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2016-07-30T13:08:24Z

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2016-06-30T13:42:05Z

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Educational Rehabilitation of Children of Farm Suicides by BJS

2015-11-16T12:32:14Z

"The emerging farmer suicide capital of India" isn't a qualifier which any region in the world would ever want to allude to itself. Sadly Marathwada, a historically backward region of Maharashtra has been a helpless witness, falling prey to a yet another vicious phenomenon of farmer suicides over last few years. It is no wonder then that Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana (BJS), a leading nonprofit organization with an extensive experience in disaster response has felt the urge to extend its maximum contribution to alleviate the woes of the bereaved families. The rapidly spreading problem of farmer suicides is nothing short of a disaster and BJS aims to address a potentially bigger problem emanating from this scenario in a manner which holds the promise of having a long lasting impact on the lives of the survivors of the suicide victims.

The loss of a loved one and especially an earning member always deals a cruel blow to the kith and kin of the victim. Matters become worse for the impoverished and the marginalized sections of the society; the economic impact of the tragedy gets compounded by the psychological impact on the traumatized family members. At such times children belonging to such families become the most vulnerable of the lot and nothing can prepare them enough for the multitude of challenges that come in the wake of such a tragedy. It is extremely crucial to provide a conducive psychosocial environment to such children in order to prevent them from succumbing to cycles of trauma, depression and loss of purpose in their early lives. The hard hitting reality of the loss of income and life often leaves very little choice for the surviving elders in the family, but to go out and work (especially for sugarcane cutting as in Marathwada)to keep the hearth running. Very often the children are left alone at home to fend for themselves. In the absence of proper care and timely attention to such children, myriad social problems could surface in the long run for them. Thus it is critical to constructively engage them and channelize their minds in the proper direction when tragedy strikes. Education is by far, the only means to shape the lives of such children and keep them from going astray.

It is with this intent and after looking at the grim picture of the Marathwada region, that the project of the educational rehabilitation of the children (boys and girls) from the households of farmers who have committed suicides across Beed, Latur and Osmanabad districts has been undertaken by BJS. BJS would do so by relocating the children, identified through a planned mechanism and moving them to its state-of-the-art Wagholi Educational Rehabilitation Centre (WERC) in Pune. WERC is a facility established by BJS specifically for such purpose since the 1993 Latur earthquake. BJS has a successful history and a proven track record of rehabilitating over 3000 disaster affected children since then.

BJS believes that for a crisis so acute, the intervention has to be long term and is therefore ready to invest close to a decade on every child who will thus be brought to WERC. This project will entail that the responsibility of the holistic education, food, accommodation, daily needs, counseling, healthcare and nutrition of all these children would be entirely borne by BJS from Std V- XII. We are hopeful that this project will bring a ray of hope in the lives of the families of these children as much as it will be a life changing experience for the children themselves.

About WERC

The Wagholi Educational Rehabilitation Centre (WERC), a sprawling 10 acre campus had been established to cater to the educational, psychological, social and other needs of around 1000 earthquake- hit children from Latur & Osmanabad in 1993. Over the years this facility has grown to be a learning ground for thousands of children from other disaster affected areas and also from the malnourished tribal belts of Melghat and Dahanu in Maharashtra. The vision is to integrate these children with the mainstream social scenario so that they are capable of contributing to the nation building process in future. This infrastructure consists of a residential facility along with a school from Std V-XII affiliated to the State Board and a senior college affiliated to the University of Pune. The premises also house the hostel staff quarters, a huge dining area, playground and sports facilities and a 24X7 medical centre.

Project Scope:

a) The children currently studying from Std V onwards would be moved to WERC. The reason behind this is that the WERC co-education school in Pune currently operates from Std V-XII.

b) The households that have been identified for this project belong to the districts of Beed, Latur and Osmanabad where suicides have occured between 1st Jan 2015-31st Oct 2015. These districts have been chosen primarily for the following reasons:

Latur & Osmanabad- BJS has a record of successful educational rehabilitation of 1000 earthquake affected children of Latur and Osmanabad who were brought to WERC, Pune in 1993 and went on to complete their schooling and higher education before settling down comfortably in their professional lives. These WERC alumni from Latur and Osmananbad, now regularly volunteer in several disaster response initiatives of BJS. Hence they would also serve as a strong guiding force for the new students being brought in from these districts and help boost the morale of the families.

