 My name is Lisa Grundy. I'm the head of the United States Institute of Peace. We were created by the U.S. Congress in 1984 as a public, nonpartisan institution dedicated to helping prevent, mitigate, and resolve violent conflict abroad. We want to thank everyone for joining us today for this very important conversation on the frontline civilian response in Sudan and the critical role it is playing in saving lives and advancing the localization agenda. What's happening in Sudan is heart-wrenching. Seven million people have been displaced from their homes since last April, making Sudan the world's largest displacement crisis today. Twenty-five million people need humanitarian assistance in order to survive. There's horrific violence against women. The U.S. Secretary of State has condemned members of the Sudan armed forces and the rapid support forces for committing war crimes in Sudan. And in the case of the RSF and its allied militias, the Secretary has condemned them for committing crimes against humanity and for ethnic cleansing. The Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court has briefed today the UN Security Council on the war crimes that are being committed in Darfur. We're here today to talk about one of the most extraordinary efforts underway globally, involving tens of thousands of Sudanese civilians who are at the forefront of initiatives to save people, to end the fighting, and to protect civilians brave, determined, generous, resilient Sudanese across Sudan, are organizing emergency response rooms and mutual aid groups. These groups are providing food and safe passage, medical care, and basic needs under unimaginable circumstances. It's truly an honor to welcome the extraordinary panelists and representatives from the mutual aid groups and from the emergency response rooms who are going to be joining us for today's discussion. First, I hope everyone joins us in welcoming the U.S. AID administrator and Ambassador Samantha Power. She is one of the most important global champions of frontline humanitarian workers and the localization agenda. The administrator is here to speak with us about the Sudan crisis and the heroic work that is being done by Sudanese humanitarians and civil society. Madam Administrator. Thank you so much, Liz, for that introduction, for all of your service and for using this incredible institution to convene on some really cutting-edge issues and to broaden awareness of what is happening out there in the world, in the negative, but also these forces of light that we have gathered with us today that are putting so much on the line on behalf of their brothers and sisters in Sudan. Welcome, as well, to Sarah Pantuliano from the Overseas Development Institute who has applied her considerable expertise to supporting the Sudanese people's dreams of freedom and democracy for more than, I think, two decades now and counting. Welcome to Calood Care, who for years has been a steadfast champion of the Sudanese people and who has helped represent the views of Sudanese youth in politics using a very unique platform. You know, just before we start, I would just say that I'm in awe of the individuals that we have gathered here today and that we'll have a chance to hear from local Sudanese responders who have flown all the way from Sudan to join us. I'm sure it was not an easy journey. Nothing in Sudan these days is easy. It was, I'm sure, stressful, also in those you leave behind and worry about while you are apart. But it really matters for us to hear from you directly and to have your voices injected into deliberations here about how we can all do better in a sense, you know, learning from your example. So thank you. The conflict in Sudan, I think we all know, at least spoke to this, is a human catastrophe and is one that is getting worse by the minute. The Sudanese armed forces, the rapid support forces and the countries supporting them are pushing Sudan toward state collapse. Estimates show that 25 million people, more than half of Sudan's total population, are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. And as armed militants commit unspeakable atrocities and war crimes across the country and the rapid support forces carry out ethnic cleansing again in Darfur, millions of Sudanese civilians are living in terror, fearing for their lives and the lives of their loved ones. In the face of all of this staggering need, Sudan continues to present some of the toughest conditions for humanitarian access in the entire world. And that is saying something. Rampant insecurity, ill-disciplined or rapacious forces on both sides, bureaucratic obstructionism, mastered through decades of practice at being obstructionists using red tape and bureaucracy. All of this and more is presenting, preventing aid organizations from operating within large parts of Sudan, forcing some to lay off Sudanese staff or withdraw from the country entirely. Global funding for the crisis remains shockingly low at less than half of estimated needs even as the humanitarian crisis continues to intensify. Unconscionably, I mean everything I've described is unconscionable, but unconscionably supplies are actually there, stuck at the border or in the port of Sudan as permits to move aid into the country continue to be denied. And the fact that a permit could stand in the way of supplies reaching people with life or death needs and conditions is horrifying. But in the face of these impossible circumstances and taking tremendous personal risk, Sudanese civilians like the ones we will hear from today are springing into action to support one another. Days after fighting broke out on April 15th, hundreds of volunteers organized themselves on WhatsApp and Facebook to deliver aid and support to communities first in Khartoum and then across the country. Many of them are young people, some barely out of school, but they have spent the last 10 months getting life-saving assistance to communities, often to their own friends and neighbors, but communities caught in the crossfire. And in the months since April 15th, they have not wavered in their commitment as well to each other. Even as the bombardments continue and arbitrary arrests become more frequent, even as aid workers and critical supplies remain stuck at the borders, even as the horrors they are experiencing don't always break through news cycles abroad. These volunteers embody the Sudanese spirit of Nafir, the call to band together to support one another in times of disaster and