DEFINING HUMANITARIAN EFFECTIVENESS · 2015. 1. 23. · December 2014 southasiadisasters.net 3...

southasiadisasters.net December 20142

How do we know if ahumanitarian programme is

any good? What does 'good' looklike, in an emergency context where,lamentably, people are likely to die,or at the very least lose assets, haveto leave their homes, and suffer fearand uncertainty? These questions —about the quality and effectivenessof humanitarian responses — are atthe heart of humanitarianevaluation, and have been a centralconcern of the ALNAP network formany years.1

Many evaluators measurehumanitarian performanceaccording to the OECD DACevaluation criteria. These criteriaessentially say that there are eightfactors which, taken together, defineeffective high quality humanitarianprogramme. They are:

Relevance / Appropriateness: Thedegree to which humanitarianactivities are in line with local needsand priorities as they are understoodby the affected populationthemselves.

Connectedness: The degree to whichshort term relief activity connect withlonger term (developmental)activities.

Coherence: The degree to whichactivities take into accounthumanitarian values and principles,and human rights considerations.

Coverage: The degree to whichactivities meet all people in need.

Coordination: The degree to whichthe activities of any given actor are

carried out in coordination withother relief activities, to preventduplication and gaps.

Efficiency: The degree to which theinputs (money and other resources)are well managed to produce thelargest number of high qualityoutputs possible.

Effectiveness: This is a bit confusing– as we can think of all eight of thesecriteria adding up to effectiveperformance, but, more narrowlydefined, effectiveness is also thedegree to which the specific projectfor programme met its statedobjectives.

Impact: The positive and negativelonger-term effects, both intendedand unintended, of the humanitarianactivity.

What is interesting about using thesecriteria to define a 'good' (oreffective) programme is that theyshow how it can be difficult toachieve the highest levels ofperformance 'across the board', andthat in many cases making aprogramme better in one way willmake it less good in another (forexample: achieving the highest levelsof coverage – by ensuring you reachsmall, hard to reach populations –may not be the most efficient way ofusing scarce resources). Theunpleasant reality is thathumanitarian actors will often haveto prioritise between different typesof 'good', trading off goodperformance in one area as the pricefor doing better in another, and thatthere is often no 'right answer' aboutwhat to prioritise: in many cases, this

will come down to personal ororganisational judgement.

It is worth noting, too, that very few– if any – of the groups involved in ahumanitarian response woulddisagree with most of the criteriaabove. Where they may differ is inthe relative importance of thesecriteria. So, for example, a donor mayprioritise efficiency very highly,while field staff of an organisationare more concerned about coverage,and a community grouprepresenting some of the peopleaffected focus on relevance. All threecriteria matter to all three groups –but not, necessarily, in the sameorder.

A third, equally important pointabout using these criteria as a wayof understanding what 'good' lookslike in humanitarian action is thatthey do not come with a standard listof indictors or targets. Realisticexpectations of humanitarianperformance will depend on thecontext: it should be far easier toensure good coverage, or indeed acost efficient use of resources, in acontext where the population is fairlyconcentrated and there is goodinfrastructure, than it is whensupporting a mobile, dispersedpopulation in a warzone. Targets forperformance, or effectiveness as it iscalled by the WHS, should takecontext into account.

The criteria are, of course, only oneway of considering performance,and they are certainly not perfect: inparticular, they are not explicit aboutthe role of accountability inenhancing effectiveness and

DEFINING HUMANITARIAN EFFECTIVENESS

What is Effectiveness? It depends on whereyou are…

1 ALNAP's humanitarian performance project, which addresses these questions, began with the report 'Counting what counts'and continues with the State of the System series. See http://www.alnap.org/what-we-do/sohs

southasiadisasters.netDecember 2014 3

improving quality in humanitariancontexts. They also make the implicitassumption that popularengagement and participation inprogrammes are tools to ensurerelevance, rather than ends inthemselves: a position which wasdiscussed at the last ALNAP annualmeeting (http://www.alnap.org/meeting2014) and which has beenrecently challenged at the WorldHumanitarian Summit RegionalConsultation for North and South-East Asia.

Which raises the issue of the 2016World Humanitarian Summit – andhow the understanding ofeffectiveness gained by evaluatorsover many years should influencethe discussions.

We would hope that delegates willrecognise that effectiveness is multi–faceted; that all of these factors haveto be taken into consideration; andthat, while they may place keyelements in different orders ofpriority, all of these elements areimportant. We would also hope thatthey are clear about the differencebetween aspiration – those thingstowards which we should all beworking, in a genuine attempt tocontinuously improve – and presentcircumstances. Expecting people toconsistently live up to loftyaspiration in the messy here and nowis a formula for failure and cynicism.The test here will be the degree towhich the summit is able to developa clear, ambitious and realisticprocess of improvement.

Finally we would hope thatdelegates begin to wrestle with thedifficult but crucial issue of context.Does effectiveness always mean thesame thing, or does it differdepending on the nature of the placeand nature of the emergency? Theevidence of evaluations suggeststhat, within the broad scope of thecriteria, the specifics of contextmatter. If the WHS can help allhumanitarian actors to take a steptowards programming thatunderstands local constraints andcapacities, and which is built on anunderstanding of local social,political, cultural and economicissues, it will have made a massivecontribution.

– Paul Knox-Clarke,Head of Research and

Communications, ALNAP, UK

ABOUT THIS ISSUE

The first ever WorldHumanitarian Summit is going

will be organized at Istanbul in 2016.Organized by the UN SecretaryGeneral, this summit aims to comeup with path-breaking solutions tothe pressing challenges of thehumanitarian sector of this age.Four themes have been identifiedfor this summit, they are:• Managing Risk and Reducing

Vulnerability

• Humanitarian Effectiveness• Transformation through

Innovation• Serving the Needs of People in

Conflict

This issue of Southasiadisasters.netfocuses on the theme ofHumanitarian Effectiveness. In a fastchanging world, the emergence ofnew challenges in the field ofhumanitarian action is becomingcommon. Consequently, it becomesimperative to shape thehumanitarianism for this new agewith the effectiveness to tackle allsuch challenges.

Achieving effectiveness inhumanitarian action necessitates abetter understanding of the contextin which aid functions, so as toprovide the right help to the rightpeople at the right time in asustainable manner. Humanitarianeffectiveness also requires areimagining of the parameters ofhow humanitarian action is assessedin the form of newer definitions andmore inclusive evaluations.

This issue of Southasiadisasters.netcontains articles and opinions thatactively discuss the important themeof humanitarian effectiveness. Fullof though provoking pieces, thisissue not only raises the issue ofredefining effectiveness inhumanitarian action but alsohighlights good instances ofeffective humanitarian action fromthe field. Important issues discussedinclude 'Evaluating the Effectivenessof Finance in Community basedAdaptation' to 'RedefiningEffectiveness in HumanitarianAction' and from 'Tools Used byAgencies to Evaluate HumanitarianAction' to 'Building Leadership inthe Humanitarian Context'.

Comprehensive in its scope, thepresent issue of Southasiadisasters.netis an attempt to capture the opinionsof experts and practitioners from thefield of humanitarian action on thetheme of humanitarian effectiveness.This issue will no doubt prove to bea valuable resource to theconsultative process for the WorldHumanitarian Summit.

– Kshitij Gupta, AIDMI


Over the past decade, as climatechange adaptation has risen on

the agenda of internationaldevelopment agencies, so too has theissue of increased transparency andaccountability between donors andrecipients of internationaldevelopment assistance. Embeddedin this donor–driven push foraccountability is the belief thatprojects or programmes should beable to demonstrate that they are'effective' in order to qualify forinternational assistance. Few wouldargue that 'ineffective' projectsdeserve the scarce financial resourcesthat are available, particularly in thecase of adaptation – which receivesless than 1% of overall global climatefinance.1 However climate changeadaptation is a relatively new policyspace, and there is no firm consensusyet on how to evaluate theeffectiveness of adaptation projectsand programmes.