Beed- BJS also commands a goodwill in Beed as it has been running a values education program 'Mulyavardhan' in around 350 Zilla Parishad schools of Beed district with the help of its own staff of 180 local teachers since 2009. Familiarity with the demographic landscape of Beed and a functional active local staff were important grounds for consideration of Beed as a project area.

BJS was also instrumental in the restoration of 115 water bodies within a span of one month from May-June 2013, one of the worst drought years in the history of Maharashtra. 20 lakh cubic meters of the fertile silt was excavated and spread over 2500 acres of farmlands to increase their productivity. As a part of that project, BJS had undertaken a detailed survey of the topography and the demography of the Beed district. This information was an added advantage during the planning of the current project.

Project Objectives

The project has been envisaged with multiple objectives in mind which cater to some immediate as well as several long term needs of the families of the victims:

providing a conducive psycho social environment to the children from the affected households through a well developed curriculum of WERC
sharing the responsibility with the affected families of the education and wellbeing of their children
nurturing attitudes and life skills in these children for creating productive and responsible members of the society
empowering children to be the change agents for bettering the socio-economic prospects of their own families by availing and leveraging the opportunities that good education can provide

Project Plan and Management

Against the prevailing backdrop, Shri Shantilal Muttha- founder BJS, conceptualized the entire project and a decision to go ahead was collectively taken by the BJS Prabandh Samiti on 25th October 2015. Moving with great alacrity in view of the growing urgency of the situation, a project management team was formed headed by BJS district office bearers in the respective districts and senior staff from Pune WERC as follows:

Pune WERC- Shri Ashok Pawar and Shri Salunkhe
Beed district- Shri Rajendra Munot and Shri Kishor Pagariya
Latur district- Shri Sunil Kocheta and Shri Kishor Jain
Osmanabad district-Shri Vijay Bedmuttha and Shri Sunil Dungerwal

That was followed by the formation of survey teams who were to conduct a detailed survey of the affected households. For the first time female surveyors were being sent out to be able to easily establish an emotional connect with the women survivors from the affected households who had lost their male member. 13 such teams were formed with each comprising a female teacher from the BJS Wagholi or Pimpri school, a local female Mulyavardhan teacher and 2-3 local BJS volunteers to assist in the logistic arrangements. A comprehensive training of the surveyor teams was held on 30th Oct at the BJS Head Office, Pune. The actual survey of around 450 households across the three districts culminated on 3rd November, the findings of which have been presented later. The children from Std V-Std XII will be brought to Pune on 21st November and their classes will commence on 23rd Nov.

After processing the formalities of school and hostel admissions by seeking the necessary permissions from the concerned authorities, the children will be provided specialized care in several ways for which the WERC school and hostel staff will be specially trained. Proper records of the health (physical and psychological) of every child will be maintained after a thorough check up followed by counseling sessions by seasoned psychologists and diet plans drawn up by nutritionists for the children. At WERC the children will also undergo a baseline assessment to gauge their academic levels and a remedial support will be provided for the children to catch up on the academic front.

All for Smiles

For the causes behind this agrarian crisis to cease to exist, it will take a concerted effort from a legislative, executive and social standpoint. However given the status quo, with this project BJS hopes to be the silver lining for every dark cloud that has descended upon these families. It is a determined attempt to save and secure the future of an entire generation in these villages for which a conscious effort is being made to provide a long term support to the children. For all those children who stand at the threshold of a new horizon BJS is eager to embrace them with open arms.

UNOS CUANTOS EUROS PARA EL PRESUPUESTO DIARIO

2015-09-04T21:13:58Z

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TE INVITO A QUE PARTICIPE TU TAMBIEN , para ello solo tienes que inscribirte en el enlace que te dejo al final de este articulo. CONSIGUE AQUI UN POCO DE EUROS DIARIO

Haiyan Is A Call To Action: Risk Must Be The Heart of Development

2013-11-22T17:01:10Z

Once more a disaster is centre-stage and slowly, as before, attention shifts from the challenge of response to the failure to prevent.