struggle. We have seen the impact of such networks across Sudan for decades, but today as access to Sudan for humanitarians remains intermittent, they have formed the backbone of the response to Sudan's humanitarian crisis. Indeed, these volunteers are among the few groups able to reach many Sudanese communities in need, especially in Khartoum. You will again hear directly from a few of these courageous and patriotic individuals in a moment, but to build on Lisa's comments, I'd like to highlight some of their work. Some volunteers are collecting supplies of food and clean water, preparing hot meals to distribute to people in need. Others are arranging accommodation for displaced communities or organizing evacuations for those fleeing violence. Still others are helping families retrieve the bodies of their lost loved ones, arranging burials so that they can properly say goodbye. As attacks continue on medical infrastructure and health workers across Sudan, volunteers are helping meet urgent health needs in their communities. They are procuring medicine, distributing bed nets to prevent malaria, organizing public awareness campaigns to fight the spread of cholera, and providing medical transport services for pregnant mothers or mothers in labor. These volunteers are of course critical to helping Sudan survive this immediate crisis and the immediate terror. But these individuals, these networks are also the key to building a better future for the country. The response networks that they run are decentralized, with little hierarchy and largely horizontal leadership. They are wide-ranging and localized, with direct access to communities that can help them identify and respond to the needs of the most marginalized. They model the kind of governance, democratic, equitable people-centered that Sudanese communities have long craved. But they also face tremendous risks, risks from outbreaks of fighting, risks from raids or bombs or from armed groups directly targeting them or their families. To reduce the risk of being bombed, in fact, some organizations have created no permanent office and have no permanent location. They just have to move around and stay ahead of those who would come after them. And nearly 10 months after the start of the conflict, funding for these local responders remains woefully inadequate. The fact that they are often small and informal means that they are largely passed over by mainstream aid sources. Even with our broad prioritization of working directly with local partners or localization, it took USAID too far too long to get aid flowing to these groups and networks. And while the Aspera communities have stepped up admirably to send resources directly to these local organizations, that kind of funding cannot match the resources of bilateral development agencies like USAID or international aid organizations with multi-billion dollar budgets. If these relief networks were to collapse, millions of Sudanese civilians would be left with no assistance at all. To prevent that from happening, these groups need more resources. The United States remains the largest humanitarian donor for the crisis in Sudan, but we know our funding is nowhere close to meeting urgent needs on the ground. We are working hard to commit more funding to these local groups aided by our partners on the ground, both Sudanese and international. We will continue these efforts, hope to scale them up, and we call on other governments and aid organizations to do the same. At the same time, we have seen firsthand the challenges that aid organizations again face in dispersing aid to local organizations at the speed and the scale that this crisis requires, but also with the safeguards we all use to confirm that funding is going to organizations that are trustworthy, operational, and effective. We welcome greater discussion on ways that USAID and other aid organizations can improve our processes so that we can meet the capacity needs of local organizations and communities on the ground. Together with multilateral organizations and our government partners, we also have to get at why these challenges exist in the first place. In other words, we have to increase pressure on both sides to lift the barriers preventing us from fully responding to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, barriers like denied visas and permits for staff and supplies, closed roads preventing aid workers from reaching the vulnerable and the affected, and intensifying violence that endangers both civilians and staff. The free float of aid is essential, as is the ability of both international organizations and the brave Sudanese front line responders to deliver it. It is also, of course, the case that we can't just look at the humanitarian symptoms of a war that shouldn't be happening at all, and that is the most important contribution that the United States and other large influential actors on the global stage need to be pursuing, which is, of course, a diplomatic process, a peace process that brings an end to a war that for as long as it happens is going to bring about terrible suffering, even alongside the incredible bravery and courage of the Sudanese people. In marveling at the resilience and courage of civilians and in seeing civilians step up into leadership roles along the lines of what we're discussing today, we can never take that bravery for granted. We have to take inspiration from their leadership and exercise leadership ourselves. It can be easy when faced with news of atrocities and closed borders and obstructionism to feel paralyzed, like nothing will truly fix the situation or like a political deal is miles off. But today, really, here and now we can all do something that does make a difference. We can adopt the spirit of nafir ourselves and band together to support the Sudanese people in their time of need. Thank you so much and thank you again for the work that you are doing and that of your colleagues. Thank you so much. Well, our thanks to Administrator Power for her remarks today and for her leadership on this really important question. I now have the privilege to introduce the panelists who will share with us today their perspectives, their experiences, their stories, their priorities, and I think their call to action of what it is that they're looking for the international community to do to activate to stand in solidarity with their work. My name is Susan Stigant. I'm the director of the Africa program here at the US Institute of Peace. Thank you for