IRISH AID agency Concern joined 10 other major aid agencies this week to warn officials in Washington that the US policy of branding aid items with red, white and blue logos puts the lives of humanitarian workers in flood-hit Pakistan at risk.
International aid organisations in Pakistan, particularly those operating in areas where militancy has grown in recent years, have long kept a low profile. Many prefer not to use their own logos on aid materials and vehicles.
However the US government, through its aid arm USAid, requires NGOs that receive funding to “brand” aid with the agency’s distinctive red, white and blue handshake logo and the words “from the American people”.
Eleven aid agencies, including Concern, Oxfam, Save the Children and World Vision, drafted a letter asking American officials to reconsider the use of such labelling in order to protect humanitarian personnel already vulnerable to attack by militants. As flood relief efforts gained momentum in August, the Taliban warned that western aid organisations would be targeted. Earlier this year, six Pakistanis working for World Vision in the country’s restive northwest were killed.
The aid agencies' letter, which has been obtained by The Irish Times, insists that the international contribution to flood relief "must be seen not to promote a political agenda" in Pakistan.
“There are strong indicators that branding will attract violent attacks for both economic and ideologically motivated reasons,” it says. “Branding in flood-affected areas must not be used as a test-case because the outcomes are likely to be fatal and impact on the longer-term ability of humanitarian agencies to deliver assistance in Pakistan.”
Last month, Richard Holbrooke, Washington’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, expressed frustration that so few Pakistanis were aware that the US had contributed the largest amount towards flood relief – over $260 million.
Some aid agencies say Washington is exerting pressure to make US-funded relief projects more visible. Pakistan has long recorded some of the highest levels of anti-American sentiment in the world. This has been exacerbated in recent years due to anger over US drone attacks in the country’s tribal areas.
The aid agencies’ letter, which was delivered to Washington this week, requests that USAid extend a branding waiver, similar to that already in place in Pakistan’s northwest, to the flood-stricken provinces of Punjab and Sindh.
The letter also proposes an alternative strategy, which would involve raising awareness of US support through media without identifying specific locations or projects.
“It’s a matter of how we communicate the generosity of the US people. We would prefer to do it through the media rather than actually having branded goods being handed out which have the US flag and USAid logo on them,” Paul O’Brien, Concern’s overseas director, told The Irish Times.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton yesterday urged the Pakistani government to collect more tax from its wealthy elite as the country faces into a “daunting” reconstruction challenge after the flood disaster.
In Brussels for a series of meetings with European and Nato leaders, Ms Clinton told reporters that the international community could only do so much to help Pakistan and that significant internal reforms were essential in the wake of the flooding.