Tufts: The State of Female Youth in Northern Uganda: Findings from the Survey of War Affected Youth

Youth have been the primary victims and the primary actors in the 22 year war between the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army. However, it has never been clear exactly who is suffering, how much, and in what ways. We knew little about the experience of youth: what is the magnitude, incidence, and nature of the violence, trauma, and suffering of youth in northern Uganda? Understanding of the effects of war on women and girls has been particularly lacking.

Not surprisingly, targeting of services has been crude. Programming has been based on rough measures of well-being, immediate and observable needs, and possibly erroneous assumptions about the types of assistance required and the appropriate beneficiaries.

The Survey of War Affected Youth (SWAY) seeks to address these problems by improving the information available to service providers working with youth in order to implement better evidence-based programming.

The State of Female Youth in Northern Uganda presents findings on female youth in northern Uganda. Specific topics include:

· Livelihoods
· Education
· War Violence and Abduction
· Forced Marriage and Motherhood within the LRA
· Psychosocial Well-being and Mental Health
· Health
· Sexual and Domestic Violence
· Reintegration

Findings are based on a quantitative survey of 1,018 households and 619 young women and girls and on in-depth qualitative interviews with a sub-sample of survey respondents, their friends, community members, and family.

The report strongly suggests that the Ugandan government, UN agencies, and NGOs should abandon targeting categories based on war experience, such as the “formerly abducted,” “girl mother,” and “orphan.” While important in the experience of an individual and her family, these categories do not determine vulnerability or need. War affects a much broader segment of the population than those within these parameters: assistance should therefore be targeted towards measurable needs--illiteracy, chronic unemployment, family estrangement, emotional distress, serious injury and illness--regardless of a specific war experience.

Download the report from the Tufts website.

World Malaria Day

25th April is the first World Malaria Day, a day of 'unified commemoration of the global effort to provide effective control of malaria around the world'.

For resources and more information, visit the World Malaria Day website.

UPDATE: HPG: Crisis in Kenya: Land, displacement and the search for 'durable solutions'

Following a lunchtime seminar at BRC and case studies on Sudan, Angola, Columbia and Rwanda, HPG have now released a policy brief. More information about the project in the longer post.

This HPG Policy Brief explores the role that land issues have played in the current crisis, and why it is essential that humanitarian actors understand these issues as they seek to assist displaced populations and facilitate the process of return or resettlement. Its key messages are as follows:

• Current post-election displacement in Kenya is not a new phenomenon but a recurring trend linked to unresolved land grievances, in a context of poor governance and socio-economic insecurity. This is of concern to humanitarians as the failure to understand the dynamics involved and the implications for recovery can exacerbate tensions and jeopardise attempts to resolve the crisis.

• Humanitarians need to engage with land specialists to ensure that their programming not only avoids exacerbating tensions, but is also consistent with efforts to address the structural causes of conflict.

• Return, relocation and local integration processes should not be promoted as durable solutions in the absence of serious attempts to resolve land-related grievances. If durable solutions are to be found, programmes must take account of those who were forced to move in earlier waves of displacement.

• The government’s urgency in encouraging IDPs to return despite continued political uncertainty and insecurity raises clear protection concerns. This includes both physical security and wider issues to do with rights, community reconciliation and sustainable access to the means of subsistence.

• In the absence of political progress and stability, urbanisation is likely to accelerate as displaced people seek alternative livelihoods.

About the project

Violent conflict is usually accompanied by changes in land distribution and transformations in property rights. This creates a situation whereby a significant proportion of the affected population will claim or re-claim access to land and land-based resources.

Access to land is a major issue with respect to the return of refugees and IDPs, affecting both the choice to return and the prospects for recovery. Yet concerns about land and understanding about ownership, use and access to land are minimal within the humanitarian community and plans for large scale return of refugees and IDPs rarely incorporate sufficient analysis of the local land tenure situation. Post-war re-establishment of ownership, use and access rights is often complicated and problematic, but if land and property issues are left unattended they can provide significant potential for renewed confrontation.

This two-year HPG study will provide a much needed examination of land tenure issues in countries affected by or emerging from conflict. It will form part of a broader ODI research agenda on land which includes the Rural Policy and Governance Group, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre and the Rights in Action Programme.

