Humanitarian Non-governmental Organizations Research Articles

Tree-huggers and baby-killers: The relationship between NGOs and PMSCs and its impact on coordinating actors in complex operations

Private military and security companies' (PMSCs) relationship with state actors has received significant scholarly attention; their interaction with other private actors such as humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has remained largely neglected. This article looks at the evolving relationship between NGOs and PMSCs in three parts. First, it assesses the current state of NGO–PMSC interaction. Two aspects stand out: contracting and conflict. By drawing on existing research on different forms of inter-cultural cooperation such as military–military and humanitarian–military cooperation, the second part of the article will show that conflict between PMSCs and NGOs can inter alia arise from their differing backgrounds, mandates, approaches to security, and short- and long-term goals. By looking at both differences and similarities between the two actors, the third part of the article will sketch out possible pathways for the future.

“A Forgotten Human Rights Crisis”: Statelessness and Issue (Non)Emergence

Despite international laws guaranteeing the right to a nationality, statelessness remains a pervasive global problem that has been termed a “forgotten human rights crisis.” The issue highlights an important question for scholars that has not yet received enough attention: Why do some issues make it onto the international agenda while others do not? This study examines the characteristics necessary for successful issue emergence, or the step in the process of mobilization when a preexisting grievance is transformed from a problem into an issue. Using qualitative data from interviews with 21 decision makers at leading human rights and humanitarian non-governmental organizations, the study highlights shortcomings in the existing literature and provides additional explanations for issue emergence (or non-emergence). Statelessness serves as a case study for better understanding this process, and the article ends with specific recommendations for addressing key obstacles to its full emergence within the international community.

The interaction between humanitarian non-governmental organisations and extractive industries: a perspective from Médecins Sans Frontières

AbstractThis opinion note explores some aspects of the relationship between humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and extractive industries. Médecins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders, MSF) has endorsed a policy of non-engagement with the corporate sector of the extractive industries, particularly when it comes to financial donations. This is coherent with MSF being first and foremost a medical organisation, and one that adheres to the humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality. For humanitarian actors, the prospect of future environmental disasters and environmental conflicts calls for the anticipation of novel encounters, not only with environmental organisations but also with the extractive sector. Unlike environmental organisations, extractive industries are prone to generating or perpetuating different forms of violence, often putting extractive companies on a par with the parties to armed conflicts. In situations where a dialogue with extractive companies would be needed to optimise care and access to victims, humanitarian organisations should carefully weigh pragmatic considerations against the risk of being co-opted as medical providers of mitigation measures.

An evaluability assessment of a West Africa based Non-Governmental Organization's (NGO) progressive evaluation strategy

While program evaluations are increasingly valued by international organizations to inform practices and public policies, actual evaluation use (EU) in such contexts is inconsistent. Moreover, empirical literature on EU in the context of humanitarian Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) is very limited. The current article focuses on the evaluability assessment (EA) of a West-Africa based humanitarian NGO's progressive evaluation strategy. Since 2007, the NGO has established an evaluation strategy to inform its maternal and child health care user-fee exemption intervention. Using Wholey's (2004) framework, the current EA enabled us to clarify with the NGO's evaluation partners the intent of their evaluation strategy and to design its program logic model. The EA ascertained the plausibility of the evaluation strategy's objectives, the accessibility of relevant data, and the utility for intended users of evaluating both the evaluation strategy and the conditions that foster EU. Hence, key evaluability conditions for an EU study were assured. This article provides an example of EA procedures when such guidance is scant in the literature. It also offers an opportunity to analyze critically the use of EAs in the context of a humanitarian NGO's collaboration with evaluators and political actors.

