Palestinian Civil Society Perspectives on Aid System
Posted on 28 October 2011 | No responses
By Prashan Thalayasingam
In April 2011, Dalia Association, a community foundation in Palestine, produced a draft report of an extensive study conducted with other civil society organisations on their perspectives and experiences of the aid system. The report prioritizes our complaints about the international aid system and the way it operates in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), which include:
1. Most donors fund relief, not development
2. Intermediaries often harm local civil society’s effectiveness and sustainability
3. International aid organizations often impose unrealistic and unfair procedures
4. Many international aid organizations impose agendas rather than respond to local ones
5. Applying for funds takes too much time and effort
6. Proposals and reports usually cannot be in Arabic, which is the local language
7. Most donors fund using political criteria
8. Many funding schemes are designed not to cover all costs.
9. There is insufficient local leadership in agenda-setting and decision-making
10. Anti-terrorism clauses are unacceptable
11. Aid actors do not always fulfil their contractual obligations
Some of these complaints are specific to the way the system operates in OPT while others resonate with other critiques of the aid system from elsewhere. The report also prioritizes our recommendations for change, which include: Read more
The OccupyWallStreet movement is a cloud
Posted on 27 October 2011 | No responses
By Stefania Milan
What is the role of social media in the organization, unfolding, and diffusion of the #occupy protests? Here I argue that, as a result of the diffusion of social media, we have now entered the age of cloud protesting, where individuals and networked collective action have taken central stage.
In computing, “cloud” indicates the delivery of services such as software over the Internet. Services can be customized with reduction of costs for the end user. Similarly, the #occupy protests can be seen as a cloud where a set of “soft resources” enabling mobilization coexist: identities, narratives, and know-how. These resources can be customized by and for individuals, who can in this way tailor their participation. Anyone can join anytime, bringing along her identity, political background, and grievances; anyone fits in the broad narrative of the cloud, anyone can contribute. Identities, resources, narratives are negotiated on and offline, but they mostly “live” online, mediated by the web interface of social media.
The cloud has an impact on organizational patterns, too. If we look back at how Western movements organized since the 1960s, we can identify three phases. First came social movement organizations such as students, anti-war and women’s groups, which had organizational and symbolic control over the movement. In the 1990s informal groups and networks characterized by multiple and flexible identities and horizontal leadership originated networked movements, whereby the different decentralized nodes would participate in the creation of a narrative for the movement. In the recent Arab Spring uprisings and in the #occupy protests we have seen yet another organizational pattern at play, where many of the nodes are networked individuals connected through social media (“the cloud”).
How to Improve Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Operations
Posted on 20 October 2011 | 4 responses
By David Bonbright and Nicholas van Praag
It is easier to listen than to act on what you hear. That is one of the lessons drawn by many of the groups pushing to give beneficiaries a greater say in the design of humanitarian programs.
Why then is progress so limited and what can be done to bridge the gap between listening to beneficiaries and acting on what they say?
There is a tremendous amount of work already under way—by the agencies themselves and the humanitarian standard setters like HAP and SPHERE, through ALNAP’s work in coalition building and knowledge-sharing, and thanks to an increasingly robust quality and accountability community.
There has also been a lot of excellent thinking and writing on how to do better, notably the work of CDA’s Listening Project and the 2011 Humanitarian Emergency Response Review chaired by Paddy Ashdown.
So what more could be done to get traction?
We believe there are a couple of innovations that would make a big difference.
First, we need to ask beneficiaries the right questions—or rather ask them in ways that work in the fog of humanitarian programs, and formulate them so that they give aid agencies answers they can act upon.
This methodology must meet the litmus test of speed and simplicity while eliciting accurate data on beneficiaries’ needs, the relevance of the assistance they are getting, its effectiveness, and their trust in those providing aid.
New Report Examines How INGOs Work in Myanmar
Posted on 17 October 2011 | 1 response
Cross-posted from the Harvard Kennedy School website.
