As the number of deaths and the horrors of the Christmas tsunami continue to mount in Asia, Canadians ask what they personally and collectively can do to help. At $4-million, the initial government response did look small in relation to the need, and in comparison to what others were pledging. When criticized at home for Australia's paltry contribution of $10-million (Australian), Foreign Minister Alexander Downer increased it yesterday to $35-million. Canada too has upped its contribution to a total of $40-million (Canadian). Other politicians, including Colin Powell in the United States, have been quick to the microphones with indignant denials of stinginess (and new pledges).
Pledges, of course, are one thing, follow-through another, as the victims of many humanitarian disasters have come to understand. Many of the generous pledges made for the victims of war in Angola, Sierra Leone and Congo have never been paid, and hundreds of millions of aid dollars have been diverted to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Meanwhile, radio appeals and newspaper ads from charitable organizations have begun to appear across the country. Many of these are placed by well-known organizations: UNICEF, the Red Cross, CARE, Oxfam, World Vision, Médecins sans frontières. Appeals are made as well by smaller groups, or by groups of individuals who have formed overnight to try to do something for loved ones and communities back home. Others aim to avoid the administrative overheads that are sometimes associated with established charities.
Oddly, a lot of people with little experience think they know how best to respond to an emergency like this one. The competition among foreign ministers to avoid criticism is thus reflected in the competitive scramble among charities.
This is unfortunate. In Britain, 12 of the biggest NGOs are members of a body called the Disasters Emergency Committee, which combines all fundraising for major emergencies into one appeal. British banks open special DEC accounts, and the media carry one set of ads, repeated as often as required. Fundraising costs are minimized, and people know that the funds will be allocated to those among the 12 organizations with the greatest on-the-ground capacity.
In three months last year, the DEC raised £32-million for Darfur alone, and now it has geared up for the current disaster. In Canada there is nothing like this, so donors are on their own in making decisions about how and where to give.
Here are a few basic pointers. First, if you want to do something, send cash. Do not collect food and clothing that may be inappropriate and costly to ship.
Second, consider one of the major relief organizations. Most already have offices managing long-term development programs throughout Asia, with expertise on the ground, and local staff who know the language and culture. They have economies of scale. And today, many of them do, or should, work closely with local NGOs. This builds local capacity and reduces costs.
Third, most major NGOs receive funding from the Canadian International Development Agency for long-term and emergency assistance. CIDA channels two-thirds of its emergency aid through these organizations and the Red Cross because it knows them, but also because it requires -- and gets -- reports, independent evaluations and financial audits. Individual donors can ask for these as well, if they are not already posted on an organization's website.
How much aid really gets there? This frequently asked question obscures more difficult questions about what it costs to ship food or medicine, or to install a water-purification system. If the response is in the form of volunteer doctors and nurses, the overheads could be as high as 75 per cent, because most of the costs would be associated with their transportation and shelter. If it is locally purchased bottled water, overheads might be very low. But overheads differ, and legitimately so.
Emergency assistance cannot be done well by amateurs, as Bob Geldof discovered in 1984 when he launched Band Aid. Angry and frustrated at what he perceived as a bureaucratic and costly response to the terrible emergency in Ethiopia, he promised to get food directly to the hungry himself -- fast, and at minimal cost. In the end, he wound up channelling much of it through established organizations once he understood how difficult it is to do well.
Twenty years later, Sir Bob has organized a 20th-anniversary version of his hit record Do They Know It's Christmas? selling 600,000 copies in three weeks. But Mr. Geldof, Bono and other concerned "amateurs" have taken the time over 20 years to learn about the intricacies, politics and costs of delivery, and now work as well for qualitative changes in long-term aid, debt relief and better terms of trade for poor countries.
In the short run, Canadians can give to any of the major charitable organizations with reasonable assurance that their money will be used well. In the longer run, they should take time to learn more about the issues. Certainly, they should ask recipients of their donation for copies of evaluations and financial statements. And they should ask them why we in Canada do not have something like Britain's Disasters Emergency Committee.
Ian Smillie, an Ottawa-based writer and consultant, is co-author with Larry Minear of The Charity of Nations: Humanitarian Action in a Calculating World.