Friday, May 21, 2010
Amanda's e-learning work on collaborative approaches
Alliance2015 is a partnership of seven like-minded non-government organizations working in the field of development cooperation. The Alliance members are CESVI from Italy, Concern Worldwide from Ireland, Welthungerhilfe from Germany, Hivos from the Netherlands, IBIS from Denmark, People in Need from the Czech Republic and ACTED from France, who became a full member in June 2009.The driving force behind Alliance 2015 is a shared commitment to more aid effectiveness and to keeping the Millennium Goals on the global agenda, keeping their focus on MDG 1 on eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.
An example of Alliance 2015’s aid provision will be the emergency aid in Haiti, where the catastrophe took place. Four of the seven Alliance2015 members work in Haiti, Concern Worldwide, Welthungerhilfe, ACTED and Cesvi but I will zoom into one non-government organization, Concern Worldwide from Ireland who is greatly involved in the provision of aid in Haiti.
Concern is focusing most of its emergency response on water and sanitation in two areas in Port-au-Prince as providing access to clean water and sanitation is an essential focus of short- and long-term recovery efforts in Haiti. As such emergency aid is basics for survival, Concern was efficient in helping the people in Haiti solve their immediate issues .It is currently providing water and sanitation services to 52,582 people at 13 camps around Port au Prince. This involves providing hygiene kits, clean water, building latrines and organizing teams to collect rubbish.
To ensure sustainability of its aid effectiveness, Concern continued with helping the people in Haiti restore their ability to produce food with cash-for-work opportunities, distributing seeds, tools and livestock to affected communities. To add, Concern has recently created areas for 2,000 children so they can play in safety. As many families are living in camps, these spaces help children get over the trauma they experienced by allowing them to play with other children. Child friendly spaces are also a stepping stone back to formal education.
Undeniably, Concern has worked well as for the past 40 years; fulfilling MDG 1 of reducing suffering and fighting hunger and poverty. Concern has gone on to work in over 50 countries, responding to major emergencies as well as working in long term development programs. Today, with more than 3,200 staff of 50 nationalities, Concern operates in 28 of the world’s poorest countries, helping people to achieve major and long-lasting improvements in their lives.
On the other hand, Concern may not have work well in their allocation of funds. From the pie chart, it is seen that it is channeling 87% on relief and development, leaving the last 13% to fundraising, development education and governance. I think that Concern should consider allocating more funds to fundraising since more supporters and will equal to more time and donations given to the organization, increasing the sustainability of Concern.
Concern has retain close and good relationships with the various governmental donors, it’s stakeholders, even though some have cut aid budgets in these difficult economic times and this may pose as a development challenge for Concern in the years to come.
Lastly, Concern is committed to using aid effectively, in line with the principles of the Paris Declaration and the outcome of Accra meeting on Aid Effectiveness in September 2008. Concern work closely with European NGO partners in Alliance 2015 to increase the coherence and effectiveness of our work.
We Loved10:27 AM
April 2008 past