Final Report NOVEMBER 2016 What It Takes: Principled pragmatism to enable access and quality humanitarian aid in insecure environments By Katherine Haver and William Carter This report is part of the Secure Access in Volatile Environments (SAVE) research programme. The overall goal of this three-year programme is to contribute to solutions for providing effective and accountable humanitarian action amid high levels of insecurity. This report was funded by UKAid. However, the views expressed do not necessarily represent the UK Government’s official policies. Suggested citation: Haver, K. and W.Carter (2016) “What It Takes: Principled pragmatism to enable access and quality humanitarian aid in insecure environments”, report from the Secure Access in Volatile Environments research programme: SAVEresearch.net, Humanitarian Outcomes, November. Cover photo © Amer Almohibany/AFP/Getty Images Table of Contents Acronyms / 5 Acknowledgements / 7 Executive Summary / 9 1. Introduction / 15 1.1 OVERVIEW / 15 1.2 METHODS AND RESEARCH PROCESS / 15 1.3 METHODOLOGICAL NOTES AND CAVEATS / 20 2. How are agencies operating in these countries? / 22 3. Which types of aid agencies have the best access? / 29 4. What works? / 35 FIGURE 1: FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE AN ORGANISATION’S ABILITY TO ENABLE HUMANITARIAN ACCESS AND QUALITY / 35 4.1 HUMANITARIAN PRINCIPLES AND ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING / 36 OVERVIEW AND BACKGROUND / 36 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE PRINCIPLED? DIFFICULT CHOICES WITH ETHICAL CONSEQUENCES / 37 OPERATIONAL INDEPENDENCE AND A FOCUS ON HUMANITY / 39 TABLE OF CONTENTS THE RELEVANCE OF HUMANITARIAN PRINCIPLES FOR NON-WESTERN AID ORGANISATIONS / 40 4.2 STAFF, PARTNERSHIPS AND ORGANISATIONAL ISSUES / 41 THE ADDED VALUE OF INTERNATIONAL STAFF? / 41 NATIONAL STAFF AND CONTEXTUAL UNDERSTANDING / 44 THE VALUE AND RISKS OF PARTNERSHIPS / 46 4.3 CORRUPTION, DIVERSION AND COMPROMISES TO ENABLE ACCESS / 50 A CULTURE OF SILENCE ABOUT COMMON PRACTICES / 50 OVERVIEW OF ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES WITH REGARDS TO COMPROMISES, CORRUPTION AND DIVERSION / 51 ENABLING ACCESS AND QUALITY IN INSECURE ENVIRONMENTS 3 4.4 OUTREACH AND NEGOTIATION WITH NON-STATE ARMED ACTORS / 55 INSUFFICIENT ATTENTION TO AND SUPPORT FOR AN INDISPENSABLE ASPECT OF ACCESS / 55 FIGURE 2: ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES TOWARDS NEGOTIATIONS WITH NON-STATE ARMED ACTORS IN THE FOUR COUNTRIES, EARLY 2016 / 55 FIGURE 3: TYPES OF STAFF INVOLVED IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH NON-STATE ARMED ACTORS IN THE FOUR COUNTRIES, EARLY 2016 / 57 THE ROLE OF INTER-AGENCY COORDINATION ON NEGOTIATIONS / 57 OVERVIEW OF ATTITUDES AND PRACTICES TOWARDS NEGOTIATIONS WITH NON-STATE ARMED ACTORS / 59 4.5 PROGRAMME QUALITY AND COMMUNICATION WITH AFFECTED PEOPLE / 62 THE LINK BETWEEN QUALITY AND ACCESS / 62 COMMUNICATING WITH AFFECTED PEOPLE / 63 SCALE AND RELEVANCE / 65 TIMELINESS / 66 PHYSICAL SAFETY / 67 5. Conclusion / 68 References / 70 TABLE OF CONTENTS ENABLING ACCESS AND QUALITY IN INSECURE ENVIRONMENTS 4 Acronyms ACF Action Against Hunger AMISOM African Union Mission to Somalia CBO Community-based organisation CDAC Communication with Disaster-Affected Communities CDC Community Development Councils CHS Core Humanitarian Standard DRC Danish Refugee Council FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations FTS Financial Tracking System GHD Good Humanitarian Donorship HAP Humanitarian Accountability Partnership ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross IDP internally displaced person ACRONYMS IMC International Medical Corps INGO international non-governmental organisation INSO International NGO Safety Office IOM International Organization for Migration IRC International Rescue Committee IS Islamic State ENABLING ACCESS AND QUALITY IN INSECURE ENVIRONMENTS 5 JOPs Joint Operating Principles MSF Médecins Sans Frontières NFI non-food item NGO non-governmental organisation NRC Norwegian Refugee Council OCHA Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs OLS Operation Lifeline Sudan ORCD Organization for Research and Community Development SARC Syrian Arab Red Crescent SPLA Sudan People’s Liberation Army SPLM-iO Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition SRA security risk assessment PoC protection of civilians PTRO Peace Training and Research Organisation UN United Nations UNDSS UN Department of Safety and Security UNHAS UN Humanitarian Air Service ACRONYMS UNHCR UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) UNICEF United Nations Children's Emergency Fund UOSSM Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations WFP World Food Programme WHS World Humanitarian Summit ENABLING ACCESS AND QUALITY IN INSECURE ENVIRONMENTS 6 Acknowledgements Many people supported and contributed to this research. The authors are particularly grateful