Internally displaced persons (IDPs) have suffered multiple disadvantages and experienced social exclusion due to involuntary movement to new communities where they struggle to find opportunities for social inclusion. This study examined the political dimensions of social inclusion which focus on engaging IDPs in decision-making on issues that concern them. The study used the democratic participatory theory as a framework for political participation through decision-making. The qualitative exploratory study used in-depth interviews to collect data from twelve IDPs, comprising five females and seven males, who were resident in Benue State, Nigeria. Findings show that government does not incorporate the decisions and choices of IDPs when designing humanitarian measures for protection and assistance; IDPs are not communicated with on issues of interest to them; and IPDs lack sustainable opportunities for interaction with host communities. The study concludes that not incorporating the decisions of IDPs in issues of interest to them creates a culture of humanitarian aid dependency. The study recommends democratising solutions by using grassroots bottom-up measures for sustainable social inclusion of IDPs where solutions emerge from IDPs who are the end beneficiaries of the interventions. A discussion of the study findings is followed by concluding recommendations.

Humanitarian innovation is occurring in a wide range of organisational contexts, from innovation labs and hubs, to specialised units within humanitarian organisations, to small social innovation startups and through intersectoral partnerships. Ethical considerations associated with innovation activities have been the source of increased discussion, including critiques around inclusion in the definition of problems, imposition of solutions, introduction of new risks for people in crisis situations and potential for exploitation. To promote ethical innovation, various initiatives have sought to articulate guiding values and to create resources and frameworks to integrate values in project design and implementation. A distinctive yet complementary line of ethical analysis is offered by the approach of positive organisational ethics, which considers the features of organisations that promote and sustain conditions supportive of ethical action. In this paper we examine three dimensions of an organisation’s ethical infrastructure: the resources that are established, such as policies and statements of organisational values; the practices that are enacted, such as methods of onboarding new staff; and the capacities that are fostered and accessed, including ethics knowledge and skills. Attention to these features constitutes an important means of laying the groundwork for organisational conditions that are supportive of ethical humanitarian innovation.

Data-driven humanitarianism is changing the face of aid. More data potentially enables quicker and more efficient evidence-based responses to situations of conflict and disaster. Yet the proliferation of data also challenges traditional lines of accountability, exacerbates the drive toward extractive relations and processes while deepening communication barriers and asymmetric relations between humanitarians and affected communities. This article reflects on critical data literacy as a transformative method in the context of the datafication of the humanitarian sector. It draws on research carried out with internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Nigeria and South Sudan as part of a collaborative international project examining the practice and ethics of data collection and use. The article discusses the project’s participatory ethos, its engagement of IDPs with the project over time and the importance of developing co-produced tools of critical data literacy together with IDPs. Reflecting on the significance of our findings for humanitarian practitioners as well as for academics working in the field of humanitarianism and displacement, the article argues for a collective commitment to engaging with affected communities while cautioning against viewing data literacy as an easy fix to empowerment challenges, both in the conduct of humanitarian work and in the implementation of research.

Diverse SOGIESC issues (sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics) are seldom discussed in humanitarian work but are emerging as an important gap to fill in both knowledge and practice. This review’s objective is to provide a clearer picture of how SOGIESC issues are included in humanitarian practices. A socio-ecological approach is used to identify the different settings in which these issues are present and should be addressed by the humanitarian sector. The review is based on a search of three databases covering peer-reviewed articles and grey literature that link SOGIESC issues and populations with humanitarian work. The fifty-one documents included in this review provide insights into its three main results. (1) SOGIESC concepts must be clarified in the humanitarian sector, which has been partially aware of these concepts and related issues. Two good governance principles should be prioritised and reviewed. (2) The inclusion of SOGIESC issues lacks clear ‘Direction’ (strategic planning) for the reduction of SOGIESC-based discrimination beyond short-term disaster management. (3) Diverse SOGIESC communities lack ‘legitimacy and voice’ to address their needs and participate in emergency responses. Transformative practices are identified to palliate those gaps but, most importantly, to connect humanitarian work to diverse SOGIESC peoples.

