NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY Challenges Faced by Non-Governmental Organizations During Disaster Response and Recovery Shubhparteek Singh j0480153 Post Baccalaureate Diploma in Disaster Management, Justice Institute of British Columbia Author Note This paper was completed for ESMS-4900-NWC06: BESMS Capstone, taught by Daniella Gentile, synchronously at New Westminster campus. This paper is 6,505 words and was submitted on April 10, 2024. 1 NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 2 Abstract Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) provide vital assistance to response and recovery efforts during any disaster. However, they face a multitude of challenges in effectively performing their role. This paper explores the difficulties that NGOs face while responding to and recovering from disasters. This study utilizes secondary research review method wherein analysis of peer-reviewed articles and case studies was done to understand the major challenges faced by NGOs. It was found that the major challenges faced by the NGOs are collaboration and coordination issues, political interference, and resource allocation and mobilization. These bottlenecks hinder the performance of NGOs and in turn the populations they serve. Therefore, it can be concluded that to improve the overall resilience and capability of NGOs in disaster response and recovery, it is critical to look at the underlying causes of these problems and considering potential solutions. These solutions can help various stakeholders and policymakers create strategies to solve the difficulties faced by NGOs by working together and making wellinformed decisions. This will consequently increase the efficacy and efficiency of humanitarian operations in disaster-affected communities. Keywords: Challenges, Non-Governmental Organizations, Disasters, Response and Recovery NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 3 Table of Contents Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 4 Research Design and Methodology .................................................................................... 6 Literature Review................................................................................................................ 7 Importance of Non-Governmental Organisations ........................................................... 8 Challenges faced by Non-Governmental Organisations ................................................11 Resource Allocation and Mobilization.......................................................................11 Coordination and Collaboration................................................................................ 12 Political Interference ................................................................................................. 13 Critical Appraisal and Results........................................................................................... 14 Discussion and Recommendations ................................................................................... 20 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 23 References ......................................................................................................................... 25 NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 4 Introduction Disasters whether natural like earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes or man-made like terrorist attacks, pose a serious threat to mankind and affect the day to day working of each and every individual. During the challenging times of disasters and even during the recovery process following the situation, people look up to the government to seek help in order to rebuild and get back to normal. However, considering the increase in magnitude and intensity of disasters nowadays, the government alone is unable to provide the necessary assistance. This paves the way for Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to come into picture and support the people in need. According to Lassa (2018), NGOs can be characterised as private, non-profit voluntary groups that are interested in resolving social issues such as disaster assistance and poverty. It is believed that their interests are distinct from those of the states or other parties, like political parties. Such organizations usually comprise of volunteers who work with a spirit of compassion and are highly devoted to humanitarian principles of making this world a better place to live. They work tirelessly round the clock and around the globe to provide the much-needed support and help during all the phases of emergency management namely Preparedness, Response, Recovery and Mitigation, but particularly they are mostly involved during the response and recovery phase. However, as every coin has two sides so does these organizations when it comes to their working. Though they work hard and grab headlines for all of their good work for the affected people, NGOs do face a wide variety of challenges that affect their working on the ground especially during the response and recovery period which are sometimes overlooked by public. All these challenges certainly make it difficult for NGOs to provide the required assistance to the needy. In order to properly understand the working of NGOs and to make them NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 5 more efficient and reliable, it is therefore very crucial to understand the challenges they face so as to develop mitigation strategies. The central theme of this paper is to not only look into the working of NGOs and highlighting their importance in today’s time but also to talk about the obstacles they encounter while they operate on the ground during emergencies. Therefore, the main research question is: What challenges do NGOs encounter during the response and recovery phases of emergency management? Talking in detail, the major objectives of this paper include highlighting the importance of NGOs and their working, identifying key challenges and some factors that give rise to them, analyzing the impacts of the challenges and how they hamper their effective working. Last but not the least, some strategies to mitigate these hurdles will also be discussed towards the end of this paper. Additionally, the theme and research question are grounded in pragmatism