What is unique about International Lifeline Fund? I have been asking myself this question since I joined ILF in May 2011. Compared to the 25 other NGO’s operating in Dadaab, there is a special trait embedded in the organization’s core that motivates me to work for ILF over the rest. My thoughts then wandered to my staff, and if they felt the same about their work at the organization. On the 29th of September, I organized the first ILF workshop in the ILF factory in Hagadera camp.
All 35 of the refugee staff and three guests from UNHCR and another NGO attended to observe a drama and song competition, speeches from each supervisor, and group discussion on what makes ILF so unique.
A guest from UNHCR addressing the staff
In the group discussion, I divided the staff into six groups and gave each group a different question.
First I asked the groups, “How would you respond if a community leader who does not know anything about ILF asks you how ILF is different from other NGO’s?
Groups discussed for 10 minutes and gave a short presentation. For the first question, one group said “We are a NGO like GIZ, making and providing cooking stoves, and we are composed of Somalis, Ethiopians and one Japanese.”
Team building activities
I appreciated their answer and asked all the participants another question. “Many journalists who visited our factory were impressed about one particular thing about ILF. What is that?” The staff remained silent. I asked them “how many staffs do we have, and how many of them are refugees?” They answered “35 out of 36 are refugees.” Then, I asked them again “do you know any other NGO which has such high percentage of refugee staff?” The staff said no.
In comparison, CARE, the largest NGO in Dadaab, has 2000 refugee workers and 300 Kenyan national staffs. About 87 % of the staff is refugee. With ILF, this ratio is 97 %. Visitors are happy to see refugees doing almost all the work by themselves.
The second question I asked the staff was, “If you want to hire a new employee, what criteria would you use to choose one from among 100,000 refugees living in the camp?”
Two groups answered the second question. One group would choose an employee based on one’s vulnerability, such as widows or orphans status, and the other group said skill and experience are important factors. I let the participants discuss which one is more important, vulnerability or skill. Some argued for vulnerability, because vulnerable ones tend to work harder. Others argued both are important. I asked them if they had a previous experience of stove making before they worked for ILF. Almost none of them did. I asked if the work was difficult to learn. They all said no.
The Dadaab refugee complex does not have enough jobs for everybody. According to a UN survey on youth in Feb 2011, 30 percent of 1300 respondents had a job, and the biggest employers were aid agencies. However, most of the agency jobs require literacy skill, thus employment rate among illiterate refugees is three times lower than literate regfugees. ILF is one of the few NGOs which do not require literacy, thus providing support to the most vulnerable refugees.
Building the community
In fact, 28 of 35 members of the ILF staff do not know how to read and write. We have an elderly member, a survivor of domestic violence, widows, orphans, ethnic minorities, and a disabled person. Currently, former sex workers are doing an internship with us.
If the staff members realize how special they are to the organization, doing almost all the agency work by themselves despite all the hardships they carry, their motivation may hopefully increase. And one day, they can become a model to other agencies by promoting self-sufficiency in such a high aid-dependency environment.
Yoko Kuroiwa Environmental Program Officer Dadaab, Kenya