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22. From Crisis to Catastrophe: South Sudan's man-made crisis — and how the world must act now to prevent catastrophe in 2015
- Author:
- Isabel Martins
- Publication Date:
- 10-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- South Sudan is facing the world's worst food crisis, driven by the conflict that erupted in December 2013. Unless there is an end to the fighting, this food crisis will continue. Without far stronger international pressure, the conflict is unlikely to be resolved. International diplomacy – as well as aid and the protection of civilians on the ground – is urgently needed.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Political Violence, Humanitarian Aid, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Sudan
23. Centrafrique : l'intervention de la dernière chance
- Publication Date:
- 12-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Durant les neuf derniers mois, ce qui restait de l'Etat centrafricain s'est effondré avec de graves conséquences humanitaires (400 000 personnes sont déplacées et presque la moitié de la population a besoin d'aide humanitaire). Le gouvernement de transition et la force de sécurité régionale ont été incapables de freiner la chute dans l'anarchie aussi bien en zone rurale qu'en zone urbaine et notamment à Bangui. Après plusieurs mois de passivité et à la suite de tueries, la communauté internationale a pris conscience des conséquences de la faillite de la RCA. Malheureusement, la détérioration de la situation est bien plus rapide que la mobilisation internationale et Bangui est au bord de l'explosion. Dans l'immédiat, le Conseil de sécurité devrait fournir un mandat sous chapitre 7 à la Mission internationale de soutien à la Centrafrique sous conduite africaine (Misca) épaulée par les forces françaises pour rétablir l'ordre dans Bangui dans un premier temps puis se déployer dans d'autres villes. Par la suite, la réconciliation religieuse devrait être privilégiée et des mesures de stabilisation devraient être appliquées.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Political Violence, Development, Humanitarian Aid, International Cooperation, Peace Studies, and Fragile/Failed State
- Political Geography:
- Africa
24. Can Development Interventions Help Post-conflict Communities Build Social Cohesion? The Case of the Liberia Millennium Villages
- Author:
- Elisabeth King
- Publication Date:
- 12-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Abstract:
- This paper evaluates the efforts of one international development intervention — the Kokoyah Millennium Villages Project (KMVP) — to improve welfare and build social cohesion in post-conflict Liberia. This study is based on a preliminary analysis of survey data from a quasi- experimental, difference-in-differences (DID) research design, and shows that social cohesion was already higher than anticipated before the project began. Despite operational challenges with implementation of the KMVP, complaints about the project, and lack of improved perceptions of welfare, there is evidence that the KMVP had positive effects on some measures of social cohesion and no evidence of adverse effects, yet no changes on some factors that may be important to contribute to development. This paper demonstrates that DID measures and quasi-experimental designs that use appropriate comparison groups can yield important insights in social science research conducted in complex and changing contexts such as a post-civil war setting. This paper seeks to foster a conversation about the many relationships between development and social cohesion (particularly in post-conflict contexts), the possibilities and challenges for researchers in studying these relationships and the importance of doing so for intended beneficiaries on the ground.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Foreign Policy, Development, and Humanitarian Aid
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Liberia
25. Effectiveness Review: Drought Management Initiative: Livestock Component, Kenya
- Publication Date:
- 12-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Under Oxfam Great Britain's (OGB) Global Performance Framework (GPF), samples of sufficiently mature projects are being randomly selected each year and their effectiveness rigorously assessed. The livestock component of the Turkana-Pokot Drought Management Initiative (DMI) was randomly selected for an Effectiveness Review under the adaptation and risk reduction thematic area in the 2012/13 financial year. DMI was a three-year programme implemented by a consortium of NGOs which aimed to mitigate the effects of climatic shocks among pastoralist communities in north-western Kenya. Oxfam GB was responsible for implementing the livestock component of this programme in three of the most remote pastoralist communities in the northern part of Turkana County. The activities carried out included establishing pastoralist field schools (PFSs) in each community, to provide members with training on improving livestock management, drought mitigation, and livelihood diversification. In the same communities, the project supported the establishment of village community banks (VICOBAs), as well as training community animal-health workers (CAHWs) and setting up village land-use planning committees (VLUPCs).
- Topic:
- Agriculture, Climate Change, Development, Human Welfare, Humanitarian Aid, Non-Governmental Organization, and Natural Resources
- Political Geography:
