Swiss - Activist | 1956 -
Humanitarian assistance, once conceived as a short-term relief effort, is increasingly the only substitute for long-term development work in protracted armed conflicts.
Peter Maurer
WorkEffortDevelopmentLong-Term
The fragility created by protracted conflicts, resulting in destroyed cities and dramatically insufficient services, is not something that humanitarian organizations can address comprehensively. Only political solutions can end armed conflicts.
EndPoliticalSomethingDestroyed
Businesses operating in fragile or conflict-affected environments bear a responsibility to, at the very minimum, do no harm and avoid fuelling conflict or reinforcing fragility.
ResponsibilityConflictBearFragile
The humanitarian ecosystem is diverse - not only is there a variety of traditional humanitarian actors, but the system should also embrace an increasing diversity of private sector actors.
DiversityEmbraceSystemVariety
There is a clear business case for building the resilience and capacity of local communities, businesses, and institutions because a peaceful, educated, and productive population will stimulate economic growth in the long term.
GrowthBusinessBuildingResilience
The creative capacity of the private sector should be harnessed to develop new and more effective ways to deliver humanitarian solutions.
CreativeNewMoreSolutionsDeliver
Local businesses and communities must be included from the very start in developing solutions to fragility, violence, and conflict.
ConflictStartViolenceMustLocal
Fragility, violence, and conflict are complex. Fragility is influenced by a wide set of factors, many of which are deeply entrenched, such as high social and income inequality. The lines between criminal, inter-communal, and politically motivated violence are often blurred.
ConflictViolenceInequalityHigh
Conflicts are increasingly causing devastation in densely populated urban centres rather than open battlefields, creating a host of new problems through the cumulative impact from the destruction of vital services like water and electricity.
WaterProblemsImpactElectricity
We must understand the factors that cause fragility, violence, and conflict in order to develop solutions that will meaningfully reduce instability at its roots rather than merely addressing the symptoms.
RootsConflictViolenceUnderstand
People living through armed conflicts need infrastructure and services which will last, and the last thing on their mind is which budget line applies.
PeopleMindBudgetLivingWillNeed
The relatively unpredictable flow of funds to humanitarian organizations, and the bureaucratic strings often attached to them, can have a highly negative impact on an organization's ability to plan and execute programmes effectively. We need to be able to rely on predictable income flows to plan sustainable programmes.
OrganizationNegativeImpactPlan
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