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As an alternative to commodity-based programming (in-kind aid), Cash Transfer Programming is attracting both humanitarian organizations' and institutional donors' attention. Unlike in-kind aid, Cash Transfer Programming transfers purchasing power directly to beneficiaries in the form of currency or vouchers for them to obtain goods and/or services directly from the local market. In distributing currency to beneficiaries, the private sector, especially financial service providers, plays a prominent role, due to the humanitarian sector's limited relevant resources. The present work unveils challenges for the private and humanitarian sectors, which hinder implementing Cash Transfer Programming. Based on primary and secondary qualitative data, the paper presents the main characteristics and the mechanisms of Cash Transfer Programming to explore how the private sector is involved with Cash Transfer Programming. Then, this study presents bottlenecks of reciprocal relationships between financial service providers and humanitarian organizations in Cash Transfer Programming.

Due to the ongoing conflict between the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government supported by a Saudi-led coalition of nine countries, the civilians in the country have already been exposed to violence for four years. According to the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the current situation in Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. A large number of humanitarian organizations are present intending to alleviate the suffering. However, their response has been criticized as ineffective. Therefore, this thesis seeks to investigate the humanitarian response in Yemen in order to identify potential weaknesses. This was done out from a theoretical framework that drew on Johan Galtung’s conceptualizations on violence. The applied qualitative research approach was based on a case study research design. With the help of a literature review, the relevant data relating to the case was gathered and an analysis of the violence in Yemen was conducted using the concepts of direct and structural violence by Galtung. The 2019 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan (YHRP), published by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), coordinates and guides the response of more than 240 aid organizations in Yemen. This plan was used to analyze the humanitarian response in order to find weaknesses in diminishing the identified direct and structural violence.The main findings are as follows: besides small exceptions, the identified aspects of structural violence are being addressed in the YHRP, which are related to the poor access to health care, food insecurity, poor WASH conditions, spread of infectious diseases and displacement. On the contrary, actions against the manifested direct violence, such as civilian casualties of the fighting, are hardly included in the plan. However, it should be noted that due to the humanitarian principle of neutrality, the aid organizations are obligated to remain neutral and are not permitted to get involved in the conflict. Thus, their inactivity regarding direct violence can be traced back to the humanitarian principle of neutrality.

This study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the 2011 to 2012 famine response in Somalia in saving lives and livelihoods, offering livelihood opportunities, supporting quick recovery and complying with accountability standards in the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Understanding the performance and effectiveness of the humanitarian response to emergencies such as the 2011 to 2012 famine in Somalia is important for managing similar large-scale disasters which tend to be more frequent than ever before. It is also vital for addressing the chronic food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa. The study was conducted in the Dolow district, Gedo region, Somalia. The study was largely rooted in the qualitative paradigm even though quantitative methodologies were employed to explain certain aspects in order to adequately answer some of the research questions. The case study approach was employed to conduct this study and achieve the research objectives. Despite the need for more evidence-based and local community-driven response to droughts, the 2011 to 2012 famine response was largely relevant to meet the priority needs of affected populations. The response was too late to prevent the death of hundreds of thousands and the suffering of millions of people and the response had to struggle for quite some time to stabilise and reverse a devastating situation. Although the response was not adequate to cover the needs of all affected populations, it had a commendable impact by saving the lives of malnourished children and mothers; minimising suffering from lack of food, water and shelter; restoring livelihoods for host communities; and creating livelihood opportunities for internally displaced families. Compliance with the NGO Code of Conduct and the application of Sphere standards were fair. Strong accountability mechanisms are required to ensure effective beneficiary targeting and curb aid diversion. The beneficiaries of the response stated that they are equally vulnerable to droughts despite an increase in income and agricultural production as a result of the response. Long-term livelihood projects that address structural vulnerabilities and create multipleincome sources are essential for strengthening resilience to droughts. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