- Kenya and Africa
26. UN Statebuilding at a Turning Point: What's new about the intervention brigade and peacekeeping drones?
- Author:
- Touko Piiparinen
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- Last March the UN Security Council authorised the so-called Intervention Brigade to undertake 'targeted offensive operations' against illegal armed groups operating in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The Brigade, which undertook its first operations in August, differs from traditional UN peacekeeping in terms of its robust mandate and mobility. The UN has simultaneously adopted a new technology, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), in the DRC, which represents the first-ever use of UAVs as a part of UN peacekeeping. UAVs will be deployed in the DRC at the end of November, and start operating in early December The Intervention Brigade and UAVs have been hailed as a turning point in UN peacekeeping. However, they should not be perceived as completely new or standalone instruments of UN conflict management. They could instead be best understood as a continuum and extension of the long held state building doctrine applied by the UN. These new instruments enable the UN to perform one of its key functions of state building and protection of civilians, namely controlling and policing the whole territory of a state where an intervention has been undertaken more effectively than before. The lessons learned from the UN peace operation in the DRC indicate that the UN state building doctrine remains self-contradictory on account of the tendency of UN state building missions to spill over into wars and the mismatch between the ambitious goals set for state building and the chronic lack of resources. The Intervention Brigade and UAVs can potentially help the UN to resolve that mismatch by enhancing the UN's state building and protection capacities. However, they cannot resolve the other major disadvantage of state building, namely collateral damage inflicted in state building wars, and may even aggravate that problem.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Development, Humanitarian Aid, Science and Technology, Fragile/Failed State, and Peacekeeping
- Political Geography:
- Africa
27. Strengthening U.S. Investments in Women's Global Health
- Author:
- Janet Fleischman and Alisha Kramer
- Publication Date:
- 05-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- U.S. policymakers and private-sector partners increasingly appreciate the importance of targeted U.S. investments in women's health to achieve global health outcomes, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.With budgetary constraints worsening, progress in women's health will require maximizing investments by engaging new partners, identifying program synergies, and aligning with countries' national priorities to meet women's needs. Such strategic coordination—involving maternal newborn and child health, voluntary family planning, and HIV and AIDS services—presents new opportunities to expand the impact of U.S. investments.
- Topic:
- Gender Issues, Health, Humanitarian Aid, Foreign Aid, and Health Care Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa and United States
28. U.S. Health Engagement in Africa: A Decade of Remarkable Achievement—Now What?
- Author:
- J. Stephen Morrison
- Publication Date:
- 08-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- In the past decade, there has been a steep and historic expansion of U.S. health engagement in Africa, principally through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI). U.S. commitments to global health, of which over 70 percent is directed to Africa, rose from $1.7 billion in FY2001 to $8.9 billion in FY2012.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Development, Humanitarian Aid, and Health Care Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa and United States
29. The Technologist's Dilemma: Ethical Challenges of Using Crowdsourcing Technology in Conflict and Disaster-Affected Regions
- Author:
- Charles Martin-Shields
- Publication Date:
- 11-2013
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
- Institution:
- Georgetown Journal of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- The growth of mobile phone technology and Internet access globally has affected peoples' lives in various ways. For the field of governance and conflict management, this has meant unprecedented levels of information sharing from within conflict and crisis zones. As Internet access has expanded across Africa, entities like Kenya's Ushahidi—which build digital maps to publicly display real-time SMS text messages and social media feeds geographically—have been changing the way that citizens share their experiences of violence as they are happening. Probably the most important of these technologies—mobile phones— have expanded exponentially across the developing world; many countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific have mobile phone market saturation rates of over 100 percent. The international development community has been actively developing tools and methods for using mobile phones for outreach and project monitoring for years; the governance and conflict management fields are beginning to find effective ways to use mobile phones and SMS text messaging. While there has been excitement about the way these technologies can improve the work of conflict resolution and governance professionals, less popular attention has been paid to the unique risks and ethical challenges associated with using these tools in highly unstable political and social environments such as conflict zones. In these types of situations, crowdsourcing raises ethical issues of privacy, transparency of purpose and data protection. However, having secure technical data collection and storage procedures are not sufficient because most security failures are due to human error. To ethically run a crowdsourcing program in a conflict or disaster-affected environment, organizations need to ensure that their staffs and the “crowd” participating in the project have been trained to use the technologies and assess the unique risks of the digital information environment. This article will review the literature on digital information regulation, explore how the crisis response and crowdsourcing fields have evolved their data protection procedures and review the current state of practice for humanitarian crowdsourcing ethics and data security
- Topic:
- Humanitarian Aid
- Political Geography:
- Kenya and Africa
30. Maternal Health in Nigeria: With Leadership, Progress is Possible
- Author:
- Jennifer G. Cooke and Farha Tahir
- Publication Date:
- 01-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Strategic and International Studies
- Abstract:
- As the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) target date of 2015 approaches, there is a growing sense of urgency among international agencies to intensify efforts on the global challenge of maternal health, where, according to the 2012 MDG progress report, levels of maternal mortality remain “far from the 2015 target”. In 2012, both the G - 8 and the African Union made maternal and child health a keystone of their respective annual summits , and the United Nations launched the Global Strategy for Women ' s and Children ' s Health at a special General Assembly event. A 2 012 global summit in London, co - led by the Gates Foundation, the UK government, and the UN Population Fund, generated $2.6 billion in donor pledges for family planning, a critical element of maternal health. The United States has made maternal health an increasingly important element in U.S. global health efforts, manifested most recently with the launch in June 2012 of the Saving Mothers, Giving Life initiative. The initiative, an ambitious public - private partnership intended “ to drive efficiencies, spur innovation, and ensure impact ” in maternal health , has the strong backing of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, for whom maternal and child health, and women's empowerment more generally, have been consistent priorities.
- Topic:
- Gender Issues, Health, Humanitarian Aid, and Health Care Policy
- Political Geography:
- Africa