Chapter 8.
NGO Identification and Presence
N
GOs, NGO personnel, and NGO operations do not in fact “look” like anything in particular.
Sometimes identifiable by their trucks, logos, staff, or flags, NGOs are civilian organizations and do
not require any form of specific uniform or standard presence.
Some may argue this point, though, and suggest that NGOs are
Executive Summary
extremely sensitive to identifying themselves as major actors
within an emergency. Many NGOs do indeed attempt to delineate
ƒƒ NGOs are staffed by
largely local staff and a few
themselves from other NGOs, from combating parties, and
expatriates, and often drive
almost always attempt to remain distinct from any nonneutral
Land Rovers, trucks, and cars in
entities within the region of operation. In recent years, NGOs
emergency settings.
have gone from visible, easily identified cars, trucks, and offices
ƒƒ In conflict areas, NGOs may
to nondescript ones. Because NGOs have become targets for
not be visible.
violence, this is now the norm.
ƒƒ NGOs may use flags or large
stickers to display their logo
NGOs participating in disasters are visible to U.S. or
and signal their presence
international peacekeeping forces when transporting goods,
where they work, live, or store
managing refugee, or IDP populations, or providing medical
material.
assistance. Because there are so many NGOs, military personnel
ƒƒ It may also not be expedient
often become confused or pessimistic about working with one
for safety reasons to identify
or another, citing too many differences between them, or an
their presence.
inability to tell one from another. This is normally short-sighted,
and a brief review of how an NGO identifies itself in a large pool
of international actors is important.
An NGO will often attempt to brand itself and make itself visible by using logos, flags, stickers, labels,
websites, t-shirts, and jackets. Although not normally a formal area of study or even of concern, at
least identifying the more common NGO icons that are now somewhat common in humanitarian
disaster settings is deemed essential to this guidebook.
The most identifiable aspect of an NGO is its logo. These are used on office doors or compounds,
personnel vehicles, trucks and containers, letterhead and correspondence, and sometimes flags. The
logo is one way to indicate location for coordination purposes, beneficiary benefit, or donor sight.
Table 8.1 presents several well-known logos (see following page).
Identifying NGO Personnel and Equipment
With very few exceptions, NGOs traditionally have not used uniforms and normally do not impose
a dress code on their employees and volunteers. Many NGO employees will wear their NGO’s logo
on shirts, coats, or hats, and often will also wear an armband or some other form of insignia that
separates them from local populations or other international staff in the area. International staff that
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still fall under the rubric of expatriate are also often visible if their physical features differ from that
of the local population of the country or region in question.
Table 8.1. NGO Logos
Oxfam
World Vision
International
Medicines San
Frontiers (MSF)
Action Against
Hunger
Catholic Relief
Services (CRS)
International
Medical Corps
(IMC)
International
Rescue Committee
(IRC)
Danish Refugee
Council
CARE
Relief
International
That is, there is no easy way to identify NGO personnel. Instead, and to generalize grossly, many NGO
personnel wear what has become seemingly if informally standard—multipocketed vest (normally
tan or black), khaki pants, chukka boots, and sometimes a badge with an ID card or insignia. Medical
personnel often wear or tote fanny-packs filled with essential tools and medicines, and engineers and
logisticians often carry small tool belts. Again, these are generalizations, but it holds true that often
expats are largely identifiable by their clothing, physical stature differences, skin color differences,
and association with other similar expats (see chapter 5 for a more in-depth discussion).
NGO personnel almost always require personal transportation within the emergency-affected
region. Smaller organizations often rent local cars or hire a taxi for an extended period of time
during the assessment or initial onset period. In traveling between cities or rural areas, programs
or regions, smaller NGOs find major challenges in providing the most basic of transportation for its
personnel. Larger NGOs with more capacity will often bring in large four-wheel drive vehicles or rent
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vehicles locally. Some NGOs will also hire individuals locally to drive the vehicles and care for them
(maintenance, security at night).
NGOs use many of the same types of vehicles. Obtained from the UN when implementing UN-funded
projects, and sometimes purchased or leased, four-wheel drive vehicles are popular for rugged and
sometimes not-so-rugged areas. Table 8.2 identifies vehicles representing a few of the types NGOs
typically use in emergencies.124
Table 8.2 Emergency Vehicles
Pajero 2.8 GL Station Wagon 4x4
Toyota Hi-Lux Double Cabin Pick-Up 4 x 4
Hi-Lux with NGO logos on side panels
NGO-owned refueling truck
Other types of vehicles are used as well. NGOs often buy used vehicles on the local market, rent local
vehicles, or hire drivers and their vehicle for periods of time. Many cited cases show that NGOs will
pay drivers more than national medical staff during emergencies because keeping a good and flexible
driver is essential to the health of any program. Drivers are often more than chauffeurs. Serving as
guides, translators, and junior logisticians, they become essential to any new NGO program during an
emergency.
Depending on the type of disaster and conditions of the region, NGOs often will set up at least two
distinct locations within an area of potential operation: one for working or storage (or both), and
124 These photographs were taken from the Bukkehave Corporation website. Bukkehave is one of the largest providers
of vehicles to the UN in HAOs, and many of their vehicles are given directly to the implementing partner NGO. The
Bukkehave website offers catalogues of the vehicles it supplies. All images, trademarks, names, and copyrights belong
to Bukkehave (www.bukkehave.com).
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the other for living. By renting a house, office space, a hotel room or often enough putting up a tent
or temporary structure, NGOs set up shop where the staff will work, coordinate, communicate, and
store supplies. A second location is often established to house personnel. Although sometimes office
and living space are shared, it is not too uncommon for an NGO to set up a separate living quarters
to support an operation. This is a generalization, and depending on the size of the NGO and the type
of program, an NGO can easily have more than two offices and numerous living quarters. If the NGO
is operating programs that distribute material, storehouses or warehouses are used and most often
rented from local owners.
In Kosovo in 1999, a number of NGOs and IOs established living and working quarters in a few
residential areas just outside the downtown area of Pristina, Kosovo’s provincial capital. Immediately
after NATO forces moved in and made the environment somewhat safe for NGOs to operate in more
actively, NGOs began setting up office and living quarters in the same areas. NGOs would hire Kosovar
Albanians to assist in finding and then negotiating the terms for a leased house or office space, and
Albanian families would often willingly move out of their homes to take advantage of the high rents
they could charge the NGOs. NGO logos began popping up on gates outside of the homes and on
garages, and soon larger four-wheel-drive vehicles and NGO personnel dominated this area of the
city.
Conclusion: NGO Staff Levels “Positively” Diverse
NGO personnel are diverse. They come from all backgrounds, cultures, races, and are of both sexes
and all ages, some very young and some very old. They are competent and dedicated to their mission.
While NGOs often employ young staff members, there is normally a management structure that is in
tact and accountable.
An NGO’s diversity is often one of its primary assets. With diversity, an NGO may be able to take
advantage of multiple points of view, shared experiences, regional and language expertise, and
a generally adaptable work force. With a number of nationalities, an NGO can move into more
emergencies in different regions with confidence that any one of its staff members has a deeper
understanding of some aspect of the emergency operation, the population in need, the climate, UN
politics or economy, and that this will reflect positively in the NGO’s operation.
Many people outside of the NGO community are critical of the perceived lack of accountability or
management structures among NGOs. Although this can be true of smaller organizations, most
established NGOs are well staffed and capable of coordinating and operating in emergency settings.
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