those who are joining us in person and those who are joining online. Allow me first to introduce our panelists. We're joined by two colleagues who have come from Sudan. Omaima Omar is joining us from the Khartoum emergency response rooms and Abuzar Osman is joining us from the Darfur emergency response rooms. Now we're also joined by Khaloot Herr, one of the leading analysts on Sudan, the Horn of Africa, Sara Pantaliano, executive director of ODI and long-time friend and humanitarian practitioner of Sudan. So if I may start, we've heard quite a bit about what's taking place in Sudan and I know many people who are joining us today follow the conflict closely. But Khaloot, I wanted to invite you to outline a little bit of the context and the priority dynamics that are taking place and the context in which the emergency response rooms are working. Thank you Susan and thank you to everyone for being here. At the asset I'd like to say that I don't think I've ever been proud to be on a panel than I am with these two and the amazing work that they've been doing because quite truly it is one of the most remarkable things we've seen in terms of a response to a conflict of this scale. And in terms of the lay of the land in the country, I think we can all see that it's getting increasingly worse. And one of the things that is I think very remarkable about the conflict in Sudan is that it is the capital that was hit first and it's the capital of a very centralized state and so state collapse is happening quite literally right in front of our eyes which means that any kind of things we could have depended on for example in other contexts like having some level of governmental effort like having some kind of centralization of aid etc is completely gone. And so it is exactly the decentralization for example of groups such as the ERRs and other local responders that makes it so effective. And one of the things that we're looking at in the very near future is very very heightened famine like conditions and that's something that I think we need to get ahead of very very quickly. The other thing to say is that we're not seeing an end to this conflict anytime soon. I think that's something we have to you know use as the basis of every analysis that we have. And so what kind of investments do we need to make right now that will serve us not just until this war is over which could be you know God knows when but also in the future for Sudan that is yet to be made that is still in the making. And quite frankly that is precisely in groups like this who are not just working on providing services where there is no state or providing services where there is no international humanitarian architecture but also really sowing together the social fabric of Sudan that this war has ripped apart and that's you know I think one of the key contributions that they make beyond the humanitarian we shouldn't look at them purely as humanitarian actors that they definitely play that role but as the building blocks of the this kind of Sudan that we would all like to see. Thanks Hilary. We often hear these phrases about the social fabric being torn apart and the horrendous conditions that people are working under but I think most of us in this room have the privilege of not fully understanding what that is so Amima I'd like to invite you to share a little bit what does it look like day to day as you are working in the emergency response room in Khartoum as you're living amidst this dynamic and very real conflict and violence. First of all thank you thank you everyone I feel so happy to share what we've been doing and I think now we can realize the impact of what we're doing which is what started as a tradition thing we've been doing they are it's ended up here. Well just at the youth I supposed to think about my future what do I want to be what's my career concerns and so on so and that was all before the 5th of April of course we've been just discussing about why you what do you want to do how's your life going and then 5th of April happened the war broke then we started thinking how we can save lives how we can provide services in a context there's no one but us as an earer we're walking up every day knowing that you might not going to survive for the next day. Searching for resources to supply food for kitchens that laying in the neighborhoods you might find them we at the first at the first few months there was like available you can find the supplies for food and so on but after that they were not we had to walk miles in order just to find the food to provide a meal or two for the people at the neighborhoods so we're spending a lot of time just no transportation with the like a lot of risk on the streets as they stated we get attacked we've been arrested we've been targeted and so on searching for food supplying and after that providing it to the people then to the kitchens actually been working there and just provided the meal for those people that are the one of the first act this is the basic task that we're doing at the first at the early morning in the day then after that visiting the hospitals and the cleaning centers in order to provide services for the people there for the patients movements we we assist in delivering the services itself and delivering the medicine and so on we have two issues with the basic services which is electricity and water due to the attack and bombing they just the station's been attacked hardly they're not no more working like having no electricity or no water is like it's a daily event we're happening sometimes it it looks like a week maybe two weeks at some neighborhoods it depends all of hospitals right now working with the fuels so generators basically because the the the electricity is not stable at all it's just how it depends on the place where you are so to get the fuel it's another story we have to go on searching for the fuel maybe it's few it's not available in kertum right now anymore like if you found the fuel it would be luckier and it's very expensive and we are on a tight on a very very tight budget we're searching for this every single day in order to provide it for the for the basic services the other thing that we're also trying to doing is like we are trying to provide other services also which is like trying to create the spaces for kids in order just to talk about the war and what's happening because there's no schools the schools cut off yeah there's no schools working anymore in kertum and as a woman err i would