There are no magic answers, no miraculous methods to overcome the problems we face, just the familiar ones: honest search for understanding and the kind of commitment that will persist despite the temptations of disillusionment, despite many failures and only limited successes, inspired by the hope of a brighter future.Noam Chomsky The objective of… Read more »
Country: Democratic Republic of The Congo
GHD and funding according to need
The Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) initiative can be seen as the donors equivalent of agency initiatives such as the Red Cross/NGO Code of Conduct, which aims to improve the quality and accountability of humanitarian responses. In the GHD, donors have committed themselves to a set of principles and good practice for humanitarian action, including the… Read more »
Cost-recovery in the health sector: continuing the debate
In the March 2004 edition of Humanitarian Exchange (issue number 26), Timothy Poletti of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) took issue with cost-sharing in healthcare programmes in complex emergencies, arguing that it raised little revenue and threatened access for the poorest. Below, we print a response to his article from Richard… Read more »
The case for cash: Goma after the Nyiragongo eruption
The Mount Nyiragongo eruption on 17 January 2002 destroyed a large part of the centre of Goma, a busy commercial centre in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Homes, schools, churches and businesses were ruined. An estimated 80,000 people about 16,000 households became homeless, and a very large number lost their workplace,… Read more »
Building local capacity after crisis: the experience of local NGOs in the Kivus after 1994
Local NGOs in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) became involved in humanitarian assistance in the wake of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Subsequent crises wars in Congo and Burundi, massive population displacement, violent ethnic conflict and the volcanic eruption in Goma in January 2002 only increased the need… Read more »
Principles of Engagement for Emergency Humanitarian Assistance in the DRC
Late last year the worsening humanitarian situation in the DRC together with increased security risks to humanitarian agencies made it necessary to seek consensus on a common approach to the delivery of humanitarian assistance, based on the application of agreed principles. This set of principles the Principles of Engagement for Emergency Humanitarian Assistance in… Read more »
CELPA: a local response to Congos conflict
The Communauté des Eglises Libres de Pentecôte en Afrique (CELPA) has worked in the DRC since 1922. Its activities include missionary programmes, education and community development and humanitarian aid. Its leadership is entirely African, though it works in collaboration with Norwegian churches, has received support from the Norwegian Foreign Affairs Ministry and benefits from advice… Read more »
Income-generation in post-conflict situations: is micro-finance a useful strategy?
Many humanitarian crises are protracted. Political solutions are not found, the economic situation hinders successful reconstruction and development, and development agencies are slow to take over from their relief counterparts. Humanitarian agencies are working increasingly in the grey zone between relief and development. In this environment, agencies are looking for more durable solutions than those offered… Read more »
Shabunda: the forgotten Kosovo
For the international relief community, the DRCs complex and brutal four-year war has become another of the worlds neglected emergencies. Humanitarian need is desperate, but insecurity and distance mean that large areas of the conflict are isolated from any relief. The DRC is in the grip of some nine individual conflicts internal, international and… Read more »