The destruction wrought by typhoon Haiyan has yet to be fully understood, and the total cost, in terms of shattered lives and financial loss, can still only be imagined. What we know is that Haiyan, one of the strongest storms on record, and the storm surge created by the funnelling of water in Leyte Gulf, has created a level of devastating impact usually reserved for tsunamis. Before and after photographs are similar to those we saw in Aceh after the 2004 Indian-Ocean tsunami, villages wiped from the landscape, cargo ships piled up along the coastline.

That this has happened in the Philippines is somewhat perverse. Disaster risk is built into the country’s development planning, and considered as a threat to national security. Politicians better have disaster prominence in their manifesto if they want to be elected. The government is investing heavily in risk reduction, close to $1 billion a year. And, perhaps more important, disaster risk has entered civil consciousness; prevention and preparing for the regular impact of typhoons, landslides, flooding and earthquakes is of central importance across society.

What does it mean for the international community when a country with arguably one of the most advanced risk management legislative frameworks, a committed government, significant national investment, and often deemed a success story, is unable to both prevent a disaster of this magnitude and to comprehensively prepare? And what does this mean for other contexts?

Of finance, equity and mind-set changes

While the Philippines provides a rare example of a country with proactive investment into preparedness and risk reduction, in other countries wherein risk is not a core part of their development approach, the state of preparedness is far less evident.

Part of the challenge lies in the financing architecture, with overseas development assistance for emergency preparedness largely deriving from humanitarian financing mechanisms that are released only in the aftermath of a crisis. While this reflects a long history of calls by humanitarians to seek ways to stop the cyclical nature of response – and be better prepared for that response - it does little for the communities or states at risk.

There has long been the call for a fundamental mind-set change, and with this transformation of the financing architecture; a move that would take developing countries closer towards the Philippines model and see stronger commitment to preparedness and risk reduction. We need to apply the same logic as the donor governments do in their own constituents: to invest in early warning systems, search and rescue, build capacity for response, devise contingency plans and train personnel to cope with the range of likely risks to be faced. In some regards this is a matter of equity – to support action that we would warrant as necessary of our own constituents. In other regards, this is a matter of economics; it is more cost effective and cost efficient to invest in preparedness as opposed to response only. And yet international funds devoted to disaster prevention and preparedness are a small fraction of what is spent in reconstruction and response. Latest research shows that if you combine the financing of 12 of the poorest countries, for every $1 on disaster 'risk reduction', $160,000 has been spent on disaster 'response'.

A matter of humanitarian aid or development?

What does this mean in practice? While the response to typhoon Haiyan calls heavily upon the international community in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, the impacts have undermined development progress and will continue to set back progress in the future. Understanding risk, being ready for crises and establishing systems of preparedness for emergency response are therefore the responsibility of all: nations, humanitarians and development actors.

As we have seen in the Philippines, emergency response requires near term preparedness activities (e.g. stockpiling of food and non-food items); it also requires a history of investment to enable longer term preparedness to be established, and to be effective and efficient in a crisis (e.g. legislation and budgetary measures to resource these activities). The activities required across the ‘preparedness continuum’ therefore span the humanitarian and development divide.

Challenges ahead

Without more effective and scaled up pre-disaster preparedness measures, vulnerabilities will persist and humanitarian needs will continue to overwhelm the limited resources and recovery capacities of local, national and international actors. However, choosing to deploy or prioritise resources to reduce risks and prepare for disasters presents significant challenges for policy makers. Limited resources and heightened donor expectations provide a difficult context in which to make the case for a new approach. Notwithstanding, a new approach is what is required.

First, a paradigm shift to foreground emergency preparedness in the current response-dominated approach is paramount and a more holistic appreciation of the role of preparedness in humanitarian initiatives is necessary. The way funding is currently structured impedes that holistic approach. However, to separate out preparedness activities to fit existing bifurcated aid structures would simply reinforce an unhelpful humanitarian response/development divide that accentuates short-term, disjointed planning. To bring together preparedness activities as a discrete set of issues risks creating (yet) another silo. Moreover, humanitarian aid budgets are finite and will be more likely under acute pressure in years to come.

It is therefore safe to say that the solutions lie in making more efficient use of existing mechanisms, humanitarian and development, and creating incentives to prioritise preparedness action. Of course, as the Philippines exemplify, the head start given by preparedness does not remove the obligation or imperative for donors or agencies to respond to emergency needs in these countries. It does mean, however, that any such response will be able to meet needs in a more timely, appropriate, and effective manner; in contrast to no preparedness having taken place.