since they are problem-oriented, practical in nature, and look for answers in realworld scenarios. This aligns with the definition of pragmatic worldview as it is defined by the traits of consequences of actions, problem centered, pluralistic and real-world practice oriented (Creswell, 2014). By talking in detail about the challenges, this paper attempts to contribute to the in-depth understanding of various complexities faced by these organizations which can in turn help the policy makers to come up with policies that can help avert them so that these humanitarian groups can serve their true purpose which is serving the humanity to the best of their abilities. This will also help the emergency managers to better understand the working of NGOs and the difficulties they face so as to improve their overall understanding and knowledge ultimately making them well informed and well-equipped personalities who can work in the field and help the people. NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 6 Research Design and Methodology The research done for the project was secondary research and several peer-reviewed articles were obtained from databases like JIBC Library and Google Scholar. A literature search was carried out across the above-mentioned academic databases to find appropriate material addressing the difficulties faced NGOs in the response and recovery stages of disaster management. A mix of keywords and search terms pertaining to NGOs, stages of emergency management, and difficulties were included in the search approach. The main keywords used for the search were: Non-Governmental Organisations, Emergency Management, Challenges. Some terms like NGOs and EM (Emergency Management), NGOs and Challenges etc., were used using Boolean operators like “AND” to narrow down the research. All of the above keywords yielded hundreds of publications, so inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to pick specific and relevant articles for the research. To ensure that the research remains relevant, and that the data reflects current emergency management approaches and concerns, only recent studies or cases were collected and included. To provide a comprehensive overview of the problems in different environments, the research included studies or case studies related to specific hazard categories, like natural disasters. Also, in order to account for regional differences in emergency management procedures, studies from diverse areas were included thereby addressing the geographical variety that would help better understand diverse, yet common challenges faced by NGOs in different countries. In order to further select articles, exclusion criteria were also used. By eliminating studies that do not fit within the specified timeframe, are not available in English, are not based on peerreviewed sources to ensure academic rigour, are centred on organisations other than nongovernmental organisations, or whose entire text is not accessible helped to further narrow the NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 7 study's scope. All of these comprised the research methodology for this project. The information was systematically extracted from a selection of articles using a variety of sources. This information included significant findings, methodology, theoretical frameworks, and constraints. Then, in order to find recurring themes, trends, and variances in the difficulties experienced by NGOs in disaster situations, the gathered data was compiled using thematic analysis method. As this paper mostly relies on secondary research through peer-reviewed articles, ethical considerations in this case primarily revolve around proper citation and attribution of sources. All selected articles will be appropriately cited and referenced following established academic conventions (APA 7th edition format) to ensure intellectual integrity and avoid plagiarism. The overall goal of this paper's systematic literature review technique is to present a thorough and rigorous synthesis of the knowledge regarding the difficulties that non-governmental organisations encounter when responding to and recovering from disasters. This study aims to add to the existing body of knowledge on disaster management by critically evaluating and synthesising the results from peer-reviewed publications and to provide guidance for future research and practice in the area. Ultimately, the upcoming section of the paper will explore the existing literatures to have a better understanding of the topic using the above-mentioned search criteria. Literature Review Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) are very important players in disaster response and recovery as they help in providing all the necessary help and support to the affected communities during and after disasters. This has made them have a very significant place in today’s world of emergency management. These organisations operate without direct government control which help them directly reach out to the ground in a relatively quick span of NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 8 time. Equipped with flexibility, knowledge about the communities, compassionate and highly motivated volunteers, NGOs have grown out to become true life savers in many of the deadliest disasters that struck all over the globe like the Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004, the Haiti Earthquake of 2010, the Christchurch Earthquake of 2011 and many more. According to Lassa (2018), the number of internationally recognized NGOs has increased from about 400 in the 20th century to about 25,000 in recent years. This increase in the number is without any doubt attributed to the recent increase in disasters due to the ongoing tussle between nature and mankind. The early pioneers like Red Cross, Doctors without Borders and Save the Children have given a new direction to the way these groups work and their performance at the ground level has truly made it possible for NGOs to flourish and operate in such a huge numbers while enjoying the well-deserved popularity and recognition. Their selfless work has made the governments around the world realise their potential thereby helping them in numerous ways as well as incorporating them and their expertise during disasters. NGOs have increased significantly in number