Guide to Nongovernmental Organizations for the Military

Examples: In Kosovo, Burundi, Darfur, Iraq, and Afghanistan, NGOs coordinated extensively
within the NGO community to manage information, for safety as well as advocacy bodies
to international donors or local and regional governments.
• External coordination between NGOs, militaries, governments, and donor agencies has
also produced a substantial amount of experience for all parties involved in coordinating,
communicating and generally interfacing with one another. The preferred external
coordination for NGOs is a UN-coordinated effort (OCHA), not a military-run effort, unless the
UN is not available to do so.
Examples: In Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, NGOs and militaries
interfaced in military run operations centers (HACC or HOC). These meetings served as
a place to exchange information (especially security concerns) and discuss strategies,
criticisms, and even logistical and service capacities.
NGOs neither “coordinate” with, nor are they “coordinated by” the military. 52
• Some NGOs maintain large communication capabilities, and often use the same technologies
as governments or military units when there is no local infrastructure (satellite phones and
VSATs, Internet, global cell phones, and so on).
• NGOs represent a large group of professionals
well seasoned in field work who have been to
many (if not more) conflict regions than the
military.
• NGO professional staff are highly educated,
often holding advanced degrees in medicine,
law, international policy, public health, and
engineering, and have decades of experience in
disasters.
Given the hundreds of NGOs in the United States and
the thousands more worldwide, the list of activities,
services, strengths, expertise, abilities, capacities, and
policies that make up this varied and dynamic field
is incredible. Today, large, professional NGOs with
substantial operating budgets and emergency response
capacity are shedding the corner charity image and
becoming major technical agents of humanitarian
assistance worldwide.
Quick Reference
No one source covers all NGOs and
nonprofits worldwide, but several are
useful for quick online reference:
www.interaction.org (U.S.-based
international NGO consortium)
www.ngovoice.org (European-based
international NGO consortium)
www.charitynavigator.org (guide to
financial reports of almost every U.S.based
NGO)
www.reliefweb.int (relief and
development portal listing various
NGO updates and resources)
www.global-health.org (searchable
database of NGOs and other NGO
related resources)
Civilian capacity to mitigate, manage, and respond to humanitarian emergencies has grown rapidly
in the last 40 years. Established and substantial NGOs today have operations in numerous countries,
major coordination mechanisms, strong governing structures and partnerships with local and
52 See chapter 18 for a discussion on the term coordination and how its meaning differs among the military, the UN, and
NGOs.
A Guide to NGOs for the Military n Chapter 2. Introduction to NGOs 28