GLOBAL: Mixed scorecard for donors

Photo: Naresh Newar/IRIN

The good humanitarian donorship principles say donors must invest in prevention and risk reduction to minimize the human cost of disasters (file photo)

DAKAR,� – The world�s wealthiest donors do not put enough into helping communities prevent and prepare for disaster, says the non-profit DARA International, in its third annual rating of donors on quality and efficacy of humanitarian aid.

Using the principles donors adopted in the 2003 good humanitarian donorship (GHD) initiative, the Humanitarian Response Index assesses donor performance in assisting people affected by crises.

Released on 10 November, the 2009 HRI says wealthy countries� support for prevention remains weak, while disasters � many climate-related � and conflicts mount.

The good donorship principles stress the need for donors to invest in prevention and risk reduction to minimize the human costs of disasters, DARA (Development Assistance Research Associates) says. �Countless lives and livelihoods could be saved if the international community made a concerted effort to prevent human suffering� through better preparedness measures.

�A serious shift in donor policy and practice is needed to scale up support for conflict and disaster prevention and risk reduction efforts at the community level,� the report says. This requires new funding, DARA executive director Silvia Hidalgo told IRIN.

Many aid experts say preparedness often falls through the funding cracks � not a top priority in emergency relief operations or in long-term development.

Hidalgo said donors must create more flexible funding pools in order to address prevention. �[Prevention] is too weak right now and it has to be everyone�s [humanitarian and development actors�] business to engage in it.�

Per Byman, head of the humanitarian team at�the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), agreed that donors do not support disaster preparedness to the extent necessary, but said it must be incorporated into development.

�The main challenge is to make disaster preparedness an integral part of development, not humanitarian response,� Byman told IRIN.

He agreed that disaster risk reduction (DRR) must be integrated into humanitarian work. �But in order to reduce poverty and reach the Millennium Development Goals [disaster preparedness/DRR] must be an integral part of development programmes and integrated into poverty reduction strategies.�

DARA notes the continued gap in donor support for the transition from relief to recovery and development. Humanitarian assistance should include long-term strategies for both DRR and climate change adaptation, the HRI report says.

Other �serious gaps� in how the international community deals with crises, according to DARA, are in ensuring access to at-risk populations and boosting the capacity of local organizations.

Tough environment

DARA looked at 22 donor governments and the European Commission, which together provided about US$10.4 billion in humanitarian assistance in 2008 to help some 250 million people affected by crises.

This is �far less than required� to meet humanitarian needs, DARA said, noting that in late October the UN alone reported a $3.6-billion funding gap for humanitarian programmes covering 43 million people.

DARA said the global economic crisis has led to an �unprecedented shortfall�. The report said donors and humanitarian agencies faced increasingly complex and difficult working environments, with the scale of disasters rising, security problems reducing humanitarian space and staff and budget cuts limiting capacity.

The HRI 2009 ranks donors on five “pillars”: responding to needs; prevention, risk reduction and recovery; working with humanitarian partners; protection and international law; and learning and accountability.

DARA�s Hidalgo noted some progress in coordination. �Donors are engaging more with each other than they were in the past� and have become more oriented to accountability drives like Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance (ALNAP), she said.

But knowledge among donors of the GHD principles and how to uphold them slipped over the past year, she said.

Good gauge?

Some donors have been critical of the HRI approach. Sida�s Byman told IRIN that while it is important to look at donors in terms of the GHD principles, the �naming and shaming� mode is not the best way to go. “We prefer to address GHD issues in bilateral discussions or through joint action within the GHD Initiative.”

He added: �We have doubts about the methodology [of the HRI] and about whether the report is an accurate representation of all aspects of humanitarian aid.�

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AFGHANISTAN: Top five humanitarian needs

KABUL,� – Eight years after the overthrow of the Taliban and billions of dollars spent on aid, Afghanistan remains mired in poverty and deeply insecure.

IRIN asked three experts what they considered were the country’s top five humanitarian needs. The following comments are from Reto Stoker, head of delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross; Laurent Saillard, director of the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief; and Raz Mohammad Dalili, executive director of Sanayee Development Organization, one of the country’s oldest NGOs.

Top five: 1

Reto Stoker: �Human security – to be able to get basic services and to move from A to B. Both sides are trying to win hearts and minds, and you hear it said that 80 percent of Afghans are on the fence: the truth is that 80 percent of people are in the ditch, and are trying to resist both sides pulling and pushing. As a farmer you have to be either pro- international forces or pro-Taliban. You may be forced to feed the Taliban at night, while risking being asked by the international forces why you did that the next morning.�

Laurent Saillard: �Access is the biggest challenge – to the population, to information, to independent funding. We need better routing of financing so humanitarian agencies can be protected from being associated with the parties to the conflict. We need needs-based funding without a political agenda; principled assistance regardless of [which part of the country] the beneficiaries are living [in].”

