From Mobilization to Lessons Learnt – Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations in Mozambique 2019

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (36) ◽  
pp. 94-121
Author(s):  
Tomasz Zwęgliński ◽  
Magdalena Stefańska

This article is a joint effort of civil protection and humanitarian aid experts to compare and search for a common ground of the two relief and recovery mechanisms deployed to disasters. The hypothesis says that efficiency and close collaboration of civil protection and humanitarian aid is a key requirement to reduce the impact of major disasters on developing countries and affected populations. As a case study tropical cyclones, Idai and Kenneth that hit Mozambique in 2019 have been chosen. Strategic and operational documents, lessons learnt reports, statistics, appeals, donor response decryptions, semi-formal interviews with delegates to Mozambique, personal experiences and findings have been used. Starting from the situation analysis the authors presented needs assessment tools and different assets mobilized to the operation, then they showed how these assets were allocated to sectoral activities. The decision-making process and collaboration with the host nation were included. Lively discussion on main challenges allowed to formulate a few key recommendations for the future. Strengthening international cooperation and coordination through a complex mechanism of sharing competencies among different stakeholders, proper division of tasks and responsibilities, and reviewing lessons learnt from relief operations seem to be key factors to develop and improve the whole aid system.

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Saida Parvin

Women’s empowerment has been at the centre of research focus for many decades. Extant literature examined the process, outcome and various challenges. Some claimed substantial success, while others contradicted with evidence of failure. But the success remains a matter of debate due to lack of empirical evidence of actual empowerment of women around the world. The current study aimed to address this gap by taking a case study method. The study critically evaluates 20 cases carefully sampled to include representatives from the entire country of Bangladesh. The study demonstrates popular beliefs about microfinance often misguide even the borrowers and they start living in a fabricated feeling of empowerment, facing real challenges to achieve true empowerment in their lives. The impact of this finding is twofold; firstly there is a theoretical contribution, where the definition of women’s empowerment is proposed to be revisited considering findings from these cases. And lastly, the policy makers at governmental and non-governmental organisations, and multinational donor agencies need to revise their assessment tools for funding.


2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gertrude Sachs ◽  
Terry Fisher ◽  
Joanna Cannon

Collaboration, Mentoring and Co-Teaching in Teacher EducationCollaboration at the university level is a fundamental element needed to enhance teaching (Cochran-Smith & Fries, 2005) and reflection is a critical component of teacher education (Dewey, 1933, 1938). A case study is presented of one senior university faculty member's experiences co-teaching with two doctoral students seeking to understand the impact of shared decision-making and authentic collaboration on individuals entering the academy. An analysis of the authors' shared experiences indicated that, through this mentoring, collaborative and mutually beneficial relationships were built. An analysis of the authors' experiences also indicated that these collaborative relationships were built upon several key factors, specifically (a) a strong sense of individual accountability and professionalism; (b) the mutual creation and demonstration of respect; (c) affirmation and overt participation in reciprocal growth and development; (d) attention to issues of power and abeyance. The findings of the study highlight the need for further exploration into the role of mentorship of junior faculty and the efficacy of co-teaching processes in the development of professional identities of junior faculty entering the academy.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 43
Author(s):  
Herman M. Batibo

Arab travellers and traders along the eastern African coast, more than 1000 years ago, were the first Arabic speaking people to bring Arabic language in contact with the other African languages in eastern and later southern Africa. Over the years, Arabic gained a lot of influence in the region. The impact of Arabic can be seen, especially in old scripts, loanwords, Arabic accents and sound features in some of the local languages.This article examines the nature and extent of contact situations between Arabic and two languages, namely Kiswahili, spoken in eastern Africa, and Setswana, spoken in southern Africa. The study is based on the Language Contact Theory, which states that the nature, length and intensity of language contact are the key factors determining the linguistic and sociolinguistic processes that take place. Contact between languages could be either direct or indirect. The main argument of the study is that the extent of influence of a language on another depends not only on the nature of contact, but also, and mainly, on the length and intensity of contact. The paper highlights the domains in which elements of Arabic origin have infiltrated or been adopted in these languages.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fahim Ullah ◽  
Samad Sepasgozer ◽  
Faham Tahmasebinia ◽  
Saleh Mohammad Ebrahimzadeh Sepasgozar ◽  
Steven Davis

The aim of this paper is to examine students’ performance in a computation-based course by evaluating the effects of key factors including sketching, visualization resources provided to them during the lectures, their attendance and tutors’ experience. A systematic review was conducted including 192 articles published during January 2010 to December 2019. Further, a case study has been conducted in which 633 students from non-engineering backgrounds were taught a core course of construction over three-yearly sessions from 2017 to 2019. The performance has been assessed through two quizzes of 10% weight each, assignment of 40% weight and a final exam with 30% weight in 2017-18 and 40% weight in 2019 were utilized with an attendance criterion of below 75% as low attendance. The statistical result highlights that a clear difference of 14% overall marks exist between the students with less than 75% attendance and the ones with 75% and above in 2017 and a 10% gap in 2018. Students with high marks in sketching secured higher overall marks as compared to others highlighting that the sketching skill is useful to construction students. The findings contribute to the body of education knowledge by evaluating key influential factors and provide a useful benchmark to other educators in the field. 


