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2. Security professionals are changing how humanitarian organisations operate
- Author:
- Jethro Norman
- Publication Date:
- 03-2023
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
- Abstract:
- The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) created the first position solely dedicated to security in 1991, but for the next decade it was rare for humanitarian organisations to embed security professionals. After the 2003 Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad in which the UN’s special representative in Iraq was killed, the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) was established. However, attacks on aid workers increased throughout the 2000s in countries such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. Humanitarian organisations invested more in their security in response to these threats, as well as changing norms around humanitarian liability. In 2015, in a landmark ruling, an aid worker successfully sued the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) for gross negligence. In response, donors implemented increasingly stringent insurance protocols, and the demand for humanitarian security professionals continued to grow. Today, virtually every international humanitarian organisation operating in an insecure region employs an international security professional, typically from a western military, police or private security background. Insights from long-term fieldwork with security contractors and aid workers in Sub-Saharan Africa (including Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan and Tanzania) shows that this has resulted in friction between the two groups, especially in relation to access and liability. In recent years, several developments have streng- thened the authority of security professionals over humanitarian staff. First, digital technologies have been increasingly used for information gathering, monitoring of staff and remote management. Second, as humanitarian security has become more structured and coordinated, new international organisations have emerged whose sole purpose is to provide security services to humanitarian clients. Whilst sometimes registered as non-profits, their function is not dissimilar to commercial private security companies, raising important questions about how the information they gather may be used beyond humanitarian purposes.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Humanitarian Aid, and Humanitarian Organizations
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
3. Humanitarian systemic learning framework toolkit
- Author:
- Ben Ramalingam
- Publication Date:
- 04-2023
- Content Type:
- Course Pack
- Institution:
- ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
- Abstract:
- The Humanitarian Strategic Learning Framework was developed by Ben Ramalingam for ALNAP , drawing on the multi-level perspective (MLP) of scholar Frank Geels. It can be used proactively or retrospectively for analysing change processes in the humanitarian sector. It specifically takes into account the impact of crises on the existing humanitarian sector. It explores how change plays out at the overall landscape, the sector itself and the niches of the sector. It enables analysis of how changes at these levels interact and reinforce or dampen change at other level. It can be used by leaders, policy makers and researchers seeking to better understand past change processes – successful or otherwise. It can also inform strategic analysis of ongoing or hoped-for changes. Frank Geels' MLP consists of: Landscape, which represents the wider environment – both humanitarian and wider socio-political and economic contextual trends, drivers and factors. Socio-technical regimes, which entails the specific configuration of funding, policies, technologies, processes, cultures and skills that underpin dominant patterns of behaviour and action. Niches, which can be described as the emerging efforts where new niche activities gives rise to novel innovations, operating models and communities.
- Topic:
- Organizational Learning, Humanitarian Organizations, and Systems Thinking
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
4. The War Economy of the Fragmented Healthcare System in Syria
- Author:
- Omar Dewachi, Duncan McLean, and Aula Abbara
- Publication Date:
- 02-2022
- Content Type:
- Video
- Institution:
- Center for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR), Rutgers University School of Law
- Abstract:
- This devastating conflict that has had a profound impact in Syria, the region and beyond, caused immense suffering. At least 400,000 Syrians have lost their lives. More than 6 million refugees, out of a pre-war population of 22 million, have fled the country and 6.7 million are internally displaced. Over 13 million people continue to need assistance, and yet Syria seems to have dropped off the radar. In this panel discussion, hosted by the Centre for Security, Race and Rights (CSRR) at Rutgers University, experts with in-depth knowledge of Syria and the region will examine some of the challenges humanitarian organisations faced as consequence of the war in Syria. Panellists will examine the relationship between health-care provision on the one hand, and the state’s claim to sovereignty and legitimacy on the other, and how the humanitarian response became quickly entangled into the polarized sides of the Syria war. They will look at how the protracted conflict in Syria has fragmented the country’s health system. They will also describe how, in the absence of a meaningful foreign policy, aid delivery came to fuel Syria’s war economy raising troubling questions as to the limits humanitarian organizations are prepared to accept when operating in a broader system of corruption, predation and denial of access. Guest speakers all contributed separate chapters to the book on Syria edited by MSF “Everybody’s war: politics of aid in the Syria crisis”
