Politicization of Humanitarian Aid in Syria (original) (raw)
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THE IMPACT OF SYRIAN NGOs ON CIVIL SOCIETY IN SYRIA & INTEGRATION WITH INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM
2020
After the outbreak of peaceful protests in Syria in March 2011, the humanitarian needs began to rapidly increase, especially in the provinces that witnessed widespread popular mobility and significant military operations that led to the displacement of thousands of families like Homs and Daraa. Within the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012, thousands of civilians need an urgent humanitarian response. As a response, local civilian activists with support from local communities have created initiatives to bridge the gap in response and meet civilians' possible needs. These initiatives started to turn into professional organizations entered the Syrian civil society and worked from within it. They significantly grew their experience where most of them have started from scratches and have zero experience in civil society organizations as the Syrian regimes, through their governing Syria, allowed no space for civil society to grow over 60 years and prevented CSOs from work to raise their communities. In this study, we aim to unroll a history and typology of Syrian NGOs and their impact on the Syrian civil society after 2011. The importance of this research comes from the importance of humanitarian organizations playing in the Syrian response on the one hand, and their roles as part of civil society, on the other hand. Through the study, we have looked at these organizations' reality in terms of governance, structures, strategic planning, and many parts related to the institution as a body and level of implementation. Additionally, we have discussed the internal and external factors that affected Syrian NGOs like the loyalty to political parties or army groups and the countries' interests, which played a significant role in shaping the donations and responses to Syria. And the relevant influences of these factors on Syrian NGOs and civil society. Therefore, we come out with observations and recommendations to help readers and stakeholders consider them in proportion to the development of these organizations' work to preserve their role and improve it. Also, closing the research with in-depth recommendations will help readers/stakeholders build their capabilities according to study's the possible outcomes. This study relied on qualitative methodologies such as academic research, articles, official humanitarian reports, personal interviews with humanitarian workers (decision-makers), and other stakeholders. Also, we developed a questionnaire that aims to expand the data of the sample. According to the findings of this study, Syrian NGOs have been able to cover a significant gap in humanitarian response resulting in the failure of responding by the international humanitarian community for Syria since 2011. The majority of Syrian NGOs have a high capacity to meet international requirements for partnerships and an increased ability to implement long-term and specialized projects. They are technically eligible to work in the next phase of the Syrian response, the reconstruction phase. For these organizations to be a real part of the Syrian civil society organizations and play an essential role in building civil society, they must review their governance systems, policies, loyalties and turn into purely neutral organizations. It is also necessary for the international community to retain the neutral tone and perspective towards these organizations and provide them with real required support that will enable them to play a critical role in Syria's future.
This working paper seeks to document and analyse collaboration mechanisms between local authorities and humanitarian actors in addressing the Syrian refugee crisis in urban and peri-urban settings in Lebanon. It outlines existing mechanisms of collaboration, analyses their potential strengths and weaknesses, and derives lessons and recommendations for improving refugee responses in Lebanon, and potentially in other national settings. The report focuses on two case studies: the largely hybrid urban district of Bourj Hammoud, one of the main commercial hubs of Greater Beirut, and the peri-urban coastal region of Sahel El Zahrani, located between Saida and Tyre in South Lebanon. The response to the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon, which broke out in 2011, faced many challenges initially; namely the lack of a solid national response strategy and weak local governance capacities, which were needed to respond to a large-scale crisis. International non-governmental organisations (INGOs) and United Nations (UN) agencies took the initial lead in responding to the crisis. Local authorities, who were at the forefront of the response, lacked the adequate capacities to respond and thus were involved in a less organised manner. The humanitarian response suffered overall from weak coordination between international actors, the central government, and (in)formal local authorities, resulting