Conference Themes
Humanitarian crises and the responses they trigger are evolving rapidly. This conference looks at the opportunities and threats for addressing these crises, as well as at the strengths and weaknesses of the actual responses. The conference provides a unique forum for both scholars and practitioners to present research and debate these issues. In particular, the conference focuses on four broad themes:
Theme 1: Emerging from Protracted Crises
(IHSA theme team: Dorothea Hilhorst, Professor of Humanitarian Aid and Reconstruction, Wageningen University, Netherlands; Dirk Salomons, Director of the Program for Humanitarian Affairs at the School of International Public Affairs, Columbia University)
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In many parts of the world, humanitarian crises have become protracted or even semi-permanent. Political and institutional fragility may have a long-term destabilizing effect, and conflicts often turn into long periods of no-peace/no-war. Already marginal agricultural production, further weakened by demographic pressures, climate change, ecological deterioration and economic decline, is seen to tip over towards long-term food insecurity. Crises appear to become self-sustaining. Panels under this theme will deal with three sets of questions: How can we deal analytically with and understand the causes of the semi-permanent character of such crises? How do long-term crises affect peoples' lives and re-order their institutions and societies? How do different intervention mechanisms - including humanitarian action, institution building, peace building, reconstruction and development - work in these situations, and how do they (dis)engage with each other?
Theme 2: New Directions in Policy
(IHSA theme team: Alex de Waal, Program Director of the Social Science Research Council, Senior Fellow of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, and Director of Justice Africa in London; Dennis Dijkzeul, Executive Director of the Institute of International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict and Professor of Conflict and Organization Research at Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany; Peter Walker, Director of the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University)
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Humanitarian policy is developing quickly due to the changing nature of disasters, and new modalities for, and constraints upon, response. Climate change, volatile world food prices, and intractable conflicts in fragile states are among the challenges facing responders, as are water scarcity, extreme poverty and forced migration. The nascent participation of China, India and other non-traditional actors is reshaping the opportunities for policy alongside emergent international norms, including the Responsibility to Protect and criminal accountability for the most egregious crimes. New global humanitarian financing mechanisms and changing donor profiles also have implications for humanitarian action and recovery. The conference encourages panels and papers that deal with these and related issues, focusing on the challenges of the next decade.
Theme 3: Innovations in Humanitarian Practice
(IHSA theme team: Ben Ramalingam, Head of Research and Development, ALNAP; Kim Scriven, Research and Innovations Officer, ALNAP; Randolph Kent, Kings College London; Mihir R. Bhatt, All India Disaster Mitigation Institute)
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Innovations in humanitarian response are fast becoming a central element of efforts to improve humanitarian performance. It is increasingly clear that innovation, creativity and new ideas play an important part in meeting the challenges faced by humanitarians, both now and in the future. The delivery of humanitarian assistance increasingly demands both incremental and radical improvements in core areas (such as nutrition, water and sanitation, healthcare, shelter, information technology, logistics and protection) as well as supporting processes (such as assessments, monitoring, evaluation, accountability, partnerships and collaborations).
Recent research on innovations highlights that there is considerable scope for innovation in humanitarian response, but that strategic thinking across the sector is lacking on how innovation can best contribute to positive change. There are numerous examples of successful innovations, and many working in the sector express a desire to harness innovation, however there are limited incentives encouraging organizations to be innovative, and innovations that do occur often struggle to gain traction and acceptance.
Panels under this theme will be encouraged to accept papers which explore and document specific innovations, going beyond description to include detailed analysis of the innovation, the process by which it has been introduced and the contribution to humanitarian performance. Panels which focus on organizational and cross-organizational efforts to improve innovation capabilities are also welcome. Papers which focus on innovations or initiatitves that are being or have been field tested and scaled-up will be given priority.
Theme 4: Advances in Public Health and Food Security in Crises
(IHSA theme team: Yasemin Aysan, Under Secretary General, disaster response and early recovery, for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC); Ian Christoplos, Project Senior Researcher in Natural Resources and Poverty at the Danish Institute for International Studies.)
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Ensuring survival through effective health services and achieving food security are dominant humanitarian concerns in disasters and war-related crises. The panels and papers within this theme will explore the latest clinical, institutional and operational research on humanitarian medicine, health and nutrition interventions, factors impacting on food security in crises and translational research which seeks to move from empirical research to changes in policy and practice. Panels may examine:
- the roles and use of medical and agricultural information and information technologies in humanitarian crises;
- adapting modern medical advances and current approaches to promoting food security to support more relevant response in humanitarian crises;
- integrating health and nutrition promotion with systems to support livelihoods, agricultural markets and income generation, and
- rebuilding and rethinking health and agricultural service systems in post-conflict settings.
Additional areas of interest include: community-based health promotion and nutrition interventions; famine/drought early warning systems; use of climate information and geo-location technologies for food distribution and targeted agricultural interventions; changing roles of public, private and civil society actors in health and food security; and conditional cash transfers and vouchers for health promotion and agricultural services. Papers documenting research in and on conflict-driven crises will be encouraged.
