Macedonia: A dream coming true.

‘Balkan’ is a word which is made up of two components, meaning ‘honey’ and ‘blood’. It is perhaps a fitting name for a region in which there is so much that is sweet and good, but where there has also been so much bloodshed.

During our recent conference in Skiopje, Macedonia, one Bosnian participant suggested a new name: ‘Balhan’ which would mean ‘honey’ and ‘water’. The participant was expressing a deep wish – a dream that all citizens of the Balkans need to see become a reality: a future of peace and a break with the violence of the past.

The Humanitarian Forum had to fight with that great natural/supernatural force – Iceland’s volcano – to reach skopje, capital of Macedonia. It was a question of travelling through the ashes which were preventing thousands of people from going home. Many of our members from Europe and the Middle East couldn’t make it in person, and there was a time when we had to think seriously about cancelling this long-awaited event.

But in the end, we decided to go ahead – and I am very glad we did. Fifty representatives came together, from the local Civil Society Organisations of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo and Albania. Our ‘Balkano’ meeting seemed like a challenge to the volcano – we were saying ‘you can’t deter us!’ Some of our members still managed to get there from Turkey, Kenya and Iran – I myself took a ten hour car ride from Istanbul with a colleague in order to make the meetings.

The most important aspect of the A HOPE for the Balkans conference was the spirit of dynamic discussion between different ethnic and religious groups. Here was Natasha, a Serbian from Belgrade, leading a mixed group of Muslims from Macedonia and Albania. Jason, who represented World Vision, led another group of Bosnian, Macedonian and Kosovan participants. Amer from ICRC lead another, equally diverse group.

This spirited and dynamic dialogue was most encouraging. To see so many actors from so many areas meet the challenges facing the development of a regional civil society together – to find both collective solutions and answers to the common problems – was inspiring.

One participant told his colleague that this was the first time in his life that they had met together with so many different people. A second representative wondered that he had travelled all the way from Tehran ‘to meet his neighbours’. It seems that for us the continuous process of communication is the foundation of confidence building, which leads to operational engagement of different CSOs from different cities and countries. This communication and operational engagement will be the bedrock of humanitarian partnership – not only in the Balkans but anywhere in the world.

We want to create A HOPE for the Balkans: an Alternative Humanitarian Operational Partnership Engagement between CSOs representing different ethnic and religious groups. This is really the dream that we can make a reality – a new ‘Balhan’ region.

So let the volcano bring ashes – we’ll bring the fire of unity. Let the sky be shadowed with dark clouds – we’ll bring the light of partnership. When the wind competes with us at breakneck speed, our steady determination will win through.

Our Balkano meeting was more dynamic than the Volcano!

Humanitarianism: The new colonialism?

Talking about colonialism is problematic. People might label me a reactionary or a radical...but since I’m neither, I have to have the courage to open my heart to you, so we all can learn from one another.

The world has been facing numerous emergencies over the past few years. Some were manmade while the rest were natural disasters. The individual humanitarian response was overwhelming – to the point where we as international humanitarian organisations could hardly deliver the dreams and desires of our donors. The last few disasters – the tsunami; Darfur; the Asian earthquake; Yemen – proved that the international community cannot do it alone, even if we had the resources and the expertise.

We’re at a time when we have ample money to respond to disasters. But how do we allocate it? It’s my belief that we need to use some part of this money in building the local infrastructure of Civil Society Organisations in disaster areas. Five years on from the tsunami I’d like to raise a question: How much have we spent on relief, and on capacity building of local civil society, and how much has been drained and wasted because of inefficient delivery and overspending on bringing in our own experts, imported from Country A to Disaster Area B, when we could have utilized the expertise and knowledge of local organisations?

If we’re honest enough to answer such questions, I propose we change the policy of our funding with the intention of building stronger, more independent CSOs in such areas. I propose we ask our governments, institutions and INGOs to allocate 10-15% of funds to the future of local civil society in these areas.

This would be an important step, but funds alone are not enough. If our long term goal is to hand the capability for disaster response over to the local and national organisations, we need to shift our entire attitude. Rather than supporting our own organisations exclusively, our emphasis must be on partnering, training and supporting local humanitarian actors in becoming more effective, sustainable and accountable. In short: treating local actors as equals.

Changing the way we work will take time and investment. It will not happen overnight; rather it will happen over a generation. But by beginning that investment now, we will eventually build a truly global humanitarian society – one which really does ‘think globally and act locally’.

