My first question was: what were the INGOs actually doing when they were there? If the philosophy of the NGOs belonged to the HOPE spectrum (Humanitarian Operational Engagement), as The Humanitarian Forum stated two years ago, they will not leave a gap upon their departure. That is because, ideally, during the period they would have been building partnerships for operational engagement. To you and me, that means to leave capable, trained staff from the local communities to work towards achieving a great civil society. It is known as the hand in hand or “bottom-up” approach.
However, if INGOs do the opposite (most cases, some say), taking a heavy handed “top-down” approach, they will leave a bigger gap than the existing one! To you and me, that means nobody looking after the interests of the local communities.
I believe we need to learn that our resources do not belong to us but to the local community. Even our presence in the field doesn’t belong to our organisations, but to communities. All our fundraising activity is not for us, but for the local community.
We have to be accountable to local communities before we leave their country and ask them a few straightforward questions:” Are you satisfied with us or not? Do we need to stay behind or not? Who is our friend, if we have any?”
In my view, we can meet the standard of the people in need only by stretching out our hand to them and treating them as equals.
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