Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Humanitarian Action
The Changing Condition
Climate change will lead to more While humanitarian action and international disaster response have
environmentally triggered long traditions in terms of the actions of the International Red Cross
disasters. Factory farming, and Red Crescent and a number of Christian charitable organizations
coupled with climate change, may (and of course, the coping mechanisms of societies and communities),
cause present-day animal humanitarianism in its present form really dates from the end of World
diseases to “jump” to human War II. The construction of the notion of an international community of
populations. The bottom line: we humanitarian actors (UN agencies, Red Cross/Crescent, and NGOs)
will see more, not fewer, major grew alongside the development of the United Nations system, the
disasters in the future. Bretton Woods institutions, and the retreating of the European imperial
powers and was reinforced with the ending of the Cold War.
Environmental Change
Climate change—mostly manmade but also natural—is driving a rise in
sea levels around the world, rapidly altering patterns of rainfall leading
to drought in previously water-secure areas and increasing flooding in
previously controlled flood plains. As research on climate change and
its consequences moves forward, scientists are able to make more
accurate and more localized predictions. We know now for instance
that predictions of accelerated glacial melt in the Himalayas suggest
that over the next generation, two rivers—the Ganges and the
Brahmaputra, which spawned and sustained some of the world’s
greatest civilizations and which today are the lifeblood of tens of
millions in India ad Bangladesh—may dry up, seasonally if not
permanently. New research published in the summer of 2006 shows
how a global warming of as little as 2°C will lead to significant changes
in forest cover in Amazonia, increases in wildfires in the semi-arid
regions of the world, and more intense droughts in West Africa.
Globalization
The happenstance of globalization: Four interconnected processes, which have come to be associated with
information technology, trade, travel, globalization, will affect the course of disasters and humanitarian
and culture are creating a world which, action:
left to its own devices, will accentuate
extremes of wealth and poverty, rights 1. The tacit assumption amongst rich and economically powerful
and oppression, health and disease. nations that a mix of representative government, free market
Humanitarianism has the potential to economies, and reformed state structures is the norm for the
be an important, albeit localized, future. As state apparatus shrink in the social welfare fields—
counteraction to this process. education, healthcare, pension support—they grow in the security
fields, meaning more militarization of societies and stronger police
and judicial apparatus. As well as speaking to the politics of aid,
this also speaks to the economics: how is humanitarian action
funded—from the state, from the public, or as a profit line?
2. Partly as a rebuttal of this, but also because of the space that the
above changes have created, there is a growing assertion of
alternative ethnic- and religious-based values and forms of
All four of these processes march forward. None of them are inherently
bad or good, but each of them, if left to its own devices, will tend to
differentiate, creating bi-polar worlds of connected and disconnected,
economically advantaged and exploited, democratically represented and
disenfranchised, “them” and “us.” Local and national economies have
always created their chronically poor and politically marginalized
groups. Now, left to their own devices, global processes that are not
informed by human rights and values of equity have the ability to
create a global class of dispossessed. These processes play out in
today’s and tomorrow’s disaster environments, making the crises less
severe where managed, more severe where not managed.
Transnational Action
Humanitarian agencies are going global, The received wisdom is that most humanitarian action nowadays is
but are they creating an inclusive global carried out by the large, transnational NGO’s (in which for this purpose
community that makes the most of we include the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement). This process of
diversity, or an exclusive, Northern- “going global” has many implications for humanitarian action. It has
styled club? business implications in terms of the efficiency and effectiveness of
such agencies. It has political implications in terms of the perceived
alignment of such entities (almost entirely Western in their origins)
with the processes of economic and political globalization mentioned
above. It has social implications in terms of this “imposed” external
assistance versus locally or regionally derived assistance: from the local
community, the local church/mosque, the municipality and the
diaspora. In parallel, there are now new choices for those who see a
value in humanitarian work, using state military to carry out relief as
an explicit extension of national or foreign policy, or absorbing the
provision of life-saving and other social services within radical political
movements to bolster street (and international) credibility. The likes of
Hezbollah, Hamas, or the Tamil Tigers strengthen their political
agendas through their effective community services. Many of our tacit
assumptions about who is best placed to respond to major disasters
and crises may be challenged over the coming years.
Necessary Change
If the paragraphs above describe the likely future environment for
humanitarian action and disaster response, what then are the
consequences of these trends? We offer seven areas where we believe
change will be needed.
Two key challenges emerge. First, how can agencies match global
standards with the nuance of local culture, norms, needs, and
opportunities? Second, how can agencies, acting in emergencies,
become sufficiently accountable to the affected communities such that
accountability is no longer perceived as a contentious or problematic
issue by the agencies, their funders, and their beneficiaries?
Do It Flexibly
As humanitarian agencies have grown in size and complexity, there is
growing evidence that they have become less flexible and less adaptive
in their programming. Standardized planning and reporting systems
combined with donor pressure always to show positive results
persuade agencies to use “tried and tested” solutions. Yet all the
evidence suggests that adaptation to the locale and flexibility to adapt
over time are critical to the success of future humanitarian
programming. Overcoming organizational inertia, maximizing learning,
and encouraging innovation will be as important to the future of
humanitarianism as they are to today’s corporate sector.
Do It Diversely
Humanitarians believe their ideas and principles are universal—and
there is substantive evidence to support this—but from this they
construct a global humanitarian community by inviting others to join
them, and this essentially means inviting others to join a Northern
club. Research over the past few years has shown that there is a great
diversity of organizations and approaches being used to provide relief
from suffering and violence in extreme situations. Small Islamic
solidarity groups funded from Yemen and working with clan leaders in
Somalia are providing health and education services. Local
municipalities working with corporations are providing flood relief and
disaster preparedness in the Philippines. The Darfur diaspora is
sending remittances directly back to needy women heading
households. All of these are essentially humanitarian in motivation and
character. A key challenge for the international humanitarian
community is to grow by embracing this diversity, yet retaining its
fundamental principles, rather than by expecting all newcomers to
conform to today’s Northern model.
Do It Globally
There are very few “quick in, quick out” humanitarian actions these
days. Saving lives and livelihoods requires action to address proximate
causes of suffering and impoverishment. Not all of these causes, or
their fixes, are local. In Darfur today issues around the protection of
IDP’s and other vulnerable groups and the delivery of food and water
may require local solutions, but they also require the informing of, and
shaping of, the Darfur peace process if next year’s crisis is to be
averted. They require the adaptation of the politics and economy of the
cattle marketing system in Sudan if Darfurians are to get fair and
sustainable prices for their cattle. They may require the alteration of
trans-national corporation standards if Sudan is to make the most of
cattle and meat exporting opportunities. Thus, humanitarians in the
Peter Walker
Medford, Massachusetts
USA