Category Archives: humanitarian action

In defense of skills over passion

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I say this regularly on various online groups, and I’ll say it again here: your desire to help others, or your desire to travel, or your ambition, are not enough to make a difference in the lives of the poor and vulnerable in other countries.

In addition, people do not get to be stock brokers, doctors, architects or lawyers just because they want to; for most professions, you have to also work over many years to acquire the skills and expertise needed. Why would working in international development?

And don’t people in developing countries deserve people with skills and expertise, not just people with a big heart?

I’m not disparaging people with big hearts – but I believe that it’s much more beneficial and economical to local communities in poor countries to hire local people to serve food, build houses, educate young people, etc., than to use resources to bring in an outside volunteers to do these tasks. I believe the priority for sending volunteers to developing countries should be to fill gaps in local skills and experience, not to give the volunteer an outlet for his or her desire to help or the donor country good PR – that doesn’t mean I think all volunteering by unskilled people should be banned, but it does mean that that such volunteering shouldn’t be the priority in helping people in the developing world.

So, on that note, I really liked this blog by Marianne Elliott, Why Your Passion Is Not Enough:

My point is that passion, perseverance and innovation are sometimes highlighted at the expense of professionalism… much more than passion is needed in order to make a positive difference in the world… Just as passionate persistence without professional skills won’t get you a part in The Hobbit, good intentions without professional skill won’t result in doing the good you intend.

April 20, 2018 update: Here is a blog by Jasmin Blessing, a UN Volunteer with UN Women in Ecuador. It is a really nice example of what effective volunteering abroad looks like.

Also see:

The realities of voluntourism: use with caution

Reality Check: Volunteering Abroad

Volunteering To Help After Major Disasters.

How to Make a Difference Internationally/Globally/in Another Country Without Going Abroad

Ideas for Funding Your Volunteering Abroad Trip.

How to Get a Job with the United Nations or Other International Humanitarian or Development Organization

transire benefaciendo: “to travel along while doing good.”

Motorcycles in Development / Aid / Relief & Volunteer Efforts

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Motorcycles for good? Indeed! This web page tracks the use of motorcycles in development / aid / relief / humanitarian efforts in developing countries. This isn’t so much about volunteers going to developing countries and using motorcycles for relief efforts; rather, these efforts are more about training local people to ride and service motorcycles themselves as a part of such efforts, which not only helps get aid, including medicine, where it needs to go, but also helps create small businesses.

Are you an individual, or part of a group, that wants to travel and do good (transire benefaciendo) via motorcycle? You have several options for helping either domestically (in your own country), or abroad (in another country), but note that it will take planning before your trip, as well as a lot of coordination in the weeks and days leading up to your on-the-road activities. This web page, transire benefaciendo, will help you coordinate such an efort. See in particular the section on Volunteering On Your Own Abroad. Also see this page on Finding Community Service and Volunteering for Groups, as well as the links at the bottom of that page.

I haven’t been to a developing country on my own motorcycle yet, but I’m working up to it:

Road into Garnet Ghost Town 2010

Of course, everyone knows Expat Aid Workers love motorcycles.

Tags: motorcycles, motorcycle, bikes, bikers, motos, travel, volunteer, volunteering, outreach, collaboration, community, engagement, international, community, service, help, helping, NGOs, nonprofits, INGOs, Africa, Asia, South America, abroad, good, work, assisting

People not following-through on volunteering in disasters

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The state of Queensland, Australia suffered from horrific floods in December 2010 and January 2011. Thousands of Australians expressed interest in volunteering, inundating volunteer centers and online message boards.

Recently, Volunteering Queensland offered this Submission to Queensland Floods Commission of Inquiry, which said, in part:

QUEENSLAND’S peak volunteer organisation says the vast majority of people who registered to help clean up following the floods and cyclone Yasi backed off at the last minute.

Some people backed out because they realized this was a real commitment of time, and they couldn’t make that real commitment. Some dropped out because they could not donate a significant amount of time – an hour or two when you might have some time eventually is usually not enough for such a situation. Some backed out because they really were not prepared to volunteer (they hadn’t set up child care, time off from work, transportation, etc.).

