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A troubling dilemma: capacity building in the midst of conflict

As conflicts rage, is it realistic for the international community to hope to build local capacity? Or should it focus solely on delivering assistance? Are current patterns of north-south interaction helpful in the resolving of humanitarian crises? Can we move away from the compartmentalisation of humanitarian relief into small boxes and short time-frames?

A book by the Humanitarianism and War Project uses case studies from international aid practitioners to locate the trade-offs between outsiders doing what they can to meet people’s needs during a humanitarian emergency and those working to build longer-term capacities among local organisations to deal with their own problems. Detailing considerable confusion and a token commitment to local capacity building by externally-driven relief programmes, it nevertheless finds grounds for optimism.

A review of the literature on capacity building in complex emergencies shows that at times the concept of strengthening local organisations is barely visible. Even when intentions are good, outsiders have difficulty working effectively with local organisations during humanitarian emergencies. The relationship is more often one of patronage than partnership. Training and service delivery is mistakenly equated with capacity building. Understanding and analysis of the local situation is usually limited.

Case studies are written from the perspective of aid recipients. They explore:

how foreign aid to post-conflict Mozambique’s health sector has contributed to a broader sense of local capacity
problems encountered by Guatemalan women returning home to live in an unreconstructed society after years of gender training provided by well-meaning international agencies in Mexican refugee camps
the tense relationship between external humanitarian actors and Bosnian civil society
how the provision of alternative types of food aid following the 1991 military coup d’état in Haiti shows that the delivery of much-maligned food aid, when local people are centrally involved, can play a central role in building local capacities and self-esteem
aid agency hell in the worst years of Sierra Leone’s descent into anarchy as aid agencies confront their worst fears
whether long-term humanitarian assistance in Sri Lanka has failed to address the causes of war.

A final chapter draws together potential lessons, cross-cutting themes and policy considerations for practitioners, international humanitarian organisations and local civil society organisations working with international agencies. It highlights the need to:

reconceptualise local people as subjects not objects, actors not victims
realise that training can never be a cure-all in volatile, politicised emergencies
clarify whether the target of capacity building is a single organisation, a sectoral activity such as health or a group within civil society
abandon the simplistic idea that civil society is an antidote to the state
guard against the tendency to move prematurely from relief to development programming
more openly address issues of corruption
encourage donors to develop more flexible humanitarian budget lines.

Source(s):
‘Patronage or partnership: local capacity building in humanitarian crises’, Humanitarianism and War Project, Ian Smillie (ed), Kumarian Press, 2001 Full document.

Funded by: International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada

id21 Research Highlight: 9 June 2003

Further Information:
Humanitarianism and War Project
Feinstein International Famine Center
Tufts University
11 Curtis Avenue
Somerville MA 02144
USA

Tel: +1 617 627 5949
Fax: +1 617 627 5952
Contact the contributor: H&w@tufts.edu

Humanitarianism and War Project

Kumarian Press
1294 Blue Hills Avenue
Bloomfield, CT. 06002
USA

Tel: +1 860 243 2098
Fax: +1 860 243 2867
Contact the contributor: kpbooks@aol.com

Kumarian Press, USA

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