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Drawing on an institutional perspective, the purpose of this paper is to shed light on mobility patterns and assignment situations in 15 German non-profit organizations (NPOs) in the public diplomacy and international aid sectors. Its aim is to explore how differing field logics are related to international staffing practices in the different sectors.

A multiple case study approach was employed, based on 51 expert interviews and corresponding document analysis.

The findings display similarities between NPOs of the same sector but differences between the sectors with regard to numbers of “expensive” expatriates and the assignment situation; this is a result of the intersection of different institutional pressures in the respective fields.

The article is based on a limited number of cases in the German context and does not allow for generalization. The results may be NPO specific; further research is necessary to compare the institutional embeddedness of staffing decisions in MNCs, other NPO sectors and country contexts.

Organizations in both fields find different answers to similar external pressures, which may encourage mutual learning.

This article highlights the neglected research topic of expatriation in non-corporate assignment settings and offers an alternative view on staffing decisions than the previously predominant rational one.

This paper seeks to focus on describing the type of relationships that involved public, private and non‐profit organizations in the visioning, planning and building of a large‐scale HIV/AIDS treatment center, stressing the characteristics and role of the partners, with a particular focus on private donors and detailing drivers of alliances that could help in implementing future partnerships in other regions of the World.

Case study, general review. The findings and descriptions in the paper are based on semi‐structured interviews with at least one or more project participants from each key Infectious Disease Institute alliance partner.

Based on interview with project participants, key enablers of project success are identified in communication, local focus, flexible management of funding, access to key stakeholders and business planning based on private sector standards. Specific project shortcomings are also highlighted (lack of planning for knowledge transfer and long‐term sustainability) together with concerns on the ability of similar projects to overcome mis‐perceptions (such as stigma and concerns about private involvement in public endeavors).

The paper focuses on one specific approach adopted in one East African country (with unique characteristics). Therefore, the paper suffers from the external validity limitations of case studies.

The paper presents key drivers of a highly replicable experience that could inform and inspire other businesses to pursue similar development and philanthropic initiatives.

This case study calls attention to a devastating pandemic by describing a way to contribute to its solution through alliances and business sectors' higher focus on social responsibility.

Rehabilitation and reconstruction of social and economic infrastructure in a post-conflict environment are complex, long-debated issues in development cooperation. In addition to war creating large-scale human suffering, generating refugees, displacing populations, engendering psychological distress, obliterating infrastructure and transforming the economy, in post-conflict situations, deepening chaos and disorder can be found at the highest social, economic and political levels; serious developmental challenges remain insufficiently addressed. Repairing war-damaged infrastructure in order to reactivate the local economy is a challenge for all post-conflict countries. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The study was designed to examine planning and execution of post-conflict reconstruction (PCR). The use of a mixed-method research approach combining both quantitative and qualitative data collection was used to explore planning and implementation of PCR infrastructure projects in Kosovo. The data collection in the field was undertaken for a period of eight weeks, from July to September 2008. A total of 420 respondents were involved in the study process, as follows: key informants (four), pilot test (12), semi-structured interviews (36), project manager/engineers survey (231), chief of mission/country director survey (117), and focus group (20). To meet the needs of the society and recognise the required functional components of project management, the overall contexts of managing projects in a post-conflict environment have been discussed in the study.

Planning and implementing reconstruction projects in areas affected by conflict have proven to be far more challenging than expected and responses by practitioners, aid agencies, and government regarded as inadequate. The changing political, economic, and social factors in Kosovo after the war in 1999 have had a significant influence on the limited adoption of a project management methodology in development and reconstruction projects. The findings from the exploratory study were aimed at improving understanding of the planning, pre-designing, and implementation of infrastructure projects. The findings indicated a need to promote a better understanding of how projects are undertaken at all levels of the organisation, and to describe processes, procedures, and tools used for the actual application of projects. The findings of the study identified a poor quality of planning and implementation of reconstruction projects in an environment of complexity, change, and uncertainty. The study also raised some very significant findings for a broader approach to community involvement in project identification, planning, and implementation. Infrastructure projects implemented in Kosovo were used to develop a conceptual framework for designing projects and programmes more likely to yield positive outcomes for post-conflict society.

The study was done by the researcher in Kosovo.

The purpose of this paper is to look into how people in risky environments define human security by using the framework of the draft human security index of the Third World Studies Center, University of the Philippines to study five municipalities. The concept of human security used here is the comprehensive definition that covers “freedom from fear” and “freedom from want” dimensions but using a more local/bottom-up perspective in getting people’s sense of security and threats/risks. As a pilot research, the paper also reveals the shortcomings of the draft index as it does not highlight yet other factors like gender, ethnicity and other sectoral identities.

