Let’s no forget: locally-led response & Preventing and Mitigating Risks are REQUIRED for a Safer World

At the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai last year, ACT Alliance committed:

To raise DRR awareness at the grassroots level by influencing local leadership and educating community members

ACT Alliance has a strong track record on enabling community resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). To reduce future risks, here are examples from ACT partners around the world

This is how we reduce future risks:

1) LIVELIHOODS: Diversification of income sources and livelihood options

Mohammed Assen (40 years old), smallholder, living in Dereba, Ethiopia:

“A few years ago, I’d nearly given up hope. We’d lost everything in the drought. ACT member EECMY (Mekane Yesus Church) helped us to create the vegetable garden and the shallow well. They gave us seeds and saplings and showed us how to make compost. My wife found work in the tree nursery. And I was able to do a course in masonry. Not so long ago, we nearly starved to death. But now we have a future again!”

2) DRR EDUCATION: Ensuring that DRR education reaches to the most hard-to-reach areas and communities-at-risk

In Pakistan, Act Member CWSA is using a Mobile Knowledge Resource Center equipped in a truck to bring DRR education to remote, hazard-prone communities and help community members, teachers and school children to prepare for the event of a natural disaster.

3) EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS: Saving lives and livelihoods through early warnings

In Ethiopia, indigenous early warning knowledge and practices are documented, shared and combined with modern technology to strengthen and promote decentralized early warning and response systems by ACT member ICCO. This improves early warnings and increases the trust of communities in the information. Communities are taking action to avoid or reduce disaster risks.

4) LOCAL DECISION MAKING: Empowering community members on the ground to lead risk identification and take mitigation measures

In Myanmar, Village DDR Committees mobilise community and government resources to strengthen village infrastructure with support from ACT Member Diakonia.

5) INNOVATION: Collaborating with academia and other stakeholders

Diganjeng, West-Java, Indonesia:

In Indonesia, we invented a climate field school run by an ACT partner BfW, which demonstrates growing rice on bamboo rafts floating on the water, an innovation developed by the community. The 2 x 5 meter rafts can be made within half an hour, usually from bamboo trunks held together with netting. The cost of 3.80 euros is moderate and over a three year period, the rafts save a lot of money.

“What’s so remarkable about our village,” explains Tahmo Cahyono, the village chief, “is that during the rainy season, the fields are completely flooded. In the dry season, though, they are unbelievably dry.”

“Initially, we were ridiculed for thinking this up”, Feri Rianto, co-ordinator at the climate field school says. “But by the end of the season, the results we achieved were persuasive.”

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ACT Alliance is fully committed to reducing disaster risks in addition to responding to humanitarian crises through our presence deeply rooted in the societies in over 100 countries. We enable local capabilities for ‘Preventing and Mitigating Disaster Risks’ before, during and after disasters.

Hari Maya Bhujel hugs her grandson, 5-year old Utsab, in Majhitar, 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. Photo: Paul Jeffrey

The first-ever World Humanitarian Summit is only days away, after years of preparation, thousands of hours of input from across the globe, significant financial resources, numerous reports, and now, hundreds of commitments. And today, as I wrap up the final preparations to head out to Istanbul, I find myself already thinking about what happens next.

As I reflect on the Agenda for Humanity, I am pleased to see commitments towards inclusivity, recognizing the role that local and national responders play next to international counterparts in humanitarian contexts. I am hopeful when I hear terms such as “humanitarian ecosystem” becoming the norm in WHS discussions, knowing that it is intended to recognize what NGOs have known all along – we all bring diverse strengths in order to achieve the same goal: saving lives, maintaining dignity, and supporting people in need.

But I am doubtful too. Because I wonder, and I know I am not alone, what the tangible benefits will be to the people we serve. How do we ensure that the populations affected by crisis are adequately engaged, not just now, but after? How do we ensure that the core of what we do – delivering quality aid, quickly, to as many people in need as possible – does not get lost in all of these words?

At ACT Alliance, we spent months going over the commitments we wanted to take forward to the WHS. We spent hours in meetings and on email amongst the membership discussing, understanding, proposing and agreeing, reflecting on what we have heard from affected populations. For us, the ACT commitments are not about the WHS, but about who we want to be as we serve populations in need. They are about the changes we think are important, and have been advocating for, also outside the WHS process. They are about using the WHS as an opportunity to look at ourselves and commit to being reflective of a system that we want. They are about leading the way in how we respond to humanitarian situations – whether they make the headlines or not.

