On Friday, September 10, 2021, the University of Surabaya held a series of webinar events which were attended by 33 undergraduate students/S1 and graduate students/S2 of Industrial Engineering Ubaya. Dr. Indri Hapsari, ST, MT as a lecturer in the field of Disaster Management and Logistics was also invited to give the opening speech and to introduce the speaker of webinar. The speaker for this webinar was Ms. Nadine Sulkowski, M.Sc., B.Sc., PGCHE, FHEA Lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire. This webinar series discusses “Public Awareness and International Disaster Assistance”.
Ms. Nadine Sulkowski shared that in 2015, of the 10 countries receiving the most aid, five were in the Middle East. The top five crises (Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, Iraq and Sudan) received more than half of humanitarian funding allocated to specific emergencies. Government donors also have preferences for where they fund, based on a range of strategic priorities. These are often publicly accessible on government aid or foreign affairs websites. It looks at what humanitarian actors are trying to achieve through advocacy and analyzing the difficulties and prospects for future efforts. Overall, while some organizations have invested heavily, global humanitarian advocacy efforts are still limited in scope and coordination, and their effectiveness is hampered by the lack of clear targets and a coherent strategy.
So it takes a Humanitarian Advocacy, Humanitarian advocacy is one of the pillars of our overall humanitarian effort and a critical element in our ambition to be the leading humanitarian response agency for children. The term ‘humanitarian advocacy’ implies not only advocacy in emergencies, but also advocacy conducted before and after crises and in situations of protracted vulnerability, suffering or conflict. Ms. Nadine Sulkowski explained that there are the aims of humanitarian advocacy as follows: the first is Vary from context to context. And the second is Need to be informed by context and scenario analysis at country level. The overarching goals in all humanitarian contexts are as follows : Ensure assistance is timely and in line with the needs of people affected by crisis; Ensure respect for the humanitarian principles, space and access; Ensure optimal functioning of the humanitarian system; Ensure adequate funding for humanitarian responses; Ensure the safety and protection of civilians; and Ensure the safely and protection of humanitarian aid workers.
Then there is the Advocacy Process. Ms. Nadine Sulkowski explains that what will be needed when planning an effective advocacy is according to the picture below :
Advocacy opportunities are moments to directly influence decision makers or to share messages informally through allies. By doing things like: Launch reports; Conference, summit or meeting; VIP visits or events; parliamentary debate; and International or National Remembrance Days. Doing work with the media, as it is very strong in areas not normally accessible to international media. Enables humanitarian advocates to tell stories of people in need. It takes Power relationships and analysis (originally by Mendelow, 1991) explained that An integral part of knowing the context and conducting successful advocacy. Map your targets based on who has high, medium and low influence and who will be a supporter or an opponent. Focus on supporters with a high level of influence but also think about strategies to reach out to opponents who also have a high level of influence. Power dynamics can shift. According to the following graph :
Ms. Nadine Sulkowski explained that a key component of the Humanitarian Advocacy Strategy, the first is a problem statement. The problem statement is a clear description of the issue that you want to solve or improve through research. Or the result of a more in-depth study of issues that arise in the field which are usually only in the form of signs (symptoms) that appear in the report described in the background of the research. Thus, the formulation of the problem must be connected with the research background and research object. The second is Overall Goals, Objectives and Recommendations. Before deciding what type of research, monitoring/and/or evaluation will be conducted, the overall objectives should be developed. Objectives should be clear and concise statements that can be answered through data collection and analysis. The research objective clearly describes what you want to learn from doing the research. It should be based on a real-life need or problem that it is intended to address. Each study should only have one or two research objectives. And recommendation is official advice about the best thing to do, or the act of telling someone that something is good or useful or that someone will be suitable for a certain thing, etc.
With the existence of a strategy carried out by two or more parties within a certain period of time to achieve mutual benefits and mutual benefits according to the principle of mutual need and complement each other according to the agreement that appears. And it takes a combination of two or more organizations that have the same goals. So it takes “Partnerships and Coalition” has the benefits and challenges that exist. The following are the benefits and challenges :
- Benefits
- Amplifying advocacy messages: for example, a joint advocacy letter signed by multiple agencies sends a powerful message to targets.
- Offering cover in sensitive contexts: coalition advocacy can help mitigate risk where speaking out alone can put our staff and programs at risk.
- Added resources for advocacy where staffing capacity and budgets are tight.
- Challenges
- Less visibility for individual organisations.
- Messages may be toned down to reach consensus and therefore have less impact.
- Affected population messages may be lost in an effort to prioritise and focus.
- It takes time and effort to effectively coordinate coalition work.
Here, Ms. Nadine Sulkowski provides case study (Haiti) for each group and will be discussed together. The following is a given case study: On August 14, 2021, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck southwestern Haiti, approximately 80 miles west of the capital Port-au-Prince. Within hours, USAID deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to lead the U.S. Government’s response, search for survivors, assess needs, and provide lifesaving assistance. Imagine that you are the Advocacy Manager of an NGO working in Haiti. Your job is to convince international donors to support an emergency response to the Haiti Earthquake
- What information do you need to put into the briefing paper?
- What recommendations would you express in relation to the emergency response?
What organisations would you include?
What should these organisations do?
And here is the answer from one of the groups. On the first answer that information that we need to put into the briefing paper, such as : How many casualties were affected, How big is the affected area, and How many resource are available and needed. On the second answer about what organisations would we include and should these organisations do, such as : Medical team (to cure people who are affected), Military service and national search rescue agency (to coordinate and to search other casualties), Volunteers (to help government, give donation), Multinational companies and Universitis or schools (to give donation).
Authors : Lisha Haini
Group 3
- Ganda Yudha Pamungkas 160317114
- Yosua Sintikhe Lukas 160318001
- Octavian Dwi Bagus 160318103
- Bergita Fanny Gutika 160318128
- Lisha Haini Zhambertha 160318160
