VOICE Out Loud Newsletter Issue 15 : Linking Relief Rehabilitation and Development
26 June 2012
In 2012, VOICE is 20 years old, so this is the start of a celebration year! For this occasion, VOICE has requested a number of prominent EU humanitarian decision makers to contribute to this issue of VOICE Out Loud.
The VOICE Director Kathrin Schick reflects in her article on the evolution of the network and its priorities through-out the years. VOICE was founded in 1992 to follow the work of the then newly established European Commission Office for Humanitarian Aid, ECHO. As DG ECHO remains one of the main counterparts for VOICE, this issue contains an interview with ECHO Director-General Claus Sørensen. Amongst other issues, Mr. Sørensen reflects on ECHO’s achievements in the past two decades.
The core of this newsletter is about building bridges to sustainably reduce human suffering worldwide. While humanitarian aid aims to save lives and respond to immediate needs, development programmes are more long term, aiming to eradicate poverty and ensure sustainable development. Given these different goals, both sectors have grown to become parallel universes. This gap needs to be overcome through LRRD: linking relief, rehabilitation and development, also referred to as ‘transition’. LRRD provides a means to an end which both humanitarian and development actors support: improving well-being, reducing vulnerability and risk, and increasing the resilience of communities. Given the differing ways of working and various bureaucratic hurdles, LRRD is not easy. It will require an effort and mentality change of all actors involved in disaster response.
As an introduction to the topic, Dr. Joanna Macrae analyses the evolution in the thinking of the humanitarian and development sector with regards to LRRD, the challenges encountered and current opportunities. The perspective from the field is brought in by VOICE members, who reflect on LRRD in Haiti, Liberia and Afghanistan, as well as on how to build resilience in humanitarian response. This is complemented by the view of two EU member states on LRRD. We are proud to present an article by Irish Minister Costello responsible for Trade and Development, and by Per Örnéus & Hans Magnusson from the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs & Sida. They put forward their view as a European donor on LRRD, explaining why it is important to them and how they support this link.
This VOICE Out Loud issue clearly demonstrates that there is shared recognition across the sector on the need to build these bridges, and the need to build them now. At EU level, the preparation of the next generation of development instruments and the discussion around the EU budgetary priorities for 2014-2020 are an ideal moment to try to finally make LRRD work in practice.
In the ‘View on the EU’ section, VOICE members reflect on the importance of the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid and on the need for EU member states to bridge the gap between humanitarian policy and practice.
Lastly, the field focus is a common statement by NGO networks ICVA, VOICE and the Humanitarian Forum, released in late February, who together call for humanitarian access to populations in distress in Syria.