The pilot municipalities all have a history of violent conflicts or insurgency and they also face other security threats/risks, e.g., natural disasters and effects of climate change, limited sources of livelihood, lack of food, water shortage, etc. Through surveys, focus group discussions and interviews, people were asked about their sense of security and experiences, perceived threats to individuals and the community, understanding of human security and their capacity, as individuals and as a community, to cope with and/or do something about these threats. The focus of the manuscript, however, is the more qualitative responses of informants.

In these conflict areas, poverty and the limited livelihood opportunities are major threats, followed by threats to food, environmental, personal and community security (particularly peace and order). The perceived intensity of certain threats also varies depending on the type of community or group one belongs to. It appears that respondents have a comprehensive view of human security; what they lack are resources and skills to mitigate such threats. Community empowerment and improved local governance are crucial with support from external actors.

It is important to look at the experiences of other areas without histories of armed conflicts to understand possibly different security issues and threats/risks and include perspectives of people based on gender, ethnicity and other identities.

The research shows the value of using local/bottom-up perceptions of people apart from available development and security statistics (which are usually top-down, very general and universalistic) to assess, monitor actual and plan future interventions to address human security threats and vulnerabilities at different levels. The qualitative and quantitative data from the ground are also useful in refining human security-related concepts, hypotheses and theories.

Vietnam has for a long time been ignored by researchers due to the closed nature of the country. Little management research, especially in the marketing field, has been done in this emerging country. Aims, therefore, to describe Vietnamese wholesaling and retailing for consumer products. Distribution channels in Vietnam could be characterized as primitive structures, owing to their level of economic development. The example of Vietnam is interesting because its situation is classical for a less developed country: inadequate transport means; inadequate banking; smuggling; counterfeiting; import restrictions; import taxes; the need to pass through importation companies with little added value to enter the market; the passiveness, even incompetence, of intermediaries; the low income of the population. Therefore, despite huge opportunities in Vietnam, investors should be aware of the unexpected and unstable situations they will have to face, especially in the distribution field. Bases its findings on desk research and face‐to‐face interviews done by the author during a position as an expatriate in Vietnam, from 1993 to 1994.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the challenges inherent in planning and responding to disaster events in a multi-agency context where numerous governmental and non-governmental actors and agencies are involved in the planning and response phases. In particular, the authors examine a situation where a lead agency has recently been delegated the responsibility for emergency relief logistics and how it might determine and implement best practice.

Adopting an iterative inductive approach, the authors gather data and insights from academic literature, emergency management policies, frameworks and documents and exploratory in-depth interviews with 12 key informants who have considerable experience with the challenges of logistic preparation and response to disasters in a developed country context. The data and context are limited to developed counties, especially the state of Queensland, Australia.

The authors discuss the challenge of achieving coordinated supply chain management where mandated/lead response agencies are required to meet stakeholder and local community expectations and outcomes. From these findings, the authors offer 11 practical recommendations to assist the delivery of best practice in emergency logistics.

Humanitarian logistics is usually examined from a low/middle-income country perspective, yet an efficient and effective disaster response is no less important for developed economies. In this respect, the authors offer a fresh examination of the challenges of delivering best practice for emergency logistics in order to achieve expected community outcomes.

Impact mitigation strategies in sub-Saharan Africa on HIV/AIDS in the education sector involved initially the development of education sector policies. This study traces the policy development initiatives, level of implementation, progress made and existing challenges. The study is based on a close (textual) reading of authoritative literature from United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), World Bank, UNESCO and UNICEF for the last decade on global monitoring of HIV/AIDS and statistical data. Studies on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education sector in sub-Saharan Africa have been brought into focus and themes have been extracted and synthesised from a comparative perspective to guide the development of this chapter. Across the countries, the education sector HIV/AIDS policies had concurrence with the countries’ national HIV and AIDS policy or guidelines, and conformed to international conventions, national laws, policies, guidelines and regulations. Most of the countries in Sub-Saharan Africa showed a significant decline in HIV prevalence among young women or men and opportunities to improve HIV-prevention knowledge and behaviour still abound. Antiretroviral therapy and other types of treatment have expanded since the early 2000s, but the number of AIDS-related deaths remains high. This chapter fulfils an identified information/resources need and amplifies the progress achieved in the mitigation of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education sector specifically and humanity in general.