There is a widespread perception amongst the humanitarian agencies that land ownership problems are too complex or sensitive to be addressed and as a result approaches to land tenure matters tend to be superficial and ad hoc. Most strategies are designed around returning land to pre-war owners and fail to recognise and address the very volatile tenure issues which develop during conflict and which are most to the fore at the end of a war.

While the relationship between land and violent conflict is complex, it is clear that competition over land has been a critical cause of violence in some conflicts (e.g. Rwanda ) and an underlying factor in many others (e.g. Mozambique , East Timor, Sudan and Bosnia ). Violence can also trigger new competition over land, as well massive population movement and forcible displacement. In any of the three scenarios land issues have played or continue to play a significant role when planning return and/or resettlement of IDPs and refugees as well as disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of combatants.

International experience in addressing deep-rooted land tenure issues is quite limited and the ability of aid agencies to tackle such issues has generally been deficient. However, recent experience (e.g. in the Nuba Mountains, Sudan ) has proven that it is possible and relevant to invest in analysis and policy development related to land tenure while the crisis is still ongoing, in order to develop adequate policies for the post-conflict phase.

The project approach

Building on a review of existing research in this area, action research will then examine innovative, land tenure-related aid interventions to assess how these have actually impacted on the local land tenure situation and how they might be enhanced.

For a methodology and contact details for the lead researchers, see the HPG website.

NRC: Future Floods of Refugees: A Comment on Climate Change, Conflict and Forced Migration

With the certainty of global warming, the term “climate refugees” is gaining popularity in public discourse. There seems to be some fear in the developed countries that they, if not flooded literally, will most certainly be flooded by ”climate refugees”. From a forced migration perspective, the term is flawed for several reasons.

The term “climate refugees” implies a mono-causality that one rarely finds in human reality. No one factor, event or process, inevitably results in forced migration or conflict. It is very likely that climate change impacts will contribute to an increase in forced migration. Because one cannot completely isolate climate change as a cause however, it is difficult, if not impossible, to stipulate any numbers. Importantly, the impacts depend not only on natural exposure, but also on the vulnerability and resilience of the areas and people, including capacities to adapt. At best, we have “guesstimates” about the possible form and scope of forced migration related to climate change.

Download the full paper from the Norwegian Refugee Council from Reliefweb.

TUFTS: Humanitarian Agenda 2015: Final Report - The State of the Humanitarian Enterprise

This report summarizes the findings of a major research project on the constraints, challenges, and compromises affecting humanitarian action in conflict and crisis settings. The building blocks are 12 case studies of local perceptions of humanitarian action, conducted in 2006 and 2007 in Afghanistan, Burundi, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Liberia, Nepal, northern Uganda, the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Sudan.

The approach is evidence-based. Findings have been distilled through an inductive process involving interviews and focus group discussions at the community level aimed at eliciting local perceptions on the functioning of the humanitarian enterprise. Additional data was collected through interviews with aid staff and other knowledgeable observers at the country level. All in all, more than 2,000 people provided inputs into the research.

The findings are analyzed around four "petals" or issues:

- the universality of humanitarianism;
- the impact of terrorism and counter-terrorism on humanitarian action;
- the thrust toward coherence between humanitarian and political agendas;
- the security of humanitarian personnel and the communities benefi ting from humanitarian action.
Download the full report from Reliefweb.

TUFTS: Rethinking Food Security in Humanitarian Response

This paper focuses on policy and institutional reform issues centered on the links between chronic and transitory crises. The first part of the paper provides an overview of trends and future challenges. The second considers effectiveness of the "humanitarian system" in addressing food insecurity and whether the current institutional set-up is fit for service. The third part examines links between "chronic" and "transitory" food insecurity, and whether current approaches to prevention and response appropriately bridge these two forms of vulnerability. A concluding section highlights key issues, raising questions on gaps in the humanitarian system's analytical capacity, its programmatic practices, and on food security policy more broadly.

Download the paper from Reliefweb.

Stay Safe - International Federation's Guide to a Safer Mission

The International Federation finds itself working increasingly in natural disasters and in areas with complex political and social circumstances that change rapidly and can have an impact on its humanitarian operations. As security risks are generally higher for those based in the field, promoting basic security awareness is important to ensure the safety and well-being of all Red Cross and Red Crescent personnel, whether they are Federation-employed delegates, staff-on-loan, local staff during working hours, volunteers working with the International Federation, visitors, consultants or family members accompanying delegates.

