Reaching out to affected people with fewer items vs meeting minimum standards in terms of quality and quantity for a ‘smaller' population is a difficult choice
Millions of people are affected by disasters every year. Many lives are lost, people are injured and displaced, assets are lost, shelters are damaged and survival becomes a struggle. It is painful to see human suffering. Thousands of people come forward to support disaster victims as an act of charity. life-saving relief assistance is provided by the Government, civil societies and other humanitarian actors, to as many affected women, men, boys and girls as possible, based on the budgets available and informed by the needs assessment post-disaster events. Most of the humanitarian actors globally agree that the populations affected by disasters have a right to life with dignity. The noble act of giving must also take into consideration what is being given, how much is being given, and how is it being given.
Persons affected by disasters need to be at the centre of humanitarian action. In the absence of minimum standards, the needs of women, men, girls and boys, are not adequately met. One can provide food grains that would serve food requirements of a family for 15 days to a few months, or one could provide one biscuit to one family and call it food assistance. But assistance provided should meet the needs with dignity. Concerns regarding the quality and impact of relief assistance led to the development of standards in disaster relief.
A group of humanitarian NGOs and the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement identified minimum standards to be attained in disaster assistance, in key sectors (water supply and sanitation, nutrition, food aid, shelter and health services (The Sphere Project) in 1997. It emphasises on meeting urgent survival needs of disaster affected population while asserting their basic right to life with dignity and right to humanitarian assistance. Since then, there have been revisions and additional sectors added. The Core Humanitarian Standard on quality and accountability launched in December 2014, describes essential elements of humanitarian assistance with quality and accountability towards the affected people. Setting out nine commitments that humanitarian actors can use, it recognises people affected by disasters as important actors who participate in assessments as well as in design of the response.
One of the key areas in meeting accountability standards is setting up feedback and complaints mechanism. The CHS commitment regarding handling of complaints talks about safe and responsive mechanisms to handle complaints. Essentially, people must feel safe and welcomed while providing feedback or making a complaint. Some of the ways to ensure this is done during emergency relief are: Sharing contact details of the agency and person who can be approached in case of a complaint; demonstrating and explaining the contents of relief kit to all the beneficiaries; listing out and putting up at a common place — the agreed criteria for beneficiary selection.
This applies in case of targeted relief distribution; at the relief distribution site, setting up a complaints/feedback desk and inviting the beneficiaries and other community members to get their feedback noted; conducting post distribution monitoring visit to collect feedback on the quality and quantity of relief items as well as procedure followed while carrying out assessments, identifying beneficiaries and distributing stocks.
During disasters, the basic human rights are often forgotten. The right to being safe from sexual violence and right to healthcare are basic human rights that apply during emergency situations as well. When healthcare facilities are disrupted, complications during pregnancy can be fatal. The Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) sets minimum standards by identifying critical actions to respond to reproductive health needs during humanitarian crisis. A wide range of actions are covered under MISP that range from preventing and managing the consequences of sexual violence to provision of clean delivery kits to skilled birth attendants and visibly pregnant women. It also focuses on integration of comprehensive reproductive health services into primary health care.
When resources are less and a large number of people are affected, with significant gaps in aid provided by the Government, humanitarian agencies are left with a difficult choice to make. Reaching out to many affected people with fewer items versus meeting the minimum standards in terms of quality and quantity for a ‘smaller' population is a difficult call to take. Decisions then are taken in view of the primacy of humanitarian imperative.
(The writer is head, Disaster Management Unit, CARE India)