Soldiers and NGOs (merged thread)

[Beelzebubalicious]

Negotiator, as far as I know, USAID doesn't give out money directly for infrastructure building. Money is given through grants or contracts and USAID manages those. You might give a contract to an international organization to deliver grants for small scale infrastructure development or a large contract to an international firm (bechtel, for example) to do larger scale infrastructure development.

At the same time, I don't think USAID is funding this kind of infrastructure development. Instead, they're focusing on institution building, NGO strengthening, socio-economic development, etc.

I agree that the rules and requirements make it very difficult to get things done in a place like Iraq. Even the rules for grants for NGOs are written for US NGOs and have to be applied and interpreted for non-US NGOs.

[Stan]

I've been around USAID employees and contractors for more than a decade, and while their system has administrative hurdles like most USG institutions, they do have some professional folks on the ground trying like hell. During 3 civil wars and their offices reduced to 2 from 50, those folks performed well under pressure. I give them high marks for putting the right folks in the most inhospitable places on earth and expecting nothing less than 110%.

The UN has been a thorn in my side for years. The link Charlie provides with a spotlight on Africa is but a joke.

Peacekeeping, Peace building and best of all, child protection advisers in Africa is abysmal. Collating miles of paper in three languages and then sum up a detailed financial report to back future events (that nobody signed up for) is hardly a lesson learned.

Back to topic, we (the US Military) got along with USAID employees far better than most State players with far less to do.

don't get me started on Peace Corps volunteers in the bush

[Ken White]

Peace Corps volunteers in town, anywhere...

USAid, OTOH, everywhere I worked with them did great even if their State 'colleagues' did reject them like ugly stepchildren. Quite wrongly, IMO, the Aid folks got along far better with their HN counterparts than the diplomats did.

Been a while but I doubt either of those things has changed much...

[redbullets]

I'm late to this one, too, but since I lead an NGO with activities in Iraq (since 2003) and returning to Afghanistan (left in late-2006 - project ended successfully, we didn't run away), I have a couple of thoughts (and have probably said them before in my few posts on SWC).

In my opinion, our community (the humanitarian one) is in a bit of mess in Iraq. Too many organizations are headquartered in Amman and/or Erbil, and not in many other places in the country. There are a very few major NGOs implemeing programs in most goernorates (the numbers are slowly growing), often employing only Iraq national staff on the ground, and using a variety of monitoring processes to make sure things are getting done (we've been quite creative in how we monitor our Iraqi colleagues in the field in places we expatriates can't go).

In Amman, the old "idle hands are the devil's workshop" axiom holds sway. The companies, NGOs and United Nations agencies that have most of their international staff there seem sometimes to be at war with one another, I think largely as a frustrated reaction to their inability to operate in the field (personnel ceilings, lack of security facilities, philosophical opposition to working from FOBs, etc.).

In reality, we stay as far away from the military and foreign governmental institutions in both places as we can, simply because being overtly tied to them presents such increased risk to our operations, in these two counries in particular. Since my own organization has a long history in the Humanitarian Mine Action community, we get less animated about the philosophical side of this issue, but we take the personal security side of it very, very seriously.

Most NGOs worth their salt approach the principles of impartiality and neutrality with great sincerity. USAID, the State Department, the United Nations agencies, and the other donors who support our work understand this, and we work together with them to make sure that the operational and ethical considerations that are our mandate are served, that the needs of the donors are served, and if we're doing our jobs, that the needs of the beneficiaries are served.

There are exceptions to the approach related above, as there always are. However, these execptions are usually organizations that are not "main stream" in the NGO sense, or there are a few who are large enough to not get overly worked up about the perceptions of their fellows.

We have good relations in Iraq and Afghanistan with one of the State Department offices responsible for the relief and development side of things, and a growing relationship with USAID in Iraq. Our donors understand our need to keep a distance between us based upon security reality and humanitarian community perception unreality. The United Nations offices and agencies we have worked with, or are currently working with (including OCHA, WFP, UNDP, UNOPS, UNMAS, and I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two) are good partners to us, and have generally approached getting things done in Iraq either with us or through us in a very practical manner, given the constraints their people in Jordan and Iraq are forced to work within.

