Support Critical Relief Oversight After Disasters

After the devastating Haiti earthquake, billions of dollars were donated to the humanitarian response. Unfortunately, Haitian survivors did not feel the world’s generosity.

Founded in 2007 after Hurricane Katrina, and an Echoing Green fellowship recipient in 2008, DAP is the only independent nonprofit organization that provides detailed and sustained oversight of humanitarian aid and relief. Since the earthquake, DAP has released two reports on the transparency of aid/relief groups operating in Haiti.

Latest Report:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/46320380/OneYear-Followup-Report-Transparency-of-Relief-Organizations-Responding-to-2010-Haiti-Earthquake

The reports received extensive news coverage in Haitian and international press and the latest, released on the one-year anniversary of the earthquake, was utilized by both candidates in Haiti’s presidential run-off, numerous U.N. offices, aid organizations themselves, foundations and other donors (large and small), and was hailed by many as “the best information available” about the actual on-the-ground activities of aid and relief groups.

DAP is now recognized as a leader in oversight of the humanitarian sector and an independent facilitator of information between aid organizations, the media, governments, the U.N., donors, and the public. DAP is uniquely positioned to bring together these sectors and other stakeholders to establish appropriate standards for transparency and cross-sector information sharing in humanitarian, aid, and relief situations.

What’s the problem?

Billions of dollars are wasted, or at least significantly under-utilized, globally every year by the humanitarian/aid sector. In the case of Haiti, billions of dollars were donated and nearly one million people are still homeless or displaced, with many living in tents, as hurricane season looms in the coming months. Eleven months after the earthquake, a cholera outbreak killed at least 4,000 people, despite the billions of dollars donated to save lives and dozens, if not hundreds, of non-governmental organizations actively fundraising to develop water and sanitation systems in Haiti.

Despite its efforts, the humanitarian sector cannot oversee itself. While uniquely positioned to lead and facilitate coordination across the sector, the U.N. delivers direct aid and assistance and cannot also provide effective, independent oversight.

Without sufficient independent oversight and sector-wide standards for transparency, aid organizations cannot begin to effectively coordinate and donor dollars cannot be allocated according to organizations’ capacity or ability to deliver aid on the ground. Coordination failures and mismatched resource distribution are commonly cited as problems in Haiti earthquake relief and recovery efforts.

What can be done?

In a short time, DAP has demonstrated the importance of transparency in organizations entrusted with the public’s goodwill after disasters. We have attracted the attention of the news media, donors, and other decision makers and it is critical that these stakeholders have the ability to evaluate the effectiveness of aid and relief operations. Without factual information about groups’ regular and on-going activities on the ground, we cannot begin to measure effectiveness.

Billions of dollars are donated to groups every year and there are few ways, if any, to measure effectiveness in an objective way.

Disaster Accountability Project’s reports serve as valuable single-moment snapshots and demonstrate significant deficiencies in transparency. DAP is committed to sending out more surveys to aid groups and compiling more reports, yet we can and should do more.

Our message is generating traction and we now have an opportunity to improve the humanitarian aid sector.

The New York Times
7/12/10
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/report-faults-haiti-aid-groups-on-openness/

NGOs in Haiti face new questions about effectiveness
Washington Post
2/1/11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/01/AR2011020102030.html