When humanitarians go to communities in crisis, we must first observe, see things and try to understand the dynamics. If community members are surviving in the middle of a problem, it follows that they have more knowledge and skills than us to address it.

Sometimes, we think we know without knowing. We make the mistake of being very prescriptive. We tell communities how to live, how to act, how to function. And that’s a fundamental problem. Instead, we have to devise strategies to build upon local wisdom and support community initiatives.