Kristin Bergtora Sandvik and Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert identify a problematic lack of engagement with AI in the humanitarian strategies of donor countries and offer a set of pointers for framing conversations on AI in aid policy.
Tag: humanitarian aid
Governance and Survival after the Earthquake: The Political Complexities of Humanitarian Assistance
The earthquake in Turkey and Syria on 6 February is tragic beyond what we are able to fathom. The World Health Organization’s Europe branch has labelled the 7.8 magnitude earthquake and a secondary 7.6 magnitude aftershock as the region’s “worst natural disaster” in 100 years. By 17 February, there have been near 44 000 registered… Read more »
Broadening the Concept of Humanitarian Accountability
Since the 1990s, Western humanitarian organizations have increasingly been concerned with developing tools to assess the efficiency of aid delivery, to establish minimum standards and benchmarks for aid projects, and to convincingly communicate their organizational transparency and accountability to stakeholders. As an extension of these debates, attempts have been made to carve out common guidelines… Read more »
Humanitarian Biometrics in Yemen: The complex politics of humanitarian technology
The introduction of biometrics in Yemen is a prime example of challenges related to the use of biometric solutions in humanitarian contexts. The complexity of the situation in Yemen needs to be acknowledged by policy makers and other stakeholders involved in the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the country.
Russia Readying for Compromise on the UN Humanitarian Aid to Syria
The UN Security Council is due to make a decision on a particular and particularly controversial issue pertaining to the humanitarian disaster in Syria by July 10, and Russia positions itself as the key part of the problem and a necessary contributor to a solution. The discord in the UN Security Council (SC) on the… Read more »
A Nobel for the WFP: A Non-Political Peace Prize for Humanitarian Multilateralism?
This year’s Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to the World Food Program for its “efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict”. The announcement emphasizes the… Read more »
The Politics of Humanitarian Aid to Myanmar
I felt like I had defeated the dictators when I walked out of Yangon’s Mingeladon airport for the first time, more than 20 years ago. Unnoticed, I had sneaked out of the queue and avoided the mandatory exchange of three new, unfolded, and spotless 100-dollar bills into the FEC monopoly money that the Myanmar military… Read more »
Context matters – Why Africa should tailor its own measures to fight COVID-19
This piece is part of our blog series Beyond the COVID Curve. COVID-19 has quickly changed everything from our daily routines, to the policies of governments, to the fortunes of the global economy. How will it continue to shape society and the conditions for peace and conflict globally in the near future and long after we… Read more »
Humanitarian Wearables and the Future of Aid in the Global Data Economy
Kristin Bergtora Sandvik examines the politics of humanitarian wearables to understand more about how digitization is reshaping the nature and relations of aid.
African Drone Proliferation: The Meaning of Leapfrogging
The ongoing drone proliferation throughout Africa has received little critical attention. However, African drone proliferation has become a vehicle for the production and distribution of forms of legitimacy and of resources that have implications for drone proliferation both within and outside Africa. More specifically, the perception of Africa as being in need of external drone… Read more »