"Although aid agencies often seek to be neutral or non-partisan toward the winners and losers of a war, the impact of their aid is not neutral. ...When given in conflict settings, aid can reinforce, exacerbate, and prolong the conflict; it can also help to reduce the tensions and strengthen people's capacities to disengage from fighting and find peaceful options for solving problems. Often, an aid program does some of both. But in all cases aid given during conflict cannot remain separate from that conflict." -- Mary Anderson
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As protracted internal conflicts have become more common and more deadly, the impact on civilians has multiplied. Post-Cold War conflicts have caused over five million casualties, and 95 percent of these have been civilians. In 2001, it was estimated that 35 million people were affected in different ways by conflict worldwide. According to Kofi Annan, Secretary-General of the United Nations, it is increasingly true that "the main aim ... [of conflicts] ... is the destruction not of armies but of civilians and entire ethnic groups."[1]
These disturbing developments have necessitated extensive humanitarian relief efforts and development assistance to rebuild war-torn countries after conflict has ended. Development assistance is also a long-term strategy for violence prevention. Although they are presented separately here, humanitarian aid and development assistance often overlap.
What Is Humanitarian Aid?
Conflicts adversely affect civilians both directly, and indirectly, through the resulting "complex emergencies" that protracted conflicts create. In the immediate area of conflict, the primary aim is preventing human casualties and ensuring access to the basics for survival: water, sanitation, food, shelter, and health care. Away from the main fighting, the priority is to assist people who have been displaced, prevent the spread of conflict, support relief work, and prepare for rehabilitation.
What Is Development Assistance?
Additional insights into humanitarian aid and development assistance are offered by Beyond Intractability project participants.
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External development assistance, to reconstruct a country's infrastructure, institutions, and economy, is often a key part of the peace accord in the aftermath of war. This assistance ensures that the country can develop, instead of sliding back into conflict. The key requirements include:
- Reconstruction of property and infrastructure: to facilitate return of the displaced security, governance, transport of food and supplies, and rebuilding of the economy.
- Transition to normal security conditions: demilitarization, demobilization, reintegration of ex-combatants and an adequate police force.
- A functioning judiciary to enforce the rule of law.
- Governance and government services.
- Democratization: representative government to moderate conflict.
- Economic development and a stable macroeconomic environment to promote political stability and facilitate a solid financial base for government.
- Local capacity building: once the donors leave, the country needs to function independently of aid.
The link between underdevelopment and propensity to conflict makes development assistance important also in violence prevention. The structural factors contributing to conflict include political, economic, and social inequalities; extreme poverty; economic stagnation; poor government services; high unemployment and individual (economic) incentives to fight. Development assistance must attempt to reduce inequalities between groups, and reduce economic incentives to fight, by controlling illicit trade, for example in arms, drugs, and diamonds.
Perhaps the most important principle of development assistance is the use of aid conditionality to promote economic and political practices that strengthen peacebuilding. Donor assistance is often conditional on acceptance of a peace settlement by all sides, and continued commitment to implementing and consolidating peace.
Who Does It?
The four main actors in humanitarian aid and development assistance are:
- International (IOs) and Regional Organizations (ROs) (or Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs)): The most important actor in the provision of humanitarian aid and development assistance is the United Nations (U.N.) and its various agencies, funded by member states. The World Bank and regional development banks also fund development projects.
- Unilateral assistance: As well as multilateral assistance, many countries also direct aid unilaterally through their own foreign-aid and development agencies. In addition to a sense of moral obligation, aid can be part of foreign policy.
- Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs): NGOs increasingly play a key role in providing humanitarian aid and development assistance, both directly and as partners to U.N. agencies. They often have advantages over IOs or foreign governments. For example, they are less limited by political constraints and their diversity and independence allows them to work in very difficult places.
- The Military: The military acts primarily to ensure a secure environment in which relief agencies can operate. In some circumstances, the military may also provide aid directly, usually when IOs and NGOs find themselves overstretched or unable to deal with security problems. The military can be used to manage and coordinate the overall humanitarian response and to deal with technically and physically demanding needs, such as restoring communications and supply routes.
