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Cash-based aid is known to be one of the most successful strategies that support vulnerable individuals and populations stand on their feet and move on their path towards rehabilitation. Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) is therefore largely being applied as a popular modality of responding to different forms of emergencies and is capable of addressing a wide range of needs of affected populations to help them cope with the crises while upholding their dignity.

Community World Service Asia and the Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP) jointly hosted a webinar on Cash and Voucher Assistance in response to COVID-19 on June 17. The webinar aimed to facilitate the wider aid community to enhance their understanding of Cash and Voucher Assistance as a modality response to different types of crises and emergencies, especially focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jose Jodar, Senior Technical Officer at CaLP, Spain, led the session and was joined by speakers Regina “Nanette” Salvador-Antequisa, Founding Executive Director, Ecosystem Work for Essential Benefits, Inc. (ECOWEB), Chair of A4EP, Philippines and Sudhanshu S. Singh, Founder and CEO Humanitarian Aid Internation (HAI), International Coordinator A4EP, India.

CaLP was introduced as a network launched in 2015, with only five founding members.  Today CALP has over 90 members with a presence in various regions such as Africa, Latin America & the Caribbean and the Middle East. It is a global partnership of humanitarian actors engaged in policy, practice and research on CVA.

Cash is an excellent tool to respond to multiple sectors’ needs, insists Jose.

“There are sectoral approaches represented mainly by voucher assistance for specific goods or services. CVA further includes monitoring the outcomes and impact of direct cash among the recipients in various sectors including health, WASH, education, livelihoods and others.”

Cash and Voucher Assistance is pivotal to many humanitarian responses. It does not necessarily need to be used for emergencies alone, but can also be used for preparedness, early recovery and building resilience initiatives.

“More and more cash is being considered between humanitarian assistance and development now,” says Jose.

In a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, aid workers (58% participants) find identifying vulnerable populations as the biggest challenge to plan and implement CVA.

CVA & COVID-19

How can CVA be used as a modality response to COVID-19 crisis? And why Cash? [1]

The delivery of cash can effectively meet the needs of the affected populations for better recovery at scale. CVA has been seen as a safer option to provide rapid relief, where conditions allow. COVID-19 has opened doors for coordination at the front lines with various organisations and sectors to execute new delivery mechanisms.

The COVID-19 response, with all the various actors involved and on-going programs in place, paves a pathway towards better coordination in terms of aligning assistance to protection programs with humanitarian CVA. The use of social protection systems to support vulnerable people is becoming increasingly common in developing countries and can provide a channel through which CVA can be delivered in the current pandemic. But increased coordination between humanitarian and development actors in the long term is a prerequisite to ensure its effectiveness.

Jose shared useful resources during the webinar to support organisations with better understanding and preparing for likely impacts of COVID-19 on their work and if CVA could be applied in the contexts that they work. The resources also included detailed guidelines on safely and effectively running CVA projects at each stage of the programme cycle.

Experience Sharing from the ground:

“In ECOWEB, we are promoting survivor and a community-led response (SCLR) to crisis approach that considers cash programming as an empowering tool in crisis response,”

says Nanette while sharing best practices during the webinar. She emphasized on how cash enables flexibility and allows aid recipients, as individuals and as collective groups, to address their real time needs with dignity and respect.

Diverse leanings have been observed through ECOWEB’s experience of applying the SCLR approach, using the cash modality in various crisis settings, involving people of different ethnicities, culture and faith. Trust has been identified as an essential element for making cash response a norm in crises response. There is a need for trust in the people’s desire to help themselves, in their capacity to plan, prioritize, design, manage and implement their own response action. Trust is a critical factor in effective localization as well while ensuring transparency and accountability. Instituting multidirectional accountability mechanism is also vital. ECOWEB’s work promotes downward accountability, of aid providers to the aid recipients, and sideward accountability, within the organization management system as local facilitators of aid.

Nanette highlighted the need of flexibility and timeliness in cash aid.

“We need to be quick in response during crisis. In our experience of responding to COVID-19, having our own flexible and limited funding readily available to us, we were able to respond immediately to the most vulnerable groups of people affected by the virus. The limited funds, however, addressed the priority needs of the affected people and it enabled community-based groups to prioritize the real time needs of their members.”

For cash programming to become a real empowering tool through SCLR approach, ECOWEB recognises the need for changing institutional roles, relationships, systems and humanitarian framework to make aid recipients the center of humanitarian response and not the aid itself.

When HAI started Cash and Voucher Assistance (CVA) this year, they were one of the early responders to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was a unique kind of a challenge for them as they were faced with a lockdown situation which restricted their mobility. Sudhanshu expressed,

“This was the first disaster of its kind in which we were unaware of the number of people affected. We were dealing here with the secondary affected population facing the economic disaster due to the closure of all activities and not the individuals physically afflicted with the virus itself.”

With a strong social media presence, HAI publicized its early response and caught the attention of millions of affected people in-country and received support that exceeded their expectations.