Donor agencies in the UK, such asthe Department for InternationalDevelopment (DFID) and theInternational Climate Fund (ICF),routinely use metrics such as 'valuefor money' (VfM), the headlinenumbers of people supported by aproject, and the existence of a robust'theory of change' (ToC) to judgewhether an intervention has beeneffective. Yet when it comes toadaptation projects these metrics areoften too vague to capture the issueof greatest importance to donors andrecipients alike – whether the livesof people in climate–vulnerablecommunities have directly

improved and been made moreresilient by the intervention inquestion. Designing a methodologythat can accurately measure theeffectiveness of climate changeadaptation interventions (especiallyone that is robust enough todifferentiate between attribution andcontribution) is a complex task. Thisis the conclusion of a recent UKCIPreport, which claims that monitoringand evaluation (M & E)methodologies – tools used todetermine the effectiveness of projectinterventions – are considerablymore difficult for adaptation projectsthan for traditional developmentprojects.2

With little available guidance forevaluating the effectiveness ofadaptation projects andprogrammes, it is important thatdevelopment practitioners,policymakers, donors andbeneficiaries work together todevelop and share emergingmethodologies and best practices inthis field. Such lesson-sharing willcatalyse further research andpiloting, and is therefore a vital firststep in improving our understandingon what makes an adaptationintervention effective.

However this is only the first step.As a community of practice we needto move beyond the question 'howdo we evaluate the effectiveness ofadaptation interventions?' to coveran equally critical question: 'how dowe evaluate the effectiveness ofadaptation financing?' This second

question is arguably more critical,because it moves beyond theindividual project level andchallenges practitioners,governments and donors to explainhow improvements in adaptationfinance decision–making cancatalyse long-term, transformativechange that builds the resilience ofvulnerable communities across theworld. Lessons to this effect will beall the more critical if theinternational community is to holdtrue to its recent commitment toallocate 50% of the funds dispersedby the Green Climate Fund toadaptation.3

As this area of research and practicebegins to develop, there are threespecific themes that warrantparticular attention, each of whichcorrespond to a respective level ofanalysis–local/regional, national,and international.

The first theme is the importance ofcomparability of adaptationinterventions. Impacts, outputs andoutcomes (using log frameterminology) can be measuredrelatively more easily at the locallevel than at the sub-national,national or international levels. Forexample, ex-ante and ex-postparticipatory vulnerabilityassessments are effective evaluationtools that can provide accurateassessments of the effectiveness ofcommunity–based adaptationprojects. The difficulty with thesetools, however, is in aggregating theimpact data across many projects

1 Climate Policy Institute's report 'The Global Landscape of Climate Finance 2013' estimates that total annual climate finance foradaptation is USD $22 billion, out of a total of $359 billion. When considering that only 15% of global climate finance flowsfrom OECD countries to developing countries where the need is greatest (including many countries in South Asia), thesenumbers actual mask a considerably lower flow of international public finance for adaptation.

2 Guidance Note 1: Twelve reasons why climate change adaptation M&E is challenging. 20143 Green ClimateFund.GCF-PA.02/14.

EVALUATING FINANCIAL EFFECTIVENESS

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Finance forCommunity–Based Adaptation


from different communities, regions,or countries and ensuring they areall comparable. More guidance onhow to aggregate these results isneeded so that national fundingagencies and donor governments cancompare various interventions (e.g.a multiple-use water system inhighland Nepal versus droughtresistant seed varieties in the Sahel),determine which ones are moreeffective in reducing communityvulnerability, and base theirfinancing decisions accordingly.

The second theme is the importanceof building institutions that are capableof promoting linkages between the local,regional and national level. Nationalgovernments have an important rolein supporting CBA. However thelessons from effective adaptationprojects are often only visible at thecommunity–level, and are far

removed from national plannerswho make decisions on where toallocate scarce budgetary resources.As such, measurement, reporting andverification (MRV) systems thatchannel lessons from local levels toregional and national levels need tobe supported – so that effective localinterventions can be replicated morebroadly.

Finally, there needs to be increasedattention at the international levelto allocate climate finance based on theneeds of developing countries. Currentlythe main metric that is used toevaluate whether the internationalclimate finance regime is 'effective'is the volume of climate financedispersed by Annex 1 countries. It isclear that volumes of climate finance– particularly for adaptation –remain woefully inadequate to meetthe needs of developing countries.

However volume of finance is aquantitative metric that masks a lot ofequally important qualitativequestions that must begin to be askedmore systematically by researchers,advocacy organisations, anddeveloping country governments.These questions include: has climatefinance dispersal focused on the mostvulnerable countries? Has the financebeen aligned with their main NAPApriorities? Who makes the financingdecisions and are they trulyrepresentative of the needs ofdeveloping countries? If adaptationfinance is to be truly 'effective',further efforts must be made toreframe the analysis so that futureflows specifically targeted forcountries, regions, and communitiesthat are most vulnerable to the effectsof climate change.

– Dave Steinbach,Adaptation and Climate Finance

Consultant, Ricardo-AEA, UK

WOMEN AND CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION

Unequal Access to Opportunities: AdolescentGirls Face the Brunt of Climate Change

Across the world, women andchildren are facing a

disproportionately high risk of theimpacts of climate change. Andalthough many researches havebrought this point out, therepresentation of the risk among thismargin is not equal either. Thechallenges of girls, especiallyadolescent girls in the face ofchanging climate need to be statedexplicitly. Adolescent girls form anessential part of the support systemfor most families in the rural partsof most developing countries. Froman age as young as 6-8 girls in manyparts of the world start makingsignificant economic and socialcontributions to their families. Theyare fully or at least partiallyresponsible for gathering firewood,

Young girls participating in the discussion on the Impact of Climate Change onadolescent girls in Kusupur Panchayat, Odisha.


fetching drinking water, taking careof their younger siblings. More oftenthan not, girls compromise on theirfuture owing to the difficulties oftheir families and lack ofopportunities.

In the past few years, thedevelopmental trajectory of coastalOdisha (India) has sufferednumerous setbacks due to frequentstorms, cyclones and other hazards.Additionally the lack ofinfrastructure in the face of changingclimate is posing huge problems inproviding equitable growthopportunities to young girls. In astudy conducted in March 2014 inKendrapada and Jagatsinghpurdistricts by Regional Centre forDevelopment Cooperation, 'lack ofaccess to equitable educationfacilities' was identified as one of themajor obstacles for adolescent girls.Low female attendance, highdropout rates, generation of anunderutilized workforce of ableyoung women and heavy burdeningof non-schooling girls withhousehold chores is the reality ofadolescent girls in rural coastalOdisha today.

The inability of girls to attend schoolduring their menstrual cycle is oneof the main reasons for a lowerattendance rate among girls ascompared to boys. Adolescent girlsin village use cloth napkins, as aresult of which travelling to schooland staying the entire day whilemenstruating where no toiletfacilities are available is a difficulttask. No provisions are made inschools to provide sanitary suppliesfor women or any change ofclothing. As a result, on an averagean adolescent girl misses a minimumof 25-30 days per year only on accountof her menstrual cycle. These daysare over and above the schoolingdays missed on account of badweather, working in fields duringharvesting season, managing

household chores etc. Moreover, lowattendance does not allow girls tocontinue their education above 9th

grade, since 10th grade requires aminimum attendance for takingtheir board examination, which isoften unmet.

Lack of hostel facilities for girlspursuing higher education is achallenge for girls who wish topursue higher education. Most highschools are located in blockheadquarters or revenue villages.Since the hamlets in Odisha arewidely scattered, this is one of thereasons for high school dropoutsamong girls. Provision of schoolbuses is not available in remotecoastal areas and thus to continueschooling beyond secondary levels,making long and often unsafejourneys to school on foot or on cycleis a pre-requisite. Another reason fordropout is a general sense ofdevaluation of female education. Thecollective patriarchal thinking thatalso pervades in Odisha often beratesthe lives of adolescent girls in ourcountry due to the belief thateducation is of no utility to the girlonce she gets married as she wouldn't(and shouldn't) be allowed to workafter her marriage.

