1. Beyond Assumptions: How humanitarians make operational decisions
- Author:
- Leah Campbell and Paul Knox Clarke
- Publication Date:
- 11-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- ALNAP: Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance
- Abstract:
- The ability to make good decisions – particularly under urgent and uncertain circumstances – is fundamental to effective humanitarian response. Yet decision-making to this extent has received little academic attention. The ALNAP Study ‘Beyond assumptions’ seeks to address this gap and it is the result of over two years’ work exploring the nature of humanitarian contexts, the different types of decisions that they require, and the most suitable approaches to making these decisions at the country/ field level. This research builds upon ALNAP’s previous work on humanitarian leadership and coordination, where the importance of good decision-making emerged as a key theme. Time and again humanitarian evaluations have also flagged it as an issue, with decision-making receiving regular criticism for being too slow, disconnected from strategy, opaque and unaccountable.
- Topic:
- Leadership, Decision-Making, Coordination, Humanitarian Response, and Assessment
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus