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DRC Germany Representation opened the doors for event on protection of forcibly displaced communities in fragile contexts

Marking one year of presence for the DRC in Germany, the DRC Germany Representation hosted an event on 16th of January 2025 on ‘How to protect forcibly displaced communities in fragile contexts?

The answer is about a disruption of ‘business as usual’ if we are to break the curve of the increasing numbers of displaced people around the world. DRCs Foresight tool anticipates an increase of nearly 7 million people by the end of 2025 on top of the 122 million people already forcibly displaced last year. And many of the crisis and conflicts causing the displacement take place in fragile contexts such as Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria.

We must therefore look to new and innovative solutions. Charlotte Slente, Secretary General at DRC, underlined in her keynote speech, that protecting people in fragile contexts “requires an integrated approach across humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding dimensions”, and she continued: “We need localised solutions from the outset of a humanitarian emergency, and we need to place local actors, such as local communities, duty bearers and civil society, at the forefront of all prevention, protection and peacebuilding efforts”.

Localisation is key
The localised solutions were, in a panel debate at the event, also supported by Dr. Peter Reuss from the German Federal Foreign Office, who stressed that localisation is key to enable countries not to be dependent on the UN agencies and other external actors. And DRC’s Executive Director for the Middle East, Lilu Thapa, stressed that “we need to start trusting our local partners – they are the ones knowing where the support is most needed”.

Lilu Thapa also approached the question of how to protect displaced communities in fragile contexts through four urgent needs for humanitarian actors: “We need to strengthen the humanitarian instruments that have become week; We need to recognize the unique challenges in each context and design our support to each of them; We need to become more efficient as funding is going down every year; and we need to come together to influence the policies we need to improve our support”.

Support must be based on needs, not status

The debate also addressed the dilemmas when providing support and protection in fragile contexts: Moderator of the panel debate, Ralf Südhoff, Director at the Centre for Humanitarian Action (CHA), asked how we can balance support in a fragile context without transferring legitimacy to regimes with detrimental human rights records. Lilu Thapa underlined the commitment to support fragile countries based on needs and not on political considerations, and Suraya Pakzad, founder of the women’s rights organisation Voice of Women, stressed the need to support humanitarian organisations, but to conditionalize humanitarian funding, and to raise our voices. “Afghan women are frustrated about the silence of the international community”, she said.

Today, humanitarian needs are skyrocketing while the delivery of aid is much more challenging. And at the same time there is a need for much more effective and sustainable solutions, Ralf Südhoff concluded and urged for a change in the humanitarian structure. The solutions are not there yet, but the discussions at this DRC event in Berlin witnessed the will and engagement from institutional donors, think tanks and practitioners to find solutions that address the challenges posed by fragility.

With our DRC Germany Representation, led by Managing Director Marten Mylius, DRC is looking forward to increasing our collaboration with German civil society, think tanks, academia, ministries and other stakeholders, to rethink, innovate and solve the protection challenges for forcibly displaced people.

*Secretary General Charlotte Slente made the keynote speech at the DRC Germany Representation event in January celebrating one year of DRC presence in Germany.

About DRC Germany Representation

The DRC Representation Office in Germany was opened in November 2023 to forge closer relationships with German stakeholders and to influence policy and aid system reforms jointly with our peers. A small but growing team is sharing an office with other agencies right at the Spree River in the centre of Berlin.

The German Federal Foreign Office supports DRC’s humanitarian and mine action interventions, while the BMZ funds DRC’s collaborations with GIZ and KfW for development and stabilisation programs in fragile settings.

*Managing Director for DRC Germany Representation, Marten Mylius, opened the event celebrating one year of DRC presence in Germany.