In this volume, I present a collection of three articles that are representative of my research on the targeting of humanitarian & development aid. These papers focus on highlighting the role of non-targeted, non-elite community members in fostering or hindering the process of aid distribution to vulnerable community members. In the first paper, “Allocating Resources To The Poor: The Effects of Targeting Instructions, Community Involvement and Monitoring”, I use a lab-in-the-field ex- periment to examine resource allocation at the micro-level. More specifically, I study how small groups within rural communities in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo — each composed of elites, poor, and non-poor village members — decide to share money among themselves. In a dictator-game like setting, I vary whether the groups are provided with instructions to target the poor, whether the decision-making process is private or public, and whether it is monitored by a third-party or not. I find that (1) by themselves, instructions to target the poor seem to actually benefit both the poor and the non-poor, but that (2) the effectiveness of targeting instructions in reaching poor group members is largely moderated by the presence of community members during the decision-making process, while (3) by contrast, monitoring does not contribute much to the effective allocation of resources to the poor. In the second paper, “Inside & Out: The Role of the Non-Poor in Targeting Resources to the Poor”, I use a similar experimental set-up to study further the nature of the community dynamics that affect the allocation of resources to the poor. More specifically, I look at the role of non-poor, non-elite community members in influencing how elites choose to allocate resources to the poor. I find evidence that (1) community effects have to do with bargaining dynamics more than peer-pressure; (2) non-elite, non-poor members of the community have an significant role in fostering the allocation of resources to the poor, and that (3) their influence on resource allocation depends crucially on existing alliances or rivalries between various group members. Finally, in the third paper, “Is Bigger Always Better? How Targeting Bigger Aid Windfalls Affects Capture and Social Cohesion”, co-authored with Laura Paler & Kohran Kocak, I model the provision of targeting instructions as enforcing a bargain- ing environment in which three groups - the target group, the elites, and the excluded group - compete over the aid windfall. I predict that success in aid targeting depends primarily the size of the windfall, the relative influence and the historical relationships between these three groups. Poor, vulnerable groups are more efficiently targeted in environments in which the elites and the excluded group are rivals, as they will then both prefer for the windfall to be allocated to the target group rather than for it to be captured by one another. I provide support for these predictions using a regression discontinuity design and original survey data from an aid program implemented in Aceh, Indonesia. With these three articles, I aim at providing a substantive theoretical and empirical contribution to the growing literature on aid targeting effectiveness by bringing light to the role in the targeting process of a part of recipient communities that is otherwise largely overlooked, namely all those community members that are both in the community, yet left out of targeted aid programs.

With the increase in the occurrence of disasters (natural and man-made) that leave people injured, handicapped or dead, the disaster management theory is gaining more importance. As a consequence, human assistance and disaster relief organizations are managing increasingly more inventories anticipated to help people in need. Donations are the common means used by humanitarian relief organizations for procuring commodities to support some of their programs. Previous experiences have indicated that donations become a burden instead of offering relief when they do not match actual victims' needs. Accepting or rejecting donations is a key issue that can produce not only economic losses but loss of lives as well. The objective of this thesis is to provide a means of assessing acceptance or rejection decisions using decision tree analysis theory and utility theory. The proposed model considers the inputs that a decision-maker may face when accepting or rejecting a donation. Such inputs include these categories: the probability of the occurrence of disaster, the need for and further use of a commodity, the unit price and holding cost of the item, the benefit provided by the donation, and the probability of having subsequent donations when the initial donation is initially rejected. Various scenarios are simulated in Excel® environment through the Monte Carlo process. This will assess the varied impacts from the alternative inputs in the decision making process; a sensitivity analysis will evaluate the effects of various decisions. The results obtained from the simulation of the diverse scenarios indicate that the decision of accepting or rejecting donations is driven more by the possibility of the use of the commodity than by the probability of occurrence of the disaster. The findings from the model also indicate that the decision of accepting or rejecting is more sensitive to the relationship of sale price to benefit deployment of the commodity than to sale price alone. The simulation of the expected monetary benefit of the relief provided results in the development of graphs that can affect the decision making process when accepting or rejecting donations.

No description available.

Recent years have seen increasing acknowledgment that aircraft accidents affect not only those who are killed or injured, but also the families and friends of victims. Survivors, victims and their families require sensitive treatment in order to help them cope with what has occurred. Following high profile accidents including USAir 427 and TWA 800, the United State of America started a new program which they call it Family Assistance after Air Disaster. After that a several documents providing guidance for dealing with victims and their families were published in Australia, the UK and the EU. However, in the Middle East, there is no region-specific family assistance guidance for dealing with aircraft accidents. As such, operators tend to use plans which have been designed from a western perspective. This means that the impact of culture, ethical sensitivities and religion have not been addressed fully. This thesis explores the differences in dealing with the families of victims after an accident in the Middle East focusing on the Muslim population. Interviews were conducted with experts from airlines, family assistance providers, religious leaders and victim support groups. These were supplemented by a survey of passengers and family members in USA, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia to compare and contrast the expectations and needs of those who may be affected by an aircraft accident. Over 300 responses were received and the data were validated through further expert interviews. The results supported the findings of the literature review and matched with the bad experiences documented within case study accidents such as the mid-air collision involving Saudi Arabian Airlines flight 763. The study found that the three factors are inextricably linked, with religion being a strong factor in determining individual’s response to their loss; how they relate to others and the type of support they should be given. Suggestions are made regarding the design of a Family Assistance Centre, staff training, words that should / should not be used; and to explain how people may react.