since the conclusion of the Cold War. There were about 24,900 NGOs in the globe prior to 1989. According to UN estimates, this number rose by 35,000 by the early 2000s. In 2013, there were around 73,000 international organisations from 300 different countries, according to the UNESCO database of NGOs (Park and Yoon, 2022, p.2). It may be argued that the rise in NGOs has become the new normal, a sort of "natural response," to support the functions of governments, whose capabilities are sometimes undermined by long-lasting crises that persist for months or even years (Lassa, 2018). Importance of Non-Governmental Organisations All across the four phases of emergency management, NGOs have their unique role, and their participation cannot be ignored. Starting with the preparedness as well as the mitigation NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 9 phase, NGOs help in creating awareness and building resilience through various initiatives, workshops as well as Disaster Risk Reduction (DDR) programs. With these methods, these organizations help people become more prepared for emergencies by working in close connection with local authorities. In the response phase, NGOs are seen working on the ground helping in providing the much-needed relief and assistance to the affected people and communities. With the help of volunteers, they provide food, shelter, medicine, and other life sustaining resources to the needy even in very tough situations and areas where government may take time to reach. Even during the recovery phase, these groups help to rebuild the damaged infrastructures, restore the lost livelihoods and providing psychological assistance to the survivors ultimately playing their part in the long-term recovery process. The importance of NGOs can be clearly seen from the fact that they operate at grassroot level with the most vulnerable and high-risk communities (Lassa, 2018). This makes them connect with the local people quickly and they can therefore win their trust and work accordingly. Because of their flexible and non-bureaucratic structure, they operate swiftly without much hassle and interference which further adds to their importance during the challenging times. According to Park and Yoon (2022), “NGOs acts as catalysts and intermediaries by enhancing communication and accelerating collective actions to improve community resilience”. This particular quotation underscores the crucial role these organizations play in emergency management. All of the above-mentioned arguments clearly state how crucial are NGOs during each and every phase of emergency management thereby making it important to understand the challenges they encounter. Identifying and understanding these challenges will not only help these organisations become more efficient but will also help in ensuring effective disaster response and recovery efforts. Overall, this will help to strengthen their overall capacity NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY which will in turn help them help them serve the people to the best of their abilities and ensure their well-being especially during tough times. The Figure 1 below also strengthens the above points by highlighting various roles and responsibilities that NGOs undertake during each and every phase of emergency management. Figure 1 Role of NGOs in the Disaster Management Process Note. Adapted from “The role of Non-Governmental Organizations in Disaster Management: A case study of Bam earthquake, Iran” by S.Fallah & J. Hosseini Nejad, 2018, Journal of Disaster & Emergency Research, 1 (1), p.45 10 NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 11 Challenges faced by Non-Governmental Organisations The NGOs operating all over the world do face a lot of challenges that affect their overall working and effectiveness. There is no doubt that NGOs operating in one geographical location have challenges that may be different from those operating in different locations but ultimately all these obstacles need to be identified and mitigated in order to improve the efficiency of these humanitarian groups. By identifying these myriad challenges, government and other stakeholders can come up with measures to mitigate them which can help in smooth functioning of NGOs. Through a proper, detailed, and critical analysis of various literatures available, following challenges are identified and will be discussed in the upcoming sections. Resource Allocation and Mobilization This is perhaps one of the most common challenge that each and every NGO faces because most of these non-profit organizations rely on grants, donations and other fund-raising initiatives which usually does not generate enough funds to support their diverse operations during the response and recovery phases (Otaru et al., 2021). Right from providing food, shelter, and basic supplies to supplying resources for rebuilding, each and every operation requires money, and these organisations certainly suffer because of lack of funding. Numerous incidents across the globe prove this fact. According to Huang et al. (2011), even during the Wenchuan earthquake that stuck on May 12, 2008, and caused around 69,000 deaths proved the above-mentioned problem as a significant challenge. On one hand where the NGOs worked day and night to provide relief, the most common challenge they faced was shortage of funds and resources including human resources that ultimately hindered their mobilization and eventually recovery efforts. The lack of funding is without a doubt the most frequent issue NGOs deal with during and after a disaster. The short- and long-term needs of NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 12 impacted populations may not be sufficiently met by donor funding, which normally keeps them operating. Since there are not enough resources, priorities for aid and services are often decided by difficult decisions. This was also the case with Cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe (Nyahunda et al., 2022). The issue of limited resources also affected NGOs, since their action plan could not meet the extreme need caused by the disaster. Most humanitarian organisations have trouble mobilising resources meant to assist those who have survived disasters because they heavily rely on donor funding (Nyahunda et al., 2022). This can make it