Refuge ◽  
2008 ◽  
pp. 35-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakshmi Ramarajan

This paper uses a case-study approach to describe how organizational characteristics may influence program outcomes in humanitarian aid situations. Organizational structure and human resource management are discussed as organizational factors that influence the vulnerabilities of clients and employees. Interview and archival data from a program on reintegrating refugee and internally displaced women and girl survivors of sexual violence in Sierra Leone and observations based on the author’s experience with the organization provides a relevant basis for isolating the firm as an important context within which refugee programs are embedded.


1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang-Xue (Jack) Feng ◽  
Chinh Tran

Abstract A local company produces various types of connecting cables for a number of military and civilian customers. A key part of these cables is the knurled component to provide proper frictional force for easy assembly and maintenance. In the past, the company has usually faced a problem of inconsistent knurl quality. There has been no report in the literature about knurling process design. Vendors of knurling tools could only recommend the traditional try-and-error method. This research uses the design of experiments (or 2n-k fractional factorial design) approach to examine the impact of different knurling process parameters on the knurl quality. Our purpose is to determine the key factors and factor interactions that have significant effect on the knurl quality so that we could set the process parameters in such a way that the process is robust (or insensitive) to any uncontrollable factors. As a result, a robust knurl quality is achieved. A case study illustrates our approach.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Shen ◽  
Qiang Deng ◽  
Rebecca Lao ◽  
Simon Wu

Abstract In this paper, we focus on inventory management in a manufacturing company in China. This study aims to identify the key factors that influence inventory management practices, investigate efficient and effective inventory management approaches, and examine the impact of supplier cooperation on supply chain improvement. A case study approach is used to identify the key factors that influence inventory management in a factory. Efficient and effective inventory management practices are derived from the case study and may provide practical guidance for foreign manufacturers in China. This study provides a valuable tool for identifying the key factors in inventory management which can be applied to similar problems encountered in actual manufactories.


Logistics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 39
Author(s):  
Darya Hrydziushka ◽  
Urooj Pasha ◽  
Arild Hoff

This paper presents a generalization of a previously defined lexicographical dynamic flow model based on multi-objective optimization for solving the multi-commodity aid distribution problem in the aftermath of a catastrophe. The model considers distribution of the two major commodities of food and medicine, and seven different objectives, and the model can easily be changed to include more commodities in addition to other and different priorities between the objectives. The first level in the model is to maximize the amount of aid distributed under the given constraints. Keeping the optimal result from the first level, the second level can be solved considering objectives such as the cost of the operation, the time of the operation, the equity of distribution for each type of humanitarian aid, the priority of the designated nodes, the minimum arc reliability, and the global reliability of the route. The model is tested on a recent case study based on the Hagibis typhoon disaster in Japan in 2019. The paper presents a solution for the distribution problem and provides a driving schedule for vehicles for delivering the commodities from depots to the regional centers in need for humanitarian aid.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 10241
Author(s):  
Tina Maria Hintringer ◽  
Vito Bobek ◽  
Franko Milost ◽  
Tatjana Horvat

Emerging economies and their speed of growth, competitiveness, and resilience are of great interest globally due to the high potential investors see in them. Innovation is one of the factors recognized to be the common ground of significantly outperforming economies. Therefore, identifying innovation benchmarks and how they impact economic success is relevant for a more straightforward evaluation of innovation in a country. This research focuses on the quantitative parts of innovation. Firstly, governmental interference, knowledge flows and networks, cultural and societal preconditions, and openness towards change are identified as notably relevant innovation enhancing factors in South Korea through case study analyses. Then, an analysis of the impact of quantitative innovation factors on the GDP in South Korea is conducted. The impact of quantifiable innovation factors, identified through literature review, on the GDP as the benchmark for economic growth is tested from 1995 until 2018 through a linear, multiple least squares regression to identify significant relationships between the chosen variables. Two out of five selected quantitative innovation factors have a statistically significant impact on the economic growth in the used model. The number of researchers per million people and the patent grants of residents is identified to be impactful innovation benchmarks.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thierno Diallo ◽  
Nicola Cantoreggi ◽  
Jean Simos ◽  
Derek P. T. H. Christie

This study aims to understand how the health dimension is integrated into four impact assessment tools used in Geneva, Switzerland: environmental impact assessment (EIA), strategic environmental assessment (SEA), sustainability assessment (SA) and health impact assessment (HIA). We have chosen as a case study greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction policies chosen by the city of Geneva. The methodological approach consists in analysing EIA, SEA, SA and HIA conducted on three projects in three topic areas: urban planning, heating and transportation. These projects are: a complex urbanisation plan in an urban neighbourhood in Geneva (the Gare des Eaux-Vives project), a sustainable transportation plan for a central district in Geneva (the St-Gervais transportation project) and a strategy to encourage the City’s employees to use sustainable transport for local business travel. The results show some shortcomings in the consideration of health in SEA, EIA and SA. This work highlights a narrow vision of health in SEA and EIA, limiting itself to a review of the effects of projects on the determinants of the physical environment as required by the legislation relating to these tools. EIA does not require the integration of the health dimension. As for SA, our research found that health is treated much more superficially than in HIA and primarily through the analysis of ‘health and safety’ criteria. It appears from this work that HIA is the tool which provides the most elaborate assessment, compared to SA, SEA or EIA, of the consequences for health of the GHG reduction policies chosen by the local decision-makers of a city. However, our study suggests that the HIA community should identify the situations in which HIA should be carried out and in which cases it is better to include health issues within an integrated analysis.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document