Notes from the Field in Kigoma, Tanzania

In these short notes the authors provide some insight to their visit to displaced persons camps in Kigoma, Tanzania. This trip marks the fourth set of camps examined in the Post Emergency Phase Indicators Project, a joint collaboration between the Johns Hopkins Center for Refugee and Disaster Studies, and the International Emergency and Refugee Health Branch at the Centers for Disease Control.Dans ces brèves notes, les auteurs fournissent un aperçu de leur visite au camps pour personnes deplacees de Kigoma, en Tanzanie. Ce voyage marque la conclusion de la quatrième série de visites de camps de réfugiés examinés dans Ie cadre du Projet sur les Indicateurs d'Etapes en Situation Post- Urgente (Post-Emergency Phase Indicators Project), une collaboration conjointe du Centre John Hopkins pour les Etudes sur les Réfugiés et les Désastres, et la Section pour la Santé des Réfugiés et l'Urgence Internationale, du Centre pour Ie Contrôle Epidemique

Temporary labour migration for victims of natural disasters: the Columbia-Spain model

Environmental degradation is increasingly causing large-scale migration. This paper looks into international labour migration as a strategy to adapt to a changing environment. Facilitating legal migration for persons affected by environmental degradation can prevent them from being forcibly displaced, can reduce their vulnerability to future environmental disruptions, and can contribute to the development of vulnerable communities. This paper analyses how ‘environmental migration’ could be facilitated, through a case study of the Colombian Temporary and Circular Labour Migration project. Through this innovative migration model, based on an agreement between Colombia and Spain, Colombians facing recurring natural disasters, are offered a livelihood alternative through temporary work abroad, while affected zones can recuperate. This programme, supported by the IOM, illustrates how a European member State can enable vulnerable people to migrate overseas by providing labour migration opportunities for selected beneficiaries. By supporting migrants in maximizing the impact of remittances on the recovery of their place of origin, the TCLM programme increases their resilience to natural disasters, and offers them an alternative to permanent and/or urban migration. The paper discusses the normative framework supporting the TCLM programme, and identifies some conditions for the replication of the programme in other states. The potential of the project for both development and adaptation to environmental changes is being considered

Environmental Migrations from Conflict-Affected Countries: Focus on EU Policy Response

Given the strong evidence that most environmental migration is likely to occur within the Global South, the analysis of this paper and many of its recommendations focus on EU external and humanitarian policies in the field of environmental migration, as well as foreign policy and humanitarian aid and development-cooperation programs implemented in conflict-affected countries. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the environmental migration debate with a multifaceted perspective that takes into account the relationship between climate change, migration and conflict. In doing so, it aims to highlight areas of particular political and geopolitical interest where further EU legal, policy, and humanitarian action is needed. On the basis of the analyzed legal, political, and institutional frameworks and the critical issues raised from the rograms implemented in the field, I will indicate areas of political and geopolitical interest for EU external action and humanitarian aid strategy and where further EU policy action is needed

International Violence Against Women: U.S. Response and Policy Issues

[Excerpt] In recent years, the international community has increasingly recognized international violence against women (VAW) as a significant human rights and global health issue. VAW, which can include both random acts of violence as well as sustained abuse over time, can be physical, psychological, or sexual in nature. Studies have found that VAW occurs in all geographic regions, countries, cultures, and economic classes, with some research showing that women in developing countries experience higher rates of violence than those in developed countries. Many experts view VAW as a symptom of the historically unequal power relationship between men and women,and argue that over time this imbalance has led to pervasive cultural stereotypes and attitudes that perpetuate a cycle of violence. This report addresses causes, prevalence, and consequences of violence against women. It provides examples of completed and ongoing U.S. activities that address VAW directly or include anti-VAW components, and it outlines possible policy issues for the 112th Congress, including • the scope and effectiveness of U.S. programs in addressing international VAW; • further integrating anti-VAW programs into U.S. assistance and foreign policy mechanisms; • U.S. funding for anti-VAW activities worldwide, particularly in light of the global financial crisis, economic recession, and subsequent calls to reduce the U.S. budget deficit; and • strengthening U.S. government coordination of anti-VAW activities

Resource Index: Refugee Relief Operations

Index compiled to give an overview of the various types of resources available in the field of refugee relief. Political aspects of refugee situations. (80.2)The digital Cuny Archive was made available in part through funding assistance from USAID.INTERTEC

Gendered Paths to Formal and Informal Resources in Post-Disaster Development in the Ecuadorian Andes

