The Grand Bargain sherpas from the 15 largest donors and 15 largest agencies, pictured at their first meeting in Amsterdam on February 29. Photo: Christian Aid

On February 29 in Amsterdam, a handful of the world’s biggest donors and largest humanitarian agencies started to negotiate a ‘’Grand Bargain’’ to help give the rhetoric around the World Humanitarian Summit some teeth. Ban Ki Moon  is urging major players to bring concrete pledges to Istanbul to turn his reform agenda into reality. The idea of the GB is that donors will commit to more flexible, multi-year funding, with less burdensome reporting requirements, in exchange for major agencies committing to greater transparency and collaboration and reduced management costs. The stated ambition is to deliver a collective roadmap for stretching available money to meet more people in need; and a political statement during the WHS that is as concrete as possible

One of the focus areas being progressed in the GB is the commitment to a significant increase in the use of cash. This aligns very well with ACT’s own commitment that:

We will support the agency of people by substantially increasing the proportion of our humanitarian investment that goes to cash transfer programming. Before providing in-kind inputs, we will ask ourselves whether cash would work in this context.

Whereas Ban Ki Moon’s report to the Summit rightly calls for more funding for humanitarian crisis, he proposes a key vehicle for this to be a massive increase in the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). The CERF all goes to UN agencies, which already control more than half all humanitarian funding.  Channelling more funding to the UN through the CERF does not speak well to the need to better fund local actors. In the Grand Bargain negotiations, NGOs are calling upon donors to rather channel additional funds through mechanisms that better cohere with the localisation agenda. 

If  the benefits of the Grand Bargain are to be achieved, NGOs are demanding that UN agencies  pass the greater flexibility in donor funding to NGOs who they contract to deliver assistance. ACT’s WHS commitment, related to the GB is that:

ACT Alliance commits to streamline and harmonize reporting requirements for members, in line with the expected outcomes of the GB. This specifically includes a commitment to not ask more from local and national members than what donors ask of funding members.

Studies by DanChurchAid and Church of Sweden’s ‘’Local to Global Protection’’ initiative  have exposed that only 0.2% of humanitarian funding goes directly to local and national NGOs.

Yet local presence enables local actors to be first responders – getting to affected people days before assessment teams from external agencies arrive. Local organizations are able to shape programmes in a contextually appropriate, culturally sensitive way, based on a community’s own understanding of its needs. Local partners, closer to and more trusted by communities, are better-positioned to ensure accountability to affected populations, and respect long-term perspectives.

The ACT Alliance’s WHS position paper in January 2015 ‘Putting People at the Centre’ called for 20% of humanitarian funding to go directly to national actors by 2020.

CAFOD, ADESO, DCA and Christian Aid took up this baton when we launched the Charter for Change (C4C) in advance of the 2015 WHS Global Consultation in Geneva. C4C makes 8 reform pledges to shift the balance of power in the humanitarian system toward the Global South. These include a pledge by signatories to pass at least 20% of their humanitarian funding to Southern NGOs by May 2018.  C4C has been signed by 23 INGOs and endorsed by well over 100 Southern NGO partners.

One of the 10 themes of the GB is more support for frontline national responders.

During the GB negotiations, one of the largest UN humanitarian agencies pledged to step up to the plate and honour ACT’s call to raise their level of direct support to national front line responders to 20% by 2020. (We will not name them here lest they wish to gain credit for this when they announce it at Istanbul). This is a huge step forward for the localisation agenda, and we hope it creates a domino effect where other huge UN and INGO agencies, inspired by this bold leadership, follow suit.

Our ACT commitments to the WHS include that:

By May 2018, we will significantly increase the proportion of ACT Alliance members’ humanitarian funding that goes directly to local and national members and their partners for humanitarian response and emergency preparedness.

Whilst the final outcomes remain to be negotiated, the latest text of the GB calls on aid organisations to ‘aim to give by 2020 at least 25% of humanitarian funding to local and national responders as directly as possible’’.  It is encouraging that the advocacy of ACT and its allies seems to have  infiltrated the thought processes of the big donors and agencies who are determining what commitments to bring to Istanbul through this Grand Bargain.

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Michael Mosselmans is Head of Humanitarian Policy Practice Advocacy and Programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean at Christian Aid. He is co-chair of the ACT Humanitarian Policy and Practice Advisory Group. Michael has also worked in WFP, OCHA and DFID.