Cross Roads or Cross Purposes? Tensions Between Military and Humanitarian Providers

In October 2001, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed a conference of humanitarian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Washington, D.C. There, he remarked want you to know that I have made it clear to my staff here and to all of our ambassadors around the world that I am serious about making sure we have the best relationship with the NGOs who are such a force multiplier for us, such an important part of our combat team. (1) Although his purpose in this address was undoubtedly to build a foundation for a whole-of-nation effort to promote democracy, respect for human rights, and the elimination of terrorism, the secretary's speech had the opposite effect, angering many of the conference's participants who felt that the US Government was seeking to co-opt their organizations by making them mere ancillaries to the war effort. In 2006 to 2007, Army Lieutenant Colonel James L. Cook was the C J3 (Deputy for Plans and Operations) for Combined Joint Task Force (CJTF) 76, covering Regional Command (RC) South and RC East in Afghanistan. His command controlled most of the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs), and all of the American PRTs operating in those areas of responsibility. Troubling to LTC Cook was the level of redundancy of aid and assistance programs undertaken by the military, government agencies, and the NGO community. He was confused to why: as operators, it was so difficult to get everyone to row together and divide responsibilities to most efficiently and effectively use the limited resources at hand. (2) Although he found levels of access to and cooperation with NGOs varied from project to project and NGO to NGO, Cook felt area-wide communication and cooperation were less than he thought possible and NGOs were (largely) unresponsive to his staff's efforts to streamline the distribution of reconstruction and aid monies. Introduction Like most military and foreign policy professionals, Secretary Powell and LTC Cook have a genuine interest in helping those in need. Alleviating suffering is not their only interest however. The Departments of State and Defense are arms of the United States government and are thus responsible to the nation and its people for advancing their interests well for meeting the needs of those affected by tragedy. Indeed, there is a hierarchy of interests that are served by government-sponsored humanitarian missions. First, advance the goals of the nation, and, second, deliver aid to those in need. There is nothing cynical or hypocritical about this hierarchy. As the previous passages reflect, rather than seeing these national and humanitarian ends conflicting, both Secretary Powell and LTC Cook believed these two goals were in harmony--one supports the other. As the respect for human rights and dignity from policy practitioners is genuine, they believe their common cause with their humanitarian NGO counterparts should serve a basis for a smooth and unproblematic partnership. True, the humanitarians might not share their hierarchy of interests, the latter may privilege the interests of those in need of aid above the interests of the nations that deliver it. But, the government practitioner sees no conflict between serving these two interests, this fact ought not disrupt prospects for cooperation. The continued unevenness in civil-military relations between militaries and nongovernmental aid-givers, sometimes cooperative, often uncooperative (even hostile), thus continues to confuse and frustrate government agents. In fact, the root of such problems stem from the fact that many in the policy community fail to appreciate that humanitarians also have a hierarchy of interests. Humanitarians have historically been concerned with humanitarianism an end much a means, because the practice of humanitarianism redeems the aid-giver much it comforts the recipient--or, more precisely, the aid-giver is redeemed through providing comfort to others. …

From Youth Affected by War to Advocates of Peace, Round Table Discussions with Former Child Combatants from Sudan, Sierra Leone and Cambodia

There are a roughly estimated 250,000 children serving as combatants in armed groups worldwide. They are forced to perpetrate horrific violence and subjected to the same. Studies on the impact of the use of children in armed conflict have tended to focus on the demographics, roles and mental health outcomes of this population and programs are centered on rehabilitation. Few programs, however, are focused on mitigating access, stopping recruitment and securing the release of child combatants during the thick of the conflict or in its immediate aftermath. These interventions are desperately needed not only to ensure the protection of children, but also to help stop conflict and insecurity. In order to gain insight into what more can be done, particularly by security forces, to prevent and ideally halt the practice of using children in combat, the Child Soldiers Initiative hosted a two-day Round Table meeting in Halifax Canada with former child combatants from Sierra Leone, Sudan and Cambodia, academics and humanitarian non-governmental organizations to examine this issue. The results of this meeting are summarized here and include recommendations made to communities, humanitarian organizations, United Nations and peacekeeping forces that address strategies for reducing access and mitigating the use of children in combat.

