Humanitarian Forum brings together Islamic and Western charities [Archives:2008/1156/Reportage]

In today's world, even something as simple as donating money to the needy has become politicized. Western charities working in Muslim regions sometimes are seen as interferers with ulterior motives, while Western countries have accused various Islamic charities of financing terrorism.

Amid this confusion and mutual distrust, victims of humanitarian disasters, such as those currently suffering after a recent cyclone in Myanmar and an earthquake in China, get overshadowed.

However, an organization called Humanitarian Forum is seeking to change this by helping Islamic-region and Western charity organizations work together to end suffering throughout the world.

Established in 2004, the Humanitarian Forum, or HF, gives aid organizations a way to unite and learn from each other, as well as foster better understanding and communication between them. Yemen has been chosen as one of HF's four focus countries; the others are Kuwait, Sudan and Indonesia.

HF partners local groups such as the Yemeni Red Crescent Society and Al-Saleh Foundation with international organizations like OXFAM and Islamic Relief Worldwide. The larger non-governmental organizations help the local ones coordinate relief efforts and access needed resources to help victims of disaster, war and dire poverty.

“What we do is provide the opportunity to sit down together,” explained James Hamilton, newly appointed [TK] of HF. In Yemen for the first time last week, Hamilton was accompanied by Dr. Hany El-Banna, who chairs the board at Islamic Relief Worldwide. The two men met with journalists, members of civil society and the government to discuss their upcoming work in the country.

Over the past decade, Western and Islamic world charities have grown apart due to their different approaches to development, lack of familiarity and deep suspicion of each other following the September 11 attacks and the ongoing war in Iraq.

“There was a suspicion that certain charities were involved in terrorism,” Hamilton noted, which led to two results: it became risky for Western institutions to partner with NGOs in this region for fear of being blacklisted as a terrorism financer and secondly, it created an image problem for the West.

Hamilton says the sense among residents of the Islamic world – even the highly educated and moderates – was that the West was shutting down Muslim charities for its own political or religious reasons; thus, beneficial partnerships between NGOs withered away as this rift widened.

Now, HF is looking for ways for local and international humanitarian programs to talk as peers and work together – regardless of their differing backgrounds.

“The starting point is a humanitarian response that doesn't look at one's home village, religion or ethnicity. People are suffering as humans in their own right,” Hamilton points out, adding, “So we – the humanitarian community – need to support victims.”

HF's mission statement says the organization focuses on communication, cooperation, transparency and capacity building between NGOs.

Over time, smaller local charities or aid organizations have grown into larger, more solid and active organizations. Hamilton notes that his job is to help grow Yemen's NGOs into mature and efficient groups that can help as many people in as many places as possible.

Although HF itself doesn't provide financial aid for charities or work in the field, it does bring different groups together and help them work together.

HF held a 2006 workshop in Yemen for 20 NGOs currently working in the country. Both OXFAM and Islamic Relief Worldwide were eager to work in Yemen, Hamilton said, because of its diversity and its burgeoning yet underdeveloped NGO sector.

According to him, the local NGOs and international organizations attending the workshop saw an opportunity to work together to facilitate the operations of humanitarian groups in Yemen.

Hamilton says HF in Yemen will build on “the enthusiasm that's [here] locally.”



The Humanitarian Forum (HF) is a group that helps charities and aid groups from the Muslim and Western worlds work together to better understand each other and to offer more comprehensive humanitarian aid to victims suffering from war, famine and natural disasters among other issues. Charities like Islamic Relief Worldwide, the British Red Cross and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth are all HF board members. Together, they can build understanding – something lacking in the Western and Muslim worlds' perceptions of each other for some time now – and help more people in the process.

In addition to opening lines of communication between the Western and Muslim world charities, HF also engages different worldwide organizations like OXFAM, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) with local organizations like SOUL for the development of women and children, the Al-Saleh Foundation and the Yemeni Red Crescent Society. The larger aid groups help add their expertise and resources, while local charities provide their inside knowledge of the culture, the people and society at large. HF established the Yemeni branch of their operation in November 2007.



More information on the Humanitarian Forum can be found at www.humanitarianforum.org



More information on Islamic Relief Worldwide can be found at

www.islamic-relief.com



More information on the World Assembly of Muslim Youth can be found at wamy.co.uk



More information on the British Red Cross can be found at

www.redcross.org.uk



More information on the International Committee of the Red Cross can be found at www.icrc.org



More information on OXFAM International can be found at

www.oxfam.org



More information on the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) can be found at ochaonline.un.org
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