Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Sri Lanka Floods 2016: Avoiding the Mistakes of 2004

Sri Lanka is experiencing its worst natural disaster since, arguably, the tsunami. Thousands have been displaced and hundreds killed by the floods and landslides caused by the unprecedented rain (ironic in itself given that many for weeks before had been praying for rain to bring some relief to a heat wave that had been plaguing the country).
While the attention is understandably on immediate search and rescue, it would be wise as well to remember the lessons from the tsunami, where we had so much initial help which stopped in the days that followed. While there is immediate need like food and non food items it is probable that everyone will forget the medium and long term. We can not afford to forget the medium and long term because this is where the needs of the affected people should not be neglected.
People at the center of the crisis will need to be empowered to cope and recover with dignity in the coming days, months and years. Thus it is not just about the provision of goods and services but the rebuilding of services and structures to cope and resume their livelihoods on their own. This will include restoring infrastructure to help people communicate and connect them to the markets, the creation of employment opportunities, to make sure remittances flow and to help to stimulate the local private sector. It is important to understand the market dynamics and establish and adjust priorities for the most appropriate time of assistance. Often the increased use of cash or vouchers (as opposed to relief items) would be preferable as it is a flexible response tool that supports the autonomy and choice of these people particularly those affected in and around Colombo, whilst making humanitarian aid more accountable to the affected people. It allows them to recharge their phones for example to communicate with loved ones or even to look after their own specific businesses. It also gives them agency at a time when you have lost everything. It helps them to get engaged.
The first responders (those most closest and most invested) need support and there has to be coordination with and between them and all players on the ground including the government, private sector and NGOs. The voices and choices of the affected people and the first responders should guide our response even when outside actors are called upon to provide assistance and protection. It is all very well for us who from outside talk about the provision of food or non food items but we have to take into account that surveys consistently show that many affected people do not believe the aid they receive is relevant or meets their priority needs. Even when we are able to meet those needs we need to ensure we do not create additional problems. For example, I have seen pictures of food being distributed in plastic bags and plastic water bottles being distributed. However if there is no process for garbage and waste management, then we will create environmental issues in the future.
We need to close the gender gap in our response to those who have been affected. Religious and cultural norms in Sri Lanka will mean that women and girls often are unable to claim their rights and fulfil their needs in a crisis. This has to start with an effective information management which includes disaggregated data and other key relevant indicators. In addition to gender, age is a crucial factor. Both young people and the elderly as well as the disabled are also often neglected in any response. Psychosocial and health responses have to take this into account.
Lastly those affected will need support in getting back to their homes so cleaning and return kits are essential. This is where we often fail. They will need help to restart their businesses and rebuild their shattered lives. How can we ensure that we have programmed this in our fundraising as well as our time and resource allocation? What provisions do we have for livelihood support? When the crowds die down and the interest declines, how can we ensure that people are still remembered?
Moving forward there has to be greater investment in managing shocks differently especially on disaster risk. We need to innovate in disaster resilience and reconstruction. Could the impact of the flooding have been mitigated had people been better prepared and their capacity built to expect this? Or had there been a better early warning system in place?
We know that Sri Lanka over the last few years has suffered from rain causing flooding with every year becoming much worse. Yet, we are in a scenario where every year, it seems as if we are responding for the first time. Surely there should be some contingency planning put in place through the local government, schools and faith based institutions (for example, storing copies of ID cards and pass books at the local temple or mosque which is not known to suffer from flooding or some stock piling of non essential items close to areas known to be at risk of flooding). Local authorities (as well as first responders) need to be better trained and equipped in areas of preparedness and response to disasters and crisis. The government needs to strengthen national legislation on emergency preparedness including contingency planning and early warning systems which also identifies the roles and responsibilities of various actors including the private sector (the work of the CBI and APAD Sri Lanka are good models to follow). As international aid for humanitarian and development work declines for Sri Lanka due to its middle income status classification, it is left on the shoulders of the national NGOs, Government and Private Sector to respond. There has to be innovative ways for financing. The concept of risk finance mechanisms to provide rapid resources when triggered can help to provide a safety net at such times of crisis .