Seasoned volunteer managers, of course, aren’t surprised. Even in a non-disaster situation, we have come to expect at least 50 percent of people who express interest in volunteering to drop out. That’s why many volunteer managers, including myself, insist on at least a bit of screening before a volunteer is placed into an assignment, so that drop outs happen in the screening process, not after the assignment is given and we’re counting on those volunteers.

Martin Cowling has done a great blog about this Queensland report, and I encourage you to head over to it, read it, read the comments (yes, I’ve commented there) and respond yourself.

Here is a resource I created following the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, Volunteering To Help After Major Disasters, which I’ve regularly updated at least monthly every since, per the over-whelming number of posts to places like YahooAnswers by people who want to volunteer following a disaster (earthquake, hurricane, tornado, tropical storm, flood, tsunami, oil spill, zombies, etc.). It’s become one of the most popular pages on my web site, despite being posted as almost an after-thought and being focused on people that the majority of my web site is not focused on (it’s not even linked from my home page!).

Tags: volunteering, volunteers, relief, disaster, response, spontaneous, episodic, microvolunteer, microvolunteering. communications, public relations, engagement, engage, community, nonprofit, NGO, not-for-profit, government, outreach, staff, employees, civil society, floods, tornadoes

 

Helping left behind animals in Japan

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I have been riveted by the Facebook status updates of Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support (JEARS), whose volunteers are trying to help the many animals left behind following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Some of the animals are homeless or abandoned because their owners are now dead. Some are in this situation because their owners are not allowed to have them wherever they are living now. The stories of animals reunited with their families brings a tear every time. If you speak Japanese and can be entirely self-funded (taking care of your transportation and food and at least some accommodation), you would be welcomed onsite to help with JEARS. Otherwise, the best way you can help is with a financial donation.

JEARS is one of those organizations that gets Facebook, that understands you have to publish regularly with updates that help people understand you are doing great work — not just endless posts about the donations you need or something you are selling.

And on that note: animal shelters in tornado-stricken areas of the USA are facing dire straights. They need money, they need food donations (and donors need to bring it onsite to them – they CANNOT come get it), they need donations of washing machines, they need bedding, and they need people to adopt or foster abandoned dogs and cats. The shelters serving these areas are easy to find on Google.

ICTs & Disaster Response – Roundup

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Some terrific resources have come my way over the last few months regarding information communications technologies (ICTs) and disaster response / humanitarian efforts. Here’s a roundup:

Disaster Relief 2.0 – The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies
The report analyzes how the humanitarian community and the emerging volunteer and technical communities worked together in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and recommends ways to improve coordination between these two groups in future emergencies.

Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities (CDAC)
CDAC is a cross-cluster service working to enable humanitarian operations to get information to those populations affected by Haiti’s January 12 2010 earthquake and its aftermath and to channel their voices back to the providers of assistance working with local media and non-mass-media communications. CDAC uses various information and communication methods in an effort to act as a source of expertise and advice, a community of practice, and an advocacy platform that aims at ensuring that the humanitarian sector mainstreams CDAC and that local media play a role in maximising aid effectiveness, accountability, and transparency.

Left in the Dark: The Unmet Need for Information in Humanitarian Responses
This October 2008 policy briefing from the BBC World Service Trust explores the value of providing information and communication to disaster-affected populations by drawing on the example of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster – where, as stated here, the greatest dissatisfaction of the victims was over the poor information flow. “The humanitarian system as it stands is not equipped with either the capacity or the resources to begin tackling the challenge of providing information to those affected by crises. There is very little dedicated public communications capacity within major humanitarian organisations.”

infoasaid 
infoasaid seeks to improve how aid agencies communicate with disaster-affected communities. The emphasis is on the need to deliver not just material supplies in times of crisis but, rather, information – defined here as aid itself. Amongst its actions: infoasaid is producing a library of generic key messages (with some tailoring for local context) to be conveyed to the affected populations during an emergency.