High dropout rates have led to a poolof an underutilized productiveyoung workforce in our country.Many capable girls, who in the courseof their education and beyond couldbe the change that we wish to see inour country, get sucked into the fourwalls without a choice or voice. Thissituation is made worse in thepresence of the threat of increasingnumber of natural disasters and achanging climate which tends to setback the course of developmentmany years back.

The woes of changing climate inOdisha have forced migration uponits population. Due to lack ofopportunities, men migrate to far off

states such as Kashmir, Kerala, andGujarat etc. However, in the light ofchanging climate patterns, this is aluxury affordable only to youngmen. They travel to far off places insearch of a livelihood to supporttheir families whereas women andgirls more than often than not staybehind in the village to look afterthe home. Since most of thesefamilies are hard pressed for money,survival is tough when the men moveout. Mobility for women is achallenge, with most women neverhaving ventured out of their villageseven to the nearest town.

Most families depend on their farmsfor food and rains and ground waterfor survival, but due to the changein the weather pattern, uncertaintyis always looming large above thesefamilies. Due to inland flooding,increasing salinity of water isbecoming a major hurdle in the livesof young girls and women whodepend on groundwater foreverything. The girls who are leftbehind are left to deal with theseproblems without the capacity tocope with these problems. Theincrease in number of disasters inOdisha due to climate change hasmade the future even bleaker forthese young women. With noopportunities to migrate plus theadded burden of being uneducated,climate change has increased theunderlying risk. Although theimpact is not so clear right now, inthe future these girls will be moreexposed to the risks of climatechange. With the rising sea levelsand submergence of whole villagesunder the sea, girls need to voicetheir concerns and preparethemselves for their coming future.Thus creating equal opportunities forgirls with an emphasis on educationis one of the important riskreduction strategies' we must focuson to build climate change resilientindividuals and communities.

– Meghna Goyal


LEADERSHIP FOR HUMANITARIAN EFFECTIVENESS

Building Leadership:What it takes in a Humanitarian Context

The world in which humanitarianorganisations operate is

changing and becoming far morecomplex. This has a significantimpact on humanitarian workerswho are already required to copewith increasingly uncertain politicaland security conditions,urbanisation, new technology, andchanging global relations. Thisincreasingly complex environmentis coupled with a shortage ofadequately trained national frontlineresponders, particularly in leadershiproles, within countries and regionswhere disasters are more prevalent.

The consensus across the sector is thatwe need to develop a new generationof humanitarian leaders in order toreduce the impact of future crises andsave more lives. There is an urgentneed to professionalise thehumanitarian sector and makelearning and developmentopportunities more accessible topeople in vulnerable communities.A particular focus needs to becommunity leaders and those who

are the first responders inhumanitarian crises.

Justine Greening, UK's Secretary ofState for International Developmentduring her recent speech at the WorldBank spring meetings urged a re-thinking of how we tailor ahumanitarian response to differentcontexts. She highlighted that "fornatural disasters the primary aimmust be to support countries tomanage disasters by themselves,drawing on civil society and privatesector support."

The Humanitarian LeadershipAcademy, a new global initiative,aims to bridge that leadership gapby opening access to knowledge andquality learning with a principalfocus on improving humanitarianaction and leadership development.

Collaboration is at the heart ofmeeting a challenge of this scale andthe Academy recognises that expertsfrom different sectors need to worktogether to connect and advance the

best humanitarian learning anddevelopment programmes currentlyavailable in the world. This willprovide the opportunity for peopleto build the skills to lead and fororganisations to further developtheir ability to measure andcontinuously improve their work.

In January I participated as a facultymember/mentor on theHumanitarian LeadershipProgramme (HLP), a programmethat we have developed inpartnership between the AustralianGovernment, Deakin University andinternational humanitarian agencies.The HLP aims to develop theleadership behaviours of seniorhumanitarian practitioners. DeakinUniversity ran a study followingTyphoon Haiyan and initial findingsshow that more than 30 HLPgraduates were instrumental insupporting an effective response inthe weeks after the catastrophictyphoon hit. The findings suggestthat the leadership behavioursdeveloped during the programmewere extremely relevant toresponding effectively on theground. This was highlighted by anumber of heads of organisationswho witnessed this first-hand fromprogramme graduates.

The Executive Leadership Coachingfor UN Humanitarian Coordinatorsis another new leadershipdevelopment intervention which hasbeen piloted by the HumanitarianLeadership Academy, in collaborationwith UN OCHA and Save theChildren. During the first pilot, fiveexecutive coaches offered one-to-onecoaching for ten UN HumanitarianCoordinators. The coaching is a sixto nine month engagement with

Humanitarian Leadership Academy. Photo Credit: Save the Children


monthly virtual coaching sessions,that last 60-90 minutes.

During every coaching engagement,the Humanitarian Coordinator setthe agenda on what they wanted tofocus on, offering a valuableopportunity to step outside of theirbusy roles to reflect. Professionalcoaching can enhance decision-making skills, increase interpersonaleffectiveness and confidence, andimprove the attainment of a rangeof goals. The ALNAP reportLeadership in Action – Leadingeffectively in humanitarian operations(2011) argues that coaching is "oneof the key ways that leaders are ableto identify blind spots and draw theleader's attention to their flaws orunbalanced strengths; as well asharnessing and flexing their areas ofstrength."

The feedback from the first pilotwhich ran from June 2013 to early2014 indicates that the coaching hasbeen of huge benefit to UNCoordinators, and one of theparticipants highlighted that: "Theprogramme helped me discover the

leader in me and realise the broadimpact of my actions.'' We've sincebegun a second pilot of theprogrammes we strongly believe thatproviding coaching to key leadersthat operate in highly pressuredenvironments has the potential tohave a far reaching impact.

While we acknowledge that peoplewho will benefit from theseinitiatives are senior leaders in thesector, the Academy recognises thatwe need leaders at all levels in orderto cope with the changing nature ofour work. Focusing on futuregenerations of humanitarian leaders,last month we saw 11 frontline staffin east Africa graduating from theprofessional diploma in'Humanitarian Health and Nutritionfor Practitioners' that was accreditedby the Liverpool School of TropicalMedicine (LSTM). The graduatingstudents from South Sudan, Somalia,Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzaniaand Malawi successfully completedan integrated curriculum designed toequip them with the skills andknowledge to deliver field healthand nutrition interventions in

emergencies. A further 17 EastAfrican staff are halfway throughtheir Professional Diploma in'Humanitarian Health and Nutritionfor Managers' which is alsoaccredited by LSTM. The uniqueintegrated curriculum has enabledgraduates to improve quality withintheir frontline projects as well asenhance their county programme'sresponse capability.

As a new initiative, the HumanitarianLeadership Academy is making itsfirst steps in supporting thetransformation of the sector'sapproach to leadership in order toreduce the impact of future disasters.We are only just beginning and werecognise that there is a lot of workto do. This is why we aim to be acatalyst, bringing together cross-sector insight and expertise toprovide access to quality learningand knowledge, and a means tomeasure its impact on crisis responseand recovery.

– Jez Stoner,Director,

Humanitarian Leadership Academy,Save the Children, UK

What does it take to design training modulesthat integrate DRR with CCA for sub-national

officials?

Based on over past three years' field experience, theAll India Disaster Mitigation Institute (AIDMI) isdrawing up a process for such a design. The key topicsthat are coming up include ways of communicatingwith communities; assessing information needs oflocal officials; planning processes; children receivingenough attention in decision making; need forhospital (and bio-waste) safety; and ways ofdeveloping long term perspective of such integration.Suggestions and ideas are invited. To join this taskteam be in touch.

– Mihir R. Bhatt

Building Capacities to Integrate Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) with Climate Change Adaptation (CCA)

Pho

to: A

IDM

I.


