Just across the border from the conflict-ravaged Sudanese region of Darfur, in the arid countryside of eastern Chad, wind and dust whip through an open-air class where groups of girls struggle to study. Scattered trees offer little shelter but, in…
Until 2004 the number of asylum seekers approaching UNHCR in North Africa had been modest – at most a few dozen a year in each country. Numbers have steadily increased as a result of persistent conflict and violence in a…
For 25 years, Forum Réfugiés has helped refugees with housing, healthcare, information about their rights and integration into French society. Although our lawyers have provided training courses for professionals and volunteers working with refugees, we had never before been asked…
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…