Humanitarian Aid: Winning the Terror War

[Rob Thornton]

Hey LV,
I think it would take a major change in perception by the NGOs and world at large. While folks are often happy to receive $$$ and other types of Aid, they are not always so thrilled to have us tell them how to use it, maybe even less so if it involves US forces on their soil. What would be required is and Informational and Diplomatic strategy that clearly articulated both our goals and means to the local, regional & global interests what we were trying to accomplish and why, generally how we were going to do it so that our actions on the ground were put into context, and that we perceived the actions as a partnership of equality, not one that necessarily was to our political and economic advantage. We'd also need the diplomatic and informational means to ensure that it was a 2 way dialouge that allowed for changes in the situation. I think this is no where near as easy as it sounds.

The PMCs and other contractors are not a perfect answer. Certainly introducing a 3rd or consecutive party agent can work against the requirements laid out above. However, if you do not have the means because they are engaged elsewhere, and no volunteer agent (such as another regional state or NGO) with the capability disposes themselves to the solution, PMCs and other contracts may be required. I think much of it resides in the way the contract is written in terms, of scope, duration, responsibilities, penalties and authority. However, any contract that does not provide favorable conditions to the contractor is likely to go unfilled since they are profit and not humanitarian based. The trick is to find the happy medium - perhaps allowing the HN you are trying to assist with a role and some oversight?

[LawVol]

This is a very interesting concept. I'd like to explore it a little more and perhaps collaborate on something but, like you, I'm swamped right now. I'm also working on another topic I'd like to finish first.

[Rob Thornton]

LV, Check out the Christian Science Monitor about CJTF HOA . Allot of the things we've talked about show up in the article.

[goesh]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19121634/site/newsweek/

"Most of the LifeStraw's users will never drink anything fancier than plain water through the device. But its impact on their lives can't be overstated. More than 1 billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water, and 6,000 people die each day of waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera and dysentery. In regions like sub-Saharan Africa, half of most people's water consumption takes place outside the home—either while they're working, or walking to and from school. Vestergaard Frandsen S.A.—which also produces mosquito nets and plastic sheeting coated with insecticide to fend off malaria—hopes that the $3 LifeStraw will drastically lessen their chances of getting sick. "It's a product that can save lives without spare parts, electricity or maintenance," says the firm's CEO. So far about 2,000 LifeStraws have been sold, mostly to aid agencies. (The product is still being fine-tuned for mass production.)"


My work in the bush was essentially cooperative development but I recall the dilemma of the health care workers in trying to persuade villagers to cover open wells and the constant struggle to rehydrate infants dying from diarrhea. The problem with well covers is not only the expense of getting them made and understanding the need for it but realizing that it adds yet another chore to already hard living and doesn't account for the fact that young girls haul alot of water. You got a 12 yr old girl that now has to lift a sturdy well cover off, draw water by hand and replace a sturdy well cover, assuming the family could afford the material to make one in the first place, then carry the water. Add to this the short attention span kids tend to have and it really wasn't feasible though well intentioned and consuming provider's energy/resources. Any quick, humanitarian reaction force would want a passle of these water straws to provide to the needy. I would presume the military is already on to this resource but if not, somebody needs to alert somebody to it. At 3$ a pop, you can't go wrong.

[SteveMetz]

Hey LV,
I think it would take a major change in perception by the NGOs and world at large. While folks are often happy to receive $$$ and other types of Aid, they are not always so thrilled to have us tell them how to use it, maybe even less so if it involves US forces on their soil. What would be required is and Informational and Diplomatic strategy that clearly articulated both our goals and means to the local, regional & global interests what we were trying to accomplish and why, generally how we were going to do it so that our actions on the ground were put into context, and that we perceived the actions as a partnership of equality, not one that necessarily was to our political and economic advantage. We'd also need the diplomatic and informational means to ensure that it was a 2 way dialouge that allowed for changes in the situation. I think this is no where near as easy as it sounds.

The PMCs and other contractors are not a perfect answer. Certainly introducing a 3rd or consecutive party agent can work against the requirements laid out above. However, if you do not have the means because they are engaged elsewhere, and no volunteer agent (such as another regional state or NGO) with the capability disposes themselves to the solution, PMCs and other contracts may be required. I think much of it resides in the way the contract is written in terms, of scope, duration, responsibilities, penalties and authority. However, any contract that does not provide favorable conditions to the contractor is likely to go unfilled since they are profit and not humanitarian based. The trick is to find the happy medium - perhaps allowing the HN you are trying to assist with a role and some oversight?

A large number of NGOs use PMCs for security in conflict zones now.

[Lastdingo]

I don't see a relationship between humanitarian aid and terrorism, but if humanitarian aid would really improve the income in specific areas, it could certainly help the overall international peace situation and the reputation of western states.

[Rob Thornton]

Last Dingo - some of this is spilling over into the New Paradigm thread. Regards, Rob

[redbullets]

A large number of NGOs use PMCs for security in conflict zones now.

This is not accurate, at least in my experience. There are certainly some NGOs (I'm speaking about humanitarian not-for-profits, not the State Department and USAID beltway bandits, who as commercials are less inhibited by activities that might impact a constituency of individual, left-leaning donors) that use PMCs, but this is very limited. My own NGO "used" a PMC for some of our ongoing activities in Iraq (haven't even thought about using one for our ongoing activities in Afghanistan, or anywhere else, and we work in dicey places), but that service was provided as an umbrella service by the State Department. In other words, we weren't directly "tainted" by engaging a PMC. Other NGOs, including some of the "biggies" had similar arrangements provided by USAID.

