The future of food security in the Three Areas of Sudan

Currently, the pace of recovery in the 'Three Areas' is moving faster than the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). This gap is leading to greater imbalances in income, unsustainable urbanization, overexploitation of the environment and resource based conflict. Unless regulated, the likely result will be chronic poverty and an undermining of the success of the CPA. Agencies must be mindful of how they provide assistance so that they support the CPA. The analysis of food security should take place in the context of a larger political, social and economic analysis of the emerging situation. The least developed areas should be prioritised and interventions should provide benefits to the full range of socioeconomic groups. WFP must identify its role in the wider and integrated response. It should support the emerging peace process and the key reforms. If WFP chooses to consolidate its activities, it will require capable strategic partners. If it chooses to invest more in building the capacity of government and community structures, it must improve its skill base and field presence     

Guatemala: violence in peacetime--a critical analysis of the armed conflict and the peace process

The recent history of Guatemala is interpreted here using an interdisciplinary approach inspired by recent development and conflict studies. The author reflects on his experience in peace-building activities and uses a combination of primary and secondary sources to present the Guatemalan war as a complex political emergency. The first part (a methodological introduction) proposes an analytical framework, taking into account both the root causes and the different functions of violence, in order to achieve a better understanding of contemporary conflicts. In the second and central part of the article, the integrated framework is applied to Guatemala, trying to understand causes and functions of war and negotiation and underlining the existence of structural obstacles to a lasting peace. The conclusions are dedicated to policy implications: if the signing of peace accords represents only a step towards negative peace, the condition for a lasting peace is a strategy for reconciliation and development based on social participation and social justice.     

Why Aid Agencies Need Better Understanding of the Communities They Assist: The Experience of Food Aid in Rwandan Refugee Camps

Refugee views on food aid reveal the ignorance of the international community regarding Rwandan culture, economy and politics. This ignorance carries a number of costs. On one level, the main cost is that a professional service is not carried out to the best of one's ability. Ignorance of Rwanda's North–South divide, for instance, has caused agencies to be insensitive to in-camp discrimination based upon regional identity and its impact on programme activities. On a deeper level, agency ignorance about Rwandan culture, economy and the dynamics of camp politics, reduces refugee confidence in humanitarian agencies and workers. Better information would not only result in the greater likelihood of appropriate responses to specific needs, but would also encourage greater credibility in the political arena where the ultimate stake is to see lasting peace and a dignified return of refugees to their homes.     

Food as an instrument of war in contemporary african famines: a review of the evidence

Famine is conventionally portrayed as a natural disaster expressed in terms of food scarcity and culminating in starvation. This view has attracted criticism in recent years as the political, legal and social dimensions of famine have become more clearly understood. This paper draws upon these criticisms to understand the particular conditions of famine creation in conflict situations. Following an examination of six contemporary African famines, it is suggested that the use of food as a weapon of war by omission, commission and provision has contributed to the creation of famine in recent decades. Despite the optimism for peace engendered by the demise of the Cold War, the momentum for conflict would seem to be sustained by internal factors, including economic and environmental decline, political instability and ethnic rivalry. Within these conflicts, the strategic importance of food is likely to remain central. This study highlights the need to link concerns with food security and public health to those of development, human rights and international relations.     

Educational hazards? The politics of disaster risk education in Rio de Janeiro

Disaster education outcomes are highly dependent on the political context of that education. Based on a rich, in‐depth case study of the creation of community monitors in a landslide and flood‐prone city in southeast Brazil, this paper demonstrates how developmental and political environments add much additional nuance to existing theories of behaviourist and transformative education for disaster preparedness and mitigation. Beyond identifying the benefits of education, it argues that disaster risk reduction outcomes are reliant on governance frameworks that alter over time. The study reveals the political complexity associated with programme implementation and cites the perspectives of a number of participants. Disaster education is shown to be the necessary yet underappreciated twin of the militarised and technical approaches that dominate disaster response in Brazil. Understated, however, is education's situatedness: how it can become an arena of conflict between government and civil actors over matters of state and society in increasingly hazardous urbanisation settings in Latin America.     

Sub-regional integration in Sudan: the key to food security and recovery

The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in Sudan has created a new opportunity for peace. Approaches to food security must now be reoriented based on the agro-ecological diversity in Sudan. WFP is in a unique position to catalyse an approach to food security that meets immediate needs and contributes to long-term recovery, in collaboration with the Government of National Unity (GNU) and the Government of South Sudan (GOSS). Aggregate food production in Sudan has increased in the past decade. At sub-regional levels, however, many areas remain food insecure. Major research must be undertaken to identify optimum levels of food production and barriers to access to food at sub-regional levels as a first step towards linking deficit areas with areas of surplus. Initiatives must also be undertaken to facilitate increased integration between sub-regions. Increased sub-regional linkages could ensure more efficient delivery of food in the short term as well as recovery and economic growth in the long term.     

