Browsing by Author "Kehler, Nicole"

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    Coordinating Humanitarian Assistance: A Comparative Analysis of Three Cases
    Kehler, Nicole (Virginia Tech, 2004-05-13)
    For many years the United Nations (UN) has sought to coordinate its numerous agencies and other humanitarian relief actors during responses to natural disasters and complex emergencies. Its success in this endeavor has been mixed. Through an analysis of three different humanitarian relief operations-the Rwanda genocide in 1994, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's intervention in Kosovo in 1999, and the floods of 2000 in Mozambique-this paper describes more fully the conditions under which coordination efforts occur. Specifically, this essay argues that successful and effective coordination in each particular crisis depends on the extent to which certain capacity and contextual conditions were present. In addition, it suggests that the often-touted "coordination by command" approach, a top-down style of coordination, should not be assumed by the UN since, as the literature suggests, this notion is quite contentious among nongovernmental organizations and United Nations staff alike. This paper critiques the utility of pursuing this model and offers instead an alternative vision of a pragmatic facilitation role for UN agencies in humanitarian relief operations
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    Rethinking Humanitarian Assistance Coordination
    Stephenson, Max O. Jr.; Kehler, Nicole (ISTR, 2004-07)
    This paper develops an analytical framework to address an issue of enduring and seemingly intractable concern, how to secure improved coordination among those parties and organizations that seek to provide assistance in humanitarian crises. This matter receives persistent attention because all parties agree that more successful coordination of their efforts will lead to improved outcomes for those they seek to serve. The trouble is that the structure of actors and the operating environments in which humanitarian agents must work do not readily encourage broad and open cooperation among them. The humanitarian assistance literature has rightly been preoccupied with describing the dimensions of that operating environment and with seeking to understand better what conditions and characteristics of organizational structure and operation might lead to improved service delivery processes and outcomes.