Secondly, a more integrated operational response needs to be found that works to support cost effective pre-emptive action. As noted by the World Bank President, the humanitarian landscape calls for a new approach to ‘shift from being crises fighters to proactive and systematic risk managers.’ Investment in preparedness should be based on a global, regional, national and subnational assessment of risk, related to vulnerability and capacity in country. Such an assessment would allow for better prioritisation of resources where the need is greatest. In high-risk countries, humanitarian and development actors need to work together to develop and support coordinated multi-year and multi-stakeholder systems that integrate preparedness, based on a collaborative and coordinated understanding of risk.

As our thoughts and action return to the immense task at-hand to restore some degree of normality to those affected in the Philippines, experts warn that the ‘one off events’ could well become the norm. While attribution to climate change is extremely complex, we can know that the complicating impact of climate change on disaster extremes in the Philippines poses difficult questions for the humanitarian and development communities going forward.

What is clear is that system change is needed: we need wait no longer to realise that fact.

By Katie Peters (Research Fellow, ODI), Jan Kellett (Senior Research Advisor, ODI), and Sandra Aviles (Officer-in-Charge, FAO Office in Geneva, and IASC TT Chair for Funding Preparedness).

A new report launched on 9th December 2013 by the Overseas Development Institute will set out a new way forward for the current state of financing of emergency preparedness.

Hungry For A Better Future?

2013-05-22T18:08:02Z

Eric Darier is a senior campaigner on Ecological Agriculture for Greenpeace International.

Let’s not mince our words: chemical intensive industrial agriculture is a failure. No doubt, future generations will wonder why we were so blind about its destructive impacts and hesitated so long before switching to ecological farming.

Systemic Failures

The jury has deliberated for too long. But the verdict is obvious: guilty. Let us revisit some of the evidence against the dominant and unsustainable industrial agriculture model. An increased dependency on polluting inputs (synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides that are also fossil-energy intensive) – too many potential toxic substances from agriculture are now in our air, water, soil and bodies. A reduction of the diversity of seeds and livestock due to increased corporate concentration that favors hybrid and genetically engineered (GE) seeds. A dogma of productivism that values higher production levels in the short-term while ignoring the negative impacts on ecosystems, biodiversity, rural communities, animal and human health.

The other ecosystem services that we all enjoy like clean air and drinkable water have been sacrificed to the alter of this unsustainable agricultural system. Huge public agriculture subsidies (read: taxpayers’ money) that transit via farmers but end up in the coffers of giants multinationals selling chemicals and seeds. Together with various trade agreements, international dumping of food commodities and policies (for instance Europe’s Common Agricultural Policy) depresses local food production in countries where there are so many needs. In some countries, agriculture subsidies result too often in the over-production of food commodities that can worsen the diet.

Despite the so-called (chemical) "Green Revolution," the number of people undernourished recently went up to 970 million despite the fact the quantity of food calories available exceeds what is needed now and in the future. Focusing nearly exclusively on food production, regardless of the direct and indirect costs, is simply irresponsible. Let us remember that: about 70 percent of water use by humans already goes to agriculture, 30-50 percent of food is never eaten; meat consumption is a very inefficient way to provide proteins while increasing pressure on deforestation to grow soya to feed livestock; and 1.4 billion people are now overweight, which can cause more illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, some cancers and the like.

Increased extreme weather events – for instance drought and flooding – have negative impacts on agriculture, especially on industrial agriculture. Industrial agriculture is often less resilient in contrast to ecological farming, as the latter is better integrated into stronger ecological systems. This is one more reason why it is urgent to switch to more resilient and ecological farming. Industrial agriculture also creates conditions for the emergence of potential epidemics caused by unsustainable practices, especially those related to industrial animal farming such as avian flu, resistance to antibiotics and meat scandals (mad cow, horse meat).