like also to state it to this women are playing a very big role in this in the err in kertum more especially they are responsible of the kitchen every day we have to cook the meals we have to distribute the meals and we are responsible of taking care of the kids and just trying to talk about them trying to create a safe spaces for all those kids in order to talk to to like changing the situation it's war war is not a game it's affected it's affecting everyone it's affecting us it's for everyone of us so women are playing a very very certain role trying just to to cope with what's happening outside and it's clearly this war is not going to end it up not soon that's what we can say it's not going to end up soon and we're still doing that every single day every single day we're walking up being very happy with how many lives we can save today we're just always stating like oh guys this is telling let's trying to save lives let's trying to provide services with this very tight budget like sometimes we had to pick we had to choose either saving lives or providing foods you would be lucky if you had two meals in a day would be very lucky it's like i was like a privilege to having two meals in a day so we do you all these things we continue and we will because we're doing what we love we're doing what's our identity just putting our life in danger is not it's nothing besides saving lives because every day when the day in we all gathered we just being very happy how many lives we save we cried together that's obviously and as a person personally attended the war in two states so losing lovers losing friends being targeted and all this despite all this with no resources and it's getting worse because nowadays it's getting more worse than anything foods become a serious problem because on there and there's no accessibility for any for anybody body else or bodies in order to perform the humanitarian aid we are the only one who are on the ground we are we are the civilians we're just youth and we're doing all that things so that's all that i would have said what was going on thanks a lot now abhazar as i turn to you i want to let people know that english and arabic translation is available for those who are joining online and also headsets in the room english on channel one arabic on on channel two abhazar you're you're walking through these challenges in darfur and wanted to invite you to share a little bit about what does the day-to-day work the day-to-day life look like thank you very much the sound is very low the microphone we can't hear the speaker we apologize the sound is very low thank you so much for all the responders i would like to express my thanks all the people that are saving lives of sudanese ale and filial are we are thankful to them all of the responders all of the people who are working very hard to build the future for sudanese women and men are thanked and appreciated we are very appreciative for all those who work very hard to save lives if i have to say something i'd like to express my fullest thanks to all those who work very hard to save those lives and those who work on the field the daily life of a responder and the daily life of the the people who work in emergency situations starts starts starts from the very beginning we know that we need them we know that we need to keep in mind that these people are very helpful and they work very hard in order to save life the risks they are exposed are unspeakable and they insist to build something for those for the people for the community and we know very well that the risks they are exposed to are big and great the daily life of sudanese people from six years up is very hard we are trying very hard to save lives we can we can we can the sudanese youth may may may die overnight from the revolution to the coup d'etat to all what happened we know that it's very hard these people need humanitarian humanitarian aid it's a non-stop movement and we want peace to reign and to prevail in sudan we we want sudanese people to communicate with each other we we are talking here about a movement we are talking about the civil society in darfur in hartoum the civil society is working very hard and we have a civil society in kurdofa civil society is endeavoring in order to protect the life of sudanese people to guarantee a respectful and a decent life so we are organizing ourselves and we are working very hard in order to save lives we have to communicate to coordinate we have emergency rooms that are available we need at every district an emergency room to deal with the situation so we have in nine localities we need those localities to coordinate with the emergency rooms and they need to coordinate and work very hard in order to work hard to save the life of these people we need coordination between all the localities in hortoum it is very important to have a system whereby they can understand the needs there is a full understanding of those needs and and there is this conscience erasing process we need to know who needs help we need to horizontally understand what's going on we have local agenda to be understood we want the interventions to happen where they should happen and in addition to that we need to organize ourselves and have those emergency rooms available at every district this is the form that we need we are in need of this system we are learning bit by bit how we can ensure reforms how we can for example have accountability transparency in the process we worked at Darfur and we have a system that works there we try to replicate the the same system we had emergency rooms to share knowledge to share experiences and to share the dream the dream that we are capable of managing and dealing with our with our problems in order to save our community and we need to work and we need to be represented so Darfur was inspired from hortoum and Darfur we don't have communication process there were big issues that we had to deal with in some in some areas in Darfur there are no ways of communicating with one another there are no there is no system that's available for people to coordinate so we had to borrow a system from Libya and and be inspired from it in order to replicate and generalize that system when we talk about accountability we see that we have been able to develop systems systems that can work systems that introduce us to what's going on on the field but we need to know how we we can continue we need a financial report to everyone be trained centrally to know how to write