However, there are currently so few "real" NGOs operating in Iraq (or "really" operating in Iraq - leave Iraqi Kurdistan out of this - operationally, its safer there than SW Washington, D. C., so that's where many NGOs and companies are hiding out so they don't have to stop spending on the contracts and IQCs they're sitting on) that this is probably not worth adding into the discussion. So many of the NGO and UN agencies are working from offices in Amman, Jordan and completely relying upon Iraqi national staff who coordinate and report via e-mail and telephone. That's great, nationalizing the solution, but there's almost no way to monitor what the national staff are doing. Very difficult to tell whether or not there's an NGO equivalent going on of radioing in one's patrol checkpoints from one's hooch.

Iraq is viewed as an exception by the relief and development community leadership folks I communicate with on a regular basis. It's not necessarily going to be real productive in the long run to base future behaviors on the Iraq experience - the UN and NGOs aren't going to go along.

On the bigger discussion, I have no problem with MEDCAPs and such by military forces. However, there are a couple of rules it took me some time to learn as a guy who left military/SOF to join the humanitarian community - it's always better to find a local (and often much less technologically sexy/sterile/effective) solution to whatever the relief or development problem than to use air and/or sea lift to move (a smaller amount, more expensively) of the needed services and/or supplies to the point they're needed. And, its always a peachy relationship between the military and UN/NGO community during a natural disaster like the south Asian tsunami or the Pakistan earthquake, as opposed to a conflict like southern Lebanon last summer where we humanitarians have to operate amongst a menu of combatants.

I'm brand new to the forum, and apologize in advance for when I will inevitably violate protocol - I'll pay attention and learn the culture of this site as quickly as I can.

Cheers,

Joe

[Backwards Observer]

Even in photos, the USNS Mercy seems to emanate significant waves of positive soft power. Simply awesome.

http://www.mercy.navy.mil/

http://www.comfort.navy.mil/

[Jedburgh]

CSS, 25 Sep 08: Security and Development: Convergence or Competition?

....The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 and the experiences gained since in the fight against terrorism have reinforced the security-development nexus. However, due to the campaign against terrorism, the logic of security policy today dominates within this nexus. This logic places a premium on the preventive character of development cooperation and demands that it be subordinated to security-relevant goals. The underlying rationale is that development aid should contribute to creating an environment devoid of breeding grounds for terrorism. Development cooperation is also seen as a key instrument in stabilizing fragile states.....

[TheCurmudgeon]

I am a bit of a ... Grinch I suppose would be appropriate for this time of year. I have always felt that UNICEF has been one of the greatest contributors to instability and war in Africa. Through their fru-fru feel good efforts to save children who normally would have died because the environment/country could not support them naturally, without any assistance to give these additional young adults jobs or homes or help of any kind, they create breading grounds of young, homeless, jobless disgruntled young adults that gravitate towards crime and/or rebellion. Unless you have a complete plan for security, poverty reduction, employment, infrastructure, you are going to have instability.

Merry Christmas.

[Rex Brynen]

I have always felt that UNICEF has been one of the greatest contributors to instability and war in Africa. Through their fru-fru feel good efforts to save children who normally would have died because the environment/country could not support them naturally, without any assistance to give these additional young adults jobs or homes or help of any kind, they create breading grounds of young, homeless, jobless disgruntled young adults that gravitate towards crime and/or rebellion. Unless you have a complete plan for security, poverty reduction, employment, infrastructure, you are going to have instability.

I've never been much of a believer, on either ethical or practical grounds, of letting people die because "a country can't support them naturally." Most children in sub-Saharan Africa do not die because of some sort of Malthusian absolute limits on food or other resources, but because of preventable disease and, in the case of wars, man-made disaster.

Nor do the majority of UNICEF field workers that I know have anything particularly "fru fru" about them. Some of them see, and deal with, stunning degrees of human suffering on a daily basis.

Finally, while UNICEF is certainly engaged in immediate short-term humanitarian assistance, the vast bulk of that organization's efforts are directed at longer term and sustainable change. This is particularly true with regard to child immunization (where UNICEF has played a key role both in technical assistance and, through partnerships, in implementation), and in improving education (which is generally accepted to be the single best was to improve living conditions and reduce mortality rates in the longer term).

To cite but one example:

ATLANTA/GENEVA/NEW YORK/WASHINGTON, 4 December 2008 – Measles deaths worldwide fell by 74 per cent between 2000 and 2007, from an estimated 750 000 to 197 000. In addition, the Eastern Mediterranean region* which includes countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and the Sudan has cut measles deaths by a remarkable 90 per cent — from an estimated 96 000 to 10 000 — during the same period, thus achieving the United Nations goal to reduce measles deaths by 90 per cent by 2010, three years early.

The progress was announced today by the founding partners of the Measles Initiative: the American Red Cross, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United Nations Foundation (UN Foundation), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO). The data will be published in the 5 December edition of WHO’s Weekly Epidemiological Record and CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Issues of post-childhood employment typically fall outside UNICEF's mandate, and are taken up by other agencies--UNDP, the World Bank, bilateral donor assistance, etc. Obviously, however, the healthier and better educated children are, the more likely they are to make a successful transition into the job market. In Africa in particular, poor economic performance and high youth unemployment are often a product of poor political leadership and corruption, not a lack of natural resources. Do we let kids in Zimbabwe die of cholera because Mugabe is evil? Or should UNICEF being doing what it should to prevent these wholly preventable deaths?

Obviously, the aid and humanitarian assistance community is far from perfect. There are many example of poorly-planned and implemented projects, and incompetent staff. However, there are also many cases of successful projects—and its important not to lose sight of the bigger picture.