Fundraising pitfalls: Somalia still needs us
19 September, 2011 | IAN SMILLIE (Globe and Mail)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Sept. 16, the Canadian International Development Agency
ended its “matching” arrangement for donations to the East
Africa Drought Relief Fund. Two days earlier, International Co-
operation Minister Bev Oda took to the airwaves, a bit like a
carnival barker, saying there were “only two days left,” and she
posted a similar note on CIDA’s website.
The answer is none of the above. The humanitarian emergency
in East Africa continues to grow, and the global response
remains woefully inadequate. An estimated $35-million has
been raised from the Canadian public so far, but the amount is
small in relation to the need, it’s a fraction of the $200-million
raised for Haiti and, on a per capita basis, it’s half or less of
what’s been raised for Somalia in Britain.
If you gave $50 to your favourite charity, will CIDA give that
charity another $50? Maybe, maybe not. CIDA will add up all
the money that Canadian charities raised, then put a similar
amount into a special fund that it will parcel out to NGOs on
the basis of their ability to deliver “timely, effective and
appropriate humanitarian assistance.” This makes sense, sort
of. What doesn’t make sense is that CIDA won’t distribute any
of its contribution money until the final tally is in. Timely? Not
so much.
Because NGOs raised only $35-million, does that mean CIDA
will have only $35-million more to spend on the drought? Not
at all. CIDA has already pledged $72-million in response to the
crisis, there’ll undoubtedly be more. A significant proportion of
this, perhaps as much as two-thirds, will be channelled one way
or another through NGOs, because they’re the ones at the
front. Some of the money will be given to them directly by
CIDA; some will go to United Nations agencies and they, in
turn, will engage NGOs in Africa to deliver the food and
medicine, run camps, build infrastructure and provide water
and sanitation.
So the CIDA “matching” arrangement was really a bit like
beaters driving grouse toward hunters: effective (some NGOs
had their best fundraising day for Somalia on Sept. 15) but
somewhat misleading, if not cynical. And now that the deadline
has passed, what incentive is there to give?
Five of the major Canadian NGOs – CARE, Oxfam Canada,
Oxfam Quebec, Plan and Save the Children – have joined
together to form the Canadian Humanitarian Coalition. By
pooling fundraising resources, they can reduce the cost of
advertising, apply more to programs and conduct joint
evaluations. Good idea? You’d think so, but they get no special
recognition from CIDA and, although they’re all very serious
professionals, they get none of the funding assurance or
predictability that’s so badly needed.
Why do World Vision, Médecins sans frontières and Unicef
not join the coalition? Perhaps it’s a calculation: Each now has
only three competitors instead of the previous seven; perhaps
they can actually do better outside a coalition.
In fact, Marilyn McHarg, executive director of Médecins san
frontières Canada, criticized other agencies in a Globe and Mail
article for doing precisely what MSF does, pushing guilt and
showing pictures of starving children. The MSF difference is
apparently an understanding that the crisis is the result of more
than a drought, that it has also to do with “political chaos and
military agendas.” Ms. McHarg wrote: “If aid organizations
were bolder about the realism of our communications, we
could foster ground-breaking levels of transparency and
accountability.”
Interesting but vague. None of the humanitarians, CIDA
included, has anything to say about the roller-coaster
involvement of the West in Somalia, alternately arming, then
aiding, then invading, then abandoning the country – then
supporting an Ethiopian invasion that led to the rise of the
extremist al-Shabaab militia and their brutal but entirely logical
expulsion of Western aid workers.
Somalia certainly needs “permanent solutions.” Until these
become available, however, humanitarian agencies, in
competition or together, will be fig leaves covering up the
inattention of the world “community.”
Instead of creating meaningless deadlines and exaggerating
Canadian generosity, CIDA would be better advised to think
about how it will help to solve Somalia’s longer-term problems,
to which it has contributed so very little in the 18 years since
members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment murdered
Shidane Arone and Canada scuttled away in disgrace.
Meantime, if you want to help, you could do worse than make
a donation to the Humanitarian Coalition, deadline or not.
Ian Smillie, an Ottawa-based consultant and member of
the McLeod Group, is co-author of The Charity of Nations:
Humanitarian Action in a Calculating World.