ICT for Disaster Risk Reduction
This set of case studies explores the ways in which information and communication technology (ICT) has positively impacted the various phases of disaster management. The document highlights the different digital technologies and their use to reduce disaster risks. The need for journalism and media development is also recognised. This is from the Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development, but isn’t focused only on Asia and Pacific countries.

10 things aid workers can learn from Haiti about urban disasters
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) office brings together to UK’s largest humanitarian agencies to fundraise after major disasters. The report looks at the world through post-Haiti glasses to pick out other cities with similar geographical and social vulnerabilities. The report points to the importance of disaster risk reduction and preparedness work – as well as agencies’ own continuity planning. ALNAP has a nice blog about the report.

A large NGO donated their security policy and protocols to OpenSecurityDocs. The name of the NGO has been taken out to make it more general for other NGOs. Here is the document. You are invited to donate your security documents for the benefit of other NGOs to this initiative as well. Per your direction, references to your organization can be taken out before your resource is published on the OpenSecurityDocs site. 

Where do I find these resources? Often, via the Communications Initiative. I try to read their email update once-a-week, because I often find resources that help me in my work regarding communictions and community engagement for nonprofits, NGOs, international development agencies and others.

I also find them via who I follow on Twitter. Some recent tweets on the subject of ICTs & Disaster Response that got my attention:

Q: Are crisismappers bound by same accountability frameworks as humanitarian aid workers? A: Unclear, need to explore http://t.co/axAVL1W

[Video] An inside look at the Japanese #RedCross response to the March 11 #earthquake & #tsunami: http://ow.ly/52sCJ

New photos from #Haiti show us the continuing rebuilding efforts around Port-au-Prince. http://ow.ly/51px2 #RedCross

And don’t forget: I’m always looking for examples of how folklore, rumors (or rumours) and urban myths / urban legends interfere with relief and development activities, and government initiatives, and, even better, how these have been addressed. What you send may end up on this web page.

Tags: communications, public relations, engagement, engage, community, nonprofit, NGO, not-for-profit, government, outreach, innovation, non-traditional, innovative, staff, employees, volunteers, civil society, social media, technology, ICTs, Internet, network, smartphones, cell phones

Helping Southern states in the USA

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Disaster is striking in the American Southeast. Recent tornadoes and current flooding have brought devastation and heartache to many parts of the South, and messages are everywhere on various online communities, asking how to help. There is an incredible amount of misinformation being posted about how to help as well.

If you want to help the states affected by recent tornadoes and current flooding in the USA, you can:

  • Watch the news, and when you hear a county name for a state that is being affected, or a city name, look up the American Red Cross chapter, or the local Humane Society/ASPCA/animal welfare organization serving that area on Google. Most of these will have a web site that allows you do donate directly to the organization. The Red Cross provides emergency housing and various other emergency services to local people, but usually doesn’t allow pets in their emergency shelters; local animal shelters are struggling with abandoned pets and pets that aren’t allowed into emergency shelters. Your donations provide desperately needed funds to help both food and animals! The Red Cross estimates that it will spend as much as $31 million responding to these recent disasters; you can donate to the national chapter, but many feel better donating directly to chapters serving an affected area.
  • If you want to volunteer in a disaster-affected area, you need to be entirely self-funded and self-sufficient, formally affiliated with a credible organization, and have full approval of that organization to go to the area and serve as a volunteer. People affected by these disasters need to be protected from unscrupulous people who may use this situation to take advantage of others (it’s already happening), and people affected by these disasters deserve trained people who won’t end up having to be cared for themselves because they are woefully unprepared (yes, it happens). Here’s much more about the realities of volunteering to help after major disasters.
  • Unless you have read on a web site by an organization in the affected area that they are accepting donations of food and clothing, do NOT start gathering food and clothing for the affected area. It’s often much cheaper – and much safer – for a relief organization to buy food and ship it to an area, knowing they are buying exactly what’s needed, knowing the food is not spoiled, knowing it’s appropriate, etc., than to ask for donations and have to spend endless hours figuring out what food is usable, what is not, and trying to put together meals based on what is donated. If you are determined to donate items for an affected area, then call the local Red Cross and local communities of faith in the affected area and ask if they will accept what you are gathering to donate. And be prepared to drive to the area yourself – no one is going to come pick them up from you, as they are much too busy dealing with disaster victims. Also, note that organizations are saying they CANNOT handle any more used toys or cast-off clothing (they would prefer cleaning supplies and diapers!). More on donating things instead of cash or time (in-kind contributions).
  • You can also look at the web sites of high schools serving these affected areas; if they are in need of something (prom dresses, school supplies, etc.), they will say so directly on their web site.

