This issue of Humanitarian Exchange
features articles on the humanitarian
response in the
Democratic Republic of
Congo. The persisting humanitarian
crisis in the DRC continues to exact its toll on the civilian population. Over a million Congolese are still displaced due to continuing
violence in the east, healthcare across much of the country is virtually non-existent, infrastructure and other basic services are lacking, and insecurity and frequent attacks on civilians persist.
The most recent
mortality survey by IRC estimates that 5.4m excess deaths have occurred between August 1998 and April 2007, 2.1m of them since the formal end of the war in 2002. Despite some progress
on security, political and humanitarian indicators, and substantial increases in funding in recent years, the challenges facing aid organisations and communities remain vast. Articles in this feature
examine the tools in place to respond to these challenges, in the form of
rapid response mechanisms to emerging crises, communitybased recovery strategies and best practice in protection programming.Articles in the policy and practice section examine key issues and lessons learned for humanitarian practitioners. In this issue we focus on the relationship between advocacy
and action,
civil–military relations, disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration and the links between conflict and environmental degradation in Darfur. Other articles
explore issues around surge capacity
within operational agencies, the virtues and values of accountability to affected communities and the impact of humanitarian reforms from a field perspective.As always, we welcome any comments
or
feedback, which can be sent to hpn@odi.org.uk or The Coordinator, Humanitarian Practice Network, 111 Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7JD, UK. If you would like
to submit an article to Humanitarian Exchange, please see our editorial guidelines at:http://www.odihpn.org/write4hpn.aspor contact
us at the above address.
Displaced families participate in a protest outside their camp near Somalia's capital Mogadishu, July 15, 2008. Hundreds of displaced Somali women and children on Tuesday protested outside their camps near the ...
