Global WatSan Initiative Video - 'Partnership for Change'

The thanks of the Water & Sanitation Unit, Federation Health and Care Department to Zambia Red Cross Society and Owen Thomas of CNN who participated in the production of this DVD, and to all their GWSI partners.

Tufts: Report on Livelihoods and Human Security in Karamoja, Uganda

Angering Akuju--Survival and Suffering in Karamoja: A Report on Livelihoods and Human Security in the Karamoja Region of Uganda


Karamoja is the poorest and least developed region of Uganda. The population experiences chronic food insecurity, little access to basic services, the weakening of traditional livelihood systems, ongoing insecurity, human rights violations, and a near complete lack of law and order institutions. Armed raiding of livestock and associated loss of life and destruction of property are common and pervasive. Economic investment and development is minimal due to the threat of road ambushes and lack of transport and communication infrastructure. Attention to the region, however, on the part of national and international agencies, donors, and Ugandan legislators is growing. This field-based report provides an in-depth analysis of key aspects affecting livelihood strategies and human security in the region, as well as broad recommendations for local, national and international actors seeking to expand their knowledge, policies or programming in the Karamoja region.

This new report focuses on Moroto District of central Karamoja but also includes information based on extensive fieldwork conducted from 2005 to 2007 throughout Karamoja and in neighboring districts of Uganda, South Sudan, and Western Kenya. Research teams worked in settled villages and mobile cattle camps to collect information on livelihood strategies, protection threats, food security, marriage, inter-generational relations, education and health, armed raiding, and forced disarmament.

The report is available for download from the Tufts website.

FAO: The State of Food and Agriculture 2007

Despite unprecedented global economic growth, 1.1 billion people continue to live in extreme poverty and more than 850 million people suffer from chronic hunger while ecosystems are being threatened as never before. Poverty reduction, food security and environmental sustainability have all moved to the top of a crowded international agenda, as reflected in the Millennium Development Goals. At the same time, the close relationships among poverty, hunger and ecosystem degradation are becoming ever clearer. Most of the world's poor people live in rural areas, many of them in marginal environments, and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Agricultural development is therefore crucial for alleviating poverty on a large scale. Such development would also require that the natural resource base on which the poor depend for their livelihoods be preserved and enhanced.

The full report is available to download from Reliefweb.

Fascinating article on Resilience in Humanitarian Aid Workers from London South Bank University

Resilience is a psychological term used to describe the interrelationship between specific factors known to promote wellbeing and strength in individuals who are undergoing unusually stressful life conditions (Luthar, 2003). Variation in the way different people respond to all kinds of sources of stress can be ascribed to a) genetically inherited factors; b) previous childhood experiences shaping future behaviours; and c) other protective features. The present research study explored the interrelationship of specific protective factors related to the development of resilience, namely the social context surrounding the individual at the time of the traumatic event, his/her cognitive skills, and other biological and socio-demographic features. An excerpt from a summary of the findings appears below:

Low levels of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and burnout were found, and many participants were willing to go back to the field despite the difficulties encountered during deployment. Stress factors were mainly linked to the external environment (e.g. being in another country, work load, the nature of the assignment, external dangers), the organisation and its personnel, and participants’ negative perceptions and affects (e.g. psychological problems previous to field deployment).
As a result of their mission, female participants were more likely to experience positive changes in family relations than males, whereas male participants were more likely to experience negative changes in the way they perceived their future than their female counterparts. As far as age was concerned, younger participants were more likely to be physically healthier than older ones, but also experienced more mental burnout. Finally, a higher number of past missions was related to positive changes in the development of resilience.

Job satisfaction was described as a key component in motivating participants to perform their daily tasks with courage and strength, but also seemed to drive them towards the limits of physical and emotional exhaustion. Positive coping techniques such as active coping, reflection before engagement, accepting difficult situations, and maintaining low expectations, were key factors that allowed participants to develop more resilience. A significant number of participants, however, reported a good number of dysfunctional coping techniques, such as using alcohol and recreational drugs, which can be interpreted as self-destructive behaviours.

A summary of the research is available to download from Reliefweb.

HPG: Protective Action: Incorporating Civilian Protection into Humanitarian Response

Protecting civilians from the worst effects of violence and abuse is, more than ever before, an active concern of aid actors. An unprecedented number of humanitarian organisations now undertake protection activities; the response to the Darfur crisis represented a watershed in this regard, with 41 agencies engaging in protection in 2006, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) (Pantuliano and O’Callaghan, 2006). The scope of the protection agenda has also changed. No longer primarily related to refugees and civilians and ex-combatants in conflict, protection now includes people displaced as a consequence of all forms of disaster, as well as broader at-risk populations. The situations in which humanitarians undertake protection activities have also changed, to encompass organised armed conflict, ongoing generalised violence, natural disasters and post-conflict situations (Slim and Bonwick, 2005). Expertise and specialisation are increasing, with dedicated programming in areas such as child protection, sexual
and gender-based violence and access to justice.

