Summary
Refugees and International Population Flows
Humanitarian assistance is being reconceptualized in terms of a continuum from relief to development. The new thinking should also reflect issues of beneficiary participation, gender and the distinction between poverty and vulnerability. For example, policies directed toward alleviating poverty may increase vulnerability by altering traditional practices. Furthermore, the special needs of women and children, who make up the majority of refugees, should be taken into account. Beneficiaries are most empowered by being included in the planning of projects, but organizations have not reached consensus over the appropriate level or timing of participation.See the full content of this document
Extract
The relief-development continuum: some notes on rethinking assistance for civilian victims of conflict.
One of the most important debates in the donor community today centers on the relationship between development assistance and disaster relief. There is a widely-held assumption that disaster relief efforts are separate, even mutually exclusive, from development interventions. Underpinning the conceptual separation of activities was the decision by donor organizations, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to establish disaster units autonomous from their development departments. Donor organizations set up development departments to manage long-term, participatory programs in health, education and production activities; and disaster units to implement quick and temporary relief projects for people facing starvation, homelessness or destitution because of sudden natural disasters or conflict, with little beneficiary input. One result of this separation is that development workers and disaster practioners have created their own disciplines, each with its subculture.
Increasingly, however, the division between relief and development is found wanting. There is growing recognition among practitioners that relief efforts have an impact on long-term development, and, conversely, that development interventions have an impact on a country's propensity for disaster. Further, substantial numbers of people live in circumstances not conducive to the welfare improvement that is an implicit goal of development activities, but must instead face long periods of recovery from the consequences of disasters. The evident shortcomings of a dichotomous approach to relief and development have led some to propose that there exists instead a relief development continuum. The concept of a continuum recognizes the existence of two extremes, but focuses attention on the points between them. Conceiving of relief and development as points at opposite ends of a continuum allows questions about how relief efforts can bolster or thwart development, and how planners can incorporate disaster mitigation into long-term development plans. One example of the effective integration of relief and development activities is the inclusion of disaster preparedness in development planning in Africa's Sahel. Such development strategies now incorporate the likelihood of recurrent drought...See the full content of this document
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