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European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations

Field network

Person seen from the back, on the jacket is the EU flag with text.
EU humanitarian expert assessing the damage in the aftermath of the devastating earthquakes in Turkiye, February 2023.
© European Union 2023 (photographer: Lisa Hastert)

A strength and advantage of the European Commission’s department for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) is its worldwide network of 5 regional offices and 50 field offices in 40 countries.

The presence of field humanitarian staff across the world enables the Commission to have an up-to-date overview of humanitarian needs in each country or region, which enables better development of intervention strategies and policy.

As part of our field network, over 450 national staff members and international experts further ensure technical support and adequate monitoring of EU-funded operations and facilitates donors’ coordination at field level.

EU humanitarian experts support operations with their specific expertise (in areas such as food or health), or with their national or regional expertise, or they provide security or logistics assistance for operations.

The allocation of budget to the field offices as well as the opening of new offices in a region or inside a country depends on the assessed needs and the humanitarian situation. Accordingly, the size and type of offices and the number of humanitarian experts mandated in the field varies from one location to another.

field network map

Downloads

9 JUNE 2021
Code of conduct for ECHO technical assistants
English
(115.05 KB - PDF)
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9 JUNE 2021
Code of conduct for ECHO national staff
English
(57.65 KB - PDF)
Download