Now I'm going to speak about some of the development approaches to humanitarian emergencies. Here's an image of a Syrian refugee looking out over a city in Lebanon,and again we have the same question, humanitarian or development? Or is it truly a false distinction? Of course, what we're clearly stating here is, it's a false distinction and one has to consider how the humanitarian situation affects the development of a country and as importantly, how the humanitarian response can be implemented in such a way in a comprehensive manner that we'll be able to not help just those persons affected immediately by the humanitarian emergency but also all of the surrounding communities, the host populations as well as further the development plan of that country. So in terms of a development approach, the humanitarian component needs to be part of a larger development effort, which in its broad goals, are to reduce poverty and to boost shared prosperity. So clearly, part of that effort, again we're talking about a development approach to humanitarian emergencies. We need to make sure that development approach includes security, diplomacy, and a humanitarian component. Seen here is an image in Duekoue in Cote d'Ivoire and image that I took after some of the conflict and riots that occurred in Cote d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast in 2011, and clearly when you look at this picture you can see how humanitarian emergencies may affect the development of populations in these places. Development approach to humanitarian emergencies needs to focus on the development institutions comparative advantages. So for example, generally development institutions have many financing mechanisms that humanitarian situations may not. They may have stronger analytics because the data that can be collected in a more stable development setting may be of higher quality and more comprehensive than in humanitarian emergencies. The access both to the populations but also to the different governments, different ministries, different levels of the government at the Capital, regional and municipal levels. A lot of these connections are quite different from the development community to the humanitarian community. The focus of a development approach in a humanitarian emergency is more on the medium term; looking at the socio-economic dimensions of the crisis to help both those that are forcibly displaced or non-displaced and their host communities. It's very important to recognize that where one may have displaced populations, refugees or internally displaced persons. There are host communities that may be equally vulnerable. That being said, there are differences between displaced populations and those from other poor populations such as the host community, that are quite specific to those that are displaced. This includes loss of assets, trauma, a lack of rights that the host communities will have, lack of opportunities and a short planning horizon. The goal is to help offset the specific vulnerabilities that are distinct for displaced populations both while they are in exile and through long-term solutions. But the goal is to do this not at the expense of but rather also to help those host communities who are also developing communities. Therefore, in the host community you have an inflow of people which is a shock to any system and the outcome of that inflow of people depends on various aspects including the initial conditions of the host community, the size and nature of the shock meaning the population inflow and the response both nationally as well as internationally. We need to be able to help host communities pursue their own development agenda in a changed environment which means we need to look at the interventions as humanitarians that we are providing and consider their effects on the host community on the developmental plans and we need to be clear that the interventions that we are providing for displaced populations also should provide and should help their host communities both in the short-term as well as in the long-term. I'm going to discuss cash-based interventions and the possible effects that they may have on the humanitarian development nexus. Cash transfers in emergencies is a modality and it can be used to address basic needs. Cash-based interventions is becoming more popular now and when used appropriately can not only help those populations that are affected by conflict and displacement and natural disasters but it also has an effect on the host community. Because those goods that people are buying through the cash or through vouchers are actually supporting the local economy. So why cash transfers, as opposed to what we have often traditionally done in humanitarian emergencies which is in-kind food assistance such as providing food, tents, jerrycans? Why give cash transfers? One and often or perhaps most importantly for the communities themselves is, it empowers them to make choices, it gives them dignity because they can choose what they wish to buy, and it certainly increases the choice of the recipients compared to when they are just given certain goods. Generally, when a limited amount and type of goods or given to a person or a community, part of them are sold off to buy other goods that are not provided. Ultimately, as I mentioned, this will have a positive effect that will support the local economy if a proper analysis and feasibility study has been done to ensure that the market will be able to handle the cash infusion and that inflation will not occur. This appears to be the case in many situations with commodities such as food, such as tents, such as bed nets. The future of cash, and cash-based interventions will likely have a positive effect on the humanitarian, and development nexus assistance as well as coordination. What we mean by that is when cash is provided locally and goods are bought locally, the local economy will benefit. Not everyone who benefit to the same degree. Those are business people of course will benefit. But one has to be careful and examine how the laborers and let's say the unskilled workers that are