WASHINGTON — Humanitarian leaders face a difficult challenge. At the same time they are being asked to shift more of their programming to conflict situations, they are also encountering a system of donor compliance regimes that make that work nearly impossible.
“On one hand I think everybody agrees, yes we need to focus on [protracted conflict] ... The reality is that when you start to zoom in, there is such an obsession about security and terrorism that the environment in which you will be able to operate is much more difficult than even a year ago,” said Yves Daccord, director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Daccord worries that some international NGOs will struggle as the emphasis shifts from natural disasters — which are increasingly managed by local and national entities — to protracted conflict, which introduces new and complex challenges of politics, security, access, and alignment.