Anticipatory action (AA) is a growing area of climate and disaster risk management that emphasizes the use of climate services and risk analyses to predict where crises might strike and enable action ...to prevent or mitigate impacts before disasters occur. Based on interviews with stakeholders involved in Red Cross Red Crescent (RCRC) AA programs in 18 countries, we identify common benefits and challenges associated with AA programs. We find that RCRC AA programs have built capacity within National Societies, leading to more proactive operations and expedited humanitarian response. Initial investments in AA can also develop key partnerships and facilitate later scaling-up by other organizations. AA can also overcome common challenges in climate services by providing a framework and decision-making and resources for early action. Despite these benefits, AA practitioners struggle with challenges common to climate services, development, and humanitarian aid, including local project ownership, capacity and infrastructure, integration with existing systems, data availability, forecast uncertainty, and monitoring and evaluation. Given these challenges, we reflect on how AA might be able to address challenges of ownership and capacity building and what donors can do to facilitate shifts toward longer-term capacity building.
This article aims to acknowledge and articulate the notion of “humanitarian experimentation”. Whether through innovation or uncertain contexts, managing risk is a core component of the humanitarian ...initiative – but all risk is not created equal. There is a stark ethical and practical difference between managing risk and introducing it, which is mitigated in other fields through experimentation and regulation. This article identifies and historically contextualizes the concept of humanitarian experimentation, which is increasingly prescient, as a range of humanitarian subfields embark on projects of digitization and privatization. This trend is illustrated here through three contemporary examples of humanitarian innovations (biometrics, data modelling, cargo drones), with references to critical questions about adherence to the humanitarian “do no harm” imperative. This article outlines a broad taxonomy of harms, intended to serve as the starting point for a more comprehensive conversation about humanitarian action and the ethics of experimentation.
‘Rights‐based approaches’ (RBAs) have become a well‐established concept over the past two decades, informing the work of diverse actors involved in development and humanitarian aid. Faith‐based ...organisations have increasingly embraced the RBA, although not without contestation. Drawing on new qualitative data from Pakistan, this paper examines how ‘global’ RBA norms are operationalised in ‘local’ contexts characterised by great normative diversity and identifies three dominant normative frameworks used by non‐governmental organisations in the translation of RBAs: humanitarian standards; citizens' rights; and Islamic principles. It utilises a case study of RBAs in Pakistan and reveals the significance of religion and religious entities in the translation of rights. From this example, the paper makes a conceptual distinction between ‘instrumental’ and ‘substantial’ modes of engagement, a framing that allows for a more detailed analysis of how humanitarian actors deal with religion and rights than what is often found in studies of humanitarian action.
نبذة مختصرة
أصبحت “النُهج القائمة على الحقوق” مفهومًا راسخًا لتوجيه عمل الجهات الفاعلة المتنوعة في مجال التنمية والمساعدات الإنسانية منذ 1990. لقد تبنت المنظمات القائمة على العقيدة هذا المفهوم بشكل متزايد، وإن لم يكن ذلك بدون نزاع. يبحث هذا البحث في كيفية تفعيل معايير RBA “العالمية” في السياقات “المحلية” بالاعتماد على البيانات النوعية الجديدة من باكستان التي تتميز بتنوع معياري كبير وتحدد ثلاثة أطر معيارية سائدة تستخدمها المنظمات غير الحكومية في تجربة المقاربات الإقليمية: المعايير الإنسانية وحقوق المواطن والمبادئ الإسلامية. هذه الورقة تعتمد على دراسة حالة المؤسسات القائمة على الأعمال في باكستان وتكشف عن أهمية الدين و ممثلين الدين في ترجمة الحقوق. من هذا المثال, تقدم المقالة تمييزا مفاهيميا بين أنماط المشاركة الفعالة و الأساسية, وهو إطار يسمح بتحليل اكثر تفصيلا لكيفية تعامل الفاعلين الإنسانيين مع الدين والحقوق مما هو موجود غالبا في دراسات العمل الإنساني.
كلمات دليلية: حقوق الإنسان، العمل الإنساني، باكستان، الدين، النهج القائمة على الحقوق
摘要
自二十世纪九十年代以来，“基于权利的方法”（RBA）这个概念已广为人知，为不同的发展和人道主义援助参与者的工作提供信息。尽管对此仍有争议，但是越来越多以信仰为基础的组织接受了这个概念。本文利用来自巴基斯坦的最新定性数据，研究在各地情况差异巨大的情况下，RBA全球性的标准该如何运行，同时确定非政府组织在实践 RBA 时使用的三个主要规范框架：人道主义标准、公民权利，和伊斯兰原则。本文借鉴了巴基斯坦 RBA 的案例研究，揭示了宗教和宗教行动者在权利转变中的重要性。从这个例子中，本文阐述了工具性参与模式和实质性参与模式之间的概念区别，借此可以对人道主义行动者如何处理宗教和权利问题进行更详细的分析。
关键词： 人权、人道主义行动、巴基斯坦、宗教、基于权利的方法
The Unitarian Service Committee was one of the most important US aid agencies involved in assisting refugees in the World War II context. In the article I analyse the origins of its action in Europe, ...focusing on a practically unknown aspect which as its intervention in favour of Spanish Republicans who had fled from Spain and the threat of Francoism in 1939. The Unitarian Service Committee (USC) began its operations in the spring of 1940 and an office of the Unitarian Service Committee would be established in Marseilles in 1941. From this office active work was focused mainly on medical help for the camp inmates in the south of France. The USC had an aid program dedicated exclusively to the Spanish refugees. This program was supported by funding from another American organization, the Joint Antifascist Refugee Committee closely linked to socialist and communist circles and whose chairman, Edward Barsky, was a former international Brigadier who had participated in the Spanish Civil War. I will analyse the links between these two organizations and their connections with international relief networks.