Humanitarian advocacy

1. We will use our influence to promote stability, community reconciliation and social cohesion. We will amplify voices that promote human rights and international humanitarian law and speak out against injustice.

Actions required:

• Do No Harm and conflict analysis obligatory for all ACT humanitarian interventions. Separate section in Appeal format
• Mainstream ACT’s advocacy strategy in all members’ advocacy work, strongly focusing on human rights and IHL, while addressing root causes of conflicts.
• Mainstream participation in all of ACT’s humanitarian interventions.
• Mainstream complaint mechanisms in the humanitarian mechanism.
• Include explicit reference to the role of and needs in host communities where ACT humanitarian interventions take place.
• ACT members to develop a strategy and mechanism to collectively speak out with and for our partners and communities within 48 hours of a rapid onset emergency.    In doing so, we will promote community resilience and cash-based response, accountability and the role of faith-based frontline responders

Humanitarian principles

2. We will highlight the role of faith-based responders in access to communities in need – and reinforce respect for the humanitarian principles. We will engage Southern members in awareness raising and capacity building on the practical application of the humanitarian principles and ensure their integration into ACT humanitarian responses

Actions required:

• Integrate a stronger reflection on humanitarian principles in ACT appeal planning and reporting.
• Improve relevant training material.
• Create an exchange community online to offer discussion and reflection on specific issues.
• An opinion paper on faith-based organizations and humanitarian principles

Cash Transfer Programming (CtP)

3. We will substantially increase the proportion of our humanitarian investment that goes to cash transfer programming. Before providing in-kind inputs, we will ask ourselves whether cash would work in this context. We will share learning across the ACT network on best practice in cash approaches, & increase capacity-building on cash for Southern members.

Actions required:

• Develop a 2016 ACT Appeals baseline (how much of our humanitarian work is CtP) to enable us to measure CtP increase in annual reporting
• Include a section in ACT Appeal format justifying if CtP has not been chosen as the primary modality
• One annual ACT publication on cash.
• ACT website and FB feeds reflect regular updates on CtP
• 90% of all relevant ACT Forums carry out at least one annual learning event on CtP

Reform of ACT mechanisms

4. By May 2018, we will reform the ACT Alliance humanitarian response mechanisms in line with the Agenda for Humanity, including strengthening local capacities by reforming the Rapid Response Fund so that it is exclusively for Southern members and it incentivizes investment in preparedness, risk reduction and resilience. We will streamline and harmonise requirements for partners, in line with the Grand Bargain. This includes a commitment to not ask more from Southern members than donors ask of funding members.

Actions required:

• Only national/local actors are eligible for rapid response funds within the new RRF policy.
• The policy indicates that Forums/members with up to date EPRPs are eligible for additional funding and projects can have longer lifespans.
• Both the new RRF template and process/protocol will be simplified to be more accessible to local/national and less time-consuming.
• Forums/members will receive training on RRF to ensure a higher quality of programming.
• The humanitarian response mechanism is currently under a revision process; one of the principal objectives is to develop standard tools which help partners to achieve transparency while reducing their workload with regards to reporting and compliance documents

Localisation

5. By May 2018, we will significantly increase the proportion of ACT Alliance members’ humanitarian funding that goes directly to Southern members and their partners for response and preparedness. We will transparently report on this amount as ACT Alliance, and encourage individual members to do the same. We will support initiatives that provide better access to resources for local and national frontline responders.

Actions required:

• Encourage more ACT Northern and Southern members to sign/endorse Charter for Change. Disseminate information about C4C in the ACT monthly newsletter.
• Encourage more ACT members to engage with Local2Global Protection’s new Supporting Locally-Led Responses to Crises (SLR) initiative
• Investigate how the ACT Secretariat system can best track funding flows and categories of local actors
• Investigate ways in which ACT Appeal evaluations can include evidence building on role of local actors

Principles of Partnership

6. We will demonstrate, learn from and identify best practice in local-national-international partnerships, in line with the Principles of Partnership. We will encourage direct partnerships between Southern members through national & regional ACT Forums, encouraging complementarity & equality.

Actions required:

• Ensure that revised humanitarian guidelines serve the need of ACT members on the ground.
• Proactively reach out to ACT in-country forums while preparing ACT global advocacy messages. Better mapping of who is doing what, with what capacity.
• Through the community of practice and advisory groups, proactively gather key lessons for global advocacy and for mutual learning by the membership.

