UN OCHA Global Humanitarian Overview 2025 spotlights Dioptra tool and consortium on cost evidence
Dioptra and its cost effectiveness and analysis methodology are being recognized as the industry-standard for cost evidence in the humanitarian sector in UN OCHA’s report. On December 4th, UN OCHA launched its Global Humanitarian Overview 2025, a report that provides a comprehensive global snapshot of the trends in humanitarian action for large-scale resource mobilization efforts, and explores opportunities to deliver humanitarian assistance more effectively.
The report explicitly emphasizes the need to push for more cost-efficient and cost-effective approaches. It argues that the sector should “[w] ork on setting clear boundaries for humanitarian appeals/plans has been accompanied by efforts to enhance cost efficiency and effectiveness” and links IRC’s [Work%20on%20setting%20clear%20boundaries%20for%20humanitarian%20appeals/plans%20has%20been%20accompanied%20by%20efforts%20to%20enhance%20cost%20efficiency%20and%20effectiveness.]Cost analysis Methodology.
Dioptra is directly linked as exemplars, both in the abridged report and in the Humanitarian Response Section. It explicitly mentions the following:
“Amid declining funding, scalable and cost-effective humanitarian action can greatly enhance the reach and effectiveness of each dollar spent. To this end, a coalition of NGOs6 is using the 'Dioptra’ tool to analyze the cost per output of various programmes. The tool applies a standardized method to assess the cost per person reached with a programme intervention and the unit cost of aid items. By enhancing transparency, Dioptra has improved the understanding of cost-efficiency and effectiveness across humanitarian interventions and contexts.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC), part of the consortium that manages the Dioptra tool, has intensively studied its global programmes to learn how to enhance cost efficiency in humanitarian response. Examples include:
Malnutrition: A simplified protocol for treating wasting proved equally effective and less resource-intensive than the traditional protocol. In Mali, it reduced the cost per child treated by 18 per cent.
Early childhood development: In Lebanon, the Remote Early Learning Programme achieved effective learning outcomes at a cost of $260 per child for 514 children. With economies of scale, this cost is projected to drop to $150 per child when serving 1,000 children or more.
Cash assistance: In Nigeria, anticipatory cash distributions boosted household investment in productive assets and reduced negative coping strategies compared to traditional cash responses. These outcomes were achieved at similar delivery cost per dollar of cash transferred, demonstrating greater impact for every dollar spent.”
Dioptra’s movement for cost evidence in the humanitarian sector is gaining momentum. Contact Dioptra consortium to learn how you can be involved.