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The purpose of this paper is to identify vulnerable areas for flood hazard and to analyze stakes exposed in touristic valley of Morrocan mountains. The three goals are: methodological (low-cost diagnosis without starting data), operational (to show the risk and identify avenues of prevention in Ourika) and incentive (to reproduce this on other sectors in Morocco).

The vulnerability of three areas of the Ourika valley (the most frequented) was assessed by a hydro-geomorphological study, human frequentation surveys and risk indices at the building scale.

Surveys carried out in the field allowed the identification of areas with high risk, the evaluation of the buildings’ vulnerability and the frequentation of the valley. Evacuation plans, allowing easy access to potential refuges in case of flood, were finally proposed.

The reproducible, inexpensive and relevant nature of the approach (integrated and spatialized) helps in decision making and facilitating dialogue for prevention.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a multidimensional approach for effectively managing natural disasters; this paper has three research objectives. First, it provides an analysis on the hydro-geomorphological effects of the cyclone in the urban context. Second, it proposes an analysis for the vulnerability and resilience recovery of the populations living in urban areas. Third, it specifies the implications for sustainable recovery and longer-term disaster risk reduction.

A detailed case study of the tropical cyclone Pam was carried out to identify hydro-geomorphologic effects and damages in an urban area and specific problems associated with managing natural disaster in Vanuatu.

The investigations reveal that living in an urban area increases a population’s exposure to hydrological, weather and sea-related risks. Whereas advice on cyclones seems to work very well, the coastal risks and floods seem to be underestimated with a very high exposure and vulnerability to risk. Pre-existing vulnerabilities were exacerbated after cyclone Pam. However, other communities have been able to reinforce their resilience through local initiatives. The government and outside aid were very quick to react, despite problems of coordination, exchange of information, communication and long-term strategy.

The bottom-up, top-down, local and global approaches, applied on the time scales, should lead to actions that will reinforce the ability of the people of Vanuatu to adapt to high-energy events and to the effects of climate change.

This paper highlights the importance of understanding how the urban communities are vulnerable to natural hazards and of strategies for increasing their resilience.

The political economy of the humanitarian is a new or a very old concept. On the one hand, if we have the main reference of the “humanitarian interventions” such as they were applied these last decades, there is no specific analysis of political economy on the question. On the other hand, if we introduce the concept of “humanitarian missions,” this one is already more ancient, but not older of two centuries. However, “humanitarian interventions” must not be mixed up with “humanitarian missions.” The first are military actions against a State to protect people within its borders from suffering grave harms. The second are peaceful actions and economic decisions to protect the life of victims of war, internal violence, natural or technologic disasters….¹ Thus, there are two “political economies of the humanitarian,” expressed both in the civil and military fields.

This paper aims to highlight the relationship between money laundering and the patterns of behaviour evident throughout the larger structural environment of the Swiss banking sector. In particular, the paper used HSBC as a prototype case of structural ritualisation to show that the normalisation of corrupt, unethical behaviour in the banking environment has shaped and influenced the behaviour and actions of the embedded group actors.

The paper used a content analysis methodological approach of media sources to collect data. The content analysis was categorised into six core ritualised symbolic practices (RSP) categories – corruption, reputation, blame, ignorance, regret and criticism.

The findings reveal that the highly ranked RSPs involving corruption, reputation, blame, regret, ignorance and criticism influence the embedded group’s patterns of behaviour, and they formed part of the cognitive script that dictated their behaviour and actions in the Swiss banking sector.

The paper added to the calls by Swiss policymakers for amendments to Swiss bank secrecy laws to reflect the changing landscape of international banking and finance.

This is the first paper of its kind to study ritualised illegal practices related to money laundering in the Swiss banking sector.

Electronic health records (EHR) can enable collection and use of data for achieving better health both at the patient and population health levels. The World Health Organization's (WHO) draft 2019 four-year global digital health strategy aims to “improve health for everyone, everywhere by accelerating the adoption of appropriate digital health” and EHRs are key to achieving better health goals. Despite the fact that EHRs can help to achieve better health, there is lack of evidence explaining national and sub-national EHR development in the limited resource settings.

We conducted a landscape study to describe the EHR development and use in the low- and middle-income countries for achieving better health. We reviewed literature from four scientific databases and analyzed gray literature identified in consultation with 17 international experts.

The findings of this literature review are presented in three subsections. The first two subsections describe key stakeholders for development of national and sub-national EHR and health information architecture which includes status of ehealth foundations, EHR, and sub-systems in the country. The third subsection presents and discusses key challenges related to sustainability of national and sub-national EHRs. The findings in these three subsections are further explored through examples of health information flow in Uganda, and electronic medical record/EHR implementation in Sierra Leone and Malawi. These examples briefly describe stakeholders, information architecture, and sustainability challenges.

This paper fills an important research gap and clearly explains the urgent research need to build context-specific EHR development models to enable use of data for better health.

Summarizes the net capital flows from industrial to developing/transitional countries 1970‐1996 and recent changes in their equity and bond markets; and identifies the factors affecting these portfolio flows and risk/return behaviour in OIC stock markets. Uses monthly stock return data from ten OIC countries to demonstrate that despite their volatility they might offer opportunities for portfolio diversification; and uses cointegration methods to investigate the dynamic relationships between them. Discusses the causes of the Asian currency crisis and its impact on these stock marekts; and considers what trade and development policies OIC countries should adopt to improve their economies.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the characteristics of the Latin American participation in the United Nations Mission in Colombia (UNMC), looking into the contributions of regional actors to the peace process in the immediate post-conflict. Testimonies from Latin American actors involved in the demobilization, disarmament and reintegration process help identify their perceptions of strengths and shortcomings of the mission. This paper analyses both the enduring relevance of their individual/institutional trajectories and the adaptations needed to implement the Peace Agreement in the Colombian context.

This is an exploratory case study. Primary data collection relied on in-depth, semi-structured interviews, allowing the authors to tap into how the trajectories of those involved help explain continuities and innovations of the UNMC regarding previous UN missions.

This paper argues that cultural factors are central to understand how Latin Americans participated in the UNMC. The design of the Monitoring and Verification Mechanism and the inclusion of a strong gender agenda make the UNMC a salient case, both for scholars studying Latin American presence in peace processes and for those looking into peace building, more generally.

The fieldwork, conducted with military/security forces, UN officials and civilians, has made available a diverse spectrum of testimonies that provide crucial insights into “lessons learned”, contributing to tracing the trajectories of these actors and providing insights for the improvement of future political and peacebuilding multilateral missions.