Community resilience

7. We will increase the proportion of our humanitarian investment that goes to preparedness, prevention and resilience, with a target that over 10% of ACT Alliance programming should be invested in preparedness and risk reduction. We will use the extraordinary reach of our network of faith-based and church-based organizations to raise DRR awareness at grassroots level, including in hard-to-reach locations, by influencing local leadership and educating community members, including through the deployment of church volunteers, delivering over 30 examples of grassroots-level DRR awareness-raising activities by May 2018.

Actions required:

• Include a question on DRR/preparedness spend in the next ‘Mapping ACT’ survey in 2017.
• Factor this WHS commitment into the emerging new appeals guidance, asking Forums to bear in mind our ambition to include DRR/preparedness interventions in appeals, particularly in the later stages.
• Commission a review of ACT appeal spend in 2014 and 2015 to establish a baseline for DRR/preparedness funding
• Gather best practice inputs in run-up to the next ISDR Global Platform in May 2017 (including the ACT Award).
• Participate in regional preparatory events for the Global Platform
• Coordinate an energetic ACT presence at the Global Platform
• Develop positioning demonstrating ACT’s work in this area to publicise at the Global Platform

Louise Akimanimpaye (left), her cousins Elvis and Elodie Olibanji live in Rwamwanja refugee settlement in Western Uganda. ACT member, Finn Church Aid (FCA), together with two private companies, has started the implementation of an innovative project aiming at providing vocational training on entrepreneurship for the refugees. Vocational training is hard to come by in the area – the nearest vocational centre outside the settlement is 140 km away. Photo: Ville Räty, FCA

ACT members call for investment in resilience and reducing vulnerabilities through more flexible funding. We need to go beyond planning to meet humanitarian financial needs, to planning for humanitarian needs reduction, as stated by the UN Secretaty-General*.

While some of the issues currently undermining the humanitarian sector are structural, funding modalities have also shaped the current aid structure, including some of its shortcomings. As a result, a reform of the humanitarian system can’t be achieved without the fruitful contribution of major donor institutions. This contribution is presented under the idea of a ‘Grand Bargain’ by the UN Secretary-General, and it focuses on a trade-off between donors and humanitarian organisations. It aims at diversifying the resource base while involving the private sector more strongly in humanitarian assistance.

Previously, the modalities of engagement between humanitarian aid and development were clearly defined; however, the growing number of protracted crises, chronic disasters and long term displacement are challenging the ‘established order’.

Only by providing a holistic programme, including both humanitarian and development work, and also linking those with conflict prevention and peace building activities in conflict areas, we can hope to have a meaningful and lasting impact on the lives of affected people.

ACT Alliance member Finn Church Aid (FCA) is already working closely with the private sector to develop innovative approaches to long lasting issues. The involvement of the private sector in humanitarian programmes provides an opportunity to think outside the box and explore new ways of providing aid in an ever changing world. Beyond the financial opportunity, FCA believes a fruitful collaboration with the private sector can provide a portion of the much needed innovation required to reshape aid.

In times of diminishing Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), we request that the current refugee reception crisis impacting Europe shouldn’t be used as an excuse to reallocate ODA funding from other vulnerable countries toward Europe.

It is important that humanitarian actors will commit to creating programmes combining humanitarian aid, development and peace building in our focus countries, and to developing our activities around a shared vision of resilience. We should also commit to developing sustainable livelihoods, such as using cash programming as a favoured tool to provide in emergencies.

ACT members call for greater integration and investment in resilience and in reducing vulnerabilities through more flexible funding. It is also necessary to strengthen better coordination by the public sector to strengthen the participation of the private sector in humanitarian interventions.

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* UN Secretaty-General’s report: One humanity, Shared responsibility

CASE IN POINT: INNOVATION AND PRIVATE SECTOR RELATION IN THE RWAMWANJA REFUGEE CAMP IN UGANDA

The Ugandan government has a requirement of at least one vocational training centre in every county, but progress on this front has been slow and some counties are still missing such a centre. That is also the case in Rwamwanja, where FCA has started the implementation of an innovative project aiming at providing vocational training on entrepreneurship. Through the use of mobile technologies, private companies from Finland (Omnia and Fuzu) are able to provide skills training to Congolese refugees using mobile phones. Different modules on business and entrepreneurship, developed by Omnia, are provided to students through the mobile application developed by Fuzu, with support from FCA staff on the ground. If successful, this initiative will be scaled up to reach both refugees and local young businessmen.

