Collaboration in humanitarian operations in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic

This chapter provides an overview of collaboration in humanitarian operations, focusing on the logistical aspects. Humanitarian logistics and operations has emerged as a subfield of supply chain and operations management and studies how humanitarian organizations can be more efficient in the delivery of humanitarian aid. We review the key characteristics of this subfield compared to traditional logistics and supply chain management. Collaboration is particularly important in the humanitarian context, in which only the collective performance of humanitarian organizations should count. We therefore discuss key factors of collaboration using the humanitarian SCOR model. Finally, we analyze how far the COVID-19 pandemic has forced humanitarian organizations to collaborate differently in their operations and what can be learned from it for the future of humanitarian operations. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023. All rights reserved.

Housing inequalities and resilience: the lived experience of COVID-19

COVID-19 policy responses have intensified the use of housing as a spatial and material defence against community spread of infection. In so doing, they have focussed attention upon pre-existing inequalities and the effects of socio-economic management of COVID-19. This paper draws upon individual households' accounts to explore these effects on housing inequalities, and then adapts a critical resilience framework from disaster response in order to examine the implications for policymaking. The empirical work centres upon a case study of lived experiences of COVID-19-constrained conditions, based on a longitudinal-style study combining semi-structured interviews with 40 households, photographs and household tours at two datapoints (before/during COVID-19) in Victoria, Australia. The study reveals how these households were impacted across four domains: (1) employment, finances, services, and mobilities;(2) homemaking including comfort and energy bills, food and provisioning, and home-schooling/working from home;(3) relationships, care and privacy, and;(4) social, physical and mental health. The interviews also indicate how households coped and experienced relief payments and other related support policies during COVID-19. Drawing upon literature on disaster response, we highlight the centrality of vulnerability and resilience in recognising household exposure and sensitivity to COVID-19, and capabilities in coping. From this analysis, gaps in COVID-19 housing and welfare policy are exposed and guide a discussion for future housing policy interventions and pandemic planning.

Corporate Social Responsibility in Times of Epidemic Outbreaks: A Case Study from the Hospitality Industry in Spain

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is increasingly seen as a key aspect of business management. The rapid spatial spread of the COVID-19 outbreak led to border closures and mandatory mass quarantine. In this context, sectors such as the hospitality industry have been actively involved in various CSR activities, providing infrastructure and resources to help governments and societies cope with the pandemic. This study examines the different effects of CSR activities in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak, both from a business and institutional perspective. A qualitative research design has been chosen for this purpose, based on the analysis of in-depth qualitative interviews with the CEO and senior executives of three international hotel chains in Spain. The results reveal that CSR activities have contributed to containing the pandemic by helping to reduce the collapse of healthcare, as well as improving the organization's performance in terms of reputation and image. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Community Resilience Assessment and Identification of Barriers in the Context of Population Aging: A Case Study of Changchun City, China

As a susceptible demographic, elderly individuals are more prone to risks during sudden disasters. With the exacerbation of aging, new challenges arise for urban disaster reduction and prevention. To address this, the key is to establish a community-scale resilience assessment framework based on the aging background and to summarize factors that influence the resilience level of communities. This approach is a crucial step towards seeking urban disaster prevention and reduction from the bottom up, and serves as an important link to enhance the capacity of urban disaster reduction. This paper explores community resilience evaluation indicators under the background of aging, builds a community resilience evaluation index system based on the Pressure–State–Response, uses the entropy weight method to weigh the indicators, and carries out a resilience evaluation of 507 communities in the main urban area of Changchun. The empirical results indicate significant spatial differentiation of community resilience in the main urban area of Changchun. Moreover, the regional development is unbalanced, showing a spatial distribution pattern of weakness in the middle and strength in the periphery. The ring road network highlights the difference between the new and old urban areas. The high contribution indexes of community resilience in the main urban area of Changchun were concentrated on disaster relief materials input, community self-rescue ability, and disaster cognition ability. Finally, strategies to improve community resilience are proposed from the perspectives of stress, state, and response, emphasizing community residents' participation, conducting disaster prevention and reduction training, and improving community response-ability.

Coproducing Support Together: Sustainable and Reciprocal Civic Disaster Relief during COVID-19

COVID-19 changed society in terms of employment, food security, and mental health, affecting all segments of the population. Surging demands for a wide range of support could not be met solely by government-led disaster assistance that experienced breakdowns in the initial phase of the pandemic. The nature of the pandemic as a global, long-haul disaster necessitated sustained, diverse, and extensive civic disaster relief to complement government response. In this paper, we explore how civic disaster relief groups carry out online and offline coordination activities to engage different actors and their positive effects on individuals and local communities, drawing on interviews with civic disaster relief organizers and volunteers in the United States. We interpret our findings with the lens of coproduction that can increase the sustainability, diversity, and extent of civic relief efforts. We then suggest design implications for coproducing disaster relief and discuss the importance and benefits of involving stakeholders who are less likely to be engaged in producing relief. © 2023 ACM.