An interview with Médecins Sans Frontières

Since 1971 Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has been providing emergency medical assistance to populations in crisis. In 2011 MSF has projects in more than 60 countries, and is one of the most widely known independent humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs). While the core remit of the organisation is to provide emergency aid, MSF's work also encompasses provision of basic health care in places where this is insufficient or nonexistent, training of local medical personnel, bearing witness to and raising awareness of populations in danger Material aid is delivered concomitant to medical aid, and when necessary MSF teams are able to repair or develop medical and sanitation facilities. While there is information available online, we considered that an interview with MSF would be of interest, in particular to GP trainees and GPs who are considering taking time out to work overseas. Two specific themes thought to be important to discuss were what opportunities exist for GP trainees to contribute towards MSF's work, together with accountability and sustainability aspects of MSF's projects. On 12 March 2010, Nell Gray, Field HR Officer at MSF UK was interviewed by Dr Luisa Pettigrew and Dr Ha-Neul Seo. > Ha-Neul Seo (HS): Firstly, we would be grateful for an overview of the application process for UK GP trainees and GPs within 5 years of qualification (First5). More specifically, are there any waivers to your essential criteria, and are there any additional assets that you would look for in a doctor specialising in general practice? > > Nell Gray (NG): UK GP trainees would apply using the standardised process for all applicants, after FY2 plus at least 1 year of clinical work (MSF website). > > There are no waivers to the essential criteria. UK GP training forms a good basis for an application as much MSF work is based in primary care. …

Exploring Barriers to Coordination between Humanitarian NGOs

Humanitarian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are increasingly collaborating through inter-organizational structures such as coalitions, alliances, partnerships, and coordination bodies. NGO’s information technology coordination bodies are groups of NGOs aimed at improving the efficiency of ICT use in humanitarian assistance through greater coordination. Despite their popularity, little is known about these coordination bodies, specifically the extent to which they address inter-organizational coordination problems. This paper examines coordination problems within two humanitarian NGO’s information technology coordination bodies. Based on data collected through interviews, observation, and document analysis, despite positive attitudes toward coordination by members, seven of eight widely accepted barriers to coordination still exist among members of these coordination bodies. Further, in a comparison of mandate-oriented, structural and behavioral coordination barriers, research finds mandate issues were most significant and structural factors were found in the greatest numbers. Findings suggest that effective humanitarian NGO’s information technology coordination bodies must pay attention to both organizational design and management issues, although the former are likely to have a greater impact on coordination.

State and Society Responses to Social Welfare Needs in China: Serving the People ed. by Jonathan Schwartz and Shawn Shieh (review)

Reviewed by: State and Society Responses to Social Welfare Needs in China: Serving the People ed. by Jonathan Schwartz and Shawn Shieh Qingwen Xu (bio) Jonathan Schwartz and Shawn Shieh, editors. State and Society Responses to Social Welfare Needs in China: Serving the People. New York: Routledge, 2009. 210 pp. Hardcover $130.00, ISBN 978-0-415-45224-3. In the first comprehensive survey of China’s nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and their role and activities in response to natural disasters, public health crises, and social service needs, Jonathan Schwartz and Shawn Shieh offer a provocative conceptualization about the relationship between the state and NGOs, and propose an alternative framework for understanding the emerging civil society in China. Grounded on a series of empirical and/or case studies, their work indicates that state-NGO relationships have assumed different forms and a dynamic process in China. They innovatively categorize the relationships as regulation, negotiation, and societalization. Westerners may assume that Chinese are disengaged from civil and political participation and that NGOs in China are, by and large, quasi-governmental agencies as China’s political structure and system impede such organizations’ development and grassroots participation. While control or regulation is still prevailing in the context of China’s substantial economic but limited political reforms, the increased internal interest in NGOs and participation is due to these organizations’ special position in the society, as well as their role in service programs that affect people’s daily life. China’s post-reform welfare system has adopted a pluralistic approach, which not only has opened up business opportunities for service provision but also has endorsed various approaches to mobilize social resources and promulgated several models in service delivery. Thus, NGOs that are to care for and serve vulnerable populations, such as at-risk children (chapter 3), have the decided advantage of being unusually autonomous, due to the state’s [End Page 395] needs in “socializing resources” that the state is neither willing to nor able to provide. These social service organizations, including ones with religious backgrounds (chapter 6), have gained more spaces and resources, worked with fewer constraints, and become influential at the local level, which they have achieved with less effort in negotiation. For those NGOs whose working scopes are beyond welfare services and charity, development and even survival are, nonetheless, easy. At the heart of the predicament is the competing priority between the state’s professed goal of social justice and equality and the national agenda to sustain efficiently and effectively its economic progress without unnecessary social uprisings. Thus, when an alternative way, complementary to state law, of promoting a common good and sustaining a communal spirit, such as labor rights (chapter 4) and environmental protection (chapter 5), is through self-governing and self-managing groups and/or institutions, the Chinese government practice is far from encouraging collective action. As stated, this type of NGO can operate and push forward its agenda only under a limited and permissible legal framework (pp. 84, 107). From the reading of chapters 3 to 5, the state-NGO relationships—regulation, negotiation, and societalization as proposed by Schwartz and Shieh—accurately describe the dynamic political environment of NGOs in China. These relationships are not a collaborative arrangement that encourages a variety of parallel systems of norms and regulations to interact; rather, they construct a thoughtful structure about which citizens are able to organize and to what extent NGOs governed by multiple authorities at different levels can evolve into a polycentric system. The third part of this book unfolds a unique discussion about the development of Chinese NGOs in crisis situations. In the situations of natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes in chapter 6) and public health crises (e.g., SARS in chapter 7; HIV/AIDS in chapter 8), the local NGOs, by using local knowledge and expertise, undertake all immediate operations, as Chinese society and the government are not well prepared in terms of crisis response structure and strategies. Humanitarian NGOs are thus in general positively welcomed by the government, given that they reduce the burden on the state. Meanwhile, as the degree of political sensitivity of the work of humanitarian NGOs is low, experience in China suggests that NGOs...

