Gender based violence (GBV) is a global public health issue and a major feature in humanitarian emergencies. However, the phenomenon is not inevitable and can be predicted and prevented. In a context such as the Philippines, where GBV is widespread and there is a constant threat of natural hazards, strengthening the capacity of humanitarian responders to reduce the risks of GBV post disasters can contribute to preventing unnecessary suffering of affected populations. Yet, no previous research has looked at factors associated with the perpetration of GBV and strategies used by humanitarian actors to engage with men and boys to prevent these types of violence post disasters in the Philippines. The aim of this study is to enhance this knowledge and investigate; how can humanitarian actors in the Philippines work with men and boys to prevent the perpetration of GBV post disasters? The study adopts a qualitative research approach and based on a literature review and 18 key-informant interviews with humanitarian actors in the Philippines, it explores the current knowledge and practice on the topic. The material was analysed in relation to gender and feminist theory, the Ecological Model of risk factors of GBV, a primary prevention approach and the Spectrum of Violence Prevention. The study identifies a number of aggravating factors that seem to be associated with an increased risk of perpetration of GBV post disasters, such as men’s loss of a livelihood and lack of coping mechanisms. However, these factors are not the causes of GBV but these violent acts are deeply rooted in gendered power imbalances and rigid gender roles in the Philippines society. Ultimately, the study concludes that to effectively prevent the perpetration of GBV post disasters, long-term and effective multi-sectoral efforts between a wide range of actors are needed. In this work, humanitarian actors can play a key role to initiate change. The study suggests that humanitarian actors, within their existing activities, should seek to increase men’s access to safe spaces, peer support networks and mental health services, and support men to develop more elastic gender roles and non-violent coping mechanisms. Programmes should simultaneously increase women’s empowerment, the broader community’s support for social change and allow for dialogue to take place between women and men to synchronise their social transformations. Finally, the study notices that a rather heteronormative and binary understanding of gender seem to be present in the shared initiatives to prevent GBV post disasters. Hence, the study suggests that humanitarian actors should strengthen the capacity of their staff to apply a gender and norm-critical analysis in their work by incorporating these aspects in internal trainings.

In a world where insecurities, violence and disasters seem to be increasing on a daily basis, compassion, a moral sentiment of co-suffering and motivation to alleviate it, plays an important role, especially in humanitarian action. However, compassion is not a constant feeling, and our emotions and compassion towards tragedies do not always resonate with egalitarian principles. This thesis seeks to explore the potential relationship between field experience, in humanitarian action, and compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue. Departing from two contrasting hypotheses, grounded in theories of compassion, it investigates the factors, relating to field experience, that affect this moral sentiment, in a single case study of the Network on Humanitarian Action (NOHA). Through a quantitative survey design, combined with semi-structured interviews, the study finds that there exists no isolated correlation between field experience and compassion fatigue or satisfaction. However, the study concludes that compassion is affected by several intervening variables, relating to field experience, which can result in either compassion fatigue or satisfaction, resonating with both hypotheses.

In the wake of climate change to provide timely information is a must to ensure that the most vulnerable people are protected, and development gains secured. Particularly in agriculture and food security, providing information on time is vital to secure people’s livelihoods. Many actors in the development and humanitarian field have therefor adapted seemingly neutral technologies in their programs to ensure localised and timely information. However, passive technologies are actively implemented into intersecting local power dynamics. Gender among race, class, ethnicity and caste is an essential determinant of the access to power and resources. In India, women contribute up to 80 per cent of the work in rural settings if accounting for care work and unpaid labour on the family farm. However, women are also significantly less likely to own and operate a smartphone or generally benefit from the digitalisation process as they lack digital skills. This study explores the root causes of this disadvantage, detangling economic and social drivers through qualitative expert interviews. Primarily, it investigates the importance of social norms as the main driver. The interviews were analysed through thematic coding with the program Atlas.ti. The results strongly indicated that gender norms lead to the minimisation of women’s contributions in the rural economy while reverting their existences to their reproductive functions. Economic barriers, such as economic dependency, meanwhile can be primarily attributed to strict social norms rather than being own determents of inequality. The financial dependency then again leads to structural imbalances which consequentially solidifies already existing marginalisation’s. While India in recent decades has not needed mayor humanitarian interventions, the learnings from this study are equally applicable in the humanitarian setting as technology important. Technology is not neutral or passively adapted. Only when interventions combine their work with gender-sensitivity measures, it can reach the ones most in need. On the other hand, if programs lack to consider these implications, their programs the interventions are not gender-neutral but solidified inequalities and power imbalances. In the last sections, I, therefore, provided recommendations on how to make a technology-based intervention more gender-inclusive. These recommendations are easily adaptable and applicable to other fields of intervention.