No Shortage of Solutions for Feeding the World Ecologically

Feeding the world should be done ecologically in order to guarantee the long term survival of the human race. The entire food system has to be refocused around ecological imperatives. The good news is that we know already what has to be done and what is working. The new ecological food system must maintain food and agriculture systems based on biodiversity of seeds, breeds, soil, micro-flora and fauna, pollinators and diversity of diets. It must reduce food waste at all levels from production to consumption instead of increasing production and promote a more equal distribution of existing food resources. It must encourage balanced and healthy nutritive diets, which means for example lowering animal protein production and consumption to levels that are sustainable. It must reduce inequalities and extreme poverty, which are still the main causes of hunger and disease. It must abolish agriculture subsidies or de facto dumping trade practices that discourage ecological and small-scale farming. And it must encourage ecological farming that can produce roughly 80 percent more food per hectare in developing countries.

Practical policy changes to encourage ecological farming solutions already exist. For example, a 2008 United Nations process that involved 900 experts from 110 countries (International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development - IAASTD) identified policy options that Greenpeace welcomes. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food also published several reports that presented solutions to food hunger.

The Transition To an Ecological Food System

While we already know the systemic causes of the problems and their solutions, policy-makers still fail to implement the necessary changes. The chemical industrial food system lobby managed to make us think there was no alternative. So half of the obstacle is to remind ourselves of the systemic failures of industrial agriculture and that ecological solutions are already there. Ecological farming is not only a solution to feeding an ever growing population – it is the only ecologically sustainable long-term solution.

The other half of the obstacle is to shift the money currently invested into chemical intensive industrial agriculture into ecological solutions. This can be done through a number of means. Firstly, by abolishing public subsidies for polluting industrial agriculture and using the funds to assist farmers to transition to ecological farming. Secondly, by changing our personal and collective food habits to organic foods, to low or no meat-based diet, to more seasonal and local produce. Thirdly, by building direct solidarity linkages between farmers and consumers, for instance the network of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Fourthly, by citizens getting involved in actual food production such as urban agriculture and community agriculture. Fifthly, by greater public participation in the growing citizen food movement that fights against some of the worse aspects of the industrial food system. Sixthly, by improving the life of the existing 2.6 billion small-scale farmers already producing the majority of the world’s food to empower them to provide more and better food to some of the poorest in the world – including themselves.

Finally, we should resist technological based solutions that promise the sky, such as genetic engineering or pesticides that often fail to deliver and create other problems making the situation worse. Our challenge is to re-learn to work with nature not against her. In agriculture, working with nature is called ecological farming. We are all eaters and we all must also reclaim and control our food.

Opinions voiced by Global Minds do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Global Journal.

Photo © Paola Viesi

How To ... Select NGO Board Members

2013-05-08T10:33:46Z

Diversity is not about quotas but fair representation. Following on from her previous analysis of NGO boards, Fairouz El Tom lays out the considerations NGOs should keep in mind when appointing board members.

An executive board is the supreme governing body of a non-governmental organisation (NGO). Its decisions determine the organisation's direction and policies, and eventually its impact on the people it serves. Board membership is therefore vitally important.

Almost all NGOs recognise that diversity and inclusion are key values. However, the board membership does not appear to reflect this. Too many are demographically and ideologically homogeneous, and reproduce established gender, class and ethnic hierarchies. Too few adequately reflect the experience and diversity of those they seek to serve.

Clearly, men can individually contest the unequal status of women. Individuals of European origin can oppose the exclusion and marginalisation that many people of different ethnic origins experience. And highly educated persons can choose to figure out how the world appears to those with little or no education.

Nevertheless, governance systems that primarily rely on personal empathy and imagination are fundamentally unsatisfactory. The truth is, where governing bodies have a different social composition from the populations they seek to serve, they will imperfectly understand those populations and will not represent them or their interests adequately, and their decision-making will suffer as a result.

Homogeneous boards are also likely to be blind to certain social realities, as responses to a recent survey on NGO boards revealed. A number simply did not record the ethnicity of board members, refusing in effect to take account of the influence of power and privilege on exclusion and disadvantage — issues that in many instances are central to their mandates and values. Many also failed to perceive the implications of their links to the arms, tobacco and finance industries and arguably failed in their duty of due diligence.

In the end, how an organisation governs itself is a choice. However, organisations whose declared objective is to improve the lives of poor or disadvantaged groups cannot afford to ignore attitudes or behaviour, in their own conduct or in society at large, that shore up illegitimate, unjust social structures. NGOs that de facto exclude those they are meant to serve from the most powerful positions in their organisations, or appoint individuals who serve industries that oppose or hinder their mandates, must expect to be challenged.