- Topic:
- Sovereignty, Economy, Syrian War, Humanitarian Organizations, and Healthcare System
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Syria
5. Annex | ALNAP Lessons Paper: Adapting humanitarian action to climate change
- Author:
- Véronique de Geoffroy, Paul Knox Clarke, François Grunewald, and Mihir Bhatt
- Publication Date:
- 10-2021
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
- Abstract:
- Humanitarian agencies need to reflect on the past, learn from the present and actively imagine the near and increasingly threatening future. From excessive consumption to the over-exploitation of natural resources, polluting activities to large-scale deforestation, humans have already dramatically changed the Earth’s climate and environment. As a result, we are experiencing more frequent and more intense weather events, the humanitarian consequences of which are major. Droughts, flooding and tropical storms cause death, disease, destruction and large-scale population displacement. Public health emergencies are already increasing because of these changes. Conflicts and conflict situations may increase, as may the resulting human migration and displacement. Humanitarian actors working on the ground with climate-related disasters are well placed to observe the intensification of climate-related effects and the increasing complexity of extreme weather events in all regions of the world, including regions where such events were previously rare or unknown. This annex accompanies the ALNAP Lessons Paper: Adapting humanitarian action to climate change, which aims to inform the work of humanitarian practitioners in the face of future climate-related disasters.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Natural Disasters, Crisis Management, and Humanitarian Organizations
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
6. What’s missing? Adding context to the urban response toolbox: Annex A
- Author:
- Leah Campbell
- Publication Date:
- 04-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
- Abstract:
- This annex contains a more detailed description of the 25 tools reviewed as part of the ALNAP Study What’s Missing? Adding Context to the Urban Response Toolbox. The research sought to find tools which could be used to improve understanding of context (the environment and circumstances within which something happens and which can help to explain it). 25 tools were identified, and have been grouped as follows: 16 ‘Core’ tools developed for, or used in, urban or sub-national contexts in an emergency or crisis context, and deal in whole or in part with context. • Six ‘Supplemental’ tools these deal in whole or in part with context. Some focus on a country or an urban level in a crisis context but in a development or planning context. • Three ‘Related’ tools these tools have been considered because they address context in some way, but have a larger focus on, for example, needs or conflict.
- Topic:
- Urban, Humanitarian Response, and Humanitarian Organizations
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
7. The State of the Humanitarian System 2018: Inception report
- Author:
- ALNAP
- Publication Date:
- 03-2017
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
- Abstract:
- Following the publication of the 2015 SOHS report this inception report sets out the goals and scope of research for the 2018 edition and details its methodological approach. It incorporates the findings from a conference set up to review the methodologies used in the 2015 edition, as well as other lessons learned from previous after-action reviews. The 2018 edition will assess performance over the period January 2015–December 2017. It will also compare its findings with the three previous editions, in order to capture key trends covering a 10- year period. The 2018 SOHS report will therefore provide an up-to-date assessment of the size and shape of the humanitarian system and its current performance; and also a retrospective picture of key trends and changes that have taken place over the last decade. To ensure that the report is as readable and useful as possible, a few small but important modifications have been made. First, in order to make clear the parameters and scope of the report, the study team has developed a precise definition of the unit of analysis – the international humanitarian system. In addition, it has made changes and improvements to the OECD DAC criteria used to assess performance; and, in response to requests from readers of previous editions, the methods used to gather data from aid recipients have been strengthened. The study team will also seek to liaise with local groups and organisations in the collection and analysis of this data. In view of the commitments made at the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS), the study team will introduce and pilot a new methodology aimed at capturing outcomes that may be emerging as a result of the reform processes underway. The aim will be to report on whether and how these outcomes are having any impact on overall performance. As with previous editions, the report will be primarily descriptive and analytical rather than prescriptive. It will be based on a robust and tested method combined with the best available evidence and, although the analysis will reflect insights into the factors bringing about changes and trends, the main aim is not to provide concrete recommendations for change and improvement. The SOHS report is intended as a resource for all people and organisations that work in, or with, the international humanitarian community.
- Topic:
- Finance, Performance Evaluation, Aid Effectiveness, and Humanitarian Organizations
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus