Solidarity Coalition
For Healing and Resilience in the Middle East
An innovative initiative forming a growing coalition
of Disaster Health Care services in the Middle East
The Solidarity Coalition has been established by more than 20 disaster health care NonGovernmental Organizations (NGOs) to date currently providing life-saving mental health and medical services to victims of war and violence in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria.
It’s purpose is to collaborate closely on coordinating existing services and developing new services between member NGOs to provide more comprehensive, ongoing emergency health care that reach more people in need, faster, and more sustainably.
The coalition is the result of two invitation-only dialogue conferences held in late May and mid-July, exclusively for representatives of international and local NGOs, as well as health care practitioners wishing to volunteer their time and skills to participating NGOs, to explore the need, benefits, and practical framework for shared support and coordination of our efforts in solidarity.
The Need:
Strategic cooperation between humanitarian services is clearly vital now given the devastating and rapidly growing humanitarian need, and the significant pulling back of international governmental and large system support for critical humanitarian aid to this region – most dramatically in Gaza – that is resulting in responsibility for supplying this aid increasing falling on the shoulders of those NGOs individually providing life-saving services.
The immediate problem this initiative addresses is the magnitude of this need, the overwhelming challenges and inability of any one NGO attempting to realistically do this alone, and the practical advantages, strengths, and necessity of working together.
Obstacles that limit and undermine the ability of health care services to more effectively meet the critical needs of massive numbers of victims, and minimize overburdening staff and burnout include:
- Working in isolation,
- Limited direct service staffing and operational resources,
- Limited specialized skills among service staff for complex needs,
- Limited and unequal access to best practice skills training and educational materials and programs,
- Lack of connection and information on:
> what other NGOs are doing, where, for what population, and how to access these services to be aware of:
– service gaps as well as duplication that wastes resources
– possibilities for sharing, complimenting, and mutually supporting like-purposed efforts.
> available operational resources to help fill service gaps, including logistical and specialized skill resources that individual NGOs either have the ability to share or are in need of (ex. medical NGOs in need of mental health expertise, and vice versa).
> collected data and lessons learned by other NGOs.
Action:
Coalition members engage in task groups focused on developing and implementing practical applications in several key, interlinked areas related to strengthening and sustaining critical health care in the region for the most at risk, including:
- Trauma-Informed and Culturally-Informed Direct Treatment:
Selecting, developing, and implementing best practice service models and methods that are trauma-informed, culturally appropriate, evidence-based, interdisciplinary, eclectic, and whole-person. - Local Capacity Building and Support for Services, and Support for Front-line Service Providers:
Building partnerships with local service NGOs, developing and implementing certified treatment skills training programs to increase the local pool of trained providers now and into the future, and providing on-going psycho-emotional support to front-line service workers living and operating under extraordinarily stressful conditions. - Public Health Education, and Self-help/Coping/Resilience Building Skills Training:
Developing and providing mental and medical health educational materials, as well as self-help personal skills training programs and tutorials, geared to both the general population and specific populations, such as children and teens, to support individual and communal strength, re-empowerment, recovery, and resilience. - Resource Development and Sharing:
Strategically generating and sharing funding, in-kind, and logistical resources to make the most efficient use of available resources that increases the reach, effectiveness, and sustainability of services overall. - Research and Mapping:
Increasing professional and lay public awareness and understanding of individual and communal trauma (including transgenerational trauma) and innovative treatment approaches, as well as mapping the need and service landscape into a searchable database for better informed collaborative service planning by NGOs and access by service recipients. - Professional Community Outreach and Networking:
Promoting increased awareness among the global professional community to generate additional cooperation, support, and input to underscore the unprecedented need and advance the joint mission of this coalition.
- Trauma-Informed and Culturally-Informed Direct Treatment:
Rather than operating as a separate program, this collaboration is committed to mutually supporting and benefiting each NGOs mission and success in meeting the immense humanitarian needs of the region.
A Call For More Joint Action:
As this initiative continues to move forward in developing and implementing shared strategies and mechanisms for immediate disaster health care service delivery, and support of local partner NGOs in building and strengthening the local health care service system for the recovery and resilience building needs of these societies that will be necessary well into the future, we invite other NGOs providing like services in the region to join us in solidarity for this coalition.
Inquires for information on this humanitarian initiative can contact:
Steve Olweean, Director, Common Bond Institute at:
SOlweean@aol.com or Cell/WhatsApp/Signal: 1-269-501-5453
Invaluable professional and personal experience is also available for those who wish to be part of a team creating an unprecedented humanitarian initiative:
Opportunities for
Professional Volunteer Experience and Internship/Field Placements