Too late, and I'm out of practice, so I'm rambling and not making enough sense. Apologies.

Stan, DH is on his way to your location. He's really looking forward to the supermodel parade in the town square. I met with him today, and he sends his regards.

Cheers,

[Schmedlap]

My memory may be failing me, but I recall needing some humanitarian supplies in Iraq in 2007 (basically, rice, blankets, mattresses, and halal meals) on a few occasions and I think (though I am not sure) that our Civil Affairs personnel requested those items through USAID (or some NGO). My understanding is that we used USAID / some NGO because the Army did not have a stockpile available nor could we obtain it quickly enough through whatever channels that stuff comes through.

[Purple]

My memory may be failing me, but I recall needing some humanitarian supplies in Iraq in 2007 (basically, rice, blankets, mattresses, and halal meals) on a few occasions and I think (though I am not sure) that our Civil Affairs personnel requested those items through USAID (or some NGO). My understanding is that we used USAID / some NGO because the Army did not have a stockpile available nor could we obtain it quickly enough through whatever channels that stuff comes through.

Hi, Just to follow up what you wrote, I am a Civil Affairs Soldier and would like to add that a key thing to remember about CA is that Army supplies are never to be used in support of a mission that involves giving something (anything really) to a civilian. Your CA folks should be the resident expert and ideally would have already met with and have rapport with peers (USAID, S/CRS, Peace Corps, Host Nation Agencies) that might assist them with any civil response that will support the commander's intent. Recall that while providing humanitarian aid is a just and honorable venture the Civil Affairs team should be focused on accomplishing the commander's intent. Now, truth be told, a good CA guy/girl can make most anything meet the commander's intent. In a combat zone that is, of course, the maneuver commander but otherwise it would be the chief of mission (Dept. of State).

Hope this helps.
Major Shannon Way, Student, Command and General Staff College

The views expressed in this blog are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.

[Stan]

Hey Joe !

Since my own organization has a long history in the Humanitarian Mine Action community, we get less animated about the philosophical side of this issue, but we take the personal security side of it very, very seriously.

Most NGOs worth their salt approach the principles of impartiality and neutrality with great sincerity.

Stan, DH is on his way to your location. He's really looking forward to the supermodel parade in the town square. I met with him today, and he sends his regards.

Cheers,

I've found that most of the bickering and/or conflict between the Military and NGOs can be directly attributed to misunderstandings. Not that the NGOs have been angels, but the Military hardly bend unless forced to. Tom was very good at figuring out who did what best, and moreover, who had all the right contacts and widgets (not bad for a 3-man team).

Dennis and Pete will be returning from lovely Afghanistan, so it should be a pleasant change for them. Dennis' last trip here was extremely productive and I'm really looking forward to Pete's EOD background. Got another EOD guy coming from Stuttgart at the same time and hope to get this Mine Action Bravo Sierra under wraps too. It's folks like these with both a Military background and (now) support role dealing with both sides of the fence that makes the military and NGO relations paramount and easily understood by all

Regards, Stan

[Creon01]

I've just returned home from Baghdad and would like to recommend the following online course that will explain what it's all about regarding soldiers working with NGOs in Iraq, or anywhere else.

http://ocha.unog.ch/uncmcoord/

The course is not easy if you have never worked with the UN or for an NGO so leave yourself at least a good long afternoon so that you don't get frustrated.

Wherever the US Military is sent these days two non-indigenous groups will always be there, the media and NGOs.

Some of you may disagree with much that is included in the course but try to understand that the world of war is a complex place with folks that think we are what's wrong and the root cause of much of the current problems. Of course I don't agree, but we are not always as good as we would like to be all the time.

The world of humanitarian intervention is changing as the world changes from post-cold war to GWOT. The humanitarian efforts of the UN and the big NGOs are being “reformed” so that they can continue to provide assistance when needed. No organization is perfect and no groups of people are all good, or even competent. The UN and NGOs are no exception.

Creon