ACT Alliance EU collaborated with Islamic Relief Worldwide, Caritas Europa and EU-CORD to address a significant gap in the COVID-19 response at EU level: engagement with religious leaders and faith communities. A large proportion of EU assistance is operational in countries and regions where religion and faith play a large part in shaping customs, practices and frameworks of well-being. The EU itself has noted:

“Sometimes religious leaders are the only way to reach out to local communities.

Religion and the EU’s external policies: Increasing Engagement, EPRS, pp.8–9

Evidence and input from ACT Alliance global members and field teams contributed to shaping tools provision of practical considerations for policy makers and civil society on ways of collaboration with religious leaders and faith communities, navigating complex and significant challenges in doing so and developing religious literacy. We also evidence many examples where religious leaders and faith communities play an essential role in helping the broad community to prepare for, respond to, and recover from shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

When faced with a crisis with the urgency of a pandemic, what can staff in EU Delegations or the ECHO field office do to engage with religious leaders and faith communities?

The toolkit aims to answer this question.

Download it here: Toolkit – Engaging with religious leaders and faith communities

ACT member Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe (DKH) has trained volunteers in the Hobyo district to inform community members about the dangers of the Coronavirus.

Nasteha Nor Abdi is 27 years old and lives in Wisil, a small town in the Hobyo district of eastern Somalia. Nasteha was trained as a volunteer health worker in May with Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe’s partner organization Center for Peace and Development (CPD). Since then, she has been travelling with other volunteers to public places and to markets in her community to raise awareness of how communities can protect themselves from the Coronavirus, and how to deal with those who are ill.

“We have social values and beliefs that make it difficult to fight the pandemic. Due to a lot of misinformation, many people here believe that this is a disease that only non-Muslims can be affected by. It is difficult to educate people about the dangers of COVID-19.” Nasteha believes that her calling is to support the health of her community. “The health care system in Somalia is weak. Here in Hobyo, the health center is already struggling to treat underlying diseases. Therefore, prevention is our only hope.”

“So far, the volunteer team has educated about 500 people in Wisil,” Nasteha proudly reported. Through this initiative, Nasteha and other community mobilizers have trained youth groups on how to wash their hands properly, to use masks, and to be aware of possible treatment options. The volunteers also worked with community leaders, including elders, religious leaders and women’s groups to disseminate their messages.

“Thanks to our efforts, local communities have now accepted that COVID-19 is a real threat and are practicing preventive measures. This motivates us to reach out to even more people in Hobyo, Wisil and the surrounding area to protect them from the disease,” said Nasteha.

“Our biggest threats are misinformation and misperceptions, and I am pleased that people are now better informed about the pandemic. They know how to deal with patients and suspected cases and how to protect themselves,” she continued.

Nasteha is happy to be able to help to protect her community and is grateful for the support of CDP,” without that help, we could not have accomplished so much,” she concluded.

As part of the Committee of Religious NGOS at the UN (CRNGO), the ACT Alliance is engaged in another official side event at the U.N. High Level Political Forum in New York. Take the unique opportunity to participate, as this year’s events are all online and accessible for everyone!

A Shift in Mindset: Faith-Based Solutions to Climate Action Obstacles
Implementing the Agenda 2030 and the Paris Agreement at the Grassroots

Monday, July 13, 12:00 to 13:30 pm New York time

Please register here. 

Whether an activist, a representative of the UNHCR, or a scientist, all participants at the official side event co-organized by ACT at the U.N. High Level Political Forum in New York agreed: Faith-based organizations play a decisive role in society. All of them see the current situation created by COVID-19 as an enormous disaster, but also as an opportunity to create a better “New Normal” and to get ahead in addressing urgent issues.

Asia Pacific Faith-Based Coalition for Sustainable Development” (APFC), where ACT Alliance is one of the founding members, hosted the side event “Faith-Based Organizations Accelerating Action and Delivery in Advancing the 2030 Agenda: Partnership in Action in Asia-Pacific“ on July 7. It was of great interest, especially for those who work for faith-based organizations (FBOs) around the world. The objective was to explore the role of faith communities and faith-based organizations in realizing the decade of action and delivery in advancing the 2030 Agenda in the Asia-Pacific region through effective partnerships among FBOs and with states, international organizations and civil society groups. It also sought to identify potential obstacles to fulfilling the role, and to explore ways to overcome those.