Abstract The process of the Israeli-Palestinian negotiation was influenced by the Al Aqsa Intifada. After the "9-11", the American Bush Administration has changed the initial non-involvement policy and proposed the "Roadmap for peace¡¨ with the Quartet to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Therefore, this research is based on realism to analyze whether American ¡§Roadmap for peace¡¨ policy does facilitate the peace between Israeli and Palestine or not, and explore how the United States formulates its Israeli-Palestine policy and strategies. Although United States utilizes its superior status and resources to implement the ¡§Roadmap for peace¡¨ , be it the political reform, the security reform, and the economic and humanitarian assistance. The "Roadmap for peace¡¨ is currently worked in the first stage. The reason why is that Israeli and Palestine have different positions on the right of Palestinian refugees back to home, the Jerusalem status, the Jews settlement and border. Besides, both sides inact to fulfill the responsibilities, and still strike each other violently. There are also resistances from within. However, Abbas, who represents the moderate line, has become the new Palestinian President. Israeli Premier Minister Sharon has made compromise in significant issues recently. So long as United States has influence on Israeli and Palestine, and grasps the opportunity to promote ¡§Roadmap for peace¡¨, United States may put into effect the vision, namely peace between Israeli and Palestine.

Univ. of Ulster, Diss. u.d.T.: Leonie G. Murray: United States-United Nations relations during the first Clinton administration, with special reference to Somalia and Rwanda--Coleraine, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references and index.

Recent years have seen increasing acknowledgment that aircraft accidents affect not only those who are killed or injured, but also the families and friends of victims. Survivors, victims and their families require sensitive treatment in order to help them cope with what has occurred. Following high profile accidents including USAir 427 and TWA 800, the United State of America started a new program which they call it Family Assistance after Air Disaster. After that a several documents providing guidance for dealing with victims and their families were published in Australia, the UK and the EU. However, in the Middle East, there is no region-specific family assistance guidance for dealing with aircraft accidents. As such, operators tend to use plans which have been designed from a western perspective. This means that the impact of culture, ethical sensitivities and religion have not been addressed fully. This thesis explores the differences in dealing with the families of victims after an accident in the Middle East focusing on the Muslim population. Interviews were conducted with experts from airlines, family assistance providers, religious leaders and victim support groups. These were supplemented by a survey of passengers and family members in USA, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia to compare and contrast the expectations and needs of those who may be affected by an aircraft accident. Over 300 responses were received and the data were validated through further expert interviews. The results supported the findings of the literature review and matched with the bad experiences documented within case study accidents such as the mid-air collision involving Saudi Arabian Airlines flight 763. The study found that the three factors are inextricably linked, with religion being a strong factor in determining individual’s response to their loss; how they relate to others and the type of support they should be given. Suggestions are made regarding the design of a Family Assistance Centre, staff training, words that should / should not be used; and to explain how people may react.

This study explores motivations of two ‘new’ humanitarian donors, Brazil and India, byanalysing debates from two of the agents in each country involved in the processesregarding humanitarian assistance - the Brazilian Federal Senate and the BrazilianMinistry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the Indian Ministry of External Affairs andCouncil of States - by means of a thematic analysis. This resulted in the identification ofmotivating factors for humanitarian spending in the form of themes. For Brazil thethemes Priority, Humanitarianism, Regional Solidarity and International Integrationcould be identified. For India the themes identified were: Security Interests,Humanitarianism, Good Neighbour, Competence and Preparedness.By comparing the findings of this study with the ‘Seven Frames relevant to Foreign AidPolicy’ of Western donors established by van der Veen, it could be concluded that newdonors and Western donors share similar interests in the areas of power, security,international reputation and humanitarianism, which guide them as motivating factors indecisions regarding humanitarian assistance. Nonetheless, there are also differences forexample with regards to economic interests and issues of obligation, which are presentfor Western donors, but could not be identified in motivations of the new donors Braziland India. The study concludes that the framework established by van der Veen forWestern donors is not sufficient to explain motivations of new donors in the area ofhumanitarian assistance. Instead, a new framework is necessary to explore the differingapproaches and motivations of both Western and new donors in their complexity.

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited / On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake occurred 16 miles west of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince. The earthquake and ensuing destruction killed as many as 300,000 persons and displaced as many as 1.5 million more creating a humanitarian crisis and economic disaster of enormous scale. As the earthquake was in close proximity to the U.S. mainland, it was determined that three U.S. agencies would take leading roles: USAID would coordinate and lead the relief effort, the U.S. State Department would handle diplomatic issues and the Department of Defense (DoD) would take the lead on logistics and security issues. One social networking tool used by the DoD and relief organizations to share information and coordinate relief efforts was the All Partners Access Network (APAN). Communications between the various agencies were recorded and include chat logs, blogs and e-mails. A content analysis was conducted to develop insight into the way relief workers used APAN when responding during the Haiti humanitarian assistance / disaster relief (HA/DR) operation. Coding and analyzing the communication data collected during the relief effort provided insight into how individuals and organizations used APAN, a social networking tool, to collaborate during the disaster. Suggestions for improving APAN are discussed.

This thesis examines how humanitarian assistance and political aspects interact in complex humanitarian emergencies (CHEs) in both negative and positive ways, how to minimize negative outcomes, and how humanitarian assistance can contribute to conflict resolution. Although humanitarian assistance has long been considered to be separate from politics, the division between the two has posed serious difficulties for humanitarian aid agencies responding to disasters and even has resulted in negative impacts on political and humanitarian aspects. In order to confront CHEs today, humanitarians need to collaborate conceptually and practically with political actors, while political actors need to be sensitive to humanitarian needs. A priority is considered the minimalist position, aiming at "doing no harm." Under the right circumstances, the maximalist approach can be viewed as an opportunity for maximizing the effects of humanitarian efforts to alleviate people's suffering and contributing to conflict resolution by employing humanitarian assistance as a powerful instrument.