Coordination and effective leadership of the humanitarian relief effort is extremely important in order to minimize duplication and conflicting activities and to maximize the exchange and flow of intelligence in an extremely difficult and stressful working environment. Coordination is usually provided by the United Nations.
Funding for humanitarian aid and development assistance comes mostly from foreign governments. Approximately 50 percent of funding is channeled through U.N. agencies. Much of this is then allocated to partner agencies that implement the programs.
Issues and Challenges in the Provision of Aid
The greatest challenges for humanitarian aid and development assistance are efficiency, effectiveness, and the extremely complex political, economic, and social side effects associated with them. It has become increasingly clear that aid is not a panacea. Although externally driven, humanitarian aid and development assistance programs inevitably take on roles within the conflict and in the societies in which they operate.
Problems with Humanitarian Aid
1. Efficiency and Effectiveness
- An effective and timely humanitarian relief operation has the capacity to save thousands of lives. It is also, however, an extremely difficult undertaking. Potential beneficiaries may be located within a zone of conflict or in areas with poor infrastructure, making it difficult and dangerous for humanitarian agencies to deliver assistance. As a result, help may reach only the most accessible areas, with other potential beneficiaries being neglected.
- The ever-increasing number of agencies on the ground, the difficulty of obtaining accurate intelligence, and the unpredictability of humanitarian crises make effective management and coordination extremely difficult. Solving this problem requires improved intelligence gathering and sharing, as well as tight management and coordination.
2. Political Dilemmas
"Sadako Ogata, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, crystallized the dilemma of the humanitarian alibi and of the United Nations, when it is held responsible for solving humanitarian crises such as that in Rwanda: 'No international humanitarian organization or NGO can solve political conflicts. We need political will, the involvement of government and their leaders, of the U.N. and regional organizations, to maintain and build peace.'" -- William Shawcross
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3. Criticisms of Humanitarian Organizations
In Cambodia, UNTAC's 1991-93 20,000-person, multi-billion-dollar mission brought high inflation, social dislocation, and a large increase in prostitution and HIV/AIDS cases in Phnom Penh.
In Afghanistan, Kabul rents have increased fivefold since the fall of the Taliban. The prices of staples such as rice have doubled, or even tripled, while most salaries have remained the same.
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- There is little accountability in the humanitarian and development industry. There are no barriers to becoming an NGO and no comprehensive or enforceable performance standards for NGOs. Codes of conduct have been developed, such as the Red Cross Code of Conduct (1994), but compliance is voluntary.
- Because of the high staff turnover in humanitarian organizations and the different nature of conflicts in different countries, it is hard to build institutional memory to improve the efficiency of aid operations and to implement lessons learned.
- Competition for 'humanitarian market share.' The need to maintain a high profile in order to secure funding can influence NGOs' decision making, they cannot afford not to be seen at a disaster. This situation is aggravated by the impact of uneven media coverage of disasters.
- The dilemma of neutrality: The 1994 Code of Conduct of the International Federation of the Red Cross explicitly states that NGOs' work must be neutral. However, it is rare for the effects of aid to be neutral even if the provision of it is neutral. Furthermore, it is frustrating to give humanitarian aid to people without being able to protect their human rights.
- In working with the military, humanitarian agencies, especially NGOs, risk losing the neutrality that gives them their advantage. In addition, being associated with one side can endanger the work and the staff of NGOs.
- An influx of aid and aid workers can create huge interferences in the local economy. Services such as restaurants, hotels, and brothels tend to spring up as soon as a humanitarian or development operation begins. Houses are built in anticipation of the high rents that foreign aid agencies will pay and prices for commodities and rents inflate.
- Lifestyle and budgeting issues: A lot of the money for aid programs, particularly with international organizations like the United Nations, goes toward staff salaries and technical requirements, rather than to the intended recipients of aid. This can create tensions in relief programs. However, as aid workers often risk their lives in extremely difficult and stressful conditions, this is a difficult issue to resolve.
