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Since September 11, charitable donations have dropped markedly and caused nongovernmental relief organizations to rethink their roles, panelists told a Harvard Business School audience recently. The panel—"Humanitarian Relief and Development after September 11th"—was part of the HBS "Rising to the Challenge" series focusing on the events and repercussions of September 11.
Reynold Levy, president of the International Rescue Committee, and a senior lecturer at the School, led the discussion in Burden Hall on January 15. The panelists represented six well-known aid organizations.
Despite the drop in support for relief organizations, this period in history presents an opportunity for world leaders to address the roots of poverty and intolerance rather than just respond to the misery they cause, the panelists said.
Leaders of six nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) discussed the life of the refugee, the role of nongovernmental organizations in aiding refugees, and how the shape and role of humanitarian aid has changed after September 11.
As a group, the panelists agreed on three main consequences of the September 11 attacks in terms of their affect on humanitarian aid organizations: a heightened sense of global interdependence, the concept that the attacks have resulted in a "teachable moment," and the danger of focusing too narrowly on Afghanistan when there are so many troubled regions in the world.
Local and world-wide charities and aid organizations, (besides those connected to relief efforts related to September 11), have suffered marked decreases in funding—as much as 70 percent, according to CARE USA's President and CEO Peter Bell. At the same time, many people in the U.S. are looking inward, focusing on national rather then international concerns. Taken together, these factors contribute to the hard times faced by many international relief agencies, said the panelists.
A world interconnected
Nancy Aossey, President and CEO of International Medical Corps, said that since September 11 she has been struck by the interconnectedness of the world. She has become aware of the role that NGOs and leaders play in communicating the plight of the Afghans and how they had suffered under the Taliban—just as Americans have recently suffered. She has focused much of her career on Afghanistan. The IMC was formed as a reaction to Afghanistan's Soviet occupation and remained there during the Taliban's takeover of the country.
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CARE USA's Peter Bell agreed, saying that September 11 "underlined the…oneness of all humanity."
For Neal Keny-Guyer, CEO of Mercy Corps International, the world's interconnectedness can be summed up in the "seamless connection between a homeless child in Boston and a needy child in Afghanistan." September 11 has challenged him to think more deeply about the work of his and other organizations.
"Are we really addressing the fundamental issues of despair and hope that tear at the fabric of society?" asked Keny-Guyer.
Getting at the root causes of intolerance and violence, human rights, land reform, and democratic participation may be key to getting sustainable results, he said, and this way of thinking is causing him and his organization to look closely at its program development.
The teachable moment
Bell also commented on the "teachable moment" that is a result of September 11. Now is the time to get the "fundamental messages" across about the interconnectedness of all human beings, and that we must communicate and work together to combat poverty in the world, he said.
He also commented that communication, among every level within CARE, around the world, with the media, and in Washington has become increasingly crucial.
Now is a "moment of openness" for Americans to look at the world differently and truly get involved, said Charles McCormick, president and CEO of Save the Children.
| Are we really addressing the fundamental issues of despair and hope that tear at the fabric of society? |
| —Neal Keny-Guyer, CEO Mercy Corps International |
Perhaps the teachable moment has already taken hold. An increased interest in Afghan children is one direct result of September 11, McCormick said.
For example, Save the Children's YouthNoise site (at www.youthnoise.com) has seen an increase from a few thousand hits a week to 11,000,000 hits since September 11, and funding for work in Afghanistan has gone from $3 million to $35 million.
Not just an Afghan problem
But McCormick worries that this support may come at the price of lack of support for poor people in other parts of the world.
September 11 has created an opportunity for "managing our public voice" as CEOs and leaders of NGOs, and for using that public voice in important ways, said Raymond Offenheiser, president of Oxfam America. This was a chance to speak out about internationalism, said Offenheiser.
This is also an opportune time to reevaluate America's role in a post Cold-War world, he said, and an opportunity to put forth a bold vision of a globalizing, interdependent world.
To underscore the connectedness theme, Marc Lindenberg, dean and professor at the University of Washington's Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs (and former senior vice president of CARE USA) closed the panel by showing slides from September 11 and images from other crises worldwide. The burning towers of the World Trade Center have their parallel in the bombed out twin towers in Sarajevo; the image of New Yorkers fleeing the streets of the World Trade Center area mirror image of Rwandans running in their streets and Afghanis streaming across the border to Pakistan.
