As a result of protracted internal conflict, Colombia is home to one of the world’s largest IDP populations, estimated by the Colombian government to be 1.9 million[1] and by the UN and NGOs to be more than three million.[2] Nariño,…
Working in many such post-crisis contexts, Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) witnesses the ongoing risks to the population’s health in the aftermath of emergencies. As transition and reconstruction phases begin and humanitarians give way to development actors, government and donor priorities…
Proponents of capacity building often assume there is no capacity to start with and that only after a North-South transfer of know-how can locals stand on their own feet. Few development agencies understand the level of effort and commitment it…
Africa Humanitarian Action has its headquarters in Addis Ababa and is operational in 11 African countries.[1] We see ICB as the enhancement of an organisation’s governance structures and mechanisms, management practices, effectiveness in resource mobilisation, human resources coordination and support,…
With the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in January 2005[1], the new Government of South Sudan began to call for the return of the millions of South Sudanese IDPs and refugees. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has developed…
The African leaders spoke frankly about the failure of current humanitarian assistance in Africa. In their view, the most significant challenge facing them was their inability to generate funds to support their core personnel and infrastructure costs while still being…
The law would not have been passed without intense advocacy, lobbying, negotiating and balancing of the political, economic, human rights issues and security considerations. The Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK), established in 1998 as a legal aid and advocacy organisation…
First introduced in Europe in 1984, RCPs assist governments within a particular region to strengthen their understanding and application of migration and refugee policies and laws. They focus on strengthening national capacities and forging regional cooperation. RCPs often centre on…
Hardly any Somali family has escaped the experience of displacement. Displacement was first experienced in the mid 1970s and 1980s both as a result of drought and attacks on civilians launched by Siad Barre, the military ruler of Somalia from…
In 2004, when Jean-Bertrand Aristide needed a refuge after being ousted from Haiti , he chose to go to CAR. For years, landlocked CAR was the ideal place for runaways. Tucked away between Chad, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo,…