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Home»Humanitarian Issues»Humanitarian response

Humanitarian response

International humanitarian law and peace processes

Helpdesk Report
  • Huma Haider
September 2016

There is limited research and no empirical evidence exploring links between the degree to which IHL is respected (or ignored) and the success (or failure) of peace processes.  The literature focuses on various related issues, including negotiating with non-state armed groups, the question of why conflict groups may comply with international humanitarian norms, and the need to ...» more

Humanitarian contingency plans for military operations

Helpdesk Report
  • Brigitte Rohwerder
August 2016

The majority of the literature seems to focus on humanitarian contingency planning for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and other older cases such as Kosovo. It is difficult to identify what pre-planning may or may not have been undertaken, as political sensitivities and the tendency for military secrecy around large-scale military operations means that few specific details are ...» more

Transitional shelter in post-disaster contexts

Helpdesk Report
  • Brigitte Rohwerder
July 2016

Literature on approaches to transitional shelter in post-natural disaster contexts reflects the variety of different approaches and definitions, which complicate understandings of transitional shelter and lessons learned. There are three main approaches to transitional shelter, all of which incorporate disaster risk reduction measures to reduce household ...» more

Humanitarian response in middle-income countries

Helpdesk Report
  • Brigitte Rohwerder
May 2016

The literature uncovered by this rapid review indicates that there is very little evidence available about the way in which humanitarian response is carried out in middle income countries in comparison to low income contexts (or an amalgamation of the two). Where there have been evaluations of humanitarian response in middle income countries, they have not really focused on ...» more

Seasonal vulnerability and risk calendar in Nepal

Helpdesk Report
  • Brigitte Rohwerder
April 2016

Nepal faces many seasonal disasters, including floods, landslides, fires, droughts and diseases. Findings of this rapid review indicates that: Most people are killed and injured during July–September which is in the monsoon period. Preparedness activities could take place in anticipation of seasonal disasters. The Tarai is vulnerable to floods, lightening, epidemics and ...» more

National Disaster Management Authorities

Helpdesk Report
  • Becky Carter; Pamela Pozarny
April 2016

This review has found, as did a Brookings literature review by Ferris (2014: 6), that there are few published comparative analyses of NDMAs, either on South Asia or worldwide. This review focuses on three cases from South Asia: Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, while it also includes brief information on Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The key findings on the DRM institutional ...» more

Economic impacts of humanitarian aid

Helpdesk Report
  • Iffat Idris
January 2016

This review argues that few studies look at all aspects of economic impact of humanitarian aid. Individual studies tend to focus on one or two specific effects (e.g. on food inflation) rather than give an overall perspective of economic impact. The exception is humanitarian aid given in response to the recent Syria crisis, for which a number of studies look at a wide range of ...» more

Economic and market resilience before and after shocks

Helpdesk Report
  • Becky Carter
January 2016

This report focuses on humanitarian and disaster risk reduction interventions that aim to reinforce economic resilience to anticipated shocks and support economic recovery after a shock, both in situations of natural disasters and conflict. There is limited evidence on the economic impacts of indirect market support interventions because: Providing indirect support to ...» more

Disaster risk financing and insurance in the Pacific

Helpdesk Report
  • Brian Lucas
December 2015

The Pacific region has low insurance penetration compared with other parts of the world. General (non-life) insurance penetration for Pacific countries ranged between 0.5% (Indonesia) and 2.5% (Samoa) in 2012. The mean penetration rate for Pacific countries for which data could be obtained was 1.6%, which is considerably less than the rate in Australia (2.2%), half the rate of ...» more

National humanitarian response

Helpdesk Report
  • Brigitte Rohwerder
November 2015

National governments have the primary responsibility for leading and coordinating humanitarian response in their countries. Where they have the capacity, state-led responses have been evaluated to be more effective than responses led by others. However, international actors often fail to work effectively with national authorities. The cases studies analysed in this review ...» more