“Coming up with an innovative approach, HAI addressed the needs of community members without making a physical presence. When HAI receives a distress call, a team member calls the recipient in response to verify the need. It is difficult to verify the needs. However, incorporating the element of trust, the team would do a quick assessment over phone to identify the person’s eligibility to get food support from the government. We would develop a list of essential food items required by the affected individual and get it approved. Through online payment to the nearest grocery shop located to the recipient’s house, the recipient would then be directed to visit the grocery shop and collect its essential items. We were able to help thousands of affected families in this way.”

This pandemic has not only affected the people who live below poverty but has also affected a large population of middle-class families.

“To ensure providing aid with dignity, our helpline assisted many families who did not have to face us physically. Rather we provided aid through online mechanisms. In some instances, HAI offered cash support to cover house rentals and buy vital food products as family members were laid off and consequently had little means of income to pay household expenditures,” shared Sudhanshu.

Participants’ Reflections:

Sixty-two percent of the webinar participants were already engaged in some kind of cash and voucher assistance to COVID-19 affected communities and shared their experiences and learnings so far.

  • In the beginning of the pandemic, wider communities were severely affected economically due by the global lockdowns, however, with the gradual lifting of lockdowns, the humanitarian community may find it challenging to convince donors on adopting CVA. To convince the wider funding community on CVA, more emphasis should be laid on designing attractive CVA packages
  • Conducting a need assessment for CVA programs at a mass level in this pandemic will be challenging in terms of access to remote regions and time constraints
  • Many people have lost their jobs due to COVID-19 which has led to an increased request for CVA. In the case of this pandemic, it is difficult to identify who is most in need and who is not.
  • While CVA projects are being proposed, will donors be willing to cover health facility for the staff that are front line workers, as transmission of Covid has no boundaries?
Useful CVA Learning Resources:

[1] Participants at the webinar raised these questions.

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Dear Grand Bargain Sherpas,

We, one of the multi-country networks of local actors actively engaged on localisation, know that the next annual meeting of Grand Bargain on 24-25 June 2020, is open only to the Grand Bargain Signatories, and only Sherpas will be able to use audio and video. We see the signatories wanting to talk about the future of Grand Bargain and strengthening local action, without presence of local actors around the table who continue to face obstacles to get included in a process, designed for their empowerment. We have tried to proactively engage with the localisation work stream but have been very disappointed with the lack of response. We have seen systematic exclusion and discrimination against meaningful participation of a diversity of local actors in many of these processes.

We believe you share our concern of seeing less than expected progress on most of the workstreams, according to the self-reports of the signatories. The World Humanitarian Summit triggered several good processes, intending to reform the humanitarian architecture and practices for overall aid efficiency, mitigation of needs and better support to the affected population. Given the slow progress, we are hopeful that the Signatories would use the next annual meeting to introspect on the reasons for the slow progress, define the mechanisms to fix the accountability and answerability and come up with a future roadmap which is more inclusive, equitable and respectful of the local actors.

The local actors do not want to remain passive beneficiaries of a change process. They rather want to have equal stake, ownership, shared leadership and representation across all the processes and the discussion fora. We, as one of the committed network of local actors, firmly believe that the signatories are genuinely interested to deliver on the Grand Bargain commitments by overcoming the barriers. As we do not have the privilege of being present, we would like to request that you kindly reflect on the following issues during the annual meeting in our absence:

  • Reflect on the recommendations, made by Alliance for Empowering Partnerships (A4EP) in its paper ‘The Grander Bargain’ and incorporate them in the future plan of the GB
  • Engage local actors and their various relevant networks, including A4EP, in the discussion deciding future of the Grand Bargain, as that largely determines our future
  • While finalising the next 12 month’s plan, keeping Covid19 response into consideration, do plan adequate engagement of local actors in the planning process as well as the implementation
  • Please ensure adequate representation of local actors (at least 50%) in the 5-year anniversary meeting of the Grand Bargain
  • The 5th annual report, instead of being a self-report from signatories, should be externally verified and written, based on the evidence provided by the signatories
  • Restructuring of workstreams in the final year to ensure at least 50% leadership position going to local actors
  • Signatories to publish cumulative financial reporting on IATI or FTS to ascertain the quantity and quality of funding being passed on to local actors
  • Report on all the financial investments that have been made on localisation research, meetings and conferences and their effectiveness in terms of tangible change
  • Since the country offices of the signatories have often been the biggest barriers in the localisation process, a system ought to be created to make them as accountable and answerable as their headquarters are. IASC definition shouldn’t be manipulated in the final year of the GB to deny funding to homegrown local actors.

Although, local actors are overwhelmingly not allowed to participate in the annual meetings, we are still optimistic that our concerns would be heard and reflected on during the 2-days of the meeting, and that appropriate space would be created for us for future collaboration. In the humanitarian architecture, each of us have to play the complementary role. As signatories, you have acknowledged the significant role local actors play during a humanitarian response. We have equal realisation of the complementary role you play to strengthen us. Hopefully, next time we would be sitting across the table as equals to exchange ideas.