Introduction: The SRSGs and the Management of Civil Wars

This article argues that mediation by special representatives of the Secretary-General (SRSGs) in civil wars involves a distinctly clear strategic purpose: by conducting international mediation and managing international assistance, SRSGs structure the incentives for parties in conflict to exchange the battlefield with a reformed, renewed, or created state. The article offers a substantive introduction to a special-focus section of this issue of Global Governance on the role of the SRSGs in mitigating civil wars. The introduction describes the often conflicted and multilayered role that these individuals play in managing the mediation process, serving as the principal for large-scale UN peacekeeping or political missions, in navigating within the Secretariat and in relation to the Security Council, and in coordinating on-the-ground a panoply of international organizations, regional organizations, donor agencies, and humanitarian or other nongovernmental organizations. The article concludes with three principal issues that consideration of SRSG roles in civil war termination raises: choice, context, and conduct In sum, for more effective leadership management of efforts to end civil wars, the roles and functions of the SRSGs need to become more institutionalized. KEYWORDS: civil wars, mediation. United Nations, peace negotiations. ********** THREE CRITICAL, POLICY-RELEVANT FINDINGS EMERGE FROM THE LITERATURE on sustainable war termination in civil wars. First, the parties cannot do it on their own: protagonists in civil wars need reassurances throughout the transition from war to peace, and they are more likely to succeed if a robust third-party force helps consolidate the peace. (1) The second finding is that mediation must continue well into the postconflict phase, as countries emerging from war are deeply vulnerable to recurring conflict, or new crises and disputes that threaten the peace. (2) The third finding is that the process involves close, careful, and sometimes coercive stewardship of the political process by a third-party mediator to carefully design ongoing negotiation through often violent transitional moments and years beyond a peace settlement. (3) The continuity between the war termination phase, or peacemaking, and the postsettlement agreement phase, or peacebuilding, means that international mediation is inherently long-term engagement and that context-specific leadership from the highest levels of the United Nations--typically by a special representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) (4)--is essential for bringing today's civil wars to an end. Moreover, it is clear that the choice, preparation, conduct, and efficacy of the SRSG are deeply complex processes and issues, often involving negotiation of interest-based preferences from key member states and other disruptions from below. Surprisingly, the academic literature on SRSGs as such is relatively thin, despite the critical role these individuals play in the global management of civil wars, arguably the most directly injurious security threat the world faces. These special focus articles present research conducted under the auspices of the Sustainable Peacebuilding Project, a joint endeavor of the Center for Sustainable Development and International Peace at the Josef Korbel School of the University of Denver and Center for International Policy Studies at the University of Ottawa. The project was sponsored by the Program in International Peace and Security of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The research was the subject of collective consideration at a seminar in New York on 19 February 2009. The project addressed three critical questions on the roles and challenges of the SRSGs, with the aim of bridging the gap between research and policy in this critical area. One conclusion emerged strongly that finds its way throughout the essays that follow. SRSG mediation in civil wars involves a distinctly clear strategic purpose: by harnessing international mediation and managing international assistance, SRSGs provide the opportunity, and structure the incentives, for parties in conflict to exchange the uncertainty and cost of the battlefield and to reach an agreement by which the conflict on the battlefield is arbitrated in a reformed, renewed, or created state. …

