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Article
Publication date: 28 February 2023

Lysann Seifert, Nathan Kunz and Stefan Gold

Although the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize the importance of leaving no one behind, the opposite is happening for the world's 89 million forcibly displaced…

Abstract

Purpose

Although the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) emphasize the importance of leaving no one behind, the opposite is happening for the world's 89 million forcibly displaced people who are mostly left out of SDGs’ reporting and progress. A key reason for this poor outcome is that host country governments plan refugee camps as short-term shelters, but refugees stay in these camps for more than a decade on average due to ongoing conflicts in their home country. This disparity between intent and reality prevents sustainable living conditions for refugee populations. Operational innovations are needed to find sustainable solutions that ensure a higher quality of life and progress toward sustainability in refugee camps.

Design/methodology/approach

Through an abductive case study, the authors develop a theoretical framework on sustainable operational innovations for refugee camps. The authors use this framework to analyze four sustainable operational innovations implemented in three refugee camps in Jordan.

Findings

The authors develop three research propositions that describe the conditions required for these operational innovations to succeed: they need to include specific needs and cultural preferences of refugees, they must accommodate host governments' restrictions that limit permanent settlement, and finally, technological innovations require careful data management policies to protect refugees. Doing this, the authors account for the broader political-economic and ecological environments that refugee camps are embedded in.

Originality/value

This paper opens a new area of research on sustainable innovation in humanitarian operations. It provides insights into key contingency factors moderating the link between operational innovations and sustainability outcomes. It represents one of the few studies that build their theorizing upon field data collected in refugee camps.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 43 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 September 2018

Hazem Smadi, Nader Al Theeb and Haneen Bawa’neh

It is essential to provide drinking water to affected population directly after a disaster. The purpose of this paper is to develop an optimization methodology that helps in the…

Abstract

Purpose

It is essential to provide drinking water to affected population directly after a disaster. The purpose of this paper is to develop an optimization methodology that helps in the distribution of drinking water in post-disaster situations.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was conducted on two phases: phase 1 aims at identifying an appropriate way to deliver drinking water to refugee camps from external sources, considering required drinking water quantities and four possible sources of water with respect to cost and risk assessments. Phase 2 investigates drinking water distribution within a refugee camp using covering models. The MCLP–optimal number of facilities model is proposed to ensure that the water is distributed and delivered to all individuals in a camp with minimum number of water storage tanks required. A control policy is proposed to ensure the fair distribution of water to all targeted individuals.

Findings

Al-Za’atari refugee camp, located in northeast of Jordan, was considered as the case study for this research. The result showed that the appropriate way to deliver water to the camp is by using tanker–trucks, and a minimum number of five tanks are required to distribute water to individuals inside the camp with respect to tank locations and the allocation of tank of each area.

Originality/value

The proposed methodology is essential in decision making for the distribution of drinking water in refugee camps in short-term needs. The model adds important value to the literature as the proposed problem has no solution in the literature before.

Details

Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, vol. 8 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 August 2017

Sunkyung Choi and Shinya Hanaoka

The purpose of this paper is to develop a method for diagramming a base camp or space for emergency workers and a staging area to be used during sorting, storing, loading, and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a method for diagramming a base camp or space for emergency workers and a staging area to be used during sorting, storing, loading, and unloading of relief goods in a humanitarian logistics base airport.

Design/methodology/approach

A method is developed based on a synthesis of the relevant literature and current practices of airports. This provides a means for estimating the area required for each facility and visualizes the layout of the base through an adjacency diagram and a bubble diagram. The method is applied to the Shizuoka Airport in Japan as a case study.

Findings

The proposed method can be used to determine the approximate size and layout of a humanitarian logistics base in an airport based on the affected population and the number of emergency workers.

Research limitations/implications

Airport operation regulations and mathematical models from architectural planning need to be reflected further.

Practical implications

The method provides potential operational improvements for policies and standards for airport operations and enables government officials and humanitarian logistics organizations to identify concerns in facilitating and managing constraints in existing airports.

Originality/value

This study addresses the detailed phases in a diagramming for a humanitarian logistics base airport by integrating an architectural approach and airport disaster management. The results highlight the importance of managing the flexible use of space to improve effective humanitarian logistics.

