The World Humanitarian Summit was held last week, the culmination of over two years of work by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and based on my Twitter and Facebook feeds, there was a lot to say about it. Now, I’m not always a fan of ‘summits’; I feel they are …
Previously on this site, we’ve discussed the refugee crisis in Europe; the international conventions that dictate and guide responses to refugee flows, in turn a response to the post World War 2 ‘never again’ moral affirmation. We have also discussed the refugees of the future – climate migrants – and the need, if we are …
Continue reading ‘The Absence of Policy AND Practice: the Refugee Crisis in SEA’ »
In a follow-up to our post last week on ‘Never Again,’ let’s talk about climate migration. Currently, there are climate migrants, but as climate change intensifies, the trickle of migrants will turn into a flood of refugees, particularly from the countries and regions most vulnerable to climate change. These are not necessarily regions prone to …
Continue reading ‘Climate Migration – Prepare Now or React Later?’ »
The Laws of War and Modern Empathy I can’t speak on behalf of all development and humanitarian aid workers, but I am certain that my thoughts echo those of many – the innumerable images of families, of children, of people staring at nothing, broken and hopeless have become, over time, images that we feel compelled …
The fourth in our series of interviews finds us chatting with Oliver Lacey-Hall, the current head of the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). With over 25 years experience in humanitarian work, Oliver previously acted as Deputy Director of OCHA’s Communications and Information …
Michel Dikkes This essay deals with the concept of humanitarian organisations being accountable to communities affected by natural disasters, armed conflict, or any other type of humanitarian crisis. It looks at what accountability means, what has been done about it, and the remaining challenges. Accountability: more than a buzzword? Accountability to crisis-affected populations is now …
Continue reading ‘How Accountable is the Humanitarian Sector Today?’ »
Cameron Noble By definition, post-conflict aid aims to prevent further conflict and build peace in regions wracked by violence. However, if post-conflict aid is not managed properly, with sensitivity to conflict drivers, it can rekindle old conflicts and create new ones. This essay examines the issue based on the experience of post-conflict aid in Aceh …
The Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (www.hapinternational.org) does good work – they provide us with practical guidance on how to transform those nice little paragraphs we’ve included in our project proposals or emergency response funding appeals that talk about how we will be accountable to the communities we aim to support. We always have good intentions – …
Continue reading ‘Here’s putting theory into practice: Accountability 101’ »
