How to get there? Assessing motorists' flash flood risk perception on daily itineraries

Flash floods are characterized by their suddenness, fast and violent movement, rarity, small scale but high level of damage. They are particularly difficult to forecast accurately and there is little lead time for warning. This makes motorists especially vulnerable. Assuming that these flash flood hazard specificities may be the significant factors leading to difficulties for drivers to perceive danger, we used cognitive mapping combined with GIS data processing to assess motorists' flash flood risk perception on their daily itineraries. The analysis of 200 mental maps collected allows planners to have maps highlighting dangerous areas where risk perception is weak and to identify reasons for this.     

Doing good,but looking bad? Local perceptions of two humanitarian organisations in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

This paper examines local perceptions of two international humanitarian organisations, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Malteser International, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) (formerly known as Zaire). At times, the self‐perception of these organisations differs considerably from the perceptions of local beneficiaries and stakeholders. This study begins by reviewing the current status of research on local perceptions of externally‐introduced humanitarian action. It goes on to discuss the local perceptions of the IRC and Malteser International, as well as the origins of these perceptions, and to show that three different narratives are used by local actors to explain their different perceptions. The paper ends with an examination of the factors that help to account for the differences in perceptions and of the implications of this type of research for humanitarian principles and management, as well as for the study of local perceptions.     

III A Disaster for Whom?: Local Interests and International Donors During Famine Among the Dinka of Sudan

The 1985–88 famine amongst the Dinka is described and shown to have been rooted in the long term exploitation of the south by northern Sudanese and international interests. This process of exploitation served, and continues to serve, important functions for particular groups. Some of the ways in which the 1985–88 famine was functional – for the central government, the army and merchants – are outlined and the implications for relief operations considered. It is argued that international donors had considerable "room for manoeuvre" which they could have used to adopt more effective policies. They only did so after the worst of the mortality was over.     

Rehabilitation: strategic, proactive, flexible, risky?

Rehabilitation after armed conflict is a direct intellectual descendant of thinking about rehabilitation after natural calamity. It is related, generally, to poverty reduction and, operationally, to associated action at the micro level. This history has limited its strategic conceptualisation and, in particular, its links with reconciliation and state re-legitimation and also with macro-economic stabilisation and renewed growth. In post-war--or more generally, a lull in conflict with the potential to become permanent--a country's rapid, focused, prioritised action within a strategic framework is urgent. It is not risk-free for political and natural disasters as well as for those with economic and social bases. Flexibility, learning from initial experience and asking intended household beneficiaries about their needs in advance can reduce risk as can pre-positioning of contingency or standby resources to avert post-war calamities (for example, drought, flood) and catastrophes (renewed violence) from delaying and discrediting rehabilitation efforts.     

The Death of Humanitarianism?: An Anatomy of the Attack

Over recent years, the humanitarian community has been under increasing scrutiny and attracted harsh criticism. This mounting critique of humanitarianism has shifted from being concerned primarily with the poor functioning of the humanitarian system to one targeted on basic humanitarian values. This paper is concerned to understand the factors driving the attack on humanitarian values. It identifies four apparently disparate groups who are interested in attacking these values: the anti-imperialists, the realpolitikers, the developmentalists and the neo-peaceniks. It concludes that unless humanitarian actors are aware of these diverse threats to their values and operations, they risk being co-opted or marginalised.     

Humanitarianism,Pluralism and Ombudsmen: Do the Pieces Fit?

A variety of codes and standards for humanitarian assistance have been put forth in recent years. Many NGOs have agreed to abide by these codes. There is uncertainty, however, about if and how these codes are actually being put into practice. Have we moved from words to action? One response to this concern has been a proposal to establish a humanitarian ombudsman. This paper analyses two choices facing an eventual ombudsman: whether to attempt to take punitive actions to enforce the codes and standards, or whether instead to facilitate agencies' own internal efforts to improve accountability to their beneficiaries. It proposes a pluralistic approach, wherein a variety of methods, structures and local perceptions are accepted as potentially appropriate, but where a clear moral stance is still maintained. Some suggestions are outlined for how flexible forms of policy analysis may be used to combine an acceptance of the validity of a vast range of humanitarian actions while still retaining a strong stance against practices that may harm beneficiaries or feed the causes of conflict. Realism about each agency's room for manoeuvre is essential, especially local institutions. A modest but principled stance will involve helping actors to consider the impact of their work on conflict and to find ways to improve the quality of their interventions as perceived by beneficiaries.     