Details

Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, vol. 7 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6747

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 9 March 2018

Marianne Jahre, Joakim Kembro, Anicet Adjahossou and Nezih Altay

An unprecedented scale of human migration has lead humanitarians to view camps as long-term settlements rather than temporary holding facilities. The purpose of this paper is to…

16718

Abstract

Purpose

An unprecedented scale of human migration has lead humanitarians to view camps as long-term settlements rather than temporary holding facilities. The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of and identify challenges with this proposed new approach to camp design.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the camp design literature, the authors developed an interview guide and checklist for data collection. A multi-site case study and within- and cross-case analysis was then conducted.

Findings

The findings suggest that the proposed new approach is implemented only to a limited extent, and mostly in a stepwise manner. As camps mature, there is a shift toward the new approach, but most camps are established using the traditional top-down, temporary, and isolated approach.

Research limitations/implications

The findings are based on four camps in four different countries and do not provide an exhaustive global coverage.

Practical implications

The insights the authors derived and the challenges identified from the empirical evidence can be used to better plan future camps.

Social implications

The results can support improvements in camp design, thus alleviating suffering for both refugees and host communities, particularly in developing countries. In particular, the trade-off between a permanent solution and the temporary must be accounted for.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the literature by developing and proposing a conceptual framework to camp design. The cross-case analysis provides an initial understanding and categorization of challenges with implementing the new approach. It also suggests an evolutionary perspective of camp design.

Details

Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, vol. 8 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 June 2008

Michael Dzeamesi

In general, refugee camps are enclosed areas restricted to refugees and those assisting them. These camps are supposed to be temporary, and often lack even very basic social…

Abstract

In general, refugee camps are enclosed areas restricted to refugees and those assisting them. These camps are supposed to be temporary, and often lack even very basic social infrastructure and economic development. In many cases, however, they have become permanent homes for refugees, lasting in some cases over ten years. Using empirical evidence from the Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana, this article examines the possibility and the practicalities of transforming refugee communities from their initial undeveloped state into more developed and modernised societies. It explores the role of the principal stake‐holders ‐ the refugees, the UNHCR and the host government ‐ in the practical transformation of the refugee community. The article concludes that refugees themselves can be instrumental in any substantial transformation of their communities, and that effective transformation is possible through concerted efforts by the various stake‐holders.

Details

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-9894

Article
Publication date: 23 August 2018

Benjamin Mitchell Wood and Per Kallestrup

The purpose of this paper is to describe non-specialised, group-based interventions in displaced populations from reviewed literature, and to explore their outcomes.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe non-specialised, group-based interventions in displaced populations from reviewed literature, and to explore their outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

A literature review was conducted using the PubMed database, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library of Systematic Reviews, and defined “grey literature”. Characteristics of the interventions were summarised into a table under key categories such as targeted persons, study setting, level of evidence, outcome measures, assessment tools used and summary of results.

Findings

In total, 11 articles were identified stemming from nine separate interventions. Three of these were considered level 1 evidence as they were randomised controlled trials. The described interventions were markedly heterogeneous in nature and produced diverse findings. There were noted methodological issues in the majority of interventions reviewed.

Originality/value

This original research has demonstrated clear need for research that uses robust methodology accounting for the complex and challenging nature of this context.

Details

International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1747-9894

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 31 March 2022

Meabh Bonham-Corcoran, Alexandra Armstrong, Amy O’Briain, Amy Cassidy and Niall Turner

This review aims to identify the commonly used nature-based therapies, the cohorts that benefit from these interventions, and the potential environmental impact of nature-based…

11203

Abstract

Purpose

This review aims to identify the commonly used nature-based therapies, the cohorts that benefit from these interventions, and the potential environmental impact of nature-based therapies.

Design/methodology/approach

An integrative review methodology was taken. The literature was analysed and synthesised through thematic analysis.

Findings

Three themes emerged from the analysis: categories of nature-based therapies; benefits of nature-based therapies; and the gains from nature-based therapies are not universal. Evidence of physiological, psychological, social, vocational and quality of life benefits from participation in nature-based therapies was evident in the literature. However, there was insufficient empirical evidence of the benefits for the environment.

Practical implications

Occupational therapists assist populations across the life course. Consequentially, they can be found working in a diverse range of clinical contexts. This review asserts that nature-based therapies could be a positive addition in many of these contexts. Further, while engagement in activities in natural environments is frequently used by occupational therapists practicing within institution environments, there is evidence to support its use in community service models and potentially in public health strategies.