Critical words of Alternative Nobel Peace Prize winner

The social activist and winner of Alternate Nobel Peace Prize Swamy Agnivesh started with a critical view of the religious establishment, which in his eyes is highly patriarchal and cements injustice in this world. He reminded that there were so many sects and sub-sects which found a very good way to call themselves faith-based, but that in fact there was only one faith, one God and one universe, and that we were all part of a human family. According to Swamy Agnivesh, nature is an integral part of the universe. Therefore he stated: “Belief in God also means respect for nature, for the environment, for human rights and the equality of all people. The real God is love, compassion and justice”.

The role of the coalition

The Asia Pacific Faith Based Coalition for Sustainable Development (APFC) brings together ACT Alliance, Arigatou International, Islamic Relief Worldwide, Soka Gakkai International, and World Vision International. James Munpa and Cyra Bullecer from the ACT Alliance highlighted the contribution that faith-based organizations made to sustainable development. APFC-members including ACT Alliance are active in more than 20 countries in Asia and the Pacific, supported by over 1.5 million staff and volunteers, and with a budget of over four billion US-Dollars. They are deeply rooted in communities, complementing the localization agenda by being local, but strongly connected with the national and global levels. They are rights-based, promote social cohesion and contribute to risk prevention, reduction, humanitarian action and development wherever they are.

No better time

Shinji Kubo, UNHCR representative from the Philippines, noted that the timing for this event could not have been better “…as we are starting to debate the latest progress of the SDGs, when COVID affects the lives of millions of people around the globe. It is an unprecedented wake-up call reminding us all of the inequalities, division and failures that had to be addressed in the 2030 agenda,” he said, highlighting that: “Apart from the massive COVID-related response, it is important to remember that the SDGs are the compass to build a better post-pandemic society in the ‘new normal”.

The role of faith-communities and FBOs, according to Mr. Kubo, is critically important, now more than ever, especially when addressing the local- and the community-based approach. “Faith-based organisations and communities, especially through powerful coalitions such as the APFC, can meaningfully continue to drive a progress across the SDGs through building communities which are more empathetic, more equal, less fearful, less polluted and more in tune with nature. UNHCR and other agencies are looking forward to continue the partnership with the APFC”, he summarised.

Six points concerning the future role of faith-based organisations

Katherine Marshall, Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkley Centre for Religion, Peace and World Affairs, regretted that the world of faith-based and not faith-based communities was so divided. Concerning the role of FBOs in advancing the 2030 agenda, the potential obstacles and the ways to overcome those, she highlighted six points:

1) Universality

The universal human rights are the grounding for our different institutions and for bringing us together. The SDGs, which were approved by all countries, provide a compass for these principles.

2) Vital importance of the role of faith communities and finding better ways of engagement

The COVID-crisis has shown the unfairness and injustice of different opportunities in life that affect people across the world. The question is what we can do against inequality, for this principle of leaving no-one behind. FBOs have an extraordinary ability to enrich the global (human rights) agenda with this compelling urgency of action. This role of engagement is of vital importance.

3) Faith-based organisations are affected by shrinking space for CSOs

In forums talking about the shrinking space of civil society organisations, people often don’t mention the faith-based ones. It’s important that the religious component comes out much clearer in that discussion.

4) Gender-based violence

We need religious communities to be at the forefront of one of the world’s most critical challenges.

5) No-one left behind

This demand applies particularly with refugees and other marginalized people like street children: We need to give the resources and the common view to these communities.

6) Education

Education might be the challenge for the next months and years ahead with 1.5 billion children out of school. Religious communities are very much engaged. What will education look like in the future?

It’s a unique moment in history and important to rethink of what we need to do differently. Faith communities have a capacity to see the reality but also the vision for the future. If we don’t take this opportunity now, we will never have it again. So many are conscious that it is urgent, because our planet and the faith of our children lies in the balance.

It is a sad reality that the COVID-19 Pandemic is ravaging our globe and the spread of the virus is serious and terrifying. It is on this note that I have decided to check on the well-being of my friends and loved ones, hoping that we shall overcome this challenge together. We are frail and weak when we stand alone but we are strong and formidable when we stand together. We trust God that this pandemic, like others in history, will pass away and that we will be strong, healthy and alive to witness that.