Members of the Alliance for Empowering Partnership

Website: www.A4EP.net  Twitter: @A4EP2

Download PDF

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Photo credit: Unicef Pakistan

Prays for the virus to go away
“My name is Nitesh Kumar. I am a Grade 4 student at the Nationalized Muslim School. My school is located in Maheshwari Para district in Umerkot city. I believe that schools are a place of learning, a safe atmosphere where children can connect and have fun. Now, when we are all restricted to our homes and unable to see our friends and study together at classes, I feel frustrated and sad. It's not easy to stay away from school as I enjoy studying and attending school.. I have heard from my parents about coronavirus. They tell me it is spreading from person to person very rapidly around the world. We have also seen on the Television how this virus is particularly harmful for children like me and the elderly. To prevent this disease from spreading, we wash our hands a lot of times a day. My mother has also asked my siblings and I to stay indoors and not play outside. My family has seven members, and I am the eldest. My father worked as a labourer and earned a daily wage. He does not work very often now as there is little work nowadays. We received PKR 12,000 under the Ehsaas Program with which my father purchased essential food items and feed for our farm annimals. The food will last us for a couple of months. I miss going outside to play with my friends. I also miss attending Mathematics class as I enjoy solving tricky math equations assigned to us by our teacher. We have not even met or seen our relatives and cousins in many days due to the limitations on public transport imposed during the lockdown in Umerkot. We do not go out much anywhere anymore. I was looking forward to my aunt’s wedding which was planned to take place in my summer holidays. I was excited to meet my cousins and enjoy the wedding festivities. The wedding has now been postponed as the preparations for the wedding were not complete due to closure of shops.I am sad to hear that. Since we are at home the whole day, we play different games such as playing with marbles or ludo to keep ourselves entertained. It is difficult to spend time at home with no homework and limited activities. I pray for this virus to end so that I can meet my friends and relatives and enjoy like I use to with them.”

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Photo credit

Siddique suffers a financial blow

It was agonizing for William Siddique to borrow money from someone to keep his little grocery shop operational and restocked. He had never felt the need to do that before since his shop had always been running successfully, providing him a comfortable income. That is of course, before the coronavirus outbreak hit Pakistan.

Thirty-four years old Siddique lives in Latifabad, which is a housing community that mostly homes the religious minority communities in Hyderabad city of Sindh province. Siddique’s lower limbs were afflicted with polio just months after his birth.

“From a very young age I have lived a difficult life as I felt worthless due to my physically disorder. However, things changed when I started running my own shop in 2012. I was earning a good living for myself. This independency restored my sense of being,” said Siddique.

Ever since the COVID-19 spread rapidly in the country and a lockdown was imposed, the shop has been running low on supplies and Siddique has had insufficient resources to restock the shop.

“The government has eased the lockdown now and shops have started to re-open, following protective protocols. I had to borrow PKR 40,000 (Approx. USD 249) to purchase the most popularly bought products to restock in my shop. I now have to worry about repaying this debt.”

Siddique walks on his hands due to his disability and rarely uses a wheelchair when going out.

“I enjoyed my time in the shop as some friendly customers would spend some time chatting with me. Also, my friends took me for outings and rides on their bikes which felt really good. We have not been able to do anything of that due to the lockdown.”

Siddique’s father, Shafiq Masih, works at the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation as a sanitation worker while his mother Anayatan Bibi, works as a domestic helper in some houses in Hyderabad city.

“In the last 10 months, the Corporation has not paid wages to sanitation workers, which is why we have been in a financial crunch. Moreover, my mother also lost her job as three of the houses that my mom worked at asked her to stop coming due to the lockdown. She has not been paid since then either.”

When Siddique was 14 years old he got admission at Hayat-e-Nau (New Life), a Rehabilitation Centre for Disabled Children located nearby.

“The Centre spent two years teaching me survival skills, including how to read and write and how to interact with people,” Siddique recalls fondly.

In this case, Siddique has been lucky since not every person with disability is fortunate enough to get such an opportunity. The National Policy for Disabled Persons was formulated in 2002 and a National Plan of Action (NPA) in 2006. However, that has still not been able to ensure the education and employment of many people with disabilities in the country.

Visually impaired, Zain Khan, struggles with social distancing and online-learning

Considering the implications of COVID-19, social distancing for people with disability, especially for the blind, like 24-year old Zain Khan, has presented a whole new set of challenges. Khan is a rights activist, a student, and a TV show host on the web-based channel UrduPoint.com. Belonging to Bahawalpur and studying MSc in Development Studies at the University of the Punjab’s Lahore campus, Khan is frequently traveling hundreds of miles between the cities.

“I have traveled to many cities and countries on my own. I move around independently but sometimes I need someone to accompany me,” shares Khan. “However, with the current scenario, implementing social distancing in practice is becoming a big challenge for me.”

The youngest of three brothers, Khan’s father passed away few months before his birth. His mother and two brothers have raised him with utmost love and care. He is smartly using a talking software on his touchscreen phone and Job Access with Speech (JAWS) for the laptop.

“The Brail language is useful during school but at college and university level we use technologies like JAWS to provide us help. During the lockdown, it is difficult to communicate in the same way.”

On his own, Khan is actively engaged in private, non-governmental initiatives for disabled people. Pakistan Para-climbing Club and School of Inclusion are two such institutes that he is part of.