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Eija Alajarva is Head of Humanitarian Assistance at Finn Church Aid (FCA). She has a long working history at FCA, in both development cooperation and humanitarian assistance, including deployments in FCA program countries.

Photo: DanChurchAid

“We need to work differently”, has repeatedly been emphasized in the WHS regional consultations and is one of the five core responsibilities of the UN Secretary report. We, in the ACT Alliance, strongly support this call.

Conflicts have become more protracted. Millions of people are displaced for many years, sometimes generations, and crises, whether man-made or natural, continue to destroy people’s lives and livelihoods. The current humanitarian system cannot cope with the many needs and challenges: food rations to refugees are being cut, humanitarian appeals are greatly underfunded – far too many people are left in a limbo of insufficient assistance, dependency and/or undignified lives.

We believe it is not so much a question of if we should work differently. There is urgent need to introduce new approaches, localize humanitarian action and work towards sustainable solutions – or in the words of the UN General Secretary: ending need.

Fortunately, there are already many initiatives taking place when we look at the activities of ACT Alliance and other actors. I just came back from Gambella, Ethiopia where we have introduced an e-voucher fresh food program for South Sudanese refugees. Using new technology, building on existing resources (the local market) and putting people in the center is possible! In just 9 months, the program provided tons of vegetables to South Sudanese families. It has allowed families to choose what and when to buy. And instead of bringing food items from abroad, it has showed the benefits – also economically – of building on local structures.

We are now looking at new opportunities. Adding new items to the e-voucher system, developing livelihoods for refugees and host communities and linked to local markets, strengthening of the value chain of products, just to mention a few options. This could further break down the siloes between development and humanitarian assistance. This could create a more holistic and dignifying approach to the needs and risks of vulnerable people, in this case both host communities and refugees.

The call for more integration of humanitarian response and development work has generated much debate and also some criticism. Does it compromise humanitarian principles? As an alliance of multi-mandated organizations, many ACT members have for years transcended the humanitarian-development divide. Humanitarian principles must always lead our humanitarian actions, but the complexity and scale of crises call for multiple and diverse actions. Actions where the local contexts determine how immediate life-saving activities can be taken forward. Actions which also aim at building resilient and sustainable livelihoods and societies.

Our ask to the world leaders is now to walk the talk. Make it possible to turn the Agenda for Humanity into actions by putting people at the center, localization and integration. We in the ACT Alliance have already started the walk…will you join us?

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Katja Levin is a senior humanitarian advisor at DanChurchAid, a member of the ACT Alliance. Katja has worked on humanitarian, development and advocacy issues for more than 20 years. She has worked as country director in Cambodia and Central America and is now mainly working with humanitarian programs in South Sudan, Kenya and Ethiopia.

Click on the images to read the blog text

DanChurchAid cash distribution in Nepal after the earthquake – Photo: Shreya Singh/DCA

Once you’ve seen it, you’ll never forget: that look on the face of a poor man or woman after a disaster, having just received cash in their hands. Not a bucket, nor a bag of flour, or a blanket, but cold, hard, cash. The power to choose. The right to use on anything you want. Not help, but the ability to help oneself. Money carries two messages at once; both ‘we care, and we’re trying to help,’ but also ‘We trust you. We know that you’re in a better position to prioritize what you need than we, the helpers, do. And we’re going to share our power.’

Just one year ago I was in Nepal following the earthquake, leading ACT Alliance’s joint response program. There I had the privilege to see a woman receiving money on her phone for the first time, and the joy that spread across her smiling face has since carried me through countless hours in front of excel spreadsheets and proposals, trying to remember what it’s all for. Cash is here, and it’s growing. I’m proud that the ACT Alliance is supporting the call for more cash programs as part of the lead up to the World Humanitarian Summit.

But why has it taken so long? Cash transfer programming still accounts for only 6 percent of overall humanitarian assistance. Six percent! Even though we have known for at least five years that it should be perhaps ten times as much. As early as 2010 Professor Peter Walker stood at the DanChurchAid Copenhagen Cash Conference and summed up the shared view of the distinguished attendees, including the Danish Minister of Development: we are paternalistic. We are afraid. We are reluctant to give up control and power, and simply hand over cash, even when we know that it’s more efficient. We need to do more cash, and do it at scale, with a special preference for cash without any conditions or strings attached. It wasn’t until 2015 that a DfID-sponsored ‘High Level Panel on Cash’ reached the same conclusions, a full five years later. What’s taking us so long, and how can we get more money in the hands of conflict and disaster-affected people, now? Is there an opportunity?