The lockdowns to help stop the spread of COVID-19 have made things even worse for the poorest members of our society who don’t have the means of survival due to inadequate and unsteady flow of income. We need to remember the needs of the most vulnerable now more than ever and act together as people of faith to ensure that they are supported, and are able to care for themselves and their families in this difficult time.

Let the poor and destitute feel loved because it can and will increase their chances of staying safe. All that we have has been given to us by God, “For what makes you to differ from another? And what have you that you did not receive? Now if you did receive it, why do you glory as if you have not received it? (1 Corinthians 4:7).

Remember “We are the Hands and Feet He (God) needs to reach out to the poor and destitute, 

don’t break the chain, reach out”

—–

Jantiku Ijasini Jamare is a young person from Nigeria, and a co-chair of ACT’s Youth Community of Practice, representing Africa.

Following up on its 14 Rapid Response Fund (RRF) projects responding to COVID-19 around the world, ACT Alliance has launched the first 6 sub-appeals within its overall Global COVID-19 Appeal.  The sub-appeals are for Bangladesh, the Caribbean region (Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic), Jordan, Palestine, Somalia, and South Sudan. More sub-appeals will be forthcoming in the next few months.

Within ACT’s humanitarian response mechanism, Rapid Response Funds are for shorter-term projects, led by national members, with a more local scope and budget.  Appeals have a longer time horizon, engage both national and international members, have a larger budget, and often a broader scope. 

ACT’s Global COVID-19 Appeal incorporates both RRFs and appeals, working to meet the needs of communities as identified by ACT members in many countries. More information on the global appeal can be found here.

The 6 sub-appeals respond to the unique situation in each of the countries/regions represented, and will address a variety of needs:

Bangladesh ($998,638)- 3,825 refugee and host community households will receive livelihood and food security support, community-based hygiene education, and the communities’ health care facilities will be better able to prevent and respond to COVID-19 infections.

Caribbean ($749,683)- 12,245 households in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic will benefit from health, food security, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), psychosocial support, and gender justice work through this sub-appeal.

Jordan ($844,960)- 10,255 refugee and host community households particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 will receive support towards their basic needs of shelter, protection, food security, livelihoods, and WASH.

Palestine ($634,398)- 15,667 refugee and non-displaced affected households will benefit from public health education and access, vouchers or cash to provide food and hygiene, psychosocial support, and increased protection, assistance and advocacy for refugees particularly vulnerable to COVID-19.

Somalia ($1,000,000)- 16,900 IDP, host population, and non-displaced affected households will benefit from improved access to WASH, hand hygiene education, nutritional support, access to education during and after COVID-19, psychosocial support and social protection.

South Sudan ($989,942)- 18,967 households, including refugees, IDPs, returnees, host population, and others will benefit from timely and accurate information on COVID-19, healthcare services to help prevent, manage, and stop the spread of the virus, hygiene training, access to gender-sensitive WASH, food security and livelihood support, disaster risk reduction work to decrease vulnerability, and health care supplies and equipment, training, and psychosocial support for affected communities.

To support the ACT Global COVID-19 Appeal and its sub-appeals, please email Line Hempel [Line.Hempel@actalliance.org], Director of Operations for ACT Alliance. 

ACT Alliance joins with the World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation, and World Communion of Reformed Churches in issuing an ecumenical statement on the planned annexation of Occupied Palestinian Territory.

“Annexation of such territories is in direct violation of international law and goes against several international agreements, UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, the 2004 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, and the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949,” the statement reads.

“The planned annexation of Palestinian territories by the Government of Israel would be a serious obstacle for the achievement of justice and peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” the statement continues. “It will undermine even more the rights of Palestinians, reducing their mobility, their access to land and livelihoods, to adequate infrastructure and basic services. It will increase forced displacement, and it could prevent humanitarian organizations’ access in order to provide basic services and the necessary lifesaving interventions. ”

ACT, LWF, WCC and WCRC call on:

• The churches and related organizations around the world to continue manifesting their solidarity and support for the recognition and protection of the rights of Palestinians in the occupied territories.
• The churches and related organizations around the world to continue to support negotiations between Israel and Palestine for a solution according to international law and UN resolutions and to accompany all those working for peace and reconciliation, including Christians, Jews, Muslims and people of other faiths.
• The international community to advocate for the end of the occupation of the 1967 territories and of the blockade of Gaza, to oppose the plans for annexation, and hold the Government of Israel accountable to its international obligations as the occupying power.