Of two billion dollars spent on the UNTAC mission in Cambodia, most was spent on U.N. staff salaries (an estimated 118.5 million dollars) and travel costs (62 million dollars). Almost 9,000 new vehicles were purchased at a cost of approximately 81 million dollars, and all senior U.N. bureaucrats were given a daily hardship allowance of 145 dollars to supplement their salaries. At the time, the average annual income in Cambodia was 130 dollars.
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Problems with Development Assistance
Many of the challenges listed above for humanitarian aid apply equally to development assistance. There are also issues that apply exclusively to development assistance.
| "One of the most controversial examples of a humanitarian aid operation was in the case of Hutu refugee camps in Goma, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) following the Rwandan genocide. Fearful of retaliation by the Tutsis, two million Hutus fled to neighboring countries for protection. In the Goma camps, Hutu militia members responsible for the genocide against the Tutsis continued to wield considerable power, terrorizing refugees, forbidding them to leave the camps, distributing anti-Tutsi propaganda, and recruiting and training troops from among them. Because of their position of authority, many aid agencies used the Hutu leadership to distribute food. This reinforced their power and enabled them to buy weapons, which they used for attacks on Rwanda. In early 1995 two major NGOs, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and International Rescue Committee (IRC), withdrew. MSF reported that, 'The continued diversion of humanitarian aid by the same leaders who orchestrated the genocide, the lack of effective international action regarding impunity, and the fact that the refugee population was being held hostage, presented a situation contradictory with the principles of humanitarian assistance.' The president of IRC said, '[T]he whole aid community has been overtaken by a new reality. Humanitarianism has become a resource and people are manipulating it as never before. Sometimes we just shouldn't show up for a disaster.'" -- William Shawcross, p. 142-143 |
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1. Development assistance is not designed to prevent conflict
Development assistance can promote conflict when it is administered without considering social and political conditions. It is very difficult to ensure that the effects of 'apolitical' aid are politically or ethnically neutral.
Problems arise primarily due to the institutional cultures and organizational dynamics of donor agencies, which are not geared to dealing with the needs of deeply divided societies. Success is often measured in terms of the amount of money disbursed, rather than the outcome of programs. The mandate of these donor agencies is to promote economic growth and development "without regard to political or other non-economic influences or considerations."[5] Policies are aimed at improving overall macroeconomic stability and economic growth, irrespective of potential income-distribution effects. However, as James Boyce writes, to concentrate solely on increasing the size of the economic pie, without considering how that pie is divided, is an approach "singularly ill-suited to war-torn societies."[6] As all peace settlements are based on a balance of power between warring sides, any measure that disproportionately benefits or hurts one side can make both sides reassess their positions, with potentially catastrophic consequences for the peace.
The policies of these lending agencies are based on neoclassical economic ideology and fail to take into account the needs of deeply divided and politically unstable societies. Policies such as liberalization of trade may cause short-term hardships such as increased unemployment, and through their uneven distributive effects can exacerbate cleavages between groups. Cutting government services to reduce budget deficits can weaken the social contract and the ties between citizens and government. Aid administered through government will favor those in power, while channeling aid in a way that bypasses central government can decrease a government's leverage, also causing problems.
Lending agencies are gradually reforming to take into account lessons learned, and are forming conflict-prevention and post-conflict reconstruction units, as with the Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Unit at the World Bank. Increasingly, agencies take into account the potential for conflict when designing their programs and adjust the programs accordingly. There are calls for projects to undergo conflict or ethno-national impact assessments (i.e., analyses of the affect of a proposed action on different ethnic or national groups and/or the conflict itself), in addition to the usual cost-benefit analysis. Another important measure is to involve these agencies more closely in the peace negotiations, as a means of bridging the gap between peace building and economic reconstruction and of improving overall coordination of post-conflict development.