Dividing disasters in Aceh, Indonesia: separatist conflict and tsunami, human rights and humanitarianism

This paper examines the interface between human rights and humanitarian action in the context of the conflict and tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia, between 1998 and 2007. It looks at the challenges international humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) faced as they engaged in human rights work in the conflict period and in conflict-related activities in the post-tsunami period. The paper argues that many large NGOs may have compromised what some would hold to be essential principles for humanitarian action because of domestic political concerns, donor restrictions and resistance among certain NGO chiefs. In contrast with the pre-tsunami period, in which NGOs worked for years amid military operations, in the post-tsunami period NGOs were decidedly apolitical, neglecting the conflict in their tsunami response--despite significant developments that permitted greater political engagement in Aceh's post-conflict transformation. The evidence suggests that NGOs are challenged in contextualising humanitarian responses and that there is a need to underscore donor flexibility and independence in humanitarian action.

NGO Structural Adaptation to Funding Requirements and Prospects for Democracy: The Case of the European Union

Most studies on voluntary organisations and advocacy groups focus on their contribution to democracy through participation in the policy-making process. The uniqueness of this study consists in shifting the emphasis to participatory democracy at the implementation stage of the policy process. We argue that public donors may affect the democratic potential of voluntary organisations at this stage. To this purpose, we explore the European Union's structuring effects. Firstly, the European Union manufactures a non-governmental organisation (NGO) landscape through a top-down process of redistribution of resources. Secondly, our attention is drawn to NGOs' adaptations of EU requirements, which entails a transformation process often at odds with participatory practices. In order to grasp the European Union's differential impact, we include in our analysis two sectors (humanitarian NGOs and social voluntary organisations) and two Member States (France and Spain).

Global Flows in Drug Treatment: Heroin Addiction and Therapeutic Community Approaches in China

This article focuses on one residential therapeutic community for the treatment of heroin and opiate addiction in contemporary China. It discusses 2 case vignettes and shows that although addictions are extremely difficult to treat, there are small successes being reached in China's southwest. Residential treatment communities follow mobile global practices that link Western models of 12-step Narcotics Anonymous, self-healing, to other Chinese practices like Maoist "speak bitterness." In China it is in the drug aid theaters where Sunlight-International traveled to do three things: (a) stave off the American drug market, (b ) reduce drug trafficking across national borders, and (c) address the psychosocial problems associated with global drug trafficking and consumption. Through the process of unraveling the on-the-ground practices of public health international humanitarian nongovernmental organizations and some of their therapeutic models, we begin to see new alliances formed across the globe around drug treatment and care that point toward important results.

Orienting psychiatrists to working in emergencies: a WPA-WHO workshop.

Orienting psychiatrists to working in emergencies: a WPA-WHO workshop.

Importing Western Childhoods into a Chinese State-Run Orphanage

Since the early 1990s the Chinese government has allowed foreign humanitarian non-governmental organizations to aid children residing in official state-run orphanages. As one aspect of a larger research project on child abandonment and forms of orphanage care in contemporary China, this article examines an innovative state-civil society partnership of a Western infant special care unit housed within a large official state-run institution. The “Tomorrow’s Children” special care unit, funded and managed by middle-class Western volunteers, uses First World medical practices and universalistic ideologies of children and childhood to care for the institution’s most severely ill and disabled children. This article utilizes ethnographic methods to discuss conflicts over children’s best interests that arise between Western volunteer employers and the local working-class and poor Chinese caregivers who are expected to implement the imported practices. I contend that disagreements over appropriate childcare hinge on cultural and class-based understandings of childhood and differential access to social and financial resources. This research grounds discussions of globalization in a detailed case study by exposing the tensions and negotiations that occur at the local level in processes of transnational exchange.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Outbreak in a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit Linked to a Humanitarian Organization Residential Center

