Post Disaster Help and NGOs/International Organizations Problems



Table of Contents

Statement of the Problem1

Background to the Problem1

Issues2

Complicating Factors3

Possible Solutions3

Recommendation4

Anticipated Outcome4

Post Disaster Help and NGOs/International Organizations Problems

Statement of the Problem

Problems international organizations and NGOs have in helping after disasters.

Background to the Problem

A disaster is a sudden and calamitous event causing great loss of lives and/or damaging the property, resulting in hardship for the survivors, caused by varying situations from natural disasters to airplane crashes. Recovery from disaster aims at improving lives of those suffering from it. It usually involves the rehabilitation by rebuilding infrastructure, and providing support to families in monetary and non-monetary forms for coming back to routine lives.

Non-government organizations (NGOs) and international agencies come for the help in these situations and work for the betterment of humans surviving disasters, and preventing other consequence of that disaster. However, the history reveals that NGO's often come in conflict with the other parties working for the same cause, such as government, and other NGOs. Governments keep close watch on the activities of these organizations, for they have been long suspected of working for hidden purposes like espionage activities for some other countries and working for their own benefit instead of the survivors. On the other hand, organizations allege the governments of putting unnecessary restrictions and limiting their role to the extent that they become ineffective.

Issues

The issues in this problem are diverse and prevailing since the start of NGOs. The first issue surrounding the effective working of NGOs is of the role that they play. In the post disaster situation, the role of NGOs is somewhat long term in nature and involves much more coordination with local authorities. Any uncoordinated efforts can result in wastage of resources and might even become a constraint in the rehabilitation of the victims. The fact is that post disaster response of these organization often involve reconstruction (Bello, 2006). This is out of the expertise area for most of the NGOs. This results in badly designed, substandard projects, and ignoring the social and cultural dynamics of the locality (Boen and Jigyasu, 2005).

Second, NGOs are expert in responding urgently, and that is again in collision with the objective of rehabilitation. The idea is to provide a sustainable solution through viable projects and proper planning in coordination with not only other organizations including international organizations, but also with local, state, federal government and other stake holders (Barney, 1991).

Third ...