LOCAL LEVEL HUMANITARIAN EFFECTIVENESS

Education and DRR: School SafetyManagement Information SystemBangladesh is categorised as one

of the most disaster prone andclimate vulnerable countries in theworld but has also become knownfor its innovations in Disaster RiskReduction (DRR) at the national,local, and community levels. Naturalhazards have had severe andharmful impact on children'seducation in Bangladesh. As a resultof the high frequency of disasters,tens of thousands of children loseprecious educational hours everyyear. This loss translates into higherdrop-out rates, lower academicachievement and disparities infulfilment of the to a quality, basiceducation. It is predicted by theBangladesh Centre for AdvancedStudies that both the frequency andintensity of hydro-meteorologicalhazards will increase in Bangladeshand those communities in the coastalbelt and flood prone areas will beparticularly at risk. This cansignificantly worsen access toeducation for Bangladesh's mostvulnerable children.

BANBEIS (Bangladesh Bureau ofEducational Information andStatistics), records for 2011 recordreport 113,823 institutes foreducation (Primary, Secondary,College, Madrasah, Technical &Vocational, Non-Formal Education).Various governments' authoritiesmaintain information about schools,students, teachers etc. However, theyhave don’t adequate informationabout disaster risk, vulnerability orcapacity of these schools. For thisreason, government as well as civilsociety stakeholders find effectivedecision-making for continuationcontinuity in pre and post disastersituations very challenging. SSMIS

has covered six types ofheterogenous educationalinstitution.

This project is designed fordeveloping a School SafetyManagement Information System(SSMIS) for Education Cluster inBangladesh involving BangladeshShishu Academy (BSA) and NationalChildren Task Force (NCTF). This isan initiative to develop informationand communication technology(ICT) for monitoring disastervulnerability and capacity of schoolsin all phases of disasters. It isintended that by managinginformation - related to DRR and EiE(Education in Engineering), decisionby both government and theEducation Cluster in Bangladesh willhave greater support to assure theeducational continuity for childrenin any given situation.

The SSMIS is also consistent with therecently adopted DRRE and EiEframework. It has demonstrated thefeasibility of a GIS/map-based real-time online educational informationmanagement system.

This project could be a model bothnationally as well as internationally.By applying GSM, Internet, GPS,Smart Phone, Google Map,Synchronized RDBMS, the SSMIS hasbecome a significant demonstrationof an educational informationmanagement system (EMIS) thatincorporates school vulnerabilityand capacity assessment, as well as aproviding a platform for post-disaster damage assessment.

The SSMIS relational databasedesign took into considerationGeneral Information about eachinstitution as well as informationabout the following three Pillarsbased on Disaster Risk Reduction inEducation (DRRE) and Education inEmergency (EiE) framework:

Pillar 1: Safe Learning FacilityPillar 2: School Disaster ManagementPillar 3: Risk Reduction and

Resilience Education

The Education Cluster in Bangladeshhas broad mandates and concerns fordisaster risk reduction and responsein the education sector. Among its


major objectives are theestablishment of a dynamic websiteto serve as a knowledgemanagement portal (http://educationclusterbd. org/) and aOnline GIS/MAP based School SafetyManagement Information System -SSMIS (http://ssmis.educationclusterbd.org/) to support policyand decision before and afterdisasters.

Information Coverage: SSMIScovered the following majorinformation–• GIS/GPS Data (Latitude,

Longitude and Altitude)• Photograph of School/Institute• Catchment Area• Disaster/Hazard History• Infrastructure Information• Drinking Facilities Information• Risk/Vulnerability Profile• Preparedness and Contingency• Sanitation Information• Common Facilities• Students and Teachers

Information• SMC/Governing Body

Information

Involvement of NCTF and YoungVolunteers: The National ChildrenTask Force (NCTF) is an independentnationwide child-led organizationwith 20,000 members (approx.)which is supported by Bangladesh

In this SSMIS project young volunteer from NCTF involved for School Data Collection, GPS/GIS Data Collection, Data QualityControl & Checking, Data Entry, Capacity building and Advocacy and Information Sharing.

Shishu Academy (BSA). InitiallyNCTF had been an initiative of Savethe Children with support fromUNICEF, Plan and others and lateron was mainstreamed. NowBangladesh Shishu Academy (BSA)is providing office space and supportfor housing NCTF secretariat in all64 districts. NCTF monitors andadvocates child rights issues all overthe country.

In this SSMIS project youngvolunteers from NCTF are involvedin School Data Collection, GPS/GISData Collection, Data QualityControl & Checking, Data Entry,Capacity building and Advocacy &Information Sharing.

Incorporating GIS/MAP in SSMIS:For a dynamic GIS mapping, SSMISproject has used open source GoogleMap Engine; where users can exploreschool catchment area as well as theirvulnerability.

Each school is identified in the projectby geo-spatial information thatallows schools to be displayed on adigital map. Global positioningsystems (GPS) are used to identifylatitude, longitude, and altitude, andto mark schools using a point, lineor polygon (tracing the full schoolcampus area).

System Generated MIS Report forDecision Making: The SSMIS iscapable of producing various reportsfor both Pre- and Post-disastersituations:

Pre-Disaster MIS Report:1. Report by Building Structure Type2. Class Room Condition3. School's Common Facility4. Risk Assessment by Disaster/Hazard5. Risk Assessment by Impact

Disaster/Hazard6. Report by Student Ratio7. Report by Teacher, Vacant Position

and Non Educational Staff8. Report by Student Learning

Source about DRR9. Report by Risk Category10. Report by Drinking Water Facility11.Report by Preparedness and

Resilience Education12.Report by Sanitation Facility13.Report on Institute Geographical

Position

Post Disaster MIS Report:1. Rural and urban affected schools2. Affected schools by

management type3. Affected schools by

geographical location4. Affected schools by damage type5. Financial requirements

analysis.– Md. Wazior Rahman

Deputy Manager, GIS-MISSave the Children in Bangladesh


NEW DIMENSIONS OF RISK

Heat Wave in Indonesia: A Short Review

Climate Change could lead toextreme temperature shifts, such

as heat waves. Heat wave is aphenomenon which is observedwhen temperature increases abovethe average temperature for a certaintime span (Robinson 2001). There aretwo views on what might cause heatwaves. On the one hand, heat wave isthought to be a result ofanthropogenic activities. Industrialactivities, forest conversion, and highconsumption of fossil fuel are a causeof release of massive amount ofcarbon dioxide (CO2) into theatmosphere and are considered to bethe main drivers of global warming.The second opinion is that theheatwave occurs as an element of ElNiño. El Niño causes changes in thecurrents of the Pacific ocean that leadsto warmer weather and droughts. ElNiño is believed to be a dominantfactor responsible for the heatwavedisaster during 1997-1998 in Asia(Kripalani and Kurkani 1999).

As of today, heat waves do not occurin Indonesia. However, Indonesia isa country vulnerable to extremeweather events due to climate change.During 1844–2006, 37 out of 47 droughtin Indonesia have been associationwith El Niño (Staringa 2008). El Niñois a natural process that influences thedry season, bring high precipitationand could cause abnormal increase oftemperature (Brasseur 2009). There isa link between anthropogenic causedheatwaves and El Niño, thecombination of them will intensifythe heat waves in a region withspecific atmospheric and geographicpattern (Meehl & Tebaldi 2004).

Indonesia is influenced by combinedEl Niño forcing and rapid

deforestation that lead to warmevents (Patz & Kovats 2002). It wasreported that in Kalimantan,Sumatera, and Jawa, there was anincrease in temperature from average34oC to 39oC. However, the increaseshave never been reported as heat waveand it is believed they are a normalchange since Indonesia is located inequator line and has tropical climate.

