Foreign Aid Reform: Enhance Disaster Preparedness and Peacebuilding

Several years back, when I was heavily engaged in hunger prevention research on Africa and Central Asia, there was a fascinating dual between a BBC radio reporter and a representative of the World Food Programme (WFP) regarding Zambia and southern Africa.

The reporter, meaning well, hit hard with questions about why the WFP had sounded alarms for urgent fundraising to prevent thousands of famine deaths in the region, when in fact after the rush there turned out to be few deaths associated with the food shortages. The WFP rep sounded so bewildered by the question that you could hear him blinking in reaction to the reporter's lack of understanding, rather than defending the agency's move. The reporter nevertheless won the duel, slamming the agency for wasting everyone's time and funding a non-emergency.

The episode illuminates one of the terrific troubles in acting to prevent mass casualty disasters before they happen. Many donor representatives, though not all, still judge the urgency of an emergency by the rate of death, rather than the harder to gauge early warnings of coming death and suffering.

The ultimate irony is that in many cases when the agencies and governments made good decisions, or when the emergency rarely dissolves with a new round of trade agreements or rain, thus preventing mass casualties, the alarm-sounders have sometimes been accused of exaggerating the threat.

In fact, as aid evolves, experts are realizing that investing in preventive measures costs less over the long run both in financing and in lives. This ranges from earthquake retro-fitting, to carving logistical channels, building retaining walls to slow desertification, irrigating drying regions, educating people on preventive health, and to the ultimate mother of all preventive measures, peacebuilding.

Last week when I was in a rather dark place I wrote a post asking, "Why Does Humanitarian Donor Response Value the Dead Over the Living?" This is the very conundrum I was belly-aching about. Now that I've pulled my head out of my ass I thought I should jump in and write this follow up with clarity and solutions. Helena Kulyk and Doug Samuelson wrote in with important points of view on the question.

Helena wrote, "This country is far more apathetic than described. Just look in your own community to see the poverty." Meanwhile, Doug penned, countering my criticism, "We're constantly bombarded with dire warnings and pleas for aid...How many of those 200,000 people killed by the earthquake in Haiti would still be alive now if we had sent more food and clothing and blankets six months ago?"

Preventive measures are not simply more products delivered sooner, but are investments in protection systems much the same many Western countries have made over time. Take California and the American southwest, for example. See the photo above?

A building likely built before earthquake-sound building codes collapsed at great cost. Meanwhile, the neighboring building is just fine. That's why a horrific earthquake like 1997 San Francisco only killed a handful of people despite it's raw power while the same scale of earthquake kills 200,000 in Haiti. Building codes. Technology transfer. Emergency systems. It doesn't happen overnight, but once the construction companies are held to a standard, then every new building is one more family safe the next time the earth shakes.

With the U.S. government's bi-partisan effort to reform foreign aid, hopefully to be reflected also in domestic policies, there is another great opportunity for advocates for preventive measures to put their proposals ahead. The trouble is, as the story of Zambia points out, often prevention advocates only have small windows of time after mass casualty disasters to get the attention of donor representatives.

Sadly, donor representatives and policy-makers tend to assume the alarm-ringers are exaggerating when they claim a Pacific volcano is about to kill 50,000 people. But after the lava begins pouring molten rock over young Fatma and Gehildamet, then the purse-keepers will suddenly agree that it's a concern and slip a few extra coins into the account.

Again, compare California's dustbowl which ravaged the rural communities of the Depression era. Today irrigation channels make the region one of the best growers of oranges, limes, grapes, melons, and garlic. Similarly, the semi-arid areas of Somalia or Afghanistan could be saved, turned green again in many areas with the right investments in pasture retention, rain-water harvesting, and irrigation from water tables over several decades.

Consider the prevention advocates' early successes in the U.S. government Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance's Preparedness and Mitigation Programs. The projects are wonderful examples of how the U.S. is paying vital attention. But the examples are still relatively small. This is because democratization, education, and after-disaster response still rank highest on priority charts over preventive measures.

For an advanced look into the future of a reformed humanitarian aid world (given donors follow suit), check out the Inter-Agency Working Group's Humanitarian Horizons Project's A Practitioner's Guide to the Future. For donors and aid workers, this is an absolute must read. Thanks to Change.org veteran Michael Bear for forwarding it.

Finally, if you want to ring in on U.S. foreign aid reform in addition to Change.org's actions, check out USAID's vague starting outline for foreign aid reform plans. You can also write in your own priorities on Oxfam-America's write-in letter on US foreign aid reform.

Peace.

Photo credit: Hey Paul (A house built which withstood the Paso Robles earthquake beside one which failed at great cost)