Although the degree of risk varies from country to country, it is important to understand that security incidents can occur in all operational areas. Worryingly, a rising number and range of threats are being faced every day by humanitarian workers throughout the world, increasing their personal vulnerability. In order to fulfil their humanitarian mission, Red Cross and Red Crescent personnel must always follow basic security rules and act appropriately in any given situation.

Understanding the different types of security situation you may face in the field and how to behave in order to minimize risks to your safety and that of your fellow colleagues is vital to staying safe in the field. Aimed at Red Cross and Red Crescent personnel, Stay safe: The International Federation’s guide for security managers, together with the accompanying publication, Stay safe: The International Federation’s guide to a safer mission, provide the necessary tools to implement and maintain a well-functioning security framework, adapted to the specific context, in each of the International Federation’s operational areas around the world.

Download the document from Reliefweb.

Helpage: Strong and Fragile: Learning from Older People in Emergencies

This report was prepared at the request of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Working Group. It explores the humanitarian community’s current policies and practice in responding to the needs of older people affected by disaster. It identifies ways by which older people can be seen as an asset in such circumstances as much as an underserved group with a particular set of unmet needs. A summary of this report was presented, along with the recommendations contained in this Executive Summary, to the 69th Working Group meeting of the IASC, which met in Rome on November 5th 2007.

Download the report from Reliefweb.

HPG: Linking Livelihoods and Protection: A Preliminary Analysis Based on a Review of the Literature and Agency Practice

This project is the first research study specifically to analyse the linkages between livelihoods and protection in conflict, and to examine whether greater linkages in analysis and action can contribute to making people safer. This Working Paper is the first phase of a comprehensive collaborative research project between the Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute and the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University. Working closely with agencies with experience of protection and/or livelihoods, the project will provide recommendations for humanitarian programming so as to achieve maximum impact on both protection and livelihoods. Africa is the geographical focus of the study, as this is the continent most affected by conflict.

Download the Working paper from Reliefweb.

TUFTS blog: The Right to eat - what drives the food crisis?

The present flurry of activity around steeply rising world food prices exemplifies in many ways a critical failing in the way we collectively perceive modern crises.

Discussions in London yesterday and previously within aid agencies and even the FAO have treated the present crisis like an old style disaster, that is an abortion, a deviation from the norm, something which can be compensated for so we can all move on. Compensation means emergency aid to feed those who now find food just too expensive. This is needed, but…..

Such an analysis is utterly failing to connect the dots. It is an analysis of symptoms not causes. Alex De Waal, one of the sharpest analysts of famine and crisis in Africa talks of disasters not as abnormalities but of accelerations of underlying normal trends. If processes are in motion in society which expand the gap between rich and poor, disasters will drive these processes harder. If people’s rights are systematically violated in “normal” times, they will be more violated in times of crisis. Disasters and crises are accelerations of exploitative an exclusionary trends.

If we look afresh at the present food crisis, we should be focusing on three things all of which are to do with what we accept as the norm...

Read more on the Tufts blog.

ALNAP/Provention: Flood disasters: Learning from previous relief and recovery operations

This briefing paper provides a synthesis of and introduction to key lessons from evaluations1 of relief and recovery/humanitarian response to flooding in the last 20 years from Africa, Asia and the Americas. The paper is intended for people working in relief and recovery operations for floods – those who have to decide if, when and how to intervene. Selected reading references are mentioned after each of the issues discussed and a listing of key resources and a bibliography of the evaluations used are included at the end of the paper.

Download the paper from the ALNAP website.

The paper covers lessons for the following key topics which may be relevant in various ways and at different times for flood preparedness, relief and recovery:

Lesson 1 – Flood risk reduction (p. 2)
Lesson 2 – Building ownership and engaging with local capacity (p. 5)
Lesson 3 – Needs assessment (p. 5)
Lesson 4 – Targeting and monitoring (p. 7)
Lesson 5 – Livelihoods recovery (p. 7)
Lesson 6 – Local economy and market (p. 9)
Lesson 7 – Water, sanitation and health (p. 9)
Lesson 8 – Shelter and housing (p. 11)
Lesson 9 – Managing nationwide response and coordination (p. 12)

In this paper the term ‘flood(s)’ is used to refer to flood as a hazard or phenomenon. ‘Flooding’ refers to the disastrous impact of the flood. Many of the lessons presented in the paper can reasonably be applied to hazards in general, however others are flood-specific.

