Disaster governance and humanitarian aid in the context of high-intensity conflict: The cases of Afghanistan, South Sudan and Yemen

Contrary to popular belief, disasters related to earthquakes, floods or other natural hazards are frequent in places affected by violent conflict. For instance, from 1960 to 2018, the average yearly percentage of countries affected by conflict and a disaster was 67%. However, disaster governance and management are usually overshadowed by the conflict and often deemed unfeasible. To analyse disaster governance in HIC scenarios, this project studied and conducted fieldwork on the cases of Afghanistan, South Sudan and Yemen.

The results from the cases show that given the difficulties to respond in HIC, it is better to prevent and reduce the risk of disasters (DRR) and that DRR strategies tend to align with development-related programmes. However, weak levels of governance make not only DRR and development projects difficult, but also prevent a proper integration between the phases of prevention and development with those of humanitarian aid and emergency response. This indicates the existence of three relevant dichotomies:

• between DRR and disaster response,
• between development and humanitarian aid, and
• between prevention and response.

How do we move forward in a way that allows better disaster governance and response in HIC context, at the same time that permits bridging the previous dichotomies?

This question will be addressed in a following and final article that seeks to explore one option to go beyond these dichotomies: Seeing that disaster and conflict share common root causes, like poverty and underdevelopment, and therefore it is possible to start thinking in programs or ways to address people’s vulnerability in an integrated manner, developing a systemic risk reduction strategy.

During this Research in Progress (RIP) seminar, Rod will be looking for feedback and would like to discuss this idea of an integrated way of addressing vulnerability, understanding the limitation of it for policymaking, but seeking to advance the knowledge and understanding of complex scenarios like HIC contexts.

About the speaker

Rodrigo Mena is a researcher and consultant working on disasters, conflict, humanitarian aid, and applied fieldwork research. Currently, he is involved in the project “When disasters meet conflict” at the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam. His primary focus is on disaster governance and humanitarian aid in high-intensity conflict-affected scenarios.

For more than a decade he has worked in academia, public and private sector, government, local and international NGOs, and the United Nations. Next to doing fieldwork in hostile, complex and remote areas in Latin America, Europe, Oceania and Asia (e.g. including South Sudan, Chile, Jordan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan), he has also led humanitarian aid groups and conducted research after the occurrence of several disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, landslides, floods, and droughts.

Rod is also Board Member of the International Humanitarian Studies Association, and convener of the Ecology, Conflict Risks, Forced Migration & Peace (ECR-FMP) commission of the International Peace Research Association. At the academic level, he has taught at universities and is the author of articles and book chapters. Previous research also focused on climate change, peak oil and transition strategies; urban agriculture and food security; and applied fieldwork research.