Category Archives: humanitarian action

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.

Free Manuals on Preparation for Disaster Recovery

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In light of recent events in Japan, someone posted information about this publication on one of the many online groups I’m a part of: a free disaster recovery manual, How to Help Your Community Recover from Disaster: A Manual for Planning and Action available free for download.

[ July 2017 update: the aforementioned links to this resource have been corrected. It was originally published in 2010 at http://www.scra27.org/resources/disasterresources/scra_manual_final5810pdf ]

Chapters cover the steps required to understand the potential effects of disaster, organize the community, assess its needs, make an action plan, choose a strategy or strategies for intervention, reach out to various constituencies, track results, and share lessons learned. This is a USA-focused manual, but it’s easily adapted to a variety of settings.

The 104-page text, published in 2010, is grounded in psychological principles closely linked to disaster recovery. It was created by the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA) Task Force on Disaster, Community Readiness, and Recovery Department of Psychology, “a diverse group of researchers, evaluators, and community practitioners.”

One of the sections I like best is Part VI on “Types of Communities and Outreach to Diverse Groups,” which talks about non-obvious communities-within-communities – those who may not be reached by the usual community communication channels. Too often, this type of manual never discusses hard-to-reach individuals and communities within a neighborhood, town or city, like immigrants, people with low-literacy, religious minorities, people who have isolated themselves from neighbors and even the government, and others. Some of these groups are more visible than others, and in thinking about how to address community needs after a disaster, you have to know who makes up your “community.” Unlike many other how-to manuals regarding community work, this manual bluntly discusses the necessity to assess and discuss levels of mistrust among various individuals and groups, to recognize and understand differing cultural beliefs and practices, the necessity to “build authentic human relationships” with a variety of community representatives, and disaster planning for people with disabilities.

(I once asked a fellow aid worker in Afghanistan how our agency was working to reach various under-represented groups in our rural organizing and capacity-building governance work, including women. He replied, “It’s not our job to try to reach those groups. We’re only obligated to work with official leadership. To do otherwise is to not be culturally-respectful.” That comment still burns me.)

A criticism of the document: it mentions spontaneous volunteers, but doesn’t talk about what to do with them or how to respond to them. In disaster situations, the last thing you want are unaffiliated, untrained volunteers handling chainsaws, interacting with or transporting children or other vulnerable people affected by disaster, and engaging in other activities that could, at least, lead to misunderstandings and missteps and, at worst, lead to harm. See this blog on dealing with spontaneous online volunteers, who often overwhelm nonprofit and government offices after a disaster.

People in Aid also has a fantastic primer for organizations who want to develop their own emergency resources for sudden on-set disaster response.

[ July 2017 update: People in Aid is no more! And its wonderful disaster management wiki is gone as well. Luckily, you can still find it by cutting and pasting this URL into archive.org: http://www.peopleinaid.org/interactive/Wikis/MPE/Home ]

Ofcourse, the best preparation for disaster is getting people into disaster-response training programs now, such as through the American Red Cross.

Also see Volunteering To Help After Major Disasters – my own resource which has been rather popular recently (this is a monetized page on my site, so I’ll be donating the money I’ve raised beyond my monthly goal for April to a Japan-focused charity).

No, You Should Not Go to Japan to Volunteer

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Whenever a disaster strikes, thousands of people in countries all over the world start contacting various organizations and posting to online groups in an effort to try to volunteer onsite at the disaster site.

But what most of these people don’t realize is that spontaneous volunteers without the specific, high-level training and expertise that’s actually needed in the area, no affiliation with a credible agency and no local language skills can actually cause more problems than they alleviate in a disaster situation. The priority in these situations is helping the people affected by the disaster, NOT diverting resources to house, transport and otherwise take care of outsiders. In many of these situations, there is NO food, shelter or services to spare for outside volunteers. Volunteers coming into post-disaster areas have to be absolutely self-sustaining for days, even weeks, bringing in all of their own food and shelter. No shelter or safety measures can be provided to volunteers by the government or local people in many of these situations.

Japan and Haiti are incredibly complicated situations that require people with a very high degree of qualifications and long-term commitment, not just good will, a sense of urgency and short-term availability. These volunteers need to be extensively vetted, to ensure not only that they have the proper training and emotional stability to handle a post-crisis, low infrastructure situation, but also, to ensure they aren’t there to take advantage of unattended houses and shops, or even to exploit disaster victims.

