MONDAY

DEVELOPMENTS
Che
Out Ock
JS obsur
ectio
Page 2
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The Latest Issues and Trends in International Development and Humanitarian Assistance

SPECIAL REPORT: Family Planning

Haiti NGO In Humanitarian
Settings
Response
Project Support
In An Era of
Aid Effectiveness
Women and
Food Security

Elections and
Conflict Prevention

Washington, DC 20036

March
1400 16th Street NW, Suite 210

2010
InterAction

Vol. 28, No. 3

 MONDAY
DEVELOPMENTS
25
Managing Editor/Art Director
Chad Brobst

Advertising & Sales

Katherine Delaney

Copy Editor
Kathy Ward

Additional Contributors
Nasserie Carew
Senior Director of Public Relations

Contents
Tawana Jacobs
Senior Public Relations Manager
Margaret Christoph
Senior Admin Associate
Nancy Backus
Intern
12
March 2010 • Vol. 28 • No. 3
InterAction
1400 16th Street, NW
Suite 210 Features A Conflict Cycle Family Planning:
Washington, DC 20036 Perspective on Electoral Project Support in An
Tel: 202.667.8227 Special Report: Violence | 15 Era of Aid Effectiveness | 21
publications@InterAction.org
Haiti Earthquake Taking the long and broad view A look at the funding
ISSN 1043-8157 Response: on electoral violence. mechanisms and what
works best.
The First 48 Hours | 10
A look at the NGO Electoral Complaints
Monday Developments is published 11 community’s response Adjudication: An Unprecedented Year:
times a year by InterAction, the larg- during the first hours after An Object Lesson from The Fight Against Global
est alliance of U.S.-based international
the disaster. Afghanistan | 17 Hunger | 23
development and humanitarian non- 2009 saw major efforts to
governmental organizations. With more The challenges of the 2009
than 185 members operating in every Afghan elections systematically address food
developing country, InterAction works to Cover Story: highlight the need for effective security.
overcome poverty, exclusion and suffer- Beyond the Ballot Box | 12 ways to handle electoral
ing by advancing social justice and basic A long-term approach complaints. Want Food Security?
dignity for all. characterizes today’s electoral Focus on Women | 25
InterAction welcomes submissions of assistance programs, with Shouldn’t It Be From times of disaster to long-
news articles, opinions and announce- an emphasis on cross-sector Intuitive? | 19 term development efforts,
ments. Article submission does not guar- alignment of strategies, Family planning as a life-saving women are key to food and
antee inclusion in Monday Developments. including those to prevent intervention in humanitarian
We reserve the right to reject submis- nutrition security.
sions for any reason. It is at the discretion
conflict. settings.
of our editorial team as to which articles
are published in individual issues.

All statements in articles are the sole

19
opinion and responsibility of the authors.

Articles may be reprinted with prior per-

mission and attribution. Letters to the Departments
editor are encouraged.
Inside This Issue | 3
A limited number of subscriptions are Inside InterAction | 4
made available to InterAction member
agencies as part of their dues. Individual Inside Our Community | 4
subscriptions cost $80 a year (add $15
for airmail delivery outside the U.S.) Washington Update | 8
Samples are $5, including postage.
Additional discounts are available for Events | 28
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delivery. Advertising rates are available Employment
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 INSIDE This Issue

The NGO Community Responds in Force

P
rior to January 12, 2010, Haiti was the poor-
est country in the Western hemisphere. It ranks 146
of 177 countries in the UN’s Human Development
Index. Some estimates put Haiti’s unemployment rate
prior to the earthquake at nearly 70 percent.
The devastation that the earthquake in Haiti caused
pushed an already fragile nation further into crisis, and has
mobilized our community in a way no natural disaster has
since the tsunami in December 2004.
The key lessons from the tsunami experience can, and
should, be applied to the international NGO response to the
earthquake in Haiti right now. The NGO Impact Initiative
report (the October 2006 assessment done by the interna-
tional NGO community that looked at our response to the
tsunami) identified a number of important points to be car-
ried into future work and crises responses. Several conclu-
sions that must be emphasized in Haiti include the need for
better in-country NGO coordination, the accountability of A child plays with a kite next to a camp in Port-au-Prince.
U.S. NGOs, and the need to ensure that we build local civil
society capacity over time. and from corporations or other sources—and the number is
On the need for NGO coordination, InterAction has stepped bound to grow. The scope and scale of funds our community
up to take a leading role in working with the U.S. government, is receiving for Haiti relief efforts demands transparency and
the UN, and the NGO community responding in Haiti. InterAc- accountability from NGOs: to show how we are using funds
tion, in partnership with our European counterpart the Inter- effectively and to serve as good stewards of the money with
national Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), has set up an which we have been entrusted.
NGO Coordination Cell in Haiti, funded by the Office for For- InterAction is working to develop a mapping tool specifically
eign Disaster Assistance, to work with NGOs and link them to for Haiti to show which InterAction organizations are working
the UN coordination system. We are also taking steps to coor- where in the country and the types of projects being imple-
dinate and rationalize the large amounts of private assistance mented, as well as other pertinent information. Our goal is to
being poured into Haiti right now—both by our members and complement UN efforts by demonstrating both how U.S. NGOs
by those international NGOs that are not InterAction mem- are implementing programs, but also to help donors—individ-
bers. We recognize the tremendous need to ensure a more uals, corporate and foundations—see where their resources
coordinated, more efficient and more comprehensive response can best be used, ensure that efforts are not duplicated, and
to meeting the needs of the thousands of Haitians left home- promote longer-term investments. We hope this will be of use
less and jobless by the earthquake, as well as the need to help to both our members and particularly to corporation inter-
pave the road for future reconstruction and development. ested in investing in programs on the ground in Haiti.
Photo: REUTERS/St Felix Evens, courtesy www.alertnet.org

Around 40 InterAction member organizations were already
working in Haiti, and many of them had worked there for
decades before the earthquake hit. The vast majority of their
employees are Haitians, many lost family members, some
were killed or are still missing, and large numbers lost their
homes. As we rebuild this NGO infrastructure we must work
to build the capacity of local organizations and support Hai-
tian efforts to rebuild their country and their lives.
Currently, 82 InterAction members are responding to the
crisis in Haiti. The public outpouring of support for relief
efforts has been tremendous, and a large number of Inter-
Action members will be able to respond and expand their
efforts. As of January 27, 2010, our community had raised
$352 million in private funds—from individual Americans
Finally, I’d like to acknowledge the hard work our team
here at InterAction, as well as the work of the humanitarian,
communications and security specialists at all our member
organizations, for their hard work, long hours and superb
ability to keep their cool as we respond to this difficult crisis.
Ultimately, our collective effort is about saving lives now, and
paving the road for long-term reconstruction and a better
future for Haiti. MD
Sam Worthington
President and CEO
InterAction

MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010 3

 INSIDE InterAction
InterAction Creates Haiti Coordination Cell
InterAction has partnered with the International
Council of Voluntary Agencies (which represents the
European humanitarian NGO community) to open an
office in Haiti to assist with coordination of NGO disaster
response efforts in Haiti. InterAction has long advocated
for the establishment of such coordination cells for major
disasters and is pleased that USAID Administrator Rajiv
Shah supports the coordination effort and approved the
necessary funding. The office is lead by InterAction’s
Director of Humanitarian Response Linda Poteat and
is co-located with the UN Office of the Coordinator for
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which is responsible
for overall coordination of the international commu-
nity’s humanitarian response in Haiti. Several CEOs of
InterAction member agencies have played a strong role
supporting this course of action. InterAction’s Security
Coordinator, John Schafer, also deployed to Haiti in
January for a three-week mission to conduct a security
assessment related to NGO security coordination.
Questions about the office’s operations can be directed
to Tracy O’Heir, InterAction’s Program Manager for
Photo: Linda Poteat
Disaster Response at toheir@interaction.org.
The NGO Coordination Cell office in the OCHA OSOCC tent.
Member Response in Haiti
As of January 25, 81 of InterAction’s 193 member orga-
nizations were responding with humanitarian assistance in
Haiti. InterAction is coordinating with these member organi-
zations—many with years of experience working within the
country—to provide up-to-date information about who is
responding to the crisis and how.
A regularly updated list of responding agencies can be
found on the InterAction Web site at http://www.interac-
tion.org/crisis-list/earthquake-haiti. That page also has a
link to InterAction’s Guide to Appropriate Giving for humani-
tarian emergencies. InterAction estimates that as of January
27, its members had collectively received more than $350
million in private contributions in support of their emergency
response to the crisis. Collectively InterAction members have
deployed over 3,400 professionals to Haiti.
4 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010
Credit Card Fees Waived for Haiti Responders
InterAction has negotiated a fee waiver program with Ameri-
can Express that benefits almost all members. When Americans
donate to charities on an American Express-maintained list of
NGOs responding to the Haiti crisis, American Express will waive
their credit card transaction fees, so that the entire donation will
go to the NGO and the Haitian people. The full text of the compa-
ny’s statement on the program is available in a January 14 press
release available at http://home3.americanexpress.com/corp/
pc/2010/2010releases.asp.
The list now includes all InterAction members active in
Haiti. Efforts to establish similar programs with Visa and
MasterCard have met with less success. As of press time, the
two companies had only agreed to waive fees for seven to nine
members. These negotiations will save members millions of
dollars in credit card fees, freeing up those funds to respond
to those in need.
Different Needs, Equal Opportunities
InterAction and the IACS invite you to attend a panel
discussion, “Different Needs, Equal Opportunities.” The
event will be on Thursday, March 11, 10:00–11:30 am,
during the UN Annual Commission on the Status of
Women meetings on Thursday, March 11, at the Church
Center for the UN, 777 United Nations Plaza in New York.
During this event, panelists will discuss the importance
of gender equality during humanitarian emergencies.
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s Sub-Working
Group on Gender will also present a new online course
that will allow users to learn how to effectively integrate
gender equality into humanitarian programmes, practice
skills through an interactive, online, simulated humani-
tarian crisis, and earn a certificate in gender main-
streaming in humanitarian settings upon completion.
RSVP by March 4 to Julie Montgomery at InterAction,
jmontgom@interaction.org. Space is limited. MD
INSIDE Our Community
Refugees International Appoints Dan Glickman
As President
Refugees International (RI), the leading advocacy organiza-
tion on refugee crises worldwide, today announced the appoint-
ment of Dan Glickman as its new president. Mr. Glickman
brings to RI a long history of public service, fighting hunger and
helping underserved people in the U.S. and around the world.
He currently serves as Chairman and CEO of the Motion Pic-
ture Association of America (MPAA) and will start at RI in April.
Glickman succeeds the late Ken Bacon who became presi-
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 INSIDE Our Community
dent of Refugees International in 2001 and led the organization
until he passed away in August. Previously, Glickman served
for 18 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. where he
was a member of the House Agriculture Committee, the House
Judiciary Committee and chairman of the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence. In 1995, President Bill Clin-
ton appointed Glickman as Secretary of Agriculture, where he
stayed until the end of Clinton’s term. During his tenure, the
department made significant inroads in improving America’s
diet and nutrition and fighting hunger. He is currently Chair-
man and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America.
Vicente Díaz Sanchez to Become Deputy Director
of IPPF/WHR
The International Planned Parenthood Federation/
Western Hemisphere Region (IPPF/WHR) is pleased to
announce that Vicente Díaz Sanchez will join its staff as
Deputy Director in April 2010.
IPPF/WHR recently adopted a new strategic plan and the
newly created position of Deputy Director will support the
Regional Director in reaching the plan’s goals. The Deputy
Director will have specific responsibility for the internal
operations, including oversight to the Directors of Programs,
Development/Public Affairs, Finance, Human Resources/
Office Services and Management Information Services, and
fostering synergies among the large variety of activities and
programs of IPPF/WHR.
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6 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010
Global Disease R&D Expo
On April 21, 2010, the Global Health Technologies Coali-
tion (GHTC) will host its first annual Congressional expo on
research and development (R&D) for global diseases.
“Innovation In Action: Advancing New Tools to Combat
Global Health Diseases” will highlight the need for and role of
new health technologies for diseases affecting people worldwide.
Held in the Kennedy Caucus Room in the Senate, the event will
showcase critical new tools under development to prevent, diag-
nose, and treat global health diseases. More than 30 non-profits
working in global health R&D will be invited to display their
work, and a high-level panel will speak about the policy issues
most critical in meeting future needs of the developing world.
The event will also launch the GHTC’s first annual report
on global health R&D. The report will focus on the GHTC’s
three priority areas—U.S. policies related to public financing,
regulatory pathways and incentives and innovating financ-
ing. It will highlight the role U.S. agencies and policymakers
play in advancing innovation for global health products, as
well as review relevant recent policy changes. In addition, the
report will make policy recommendations to help accelerate
the development of new global health technologies.
The GHTC includes more than 30 organizations advocating
for critical investment in research into health products for the
developing world. For more information about how U.S. policy-
makers can advance the development of these tools, see www.
ghtcoalition.org. MD
 WASHINGTON Update

