In crises like Syria, aid agencies must figure out how to do both humanitarian and development work at the same time
By Megan Rowling
BARCELONA, Jan 21 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Despite the huge demand for emergency aid stemming from the conflict in Syria, the building blocks for its people's future should be put in place at the same time as the provision of humanitarian relief, senior U.N. officials said on Thursday.
Stephen O'Brien, the United Nations' Emergency Relief Coordinator, said a major international conference on the Syria crisis, scheduled for Feb. 4 in London, will not only try to raise significant new funding to help conflict-hit Syrians inside and outside the country right now.
It will also aim to help those affected in the longer term, by finding ways to provide jobs and education, and boost the ability of local authorities to support them, he said.
A key goal will be to start putting in place "the context which gives people hope for the future", he added.
Aid agencies say some 13.5 million people inside Syria need humanitarian assistance, including 6.5 million displaced from their homes. The war has also pushed 4.6 million people to flee to neighbouring countries and beyond.
O'Brien said it was time to break down the decades-old divide between emergency aid and longer-term recovery after conflicts and natural disasters - a problem that will be tackled at an international humanitarian summit in May.
"Once a life is saved, once a life is protected, it is no point leaving that life in vulnerability," he told journalists at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and via webcast.
A longstanding criticism of aid is that once people's basic needs are taken care of, little attention is paid to helping them cope with future shocks by building their assets and reducing risks.
"If you're not continuing very active efforts on recovery, it is disturbing how often countries and communities lapse back into crisis because there wasn't the long-term perspective," Helen Clark, head of the United Nations Development Programme, said in Davos.
In protracted crises like Syria - which is nearing the end of its fifth year - the key question is how to do both humanitarian and development work at the same time, she added.
Practical things can be achieved to improve people's prospects even inside Syria, she said, adding that there are many areas where war is not raging and "life is going on".
In such places, there is a need to keep micro-businesses going, train young people, empower women and keep children in school, she said.
"Getting this mix right is going to be absolutely critical to trying to stabilise people where that's possible in Syria, in their communities," she said. The same must be done for those living outside their country as refugees, she added.
One way to shrink the growing needs for humanitarian funding, with the United Nations now asking for around $20 billion per year, is to coordinate the two types of aid, even though that may be hard in violent, unstable places, she said.
"We have to be joined at the hip and lip between relief and development, and that will get the best results for people, which is in the end what we are all about," she said.
(Reporting by Megan Rowling, editing by Tim Pearce. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women's rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)
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