nationals may be affected by these forcibly displaced people coming into their community. The coordination will also change in terms of the humanitarian response as in the future. One does not need different agencies to provide cash, unlike when there was a situation where food had to be provided by perhaps the World Food Program, tents, jerrycans. In this situation where people are affected by humanitarian emergencies and receive cash or vouchers, it will be a more streamlined approach and therefore, the coordination in the humanitarian arena will likely change. Finally, cash transfers in health and education, and emergency settings does need further research. There are a lot of people that talk about cash transfers or cash-based interventions being a panacea. We have to be careful because it's clear that well, they are underutilized currently, they are not going to be appropriate for every situation, and in terms of health and education you need logistic supply., you need health care professionals and teachers. Generally, you need buildings, you need a referral pathway, and in these sort of situations cash may not always be the most appropriate modality. I would briefly like to describe this image of women in Yemen who have vouchers and are exchanging these vouchers for some sort of commodity. So we are talking about merging, two different worlds and I must say, at times, very different worlds perhaps universes. What are some of the critical elements of success? Number 1 is a new focus of looking at humanitarian response both in the short and longer term as well as looking at development in the medium term, and seeing how the humanitarian response will be able to help the development of the host population and not just focus on forcibly displaced persons. There clearly needs to be a substantive convergence of the agenda or agendas looking at broadly the sustainable development goals and the agenda for humanity, and then more specifically in a country and then in a sub-region, and ultimately in a district looking at how the humanitarian interventions will be able to benefit the longer-term development. There will be new actors. We've spoken of the private sector briefly but the private sector will play a very important role in the future not just in cash-based interventions but in helping the local economy. The "money issue", in quotes, is important, we have seen that a lot of the humanitarian agencies believe when groups like the World Bank which I will discuss shortly. When the World Bank comes in, it means more money, and more money for humanitarian agencies. But in fact, what the bank can offer is much more than money, and the money likely will not be going to the humanitarian agencies but to the governments and to the national NGOs that will help with the development amongst the host communities where those affected by humanitarian emergencies, will also benefit and critical to success is a clarification of joint goals. Not individual goals for development and for host communities, and individual goals for conflict affected and displaced populations. So what will some of the challenges be? Well, there's certainly a potential for confusion. The overall goals and expectations may be different from donors, from development humanitarian organizations, and from governments. We need to speak the same language. The language of humanitarian work and the language of development assistance is very very different, as are the time frames. We need to develop not just closer partnerships but newer partnerships that will be very context-specific, and we need to consider once again the role of the governments. As I mentioned early on, in development, it is the government that is at the center of the decision-making Whereas in the humanitarian settings, often because the governments may not have the capacity or in conflict amongst one another, it is the international community that is in the driver seats. I want to describe this image that I took in Kalobeyei, Kenya, which is in northwestern Kenya. If you look closely and for those of you that are familiar in this context of the world, you can see on the left-hand side of the image a Turkana woman with all of the beads on her neck and then to the right-hand side, one can see a South Sudanese refugee. This was taken in a health clinic, where they both a mixture of the host community and the refugees were waiting in line to see a health care worker. So our donors coherent and the provision of humanitarian and development assistance. I would say it depends, but we are seeing improvements. This is an example in January of 2019 of USA announcing the approval, and the establishment of the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance which combines Food for Peace as well as OFDA, the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. This is one step in terms of bringing these groups together, groups that also have a humanitarian and a development component into one bureau, now called the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. However, we still see both in the US government and in many other governments, there are differences in the way donors provide humanitarian assistance and the funds for that assistance compared to development, and there still remains a division amongst and within donors as to how these development funds are provided. For example, I was in Juba, Sudan and there were clearly different programs with funds from the same government and governments that were providing funds to humanitarian agencies through the cluster approach and other funds through the humanitarian pooled fund or HPF. Again, you had the development arms of a government providing money to the HPF, the humanitarian pooled fund and you had the more humanitarian assistant arm of the government providing funds to the clusters, yet they were working in the same districts and still it was unclear which district hospitals, which regional hospitals and health care centers were actually receiving funds from the development community from the humanitarian community. It was clear to me that there was still overlap.