It has been suggested that International Monetary Fund (IMF) reform measures in the former Yugoslavia helped to reinforce group dynamics that were leading to conflict. Robert Muscat writes about a similar situation in Rwanda, which before the 1994 genocide was seen as one of the most successful recipients of aid. There, all aid resources flowed through the central government, and aid was therefore a factor in the institutional discrimination against Tutsis. The World Bank later acknowledged that it had been aware of the growing discrimination against Tutsis, but had always attempted to take an apolitical stance toward provision of aid. With hindsight, such a stance can seem naive and even irresponsible.
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Bilateral development assistance also carries problems. Donor governments inevitably have competing multiple interests, only one of which is peace building. During the Cold War, geopolitical concerns were paramount. Economic and commercial interests are at stake, with roughly half of all bilateral aid tied to imports of goods and services from the donor country.
Inadequate funding mechanisms: Most donors award funding on a year-by-year basis, making forward planning very difficult for agencies. In general, each year's funding has to be used up before the next year's funding can be obtained, even if that money could be more usefully spent at a later date. In general, the international community tends to take a fairly short-term view of post-conflict reconstruction, although in reality it takes years for reconciliation or refugee returns to occur.
Although conditionality can be very effective, those enforcing it may face significant difficulties. Donors must coordinate so that they don't undermine each other. Alternative sources of revenue that might weaken donors' leverage, such as recipients' access to natural resources, must be cut off. The potential cost to more vulnerable members of society must be alleviated if necessary, through the use of 'smart sanctions' with humanitarian exemptions. Careful use of carrots and sticks can involve slicing the carrot -- providing aid in installments, to maintain leverage.
3. Efficiency and Effectiveness of Development Assistance
Development assistance may interfere with local capacities to deal with problems. This can make recipient countries dependent on aid, and encourage development techniques that are unsustainable when foreign aid dries up. In addition, the most educated and capable members of the local population are often employed by foreign agencies, where they are paid high salaries to work as drivers, translators, or administrative staff. As well as wasting valuable human capital and expertise, hiring these skilled people for relatively low-level jobs detracts from local initiatives to govern and develop. If local NGOs are encouraged to undertake development programs, they are often provided with monetary grants, encouraging more costly initiatives than are unsustainable in the long run. Often, NGOs will focus their resources on winning such grants, rather than helping the local communities. In addition, instead of working together to increase their effectiveness, they will be locked in competition against one another. What civil society initiatives really need is less expensive, long-term commitment.
There is great debate over the best theoretical and practical framework for aid to help poor countries develop. Some economists argue that aid is only effective in a good macroeconomic policy environment: foreign aid must complement, not substitute, domestic measures to improve the economy. Others argue that, as long as agriculture and industry in developed countries are still heavily protected through subsidies and trade barriers, less-developed countries will never be able to fully participate in the world economy and achieve economic development.
Conclusion
The debate over how to improve the effectiveness of humanitarian aid and development assistance and minimize their potentially negative consequences, is ongoing and intense. Initiatives such as Mary B. Anderson's Collaborative for Development Action [7] attempt to promote discourse on this subject, and to question the role that humanitarian agencies play in conflicts. As humanitarian aid and development assistance work becomes more professional and more academic institutions offer these topics as fields of study, now is an important time to develop these subjects further.
Humanitarian aid and development assistance are not straightforward, and they mask many political failures. Ultimately, however, they play a crucial role in saving lives, and a role that can be continually improved as lessons are learned and applied.
[1] "Secretary-General Says Proposals in his Report on Africa Require New Ways of Thinking, of Acting," United Nations Press Release SG/SM/6524 SC/6503 (16 April 1998, accessed 30 January 2003); available from http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/sgreport/pressrel.htm, Internet.
[2] Rieff, David, "Charity on the Rampage; The Business of Foreign Aid," Foreign Affairs (January/February 1997); available at http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19970101fareviewessay3744/david-rieff/charity-on-the-rampage-the-business-of-foreign-aid.html; Internet.
[3] Rieff, David, "Charity on the Rampage; The Business of Foreign Aid," Foreign Affairs (January/February 1997); available at http://www.foreignaffairs.org/19970101fareviewessay3744/david-rieff/charity-on-the-rampage-the-business-of-foreign-aid.html; Internet.