“In June, there was a meeting of youth leaders in Sweden and I was to participate in it. But now the program is being conducted through online webinars. Also, my university has started online classes. The JAWS software helps a lot but seems technology yet needs to improve further and people like me need to be even more tech-savvy after the outbreak of coronavirus.”

The Masih siblings survive a lonely lockdown without a means of income

Only four kilometers away from Siddique’s shop is St. Paul Christian Colony in Hyderabad. This is also an urban slum similar to Latifabad. Here live siblings, Shabana Bibi, 30-year-old and her brother Saleem Masih, 20 years. The two siblings are suffering a different kind of challenge than Khan and Siddique.

Shabana was physically impaired due to active polio at the age of 2 years and Saleem started experiencing mental health challenges around the time he completed high school. Shabana and Saleem live alone in their house as their mother passed away ten years ago, followed by their father three years later. Their father worked as a sanitation worker at the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.  Their other three siblings live separately in their own houses.

“I used to sew clothes to make some money but now my eyesight has gone weak and I cannot carry on with this work. Our only income now is my father’s pension of 10,000 rupees (roughly US $65) a month but since this lockdown, I have not been able to go to the bank,” Shabana shares. “I don’t let my brother go out alone. Even when there is a need to buy something, I go along with him. So, I could not send him to the bank either.”

The Sindh government had been very active in managing COVID-19. Although there were reservations about the lack of provision of food to the poorest communities amidst the lockdown. In mid-April, the St. Francis Xavier Cathedral of Hyderabad had a food distribution in the area.

“We survived with the food assistance from the church; otherwise, we would have starved to death by now,” shared Shabana.

Shabana and Saleem are currently living alone in complete quarantine due to the lockdown.

“Other family members used to visit us almost every week but due to the lockdown, my brother and I are left almost alone because no one comes to meet us now.”

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Photo Credit: Sun/Fayaz Moosa

The COVID-19 pandemic poses unprecedented challenges to the global humanitarian sector. At a time like this, coordination among governments, the non-profit sector, the civil society and other partners is imperative to ensure that those most affected by the crisis are well supported.

COVID-19 has affected everyone without exception and this is a very unique moment in our history. All of us present today, networks, organisations and individuals, need to ask ourselves what our value addition as humanitarian practitioners is in this difficult time,

said Takeshi Komino – Secretary General, Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network (ADRRN), while moderating the webinar on ‘Humanitarian Coordination during COVID-19’ that was jointly hosted by Community World Service Asia (CWSA) , International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network (ADRRN) and Humanitarian Forum Indonesia (HFI) on June 11th, 2020.

The webinar focused on discussing the impact of the current pandemic on the future of the humanitarian sector and its coordination aspects. During the 90-minutes of the webinar, speakers and participants discussed good practices, challenges, and gained insights of different humanitarian networks and communities working on the ground in response to COVID-19.

Qingrui Huang, Acting Regional Representative for Asia and the Pacific at ICVA, Thailand, Hafiz Amirrol, Network Coordinator at ADRRN, Malaysia and Dear NB Sinandang, Communication and Partnership Manager, HFI participated as key speakers in the webinar.

Channeling awareness raising during COVID-19 response

Awareness-raising on COVID-19 in local languages with communities was highlighted as vital for communities to better understand the problem and to take the necessary actions needed to prevent being infected.

Members have come up with effective and innovative ways to interact with communities such as the launch of Covid-19 Car with a voice enhancer. The team travels to remote communities and shares knowledge of Covid-19 with regards to measures that can be taken within households and communities to prevent the spread of the virus,

shared Dear.

Given the possibility that the pandemic can continue for a longer period of time, it is appropriate and necessary to address the actions, skills and capability at both the personal and institutional levels to promote the response of the humanitarian community to the pandemic. Qingrui highlighted the importance of maintaining pre-existing relations as they are key to promote effective and efficient coordination at such a time.

When a country or region is struck by some catastrophe, we cannot establish new partnerships after the tragedy occurs, but rather we establish stronger coordination with our pre-existing partners and stakeholders to participate in joint ventures and remedies. We have also seen donor organisations advocating with their respective governments to provide funding for vulnerable groups and most affected populations.

As well established now, COVID-19 is affecting different people in different ways. Not everyone is affected in the same manner. People with pre-existing weak or complicated health conditions, or the elderly will react to the virus differently than those that are physically healthy and younger in age per se. Therefore, identifying and finding out these pre-existing conditions make all the difference while responding to a unique crisis as such.

This is one of the reason why localisation in mandatory in the Covid-19 response, 

says Takeshi.

Many national and local organisations in the Asian region have adopted innovative advocacy and creative communication activities to best reach and impact the communities they are targeting.

We have seen member organisations engaged in broadcasting health awareness messages, publishing creative infographics and launching videos and short animations,

expressed Hafiz Amirrol,

This pandemic has pushed national and local organisations to do things differently for better risk communications and meaningful localisation. Owing to the reality of restricted travel due to the lockout scenario, we have seen improved localisation leadership. One of the best and effective ways of transferring information and coordination is through the local leaders.