The full statement can be read here.

This blog post was written by Ruth Watson, Humanitarian Policy & Practice Officer at ACT Alliance EU

ACT Alliance EU members provided a platform to dive into the timely question of how to translate aims for better coordination between humanitarian and development with peacebuilding. Co-hosted with the KUNO platform for humanitarian knowledge exchange, the webinar brought together 100 speakers and participants with civil society from across Africa, Asia and Latin America as well as international representatives and political stakeholders. It provided a platform to raise the perspectives of local actors to multi-lateral discussions.

Why entangle ourselves in a webinar on an issue which reporting from civil society and recent international discussions has highlighted as hard to capture and difficult to navigate? Frequent conflation of peacebuilding with ‘security’ and military action by officials at government and multi-lateral level makes this thorny terrain for humanitarian and development actors.

ACT Alliance EU members are at the forefront of calling for greater leadership and ownership by local and national organisations in humanitarian and development response. Our members and partners are often seeking to work in inter-connected ways across the three streams of programming but face institutional silos and inflexible funding. In addition, with significant experience of integrating peace work and engaging with faith actors who play an important role in conflict mediation, ACT Alliance EU decided to deepen our collective understanding of the issue.

Perspectives on engaging in peace actions

To pursue these aims, we took the open door of an invitation to contribute civil society perspectives in feedback to the zero draft of a new paper on the ‘P in the nexus’ by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Results Group on humanitarian-development collaboration to host a webinar discussion on how far local perspectives are reflected in multi-lateral articulations of peace in the nexus.

Discussion centred on the paper’s conceptualisation of peace as several, non-linear – streams of action across a spectrum – from shorter-term or localised actions such as local dispute resolution mechanisms to structural processes such as national reconciliation. Mat Gai of the South Sudan NGO Forum endorsed the concept for armed conflict contexts: where lasting peace cannot be achieved without the linking of streams of peace actions. Citizen engagement, for example, requires both political will at national level and NGO support to communities and local authorities.

Yet for participants and speakers alike, the global donor discussions remain weak on delivery of localisation commitments for translation of the ‘triple nexus’ concept into reality. Country examples from various contexts demonstrated that despite local and national organisations – including faith actors – being increasingly central to humanitarian, development and peace response they are often treated as sub-contracting agencies and denied access to funding and the decision-making table.

Donors, they stated, have a crucial role in supporting these efforts and in shaping the incentives for the flexibility in funding and programming to create the space needed for adaptive management of funding and programming between humanitarian, development and peace. ACT Alliance EU members are prominent voices in raising this message to national governments and the EU.

Find the summary of the webinar here
You can watch the webinar here

Statement

Recommendations for a transformative Brussels IV Conference 2020:
Towards supporting just peace through dialogue, cessation of violence and meaningful partnership with the local civil society

The Brussels conference represents an opening for leaders to make tangible commitments to support a just peace through dialogue. Leaders should continue to strengthen pledges to end the ongoing violence, help preserve the integrity of Syria’s social fabric, restore basic services, maintain the religious and ethnic diversity of Syria’s population and protect civilian infrastructure. We should be aiming at facilitating in-roads for a peaceful resolution of the conflict and the sustainable return of Syrian displaced and refugee populations, voluntarily, in safety and dignity. 

ACT Alliance brings together recommendations from its members both for Syria and neighbouring Hosting Countries. We reinforce the request raised during last year’s conference and emphasise the importance of multi-year funding to meet our commitments to refugees and displaced Syrians.  Livelihood and protection require multi-year interventions: to change harmful norms, negative attitudes, and behaviour as well as to build local and sustainable assets.

Implications for Programming in Syria

The massive and irregular displacements of people and the destruction of infrastructure coupled with the economic effects of COVID-19, have depleted livelihood activities and plunged a majority of Syrians (an estimated 69%) into extreme poverty.^[1] The severity and complexity of the situation has led to an acute need in the case of 5 million Syrians.^[2] Negative coping mechanisms for unrelenting and unpredictable economic shocks are reported across Syria. These include, for example, reduced food consumption, early marriage, and child labour. With all nations suffering the effects of COVID-19, now is the time to come together and reiterate the need for the cessation of violence.  With all nations suffering the effects of COVID-19, we must intensify and reiterate the call for a “complete and immediate” nationwide ceasefire in the country to allow for an all-out effort against COVID-19 and for recovery.