Pseudomonas aeruginosa commonly colonizes the hospital environment. Between April 2006 and September 2008, we investigated an outbreak of P. aeruginosa infection occurring in a pediatric intensive care unit. We conducted epidemiologic and molecular investigations to identify the source of the outbreak. Retrospective case finding; surveillance cultures of patients and environmental sites; admission screening; case-control study; and molecular typing. Infants and children in a pediatric intensive care unit of a tertiary-care institution. Thirty-seven cases of P. aeruginosa infection or colonization were detected between April 2006 and September 2008, including 3 fatal bloodstream infections. A closely-related strain was detected in 4 residents of a humanitarian nongovernmental organization (NGO) center who developed an infection, from 4 additional residents upon their hospital admission, and from a sink drain at the NGO residential center. NGO recipients represented 65% (24/37) of the total number of cases of P. aeruginosa colonization or infection during the outbreak period. Investigation at the residential center showed widespread contamination of the sewage system (10/14 sinks and shower drains, 70%) and a high prevalence (38%) of P. aeruginosa carriage among children. These findings suggest that the probable cause of the outbreak was the contamination of the NGO residential center with further nosocomial transmission after admission, and highlight the importance of considering external sources when investigating hospital outbreaks.

Khalif Bile Mohamud: responding to crises and conflict in Pakistan

Khalif Bile Mohamud: responding to crises and conflict in Pakistan

A general methodology for data-based rule building and its application to natural disaster management

Risks derived from natural disasters have a deeper impact than the sole damage suffered by the affected zone and its population. Because disasters can affect geostrategic stability and international safety, developed countries invest a huge amount of funds to manage these risks. A large portion of these funds are channeled through United Nations agencies and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which at the same time are carrying out more and more complex operations. For these reasons, technological support for these actors is required, all the more so because the global economic crisis is placing emphasis on the need for efficiency and transparency in the management of (relatively limited) funds. Nevertheless, currently available sophisticated tools for disaster management do not fit well into these contexts because their infrastructure requirements usually exceed the capabilities of such organizations. In this paper, a general methodology for inductive rule building is described and applied to natural-disaster management. The application is a data-based, two-level knowledge decision support system (DSS) prototype which provides damage assessment for multiple disaster scenarios to support humanitarian NGOs involved in response to natural disasters. A validation process is carried out to measure the accuracy of both the methodology and the DSS.

A natural-disaster management DSS for Humanitarian Non-Governmental Organisations

Humanitarian Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) play a growing role in the response to natural disasters, but despite being largely demanded, there is no available decision support system (DSS) specifically designed to address their problem. In this paper we present a decision support system (DSS) to aid those Humanitarian NGOs concerned with the response to natural disasters. Such a DSS has been designed avoiding sophisticated methodologies that may exceed the infrastructural requirements and constraints of emergency management by NGOs. A data-based, two-level knowledge methodology which allows damage assessment of multiple disaster scenarios is presented in order to address that problem. Validation results show viability of our approach.

Cash Grants in Humanitarian Assistance: A Nongovernmental Organization Experience in Aceh, Indonesia, Following the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami

Historically, cash interventions, as opposed to material or in-kind aid, have been relatively uncommon in the humanitarian response to emergencies. The widespread implementation of cash-based programs following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami provided an opportunity to examine cash distributions following disasters. The Mercy Corps cash grant program in Aceh, Indonesia, was a short-term intervention intended to assist in recompensing losses from the December 2004 tsunami. An evaluation of the Mercy Corps cash grant program was conducted for the 12-month period following the tsunami using program monitoring data and a systematic survey of cash grant beneficiaries. in 2005, the cash grant program disbursed more than US$3.3 million to more than 53,000 beneficiaries; the average cash grant award was US$6390, which was shared by an average of 108 beneficiaries. In a beneficiary survey, more than 95% of respondents reported the grant allocation processes were fair and transparent and that grant funds were received. The Mercy Corps experience with cash programs suggests that cash interventions in the emergency context, when properly administered, can have an immediate impact and serve as an efficient mechanism for providing assistance. Organizations involved in humanitarian relief, particularly donors and nongovernmental organizations, should consider incorporating cash-based interventions as an element of their response in future emergencies.