Courtesy
19 September, 2011 | IAN SMILLIE (Globe and Mail)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On Sept. 16, the Canadian International Development Agency
ended its “matching” arrangement for donations to the East
Africa Drought Relief Fund. Two days earlier, International Co-
operation Minister Bev Oda took to the airwaves, a bit like a
carnival barker, saying there were “only two days left,” and she
posted a similar note on CIDA’s website.
- Nobody explained the
importance of Sept 16.
Was it expected to rain
in Somalia that day?
Had the planes at last
arrived? Had crops
suddenly sprouted?
Was it because the
public response was so
great that the
government could not
afford to extend the
The answer is none of the above. The humanitarian emergency
in East Africa continues to grow, and the global response
remains woefully inadequate. An estimated $35-million has
been raised from the Canadian public so far, but the amount is
small in relation to the need, it’s a fraction of the $200-million
raised for Haiti and, on a per capita basis, it’s half or less of
what’s been raised for Somalia in Britain.
If you gave $50 to your favourite charity, will CIDA give that
charity another $50? Maybe, maybe not. CIDA will add up all
the money that Canadian charities raised, then put a similar
amount into a special fund that it will parcel out to NGOs on
the basis of their ability to deliver “timely, effective and
appropriate humanitarian assistance.” This makes sense, sort
of. What doesn’t make sense is that CIDA won’t distribute any
of its contribution money until the final tally is in. Timely? Not
so much.
Because NGOs raised only $35-million, does that mean CIDA
will have only $35-million more to spend on the drought? Not
at all. CIDA has already pledged $72-million in response to the
crisis, there’ll undoubtedly be more. A significant proportion of
this, perhaps as much as two-thirds, will be channelled one way
or another through NGOs, because they’re the ones at the
front. Some of the money will be given to them directly by
CIDA; some will go to United Nations agencies and they, in
turn, will engage NGOs in Africa to deliver the food and
medicine, run camps, build infrastructure and provide water
and sanitation.
So the CIDA “matching” arrangement was really a bit like
beaters driving grouse toward hunters: effective (some NGOs
had their best fundraising day for Somalia on Sept. 15) but
somewhat misleading, if not cynical. And now that the deadline
has passed, what incentive is there to give?
Five of the major Canadian NGOs – CARE, Oxfam Canada,
Oxfam Quebec, Plan and Save the Children – have joined
together to form the Canadian Humanitarian Coalition. By
pooling fundraising resources, they can reduce the cost of
advertising, apply more to programs and conduct joint
evaluations. Good idea? You’d think so, but they get no special
recognition from CIDA and, although they’re all very serious
professionals, they get none of the funding assurance or
predictability that’s so badly needed.
Why do World Vision, Médecins sans frontières and Unicef
not join the coalition? Perhaps it’s a calculation: Each now has
only three competitors instead of the previous seven; perhaps
they can actually do better outside a coalition.
In fact, Marilyn McHarg, executive director of Médecins san
frontières Canada, criticized other agencies in a Globe and Mail
article for doing precisely what MSF does, pushing guilt and
showing pictures of starving children. The MSF difference is
apparently an understanding that the crisis is the result of more
than a drought, that it has also to do with “political chaos and
military agendas.” Ms. McHarg wrote: “If aid organizations
were bolder about the realism of our communications, we
could foster ground-breaking levels of transparency and
accountability.”
Interesting but vague. None of the humanitarians, CIDA
included, has anything to say about the roller-coaster
involvement of the West in Somalia, alternately arming, then
aiding, then invading, then abandoning the country – then
supporting an Ethiopian invasion that led to the rise of the
extremist al-Shabaab militia and their brutal but entirely logical
expulsion of Western aid workers.
Somalia certainly needs “permanent solutions.” Until these
become available, however, humanitarian agencies, in
competition or together, will be fig leaves covering up the
inattention of the world “community.”
Instead of creating meaningless deadlines and exaggerating
Canadian generosity, CIDA would be better advised to think
about how it will help to solve Somalia’s longer-term problems,
to which it has contributed so very little in the 18 years since
members of the Canadian Airborne Regiment murdered
Shidane Arone and Canada scuttled away in disgrace.
Meantime, if you want to help, you could do worse than make
a donation to the Humanitarian Coalition, deadline or not.
Ian Smillie, an Ottawa-based consultant and member of
the McLeod Group, is co-author of The Charity of Nations:
Humanitarian Action in a Calculating World.
Courtesy
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