Defense Secretary Gates Proposes
Three New Accounts
In mid-December, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
addressed a memorandum to Secretary of State Hillary Clin-
ton putting forward a new set of funds that would dedicate
existing and new money—totaling as much as $2 billion– to
training security forces, preventing conflicts and stabilizing
violence-torn societies around the world. This funding could
be drawn from existing accounts or identified as a separate
funding requirement with a dedicated appropriation each
year. The proposal aims to model this system, named Shared
Responsibility, Pooled Resources, along the lines of one used
by the United Kingdom. According to Secretary Gates’ memo,
use of the funds would be under dual-concurrence authority
by the State and Defense Departments with funding com-
ing from each of the departments, and at times USAID. A
copy of the memo was published in the Washington Post on
December 24, 2009 and is available online at http://www.
washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/documents/Gates_to_
Clinton_121509.pdf?sid=ST2009122303054.
Haiti Response: On The Hill
Our thoughts are with those who have colleagues and
loved ones in Haiti, where the capital suffered a devastating
earthquake on January 12. There has been an outpouring of
support from the U.S. government and the American people
to those affected by the earthquake.
As of January 21, total USAID humanitarian assistance to
Haiti for the earthquake equaled nearly $170 million. Earlier
that week, a spokesperson from the White House Office of
Management and Budget said that a supplemental spending
bill for Haiti was not currently in the works; however he did
not rule out the possibility of a supplemental for Haiti. On
January 22, President Obama signed a bill (HR 4462) that
Congress passed to allow taxpayers to claim an itemized
deduction on their 2009 tax returns for donations made by
March 1 for the relief efforts in Haiti. The next week, Secre-
tary of State Hillary Clinton joined delegates from ten other
countries at the Montreal conference on Haiti. Haitian Prime
Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said that the Haitian govern-
ment is ready to take the lead on rebuilding the country, and
all the countries participating in the conference issued a joint
statement agreeing on the necessity of an initial 10-year
commitment to rebuilding. The U.S. will be hosting an inter-
national donors conference for Haitian relief in March, at the
UN headquarters. MD
If you have any questions, or would like to be added to the
email list for the weekly public policy update, please contact
Margaret Christoph at mchristoph@interaction.org.

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8 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010

 InterAction’s
8TH ANNUAL
PHOTO CONTEST

ENTER BY
MARCH 30

Each year, InterAction’s photography contest focuses

on the incredible work done by our members in the
field. The amazing images we receive help us to raise
awareness of our members’ efforts and to introduce
the American public to the lives we help to transform
throughout the world.
We encourage you to capture the essence of
innovative, effective and inspiring programs (or
program recipients) by sending us provocative
pictures that offer a glimpse into NGO activities
in international relief and development. All images
should be of work in the field, outside the U.S.
Entries are limited to 3 photos per person.
Submissions will be judged by an independent panel
of professional photographers and media experts.
One Grand Prize Winner will receive round-trip
airfare to Washington, DC (flights originating in the
U.S. only), where they will receive their award at the
Gala Banquet of InterAction’s 2010 Forum (June 3).
Photos (clockwise,
The winner will also receive a complimentary one-year
top to bottom):
Hilda Perez subscription to Monday Developments Magazine and
Jon Warrren one free half-page advertisement. The Grand Prize
Brenda Kyeyune Winner’s photograph will also run as the cover of the
special Forum recap issue of Monday Developments.
Five Outstanding Winners will receive a
complimentary copy of an InterAction publication of
GO online: www.interaction.org/photo their choice, as well as a quarter-page advertisement
in Monday Developments. All winning photographs
SUBMIT up to three photographs
will be displayed throughout the special Forum recap
DEADLINE: March 30, 2010 issue of Monday Developments.
 SPECIAL REPORT: HAITI

Haiti Earthquake Response:

The First 48 Hours

courtesy www.alertnet.org; REUTERS/Marco Dormino/UN/MINUSTAH/ Handout, courtesy www.alertnet.org;

Photos (clockwise from top): REUTERS/Carlos Barria, courtesy www.alertnet.org; REUTERS/Jorge Silva,

REUTERS/Jorge Silva, courtesy www.alertnet.org; REUTERS/Carlos Barria, courtesy www.alertnet.org

people in the neighborhood screamed
A look at the NGO community’s response during the first as the shaking continued.
hours after the disaster. “It lasted too long,” said Marek. “I
know because I had time to think about
death.” He remembers thinking, “At any
By Carol L. Miller, President, Carol Miller Communications, LLC and Founding
moment this desk—this cheap pressed
Partner, Five Heads Strategic Communications Group
woodchip desk that I’m under is going
to be crushed by this heavy two-story
The following is a sample of some of the working with two Haitian colleagues, building that I’m in—WHY DO I HAVE
actions InterAction member organiza- Gina Francois and Ermine Civil. A very SUCH A CHEAP DESK?” His mind came
tions took in the immediate aftermath angry growling sound suddenly came back to his staff and he yelled to remain
of the earthquake. For a list of the more from all around, and the two women under the desks. Marek tried to comfort
than 80 InterAction members respond- turned from their desks and stared them and himself, promising that once
ing to the crisis and information on their at Marek wide-eyed. He screamed, “Al the shaking stopped they would run for
activities, see http://www.interaction. anba biwo a!” (Get under the desk!) it. When it stopped, Marek noticed it was
org/crisis-list/earthquake-haiti. Francois stood to run but was quickly dusty and much brighter in his office.
knocked down and made her way under “I peered out from under my desk onto

A
t 4:53 pm on January 12, a desk. Civil and Marek also scurried the neighborhood, not through a window
Matthew Marek, the American under their desks as everything around but through what had been the office
Red Cross country representa- them—office equipment, windows, the wall. It was no longer there; blown com-
tive for Haiti, was in his office building—kept shaking. Thousands of pletely out and replaced by hundreds of
T u e s d a y
A magnitude 7.0 earthquake Aid workers use Organizations Disaster relief specialists from Some
strikes 15 miles W/SW text messages, providing adoption the U.S. and other points organizations
of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Tweets and Skype assistance begin begin deploying. Hundreds are finally in
crippling infrastructure, to inform their family fielding calls from of thousands of dollars are contact with
communications, roads, and headquarters concerned parents committed initially. Blankets, their staff in
ports and public/private overseas of their in the U.S. in kitchen sets, water containers, Haiti.
services. well-being and the process of adopting food, tents and medical
status of personnel, children from Haiti. supplies begin to be moved
supplies, equipment to the earthquake zone from Organizations not
and facilities. within and outside of Haiti. already present in Haiti
decide to deploy.

January 12 January 13
4:53 pm at epicenter Hour 1 Hour 2 Hour 3 Hour 4 Hour 6 AM

InterAction member International Agencies focus Mobile Accord, Child-friendly At daylight, Essential
organizations in Haiti emergency their initial efforts on the U.S. State spaces are official services
before the earthquake response staff life-saving services. Department and planned by assessments provided by
begin assessing damage and leadership Community members others launch a agencies begin on InterAction
and humanitarian at headquarters help one-another and mobile fundraising serving foot and by members before
needs, and providing offices in the relief organizations in campaign. Traditional children. motorcycle the earthquake
humanitarian assistance U.S. meet and clearing rubble, search fundraising due to continue,
such as first aid and determine their and rescue and other campaigns launch. blocked and including
rescues. The earthquake initial response services. Spontaneous damaged deliveries of
took the lives of many strategies. volunteers join the roads. anti-retroviral
aid workers, their families efforts of NGOs and medicines AIDS
and colleagues. All staff rescue personnel. patients must
are affected. take daily.

10 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010

 people running and screaming.”
Shaking and stunned, the three col-
leagues made their way outside through
the blown out wall. “I tried keeping Gina
and Ermine calm,” he said. “They were
badly shaken, as was I.” He had to fig-
ure out what to do and for whom. “I was
overwhelmed. I looked to the Bidonvilles
on the mountainside and saw clouds of
dust and hundreds of homes turned
to rubble. In a matter of minutes, our
neighbors started showing up with their
wounded and we got to work.”
InterAction member agencies already
in Haiti immediately responded however
they could. Due to the time of day, most
staffers were in their offices or out work-
ing in the community. Those who were
physically able began assessing the sta-
tus of their colleagues and family mem-
bers, and gauged the remaining equip-
ment, supplies and facilities. “We would
be very concerned about a quake of this
magnitude anywhere in the world, but it
is especially devastating in Haiti, where
people are acutely vulnerable due to poor
infrastructure and extreme poverty,”
said Edward Brown, World Vision’s
relief director in the United States.
As night set in, agencies with staff
in Haiti and the U.S. made numer-
ous attempts to contact one another
to check on staff and clients. Based
on their limited information, organiza-
tions quickly sketched out initial strat-
egies and preliminary commitments of
skilled personnel, emergency supplies
and/or financial support.
“Within the first two hours after the
quake, our staff in Haiti began adminis-
tering first aid and assessing damage,”
said Eric Porterfield, spokesperson
for the American Red Cross. “From
our national headquarters in Wash-
ington, D.C., we committed an initial
$100,000, then $200,000; deployed
an emergency responder and commit-
ted five others; and made available all
relief supplies—blankets, kitchen sets
and water containers—from our ware-
house in Panama.”
The welfare of children and women
was of particular concern. “We began
fielding calls from U.S. parents-to-be
of 23 orphans in process of adoption—
some for one to five years already—
regarding the safety of the children,”
said Susan Soonkeum-Cox, Vice Presi-
dent of Policy for Holt International.
In addition, World Vision began distrib-
uting relief supplies and made plans to
establish child-friendly spaces.
Communications technology played
an important role in helping people
know who had survived. With landlines
not working, aid workers and other resi-
dents of Haiti sent text messages and
continued on page 27