difficult for them to build resilience and resilient communities. Coordination and Collaboration This is another challenge which most of the NGOs struggle with due to various reasons including the number of agencies working together during an emergency, different operational structures as well as policies. Even though the ultimate goal of all the organisations is common however the above-mentioned reasons can make their work more challenging. According to Abdeen et al. (2021), this is a major challenge which was even visible during the Hurricane Katrina where lack of centralized command and unclear communication affected the coordination of NGOs making it difficult for them to work together. A lot of other examples also show that because of lack of proper coordination and collaboration, NGOs tend to work in a fashion which results in duplication of efforts which produces a negative impact and unnecessary stress on already scarce resources. This challenge is also related to the way information travels across various groups while they operate on field. Collaboration and coordination are very important factors when it comes to information sharing. When a lot of NGOs work together, various pieces of information travel differently which can have serious impacts, so it becomes important to streamline the flow of NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 13 information and ensure proper coordination. According to Bharosa et al. (2009), “relief workers are often more concerned with receiving information from others than with providing information to others who may benefit” (p.49). This highlights the inconsistency in information exchange and making it a big challenge in line with collaboration and coordination efforts. When information exchange is affected due to reasons like language barriers, different working ideologies etc., it directly affects the abilities of organisations to work in unison and consequently all of this will ultimately affect collaboration and coordination as both of these heavily rely on information. This issue was even highlighted by Nyahunda et al. (2022) during the cyclone Idai in Zimbabwe. Based on interviews, it was noted that majority of humanitarian organisations identified that their actions varied somewhat due to a lack of interagency cooperation. The participants expressed regret that in certain cases, the humanitarian organisations' lack of information sharing and coordinated planning resulted in haphazard services being provided Nyahunda et al. (2022). Political Interference The next big challenge is the role of governments in the working of NGOs. Although, NGOs have an independent structure free of any interventions and influences, the fact that governments closely watch their work closely cannot be ignored. This gives birth to political interference that has shown to affect the functionality and capacity of NGOs. Politicisation of humanitarian aid has been seen across various regions which has indeed proven to be a significant challenge as it affects the overall image of NGOs as well. Political leaders owing to their motives can sometimes interfere which can affect resource allocation as well as mobilization. This made headlines and was seen during Hurricane Katrina where some political leaders showed involvement in resource allocation process which ultimately created a disbalance NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 14 and some communities received more than others making some people suffer more (Gajewski et al., 2010). This challenge is highly influenced by demography where some leaders belonging to a particular community try to pool resources towards their areas in order to make the people happy which could ultimately benefit them during electoral processes. According to Nyahunda et al. (2022), there were incidents where leaders pressurised NGOs to allocate resources to particular areas on urgent basis which consequently led to improper resource allocation. Political interference can compromise NGOs' independence and objectivity by making them follow politically driven orders and negotiate complex bureaucratic procedures. Additionally, by escalating tensions between NGOs and government organisations, this intervention may impede cooperative efforts and reduce the overall efficacy of disaster response programmes. All of these above-mentioned challenges are predominantly visible all across the planet making it necessary for governments as well as all the concerned stakeholders to find ways to tackle them. Identification of these major challenges will surely help in developing strategies that can make these organisations become more strong, reliable, and complete in true sense considering their importance not only for people affected during disasters but also for emergency management as a whole. Critical Appraisal and Results This section provides a comprehensive and in-depth understanding and analysis of various challenges faced by NGOs during disaster response and recovery by taking evidence from diverse literatures available. Certain key themes and findings that emerged upon reviewing selected articles will be discussed that will shed light on diverse complexities encountered by the various humanitarian organisations. By identifying and talking about the challenges, this section NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 15 lays down the foundation for some strategies, policies as well as recommendations that can help address as well as mitigate the identified challenges. To begin with, it is quite evident from the literature review that NGOs play a crucial role in emergency management and their contribution cannot be neglected during tough times. Through various studies, it is evident that NGOs are not just helpers but are able to provide diverse range of assistance. According to Park and Yoon (2022), NGOs are crucial in generating public opinion through dialogue. NGOs foster stakeholder communication and public debate to develop principles for better and more democratic governance, which are crucial elements of efficient management of disasters. Additionally, NGOs serve as middlemen in the governance of disasters, enhancing public attention and social trust. NGOs, for instance, dealt with the rehabilitation of infrastructure after the Indian Ocean Tsunami while corresponding with