The humanitarian community cannot afford to pass on the expertise and innovation offered by the private sector - Holmes
LONDON (AlertNet) - The humanitarian community cannot afford to pass on the expertise and innovation offered by the private sector and should scale up its partnership with private players, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes said on Thursday.
"I would say the non-profit sector does not have the exclusive right to deliver humanitarian assistance," Holmes said.
"If companies can do it better and cheaper and genuinely respect these basic (humanitarian) principles why should they not be involved if it's in the interest of the beneficiaries?"
U.N. agencies have already gained some experience teaming up with private companies to provide relief.
In the wake of the 2004 Asian tsunami, trucks belonging to TNT, the global transportation company, delivered food aid for the World Food Programme to communities in Banda Aceh. But much more could be done, Holmes said.
"While there have been some tantalising examples of what we can accomplish together ... in reality we've not yet found ways to engage together systematically and productively," Holmes said.
"This is inward-looking, short-sighted and doesn't sit well with the scale and severity of the humanitarian challenges that face us today," he told a conference at King's College London, entitled 'Hard Realities and Future Necessities: The Role of the Private Sector in Humanitarian Efforts'.
Holmes called on the private sector to do more than donate money to humanitarian causes. Over the past two years, private sector donations to the U.N. Central Emergency Response Fund have more than doubled, reaching $900,000 in 2008 compared with $434,000 in 2006, when the fund began operating.
He appealed for its help in producing technology that could benefit stricken communities - everything from more durable shelters to new tents to replace current models he said did not last long, provided little protection against the extreme cold or heat and were expensive to transport.
Holmes also said more innovation along the lines of composting toilets to straws with in-built filters could combat poor sanitation and unclean drinking water. Technology such as solar cookers would stop women from leaving their homes to fetch firewood in places where they are vulnerable to attack.
The private sector could also play a valuable role in promoting microfinance and microinsurance for communities subject to drought, typhoons and other natural disasters. In the poorest countries only 4 percent of weather-related losses were currently covered by some kind of insurance, Holmes noted.
OVERCOMING SUSPICION
The U.N. aid chief called for a change of mentality on the part of both the private companies and aid workers, as well as greater recognition of the role the private sector has to play in humanitarian relief.
"Corporations must not be seen as a cow to be milked for cash or in-kind contributions but as an equal partner with a genuine stake in humanitarian outcomes, requiring a seat at the table and a role in our planning processes," he said.
Holmes reminded delegates from the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) present that it was common for U.N. agencies to treat NGOs as "little more than convenient subcontractors" just a few years ago, adding that NGOs were now considered as genuine strategic partners.
Aid agencies have long been wary of aligning themselves with businesses, which many suspect are more interested in making a fast buck than saving lives.
"More recently, if we're honest, these suspicions may have been exacerbated by fears of the private sector as competition," Holmes told the gathering.
He said such fears were "disproportionately" heightened during the Iraq and Afghanistan post-conflict periods when some aid funding was funnelled through private companies acting on a for-profit basis - and in some cases with little regard for the fundamental humanitarian principles of independence and impartiality.
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