The ACT Alliance represents more than 140 churches and faith-based organizations, engaging in humanitarian, development and advocacy work in more than 100 countries around the world. More than 70% of our membership are local and national responders, and, alongside other first responders from across the sector, are often the first to respond to populations in crisis. Our diversity is one of our core qualities, and the challenge of finding a common vision that engages local and national responders who are embedded in communities before, during and after crises, alongside international responders who are committed to strengthening and accompanying members from around the world, while challenging, makes us stronger.

For us, the WHS itself is really only the beginning. Because what happens afterwards, as we develop our implementation plans to put our commitments in action, is where the tough work begins. We will continue to work with, and for, affected populations the world over. We will remain accountable to them, because we believe that in the end, our commitments will be measured against the improvements we make in saving lives and maintaining the dignity of people affected by crisis as we engage in effective, quality responses. And so, as part of the ACT Alliance delegation going to Istanbul, this is the thought that I will carry with me: humanitarian action is first and foremost about humanity.

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Reshma Adatia has been working in the international aid sector both in Canada and abroad for more than 15 years. She is currently the Global Humanitarian Coordinator for the ACT Alliance, based in Geneva, Switzerland since January 2015. The ACT Alliance is a network of 140 church and faith-based organization, working in more than 100 countries. In her role, she is responsible for global humanitarian advocacy and policy positioning, as well as overall responsible for the ACT Alliance Emergency Response Mechanism, which prioritises direct funding to local and national responders in emergencies.

Reshma is currently a member of the ICVA Board, and is Chair of the ICVA Policy Committee, as well as a principal of the IASC Emergency Directors Group. She holds degrees in International Development and International Politics from the University of Calgary.

PRESS RELEASE

20 May 2016 – Renewed action and investment in humanity is needed at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul next week if we are to move from delivering aid to ending need, international faith-based humanitarian and development network ACT Alliance has said.

In the eleven new commitments ACT Alliance as a network has made towards the World Humanitarian Summit, it has focused on the core responsibilities highlighted in the UN Secretary General’s report to the Summit, in terms of meeting people’s essential needs and developing solutions with and for those impacted; investing in local capacities, and putting people at the centre of the response through local and national empowerment and building community resilience.

“Every day our members in the field doing humanitarian work are the witnesses of the hard realities that face people affected by natural disasters, diseases and epidemics, and conflicts,” said John Nduna, ACT Alliance General Secretary. “It is imperative that these communities are part of an inclusive system that empowers them. It is time to create a paradigm shift within the humanitarian system, and our expectation is that this first Summit should be a significant milestone toward real change in the sector, in which local and national organisations are more empowered to respond to their community’s needs.”

The 140 members of ACT Alliance who together work in over 100 countries around the world, work directly with communities facing emergency situations and respond to around 25 emergency situations around the world per year, including the recent earthquake in Ecuador and the ongoing conflict in Syria.

The alliance shares the majority of findings in the UN Secretary General’s report towards the World Humanitarian Summit. It has also endorsed the new Charter for Change initiative, which makes concrete commitments to shift power and resources to national and local actors.

As part of its work to support the World Humanitarian Summit process the alliance has committed to significantly increasing the proportion of ACT members’ humanitarian funding that goes directly to local and national members and their partners for humanitarian response and emergency preparedness by 2018.

“The commitments ACT has made in the run up to the WHS are about the changes we have identified as important and which we have been advocating for, both within and outside the WHS process,” said Reshma Adatia, ACT Alliance Global Humanitarian Coordinator. “We have used the WHS as an opportunity to commit to being reflective of a system that we want. Our commitments are about leading the way in how we respond to humanitarian situations.”

“Like other humanitarian workers we do our best to help people overcome emergency situations, and there are no miracle results,” said Nduna. “We must embrace the issues together at all levels and work in partnerships with equal recognition, from grassroot communities including faith based organisations to national and regional leaders and international bodies. This is the most effective way to help change the lives of people in crisis situations and uphold the norms that safeguard humanity.”

