May – August 2014
Note from Sara Pantuliano, Director of HPG
I’m pleased to share with you our Annual Report for 2013-14, just released today! Examining the changing humanitarian landscape, our report shares the highlights of our work and analysis on issues such as negotiations with armed groups, protection, the role of regional organisations and livelihoods in protracted crises.
The need to examine and improve humanitarian interventions has never been more important. Over the last few months the world has seen large-scale humanitarian emergencies around the world. It is more important than ever for politicians and governments to play their part in ending these crises. On World Humanitarian Day on 19th August, I emphasised the need for political powers to stop resorting to using humanitarian aid as a palliative for conflicts that require political and diplomatic solutions. We also used this opportunity to examine the rising dangers that aid workers face at the launch of Aid in Danger, a new book by Larissa Fast from the Kroc Institute.
Also on World Humanitarian Day, Ashley Jackson explored how attacks against aid workers can arise from misunderstanding between armed groups and humanitarian groups. Her new policy brief looks at perceptions that armed groups including the Taliban and Al-Shabaab have of aid agencies and how that can affect negotiations for humanitarian access to these areas.
With so many crises happening in the world at the same time public interest tends to dwindle fast. In a recent blog, Eva Svoboda looked at global attention on Syria, which has seen a sharp decrease in media attention on Syria since the chemical attack last year, despite continued rising death toll anddisplacement.
We are continuing to explore different ways to strengthen the efficiency of humanitarian support. An important partner for the humanitarian world is the business community, a topic Steven A. Zyck looked at in a report on the role of business and private sector in humanitarian crises based on research from Kenya, Jordan, Indonesia and Haiti. There are also continuing attempts to measure resilience in the humanitarian community but Simon Levine argues for a deeper understanding of peoples’ vulnerabilities to really assess the impact of resilience programming in his policy brief and working paper.
For a full account of our publications, blogs & op-eds and events over the last quarter see below or visit our webpage.