Best Practices on Humanitarian Coordination in COVID-19

As highlighted in ICVA’s introduction, the network’s current work is aligned under its four main focus areas of Forced Migration, Coordination, Financing and Navigating Change, and Covid-19 response. ICVA analyzes and explains new policies, trends and highlights key areas of concern for NGOs to cater to in Covid-19 response. Three briefing papers for Localisation in Covid-19 Global Humanitarian Response have been developed by ICVA recently.

In addition, we are working to influence and advocate by issuing joint NGO statement and collective inputs and feedback on IASC Guidelines such as the Global Humanitarian Response Planning (GHRP) revision process,

shared Qingrui.

Speaking at the webinar, Hafiz Amirrol said,

ADRRN members have been working hard to support people in need at this difficult time and have taken local initiatives to provide health and livelihood support to respective communities. This situation survey documents local initiatives and action taken by ADRRN member organizations in the region in supporting their local and national government to cope with this pandemic. Moreover, ADRRN as a network advocates and promotes the idea of close coordination to the members and consequently we see positive progress of members.  By promoting tangible and intangible knowledge and information, members capture and document experiences of good practices in different formats including print and digital media.

The Humanitarian Forum Indonesia (HFI) has also aligned a series of strategic plans to respond to COVID-19. The forum has initiated coordination and communication with internal members and their networks with the government’s Task Force on COVID-19 Response Acceleration at the national and local level (provincial and city/district level). HFI has also introduced a joint need assessments and networking with strategic partners to hold dialogues with UN agencies, the private sector and donor organisations in order to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable communities in this difficult time. Dear NB further added,

HFI has developed a guideline on Safety and Security of humanitarian workers and volunteers for HFI members and their networks. Media centers have also been set up within members to act as helplines and complaint response mechanisms to cater to the complaints and feedback of the community and the general public.

Participants’ Insights

Humanitarian practitioners attending the webinar were encouraged to share some of their reflections to promote effective coordination during COVID-19 response plans and activities:

  • There is a need to develop policies and strategies for effective and productive education especially for communities with limited access to mobile phones and internet
  • Localisation is important, particularly in terms of better understanding the communities’ culture, geographic profile and trust. International support can provide technical support and resources to local organisations to meet the needs of local communities
  • Digital Platforms have proven to be one of the most effective mediums to engage people and jointly hold interventions to respond to the needs of communities
  • INGOs can play a role in buffering donor compliance requirements and supporting skills, programming and governance gaps that some local NGOs have
  • The collaboration of local actors during the initial days of the pandemic must be valued and those local actors who are already on the ground long before any emergency strikes must be recognized

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Facilitated by Karen Janjua and Lia van Broekhoven

When: June 25, 2020
What time: 2:00 PM Pakistan Standard Time
Where: ZOOM – Link to be shared
Language: English
How long: 90 minutes
Format: Presentation & Discussion
Who is it for: Humanitarian and development practitioners who wish to learn more about the impact of counter-terror regulations and policies on their operating environment; including, their capacities to respond to COVID-19?

Speakers: Karen Janjua, Community World Service Asia (CWSA); Lia van Broekhoven, Human Security Collective (HSC)

Purpose:

As a non-profit organization (NPO), explore the impacts of Terror Finance regulations at national and international levels:

  • Is your NGO unable to register with ease?
  • Is your NGO perceived as being “at risk” of being used as a conduit for terrorism financing?
  • Are your day-to-day operations hampered?
  • Are your bank transfers delayed or blocked?

This webinar will help explore:

  • The drivers behind some of the issues you might be facing, which stem from the counter-terrorism and the architecture which countries have constructed countering the financing of terrorism (CFT)
  • The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and its standards on anti-money-laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT)
  • The impact of the FATF standards on NPOs, including the unintended consequences
  • How to mitigate the unintended consequences and advocate for a proportional, effective and risk-based approach which does not impede charitable activity in any way (based on country case studies and examples)
  • How the COVID-19 crisis is impacting the already challenging situation

Background

Community World Service Asia and Human Security Collective (HSC) are jointly hosting this webinar on FATF and COVID-19 on June 25th, 2020.

National and international efforts to counter the financing of terrorism, including the policies and regulations formulated at the supra-national level, have had negative consequences on the operational environment of civil society organizations worldwide.  A one-size-fits-all approach to regulations, instead of a risk-based and proportionate implementation of the rules has resulted in humanitarian and development activity being hampered via administrative and financial channels. The Global Non-Profit Organizations (NPO) Coalition on the FATF, of which HSC is co-chair and CWSA a member, has been working for many years on revising the standards and on their effective implementation.

This webinar will outline the standards and detail their impacts, chief among which is the financial exclusion of NPOs. It will then discuss the advocacy that led to important changes in the standards, as well as the ongoing engagements at both international and national levels on issues such as Risk Assessments of the NPO sector and financial inclusion. Country case studies will further illustrate these engagement strategies.

The webinar will aim to deepen an understanding of the structural nature of the drivers of some of the shrinking civic space issues that NPOs face as well as provide engagement and advocacy avenues that are working to alleviate the negative regulatory impacts, going forward. Given that the COVID-19 crisis is only exacerbating some of these challenges, and at a time when humanitarian need is at its peak, it is important to leverage this understanding into mitigating action.