In fact, the increased temperature hasaffected humans, crop yields, andenvironment in Indonesia. Theperiod 1997–1998 is the hottest onemeasured so far in Indonesia. Theheat brought a devastating droughtand peatland fires in Sumatra, spreadthe thick smoke and transboundaryhaze to the ASEAN countries, andexacerbated respiratory diseases andcardiovascular illnesses. The hazealso caused decreased economicactivities, especially in trading andtourism in Indonesia and otheraffected countries.

Weather anomaly associated with ElNiño led to decreased rice production.Food crops are sensitive to lack ofwater and susceptible to temperatureand humidity shifts. Peng et al. (2004)stated that the increasing oftemperature by 1oC will hamper thepaddy production by 10%. The ElNiño- associated drought in 1991 ledto the failure of 23% paddy field,unprecedented losses in riceproduction and resulting 600.000 tonsbeing imported to feed the people inIndonesia (Harger 1995). The warmevent in 1998 also caused a shift inthe rainy season and delayed the riceplanting (Rosenzweig et al. 2001),increased the hunger and in loses infarm revenue up to 25% (Lal 2007 inStaringa 2008).

The increase in temperature isobserved also in Papua. Malaria isspreading up to higher elevation(2000m asl) in the central Jayawijayadistrict (Eipstein et al. 1998; Bangs &

Anthropogenic activities release massive carbon to the atmosphere, have madeIndonesia as one the largest carbon contributor of greenhouse gases.

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Subianto 1999). Within 10 weeks,more than 550 people died bydramatic increase in malaria relatedto the El Niño (Bangs and Subianto1999). Regions with highertemperatures and/or rainfallassociated with El Niño may increasethe transmission of malaria anddengue. Warmer temperature hasreduced the time for vector to breed,also tends to increase bitingbehaviour of smaller adultsmosquitos in order to reproduce.

Warm events could happened in largecities with high traffic volumes andpoor housing infrastructure(Woodward et al. 1998). Jakarta is oneof the best examples for regularextreme heat events (Woodward etal. 1998). For the period 1840-2000, thetemperature in Jakarta has increasedwith up to 1.5oC, 3 times higher thanwhat the scientists predicted (Harger1995). This shift triggers heat on aregional scale that is known as urbanheat effect island. Urban heat islandwill cause heat stroke island, ahyperthermia, as people are toosensitive to the heat. Thehyperthermia usually attacks elderlyand the urban poor who suffer fromheat exhaustion.

Heatwave is a serious disaster thatimpacts economic activities, humanhealth, and the environment. Aclimate simulation system made byIPCC (2007) has predicted thatheatwave will be more intensive,more frequent, more severe, and willbe spreading to other areas. Hence,attention to anthropogenic factorsthat lead to the increasing oftemperature is needed. Besides,strategy for climate changeadaptation and mitigation should beimplemented and also be supportedby national and global institutions.

– Eka Hesdianti,Indonesia

References:1. Bangs, M.J. & D.B. Subianto. 1999.

El Niño and associated outbreaksof severe malaria in highlandpopulations in Irian Jaya, Indonesia:a review and epidemiologicalperspective. Southeast Asian Journalof Tropical Medicine and Public Health30(4): 608-619.

2. Brasseur, G.P. 2009. Implication ofclimate change for air quality. WMOBulletin 58(1): 10-15.

3. Eipstein, P.R., H.F. Diaz, S. Ellias.1998. Biological and physical signsof climate change: focus onmosquitos -borne disease. Bulletinof American Meteorology Society 79(3):409-417.

4. Harger, J.R.E. 1995. Air-temperature variations and ENSOeffects in Indonesia, The Philipinesand El Savador. ENSO pattern andchanges from 1866-1993.Atmospheric environment29(16):1919-1942.

5. Intergovernmental Panel on ClimateChange (IPCC). 2007. ClimateChange 2007, The Physical ScienceBasis. Contribution of WorkingGroup I to the Fourth Assessment(S. Solomon, D. Qin, M. Manning,Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt,M. Tignor and H.L. Miller (Eds.)).Cambridge University Press,Cambridge, United Kinom and NewYork, USA, 996 pp.

6. Kripalani, R.H. & A. Kulkarni. 1999.Heat Waves and Floods across Asia:Was El Niño, then La Niña theCause?. Drought Network News(1994-2001). Paper 50. http://digitalcommons. unl.edu/droughtnetnews/50

7. Meehl, G.A. and C. Tebaldi. 2004.More intense, more frequent, andlonger lasting heat waves in the 21stcentury. Science 305: 994-997.

8. Patz, J.A. & R.S. Kovats. 2002.Clinical review: Hotspots in climatechange and human health. BMJ325(9): 1094-1098.

9. Peng, S., J. Huang, J.E. Sheehy, R.E.Laza, R.M. Visperas, X. Zhong, G.S.Centeno, G.S. Khush and K.G.Cassman, 2004. Rice yields declinewith higher night temperature fromglobal warming. Proceeding NationalAcademy of Science USA 101(27):9971-9975. www.pnas.orgcgidoi10.1073pnas.0403720101

10. Robinson, P.J. 2001. On a definitionof a heat wave. Journal of AppliedMeteorology 40: 762-775.

11. Rosenzweig, C., A. Iglesius, X.B.Yang, P.R. Eipstein, E. Chivian.2001. Climate change and extremeweather events -Implications forfood production, plant diseases,and pests. Global Change and HumanHealth 2(2): 90-104.

12. Staringa, T. 2008. Indonesia'svulnerability to climate change: anincreasing trend. Regional HealthForum 12(1):56-58.

13. Woodward, A., S. Hales and P.Weinstein. 1998. Climate change andhuman health in the Asia Pacificregion: who will be most vulnerable?.Climate Research 11: 31-38.

High traffic volume and poor housing infrastructure in Jakarta lead to warm eventin regional scale called urban heat island.

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ASSESSING HUMANITARIAN EFFECTIVENESS

Tools Used by Groupe URD to Involve Communitiesin the Evaluation of Humanitarian Action

Created in 1993, Groupe URD1 isan independent institute which

specializes in the analysis of practicesand the development of policy forthe humanitarian and post-crisissectors. Its role is to helporganizations to improve the qualityof their programmes throughevaluations, research and training.

In order to work close to fieldrealities and to share lessons,Groupe URD has established severalobservatories of aid practices –currently in Haiti, and formerly inChad and in Afghanistan.

Groupe URD engages consistentlywith people who have been affectedby crises. They have a central placein the Quality Compas2, the qualityassurance tool that Groupe URDdeveloped in 2004. We believe thattheir voice is very important whenevaluating the quality ofhumanitarian action and is thereforegiven a prominent place in ourevaluation methodology. When weare involved in an evaluation, we tryto make it as participatory aspossible. In order to do so, thefollowing three conditions need tobe in place:

• A skilled and qualified team toconduct the participatoryevaluations.

In the same way that putting in placea participatory programme requiresqualified personnel to be able toengage respectfully with thecommunities involved in theprogramme at all stages, conductinga participatory evaluation requiresevaluators with human and

interpersonal skills and experiencein participatory methods. A climateof mutual trust is very important tomake a participatory evaluationeffective. This allows frank andconstructive discussions withcommunities. In general, assessmentteams have very limited time withthe crisis-affected people and theirability to establish mutual trustdepends heavily on their humanqualities and interpersonal skills aswell as their experience. Groupe URDpays particular attention to thehuman and relational qualities of itsevaluators and their expertise inparticipatory methods. Theorganisation has been establishedthorough knowledge and experienceof participatory methods, notablythrough our involvement in the"ALNAP Global Study onConsultation and Participation ofDisaster-affected Populations"3, andthe "Participation Handbook forhumanitarian field workers"4, andhaving developed a training moduleon Participation for aid workers.

We are also careful about thecomposition of our evaluationteams. As it is important for anevaluation team to reach all the socialand cultural categories of acommunity, Groupe URDendeavours to have gender-balancedand multicultural evaluation teams.

• Adequate resources dedicated todiscussion with communities.