W e d n e s d a y T h u r s d a y
It becomes apparent that Families—injured Aftershocks Financial Distributions of Agencies Existing medical stock
the Port-au-Prince airport and non-injured, too continue to cause commitments tents, medicine help children in supply chains serving
and roads will not facilitate afraid to go back building collapses, increase, as and toiletries remain with AIDS patients and others
the multitude of offers of into their homes and terrifying those needs are continue. and be cared is re-packaged into
assistance at one time. buildings—sleep who survived the better known for by their emergency relief kits and
InterAction develops and in the streets on initial earthquake, and donations families, and delivered with bandages
distributes guidelines on sheets, blankets, and challenging pour in globally. conduct family and antibiotics to doctors
the most appropriate ways pieces of plastic or aid work. reunifications. and nurses desperate for
to help those affected by cardboard. Tent cities the most basic supplies
overseas disasters (www. begin to appear. in hospitals.
interaction.org/how-help)
January 14
PM AM PM

Responding As initial Organizations NGOs work Emergency Adoption Food distribution Responding
organizations assessments begin planning cooperatively with response staff organizations urge is planned for InterAction
route through are known, for the long- one-another and from the U.S. Congress to allow 1,500 patients, agencies begin
the Dominican commitments of term—cash-for- other organizations, begin arriving in immediate adoption family and staff planning for
Republic by cash, personnel, work programs to including helping Port-au-Prince. of children already at the General years of building
land and air supplies and clear roads and the United Nations in process of being Hospital in Port- back better.
due to limited equipment rubble, building with its roles since adopted in Port-au- au-Prince, and
air space and increase to of temporary the UN lost its Prince and other for those at other
unsafe landing meet keep homes and main facility and affected areas, health facilities.
conditions in up with the reconstruction 100 or more staff. and discourage
Port-au-Prince. enormous need. efforts to build Staff that have lost immediate adoptions
earthquake- their buildings are of children believed
resistant hosted by partner to be newly orphaned
structures. organizations. by the earthquake.

MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010 11

 Elections

Beyond
Building Communities of Practice
The Carter Center has played a key
role, with the UN Electoral Assistance
Division and the National Democratic
Institute, among others, in the devel-
opment of internationally agreed-upon
professional guidelines for election
observation. Launched in 2005, the

the Ballot Box

Declaration of Principles for Interna-
tional Election Observation and Code
of Conduct for International Election
Observers has been endorsed by more
than 30 organizations. The center is
A long-term approach characterizes today’s electoral also working with a number of elec-
assistance programs, with an emphasis on cross-sector tion observer groups to identify critical
obligations in public international law
alignment of strategies, including those to prevent conflict. regarding genuinely democratic elec-
tions. “It’s really important and can be
By Leslie Rigby, Independent Communications Consultant difficult to get development organiza-
tions to agree on criteria to be used to

E
assess the overall quality of an electoral
lections have long held center stage in democracy promo- process,” said Stremlau. “The aim is to
tion programs, whether carried out as a foreign policy priority or through develop a template, so that voters also
know what they’re entitled to based
the activities of international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs),
on their governments’ commitments.
consulting firms and multilateral institutions. Election day itself has tended Most governments claim they believe in
to steal the limelight, with heavy media coverage of foreign election observers’ democracy and human rights. With the
reports shaping perceptions of the legitimacy of announced results. help of elections you can overcome one
of the main obstacles to development:
In the past two decades, elections have also become a point at which democrati- accountability.”
zation and people-centered development increasingly intersect. Among NGOs and “One of the most significant and
international bodies that conduct electoral assistance programs, the trend has been promising trends in electoral assis-
toward better coordination with one another and with community-based organiza- tance is the emergence of strong com-
munities of practice and extensive
tions and deeper engagement in political processes beyond the act of voting. knowledge-sharing platforms, many of
which draw on development tools,” said
“Since about 1990, there’s been staying longer,” said John Stremlau, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, director
increased attention paid to elections vice president for peace programs at the of the UN Development Programme’s
as part of broader democratization Atlanta-based Carter Center, which has
and conflict resolution,” said Eric observed 77 elections in 30 countries
Bjornlund, author of Beyond Free and since its founding in 1982. “We like to
Collage: Chad Brobst; elements: Huseyin Bas and Malchev - Fotolia.com

Fair: Monitoring Elections and Building
Democracy and co-founder of Democ-
racy International, a consulting firm
based in Bethesda, Maryland, that con-
ducts and evaluates democracy and
governance programs around the world.
“Electoral assistance has become more
institutionalized and professional and
more resources are being put into the
broader democratization context. The
focus is less on an election as a high-
level political event and whether it gets
a passing grade. Democracy assistance
has evolved into a new field of develop-
ment, with programs that are longer
term and help build capacity and dem-
ocratic institutions.”
“We are getting in a lot earlier and
be there six to eight months, and have
worked in some countries for several
years, in part because it allows us to see
if there is a minimal basis for people’s
engagement in elections and that the
elections don’t just sow the seeds for
the next conflict.” In Sudan, the center
began its monitoring activities two years
before the general elections scheduled
for this April, and its work there now
includes the training of 3,000 local
election observers. “We monitor three
to five elections a year, and think very
hard about where we go,” said Strem-
lau. “President Carter wants us to go
to the hard cases, the ‘Bottom Billion’
countries, with a particular eye on those
emerging from conflict.”

MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010 13

 Elections
(UNDP) Democratic Governance Group. An example is the
organization’s manual Elections and Conflict Prevention: A
Guide to Analysis, Planning and Programming, published last
fall, which offers practical tools to help practitioners in the
fields of electoral assistance and governance anticipate and
prevent violent conflict that can frequently accompany elec-
tions and set back development in emerging democracies and
postwar societies. 
The UNDP is also a partner in the ACE Electoral Knowl-
edge Network (aceproject.org), an online repository of elec-
tion information and a collaborative effort by NGOs, regional
election institutes and other UN agencies. “Networks such as
ACE are changing their focus from electoral administration
to democracy and governance,” said Fraser-Moleketi. “In our
own initiatives with civil society we have also moved toward
broader engagement in all phases of an electoral cycle,
including political party training, civic education and post-
election activities, to ensure that our support is not limited
to an election itself.”
The UNDP partners regularly with international NGOs to
help integrate development principles, such as gender inte-
gration and the Millennium Development Goals, into its elec-
toral programs. “International NGOs raise important issues
that add to our understanding of the levels of development
in different election contexts,” said Fraser-Moleketi, adding,
“While we’ve moved away from silos and there is cross-fertil-
ization, there should be more.”
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Afghan women cast their votes during the 2004 elections.
The Challenge of Impartiality
To some international development NGOs, elections may
appear peripheral to their development agendas or working in
support of them could seem to pose too much of a challenge
to an organization’s impartiality, effectiveness and security.
This is true not only where elections threaten to trigger ten-
sions and explode into violence, but where the NGOs or their
local partners mistrust the government or when an election
is perceived as being imposed from outside.
“There’s always a danger of development assistance being
superficial, that it’s really more about other relationships or
symbolism, and this may be even more of a problem in elec-
tion contexts,” said Democracy International’s Bjornlund.
“But democracy assistance is a type of development assis-
tance, something more than just rhetoric. And there is some
misunderstanding about the activities involved in election
assistance. When there is international engagement in elec-
tions, the trend has been to engage broadly in the quality of
the process and encourage democratic values—participation
of women and minorities, freedom of speech and the press
and access to the media—not just meet some minimum stan-
dards of election administration.”
“Some NGOs may feel they should be tied to the opposi-
tion, because the ruling party is not doing the right thing,”
said Fraser-Moleketi. “But it is very critical that development
NGOs understand and appreciate the expectation for them to
be impartial—electoral processes at all levels challenge that.
And the indigenous organizations they work with must not
be partisan, otherwise it can feed into local tensions. NGOs
need to reach into all communities; any group seen as biased
will be cut off.”
“NGOs need to be politically smart and sensitive to what’s
political and how they can remain impartial yet effective,” said
Photo: Najibullah Musafer
Stremlau. “They can view themselves as not standing apart
from a political process if they think it’s fair and see a role to
play in it. We should not be interested in who wins an election
but in how transparently and fairly it has been organized and
conducted; it’s through the entire political process that we
empower people and help them improve their lives.” MD
 Elections

A Conflict Cycle Perspective on

Electoral Violence ing increasingly effective for improv-
Taking the long and broad view on electoral violence. ing electoral assistance, conflict and
violence continue to threaten or mar a
By Gabrielle Bardall, Research Officer, F. Clifton White Applied Research disproportionate number of elections
Center for Democracy and Elections, International Foundation for in developing democracies. Although
Electoral Systems (IFES) practitioners readily support the holis-
tic approach to enhancing electoral

W
hile the development on the political actors, government management, they have traditionally
community often looks to agencies and security bodies, civic and not been as quick to adopt holistic con-
elections to stabilize and media groups and national purveyors flict cycle approaches to address elec-
legitimize government, elec- of justice to uphold their roles in the tion violence. Instead, electoral sup-
tions often bring social tensions to a process. Just as almost all sectors of port providers often revert to limited,
head and may trigger violence. Election- society have an interest in the outcome sector-specific responses that fall short
related violence is a unique form of con- of an election, they have equal respon- of addressing the broader issues and
flict and requires specifically designed sibility in promoting its integrity. full range of stakeholders involved.
responses for effective prevention, miti- While this holistic approach is prov- This is changing. Electoral practi-
gation and resolution. When we fail to
recognize the uniqueness of election- Early and extensive security coordination across electoral stakeholders played a critical role
related violence the burden of respond- in the success of the 2006 transitional elections in the DRC.
ing is too often placed on the shoulders
of a few actors. Yet, as we develop an
increasingly textured understanding
of the phenomenon, it is clear that the
development community must move
beyond ad hoc, compartmentalized
approaches and take a more compre-
hensive, multi-stakeholder approach to
election conflict.

