As part of a wider organisational undertaking to better capture and communicate the effectiveness of its work, Oxfam developed an evaluative method to assess the quality of targeted humanitarian responses. This method uses a global
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humanitarian indicator tool which is intended to enable Oxfam GB to estimate how many disaster-affected men and women globally have received humanitarian aid that meets establishes standards for excellence. This method was used after the independence of South Sudan, which was followed by political tensions with its neighbour on issues unresolved from the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which include border demarcation, wealth-sharing and the fate of the disputed territory of Abyei.
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Part 2: Part 2 Beyond the evidence: Implications for innovation and practice
Part 2 of the Gap Analysis presents the insights from individuals working in humanitarian response, disability inclusio
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n and older age inclusion. This report begins by looking at how an agenda for the inclusion of people with disability and older people in humanitarian response has been established. The report then considers the ways in which standards and guidance inform humanitarian practice and the challenges associated with translating commitments into practice. Finally, the report identifies seven areas where there are key gaps and opportunities presenting the potential for innovation in research and practice.
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The Sphere standards in national humanitarian response discussion paper sets out to understand and describe opportunities for adapting international humanitarian standards to a regional, national or
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local level in preparing for, or responding to a disaster. The paper, which includes case studies and recommendations for humanitarian professionals, is available in English, French and Spanish
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Reducing the humanitarian impact of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas is a key priority for the United
Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), civil society and an increasing number of Member States.
The Unite
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d Nations Secretary-General has expressly called on parties to conflict to avoid the use in populated areas of
explosive weapons with wide-area effects.
While the use of explosive weapons in populated areas may in some circumstances be lawful under international
humanitarian law (IHL), empirical evidence reveals a foreseeable and often widespread pattern of harm to civilians,
particularly from explosive weapons with wide-area effects.
Many types of explosive weapons exist and are currently in use. These include air-delivered bombs, artillery projectiles,
missiles and rockets, mortar bombs, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Some are launched from the air and
others are surface launched. Whilst different technical features dictate their accuracy of delivery and explosive effect,
these weapons generally create a zone of blast and fragmentation with the potential to kill, injure or damage anyone
or anything within that zone. This makes their use in populated areas – such as towns, cities, markets and camps for
refugees and displaced persons or other concentrations of civilians – particularly problematic. The problems increase
further if the effects of the weapon extend across a wide-area either because of the scale of blast that they produce; their
inaccuracy; the use of multiple munitions across an area; or a combination thereof.
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You can download the handbook, worksheets and quick reference cards from the website!
The HHEAT is an ethical analysis tool designed to help humanitarian healthcare workers make ethical decisions. It consists of 3 components: (1) a summary card hig
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hlighting key questions, (2) a handbook providing an overview of the tool, and (3) a worksheet for recording the decision-making process. The tool was inspired by research examining ethical challenges and moral distress experienced by humanitarian workers. The HHEAT has been tested and validated by humanitarian workers and experts from the fields of humanitarian medicine and nursing, as well as applied ethics.
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The report provides lessons and recommendations for other organizations and the wider humanitarian community on engaging persons with disabilities at all levels of humanitarian work. It draws on con
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sultations with over 700 displaced persons—including persons with disabilities, their families, and humanitarian staff—in eight countries.
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Guidelines for good practice. 3rd edition
The Guidelines for Good Practice are intended to help organizations define their own needs in relation to stress management and develop their own staff car
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e system. The process will be different for each organization. National and international agencies, big and small organizations, will have to find the process and policies that work for them.
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Annex I to: To stay and deliver, good practice for humanitarians in complex security environments
The principal findings of the report include that despite overall improvements in aid agencies’ security risk management, national aid worke
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rs perceive continued inequities in security support compared with their international counterparts. National aid workers, while less subject to major attacks per capita than international aid workers, nevertheless form the majority of victims, and their specific security needs require more attention.
