CHAtroom

Funding for humanitarian aid is decreasing and the funding gap is at a historic high. At the same time needs are forecasted to further rise by conflict and climate change. This has sparked an international debate on prioritisation. Hugo Slim, Oxford University, has shared highly controversial ideas how donors could refocus their aid. In this podcast Ralf Südhoff discusses with the former ICRC Head of Policy, why he believes political angles, proximity and good governance should become criteria for the allocation of humanitarian aid, even if this contradicts its principles to be neutral, impartial and independent.

Painful Choices: How Humanitarians Can Prioritize in a World of Rising Need

Thanks to transatlantika for supporting the podcast production!

Why might the forecasted right populist swing at the European elections be no problem for humanitarian aid? Which other major challenges needs Europe to fix to substantially change its aid approach, and to ensure its fragile financial support? And why does he regret to have not moved reform in a different, more “dictatorship like” style? Former Director General Michael Köhler of DG ECHO shares provocative views on the upcoming European elections, the need for humanitarian reform and his legacy after he retired from 30 years engagement in international affairs in a CHAtroom interview with CHA director Ralf Südhoff.

CHA Paper "Influencer Europe":

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Executive Summary of the paper:

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Dank an die Agentur transatlantika für die Podcast-Betreuung!

Arbie Baguios ist Experte für humanitäre Hilfe und Entwicklung, Gründer von Aid Re-imagined und Rapporteur der CHA Konferenz 2023. Im CHAtroom erklärt er, welchen Einfluss Management auf Machtungleichgewichte im humanitären System hat.

CHA Conference 2023 Website

Aid Re-imagined

Arbie Baguios auf Twitter und LinkedIn

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Valentina Shafina arbeitet als Technical Specialist für das International Rescue Commitee und ist für Client Responsiveness und Client Centred Programming zuständig. Sie ist eine der Redner*innen auf der CHA Konferenz 2023, und wird über digitale Technologien und Rechenschaftspflicht in der humanitären Hilfe diskutieren. In Folge 13 des CHAtroom gibt sie einen kleinen Einblick in die Thematik und ihre Arbeit.

Links:

CHA Conference 2023 Website

Client Responsive Programming: The IRC’s organizational AAP framework

Empower to Enable Learning Report

Valentina Shafina on LinkedIn

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Wie äußert sich Rassismus in humanitären Organisationen in Deutschland? Wie gehen Organisationen das Thema an? Was sind große Hindernisse in der Anti-Rassismus-Arbeit - und was sind sinnvolle erste Schritte? Und last, not least: Was kann, was sollte man als Kolleg/in tun, wenn man Zeug/in von Rassismus wird? Diese Fragen stelle ich Nezahat Xuereb, Mitgründerin des "BIPoC Netzwerk in entwicklungspolitischen und humanitären NGOs".

Nezahat Xuereb hat zehn Jahre Berufserfahrung im humanitären Sektor, u.a. bei Oxfam, wo sie im Fundraising tätig war und auch Mitglied einer Anti-Rassismus AG war. Sie ist außerdem Diversity Trainerin und hat vor etwa einem Jahr das BiPoc Netzwerk entwicklungspolitischer und humanitärer Nichtregierungsorganisationen in Deutschland mitgegründet.

Links:

Kerrie Holloway ist Senior Research Officer, Oliver Lough ist Senior Research Fellow und John Bryant ist Senior Research Officer für die Humanitarian Policy Group bei ODI. Sie forschen zu biometrischer Identifizierung, digitaler Erstellung von Karten und Social Media in der humanitären Hilfe, vor dem Hintergrund der Frage: Wie wirken sich diese neuen technologiegestützten Ansätze in der humanitären Hilfe auf die Inklusion aus? Darüber spreche ich mit ihnen in der 11. Folge des CHAtroom.

Zitate:

John Bryant

„What maps potentially do is they give visibility of […] affected people, potentially very marginalised people. They get visibility without consent. […] [But] invisibility is a really important protection strategy for a lot of marginalised people in humanitarian crises, and I don't think that's quite respected enough in a lot of these digital tools, instruments and responses.“

"[A more inclusive process] is going to need to be far more participatory and not just a consultation process at the end, but really starting from the point of view of what are the problems that aid users are facing in this context and then going from that."

„The future, I'd like to see, is one […] where digital humanitarian technologies enable […] diversity.“

Kerrie Holloway

„Banks and technology companies are not upholding humanitarian principles in the same way that humanitarian organisations should be doing and […] pushing some of that responsibility onto them […] means that you're making things less secure for people.“

„I think digital rights more than digital tools is something we should really be focussing on.“

Oliver Lough

"While we're talking about increasing use of fancy of the shelf solutions [..] a lot of humanitarian data and the humanitarian data system is really held together with hope and string and excel, often being used way beyond its capacity or not being used properly at all."

"It's helpful to think of [social media] as part of what we call the humanitarian space."