Also, more and more agencies are hiring local people themselves, even immediately after a disaster, to clean rubble, remove dead bodies, build temporary housing, rebuild homes and essential buildings, and prepare and distribute food. Hiring and coordinating local people to do these activities themselves, rather than bringing people in from the outside, helps stabilize local people’s lives much more quickly!

People outside of disaster zones also start gathering supplies from family, neighbors and co-workers, envisioning themselves packing up the boxes of supplies and some organization somewhere paying to ship those boxes to post-disaster zones. But it is so much cheaper and more efficient for response agencies to buy and ship these items from areas that are MUCH closer to an affected area that most (all?) refuse these items. Plus, it’s better for relief agencies to buy clothing, shoes, medicine, toiletries, etc. new, or to accept donations in bulk directly from manufacturers and retailers, rather than going through donations made by countless numbers of individuals, which are filled with inappropriate items.

What to do with all these people calling your agency or posting to online groups saying, “I took a First Aid class a few years ago – how can I go to Japan and help?!?” Explain to them why they won’t be going, and strongly encourage them to get training now for possible disasters in their own geographic area instead. I direct people to the Red Cross, telling them that it will take at least a year to go through all of the training provided, and if they aren’t ready to make that training commitment, they aren’t ready to be a volunteer in disaster zones. Volunteering with an organization that helps people locally in other kinds of crisis situations — a domestic violence shelter, a suicide hotline, a crisis center, etc. is also excellent training that is valued by those mobilizing post-disaster volunteers.

Here is what aid agencies are doing in Japan. I also direct people to these agencies to donate financially.

Also see this article on DIY volunteers in Haiti.

The numbers for my page Volunteering To Help After Major Disasters are through the roof. Because this is one of the pages I have monatized, I’ll be donating all of the ad revenue generated for March by this page to the American Red Cross.

Also see this essay: Why Waiting to Give to Japan is a Good Idea.

train now for disasters later

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For almost 100 minutes, dozens of people took turns performing CPR and administering other first aid on a man crumpled on a freezing sidewalk in Goodhue, Minnesota, USA – population about 900, a town without a traffic light. It took almost 100 minutes for the May Clinic’s emergency helicopter to get to the fallen man. The first responders were volunteer fire fighters, police, and rescue squads, made up of both volunteers and paid staff, from neighboring towns. Their teamwork kept blood flowing to the man’s brain, making each rescuer a surrogate for his failing heart. And it worked: the man survived, resulting in what may be one of the longest, most successful out-of-hospital resuscitations ever.

The key to responding to a crisis successfully, whether its one person collapsing in front of you or an entire city collapsing around you, is training now for what might happen later. Getting training now in CPR and first aid, as well as disaster response (all available in the USA from your local chapter of the American Red Cross), can help later. What happened in Goodhue, Minnesota or in any disaster zone shows that: the people who are able to help immediately, the people who are able to make a real difference, are the people who made the time to register to volunteer, to get the necessary training, etc.

Whenever a disaster strikes, hundreds — even thousands — of people start contacting various organizations in an effort to try to volunteer onsite at the disaster site. The images and stories motivate these people to help immediately, in-person. But what most of these people don’t realize is that spontaneous volunteers with no training and no affiliation can actually cause more problems than they alleviate in a crisis or disaster situation. The priority in these situations is helping the people affected by the crisis or disaster, NOT giving spontaneous, unaffiliated volunteers an outlet for their desire to help.

During and after disasters, what’s desperately needed is equipment, supplies and expertise in disaster situations — that’s the priority. Disasters are incredibly complicated situations that require people with a very high degree of qualifications and long-term commitment, not just good will, a sense of urgency and short-term availability. Unless you have a formal affiliation with a recognized disaster relief organization, and training with that organization, you are probably going to be turned away if you want to help onsite.

If you have been moved by a disaster to help in some way immediately, please consider donating financially. Money is desperately needed in these situations to purchase food, up-to-date medicine, shelter, transportation for trained staff, and supplies. Disaster relief organizations cannot rely only on donations of these materials, and don’t have the resources in a crisis situation to go through them and make sure they are appropriate, clean, not expired, etc.; having finances means they can buy what they need, often in-country, and move much more quickly — and time is of the essence in these situations.