In this thesis we look further into Oxfam and Action Against Hunger’s use of the concepts of accountability and participation, how the concepts are informing the programming of humanitarian interventions as well as their materialization in the implementation of the programs in Chad. The study is based on a literature review with secondary sources as the basis of the research material. Scholars debating the concepts provide for the point of departure and the case study is based on the project and program proposals from the organizations themselves. The thesis attempts to demonstrate Oxfam and Action Against Hunger’s degree of fulfilment of the frameworks relating to accountability and participation currently available, in regards of two ongoing interventions in Chad. The result of the research positively demonstrates that the organization uphold their commitments on paper, and to some extent invites the reader to understand the practical action used to adhere to the concepts. It further indicates a lack of insight into what level of accountability and participation which is upheld prior to the identification of activities and the methodology uses in the needs assessment.

The inclusion of sexual and gender minorities (SOGI minorities) in humanitarian action has until quite recently been a neglected topic within the humanitarian sector. This paper zeroes in on the growing discussion surrounding this issue by analyzing and problematizing ”non-local” humanitarian actors' advocacy for SOGI inclusive humanitarian efforts in ”SOGI hostile” states. The thesis can be divided into three parts. I firstly account for how four ”non-local” humanitarian actors’ have advocated for SOGI inclusion in humanitarian action in ”SOGI hostile” settings. After this, I problematize the discussed advocacy using postcolonial concepts. I lastly come with suggestions regarding how the identified problems can be remedied. The study has shown that humanitarian actors engage in advocacy for SOGI inclusion in various ways. Some of the actors seem comfortable with directly pushing the idea of SOGI inclusivity onto humanitarian workers in ”SOGI hostile” states, while others take a more relaxed approach. Regarding the problems with the advocacy discussed in the paper I have argued that the advocacy does not take postcolonial concerns into a sufficient account, and that it often seems to be rooted in western understandings of sexuality. One of the actors also appears to undermine the risks that can come with advocating for SOGI inclusion in certain settings. To remedy the mentioned problems I suggest that aspects of a Culturally specific advocacy approach should be implemented when ”non-local” humanitarian actors advocate for SOGI inclusion in ”SOGI hostile” states, since such an approach would consider the impacts of colonialism. I also implore the discussed humanitarian actors to look beyond ”identity-centric” and ”LGBTI-centric” understandings of gender and sexuality. I lastly assert that the advocacy should recognize that inclusion may be unsafe in some contexts.

This thesis examines the pervasive impact of corruption on the effectiveness and integrity of humanitarian action, focusing on the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2018 to 2020. Triggered by a 2020 operational review by the United Nations’ anti-fraud taskforce, agencies and aid groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo that uncovered a large-scale fraud scheme in the Ebola response, this study reveals severe corruption affecting various facets of the humanitarian intervention, including staff recruitment, supply procurement, and aid delivery. The findings highlight how aid intended for vulnerable populations was diverted through fraudulent schemes, bribery, kickbacks, and widespread exploitation involving multiple stakeholders, ultimately undermining the trust and efficacy of the response. Drawing on principal-agent theory, this research delves into how moral hazard, information asymmetry, and inadequate monitoring facilitated corrupt practices within the complex and conflict-ridden context of the DRC. It underscores the need for enhanced transparency and accountability mechanisms to prevent corruption and ensure aid reaches those most in need. The thesis employs qualitative methods, including in-depth document analysis of academic articles, government reports, NGO publications, and news sources. By addressing the intersection of corruption and humanitarian action, this study contributes to the scientific understanding of corruption's detrimental effects on humanitarian efforts. It proposes strategies to improve transparency and accountability in humanitarian interventions, aiming to safeguard the integrity and effectiveness of aid in challenging environments like the DRC.

