Yemen: Turning a coach ride into a journey

On my recent trip to North Africa, I spent 3 days in Yemen with our new country director and many of the members of Humanitarian Forum Yemen (HFY), in what turned into an inspirational visit.

The first day of this 72 hour visit included 5 meetings, and I was very happy to learn that the government has appointed State Minister for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), who is doing his upmost to meet the needs of the quarter of a million IDPs as well as the challenges of the local and international community. This newly appointed position is to coordinate the needs of IDPs from a government point of view, but with a new vision: to understand the language of the international and donor community. Before this there was no minister for IDPs – the growing situation in Yemen led them to invent this post. The position will create a more cohesive response to the problems for IDPs, a more focussed and undivided attention to this issue.

Days 2 and 3 comprised a long field trip to three different IDP camps in Harad. We started out at 6am on Wednesday 25th February, taking with us 25 individuals (7 of whom were women) from 17 local organisations. The journey from sana’a to the IDP camps in Harad, over mountains and switchback roads, took 7 hours. Although tiring, it turned out to be the most fruitful of journeys, where some of us became sick (myself included!) and others became energetic and hyperactive.
The journey turned into an operational workshop – or workshop in action. An informal, impassioned 2-day discussion – so different to such high level, high calibre, traditional, static workshops we in the humanitarian community generally favour. The fruit from such a workshop was immense – and less costly than those expensive traditional varieties, which can often be unproductive because of the top-down approach which forms them.

The result of this impromptu workshop in action was firstly confidence building between all members of HFY who participated, and secondly an implementation of THF’s organisational learning philosophy. Each small organisation was educating its sister organisations and the larger organisations managing the camps were able to educate the smaller organisations in turn. The IDPs who participate in managing the camps also educated the visiting local organisations and indeed those larger organisations managing the camps, through their involvement and feedback.
The tone of the discussion that took place between every participant was vibrant. They inspired one another, because each and every one of them was focussing on the issue of the IDPs and their welfare, and not on the agendas of their organisations, or other such issues. People didn’t feel tired as they talked; not on the coach in the early morning or the late evening; not in the field which was so hot and humid; nor even over dinner as they continued to discuss while they killed their hunger.

I came back with a new dimension of our message of capacity building and humanitarianism. The discussions we had shout: ‘no more traditional workshop: enough is enough’. Instead, let us build a new style workshop on the foundation of our collective dynamic action, led by the local participants. Let us take what we discuss in the conference room with us on buses, on planes and to the camps themselves, and let us bring what we discuss in those places to the conference room in turn. From here, local organisations will be able to transfer the knowledge and the expertise to their colleagues in different cities and districts, so their colleagues can feel that such a product can be, and is made in Yemen itself, and not only in Europe. If we want to leave a stronger, sustainable civil society, we must enable its members to build it, whether we’re there or not.

Honestly, at the end of the trip, we did not feel tired. No headaches, backaches, vertigo or dizziness – the spirit which was born inside this atmosphere had replaced our ills with vitality. So let’s bring the spirit to the workshop in action, actively engaging the local owners of the programmes in the stage of designing, not the stage of implementation.

Sowing the seeds of peace in Sudan

While Sudan is enjoying the first few days of ceasefire in Dafur, and in the run-up to the preparation for the general elections and referendum on the Southern issue, The Humanitarian Forum (THF) is working to become part of cementing the relationship between Sudan and the outside world, from a humanitarian point of view. Following the visit of the high-level delegation last November, THF went to Khartoum to discuss peace in Dafur. We held meetings with the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, HAC, and a number of special advisors in the humanitarian field, to try and capitalise on humanitarian society, to build peace in the Sudan as a whole.

The atmosphere in Sudan is different from that which we experienced at the beginning of last year, when some aid agencies were asked to leave the country, and even from the atmosphere of the meetings we held in London last November. The authorities are taking on a new role, and the tune of the officials is changing. It has become more welcoming than the media portrayed last year. Now is our opportunity build a stronger relationship and a solid bridge, and we will all have to revisit our roles as we look to strengthen the role of civil society in Sudan and build long term peace.

We have to see Sudan not as a handful of problems - which we can impose solutions on from the top down - but to see Sudan as a resourceful country – as its own solution – which all of us need to bear its fruits. We need to change not only the local mindset in Sudan, but our own mindset. If we want to maximise the our common global benefit which is emerging from Sudan, the only way forward is to meet in the middle.

I am optimistic about the signing of the ceasefire, but optimism is not enough. We must now work to change the ceasefire into sustainable peace, based on delivering the needs of citizens of the area, and become vital parts of the Long Term peace. Not only for the benefit of Sudan and its citizens, but for the benefit of humanity.

Building the bridge from both sides in Egypt

How can we work together to strengthen the social fabric of the Arab world? This is the issue we’ve been discussing with The Arab League over the last two years, to find solutions through building stronger Civil Society Organisations (CSOs). And in my most recent visit we took great steps forward.

Through the vision of Secretary General Mr Amr Mousa and his chief of Staff, Ambassador Hisham Yousef, we reached an agreement to work together in addressing this huge issue. On the one hand this gave The Humanitarian Forum a very positive message, that the League has confidence in our mission, and on the other hand it conveyed the more dynamic message that we are building the bridges from both sides – across the gaps, the rivers, the oceans that divide us. This is a new milestone that The Forum is building with the Arab League.

The Arab world has tens of thousands of civil society organisations (CSOs) which need to work together in a more conducive atmosphere with their societies and their governments. Their intentions are sincere, pure, and clear. But sometimes the mechanics of the philosophy of their discussions can be misinterpreted through many different pressure points, both global and local. On the global side, there’s the global political climate; global financial problems; global war on terror; the media war on Islam and Arab nations; the global culture of divides. On the local side, the philosophy can be seen through the lens of local theological interpretations and understanding of religion, and the role of local culture, values and religions. The impact of these pressures on cementing or fragmenting the social role of Civil Society in building (in partnership with governments and the private sector) more sustainable economic, political and social movement within the country should not be underestimated.

Many efforts have been made to address such points – and we don’t want to reinvent the wheel again. While we’re mapping the TREE of problems (Terrorism, Radicalisation, Extremism, Exclusion), we also need to find the proper solutions for every large and small problem.

Our proposed conference in December 2010 will be the beginning of a long term process, not only addressing the problems but identifying the solutions. To organise such a conference, we’re facing a few challenges: coordination, finance, logistics, and most importantly, implementation of the result in action with the community – our challenge is to close any gap – be it in civil society, government or private sector - and our success will be measured by the dynamic social, political and economic atmosphere we create. We must all work together for our nations, not for our organisations / political parties /companies. Our focal point should be our citizens, our countries; our world. And we are grateful for any support from you to make our conference a success story.