The involvement of communities hasa cost. Distances can be very largebetween the various populationgroups. Necessary resources forcommunication with people (time,means of travel, etc.) should becarefully assessed and allocated. Insome contexts, the security of theevaluation team and communitiesneeds to be taken into account whenimplementing a participatoryassessment. During preliminarydiscussions with the commissioningbody, we ensure that the necessaryresources are being allocated toimplement a participatoryevaluation. Regarding the time spent

1 www.urd.org2 http://www.compasqualite.org/en/index/index.php3 http://www.alnap.org/resources/studies/participation4 http://www.urd.org/Participation-Handbook

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on communication withcommunities, experience has shownthat at least one third of the time ofthe mission in the country needs tobe dedicated to communication withcommunities.

• A set of participatory tools and theability to adapt them to differentcontexts.

Several participatory tools which areoften used in development programswere adapted to humanitarian actionin the "Participation Handbook forhumanitarian field workers". Thefollowing tools are those whichGroupe URD uses most often:• The Problem Tree – this allows

the evaluation team to assess therelevance and effectiveness ofthe programme by comparingthe priority needs at the time ofthe initial assessment and at thetime of the evaluation.

• The Historical Timeline – thisshows key events from theperspective of communities andthe degree of their involvementin these events and theirintrinsic capacity to recoverfrom crises. It can also highlightcommunities' perception of themajor phases of the programme.

• The Venn Diagram (stakeholderanalysis) – this reveals theimportance that communitiesattach to external stakeholders.The position given to eachorganisation involved in theprogramme provides insightinto how close they are tocommunities and the role thatthey play within them.

In general, these tools are applied infocus groups. The composition of afocus group should include goodinformants (covering the diversity ofcultural and ethnic communitiessocial categories) while avoiding themaximum tension that can be createdwithin communities. As the overallresults of evaluations are rarely

disseminated to the communities, wemake a point of giving thecommunity a summary of theworking session that we have hadwith them.

Knowledge of the tools is important,but the most important factor is theevaluation team members' attitudetowards the communities and theircapacity to adapt the tools to find thebest way to get them involved inopen discussion.

Recently, we have introduced the useof video to record people'stestimonies, which increases theirimpact.

The use of participatory approachespreviously in the programme is animportant factor which influencesthe participatory evaluation. Whenthe programme to be evaluated isitself sensitive to the participation ofcommunities or has an effectivefeedback mechanism5, there areseveral advantages for participatoryevaluation: the programme teamsare open to the use of participatorymethods with communities; thelatter are already familiar with someparticipatory tools and react quicklyto the tools used by the evaluationteams; and it is easier for the

evaluation team to create confidencewithin the community. When theprogramme to be evaluated is notimplemented with participatorymethods, the evaluation team'sparticipatory approaches are likelyto disturb the communities. Theymay be wary and reluctant to beinvolved in frank discussions and toprovide information which isconsidered sensitive. It may lead totension (e.g. unhappy groups whohave been excluded from theprogramme).

Groupe URD's ability to involvecommunities in evaluation processesis limited by its low level of influenceover the Terms of Reference of theevaluation and over thedissemination and implementationof evaluation recommendations.

In the future, Groupe URD's mainfocus regarding the participation ofcommunities will be to increase theinvolvement of communities in theevaluation process as a whole (fromthe Terms of Reference to thedissemination of results). We willalso increase our use of video.

– Bonaventure Gbetoho Sokpoh,Evaluator and Researcher,

Groupe URD, France

5 Bonino F., with Jean, I. and Knox Clarke, P. (2014) Closing the Loop — Practitioner guidance on effective feedbackmechanisms in humanitarian contexts. ALNAP-CDA Guidance. London: ALNAP/ODI

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CLIMATE COMPATIBLE RISK REDUCTION

Emerging Opportunities in Disaster RiskReduction — Climate Change and the Role ofthe Engineer

There is a growing role fordisaster risk reduction (DRR)

engineers and associatedprofessionals. Their focus must nowgo beyond reprioritizing localresilience through, for example,labor–based approaches and capacitybuilding for effective maintenance,to rethinking the materials andtechniques prioritized in new designand construction.

One aspect of this is choosingbetween infrastructure designed tosurvive disaster intact (failsafedesign) and infrastructure thatembodies the principles of 'safefailure'. The latter is invariablycheaper, and can be constructed suchthat in the event of disaster, the costof repair and recovery is limited,both in terms of human resourcesand materials.

Another is the use of gabions (metalcages filled with stone or rubble) innorth Pakistan as a resilient form ofwall construction. During anearthquake, even if the gabionsmove or stones 'shake out' of themesh cage, the overall structure isstill left intact. Even if the wallssustain damage, a full collapse of theroof will be prevented by thearrangement of the gabions. Thisdesign also supports any subsequentrelief and recovery work to locallysourced, renewable materials.

This last point is crucial to the 'safefailure' approach – infrastructure canbe designed so that certain coreelements are protected and can bereused. Building back better shouldthen take less time, require fewer

resources and leave a fraction of thecarbon footprint of traditionalreconstruction techniques andmaterials.

This concept of resilience is alreadyreflected in how the civilengineering is defined. In 2003, theInstitution of Civil Engineers (ICE)changed its original definition ofcivil engineering from "the art ofdirecting the great source of the power ofnature for the use and convenience ofman" to "the exercise of imagination tofashion the products, processes andpeople needed to create a sustainablenatural and built environment."

This new definition requires a newapproach to engineering design,particularly in choosing materialsand processes. As the ICE goes on tosay, civil engineering "requires a broadunderstanding of scientific principles,knowledge of materials and the art of

analysis and synthesis. It also requiresresearch, team working, leadership andbusiness skills. A civil engineer is onewho practices all or part of this art."1

Instead of producing designs that arestrong enough to overcome theforces of nature, we as engineers nowrecognise we must operate withinthe limits of environmentalresources and climate change – aswell as within the limits of our owntechnology – in determining whatthe most appropriate solution in anygiven location might be.

As has been well–documented,climate change and urbanisation aretwo of the main drivers of theincreased risks associated withclimate–driven events, particularlyhydro–met hazards, such as stormsand floods. The risks they pose ininducing failure in infrastructure arebecoming more frequent, larger and

1 See http://www.ice.org.uk/downloads//bailey.pdf

Completed School-cum-Cyclone Shelter, Bangladesh.

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more complex, with often unforeseenfailure mechanisms.

Climate change will be an agent ofchange for all countries at varyinglevels of development, and those thatcan understand comprehensivedisaster risk management are better–placed to help society, movingforward into the Post–2015Framework on Disaster RiskReduction (Hyogo Framework forAction 2, or HFA2).

Making infrastructure more 'climateresilient' is integral to disaster riskmanagement. One example of howthis is being effectively implementedis in the Islamic Development Bank–funded 'cyclone shelters-cum–schools' programme in Bangladesh.The team of engineering anddevelopment consultants managingthe programme, IMC Worldwide,has factored long–term climatechange and rising sea-levels into itsdesign and construction processes.

Each building has been designed toharvest rooftop rainwater to counterthe shortage of potable water

available from boreholes as arseniccontamination and salination levelsincrease further inland. However, theteam recognizes that hardengineering is by itself not sufficientand stresses that the ongoing successof this project is as much down to itswork in improving disasterpreparedness in the community, asin the provision of the buildingsthemselves.

Furthermore, climate resilienceshould take into account socialconsiderations and widerinstitutional resilience, and beviewed as something more proactivethan simply an adaptive response tothe inevitable. As well as limitingthe risks associated with climatechange, we must act to put in place azero carbon future. This meanscohesive global action to make dowith fewer resources, alongsideinvestment in new infrastructure thatreduces climate change impacts.

Such action begins at the communitylevel, through development oflocally appropriate solutions thatdeliver better resilience, improved

maintenance and lower carbon – bothat the build and in–use stages. Agood example of this type ofcommunity–centered activity is IMCWorldwide's ongoing project workin Pakistan, developing resilientclassrooms and school infrastructurethat substitute high-carbon concrete,brick and steel solutions with locallysourced materials where possible.Communities are involved at everystage of project planning,implementation and management,leading to improved local skills andresilient construction techniques.