reports and a financial request and and we the thing is that when it's war going on and we need proper paperwork that sometimes can be slightly confusing with the reality and the thing is that we to be able to build our movements and what we need is that we have to understand what we might need to predetermine rather than being hit with the reality and then to determine what we need and find out thank you so much thank you it's it's amazing to hear how the structures build out of necessity and the ideas of accountability and responsiveness and community centered approaches are baked into what you're doing because there is really no other choice oh my i'd like to come back to you and what the emergency response rooms are doing in terms of a humanitarian response is incredible and it also strikes me that there are some other impacts in terms of keeping people and communities connected together at a time when the social fabric is under such threat because of the war because of the crisis and because of what people are are living through would you would you share some examples of of where you see those those other types of impacts and successes okay definitely i'm just going to add what Abazar stated there like the main purpose was like to trying to fill in the gaps and provide services in war situation but the ERRs like hitting an impact beyond the humanitarian need like the ERR work on the unity of the of the of the what we say of the social actors and social like social layers for example i'm going to state it that in therefore or in the western therefore we know that the war there was like based on the ethnic based and so on and so on when the ERR came there now all of them all those people from different ethnics background the ethnic that the same ethnic that been fighting they are now in the ERR they're working together to filling these gaps to trying to provide the provide the needs and so on as well as we're going to state it in cartoony state example we have the kitchens in each neighborhood those kitchens provide me provide meals for people in the neighborhood so all of the people in the neighborhood will come to one kitchen kicking together chatting just having the meals together so it's a sort of unity that's been developed also the inclusivity like ERR walks with non-soudanese people we have the refugees in cartoon back there and they are now staying here staying there we providing services to them they are part of the ERS they're working with the ERS in order to provide those services so the last thing but not least ERR walks on the values like each volunteer in the ERR you will find that he or she has a high level of commitment accountability and responsibility toward these things because obviously we will not be able to continue provide what we provide within the nine month with this very tight amount of funding without having those values with us so the ERR work on like as he stated it's a movement it's a movement to unite the community and try just to allow the community to decide what what the what's the best for community how we can provide these services and how how we can even chapter those needs so the ERR right now is not just about providing services just about creating those services those needs and trying to shaping them learning we we we evolve through learn like the first day we for example I'm just going to say example the first day we we couldn't find the needs for for the kitchen for example we need to have a meal and we had no needs then we discover that some areas had the need and it's accessible so the second day directly I'm not going to search from zero I'm going to start from what the same area that I've been there yesterday so it was like evolving we learned we learned through committing a mistakes at the beginning of course that's normal because it's come out of need but right now we more structured we're working through the needs of the community and also the relationship among us is like a grassroots thing as he stated so the ERR starting from the neighborhood level to locality level to states level so this is how we how we're trying to keep connected how we're trying to allow the others and the share of everything we're sharing we're sharing resources so also we're sharing the the highlighting or the identification of those specific needs so this is what I want to say about that point thanks Amima it's it's always striking to me how in the midst of a terrible war there can be pockets of peace that are so robust and that are so grounded so thank you for sharing those examples hello to Sarah I want to bring you into the conversation and we've heard about the structures the work that's taking place to respond we heard about the international response the funding that is not fully fulfilled and I think the challenges of responding and connecting into these local initiatives Sarik I'd love to hear your thoughts on are are we collectively meeting this moment and what would it take to do so? I mean the short answer is no and then I can give a more elaborate answer I mean you know the crisis we're seeing in Sudan at the moment is a crisis of epic proportions there is no two ways about it and I think on the side of the so-called international community it's one of epic failure quite frankly on different levels you know first of all um political failure I've worked in and on Sudan actually for 32 years it's been 32 years since I first went to Khartoum and I have seen what robust political engagement is you know Ambassador Carson is here we've seen you know the engagement that we saw around the IGAD peace agreement we've seen the engagement that has been around you know the referendum that led to the independence of Sudan we've seen the global attention that therefore commanded you know in the early 2000 there were plenty of challenges but nobody could have said that the world had turned a blind eye or had you know sort of walked the other way and then we saw in 2019 this incredible you know peaceful almost joyous you know civil society revolution that sort of got rid of the military regime after so many years and in many ways the heroes of 2019 are the same you know heroes that we're seeing today really at the heart of the emergency rooms but we failed them we failed to support this civil uprising this you know the transition to give them the political backing that they needed um we the same way we're failing them now because you know the political engagement is required today to challenge those who