We have to strengthen local capacities including collaboration with private sector and the military for resilience preparedness; response to disasters in accordance with humanitarian principles and peace building. There needs to a be a more inclusive, disciplined and coordinated action to disaster response. We also need investment in the capacity of formal and informal local systems (including private sector based resources) to respond to in advance of crisis events, following the preparedness principle of Disaster Risk Reduction.  There also means innovation in data collection, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and mapping in order to get and share data.
We have to ask serious questions about urban planning and haphazard developments which have contributed to deforestation, diverting natural rivers and flood plains and poor drainage. In our quest to urbanise and become rapidly developed, we have taken short cuts in our approach. If left unchecked, we will have these recurring with a great cost to the country. We have to prepare for the new generation of the risk of crises in cities. This requires better planning processes and development
Much of these recommendations have all come out of the Consultation Processes for the World Humanitarian Summit, scheduled to take place for discussion in Istanbul next week. The discussions at the summit are designed to try and gain commitment and consensus from the international community for a much more responsive humanitarian structure and system to be developed to address the changing complexity of needs. The work done in preparation for the summit and the summit itself should afford an opportunity to really reflect on how things need to be changed for a more effective response. Tragically, though Sri Lanka has largely been a passenger for the past two year in this process with very little Government interest being shown to get engaged. The government delegation to the Summit is currently being led by the Minister for Transport and Aviation (hardly an authority on humanitarian responses and disaster management) with a couple of civil servants and a few civil society activists. The absence of many local NGO and Civil society participants from Sri Lanka is due to the fact that sponsorship is not available for the summit since Sri Lanka is a middle income country. There has also largely been little appetite for any comprehensive discussion in country (sadly by the UN country team itself) prior to the Summit or in the consultation phases to get a Sri Lankan perspective. The sole ‘national’ consultation carried out for Sri Lanka was done by a few national CSO’s and INGOs, and ironically pointed out the following as things to be considered:
• The need to improve coordination in humanitarian response involving a central body at the country level coordinating all humanitarian agencies working in the country
• The empowerment of local communities
• The use of GPS and drones for the location of victims
• The use of mobiles for with a recommendation for telecom operators to operate specialized cross network channels to allow for ease of communication
• The stockpiling of food and non essential items.
• The involvement of young people in humanitarian responses
All of these recommendations to the World Humanitarian Summit should be reflected in the stance of the government as it also makes its commitments to the WHS. However more than the commitments, there is a ready made framework for action, which should be the foundation for any action of the government moving forward. Given the scale of the disaster, it can’t afford not to.
The rains and floods itself also serendipitously occurring on the seventh anniversary of the end of the conflict in Sri Lanka perhaps serve as a reminder from Mother Nature. Nature will rebel if the natural equilibrium of the law of inter-connectedness and interdependency is broken. Nature reacts when human atrocities become unbearable, and go out of control, flouting the laws that it (nature) has laid down to maintain stability. By being non discriminatory in its actions, we are reminded about what our relationship should be. The sacred responsibility of looking after nature by respecting laws governing it, can not be left to one group of people. It is a collective responsibility. The reminder once again of the momentary meeting of hearts during this crisis is an opportunity. An opportunity perhaps to re-address this imbalance. As we remember those affected by the current crisis, we can not forget those affected by the previous crises. From the sharing of our dhansals this weekend with those who have been affected by the crisis, to the opening up of places of worship for people of all and no faith, to the remembering and praying for all those who lost their lives in the run up to May 2009, to creating a path of healing for the past; herein is the opportunity to be seized to realize that very valuable lesson of the sanctity of life.

