Privatizing refugee camps
October 5, 2011
At the entrance of the Dadaab refugee camp in north-eastern Kenya stands a wooden sign listing all the names of the aid organizations helping the 450,000 camp inhabitants survive.
Save the Children is on the board, as well as Oxfam, Handicap International, and scores of others. But in August the list came to include a name that most people know from the context of home furnishing: Ikea.
The Ikea Foundation is providing the United Nation's refugee agency, UNHCR, with $62 million (46.6 million euros) to help Dadaab camp residents - an amount that would normally be offered by a wealthy, industrialized nation. It's the largest private donation the UNHCR has ever received, and the agency has no qualms about taking it.
Humanitarian aid meets big business
"We welcome donations from the private sector," said Olivier Delarue, who's responsible for partnerships with companies at UNHCR's Geneva base. "We have to rely on private support in every way - financial donations from people like you and me, but also from companies, foundations and from very rich individuals."
The Dadaab refugee complex hosts a population of 440,000 refugees from Somalia, 152,000 of whom have arrived this year fleeing conflict, famine, and drought in their homeland.
But the cooperation between UNHCR and Ikea goes far beyond the donation for Dadaab. The Swedish furnishing company, for instance, has been offering logistics assistance for some time - showing the refugee agency how to effectively organize warehouses and optimally pack relief supplies.
Everybody wins, Delarue said. Ikea can distinguish itself as a company doing good in the world, while UNHCR can demonstrate to potential donors that it works professionally while keeping an eye on costs.
The more private donors, the better, Delarue said, "Such donations allow us to expand our financial base."
Though governments around the world provide the lion's share of UNHCR's budget, the international community is demanding more and more from the agency as well as from other humanitarian organizations. They need more money to tackle the increasing challenges, so turning to major private donors makes sense, Delarue said.
Doing it differently
The aid organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) - or Doctors without Borders - has taken it a whole step further, financing 90 percent of its activities through private donations. These come mainly from individuals and not companies or foundations, said Laurent Sauveur, of Switzerland's MSF.
"We realize that companies offer potential that we do not completely take advantage of," he said.
Sauveur said that while he couldn't rule out partnerships with companies, he does what to avoid all conflicts of interest, "We want to continue to maintain our independence and do not wish to hand over our image to any company who lays claim to it."
Unlike the UNHCR, Sauveur said MSF steers clear of government contributions so as to not to be perceived as an instrument of a nation's foreign policy - even if it does means less money and financial security.
Waiting for Gates
The World Health Organization (WHO) is certainly feeling the pinch of belt-tightening measures. This year, it's recording a budget deficit of $300 million, even with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation backing it with a total of $220 million for the fiscal period 2010-2011.
The Gates Family is the WHO's second largest donor behind the US government.
"WHO receives the funds by way of project aid," said Alex Ross, who oversees partnerships at WHO's Geneva headquarters. "We carry out our projects and then provide reports on them. The foundation does not control WHO's inner workings."
The Gates funds are applied to clearly defined goals. It's not the ideal kind of donation, say aid organizations, who would prefer to use them as they feel appropriate. But, "many donor groups must show accountability for their activities to their shareholders or foundation directors," UNHCR's Delarue pointed out. "That's easier when they donate for a specific purpose because the results can be better assessed."
Author: Claudia Witte / als
Editor: Sean Sinico