The decisions that we make whilemeeting the demands for newinfrastructure will have a directimpact on factors such as greenhousegas emissions and the use of naturalresources, all of which willultimately have an effect on climatechange. A clear vision is needed tohelp us make these kind of complexdecisions, balancing growth andsustainability.

– Steve Fitzmaurice,Principal Consultant, Disaster Risk

Reduction & Low-Built CarbonEnvironment, IMC Worldwide, UK

COUNTRY HUMANITARIAN PERSPECTIVE

A Window to Charity in China

The future of the world may wellbe in China's hands, so it's

important to recognize the soft spotsas well as the callouses. In thephilanthropic and humanitarianfields, China's new profile as one ofthe world's largest economies hasraised a lot of attention.

China has a rich tradition ofcharitable giving. In the post-Maoperiod (1978-present), China's citizensare once again allowed to participatein private philanthropy, which theydo often and enthusiastically. Thisnew grassroots charitable activity is

often accomplished by a single click,tap, or swipe: using the most up-to-date technology enabling largenumbers of Chinese to give easily.Similarly, the Chinese governmentis now willing to admit that theChinese people may sometimes needmaterial assistance, and is open toallowing private and even foreignmonies to provide for those needs.China's leaders are also interested inthe global perks of soft power,gleaned by becoming involved withinternational humanitarianism, andin the domestic acclaim brought by aheightened world reputation. As

China gets richer, China can—andshould—play a role in helping theworld's neediest, but the rest of theworld needs to recognize andencourage that potential.

China's charitable past is animportant indicator of China'spotential as a philanthropic player.In ancient China, mutual aid societieswere formed as early as two thousandyears ago to improve people'swellbeing. By the 14th century, privateindividuals formed well managed,well funded associations to provideaid to animals, children, orphans,


Chinese Red Cross work in the Famine of 1921.

widows, the sick, the poor, and thedead, as well as to build schools,hospitals, temples, and ancestralhalls. Leading religious andphilosophical strands such asBuddhism and Confucianismlegitimated and inspired thischaritable behavior. In China, theresponsibility to give charity growswith increased ability to give: that isto say, the more you have, the moreyou should give. Charitableassociations and widespread givingbecame a feature of Chinese life overthe last 300-plus years.

The government itself was seen as theultimate benefactor of the people,with stringent responsibilities toprovide for the Chinese people intimes of dearth or disaster. In the late19th century, technologicalinnovation increased thephilanthropic reach of the state andof private donors across China, withthe advent of trains, printingtechnologies, telegraphy, biomedicaladvances, and photography. Privateand quasi-private charitableorganizations began to extend theirnetworks to the national level,emboldened and encouraged by aweak state that needed the wealthyelite to provide aid on its behalf. Bythe beginning of the 20th century,China had even joined the worldcommunity with internationalphilanthropy, forming an indigenousRed Cross Society, joining theInternational Committee of the RedCross in 1912, and donating to worldrelief. The first half-century was atime of flourishing and innovativephilanthropic activity in China,primarily involving Chinese anddiasporic Chinese, but alsobenefitting from internationalinvolvement, particularly duringWWII.

The dominant Maoist/Marxistideology of the period 1949–1978completely shut down any privatecharitable activity in China, andchanged China's official stance on

world humanitarianism. Now inposition of power, China's stateinsisted on affording other countriesthe very sovereignty China wasdenied during "the century ofhumiliation" (1840s-1940s), even inthe realms of humanitarianintervention. During the Maoistperiod, an instrumentalist approachto humanitarianism dominatedChinese international giving, andthat attitude still obtains today inofficial circles. Involvement by thestate in social welfare issues, alreadya basic tenet in traditional China andbuttressed during the Mao years,continues to be a salient characteristicof China's charitable sphere.

Nonetheless, in China today there aremany private individuals, NGOS,GONGOs, newly approved privatetrusts, corporate entities and statebranches that give to charity.Diasporic Chinese also contributegreatly to China's wellbeing, donatingschools and scholarships, hospitalsand medicines to China. The numberof wealthy Chinese is growingexponentially, and the amount ofmoney they donate is also increasingyear by year. Government regulationhas not kept up with the new generalopenness to philanthropy in China,but legislation is in the works tomake giving easier and less risky forChinese and international donors inChina, including corporations, non-profits, and individuals. Inunderstanding Chinese charity, it isimportant to disaggregate the term"China," and recognize that giving inChina takes place in many differentcircles, in many different ways, andwith many different impetus—thesame as giving in any country aroundthe world today. An openness tounderstand the culture and context ofChinese charity is critical to allowingChinese charity to flourish bothdomestically and internationally inthe years to come. – Caroline Reeves, Ph.D., Associate

in Research Harvard University, Fairbank Centre, USA

China's charitable pastis an important

indicator of China'spotential as a

philanthropic player. Inancient China, mutual

aid societies were formedas early as two thousand

years ago to improvepeople's wellbeing.


PEOPLE IN CONFLICT

Stabilizing Mali in the Aftermath of aMultidimensional Crisis

Mali, a landlocked countrylocated in the region of the

Sahel, is slowly recovering from anunprecedented multidimensionalcrisis that hit the country in 2012.Following a coup d'état in March ofthat year, separatist Tuareg rebelsoverran the three northern regionsof Mali. They were then toppled byseveral extremist groups, includingsome linked to Al-Qaeda, who tookadvantage of the power vacuum thathad been created. Ousted in thebeginning of 2013 by a French-ledmilitary intervention, the jihadistgroups continue to operate in thearea, notably by resorting toterrorist action through sporadicattacks and kidnappings, in spite ofthe presence of the remaining Frenchtroops, and of the United Nations(UN) peacekeeping mission in Mali(MINUSMA), which was establishedby the Security Council and startedoperations on 1 July 2013.

The crisis that hit Mali had deeprooted causes. It was a political crisisat heart, largely sparked by thelongstanding grievances of theminority Tuareg ethnic groupdirected against the central MalianGovernment. However, it alsostemmed from issues linked to poorgovernance, corruption, as well asdevelopment and humanitarianchallenges arising from recurrentvulnerabilities and food crises.Indeed, Mali, as much of the Sahelregion, is affected by chronic foodand nutrition insecurity. This year,it is estimated that 1.5 million peopleneed immediate food assistance and2.1 million people face moderatefood insecurity. Hence the combinedfactors of conflict, chronic food andnutrition insecurity, and repeatedfood crises have amplified the

magnitude of the 2012 crisis,exacerbating the humanitariansituation of millions and causingsignificant displacement of peopleinside the country and inneighboring countries.

In the face of a multidimensionalcrisis, stabilizing a country requiresa multifaceted response. Thisinvolves ensuring security,addressing chronic and immediatehumanitarian needs, restoring stateauthority and social servicesincluding water, electricity,education and health, rehabilitatinginfrastructure, fosteringreconciliation and dialogue amongstand between communities, andworking towards early recovery andthe resumption of economic activityand development. While life-savingassistance is still sorely needed inmany areas of Mali, in the northernbut also in the southern regions,addressing the chronic nature of thecrisis by securing livelihoods,creating jobs, especially for youngpeople, and strengthening resilienceis another key priority. Creating anenabling environment for theresumption of development work isa key condition to stabilization andthis is why improved securityconditions are so important and thework of UN peacekeepers so critical.

Achieving stabilization requires asynergy of actions articulated withina broad-based strategy in support ofGovernment efforts and calling uponhumanitarian and development, andcivilian and military actors tocomplement each other's efforts.

Although more resources areneeded, the UN and partners arealready actively engaged in a widerange of sectors including education,development, reestablishment of therule of law, protection of civilians,nutrition, food, early recovery, andhuman rights. Programmes are beingimplemented both in the southernand in the northern part of thecountry, despite considerable accessconstraints in the North. Much hasbeen done to rehabilitate publicinfrastructure, such as police stations,courts and prisons in order to supportthe Government's efforts to redeployits administration and services.