Last week I attended my first global members event of the Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP), where I’ve just joined the board of Directors. CaLP is stronger than ever. The membership and interest in CaLP are exploding, and now both UN agencies like WFP and private sector financial service providers like Red Rose and MasterCard are also on board. And there’s reason to believe in many crises cash is not only the best option, it’s our only hope. With needs and refugee caseloads expanding far faster than donor resources, the Grand Bargain report on Humanitarian Financing has concluded that humanitarians must deliver aid more efficiently. Decades of research from around the world, has demonstrated that the transformational power of cash goes beyond greater flexibility, dignity, and security; it’s also a heck of a lot cheaper than in-kind assistance.

As the ACT Alliance heads to the Istanbul World Humanitarian Summit, we just might have a chance to speed up the pace of change. The ACT Alliance has been an early champion of cash transfer programming, and I’m proud that DanChurchAid has been amongst the first agencies to expand our skill in cash and the scope of our cash programs, including providing training and toolkits for dozens of ACT Alliance members. The ACT Alliance Leadership is on board too, and is committed to supporting the agency of people by substantially increasing the proportion of our humanitarian investment to cash transfer programming. We will also share learning across the ACT Alliance network on best practice in cash approaches, and increase capacity-building on cash for local and national partners.

So I am optimistically skeptical about our chances for fundamental changes to the International Humanitarian System at Istanbul, and skeptically optimistic about the prospect for a global shift to cash transfer programming, through the efforts of the ACT Alliance, CaLP, DCA and hundreds of other organizations. Skeptical because I know that the barriers to change are huge, and that the institutions I am so inspired to be part of are only a small part of the vast and fragmented zoo of agencies that’s scrambling to keep up with needs. Skeptical because rights and interests of conflict and disaster-affected people often feel so far away from the senior level meetings that take place in capitals. Skeptical because it’s taken us so long to get where we are now, which is only 6 percent of overall aid.

But I’m hopeful, too, and even optimistic about some developments. It feels like the call for change is finally breaking through some of the barriers. And if we can address some of the thornier questions around cash – like coordination of cash within and across the clusters – then there’s a good chance that we can double or triple that six percent in just a year or two. I’m hugely optimistic about the transformational power of technology, and I’ve seen first-hand how rapidly it’s revolutionizing the countries where we work. The potential to link these devices to cash (and to SMS, and complaints handling, and needs assessment) is absolutely revolutionary. And I’m hopeful because answering those pesky questions with evidence and reports – ‘won’t they just spend the money on cigarettes and alcohol?’ – are increasingly rare, as more people are learning that we know the answer to this question (no, they won’t), and that to think of the world’s conflict and disaster affected people in an ‘us/them’ paradigm is just so 1990’s.

Together we cannot just witness the transformational power of cash conflict and disaster affected people, we can help drive that change.

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Erik Johnson is Head of Humanitarian Response at DanChurchAid, a member of the ACT Alliance. He started his humanitarian career in West Africa and the Middle East before joining DanChurchAid in 2005. He tweets at @ethomasjohnson, and blogs at http://ethomasjohnson.blogspot.dk/

As a global alliance, with presence in more than 140 countries, primarily at the local and national levels, ACT Alliance members are well positioned to respond to local emergencies enabling a rapid response and minimising damaging impacts of disaster. Rooted in faith, the alliance uses community-based frontline responders, even in disasters that do not make international headlines

The strength of ACT Alliance is the multitude of different organisations that make up its membership. It is in this spirit, and with this diversity, that the ACT Alliance endeavours to respond to emergencies around the world – local or global, large or small – with an ecumenical desire to respond to the needs of communities when they are at their most vulnerable.

ACT Alliance has the privileged position of being a network of local, national and international actors committed to partnerships amongst each other. This commitment enables international and global members of ACT to enhance the capacity of local and national actors, allowing for first phase response in the beginning of a crises or disaster to come directly from the community itself.

The Rapid Response Fund (RRF), supported by ACT members and managed by the Secretariat, responds to thousands of people around the world each year – people who would not otherwise have assistance in a timely way that responds to urgent, life-saving need. Support for the RRF enables ACT Alliance to highlight the essential role that local and national responders – who are already in the disaster and conflict areas – play.