While the paper focuses on relief and recovery, it starts with risk reduction and lessons for incorporating flood prevention and preparedness activities to avoid ‘vicious spirals’ in disaster risk and development failure (DFID, 2005).

Small arms survey: The Chad–Sudan Proxy War and the 'Darfurization' of Chad: Myths and Reality

The contention that the Darfurian conflict is being 'exported' to eastern Chad via janjawid militia has received widespread coverage. However, this is a dangerous oversimplification of the ethnic and political dynamics of the region, and most especially neglects the importance of the political crisis in Chad.

Khartoum and N'Djamena have been engaged in an on-again, off-again proxy conflict using one another's rebel movements since the Darfur conflict began in 2003, most intensively since 2005. Khartoum has attempted on multiple occasions to unify the Chadian rebel groups to destabilize or even overthrow the Déby regime. While Déby has survived two attacks on the capital, he has managed to hold on to power through repression and incentives to those who rally to him.

This Working Paper provides the contextual and historical background for understanding the current Chad–Sudan conflict, its complex ethnic components, and the history of the Chadian rebel factions. The paper explains why the current international peacekeeping effort is unlikely to be successful without an accompanying diplomatic push to bring the Chadian opposition— both legal and armed—and the Déby regime to the negotiating table.

The working paper is available for download from Reliefweb.

CRED Crunch Newsletter - Apr 2008

In 2007, 414 natural disasters were recorded in the EM-DAT database. They killed more than 16 thousand people, affected over 234 million others and caused almost 75 US$ billion in economic damages.

Compared to previous years, there is a reduction in disaster mortality- the third lowest of the last decade and far below the 2000-2006 period average (73,946).

With regard to the distribution of disasters over the time and therefore their impacts most of these are concentrated between June and September 2007.

Floods and windstorms remain the most important source of casualties and economic damages. They accounted for more than 86% of the overall disaster mortality and hydro-meteorological disasters accounted for more than 98% of total affected.

Download the report from Reliefweb.

Women’s role in adapting to climate change and variability

Y. Carvajal-Escobar, M. Quintero-Angel, and M. Garc´ıa-Vargas
Published: 10 April 2008

Given that women are engaged in more climate-related change activities than what is recognized and valued in the community, this article highlights their important role in the adaptation and search for safer communities, which leads them to understand better the causes and consequences of changes in climatic conditions. It is concluded that women have important knowledge and skills for orienting the adaptation processes, a product of their roles in society (productive, reproductive and community); and the importance of gender equity in these processes is recognized. The relationship among climate change, climate variability and the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals is considered.

Download the piece as a pdf.

HPN: Gender, HIV/AIDS and emergencies

HIV/AIDS is often neglected in emergency and displaced situations where agencies concentrate on providing basic needs, shelter and the treatment of disease. However, from the war zones of Rwanda, Bosnia and Sierra Leone to the stigmatised migrant communities of the industrialised North, there is a body of evidence linking war and forced migration to the spread of HIV/AIDS. The impact of this is particularly acute on women and children as they make up the largest proportion of refugee and displaced people.

HIV prevalence and gender issues

While there are a number of modes of transmission, sexual intercourse and intravenous drug use account for the majority of HIV infection globally. Estimates available at the end of 1997 show that over 30 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. Although almost every country in the world is touched by HIV the virus spreads very differently in different regions of the world; 90 per cent of people living with HIV are in the developing world. Due to limited access to counselling and testing nine out of 10 people who are HIV positive do not know their status.

For every four men infected with HIV, six women are infected. While women and young children are physically more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS, it is now recognised that HIV/AIDS is a wider social and economic issue firmly rooted in power imbalances in gender relations in all social classes.3 These power imbalances are more acute in resource-poor countries and regions.

The rest of the piece is available to read from the HPN website.

Food security: The world food situation: new driving forces and required actions

How is the changing world food situation affecting the poor, and what can be done about it?

Authors: J. von Braun
Publisher: International Food Policy Research Institute , 2008

The world food situation is being rapidly redefined, as income growth, climate change, high energy prices, globalisation, and urbanisation transform food consumption, production, and markets. This paper provides an overview of the the key forces driving these changes, and considers what policy responses are required to address the challenges ahead.

