Aid Organisations on the Edge
An Interview with Arete Director, Kate Holt
The US is cutting over 90% of its foreign aid contracts and stopping $60 billion in funding; leaving millions of people without critical support (Associated Press). European countries — including the UK, France, and Germany — have also announced aid cuts, leaving many organisations on the edge of closure.
But while funding drops, there is still an urgent need for life-saving support.
In this month’s blog, Kate Holt reflects on the impact of these seismic global aid cuts on humanitarian organisations and how they can adapt to the changing landscape.
An award-winning photojournalist, Kate has documented the effects of war and poverty around the world since 1999. She has photographed regularly for a wide range of NGO’s and UN agencies including the World Food Programme, UNICEF and MSF. She is a regular contributor to the UK media, and has worked extensively for the Guardian’s Global Development section.
Kate founded Arete in 2013 with the aim of supporting humanitarian oganisations with their storytelling. Through a global network of consultants, Arete gathers stories from extremely challenging environments; telling stories that aim to inspire action to make a difference.
Is this the end of the road for humanitarian aid?
This is a difficult moment, but it’s not the end. Aid funding has been dropping consistently for the last few years; at the same time there is increasing pressure on the resources available.The numbers of those in need continues to grow. A study published in The Times projects that recent foreign aid cuts will result in an additional 369,000 child deaths annually due to severe malnutrition.
The impact of USAID cuts is devasating. Four of out every ten dollars spent on aid globally came from the US. Nobody can deny that funding losses on this scale will create immense hardship. However, the challenge now is making sure what money there still is can be used more effectively, and that organisations adapt and prioritise differently.
Photo: Kate Holt / Opportunity International UK / Arete
Does humanitarian aid need reforming?
The sector has desperately needed reform for many years, but pulling the plaster off in such a brutal way is going to cause huge suffering. Many would say it’s unnecessarily cruel. Yet on the other hand, for too long, he three areas of support — emergency, development, and climate change, have been siloed and there seemed to be no move to make them work in a more coordinated or strategic way. Increasingly humanitarian aid is being manipulated to serve political or military objectives, which is undermining people’s trust in the sector.
What steps could humanitarian organisations be taking?
It is important that we see NGO’s and UN agencies starting to communicate clearly how they will operate moving forward. Right now, everyone is still scrambling to assess the damage caused by the immediate cuts and the prospect of further cuts down the road by other donors. The immediate focus is on budgeting, and prioritising life-saving aid. Organisations must work with governments in crisis-stricken countries to ease the transition and help them lead on some of the challenges, for example integrating refugee populations into local communities and allowing them to work,or supporting government authorities to manage essential supplies of drugs.
Photo: Kate Holt / Opportunity International UK / Arete
How can story-telling help organisations at this time?
Organisations must prioritise clarity and transparency on what their next steps are and how they will adapt to the changes in funding. They need to focus on gathering stories from the people they support who will be immediately impacted by the cuts. They are at the heart of this issue. Getting narratives from the field, to hear first-hand how the cuts impact families is essential to keeping the story in the public consciousness. NGO’s are going to have to start relying heavily on individual giving and corporate donors. How they communicate the urgent need is going to have a direct impact on how much money they can make to keep their programs running.
How do you see the future for humanitarian aid?
Aid programmes need to be seen to finding and implementing long term solutions.
Many influential voices in African countries say that they want help finding internal solutions to fill the gaps left by USAID and don’t want to be dependent on long-term handouts.
Some of the largest refugee camps worldwide will be some of the most heavily impacted by the cuts. Dadaab, a refugee camp in Kenya that hosts nearly a million refugees from Somalia, is predominantly USAID funded. Some of the refugees living there have been there for thirty years. They have had no hope of being able to return home, or of starting a new life in Kenya due to the restrictions placed upon them. Solutions should now be found for people living in this type of limbo that aid has created.
I have witnessed in other refugee camps in Uganda and Rwanda how people who receive small loans and are given banking facilities have become self-reliant and no longer have to depend on aid to survive. These types of initiatives are what will transform the sector.
How are we thinking about this at Arete?
There’s a narrative around these cuts and changes that suggests aid is being wasted or is fuelling corruption. To help change this, we are encouraging our clients to focus on long-term sustainable solutions in their communications. Focussing on the human stories behind the headlines and statistics (that people increasingly distrust) is a good start, but rebuilding trust is going to be about demonstrating value for money to donors — showing them how they can fund realistic solutions for the future.
Co creation with local communities will also help change the narrative. By this we mean letting the community lead on how they want their stories told and how they want to be viewed.
Even people who don’t distrust humanitarian organisations are susceptible to compassion fatigue. The mainstream media often focuses on shocking narratives, so we favour a solutions-focussed approach — telling stories of resilience and empowerment so that people can see that their donations can make real progress towards a brighter future. Success stories can counter the sense of hopelessness that leads to compassion fatigue.
