Regeringen i Bangladesh er dybt bekymret over, at de mange hjælpeorganisationer i landet – nogle siger det er verdensrekord – er så dårlige til at arbejde sammen og koordinere indsatsen, når naturen slår til – og det gør den tit.
DHAKA, 5 November 2012 (IRIN): The international community should strengthen its local coordination in times of disaster, says the Bangladesh government.
“This needs to be improved to be more effective,” Mohammad Abdul Wazed, additional secretary of the Bangladesh Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief, told IRIN in Dhaka,noting:
“We are always talking about who is doing what and where from the international community. Sometimes we simply do not know.”
But coordinating Bangladesh’s humanitarian aid community, described by many as the world’s largest, is no easy task.
“It is a huge number of people and coordination is key,” said Gerson Brandao, humanitarian affairs adviser to the office of the UN resident coordinator.
77 international NGOs operating
On top of 12 UN agencies in the country, five of which are directly involved in humanitarian assistance and have an emergency response capacity, there are 77 international NGOs, 30 of which respond to natural disasters as needed.
There are also more than 2.000 officially registered local NGOs, and over 60.000 community-based organizations (CBOs).
“A major part of the problem is that the aid community is largely Dhaka-based and we fall into the trap of being far away from the disaster,” Brandao said, adding:
“If we are to effectively complement the government’s efforts on the ground, it is essential we decentralize.”
Part of the problem is that international NGOs and agencies work through national NGOs, many of whom subsequently subcontract the work out to CBOs at the field level, aid workers say.
This can mean that the people with the strongest response capacity are not always on the front line, and may not know what others are doing in their immediate area, Brandao said, adding that this often led to duplication of effort.
Only a handful of international NGOs operate directly. They include Solidarity, Médecins Sans Frontières (Læger uden Grænser), and Action Against Hunger.
Role of district committees
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