[4] Raymond Bonner, "Perpetuating an 'Emergency' in War-Torn Sudan," New York Times (October 11, 1998); available at http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/101198sudan-aid.html; Internet.
[5] World Bank Charter, Article III Section 5
[6] James K. Boyce, Investing in Peace; Aid and Conditionality After Civil Wars, Adelphi Paper 351(New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), 67.
[7] Anderson, Mary B. 'Collaborative for Development Action.' [article on-line] accessed February 14, 2003; available from http://www.cdainc.com; Internet
Use the following to cite this article:
Branczik, Amelia. "Humanitarian Aid and Development Assistance." Beyond Intractability. Eds. Guy Burgess and Heidi Burgess. Conflict Research Consortium, University of Colorado, Boulder. Posted: February 2004 <http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/humanitarian_aid/>.
Sources of Additional, In-depth Information on this Topic
Additional Explanations of the Underlying Concepts:
Online (Web) Sources
The Collaborative for Devlopment Action, Inc. (CDA).
Available at: http://www.cdainc.com/index.php.
CDA organizes and spearheads efforts that focus on the role of third party actors in conflict or post-conflict contexts. CDA currently directs efforts that involve humanitarian and development agencies, peace and conflict resolution organizations, multinational corporations and donor agencies.
Aid Workers Network: Practical Advice for Aid Workers by Aid Workers.
Available at: http://www.aidworkers.net/.
This site attempts to facilitate an exchange of ideas and information between aid workers to avoid perpetual reinventions of the wheel. It is an interactive site, so users can post queries and respond to those of others with their own experiences.
Maresko, Deborah. "Development, Relief Aid and Creating Peace: Humanitarian Aid in Liberia's War of the 1990s." The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution , 1900
Available at: http://www.trinstitute.org/ojpcr/6_1maresko.pdf.
Given that humanitarian aid usually requires urgency and leads to questionable long term results, this article looks at whether or not relief aid could lead to sustainable development. Many speculate that the cooperation between those involved in relief aid and development could lead to a more efficient way of providing immediate relief while strengthening social structures to function better. This article focuses on whether these two fields can actually be combined to give this effect, and uses the example of rebuilding in Liberia to examine this question.
Maresko, Deborah. "Development, Relief Aid and Creating Peace: Humanitarian Aid in Liberia's War of the 1990s." The Online Journal of Peace and Conflict Resolution , 1900
Available at: http://www.trinstitute.org/ojpcr/6_1maresko.pdf.
Given that humanitarian aid usually requires urgency and leads to questionable long term results, this article looks at whether or not relief aid could lead to sustainable development. Many speculate that the cooperation between those involved in relief aid and development could lead to a more efficient way of providing immediate relief while strengthening social structures to function better. This article focuses on whether these two fields can actually be combined to give this effect, and uses the example of rebuilding in Liberia to examine this question.
Federation of the Red Cross and ICRC. "The Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief." ,
Available at: http://www.reliefweb.int/training/ti184.html.
This Code of Conduct seeks to guard the standards of behaviour within the humanitarian community. It is not about operational details, such as how one should calculate food rations or set up a refugee camp. Rather, it seeks to maintain the high standards of independence, effectiveness and impact to which disaster response NGOs and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement aspires. It is a voluntary code, enforced by the will of organisations accepting it to maintain the standards laid down in the Code.
"World Bank Policy Research Report Number 7: Assessing Aid: What Works, What Doesn't, and Why." , 1998
Available at: http://www.worldbank.org/research/aid/aidtoc.htm.
Aimed at disseminating its findings to a broad audience, this report summarizes World Bank research on development aid effectiveness, as of 1998. The two main themes in the report are that effective aid requires appropriate timing and the right mix of money and ideas.
Offline (Print) Sources
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCED). Aid Effectiveness and Selectivity : Integrating Multiple Objectives into Aid Allocations: OCED/Development Centre Experts' Seminar Paris, 10 March 2003.. Paris: OECD, 2003.