Obviously, donating financially is the way to go if you really want to help. Even just $10 will help – and, yes, you can afford $10 (don’t buy coffee shop coffee for a few days, make your lunch for a few days, don’t eat from any restaurants all week, reduce your cable package subscription to the most basic for a month or two, etc.).

Use this as an incentive to call your local American Red Cross, right now, and start getting training for disaster in your own area. Why not at least call and attend the next volunteer orientation? There’s no obligation to volunteer just for attending the orientation!

Tags: nonprofit, NGO, not-for-profit, outreach, disaster, volunteer, tornado, flood, earthquake, tsunami, volunteers, donations, donate, canned goods, clothing, clothes

Mothers/women facing dire times worldwide

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Mother’s Day is Sunday here in the USA, so here’s some stories that have gotten my attention recently about the condition of women and girls in various places:

    • The average height of very poor women in some developing countries has shrunk in recent decades, according to a new study by Harvard researchers. “Height is a reliable indicator of childhood nutrition, disease and poverty. Average heights have declined among women in 14 African countries, the study found, and stagnated in 21 more in Africa and South America. That suggests, the authors said, that poor women born in the last two decades, especially in Africa, are worse off than their mothers or grandmothers born after World War II.” More in this article by The New York Times.
    • “Women cry when they have girls”: Despite economic growth, Indian families let its girls die. A deep-rooted cultural preference for sons remains in India. Even the government has accepted that it has failed to save millions of little girls. “Whatever measures that have been put in over the last 40 years have not had any impact,” India’s Home Secretary G.K. Pillai said last month.
    • Jamie Henry, 24, is enrolled at South Texas College, has two children and gets by on government assistance and a $540 disability check her husband, a veteran of the Marines and National Guard, receives every month. “I have a 7-year-old boy and a 4-month-old girl, and I probably would have had 10 kids in between that if I didn’t come here and get my (contraceptive) shot,” Henry said Tuesday morning as she waited for her appointment at Planned Parenthood’s McAllen clinic. Henry, who gave birth to a baby girl four months ago and does not want any more children in the near future, is the type of woman Planned Parenthood Association of Hidalgo County is fighting to protect from an onslaught of legislative attempts to cut basic family planning services at the state and federal level. Here’s the story from Texas, as well as breakdowns of numbers from Minnesota and New Jersey that explain just how devestating to women – including mothers and mothers-to-be – cuts to Planned Parenthood will be.

Also see: Empowering Women Everywhere – Essential to Development Success, a list of research and articles that confirm that empowering women is essential to development success and highlight the very particular challenges to women’s access to education, health care, safety and economic prosperity.

Tags: moms, women, woman, wives, wife, gender, female, value, worth, funding, MDGs

Survey for organizations hosting international volunteers

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My colleague Erin Barnhart needs to hear from you if your organization recruits/places/hosts volunteers from other countries. This research is NOT limited to organizations in any one country:

Does your organization partner with one or more host organizations to engage international volunteers? If so, I hope you will consider inviting them to participate in a survey I am conducting as part of my dissertation research at Portland State University. The purpose of this survey is to collect information that will help the field of international service garner a better understanding of how and why organizations host international volunteers. 

The survey is confidential, consists of 22 questions and should take about 15 minutes to complete. To learn more about the survey and to take it: http://volunteerstudy.questionpro.com

Please note that this study is of organizations that host international volunteers rather than volunteer-sending organizations; if your organization is involved in international service but does not physically host them, please consider forwarding the survey link to partner host organizations.