This 90-minute webinar will also be an opportunity to learn from participants on whether they recognize some of the issues outlined and to share best practice, engagement and advocacy strategies tailored for their contexts.

Community World Service Asia (CWSA) is a humanitarian and development organization, registered in Pakistan, head-quartered in Karachi and implementing initiatives throughout Asia. CWSA is a member of the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) Alliance and a Sphere regional partner.

Human Security Collective (HSC) is a foundation based in The Hague working on issues of development, security and the involvement of citizens in their communities and societies. We believe that the idea of Human Security with its focus on people, relationships and human rights provides an organizing frame for action. Based on the elements of trust-creation, local ownership, empowerment and collective action, we facilitate conversation between civil society, policy shapers and other actors to promote alternative approaches to current security practice.

Register here

Applicants will be informed by 20th June 2020 about their confirmation status. Up to 200 participants will be accommodated on a first come first serve basis. We would appreciate anyone willing to share some best practices on the topic under discussion.

Moderator & Facilitator:

Deputy Regional Director at CWSA and a Board member of ACT Alliance

Karen Janjua

Karen is a Deputy Regional Director at CWSA and a Board member of ACT Alliance.   She has worked extensively with civil society organizations, International organizations and governments across the globe on post-crisis recovery, governance, human rights and democratization. Since 2017, she has focused on civil society sustainability; particularly, engagement with government entities and NGOs in Pakistan to build awareness around the unintended consequences of CFT/AML regulations.

Speaker

Co-founder and Executive Director of Human Security Collective

Lia van Broekhoven

Lia is the co-founder and Executive Director of Human Security Collective based in The Hague. She is co-chair of a Global Coalition of Nonprofit organization that engages with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global standard-setter on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Measures to ensure that governments apply the FATF standards adequately and proportionally in relation to terrorism financing risks to avoid negative impacts on civil society.

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Photo Credit : DFID – UK

This is a real opportunity to discuss localisation. For many years, local actors have been the first respondents and it is very important in this current pandemic that we now focus on what the key role of local actors is? What have they contributed? How do we go forward from here?

Smruti Patel, Founder and Co-Director of The Global Mentoring Initiatives in Switzerland raised these questions while moderating the webinar on ‘Localisation during COVID-19’ on June 2. Jointly hosted and organised by Community World Service Asia and the Alliance for Empowering Partnerships (A4EP), the 90-minute webinar provided participants a platform to exchange and discuss experiences on how localisation is progressing in the different regions, the challenges it has encountered so far and the way forward to effectively implement it.

Dr. Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi, Director Lebanon Support, Beirut and Naomi Tulay-Solanke, Founder Executive Director, Community Health Initiative (CHI), Liberia, joined Smruti Patel as speakers in the webinar.

Participants from across the world shared best practices on how they have taken into account the current crisis, including collaborating and advocating for localisation on a national, regional and international level. Forty percent of the participants represented local and national organizations.

A Unique Challenging Context

The COVID-19 pandemic has become the greatest public health issue of our times and is defining the global health crisis today. In comparison to the loss of life and the destruction to millions of families, economic harm from the crisis is now substantial and far-reaching.

The COVID-19 Crisis Response and the Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP) offer incentives to drive momentum on the Grand Bargain commitments and address structural inequities. State and regional civil society organisations have a vital position to play and have been at the center of the response to COVID-19.

We have seen unparalleled support from local organisations, including the response to delivering awareness to their neighbourhoods, supplying food and hygiene kits along with addressing certain core needs. They were at the forefront of the first response. Some have brought these initiatives to their own sponsorship through collecting funds by community members, residents and joint activities, said Smruti.

Regarding constraints on movement and mobility, local and national humanitarian actors are on the forefront of the COVID-19 response, working in places where the risks are highest. Through this response, there has been a significant shift of operational burden to local and national players, in comparison to the normal ‘upsurge’ of international workers in reaction to the crisis. These discussions aimed to capture the views of local and national NGOs and the recommendations from the discussions will contribute to the GHRP revision progress, which takes place after every six weeks.

In 2017, a research of Global Mentoring Initiatives with the START Network developed the seven dimensions of Localisation Framework by engaging local, national and international organisations in discussions highlighting the significant aspects to make localisation successful.

The framework takes a deeper and more critical view of localisation, assessing the quality (not just the quantity) of funding, partnerships and participation, capacity development, and the influence of local and national organisations. It seeks to promote granularity in the sector’s understanding of localisation, in order to foster a holistic approach to addressing it. Steps to make these dimensions a reality:

  • Maintain quality of partnerships and ensure equitability and respect
  • Promote accountability to affected populations and local actors and keeping them at the center is key
  • The quality of funding should be flexible and developed in collaboration with local actors
  • Capacity building activities should be aimed at sustaining the organisations and they should not be undermined by the way the international response takes place
  • It is essential that National & Local actors take leadership in coordination mechanisms to influence decision-making at a broader level
  • Active visibility of response of local actors can build strong trusts among communities
  • Local and national actors need to be present in international policy debates and discussions

The Implementation Gap

There has been a little change. Now we can have a pen discussion on localisation. We now have documents to hold INGOs on account. We have all set the pace,

reiterated Naomi Tulay-Solanke. In 2014, when the Ebola hit, local actors accelerated at a different level because of active advocacy and exerted the INGOs to practice equal partnership and invest more in localisation. Although Covid-19 imposed a focus on local interventions and a scale back to national borders, Localisation is yet to happen by design. Naomi says,

INGOs have recognised the importance of partnering with local actors now. That is a gain, compared to 2014, where we were considered as local contractors. However, there is room for improvement. This can only happen if we persistently engage in a constructive manner, taking everybody on board, holding them accountable on signed documents especially at community and national levels.

