EHA Connect was produced as part of the Coordination of Assessments for Environment in Humanitarian Action, a joint initiative between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment) / Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Joint Unit (JEU), United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Norwegian Refugee Council and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

As part of extensive stakeholder consultation under the Coordination of Assessments for Environment in Humanitarian Action Joint Initiative during 2017 and 2018, it was identified that although environment-humanitarian coordination improves the lives and livelihoods of disaster affected communities and the quality and accountability of humanitarian response, there was no one repository for environment in humanitarian action related tools, resources and guidance.  

More than 300 stakeholders from a range of environmental, humanitarian, developmental, UN, NGO and academic organisations were consulted on the gaps and needs related to environmental mainstreaming in humanitarian response and environmental assessments. EHA Connect is one of the outputs of the Joint Initiative responding to the needs identified. More than 30 organisations directly contributed to the platform’s development. 

The two-year project started in December 2016 and produced a range of other tools including the NEAT+ and update of the Rapid Environmental Impact Assessment tool.