are enabling the crisis in Sudan they are creating the crisis in Sudan and then of course it's a humanitarian failure of epic proportions you know because we've heard the extent of the humanitarian crisis actually think it's going to get worse and worse we've seen the number of IDPs growing everywhere and obviously communities not being able even to mutilate to support you know those who arrive we we know that there could be you know a serious food security crisis because the same sort of areas that produce food in Sudan are obviously sort of at the heart of of the fighting and we've had you know so many meetings and events you know to the eye on Sudan and discussing with colleagues are responding on the ground the analysts you know like Khulut we hear the same message over and over again business as usual in Sudan is working is not working even trying to channel more resources the usual way you know through the international structures is not working is not reaching is not getting there and also I would add that that's not what we need because it's not aid is going through different layers you know to the emergency room or the mutual aid efforts because they're not there to implement what someone else has decided or designed we we've heard how deeply embedded these responses are how accountable they are to the community accountable they are to one another they know what is needed better than anyone else and so it's not for us to design and you know task and international organization that then is going to give them the money to implement a certain project let's turn these on it said once you know and for all I mean we there is so much lip service to localization what better way you know to see people so deeply invested putting their lives at risk their freedom of risk they in they out you know to try and support their peers and to be honest I've worked in Sudan for so long I've seen these also succeed in Sudan because let's not forget that we've seen this you know level of mutual aid work very well in in the new abundance in South Cordova you know since the 90s and even more so from 2011 where both through diaspora financing and you know through international financing very careful very you know politically informed that has supported a local response that's been able to to keep people alive to protect them to facilitate local peace building in a way that is actually allowed people to to stay in the area and remain alive even though international organizations couldn't get there so we need to be brave and creative so that we can truly support what I mean these courageous friends and colleagues are doing and make sure that they feel that you know there is a set of international partners are really really committed to to back them because if they weren't there the situation would be a lot worse if you don't support them the situation will escalate to a point that you know we'll see what is now a crisis become a real tragedy not just in Sudan but also in the region as a whole hello there seems to be this narrative about the risk of doing things differently or without the reporting structures that have been built for good reason over time about the risks of diversion or the lack of accountability to uh international governments and I wonder if you have any observations on on that I do I know you did I always find it strange when people say you know we're worried about diversion of aid or worried about the politicization of aid through the emergency response rooms guess what aid is political it always has been it will continue to be and if you are comfortable giving a lot of money for example through the UN or INGOs who are forced to work with the humanitarian aid commission unable to get visas into the country aren't able to get their products into the country from port Sudan and yet you don't think that's political the humanitarian aid commission was designed to capture aid and so if you're happy to work through the humanitarian aid commission but you're worried about politicizing aid through the ERRs I think that needs a massive rethink at the same time you have you know the ERRs are here to say what we have is working they're not here to say we need your blessing to start if you want to see something that is working this is it and it's working in in a massive vacuum not just a governance vacuum but also an aid vacuum I mean you have a 2.6 million uh billion dollar envelope that is 40 percent funding and most of that funding goes through the same old tired structures that are unable to get into the country that are unable to deliver aid how does that make sense why do we keep flogging a dead horse when actually they're very very practical and value for money there we say structures that are already working they have accountability yes they'll have accountability to you as donors but they have accountability to their communities and that is far more of an incentive to stay true to the funding and the delivery of aid than anything that might be decided in DC or Brussels or Whitehall and so you have these things inbuilt you don't have to reinvent the wheel it already exists and for the life of me I can't imagine that it would take these people coming out of their very very important life-saving work to have to come here to places like DC like Europe like elsewhere to make this case when it should be blindingly obvious to everyone in this room that this is the way forward yes of course the risk the aid is manipulated you know stolen diversity is always there is no unique to the emergency room it's not unique to Sudan you know this happens in every crisis and you know as Khaluda said I mean we've seen aid stolen from international organizations obviously visa restricted access controlled I mean this is the reality of operating in these environments I would say what we've heard you know from Emma and Amras you know today it inspires me a lot more in terms of the accountability the ultimately it's so deep to the communities it's so embedded in you know making sure the peer groups will be monitoring will be you know and then I've said so clearly mahalia by mahalia locality by locality you know it's so granular in a way that I've never seen international organizations the living aid being able to have that level of accountability that that should give us the reassurance that actually if aid goes astray well we'll hear it pretty quickly from the communities themselves so this is the point in the event where we now that we've made people a