In addition to giving funds yourself, you can help by making sure friends and associates know how to give (you might be surprised how many people don’t know where or how to). A simple link on your own site or blog, a link at the end of your emails, an update on your status on FaceBook or MySpace or whatever, telling people how to donate financially, can be a huge help.

If you REALLY want to make a difference for developing countries suffering from a disaster, please make a financial donation to MercyCorps or the American Red Cross. For developed countries, like New Zealand or Japan, check the news and the internet for what agencies in those countries are saying they want – and don’t want. Please, no clothing drives or food drives, unless the American Red Cross says that’s what’s needed — it’s CASH that will pay for the things people need right now. Update your online profiles/status pages to encourage your friends to do the same.

If you want to truly help with a crisis situation or disaster, beyond financial donations, start thinking NOW about ways to get the training and affiliations you need to do such effectively for future emergency situations. There are many ways you can put yourself into a position for such in the future. Here’s why you need such training, and ways to get it.

And for agencies: People in Aid has a fantastic primer for organizations who want to develop their own emergency resources for sudden on-set disaster response. It’s something to do now. Good info for a funding proposal!

The Wrong Way to Celebrate International Women’s Day

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Today is International Women’s Day. 2011 marks the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, which was first celebrated in Europe. In 1975, the United Nations began celebrating 8 March as International Women’s Day, and in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions. Most countries have gone with March 8.

This isn’t a day to give women flowers or take them to lunch. It’s a day to remember that women are denied access to education, health care, income generation and life choices at a staggering rate compared to men. It’s a day to remember that women and girls are undervalued all over the world. Millions of girls are not tracked at all by their governments – there are no systems to record their birth, their citizenship, or even their identity. The 2009 World Economic Forum devoted one of its plenary sessions to the impact of educating girls in developing countries for the first time ever, and noted that only half a cent of every international development dollar currently goes toward girls.

A few days ago, word leaked that USAID is removing or watering down specific women’s rights requirements in funding proposals from organizations in Afghanistan. A senior U.S. official said in the Washington Post article, “Gender issues are going to have to take a back seat to other priorities… There’s no way we can be successful if we maintain every special interest and pet project. All those pet rocks in our rucksack were taking us down.”

Women are not pet projects. Women are not pet rocks. 50% of the Afghan population are not a “special interest.”

Let’s be clear: peace and prosperity in Afghanistan is NOT possible, in the short term nor in the long term, without ambitious targets to improve the lives women, and strict requirements by those organizations receiving USAID funding to meet those targets.

USAID’s watering down of women’s rights requirements in funding programs in Afghanistan further entrenches the practice of leaving 50 percent of the population living in deplorable conditions, depriving them of education and participation in even micro enterprises like raising a GOAT. I have worked with many Afghan women, and more than a few gender specialists based in Afghanistan. To a person, they all say the same thing: reforms for women will NOT happen in Afghanistan without sustained, clearly-stated pressure from donors.

    • When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children.
      (United Nations Population Fund, State of World Population 1990.)
    • An extra year of primary school boosts girl’s eventual wages by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school: 15 to 25 percent.
      (George Psacharopoulos and Harry Anthony Patrinos, Returns to Investment in Education: A Further Update, Policy Research Working Paper 2881 [Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2002].)
    • Research in developing countries has shown a consistent relationship between better infant and child health and higher levels of schooling among mothers.
      (George T. Bicego and J. Ties Boerma, Maternal Education and Child Survival: A Comparative Study of Survey Data from 17 Countries, Social Science and Medicine 36 (9) [May 1993].)
  • When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 percent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man.
    (Phil Borges, with foreword by Madeleine Albright, Women Empowered: Inspiring Change in the Emerging World [New York: Rizzoli, 2007], 13.)

Give a man to fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. Teach a WOMAN to fish, you feed her FAMILY for a lifetime. Teach a woman to fish, and everyone eats.

Empowering Women Everywhere – My Favorite Resources, a list of my favorite resources for information about the empowerment of women and girls. If you are looking to educate yourself on this issue, this is where to start.

Special added bonus: A video by Daniel Craig (007), narrated by Dame Judi Dench (who I met once!). The quotes are about women and men in the UK – but apply most anywhere. Something to think about, not just on today, International Women’s Day. You’ll smile at the image – but will you also think about the statistics you are hearing?