to the staff of aid organisations and other entities involved in humanitarian action, often working long hours in trying circumstances, for taking the time to share their experiences and insights. We would also like to thank those receiving aid in their home countries, who answered our questions so patiently. We would have no report without the support and input of these two sets of people. An Advisory Group guided the development of the methodology for the research and provided valuable inputs at different stages of the study. Its members (with titles at the time of participation) were: Stéphane Bonamy, ICRC Delegate to the United Nations, ICRC Geneviève Boutin, Chief of Humanitarian Policy, UNICEF Aurelien Buffler, Policy Development and Studies Branch, OCHA Iain King, Senior Governance and Conflict Advisor, UK DFID Bob Kitchen, Emergency Response and Preparedness Director, International Rescue Committee Ingrid Macdonald, Resident Representative, Geneva, Norwegian Refugee Council Tom McEnroe, Project Manager, Governance, Conflict and Social Development, UK DFID Phil Reed, Second Secretary, Humanitarian Affairs, UK Mission to the United Nations Karen Perrin, Policy Development and Studies Branch, OCHA Lisa Reilly, Executive Coordinator, European Interagency Security Forum Dirk Salomons, Director, Humanitarian Affairs Program, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University Ed Schenkenberg, Director, HERE Agnese Spiazzi, Programme Support Branch, OCHA The following individuals and organisations conducted the country-level research. We are grateful for the dedication and care with which they carried out their work. Dr Shams Rahman and the team from the Organization for Research and Community Development (ORCD), for Afghanistan Rachel Morrow and the team from the Peace Training and Research Organisation (PTRO), for ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Afghanistan Nisar Majid, Khalif Abdirahman and Guhad Adan, of Hikmah Consulting, as well as Fardowsa Abdirahman and Shamsa Hassan, for Somalia John Caccavale, for South Sudan, and our hosts in South Sudan, CARE International Danya Chudacoff, Razan Abd El Haq, Francesca Nurlu, Edith Albert, Abdulhadi Arrat and the teams from Proximity International, for Syria We would like to thank the following entities for hosting country-level workshops: The Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief and Development (ACBAR); the International NGO Safety Organisation (INSO) and OCHA, for Afghanistan Adeso, FAO, OCHA and the Somalia NGO Consortium, for Somalia; ENABLING ACCESS AND QUALITY IN INSECURE ENVIRONMENTS 7 OCHA and the NGO Forum, for South Sudan Sayan and OCHA, for Syria In addition, Peter Hailey of the Centre for Humanitarian Change provided support to workshops in Somalia and Christina Bennett of the Humanitarian Policy Group facilitated workshops for Somalia and South Sudan. Dan Gwinnell provided analysis of the online survey data and Kathy Phan conducted the qualitative analysis of interviews. We are also grateful to the following peer reviewers, who provided thoughtful comments on a draft of the present report. Any errors of course remain with the authors. Stéphane Bonamy, ICRC Paul Harvey, Humanitarian Outcomes Kimberly Howe, Feinstein International Center Ashley Jackson, independent researcher / writer Abby Stoddard, Humanitarian Outcomes Eva Svoboda, Humanitarian Policy Group Lastly, the authors wish to thank the Director of the SAVE programme, Adele Harmer, whose dedicated and supportive leadership was instrumental in the successful completion of the research. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ENABLING ACCESS AND QUALITY IN INSECURE ENVIRONMENTS 8 Executive Summary This study seeks to determine ‘what works’ when trying to enable access and deliver quality humanitarian assistance to people caught up in war zones. It is part of the Secure Access in Volatile Environments (SAVE) research programme, conducted from 2013 to 2016. Based on fieldwork in four of the most dangerous aid settings during this time (Afghanistan, South Central Somalia, South Sudan and Syria), SAVE explored how to deliver effective humanitarian responses amid high levels of insecurity. The SAVE research focused on three areas: presence and coverage (see Stoddard et al., 2016b); access and quality (the present report); and accountability and learning (see Steets et al., 2016). The present study aims to answer two questions: 1. What works best to enable access in the most insecure environments? 2. What works best to deliver quality aid in situations of reduced oversight and control? Based on rigorous literature reviews (Schreter and Harmer, 2012; Carter, 2014), we identified the following as the critical factors affecting access and quality: • Humanitarian principles and ethical decision-making; • Staffing issues and partnerships; • Corruption, diversion and compromises; • Outreach and negotiations