Food for Thought

Normally an Irish organisation being at the centre of a growth industry would be a cause for popping champagne corks, but not in the case of Concern Worldwide who because of war, famine, disease and poverty are now having to work in 26 countries. 284 people are employed in their Irish, UK and American nerve centres with 2,900 staff, the vast majority of them local, out in the field. Income from public donations last year was €41.8 million, while the agency received €93.8 million in grants from governments and institutional donors. Programmes ranged from providing 22,806 South Sudanese women with antenatal care when previously there’d been none to equipping 43 schools in Niger with solar electricity so they can hold evening catch-up classes for children who are in danger of dropping out of primary education. A total of 24 million people were reached, with 89.8% of monies spent on charitable work.

Knitting this highly complex operation together is Dominic MacSorley OBE, the Belfast man who’s just taken over from Tom Arnold who spent eleven years at the Concern helm. He’s since been appointed as Chairman of the Constitutional Convention by the government, a clear indicator of the weight Arnold brought to his previous CEO role.
“I think Tom may feel he’s jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire,” MacSorley jokes of Arnold’s same-sex marriage convention locking of horns with that one-man advert for the scrapping of the upper house, Senator Ronan Mullen. “He’s a very capable man who understands how things work at both a practical and political level. You definitely need both of those in this game.”
These are busy and hopefully transformative times for Concern and their fellow relief organisations, with the recent David Cameron-chaired Nutrition For Growth summit ending in a pledge to end absolute poverty by 2030, and the subject coming up again this week as the G8 member countries gathered in Enniskillen. As somebody who’s spent over 30 years working with the world’s poorest – we’re talking about having to get by on $1.25 or less a day – MacSorley is ideally placed to run the rule over some of the potential game-changers such as Bono whose motives are questioned by former Irish Times journalist Harry Browne in his new book, The Frontman: Bono (In The Name Of Power).
According to the publishers’ blurb, “Celebrity philanthropy comes in many guises, but no single figure better encapsulates its delusions, pretensions and wrong-headedness than U2’s iconic frontman.”
STUART CLARK: Does Bono deserve the flak that’s been coming his way?
DOMINIC MacSORLEY: I can’t comment on the book because I haven’t read it, but I think his contribution has been a very genuine, well researched and nuanced one. He understands what’s happening out there, and has used his celebrity status to engage people who otherwise might not have been interested. If I come out with a statement, it might get a few paragraphs on page 14, if Bono says it it’s going to be on the cover of the New York Times and something that politicians feel they’re unable to ignore. I think it’s critically important to have people like him and Bob Geldof and George Clooney who’s become an authority on Darfur. Many of these celebrities invest a lot of time, effort and money into what they’re doing and are experts in these areas. It’s important because we’re trying to get a message out there, particularly to young people. If Lady Gaga flies into Syria tomorrow, the world press will follow. The great thing about them as spokespeople is generally they don’t screw up. If you have celebrity and wealth, there’s a responsibility to use that for something other than just self-gain. I remember the food crisis in Niger a few years ago. What was happening was sickening. I came out of a feeding centre having watched a child die, which, believe me, is something that changes you. Anyway, there was a UN meeting to try and raise media awareness of what was going on there. Unfortunately for both her and Niger, it happened the same day as Janet Jackson’s Superbowl ‘wardrobe malfunction’. Niger got no attention; it was so frustrating. Had we got Janet Jackson to go to Niger the next day, it would have been fine. That’s the world we live in. We have to work with that and we can use celebrities.
You were one of the first people into Haiti after the earthquake disaster. How come Sean Penn’s work there has been so successful while Wyclef Jean’s Yele organisation imploded amidst claims that it had grossly mishandled funds totaling $16 million?