The report outlines the key factors that are reshaping the world food situation, which include:

• demand driven by high economic growth and population change, especially in India and China
• world food production and stock developments, including a decline in world cereal stocks
• globalisation and trade developments, such as the stalling of the Doha Round
• changes in the corporate food system, particularly the increasing leverage of food retailers
• biofuel production, which adversely affects the poor through price-level and price-volatility effects.
  

The paper describes how all of the above changes on the supply and demand side of the world food equation have led to imbalances and drastic price changes - including a sharp increase in food prices. It descirbes how these changes in food availability, rising commodity prices, and new producer-consumer linkages have crucial implications for the livelihoods of poor and food-insecure people.

The full text is available for download from the IFPRI website.

Key points include:

• many small farmers are unable to take advantage of the new income-generating opportunities presented by high-value products (meat, milk, vegetables, fruits, flowers), due to high barriers to market entry. Improved capacity is needed to address safety and quality standards as well as the large scales required by food processors and retailers
  
• poor households that are net sellers of food benefit from higher prices, but households that are net buyers, the vast majority of the poor, lose
  
• a number of countries, including in Africa, have made good progress in reducing hunger and child malnutrition, but many of the poorest and hungry are still being left behind
  
• higher food prices will cause the poor to shift to even less-balanced diets
  

The author warns that business as usual could mean increased misery, especially for the world's poorest populations. He concludes by advocating five immediate policy actions to avoid damage and fosters positive responses is required:

• developed countries should facilitate flexible responses to drastic price changes by eliminating trade barriers and programs that set aside agriculture resources, except in well-defined conservation areas
  
• developing countries should rapidly increase investment in rural infrastructure and market institutions in order to reduce agricultural-input access constraints
  
• investment in agricultural science and technology by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) and national research systems could play a key role in facilitating a stronger global production response to the rise in prices
  
• the acute risks facing the poor, reduced food availability and limited access to income-generating opportunities, require expanded social-protection measures. Productive social safety nets should be tailored to country circumstances and should focus on early childhood nutrition
  
• placing agricultural and food issues onto the national and international climate-change policy agendas is critical for ensuring an efficient and pro-poor response to the emerging risks.

Wahenga.net: Can hunger be addressed in isolation?

RHVP is now widely known in southern Africa and beyond by its acronym - very rarely do the personnel associated with the programme have to elaborate what it stands for - the Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme.

As RHVP approaches the end of a 3-year phase, it is time to stand back and take stock of progress and look to the future. Is the programme name still appropriate? This Comment argues that it's not - that a preoccupation with hunger as an outcome is constraining, and that it should actually be the Regional Vulnerability Programme. It is clearly the case that hunger and food insecurity remain major development problems in many countries, including southern Africa, but following the substantial literature on food security arising out of the paradigm shift brought about by Sen, there is now increasing recognition that vulnerability is the root cause, and hunger merely the outcome. To focus on hunger, therefore, runs a risk of ignoring the root causes of vulnerability and providing misplaced advice.

Find out more at on Wahenga.net.

ODI Opinion: Mitigating climate change: what impact on the poor?

The impact of climate change is of vital importance. But, for the world’s poor, policies to mitigate climate change may, in the short term, have as much impact as climate change itself. This Opinion assesses four mitigation strategies and their possible impacts on the poor: environmental labelling; green growth strategies; biofuel production and food prices; and forest protection.

Download the Opinion piece from the ODI website.

TUFTS: Humanitarian Agenda 2015--The State of the Humanitarian Enterprise

Humanitarian Agenda 2015: The State of the Humanitarian Enterprise describes the challenges faced by humanitarian actors striving to maintain fidelity to their ideals in a globalized world. The report highlights persisting tensions in the relationship between “outsiders” and local communities, encroachments of political agendas – particularly as a result of the war on terror – and the deteriorating security climate for humanitarian workers on the ground. Humanitarian action, the authors argue, needs to be more in sync with the aspirations of the people it aims to help and more open to non-western humanitarian coping strategies and traditions. Talking "principally to the like-minded, shunning different or dissenting voices" ultimately undermines humanitarian principles and causes "misunderstanding, false expectations, and delusions of grandeur."

The report builds on 12 case studies of local perceptions of the work of humanitarian agencies, conducted in as many countries. The country studies and final report are based on interviews with more than 2,000 recipients of humanitarian aid, as well as aid agency, donor and government staff.

Read more on the Tufts website.