ACT Alliance members active in Syria and the region, condemn all forms of violence, particularly violence against civilians and demand the protection of Syrians’ rights to peace, ensuring their dignity and access to livelihoods. We urge the EU and all global donors to make sizable pledges to meet the demands for adequate funding for the Syria Response Plan, and to meet Syria’s increased necessities under the Global Humanitarian Response Plan, made even more acute by the COVID-19 pandemic. We encourage the EU and its Member States to fill the existing gap for 2020 to ensure that the needs of all people are met, and to support local civil society and faith actors.

Progress in localisation: governance and funding

While some improvements have been made in coordination with local civil society and the EU, all global donors should ensure increased representation of men and women representatives of Syrian civil society in international decision-making platforms and during cluster meetings of international NGOs and multilateral bodies. Given the interplay between population movement dynamics and the search for solutions to displacement, in view of the overall peacebuilding efforts, effective ownership by the local Syrian civil society is paramount to lasting peace. In line with the localisation agenda and in recognition of the important role of Syrian civil society, a dedicated effort to increase the participation of Syrian civil society actors should be made in current humanitarian responses and in the future of Syria.

Local civil society, including members and partners of ACT Alliance, continue to stress the need to look at sustainable programming to ensure a dignified humanitarian response. COVID-19 has brought new challenges to Syria, and changes to programming will be required; WFP has reported a doubling of food prices in the last 12 months[3], and the general worsening condition of the Syrian economy is increasingly undermining livelihoods opportunities for many. Aside from UN pooled funds, local civil society organisations have had limited access to new funding to scale-up programmes and to meet the challenges posed by COVID-19, resulting in the reallocation of current grants.

While donor flexibility is highly appreciated in regard to COVID-19 programming, the diversion of funds has resulted in gaps in much-needed ongoing programmes. For example, programmes supporting food supply or rural livelihoods are lost or reduced to meet immediate needs due to the pandemic. We call for multi-year flexible funding. Covering overhead costs, core funding and investing in capacity sharing will help to ensure that local civil society can operate in an efficient and principled manner while mitigating the impact of proliferating compliance requirements on localisation efforts. In the Syrian context, such funding should account for assets that are vital for project implementation, safety and/or organisational financial sustainability.

As part of the localisation work in Syria, the EU and its Member States must ensure the inclusion of women and children, marginalised communities, minorities, vulnerable groups and persons living with disabilities in project design, monitoring, implementation and evaluation. All these categories should be encouraged to be at the centre of their own decisions regarding their future^[4].

Religious pluralism: Though the majority of Syrians identify as Muslim (Shia and Sunni), the country is home to a vast diversity of religious and ethnic groups, including Kurds, Armenians, Turkmen, Alawis, Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Catholic, Druze, Yezidis, Baha’is, and Jews. Historically, the region was known for its cohesive identity as well as a deeply rooted tradition of religious pluralism. The war has engaged multiple factions, with some organised along religious lines. By pitting groups against one another, the conflict is reinforcing religious tensions and is reshaping the religious landscape. To promote social cohesion, it is important to rebuild the traditional religious pluralistic nature of the country, in coordination with traditional faith communities.

Local faith NGOs have been working inside Syria as special status charities since before the conflict and have more freedom of movement to outwork projects often reaching those hardest to access. It is imperative that EU Member States look at the thriving civil society inside Syria as an avenue to build religious pluralism and a robust, cohesive society. In practice, this means concrete steps toward systematic and effective consultation and collaboration by the EU Delegations and ECHO country offices at all stages of programme cycles and inclusion in decision-making structures, ensuring that risk is not transferred to the local civil society.

ACT Alliance members call on the EU and its Member States to consider faith actors in the country not only as important stakeholders in the humanitarian response but also as partners best placed to implement social cohesion projects on the ground.

Ensuring effective delivery of Aid: With the current COVID-19 pandemic compounding an already devastated infrastructure, it is vital that the EU leads on actions to ensure increased and unhindered humanitarian access across Syria. This is needed to ensure that principled life-saving assistance and critical supplies reach those most in need in a sustained manner. With overlapping restrictions imposed by various countries, INGOs and civil society are faced with overwhelming bureaucracy due to companies and banks de-risking in fear of violating sanctions, counter-terrorism measures and anti-money-laundering obligations and risk assessments, making everything from importing goods, transferring funds for programming, to paying staff difficult.