Good intentions on their own aren’t enough. You have to have an administrative structure below you that’s actually going to run a business because that’s what a relief organisation is. Sean Penn started off living in the camp saying, “It’s about direct action, not administration.” But as he began to realise he’d taken on an awful lot of responsibility, he set up an office; he hired cars; he conformed a little more and understood that to make a difference you have to have financial systems in place. Wyclef, for all his personal magnetism, didn’t have that infrastructure in place.
Somebody who’s also had his motives questioned – in particular by the Daily Mail who had to pay him €150,000 in defamation damages – is Denis O’Brien. How would you sum up his contribution to disaster relief in Haiti?
I’d say he’s been very significant. I didn’t really know Denis all that well until I met him in Port-au-Prince. He’d been engaged with Haiti for quite some time before the earthquake. That was when the kidnapping had gone down, and the security situation had generally improved. The time was right and he brought in 15 businessmen to look at investment opportunities in the slums and other areas. When the earthquake happened, he brought international NGOs, national NGOs, government representatives, local business and international business together through the Clinton global initiative. He sat them in the same room every six weeks and said, “What are the issues? What can we do?” He pushed people on accountability to the point of rudeness, but was incredibly effective. There was a massive amount of co-operation, understanding and resources generated between international NGOs, the corporate sector, and the local authorities, which we’re now looking to replicate in other countries.
You mentioned Bill Clinton there; have you met him?
Yes, on numerous occasions. He was in and out of Haiti all the time, and literally late for every event because he spent so long talking to people. He was so interested and absorbed in hearing what they were thinking and what ideas they had. That’s the character of the man.
How successful has Barack Obama’s engagement with the Third World been?
I’m not sure Obama’s fulfilled the ‘agent of hope and change’ pledge that got him elected. There are still drone attacks and other counter-terrorism issues to be addressed. He’s tried to push through food aid reform amendments that have for the main part been blocked by the Senate. On the plus side, he’s largely maintained aid budgets in what is a difficult climate. His scorecard is mixed, but he does have another few years. I suspect he’s going to want to work hard on achieving a global legacy. We know that Clinton failed in relation to things like the genocide in Rwanda, and has spent his entire time outside the presidency making up for that.
How does Enda measure up against them?
I’m newly back in Ireland and had the pleasure of meeting Enda Kenny at David Cameron’s Nutrition For Growth summit where I thought he gave an excellent speech. He reminded everybody in the room about the history of Ireland and why hunger will continue to be an issue for us at a global level. Ireland as a small country punches way above its weight in relation to influence. It’s not always about the money that we’re bringing to the table. In talking about these issues in London, Enda Kenny helped secure the €3.5 billion the EU’s going to spend on fighting malnutrition. From the Concern point of view, he’s definitely saying the right things.
There’ll be cynics out there going, “Dominic MacSorley has to be nice about the Taoiseach because Concern are reliant on government funding.”
Believe me, I’d be the first to very loudly criticise Enda Kenny if he wasn’t saying and doing the right things. It just so happens that him and David Cameron and a lot of other western leaders have started to realise that by investing now we’re saving ourselves a lot of money in the long run. An equation that came out of Nutrition For Growth is that every dollar spent now on direct nutrition has a $15 return. That’s comparable or superior to investments in irrigation, water, sanitation or infrastructure.
There was also $800 million pledged at Nutrition For Growth by Bill Gates. Had you previously come across him in your work?
We got a research development grant from the Gates Foundation a number of years ago. It’s about going into developing countries in Africa and working with UNICEF and local health authorities to overcome obstacles. We can now generate innovative ideas and pilot them to see if they work as well in practice as they do in principle. Again, I have to say that from everything I’ve seen of them, the Gates Foundation are doing what they’re doing for the right reasons.
In his new book, Feeding Frenzy, sustainable food expert Paul McMahon attributes civil unrest in 30 countries, the fall of half-a-dozen governments and the sparking of the Arab Spring to the 2008 and 2010 panics in the commodities markets, which pushed global food prices up by thirty per cent. Do you agree with his analysis?