twelve different governments (Park and Yoon, 2022, p.1). According to Fallah et al. (2018), NGOs have tirelessly contributed not only during disasters but also to the development of diverse communities around the world while being very important partners of governments around the world even though by remaining independent from the judicial system. This highlights the role NGOs play not only during disasters but also during other processes. All of these studies highlighted why it is important to identify and address the challenges faced by NGOs considering their importance in today’s world. After reading the academic papers and journals, it was concluded that NGOs do face a lot of challenges during their operation, and it is not a smooth ride for them to reach their goal of helping people. They have to go through a lot of diverse challenges that are influenced by various factors like environmental, financial as well as political. NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 16 The literature analysis emphasises that NGOs have major challenges in resource mobilisation and allocation during disaster response and recovery. This problem arises from NGOs' reliance on grants, contributions, and fundraising campaigns, all of which frequently fall short of producing enough revenue to sustain their wide range of activities. Examples from catastrophes like Cyclone Idai (Nyahunda et al., 2022) and the Wenchuan earthquake (Huang et al., 2011) show how NGOs' mobilisation efforts are hampered by a lack of funds, which delays their response and recovery operations. According to Otaru et al., (2021), NGOs' goals and autonomy may be compromised by a reliance on government funding, which may also result in purpose displacement, institutional isomorphism, and modifications to internal procedures. All of this does affect the allocation and mobilization of resources because of its dependence on funds. The evaluation highlights the importance of methods to close financing gaps and guarantee affected people get help on time, as well as the crucial role that sufficient resources play in humanitarian operations. It becomes extremely important to talk about this challenge as the resources that NGOs are equipped with are crucial especially at times of emergencies and the fact that they are unable to provide them just because of lack of funds can have a very detrimental impact. The next finding from the literature is the challenge of collaboration and coordination between these agencies during and after a disaster. Insufficient collaboration, coordination and communication between organisations result in redundant efforts, inadequacies, and delays in providing aid to impacted communities. The harmful impacts of inadequate coordination on humanitarian operations are exemplified by Hurricane Katrina (Gajewski et al., 2010) and Cyclone Idai (Nyahunda et al., 2022), wherein scattered activities impede the overall effectiveness of disaster response efforts. All of this can impact the communication between the NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 17 teams operating on the ground. For an instance, during a large-scale emergency that requires multiple groups to come together and handle the situation, lack of coordination and collaboration will not only make things difficult but will also hamper the overall process as communication will surely be compromised. There is no denial that crisis communication is a key concept of emergency management, and a lack of this component can prove disastrous for the already affected people and community. As it is said that “too many chefs spoil the soup”, same applies to these different groups working together. Although the ultimate objective of NGOs is to provide relief to people, but all of these diverse organisations have their own standard operating procedures and policies which if not communicated properly can increase the problems rather than reducing them. According to Mohd et al. (2018), there can be different issues under collaboration and communication such as: • Communication channel failures can seriously impair emergency response, whether they occur on radio channels, cell phone systems, or traditional phone lines. As a result, this issue will cause humanitarian aid from NGOs to be duplicated. • Redundancy may result from improper coordination, communication, and collaboration since news of the disaster may quickly emerge from multiple sources or from the same individual in the same place. Therefore, the NGOs may reply to a single request from an individual more than once, wasting both time and energy. • Uncoordinated information could result in false reports that someone with malicious intent could retrieve for their own purposes. This could exacerbate NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 18 people's already-existing anxiety after the disaster and would further intensify the situation. So, the way information travels between these organisations become extremely important as well as challenging. All of these findings stress upon the fact how challenging it can be to improve the level of collaboration, coordination as well as communication when multiple organisations are working at the same time. During emergencies, information gets conveyed through media channels which if not validated can cause trouble so it becomes extremely important for the NGOs working on the ground to have a well informed and well collaborated approach that can help in the flow of information which is reliable. This particular challenge deserves a special emphasis as it is very crucial and perhaps every NGOs faces this. As Bharosa et al. (2009), stated that “relief workers are often more concerned with receiving information from others than with providing information to others who may benefit” (p. 49). This quotation also effectively demonstrates the inconsistency in information exchange making it a potential challenge to the working of NGOs during the emergencies. The complexity of inter-agency collaboration is very well highlighted by this challenge. Furthermore, this problem must be solved in order to improve the general effectiveness and efficiency of disaster response operations, which means that emergency management research and intervention should centre on it because of the widespread scale and consequences associated