in unequal and scattered aid distribution. As the crisis prolonged, the government of Lebanon (GoL) became increasingly involved and eventually, in 2015, led the development of the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) jointly with UN agencies. Various ministries took a more proactive role in the response, in particular the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA), which was designated by the Council of Ministers to take on an official role in the response. At the local level, municipalities and unions of municipalities, despite lacking an official responsibility, made serious efforts to respond to the refugees due to increasing pressures in their localities and based on moral imperatives. International and UN agencies initially targeted Syrian refugees on the basis of the humanitarian principle of immediate alleviation of suffering following displacement. Local host communities, who were impacted by the crisis due to the increase in the local population and a higher demand on limited basic services, were initially less involved and addressed in the response. This working paper explores the various formal and informal levels of collaboration, or lack thereof, between international and local organisations, UN agencies and local authorities. In Lebanon, establishing successful coordination mechanisms between national and local authorities and aid agencies is politically and logistically challenging. Due to funding constraints and limited programme timeframes, humanitarian organisations find it difficult to maintain a continuous long-term relationship with local municipalities and unions of municipalities. Moreover, aid agencies often opt to bypass local authorities in project implementation in order to avoid local bureaucracy. Internal politics also create another challenge for coordination with local authorities, as this can interfere with the orientation of aid. UN agencies and INGOs are now mostly turning short-term relief programmes into longer- term projects for development, and have shown serious efforts to adapt their responses to address local contexts more adequately. However, clearly defining roles among international and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and UN agencies and establishing solid coordination mechanisms remains a challenge and is important to enhancing overall public management in urban crisis contexts. The research concludes that complementing sectoral approaches by adopting area-based approaches to respond to emergency crises allows humanitarian and development programmes to address the needs of different vulnerable groups, including refugees and local communities, in a more efficient and sustainable manner. This allows the implementation of more inclusive needs-based responses, whilst also preventing unequal aid distribution and the ‘compartmentalisation’ of society. Moreover, this working paper highlights the weakness in focusing and adapting responses to respond to urban settings which host the majority of refugees. As such, it is important to raise awareness and develop the necessary tools and coordination mechanisms to optimally address refugees in urban contexts, especially with more refugees settling in urban areas worldwide. Finally, coordination efforts and mutual aid agreements for emergency service provision can provide a solid ground for local actors to know: first, how to turn international aid into an opportunity rather than financial and political dependency or reason for domestic marginalisation, and, second, to learn the advantages of domestic coordination, internal agreement, and develop the capacities to manage foreign aid. Overall, reinforcing the role of local authorities and actors has proven to be more efficient and manageable in the short-term; however, over time, it also faces political limitations thus challenging the ability to reach a broader consensus on the management of domestic issues. This paper proposes a multi-scalar coordination approach to respond to crises and address diverse social vulnerabilities.
Navigating Humanitarian Aid in Syria: Challenges, Complexities, and Paths to Sustainable Solutions
Insight Turkey, 2024
This study explores the role of foreign aid as a soft power tool by providing an understanding of the interrelation between foreign policy and aid. The study is based on interviews with aid experts. The findings of the study unambiguously demonstrate that aid and foreign policy are intertwined since, in most cases, foreign aid falls under the responsibility of foreign ministries. Besides the humanitarian imperative, the geopolitical account has a crucial importance in the decision-making process that cascades down from the general foreign policy agenda. In addition, the strategic interests of the donor country are contributing to the decision-making. The prominent themes are national security, tackling terrorism, preventing immigration influx, and economic goals. The study also demonstrates the extent to which aid can be politicized in its extreme form by focusing on Russian vetoes in the UN Security Council and the Syrian government's weaponization of aid.