Well, food riots were what brought the Haitian government down in 2008. That set alarm bells off in many nations – if you can’t feed your people, they may not just go quietly into a corner and die. They might protest and topple your government. That’s accountability in a very pure, direct form. We know that it’s not just about food – the reasons behind the situation in Darfur, for instance, are water, grazing rights and people being marginalised. Tensions rise and are then exploited for their own political gain by the government or those who oppose them. It’s important that we recognise the triggers and try to stop them being pressed at the expense of the civilian population.
Concern brought former loyalist and republican prisoners over to Haiti to talk to gang members about conflict resolution. How did that work out?
Really well. The Glencree team went in there and got people to lay down their arms. We were able to go back into an area we’d previously pulled out of because it had become too dangerous. We did the same in Kosovo – we brought in a resolution group and a team from Dublin Rape Crisis. There were women who’d been violently raped and lost their husband who needed expert counselling. In terms of conflict resolution, Ireland has a huge experience and international credibility.
Going back to Rwanda, I can only imagine what it was like entering it in 1994 as part of Concern’s Rapid Deployment Unit.
Seeing the rivers choked with dead bodies, the smell of them… that was my toughest assignment ever. There were a million refugees who we had to try and get back to their villages. The extent of the genocide meant that the returnees included many of the people who’d carried out the killings. I asked this woman her story – she went into her hut and pulled out this photograph of her daughter’s wedding the previous year. She started stabbing at it and saying: “My husband was killed. My son was killed. His wife was killed. My other son and daughter were killed.” Out of the 15 family members in this photo, only her and her cousin had escaped being hacked to death. I was still trying to process this when she added, “I know the man responsible; he’s coming back.” I asked, “How do you feel about that?” and she replied, “Ultimately we’re all Rwandans and we’ll never be able to go forward until there’s forgiveness.” I said to myself, “How on earth does a country recover from that level of psychological injury? How do you ever make it right again?” Well, 19 years later Rwanda has one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. It’s critically important that people look at these examples and realise nothing is impossible. If you put the right ingredients in place, life can go on.
Is Rwanda one of the answers to the “charity begins – and ends – at home” brigade?
Charity does begin at home. I know times are tough. We’re highly sensitive towards that. At the end of the day the aid budget is significantly less than 1% of government spending. So we have to put some of that into perspective. What’s the world we want for our children? Is it just about our own communities or something broader? Those are the questions we’re asking. It’s not just about money – you can contribute by becoming more engaged, reading up on stuff and making it something our politicians have no option but to address.
Aid organisations are, like everyone else, feeling the financial pinch, but is increasingly aggressive chugging the answer?
If you see a child die, you ask “why?” and “how?” I have no problem asking people to donate what they can afford to prevent that from happening. Whether it’s chuggers or us appealing, it’s critically important to what we’re collectively trying to do. So I don’t have a problem with it. I’ll defend it every time.
The big Concern fundraising drive at the moment is in relation to Syria. The civil war makes it nigh on impossible to enter the country itself, but I imagine you’ll be doing a lot along the borders.
It’s by far the biggest humanitarian crisis the world is facing at the moment. The major milestone of a million people being displaced has been passed, and there’s the added worry of what’s happening next-door in Turkey. The area we’re focusing on is Lebanon, where refugees aren’t in camps but have disappeared into host families, who aren’t registered or receiving any assistance. We’ve pulled our most experienced people in, but the situation’s highly volatile. They’re having to make difficult judgment calls on a daily basis. The aim has to be to get into Syria itself where the greatest need is, but how do we do that safely? If there are people trapped, are you prepared to go in there and put your own lives at risk as well? The threat of chemical weaponry was in the minds of all of the international agencies when we went into Iraq; it’s paramount in our thoughts again now.
I presume there needs to be a dialogue with both the Syrian government and the various rebel factions.
