Measuring Commitment to Best Practice
HRI
NEWS
Interview with Silvia Hidalgo
“A legitimate common framework is needed for humanitarian actors.”
Two months prior to the launch of the Humanitarian Response Index, Silvia Hidalgo, Director of DARA, analyzes the strengths, weaknesses and challenges of humanitarian action. The Humanitarian Response Index is a new tool for donors that will provide key information to improve the effectiveness of the international humanitarian response.
Why is DARA creating a new index? Doesn’t it duplicate tools?
Actually, an index specific to humanitarian action does not exist. For example, there is an index that measures countries’ commitment to development using several variables, but there is no index that analyzes humanitarian response and in particular, donors’ actions. Nevertheless, the indexes have acquired greater prominence in recent years since they are very powerful tools which summarize certain concepts and concurrently provide detailed information. This aspect allows them to reach people that want a more general knowledge, as well as experts that seek more detailed and specific information.
Why is it being developed now?
The HRI is being launched now because, in 2003, the Principles of Good Humanitarian Donorship were approved and subsequently, the 23 donors of the OECD Development Assistance Committee committed to respect them in 2005. Therefore, we have a framework and an initiative that allows us to measure the donors’ response against their commitment to these principles. Currently, the official humanitarian funding comprises 70 percent of humanitarian assistance. In other words, the majority of the allocated resources come from donor countries. For this reason, establishing an index that encourages them to improve and respect certain principles can contribute substantially to the improvement of humanitarian action.
What is the goal of the Humanitarian Response Index?
The donors are a link within the humanitarian response chain. They are actors that can incite change and improvement; they can put pressure on the rest of the actors to make the entiresystem more efficient. This is the case because they have to be accountable to parliaments and the contributors. Also, they are the ones that can promote more relevant responses and actions more focused on the demand than the supply, which is how what the system functions. Currently the interventions, far from supporting the most vulnerable populations and actinglocally, end up responding to what the donor can provide or what is established by the agencies that fund the donor.
In recent years, humanitarian crises have been discussed quite a bit. Has there really been an increase in the number of humanitarian crises in the world or is this perception due to a greater visibility?
The tsunami entailed greater visibility because it was a case without precedence. Never before has there been a crisis that affected so many countries, with the added factor of occurring during the Christmas holidays. It is also true that global warming is producing more numerous natural disasters with grave consequences, and our exposure to these phenomena is ever increasing. Furthermore, as a result, battles over natural resources take place, which give rise to conflicts very different from typical conflicts. It is true, however, that in the last decade, there has been a decline in the number of wars between countries, yet we cannot forget that there are civil conflicts that cause a greater number of internally displaced people.
The DAC has denounced the lack of consensus regarding the definition of “humanitarian action”. According to the DAC, this diversity of definitions complicates harmonization and in turn, the effectiveness of the interventions. How does DARA define humanitarian action?
When referring to humanitarian action, we mean responses that involve the prevention and mitigation of disasters with the goal of saving lives and guaranteeing human dignity. It is necessary, therefore, to include steps for the rehabilitation and recovery of people and ensure that there is a link with recovery and development activities. The division between short term humanitarian action and development action is difficult to define. In fact, there is a variety of opinions on the matter.
How should donor actions coordinate with the local social structures throughout this process?
Aid is only effective to the degree that it is integrated in processes. The key is to be integrated, situated in the recovery process, and provide assistance that is useful and takes the needs of the people into account. To do so, humanitarian assistance needs to stem from a needs analysis, as well as a study of capacity. The key words are support, empowerment and the promotion of the capacities of people and communities.
What are the lessons learned throughout the history of humanitarian action?
I think the best way to explain what has been learned throughout this time is a metaphor that says that only feeding a horse the day of the race won’t win the race. Having the capacity to respond effectively is a constant challenge. We do not have to act only when an emergency arises. It is important to invest in measures to build the capacity and professionalism of the sector, promoting and supporting early warning and prevention systems. A very clear legitimate platform is needed for the different actors that participate in the humanitarian response. No legitimate global framework currently exists to follow-up on the evolution of the response system. The system is too compartmentalised; the key is to determine actions that should be integrated, reinforced or complemented. This is not an easy task since the implicated actors are widely diverse.
Will DARA’s Humanitarian Response Index contribute to making progress in this direction?
The donors have a well defined role. Also, they have committed to comply with a series of principles of action in the humanitarian area. The Humanitarian Response Index will allow for a better and more complete understanding of how to comply with these principles and efficiently carry out the actions. Furthermore, since it is an annual report, it offers the possibility of conducting an analysis of the evolution of the donors’ commitment, progress made, and the main challenges. Maybe by pulling on that link of the chain, that is the donors, we can push the entire system to improve the humanitarian response and especially, provide help to those that need it most.