Master of Science / Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Jessica L. Heier Stamm / Gifts-in-kind (GIK) donations negatively affect the humanitarian supply chain at the point of receipt near the disaster site. In any disaster, as much as 50 percent of GIK donations are irrelevant to the relief efforts. This proves to be a significant issue to humanitarian organizations because the quantity and type of future GIK are uncertain, making it difficult to account for GIK donations at the strategic planning level. The result is GIK consuming critical warehouse space and manpower. Additionally, improper treatment of GIK can result in ill-favor of donors and loss of donations (both cash and GIK) and support for the humanitarian organization. This thesis proposes a robust facility location approach that mitigates the impact of GIK by providing storage space for GIK and pre-positions supplies to meet initial demand. The setting of the problem is strategic planning for hurricane relief along the Gulf and Atlantic Coasts of the United States. The approach uses a robust scenario-based method to account for uncertainty in both demand and GIK donations. The model determines the location and number of warehouses in the network, the amount of pre-positioned supplies to meet demand, and the amount of space in each warehouse to alleviate the impact of GIK. The basis of the model is a variant of the covering facility location model that must satisfy all demand and GIK space requirements. A computational study with multiple cost minimizing objective functions illustrates how the model performs with realistic data. The results show that strategic planning in the preparedness phases of the disaster management cycle will significantly mitigate the impact of GIK.

This dissertation explores the use of an index based contingent claims mechanism against earthquake risk in Indonesia. It focuses on time critical financing needs of international humanitarian relief organizations, and on efforts to improve the resiliency of geographically constrained financial institutions whose clientele are exposed to disaster risk. The approach uses measures of ground motion intensity as the basis for the index. The humanitarian response mechanism provides a new way for private sector partners to participate and gain visibility in their support of principled humanitarian funding. Index based contingent claims for local banks are shown to enhance their ability to recover and continue lending to the community after an event. Financial risk management may also substitute for a portion of the lender's precautionary capital buffer, enabling greater financial inclusion. Wholesale lenders with local bank networks having earthquake exposure can enhance these effects by offering group policies.

This study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of the 2011 to 2012 famine response in Somalia in saving lives and livelihoods, offering livelihood opportunities, supporting quick recovery and complying with accountability standards in the delivery of humanitarian assistance. Understanding the performance and effectiveness of the humanitarian response to emergencies such as the 2011 to 2012 famine in Somalia is important for managing similar large-scale disasters which tend to be more frequent than ever before. It is also vital for addressing the chronic food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa. The study was conducted in the Dolow district, Gedo region, Somalia. The study was largely rooted in the qualitative paradigm even though quantitative methodologies were employed to explain certain aspects in order to adequately answer some of the research questions. The case study approach was employed to conduct this study and achieve the research objectives. Despite the need for more evidence-based and local community-driven response to droughts, the 2011 to 2012 famine response was largely relevant to meet the priority needs of affected populations. The response was too late to prevent the death of hundreds of thousands and the suffering of millions of people and the response had to struggle for quite some time to stabilise and reverse a devastating situation. Although the response was not adequate to cover the needs of all affected populations, it had a commendable impact by saving the lives of malnourished children and mothers; minimising suffering from lack of food, water and shelter; restoring livelihoods for host communities; and creating livelihood opportunities for internally displaced families. Compliance with the NGO Code of Conduct and the application of Sphere standards were fair. Strong accountability mechanisms are required to ensure effective beneficiary targeting and curb aid diversion. The beneficiaries of the response stated that they are equally vulnerable to droughts despite an increase in income and agricultural production as a result of the response. Long-term livelihood projects that address structural vulnerabilities and create multipleincome sources are essential for strengthening resilience to droughts. / Development Studies / M.A. (Development Studies)

Between 2014 and 2016, West Africa was struck by the largest ever Ebola epidemic. In Sierra Leone, the outbreak occurred only about a decade after the end of an eleven-year long civil war, which left the country with little capacity to contain the virus. While many have investigated the crisis that the Ebola outbreak caused West African countries, few have turned their attention directly towards the response to it. Following that line of thought, this case study explores how the Ebola response carried out by local, national and international actors played into conflict dynamics in the aftermath of the Sierra Le-onean civil war. By applying the theoretical perspectives of ‘the fortified aid compound’ and ‘dependent agency’, I argue that the response embodied a militarised approach and that it was insensitive towards local customs, which showed in shifting acts of compliance and resistance by beneficiaries. Lastly, by applying the theory of ‘protracted social con-flict’, I argue that conflict dynamics from the civil war were amplified by the Ebola re-sponse to some extent. The study concludes that future responses to epidemics, particu-larly in conflict affected settings, should consider potential negative effects connected to response structures and measures to a greater extent.

