Aid: Supporting or undermining recovery? Lessons from the Better Programming Initiative

In 1999, when the Better Programming Initiative (BPI) was starting its testing phase, the International Federation spent 67 per cent of its budget – or 360 million Swiss francs – on operations in countries affected by or recovering from violent conflict. There are enormous difficulties in implementing effective programmes among people whose basic capacity to relate to one another, never mind construct a cohesive narrative of their own future, has been destroyed by the horrors of war. The propensity for mistakes is frightening. Aid cannot reverse or compensate for the suffering and trauma that has occurred during conflict. It cannot prevent conflict from continuing or restarting. But it can be the first opportunity for waraffected communities to experience an alternative to conflict as the sole basis for their relationship with opposing groups. BPI analysis in six countries has demonstrated that the beneficiaries we target, the staff we hire, the sources we use to inform needs assessments, the type of programmes we implement and the way we deliver assistance can add to tension and increase conflict. The experience also suggests that thorough context analysis and programme planning can help to avoid such negative impacts and, critically, help identify alternative options for better programming that strengthen people’s links with each other and promote recovery. The main aim of the BPI is to develop the International Federation’s capacity to plan and implement relief and rehabilitation programming which encourages longer-term, sustainable recovery. It does this by providing a tool that supports systematic context analysis to help ensure that programmes strengthen local capacities for recovery and avoid reinforcing systems of inequality. It also aims to consolidate opportunities for peace through better analysis and understanding of relationships between people in conflict-affected communities. During 2002, BPI has been successfully introduced in other, non-conflict-related contexts and has been integrated with other planning and assessment tools in the project management cycle to promote a more holistic approach to programming.