Elections and the conflict cycle

Election management specialists
have come to regard election planning
as a cyclical, rather than event-driven,
field. Beginning with pre-electoral
activities (such as planning, training
and registration) and moving through
election-period activities (candidate
nomination, campaigning, voting and
results management) to the post-elec-
toral period (legal reform, reviews and
strategic planning), each phase of the
cycle is interdependent. This approach
helps practitioners situate their work
within the big-picture framework of
democratic growth and development
objectives. It also forces an awareness
of the broad variety of stakeholders
that contribute to this development
process. Extending well beyond elec-
tion management bodies, the ability of
Photo: IFES

an electoral process to achieve its dem-

ocratic development objectives relies

MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010 15

 Elections
Figure 1. A thematic approach to election conflict and selected responses
tioners are starting to use the conflict
cycle perspective to election violence to
inform their programmatic responses to
electoral conflict. This perspective helps
identify links between conflict causes,
tensions, outbursts and solutions and
helps determine effective responses.
Using this lens to understand violence
in the election cycle helps election prac-
titioners expand their slate of program-
ming responses away from sector-spe-
cific options (such as discrete security
or justice sector actions) and towards a
thematic approach that addresses the
roles of the full range of stakeholders
over the entire conflict cycle.
Lebanese security forces keep order at a polling center during June 2009 elections.
16 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010
A thematic approach
The conflict cycle has four phases:
(1) conflict analysis; (2) conflict pre-
vention; (3) conflict management and
mitigation; and (4) conflict resolu-
tion. To be effective, election conflict
management must identify the steps
each stakeholder group should take
in each phase and the links between
those actions and between the phases
of the cycle. The steps, main stake-
holders and examples of selected key
actions for each actor in each phase
are described in the following diagram.
In every phase of the conflict cycle,
each primary electoral stakeholder has
important roles to play in avoiding,
reducing or resolving conflict. Taking a
thematic approach focusing on conflict
helps practitioners develop cross-cutting
responses. Recognizing the conflict-
related threats and opportunities in
each part of the electoral cycle also helps
stakeholders better understand how
their actions can help prevent violence.
The rest of this article offers some exam-
ples of how this plays out in practice.
Conflict analysis. Well before the
active tensions and triggers that set
off election violence appear, stakehold-
ers can better position themselves by
studying the causes and historic pat-
terns of election violence in their coun-
try. For example, they can use risk
assessment methodologies and con-
flict mapping software to map, track
and analyze data on structural ten-
sions, social divides and friction points
throughout the country. Using public
outreach initiatives during this phase,
civic actors and political parties can
gain key insights into their constitu-
encies, both in terms voter education
needs and constituents’ policy priori-
ties. By analyzing the legal regulatory
framework for elections, justice sector
officials can identify weak spots and
potential friction points within the legal
framework. While no conflict analysis
is ever exhaustive, when all the primary
stakeholders do their own research at
this stage it fosters a deeper under-
standing of the dynamics that cause
conflict in the electoral process.
Conflict prevention. In this phase,
perhaps the most important element is
the work of electoral management bod-
ies (EMBs) in identifying best practices
and regulatory provisions to ensure
integrity of an electoral process. This
includes developing auditable proce-
dures that prevent or deter fraud and
corruption, as well as measures to
ensure transparency and inclusive par-
ticipation in the election. However, con-
flict prevention does not stop with the
EMBs. Government agencies and secu-
rity providers work with EMBs to main-
stream security and electoral issues
in multi-agency stakeholder settings,
including developing strategic, compre-
hensive security plans and operational
rooms. In the justice and legislative
sectors, reviewing and making neces-
continued on page 29

Electoral Complaints
Adjudication:
An Object Lesson from Afghanistan
The challenges of the 2009 Afghan elections
highlight the need for effective ways to handle
electoral complaints.
By Grant Kippen, Chairman, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Electoral
Complaints Commission for the 2009 Elections
Samples of fraudulent ballots from Afghanistan’s 2009 elections.
I
t is a truism in the field of
election law that no election runs
perfectly. In every country, from the
most stable democracy to the most
troubled developing nation, ballot irreg-
ularities, mistakes on voter rolls, offi-
cial misconduct and more can plague
a vote, and cast doubt on its outcome.
Most Americans think of the aftermath
of the presidential election of 2000 as
chaotic and uncertain, but compared
to the assassinations, coups and civil
wars that have resulted from disputed
Photo: IFES-Afghanistan
elections in other nations, the events in
Florida a decade ago barely register.
Having a proper election complaint
adjudication system in place before an
election can help establish the legiti-
macy of a victorious candidate and,
in worse case scenarios, might even
be vital in preventing armed conflict
or other types of violence. Election
dispute resolution systems include
everything from advance training of
judges and election officials to judicial
or administrative structures and poli-
cies to evaluate complaints by voters,
candidates and political parties, some-
times serving as the final arbiter of the
election’s outcome.
The political situation in Afghanistan
has made it a perfect case study for
the importance of electoral complaints
adjudication. By executing its assigned
role under Afghan law in a steadfast
and impartial manner, the Electoral
Complaints Commission (ECC) played
a historic role in the 2009 Afghan Pres-
Elections
idential and Provincial Council elec-
tions and set an important example on
how to implement the rule of law under
trying circumstances.
The ECC is an independent Afghan
body established under Article 52
of the Electoral Law to adjudicate all
challenges and complaints related to
the electoral process. The ECC heard
complaints related to violations of the
election law as defined in Article 53,
and it had the authority to impose
sanctions if an electoral offense was
committed. In addition, the ECC con-
sidered challenges to the eligibility of
nominated candidates during a pre-
election period. The ECC is constituted
and dissolved each election cycle with a
commission and secretariat combining
national and international staff. The
ECC is distinct from the Independent
Electoral Commission (IEC), which is
the management body responsible for
administering elections in Afghanistan.
Despite its late establishment ahead
of the 2009 elections, the 2009 ECC
managed to create a transparent com-
plaints process. The ECC was also able
to aid public understanding through
a variety of public outreach activities
that included using its website for
the timely release of documents that
describe the complaints management
system, its rules of procedure, or the
code of conduct of the commissioners
and decisions.
Regarding its composition, the 2009
ECC included three international com-
missioners appointed by the Special
Representative of the UN Secretary-
General for Afghanistan, one Afghan
commissioner appointed by the Afghan-
istan Independent Human Rights Com-
mission and one Afghan commissioner
appointed by the Supreme Court of
Afghanistan. The rationale for the com-
position of the ECC was to ensure sup-
port from both domestic stakeholders
and the international community, which
followed on recommendations made by
an impartial panel of electoral experts
following the 2004 Presidential election.
Despite the goodwill of the ECC for
smooth Presidential and Parliamen-
tary elections, its late establishment,
as well as the political instability and
the general situation pervading the
country, created a difficult context for
it to operate throughout all phases of
MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010 17
 Elections

the electoral cycle. Moreover, the extended uncertainty of the

results created tension and disagreements between the two Turning lessons learned
main candidates’ teams and undermined public trust in the
outcome of the elections.
into practical guidance
Even as preliminary election results were being announced,
Following his experiences as 2009 Chairman of the Electoral
allegations of widespread fraud were made by candidates
Complaints Commission (ECC), Mr. Kippen is contributing
and observer groups, which resulted n complaints being
filed with the ECC. Based on investigations undertaken by to a study of international standards for election complaint
the ECC and the IEC immediately after election day in three adjudication being conducted by the International Foundation
provinces, patterns of fraud started to emerge and this led for Electoral Systems (IFES). This project will culminate in
to the ECC issuing an order to the IEC on September 8 to a guidebook for election law practitioners to use in the
undertake an audit and recount of all polling stations meet- field while working to establish and reform complaint
ing two criteria: where the number of ballots cast in a poll- adjudication systems. Mr. Kippen and others experienced in
ing station were 600 or greater or where any one candidate election disputes are drawing on their experience to describe
received more than 95 percent of the vote in polling stations programmatic solutions that comply with the international
where 100 ballots or more were cast. standards identified by IFES’ legal experts. These range from
Given the logistical challenges, the on-going security situ-
systems for voter and election official education to alternative
ation, the political dangers resulting from a lingering uncer-
dispute resolution methods, with an emphasis on building
tainty about the election results, as well as the fact that
impending winter weather would make some regions inacces- public confidence in the process before voting begins.
sible, a plan to statistically sample the ballot boxes covered by
the order was put in place. This sampling method was a prac- larly briefing stakeholders, including candidates and the
tical solution that addressed an unprecedented and complex international community, on the details of the process. It is
situation particular to Afghanistan at this moment in time. critically important that all stakeholders in an election dis-
Throughout the entire process, the ECC emphasized the pute be aware of the complaints adjudication mechanism,
importance of transparency, timeliness and effectiveness in and the ECC created confidence that irregularities would
its role in the dispute resolution process. The plan imple- be addressed fairly and not arbitrarily. Moreover, the ECC
mented by the ECC gained political acceptance by regu- released reports and notes of explanations regarding its pol-
icy on audit and recount evaluations, the criteria that were
used for the samples, and the calculation of the Presidential
Election final results. In an effort to guarantee the right of
redress for complaints and disputes that arose from the pres-
idential election, the ECC provided a clearly written regime
of election standards and procedures, and ensured adequate
notice about the process to individuals, political parties, civil
2010 InsideNGO
society and the media.
Salary and Allowances Survey for Finally, the results of the sampling and associated investiga-
Expats and Third Country Nationals tion were communicated to the IEC, which was expected and
required by the law to implement the ECC’s ruling to revise the
vote totals. The result was significant as where the preliminary
• What is the salary for a Country  results had shown President Karzai winning re-election out-
Director or Chief of Party?  right, the revised totals put him below the 50 percent-plus-one
margin required in the law, and consequently a run-off was
• What are trends in Expat taxation,  called. The IEC set an election date and began re-mobilizing its
housing, and localization?  election workers; however, with a week left before the run-off
election the challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew.
Thanks to the help of electoral experts and the expertise
Benchmark your organization against peer  and experience of both the domestic and international staff of
agencies. Make informed policy decisions.   the ECC, the Commission succeeded in carrying out its legal
mandate under difficult conditions, thereby helping to avert
The survey opens in March.  a catastrophic political crisis. The ECC’s successes notwith-
standing, the Afghan election also demonstrates the limits
of an election dispute mechanism. The Afghan government,
Contact us to participate or for more information.   with the help of international community, must address sig-
nificant deficiencies in the electoral process through legal
reforms and capacity building. MD
Contact: info@InsideNGO.org The author would like to thank Jennifer Mishory, Jeremy
www.InsideNGO.org Hunt, Jonathan Zalkind and Typhaine Roblot for their assis-
tance in writing this article.

