Operating in Eastern DRC or how to stay relevant when humanitarian access and space are shrinking.

Positive Minds | Positive Stories | Edition 031

The world is at a crossroads and so are INGOs. The 3Cs (Climate, Covid-19, Conflict) have formed a trifecta to undo decades of hard-won progress and forever threaten the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

And as is always the case, when crises strike, poor people are the first to be affected and the last to recover - if they recover at all. Children, women and people with disabilities always pay a heavy price.

This is the case for the people of East DRC affected by three decades of crisis. The figures are alarming: today, 1 in 4 Congolese are in need of humanitarian assistance, the majority in the east of the country. (Source: OCHA - DRC Humanitarian Response Plan 2022)

In a country in perpetual turmoil like the DRC, the question that haunts a leader like me is "how do we remain relevant as an organisation when humanitarian access and space is continually shrinking?

I don't have the answer. I don't think anyone does either. Instead, I have some food for thought to provoke discussion.

It is October 2021. I take over the reins of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in the DRC after more than 26 years of experience in development and humanitarian work, particularly in crisis and conflict contexts such as the CAR, the central Sahel (Mali, Burkina, Niger) and the Lake Chad basin (Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon).

With my multiple and diversified experiences, I thought I had broad enough shoulders to face the DRC's complex, multiple and multiform challenges. I was quickly disillusioned.

The triple challenge of security, logistics and administration makes operations in eastern DRC challenging, unpredictable and costly.

Wherever they operate, INGOs often face security, logistical or administrative challenges. However, the combination of this triplet of challenges, everywhere and all the time, makes the DRC a league apart.

This Congolese exception puts everything we have learned and experienced to the test, whether in school or in our professional lives. Carefully crafted plans with the most sophisticated planning tools become obsolete the next day. IDP sites are sites on the move; a site you serve today is no longer there the next day due to constant attacks by armed groups. An unforeseen expense you did not anticipate and need to meet during the project forces you to rethink everything. Access that you rigorously assessed as safe yesterday becomes the most dangerous route today. Your plans fall through because you thought you would have authorisation in a week, and it ends up taking three months or more. The list goes on and on...

This is the context in East DRC, where even the seasoned development professional I am is forced to unlearn and relearn. And as we know, unlearning is the most painful learning process for an adult: it requires a change of mindset and a lot of humility. It forces you to question things you have always taken for granted.

In contexts such as eastern DRC, one realises that the truth of development is not universal but contextual. The solutions to our challenges are not found in development textbooks or pilot projects.

The solutions to challenges lie in experimentation where we give ourselves the right —or should I say the imperative— to fail cheaply, to learn fast from our failures and to keep moving without losing our enthusiasm. An effective way to do this is through strategic scenario planning —also known as scenario thinking or scenario analysis— a method used in the strategic planning process to help organisations make flexible long-term plans.

Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst. Be realistic in your ambitions.

When operating in a highly volatile environment such as eastern DRC, you must fully integrate the teachings of Zig Ziglar and William Arthur Ward.

First, "Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalise on what comes." — Zig Ziglar.

For the people of eastern DRC and the humanitarians who support them, the worst-case scenario is continued escalation between the parties in conflict. Such a scenario would be nightmarish for civilian populations trapped in decades of conflict.

However, thanks to the ongoing talks and negotiations, such a scenario seems unlikely but cannot be ruled out. We hope and pray that peace talks will resume between the parties in conflict with a peace agreement agreed upon and signed before the 2023 elections, including the presidential elections, a key milestone for the country. This is the best scenario for the people and the humanitarian community.

But the current situation on the ground is admittedly an in-between situation: half escalation, half de-escalation; half hope, half despair. This scenario is likely to continue. We must prepare for it by adjusting and adapting our programmes and operating models.

Secondly, don't complain about the strength of the wind, rather adjust the sails.

William Arthur Ward was right when he said:

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails."

I am a born optimist and a chronic positive thinker. Put me in a dark room; I will try to find the little ray of sunshine that filters through that tiny opening in the room and focus on it. In the nearly hopeless situation of East DRC, there is a ray of sunshine: the extraordinary resilience of the people affected by crisis and conflict. Despite their daily struggles against adversity, atrocities and meaningless human behaviour, many still have hope for the future. They hope and dream for a safe, peaceful, prosperous and inclusive DRC for their children and grandchildren. This dream may seem out of reach today but is realistic and achievable. And it is the duty of all of us to support them in making it happen.

Every time I go to the field, I am always inspired by the ability of these children to keep smiling and playing. I am in awe of the women, especially the survivors of gender-based violence, who are rebuilding their lives after the devastation of conflict. They and their families have lost everything but hope for a better tomorrow. They rely on organisations like mine, IRC, and others to help them survive, recover, and take control of their future.

We must overcome the triple challenge of security, logistics and administration to accompany them. But this requires a fundamental change in our operating models. The status quo is no longer a reliable option.

The challenge for INGOs in the DRC (or anywhere else): adapt quickly or die a slow death.

There was a time when the name Kodak was inseparable from photography. The company alone accounted for more than 80% of the industry. But after a century of unchallenged dominance, Kodak collapsed and was forced into bankruptcy in 2012. So what happened? Kodak didn't react quickly enough to the digital revolution in photography and was supplanted by new entrants to the market. What happened next is well known: a free-fall digression after a century of monopoly and supremacy in the photography industry. The big INGOs are not immune to what happened to Kodak, but they can avoid it by following the wisdom of Charles Darwin:

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one more responsive to change."

Let's face it: INGOs are losing ground. More than ever, their relevance and legitimacy are challenged. They operate like the Titanic, that big, heavy, centrally commanded cruise ship built around the myth that it was unsinkable. On its maiden voyage, it hit a giant iceberg and sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912. When the central command realised that the Titanic was heading towards a seemingly avoidable obstacle, it was too late to manoeuvre the heavy behemoth and avoid the worst.

Like the Titanic, the operating models of many INGOs have become obstacles to agility and adaptability. These rigid and centralised models are no longer adapted to a constantly changing world. We need new models: fast, flexible, agile and adaptable.

As our sector builds these new models, let's resist the temptation to put the cart before the horse: that is, to start putting in place new structures, develop new policies, procedures and processes, and then invest a lot of money, time and energy in training staff and partners.

Beware, strategy eats policy and process for breakfast. Culture eats strategy for starters while waiting for the main course. Let's create the right culture, and everything else will follow.

So let's start at the beginning: building a flexible, agile and adaptable organisational culture. This begins by asking ourselves some tough questions such as:

• Do we want to emphasise flexibility, agility and dynamism rather than stability, order and control?

• Do we want to "play it safe", i.e. do things safely and slowly through incremental changes, or "take risks", i.e. experiment quickly, fail cheaply and then adjust and adapt as we go?

• Do we want to follow the familiar and safe path and leave no footprint or create our path, leave a footprint and have a legacy?

• Should we build our humanitarian response on local capacity or continue to deploy rapid response teams whenever a disaster strikes?

I am interested in your views on these and other uncomfortable questions that major INGOs need to ask themselves to avoid the tragic fate of Kodak, which fell off its pedestal overnight, or the Titanic, which fell victim to its arrogance and overconfidence.