While sanctions do not limit humanitarian goods or transfer of EU funds, ACT Alliance members ask the EU and its Member States to provide guidance to the private sector, specifically banking institutions, to ensure the effective delivery of aid to Syria5. In addition, it will be important to build on good practices to facilitate dialogue between banks, governments, NGOs and the private sector at the national level. ACT Alliance members endorse the suggestion from the Voluntary Organisations in Cooperation in Emergencies (VOICE) for EU institutions to support the dialogue between NGOs and the European Bank Association^[5].

Implications for Refugees and Host Communities

Supporting livelihoods and inclusive economic recovery: The global economic crisis and the depreciation of the local currency in Lebanon, have had severe implications on the refugees and host communities and their purchasing power in Jordan and Lebanon.  Due to the implementation of the lockdowns and curfews, many refugees and vulnerable local populations have been unable to work, particularly those previously working as daily wage labourers. ACT members in Lebanon and Jordan have reported a negative impact on food security, in a time that businesses are closed, and daily work opportunities are diminished. Refugee families are challenged to generate income to provide for food and shelter for their families. Opportunities for generating any income is extremely low, in a time when the value of the cash support received is reduced.  Negative coping mechanisms adopted by refugee families are a main concern.

Refugees and vulnerable families urgently need to receive cash support and to access livelihood opportunities to cover their families’ basic needs.  Responding organisations need to review the value of cash support based on the changing context and to provide cash/food assistance to reach additional families affected by the worsening economic context. Innovative and contextualised livelihood opportunities need to be implemented to avoid long-term dependency on aid while creating income-generating activities for host and refugee communities while tackling increased tension over job competition.  Support to agriculture and local industry should also be considered.

Children’s needs – protection and education: COVID-19 closed schools and other educational institutions in 2020, leading to disrupted education for Syrian refugee children in Host Communities. Confinement poses increased risks of violence and GBV against children. Low enrolment also tends to increase child labour and negatively impact child development. As the situation continues, there could be an additional increase in child marriage as families become desperate.

In line with the No Lost Generation Vision, and as a result of the multiple crises Lebanon is specifically going through, it is even more urgent to ensure that children and youth have access to certified quality education while benefiting from a protective environment.  Duty bearers should adapt swiftly to innovative education using advanced and accessible technology while respecting the protective role of Education in Emergencies (EiE), including child protection (MHPSS and referral pathways), and outreach to children with special needs.

Protection: Economic deprivation, psychosocial stress, and containment measures are leading to a substantial increase in Gender-based Violence and Sexual Gender-based Violence, especially intimate partner and domestic violence. ACT Alliance Members call for more support- technical and financial, for a multidimensional response including e-modality and partnerships with local respondents, to engage underserved communities and GBV survivors, and to ensure that accessible services and referral pathways are appropriate and relevant to their immediate needs.

Displacement, Resettlement, and Return: By the end of March 2020, 1093 Syrian refugees returned from Lebanon to Syria since the beginning of the year as part of the self-organised and General Security facilitated group return.  In parallel, individual return took place during the same period leading to 2647 refugees returning to Syria.  Current resettlement schemes remain limited compared to need on the ground and absence of other durable solutions. Resettlement dropped from 25,000 cases in 2016 to 8,500 cases in 2018.  11.6% of the total Syrian refugee and asylum seeker population in the world is in Europe, while 87% is in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and Turkey [6] . The burden of the Syrian refugee crisis remains on the shoulders of Syria’s neighbouring host countries.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we should not take the need for durable solutions and other forms of humanitarian admission off of the agenda. It should remain a shared responsibility by the international community contributing to refugees’ protection.

Download the full statement

A new report by ACT Alliance, DanChurchAid, and Norwegian Church Aid explores the potential for adaptation projects to support peace building in communities that are affected by conflict and climate change.

The report explores the ways that poor and vulnerable communities are affected by the combined burden of conflict and climate change in the context of Mali and Somalia. The report focuses on the realities, concerns, and solutions from people and communities who are living the effects of climate change and conflict.

Over one thousand people from local communities, including internally displaced communities, were interviewed. The findings are clear; there is an urgent need for conflict-sensitive, locally-led adaptation.