18 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010


Shouldn’t It Be Intuitive?
Family planning as a life-saving intervention in
humanitarian settings.
By Mihoko Tanabe, Program Manager, Reproductive Health Program,
Women’s Refugee Commission
R
eproductive health needs
do not disappear when people
are forced to flee their homes
and communities due to conflict
or natural disaster. In fact, displace-
ment can increase people’s desire and
need for family planning, while at the
same time making it more difficult for
them to access services. In the confu-
sion of flight, people may be unable to
bring their contraceptives with them or
to obtain them where they take refuge.
The devastating earthquake in Haiti
illustrates the need to address family
planning in emergencies. According to
the Population Reference Bureau, 25
percent of the population in Haiti is
using some method of modern contra-
ception. If we assume that 25 percent
of the three million affected persons
are women of reproductive age, and a
quarter of them are using family plan-
ning services, then some 187,500 peo-
ple in Haiti may want to continue using
their choice of contraceptive method.
Photo: Sara Fajardo
In spite of known need, donor fund-
ing for reproductive health in humani-
tarian settings in general and for fam-
ily planning services in particular has
been limited. A 2009 study by Preeti
Patel and colleagues published in PLoS
Medicine, found that of the $20.8 bil-
lion annual average of official develop-
ment assistance disbursed to 18 con-
flict-affected countries between 2003
and 2006, an annual average of $509.3
million, or 2.4 percent, was allocated
to reproductive health. This translates
to $1.30 per capita per year. Almost
50 percent of these funds were distrib-
uted towards HIV/AIDS control efforts,
while only 1.7 percent supported fam-
ily planning programs.
Policies and guidelines developed
by select donor governments, United
Nations agencies, multilateral fora and
private foundations show similar trends,
with far more focusing on gender-based
violence (GBV) and HIV/AIDS than on
family planning. In fact, a 2009 analy-
sis by the RAISE Initiative found that
of 241 policies and technical guidelines
it identified on reproductive health and
humanitarian assistance for 1994 to
2008, only one of each explicitly focused
on family planning in crisis settings.
Field assessments, such as those
undertaken by the Women’s Refugee
Commission, on the availability of
reproductive health services have also
Family Planning
shown that family planning services
have not met demand in many crisis
settings, such as in northern Uganda.
Yet the benefits of family planning in
crisis situations are manifold from
times of acute emergency to protracted
crises and recovery.
Prevent unwanted pregnancy and
unsafe abortion
An individual’s risk of experiencing
GBV may increase in crisis situations as
a result of disturbances in social norms,
changes and stresses to traditional gen-
der roles, increased pressure to engage
in coercive sexual practices or the use of
rape as a method of warfare. Emergency
contraception, which does not interrupt
an established pregnancy, can reduce
the risk of pregnancy if taken within five
days after unprotected intercourse. The
sooner it is taken the better, as efficacy
decreases with time.
Even without the added vulnerabili-
ties to GBV, access to contraceptives
offers important solutions to prevent-
ing unwanted pregnancy and its con-
sequences. On a global level, approxi-
mately 80 million women have unwanted
or unintended pregnancies each year,
42 million of which are terminated. Of
the 42 million abortions, 19 million are
conducted under unsafe conditions,
whereby women risk complications
that can lead to infection, severe bleed-
ing, infertility, psychological damage or
death. Access to family planning services
can reduce the need for women and ado-
lescent girls to resort to unsafe abortion.
Contribute to achieving the MDGs
The majority of the ten countries with
the highest maternal mortality rates
are characterized as “fragile states.” In
humanitarian settings, health systems
are often weak or disrupted, and access
to skilled help at birth and to life-saving
emergency obstetric and newborn care is
restricted or unavailable.
Contraception plays an essential
role in safeguarding infant health and
child survival. In crisis settings, where
resources may be scarce, the ability to
adequately space births may be a mat-
ter of life and death for children. Fam-
ily planning improves newborn and
child survival and can reduce infant
mortality by as much as one-fifth to
one-third.
MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010 19
 Family Planning
Ensuring access to reproductive health services, which
include adequate family planning, is essential to achieving the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). MDG 4 to reduce child
mortality, MDG 5 to improve maternal health and MDG 6 to
slow the spread of HIV/AIDS are impossible to attain without
access to family planning, including in humanitarian settings.
Contribute to recovery, development and stability
Family planning plays an essential role in ensuring that
women are able to contribute as active, productive members of
their families and communities through their roles as caregiv-
ers, economic contributors and leaders in their societies. Wom-
en’s participation, especially in leadership roles, helps bring a
balanced, gender-responsive approach to governance and the
development of camp or community political systems that are
key to successful early-recovery and post-crisis reconstruc-
tion processes. The ability to plan families provides women the
opportunity to engage in education and training that can equip
them with skills needed for return or resettlement.
What can we do?
Family planning is not often recognized as a priority in
emergency response, but as discussed in this article, it can
be life saving. And displaced persons have the same rights
as anyone else to prevent or space births. For all these rea-
sons, it is vital that family planning be properly integrated
into humanitarian response and existing supply systems, to
ensure that contraceptives such as condoms, pills, inject-
20 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010
ables, emergency contraceptive pills and intrauterine devices
are available to meet demand from the onset of an emer-
gency. Comprehensive family planning programming—which
involves training staff, offering community education, estab-
lishing client follow-up and maintaining a contraceptive sup-
ply chain—should be initiated as the situation stabilizes.
The need to ensure contraceptives to meet demand is a com-
ponent of an international standard for priority reproductive
health interventions in humanitarian response. The standard,
the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP), is recognized in the
Sphere Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disas-
ter Response. With the MISP guiding the continued provision of
contraceptives from the onset of an emergency through to more
comprehensive services as the situation stabilizes, MISP imple-
mentation can facilitate continuity in service provision during
the challenging transition from relief to development.
The benefits of family planning, especially in the pre-
vention of death and illness, are well known. According to
a recent report by the UN Millennium Project, each dollar
spent on contraceptive services saves between $1.70 and $4
in future expenditures on maternal and newborn health care.
In humanitarian crises, where funding for life-saving inter-
ventions is limited, family planning is a sound, cost-effective
investment. In light of the Obama administration’s expressed
priorities in promoting reproductive health and family plan-
ning, it is time we redouble our efforts to advocate, plan,
finance and implement family planning programs so that the
crisis-affected are not faced with even further harm. MD
Plant knowledge. 
Grow justice. 
GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN  
SUSTAINABLE INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT 
• MA in Sustainable International Development 
• MS in International Health Policy and Management 
• Dual MA in Sustainable Development & Coexistence 
Brandeis University Boston 
http://heller.brandeis.edu 

A family planning community
educator speaks to a woman about
contraceptives in Madagascar.
Family Planning:
Project Support in An
Era of Aid Effectiveness
A look at the funding mechanisms and what works best.
By Suzanna Dennis, Research Associate, Population Action International
A
fter decades of weak
support, international family
planning is making a come-
back in the U.S. The first
large international conference on fam-
ily planning in over a decade was held
in Uganda in November, with a huge
turn-out from developing countries, the
U.S. Agency for International Develop-
ment (USAID) and other donors. A
few weeks later, Congress passed the
2010 omnibus spending bill, providing
Photo: Robert Engelman/PAI
$648.5 million in funding for interna-
tional family planning and reproduc-
tive health. This represents a nearly 20
percent increase in funding for inter-
national family planning and reproduc-
tive health for the second consecutive
year. This increase in funding brings a
responsibility to make sure the money
is spent as planned. In many cases,
project aid—not general or sector bud-
get support—is the best way to ensure
that funding reaches women in need
of family planning and reproductive
health services.
Family planning is essential to help
women and their partners choose the
timing and spacing of their children.
Globally, 215 million women—mostly
young women in low income coun-
tries—want to avoid pregnancy but do
not have access to contraception. In a
2009 report entitled Adding It Up: The
Costs and Benefits of Investing in Fam-
ily Planning and Maternal and Newborn
Health, the Guttmacher Institute and
the United Nations Population Fund
Family Planning
(UNFPA) estimate that addressing the
unmet need for family planning would
save the lives of 150 thousand moth-
ers who would otherwise die each
year from pregnancy-related causes,
reducing global maternal deaths by
one-third. Researchers from Johns
Hopkins University found that spac-
ing births between three to five years
dramatically increases the likelihood
that infants will survive to childhood,
resulting in the slogan, “three to five
saves lives.”
Globally, donors are trying to improve
the management and delivery of their
aid through a process termed aid effec-
tiveness. Aid effectiveness has primar-
ily been implemented through the use
of general and sector budget support,
or aid to governments that is not allo-
cated to specific projects or expendi-
tures. Sector budget support is often
used to fund Sector Wide Approaches,
or SWAps, where donors collectively
pool money for government-led plans
instead of implementing their own proj-
ects. Increased country ownership is a
welcome development on many fronts.
It enables governments to make much-
needed investments in health systems
that donors are often reluctant to fund,
such as the health workforce.
The U.S. is currently reviewing its
MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010 21
 Family Planning

international development policy,
including in health. There is pressure
on the U.S. to engage in more pooled
funding mechanisms so popular with
other donors. The direction of broad
aid reform remains open, pending the
results of the White House’s Presiden-
tial Study Directive on Global Develop-
ment Policy, the State Department’s
Quadrennial Diplomacy and Develop-
ment Review, and a proposed rewrite
of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
In early 2009, the administration
released a rough outline for a Global
Health Initiative, with family planning
and maternal health high on its list of
priorities. It is unlikely, however, that
the U.S. will reject project support
for family planning, reproductive and
maternal health in favor of general and
sector budget support, partly because
of a legislative restrictions against
“nonproject assistance” to government
health budgets.
From the perspective of advancing
access to family planning, continued
U.S. project aid is a plus. As I explored
in a recent paper titled Making Aid
Master of New Professional Studies:
Effectiveness Work for Family Plan-
ning and Reproductive Health, project
aid has many benefits over budget
support, which has produced mixed
results for family planning and repro-
ductive health. Family planning in
particular often suffers from weak gov-
ernment support because of its politi-
cally charged nature and its historic
reliance on donor funding. In practice,
weak government support translates
into government failure to effectively
prioritize family planning and repro-
ductive health in national development
strategies and key budget documents.
Therefore, general and sector budget
support to fund national strategies do
not directly benefit these pressing con-
cerns. As more and more donors are
channeling aid away from dedicated
projects to budget support, funding
for family planning and reproductive
health appears to be declining. How-
ever, the absence of systems for track-
ing aid at the country level makes these
declines in funding levels hard to verify.
The often-difficult switch from donor
to government procurement systems
also presents a challenge for meeting
family planning needs. From 2004 to
2006, Malawi transitioned from receiv-
ing contraceptives through project
funding and in-kind contributions
from USAID, the UK’s Department
for International Development, and
UNFPA to a government procurement
system funded out of a health basket
fund linked to the SWAp. While other
donors participated fully in the health
SWAp, the U.S. kept its funding out of
the pooled fund, but coordinated its
activities with the health sector plan.
When the government-led procure-
ment system faced delays in the deliv-
ery of contraceptives, USAID was able
to step-in with a supplemental emer-
gency shipment funded through paral-
lel financing and independent procure-
ment mechanisms.
USAID also stepped in with emer-
gency contraceptives in Tanzania in
2006 in response to similar govern-
ment procurement problems. By the
following year the government system
was strong enough to stand on its own.
A clear lesson emerged: As govern-
ments continue to build their forecast-
ing and procurement capacity, donors
need to be flexible and ready to provide
emergency contraceptives as needed.
Project funding allowed USAID this
flexibility in Malawi and Tanzania.
General and sector budget support
are as good as the policies and priori-
ties that they fund. In the medium and
long term, international civil society
groups should continue working to
foster southern government capacity
and political and financial support to

Peace Operations meet family planning and reproductive

health needs. This can be achieved pri-
marily through supporting in-country
Study the theory and practice of peace operations, international advocates for sexual and reproductive
civilian police operations, nongovernmental organizations, health and rights to hold their own
elections, refugees/internally displaced persons, and governments accountable. In the short
governance with world-renowned scholars and practitioners term, donors including the U.S. need
at one of the nation’s leading schools of public policy. to be flexible and use a mix of funding
• Small classes taught by world-renowned faculty mechanisms including project-specific
• Conveniently located in the metropolitan funding, and not rely solely on pooled
Washington, D.C., area mechanisms like general and sector
• Full-time or part-time study budget support. Civil society groups
• Affordable cost looking to influence U.S. aid reform and
aid effectiveness should maintain that
To find out more, please contact Graduate Admissions same flexibility in their advocacy. MD
at the School of Public Policy at George Mason University For more on PAI’s work on financing
at spp@gmu.edu or 703-993-8099. and aid effectiveness, see http://www.
populationaction.org.