In armed conflicts around the world, armed escorts are increasingly used by civilian actors in the delivery of humanitarian assistance. These escorts, at times, include peacekeepers, counter-insurgents, armed forces, armed groups or even private security companies. The use of armed actors, however, remains a critically underexplored issue. This paper will assess the theory and practice of the use of armed escorts by humanitarian actors, uncovering the legitimising discourse and the impact that armed escorts have on humanitarian principles and acceptance by local communities. It accomplishes this through a critical analysis of humanitarian guidelines and policy documents and draws from the limited research on armed escorts. The article draws from fieldwork in Sudan in 2022 to empirically show these trends in Darfur, demonstrating that the use of armed escorts by one non-governmental organisation can cause a knock-on effect to others, and that once in place, there is a lock-in effect.

The September 2023 Special Issue of the Journal of Humanitarian Affairs (5.1) encourages both academics and practitioners to critically engage with humanitarian numbers. The editors cogently enumerate the qualities and limits of these numbers in their issue introduction. Throughout the introduction, however, there is an underexamined notion that numbers drive humanitarian decision-making. This assumption indeed permeates logics of datafication in humanitarianism yet in practice remains more aspiration than modus operandi. This op-ed proposes an eleventh talking point to the growing critiques of humanitarian numbers: Decisions are driven by more than numbers.

Humanitarian health projects generate extensive amounts of data as part of their activities. In many situations, this data will endure long after the projects have ended. Careful attention is needed within project closure planning and implementation to decisions of when and how to share, store, return to the individuals from whom it was collected, or destroy data. Drawing on a review of the literature and guidelines related to data responsibility and project closure, we propose seven questions that can help orient reflection and deliberation around data management from the perspective of an ethics of project closure. The questions foreground considerations related to purpose limitation and data minimisation, respect for data rights, upholding duties of care, clarifying expectations, commitments and agreements, minimisation and mitigation of risk, and alignment of policy and regulatory frameworks for data responsibility. We illustrate the application of the questions to a case study of the handover of a healthcare project in a refugee camp where project activities were transferred from an international humanitarian organisation to local authorities. This analysis reinforces the importance of understanding data responsibility as an essential component of 'closing well'.

This paper explores findings from research carried out alongside a humanitarian project called ‘Bridging the Gap (BtG): The Role of Local Faith Actors in Humanitarian Response in South Sudan’. BtG aimed to better understand the barriers that stand in the way of engagement between local faith actors (LFAs) and international humanitarians (IHs) and to introduce learning opportunities (e.g. training and workshops) to address these. We share perspectives from the LFAs who participated in this ‘localisation’ project about what it means to become ‘legitimate’ humanitarian actors that are recognised and trusted by the international system and why this is important for them, as well as what BtG tells us about the legitimacy of the international humanitarian system from the point of view of LFAs and LFAs’ legitimacy in the eyes of their local communities. We also reflect upon the ways in which the processes of NGO-isation and professionalisation that accompany this journey to become ‘legitimate’, can compromise and undervalue the very qualities that local actors are presumed to possess. This does not indicate the failure of the localisation agenda, but that bold action is needed to make localisation more inclusive in ways that might challenge some areas of humanitarian orthodoxy.

This paper assesses the influence of the humanitarian innovation agenda on the aid sector, particularly medical humanitarian actors' increasing reliance on digital technologies. Pressure to innovate arises from the belief that technological advancements can save lives, leading to the exploration of new technologies in humanitarian contexts. However, the rapid, often uncritical, adoption of new technologies and data practices has raised ethical, political and institutional concerns. To this end, the paper surveys key debates and ethical challenges arising from the deployment of biometric and medical data technologies in humanitarian and disaster settings. To achieve this aim, it gathers issues into three major categories of enquiry: governance, power and control; justice and equity; and trust. These categories assist in conceptualising the moral and ethical tensions between technologies, data and actors in humanitarian spaces. The ongoing deployment of biometric and medical data technologies in humanitarian and disaster contexts raises significant ethical challenges that can only be addressed by practitioners and researchers together. The paper concludes with a call to jointly assess the broader implications of medical data innovations in humanitarianism, emphasising the need for further research and collaboration among different disciplines.