Smock, David R. "Humanitarian Assistance and Conflict in Africa." Peaceworks 6, February 1, 1996.
This is report summarizes the proceedings that took place during the United States Institute of Peace's symposium on "Humanitarian Assistance and Conflict in Africa," in October 1995. Click here for more info.
Rieff, David. "Humanitarianism in Crisis." Foreign Affairs 81:6, 2002.
Abstract: Humanitarian organizations have moved to incorporate human rights and development into their increasingly politicized agendas. Yet in the process, they have abandoned the neutrality and independence that were the original hallmarks of the movement. Few seem to notice what is being lost. Click here for more info.
Boyce, James K. Investing in Peace: Aid and Conditionality After Civil Wars. New York: Oxford University Press, November 2002.
This is a brief and very interesting overview of issues pertaining to both humanitarian aid and development assistance.
Muscat, Robert J. "Investing in Peace: How Development Aid Can Prevent or Promote Conflict." , January 1, 2002.
In this book the author provides an overview of development assistance and argues that such assistance can actually promote conflict, due to the fact that lending institutions fail to consider the possible effects of their "apolitical" development policies.
Uvin, Peter. "The Development/Peacebuilding Nexus: A Typology and History of Changing Paradigms." Journal of Peacebuilding & Development 1:1, 2002.
The author explains seven different perspectives that development agencies use in an effort to guide their work: development promotes peace; do no harm; post-conflict reconciliation; conflict prevention; human security; and global system reform.
Le Billon, P. "The Political Economy of War: What Relief Agencies Need to Know." , July 2000.
Nafziger, E.W., Frances Stewart and R. Vayrynen, eds. War, Hunger and Displacement: The Origin of Humanitarian Emergencies--Volume One: Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
The first volume of this work offers a collection of essays that explain the economic, political, and environmental factors that lead to international emergencies.
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Examples Illustrating this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
"Do No Harm" Local Capacities for Peace Project.
Available at: http://www.cdainc.com/dnh/.
In 1994 the Local Capacities for Peace Project was launched by the Collaborative for Development Action. The project aims to pool the experiences of humanitarian and development assistance agencies, thereby furthering awareness and knowledge about the conflict-worsening impacts of aid. This site provides information about the various phases of the project. It also includes case studies and issue papers relating to the project.
Seymour, Vernon. "Burundi and the Future of Humanitarian Intervention." , September 1996
Available at: http://www.iss.co.za/Pubs/PAPERS/9/Paper9.html.
This paper argues that the idea of international humanitarian intervention can be supported by international law. "A norm of justified intervention can be found in the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in human rights covenants."
Havermans, Jos. "Burundi: Peace-Initiatives Help Stem the Violence." , 2000
Available at: Click here for more info.
This article describes the peace initiatives that have been agreed upon in order to quell the violent ethnic conflict between majority Hutus and the minority Tutsis in Burundi. The article details the dynamics of the conflict as well as outlining the variety of peacemakign and peacebuilding activities that have occurred in the region.
Creative Associates International. Economic and Social Measures: Development Assistance.
Available at: Click here for more info.
Provides a summary of the contribution of development assistance to ending conflict. Provides examples from Sudan, Somalia, Angola, and Bosnia.
Front Lines in the War on Hunger. 2003.
Available at: http://www.aworldofpossibilities.com/details.cfm?id=87.
We have enough food yet so many remain hungry. James DeVries of Heifer International and Karen Elshazly of the American Refugee Committee speak with Jane Rogers about how the hungry cope, who they are, where they are and what it's like trying to get assistance to them.
Annan, Kofi. Secretary-General Says Proposals in his Report on Africa Require New Ways of Thinking, of Acting.
Available at: http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/sgreport/pressrel.htm.
This page presents the text of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's statements on peace and security in Africa, from September 27, 1997. In the piece, Annan speaks primarily about what he sees as the primary causes of conflict in Africa.
van de Veen, Hans. "Sudan: Who Has the Will for Peace?." , 1999
Available at: Click here for more info.
