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“Resilience” –
buzzword or useful concept?
When we spoke of resilience in 1999, in our report on the famine in Bar
El Ghazal, it was not understood by some. This concept from the field
of psychology, which describes the capacity of individuals to absorb
and survive stress and adversity, was being applied to the living
conditions of the inhabitants of the great wetlands of the Nilotic
depression in Southern Sudan, one of the harshest environments
imaginable. The concept of resilience could also be applied to
humanitarian operations in Southern Sudan, which are very fragile as
they are dependent on the presence of expatriates, the security
situation and flight authorizations from Khartoum [...] |
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| François Grunewald |
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The shared interests which make
humanitarianism possible
Is humanitarian space shrinking? Are humanitarian organisations less
capable than before of providing those affected by war, epidemics and
natural disasters with assistance? In a new publication, Humanitarian
Negotiations Revealed – The MSF Experience, MSF looks at the
difficulties encountered by aid organisations from a different angle.
Based on the association’s recent experience, it argues that relief
activities are not in any way linked to the existence of a humanitarian
space which simply needs to be defended on ethical terms against
attempts to instrumentalise it. The authors explain that the central
question in terms of aid organizations gaining access to a space in
which to work is their ability to reach a compromise between their
interests and those of the powers in place. Thus, the question is: what
is an acceptable compromise in the eyes of a humanitarian organization
like MSF? |
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How do Sri Lankan aid workers
in Vavuniya understand the term 'humanitarian' and to what extent do
they identify with it?
Following the end of the conflict in Sri Lanka in 2009, the phase of
emergency humanitarian aid is coming to a close. The focus is now
on moving towards longer-term development goals. The number of
international staff in organisations is being reduced as programmes are
increasingly managed by local staff. Against this backdrop of
transition, the purpose of this qualitative research is to focus on Sri
Lankan aid workers in Vavuniya, to better understand what the term
‘humanitarian’ means to them, how it shapes their identity and guides
the programmes they manage. The interviewees are part of a group
who will increasingly determine how aid will be provided in the
future.
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Environment and conflict in Latin
America
Environmental conflicts in Latin America are an important and often
overlooked problem in the region. There are varying types of
environmental conflicts, but their impacts on local communities are
consistently negative. It is vital for the international humanitarian
and development aid community to understand these conflicts and
recognize how they, as relevant actors, can play a positive role in
addressing and transforming them. |
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Does humanitarian coordination
exclude local actors and weaken their capacity?
Many reasons have been given to justify the exclusion of local actors
from the humanitarian response in Haiti, such as the weakness of local
institutions, human losses caused by the earthquake, the Presidential
election, the cholera crisis and the partisan nature of Haitian
organisations. The idea here is not to deny the importance of these
factors, but there is a danger that, by concentrating on these, other
essential issues are being overlooked which could explain why Haitians
were marginalized during the emergency phase and why there have been
difficulties in making the transition to reconstruction. |
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Haiti: The limits of the “Aid
System”
The present article looks at the 2010 aid efforts in Haiti, a year in
which 2 events resulted in massive humanitarian crisis. The first, the
January 2010 earthquake, triggered overwhelming mobilization of aid:
hundreds of actors poured into the country, deploying large scale
emergency assistance. The second event, a cholera epidemic, started in
October and received much media attention, but met with an
overstretched aid community. The now traditional UN coordinated efforts
aimed to organize aid mobilization for both crisis.
In the article MSF exposes an analytic review of the 2010 aid reality
in Haiti as well reflections that emerge from the experience: despite
the undeniable effort invested into the coordination of aid, the
current “aid system” does not seem to have improved emergency
assistance; worse, the system itself appears to generate “roadblocks”
for an effective response. Various reasons can be evoked for this,
notably the much advocated shift to early recovery, while actual
immediate needs of the affected population are far from being addressed.
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Humanitarian crises and
sustainability sanitation: lessons from Eastern Chad
How important is sanitation during a humanitarian crisis? Why is it
important to explore ecological and sustainable sanitation?
This article looks at the case of Eastern Chad, an example of a major
long-term crisis. From an acute emergency in 2003, the crisis has gone
through a number of phases. The appropriateness of aid mechanisms is
currently being questioned, with a particular focus on sanitation.
Sustainable sanitation can help to improve the quality of life of
refugees and IDPs as well as local populations. From this perspective,
what lessons from Eastern Chad could be useful in other contexts?
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Training courses organised by Groupe
URD
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| The World Water Forum, 12 - 17 March
2012, Marseille |
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AFD-EUDN Conference 2012: "Malaise
dans l’évaluation : quelles leçons tirer de l’expérience du
Développement", 26 March 2012, Paris
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9th edition of the DIHAD, 1-3 April,
Dubai
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| 6th edition of the "Salon des
Solidarités", 1-3 June, Paris |
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From UNDRO to the
Transformative Agenda: 40 years of challenges for the coordination of
humanitarian action |
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Post-crisis food
security |
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