The rationality of resistance: alternatives for engagement in complex emergencies

The different conceptualisations of conflict in the complex emergency literature have profound implications on the perception of the agency of different groups and the prospects for conflict management. While much recent analysis has focused on the rational political and economic functions of violence, relatively little analysis has focused on why the majority of people chose not to resort to violence. Using Foucault's analysis of power relations, a new framework for conflict analysis is proposed which includes non-violent resistance as well as violence as a means of domination. Non-violent resistance is explored as a rational, highly adaptable response to acts of domination. A comprehensive understanding of conflict must recognise local forms of resistance and identify the barriers and opportunities for the engagement of the international humanitarian community with these groups. This engagement can be used to foster capacities for the creation of legitimate, inclusive, non-violent political and economic processes in the attempt to provide alternatives for everyone in the conflict. If the purpose of the study of complex emergencies is to understand the nature of various conflicts and, based on that understanding, make recommendations for possible routes to conflict management, the analysis of local resistance and efforts to foster it must become a major aspect of the research agenda.     

Community resilience and volcano hazard: the eruption of Tungurahua and evacuation of the faldas in Ecuador

Official response to explosive volcano hazards usually involves evacuation of local inhabitants to safe shelters. Enforcement is often difficult and problems can be exacerbated when major eruptions do not ensue. Families are deprived of livelihoods and pressure to return to hazardous areas builds. Concomitantly, prevailing socio-economic and political conditions limit activities and can influence vulnerability. This paper addresses these issues, examining an ongoing volcano hazard (Tungurahua) in Ecuador where contextual realities significantly constrain responses. Fieldwork involved interviewing government officials, selecting focus groups and conducting surveys of evacuees in four locations: a temporary shelter, a permanent resettlement, with returnees and with a control group. Differences in perceptions of risk and health conditions, and in the potential for economic recovery were found among groups with different evacuation experiences. The long-term goal is to develop a model of community resilience in long-term stress environments.     

An Ethiopian refugee village in Sudan: the question of employment

Abstract— There are some 460,000 Eritrean and Tigrean political refugees in Sudan. The numbers have increased dramatically since the mid-1970s, and as yet there are no convincing signs of peace which would allow the prospect of a speedy return home. Sudan is thus faced with one of the Third World's largest populations of long term refugees, and the capacity of the economy to absorb such numbers into its labour force is an acute and potentially violent issue. Discussion and planning has been hindered by a lack of specific information on the proportion of refugees who are of urban or rural origin and the proportion of those who might undertake skilled or unskilled employment. The following report of a census and survey of a refugee village in eastern Sudan offers some insight into the problem and suggests steps towards its solution.     

Values and floodplain management: Case studies from the Red River Basin,Canada

Where floods are prevalent, decisions on how to mitigate vulnerability are made within a social-cultural context that includes values (and related customs, norms, beliefs, technology) of local people, which have evolved through interactions with the physical environment. Consequently, the success of floodplain management and flood mitigation activities is determined, at least in part, by the nature of values that impact the decision-making process. This paper explores this contention by considering the community values context surrounding flood risk management in two small Canadian communities in the Red River Basin.

Using a qualitative methodology that includes semi-structured interviews with residents, community values are identified and accounted for in the context of flood vulnerability. Values discussions are organized around seven broad categories: community identity and community attributes; community economic development; technical and nonstructural approaches; civic engagement; flood legacy; personal rights and liberties; and shared values. Challenges posed by key identified values and their policy implications are considered. Some values are found to act as constraints if sustainable floodplain management practices are to be realized.     

Faith-based aid, globalisation and the humanitarian frontline: an analysis of Western-based Muslim aid organisations

This paper focuses on the emergence and modus operandi of Muslim faith-based aid organisations from the West, particularly those from the United Kingdom. Through case studies of Islamic Relief Worldwide and Muslim Hands, it examines the actual and potential added value generated by these humanitarian players in Muslim-majority contexts at times when aid actors from or associated with the West are being perceived by some as instrumental to the political agendas of Western powers, or are being confronted with the consequences thereof. The study analyses Muslim faith-based aid organisations' transnational networks, their implementing partnerships with local faith-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and their security position within and their access to insecure contexts, drawing on field examples and opinion from Central Asia, Iraq and Pakistan. It thereby argues that there is ground for an expansion of the role of Muslim aid actors, because of the existence of social and political realities in the field that cannot be always effectively tackled by the dominant international development approaches.     

The United Nations' humanitarian pillar: refocusing the UN's disaster and emergency roles and responsibilities

Changes in the nature of humanitarian crises and in the ways that the international community responds to such crises demand a radically overhauled role for the United Nations system. At a time when the UN and its member states are pursuing reform of some of that institution's most fundamental peace and security functions, this paper suggests that reform, too, is required to meet humanitarian crises of the future. This paper proposes a new type of operational role for the UN, while at the same time arguing that the UN has to place itself in the vanguard of humanitarian assistance as "the standard-bearer". The article draws many of its conclusions and recommendations from a recently completed study, requested by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, concerning the effect for the UN system of changes in humanitarian financing.     

