Humanitarian Coordination Meeting - Nairobi, 15 August
On 15 August 2011, The Humanitarian Forum brought together 61 people from 13 countries to improve connections and collaboration, in partnership with the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. They represented multilateral organisations like the United Nations, Islamic Development Bank and Red Cross/Crescent movement, western and Muslim international NGOs, and local Kenyan and Somali NGOs.
Opening comments
Dr Hany el Banna, The Humanitarian Forum (THF), said “today is about tomorrow: about what we need to do for recovery and sustainable development, not just fire-fighting”. He lamented donor and beneficiary fatigue. Dr Hany added, “the humanitarian family needs to come up with solutions as we know the suffering of the people.”
Dr Zakaria Adam Ahmed, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), said that the OIC was pleased to be able to participate with THF in the meeting. He discussed recent OIC initiatives for coordination about Somalia, including a Relief Coalition of Muslim INGOs working in Somalia, established in Istanbul at the end of June. On 17 August, a Ministerial meeting in Istanbul will encourage the ummah (global Muslim community) to help, urge the conflicting parties to stop, discuss international coordination, and agree resources for the coordination mechanisms.
Mark Bowden, UN Humanitarian Coordinator, said that “there has been a lot of progress ... but there is still much complexity and challenge ... Somalia is at the epicenter of a regional crisis”. He outlined the humanitarian challenges. He emphasised that “humanitarian activities should also lead to a better future in development terms”. He pointed out the timescale:
- 2 months to make a real difference, primarily in saving children
- 3 months to plant crops in time for seasonal rains (if they come)
- 6 months before there is any difference in the situation facing Somalia.
Humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa
Kiki Gbeho, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), gave a brief presentation on the humanitarian situation in Somalia. “Thank you for bringing us together ...OCHA is hoping that from today we can move forward together.” She said:- Up-to-date information can be found here.
- OCHA expects famine in all regions of Somalia, because of drought, increasing food prices (up to 270% in some areas) and conflict.
- These factors have put 3.7m people into crisis in Somalia, of which 2.8m people are in the South and many are displaced. There are also great needs in Mogadishu.
- 390k children are malnourished, most of which are in the south.
- The situation is desperate for many people, and some have walked for 4 weeks to get to refugee camps.
- “The crisis was predictable [in November 2010] but there has been slow recognition of this”.
Kiki added that the main problems are (1) access to food availability throughout Somalia, including aid, markets and cash, although she noted that some INGOs are able to work even in areas controlled by Al Shabaab (AS) areas (2) Food and (3) Funding, with the CAP about 50% funded (much of which was received since July). She said that OCHA’s aims are:
Key issues and Recommendations
A wide-ranging debate in different break-out groups and plenary focused around the following key issues:Scale of the humanitarian need, in addition to Kiki’s comments:
- It is better to help people in their home areas, before they move.
- Gabriella Waaijman OCHA also pointed out regional challenges. There are 12.4m people are in need throughout the Horn of Africa. She highlighted Djibouti, because of the large proportion of the population that is affected.
- Regional issues are: global food and fuel prices, food security, water2, cross-border migration3, nomads, and climate change. Regional challenges are: aid consistency on bothsides of border areas, disease (epidemics remain a large threat), brain drain, involvement of neighbouring countries.
- Large gap between needs and delivery, and an uneven response. Hassan Ismail, Islamic Relief, said “We are targeting big numbers but people are still dying on theground”.
- Kenyan NGOs also said that in some areas of Kenya the situation could get as bad as Somalia in 2-3 weeks: “There is an overwhelming need”. In Kenya, there are problems of moving food (due to poor infrastructure), limited human resources, and delays in visas.