"Let's not just focus on any one conflict," urged Lindenberg, "we need to figure out how to avoid them."
Five Questions for Reynold Levy
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Reynold Levy, president of the International Rescue Committee and a senior lecturer at HBS, moderated the "Humanitarian Relief and Development after September 11th" panel held recently at the School. HBS Working Knowledge's managing editor, Carla Tishler spoke with Levy about the conference and the issues it raised.
Tishler: What factors led to the creation of this panel? Are we at a certain crucial stage worldwide that calls out for more attention to be paid to the efficacy of relief efforts?
Levy: Specifically, HBS' Initiative on Social Enterprise has launched a humanitarian leaders program within the Executive Education curriculum. The panel members were here on campus to develop this program (to begin in the summer of 2003 as a follow-up to this summer's Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management course). Our seminar was a great opportunity for these leaders to participate in dialogue with the HBS community.
And yes, the timing is right for reexamining the role of NGOs post-September 11. NGOs began to enter the vacuum left by the post-Cold War retreat of the U.S. and the former Soviet Union from troubled states. In many places around the world, NGOs have become a more substantial presence since the end of the Cold War. They enjoy relationships on the ground that are often at least as wide and deep as those of the American government officials. September 11th marks another potential shift in the role of NGOs, and a redefinition of American interests abroad.
Q: One of the major themes brought up by the panel is that September 11 reinforced the idea of the world's interconnectedness, and that NGOs and other organizations must work together to combat underlying issues leading to violence and instability. How can NGOs reinforce and act on this message?
A: The events of September 11 provided an opening and an opportunity, as most major crises do, to sustain the interest of a large part of the public and our elected representatives on the future of Afghanistan and on a more general concern about the plight of the poor around the world. The challenge to NGOs is to create a compelling message about what people can do, and answer, in a meaningful way, the question of "How can I help?" The panelists are reconvening in March so we can devise a collective response—this is a challenge to us all.
Q: Current statistics about refugees and displaced persons around the world appear bleak: 1 in 150 people are displaced; 80 percent of these are women and children. Are these types of numbers a world constant? What changes, on an international level, could reduce these numbers in the future?
A:In fact, the number of refugees and displaced persons has gone up dramatically in the last ten years. But this is not an unsolvable problem—and we don't need to observe this passively. The first thing that needs to happen is, clearly, to get the refugees settled. This can take two forms. Refugees can go home, but only if and when U.S. (and other countries') foreign policy creates secure conditions in war-torn countries that allow a safe place to return to. In other words, we need to ensure secure conditions by assisting broken countries to repair themselves. If you consider that great-grandchildren are starting to be born in Palestinian refugee camps, you can see that this challenge can clearly become a long-term, multigenerational matter if it remains neglected and unaddressed by nation-states.
Second, the U.S. needs to reconsider its policy of how many refugees can seek asylum here. There are 14 million refugees in the world and only about 110,000 a year are settled in a third country. Of these, in recent years, about 70,000 came to the U.S. We need to significantly raise that very low refugee ceiling and demonstrate leadership to other nations by doing so.
Q: How do your two roles, as a member of the HBS faculty and as president of the International Rescue Committee, influence each other?
A: The Initiative on Social Enterprise intentionally engages teaching resources with professional management practice experience in the world of nonprofits and social enterprise, with the result that simultaneously teaching, conducting research, and leading large nonprofit institutions really is synergistic. Teaching, learning, and leading create a virtual cycle that is enormously energizing to me and hopefully very helpful to students. My organization, the International Rescue Committee, has greatly benefited from its engagement with HBS—we've had many employees, interns, and volunteers from the HBS community. In return, we let students see the difference they can make in alleviating suffering, and replacing despair with hope.
Q:Can more American businesses and businesspeople make an impact in the realm of humanitarian relief?
A: The answer is a loud "yes!" People should not feel that government policy is made in a void. Rather, corporate people and people on Wall St. (which has been so viscerally impacted by the terrorist attacks) need to vocally express concern about U.S. foreign policy that contributes to and in some cases sustains worldwide humanitarian crises, as I describe above. Further, American businesspeople can assist NGOs through more executive loans, cash philanthropy, provision of in-kind gifts, increased technical and telecommunications assistance, and expertise in security, logistics, and procurement. These types of support are already happening, of course. There is room for a lot more.