This article profiles the long legacy of violent conflict in Sudan, Africa's largest nation. Unfortunately, there is still not much hope for peace in the nation after more than thirty years of war.
The Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda: Study III Principal Findings and Recommendations.
Available at: http://www.odihpn.org/report.asp?id=2132.
This is generally regarded as the definitive work on the possible pitfalls of humanitarian operations. Written after the devastating experience of Rwanda and its aftermath, its findings are still very relevant to the field today.
The Reflecting on Peace Practice Project.
Available at: http://www.cdainc.com/rpp/.
In 1999 the Reflecting on Peace Practice Project was launched by the Collaborative for Development Action. The project aims to pool the experiences of a number of international agencies working on conflict. By collecting the experiences of these agencies through multiple case studies, the project expects to identify patterns that will enable agencies working on conflict to improve their effectiveness.
This site provides information about the various phases of the project. It also includes case studies and issue papers relating to the project.
van de Veen, Hans. "Uganda: Explosive Mix of Problems Could Re-ignite Civil War." , 2000
Available at: Click here for more info.
This article discusses the state of Uganda in the aftermath of years of off-and-on civil war. The author details events and dynamics in Uganda that could potentially lead to another security breakdown after several years of relative stability.
Offline (Print) Sources
Shawcross, William. Deliver Us from Evil: Peacekeepers, Warlords and a World of Endless Conflict. Simon & Schuster, March 1, 2000.
Written by an eye-witness journalist, this book explores the international conflicts of the post-cold-war world on a case by case basis. The author examines the efforts and effectiveness of the international community to intervene in such conflicts.
Anderson, Mary B. Do No Harm: How Aid Can Support Peace-or War. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, April 1, 1999.
This book examines the positive and negative aspects of humanitarian aid by taking a look at this topic through the eyes of actual aid workers.
Leonhardt, Manuela. "Providing Aid Agencies With Tools for Conflict-Sensitive Practice: Lessons Learned From Peace and Conflict Impact Assessment (PICA)." Journal of Peacebuilding & Development 1:1, 2002.
This article examines the impact peace and conflict assessments (PCIA s) have on aid agency practices.
Maren, Michael. The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity. Free Press, July 2002.
The author draws on his experience with aid agencies in Africa to make the claim that such agencies are more harmful than helpful. He argues that the international aid industry corrupt and self-serving, overly concerned with market share and other monetary matters. The book focuses on Somalia, but offers some information about other African countries as well.
Stewart, Frances, R. Vayrynen and E.W. Nafziger, eds. War, Hunger and Displacement: The Origin of Humanitarian Emergencies--Volume Two: Case Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.
The second volume of this work presents in-depth case studies of thirteen conflicts that occurred as a result of political or economic weakness within a state.
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Audiovisual Materials on this Topic:
Online (Web) Sources
American Aid Package for Colombia. NPR. August 24, 2000.
Available at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1081079.
In this NPR audio file Non-governmental relief workers explain why they are worried that the "newly approved American aid package for Colombia relies too heavily on military solutions to the drug problem." The NGO workers say that "this program puts them in danger."
Offline (Print) Sources
Jagriti / The Awakening. Directed and/or Produced by: Ramaswamy, Jugnu. First Run Icarus Films. 1991.
This film gives an insight into what aid organizations encounter in their quest to deal with situations involving humanitarian crisis. Click here for more info.
Kampuchea After Pol Pot. First Run Icarus Films. 1982.
This film documents the complexities involved in distributing aid in crisis situations. It centers on obstacles humanitarian aid organizations faced when they entered Kampuchea, Cambodia after the collapse of the Pol Pot regime.
Nicaragua: Development Under Fire . First Run Icarus Films. 1986.
This film examines the affect economic sanctions have had on the Nicaragua conflict.
Waiting for the Caribou. Directed and/or Produced by: Entell, Peter. First Run Icarus Films. 1991.
This film delves into the problems and issues relief workers encountered in their efforts to bring aid to the people of Mozambique. Click here for more info.
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