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,
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Language Kills
James Shepherd-Barron, UNICEF
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Few practitioners would disagree that building the
confidence and capability in disempoweredcommunities to hold others more powerful to
account is the essential cornerstone of social changeKeystone (2006)
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Many local NGOs did notparticipate in coordinationmeetings because they could notspeak English well enough toparticipate in, or benefit from thediscussions
Feinstein ReportPakistan Earthquake
(2008)
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Coordination costs
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Coordination costs
Poor coordination costs lives
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Coordination costs
Poor coordination costs lives
The language barrier is one of the
prime determinants of poor
coordination
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Coordination costs
Poor coordination costs lives
The language barrier is one of the
prime determinants of poor
coordination
Therefore language costslives
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Coordination costs
Poor coordination costs lives
The language barrier is one of the
prime determinants of poor
coordination
Therefore language costslives
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coordination is critical to
efficientandeffectivedisasterresponse
IRC, Haiti
2010
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Its a classic dialogue of thedeaf: the cluster approach
remains a largely northern
soup of apparentlyirreconcilable acronyms and
vested interest
UN-OCHA Section Chief
(2009)
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Lackoftranslationand
interpreting services is a vital
missing link inourabilityto
coordinate humanitarianaid
effectively
HeadofOCHA, Haiti
2010
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Coordination costs
Poor coordination costs lives
The language barrier is one of the
prime determinants of poor
coordination
Therefore language costslives
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the numbers ofpeople affected bydisasters will rise
from 250 million peryear now to 375million by 2015
DFID, 2009
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Local NGOs couldnot take parteffectively incoordinationmeetings because of
the languagebarrier
IASC Inter-Agency Real Time Evaluation
Cyclone Yemyinresponse
(2007)
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Beneficiary views should be
properly represented whenprioritizing need
SPHERE Humanitarian Standards
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Evaluations consistently
criticize disaster response for
failing to establish adequatemechanisms for consulting,
informing, and involving the
people affected by disaster.
ALNAP Annual Review, 2006
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The Cluster systemneeds to includea
dedicatedcapacitytoensuretwo-waycommunicationwith affected
communities
UN Global Symposium + 5;
Informationfor Humanitarian Action(2007)
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start thinking long termfrom day one or else Im left
picking up the handover piecesfrom a train wreck thats already
happened how on earth did
they decide to run the cluster
meetings only in English in
Padang, and hence completely
alienate the Gov and Local
NGO's
Senior Cluster Coordinator
West Java Earthquake Response
(2010)
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did not listen closelyenough to what the people
whose lives had been destroyedby the earthquake were saying
leads to misjudgments about
what is needed and errors in
strategy which then have to be
corrected compounded by
too much use of English in the
coordination mechanisms
Sir John Holmes
Former HeadofOCHA
Haiti, October 2010
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Better Communications Better Work Better World
Language services for disaster management
Yourneed
Theirright
Ourobligation
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Language Kills
James Shepherd-Barron