March 17, 2008
How Can Charities Sustain Sudan Efforts?
Four years after many charities started providing aid in Sudan’s Darfur region, can the relief effort really be sustained? And what can be done to help humanitarian workers, who face burnout, harassment by government officials, and violence?
So asks Samuel Worthington, president of Interaction, following a visit to Sudan last month. Mr. Worthington writes on the organization’s Web site that every international nonprofit group he spoke to in El Fasher, a town in Darfur, has been attacked in some way.
“Stories of mock executions or even a real execution at the hand of rebels, evacuations, beatings, and death threats now form very poignant memories among the humanitarian community,” he says. “The fear of yet another carjacking at gunpoint is a real concern. Every agency has lost a vehicle, with drivers either hurt or left to walk back into town.”
“What brings NGO aid workers down is not the hardship (there are harsher places to work) but the endless obstacles for them to do their work.,” he says. “Every movement of NGO expatriate staff is regulated and limited by government controls. Their space to work, the ‘humanitarian space’ that enables a group of people to care for others within a war zone, is getting smaller.”
Still, Mr. Worthington says that the accomplishments of charities over the last four years have been “amazing,” with organizations helping to house, feed, educate, and counsel hundreds of thousands of people who’ve been forced out of their homes. “Unfortunately,” he says, “it’s reality that is not sustainable.”
What do you think? Are there ways to reduce security risks against aid workers such as those in Darfur? Is the relief effort unsustainable? What more can be done to help aid workers deal with the challenges they face?
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How can charities sustain Sudan Efforts? The indefinite nature of the Darfur civil emergency and the evolving scenarios on the ground make for a complex enterprise. The challenges noted by InterAction CEO Sam Worthington are real. Donors of all kinds, private and public, are integral partners with aid agencies in this necessary effort. The additional challenges INGOs face are meeting self-defined objectives and donor expectations in a context as fluid and stymied as that characterized in Darfur, where insecurity hampers safe movement for staff conducting so many key humanitarian interventions. From the INGO perspective, one of the most important things charities can do to sustain the important work on the ground in Darfur – regardless of how long it will take – is to help overcome a lack of awareness in many public sectors about what actually can and is being done in Darfur to save lives. Therefore, charities can form partnerships with INGOs that have humanitarian operations on the ground to educate their constituencies that real work is being done every day that saves lives and reduces human suffering. Charities can also adopt flexibility and constancy in their partnership with us as do we in response to the reality of changing circumstances. Results in communities across Darfur are obvious now and success does abound even in the face of enormous tragedy and complexity. Charities can help INGOs by communicating stories of success and hope within their circles, and sharing how these successes are hard won due to logistical and security obstacles we must overcome daily to achieve goals. This can inspire others to come into the circle of support so critical to keep these interventions going when political strategies are yet to be fully realized. Partnerships between charities and INGOs are critical to the continuation and expansion of the humanitarian work and the protection it affords to millions in Darfur. What charities do is facilitate the presence on the ground of humanitarian agencies – and “protection by presence” is one of the most important buffers INGOs like Relief International provide for Darfur civilians who are vulnerable to the threat of violence and despair. Therefore, charities new or old to the cause of Sudan are central alliances to the delivery of support and sustenance of efforts that, as well noted by Mr. Worthington, come sometimes with enormous obstacles and delays but remain banners of hope. We must create partnerships together with the philanthropic community that operate vigilantly in Sudan, to foster the tremendous mandate required of work and support to the families and children and women whose needs will not disappear, even as public sentiment might wane.
—Elizabeth Ross, Africa Program Director, Relief International
— Elizabeth Ross, Relief International Africa Programs Apr 3, 04:12 PM #