While a majority (33%) of the webinar participants cited “unequal power relationship in partnerships” as the main blockage for localization, speakers provided additional insights and nuance to the many aspects relevant to localisation from the perspective of actors from the Global South.

Although Covid-19 has imposed a focus on local interventions and a scale back to national borders, it was agreed in the discussions that Localisation is yet to happen by design. As Naomi Tulay-Solanke reiterated,

we need to be at the table when the project is being designed, and to be engaged in a constructive manner.

Global organisations including INGOs and donor agencies are on path with the local actors. They understand the local actors, their ideology. However, when it comes down to the national level, it is a different ball game.

There are more local actors like never before in the current COVID-19 response. As COVID-19 is a global crisis, it took a while for international organizations to come to Liberia. We have witnessed a different kind of partnership with the donor agencies. The employees of donor agencies are on the ground implementing the project activities and the local organisations are taken in loop to monitor, said Naomi.

The turning point, however in other disaster and conflict affected countries, such as Lebanon, is not the current global pandemic. It is an additional layer of a multidimensional crisis the Lebanese people have been witnessing since the beginning of 2020.

Information is a very powerful tool. As a driver of any issue, we want to advocate, we need to know what we are talking about in advance. The seven dimensions are insightful, as we need to break the challenges down into measurable features and take ownership of the narrative, expresses Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi,

 

We need to frame the narrative of localisation as we are rooted in our communities. We know what they need and where the interventions need to be executed.

Marie-Noëlle AbiYaghi highlighted the necessity to take control of the narrative around localisation whether in its definition, in partnerships, in solidarity, and develop in practice alternative ways to implement localisation, and break out from dependency on the aid industry.

What is the meaning of partnership? Marie-Noëlle asked participants.

In our organisation we do not use the term partner. We firmly address our funders as donors, unless there is a shift in the power dynamics. We need to start using terms for their actual meaning.

The principle of mutual accountability is key. The concept of balanced and equitable partnerships needs to be promoted.

We are equally accountable to tax payers as we are to the project participants. Any discussions on trust and accountability that does not take into consideration this whole spectrum, misses the point. We must refuse our participation in these partial and biased discussions, said Marie-Noëlle.

Participant Reflections

Participants shared best practices and reflections from their experiences on the ground and at different levels of a humanitarian and development work.

There is a network of local actors who are playing a prominent role in the cause of this pandemic. We have set up a situational room which, among other objectives, aims to bridge the gap between the local population and higher authorities including the government, INGOs and the UN. This room seeks to address the concerns of communities and link or refer them through appropriate channels for them to be handled. Many of the partners, especially those working in the health sector, have considered the COVID-19 as a health crisis alone. We need to highlight that there is a lot more going on besides just the health aspect. We are talking about livelihoods, WASH, GBV and many other aspects affected as a result of this pandemic."
Fatima Imam, Founder Executive Director, Rehabilitation Empowerment and Better Health Initiative (REBHI), Nigeria
The primary issue that donors and UN actors raise is concern over financial risk and safeguarding risk as obstacles to increasing funding to local actors, given lockdowns/movement restrictions, which makes different kinds of monitoring/accountability more difficult. The irony of this is perhaps that it is local actors that have the best insights on how to address such risks given all the realities on the ground given how they are embedded in communities and understand these dynamics at local level."
Howard Mollett, Catholic International Development Charity, United Kingdom
Much has been published and transmitted to partners for localisation. However, it is our misfortune that local and international organisations do not recognize their obligations. We are not strengthening the humanitarian sector as a result. They need to consider the meaning and complexities of the nation in which the project is being applied. If we do not grasp this, both ends will not be able to fulfill their duties against the affected people."
Liaquat Ali, Executive Coordinator, Doaba Foundation, Pakistan
Most of the localisation debate has been primarily centered on giving more. As local organisations, we think we should receive more and as international organisations, donors think they should give more. However, it is not about giving and taking, rather allowing our own space and not taking away what belongs to us. In the current pandemic, I see a prominent role of partnership between national and international organisations and a new way of working through the integration of technology. Sadly, I do not see much technological integration of such kind. Billions of people have been affected by the economic instability caused by COVID-19, particularly people working in the informal sector. This is the time to redesign our humanitarian development annexures to address the challenges of people working in this sector."
Sudhanshu S. Singh, Founder and CEO Humanitarian Aid International (HAI), International Coordinator A4EP, India
Localisation does not mean that locals have more control. This ensures that more services are disbursed to the impacted and at-risk regions and local actors take further intervention. Through localisation, humanitarian response is expected to not only become cost efficient but also more effective by enabling those who know the local context better to lead the process."
Regina “Nanette” Salvador-Antequisa, Founding Executive Director, Ecosystems Work for Essential Benefits, Inc. (ECOWEB), Philippines

1611

Photo Credits: Manolis Lagoutaris/AFP via Getty Images

In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in international interest in ‘protection’ and a range of new guidelines, standards and tools for protection practitioners. With serious protection risks arising due to the COVID-19 crisis in nearly every humanitarian setting, it is now more critical than ever for organisations to consider the protection obligations they have, and how they can proactively prevent, mitigate and respond to acts of violence, coercion and deliberate deprivation of rights.

