The transformation of the humanitarian landscape has already made a significant impact on the operational security of INGOs and other humanitarian
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actors. This report serves to inform strategic policy priorities and approaches to security planning and coordination, and addresses three main questions: 1. What are the emerging trends, developments and drivers of change that are likely to affect or change security issues and considerations in the humanitarian environment of the future? 2. How will the humanitarian sector need to adapt in order to continue to deliver programmes within this changing operational context? 3. How prepared are organisations for this future, and what might they need to do differently in order to be prepared?
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STUDY REPORT | This study of the impact of the Nepal earthquake of 25 April, 2015, aims to understand the impact factors leading to the exclusion of older people and persons with disabilities from
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humanitarian action, barriers to their inclusion, and the extent to which their skills and knowledge were utilised to promote inclusive humanitarian action and, using this understanding, to formulate a set of recommendations for promoting inclusion. These recommendations will be used to sensitise the broader humanitarian community to the need for inclusive disaster risk management practices in future emergency responses which pay attention to factors such as gender, age, disability and ethnicity, and build upon the capacities of older people and persons with disabilities.
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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
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an increasing number of Member States.
The United 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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Security Risk Management and Religion: Faith and secularism in humanitarian assistance examines the impact that religion has on security risk management for
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humanitarian agencies, and considers whether a better understanding of religion can improve the security of organisations and individuals in the field.
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While the full extent of Cyclone Ida’s impact is still being assessed, early reports indicate significant damage to infrastructure and livelihoods, with an estimated 3,000km2 of land submerged. Preliminary government reports as of 24 March indicat
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e that more than 58,600 houses have been damaged, including 36,747 totally destroyed, 19,733 partially destroyed and 2,184 flooded. More than 500,000 hectares of crops have been damaged, which is expected to significantly increase food insecurity given that the flooding has coincided with the annual harvest season. More than 3,100 schools have been damaged, along with at least 45 health centres.
Nearly 110,000 people remained displaced in more than 130 accommodation centres – mostly schools and other public buildings – in Sofala (90), Manica (26), Zambezia (10) and Tete (4), where humanitarian needs are acute and both the risk of communicable disease outbreaks and protection risks – particularly for women and girls – are high
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This paper aims to contribute to the reflection on effective practices to address protracted displacement, in support of the GP20 Plan of Action roll-out. It expands on the research conducted by Walter Kälin and Hannah Entwisle Chapuisat for the 2017 OCHA-commissioned study Breaking the Impasse: Re
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ducing Protracted Internal Displacement as a Collective Outcome.1 That study provided a comprehensive picture of the impact of protracted internal displacement, as well as five country case studies in contexts of conflict and disasters.It also offered a road map for addressing such displacement through seven steps, including conducting joint analysis and defining collective outcomes.
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This document is produced by the Humanitarian Country Team and the United Nations Resident
Coordinator’s Office in Mozambique, with the support of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of
Huma
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nitarian Affairs (OCHA). The projects reflected here support the national government. It covers the
period from November 2018 to June 2019. The Plan has been revised in March 2019 to incorporate the
immediate response to needs arising from the impact of Cyclone Idai.
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In this review, the editors will investigate the impact of eight WASH interventions in preventing (reducing the risk of) and controlling outbreaks in LMIC, with particular focus on three diseases of current concern to the response community – chol
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era, Ebola, and Hepatitis E. Additionally, we will explore economic outcomes related to WASH interventions within an outbreak
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Guidance | Preparedness - Response and early recovery - Recovery and reconstruction
Context and impact of the crisis
A year after the signing of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS),1 the ceasefire holds in most parts of the country. Armed conflict between State security forces and
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opposition armed groups has been contained to a small number of areas in the Equatorias where Government forces continue to clash with non-signatories to the agreement. Many areas are seeing intra- and inter-communal violence, enabled by small-arms proliferation and weak rule of law. This is often driven by resource scarcity in areas that have experienced years of severe food insecurity.
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A new report by the world’s largest humanitarian network warns that the number of people needing humanitarian assistance every year as a result of climate-related disasters could double by 2050. I
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t estimates that the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of storms, droughts and floods could climb beyond 200 million annually – compared to an estimated 108 million today.
It further suggests that this rising human toll would come with a huge financial price tag, with climate-related humanitarian costs ballooning
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These draft guidelines are designed to encourage humanitarian and development non-governmental organisation (NGO) practitioners to think about the types of scientific information and expertise they may need, how to access and use them, and how to en
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sure that they are applied in an ethical and accountable manner. The publication addresses the need to defines the problem and the purpose of integrating science with the users of science, issues around access to science and understanding scientific information, how to apply the science and the important of monitoring and evaluation of impact. Case studies include a project from Christian Aid and the Evangelical Association of Malawi which brought together community members from Village Civil Protection Committees with scientists from the Department of Climate Change and Meteorology and District Council staff responsible for water management and disaster risk reduction in order to tackle a problem of flooding
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This report documents the secondary humanitarian problems and impacts of large-scale Ebola outbreak on the different humanitarian sectors, to provide a non-exhaustive plan to help future responders.
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A large scale Ebola outbreak, in this document, refers to an epidemic with an unprecedented scale, geographical spread and duration.
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Child friendly spaces (CFS) have become a widely
used approach to protect and provide psychosocial
support to children in emergencies. However,
little evidence documents their outcomes and
impacts. There is widespread commitment among
humanitarian
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agencies to strengthen the evidence
base of programming. Recognizing this, the Child
Protection Working Group (CPWG) of the Global
Protection Cluster and the Inter-Agency Standing
Committee (IASC) Reference Group on Mental
Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency
Settings have identified research in this area as a
high priority.
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Recommendations and Summary
This report explores the impact of COVID-19 on humanitarian access in the initial months of the crisis, including both the delivery of assistance and performance of prot
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ection activities. It examines the varying crisis responses, including the shift to a more localized approach in certain cases. The analysis draws on case research from Colombia, Myanmar, Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen, as well as on wide-ranging interviews with humanitarian practitioners and experts from around the world. The research was conducted between August – November 2020. It does not make claims about the legitimacy of government decisions to restrict access – indeed, in many instances, there appeared to be a clear objective of limiting the spread of COVID-19 – but instead focuses on how access limitations have affected the delivery of aid.
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Developing countries face disastrous healthcare setbacks, hunger and huge international debt as covid-19’s ‘final wave’
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 ac
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cepted across the 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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In many conflicts around the world, more children die from diseases linked to unsafe water than from direct violence. UNICEF is releasing Water Under Fire volume 3, a report that highlights the issues children face in accessing water in times of war. The report demonstrates the
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humanitarian impact on children through case studies from Iraq, State of Palestine, Syria, Yemen, and Ukraine. Attacks on water, sanitation services and staff must stop.
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The objective of this study is to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, sustainability, and impact of the tsunami response in Sri Lanka and Indonesia 10 years later. A cross cutting theme of this study is the assessment of whether communities are now b
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etter prepared to respond to and cope with disaster.
Three key lessons for the future of humanitarian response are highlighted:
Lesson 1: Participation is the cornerstone of humanitarian response and recovery;
Lesson 2: Partnership as a prerequisite for long-term change;
Lesson 3: Creating momentum for risk reduction.
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