As the first-ever
international humanitarian summit is only a week away, Turkey's leading aid
organizations are focusing on the need to "localize aid" with
"stronger local actors".
As Istanbul gets ready to
host the World Humanitarian Summit between May 23-24, Anadolu Agency spoke to
domestic NGOs who say empowering local communities is the best way to cope with
disasters.
Head of the Turkish Red
Crescent, Kerem Kinik, says if local humanitarian aid groups are not
strengthened "communities will be more open to disasters".
"Aid made by larger
international organizations in local places is not sustainable and results in
very high costs."
Kinik says reform of the
humanitarian aid system is needed, describing it as "reshaping aid".
"A draft final report
to be shared by the UN at the end of the summit is almost ready," Kinik
says. "We do not expect a radical change, but it is a significant summit
which will only focus on humanitarian issues. It will also be an opportunity to
tell the world Turkey's way of humanitarian aid."
The summit will feature a
number of high-level leaders' round-table talks, as well as briefings,
seminars, workshops, panel discussions and an exhibition fair.
During two days, around
5,000 participants-global leaders from government, business, aid organizations,
affected communities, faith-based organizations, international and national
NGOs, and academia-will meet.
Each organization is
expected to bring its own agenda to the world summit. Among these are Turkey's
Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) and the Support To Life aid agency.
"Localization of
humanitarian assistance" is of top priority for these two groups which
have been actively involved in the preparatory phases leading up to the summit,
starting with the first regional consultation in June 2014 in Abidjan, Ivory
Coast.
Sema Genel Karaosmanoglu,
executive director of Support To Life, says: "One of the strongest and
most important messages that came out of the consultation phase was the need to
localize aid."
She says in the current
humanitarian system, a great majority of global funding stays with global
actors "that are remotely positioned from affected people".
Complaining that a
significant portion of global humanitarian funding is used "to keep the
heavy machinery of the UN running," she says: "It is striking to see
that less than two percent of the total funding goes to local actors that are
in direct contact with the affected populations.
"For humanitarian aid
to be effective, we need to see more resources channelled to local actors who
are known to provide the most effective aid."
IHH Deputy Chairman Durmus
Aydin, also the summit's coordinator, agrees, saying:
"It is only when
local aid organizations grow stronger that the continuity of humanitarian aid
is ensured."
He says during humanitarian
crises in developing countries, it is highly difficult to get over problems
quickly "as both the states and national NGOs are not strong enough".
Pointing out that millions
of people are displaced every year due to war-related crises, Aydin says the
classic UN methods of providing humanitarian aid "are not helping
anymore".
"The UN is also
looking for a solution to those long-lasting crises [...] What we expect out of
the summit are concrete steps towards overcoming such … problems."
Karaosmanoglu admits there
are serious challenges to reforming aid delivery:
"Given the power
dynamics in the humanitarian aid structure as it currently stands, it will not
be easy to make significant changes. But this is a slow process and the seeds
for that change are being sown."
Her association has had
the chance to contribute to many of the themes and discussions on the
effectiveness of humanitarian aid and "how they can reform the system in
order to better reach out to the millions of affected people that need assistance".
She talks about two
concrete initiatives which NGOs see as important steps.
One is the launching of a
global network of local actors (NEAR-Network of Empowered Aid Response) who
have met each other throughout preparatory consultations and have a stronger
voice in changing conditions and resources for local actors.
The second initiative is a
'Charter for Change', which is a set of commitments put together and endorsed
by 23 international NGOs. Signatories commit to passing larger portions of aid
funding to local partners, supporting and building their capacity, and
establishing a more equal partnership in joint response to humanitarian crises.
Karaosmanoglu also says
one of their aims at the summit is "to show the power and impact of local
actors in Turkey in the provision of humanitarian assistance to nearly three
million Syrian refugees that are in need of food, shelter, health care, and
education".
"The amount of
support provided by local actors in Turkey to refugees is not visible in the
current humanitarian system," she adds.
"Our goal is to
visualize on a map the many diverse interventions made by a diverse set of
local actors, emphasizing the need for more resources to be channelled to these
actors."
Aydin from the IHH also
points to the efforts made for Syrian refugees.
- 'Humanitarian diplomacy'
-
IHH-one of Turkey's first
international aid organizations, which currently operates in over 140
countries-has carried out numerous aid work in the field.
The foundation has saved
over 2,000 civilians, including journalists and aid volunteers, from prisons in
Syria since the conflict in that country started, Aydin says.
"Humanitarian
diplomacy" is what the foundation will also be focusing on during the
summit.
"None of the aid
organizations can be indifferent to those innocent people being kept in
prisons," he said, "especially … aid volunteers."
"By international
agreements, there should be no hindrance to them to deliver aid to the
needy."
Although he is not very
hopeful about a solution to the Syrian crisis, he says: "I hope that the
summit at least can be a step towards making vulnerable people there
sheltered."
Reiterating that some
concrete suggestions and solutions have been discussed prior to the summit, he
says:
"The upcoming event
is a historic one. Now, what is significant is that the UN should support and
practice [resolutions]. If not, all the work and effort going on for two years
on how to achieve more effective humanitarian aid will be wasted.
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