little uncomfortable in their chairs that we focus on what is possible and the actions that are needed and so I was I want to turn back to you to really share what what is needed from international partners what actions what support what solidarity this is a question that I think I'd like to bring an example before answering the question we are in Sudan and Khartoum and in the four underground situation during these eight months or during these nine months we're we used one million dollars from different donors but I would like to tell you that the million or less than million dollars that we we we received from more than 11 different partners what was it was an amount that could allow us to do a few things you're you're here in the statistics you're here in the numbers and you know that they're that you know that ERs are that are doing in Sudan we have like opened like more than 300 kitchens so shared kitchens more than 300 kitchens where meals are provided we have worked with different centers but the people of this district meet at those kitchens they share the same locality so those kitchens were were provided for food to provide food to provide meals and and it was also an opportunity for people to get together to sit together and to sit with one another and exchange communications the the million million one million dollar could allow us to provide assistance for more than 200 IDP centers so they benefited from the ER assistance directly and indirectly two million Sudanese in a in a direct way could benefit from this assistance ERs they have a kind of the coordination commission and with with the civil society they they can coordinate coordinate in order to try to identify the kind of interventions that are needed in this context so increase in the capacity for example of of ER responders it's a way to of course provide this civil society to provide the necessary assistance at the ER level because ERs are very important and they and to understand also the context the civil society in Sudan can intervene and can make the necessary interventions in order to assess to evaluate the kind of interventions that are needed this is what we've done with the one million dollars that was donated what we really need is that what we really need is that you take full responsibility during the ER assistance process we we want you to be experts at providing the assistance we are partners with international community we are partners we feel your skills will allow us to learn from one another will allow us to be in a decision-making process and we that means we can plan that means that we feel we are partner in those partners in those in this context we need to know what is needed at the local level ER need special and direct assistance I know that there are decision makers that are really really present with us that can make decision decision make making process I know that you guys can can help us I know that you can intervene in order to benefit our local agenda and in order to help us we know what happened in Syria in Lebanon you know we need to know what's happening at the local agenda and we really really that local agenda to be beneficial the question is what kind of support what kind of assistance because in order for peace to prevail in Sudan we really want you to intervene at the local level and to help in the decision making process thank you hello it may turn to you for your thoughts on concrete steps that that could be taken by international partners to stand in solidarity and support this important work yeah I think the important word there is solidarity I mean I feel like we're having the same conversation we had about the resistance committees five years ago and I can't tell you how tiring it is to have this conversation again because I would have thought that by now the message would have been received that it is exactly these kinds of groups that work in ways that perhaps state-based organizations don't understand very decentralized very amorphous that are really the backbone of the response you know if you take for example a politician out of Sudan plop them somewhere in the middle of the you know the the gull for europe no one's going to notice if you take an emergency room out of commission you will feel the impact immediately that should be the metric that we use so now knowing that we have to rethink our entire ways of thinking of these kinds of groups we need to as Abuzar said give them recognition but not as implementing partners they are not to be made into NGOs the minute you make them into NGOs they lose efficacy just like the minute you make resistance committees into a political party they lose efficacy they want to be part of the decision-making process they want to be part of the planning process and this is possible not in a cluster environment a un cluster environment because that again strips away their agency but create ways in which their voice is loudest in a room of others the second thing is funding if you want more bang for your buck and sorry to use a crude commercial term but if you want that then you have to make sure that these organizations these entities and these bodies not just ERRs but other local responders are getting the lion's share of the money yes maybe it has to go through some kind of intermediaries INGOs or otherwise but to make sure to earmark enough money so it's not gobbled up in overheads and other things and the last thing is protection that these people are the front line of this response they are not part of the response they are the response and as first responders they need protection which means they need some level of recognition as aid actors and they need to be given any and all protections that are afforded to aid delivers aid actors etc and they also need to be able to be supported to help protect others we know that the belligerence incident and there aren't just two have absolutely no interest in protecting civilians that has become abundantly clear and in that protection vacuum these are the people that are doing it how do we do that the other thing is just lastly I would say these are demands of the ERRs so I'm just sort of paraphrasing but really I think the advocacy that is needed in a place like DC can't just happen when they're in town it needs to be systematic it needs to be continuous and it doesn't just need to be in DC but as the US often reminds us it is the largest humanitarian donor on Sudan and others will follow suit if the US signals that it is willing