By Peter Bell
For most of the last 23 years, Myanmar (formerly Burma) has been ruled by a repressive military regime that overthrew the previous democratically elected president. Wedged between China and Thailand, Myanmar has become known for the regime’s violation of basic human rights, the suffering of its ethnic minorities, the extreme poverty of its people and the courage of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the democratic opposition movement and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. But Myanmar may be changing, as is evident in the recent release of political prisoners.
Major international human rights organizations have issued report after report condemning the regime for its repressive measures. The United States and Western European governments have applied economic sanctions and confined their assistance mainly to humanitarian aid. The principal vehicle for delivering that aid has been a set of international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) focused on relieving suffering and saving lives. Given the heavy hand of the regime and the international sanctions, these INGOs had neither the political space nor the funding to engage in sustained development activities.
Over the last five years or so, there have been signs of what could be tentative openings within Myanmar. INGOs have gained greater (but still short of full) access to people in dire need. Participants in a still fledgling civil society have become more assertive. Despite flawed elections last year, the military has shown a willingness to relinquish some of its power—trading in their uniforms for civilian dress, bringing in more technocrats, stepping back from the limelight and devolving more authority to local officials.
Within this ambiguous context, Harvard Kennedy School’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations invited Ronnie Saha, MPP 2010, to research and write a report on how INGOs operate in Myanmar. Based largely on interviews with INGO staff and international donors in-country, the report is aptly entitled Working Through Ambiguity: International NGOs in Myanmar. It explores not only the operational modalities of INGOs in a challenging environment but also how they consider “the impact, ethics, effectiveness and accountability of their programs.”
Occupy Wall Street: Moment or Movement?
Posted on 14 October 2011 | No responses
By Elisa Peter
On September 17, former carpenter Robert Daros arrived at the New York Stock Exchange from Florida to participate in the occupation of Wall Street. Since that day, several thousands of people have joined a growing protest movement based on non-violent civil disobedience, which has spread to all major U.S. cities and to Canada.
Last week, I wrote on this blog about the apparent disconnect between non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and new, spontaneous and decentralized forms of civic activism. Is the Occupy Wall Street phenomenon an illustration of this trend?
Tonight, I attended a panel discussion at Harvard University about the nature and purpose of Occupy Wall Street. In the course of only four weeks, the movement has captured the attention not only of academia but also of the media and some politicians. The questions that were discussed tonight included:
- Are we witnessing the birth of a new civic movement, on the model of the Arab Spring or the civil rights movement?
- Is Occupy Wall Street a moment, or is it a movement?
- Who is driving and supporting the protesters?
Building Truly Global INGO Networks: Why is Progress So Slow?
Posted on 12 October 2011 | No responses
By Ken Caldwell
Over the last 10-15 years, most of the leading international NGO federations have been seeking to broaden their global legitimacy, influence, and income by developing strong national affiliates outside Europe and North America (especially in the emerging regional and global powers).
The approaches used have varied across and within federations, including bringing in existing national NGOs, establishing new NGOs, or converting existing field offices. A significant number of new affiliates have been created. However, what strikes me from working with a number of leading federations is that few of these new affiliates are yet achieving their potential – especially in influencing national policies or taking on leading roles in their federation.
In many cases, the affiliate remains small, or dependent on funding from others in the federation, or has limited involvement in international policy debates. In some cases, major tensions have arisen between the affiliate and the global federation. Although there have been some successes in individual countries, no federation seems yet to have found a formula that works consistently.
Does this just need more time? I’m not convinced. The balance of economic power in the world is shifting fast, and the legitimacy and accountability debate is heating up. I suspect global NGOs don’t have the luxury of another 10-20 years to develop strong affiliates in emerging powers.
Have NGOs Become Irrelevant?
Posted on 7 October 2011 | 3 responses
By Elisa Peter
International NGOs are the verge of facing irrelevance, if not extinction. This is one of the main messages of CIVICUS’ latest report, which warns that many well-established non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have become disconnected from people’s aspirations and concerns.