So what should an NGO keep in mind if it wants to appoint a board that is sound and appropriate? Four considerations spring to mind. Taken as a whole, its membership should:

• Include a sufficient number of individuals who are recognised and trusted by the (principle) communities it serves.

• Possess enough relevant professional and operational expertise (governance, finance, technical skills, etc associated with the NGO's mandate).

• Include a range of voices to ensure that the board maintains oversight and standards of due diligence, and brings a sufficiently broad ethical perspective to its deliberations.

• Be consistent with the organisation's mandate and values (with respect to diversity, social objectives, etc).

Achieving a balanced board is challenging, and the more activities and audiences an organisation has, the harder it is to represent them adequately on a board of normal size. Nevertheless, the effort is necessary on ethical grounds, for reasons of efficiency, and to manage risk. It is certainly less difficult for most organisations to appoint a sound board than to achieve their mandate.

At the same time, one must tread carefully. Boards exclusively composed of western-educated African or Asian women will be as limited in their worldview as those dominated by heterosexual, middle-aged men of European descent. The same can be said of gender-balanced boards whose ethnically diverse members all belong to elites in their respective societies. Meaningful diversity is not about quotas but equitable representation. To take account of different ways of communicating and experiencing life, it is necessary to balance fundamental values and a variety of specific concerns.

According to Robert Jensen, if we want to meaningfully change the world, "the first step is to tell the truth. Not just the truth we can bear, but all of the truth. Part of that truth is our own complicity."

NGOs should accept that, to act more authentically, they need to be transparent about, and accountable for, the choices they make. If boards themselves are usually responsible for their composition, most participants in NGOs have a role to play in this. Staff can choose which NGOs they work for and can ask their managers and boards to address diversity and inclusion. Members can place these issues on the agenda of their organisations, and elect members accordingly. Donors can take diversity and inclusion into account when they select whom they fund.

With that in mind, here is a non-exhaustive list of additional questions that NGOs might ask when they appoint members.

• How is she connected to the problems we are trying to solve?

• Does his experience hinder him from understanding the reality of those we seek to serve?

• Does she bring a different and relevant experience to the table?

• How do some of her life experiences compare to those of others on the board?

• Are his professional affiliations in line with our objectives?

• Do his actions match his words?

• How does she relate to 'difference'?

• What world does this person aspire to?

Clearly, there is no one or easy way to achieve social change. NGOs should think, speak and act coherently, and question their beliefs and standpoints more strongly. Failing that they are likely, as Arundhati Roy cautions, to "unwittingly reinforce racist stereotypes and re-affirm the achievements, the comforts, and the compassion (the tough love) of western civilisation", acting as "secular missionaries of the modern world".

If we do not explore with open minds the richness and variety of human experience, we will be unable to imagine concretely the new world we say we want to create.

Opinions voiced by Global Minds do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Global Journal.

The article was originally published on The Guardian - Global Development Professional Network.

Related articles: Diversity And Inclusion On NGO Boards

Humanitarian Business and Consequentalist Ethics

2013-03-12T16:44:57Z

Thomas G. Weiss is Presidential Professor of Political Science at The CUNY Graduate Center and Director of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies and also research professor at SOAS, University of London. He is the author most recently of "Humanitarian Business" (Polity Press, 2013).

“Humanitarian” and “business” are juxtaposed above and in the title of my new book for two reasons: provocation and accuracy. It jars those who idealize the humanitarian enterprise because the adjective has uncontested positive connotations while the noun is associated with wheeling and dealing and thus at odds with the self-image of true believers. The adjective is rooted in morality and principle—the parable of the “Good Samaritan” jumps to mind—because humanitarians are only interested in the welfare of those in their care and are unaffected by political and market factors in the countries that provide or receive relief. If humanitarian action claims the moral high ground, “business” is customarily seen to reside on less lofty territory. In contrast to humanitarians, businesspeople operate in an arena where deals are routinely cut, money buys access, the common good is ignored, talk is cheap, and tough decisions about profit margins overlook human costs.

Reality is otherwise, of course. Humanitarians are steeped in politics. The day-to-day functioning of aid agencies intersects in a myriad of ways with home and host governments, with armed insurgents as well as military peacekeepers and local populations; and most crucially, these agencies confront the priorities of funding sources. As agents engaged in resource acquisition and distribution, where they get their resources and how and to whom they deliver aid can have significant political consequences.