Humanitarian Crises: What Determines the Level of Emergency Assistance? Media Coverage,Donor Interests and the Aid Business

This paper proposes a basic hypothesis that the volume of emergency assistance any humanitarian crisis attracts is determined by three main factors working either in conjunction or individually. First, it depends on the intensity of media coverage. Second, it depends on the degree of political interest, particularly related to security, that donor governments have in a particular region. Third, the volume of emergency aid depends on strength of humanitarian NGOs and international organisations present in a specific country experiencing a humanitarian emergency. The empirical analysis of a number of emergency situations is carried out based on material that has never been published before. The paper concludes that only occasionally do the media play a decisive role in influencing donors. Rather, the security interests of Western donors are important together with the presence and strength of humanitarian stakeholders, such as NGOs and international organisations lobbying donor governments.     

Ageism: a factor in the nutritional vulnerability of older people?

Unlike other population groups, the rights, needs and contributions of older people in developing countries are not well understood. With the absence of information about how to assess the nutritional status and vulnerability of older people, HelpAge International joined forces with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the early 1990's to launch a research programme. Seven years later some of the basic questions can now be answered but there remains much more to do. Although older people are increasingly acknowledged as a vulnerable group in emergencies, NGO responses often fail to meet their needs. The question is whether there are real difficulties in service adaptation or whether ageism is one of the greatest barriers to the provision of appropriate services for older people.     

Ageism: A Factor in the Nutritional Vulnerability of Older People?

Unlike other population groups, the rights, needs and contributions of older people in developing countries are not well understood. With the absence of information about how to assess the nutritional status and vulnerability of older people, HelpAge International joined forces with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the early 1990s to launch a research programme. Seven years later some of the basic questions can now be answered but there remains much more to do.
Although older people are increasingly acknowledged as a vulnerable group in emergencies, NGO responses often fail to meet their needs. The question is whether there are real difficulties in service adaptation or whether ageism is one of the greatest barriers to the provision of appropriate services for older people.     

Matching response to context in complex political emergencies: 'relief', 'development', 'peace-building' or something in-between?

There is an ongoing debate over the value and pitfalls of the policy and practice of 'linking relief and development' or 'developmental relief' in aid responses to complex political emergencies (CPEs). Driven by concerns about relief creating dependence, sometimes doing harm and failing to address root causes of emergencies despite its high cost, pursuit of both relief and development has become a dominant paradigm among international aid agencies in CPEs as in 'natural' disasters. In CPEs a third objective of 'peace-building' has emerged, along with the logic that development can itself help prevent or resolve conflict and sustain peace. However, this broadening of relief objectives in ongoing CPEs has recently been criticised on a number of counts, central concerns being that it leads to a dilution of commitment to core humanitarian principles and is overly optimistic. This paper addresses these issues in the light of two of the CPEs studied by the COPE project: Eritrea and Somalia/Somaliland. It is argued that the debate has so far suffered from lack of clarity about what we mean by 'relief', 'development' and, for that matter, 'rehabilitation' and 'peace-building'. The wide spectrum of possible aid outcomes does not divide neatly into these categories. The relief-development divide is not always as clear-cut, technically or politically, as the critics claim. Moreover such distinctions, constructed from the point of view of aid programmers, are often of little relevance to the concerns of intended beneficiaries. Second, there has been insufficient attention to context: rather than attempting to generalise within and across CPE cases, a more productive approach would be to examine more closely the conditions under which forms of aid other than basic life support can fruitfully be pursued. This leads to consideration of collective agency capacity to respond effectively to diverse needs in different and changing circumstances.     

Livelihoods,conflict and aid programming: is the evidence base good enough?

In conflict‐affected situations, aid‐funded livelihood interventions are often tasked with a dual imperative: to generate material welfare benefits and to contribute to peacebuilding outcomes. There may be some logic to such a transformative agenda, but does the reality square with the rhetoric? Through a review of the effectiveness of a range of livelihood promotion interventions—from job creation to microfinance—this paper finds that high quality empirical evidence is hard to come by in conflict‐affected situations. Many evaluations appear to conflate outputs with impacts and numerous studies fail to include adequate information on their methodologies and datasets, making it difficult to appraise the reliability of their conclusions. Given the primary purpose of this literature—to provide policy guidance on effective ways to promote livelihoods—this silence is particularly concerning. As such, there is a strong case to be made for a restrained and nuanced handling of such interventions in conflict‐affected settings.     

The impact of refugees on the health status and health services of host communities: Compounding bad with worse?

Although there have been a number of recent developments in our understanding of refugee health problems that have influenced policies and action, the effects of refugees on the health status and services of host communities remain relatively neglected. This article sets out to explain why this is an important issue with implications for policy, planning surveillance and evaluation, training and research.
The first sections outline some of the problems facing host governments and communities in Africa and discuss the changing rhetoric between the first and second International Conferences for Assistance to Refugees in Africa. A number of possible ways in which refugees could affect the individual, agent and environmental causes of disease are considered, as are the characteristics of the refugees, the host communities and the response which may all modify this impact.
Policy implications of the impact of the refugees, both negative and positive, are discussed, and detailed consideration is given to the pros and cons of integrated and parallel approaches to health care provision. The need to monitor carefully the health status and services of host communities is emphasized and recommendations are made for this and other essential developments relating to training and research.     