Restrictions on humanitarian access

Helpdesk Report
  • Brigitte Rohwerder
November 2015

Humanitarian access is a challenge in many armed conflicts, both in areas controlled by state and non-state actors. While there is some general guidance on strategies to address such access constraints, there is very little publicly documented evidence on how humanitarian organisations have overcome specific instances of governments and de facto authorities’ attempts to ...» more

Subnational disaster risk management involving communities in Nepal

Helpdesk Report
  • Emilie Combaz
October 2015

In a bid to better tackle risk (exposure and vulnerabilities) and its management (capacities and resilience), domestic and foreign actors have promoted disaster risk management (DRM) that involve communities at the levels of regions, districts, municipalities, wards, or smaller-scale units such as schools. Key findings of the literature review include: Successful ...» more

Lessons learned for national state entities for recovery and reconstruction

Helpdesk Report
  • Becky Carter
August 2015

Key indicative lessons learned for national state entities from the literature reviewed include: Structure Develop national recovery frameworks in advance of disasters. Appoint a lead agency with a built-in end date, a clear legal mandate and an experienced politically aware leader. Integrate the immediate humanitarian action into the government-coordinated recovery ...» more

Influencing laws and guidelines on humanitarian assistance

Helpdesk Report
  • Siân Herbert
July 2015

International humanitarian law (IHL) and international disaster response laws, rules and principles (IDRL) set out rules and guidance on how to access affected populations, and how to deliver humanitarian assistance, during armed conflicts and disasters. This includes guidance on customs clearance and the taxation of relief, among other areas. IDRL is a fragmented collection of ...» more

Acceptance strategies in conflict

E-Learning
  • Reading pack
  • Ashley Jackson
May 2015

Acceptance is a risk management strategy based on reducing threats to aid workers by reducing the motivation of others to harm them. The thinking is that if aid work is viewed positively, it will generate goodwill towards aid workers and allow them to work safely. Degrees of acceptance can vary, ranging from a high level…» more

Relationship between humanitarian and development aid

Helpdesk Report
  • Róisín Hinds
February 2015

There are various approaches to understanding the relationship between humanitarian and development aid. Some literature points to a specific time period; envisaging the humanitarian-development gap as a temporal period when a humanitarian operation is about to be completed, and development and reconstruction projects are about to begin. Others refer to an institutional gap ...» more

Gender and humanitarian issues

E-Learning
  • Reading pack
  • Pauline Oosterhoff
November 2014

A wealth of academic research and UN, INGO, NGO and CSO publications document the differences between the needs, capacities and perceptions of women and men and boys and girls on the types of humanitarian assistance needed in a natural or man-made disaster. When these different perspectives are not taken into account interventions are not effective…» more

Humanitarian action

E-Learning
  • Reading pack
  • Sara Pantuliano
November 2014

The aim of humanitarian action is to support people affected by conflict and natural disasters – to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain human dignity during crisis. Humanitarian action can take many forms and has been conceived in many different ways over time. As enshrined in United Nations (UN) Resolution 46/182 (1991), it is associated…» more

Conflict sensitivity

Topic Guide
  • Huma Haider
August 2014

Reflection among aid actors after the devastating genocide in Rwanda led to the realisation that humanitarian and development actors contributed to increasing tensions and exacerbating the conflict. Aid interventions have since been understood to become a part of the context – and in conflict settings, to become part of the conflict. This acknowledgement that aid is not neutral ...» more

Social protection, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction

Literature Review
  • Evie Browne
October 2014

This rapid literature review presents and synthesises the conceptual underpinnings and evidence on the relationship between social protection, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. Social protection instruments have been shown to be effective mechanisms for coping with shocks. The recent growth of social protection systems has shown that having systems in ...» more

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Outputs supported by FCDO are © FCDO Crown Copyright 2021; outputs supported by the Australian Government are © Australian Government 2021; and outputs supported by the European Commission are © European Union 2021

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