During the Rwanda crisis, we worked with every side. Strategically we knew that if you don’t do that you’re no longer perceived as being neutral. We make decisions about whether we take money from a particular donor that’s going to endanger our staff. We haven’t taken American funding in Afghanistan or Somalia because we don’t want to be seen as supporting a particular foreign policy. I’ve spent the past 10 years as Director of Operations for Concern in New York because that’s where the United Nations and the American government are. I’ve gone into meetings with them and said, “I’ve spoken to our country director in Somalia, and this is the direct impact of your policy on the population.”
Have those policies ever been modified as a result?
Yes. When the US was doing its “hearts and minds” thing in Afghanistan, they had army personnel digging wells dressed in civilian clothes. We said, “The uniforms have to go back on because the local population are starting to think that everyone delivering aid belongs to the military. You’re turning our people into targets.” And the uniforms went back on. Syria and Afghanistan are getting all the coverage, but it’s our responsibility to not just react to the crises that are on TV every night. Funding is still desperately needed in countries like Chad and Yemen, which don’t have swarms of foreign correspondents in them.
How much of your civil rights ethos comes from being brought up in Belfast?
It’s definitely a factor. My father was a GP and had a surgery on the Falls Road and a surgery on the Antrim Road, so he spanned both worlds. He’d come home and talk about women who were under stress because of arrests or bombings or shootings. That was something he was constantly dealing with. I’m old enough to have been around before Velcro. The reason I mention this is because I went to St. Malachy’s, a Catholic boys school on the northside of Belfast. There was a Protestant school further on up, so invariably you’d get chased and beaten up if you didn’t run fast enough – and I wasn’t a fast runner. Anyway, when Velcro eventually arrived in Belfast, the headmaster sent a note home to our parents advising them to unstitch our blazer badges and put Velcro on them so that in moments of emergency they could be ripped off. Badge-less no one would know which school we were from. Needless to say it didn’t make a blind bit of difference to how many times I got punched! There’s a Cambodian expression, which sums that sort of discrimination up perfectly: “When elephants fight, it’s the grass that gets trampled.” In all of these conflicts it’s the ordinary decent people who bear the brunt.
You’d have been a teenager when punk hit – were you a regular down The Harp and The Pound Bar?
Sadly no, but I loved the way punk completely rose above sectarianism. It was anti-establishment, it was anti-everything. Conflict brings about creativity. Whether it’s poetry, music or whatever. I went to Queens University, and there was a vibrant Friday night at the union where again sectarianism didn’t permeate. You created your own normality in an abnormal situation. It was only when I moved to the south that I realised what an anomaly you are as a Northern Irish catholic. Your education is predominantly British history and your television is the BBC. It’s a real clash of cultures.
Talking of Catholicism, Concern appears to have made a concerted effort to distance itself from the church here.
It’s interesting because Concern was lead for many, many years by Fr. Aengus Finucane but it was never really problematic. He was seen as an Irish priest who was leading an organisation that was non-denominational. We had it set out very specifically in the wording that we were not faith-based or promoting a religious perspective. It’s critically important that you’re not heading in with that sort of an agenda.
I was in Swaziland a few years ago, and despite them having the highest HIV infection rate in the world – a staggering 38.7 per cent – the Catholic Church was still preaching against the use of condoms.
The Bush administration promoted the faith-based abstinence approach fairly aggressively, which in Africa particularly just wasn’t realistic. The social dimensions – dealing with the gay community and people who have HIV/AIDS – weren’t being addressed. I think there’s been a shift in thinking since then, even within the church.
Growing up as you did at the height of The Troubles, did you ever think Northern Ireland would host something like the G8?
The timing couldn’t be more perfect. Enniskillen has had the trauma of famine and bombings, but it’s coming out the other side now. I also think it’s rather poignant that 50 years after John F. Kennedy said, “The war against hunger is truly mankind’s war of liberation” we’re finally starting to make some real progress in terms of food security. The job of Concern and our supporters is to ensure that there’s no backsliding and it remains at the top of every government’s agenda.