The report argues that citizens are increasingly coming together in new and informal forms of association to affect social change in their communities, often disregarding traditional NGOs. Ingrid Srinath, the Secretary General of CIVICUS, notes that “civil society organizations must embrace people’s movements to connect better with the public and renew themselves in order to survive”.
The genesis of the Arab Spring seems to provide a case in point: individuals using social media to connect with one another led to the fall of authoritarian regimes, while established organizations watched from the sidelines.
Being Counted Means Being Seen: The Invisibility of Older People in Emergencies
Posted on 5 October 2011 | 2 responses
By Bethany Brown
Older people (those aged 60 or above) are currently functionally invisible to development and humanitarian debates. Less than 1% of humanitarian funding goes to programs targeting older people. While not intended to highlight them, a new study articulates a path toward their visibility.
In August, the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University published Sex and Age Matter, a study which aims to inform policy makers and operational actors on sex and age disaggregated data (SADD) collection and its assessment in humanitarian responses for emergencies. This report offers concrete steps for humanitarian actors to take to make older people visible. It recommends gathering data on how they are affected by and experience natural disasters, and shows that SADD is not being collected and used to inform policy, and explains why it should be. Proposing the wide use and analysis of SADD reveals blind spots: “Quality SADD data allows for a more rigorous analysis and diagnosis, identifying who needs what, when and why.”
To reveal those blind spots, thus “finding” invisible populations, such as older people, data must be disaggregated across the life course. While giving examples of SADD-evidence-based approaches, the study emphasizes that the framework is not intended to be prescriptive. The Sphere Project Handbook notes that in an immediate response, SADD collection may be impossible. However, it also finds that it is “of critical importance to identify the different needs and rights of children and adults of all ages.” It specifies 10-year age brackets of data collection through age 80 to “address age-related differences linked to a range of rights, social and cultural issues.” Older people have specific needs that cannot be addressed when grouped with all persons over 18.
What Role for NGOs in the Climate Change Debate?
Posted on 4 October 2011 | No responses
By Elisa Peter
This week, government delegates are discussing international policy options to address climate change at a meeting in Panama ahead of UNFCC COP16 in South Africa later this year. Many NGOs are participating in the meeting, advocating for legally binding commitments by governments to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
Today, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) organized a conference looking at the science and policy of climate change. World-renowned scientific experts on climate change overwhelmingly agreed that concentrations of atmospheric CO2 indicate extensive anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The scientific evidence for human induced climate change is clearer than ever.
Yet, global warming has remained a low priority for the (American) public, especially as economic concerns have dominated their attention. The issue of climate change has also become increasingly polarized across partisan lines. The Pew Research Center’s 2010 poll on climate shows that 64% of the American public thinks that global warming is not linked to human activity. Only 14% republicans believe in human caused warming. In short, people aren’t fully convinced that climate change is an imminent threat.
Even if they were, would the current international negotiations on a second commitment period for the Kyoto Protocol be able to address the climate challenge? Scientists at the conference were skeptical not only because of the slow progress of international talks but also because of the way Kyoto was set up, as a pollution control treaty (limiting CO2 emissions) rather than a comprehensive climate change treaty. Kyoto can be seen as the result of a horse-trading negotiation, which assigned different rights to pollute to various rich countries. But it did not encourage countries to look at alternative development paths.
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Reviving this blog!
Posted on 4 October 2011 | No responses
By Sherine Jayawickrama
This blog has been silent for a few months and I am keen to revive it. In the coming weeks and months, we’ll be looking for various ways to make this blog a platform for a diversity of voices on a range of matters related to international NGOs – from the issues NGOs focus on to the ways in which they work, and from innovations being advanced by NGOs and their partners to the barriers that impede more fundamental change within NGOs. Please share your ideas on issues this blog should explore and let us know if you are interested in contributing posts!
Sherine Jayawickrama manages the Humanitarian & Development NGOs domain of practice at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard, and manages this blog.
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