The Red Cross Society of the ROC--Forging Alliances for Maximum Impact

Reconstruction requires timely, varied, and persistent professional assistance. In the story above, it was the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China (RCSROC), which drove the formation of the Typhoon Morakot Service Alliance, that coordinated the response.

Taiwan's utilization of this kind of resource-integrated service model originated with the National Alliance for Post-Earthquake Reconstruction, which was founded by social workers 10 years ago in the wake of the Jiji Earthquake. When the Sichuan quake struck mainland China in May 2008, the Red Cross raised NT$1.6 billion and formed a similar service alliance consisting of 33 non-profit organizations (NPOs).

RCSROC secretary general Steven Chen explains that the society's core services are search-and-rescue and disaster-preparedness training; social work and post-disaster reconstruction are not among its strengths. Working with outside groups and promoting resource integration required a good deal of learning on the fly.

NPOs' experience with the "Sichuan alliance" established a foundation of mutual trust that enabled the Typhoon Morakot alliance to attract the participation of nearly 80 social welfare groups. Based on their particular strengths, participants were assigned to one of 10 taskforces: social work, counseling, administrative support, healthcare, culture, law, education, information technology, placement, or expert advice. "A secondary benefit [of forming taskforces] was that the conveners of each worked together to audit and oversee the distribution of funds by the others, lending credibility to their efforts to be accountable," says Chen.

Red Cross volunteers and equipment are constantly on call, ready to take up arms the moment a typhoon warning goes out. In the photo, Red Cross volunteers work with soldiers and firemen to evacuate disaster victims from Xinkai Village, Kaohsiung County.

At a press conference on reconstruction held on the 16th day after the typhoon, RCSROC president C. V. Chen thanked the public for the enthusiasm with which it had been donating funds, explained the society's plans, and said it would strive for transparency and openness. Donations continued to rise, and as of December 2, the RCSROC had raised NT$3.57 billion. In fact, over the last decade, donations to the Red Cross have grown more than those to any other organization in Taiwan.

The Typhoon Morakot reconstruction process also produced a gratifying breakthrough-the major organizations overcame longstanding barriers to cooperation between foundations of differing religious orientation.

Steven Chen says that at the start of the reconstruction effort, each organization was eager to show what it could do, which triggered a scramble for projects at the government's reconstruction coordination meetings. Then, as representatives from the foundations were arguing back and forth at a late August coordination meeting, the Venerable Jue Pei, secretary general of the Buddha's Light International Association ROC, turned to Chen and whispered: "Social welfare groups are supposed to do good deeds, not seek wealth or glory. Why do we need to argue like this?"

Chen felt much the same way, and called over Hsieh Shui-yong, a consultant with the Dharma Drum Mountain Social Welfare and Charity Foundation with whom he had worked well during 2005's Southeast Asian tsunami relief effort. After huddling together in their own mini meeting, the three agreed to form a strategic alliance. They were soon joined by the ROC I-Kuan Tao Association and the I-Kuan Tao-affiliated Chang Yung-fa Foundation, and then by World Vision Taiwan, a group with strongly Christian ties. To date, the Tzu Chi Foundation, which has very solid financial resources of its own, is the only one of the six major reconstruction organizations not to have joined.

The new alliance proved very effective during the construction of temporary housing in Jialan Village, Taitung. World Vision Taiwan took on the construction of the temporary housing itself, while the other groups worked on the public facilities, including the library, activities center, and a pavilion. "The alliance exploded the myth that groups have to have their own geographic territories in which they do everything themselves," says Chen. "Our way led to more satisfactory results."

Right now, the RCSROC's six-year plan calls for spending 20% of its budget on the rebuilding of non-physical infrastructure, the most challenging aspect of which is the effort to provide people with better livelihoods.

Chen explains that Typhoon Morakot did tremendous damage to many people's ability to earn a living, especially in Aboriginal areas, which tend to have exploitative economies. He says that the goal of reconstruction is not simply to return the victims of the disaster to their previous standard of living, but to use community development, the development of unique local industries, and the transmission of Aboriginal culture to help disaster victims attain a higher standard of living than they had before the typhoon.

With that goal in mind, the Red Cross and the people of Xiaolin Village together developed a plan to improve locals' livelihoods. Their tentative proposal involves raising organic vegetables transplanted from an organic farm belonging to Formosa Plastics, establishing counters to sell the produce in PX-Marts, RT-Marts, and other major distributors, and asking McKinsey and Company to assist with marketing and packaging to help develop a Xiaolin memorial brand.

The Red Cross has used its experience with relief efforts ranging from those following the Southeast Asian tsunami and the Sichuan earthquake to Typhoon Morakot to acquire and improve its know-how. Chen doesn't mince words: "It's the ineptitude of the bureaucratic system that has provided NPOs with the opportunity to grow." The RCSROC has earned and retained the public's trust by regularly reporting on the progress of its projects and keeping its promises to disaster victims.

Chen, who often travels to disaster zones in Taiwan and abroad, says with a hint of excitement that some of Xiaolin's disaster victims have even approached the Red Cross to discuss resettlement matters-they don't want the land the government is providing for free and would instead prefer to borrow money to buy their own land. But if they take that approach they'll still need help with construction. "This suggests that the disaster victims have begun recovering and are starting to look ahead," says Chen. "It also suggests that they view the Red Cross as a family member they can rely on."