** For more information contact Estelle Marais, Head of Communications at Estelle.marais[at]actalliance.org tel: +41 79 358 3171.

The Philippines is the fourth most disaster-prone country in the world having 274 disasters in ten years, from 1995 to 2015 . It is a country where extreme events – protracted, recurrent and sudden – can wipe out gains built over years, even decades.

“A typhoon can be especially devastating to farmers. Without their harvests, it is easy for them to go into a cycle of debt,” said Hazel Tanchuling of Rice Watch and Action Network (RWAN). A third of the country’s workforce is employed in the agriculture sector, but it is a job that is increasingly defined by risk and low returns. In a year, up to 20 typhoons may visit the country.

As part of the overall rehabilitation efforts after Typhoon Haiyan, RWAN and the Panay Rural Development Center, Inc. (PRDCI) are working to increase the capacities of farming communities in managing the risks they face. Both RWAN and PRDCI are partners of Christian Aid in the Philippines.

Through the Climate Resiliency Field Schools (CRFS), they seek to sustainably improve the ability of farmers to adapt to climate change and their livelihoods to thrive despite a disaster-prone environment. Weather stations are set up in partner municipalities for localized weather information that farmers and fishers can regularly access. Farmers’ field schools are also held to introduce adoptive and sustainable farming technologies and practices, such as System of Rice Intensification (SRI).

At present, RWAN has partnered with LGUs and PAGASA in implementing CRFS in 32 municipalities.  These institutions are mandated and responsible to provide services to communities.

Rebecca and Janny Panolin were one of the CRFS participants in Batad, Iloilo province.

“We were able to help and support one another better in managing our farm. We both learned about the SRI (System of Rice Intensification) technology,” said Rebecca.

At the end of the cropping period, 135 kgs or 3.2 cavans of palay was harvested from the Panolins’ 100 square-meter farm, said Chito Tionko, PRDCI Executive Director. This translates to about 13.5 tons per hectare, more than what they have ever harvested from their plot of land.

But what made this a truly stunning achievement was the use of less water, less seeds, less fertilizer, and no agrochemical crop protection. The SRI technology leads to better yields by improving the soil ecology and increasing beneficial soil organisms, said Tionko.

“When we are not in the farm tending the crops, you can see the two of us together preparing the organic inputs we need,” said Rebecca.

To further improve productivity and food security, the couple also learned about farm diversification so that if one crop fails, there would still be a back-up. They also learned to use weather information in their decision making and farm planning. The principles of the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) were developed to increase yield and improve the rice production through improving the soil environment and tapping plants’ growth ability with less reliance on inorganic nutrient inputs and varietal change.

Efforts like these are supportive of Core Responsibility Four which commits to a decisive shift from delivering aid to ending need. The project starts at the local level, which is where any intervention that seeks to address people’s vulnerabilities must begin. Its goals are resilience, capacity-building, self-reliance and, consequently, less dependence on foreign aid and external assistance.

Local leadership is supported and local government staff are also engaged. The collaborative approach brought together the expertise of government and two of Christian Aid’s partners – RWAN and its climate risk management, and PRDCI and livelihood resilience – resulting in outcomes better than could have been achieved by any organization acting alone.

At the core of Christian Aid’s strategy in the Philippines is linking humanitarian response to long-term goals. In the context of the Philippines, this is crucial in addressing the root causes of vulnerability of communities, such as poverty, conflict and threats to land rights.

In line with the direction set out by the UN Secretary General’s Agenda for Humanity, Christian Aid in the Philippines renews its commitment for a decisive shift in the humanitarian system: from delivering aid and individual projects, to ending need and addressing the roots causes of people’s vulnerabilities.

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*With reports from Rovel Espaňol, PRDCI Volunteer Agriculture Technician; Chito Tionko, PRDCI Executive Director; and Hazel Tanchuling, Rice Watch Action Network (RWAN).

Josephine Matriano is the Programme Manager for Haiyan at Christian Aid. Prior to her current post, she was the focal person in the Philippines for the DFID-funded resilience projects in indigenous peoples and mining-affected communities and urban poor communities. Her expertise include community-based DRR, advocacy, and Emergency Food Security and Livelihoods (EFSL).

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/