Establishing an exhaustive list of French emergency humanitarian actors is a challenge, because of their diversity as well as the well-known difficulty of determining where to draw the distinction between emergency and post-emergency.

The listing established on this site is an initial approach that deserves to be refined and expanded gradually. It distinguishes between state services and organizations involved in international solidarity - traditional actors - local governments and businesses - increasingly prevalent - and research centers.

Universities, which provide specific courses oriented towards humanitarian action, have been perceived more as related to training than the action itself.