to engage in changing some of its policies changing some of its practices using what it already has such as for example OTI which is very much able to give these kinds of deliver this kind of funding perhaps not in a humanitarian context but the mechanism is there if the US signals is willing to do that others will take note echo will take note other bilateral actors will take note it has there has to be a political shift here in DC and there is absolutely no time like the present to do that Sarah you've you've looked at this in Sudan around the world sitting at the head of ODI your your counsel your advice well you know the mantra of localization started with the world humanitarian summit and you know as as carried on I personally don't particularly like the world you know it's got this transitive sense so we can localize something that is inherently local as we're hearing you know that in the first responders and those who respond we can't localize something they do initiate having said that I think it's also important that we do keep credit to USAID for trying to push the envelope because I think what you know the administrator is trying to do and what the colleagues are trying to do is very important and you know they are trying to push at the donors as well you know to support what people are like our friends from the emergency rooms are doing on the ground but the way in which this is happening and the administrator mentioned that herself isn't working you know this this level of bureaucracy the way you know to get the money is not working it's not you know it's not trickling down as it's supposed to be and it shouldn't really trickle down you know we need to find a way to support them more directly so we need to think of there are there are networks that can be supported more directly there are pooled funds that can be created locally you know can I realize completely that for a big administration is impossible to administer a lot of very small grants and we shouldn't and Calude said that so well try and transform these emergency rooms into an NGOs you know I call them the mini means you know that we have to create all these mini means for the international humanitarian community because that's the only thing that we recognize we need to absolutely you know listen to what we're hearing from the emergency room respect the way in which they have been able to create a very decentralized structure to remain politically engaged and that local legitimacy that they have not destroyed that learn from that and adapt we need to adapt our bureaucracies you know to be able to support that and there have been creative efforts as I said before you know in the country let's build on those let's learn from those let's reward those who are able to support you know the the emergency room and the other mutual aid efforts in Sudan and elsewhere more directly and then maybe maybe we will start to see a change in the humanitarian system not just in Sudan but elsewhere they can really you know enable assistance to be more appropriate more more relevant to actually be assistance that supports the aspirations of people upholds their dignity and you know enables them to have hope Omaima the last word to you to our colleagues who are joining us here those who are online those who will watch afterwards I just would like to state it some points out it's like important to say them first of all we just we've been wondering asking always about the approaches of how how you can do that how we can do that and we're very happy that you came here and share what we have like one of the basic thing that we we've been stating we've been working on it as ERRs we're trying to create an environment or a movement for Sudanese highlighting their needs trying to fulfill it seeking the recognition and the trust that's that's on the basic things of what we're doing is a mutual aid we have a good coordination on the ground between each other's even between the national organizations and we have a council that's like taking care of all of that things as a ERRs I'm told you we're learning and we're learning very fast after nine months thing after nine months of the world we've been you've been thinking we've been asking always about why we can access to the fund um let's speak frankly it's always about like the procedures and the policies and so on it's like one of our requirement here just trying to move those policies a little bit because you're not going to start from scratch or we already did this and the numbers are there like two million people in cartoon being reached with with with like a fund below one million in nine months is that that's a big number that's a shocking number for actually so like seeking this recognition and trying to build the trust between the ERRs because ERRs not working by book everyone is scared of that we know that but we show the level of accountability that required for that things and as I say accountability to the local not even the international level the other thing is a coordination when we say coordination as I said we're already taking care of that on the ground level like we have ERRs on all levels and even the moving is a bottom up there's nothing in ERRs we're not sitting in chairs and saying ah we need food for example Bahia or so no it's always come from the ground they see what they want then they communicate this to the up level let's say the coordination level and the representative so we need just we need the world just to take a look deeply at this in order to change those policies and all procedures and the question is is it by impact or is it doing it by book regardless to the impact that's all I'm going to ask thank you thank you mama it strikes me that we're all puzzled by how to end the war how to end the fighting um but we have a really clear example about how to support peace at this moment um so Sarah Halud thank you for joining us in the panel I want to express also thanks to ODI to proximity international to vital voices and to core and to the many people who helped to arrange the logistics to make sure that our panelists and the delegation could be here I don't we're all used to logistics but I think what was done is truly heroic um so our thanks uh Omaima Abuzar and to all of those who are here from the delegation we wish you courage solidarity in the months to come and thank you for making the trip keep telling us what it is that you need um from your partners thank you to everybody who joined us in person