Relief needs coordination: CARE Canada

Canada's nongovernmental organizations need a coordinated appeal process so they can raise funds with less administrative overhead, says CARE Canada's president and CEO.

Figure. MSF, 1 of 5 UN-affiliated humanitarian agencies, sent staff to Sri Lanka to assess housing needs. Photo by: I. Jeansen, MSF

John Watson says Canada should adopt a model similar to Britain's Disaster Emergency Committee. DEC coordinates national appeals, distributes money to organizations with the capacity to work in affected regions, and produces audited reports on how funds are spent.

DEC has been very successful, says Watson. “It gets free media time, free bank services and allocates the resources according to a different breakdown for each emergency.”

CARE Canada has written to its sister NGOs suggesting an outline for a joint appeal and asking for contributions to finance a study on how to set it up. Oxfam Canada and Save the Children have agreed to participate in the study.

“It's a long overdue idea,” says Rieky Stuart, executive director of Oxfam Canada. The initiative should help donors who don't know how to choose among agencies.

The aim is to create the emergency committee before the next disaster. “Then you'll only see one appeal, and people will know [their donation] will be directed to the best profile of agencies active on the front line, and will be followed by an independent audit that will report back to donors,” says Watson.

Watson applauds Ottawa's matching fund program for tsunami relief donations, but says NGOs should have organized themselves beforehand. The federal government approved matching donations to 27 different organizations, yet there are only 6–8 agencies that specialize in professional humanitarian work internationally, Watson says.

“Humanitarian work is not something that can be done by happy amateurs. It requires a professional approach,” Watson says. “Whenever there is a disaster, every organization under the sun sounds like it's got a role to play. Well, it's just not true.”

The relief organizations need to be involved in pre-selecting agencies with experience, Watson says.

The number of volunteer agencies responding can overwhelm stricken countries. In late January, for example, there were 168 NGOs in Sri Lanka.

CARE Canada, OXFAM, World Vision, Médecins Sans Frontières and Save the Children are among those internationally affiliated agencies that the UN works with to provide humanitarian relief.