From: wolda002@umn.edu
Date: Thu Dec 10 2009 - 22:03:01 EST
CHAD: Re-assessing the aid footprint
Photo: Heba Aly/IRIN
View of Abeche through aid vehicle
ABÉCHÉ, 7 December 2009 (IRIN) - When an aid vehicle is stolen in the
eastern Chad town of Abéché, some people cheer and say the aid
organization got what it deserved, according to the French think-tank
Emergency Rehabilitation Development (URD), which is preparing a report on
the impact of international aid groups on Abéché residents.
“There is the perception that humanitarian organizations have driven up
the cost of living [in the town] – water, electricity, housing,” said
the group’s director, François Grünewald. “There is a view that
carjackings are a form of justice, like Robin Hood taking from the rich.
People do not see what these groups are doing in the field.”
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is losing two all-terrain vehicles a day in
the east, senior external relations adviser Måns Nyberg told IRIN.
Abéché was the most affected region in 2008 and saw one of the highest
rates of crime ever against aid agencies in 2009.
Since the arrival of refugees from Darfur in late 2003, a dozen UN agencies
and dozens of NGOs have arrived in Abéché. Prior to 2003 there had been
only one UN agency and two non-profit organizations. More than 1,000
members of the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad
(MINURCAT) – sent to boost border security and facilitate refugee and
Chadian returns – have also used Abéché as a base since March 2009.
Foreigners “more wasteful”
The town’s water system was ill-prepared for the influx of aid workers
and peacekeepers, said URD’s Grünewald. “Locals have a different
relationship with water than foreigners who are more wasteful and do not
conserve.”
Foreigners have also driven up housing and food costs in Abéché to levels
“out of reach of vulnerable residents,” he added.
Prices for rice, flour, meat, millet, sorghum and sugar in Abéché have
increased by an average of 51 percent in the last seven years based on a
2009 URD market survey. Chad’s inflation rate in 2008 was just over 3
percent, according to the African Development Bank.
Marcel Nguebaroum, a paediatric ward nurse at Abéché’s regional
hospital, said: “I could get a chicken for 600 francs [US$1.38] before
2004… and a room cost me 2,500 francs [$5.75]. Now a chicken costs 3,500
[$8]… and owners can ask for whatever price they want for housing because
they think we are somehow able to pay. We are all expected to pay what you
[foreigners] are able to pay.”
Nguebaroum said that though foreigners earn many times more than locals,
prices are set according to foreign salaries.
Photo:
There is no doubt humanitarians have put pressure on local resources, for
which they have tried to compensate, MINURCAT spokesman Penangnini Touré
told IRIN.
"MINURCAT is using its own resources for the most part...MINURCAT has
drilled its own wells to provide for its own water needs. Drinking water is
purchased from a local provider, and then distributed to staff members on a
regular basis. MINURCAT is also providing electricity not only to its staff
members, but in some instances to the local population thanks to UN
generators that have been set up in every area where the mission is
present."
MINURCAT has also rehabilitated air strips, which are turned over to
Chadian authorities after MINURCAT's departure; helped to improve local
security; and boosted employment by hiring more Chadians than international
staff, Touré told IRIN. "The positive impact is, in fact, far greater than
the negative."
But URD's Grünewald told IRIN that security remains spotty in the eyes of
local residents and that most national employees working for humanitarians
come from regions other than Abéché.
Scaling down in Abéché?
Grünewald said it is time to scale back humanitarian operations in
Abéché. “The needs have changed since the outbreak of the crisis. The
hub has grown but has lost its relevance.”
After government re-zoning, most of the refugees and internally displaced
Chadians are in areas that fall under the administration of Sila region,
whose capital Goz Beida is 220km south of Abéché. “What is the use of a
mid-way presence [in Abéché] that has created an enormous amount of
tension?” asked Grünewald. Before Sila was hived off from the Ouaddaï
region in 2008, more of the half-million refugees and internally displaced
Chadians were handled out of Abéché.
International Rescue Committee's Phillipe Adapoe told IRIN most NGOs are
very concerned about the pressure humanitarians have added to local
conditions. "This is one of the reasons that IRC has decided to reduce its
presence in Abéché. We will be moving some support staff to [the capital]
N'djamena early next year."
UNHCR is expected to shut down its Abéché office and transfer about 70
staff to N'djamena or closer to the camps in January 2010 in order to
“streamline its operations”, UNHCR’s Nyberg told IRIN.
MINURCAT is in the early discussion stages of moving staff out of Abéché,
but nothing has been decided yet, said spokesman Michel Bonnardeaux.
When asked whether moving aid workers would simply shift the price and
resource pressures elsewhere, URD’s director told IRIN that if the impact
of humanitarian work is visible to locals, then the “aid footprint” is
lessened.
“There is little added value in staying in Abéché because it is still
far from the field. But in Goz Beida the impact of humanitarian actions is
more apparent, which lessens tension between the humanitarian community and
residents. There is no way to avoid the aid presence in the east. But it is
possible to minimize and diffuse the footprint and avoid a negative impact
on local life.”
pt/cb
Themes: (IRIN) Aid Policy, (IRIN) Economy
[ENDS]
Report can be found online at:
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=87343
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