this originally appeared on Groundviews

Saturday, May 23, 2015

An African Answer to an African Problem

On the 12th of November 2010, a new documentary, ‘An African Answer’, featuring the reconciliation work done in Kenya of Imam Ashafa and Pastor James from Nigeria was released in London.  Those not familiar with the ‘The Imam and The Pastor’, will be struck by their story.  Emerging from the 1990s in Northern Nigeria after being in the frontlines of confrontations between Christians and Muslims which saw the killings of thousands in inter-religious warfare, Imam Ashafa and Pastor James are two of the most unlikeliest of allies, forging new grounds with their   Interfaith Mediation Center, responsible for mediating peace between Christians and Muslims in Nigeria's kaduna state.

Once bitter enemies, determined to kill each other (The pastor had his hand hacked off while defending his church against Muslims and the imam had his spiritual adviser and two of his brothers killed by Christian extremists), the two men are now embarking upon an extraordinary journey of healing and forgiveness.   Through talking to each other, they questioned the cost of the violence finding passages in the Bible and the Koran which showed common approaches of working together and more importantly started teaching about it to others, despite staying faithful to their religion.

In fact it is this demonstration of the importance of staying faithful to one’s own religious principles whilst reaching out to others of a different faith, is what has been the appeal of their story over the last decade or so.  This and the fact that their solution is a home grown solution that has not had any external influences, means they talk not only with credibility but with a refreshing sense of uniqueness.  This credibility is important especially for a continent that has suffered from being told how to solve its problems rather than being provided with a space and facilitation in order to solve the problem for itself.

An African Answer is a continuation of their story and how they have now transferred those skills outside of Nigeria, to helping the people in Kenya in the aftermath of the electoral violence  in 2007.  The video is a powerful testament to the fact that people in the developing world or the global south pretty much know how to solve their own problems if they can be provided a space to do so. 

Imam Ashafa and Pastor james are hardly candidates for setting an example for their country or for peace building or unlikely to be described, as they are now, by the Archbishop of Canterbury as ‘a model for Christian Muslim relations’ yet today their story is one about the power of the   responsibility placed upon the shoulder of the individual to take the lead in becoming a true citizen of the country and of the world, where he / she  can rise above their  narrow confines of individualistic concerns to face the broader concerns of all humanity and  to redress the contradiction of society.  This is not just something that should be left to the politicians or the institutions but really no one can be ruled out having a part in contributing. Ultimately the contradiction of society will be redressed when people come together confident in their universal principles; strengthened by their common values; defenders of pluralism in their society and respectful of identities of others, which means that they will take up the challenge of joining forces in a revolution of trust and confidence against the tide of discrimination and intolerance and poverty.
Michael Henderson in his book No Enemy to Conquer, captures their story more eloquently as he attempts to highlight  some of the lessons that their story tells us such as the need to move beyond the concept of a clash between each other to reaching out and developing an alliance with ‘the other’ .  This journey of forgiveness and reconciliation means to take an individual  responsibility to create a safe space for people to talk and share ideas.  This safe space entails not only moving beyond victimhood but also being cognizant of the past (accepting and facing up to the past honestly)

The story of the Imam and the Pastor shows that strong ethical commitment in religious traditions can sharpen identity politics but more importantly can form the basis of inter and intra faith collaboration.  Thus religious pluralism can not only lead to an absence of violence mainly due to better understandings and interaction but it opens a space for discussion, dialogue and engagement.  In short, we must learn to listen closely to one another, not simply because it is polite, but because it is just possible that we might learn something important about ourselves, and build a better global village in the process.

The story of Tansen, the master musician at the court of the Mogul Emperor, Akbar, sets an example of how listening can build understanding towards working with each other. He had some fifteen musical instruments in the Emperor’s chamber, which he had tuned to one frequency. Upon playing just one instrument’s musical note, the other fourteen started to resonate, to the astonishment and delight of the audience. Ideally this story serves a metaphor for how communities can work in harmony to achieve an enlightened result. Not everyone sees it that way. Certainly not every faith community is tuned to the same frequency, indeed, not every faith community has achieved harmony within itself but an opportunity exists through the promotion of working in partnerships with/between faith communities, to harness more cross-community collaboration, in the interest of peace, tolerance, and wellbeing.
In Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers, Kwame Anthony Appiah, writes eloquently of the urgent need for ‘ideas and institutions that allow us to live together as the global tribe we have become’. The roots of all global crises can be found in human denial of the eternal principle of peace and in order to fight this denial there needs to be self-critical reflection.
Thus we need to be cognizant of the ‘other’ so that  we can come together on issues of commonality, as opposed to focusing on our differences. In the analogy of Appiah, addressing the challenge of religious pluralism in the world today requires careful positioning of these differences to create a compelling mosaic. Addressing these challenges offers an antidote to sectarianism and the polarisation of different faiths in multi-cultural societies . This will never be easy, but remains vitally important for, as Appiah illustrates, it involves creating the very ‘ideas and institutions that will allow us to live together as the global tribe we have become’.  This is perhaps the greatest lesson we can get from the story of the Imam and the Pastor.



