Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders

Independent
We rarely take funds from governments, businesses or institutions for our work, but rely mainly on the generosity of individual members of the public. Over 90 percent of our income comes from private donors giving small amounts.

"For MSF, this is the humanitarian act: to seek to relieve suffering, to seek to restore autonomy, to witness to the truth of injustice, and to insist on political responsibility..."DR JAMES ORBINSKIFORMER MSF PRESIDENT
This means that when there is an emergency, we don’t need to wait for official funds to be released or for the media to generate interest; we can act fast to save people’s lives based on need alone.

Our financial independence also means the aid we provide cannot be used to further any government’s political or military goals.

Acceptance
Wherever we are working, we make sure that local people understand that MSF is politically neutral and will provide assistance to anyone who needs it. We run radio campaigns and hold meetings with everyone from government ministers to local warlords, community elders to women’s groups.

Gaining their acceptance is key to our being able to work in difficult environments such as Afghanistan or Democratic Republic of Congo.

Improvement
MSF is an outspoken organisation – we expect and demand high standards from ourselves and other organisations. We speak out if we think other humanitarian organisations are being dishonest, compromised or slow to react. But we also examine and critique our own performance.

In 2015 we published Where is Everyone?, a hard-hitting report which diagnoses some of the key issues inherent in the international response to humanitarian crises.

In 2012 we published Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed. This book examines the reality of the compromises MSF made – some successfully and some less so – to try and help the people suffering most in the world today. 

Case studies from recent conflicts such as Yemen, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan lay bare the reality of MSF’s efforts to reach the most affected people, and explore just what the limits of compromise should be.

There are also essays exploring broader issues, such as the real usefulness of aid responses to natural disasters.