However, no progress will besustainable without nationalreconciliation and a comprehensivepeace deal. The Government,supported by the internationalcommunity, must continue — andwith added urgency- to work towardsfinding a political solution to thecrisis as well as creating conditionsthat will be conducive to socio-economic recovery by investing at thelocal level in forward-lookingprogrammes for the reconstructionand development of the northernregions. While partnerships areimportant to success, the stabilizationof Mali depends primarily on the willof the Malians to turn the page andjoin forces for a peaceful and prosperousfuture. – David Gressly,

Deputy Special Representative of theUN Secretary General in Mali

The crisis that hit Mali haddeep rooted causes. It was a

political crisis at heart,largely sparked by the

longstanding grievances ofthe minority Tuareg ethnicgroup directed against the

central Malian Government.


ADDRESSING HUMANITARIAN EFFECTIVENESS

ALNAP's Research Work: 2013—2014 HighlightsALNAP is a unique system-

wide network dedicated toimproving the performance ofhumanitarian action throughshared learning. The ALNAPNetwork currently has over 80members, including membersbased in South Asia: AIDMI andSEEDS (India), ICIMOD (Nepal),and COAST (Bangladesh).

ALNAP's research activities aredeveloped by the London-basedSecretariat with guidance fromthe Steering Committee and inconsultation with ALNAPMembers. The communication ofresearch findings within theNetwork and the broaderhumanitarian sector, as well asthe provision of support andguidance for humanitarianprofessionals, is vital fororganisational and individuallearning processes that lead topositive change.

Below are a few highlights of 2013–14 research projects, the findings ofwhich are globally applicable.

Responding to Earthquakes andFloodsAimed at humanitarian policy andoperational staff, ALNAP's two mostpopular lessons papers, Flood Disastersand Responding to Earthquakes,introduce key lessons from previousrelief and recovery operations. Theseand other ALNAP Lessons Papers areavailable at www.alnap.org/publications.

Urban ResponseALNAP's work on urban responseincludes two Lessons Papers,Responding to Urban Disasters: Learningfrom previous relief and recoveryoperations and Humanitarian

Interventions in Settings of UrbanViolence, and the Urban HumanitarianResponse Portal (UHRP) (www.urban-response.org), which holds over 1,400resources relating to crisis responsein urban environments. The UHRPhosts a regular webinar series as wellas the Urban Response Community ofPractice (https://partnerplatform.org/alnap/urban-response/), which has become avibrant community of over 500members.

Humanitarian NetworksBeing a humanitarian networkALNAP has experienced first-handthe power of collective, coherentaction, which has led us to focus onwhat are the important 'successfactors' in making networks effective.

The ALNAP Study A networkedresponse? Exploring nationalhumanitarian networks in Asia exploresa number of networks across Asia. It

extracts some of the learningfrom this region and turning itinto guidance that anyoneinvolved with starting,managing or participating in ahumanitarian network mayfind useful. The study,discussion starter and three casestudies (Afghanistan,Bangladesh and thePhilippines) are available atwww.alnap.org/ourwork/networks.

Quality and use of evidenceFollowing our AnnualMeeting on Evidence andknowledge in humanitarian actionin 2013, the Secretariatpublished an ALNAP Study,which looks into questionssuch as: What is evidence andwhat do we need it for? How

good is the evidence that is currentlyavailable? How can we improve thequality and use of evidence? Doesevidence get used by decision-makers? The authors of the studyidentified six criteria to judge thequality of evidence that is generatedand used in humanitarian action. It ishoped that the debate that is onlystarting will lead to humanitarianaction becoming more effective,ethical and accountable.

Insufficient Evidence? The quality anduse of evidence in humanitarian action isavailable at www.alnap.org/ourwork/evidence.

Humanitarian LeadershipFor the last three years now, ALNAPhas been carrying out research intohow current approaches tohumanitarian leadership can beimproved. Our latest publicationWho's in charge here? A literature reviewof approaches to leadership in


humanitarian operations considers someof the assumptions that wecommonly make around operationalleadership, and investigates thepotential relevance of alternativeapproaches to leadership, and howthey might be implemented in theinternational humanitarian system.w w w . a l n a p . o r g / o u r w o r k /leadership

Engagement of Crisis-affected PeopleALNAP's Annual Meeting onEngagement of crisis-affected people inhumanitarian action in March 2014attracted over 200 participants frommore than 100 organisations. Acomprehensive collection of meetingresources is available atwww.alnap.org/meeting2014.

Humanitarian Feedback MechanismsIn March 2014, we released a range ofpublications looking at theeffectiveness of humanitarianfeedback mechanisms. The aim of theproject was to document what worksand why when using beneficiaryfeedback mechanisms in a variety ofhumanitarian emergency settings; tocapture learning from field staff; andto include beneficiaries' voices in

these on-going discussions. ThisALNAP/CDA joint research resultedin a variety of publications, such asthe ALNAP Practitioner GuidanceClosing the loop: Effective feedback inhumanitarian contexts. All publicationsare available at www.alnap.org/ourwork/feedback-loop.

Evaluating Humanitarian Action GuideThis guide supports evaluationspecialists and non-specialists inevery stage of an evaluation, frominitial decision to finaldissemination. It is currently beingpiloted all over the world in threedifferent languages. We invitehumanitarian organisations,particularly from South Asia, toparticipate in the piloting of the guideand give us their feedback on thisresource. More information andcontact details can be found atwww.alnap.org/eha.

Using EvaluationA result of several years of researchinto the utilisation of evaluations thisstudy presents a framework onstrengthening humanitarianevaluation capacities. It will allowindividuals, teams and organisations

to structure a debate around the manyfactors that have an impact onhumanitarian agencies' ability tocommission, conduct, and utiliseevaluations in a more effective way.The ALNAP Study Using Evaluation fora Change: Insights from humanitarianpractitioners is available atwww.alnap.org/using-evaluation.

Humanitarian Evaluation Communityof PracticeALNAP's evaluation team recentlylaunched the Humanitarian EvaluationCommunity of Practice, a virtual spacefor professionals wishing to followdebates, share ideas and receive latestresearch findings. You can join thecommunity at https://partnerplatform.org/humanitarian-evaluation/.

The coming year will open new areasof research and engagement and theSecretariat, on behalf of the ALNAPNetwork, is looking forward toworking with existing and prospectmembers and partners in the SouthAsia region.

– Franziska Orphal,Communications Officer, ALNAP, UK

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Editorial Advisors:

Anshuman SaikiaRegional Programme Support CoordinatorARO, IUCN (International Union for Conservation ofNature), Thailand

Denis NkalaRegional Coordinator, South-South Cooperation andCountry Support (Asia-Pacific), United NationsDevelopment Programme, New York

Ian DavisVisiting Professor in Disaster Risk Management inCopenhagen, Lund, Kyoto and Oxford BrookesUniversities

Madhavi Malalgoda AriyabanduInternational Strategy for Risk Reduction (ISDR) –South Asia, Sri Lanka

Mihir R. BhattAll India Disaster Mitigation Institute, India

Dr. Satchit Balsari, MD, MPHThe University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell,New York, USA

T. Nanda KumarChairman, National Dairy Development Board(NDDB), Anand, Gujarat, India

ALL INDIA DISASTER MITIGATION INSTITUTE411 Sakar Five, Near Natraj Cinema, Ashram Road, Ahmedabad–380 009 India. Tele/Fax: +91-79-2658 2962E-mail: [email protected], Website: http://www.aidmi.org, www.southasiadisasters.net

AIDMI is delighted to receive generous support of UNICEF (India) towards this issue.

DEFINING HUMANITARIAN EFFECTIVENESS · 2015. 1. 23. · December 2014 southasiadisasters.net 3...

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