This was originally published in The News Hub

Sunday, May 10, 2015

UK Elections 2015: Why Let Migrants Out?

The upcoming UK general election appears to be too close to call. Regardless of who wins on May 7th, it is clear that one of the issues that has been contentious in the run up to but also after the elections, will be the issue of 'migrants' / diaspora / expats or whatever the terminology that is issued to describe them. Whilst UKIP is guilty of shamelessly playing the migrant card to a dangerously xenophobic level, the other political parties haven't really shied away from the debate, knowing that in the fluctuating economic climate, migrants become easy whipping boys. In addition certain elements of the media led by certain individuals have succeeded on jumping on an anti migrant train for their own commercial and publicity interests. If you are part of this loud club of minority opinion, then it is clear that migrants are a problem!
Yet the reality as is often the case is a marked 180 degree opposite of what these shrill voices claim it is. Few campaigns have sought to address the issues of migration and diaspora such as the campaign called "I am an Immigrant" which had recent posters on London undergrounds. There have been few studies that have also attempted to look at the positive contributions not only for migrants or diaspora towards the UK, but how they also contribute greatly (and by extension, promote a greater UK investment) in their countries of origin.
One such small piece of work undertaken in the last 2 years has tried to highlight the contributions of around 2.8 million people of the diaspora communities in the UK and makes for very interesting reading. If understood it potentially has implications for how such communities' social capital can be expanded for greater contriution to the UK and how the UK govt can extend its 'development footprint' in many countries around the world that it supports with overseas development assistance (ODA).
The work carried out by the organisation BUILD (Building Understanding through International Links for Development) entitled BUKDIP (Building on UK Diaspora International Partnerships) Illustrates that whilst diaspora communities contribute nearly as much in remittances as the entire population contributes through the aid budget, they also contribute greatly to the UK. They are more likely than most to pay taxes and less likely to claim benefits; and, although only 4.4% of the population, they account for 9.7% of employees in strategically important sectors. These are important figures to be cognisant of in this upcoming elections because for example as the report claims, "If every member of the diaspora stopped working, the NHS and other parts of UK plc would collapse". Yet despite this, the poorly informed characterization in debates on migration, terrorism and welfare that sitgmatise diaspora and migrants, have allowed a disproportionate focus to be placed on the diaspora. This in turn has led to isolation from national and local government as well a decline in social cohesion. The threats to the diaspora where action was required from others include: Increased xenophobia, arising from attitudes to migration, terrorism and benefits debates; Misconceptions: e.g. "scrounger" imagery for good tax-payers and low benefit claimants
The report advocates for a new approach with regards the diaspora which involves the recognition of diaspora as an integral part of British society and for greater engagement with government and private sector. In doing this, there are opportunities for increased impacts. With more effective engagement with the diaspora, the UK government (and INGOs) can effectively extend their development / humanitarian footprint within countries of heritage. In addition, the social capital of the diaspora can be utilised to make positive contributions to the UK communities. For example the net contribution to the UK economy is £3 billion.
Yet there is a character to engaging with the diaspora playing field that complicates matters. The diaspora communities, whether they are numerous and powerful; a minority struggling for a voice; or even an influential tiny cadre, have undeniably, as strong a history of internecine strife and struggle as they do of cooperation and collaboration. They often bring with them conflicts from their countries of heritage or their vision of their country of heritage is frozen at the time in which people left. Thus they can be removed from some of the real grassroots and political dynamics taking place in their countries of heritage. Nevertheless it is against this framework of potential inter and intra disagreement and division, that there is a need to engage with diaspora organisations and build and sustain links with them. In addition, there should be linking, between and within diaspora communities-and certainly diaspora hub, to diaspora hub.
In this day and age, the notion of partnership though is that in reality no organisation can operate in isolation in today's complex world. The partnerships are about encouraging institutions to work across traditional boundaries to enhance their core competencies.
Genuine cross cultural, diaspora partnerships, give back to both donors and recipients, who realise that cultural contacts alter fundamentally the way in which they interact, giving them the power and strength to work cooperatively.
this originally appeared on huffington post