“It is worrying to see the direct links between climate change and conflicts, particularly as climate change is intensifying. However, it is promising to see the connection between adaptation and peacebuilding. This finding amplifies our immediate call for a greater focus on climate adaptation,” said Birgitte Qvist-Sørensen, Moderator of the ACT Alliance and Secretary-General of DanChurchAid.

The report finds that in cases where there is weak governance, a lack of resources, and a lack of legitimate and peaceful decision-making mechanisms, climate change will contribute significantly to further violence.

“We have continuously witnessed the failure of developed countries to deliver on their adaptation finance commitments. This report re-emphasizes the urgency of these funds to better align and integrate peace building and adaptation measures, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected countries,” said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, ACT Alliance’s General Secretary.

Many respondents noted that there are limited climate change adaptation initiatives in their communities, despite the great impact that climate-related weather events have on their lives. Respondents also noted that conflict-sensitive climate adaptation initiatives have the potential to create jobs and to encourage communities to work together.

“The research stresses the need for locally-led and conflict-sensitive climate action. We will not see the results that we aim for unless we act on this,” said Dagfinn Høybråten, Secretary-General of Norwegian Church Aid.

The full report is available for download here.

For further comment, please contact:

Mattias Söderberg +45 29 70 06 09, msd@dca.dk
Co-Chair of ACT Alliance Climate Justice Reference Group

Joanna Patouris +1 647 971 5360, joanna.patouris@actalliance.org
Communications Officer (Climate Change) ACT Alliance

The ACT Alliance is a global network of churches and church-based agencies that does humanitarian response, sustainable development, and advocacy work.  ACT is made up of 156 members working in over 130 countries.

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Gagner la paix: un nouveau rapport révèle que l’adaptation au climat peut soutenir la consolidation de la paix

Un nouveau rapport d’ACT Alliance, DanChurchAid et Norwegian Church Aid explore le potentiel des projets d’adaptation au changement climatique pour soutenir la consolidation de la paix dans les communautés touchées par les conflits et le changement climatique.

Le rapport explore les façons dont les communautés pauvres et vulnérables sont affectées par le fardeau combiné des conflits et du changement climatique dans les contextes du Mali et de la Somalie. Le rapport se concentre sur les réalités, les préoccupations et les solutions des personnes et des communautés qui vivent les effets du changement climatique et des conflits.

Plus d’un millier de personnes des communautés locales, y compris des communautés déplacées, ont été interrogées. Les résultats sont sans appel : il existe un besoin urgent d’une adaptation climatique qui soit sensible aux conflits et dirigée localement.

«Il est inquiétant de voir les liens directs entre le changement climatique et les conflits, d’autant plus que le changement climatique s’intensifie. Cependant, il est prometteur de voir le lien entre l’adaptation au changement climatique et la consolidation de la paix. Ce constat amplifie notre appel immédiat à une plus grande concentration sur l’adaptation au climat », a déclaré Birgitte Qvist-Sørensen, Modératrice de l’Alliance ACT et Secrétaire Générale de DanChurchAid.

Le rapport constate que dans les situations ou la gouvernance est faible, ou les ressources manquent, et ou il n’y a pas de mécanismes décisionnels légitimes et pacifiques, le changement climatique contribuera de manière significative à la poursuite de la violence.

«Nous avons constamment été témoins de l’échec des pays développés à respecter leurs engagements de financement de l’adaptation climatique. Ce rapport souligne à nouveau l’urgence de ces fonds pour mieux aligner et intégrer les mesures de consolidation de la paix et d’adaptation, en particulier dans les pays fragiles et touchés par des conflits », a déclaré Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, Secrétaire Général d’ACT Alliance.

De nombreux répondants ont noté que les initiatives d’adaptation au changement climatique sont rares dans leurs communautés, malgré le grand impact des événements météorologiques liés au climat sur leur quotidien. Les répondants ont également noté que les initiatives d’adaptation au climat sensibles aux conflits peuvent créer des emplois et encourager les communautés à travailler ensemble.

«Nous avons constamment été témoins de l’échec des pays développés à respecter leurs engagements de financement de l’adaptation climatique. Ce rapport souligne à nouveau l’urgence de ces fonds pour mieux aligner et intégrer les mesures de consolidation de la paix et d’adaptation, en particulier dans les pays fragiles et touchés par des conflits », a déclaré Dagfinn Høybråten, Secrétaire Général de Norwegian Church Aid.