22 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010


An Unprecedented Year:
The Fight Against Global Hunger
2009 saw major efforts to systematically address food security.
By Rick Leach, Senior Advisor for Public Policy and Kevin Anderson, Senior Public
Policy Associate, Friends of the World Food Program
A
s we begin 2010, it is a
fitting time to reflect on the
Photo: WFP/Maxime Bessieres
past year. While the overall
number of people suffering
from hunger grew to over one billion,
events of the past year may also rep-
resent a positive turning point in the
fight against global hunger. 2009 may
be remembered as the year when an
unprecedented effort to address the
immediate needs and long term causes
of global hunger was launched by the
U.S. government with the broad sup-
port of other nations and institutions.
In his inaugural address, President
Obama said, “To the people of poor
nations, we pledge to work alongside you
to make your farms flourish and let clean
Food Security
waters flow; to nourish starved bodies
and feed hungry minds.” In subsequent
commitments at the G20 meeting, G8
Summit and other global forums, Presi-
dent Obama and other senior adminis-
tration officials outlined an international
strategy to address global hunger. At a
meeting cochaired by Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary-Gen-
eral Ban Ki-moon, representatives from
more than 130 countries joined together
and pledged to support a comprehensive
effort to alleviate the scourge of hunger.
To coordinate activities within the
federal government, Secretary Clinton
formed an interagency food security
task force, bringing together the myr-
iad government agencies with a role in
addressing global hunger. The admin-
istration’s announced intent to appoint
a “Global Hunger and Food Security
Coordinator” will help ensure that this
critical collaboration is maintained.
Similarly, the interagency task force
has consulted with and incorporated
the views of multilateral institutions
such as the World Bank and World
Food Program (WFP), non-govern-
mental organizations, foundations,
research institutions, farmers’ organi-
zations and other stakeholders.
The world has long possessed the col-
lective resources and knowledge to end
global hunger. What has been lacking
is the political will and sustained lead-
ership at the highest levels of govern-
ment. The Obama administration’s new
global food security initiative, which
couples significant improvements to
U.S. policy with efforts to catalyze global
action and collaboration, is a promising
step in achieving the needed will.
Growing consensus
At the beginning of 2009, a consen-
sus emerged regarding key factors that
limited the success of previous U.S. gov-
ernment efforts to address global hun-
ger. Reports released by the Govern-
ment Accountability Office (GAO), the
Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the
Center for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS) and others have high-
MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010 23
 Food Security
lighted these factors, including: insuf-
ficient coordination across the many
U.S. agencies and programs that play a
role in addressing hunger; inadequate
efforts to promote agricultural develop-
ment among smallholder farmers; and
the lack of a comprehensive hunger-
alleviation strategy that focuses on both
immediate and long-term needs.
Similarly, a consensus emerged
regarding the specific activities needed
to reduce global hunger. The UN High
Level Task Force on the Global Food Cri-
sis, GAO reports, the Chicago Council
Report and the Roadmap to End Global
Hunger—which united more than 40
NGOs for the first time in history around
a specific plan to improve U.S. hunger-
alleviation efforts—have all called for the
development and implementation of a
comprehensive U.S. strategy to address
global hunger. Legislation introduced
in 2009—the Roadmap to End Global
Hunger and Promote Food Security Act
(H.R. 2817) and the Global Food Secu-
rity Act (H.R. 3077, S. 384)—draw heav-
ily from these reports and also endorse
a comprehensive approach.
This consensus comes at a pivotal
moment, as the global food, fuel and
financial crises of the last two years
have increased the number of people
suffering from hunger to more than one
billion, threatening the progress made
between the 1960s and the 1990s in
reducing the overall proportion of the
world’s hungry from 37 to 17 percent.
The Administration’s plan
The Obama administration’s initia-
tive incorporates the four cross-cutting
pillars of a comprehensive strategy, as
set forth within the Roadmap, the Com-
prehensive Framework for Action (CFA)
and the legislation referenced above.
These pillars are emergency response
and management, safety nets, nutri-
tion programs and agricultural devel-
opment. All four of these cross-cutting
activities are necessary to target dis-
tinct groups who collectively comprise
the one billion people suffering from
hunger. Moreover, adopting these pil-
lars will enable the U.S. and global
community to address both the imme-
diate and long-term impacts of hunger.
Emergency Response and Man-
agement—Emergency response and
management efforts target the world’s
24 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010
most vulnerable populations in times
of urgent need. These programs seek
to save lives through the provision
of food assistance to people affected
by an emergency, including through
direct food distribution, food vouchers
and cash transfers. Based on current
trends, it is estimated that 100 million
people will continue to require emer-
gency food assistance annually.
Safety Nets—Safety net programs
are designed to limit or mitigate the
impact of shocks on vulnerable and
food insecure populations who would
become destitute without additional
assistance. By helping vulnerable pop-
ulations achieve a basic level of self-
sufficiency and food security, these
programs reduce the need for more
costly emergency interventions and
provide a foundation for future develop-
ment efforts. Efforts in this area should
help governments create their own
safety net systems, similar to those in
the U.S., Brazil and other countries,
which prevent people on the economic
margins from falling into destitution in
the wake of shocks.
Nutrition Programs—These pro-
grams ensure that nutritionally-vulner-
able populations, particularly mothers
and young children, have access to the
required calories and nutrients needed
to live healthy, productive lives. There
is widespread consensus regarding
the need to provide adequate nutrition
during pregnancy and a child’s first
two years to avoid irreversible devel-
opmental impacts. Efforts in this area
should also support the unique needs
of those suffering from HIV/AIDS and
other severe chronic illnesses.
Market-based Agriculture and
Infrastructure Development Pro-
grams—These programs increase the
productivity and profitability of small-
holder farmers, which is critical to
breaking the cycle of hunger among
the vast majority of the world’s poor
who live in rural areas and rely on agri-
culture for their livelihoods.
These efforts seek to expand and
enhance: a) rural infrastructure, such
as farm to market roads, storage facili-
ties, and irrigation; b) access to mar-
kets and availability of financial ser-
vices so that smallholder farmers can
afford inputs and investments needed
to expand their capacity; and c) exten-
sion services, research, and training to
meet the needs of poor, rural farmers.
In summary, a comprehensive strat-
egy that combines emergency assis-
tance, safety nets, nutrition assistance
and agricultural development is neces-
sary to address the full spectrum of food
insecurity—acute and chronic, urban
and rural. To further enhance the suc-
cess of this comprehensive approach,
there is also growing agreement regard-
ing several key elements that need to be
integrated across all aspects of the strat-
egy, including gender considerations
and natural resource management.
The road ahead will not be easy as
critical challenges remain, such as:
• Fostering effective, in-country and
regional planning processes that
ensure the views of key stakehold-
ers are represented in the creation
of food security plans in countries
targeted by the initiative.
• Identifying strong indicators to
measure success on an ongoing
basis and to inform the develop-
ment of new approaches if current
methods can be improved.
• Coordinating across the multiple
U.S. congressional committees and
subcommittees with jurisdiction
over efforts to address global hun-
ger, including the Foreign Affairs
and Agriculture Committees, as
well as the Foreign Operations and
Agricultural Appropriations Sub-
committees.
• Maintaining U.S. leadership in the
area of emergency response, while
expanding the food crisis toolbox to
include greater cash support for a
more flexible range of interventions.
If the administration successfully
implements the principles it has out-
lined—such as uniting key stakehold-
ers, fostering whole-of-government col-
laboration, and spurring global action in
support of a comprehensive approach—
we will make significant, lasting strides
in alleviating global hunger.
WFP, Friends of WFP and the NGO
community stand ready to assist the
administration and other partners in
this endeavor—to help translate the
initiative’s sound framework into an
implementation effort that compre-
hensively addresses global hunger and
food insecurity. MD
 Food Security

cattle or transport, are retained as long as possible. Women

are also the first to lose jobs in the formal sector. More signifi-
cantly, they die sooner. A 2007 report entitled The Gendered
Nature of Natural Disasters: The Impact of Catastrophic Events
on the Gender Gap in Life Expectancy, 1981-2002 found that
in the 141 countries it studied natural disasters lowered
women’s life expectancy more than that of men.
As primary caretakers, women forgo eating to feed mem-
bers of their family even under the best of circumstances.
A 2008 assessment report by the Food and Agriculture
Organization and the World Food Programme found that in
Bangladesh women skip meals more often than men do in
almost 60 percent of poor households. When crisis strikes,
women make even greater sacrifices. Pregnant women and
new mothers are at particular risk of not getting the food they
need, with serious implications for their and their children’s
health and productivity.
Even though women are affected disproportionately by
shocks, they can play a pivotal role in relief efforts. Experi-
ence shows that women are more likely than men to distribute
rations within poor households and can be very effective in
the planning and distribution of food aid. Women are often

Want Food Security? ill-informed about how to get assistance, however, and are
discouraged from registering for it, especially where the local

Focus on Women
culture frowns upon interaction between the sexes. Target-
ing food aid directly to women and involving them as central
actors and decision-makers can accelerate recovery.
Like their mothers, girls are especially vulnerable. In post-
From times of disaster to long-term
development efforts, women are key to food
and nutrition security.
By Michele Pietrowski, International Food Policy Research
Institute (IFPRI)

A
s the world marks International Wom-
en’s Day on March 8, we celebrate women’s many
achievements and advancements. At the same time, Online Job Board
it is important to recognize the unique challenges and
responsibilities they bear. Whether recovering from disaster careers.interaction.org
or revitalizing agriculture, women in developing countries
play crucial roles in their family’s food and nutrition security.
They also face enormous obstacles, including their particular Talk about interacting!
vulnerability during times of crisis, unequal access to educa- To compliment Monday
tion, agricultural resources and decision-making power, or Developments’ popular monthly
control over assets. These challenges, however, also provide
opportunities. Policies and programs that address the spe- job section, InterAction’s online
cific constraints faced by women and capitalize on their vast job board instantly connects
potential not only further women’s development, but also you to the latest international
accelerate efforts to fight poverty and hunger. development jobs as they
become available. Search by
The impact of crises on women and children
Illustration: Nancy Backus

job sector, level, region and

Crises of all kinds—natural disasters, economic shocks,
political strife and conflict—most harm women, children and country—or post your resume
other marginalized or vulnerable groups. In the face of crisis, and let the hiring managers
women’s belongings—be they personal items like jewelry or come to you!
productive assets such as chickens—are often the first sold to
ensure that a family has food. Men’s property, including land,

MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010 25

 Food Security
crisis situations, poor families are often forced to pull chil-
dren out of school, as the immediate gains of child labor take
priority over the long-term benefits of an education, and girls
are the first to suffer. Such setbacks to girls’ education have
negative consequences that last well into adulthood, jeopar-
dizing women’s health and earning power and the well-being
of future generations.
Gender inequality, education, hunger and malnutrition
A recent report by Welthungerhilfe, IFPRI, and Concern
Worldwide, 2009 Global Hunger Index: The Challenge of Hun-
ger: Focus on Financial Crisis and Gender Inequality, demon-
strates that, not surprisingly, high rates of hunger tend to
go hand-in-hand with inequalities between men and women,
especially where education and literacy are concerned. The
analysis compared results from the Global Hunger Index with
rankings from the Global Gender Gap Index, a report released
annually by the World Economic Forum that ranks countries
according to levels of gender inequality.
Most countries in South Asia rank poorly on both the
Global Hunger Index and the Global Gender Gap Index. For
example, in Pakistan, only 22 percent of girls complete pri-
mary school, compared to 47 percent of boys. Nearly a third
of children in Pakistan are undernourished. Research sug-
gests that high rates of child malnutrition in South Asia are
linked to women’s low status, or their power relative to men’s
in households and communities.
Of the sub-Saharan African countries with the most severe
hunger and malnutrition problems, more than half also top the
charts when it comes to gender inequality, and as educational
disparities between men and women increase, so do hunger
levels. For example, Chad has the fifth highest level of hunger
according to the Global Hunger Index and ranks second world-
wide in terms of gender inequality. The female literacy rate
in Chad is only 13 percent, compared to 41 percent for men.
Overall, less than one-quarter of all countries in sub-Saharan
Africa have achieved gender parity in school enrollment.
Research shows that women’s status so significantly
affects children’s nutrition that equalizing the status of men
and women in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa could
reduce the number of malnourished children by 13.4 million
and 1.7 million, respectively. Another study suggests that if
all mothers had finished primary school, the proportion of
people living below the poverty line could be reduced by up
to 33 percent in countries where women are at the greatest
disadvantage compared to men.
Targeting programs to women and girls
Several developing countries have launched large anti-
poverty and social protection programs that specifically tai-
lor their benefits and services for women and girls. Condi-
tional cash transfer programs (CCTs), for example,
are designed to provide the poorest families with
current, basic needs like food and clothing, or
to enable them to invest in education and
health care. CCTs, which come with obli-
gations, such as attending school or getting
health check-ups, can be particularly success-
ful when women receive the money.
26 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010
In Mexico, women receive a cash payment on behalf of
households that participate in a government-run CCT pro-
gram known as Oportunidades (formerly known as Progresa).
Girls receive larger education stipends than do boys, specifi-
cally to encourage their schooling. In the program’s first few
years, health visits increased by 18 percent in participating
communities, rates of anemia (often linked to micronutrient
malnutrition among women and girls) fell substantially, and
secondary school enrollment rates rose by six percent for boys
and nine percent for girls. The rate at which girls went on to
enter secondary school also increased by 15 percent, lowering
the gender gap in education and decreasing the likelihood that
future generations will suffer from chronic poverty and hunger.
Agricultural development and food security
In sub-Saharan Africa, boosting both female education and
women’s control of agricultural resources could increase agri-
cultural productivity by 10 to 20 percent, improving household
food security and a family’s ability to withstand future shocks.
Female farmers are particularly vital to food production; they
do much of the work to produce, process and market food.
Despite their major contributions, women frequently have
less access than men to basic production inputs, such as
land, seeds, fertilizer, credit, and training. They also receive
a disproportionate share of agricultural extension services.
Evidence suggests, however, that such programs could
enhance women’s output and incomes.
Recent studies in East Africa demonstrate that farmer field
schools (FFS)—a popular approach to extension—can be
especially beneficial to women. Participation in FFS in Kenya,
Tanzania and Uganda led to significant increases in livestock
production, crop productivity and agricultural income among
female farmers, when results from all three countries were
combined. Per capita agricultural income improved the most
in Kenya, with an increase of more than 300 percent, while
boosts to crop productivity were greatest in Uganda, where
productivity rose by about 100 percent. Livestock produc-
tion, measured by change in value, improved most notably in
Kenya and Uganda, where production increased by well over
150 percent, thanks to the use of new livestock technologies.
Generally speaking, agricultural technologies have the most
potential to benefit women farmers if they do not require large
financial investments or other capital, or if they enable women
to obtain inputs such as credit or fertilizer or to pool their
resources. In Bangladesh, poverty alleviation programs that
specifically target agricultural technologies to women’s groups
(as opposed to households in general) have improved children’s
nutrition and gender equality, even when the income gains
have been relatively small. Conversely, agricultural technolo-
gies that generate significantly more income have not necessar-
ily reduced the gender asset gap or improved women’s and chil-
dren’s nutrition when men determine how the money is spent.
During the aftermath of disaster, as in the generations-old
cycle of poverty and hunger, women’s unique roles and chal-
lenges affect their families’ ability to survive in the short run
and thrive in the future. Interventions that look beyond the
household to specifically address how women struggle and
cope will ultimately be most effective in achieving food and
nutrition security, as well as overall long-term development. MD
Special Report: Haiti
continued from page 9
Tweets, and used Skype to contact fam-
ily and home offices overseas. Text mes-
sages helped rescuers find several survi-
vors under the rubble. One American aid
worker, Dan Woolley, used an American
Heart Association cell phone application
for guidance on how to stop bleeding
from his leg after a building fell around
him. The application also advised him
not to fall asleep, so he programmed his
iPhone’s alarm to ring periodically.
Logistical challenges such as dam-
aged roads, runways, ports and com-
munications systems are the norm in
natural disasters. In Port-au-Prince the
response has been further hindered by
limited space, overpopulation and the
degree of damage inflicted to roads.
Building codes were sub-standard even
before the earthquake.
Save the Children’s U.S.-based
emergency response adviser, Ian Rodg-
ers, was in Haiti helping country staff
with emergency preparedness efforts
when the quake struck. At daylight, he
and the country director began assess-
ments on foot and by motorcycle. One
of the organization’s U.S.-based emer-
gency response teams flew in a donor’s
plane to the Dominican Republic
(since landing conditions in Haiti were
deemed unsafe) and then to Haiti the
following day. Many aid organizations
took this route by air and land.
Concern Worldwide U.S. began
working in two of the poorest areas
of the capital—St. Martin and Martis-
sant—distributing water, shelter mate-
rials and hygiene kits while also pro-
viding temporary latrines and nutrition
outreach for infants.
Volunteers, emergency supplies and
other contributions arrived in greater
quantities than the Port-au-Prince
airport could handle. Ensuring that
medical supplies and other life-saving
necessities received priority became an
immediate challenge. To help people
in the U.S. who wanted to contribute
to the effort, InterAction issued guide-
lines on the best ways to help (www.
interaction.org/how-help).
On the morning of January 14,
emergency response specialists from
a number of NGOs arrived. Save the
Children’s team worked with locally-
based staff to organize the distribution
of tents, medicine and toiletries to those
in desperate need. The American Red
Cross increased its commitment to $10
million, and agencies worked together
to do whatever they could to serve what
seemed like an insurmountable amount
of need. CHF International worked
with the Boy Scouts to provide food to
survivors in hard hit communities.
Because Save the Children’s offices
did not suffer structural damage, other
aid workers took refuge in the agency’s
compound, running operations out of
offices and tents. Since UN offices suf-
fered major damage, Save the Children
worked closely with UNICEF to coor-
dinate the child protection response,
including reuniting relatives and help-
ing children remain with and be cared
for by their families.
In the U.S., child adoption agen-
cies and advocates urged Congress
to immediately approve adoptions in
progress in Port-au-Prince and other
areas—but not for children believed to
be newly orphaned by the earthquake.
Such adoptions, if done too quickly,
can do more harm than good.
Management Sciences for Health
(MSH) used existing stock in its sole
surviving facility: a USAID-funded ware-
house in its supply chain network that
supports Haiti’s medical system through
the Partnership for Supply Chain Man-
agement, a John Snow International/
MSH collaboration. “We converted what
stock we had into emergency relief, and
we basically put them into kits and got
them out into hospitals,’’ said Jonathan
D. Quick, chief executive of MSH. “I
was amazed how fast it happened: The
first deliveries left the warehouse in 48
hours.’’ Like others already working in
Haiti, MSH staff were positioned to act
quickly. They resumed regular delivery
of antiretrovirals to AIDS patients the
day after the quake.
Mercy Corps team members imme-
diately planned distribution of food to
1,500 patients, family and staff at the
General Hospital in Port-au-Prince.
They also began laying the groundwork
for the establishment of a cash-for-
work program and began implemen-
tation of a pre-developed program to
provide trauma support to children fol-
lowing major disasters.
Haiti has a rich cultural history and
its people have proven to be tenacious
survivors in the face of many chal-
lenges. The global development commu-
nity has long worked to help the people
of Haiti improve their lives, but sup-
port for such efforts has often fallen far
short. The poorest country in the West-
ern Hemisphere, it has struggled as
outsiders did not realize the extent of its
need. The increased attention and sup-
port in the aftermath of the earthquake
should help address that gap. However,
development professionals know that
recovery is a long-term process and
many InterAction members are commit-
ted for the long haul. Many are build-
ing on their pre-existing Haiti programs
to not only meet immediate needs but
also to further development goals while
ensuring the population rebuilds in a
way that will make it safer in the future.
For example, since 2006, CHF has
been undertaking the largest USAID-
funded infrastructure rehabilitation and
job creation program in Haiti. Two days
after the quake, CHF deployed an addi-
tional U.S.-based emergency response
team to assess the situation and project
how to best employ people in cleaning
up their communities through cash-for-
work programs, by building temporary
homes and aiding reconstruction efforts
by creating earthquake-resistant build-
ings. “Our commitment goes far beyond
a response to immediate needs, to genu-
ine redevelopment and long-term sus-
tainable thinking,” said Kristie van de
Wetering, CHF International spokesper-
son from the ground in Haiti. “When the
needs in Haiti disappear from the front
pages and the headlines, this country
will still need so much help, and we
intend to be there to provide it.”
The earthquake’s impact has been
enormous. Although still being assessed,
the Government of Haiti estimates that
200,000 people were killed, more than
700,000 have been displaced in Port-au-
Prince and almost 500,000 more have
left the capital for the countryside. The
UN estimates that three million people
have been affected—about one-third of
the entire population of the country.
As many have noted, Haiti has suffered
more mishaps (man-made and natural)
than any country deserves—and now
this. The ingenuity, skill and speed of
the international response must be
equal to the challenge. MD
MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010 27
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Contact: Ursula Wynhoven, New York, NY
Empowerment Time www.unglobalcompact.org/
wynhoven@un.org Limbe, South West, Cameroon newsandevents/2010_Leaders_Summit/
www.fotocam.org index.html25 – 27 June
22 February
World Youth Empowerment 21 March
Foundation International Leadership Team World Vision Marathon 25–27 June
Training Conference Los Angeles, CA 36th Annual G8 Summit
Adelaide, South Australia www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/ Huntsville, Ontario
www.wyea.org/conference getinvolved/teamwv-LA www.canada-g8-summit.com/

23 February 22 March 26–27 June

InsideNGO Workshop: World Water Day Annual G20 Summit
USAID/Federal Rules & Regulations Toronto, Ontario
Washington, DC 23 March www.g20.org
www.InsideNGO.org/workshops.htm InterAction Board Meeting
InterAction Offices 28 June
25 February Washington, DC Habitat For Humanity
DRC Working Group www.interaction.org International Mongolia
InterAction Offices Blue Sky Build
Washington, DC 24 March Bangkok, Thailand
www.interaction.org World TB Day Contact: +66 2 632 0415

March April JuLY

1–12 March 17–18 April 10 July
Beijing +15 Global Day of Service Sweet Mother International
New York, NY Celebration of Motherhood
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/ 25 April Adelaide, South Australia
beijing15/commemoration.html Earth Day / World Malaria Day www.sweetmotherinternational.org/

4 March 25 April 25 July

Millennium Challenge Account 2010 Spring Meetings of the Earth Education International
Working Group International Monetary Fund Deep Ecology & Sustainable
InterAction Offices and the World Bank Group  Living
Washington, DC Washington, DC San Ramon, Alajuela, Costa Rica
www.interaction.org www.imf.org/external/am/index.htm www.earthedintl.org/Summer.htm

