Demands for humanitarian response call for harmonised aid objectives

By Simon J. Mone

The demand for humanitarian response has undergone significant makeover consistent with the changing nature of human suffering.

And if we do not stay on top of the situation, soon the authenticity of traditional humanitarian spirit might fade very quickly. With evolving emergencies, we see the humanitarian sector of old like a lorry that has lost its breaks while sliding downhill.

Peoples' needs have multiplied by many folds. Numbers increase day by day. It is a real challenge which we could turn into opportunity to seek better ways of doing humanitarian business. Hopefully, we find answers soon, so that things become more effective and efficient.

It calls for a complete modification of current aid and development style.

Finding answers and the means to cause long term impact needs to come from the wider humanitarian community. The wider community must aggregate resources for the betterment of the SDGs.

We already see such initiatives in a group of organisations leading the humanitarian sector. This group made commitments to try and change the current method of humanitarian work through an initiative called the Grand Bargain - Agenda for Humanity that was signed during the World Humanitarian Summit.

They too are championing a complete makeover in how things should work. They think that collaboration should be the major avenue with which the humanitarian game is played, to deliver on key performance objectives. Could this become the game changer that everybody has been craving for?

We expect and hope that it is. That it will cause the desired impact. At the moment, everybody is struggling to contain the overwhelming needs of suffering population around the world. And Uganda continues to be in the limelight for this very noble cause.

With a mission to show compassion for the most vulnerable members of our society after about everybody has absconded from this responsibility. A mission initiated by President Museveni, to find some money to try and offer support to refugee operations. Without fundraising, Uganda cannot come close toproviding requirements for needy groups.

The UN refugee solidarity summit in Kampala was a glorious opportunity to mobilise the money. It came, it passed. And Uganda showed the rest of the world how far it had gone in helping neighbours.

Without it, we would only go so far. Many Ugandans got lost in the statistics of new arrivals in Uganda. The number keeps increasing. Given that Uganda also occasionally grapples with a huge duty to provide; food, water, shelter, medicine, education and many other needs to its citizens, the world should be baffled that Uganda still continues to show generosity to the neighbours' vulnerable people. It is a stern test. It is not easy. If all countries could pull their weights together, the size of the problem could be diminished for the betterment of humanity.

By coming together, countries might find better ways of changing the method of delivering humanitarian assistance globally. And this could be the game changer that we are looking for, in every corner of the world yet still the sustainable answers elude us.

Then collectively, the burden of responsibility on individual countries could be sustainably managed. It is the reason why sustainability must be an important function in the humanitarian service equation.

It is not late. The whole world still has an opportunity to find better ways of working out solutions to humanitarian response. One such way is, harmonise development objectives with humanitarian ones during emergencies.

Without solidarity, solutions won't come easily, especially when parts of the world still practice xenophobia towards needy people. Start by opening up borders unconditionally to let in vulnerable people.

Such are the solutions that will hopefully deliver the new future of humanitarian aid.

Writer is a civil engineer