„It's important to flag that social media is not designed with humanitarian work in mind. It's […] not a neutral environment. It's harvesting and selling people's desires for a profit. It's driven by visibility and by popularity.“

„The starting point has to be that [new technolgy] is driven by the needs and the aspirations of affected people themselves rather than something we're doing for our own benefits.“

Links:

HPG research program on the humanitarian 'digital divide'

Digital identity, biometrics and inclusion in humanitarian responses to refugee crises

Digital mapping and inclusion in humanitarian response

Social media and inclusion in humanitarian response and action

Final report: Digital technologies and inclusion in humanitarian response

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160 Jahre nach Henri Dunants Buch über die Schlacht von Solferino, das für den modernen Humanitarismus grundlegend wurde, hat Dr. Hugo Slim eine Reflexion über neue Kriegsführung, Cyberkriege und ihre Bedeutung für die dringend erforderliche Reform des humanitären Sektors geschrieben. Darüber sprechen wir in der zehnten Episode des CHAtroom.

Dr. Hugo Slim ist ein britischer Akademiker und Politikberater im Fachbereich Internationale Beziehungen, der sich auf Kriegsethik und humanitäre Hilfe spezialisiert hat. Er schreibt über den Charakter moderner Konflikte, den Schutz der Zivilbevölkerung und die Ethik der humanitären Hilfe. Derzeit ist er Senior Research Fellow am Las Casas Institute for Social Justice, Blackfriars Hall, Universität Oxford und an der Blavatnik School of Government.

Zitate:

“This big war is not only going to be on land, sea and air, it is moving into new domains of outer space, cyber space and information space.”

“We [as a humanitarian sector] need to raise our eyes and look at the big war of the future as well as the wars we are in today.”

“We will have to think much more about massive casualties and massive displacement. And we will need to work out what are the ethics, norms and laws to regulate AI based weaponry and weapon of mass destruction. And we have to work on our own practice: What does it mean for us to become a much more AI based profession as well.”

“The principles do, neutrality does hinder localisation to some degree, because it is used as an excuse very often by a more powerful international system.”

“We need a simpler aid, we need to focus much more. […] In a way, humanitarianism has absorbed the whole of the human rights agenda […] they are becoming utopian.”

Links:

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Die Folgen des Klimawandels stellen das humanitäre System vor immense Herausforderungen - gleichzeitig ist die humanitäre Hilfe selbst für Umweltschäden verantwortlich und muss sich in dieser Hinsicht ändern. Mit Véronique de Geoffroy, Groupe URD, spreche ich über "Greening Aid". [Englisch]

Véronique de Geoffroy ist geschäftsführende Direktorin der Groupe URD in Frankreich, eine der führenden humanitären Denkfabriken. Sie ist seit 25 Jahren im humanitären Sektor tätig und gründete ein Netzwerk von Nichtregierungsorganisationen, die sich verpflichten, die Umweltfolgen ihres Handelns zu messen und ihren CO2-Fußabdruck zu verringern.

Zitate:

“The main tragedy of the response to the climate crisis is the failure to take responsibility.”

“In the humanitarian sector it would be a mistake to wait for the donors to do things and to change.[…] For some changes there is a need for more funds, but other changes will increase savings. So it is not only a question of funding.”

“Assess your own areas of responsibility as a humanitarian organisation: Which are areas for potential action? And then commit for change, firstly on what is needed, and then on what is possible and acceptable.”

“Set targets, start to measure and communicate about what you do, to ensure that there will be accountability.”

Links:

Twitter: @GroupeURD @vdegeoffroy

The Humanitarian Environment Network

Statement of Commitment on Climate by Humanitarian Organisations

Groupe URD

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Paul Knox Clark ist Leiter der ADAPT-Initiative. Er hat die meiste Zeit seiner Laufbahn in der humanitären Hilfe gearbeitet und ist nun Wissenschaftler, Experte und Vordenker im humanitären Sektor.

Zitate:

"Climate change will be a game changer because of new kinds of emergencies, cascading emergencies and a different environment."

"A huge wave of disasters is bearing down on us. Humanitarians are not really prepared for the scale or nature of that."

"The ways that we are used to responding may become less effective or even dangerous."

"The real challenge is the challenge of uncertainty. We won’t know how things are going to change, necessarily, until they change. And so that’s going to mean a quite fundamental change in the way that humanitarian response works in terms of being much more flexible, much more adaptive."

Regarding funding: "Firstly, there needs to be more money. […] Currently the money that is available and relates to climate crisis related disasters is split into humanitarian, development and climate financing. That is not very efficient, it prevents linkages happening. So, rethinking and reworking the silos and allowing, particularly for donors to allow funding to be flexible across these areas is very important. Finally, in all of these areas […] mechanisms are required to allow organisations [on the frontline], who often have best knowledge to have direct access to that funding."

"We have to be very careful not to believe that any single approach – resilience, response, anticipation – is the magic bullet for this. It is much, much too big for that. Really, we are going to need to be better, all the way of the spectrum."

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