The RRF is the tool for responding to small and medium level, sudden onset emergencies. Within the new ACT Humanitarian Response Mechanism, the RRF will play an increasingly significant role.

Human Dignity, community empowerment and capacity-building are cornerstones of our local and national responses. For ACT Alliance, emergency response is more than saving lives; it is also a genuine desire to invest in resilience and disaster risk reduction within communities so that populations at risk can prepare and protect themselves.

PRESS RELEASE

International faith-based network ACT Alliance has called for substantive commitment to upholding universal democratic principles and respect for human rights as the social and political turmoil in Brazil risks worsening.

The Governing Board of ACT Alliance, a network representing 140 churches and faith-based organisations working together in over 100 countries, also called for renewed commitment from all political and societal actors to work towards peaceful resolution of the issues, saying that increasing polarisation and radicalisation in the country could risk escalating towards violence.

“We express our deep concern over the threat to the democratic state of law in Brazil, as respect for democratic principles is relevant not only for Brazilian citizens, but for the citizens of the world,” said John Nduna, General Secretary of ACT Alliance. “As ACT Alliance we call for commitment from the country’s political and societal actors to resolving the political process through the promotion of a wider national dialogue, in order to overcome the crisis that the country faces, and above all, ensure the deepest respect for democracy as a universal value.”

The ecumenical movement in Brazil, which includes ACT Alliance members working in the country, has historically played a significant role in addressing the defence of human rights and the democratic process.

“Our ecumenical identity drives us to work for respect for democracy, respect for religious diversity, and respect for the rule of law and human rights,” said Nduna. “Therefore we call for commitment to a resolution of the process through dialogue and peaceful means.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

1. ACT Alliance is a coalition of 140 churches and faith-based organisations working together in over 100 countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalised people regardless of their religion, politics, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality in keeping with the highest international codes and standards.
2. ACT Alliance is supported by 25,000 staff from member organisations and mobilises about $1.5 billion for its work each year in the areas of humanitarian aid, development and advocacy.
3. For more information contact Carlos Rauda at carlos.rauda@actalliance.org , tel: +503 785 692 30 or visit www.actalliance.org

Tika Maya Pulami holds a water pot as she fetches water from a cistern in Salang, a village in the Dhading District of Nepal where Dan Church Aid, a member of the ACT Alliance, has provided a variety of support to local villagers in the wake of a devastating 2015 earthquake. The village’s water system was destroyed by the quake, forcing women to walk two hours or more to a nearby river to fetch water. Working with a local organisation, the Forum for Awareness and Youth Activity, the ACT Alliance rebuilt the village’s water system. Photo: Paul Jeffrey

As I read the Agenda for Humanity and await with eager anticipation the outcomes of the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), I am first and foremost excited. Everything in me that got me working in this sector is celebrating the phrases in the UN Secretary General’s report such as “Put people at the centre”, “invest in local capacities”, “Leave no one behind”, “Stay engaged”, “Commit to as local as possible”…the list goes on.

Then, my practical side kicks in. What will make these words a reality in our sector? How can we practically do this? How can we equip our staff with tools and resources to make the changes necessary at the frontline? What is our contribution, as ACT Alliance, to changing the system both within our own network as well as advocating for that change in the broader humanitarian system?

And then, my cynical side creeps in. Will these beautiful words on paper actually lead to change? Is the system we have created too big and complex to actually be able to put these words into action? Will the WHS mark a turning point in the history of humanitarian response, or will it be back to business as usual the day after it ends?

For us as ACT Alliance it is clear the change has to happen. The question is, what are we going to do to help bring that change about?

As my mind starts to swirl with the enormity of it all, I am encouraged by the steps of progress we are already taking, particularly in the area of quality and accountability which is my working area of responsibility. ACT Alliance is a founding member of the CHS Alliance and is working towards application of the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) in our humanitarian work. For ACT this very concretely means taking a detailed look at all of our systems and the programmatic responses that we fund and seeing how we can continually improve the quality, accountability and people management of those responses. It is about putting communities and people affected by crisis at the very centre of our response. It is about being clear about what can be expected from us, and being prepared to be held accountable to that from those that matter most – the communities affected themselves.

It’s also about ensuring a level of quality in all that we do. As active members of the Sphere network, we are able to support our frontline responders with the tools and resources they need to ensure that their response goes beyond supporting mere survival and helps to ensure quality humanitarian assistance for life with dignity.

