News / Announcements: The Humanitarian Space

The ESRC and DFID are pleased to announce a call for three large and exciting Research Programmes of work under Phase 3 of the ESRC-DFID Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research.

We intend to launch the call for proposals on 10th June 2013. The deadline for applications will be 10th September 2013.

For more information, please see: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/funding-and-guidance/funding-opportunities/26207/esrc-dfid-poverty-alleviation-pre-call-announcement.aspx

Enhancing Learning and Research for Humanitarian Assistance (ELRHA) is launching its new programme – Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) - at a series of regional townhall meetings in June and July 2013.

R2HC is a groundbreaking new collaboration between the UK Government’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the Wellcome Trust that will support world class research into public health interventions in humanitarian disasters.

The aim of the programme is to strengthen the evidence base underpinning public health interventions in humanitarian contexts in order to improve health outcomes, enrich humanitarian practice, and facilitate closer collaboration between researchers and practitioners.

PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT OF UPCOMING CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is in the process of establishing a research initiative to examine how best to support the development of national and local capacity for disaster risk management. The objective of the research is to increase the effectiveness of international efforts to support the capacity building of national and local institutions which are the key to building resilience and to first-line humanitarian response. It is envisaged that this will be an operational research programme drawing on country case studies in a range of different contexts including fragile conflict-affected states, states with established National Disaster Management Authorities, and low income countries who possess little national response infrastructure.

Colombia has the highest recorded number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world. This new report (http://ow.ly/kw5GJ) from Global Humanitarian Assistance analyses the international and domestic response to this humanitarian crisis and examines the resource flows to and within the country, including official development assistance (ODA), humanitarian aid, counter-narcotics funding and security investments.

A blog is also available on the report, which pulls out the key findings.

Launch of new community of practice on "Food Insecurity in Protracted Crisis" and first online discussion

This online platform, facilitated by FAO’s Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum), will host a series of discussions to inform the development of an Agenda for action for addressing food insecurity in protracted crises.

The first online discussion on “Addressing food insecurity in protracted crises: adequate and appropriate funding” is being moderated by Dan Maxwell from Tufts University and will remain open until May 7, 2013.

Evaluation Practice and Ethics

This advanced training in the Evaluation of Humanitarian Action focuses on dealing with practical challenges in evaluation. This is the third advanced follow up course on the training in Evaluation of Humanitarian Action. This workshop is for those with extensive experience of evaluating humanitarian action, either as an evaluator or an evaluation manager. It will provide an opportunity for participants to reflect on their own evaluation experience and to use this and the experiences of their peers to improve their own work.

Sahel Calling is a project to raise awareness about the refugees, internally-displaced persons and the people living in the conflict affected areas of Mali and the Sahel. With its main goal being to create a documentary film, the project is inspired by the musicians in the region who are risking their lives by singing and speaking about the political situation and the violation of human rights.

Though the main filming starts in February 2013, the Sahel Calling Project already functions as an awareness raising mechanism by giving a global audience the possibility to get involved in its work. This includes submitting questions to ask of the musicians being filmed, contributing project ideas and assisting with media and funding campaigns. More information is available at: www.sahelcalling.com/get_involved.php

Last week at the UK's Shelter Forum, international development charity Habitat for Humanity launched its disaster response catalogue which reviews the last 14 years of disaster recovery work.

It catalogues and analyses the charity's responses to a broad sample of disasters, identifying key learning, challenges and practices for the future.

Evidence Aid is carrying out a needs assessment survey among people working in the humanitarian sector and other related areas to examine the use of systematic reviews by decision-makers involved in disaster risk reduction, planning and response. This survey will contribute to good practice and will help people planning humanitarian interventions and beneficiaries alike to have access to information based on evidence before, during and after natural disasters and other complex emergencies throughout the world. It will identify priorities for the information needed following natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies, which will help with the identification of potentially relevant systematic reviews and of gaps in the evidence base.