The devastating eruptions of Mount Tungurahua in the Ecuadorian highlands in 1999 and 2006 left many communities struggling to rebuild their homes and others permanently displaced to settlements built by state and nongovernmental organizations. For several years afterward, households diversified their economic strategies to compensate for losses, communities organized to promote local development, and the state and nongovernmental organizations sponsored many economic recovery programs in the affected communities. Our study examined the ways in which gender and gender roles were associated with different levels and paths of access to scarce resources in these communities. Specifically, this article contrasts the experiences of men and women in accessing household necessities and project assistance through formal institutions and informal networks. We found that women and men used different types of informal social support networks, with men receiving significantly more material, emotional, and informational support than women. We also found that men and women experienced different challenges and advantages when pursuing support through local and extralocal institutions and that these institutions often coordinated in ways that reified their biases. We present a methodology that is replicable in a wide variety of disaster, resettlement, and development settings, and we advocate an inductive, evidence-based approach to policy, built upon an understanding of local gender, class, and ethnic dynamics affecting access to formal and informal resources. This evidence should be used to build more robust local institutions that can resist wider social and cultural pressures for male dominance and gendered exclusion

The Human Face of Permanent Climate-Induced Displacement

Climate change is predicted to lead to mass displacement, since the land where millions of people currently live will be, at some point, covered with water. For some populations, this will mean to be permanently displaced to a different country because the territory that their sovereign nations occupy will disappear. The most well‐known cases involve the citizens of Vanuatu, Kiribati, Tuvalu, and the Maldives. As the negative impact of climate change becomes clearer and closer in time, policy solutions to this problem are discussed. In this paper, I look at previous cases of populations’ displacement to identify policy lessons that may be applicable to climate-driven displacement. I thus present four case—involving populations in China, Kosovo, New Orleans and the island of Bikini, and determine the lessons that can be learned, how they can be applied to the inevitable displacement looming in the Pacific Ocean, and suggest policy recommendations. I chose to look at this issue from the perspective of the displaced and suggest recommendations that take into consideration the hardships associated with displacement. I think of this as giving a “human face” to the problem and hope that the policy recommendations will make displacement a little bit easier for the displaced

Community health workers and stand-alone or integrated case management of malaria: a systematic literature review.

A systematic literature review was conducted to assess the effectiveness of strategies to improve community case management (CCM) of malaria. Forty-three studies were included; most (38) reported indicators of community health worker (CHW) performance, 14 reported on malaria CCM integrated with other child health interventions, 16 reported on health system capacity, and 13 reported on referral. The CHWs are able to provide good quality malaria care, including performing procedures such as rapid diagnostic tests. Appropriate training, clear guidelines, and regular supportive supervision are important facilitating factors. Crucial to sustainable success of CHW programs is strengthening health system capacity to support commodity supply, supervision, and appropriate treatment of referred cases. The little evidence available on referral from community to health facility level suggests that this is an area that needs priority attention. The studies of integrated CCM suggest that additional tasks do not reduce the quality of malaria CCM provided sufficient training and supervision is maintained

Syrian refugees in Palestinian refugee camps and informal settlements in Beirut, Lebanon

Informal spaces often develop on the periphery of cities as a result of the arrival of rural migrants, national and international workers, refugees and others. In Lebanon during the 1950s, Palestinian refugees arrived and settledin tent camps, which were originally created in 1948 for temporary use. 69 years later, they are still considered refugees and still in these “temporary camps”, which have transformed into informal concrete slums. The number of Palestinians exceeds 500,000 in a Lebanese population of less than 4.5 million. The Syrian conflict has added a further one million Syrian refugees who, for security, as well as political and economic reasons, found themselves searching for shelter; they had no choice but to go to the existing overcrowded Palestinian camps or other dense poor neighborhoods, mostly in Beirut City, the capital city of Lebanon. This paper analyzes the transitional settlement of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, examining two distinct elements in the Beiruti urban fabric: the Burj El-Barajne Palestinian refugee camp and Nabaa Neighborhood, one of the informal urban areas. The cross comparison highlights the typology of housing, the use of space, the health situation and the challenges faced by new arrivals. It also evaluates the population transformation, the integration of refugees in the wider social structure of the host community and their incorporation in the labor market and local economy. Based on existing studies and first-hand materials gathered through interviewing residents while visiting both case-studies, this paper highlights current living conditions and provides recommendations for healthier and more sustainable urban environments. We also consider urban integration strategies to ensure refugee social and economic participation. The paper contributes towards improving outcomes for refugees and providing practical knowledge for humanitarian organizations, in Beirut or in similar urban refugee contexts