Resources on Fragile States and Humanitarian Aid

This section contains selected resources regarding capacity development in fragile states and in humanitarian aid.

Organisations

www.alnap.org
www.hapinternational.org
www.ocha.org

Books

Patronage or Partnership by Ian Smillie. Details at Amazon.
Patronage or Partnership brings a new perspective to the subject of building local capacities in emergency and post-emergency situations. Many relief programs remain characterized by externality: in their funding, accountabilities, approach to management, and dependence upon expatriate staff. Strengthening local capacity is easier said than done, and there are real tradeoffs between outsiders doing something in the midst of an emergency, on the one hand, and building longer-term local skills, on the other. By critically examining the dilemma from local perspectives in case studies from Mozambique, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Haiti and Guatemala, this book finds real hope and possibilities amidst the prevalling rhetoric and confusion.

Post conflict development - meeting new challenges, by G. Junne, W. Verkoren (ed). Details at Amazon.
With the proliferation of civil wars since the end of the Cold War, many developing countries now exist in a "postconflict" environment, posing enormous development challenges for the societies affected, as well as for international actors. Postconflict Development addresses these challenges in a range of vital sectors, security, justice, economic policy, education, the media, agriculture, health, and the environment, in countries around the globe. The authors focus on the need to move beyond emergency relief to create new social and economic structures that can serve as the foundations for a lasting peace. Prosperity, they acknowledge, does not guarantee peace; but a lack of economic development will almost certainly lead to renewed violence. This conviction informs their thorough discussion of the policy dilemmas confronted in postconflict situations and a range of concrete, successful approaches to resolving them.

Managing civil-military cooperation - a joint effort for stability. By Rietsesn, en Bollen (ed). Details at Amazon. The varying types of cooperation between the military and a wide range of civilian actors are addressed in this indispensable volume. It analyses civil-military cooperation in different settings such as during emergency relief operations (tsunami, earthquakes and refugee crises) and during stability and reconstruction operations such as peace support in Afghanistan and the Congo. This book contains contributions from both senior academics and practitioners such as military officers and humanitarian personnel and looks at issues such as what is to be gained by civil-military cooperation. It contains conclusions and recommendations for academics and practitioners making it a valuable read for people deployed in these operations.

 Articles

Sphere, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response

A living document? The code of conduct of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGO's in disaster relief. A summary of this paid article can be found at The Humanitarian Practise Network. The (paid) original is available through Wiley Interscience.

TEC Evaluation Tsunami, synthesis report

Guide to HAP (Humanitarian Accountability Programme) Standards

Dutch Humanitarian Assistance, an evaluation, Buitenlandse Zaken (2006)

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, World Disaster Reports (annual).

Partos synthesis of the thematic evaluation: 'CFA's on the road to Conflict Transformation'.

Intrac articles:
Fragile states or failed policies, October 2008
Working with civil society in fragile states, May 2009

ECDPM, Capacity development in Fragile States, June 2007

Capacity.org provides plenty of useful links and resources on capcity development in fragile states.