with this challenge. The next thing to consider is political meddling, which interferes with NGOs' ability to carry out their missions. Governments offer finances and other essential resources to NGOs, as highlighted by Otaru et al. (2021), yet there are times when bureaucratic actions cause problems for NGOs while they strive to provide aid in the field. Government scrutiny and intervention in the internal issues of NGOs may compromise their independence, impartiality, and ability to NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 19 deliver humanitarian aid. Instead of prioritising needs assessments or equitable distribution, political leaders have placed pressure on NGOs to allocate resources in a way that furthers their political agendas (Nyahunda et al., 2022). This politicisation of humanitarian aid not only affects the distribution of resources but also compromises the objectivity and integrity of nongovernmental organisations, potentially breaking public trust in their efforts. Furthermore, political interference increases conflicts between non-governmental organisations and governmental authorities, limiting cooperative endeavours and reducing the overall effectiveness of disaster relief programmes. Hurricane Katrina is a vivid example, as there have been reports of political leaders influencing decisions about resource allocation, leading to differences in the distribution of help and escalating inequality among impacted communities (Gajewski et al., 2010). Even being non-political in their origin and operation, politics can influence NGOs the same way it does to many other things. However, at times when things are already more complex and abnormal, this interference can delay a lot of work that otherwise done on time can help save a lot of people. In small countries where government has a key watch on every activity that is happening, this issue is more persistent. A lot of articles focused on this challenging stressing upon the need to reduce governmental intervention in the working of NGOs. On the contrary, the government should work in conjunction with these groups because of the simple reason that they have originated and work on the field and are perhaps more knowledgeable and also are present with the people as compared to the bureaucrats who operate from buildings and offices. Mitigating this challenge could help NGOs maintain their non-political and unbiased status which would help restore their faith as well as reputation. NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 20 In the end, a critical evaluation of the obstacles NGOs encounter in disaster response and recovery indicates a complicated environment characterised by a lack of resources, coordination issues, and political meddling. Despite these obstacles, NGOs continue to improve disaster response systems and work hard for increased transparency and accountability in humanitarian aid, demonstrating their determination and commitment. Non-governmental organisations surely can improve their ability to provide communities affected by disasters with enduring and significant assistance by tackling and overcoming these obstacles head-on and fostering more robust partnerships with all the stakeholders. This paves the way to talk about strategies and policies to tackle the above-mentioned issues which will eventually be discussed in the upcoming section. Discussion and Recommendations After identifying and discussing in detail about the various challenges that NGOs encounter, it also is important to look for some potential recommendations that can help mitigate the identified challenges. As every problem needs to have a solution, it becomes important to look for some simple yet effective solutions to tackle the challenges that can improve the efficiency of these humanitarian organisations. With a balance of some practical solutions and some insights from the peer-reviewed articles, this section aims to contribute towards the better understanding of the topic so as to help the NGOs work in a challenge free environment considering how crucial it is for them because of their role in our daily lives. To begin with, to address the key challenge of resource allocation and mobilization, NGOs require to have a good and extensive engagement with diverse stakeholders that can help them during emergencies. This simple yet effective solution can help these organisations have options available for moving the crucial resources during difficult times. This can involve NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 21 partnership with public or private transportation companies by signing agreements or MOUs. Additionally, fund-raising initiatives and programs can be carried out especially by involving influencers from diverse fields like actors, politicians etc., who have a large fan base. This can help NGOs communicate their message to larger audience. According to Otaru et al. (2021), NGOs should focus more on private resource mobilization strategies so as to tackle the issue of funding. This indicates that in order to lessen dependence on a single revenue stream, it is essential to diversify funding sources. This includes looking for long-term collaborations with governmental bodies, individual donors, and international organisations. To guarantee effective resource allocation, studies suggest that financial management and transparency must be improved. Tracking resource utilisation and optimising spending is made easier with the implementation of strong budgeting and monitoring tools (Otaru et al., 2021). According to Park and Yoon (2022), including stakeholders and local communities in the decision-making process improves the efficiency of aid initiatives and enables assistance to be tailored to individual needs. In order to effectively serve their beneficiaries and carry out their mission in spite of these resource-related challenges, NGOs must concentrate on strategies like diversifying funding sources, improving resource management practises, forming partnerships. Moving further, collaboration and coordination is something which is very difficult to achieve for each and every organisation and NGOs are no different. This requires a lot of effort from each and every entity involved right from NGOs itself to government, media as well as general public. This can however be