Archive Article: Rebuilding A Country. 11th April 03
December 27, 2008

With the progress made so far in the Iraq war, so the attention is now being focussed on what will be necessary to rebuild the country. There are many lessons to be learned from the relief operations in other countries.

International Alert has published a discussion paper entitled “More Than Implementers: Civil Society in Complex Emergencies“, written by Mick Quinn. International Alert, based in London, is an independent non-governmental organization which analyses the causes of conflict within countries, enables mediation and dialogue to take place, sets standards of conduct that avoid violence and helps to develop the skills necessary to resolve conflict non-violently.

This discussion paper is a reminder of the level of sophistication that now undergirds the work of relief organizations. A great deal has changed in the last few decades. We now know a lot more about what works and what does not.

I have been reading this document, published last year, with an eye to the lessons for the new level of relief work that will be necessary in Iraq, not least the role of foreign relief organizations working with the local Iraqi ones.

On the one hand, international relief organizations can benefit from working local organizations because the local organizations have a knowledge of local systems (such as how people traditionally meet their survival requirements), local customs, local needs (especially groups made vulnerable by the crisis), and the norms and values that underpin social and economic life.

On the other hand, the discussion paper contains a checklist of issues that need to be addressed. The knowledge vested in local organizations may be partial and one-sided. The judgements of many local organizations may be biased, either because their loyalties lie with own party or another to the conflict, or simply because their membership comes largely from one community.

There is also the problem of accountability in that standards of governance imposed on local organizations by the local authorities (such as in Iraq) may not be the same high standards that exist in the developed countries supplying the relief effort (such as Australia). Most local organizations have no core funding and therefore cannot afford to hire the skilled staff to maintain financial and reporting that meet the requirements of the overseas aid agencies.

Another problem arises out of the possible limited capacity of the local organization. Local partner organizations may not have the logistical capacity to deliver relief supplies themselves and so they will have to sub-contract the work. In turn, the sub-contractor process is open to problems if the sub-contractors have their own political sympathies that may not be neutral.

There is much else in this discussion paper that could be commented upon. One of its values is that it gives many practical insights into the real world of delivering relief, either as an international relief organization or as a local relief organization working.

No doubt as the relief effort gets underway in Iraq, the media will report on all sorts of problems, and there will be the usual stories of corruption and inefficiency. This discussion paper offers some ideas into the problems to be encountered – and by implication urges a little more tolerance for the people in the field trying to provide assistance. It is a more complicated business than may be first thought.

Broadcast Friday 11th April 2003 on Radio 2GB’s “Brian Wilshire Programme” at 9pm.