International Aid, Local Capacity Building: Improving Community Health Through Partnerships

Summary: Seeing the influx of international aid into Haiti following the 2010 earthquake, Dr. Florence Jean-Louis, Director of Human Development at Fonkoze, asked herself, “How can all this support, all this solidarity, stay in-country and have a real impact in the long-term?” She spoke at a recent Wilson Center event on the importance of community health systems to the sustainable development and stability of countries. The answer, she concluded, was to build the capacity of local organizations. Case #1: Haiti and the Power of the Local Community In Haiti, Fonkoze began as a small local organization with a grant from USAID. As a new organization, Fonkoze aimed to address sustainability by employing local community members, rather than professional foreign staff. “It took a lot of training, coaching, and consulting to get there,” said Dr. Jean-Louis. Using a volunteer-based strategy and grants from USAID and Advancing Partners & Communities (APC), Fonkoze has achieved a great deal of impact and positive health outcomes from nutrition, sanitation and hygiene, and other programs. Case #2: Increasing Ebola Survivors’ Access to Care in Liberia Liberia was one of the countries most affected by the Ebola crisis in 2014 and 2016. Those who survived the infection faced significant morbidity and challenges to their quality of life, including mental health problems and eye issues. “The focus of our work was on survivors, which including increasing access to specialty care,” said Dr. Rose Macauley, Chief of Party at APC Liberia. Funded by USAID, APC Liberia trained 60 mental health clinicians to meet the needs of Ebola survivors. Prior to this program, Liberia only had one psychiatrist for the 4.5 million people that lived there, said Macauley. Through the grant, APC also funded two faith-based institutions that care for survivors. More than 22 percent of the country’s Ebola survivors registered with them. APC also supported the development of the National Ebola Survivors’ Network of Liberia, a civil society organization that empowers survivors to recover, advocate for themselves, and integrate into their communities. Case #3: Expanding Services for the Disabled in Laos Millions of undetonated submunitions remain scattered throughout Laos since the Vietnam-American War. These explosives continue to be a source of danger and have caused thousands of accidental injuries and deaths since the end of the war. As a grantee of APC, World Education Laos implemented the TEAM (Training, Economic Empowerment, Assistive Devices, and Medical Rehabilitation) project, which gave out “$2.7 million dollars of grants in almost three years to 16 sub-grantees in Laos,” said James MacNeil, Vice President of World Education. These sub-grantees included the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE), as well as the Quality of Life Association (QLA), which are both local organizations dedicated to providing support and assistance to victims of unexploded ordnance (UXO) and people with disabilities to promote rehabilitation and sustainable livelihoods. As a result, these programs have made a significant impact in the disability sector in Laos. Each speaker highlighted how partnerships between local organizations, international organizations and donors, and governments help communities respond to local challenges. These partnerships provide resources to support local organizations and solutions that build capacity to help countries become self-reliant. “Local organizations should be key actors in the work for sustainable development since they are the ones who stay, who strive, who sustain efforts with no termination date,” said Dr. Jean-Louis.