tackled in some simple ways. During emergency response activities, it might be advantageous to promote smooth collaboration by using technologyenabled platforms, improving information sharing systems, and establishing clear communication protocols. Having clear communication protocols in place can definitely help NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 22 tackle the problems associated with misinformation that arise during emergencies. Having dedicated spokesperson and representative from every agency working on ground can ensure information that is provided is reliable. Additionally, all the stakeholders can create task forces or groups that work together in all the phases which can foster trust and sense of belongingness. This can surely make it easy for them to work on common grounds without much of a problem mitigating the challenge. Next thing is about the political intervention in the working of NGOs. In order to protect the independence and integrity of humanitarian operations, combating political interference calls for strong advocacy campaigns, policy creation and changes as well as institutional protections. Promoting regulatory changes, holding legislators to account, and strengthening accountability frameworks are some of the potential ways to reduce the dangers of political sway and preserve the objectivity of NGO activities (Nyahunda et al., 2022). In simple terms, to promote legislative changes, institutional protections, and accountability systems that preserve humanitarian values and avoid undue political influence, NGOs must actively interact with legislators, civil society organisations, and international organisations. Other ways of reducing political interference to some extent is to partner with locals to form a network that reduces the vulnerability of NGOs being prone to bureaucratic intervention. This can be done by organising regular meets, conferences at grassroot level which will not only make people educated about the working of these groups but will also build a sense of trust and mutual understanding. Another way to tackle this was indirectly visible from many articles and it was to strengthen the internal structure. No matter how big or little an organisation is, it is obvious that they can reduce external influence if their internal structure is strong and transparent. This can be accomplished by outlining everyone's tasks and responsibilities precisely NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 23 and by establishing policies that address external stakeholders (like the role of the government) in a way that does not compromise their autonomy and independence. These organisations can face this challenge with great dignity if they are aware of their mission, which is to serve humanity to the best of their abilities. With the help of these simple yet effective recommendations, NGOs can very well tackle the aforementioned challenges of resource mobilization & allocation, coordination & collaboration, and political interference. All of the above solutions serve as a basic road map to help NGOs plan their way as they navigate through these obstacles. By learning from past incidents that posed such challenges and by following these solutions, they can enhance their overall resilience, preparedness as well as their response capabilities ultimately helping the people that need their support during emergencies. Conclusion This paper highlighted various salient features related to NGOs and their working across diverse phases of emergency management placing a particular emphasis on the response and recovery phase ultimately shedding light on various challenges encountered by these organisations as they work on the ground. It starts out by explaining the importance of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) in emergency management and emphasising their critical roles in every stage of disaster response, from preparation to recovery. Given that NGOs play a crucial part in providing aid and support to impacted populations, the paper emphasises how important it is to recognise and address the issues these organisations encounter. A thorough analysis of various literatures and other academic sources reveal several important issues, such as political interference, information sharing, coordination and collaboration, and resource allocation and mobilisation. These issues, which have become NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 24 embedded in NGOs' daily operations, make it difficult for them to respond to emergencies and generally reduce their efficacy. Upon identifying the key challenges, the focus of the paper then shifts towards critical appraisal of the same with the help of results obtained from the literatures. Last but not the least, in order to mitigate the challenges some simple yet practical solutions and recommendations were proposed. This included having clear communication channels, private sources of funding, strengthening internal structures, clear policies as well as roles and responsibilities and many more. A crucial finding from the paper was that in order to support disaster management efforts and protect the welfare of vulnerable populations, stakeholders can enhance the capacity of NGOs by cultivating a culture of cooperation, creativity, and responsibility. In conclusion, it is an undeniable fact that work still needs to be done to not only identify other challenges but also to find ways to tackle them. The main goal of this paper was to highlight the urgent need for helping NGOs that work day and night to overcome challenges that have a serious impact on their operations. A thorough and detailed research in this regard will surely prove to be fruitful and can ensure proper working of these groups so that they can work to serve people who are in need of their support and help during difficult situations. NGO CHALLENGES IN DISASTER RESPONSE & RECOVERY 25 References Abdeen, F. N., Fernando, T., Kulatunga, U., Hettige, S., & Ranasinghe, K. A. (2021). Challenges in multi-agency collaboration in disaster management: A Sri Lankan perspective. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 62, 102399. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2021.102399 Bharosa, N., Lee, J., & Janssen, M. (2009). 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