It’s great to hear stories of ACT Alliance members providing training on the Core Humanitarian Standard and Sphere to frontline responders in Asia, but I ask myself, how can we enable more of that across the alliance in all regions of the world? Or in Ecuador, following the recent earthquake, we ask the question of our local responders – is cash being considered? And then also provide guidance to help not only make that decision but to implement in a quality way by linking to the resources of the Cash Learning Partnership, one of the latest Sphere companion standards. I ask myself, how do we change our processes in ACT to make sure that we always ask ourselves if cash would work in this context? And how do we put better learning systems in place to ensure that all our members have access to the best possible resources, as well as a network of practitioners around them to help apply them most appropriately in their context?

Ultimately, for me, the challenge is as much personal as it is organisational or even system wide. In other words, if changing the whole system seems close to impossible, at the very least I can start with me. What am I doing in my sphere of influence to put people in the centre, to turn the WHS commitments into action? Together I have hope that our different efforts can build a new picture for the future of our humanitarian work.

Yes, the system needs to be changed. What I’m hoping to come out of the World Humanitarian Summit is that every humanitarian actor, in whichever part of the system they find themselves, commits to contributing to that change. And not just by looking at other parts of the system and saying ‘that needs to change’, but by reflecting on how to be part of that change. And that starts with me.

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Sarah Kambarami is Head of Programmes at ACT Alliance in Geneva and has worked in the humanitarian and international development sector for more than 15 years.  Prior to working with ACT Alliance, Sarah worked for World Vision International, gaining significant experience in Angola before supporting work in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia as Regional Manager at World Vision UK.  In recent years, Sarah has developed an increasing focus on quality, accountability and learning and has previously worked as an Associate Lecturer for the Open University in the Institutional Development module of the Development Management Programme.

Looming famine
In the highlands of Bale region in Ethiopia, the grain harvest is in full swing. Roads are busy with modern agricultural machinery the grain is harvested large scale. Only 100 kilometers away, in the dry plains a major famine is looming. During the previous rainy season there was so little rain that the crops of many farmers failed.

Failed crop
Mohammed Ismail’s crops also failed. Together with his wife Zahara Hussein and their two children they live in his field. “Last year in the rainy season, I sowed the first teff (a cereal). However, there wasn’t enough rain. There was only rain in September; normally there is also rain in August and October. My crop failed completely. Teff is a cereal that has a good yield; it is used to make enjerra (a kind of pancake). I had hoped to earn good money by selling a portion of the harvest. Now I have no income and no harvest to feed my family. I can only harvest some corn and sorghum, which I also had on my land. ”

Selling wood and working as a carrier
In order to bridge the period until the next rainy season and harvest, Mohamed must find other solutions. “I must somehow get money to buy food and other necessities for my family. I have a few goats, a cow, an ox and a donkey. If I buy a goat, I can earn 500 birr (20 euro). I also gather wood in the forest and make charcoal from it. Twice a week I go to the market in order to sell my wood and charcoal. I also work there as a cargo carrier for some extra income. In future, my field must produce better crops. I use the excrement of my animals to fertilize the land. I have also planted a papaya and a mango tree. They are drought-resistant and will hopefully yield fruit in a few years.”

A three-hour walk to fetch water
Due to the food shortage in the region, the food is very restricted. This also goes for the Mohamed family. “We mainly eat bread. We buy it in the market, or we bake it ourselves. We also make porridge from maize flour. For the children I buy camel milk. My wife is pregnant with our third child. If possible, I try to buy her an extra-rich diet, which she can prepare with water. In the dry season we unfortunately have to walk very far to fetch water, it takes me more than 3 hours to fetch it. ”

Hoping to get food aid from the government
Muhammad and his family have not yet had government aid. “In the past we did get aid. Recently, a government official came by to ask for information about our situation. So we hope we will be getting part of the monthly food distribution from the government. Then we will at least get flour and oil. ”

Emergency Relief from Kerk in Actie
The emergency relief that ACT members Kerk in Actie and EECMY provides, is distributed in coordination with the local government. Such emergency relief can help people like Mohamed and his family to survive until the next harvest.

Planting fruit trees
Mohamed hopes in future no longer to be dependent on this aid. “By planting fruit trees that are  drought-resistant and by fertilizing my land, I hope to create a better situation and to be able to withstand drought better.”

Text: Mariken Stolk