Helping the Syrians Help Themselves? The Ambiguities of International Assistance to the Rebellion
Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 2014
This article examines some of the ambiguities of efforts to protect Syrian civilians by problematizing the agency of civilians in armed conflict. Based on an analysis of existing discourses of intervention, it underlines the extent to which civilians have been portrayed as largely defenseless victims, when at least anecdotal evidence suggests that civilian resilience has been significant. The article emphasizes the degree to which civilians themselves may strive for other things in the conflict than their sole ‘protection,’ thus complicating efforts at protecting them. In this context, one of the most pressing and difficult issues is conceptualizing the relationship of civilians to the rebellion and vice versa, as well as the possible means of intervention of the international community in assisting civilians’ efforts. The article finishes by returning to civilian voices and analyzing how some civilian and grass roots organizations have propounded their own vision of what appropriate protection in the circumstances would entail. In the end, it may be that it is this form of political agency about the needs and vision of civilians that most needs to be heard.
NOREF, 2015
Syrian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) were literally born during the current crisis, in response to various issues stemming from it. These NGOs are faced by various challenges, including organisational, inter-organisational and extra-organisational issues such as board management; weak soft and hard skills; neutrality challenges; donor dependency; logistical and security challenges; and relationships with other Syrian medical NGOs, the international donor community, community-based organisations and local administration councils, the various military factions, and governments in neighbouring countries. To respond to these challenges Syrian medical NGOs need to improve their skills levels, learn how to deal with international counter-terrorism measures, plan strategically rather than simply respond to crises, and initiate projects that cover both sides of the conflict.
The Evolution of the Syrian Humanitarian NGOs and External Challenges
The Rest: Journal of Politics and Development, 2021
Syrian humanitarian sector was limited to two types of NGOs till the Syrian conflict started; traditional charities composing of religious or ethnic focus NGOs, and the Government Organised Non-Governmental Organisations (GONGOs) that were affiliated by governmental figures. They both failed to respond to the needs of civilians in non-governmental controlled areas. This has forced Syrians with limited or no previous experience in this sector to act immediately and independently. However, after the crisis erupted, the commitment to their case, availability of funds, and hospitality from the neighbouring countries evolved them very quickly to become the primarily organised responders in the non governmental controlled territories. Those newly formed humanitarian groups tried to link humanitarian interventions with early recovery activities without losing the scope of being a voice advocating for the human rights of the innocents. The Syrian Humanitarian NGOs based in Turkey were delivering their assistance to the vulnerable communities inside Syria further than where they physically reach without even evaluating the risks that might affect their lives or their beloved families. In some cases, they were the only humanitarian actors in besieged areas as Rural Damascus or Eastern Aleppo and hard to reach locations as Rural Homs or Northern Hama. Those security threats are now less impactful on their existence compared with the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental external challenges that they are facing and can highly affect their presence. The external challenges that they are witnessing that might affect not only the way they are operating but their sustainability as well. Those external challenges were focusing on political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental to form the well-known PESTLE analysis that categorises these external threats and risks. As new Syrian NGOs have spread within countries nearby as well as in the diaspora, this article will only focus on those that were based mainly in Turkey due to several reasons explained in the article
Syria between Revolution and Ngoisation A Case Study
Syria Between Revolution and Ngoisation: A Case Study, 2022
After the eruption of the demonstrations along the Syrian cities, in March 2011, the Syrian regime responded with hostile acts against the civilians, therefore, waves of IDPs and refugees occurred for millions of Syrians causing one of the largest catastrophes in the modern era, as a result, the international community specifically the EU and USA intervened to address the needs of those IDPs and refugees. The thesis aimed at analyzing the Western development interventions in NW of Syria, the interventions were initiated through their development agencies and INGOs and were implemented by local stakeholders. This thesis explored several impacts of this intervention between 2011 till present, it focused on analyzing from a decolonial approach how the intervention contributed to ngoizing the Syrian Revolution on the basis of community demand driven approach using a historical discourse analysis and interview as methodologies, accordingly, several qualitative interviews were conducted in Gaziantep with thirteen leaders of the revolution and CSOs. Finally, this thesis reached to conclusions: the Syrians need financial then political and legal support, additionally, it reached to three different dimensions of Ngoisation: A helping strategy that aims at empowering the locals. Wrong implementation of the Donors’ policies, and a hidden agenda of the soft colonial changing tools.