Over the last two decades three transformative trends have had an enormous impact on the international humanitarian system: militarization, politicization, and marketization. Many analysts have written about the impact of the first two: boots on the ground and humanitarian intervention (or “responsibility to protect”) and the post-9/11 world in which humanitarians are viewed, by Colin Powell and others, as “force multipliers.”

While militarization and politicization have made humanitarian action more dangerous and yet more necessary, the third factor is no less central to explaining the ongoing humanitarian identity crisis—namely, the impact of the marketplace.

The thawing and end of the Cold War opened the latest chapter in the history of humanitarianism, and one distinguishing characteristic is the dramatic expansion of “suppliers” in terms of numbers, diversity, and resources. While the number of UN organizations has not grown, their budgets have—and at least 2,500 international NGOs are in the business even if only a tenth of them are truly significant. UNDP estimates that there could be 37,000 international NGOs with some relevance for what Linda Polman calls “the crisis caravan,” and that on average 1,000 international and local NGOs show up for any contemporary emergency.

The current global bottom line is some $18 billion (with the UN accounting for some $11 billion of the total). This number would strike most MBAs as a substantial commercial opportunity. Some individual agencies (like the International Rescue Committee) or federations (like Oxfam and Save the Children) are big businesses while others are far smaller, and include some mom-and-pop enterprises. The market drives businesses, but it also drives humanitarians; and Naomi Klein has described the business model behind providing emergency relief as “disaster capitalism.”

What is to be done? As improbable as it sounds, we need to reverse a familiar adage: “Don’t just do something, stand there.” More reflection and less reaction are in order because aid agencies face a steep learning curve in war zones. Responding effectively requires a heightened degree of knowledge and professionalism. There have been a number of international initiatives designed to improve the quality and reliability of humanitarian action by enhancing the training, preparation, and qualifications of aid workers—in short, “professionalizing” their sector in the same way as associations of accountants and physicians.

Progress has not been insignificant, but an entirely different level of openness to evidenced-based action is required. Responding from the heart remains a humanitarian trademark, but effectiveness in today’s complex emergencies requires an equal dose of well-informed tough-mindedness. Humanitarian personnel are specific targets of warring parties; insignia no longer affords protection, and emergency responses are but one element of the complex processes of conflict resolution and reconstruction. The dominant culture is rapid reaction rather than reserved reflection

But humanitarian impulses and goodwill are no longer adequate, if indeed they ever were. We require the humanitarian equivalent of military science.

Careful research could bring substantial benefits to victims. This recommendation is not a self-serving justification by a researcher but a conviction that more data-based social scientific reflection and less visceral reaction would help the humanitarian business function better. The strength of social science lies in its ability to gather, organize, interpret, and disseminate evidence-based recommendations. Humanitarians require discrete and usable knowledge that reformulates how to think about the marketplace and that better specifies cause-effect relationships. Delivery and protection is the business of aid officials and properly preoccupies them, but processing information, correcting errors, and devising alternative strategies and tactics could be the value-added of social scientists. A partnership would be beneficial for aid agencies and academics as well as the denizens of war-torn societies.

As a result of ongoing transformations, civilian humanitarians are arguing among themselves about first principles—independence, impartiality, and neutrality—and undergoing a collective identity crisis in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Those who are clear about the costs of deviating from these principles will be more successful in helping victims than those with no principles or with inflexible ones (otherwise known as “ideology”).

Modesty is a virtue for aid workers and social scientists. Many observers, and among them many of the most committed humanitarians, would have us believe in the humanitarian “imperative,” the moral obligation to treat affected populations similarly and react to crises consistently wherever they may be. No two crises are the same, however, and such a notion flies in the face of politics, which consists of drawing lines as well as weighing options and limited resources to make tough decisions about doing the greatest good or the least harm.

A more accurate and laudable description of contemporary efforts to come to the rescue would be the humanitarian “impulse”—sometimes we can act and sometimes we cannot. Humanitarian action is desirable, not obligatory. The humanitarian impulse is permissive; the humanitarian imperative is peremptory. The transformation of war and the marketplace requires the transformation of humanitarianism as well. Altering the slope of the curves for demand and supply necessitates hard-headed analysis rather than the rigid application of moral absolutes.