Community World Service Asia and Act for Peace co-hosted this webinar focusing on the core methods and foundations of protection programming. Protection programming aims at reducing the risk of serious harm to vulnerable groups as a result of violence, coercion and the deliberate deprivation of rights and access to information, services and resources.

A hundred and fourteen humanitarian practitioners from thirty-one countries participated in this interactive webinar. James Thomson, Senior Protection and Policy Advisor at Act for Peace led and facilitated the 75-minute session on May 20th.

Layers of Protective and Counter-Protective Influence

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    International
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    Social Network
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    State
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    Family
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    Community
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    Individual

With such a wide variety of actors now involved in protection, it is important to understand protection as a ‘shared responsibility’. All actors have some form of protection responsibility, including humanitarian actors.[1]  People can best access their rights in safety and dignity when all actors fulfil their responsibilities to build and maintain a protective environment. With limited protection and assistance, vulnerable individuals or groups are less able to resist, recover from and prevent or avoid future protection problems.

Protection practice starts with identifying and assessing protection risks; that means analysing the interplay of the three factors that create risks: the ‘threat’ itself, the ‘vulnerabilities’ of the group targeted, and their ‘capacity’ to address protection problems. The aim of protection is to reduce threats and vulnerabilities, and increase capacity.

When you are trying to get people to acknowledge their protection responsibilities and act in accordance the most important thing to understand is what responsibilities they have and the source of their protection responsibilities, which may stem from moral and ethical standards, cultural norms, laws and principles, humanitarian standards, organizational mandates or policies,

James highlighted. When you understand what protection responsibilities they have, the source of their responsibilities, and their willingness and capacity to provide protection, you are much better equipped to engage in effective advocacy and programming. For example, understanding what responsibilities a local official has for distributing goods and services, and the source of that responsibility – under law, department policy, or as part of their job description – means you are better equipped to hold them to account if they withhold goods, exclude groups, or demand kick-backs.

The international legal framework for protection, which consists of three mutually reinforcing bodies of international law (human rights, humanitarian and refugee law) provides a strong accountability framework. Practitioners should endeavor to work within, and strengthen, this legal framework by using a rights-based approach to protection where possible.

Adopting a Rights-Based Approach

A human rights-based approach starts with recognising people as rights-holders and states as duty-bearers who have protection responsibilities. It aims to strengthen people’s capacity to claim their rights and the capacities of ‘duty-bearers’ to ensure that they recognise and act on their responsibility to respect, protect and fulfill human rights of communities affected by conflict, disasters and displacement.  It further asserts people’s right to request and receive protection and assistance from their governments. “It is not an optional or charitable act, it is a duty!” These actions promote equality and inclusion and ultimately create accountability between people and governments.

Participants raised concerns about protection amid COVID-19 globally. James noted that

COVID-19 has resulted in a severe global economic crisis. People are losing their jobs and livelihoods, experiencing family breakdown, and the crisis is inflaming conflict, racism and xenophobia. As it deepens, different social groups will face considerable risks as a result of increased vulnerability, new threats and reduced capacity to address these challenges, so it’s critical NGOs assess these changing risks and respond through programs and advocacy.

Hannah Valentine, a participant asked how to identify threats and vulnerabilities that communities face, specifically in times like the COVID 19 crisis. James noted that

the best way to find out is to speak with individuals and groups who are facing the risks. They not only have the right, the capacity and the desire to participate in activities designed to strengthen their protection, but they also have a sound understanding of the risks they face, what options they have to respond and what help they need.

Reflections:

  • With domestic violence and child abuse rising rapidly as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns, it is essential to provide protection timely and appropriately manner.
  • Identifying people at risk is essential as there are many hidden people or groups of people that need protection, such as people living with disabilities. In this case, the Washington Group Short Set of Questions will help identify those groups or individuals in order to give access to protection service and participation
  • Pro-active coordination and a consideration of contextual sensitivities is required by actors engaged in protection work in countries where human rights are under protected
  • The three main components of risks; Threats, Vulnerability and Capacity, must be addressed while responding to protection needs
  • Program designs must respond to an assessment of protection risks along with the identification and breakdown of protection problems in different contexts

Resources:

Protection Standards, guides and tools:

Humanitarian response resources:

Human rights and civic space resources:

Safeguarding resources:

Country-specific info and situation reports:

Other useful resources, podcasts and webinars:

[1] Minimum protection standards include Sphere protection principles, the minimum standards for protection mainstreaming, safeguarding against sexual abuse, exploitation and abuse, and child protection.

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