communities displaced by a natural disaster and living in tight quarters or temporary housing, humanitarian aid can help reduce the chances of disease outbreaks. Humanitarian aid, when done right, provides stability in the wake of a disaster and resilience to prepare for the next.

Download the report or contact info@thepalladiumgroup.com.