Two solitudes: post‐tsunami and post‐conflict Aceh

In August 2005, after the devastating tsunami in the Indian Ocean Basin, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the cessation of hostilities was signed by Aceh's longstanding adversaries—the Government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). The tsunami was a major catalyst for ‘disaster diplomacy’—international political pressure, which, this paper argues, was an important ingredient in creating conditions for the MoU, although the situation within Aceh also shaped the peace process. Based on interviews conducted in 2006 and 2007 with government officials, GAM representatives and fighters, and non‐governmental organization staff in Aceh, this paper finds that assistance for tsunami survivors far exceeds that available for conflict survivors and ex‐combatants. The formation of these two solitudes—the tsunami‐affected and the conflict‐affected—compounds challenges for sustaining peace in Aceh. This research points to an enduring lack of livelihoods for former fighters and conflict victims that may threaten a sustainable peace.     

Disaster mitigation and preparedness: the case of NGOs in the Philippines

The Philippines is very vulnerable to natural disasters because of its natural setting, as well as its socio-economic, political and environmental context--especially its widespread poverty. The Philippines has a well-established institutional and legal framework for disaster management, including built-in mechanisms for participation of the people and NGOs in decision-making and programme implementation. The nature and extent of collaboration with government in disaster preparedness and mitigation issues varies greatly according to their roots, either in past confrontation and political struggles or traditional charity activities. The growing NGO involvement in disaster management has been influenced by this history. Some agencies work well with local government and there is an increasing trend for collaborative work in disaster mitigation and preparedness. Some NGOs, however, retain critical positions. These organisations tend to engage more in advocacy and legal support for communities facing increased risk because of development projects and environmental destruction. Entry points into disaster mitigation and preparedness vary as well. Development-oriented agencies are drawn into these issues when the community members with whom they work face disaster. Relief organisations, too, realise the need for community mobilisation, and are thus drawn towards development roles.     

Disaster risk reduction and the evolution of physical development regulation

In 1984 the Mitigation Implementation Conference recognized the need for effective management of urban development in terms of building standards and land-use zonation. In the intervening 25 years, significant progress has been made in the development of building codes and hazard mapping for disaster risk reduction; however, the failure to promulgate, implement and enforce regulation of development has resulted in the dramatic expansion of exposure and risk. It is now necessary to re-assess regulatory policy and practice. New approaches to regulatory compliance must be explored, including participatory regulation and reliance on cultural and religious bases for individual commitment to community safety.     

Doing the Right Thing: Relief Agencies, Moral Dilemmas and Moral Responsibility in Political Emergemcies and War

In recent years a new generation of relief workers and relief agencies has become embroiled in the heat of civil wars and political emergencies, and the humanitarian community has had to revisit its fundamental principles and address the ethics of what it does. This paper sets out to continue this important debate by emphasising that ethical analysis should always be an essential part of humanitarian practice. The paper seeks to recognise the difficult moral choices relief agencies are facing today and gives some practical guidelines to relief agency staff when confronting the ethics of a given situation. In particular, it hopes to introduce some ethical principles into the debate about humanitarianism and contribute to the moral vocabulary which is being developed to improve relief agencies' ethical analysis. The paper starts by looking at the essential characteristics of a moral dilemma, and the way in which other types of tough choice can masquerade as moral dilemmas. It then introduces some basic moral principles surrounding the key ethical notions of action, consequences and moral responsibility in an effort to show how relief agencies might begin to develop a process of ethical analysis in their work. Finally, it explores how relief agencies might develop a more intuitive form of ethical analysis based on an organisational conscience and moral role models.     

Disaster risk reduction and ‘built‐in’ resilience: towards overarching principles for construction practice

The emerging emphasis on disaster risk reduction has broadened the range of experts whose knowledge must be garnered to resolve complex socio‐technical challenges. This paper examines the role and position of the construction sector for addressing these concerns. Specifically, it examines the recursive nature of practices within the built environment, which can be seen as deeply ingraining fragmented approaches to the development process. These, in turn, render the industry a difficult arena within which to enact structural and cultural change. Based on a wide body of literature on resiliency a set of overarching principles are proffered to help inform efforts to overcome some of the barriers to creating a more resilient built environment. It is argued that these principles offer a point of departure for embedding resilience considerations at both project and institutional levels, although real change would demand challenging some of the conventions that currently underpin construction development.     

Mandated to fail? Humanitarian agencies and the protection of Palestinian children

This paper considers the efforts of United Nations and international agencies to address the threats to Palestinian children arising from Israeli occupation. It contains an account of the reasons why agencies have failed, over many years, to prevent systematic violations by the Israeli authorities and settlers. The discussion is organised around two inter‐related domains: institutional and political. The paper argues that, in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), limitations to the ways in which child protection has been conceptualised and pursued in practice are abundantly evident. Nevertheless, political pressure by Western donor governments serves to constrain an approach to child protection that is more preventative in nature, that addresses more explicitly Israeli violations of international law, and that reflects the experience and aspirations of Palestinian children themselves. Ultimately, therefore, the failure to protect Palestinian children must be seen not only as a result of humanitarian miscalculation but also as a consequence of political strategy.