This report forms part of a wider body of work by the Humanitarian Policy Group on the protection of civilians in conflict, and focuses on the role of non-specialist humanitarian agencies in protection. Despite the recent prominence of protection, many humanitarian agencies remain unclear as to their role. There is confusion around what humanitarian protection means, and how it can be translated into practice. Pressure to engage in protection has led many agencies to deploy protection officers to emergencies, but without clear institutional policies and guidance, and with little success. This report highlights the important contribution that all humanitarian actors can make in promoting the protection of civilians in crisis. Its overall recommendation is that every humanitarian agency should incorporate a minimum commitment to protection into their work. This would ensure greater clarity and predictability, and enhance complementarity across the humanitarian sector. The report proposes a framework with five main elements for establishing the content of such a core commitment, and discusses the organisational and programmatic implications of doing so.

The report is available for download from Reliefweb, and further information about HPG's programme of work on protection in practice is available from their website.

John Holmes: 'Disasters: the New Normal'

highlighted by Moira Reddick

The 2007 global catalogue of calamities — hurricanes in the Caribbean, droughts in Africa, wildfires in the USA, massive flooding throughout Asia and Africa — reads like a Hollywood disaster script. But these catastrophes were very real for tens of millions of people whose lives were turned upside down.

As we enter a new year, it's tempting to think the worst could be over. But nothing is further from the truth, given the increasingly visible effects of global warming. Instead, 2007 represents the 'new normal' of extreme weather events that calls for a rapid transformation in how we prepare for and respond to nature's hazards.

Climate change is already transforming our planet. If the world's scientists are right, the onslaught of droughts, flooding, intensive storms and heat waves last year is but a curtain raiser on our future. Even if no single event can reliably be attributed to global warming, the trends as cited by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are clear — and clearly accelerating.

In just a generation, the number of disasters triggered by these natural hazards has increased threefold, while direct and indirect losses have multiplied fivefold. Rapid urbanization and rising population density in coastal mega-cities such as Dhaka, Lagos and Sao Paulo mean the threat of a mega-disaster is also rising rapidly.

Economic toll rising

In 2006, 426 disasters affected 143 million people and resulted in $35 billion in economic damage. The number of floods and related disasters was 43% greater than the 2000-2004 average. Last year, my office at the U.N. issued an unprecedented 15 funding appeals for sudden natural disasters, five more than the previous annual record.

All but one of these disasters resulted from extreme weather. Thankfully, 2007 did not spawn a catastrophe on the scale of the 2004 tsunami. But the magnitude of a disaster is not measured solely by the death toll. The ripple effect from lost livelihoods has a devastating effect on local prosperity and undermines development.

Hundreds of millions more people could require humanitarian assistance as climatic changes generate devastating consequences for global food and water supplies and adversely affect public health, migration flows and, not least, political stability, as battles for resources intensify. While all countries will suffer, not all will suffer equally. Those that are least responsible for causing global warming are likely to pay the first and heaviest price.

We need to adapt

Irrespective of whatever emission cuts may occur in a post-Kyoto Protocol future, it is impossible to rewind the clock on the greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere. Their effects are irreversible, leaving us no choice but to adapt.

Adaptation means reducing our exposure to known risks and mitigating their possible effects. The key point is this: A natural disaster need not automatically result in human catastrophe.

Simple, cost-effective measures will strengthen our resilience, save lives, and prevent the pauperization of millions tomorrow. When Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh in November, some 40,000 volunteers with bullhorns and bicycles helped move more than three million people out of harm's way.

We can also build safer — and smarter. U.S. property owners who implemented all the recommended hurricane protection methods suffered only one-eighth as much damage from Hurricane Katrina as those who did not. In China, the World Bank estimates that a $5 million investment in non-structural flood prevention along the Yangtze River averted damages of $15 million during the 1996 floods, with millions more saved in subsequent years.

The 'new normal' requires massive improvement in how we prepare for and respond to these natural disasters. Prevention is always better than cure. Adaptation is an essential investment in our future. There is no time to lose, and much to gain by acting immediately, before the next disaster strikes.

John Holmes is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Kenya Red Cross video on You Tube