DG ECHO defines remote management as an operational approach used to provide relief in situations where humanitarian access to disaster-affected populations is limited by security concerns and/or formal or informal decisions imposed by de jure or de facto authorities, thus requiring adjustments to the management of the humanitarian actions. 

The absence of international staff does not imply automatically a situation of remote management. An Action will not be considered remotely managed as long as measures have been put in place that allow those who are ultimately responsible for the Action to ensure the required quality.

DG ECHO does not fund actions using remote management other than in the most exceptional circumstances, such as security concerns, major bureaucratic obstacles and force majeure.

DG ECHO will consider funding actions involving remote management only when the Partner can answer in a satisfactory manner to the Remote Management Questionnaire (available below), which includes the following questions:

• Is there an access problem?
• Does the proposed Action include acceptance-building measures?
• Is it a lifesaving Action?
• Can the Action be implemented without risking the lives of those undertaking the work on the ground?
• What is the source of the needs assessment in a remotely management Action?
• Is the staff adequately qualified?
• Are the monitoring arrangements adapted for remote management?

It can be difficult to establish a clear dividing line between direct implementation and remote management. Some locations may be temporarily off-limits for non-local staff simply because seasonal rains have made the roads impassable. Hostilities might affect one location covered by a project while other areas remain peaceful and accessible. Authorities may prevent travel to one region but allow it to others. Many humanitarian Actions, therefore, combine elements of remote management with direct implementation. An Action may, for example, include training and capacity building that are managed directly, while the distribution of relief supplies in unsafe areas is implemented by local staff or partners and supervised remotely.

DG ECHO's note outlining its Approach to Remote Management provides guidance for DG ECHO staff on remote management, explaining what considerations must be made before approving an Action including a remote management component. The note can be used by Partners as a reference.

The remote management mechanism should be clearly explained in the Single Form. The Partner is invited to read the assessment criteria explained in DG ECHO’s note Approach to remote management to identify the information to be provided in the various sections of the Single Form. Particular attention will have to be paid to:

• Chapter 9.2 – Monitoring the action, where the Partner should describe how the monitoring arrangements have been adapted to this specific working environment;
• Chapter 9.3 – Is this Action remotely managed, where the Partner states whether the Action is fully or partially implemented under remote management. When the Partner declares the Action to be under remote management, DG ECHO expects to receive, at proposal stage, the questionnaire on remote management (as an annex to the Single Form) and, during implementation, the quarterly report on remote management (via a dedicated interface in APPEL);
• Chapter 10.1 – Human resources and Management capacities, to describe which is the organizational and management structure in place;
• Chapter 10.6 – Implementing Partners, where specific roles and supervision mechanisms of local Implementing Partners will be explained.

Where remote management is proposed by a Partner during the implementation period, due to a change in circumstances that hinders or prevents direct implementation (e.g. force majeure, security concerns, etc.), DG ECHO will use the same criteria than the ones mentioned above to assess whether the Action should be:

• Continued using the remote management approach;
• Be subject to temporary interruption of activities;
• Terminated.
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The Partner has an obligation to inform immediately DG ECHO of those circumstances hindering the implementation of the Action and request the authorisation to use the remote management. In order to do so, the Partner will submit a modification request including necessary information on the remote management measures.