We need to be courageous - to admit that it’s impossible nowadays to respond to these terrible disasters from an international perspective alone, and to admit that it is indeed preferable to reach beneficiaries in their own communities and through their own communities. Because if we don’t work this way, we’re missing the most important players or stakeholders: namely the local civil society organisations, whom we should use as active partners from the time of planning to the process of delivering and monitoring. This could only be done when we change our mindset from a top-down, ‘colonial’ humanitarian approach to a grass roots humanitarian approach.

Our new role should be complementary to the emerging new role of stronger local civil societies. It should not replace them or exclude them. It is for us to be honest enough to step back, and instead empower those people who are already ‘on the ground’ when disaster strikes, and will continue to be there long after our operations have left.
Shall we be a colonial humanitarian movement - or a people’s humanitarian movement?

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.

We love Mondays!

The British Pop band, The Boomtown Rats, had a hit with the song ‘I don’t like Mondays’. But even though we all woke up in the early hours, to get from our various locations to the Central London conference centre last Monday before 9am, it was still a Monday to love. Because last Monday, we had the chance to communicate face-to-face with humanitarian organisations in Gaza.

The day after Valentine’s day, (shall we call it Pale-ntine’s day?!) marked the first of The Humanitarian Forum’s video link conferences: bringing together local and international actors in the UK, Gaza and Qatar.

The reason we were so excited and motivated by such an event, is because it represented such a great opportunity for people under the siege to be seen, heard and taken seriously. They were recognised as part of the solution, not part of the problem. In the different rooms - in Doha, London and Gaza -everyone felt ready to search for a new alternative solution to the lack of communication with Gazan people and Gazan humanitarian organisations.

We heard the message from Gaza. It was loud, clear and to the point. ‘We can do it, because we have the knowhow. Consider us as valuable partners, from the time of creating the proposal for a project to the time of delivering such a programme.’

What made us all so excited and motivated was witnessing the hope in our colleagues’ eyes, the passion and determination in their voices; the spirit of resilience created by being together and facing problems jointly.

Such an alternative way of communication by The Humanitarian Forum was a new opportunity for the forgotten voices to be heard by others. It helped us all see Gaza as a source of the solution, not a base of extremism, radicalism and terrorism. If we really want to fight such ‘isms’, we have to – all of us – plant a new ‘TREE’: of Trust, Respect, Engagement and Empowerment.
If we plant those seeds - in Gaza or in any vulnerable, marginalised, depressed community - we will be able to bring from amongst them both the ideas, and the leaders to put the ideas into practice. Not only to sort out the local problems, but also to find a solution to our global problems.

It’s an open invitation to everyone: to come together and to start to listen so we can understand others. Because listening means consideration, accommodation and partnership, and giving up disregard alienation, marginalisation and polarisation.

Every person at the meeting came out highly motivated – because we felt that we all shared some common ground – the value of our ‘TREE’.

We hope to double the number of organisations at our next conference call and hope to receive your ideas for a better future, not only for Gaza but for other communities.
To have your say on Gaza, please visit our online forums.
You can read more about The Forum in Gaza here.

Stemming the tide of unrest in The Balkans

This region is one of the world’s most culturally rich, highly civilised areas, enjoying a multiplicity of faith and language, and a diversity of culture.
With this in mind, The Humanitarian Forum decided to explore this wealth of knowledge, to highlight its great value as an asset to humanity. The Humanitarian Forum’s visit to Macedonia last week strengthened this view, that these riches should be brought to the international community.
When Muslims, Christians and Jews, ethnic Albanians, Macedonians and others, come together, you can see that there is a lot of common ground between them. And they bring the hope that together they can all build a stronger foundation for a better future and a safer Europe.
The energy shown by those groups during the our visit has left us deeply touched; their message is one of of peace, bridge building and looking for a better future for all.
With our experience and resources in the international community, we can help to pave the way and lay the foundation for an innovative, entrepreneurial solution, which we need not only for the Balkans itself, but to add to the mosaic of international partnership.
This spirit is not new. We’re simply highlighting and facilitating the existing role of the people in this area, taking into account the expertise and status of the newly emerging states. Our meeting in April will enable them to highlight the problems facing civil society, and to propose solutions for them. Our role should be to bridge the gaps between them as well as to let the international community listen to them and support their vital work, welcoming these new players who can enrich and advance the global civil society sector as a whole.
We are inviting partners from the Balkans and internationally help cement these relations and find a better prospect for the future. Our responsibility is to discover – together – the new pioneers of the 21st century form the Balkans as well as other regions.
Let us share our thoughts, exchange views and information, and support such initiatives for the betterment of developing a stronger civil society movement in the region which can include everyone.
We have witnessed too many wars over the last three decades, which have claimed the lived of hundreds of thousands, and caused the forced migration of millions. We need to learn how to replace the process of war with a future built on peace.