Extreme weather events and related disasters in the Philippines, 2004–08: a sign of what climate change will mean?

Being an archipelagic nation, the Philippines is susceptible and vulnerable to the ill-effects of weather-related hazards. Extreme weather events, which include tropical cyclones, monsoon rains and dry spells, have triggered hazards (such as floods and landslides) that have turned into disasters. Financial resources that were meant for development and social services have had to be diverted in response, addressing the destruction caused by calamities that beset different regions of the country. Changing climatic patterns and weather-related occurrences over the past five years (2004-08) may serve as an indicator of what climate change will mean for the country. Early recognition of this possibility and the implementation of appropriate action and measures, through disaster risk management, are important if loss of life and property is to be minimised, if not totally eradicated. This is a matter of urgent concern given the geographical location and geological characteristics of the Philippines.     

Flooding and the ‘new normal’: what is the role of gender in experiences of post-disaster ontological security?

Disaster researchers have long analysed disruption to affected residents' ontological security, often represented by routines and familiar landmarks. Surprisingly little of this work, though, assesses who is most likely to experience feelings of disruption. Using a representative set of survey data, complemented by follow-up interview data from 40 residents affected by the Southern Alberta Flood of June 2013, this paper explores how demographic characteristics, such as gender and place attachment, impact on residents' sense of disruption and loss. The findings indicate that women and people with stronger emotional and social ties to their neighbourhoods are most likely to experience disrupted ontological security; home flooding and evacuation orders are also significant predictors. The qualitative interview data reveal that many participants felt unsettled and disrupted by myriad factors, such as ongoing construction, which prevented them from establishing a ‘new normal’. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings for policymakers and service providers.     

Gender and international crisis response: do we have the data,and does it matter?

For more than a decade the humanitarian community has been mandated to mainstream gender in its response to crises. One element of this mandate is a repeated call for sex-disaggregated data to help guide the response. This study examines available analyses, assessments and academic literature to gain insights into whether sex-disaggregated data are generated, accessible and utilised, and appraised what can be learned from existing data. It finds that there is a gap between policy and practice. Evaluations of humanitarian responses rarely refer to data by sex, and there seems to be little accountability to do so. Yet existing data yield important information, pointing at practical, locally-specific measures to reduce the vulnerability of both males and females. This complements population-level studies noting the tendency for higher female mortality. The study discusses some possible obstacles for the generation of data and hopes to spur debate on how to overcome them.     

Rights,Standards and Quality in a Complex Humanitarian Space: Is Sphere the Right Tool?

The Sphere Project (consisting of both the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards for Disaster Response) has made prominent contributions to the debates, thinking and work on the quality of assistance and accountability of aid agencies. However, since its inception in 1997, several agencies expressed concerns regarding Sphere's approach, many of which were confirmed by the Sphere evaluation (2002/3). The present article restates these concerns, and addresses more fundamental issues regarding Sphere's cornerstone. It questions the validity of Sphere's rights-based approach, which consists of a tenuous link between the rights of affected populations and standards for technical interventions. Sphere is founded on "the right to assistance", although this right does not exist in international law. Its elaboration would entail solving several complex legal and political issues, which Sphere fails to address. This article also questions the validity and usefulness of universal standards for technical performance in helping relief agencies provide adapted assistance to disaster-affected populations, in line with their mandates and principles. It suggests that Sphere's approach and content largely reflect the concerns, priorities and values of technical professionals in Northern agencies, leaving limited space to genuine "participation" by affected populations and partners from the South.     

How Is Household Vulnerability Gendered? Female‐headed Households in the Collectives of Suleimaniyah,Iraqi Kurdistan

This research tries to reach an understanding of the well-being of female-headed household members through a comparison to male-headed household members in the collectives of the Suleimaniyah governorate in Iraqi Kurdistan. Research was undertaken in five collectives in Suleimaniyah during the summer of 1998. The research contributes to the current gender and development debates which are concerned with improving the understanding of the specific gendered forms of disadvantage faced by female-headed households rather than assuming the universal poverty of this group. An understanding of well-being is approached through a broad conceptualisation of vulnerability in preference to a narrow poverty definition. That the findings of this research are complex attests to the multi-dimensional and mutually constitutive gendered experiences of vulnerability. The definitive conclusion to emerge from this research is a refuting of the rhetoric-fuelled stereotype that households headed by women are at a disadvantage in all the dimensions of vulnerability in comparison to households headed by men. The research also establishes the methodological necessity of examining intra-household distributive mechanisms that determine individuals' well-being.