ACT RPOs’ Humanitarian Team Meeting Bangkok, 17-19 May, 2017

1. ACT RPOs’ Humanitarian Team MeetingBangkok, 17-19 May, 2017

3. ACT MENA Forums Two Forums + one potential: • JSL&I (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon & Iraq) • APF (ACT Palestine Forum) • Egypt “Potential” National Forum

4. JSL&I (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon & Iraq) ACT members in Jordan • NCA - Norwegian Church Aid, • IOCC - International Orthodox Christian Charities, • DSPR - Department of Service for Palestinian Refugees • MECC - Middle East Council of Churches • LWF - Lutheran World Federation • FCA - Finn Church Aid • ELCJHL - The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land

5. ACT Members in Syria • NCA - Norwegian Church Aid • IOCC - International Orthodox Christian Charities • LWF - Lutheran World Federation • FCA - Finn Church Aid • MECC - Middle East Council of Churches

6. ACT Members in Lebanon • NCA - Norwegian Church Aid • IOCC - International Orthodox Christian Charities • DSPR/JCC - Department of Service for Palestinian Refugees/ JCC-Joint Christian Committee for Social Service in Lebanon • Diakonia Sweden • CA - Christian Aid • DCA - Danish Church Aid • MECC - The Middle East Council of Churches • WSCF-ME (World Student Christian Federation) • HEKS - Swiss Inter-church Aid

7. ACT Members in Iraq • NCA - Norwegian Church Aid • HIA - Hungarian Interchurch Aid • LWF - Lutheran World Federation • CA - Christian Aid

8. ACT Palestine Forum Members • CA • DCA • ELCJHL • IOCC • LWF • DSPR-MECC • NCA • Diakonia Sweden • CoS • FCA • ICCO-Cooperation • HEKS • DKH • EJ-YMCA

9. ACT Egypt (No Forum yet) • BLESS (Bishopric of Public, Ecumenical and Social Services) • Diakonia Sweden • Potential members to join the Egypt National Forum: • Christian Aid • Church World Service • Church of Sweden

10. Activities in Jordan • Education • Food aid • Health • Non-food items • Psychological support • Shelter

11. In Syria • Education • Food aid • Health • Livelihood • Non-food items • Psychological support • Shelter • Wash/ Sanitation / Hygiene

12. In Lebanon • Demining • Education • Food aid • Health • Psychological support • Shelter • Wash/ Water

13. In Iraq • Cash Assistant • Education • Food aid • Health • Livelihood • Non-food items • Psychological support • Shelter • Wash

14. In PalestineWest-Bankk & Gaza • Education • Food aid • Health • Non-food items • Psychological support • Shelter/ Cash assistant

15. My portfolio- Contact person for Disasters for MENA;- ACT Global Focal-Point for CoP-DiD,- Appraise: Alerts, CNs, RRFs, Appeals, Budgets, SitReps/consolidate; share with funders/post on website;- Liaise/follow-up with RMs, Forum Coordinators/Conveners, RR, & donors on the above. Share members with Sec. updates, workshops/ training/meetings, templates, guidelines, policies, plans, funding, reports & , Govt. regulations of INGOs, events of other INGOs, etc.; - Represent Sec. whenneedbe or requested.

16. 3 Areas of support from line manager and humanitarian team: 1) Team: Clear understanding to HRM, EPRP, tools, Budget. Continue support from Geneva focal points (Florine, Chris, Alwynn, Lorenzo); • Exchange humanitarian team’ experience/expertise/views of (five regions); • Line Manager: understand Advocacy (global experience/concept).

17. Top 3 challenges faced/currently facing in humanitarian work: On office-work level: • Sustainability/uncertainty: Insufficient funding (45% appeal funded); short-term programs (relief, humanitarian); lack of HR/Media/Comm; • Three biggest protracted crisis: (Syria, Iraq, Palestine); Egypt: escalated violence. Yemen/S.A.: ongoing; violence could spill-over; • HRM templates/annexes/log-frame is a challenge for RMs: need revise; lack of consortium’ experience by RMs; • Modest cooperation/involvement in members’ joint activities, communications, e-mails, EPRP, reporting, workshops, etc. • ACT is a donor: high expectations…..

18. On Humanitarian Level: INGOs working in the Humanitarian Field: • Limited work within consortium: few members work in consortium upon donor’ request: need training/ consistency; • Humanitarian appeal coherence: HR to write appeals/budgets, understand the donors’ language, priorities/criteria, templates, etc; • Low profile to faith-based organizations: current MENA conflicts; fanatic-prejudged misconception of INGOs’ humanitarian role; …/

19. Lack of Fund: members express difficulty in sufficient, appropriate and continuous donors funding. Some perceive certain members have more access to donor funds. Donors fatigue of protracted funding demand (international financial challenge); members’ dependency on donors creates a tendency to shift interventions to match donor priorities; yet: lack of project and organizational sustainability. • Limited meetings outside the monthly Forum or annual workshops; …/

