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Home»Humanitarian Issues

Humanitarian Issues

Disaster resilience: topic guide

Darfurian refugees in Chad (UNHCR / F. Noy)

Humanitarian action: reading pack

Using Zakat for international development

Helpdesk Report
  • Zenobia Ismail
April 2018

This review focuses on Zakat, a particular form of almsgiving within Islam. The value of Zakat is estimated to range from US$ 200 billion to US$ 1 trillion per annum across the world (Stirk, 2015) or around US$ 187 million among countries in the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (Shaikh, 2016). Therefore, interest in mobilising Zakat for poverty alleviation in Muslim ...» more

Donor response to refugee tensions in Lebanon

Helpdesk Report
  • Dylan O’Driscoll
March 2018

This rapid review synthesises data from academic, policy and NGO sources on donor response to prevent and reduce tensions between Lebanese and refugees in refugee-hosting communities across Lebanon. The focus is on post 2011 and Syrian refugees as the complexity of social, cultural, and historical dynamics produce tensions that are unique to Syrians and Lebanese. The history of ...» more

Humanitarian interventions for food/nutrition support in Ethiopia

Helpdesk Report
  • Kerina Tull
December 2017

There are many evidence gaps in the delivery of humanitarian food/nutrition aid. Evaluation of the relative cost‐effectiveness of dietary response projects is confounded by the fact that different projects can have different objectives (USAID, 2015). Ethiopia has made progress in meeting emergency needs, including through the Government of Ethiopia-led Productive Safety Net ...» more

Supporting and rebuilding agriculture in protracted crises

Helpdesk Report
  • Brigitte Rohwerder
December 2017

The agriculture sector holds great potential before, during and after crises such as conflict and disasters caused by natural hazards, to save lives and contribute to livelihoods, support rural households, and provide decent employment (Eynon, 2017, p. 2; Mayen, 2016, p. 2). This rapid review looks at recent available evidence on the impact of conflict, protracted crises, and ...» more

Leveraging change to policies, laws and practices in refugee hosting countries

Helpdesk Report
  • Dylan O’Driscoll
November 2017

This rapid review synthesises data from academic, policy and NGO sources on influencing government polices on refugees, with a particular focus on Rohingya in Bangladesh. However, it must be noted that this is an under researched topic with only the work of Jacobsen (1996) focusing specifically on the subject. Additionally, there are very few successful cases in the literature ...» more

Wastewater Treatment Plants in rapid mass displacement situations

Helpdesk Report
  • Kerina Tull
November 2017

This rapid review report has identified the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) options used in emergency settings, with decentralised wastewater treatment systems (DEWATS) and mobile wastewater treatment units performing most effectively and with minimal costs.  Examples are taken from refugee camps and internally displaced people (IDP) settlements due to the Iraq war, the ...» more

Rohingya refugee crisis: impact on Bangladeshi politics

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
November 2017

The huge Rohingya refugee influx into Bangladesh is seen in the literature as likely to strengthen the position of the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party. However, there are concerns that it will lead to further authoritarianism in the country, as well as fuel extremist sentiment. The Bangladeshi public are generally supportive of the ...» more

Waste management in situations of rapid, mass displacement

Helpdesk Report
  • Brigitte Rohwerder
October 2017

Solid waste and faecal sludge management in situations of rapid mass displacement are important to public health and providing for a better environment. Despite this, both have been neglected in WASH programmes, which tend to have a focus on water. However increasing efforts are being made to find solutions to challenges in solid waste and faecal sludge management in difficult ...» more

Environmental Impact Assessments in refugee crises

Helpdesk Report
  • Roz Price
October 2017

Although much of the literature found by this rapid review emphasises the necessity of including environmental considerations into the planning of mass displacement camps, and the role of environmental impact assessments (EIAs), there is little publically available literature on the assessments carried out, and the quality of these. The literature specifically highlights the ...» more

Lessons from the coordination of refugee responses

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
October 2017

The literature review found little evidence of successes in coordination of refugee responses involving multiple lead agencies. Rather, it identified some clear lessons to emerge from recent experience of refugee response coordination, in particular from the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon. While host governments are assigned primary responsibility for refugee responses in ...» more

