A cross-government policy and/or strategy for humanitarian assistance is a critical first step towards ensuring consistent humanitarian responses that respect the GHD principles and highlight important areas such as gender equality. This must be anchored in relevant legislation and accompanied by a realistic implementation plan. Humanitarian frameworks are more effective when they are based on the donor country’s comparative advantage and take into account other policy directives (e.g. on climate change or on migration issues). In setting out the strategy, policy makers must be wary of broad generalisations. Instead, they should base their strategy on a focused and realistic vision that will allow the donor to take a targeted approach to funding and supporting its humanitarian programme.