Displaying items by tag: Vulnerable groups

The conflict in Darfur has greatly accelerated the processes of environmental degradation that have been undermining subsistence livelihoods in the area over recent decades. The implication of this is that environmental drivers of conflict have worsened as a result of the current crisis. An understanding of the physical and social processes involved must inform humanitarian programming, recovery planning and peace processes at local and national level so that this accelerated environmental degradation may be slowed and its impacts mitigated. The debate over the environment in Darfur illustrates the complexity of a conflict that has numerous levels. The lowest level of…

The importance of community-based participatory approaches is now generally recognised in the fields of disaster preparedness and mitigation and, increasingly, also in disaster response and recovery. The rationale for using participative approaches in disaster risk reduction is well known: Local communities are the first responders when a disaster happens. In the hours following a disaster search and rescue and the provision of immediate assistance to the injured and homeless are almost entirely carried out by family members, relatives and neighbours. In the case of small-scale events, communities may be left entirely to their own devices, as there may be no…

Lebanon, six months ago: 21-year-old Fayz is sitting in his living room, staring at the leg he cannot use anymore because the nerves have been cut as a result of a cluster submunition explosion. Fayz has undergone several operations and is waiting to receive rehabilitation and psychosocial and educational support. His case is similar to that of many young people injured in the aftermath of the 2006 conflict with Israel. Except that Fayz was injured while herding sheep in the Western Beka’a valley almost 12 years ago. He has received no assistance to enable him to overcome his trauma or…

The provision of infant formula and milk for infants and young children is a very emotive subject, especially during emergencies. NGOs have been struggling with how to tackle this problem since the early 1990s, when emergencies in countries such as Iraq revealed that a significant percentage of women had been using breastmilk substitute (BMS) before the crisis occurred. Previously, relief work had focused on countries where the pre-crisis breastfeeding rate was nearly 100% and although breastfeeding practices were often less than ideal, at least that lifeline for infants was there. However, even when relief agencies knew the benefits of breastfeeding…

For the last 20 years, Northern Uganda has been the scene of a mass population movement out of traditional villages and into highly congested, disease-ridden and poorly managed displacement camps. This movement, prompted by the violent conflict between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the government army, the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), has left the countryside of Northern Uganda barren. Raids, population movement and access restrictions have destroyed the livestock and agriculture on which the traditional economy was based. People’s ability to earn adequate incomes to pay for education, health care and household necessities and to expand business activities…

Over the past three decades, there has been a rapid growth in humanitarian interventions attempting to address the psychosocial distress caused by violence and forced displacement. A wide and diverse range of practice has emerged, reflecting different ways of assessing and understanding psychosocial distress. This article highlights some of the assumptions underlying these different approaches, and how these may inform subsequent practice. As detailed below, a ‘culturally relativistic’ approach attempts to take the point of view of the insider. By applying this approach among a Masaalit community in Darfur, we have been able to gather detailed information about the beneficiaries’…

In a surprise announcement on 30 October, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni declared that all internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Northern Uganda would return home by 31 December, and that all IDP camps would be closed. Twenty-nine resettlement officers had been recruited, Museveni said, and money had been set aside for resettlement costs. The government also asked the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to assist in planning for return. UNHCR agreed to conduct joint security assessments and to provide motorbikes and fuel to begin local assessments, with the understanding that freedom of movement would be respected and that all return…

In March and April 2006, a research team from Tufts University’s Feinstein International Center carried out a study on livelihoods and human security in three areas of Kitgum district in Northern Uganda: the Orom trading centre/IDP camp and surrounding parishes, the Agoro trading centre/IDP camp and nearby villages, and Labuje IDP camp and Pager village. The team used qualitative research methods, including in-depth, semi-structured, open-ended interviews with different categories of households, key informants with clan leaders, IDP camp leaders, medical personnel in the camps, NGO and UN officials and military officials, direct observation and participant observation. This article reports the…

Northern Uganda’s displacement crisis is the worst in the world, with some 1.3 million people crowded into squalid camps, supposedly for their own protection. Although the ceasefire signed by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the government on 26 August 2006 may herald a new start for IDPs, their situation is still difficult, and the outcome of the negotiations in Juba is, at the time of writing, uncertain. The talks may lead to a peaceful settlement of the conflict, but the process could also easily break down. Since the peace talks began, some IDPs have started to commute to…

Despite improvements in the past year, and the cessation of hostilities between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) signed on 26 August, the humanitarian response in Northern Uganda continues to fail. The crisis remains one of the most severe in the world. Over 1.7 million people are displaced from their homes, without access to basic services such as water, sanitation and health care. In the past two years, the government has made promises to respond to the crisis. UN agencies have deployed additional staff, and NGOs have expanded their programmes. None of these efforts has led to…