28 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010 To advertise, call 202-667-8227 ext 548 or email publications@InterAction.org
MONDAY Developments
EmploymentOpportunities
PROGRAM COORDINATOR, OBRA
United States
International Youth Foundation (IYF), a global nonprofit
organization that prepares young people to be healthy, pro-
ductive and engaged citizens, is seeking a Program Coordina-
tor, OBRA to provide technical & operational support to the
Youth:Work OBRA Program in Latin America & the Caribbean.
REQUIREMENTS: Bachelor’s degree in a field relevant to IYF’s
mission & programs; 1-3 years of related experience; Fluency
in Spanish. For complete job description, go to www.iyfnet.
org & click on the “Jobs” inbox. Interested candidates must
submit completed application, cover letter & resume. Please
email all required documents to jobs@iyfnet.org & with OBRA
in the subject box.
Conflict Cycle
continued from page 16
sary reforms throughout the electoral framework (e.g. legisla-
tion, boundary delimitation, the composition of election man-
agement bodies, and candidate and voter registration) helps
identify issues that may aggravate the risk of violence during
an electoral process and propose effective alternatives.
Electoral conflict prevention also relies heavily on non-gov-
ernmental actors, including media, civil society and political
parties, to educate, advocate and provide early warning mecha-
nisms around election violence. It is useful to develop codes of
conduct that establish parameters for appropriate standards
of behavior during an election for all actors (candidates and
political parties, media outlets and journalists, electoral offi-
cials, security forces), especially those that specifically focus on
ensuring a non-violent campaign atmosphere. Educational ini-
tiatives that address causes of concern (including voter infor-
mation campaigns and civic awareness promoting non-vio-
lence) help diffuse or channel tension before it triggers violence.
Conflict management and mitigation. When election
conflict prevention fails, stakeholders engage in a spectrum
of mitigation and management responses. A range of cross-
sectoral early response mechanisms exist to track political
and electoral developments and to monitor violent incidents
in order to facilitate quick responses to emerging risks or
flare-ups. EMB and security sector preparedness can play a
decisive role in rapidly quelling violence. Two essential ele-
ments are: (1) developing an electoral security plan (e.g. based
on scenarios during the campaign, polling and results peri-
ods) to manage potential “hot-spots”; and (2) training security
forces and election workers on electoral security issues (e.g.
management of campaign rallies and crowd control at polling
stations). Troubleshooting mechanisms that involve electoral
actors (such as political party liaison panels and “green line”
emergency call systems) in identifying and managing conflicts
can also provide channels for addressing nascent conflicts.
Information management is another key tool. Training elec-
tion officials, political parties, candidate representatives and
observers on how to gather accurate, credible information
on electoral breaches as well as how to disseminate informa-
To advertise, call 202-667-8227 ext 548 or email publications@InterAction.org MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010
tion in a non-inflammatory manner, can tip the scale against
growing violence. When the media follows best practices for
accurately reporting electoral issues it helps efforts to control
the violence by mitigating inflammatory coverage and avoid-
ing hate speech or censorship. Mediation led by EMBs and
civil society before violence escalates is also important.
Conflict resolution. Resolving election-related conflict
depends heavily—but not exclusively—on formal and alterna-
tive dispute resolution mechanisms. More formal legal adju-
dications are more likely to be effective if the groundwork has
been laid by identifying in advance potential legal points of
contention, educating political partisans on how to submit
acceptable official dispute claims, and training judges, law-
yers and electoral administrators in dispute resolution and
the investigation of alleged fraud. At the same time, alterna-
tive dispute mechanisms can also resolve tensions by focus-
ing on negotiated resolution (rather than punishment) of elec-
toral disputes. The ongoing results as government agencies
and EMBs engage in lessons-learned processes further add to
improved performance in the future.
In short, applying conflict theories to the electoral cycle
allows a better understanding of the inter-related roles that
key stakeholders play in reducing violent conflict around an
election. By identifying these distinct roles, we enable the
development of comprehensive programming responses to
election violence that bridge both differing sectors and differ-
ing phases throughout the election cycle. There is strength
in numbers: Shifting responsibility around the room and
over time is creating stronger defenses against these ongoing
threats to democracy development. MD
The author would like to thank IFES-Lebanon Chief of Party
Richard Chambers and the staff of the F. Clifton White Applied
Research Center for Democracy and Elections for their assis-
tance in writing this article.
Election conflict and violence can develop during all
phases of the electoral cycle. Therefore IFES programming
approaches are designed to respond to threats throughout
the electoral process in order to prevent, mitigate and
resolve election-related conflict. Among the first election-
support providers to study the role of conflict in the electoral
process, IFES has developed applied research and offered
programs for addressing election-violence in over a dozen
countries since 2001.
One example is the IFES Election Violence Education and
Resolution project (EVER). Through community-based
election violence monitoring, education and advocacy,
EVER provides early warning and response to electoral
stakeholders. Other targeted tools, such as election violence
risk assessments and mapping, allow IFES to work with
government ministries, security managers and election
administrators to manage threats of election-related
violence. By working with community peace committees and
through media campaigns, IFES seeks to address election
conflict at the grassroots level as well.
29

Country Directors*
The Peace Corps is looking for senior-level executives and
managers with exceptional leadership and motivational
skills, international experience (including living overseas),
administrative and financial management expertise, and
strong cross-cultural experience to serve as country directors.
International development experience is desired.
We seek candidates that are reflective of the diversity of
Peace Corps and our Volunteers.
Country directors must be United States citizens and must not
have been associated with intelligence activities. Candidates
should have work experience managing a program or business
of comparable size to a Peace Corps country program (i.e.,
approximately 15 to 50 staff, 50 to 250 Volunteers, and an
operating budget ranging from $900,000 to $4 million), as
well as experience mentoring staff and volunteers. Since
approximately 90 percent of Peace Corps staff at each post
are host country nationals, cross-cultural communication skills
are critical.
The salary range for these positions is $87,848 - $140,940.
These positions are time limited, as are the positions of
all Peace Corps U.S. direct hire employees. Employees are
appointed for a 30-month tour and may be granted a second
tour for a maximum of five years (60 months) with the agency.
NOW HIRING:
Program & Training Officers*
The Peace Corps is looking for senior-level managers with exceptional
skills to manage staff and design and manage international
development programs in a variety of fields such as health, education,
small business development and agriculture/environment that
positively impact communities overseas. International and cross-
cultural experience are required.
PTOs manage, advise and develop teams of professional program
and training staff to support Peace Corps Volunteers at post. Our
PTOs oversee the processes of planning, analysis, implementation
and monitoring of programs and training activities, support staff and
Volunteers to meet the expectations of project partners and conduct
staff development. These officers guide coordination between working
units to ensure effective strategic planning, cost-effective budgeting,
and appropriate recommendations.
We seek candidates that are reflective of the diversity of Peace Corps
and our Volunteers.
All PTOs must be United States citizens and must not have been
associated with intelligence activities. Candidates should have work
experience managing an international development program or
business, and mentoring staff and volunteers. Since approximately 90
percent of Peace Corps staff at each post are host country nationals,
strong cross-cultural communication skills are critical.
The salary range for these positions is $57,678 - $129,008. All Peace
Corps U.S. direct hire positions are time limited. Employees are
appointed for a 30-month tour and may be granted a second tour for a
maximum of five years (60 months) with the agency.
Administrative Officers*
The Peace Corps is looking for senior-level managers with
extensive administration and finance experience, international
and cross-cultural experience (including living overseas),
and exceptional management and leadership skills to serve
overseas as administrative officers.
The Administrative Officer ensures the effective management
of country operations in support of a population of staff
and Volunteers entirely dependent on the critical services
(administrative unit supervision, financial analysis, policy
execution and implementation) the AO provides.
We seek candidates that are reflective of the diversity of
Peace Corps and our Volunteers.
All Administrative Officers must be United States citizens and
must not have been associated with intelligence activities.
Candidates should have work experience managing a program
or business, and mentoring staff and volunteers. Since
approximately 90 percent of Peace Corps staff at each post
are host country nationals, cross-cultural communication skills
are critical.
The salary range for these positions is $46,736 - $104,534.
All Peace Corps U.S. direct hire positions are time limited.
Employees are appointed for a 30-month tour and may
be granted a second tour for a maximum of five years (60
months) with the agency.

The Peace Corps is one of the most successful and respected development agencies in the world. More than 195,000 Volunteers have served in 139 countries
since the inception of the Peace Corps in 1961. Thousands more from every background are eager to serve as teachers, business advisors, information technology
consultants, health and HIV/AIDS educators, and agricultural extension Volunteers.
Peace Corps accepts applications for these positions throughout the year. You may apply on-line through the website, http://pcoverseasjobs.avuedigital.us/. You
must complete the on-line application to be considered for a position; resumes are supplemental.
If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Overseas Recruitment, Selection and Support at 202-692-2411 or e-mail AOandPTOjobs@peacecorps.gov for
AO and PTO positions and CDSelection@peacecorps.gov for Country Director positions.
*While many of these positions do not require fluency in a language, some do. We anticipate a specific need for fluent French, Portuguese and Spanish speakers.

Leland Fellowship Program Co-Director

(Policy and Special Initiatives)

The Congressional We are currently recruiting a Co-Director, Policy and Special Initiatives for our Mickey
Hunger Center (CHC) is Leland International Hunger Fellowship program. In partnership with the Leland
a bi-partisan, non-profit Co-Director, Program and Operations, this individual is responsible for directing the
organization based in Mickey Leland International Hunger Fellows Program with particular emphasis on the
Washington, D.C. CHC policy component of the fellowship program. S/he takes the lead on food security
trains and inspires policy development and food security policy training, host organization recruitment
leaders who work to end and selection, leadership development, external communication and publications. S/
hunger, and advocates he will share responsibilities for fellowship advising, host organization communication,
public policies that create interviewing and selection of fellows with the Leland Co-Director, Program and
a food secure world. Operations. This individual may manage other program staff. Excellent writing, people
and program management skills required, and a demonstrated commitment to the
CHC’s Mickey Leland Congressional Hunger Center’s mission to end hunger and poverty. Domestic and
International Hunger extensive overseas travel required.
Fellowship is a unique
two-year leadership SALARY & BENEFITS
development CHC provides competitive salaries and excellent benefits.
opportunity for
experienced, motivated TO APPLY
individuals seeking to Visit our website at http://www.hungercenter.org/chc/jobs.htm for additional information
make a difference in the on this position and the Leland Fellowship program. Please submit current resume and
struggle to eliminate cover letter by Sunday, March 7, 2010 to hr@hungercenter.org.
hunger and poverty
worldwide. EEOE/AA

30 MONDAY DEVELOPMENTS March 2010 To advertise, call 202-667-8227 ext 548 or email publications@InterAction.org
Job Openings Chief, Program
Development
Arlington,VA

Deputy, Chief
Financial Officer
Arlington,VA

Deputy Director,
Health
Arlington,VA

Chief of
Operations,
Infrastructure
Kabul,
Afghanistan

Deputy Chief
of Operations,
Infrastructure
Kabul,
Afghanistan

1621 North Kent Street For more

Fourth Floor information,
Arlington,VA 22209 contact Christine
P: 703.248.0161 Dalpino at
F: 703.248.0194 703.248.0161
www.ird.org or visit
www.ird.org and
click on “careers.”
GardaWorld contributes to making your world secure