Celebrating 10 years Centre for Safety and Development
Most of CSD’s staff, trainers and facilitators were present, just as people from other NGOs within CSD’s network. The atmosphere was very good: a relaxing environment where people could catch up while enjoying a beer or a glass of wine. It was also possible to participate in two short ‘incident role playing’ events for those who were interested.
This milestone is a good moment to reflect on the past 10 years with Ebe Brons, founder and CEO of CSD. In his speech Ebe explained that he came up with the idea for CSD in his student room 10 years ago. He did not have any background in NGO work or security, but when he was researching what NGOs were doing, he realised that working in conflict areas involves risks that significantly impact the ability of NGOs to do their good works and that inspired him to initiate CSD.
Together with Tom Brabers he started to develop a training and to build up a network necessary for CSD to succeed. In the beginning, they did not know anyone in the NGO sector, but by calling organisations and visiting conferences, they slowly started to build up a network. War Child was the first to ask CSD for a security training, which formed the basis of today’s Basic Course. This gave momentum to CSD. The first years were difficult, particularly because security awareness amongst NGOs was limited. The importance of good security management and good preparation was not widely shared. Compared to those early years, aid workers are now much more prepared when starting to work in the field.
The biggest change in the past 10 years is that NGOs have become much more professional. NGOs are aware that working in the field is becoming increasingly dangerous. There are very few organisations nowadays who do not have any form of security management, because they still believe that there is no reason to worry about safety on the ground! Another big change is that development work has become a profession, in which standards and procedures have become much more prominent. This has made NGOs much more effective. Organisations are aware that insecurity costs money. Those are often hidden costs, because costs as a result from an incident or from the necessity to shut down a programme due to an increasingly insecure context are usually not budgeted for. This awareness means that security management is higher on the agenda.
Ebe hopes that CSD’s success will continue in the coming years. In five years he hopes to have opened more field offices, in order for CSD to be closer to NGOs in the field. Moreover, he believes that information and data will continue to become more important for NGOs. This is something that CSD will focus on, for instance by further developing Simson1, to keep contributing to CSD’s overall goal to help keeping aid workers safe.
For the sector, Ebe sees challenges in keeping up with the political developments in the world and in the regions where they are active. Good information and capable employees are crucial.
For CSD, the organisation would have never been this successful without the relentless efforts from staff, trainers, facilitators and volunteers. Ebe sees these efforts and support as the basis for success in the coming ten years.