Critical care medicine is far from the first medical field to come to mind when humanitarian action is mentioned, yet both critical care and humanitarian action share a fundamental purpose to save ...the lives and ease the suffering of people caught in acute crises. Critically ill children and adults will be present regardless of resource limitations and irrespective of geography, regional or cultural contexts, insecurity, or socioeconomic status, and they may be even more prevalent in a humanitarian crisis. Critical care is not limited to the walls of a hospital, and all hospitals will have critically ill patients regardless of designating a specific ward an ICU. Regular and consistent consideration of critical care principles in humanitarian settings provides crucial guidance to intensivists and nonintensivists alike. A multidisciplinary, systematic approach to patient care that encourages critical thinking, checklists that encourage communication among team members, and context-specific critical care rapid response teams are examples of critical care constructs that can provide high-quality critical care in all environments. Promoting critical care principles conveys the message that critical care is an integral part of health care and should be accessible to all, no matter the setting. These principles can be effectively adopted in humanitarian settings by normalizing them to everyday clinical practice. Equally, core humanitarian principles-dignity, accountability, impartiality, neutrality-can be applied to critical care. Applying principles of critical care in a context-specific manner and applying humanitarian principles to critical care can improve the quality of patient care and transcend barriers to resource limitations.
This article provides a first attempt at analysing the complex set of issues around remote management practices in insecure environments and their increased use. It looks at definitions and reviews ...existing published and grey literature on remote management and related practices. It tries to situate remote management in the evolving context of post-Cold War strategies of dealing with conflict and crisis. On the basis of interviews with a cross-section of aid workers, senior headquarters managerial and policy staff, donors, and research institutions, it provides an assessment of current remote management practices, with a particular focus on Afghanistan and Somalia, and their implications for the future of humanitarian action.
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the main reasons behind the tension between accountability to donors and accountability to beneficiaries, in terms of obtaining the basic needs and human rights of ...the latter. Relying on three arguments; firstly, based on Angela Crack’s (2013) theory of the three waves of accountability, the authors argue that the unequal power relations between donors, international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) and beneficiaries is a source of the deficit and gap of this accountability. Secondly, the authors examine the relation between INGOs and politics, their role in influencing policy making and their increased involvement with governments and states. The authors suggest that INGOs reliance on governments for facilitation and funding makes them accountable to those governments in a way that conflicts with the needs of their beneficiaries affecting their chances to obtain their basic human rights. Thirdly, the authors explore the different agendas between the global north and global south, considering the Western roots of INGOs. Finally, the paper suggests that unequal power relations, INGOs’ questionable legitimacy and the unclear relation with politics explain the causes behind the tension in accountability making it inevitable.
Design/methodology/approach
Angela Crack’s (2013) theory of the three waves of accountability.
Findings
The paper suggests that unequal power relations, INGOs’ questionable legitimacy and the unclear relation with politics explain the causes behind the tension in accountability making it inevitable.
Originality/value
Identifying and resolving the tension between INGOs accountability to donors and accountability to so-called beneficiaries can result in better obtainment of human rights.
Mental disorders have the potential to affect an individual's capacity to perform household daily activities such as water, sanitation, and hygiene (food hygiene inclusive) that require effort, time, ...and strong internal motivation. However, there is limited detailed assessment about the influence of mental health on food hygiene behaviors at household level. We conducted a follow-up study to detect the effects of mental health on food hygiene behaviors after food hygiene intervention delivery to child caregivers in rural Malawi. Face-to-face interviews, based on the Risk, Attitude, Norms, Ability, and Self-regulations (RANAS) model, were conducted with 819 participants (control and intervention group) to assess their handwashing and food hygiene-related behaviors. Mental health was assessed using the validated Self-Reporting Questionnaire. Study results showed a significant negative relationship between mental health and handwashing with soap behavior (
= -0.135) and keeping utensils in an elevated place (
= -0.093). Further, a significant difference was found between people with good versus poor mental health on handwashing with soap behavior (
= 0.050) among the intervention group. The results showed that the influence of the intervention on handwashing with soap behavior was mediated by mental health. Thus, integration of mental health in food hygiene interventions can result in improved outcomes for caregivers with poor mental health.
For many decades, humanitarian assistance relied on emergency response, triggering both funding and operational activities only after disaster impacts had been recorded. In recent years, many ...humanitarian actors have joined forces to complement traditional, reactive mechanisms with a forward-looking approach that can be activated before a disaster strikes. Anticipatory action (AA) uses forecasts of extreme weather events and combines them with risk information to identify and implement locally-led early actions with the goal of protecting lives and livelihoods more efficiently. AA is still a relatively new approach. Hence, monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) is crucial to measure its effectiveness and adjust where necessary, as well as for (government) donors that want to see the added value of their investment maximized. However, evidence-based studies that investigate potential limitations and the exact impact pathway of AA at household level are time-consuming, costly, and therefore scarce. Satellite earth observation can become a game changer in AA by strengthening the evidence base
via
rapid, low-cost assessments. Both commercial and freely available satellite-derived data have reached an unprecedented level of quality, spatial, and temporal resolution. Simultaneously, there are major uncertainties regarding where, when, how, and under what conditions satellite data can support MEAL for AA at all. We argue that satellite data for an advanced MEAL framework should be considered already in the design phase of AA projects and that the translation of satellite data into actionable information will require a cross-cutting community of practice.
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