Raz Mohammad Dalili: “The Afghan government doesn�t have a good strategy to bring changes to the lives of Afghans. There is corruption, slow delivery of development, and a perception that some government ministers are working for their own benefit.�

Top five: 2

Photo: Khaled Nahiz/ IRIN

Malnourishment among children is on the rise

RS: �We�re getting more and more malnourished children. They could be treated at the local health centre, or helped [at home] through a little education provided to the mothers. But they come in a very malnourished state, weeks too late. [Because of the insecurity] taxis will only carry them for a very high fare. So many wait and wait until it�s too late, or nearly too late. The number of people dying from the indirect humanitarian consequences [of the fighting] is much higher than those dying as a direct result of the conflict. Security is not just threatened by a roadside bomb or an air strike, it is a much more integrated concept.�

LS: �Dialogue – we need to talk to all parties to the conflict. Only ICRC and MSF [M�decins sans Fronti�res] have started this. Maybe we need to agree to a code for humanitarian access accepted by all parties to the conflict. An agreement won�t guarantee safety [of humanitarian agencies in the field], but at least it can provide a moral agreement at the political level.�

RMD: �The capacity of ministers: many come from a political, not a development background, they don�t know how to work to bring change. The international coalition has spent a lot of money; if it had been spent on the people, there would have been big changes in Afghanistan. One of the big reasons that the Taliban has followers is because of poverty; as a follower you receive money from the Taliban and you have the opportunity to loot.”

Top five: 3

RS: �Humanitarian access feeds into the problem of services. When people are displaced you assess the situation, either provide assistance or protection – for example an intervention with the parties to the conflict so that people can go back home. Currently there is very little understanding of the problem of displacement; no one fully understands the mechanisms causing short- long-term or partial displacement. There is very little information coming out [of the conflict areas] to understand what�s going on. There are no sufficiently clear ideas of the conditions in their home areas, and you cannot put accurate figures on the numbers of people that have been forced to move.�

LS: �Strengthen coordination and information gathering mechanisms: programmes are based on assumptions rather than reliable, measurable indicators. The problem is they can give you a flawed picture and you can end up doing more harm than good.�

RMD: �Community peace building – not political peace building – is needed for Afghanistan. We need peace shuras (traditional councils) in the community, solving conflicts within the communities. This kind of project is very necessary for Afghans who have spent 30 years in war.�

Top five: 4

Photo: Ebadi/WFP

Access to vulnerable populations is another big challenge

RS: �Everyone needs to admit that there is an intense and widespread conflict with very significant direct and even more so indirect humanitarian consequences. The role and work of humanitarian actors, particularly those that have stuck to fundamental principles, needs to be respected; all parties to the conflict must be reminded of their obligation under international humanitarian law and human rights law; and ICRC’s specific role as a neutral and independent humanitarian organization acting as a neutral intermediary needs to be respected.�

LS: �We need a major reconciliation process – a nationwide consultation to determine Afghan identity. Do we have common elements, can we try and see what unites people rather than divides them? More and more Afghans are being identified as Taliban, as terrorists. What impact does that have on living together, for building rather than destroying? What does it mean to be an Afghan after 30 years of war?�

RMD: �Invest more money in the basic needs of health and sanitation; we need good programmes for poverty reduction. For the cost of keeping one foreign soldier [out of a deployment of over 100,000] in Afghanistan we could [employ] over 40 Afghans. If $500 came to each family [through a breadwinner] nobody will join the Taliban.�

Top five: 5

RS: �Give young people a job and a salary – something to be proud of.�

LS: �Protection is the other big issue: there is no proper distinction being made between combatants and non-combatants.”

RMD: �We need to bring pressure on the government to change their system, to reduce bureaucracy, to reduce corruption, to select good ministers and the ministers should be responsible to the people.”

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GLOBAL: Falling foul of the fund

Photo: Global Fund

The Global Fund supports 2.3 million people on life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs

NAIROBI, 11 November 2009 (PlusNews) – Programmes supported by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria reported 2.3 million people on life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in June 2009. Funding to beneficiary countries is based on performance, and failure to meet targets can lead to delays, suspension, discontinuation or termination of grants.

In November 2008, IRIN/PlusNews brought you a list of some of the countries that have fallen foul of the Fund’s strict accounting procedures; here is an updated version.

Kenya – In November 2009 the Global fund’s technical review panel – an independent team of health and development experts – recommended that the Global Fund Board reject a bid for $270 million in Round 9 of funding. The chair of Kenya’s CCM said the main reason given was poor coordination between the country’s two health ministries.

The government has experienced difficulties with its Global Fund proposals in the past. In 2008 the Global Fund rejected Kenya’s application for $300 million in Round 8, and $37 million was delayed in 2003 after claims of corruption in the National AIDS Control Council.

Mauritania – In September 2009 the Global Fund suspended support to the Executive Secretariat of the National AIDS Committee after finding evidence of fraudulent and unjustified expenditures. The Fund demanded the reimbursement of US$1.7 million within three months, and immediate removal of the people identified as responsible.

The new government, named in September after presidential elections in June, began proceedings against four National AIDS Committee members suspected of embezzlement. The State has promised to return the $1.7 million and account for a further $2 million whose use was questioned, and has committed to re-structuring the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM), Mauritania’s funding management body; CCM weakness is seen as contributing to the problems.

Philippines – In September 2009 the Global Fund suspended all five of its grants to the Tropical Disease Foundation (TDF) – the principal recipient – after an investigation by the Office of the Inspector General found that around $1 million of $85 million in total disbursements were unauthorized expenditure. The Global Fund has demanded repayment and will transfer the TDF’s grants to a new principal recipient.

Zimbabwe – in 2009 the Global Fund decided to bypass the National AIDS Council as the principal recipient of existing and future grants, choosing to channel money through the United Nations Development Programme and paving the way for the country to receive a grant of $37.9 million in August.

Zimbabwe has had a turbulent relationship with the Global Fund; several proposals have been rejected and the government has frequently accused the Geneva-based agency of political bias, which the Fund denies.

Chad – In 2006 the Global Fund suspended support after an audit uncovered misuse of funds and a lack of satisfactory capacity in the principal recipient and sub-recipients to manage the Fund’s resources. The suspension was lifted in 2007 after a series of investigations and commitments from stakeholders to put better systems in place.

Nigeria – In 2006 the Fund decided to discontinue its Round 1 support for HIV/AIDS programmes, but awarded other HIV/AIDS grants in Round 5.

Myanmar – In 2005 the global Fund terminated grants worth $98.4 million�after the government imposed temporary restrictions on travel and new procedures for reviewing the procurement of medical and other supplies. The Fund said at the time that the restrictions “prevented implementation of performance-based and time-bound programs in the country”.

Senegal – In 2005 the Fund cut malaria grants worth $7.1 million�over systemic issues that resulted in poor performance. A grant proposal for malaria projects submitted in Round 4 was later approved.

South Africa – In 2005 the Global Fund Board stopped funding for an HIV prevention programme. The Board decided that the grant, received by an NGO named loveLife, had failed to “sufficiently address weaknesses in its implementation”.

Uganda – In 2005 the Global Fund temporarily suspended all five of its grants after a review by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers found “serious mismanagement” of one of the grants by the Project Management Unit in the Ministry of Health.

The grants were worth $201 million over two years, of which $45.4 million had been disbursed. The health minister and his two deputies lost their positions and are standing trial with several other government officials for the misuse of Global Fund money.

Ukraine – In 2004 the Global Fund temporarily withdrew grants worth $92 million citing “management issues”. The grants were reinstated six weeks later, when a new principal recipient, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, was put in place.

Pakistan – In 2002 the Fund discontinued support for Pakistan’s malaria projects because of weak project implementation, slow procurement of health products, poor data quality, and slow spending of project funds; according to reports, only 15 percent of insecticide treated bed nets were distributed during the grant period.

Several other countries, including Bolivia, East Timor, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Togo, have also had funding proposals rejected, or have had funding withdrawn. Countries can appeal a grant decision when a proposal has been rejected in two consecutive rounds.

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He also sought to absolve the Attorney General of claims he had failed by not prosecuting post-election violence suspects.

�It is not the failure as such of the Attorney General, but the law that existed then. The current laws are incapable of dealing with the crimes committed then,� he said and challenged MPs to provide leadership, saying it was important that justice be done to all irrespective of status.

However, the Nation established that only Mr Odinga and Forestry minister Noah Wekesa were at the meeting.

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“If there were a playbook of standard procedures for those accused of the worst atrocities, chapter one would be to distract attention from the charges to claim the trial is some sort of plot from other individuals and nations,” Waiser said.

Once the cross-examination of Taylor is completed, the defence will call other witnesses. A ruling is expected in the first half of 2010.

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Former Uganda Army Commander Major General James Kazini. He died on Tuesday morning. Photo/FILE

By�Nation Team

In Summary

• The woman has been arrested and taken for questioning at Kampala Central Police Station.

Kampala

A former Ugandan Army Commander, Major General James Kazini, died in the early hours of Tuesday morning after a domestic incident.

He died after his girlfriend allegedly hit him with an iron bar.

Family and security sources say General Kazini was killed at the woman�s home in Namuwongo, a Kampala suburb near The Monitor Newspaper�s �offices on 8th Street, Industrial Area.

The girlfriend has been arrested and taken for questioning at Kampala Central Police Station. Mourners, among them military officers and relatives, arrived at the Namuwongo home as the shocking news spread.

The country was preparing for the burial later Tuesday of Vice President Prof Gilbert Bukenya�s son, Bryan, who died at the weekend after suffering serious head injuries in a car accident.

Major General Kazini�s body had not been removed by 8.00 a.m. Senior Police detectives arrived shortly after to take notes and examine the crime scene.

A small crowd of neighbours gathered outside the home.

Further details regarding the incident have not been released by the police. Lt. Col. Felix Kulayigye, the army Spokesman, says the former commander, who was facing trial for various alleged offences, was a �victim of domestic violence.”

He had, among others, been accused of creating the 409 brigade in West Nile allegedly to topple President Museveni�s government.

He is reputed for fighting the Allied Democratic Forces rebel group in western Uganda as well as the Lord�s Resistance Army in northern part of the country.

The United Nations later named him as one of the Ugandan military officers that pillaged the Democratic Republic of Congo resources during 1997-2003 invasion.

source.nation.ke