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The cluster approach is a mechanism that helps to address identified gaps in response and enhance the quality of humanitarian action
The Facilitator's Guide has been piloted in Borno (Nigeria) and in Fafan zone (Somali region, Ethiopia) and improved iteratively after each test.
What does the ROAP have that you won't find in other methodologies?
It is based on holistic, people-centred approaches that span across sectors an
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d consider people's perceptions, priorities, ways of coping, and assistance preferences.
It introduces the concepts of inter-sector needs profile and inter-sector causal analysis, and how to use these to articulate shared objectives and better integrated and holistic response packages, as opposed to siloed plans.
It introduces the concept of basic needs basket, and how to define the BN basket based on both households' perspective and sector experts' opinions, and acknowledging that needs have different frequencies and timings, and units of analysis (individual, household, community).
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A practical tool for field based humanitarian workers. It provides up-to-date, clear and succint guidance on topics accross the humanitarian sector including references to current, relevant resource
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s and practical tools.
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With its expert practical advice on security in situations of armed conflict, this updated set of guidelines will prove invaluable to humanitarian personnel working at the operational level. Following on from the success of the first edition, publis
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hed in 1999, it addresses new and developing threats such as chemical, biological and nuclear hazards and includes new chapters on, among others, first aid, staying healthy on mission and how international humanitarian law protects humanitarian workers.
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From choice, a world of possibilities
This resource is the third in a series of online guides for promoting positive mental health across the lifespan. This resource provides health and social service providers (“practitioners”) with current evidence-based approaches in the application of mental health promotion concepts and princip
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les for refugees. It is intended to support practitioners, caregivers and others in incorporating best practice approaches to mental health promotion initiatives or programs directed toward refugees.
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The CHS is a voluntary and measurable standard, which means its application can be objectively assessed. The CHS Verification Scheme allows organisations to measure the extent to which they have successfully applied the CHS requirements, and allows them, to demonstrate that they have done so. The Sc
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heme offers four verification options; although each option is stand alone, the indicators used in the self-assessment are common to all options.
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Education in emergencies is a young area; the evidence of its impact is often anecdotal, and although its status as a humanitarian concern has gained legitimacy in recent years, it has yet to be accepted across the
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humanitarian community. Much more needs to be done to enhance our understanding of the links between education and child protection in emergency situations.
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Humanitarian emergencies result in a breakdown of critical health-care services and often make vulnerable communities dependent on external agencies for care. In resource-constrained settings, this may occur against a backdrop of extreme poverty, ma
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lnutrition, insecurity, low literacy and poor infrastructure. Under these circumstances, providing food, water and shelter and limiting communicable disease outbreaks become primary concerns. Where effective and safe vaccines are available to mitigate the risk of disease outbreaks, their potential deployment is a key consideration in meeting emergency health needs. Ethical considerations are crucial when deciding on vaccine deployment. Allocation of vaccines in short supply, target groups, delivery strategies, surveillance and research during acute humanitarian emergencies all involve ethical considerations that often arise from the tension between individual and common good. The authors lay out the ethical issues that policy-makers need to bear in mind when considering the deployment of mass vaccination during humanitarian emergencies, including beneficence (duty of care and the rule of rescue), non-maleficence, autonomy and consent, and distributive and procedural justice
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A practical handbook. This Health Cluster Guide (2nd edition, 2020) provides practical advice on how WHO, Health Cluster Coordinators and partners can work together during a humanitarian crisis to achieve the aims of reducing avoidable mortality, mo
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rbidity and disability, and restoring the delivery of and equitable access to preventive and curative health care.
It highlights key principles of humanitarian health action and how coordination and joint efforts among health and other sector actors can increase the effectiveness and efficiency of health interventions and promote better health outcomes. It draws on Inter-Agency Standing Committee and other expert guidance and includes lessons from field experience in acute and protracted crises.
The coordination principles and practice presented in Health Cluster Guide are equally valid for coordinators and members of health sector groups that seek to achieve effective health action in countries where the cluster approach has not been formally adopted.
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