Microcon: ‘A Micro Level Analysis of Violent Conflict’

MICROCON, or ‘A Micro Level Analysis of Violent Conflict’ is a five-year research programme funded by the European Commission, which takes an innovative micro level, multidisciplinary approach to the study of the conflict cycle.

Almost one third of the world's population lives in conflict-affected low-income countries. At a fundamental level, conflict originates from people’s behaviour and how they interact with society and their environment - from its ‘micro' foundations. Yet most conflict research and policy focuses on ‘macro' perspectives. MICROCON seeks to redress this balance.

Aim

The programme aims to promote understanding of individual and group interactions leading to and resulting from violent mass conflicts, with the purpose of uncovering much-needed fundamentals for better informed domestic, regional and international conflict policy, which places individuals and groups at the centre of their interventions. It takes an innovative micro level, multidisciplinary approach to conflict, and aims to go beyond merely reactive theorisations of conflict to look at the complete dynamics (across intensities, actors, triggers and effects) of violent mass conflicts.

Outputs

The main outputs of MICROCON will come from 28 different research projects working in over 40 countries, covering eight main themes:

• Group Formation, Identities and Mobilisation;
• Contemporary Conflicts and Ethnic-Religious Tensions;
• Gender Aspects of Violent Conflicts;
• Migration, Displacement and Refugees;
• Risk, Security and Coping Mechanisms;
• Poverty, Inequality and Social Exclusion;
• Violent Conflict and Health Outcomes;
• Governance and Institutions.

These research themes will be complemented by two policy research projects entitled ‘Conflict in the European Neighbourhood’ and ‘Evaluating Conflict Interventions’. The project will be implemented by a team of 60 researchers in 22 partner institutions in 16 different countries.

The first policy briefing, on 'Indicators of Potential Conflict' is now published and available to download from the Microcon website. Microcon notes that the paper;

'focuses on the factors that contribute to the dangers of violent internal conflict erupting, or re-igniting after a peace has been concluded. Three main risk factors are considered: The breakdown of redistributive mechanisms, democratic transitions and lack of economic progress.'

The editors will keep an eye on the website and update the blog with further papers - however you can sign up directly with Microcon for updates.

World Health Day 2008: protecting health from climate change

World Health Day, on 7 April, marks the founding of the World Health Organization and is an opportunity to draw worldwide attention to a subject of major importance to global health each year. In 2008, World Health Day focuses on the need to protect health from the adverse effects of climate change.

The theme 'protecting health from climate change' puts health at the centre of the global dialogue about climate change. WHO selected this theme in recognition that climate change is posing ever growing threats to global public health security.

Through increased collaboration, the global community will be better prepared to cope with climate-related health challenges worldwide. Examples of such collaborative actions are: strengthening surveillance and control of infectious diseases, ensuring safer use of diminishing water supplies, and coordinating health action in emergencies.

Read more about World Health Day on the WHO website.

Characteristics of a Disaster-resilient community

Forwarded by Robert, who notes;

'This is an inter-agency piece of work which we have co-funded. It is in the process of being field tested. The Federation are doing this on our behalf through the DRR2 programme countries, but I am currently looking at how we might pilot elements of it in any new DRR programmes we take on.

It's value isn't confined to DRR, as it is focused on building community resilience. We still have concerns that it is too academic but the trick will possibly be adapting it to more practical usage in our programme work.'

The website explains that the aim was 'to develop a set of ‘characteristics of a disaster-resilient community’ that can be used by local partner organizations to demonstrate the impact of community DRR projects.

'The project’s main output is ‘Characteristics of a Disaster-resilient Community’: a guidance note for government and civil society organisations working on DRR initiatives at community level. It shows what a disaster-resilient community might consist of, by setting out the many different elements of resilience. It also provides some ideas about how to progress towards resilience. It can be used at different stages of project cycle management, particularly in planning and assessment, and monitoring and evaluation. It can also be linked to other tools used in DRR projects and research (e.g. vulnerability and capacity analysis). The guidance note is designed to support processes of community mobilisation and partnership for DRR but the findings of reviews and assessments carried out using the note may also have some value in advocacy work at local and higher levels.

'The first edition of the guidance note, published in October 2007, is a pilot version, which is now being tested in the field. It will be revised in the light of those experiences. Everyone is welcome to use the note, and feedback is similarly welcome.'

The guidance note is available to download from the Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre website, which also includes other publications stemming from the project.