Originality/value

This integrative review brings together evidence on a diverse range of nature-based therapies, cohorts, associated benefits and factors that influence these. The lack of empirical evidence on the benefits of nature-based therapies for the environment is acknowledged as a gap in the literature

Details

Irish Journal of Occupational Therapy, vol. 50 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-8819

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 April 2016

Ngambouk Vitalis Pemunta and Tabi Chama James Tabenyang

This paper aims to examine the dark flip side of the heightened dreams and wild expectations of development as a bright picture that accompanied the discovery of petroleum in…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the dark flip side of the heightened dreams and wild expectations of development as a bright picture that accompanied the discovery of petroleum in politically unstable and donor-dependent Chad.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were elicited through local-level ethnography–participant observation, individual surveys and focus group discussion sessions with stakeholders on the impact of the Chad–Cameroon pipeline and petroleum development project.

Findings

While the “discourse of development” is about a better and new future, this new future, however, has a dark side: un/under-development, “backwardness”, corruption and patronage, leading to deeply entrenched poverty. Petroleum has become a discursive site where the competing discourses about development personified as the provision of material resources are played out.

Originality/value

The failure of petro-dollar-inspired development in Chad speaks to the mutually reinforcing nature of development decisions. Although firms need workers with specialized skills, workers will not acquire those skills in anticipation of employment opportunities. This disjuncture highlights the need for strategic complementarity in investment decision and coordination among economic agents. More than a decade later, the utopic dream of petro-dollar-inspired development as an aspiration is now characterized by a disconnect–environmental degradation, food insecurity, gendered and deeply entrenched poverty. This disjuncture demonstrates the need for a holistic impact assessment that involves different adaptive approaches and focus on a wide range of livelihood issues. Holistic evaluation on all programmes, plans, projects, policies and interventions will lead to the achievement of sustainable people-centred development that conserves the stewardship of nature.

Details

International Journal of Development Issues, vol. 15 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1446-8956

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 1938

AT the Conference at Folkestone of the London and Home Counties Branch of the Library Association, Mr. Jast gave one more example of his old fire and vigour in a paper which he…

Abstract

AT the Conference at Folkestone of the London and Home Counties Branch of the Library Association, Mr. Jast gave one more example of his old fire and vigour in a paper which he entitled Publishers and Librarians. No doubt in other pages than ours the text will be given in full. Here, in summary, we may say that he dealt with some of the needs of librarians and readers for well‐produced editions of good books which for some reason were obtainable only in double‐columned small type or otherwise almost unreadable or at any rate unattractive form. He instanced Disraeli's Curiosities of Literature. He urged that if a sufficient number of public and other librarians represented this want to publishers, promising that the libraries would support such an edition, it was unlikely that the request would be ignored. A further suggestion arose from the established fact that in the welter of editions of certain books many were ill‐produced and unworthy to be placed in the hands of unsuspecting bookbuyers. Robinson Crusoe was a case in point, and as many parents desired their sons to read this they were often persuaded to buy editions which were unsuitable. Here he made a suggestion which is entirely practicable: that the Library Association should examine all of the common classics for form and for textual accuracy—a feature in which he alleged that some were deficient—and fix on suitable editions, allowing the publisher to add to their title‐pages “approved by the Library Association.” We seize upon this point first because there is nothing Utopian about it. It is a work that ought to be done.

Details

New Library World, vol. 41 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0307-4803

Article
Publication date: 1 March 1993

Allan Metz

On 1 April 1978, the Israeli peace movement burst into world consciousness when an estimated 25,000 Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv to urge the administration of Prime Minister…

Abstract

On 1 April 1978, the Israeli peace movement burst into world consciousness when an estimated 25,000 Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv to urge the administration of Prime Minister Menachem Begin to continue peace negotiations with Egypt. A grassroots group called Peace Now is credited with organizing and leading that demonstration. Today, the “peace camp” refers to left‐wing political parties and organizations that hold dovish positions on the Arab‐Israeli conflict and the Palestinian issue. While some figures in the Labor Party view themselves as the peace movement's natural leader, political parties further to the left like the Citizens Rights Movement (CRM) and Mapam are more dovish. In the last 10 years, many grassroots peace organizations have, like Peace Now, formed outside the political party system, with the goal of influencing public opinion and eventually having an impact on policy makers. Peace Now is still the largest, most visible and influential of those organizations.

Details

Reference Services Review, vol. 21 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0090-7324

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