Humanitarian Aid & Forced Migration
Where I come from
As a student, in the mid 1980s, I visited Khao-I-Dang and Site 2 camps on the border between Thailand and Cambodia. For all intents and purposes, these were prison-like camps. Ever since I worked as humanitarian worker from the Gaza Strip to various locations in Sub-saharan Africa. 30 years of newspaper headlines reflect my professional life: Rwanda genocide, crisis in Eastern Congo, civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone, Tuareg and Boko Haram uprisings in the Sahel.
Protection of civilians, planning relief and return to normalcy were my focus areas. I opened refugee camps and closed them. Early in my career I became a manager, a team player and leader, and a negotiator with different kind of stakeholders: in governments and authorities foremost, but also with rebels and thugs, as well as with colleagues in other relief agencies, NGOs and donors.
But it was client satisfaction what was foremost of my mind: What do the children, women, and men hit by calamity need and want? And what can the aid industry contribute to their well-being? And did we deliver what we promised, what was expected from us, and for what we were paid for?
During Lake Chad Crisis 2016
Professionalism in the Aid Industry
For more than 30 years, I have worked in the aid and development industry: in four different UN agencies, as well as for the German Humanitarian Aid, having set-up the Camp Coordination and Camp Management Cluster (CCCM) and by co-chairing the UN Group on GIS (UNGIWG). It was a continuous learning experience.
Terminology and concepts we know from the private sector appeal to me, such as cutting edge, striving for excellence, innovation, R&D. Putting people at the centre, overcoming paternalistic attitudes, I worked on the application of modern concepts and technologies for use cases in the aid industry. Hence, I worked on modernizing registration and census systems, introducing biometrics and information management to operations that were used to pen and paper only.
At this stage in my life, it is important to pass on knowledge, experience and curiosity, to a younger generation of professional aid workers. Evaluating, guiding, training, coaching and mentoring are my focus areas today. The aid industry needs to professionalize further and remain “Principled but relevant” (Filippo Grandi).