Also, this study is for nonprofit/nongovernmental organizations and government agencies that are not located in the USA; again, if your organization is in the USA and sends volunteers overseas, please forward the survey link to your partner host organizations.

To complete the survey, your organization should focus on, do work in, or seek to address one or more of the following cause, issue, or problem areas: Agriculture, Arts, Community Development, Disability Issues, Economic Development, Education, Environment, Family, Health and Medicine, Human Rights and Civil Liberties, International Cooperation, International Relations, Philanthropy, Poverty and Hunger, Rural Issues, Technology, Volunteering, Women, or Youth.

Forward this message to international service colleagues, fellow organizations, and networks!

When Erin has finished her research, she will share survey results online (of course I’ll be linking to that from this blog!).

Three Cups of Tea Fallout

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The media and nonprofit world is abuzz regarding the allegations against Three Cups of Tea author and Central Asia Institute founder Greg Mortenson. And they should be. There is no question that Mortenson has done a pathetic job of managing donor money. There is no excuse for his lack of financial accounting – I’m annoyed by his aw-shucks-I’m-not-a-nonprofit-professional-I’ve-never-done-this-before-therefore-I-get-a-pass attitude as anyone.

But that’s where my condemnation ends, at least for now. I think this is a nuanced story of misunderstanding, mismanagement and exaggeration – not just on Mortenson’s part, but on some others’ as well, including Jon Krakauer. Many of the accusations by 60 Minutes and Krakauer are as in dispute as Mortenson’s claims.

That facts and recollections are in dispute regarding events described in Three Cups of Tea, that one person’s kidnapping is another person’s hosting of a foreigner, isn’t surprising to me at all. It’s not even alarming. I worked in Afghanistan for six months. In that region, reality is in flux. Many people will tell you what you want to hear. That approach has kept many Afghan and Pakestani individuals, families and villages alive – but can make evaluation and reporting a massive challenge. This village member says such-and-such happened yesterday. Another says it happened last year. Another says it never happened. A perpetual real-life Roshoman. Although, really, I can’t single Afghanistan out for this behavior – have you ever watched Judge Judy?

It’s been revealed that a school Mortenson’s organization funded is being used to house hay instead of educate children. Some schools may not have been built. Some are claimed by other donors. None of that is surprising – I knew of a school funded by the Afghan program I worked for that was housing the local village elders instead of holding classes. I knew of a local employment project that had paid everyone twice – once by our agency and once by a military PRT, for the same work. Not saying it’s right, not saying you shouldn’t be upset when you hear those things, but you should know that in developing countries with severe security problems, widespread corruption and profound poverty, this happens ALL THE TIME. Humanitarian professionals are told again and again: give local people control over development projects. And we do. And a result is that, sometimes, local people double dip, or don’t do what they were paid to do, or exploit others. How do you stop that? Are YOU ready to go on site visits in remote regions of Waziristan every three months? Are YOU ready to be called culturally-insensitive or overly-bureaucratic in your efforts to ensure quality in development projects in remote places?

Let’s also remember that many people have criticized Krakauer’s own “facts” in his best selling non-fiction book Into Thin Air. 1. 2. I remain unconvinced that many of his accusations are true.

Do not confuse incompetence with corruption. It sounds like Mortensen was and is completely out of his depth of competency in running a nonprofit, and he deserves every ounce of blame for not remedying that situation when this was made clear to him – repeatedly! But I have yet to read anything that makes it sound like he, and his work, are completely fraudulent. Or even mostly fraudulent. By all means, call into question Mortensen’s accounting and call for a verification of results. I look forward to further investigations. But to dismiss everything Mortensen has said as fallacy is ridiculous.

