HPG policy brief: a clash of principles in Pakistan?

A new policy brief of the Humanitarian Practice Group (HPG) discusses the response of the humanitarian community in Pakistan and assesses the dilemma between sticking to a principled approach and supporting the government's efforts to rebuild stability in the country. The fight against the Taliban invokes more military and political responses of the government, often overriding the humanitarian principles.

Aid agencies are faced with the dilemma of engaging with and supporting government efforts to promote stability or maintaining a principled approach. Their added value in promoting stability is not clear and their influence over these processes is likely to be mixed. A principled approach will be limiting in terms of influencing domestic policy and gaining access. Resolving or managing these dilemmas will require strategic decision-making based on context analysis and strong leadership.
Irrespective of the approach adopted, advocacy has a significant role to play in ensuring adherence to International Humanitarian Law in the conduct of hostilities, that there is sufficient humanitarian funding and that efforts to promote stability ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable are met, and that political and security considerations do not override the humanitarian imperative.

IRIN: insecurity drives humanitarian organisations out of Pakistan

The growing insecurity in Pakistan has posed several difficulties for the security of staff from several humanitarian organisations, IRIN reports. Since the killing of four aid workers of PLAN international, many NGOs have left the North West Frontier Province, leaving all their beneficiaries behind with no other help coming in. This seems unlikely to change in the near future, as prospects for peace and safety to return remain bleak.

The withdrawal of the UN does not bode well for the province's impoverished people. The same holds true for other areas of Pakistan. "People have suffered, especially women, since NGOs began pulling out. It has meant less awareness, less enlightenment and there has also been a loss of jobs," Mahbano Shahid, an activist formerly employed with an NGO in Mansehra, told IRIN.

Also national agencies are targeted, in particular female aid workers raising awareness about family planning and women's rights.

Reuters/Guardian: Record budget shortfall for UN aid agencies

Thanks to Michael Bear for highlighting a Reuters news release and a Guardian analysis on the Humanitarian Relief blog.

Reuters reports that both the global economic downturn and the drastic increase in needs in Pakistan have contributed to a record funding gap of $4.8 billion.

Yet some 43 million people need assistance this year, up from 28 million in 2008.
While there have been no large natural disasters so far in 2009, the global downturn has amplified needs in impoverished countries, and especially in those in protracted crisis such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sudan.

This situation is not likely to improve, as the 2009 contributions of the major donor countries had already been set before the economic crisis had hit them.
However, the main problem is one of political will rather than lack of money. As Conor Foley in his Guardian analysis points out,

It would cost around 1% of the money thrown at western banks in the last six months to bridge the current humanitarian deficit. Yet politicians will continue to play a game of cynical brinkmanship over where the money should come from, confident that it will be the UN itself that gets blamed for the resulting deaths and human misery.

For more figures on how the economic crisis has affected other humanitarian organisations, see another blog entry by Michael Bear.

ODI: Pakistan Case Study: The Role of the Affected State in Humanitarian Action

This paper examines the history and structure of disaster response, reconstruction and preparedness in Pakistan since 1947, and in particular the interesting balance of power between national and local state capacity on the one hand, and military and civilian authority on the other.

Pakistan's recent disasters are covered in depth, comparing and contrasting the responses provided by the state and international actors, including donors, the UN and INGOs; lessons learned, and ideas on the way forward for Pakistan in disaster management.

Download the paper from the Reliefweb site.

ALNAP 7th Review of Humanitarian Action

The 7th edition of the ALNAP Review of Humanitarian Action (RHA) explores critical issues involved in the development of mechanisms for assessing and improving the performance of humanitarian actors. It contains a short introduction and three main substantive studies.

The first study is on organisational change and provides perhaps the first substantive analysis of the experiences of humanitarian organisations in carrying out processes of change and improvement. The second study focuses on joint evaluations of humanitarian action and provides a comprehensive account of current strengths and weaknesses. This chapter also contains a meta-evaluation, which assesses the quality of joint-evaluation reports using the ALNAP Quality Pro Forma. The third study is an evaluation synthesis of key lessons learned from the international response to the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.

Download the review from the ALNAP website. Audio of the launch is available online from the ODI website.

TUFTS Humanitarian Agenda 2015: Perceptions of the Pakistan Earthquake Response

The devastating earthquake that struck northern Pakistan and the disputed territory of Kashmir in October 2005 killed approximately 75,000 people, injured 70,000 more, and left an estimated 3.5 million people homeless. The subsequent relief effort, which was led by the Pakistan Army and included local citizens, national and international aid agencies, US and NATO military forces, and even Islamic militant groups, was one of the most effective responses ever to a natural disaster of this magnitude. Andrew Wilder of the Feinstein International Center examines the earthquake response in the latest in a series of the Center’s reports on the state of humanitarianism.

This new Humanitarian Agenda 2015 study, “Perceptions of the Pakistan Earthquake Response,” records the perceptions of both aid providers and aid recipients in the earthquake-affected areas of Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. In particular, Wilder examines perceptions regarding the following four issues: the universality of humanitarian principles, the impact of the War on Terror on the earthquake response, the role of the Pakistan Army in leading the response, and the security of humanitarian aid workers.

The report is available for download from the Tufts website.

Federation Release: Doing the dirty work: sanitation and hygiene save lives in Pakistan

The British Red Cross mass sanitation Emergency Response Unit (ERU) is working with Pakistan Red Crescent volunteers and community members to build temporary latrines, clean up waste and share information on hygiene promotion. This translates into much needed relief for Saeeda, Sima and their families.

Throughout South Asia, an estimated 37 million people have been hit by terrible flooding. In Pakistan, more than 300 people died and over 88,000 homes were damaged or destroyed.

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Lessons learned from the Pakistan earthquake two years ago are being applied in the flood-stricken area. For example, in the quake-affected North-West Frontier Province, women hygiene promoters have been trained by the Red Crescent to teach other women about the importance of boiling water and regular bathing. The promotion of good hygiene habits is also now being carried out in Baluchistan and Sindh.

"Providing facilities isn’t enough, says Fortune. "By sharing knowledge on hygiene, we ensure that families become safer and healthier as well."

Jean Gilardi, Fortune’s teammate on the British ERU, is in charge of teaching communities about the importance of hygiene and notes the success she has witnessed.

"We’re already seeing changes… the children wash their hands after using the latrines and the women understand that if they practice good hygiene, eat well and drink milk, their babies will be healthier," Gilardi says.

Read more on the Reliefweb site.