My starting point was to gain an understanding of how humanitarian aid was organized in Tacloban City after the disaster of typhoon Haiyan. Two specific sectors has been studied; Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM) and Emergency Shelter. As basic parameters the Sphere Handbook (The Sphere Project) served as a guideline, a set of minimum standards of humanitarian response compiled by different humanitarian agencies with the aim to improve the quality of humanitarian assistance. Large parts of the city's urban land area is currently located in a geographic location that poses a significant risk in terms of vulnerability to floods, landslides and storm winds. A summary of risk analysis indicates that a specific area of land south-west of today's city center are more suited as a development site in terms of reduced vulnerability. The strategies of resistance against the forces of nature for the city of Tacloban are divided into four different scales from macro to micro; City, Barangay (the smallest administrative division within the Philippine municipality system), Sitio (territorial enclave inside a barangay) and the private home. / Min utgångspunkt har varit att få en uppfattning kring hur det humanitära biståndet anordnades i staden Tacloban efter naturkatastrofen Haiyan. Två specifika sektorer har undersökts; ”Camp Coordination and Camp Management (CCCM)” och ”Emergency Shelter”. Som riktlinje och grundläggande parameter har jag använt ”The Sphere Handbook” (The Sphere Project), en uppsättning grundläggande standarder som sammanställts av olika humanitära organisationer med målet att förbättra kvaliteten på det humanitära biståndet.Stora delar av Taclobans urbana landområde befinner sig inom ett geografiskt område som utgör en betydande risk vad gäller sårbarhet för översvämningar, jordskred och stormvindar. En sammanställning av riskanalyser visar att ett specifikt landområde sydväst om dagens centrum är mer lämpat som en framtida plats för stadsutveckling. I mitt arbete har jag utvecklat strategier för att staden skall kunna motstå naturens krafter inför ett liknande framtida scenario. Tacloban har delats in i fyra olika skalor från makro till mikro;Staden, Barangay-området (den minsta administrativa divisionen inom det filippinskakommun- systemet), Sitio (territoriell enklav inom ett barangay-område) och det enskilda hemmet.

During recent public health emergencies, such as COVID-19 pandemic, the spread of over, false and misinformation in social media, resulted in an exponential use of digital social listening methodologies- in summary defined as collection and analysis of voices, concerns and/or perceptions expressed by individuals and communities- as part of the humanitarian response.  This raises the question on how those social listening findings are being used and influence emergency responses, while also addressing affected people’s needs and concerns, as part of the Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) mandate- an obligation of every organisation on the ground to place people affected by crisis at the centre of humanitarian action and promote respect for their human rights.  Trough the comparative analyses of social listening reports and a mixed survey responded by Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) practitioners, using COVID-19 context as an example, this project helps understanding the role social listening has had in humanitarian responses, while providing possible ways to better connect social listening to programming.  On way forward is urgent to harmonise the definition of social listening and clearly distinguish social media listening and its limited role in terms of communities’ participation, while acknowledging the risk of exclusion of digital channels in general. Social listening cannot continue to be limited to the RCCE field, but involve other programme sectors, besides effectively engaging governments, civil society and affected populations. Offline mechanisms seem to be better shaped to address inclusion, localisation and contextualisation (and AAP in general), and therefore the need to invest in specific community-based mechanisms and/or systems that combine online with offline tools. For accountability purposes, monitoring action taken based on Social Listening findings and evaluating how it impacted programmes, it is an urgent priority. Besides the obvious humanitarian obligation of communicating (looping) back to communities what was done with their voices.