Say Cash for What ?

The definition of an Idea that speaks most to me is : a transcendent entity that is a real pattern of which existing things are imperfect representations

This idea/Ideal pleases me because of its elusiveness but also for the implication it carries that we need to reach up for an idea. That creating is the art of reaching for the perfect to manifest something new , something necessarily flawed, something that makes a difference.

It is trendy nowadays in the Humanitarian sector to speak of innovation, but beyond our jargon filled ways, what we need are new idea/l/s reflecting that we actually think, care, take risk and act.

A new idea brings light, probably why ideas are represented as light bulbs, but when it brings cash for local organizations in Iraq… innovation be damned we are talking about Creating !

This is how the story goes:

Following a depressing series of assessment visits to local organizations working in various areas in Iraq our doubts were confirmed: Most of them struggled to survive in between grants and keep their staff employed from one project to another.  Many reasons here behind this phenomenon including donors seeing local organizations as merely subcontractors and not as effective partners, proposing them budgets with little to no flexibility, their minimal investment in the sustainability of said organizations ( staff cost , contingency … ) and a heavy set of requirements in the name of accountability and transparency that need months of capacity development and a continuous coaching both of which rarely available and highly impossible due to financial gaps.

These findings concur with researchs  our organization had already published on humanitarian Capacity in country. but in a time where the context was calling for a gradual shift from an emergency response to a more development oriented one, this made me wonder as to why when we want to adapt our response we think in terms of WHAT and fail to update the WHO.

In clearer terms, if the nature of assistance was going to change, shouldn’t we question the nature of the Assisted too. And if we were thinking of building resilience and initiating development shouldn’t our beneficiaries cover not only individuals but also local organizations that would and should constitute pillars of the development process?

By the time I was juggling this idea, our EFSVL coordinator was pouring over an obscure excel sheet, we had been lately discussing the idea of cash for work, projects we were implementing in various governorates in Iraq aiming to provide people with the opportunity – albeit restricted in time – to earn  their bread by the sweat of their brow. So it downed on me : Cash indeed is what we needed!  but not cash for work alone, Cash for Capacity! Small grants that would allow local organizations to further develop their capacity qua organizations but also improve the quality of projects they were implementing in partnership with us.

Cash for capacity to promote sustainability of  organizations with ‘vulnerabilities’ help them recruit translators, consultants to write their policies, invest in new systems to improve their financial reporting… flexible money in a context with challenges arising on weekly basis !

But because an idea that doesn’t find the right channels remain unexplored and ineffective, I thought this one should be shared through the channels of our funding coordinator and teams… and so it was and so we succeeded to secure at first one donor interested in  providing cash for capacity to our local partners and later reached the humanitarian jackpot by securing funds that would insure the survival of our very own partnerships unit for the three upcoming years… enough time to develop our cash for capacity approach and to support as many local organizations as possible.

Innovation is not a trend. Innovation is dedication and team work and the chance to have both at the tip of your fingers !

 

Dima EL SAYED

TIKRIT- IRAQ – May 2018