Hani Eskandar
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Livelihood protection - 2006/06/07 10:49
I'd like to do more on livelihood protection. My NGO is an alliance of animal welfare bodies and some of our work is specific to livelihood protection. The idea, as I've discussed with the IFRC and UNHCR, OIE and others is that many refugees and IDP's depend on animals for a living. Indeed, that is true for a great many of those in the developing world below the UN poverty line. Protecting that kind of livelihood offers the hope of a stable economic future, either for pastoralists and those who practice sustainable farming techniques. No matter the current occupation prior to being protected by the UN, we should try to help our charges have an economic future.
UNHCR has even begun to craft material on the importance of the topic. Not only will that lead to economic stability, especially if the assistance is culturally sensitive and within the financial realities of the impacted area, helping people develop a living, new markets, etc., is a technique that can also help with political stability. What I'd like to propose is to develop a working group that lays out some basic best practices in a new Shield chapter, namely that the general concept of livelihood protection needs to be part of humanitarian relief and disaster planning. Because animal welfare is so important to most of the people are concerned with, I also propose pointing to a few animal welfare practices that fit this concept and then to list sources of evolving practices in a kind of bibliography.
Larry Winter Roeder, Jr.
United Nations Affairs Director
WSPA
World Society for the Protection of Animals
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