20. Crisis funding: most INGOs rely on it, while lacking long-term strategic planning. How to sustain their presence after the crisis fade? Where do we see ourselves in two years time? Any development plans? Would the donors support SDGs’ programs??? • Poor Governance: visible gap between N/INGOs and governmental entities (capacity/resources/expertise/concepts/planning); • Strategic Planning: most of NGOs lack strategic plans: no ownership over their mission, values and activities; vulnerable to the impulses of donors makes it difficult to measure their impact over time. …/

21. NGOs poor networking cause duplication of efforts, conflicting strategies at community level, lack of learning from experience, inability to address local structural causes of poverty, deprivation/under-development. Large/small NGOs intervene at community level without community mapping: lack assessment to ongoing initiatives. NGOs’ fight: one with resources but no community presence; another with community presence but no resources. • NGOs limited capacity: technical/organizational capacity. Few can/want to pay for capacity building. Weak capacity in fund-raising, technical areas of development, leadership and management. • Development Approaches: manyNGOs lack sustainability and ownership of community development’ interventions. Focus upon ‘hardware’ approach: infrastructure/provision of services rather than the ‘software’ approach: empowering people/local institutions to manage their own affairs. Communities become dependent: no interventions; not inclined to do things for themselves. Difficulty to keep programs vis-a-vis changing situations; Handouts culture is hard to counter. No accepted code of ethics.

22. Top 3 achievements most proud of in your work: • Support JSL Forum in merging Iraq Forum within the JSL, • Support APF Advocacy in commemorating 50 Years of West Bank & Gaza’ occupation – 100 Years of Belfore Declaration; Support BLESS; • Forum appeals/SitReps/Workshops/Advocacy, Visibility, donors; QA; • Regional context recognized. Engaging YMCA-EJ, WCC/MECC -Diakonia, & Caritas in MENA work (Network for joint activities); • Built bridges & reduced gaps between different faiths’ communities: • Visibility enhanced; advocacy: (appeals, challenges, crisis: what next)? • CoP-DiD revitalized; face-to-face in Nairobi; N/members sponsored.

23. Economic and Political Disasters in MENA: Profile • Large-scale conflicts: A major challenge for MENA region • Frequent and severe conflicts more than any other part of the world.. Violent, non-state groups (ISIL) has emerged as significant political & military actors, holding large areas of territory. • A refugee crisis bigger than any since World War II is affecting MENA, Europe and beyond, straining economies and social systems. Given the significant political polarization, economic inequality, and rapid population growth conflicts are unlikely to dissipate anytime soon. …/

24. External partners, including IMF, have supported countries’ efforts to contain the fallout: • The top priority: scale-up humanitarian aid to meet the immediate needs of the people affected in conflict zones & in countries hosting large numbers of refugees (Jordan/Lebanon). Second priority: developmental aid to help rebuild infrastructure; strengthen economic/social resilience across MENA region. Recent efforts to organize a wider/deeper international response focused on mobilizing additional financing: grants/concessional loans to avoid over-burdening countries unable to sustain the extra debt. IMF supports policy advice, sizable financing, and capacity building. …/

25. Disasters in MENA: Intense /human displacement/massive & persistent economic costs • Crisis in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen: tragic loss of life, physical destruction; deep recessions, weak confidence & security, high inflation, worsened fiscal/financial positions, & damaged institutions. • Turmoil harmful affected (Lebanon/Jordan/Tunisia/Turkey) & Europe. • Syria refugees: 5,053m–UNHCR 1 May 2017. Iraqi refugees: Iraq HRP 2017 reported 3-4ml may be outside their homes (anti-ISIL military operation concludes); other 1.2ml civilians may fled homes, 11ml people in Iraq in need of some form of humanitarian assistance; • Palestinian-Israeli crisis: IDPs, destruction, unemployment, weak economy, arrests, killing, Morere than 70% of people depend on various forms of aid from N/INGOs. APF in Gaza; food insecurity/WB.

26. How can economic policies mitigate the economic costs of conflicts and large refugee flows? • Recent MENA experience suggests that effective policy focuses on protecting economic institutions, prioritizing budget space to serve basic public needs, use monetary and exchange rate policies to shore up confidence. Such policies are often difficult to implement, requiring unconventional measures. • Countries hosting refugees must make difficult decisions about access to labor markets and social programs; measures for their own nationals who often struggle with poverty and unemployment. To help prevent future violence, countries across the region should accelerate inclusive growth reforms aimed at reducing inequality.

27. Water Scarcity in the Arab World - Drought • (MENA) is the most water scarce region in the world: water stress is likely to worsen. In 1950, p/capita renewable water resources were four times greater than today. By 2050, indications are that natural water resources in MENA will drop even further, to 11 times less than the global average. • A new approach to natural disasters: More needs to be done at regional, national, and local levels. The World Bank has been financing post-disaster reconstruction and risk reduction initiatives in the region for the past three decades. It is partnering with governments and international institutions to lay the foundations for DRM in MENA. The report Natural Disasters in MENA: A Regional Overviewanalyzes risks the region faces, the measures and tools countries have adopted to enhance their preparedness. Felomain Nassar – Secretariat – MENA-Jordan

28. Thankyou!!