Frequently, the word “dilemma” is employed to describe painful decision-making, but the word “quandary” is more apt. A dilemma involves two or more alternative courses of action with unintended, unavoidable, and equally undesirable consequences. If consequences are equally unpalatable, then remaining on the sidelines is a viable and moral option rather than entering the scrum. Humanitarians find themselves perplexed, or in a quandary, but they are not and should not be immobilized by contemporary wars. The key lies in making a good-faith effort to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of any military or civilian course of action and opt for what often amounts to the least-worst option.

The calculus is agonizing but inescapable for those working in today’s humanitarian business.

Opinions voiced by Global Minds do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Global Journal.

The Top 100 NGOs 2013

2013-01-28T16:22:33Z

The Global Journal is proud to announce the release of the second edition of its annual Top 100 NGOs special issue. The only international ranking of its kind, this exclusive feature reflects the increasing global influence of NGOs in all facets of modern life, in the process shining a light on a dynamic, innovative and inspiring sector estimated by the Public Interest Registry (PIR) to encompass close to 10 million organizations. In the multilateral context alone, the number of UN-accredited NGOs had risen from 40 in 1945 to 3,536 by the end of 2011. The Top 100 NGOs ranking will inform policy-makers, business, academics and non-profit leaders.

Continuing to refine its evaluation methodology, The Global Journal considered a pool of approximately 450 NGOs this year based on three key criteria: impact, innovation and sustainability. For some organizations, these changes have resulted in a climb up the ranking, for others, a no doubt unwelcome slide. Beyond the fortunes of individual NGOs, however, the following are some key takeaways from the 2013 list:

While the overall top 10 continues to be dominated by major international development and humanitarian NGOs, the most innovative NGOs reflected a more diverse mix of education, peacebuilding, environment and health activities.

The best represented sub-sectors overall were Development (23), followed by Health (17), Education (15), Children & Youth (13), Environment (10) and Peacebuilding (10).

While the United States again outpaced other countries in geographical terms – with one-third of the NGOs headquartered there – another third of the NGOs featured were based in developing countries, led by India (6), Brazil (5) and Kenya (4). Only the United Kingdom (11) and Switzerland (9) outperformed these emerging actors, while major donors like France (2) and Germany (1) were only a marginal presence in the list.

Beyond profiles of the 100 NGOs that made it into the 2013 edition of the ranking, The Global Journal’s Top 100 NGOs special issue also features a fascinating history of international NGOs by Thomas Davies, an eyewitness account of the ‘dark side’ of NGOs in post-earthquake Haiti by Jonathan M Katz, a thought-provoking essay on the globalization of ideas by Harvard professor David Armitage, a worrying report from Laurent Vinatier on Europe’s ‘last dictatorship’ in Belarus, an exclusive interview with leading historian Mark Mazower on the past and future of global governance and an evocative photo essay by Daniel Blaufuks capturing the everyday beauty of today’s Iran.

Further information – including regarding the evaluation methodology – is available here.

When Politics and Disaster Collide

2013-01-23T08:07:03Z

Disasters Without Borders, John Hannigan, Polity Press, £13.95.

As international attention on natural disasters increases, John Hannigan examines the latest trend in international politics to resolve“borderless” issues. Conceived as a textbook reviewing contemporary debates, Disasters Without Borders presents a comprehensive account of the failures of diplomacy in the realm of disaster management. The book views the field through an intense politicosociological lens, from the emergence of Disaster Risk Reduction in the 1980s, to the recent integration of climate change debates into humanitarian relief strategies.

Disasters Without Borders provides a critical look at the political discourse of disasters as a thinly veiled disguise for hegemonic agendas. Hannigan’s text culminates with a presentation of two competing theoretical approaches that explain the diffusion of norms and ideas by non-state actors beyond a Realist perspective. In a rather anticlimactic fashion, however, he finds that both fall short, but does not present an alternative, leaving readers empty-handed.

The book concludes with the “SCPQ Configuration” (Securitization,Catastrophe Scenario Building and Modeling, Privatization, and Quantification) embodying the currentstate of disaster institutions. Overall, Disasters Without Borders is an enjoyable, easily accessible read, but lacks new insight into tackling the dismal failures of environmental cooperation.

- KC

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