The Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research conducted a series of focus groups with representatives of humanitarian aid recipients, international donor organizations and authorities responsible for administering the Automated Humanitarian Aid System (AHAS).
The purpose of these discussions was to outline the range of problems faced by participants in importing, accounting for, distributing, and reporting humanitarian aid and to find ways to solve them.
During the discussions, the participants identified the following main challenges and ways to address them
Operation of the Automated Humanitarian Aid System (AHAS)
All the discussion participants emphasized the importance of the AHAS for structuring the distribution of humanitarian aid. At the same time, several technical and organizational problems were highlighted:
- the lack of synchronization between the AHAS and the customs base leads to delays in cargo accounting. As a result, organizations are forced to use paper declarations, which creates risks of data discrepancies;
- inability to correct errors in reports without completely deleting them;
- the need to manually enter large amounts of data, which greatly complicates administration.
Suggested solutions:
- integration of the AHAS with other government systems, including the customs database, to reduce data duplication and synchronize data in real time;
- implementation of the function of automatic uploading and editing of reports without the need to delete all previous reports;
- improving the interface of the AHAS to simplify the entry of information.
Reporting and transparency issues
Donors and recipients of humanitarian aid pointed out the bureaucracy and complexity of reporting procedures:
- duplication of data in different systems, which requires significant human and time resources.
- lack of unified reporting standards, which creates an additional burden on organizations;
- lack of public reports on the receipt and distribution of humanitarian aid, while openness of information under martial law may pose security threats to humanitarian organizations and volunteers.
Suggested solutions:
- creation of a single platform for automating accounting and reporting;
- Integration of international standards for humanitarian aid accounting into the AHAS;
- providing donors with access to generalized analytics on aid distribution, taking into account security restrictions.
Regulate the process of writing off humanitarian aid
Recipients of humanitarian aid and the authorities emphasized the need for a clear mechanism for writing off humanitarian goods that have lost their quality or become unusable.
Suggested solutions:
- developing a single regulatory document that would regulate the process of writing off and utilizing humanitarian goods;
- defining an algorithm of actions for recipients of humanitarian aid that will simplify reporting.
Simplifying the import of certain categories of humanitarian goods
Donor organizations emphasized the complicated procedures for importing specific goods, such as medical equipment and vehicles. In particular, the rules for the transfer of vehicles for humanitarian needs are not regulated.
Suggested solutions:
- developing legislative changes to simplify the import of humanitarian vehicles, especially for organizations involved in demining and evacuation of the wounded;
- regulation of the procedure for obtaining the status of recipient of humanitarian aid for branches of organizations that do not have the status of a legal entity.
Communication between stakeholders
Recipients of assistance noted insufficient coordination between the authorities and lack of awareness of customs officials about the rules for importing humanitarian goods, which leads to delays and misunderstandings. In particular, local administrations do not always take responsibility for aid distribution. There have also been cases of recipients of humanitarian aid being asked by the State Customs Service to provide additional documents not required by law (confirmation letters from recipients, inventory of goods, statements of expected distribution and lists of recipients).
Suggested solutions:
- conducting training sessions for customs officers and local administrations;
- establishing a single hotline to resolve problems arising from the clearance of humanitarian cargo.
Training and technical support for the users of the AHAS
All participants in the discussions emphasized the need for ongoing training: for the administrators of the AHAS as changes in legislation and system functionality require regular updates of knowledge, and for local organizations-recipients of humanitarian aid on how to work with the automated system.
Proposed solutions:
- implementation of study visits and online courses for users of the AHAS;
- creating a training platform with step-by-step instructions and videos;
- conducting trainings for local organizations on the use of the AHAS and providing them with centralized institutional and technical support.
Conclusions
Focus group discussions have become important in identifying problems and ways to improve the humanitarian aid system. The solutions proposed by the participants will be considered in the development of amendments to the legislation and further advocacy.
The discussions were conducted by the Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research as part of the project “CSO Meter: Empowered for Action” project within the framework of the CSO Meter Hub in Ukraine with the support of the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) and funding from the European Union. The discussion results will be used to improve the legislation on humanitarian aid. Our organization continues to collect feedback from the public sector on the work of the AHAS and is ready to help solve the problems faced by other organizations.
Read also: Current challenges and prospects for development in the field of humanitarian aid: discussion of public authorities focus group