Innovative WASH options in situations of severe overcrowding

Helpdesk Report
  • Kerina Tull
October 2017

A rapid review of the literature has found a selection of innovative WASH options available for situations of severe population overcrowding and limited spaces.  Case study information was collated from African, Middle Eastern, South Asian and Caribbean countries.   As requested, a number of experts were consulted for their opinion where there was a lack of project evaluations ...» more

Managing risks in securitisation of refugees

Helpdesk Report
  • Dylan O’Driscoll
October 2017

This rapid review synthesises data from academic, policy and NGO sources on the securitisation of refugees, with a particular focus on Rohingya in Bangladesh. Although not referred to as refugees in Bangladesh, this report refers to Rohingya fleeing Myanmar as refugees. There is limited research on managing the risk of securitisation of refugees, rather the focus tends to be on ...» more

Effectiveness of various refugee settlement approaches

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
October 2017

This review of the effectiveness of different approaches to refugee settlement shows that the ‘traditional’ approach of setting up refugee camps is ineffective in many respects - particularly in terms of promoting self-reliance - and hence to be avoided. The recommendation in policy circles is now for alternatives to camps that provide economic opportunities to refugees, allow ...» more

Linkages between private sector development, conflict and peace

Helpdesk Report
  • Anna Louise Strachan
September 2017

The private sector can both exacerbate drivers of conflict and contribute to peacebuilding in post-conflict states. Examples of the role that the private sector can play in conflict and peace at the macro, meso and micro levels include the following: Macro level There is a general consensus in the literature that illicit trade in natural resources can increase in the ...» more

Cash transfer platforms in humanitarian contexts

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
September 2017

As cash transfer programming (CTP) in humanitarian contexts has increased, so has the use of multipurpose (unconditional) cash transfers and the range of actors providing them. Use of different cash delivery platforms by different agencies can increase costs, inefficiency, and the risk of duplication and fraud, so 'single cash platforms' (the same delivery mechanism for cash ...» more

Effectiveness of programmes supporting migrants in Africa

Helpdesk Report
  • Kerry A. Millington,
  • Minakshi Bhardwaj
June 2017

Despite a growing body of research on migration and development, the literature highlights the limited empirical evidence available on the effectiveness of migration programmes. The aid-spending departments of the UK government are in the process of identifying how UK aid contributes to tackling the “root causes of mass migration” and developing new, targeted programmes. A ...» more

Stabilisation in Syria

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
June 2017

The Syrian conflict is now in its seventh year and involves a wide range of both national and international parties. Crucially, no party is in a position to establish control over the entire country. This has implications for efforts at stabilisation. There is increasing recognition that the Assad regime cannot be displaced and hence efforts to find a political solution are ...» more

Emergency humanitarian response to longer-term development in refugee crises

Helpdesk Report
  • Stephen Thompson
June 2017

This report provides a rapid literature review of the evidence on emergency humanitarian response to longer-term development in refugee crises. While the scope of the report did not allow for complex judgements to be made about the quality of the body of evidence, or of the strength of individual pieces of evidence, an evidence table is provided in Annex A to enable the reader ...» more

Sustainable livelihoods for refugees in protracted crises

Helpdesk Report
  • Claire Mcloughlin
June 2017

Much of the literature in this area acknowledges the widespread constraints to livelihoods development in refugee settings. These include a disabling policy environment, low levels of social capital, poverty, and weak baseline levels of training and skills. Measures to support self-sufficiency are often severely hampered by restricted freedom of movement, weak tailoring of ...» more

Psycho-social support for children and school staff in protracted conflict situations

Helpdesk Report
  • Jacqui Mattingly
June 2017

Whilst the provision of psychosocial activities is regularly mentioned in documents referring to the humanitarian response to education, there is a dearth of literature that refers to exactly what these programmes consist of, and how effective they are. There is, however, widespread recognition of the importance of providing psycho-social interventions to counter the impact of ...» more

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  • Humanitarian Issues
    • Humanitarian financing
    • Humanitarian response
      • Complex emergencies
      • Disasters
    • Recovery & reconstruction
      • Post conflict reconstruction
      • Transition to development
    • Refugees/IDPs
    • Risk & resilience
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Outputs supported by DFID are © DFID Crown Copyright 2018; outputs supported by the Australian Government are © Australian Government 2018; and outputs supported by the European Commission are © European Union 2018

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