Food aid and relief-development strategies*

This paper begins by setting out the main arguments on which a proposal for "relief-development strategies" rest. The second part of the paper is concerned with a discussion of the way the objectives of a "relief-development strategy" might be achieved and the roles emergency food aid might have. In the third part of the paper, a number of strategic issues are discussed. A stylized account is presented of how a broad "relief development strategy" might be mounted. The last part of the paper draws together the discussion by considering how emergency projects should be assessed. If the principles on which this paper are based are accepted, then the evaluation of emergency projects should extend well beyond convention.     

Beyond performance and protocols: early responders' experiences of multiple accountability demands in the response to the 2015 Nepal earthquake

Critics have long questioned the push for professionalised and performance‐driven accountability in the humanitarian sector, yet the matter is largely treated as a ‘back office’ issue of standards, guidelines, and processes. Scant attention is paid to the accountability demands experienced by early responders to disasters. Set in the contested climate of the emergency response to the earthquake in Nepal on 25 April 2015, and drawing on interviews with 15 early responders, this paper reveals three forms of accountability demands: (i) accountability as compliance; (ii) accountability as the object of government regulation; and (iii) accountability as public opposition and interrogation. Beyond the performance‐centric, non‐governmental organisation‐driven understanding of accountability, early responders to the earthquake experienced multidirectional accountability demands, not only from donors and beneficiaries, but also from the national government and wider public. Engaging with public criticism is a significant feature of early responders' responsibility that warrants further consideration by the humanitarian community.     

Sri Lankan livelihoods after the tsunami: searching for entrepreneurs,unveiling relations of power

This paper analyses the performance of aid‐funded livelihoods recovery efforts in Sri Lanka following the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26 December 2004, with special attention paid to the effects on the rural poor. It argues that successful livelihoods recovery was hampered by an excessive focus by aid agencies on entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship, and by the lack of a politically informed understanding of the economy. Based on ethnographic and survey‐based research, the study demonstrates that the category of ‘entrepreneur’ is misleading for large parts of the economy. Indeed, the desire to build an entrepreneurial economy actually hampered successful livelihoods recovery in Sri Lanka and, in some cases, reinforced inequitable relations of power. The paper concludes that for livelihoods recovery programmes to be effective, they must be founded on an understanding of the relations of power that constitute the economy; these relations operate across scales, and are historically and geographically specific.     

Multicriteria Decision Aid in Supporting Decisions Related to Groundwater Protection

In the recent decades, there have been frequent conflicts between groundwater resources and environmentally hazardous activities. An example is the construction of the new highway through the important glaciofluvial esker aquifer Nybroåsen, which passes the protection zone of the water supply for the Kalmar municipality, in the southeastern part of Sweden. The decision to build the new road through this important aquifer has been strongly questioned by the municipality and the public because the value of the water resources in Nybroåsen was not taken into consideration during the first phase of the decision-making process. Multicriteria decision aid (MCDA) is applied as a tool to structure and analyze the four road alternatives proposed in the environmental impact assessment for the above conflict. The alternatives, including the existing road, are in conflict with water resources, agriculture, natural, and cultural values. The impacts on the water resources have been predicted by a two-dimensional physically based time-variant flow and solute groundwater model, which has been calibrated and evaluated. The MCDA illustrates how it can be used to identify (1) actors and their concerns, (2) ranking of alternative road scenarios according to actors preferences, and (3) coalition groups of actors, i.e., groups that have similar views with regard to the road alternatives. The analysis shows that the two best compromise solutions obtained in the MCDA were unacceptable by the strongest coalition group, showing that either the family of criteria was not well chosen or new alternatives should have been developed.     

Women, Health and Humanitarian Aid in Conflict

The burden of political conflict on civilian populations has increased significantly over the last few decades. Increasingly, the provision of resources and services to these populations is coming under scrutiny; we highlight here the limited attention to gender in their provision. Women and men have different exposures to situations that affect health and access to health-care and have differential power to influence decisions regarding the provision of health services. We argue that the role of women in planning is central to the provision of effective, efficient and sensitive health-care to conflict-affected populations.     

Proliferating Principles; Or How to Sup with the Devil without Getting Eaten

The international humanitarian system is seen by many to be in crisis. The reasons for this are complex but include the perception held by many that there is an increasing ambivalence on the part of powerful states to invest military, political and financial resources in upholding humanitarian principles, and a growing feeling that much humanitarian action both ignores human rights issues and can prolong conflict. As a result, much attention has focused on the notion of 'humanitarian principles' and there has been a proliferation of statements and initiatives on this topic in recent years.     

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.     

城市污水处理厂剩余污泥热值测定方法优化研究

目前的城市污水处理厂剩余污泥热值的测定主要参考煤热值的测定方法。根据污泥的特性,对热值测定过程中污泥的干燥方式、助燃剂的影响和热值校正计算3个方面进行了优化研究。结果表明,冷冻干燥(-50℃)能够避免污泥有机物的挥发,从而精确地测定剩余污泥的热值;对于有机物含量较高的污泥(VS/TS>0.57),不添加助燃剂也能准确测定污泥的热值;通过测定氧弹洗液中硫酸和硝酸的含量来计算热值校正,从而准确得到污泥的热值。     

强化混凝去除尖针杆藻

嘉陵江水系藻类暴发,水源水中的藻类在水厂前处理工艺中难以去除,造成该流域附近10余个水厂发生滤池堵塞现象,其中个别水厂滤池反冲洗周期由正常情况的24 h缩短至2~3 h,严重影响净水厂的正常运行,使得制水能力大幅降低。针对藻类(优势藻为硅藻中的针杆藻)暴发问题,通过对比PAFS、PAC和PFC3种混凝剂的除藻除浊效果,选取PAFS为最佳混凝剂;通过添加预氧化剂和助凝剂强化混凝除藻效果,其结果表明,使用助凝剂PDMDAAC的对PAFS的助凝效果最好,其余药剂结合PAFS的除藻效果为PPC>ClO2>PAM>H2O2>HCA-1,并将其应用到现有水厂,结果表明,0.6mg/L PDMDAAC+25 mg/L PAFS在水厂混凝沉淀,尖针杆藻含量降至49×104~55×104cells/L,其除藻率可达70%~75%,大大减轻了滤池的运行负荷,使得水厂运行恢复到正常水平。