Learning from Lesbos

Learning from Lesbos 

17

Finding 3:

 A more coordinated 

approach, in which organisations 

and individuals engaged in the 

humanitarian response – including 

volunteers and civil society actors 

– were more willing to recognise 

one another, and to ensure 

complementarity in the diverse 

activities taking place would have 

improved the prioritisation of efforts 

and the effectiveness of the response. 

One of the biggest challenges to efficiently responding 

to the refugee crisis on Lesbos has been the number and 

diversity of actors present. In the earliest stage of the crisis, 

the response was predominantly orchestrated by civil society 

actors and volunteers, self-organised and, in the majority of 

cases, without previous experience or training in emergency 

response or humanitarian action. Even as the crisis endured 

and the ranks of specialist humanitarian organisations 

swelled, the “non-traditional” responders represented 

the majority of people providing immediate assistance to 

refugees and other migrants landing on the Lesbos shoreline. 

In Molyvos (and other places) this lack of coordination 

led to refugees and migrants being given inaccurate 

information and bad advice. In one instance volunteers, 

not knowing that the IRC, through an agreement with the 

municipality, had arranged for bus transport, told people 

who had recently arrived that they would have to make 

their way to the centre of town on foot. Exhausted men, 

women and children therefore began a humiliating parade 

through the town, a spectacle that was demeaning for 

them, and exacerbated anxieties among local people. 

When boat arrivals on Lesbos were at their peak, responders 

endeavoured to establish coordination mechanisms – 

primarily information sharing via a phone messaging 

application. Although these efforts were better than nothing, 

their ad hoc nature was symptomatic of the underlying 

coordination issues. Information sharing improved, but 

meaningful coordination - with the establishment of a shared 

approach to identification and prioritisation of needs, and the 

mobilisation of resources – continued to be a serious gap.

Under the auspices of the Greek authorities, UNHCR now 

organises weekly general coordination meetings open to all 

active responders. Participating organisations are included in 

an Inter-Agency Consultation Forum (the Forum), as chaired 

by the Lesbos Municipality and co-chaired by UNCHR with 

the support of the General Secretariat of the Ministry for the 

Aegean and Island Policy and involvement of the Ministry 

of Migration. Responding organisations are continuously 

encouraged to register with the Ministry for the Aegean 

and Island Policy in order to participate in the Forum and 

legally operate on the island. The Forum maps the active 

programmes of all of its members and categorises them 

as either protection, health, shelter, or non-food items.

Finding 4:

 Despite the fractured nature 

of the response, the IRC managed to 

build relationships with actors at all 

levels of the response (from private 

individuals through to municipal 

authorities). These relationships 

proved critical to efforts to magnify 

the impact of the IRC’s activities.

From the outset, the IRC has made great efforts to engage 

with the broadest possible range of actors involved in 

the response on Lesbos. In addition to its collaboration 

with municipal authorities (discussed above), the IRC 

invested time and resources in establishing relationships 

with the local private sector, civil society actors and 

NGOs, national and international. The criticality of these 

relationships varies, of course, depending on the degree 

to which aims and activities were shared or at least 

directly complementary, but overall, these efforts resulted 

in more effective and sustainable programming.

In the initial stage of its work on Lesbos, the IRC 

endeavoured to map the multitude of groups and individuals 

engaged in responding either to the needs of newly arrived 

refugees and migrants or to the strains being felt by the local 

population as numbers of people on the island burgeoned. 

Given the large number of people active in the response 

and the general lack of coordination among them, it was not 

possible to identify everyone, but it was important to know at 

least who the key actors were, and to have an understanding 

of their activities, interests and capacities. As previously 

mentioned, however, the existing political and economic 

actors, systems and structures also represent important 

actors in an urban crisis response, and the lack of a mapping 

and analysis of these stakeholders by the humanitarian 

community represents a significant gap which undoubtedly 

had a negative impact on the effectiveness of the response.

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Learning from Lesbos 

18

Key Findings  

(continued)

Engagement across the Spectrum of Actors 

Involved in the Lesbos Response

The IRC’s engagement with the various groups and individuals active in the Lesbos 

response generally involved one or more of the following goals or functions. 

 COMMUNICATION

This relationship is based on sharing information  

that will inform and facilitate good programming. 

The needs and priorities of affected people are 

best understood by establishing a solid channel 

of communication, which will also serve to ensure 

that an organisation’s activities and aims are well 

understood and accepted. On Lesbos, the IRC held 

focus group discussions with members of the local 

Molyvos community

.

 The relationship that developed 

through these discussions led to a reported reduction 

in tensions between the host community and NGOs. 

Better-planned, more transparent programming 

also contributed to a reduction in social tensions 

between the host and refugee populations. 

 COORDINATION

Humanitarian coordination seeks to improve the 

effectiveness of humanitarian response by ensuring 

greater predictability, accountability and partnership.

9

 

Good coordination ensures that various actors’ work will 

be complementary, rather than duplicative or competitive. 

In the Kara Tepe site, in Mytilene, the IRC has been 

proactive in pursuing strong coordination with other 

NGOs and the municipality-let management of the site 

to ensure that it is delivering services that are correctly 

prioritised and which leverage the services and resources 

available from other actors. For example, by introducing 

a referral system directing people with healthcare needs 

to Médecins du Monde and Human Appeal, the IRC 

meets an important need by leveraging the services 

provided by others, not duplicating them. Coordination in 

an urban environment can be challenging, as evidenced 

by the response on Lesbos, but its importance is crucial 

to ensuring the greatest possible positive impact. 

 PARTNERSHIP

During an emergency in an urban setting, where we 

typically find a proliferation of non-specialist actors 

becoming involved in humanitarian response, partnerships 

(formalised through a memorandum of understanding or 

other contract or agreement) can be particularly useful 

in clarifying and delineating activities. In addition to 

spelling out the parameters of cooperation, partnerships 

can establish predictable lines of communication and 

frameworks for accountability. In the context of the Lesbos 

response, the IRC has entered into partnerships with 

one or more other parties to work together to implement 

programmes, to ensure coordination in service provision 

and other activities, and to enhance communication. 

  ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Supporting local organisations with a more permanent 

presence to develop their capacity in emergency 

response and recovery has long been recognised as 

good practice. Direct service delivery by international 

and other “outside” actors in an emergency should 

generally be undertaken as a last resort, and with a view 

to facilitating a transition of responsibilities to local actors 

once they are in a position to take over (capacity building 

support from international organisations often being a 

key factor in reaching that state of readiness). In Molyvos, 

the IRC engaged in organisational development with 

one civil society actor who worked to strengthen their 

structure, legitimacy, programme quality, and knowledge 

of humanitarian principles. While the relationship had 

its challenges, the organisation in question maintained 

a presence and active role in support of the IRC’s 

Apanemo transit site while it was operational. 

above: A facility at the IRC’s Apanemo transit site,  

painted by local families. 

Samer Saliba/IRC

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