At the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016, an agreement was made between some of thelargest international humanitarian organizations and donors to implement measures toenhance partnerships between international and local humanitarian organizations, in an effortto localize humanitarian responses. Since then, criticism has been raised that there exists agap between policy and practice in relation to localization and partnerships, arguing that nosubstantial effort is being placed to address uneven power dynamics or decision-makingpower within these local/international partnerships. This thesis utilized a case-study approachon Christian Aid´s Rohingya Crisis Response in Bangladesh, conducted in collaboration withlocal partners to examine barriers in creating equitable partnerships between international andlocal humanitarian organizations, as well as possible actions to facilitate partnership equity.A theoretical framework on equitable partnership is constructed based on the components ofequality, mutuality and transparency, informed by partnership practices of thee humanitarianpartnerships, and analyzed in relation to practices by Christian Aid in their partnership. The findings show that primary barriers to facilitating partnerships that are equitable includethe exclusion of the local partner in key processes, such as operational planning anddecision-making, lack of mutual understanding of differences in skills and capacity, resultingin responsibilities that are not clearly defined and limited opportunities for complementarity.This amounts to the conclusion that Christian Aid´s partnership lacked any actual transfer ofpower to the local partner, thus facilitating a partnership that remains hierarchical in practice.Possible actions identified to mitigate this is to jointly define support needs and capacity,create space for negotiation and flexibility, and actively include the local partner indecision-making. The findings underline that the theoretical components of equitablepartnership can be translated into practice, with the aim of creating partnerships that are inline with international localization commitments.

The aim of the thesis was to discover the historical effectivity of humanitarian corridors through a comparative study of four different cases and to identify factors that influence this effectivity. The focus of this research lies on the delivery of aid, not the evacuation of civilians. The cases included the Aleppo aid corridors and Bab al-Hawa corridor in Syria, the Sudan-South Sudan corridor and the Afar corridor in Ethiopia.   Based on the elements of effectivity identified by OCHA, the effectivity of the four cases was analyzed. This was done through extensive secondary research using comparative research methods, finding that effectivity is influenced by a variety of different factors. These factors were identified and discussed, and are: 1.     Involvement of conflicting parties. 2.     Involvement of neutral third parties. 3.     Existence of support agreements and monitoring mechanisms. 4.     Adherence of conflicting parties to International Humanitarian Law. 5.     Strategic goals of relevant parties.  Lastly, an overall conclusion and recommendations for improving the effectivity of humanitarian corridors are provided.

Although growing scientific evidence has highlighted beneficial effects of religion and spirituality on mental health and psychosocial well-being, the integration of religious and spiritual needs with mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian contexts has been identified as a gap. Accordingly, this can be linked to a lack of official related guidelines of how to address these concepts in the humanitarian sector. This issue becomes particularly relevant in contexts where religion and spirituality play a crucial role. This study explores this problem in the context of Indonesia which due to commonly occurring natural disaster is targeted by humanitarian responses, while also being a religious and spiritual country. The purpose of this study therefore responds to this background by discovering the integration of religion and spirituality in mental health and psychosocial support provided by humanitarian organisations in Indonesia and formulating recommendations on the same. This was operationalised through a qualitative approach, and more specifically an embedded single-case study design. Further, the material consists of information retrieved through interviews and documents, from humanitarian organisations selected through snowball sampling. Analysed with the support of the ADAPT model, an adapted version, the IASC MHPSS Guideline, and the additional Faith-Sensitive Guideline, this study concludes that humanitarian organisations operating in Indonesia, either mainstreamed or not, work with mental health and psychosocial support, and thereby also include approaches which consider religion and spirituality. However, while well aware of the contextual needs, in particular the latter is not formally integrated. Accordingly, this study suggests organisational capacity building on the integration of religion and spirituality in MHPSS, based on existing guidelines and institutional knowledge and capacity, in order to ensure and improve proper humanitarian responses.

After more than 50 years of internal armed conflict, Colombia has entered into a stage of postconflict after a peace agreement was signed in 2016. This process will be challenging for the country, as the conflict has created increased poverty and segregation as well as a lack of opportunities for those that have been affected by the conflict. This thesis collects perceptions of international humanitarian actors working in the Colombian context, and their perception on how humanitarian action can be used to strengthen the Colombian post-conflict process. Through a theoretical standpoint of Institutionalization Before Liberalization (IBL) theory by Roland Paris (2004), the findings were collected. Key findings include the need to recognize the humanitarian needs in Colombia despite the conflict ending, the importance of building knowledge in society about the peace agreement and make room for transition of experience and knowledge from the humanitarian field to the government and development actors. Analysing the findings, it shows that Colombia’s current peace transition would be furthered by strengthening the nation’s institutions and making long-term strategies on how to create electoral and societal systems that would unite and reconcile the population. It also shows that while the IBL theory is applicable to the Colombian post-conflict process, it fails to capture educational components that are deemed essential by the interviewed organizations. The thesis concludes that humanitarian organizations should be viewed as pivotal actors for the implementation of the Colombian peace agreement and that the Colombian government and international donors needs to put aside long-term resources and time to create a post-conflict society that will foster guarantees of the armed conflict not returning to Colombia.