Absolutely, let’s demand Mortenson and his agency adhere to the basic fundamentals of financial transparency and program evaluation. Let the line between his personal, for-profit activities and his nonprofit activities become thick and very tall (something Bob Hope never did, it’s worth noting – his USO tours and his Christmas TV specials were underwritten by the US government, and Hope profited handsomely from the television broadcasts). Let the Montana Attorney General’s office to do its job of investigating the finances of both Mortenson and the organization he founded. Maybe Mortenson should resign as Executive Director and become an unpaid spokesperson. Maybe he should pony up the salaries of one or two super-nonprofit-fixers to get the organization back on track (yes, those people do exist), and the board should hire a seasoned nonprofit, NGO or humanitarian agency manager to lead the organization.

Maybe when all the facts are in I’ll be calling for Mortenson’s head as well. But I’ll be waiting for the facts first.

Why does this concern me so much? This quote from Joshua Foust’s blog captures my feelings well:

Sadly, Mortenson’s good work is going to be overshadowed — possibly destroyed — by this scandal (albeit one that looks like it was largely of his own making). And the losers, besides wide-eyed Americans who’ve lost an unassailable hero, will ultimately be the people his schools were helping.

I care about Afghanistan, and I not only chide Mortenson for putting support for children there in danger, I chide people and publications like 60 Minutes and the Nonprofit Quarterly for making a judgment without all the facts yet.

UPDATE: New York TImes‘ NIcholas Kristof also offers a caution on claims that everything Mortenson has done has been a lie. “I’ve visited some of Greg’s schools in Afghanistan, and what I saw worked. Girls in his schools were thrilled to be getting an education. Women were learning vocational skills, such as sewing. Those schools felt like some of the happiest places in Afghanistan.”

Innovation, Security Haiti, & the Humanitarian Response Index

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Four resources regarding work in aid, development, and humanitarian response that caught my attention recently:

(1)

As of January 2011, at least 45 evaluations are known to have been done of various aspects of the international response to the Haiti earthquake. ALNAP’s latest report provides a mapping and analysis of these evaluations, to help support the ongoing efforts by agencies working in Haiti. ALNAP has worked with the OECD-DAC Evaluation Network, the UN Evaluation Group to produce this paper and this blog represents some of the key findings that may be of interest to ALNAP members.

(2)

ALNAP recently facilitatied a workshop on Supporting Innovation in Humanitarian Organisations. A blog about the workshop is here, along with an excellent comment that says, among other things: “I have seen a number of organisations not engaging their field staff so as to findout if their innovative ideas will apply on the ground.” What are your thoughts about how humanitarian organizations do or don’t encourage/cultivate innovation? Join the discussion. 

(3)

OCHA’s has released its latest report: To Stay and Deliver: Good practice for humanitarians in complex security environments

Former U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland comments in the preface of the report, “The last 10 years represent one of the worst decades ever in terms of attacks on humanitarian workers and lack of humanitarian access. When people in need are deprived of assistance because relief workers are attacked or blocked, we are not faced with a political or diplomatic ‘problem’ – we are faced with an outrage and a criminal act under international and national laws.”

The report also includes a chapter on the opinions of national staff, working for International NGOs, which often remains a forgotten aspect of this debate. This article from Reuters Alertnet discusses some of the issues raised by this chapter.

(4)

The 2010 Humanitarian Response Index (HRI) has been released by DARA, “an independent organization committed to improving the quality and effectiveness of aid for vulnerable populations suffering from conflict, disasters and climate change.” The HRI aims to identify and promote good donor practice and contribute to greater transparency, accountability and impact in humanitarian action.

Among other things, the HRI 2010 report raises concerns about the politicisation of aid, where donor governments are undermining neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian assistance in order to meet political, economic or security interests. In Somalia, for example, some humanitarian workers were worried that anti-terrorism legislation of some donors like the US would mean they would be criminally liable for any aid delivered in areas controlled by the Al-Shabaab group. “Humanitarian workers – including representatives from donors own aid agencies – are being placed in an awkward position, where other parts of government are pushing them to implement programmes that go against good practices and quality standards. In some crises this is causing significant stress for people trying to do their best in already difficult situations,” sayssays Philip Tamminga, Head of the HRI initiative.

Read the People in Aid commentary about the latest HRI here.

Download the HRI report here.