Economic Sanctions During Humanitarian Emergencies: The Case of North Korea

summary North Korea is experiencing yet another cycle of humanitarian distress. While sanctions are not the primary cause, they are a contributing factor. This essay examines the channels through which sanctions affect the North Korean economy and reaches four conclusions: First, sanctions have contributed to a deterioration of economic performance. Second, the UNSC's 1718 Sanctions Committee should consider a thorough review to identify goods that would warrant blanket humanitarian financial sanctions have raised the risk premium on all financial transac-tions with North Korea;the sanctioning authorities need to do a better job of clarifying transactions permissible under humani-tarian exemptions. Finally, while the global community should reassess its policies, the government of North Korea bears respon-sibility as well. The benefits of sanctions relief will be diminished if North Korea refuses to engage constructively with the tional on a broader range of issues running from basic humanitarian relief to economic reform. Analysis

Domestic Military Deployments in Response to COVID-19

Militaries are commonly deployed in response to domestic disasters. However, our understanding of this phenomenon remains incomplete, partly because the particulars of disasters make it hard to generalize about deployments used in response. This article leverages the COVID-19 pandemic's global reach to systematically evaluate common hypotheses about when and how militaries are used to respond to domestic disasters. It presents original global data about domestic military deployments in pandemic response and uses it to assess common theoretical expectations about what shapes whether and how militaries are used in such contexts. The results suggest that decisions about whether to deploy militaries stem from the securitization of domestic disaster relief rather than being responses to specific disaster-related features, state capacity shortcomings, or other social or political factors, even as some of these elements shaped how militaries were used. The article concludes by outlining some hypotheses for future research about the impact of this securitization on civil–military relations.

The effects of COVID-19 and response measures on poverty, household income and household consumption expenditure in South Korea

Purpose: In response to the pandemic, the Korean government introduced fiscal measures: including the Emergency Disaster Relief Funds which is the first-ever universal benefit in Korea. This paper identifies the effects of the measures on poverty, household income and household consumption expenditure under the disproportionate effect of the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: This study analysed the Korea Household Income and Expenditure Survey (KHIES) with Changes-in-Changes at five percentiles (5, 25, 50, 75 and 95%) instead of Difference-in-Differences (DD) because the parallel trends assumption of DD cannot be investigated due to the recent KHIES redesign. In addition, it also exmined the effects on vulnerable groups (e.g. female, elderly and young households). Findings: COVID-19 has had prompt and disproportionate effects on the vulnerable, such as low-income, female and elderly households. However, the government measures had a limited effect. First, the measures could not mitigate the initial income reduction and only had temporary positive effects on income and consumption expenditure. Second, young households tended to save the relief instead of present consumption. Lastly, education disparity was observed at 25 and 50%. Therefore, this study suggests that response measures need to be sustainable and concentrated on the vulnerable. Originality/value: A large literature estimated effects on either household income or household consumption expenditure, and focused on macroeconomic indices (e.g. marginal propensity to consumption). This study analysed both income (poverty) and consumption expenditure and found policy implications for better welfare system in an economic downturn. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Remittances as a Vital Tool for Economic and Human Security in Latin America 1

While a wide range of extensive literature deal with migration as a security concern, much less attention is aimed at migrant remittances regarding security. However, vulnerable communities in developing regions such as Latin America tend to rely upon the sum of money received from migrants working abroad. In the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has again become apparent that migrant related monetary remittances play a vital role in disaster relief. In this paper it is argued that remittances have been a crucial tool for economic and human security in Latin America especially during the pandemic. Examining primary and secondary statistical sources, the analysis also tries to find explanations for the resilience and increasing volume of cross-border remittances with regard to the Latin American region, exceeding earlier estimates to a great extent.

Design of humanitarian supply chain system by applying the general two-stage network DEA model

PurposeThe recent COVID-19 outbreak and severe natural disasters make the design of the humanitarian supply chain network (HSCN) a crucial strategic issue in a pre-disaster scenario. The HSCN design problem deals with the location/allocation of emergency response facilities (ERFs). This paper aims to propose and demonstrate how to design an efficient HSCN configuration under the risk of ERF disruptions.Design/methodology/approachThis paper considers four performance measures simultaneously for the HSCN design by formulating a weighted goal programming (WGP) model. Solving the WGP model with different weight values assigned to each performance measure generates various HSCN configurations. This paper transforms a single-stage network into a general two-stage network, treating each HSCN configuration as a decision-making unit with two inputs and two outputs. Then a two-stage network data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach is applied to evaluate the HSCN schemes for consistently identifying the most efficient network configurations.FindingsAmong various network configurations generated by the WGP, the single-stage DEA model does not consistently identify the top-ranked HSCN schemes. In contrast, the proposed transformation approach identifies efficient HSCN configurations more consistently than the single-stage DEA model. A case study demonstrates that the proposed transformation method could provide a more robust and consistent evaluation for designing efficient HSCN systems. The proposed approach can be an essential tool for federal and local disaster response officials to plan a strategic design of HSCN.Originality/valueThis study presents how to transform a single-stage process into a two-stage network process to apply the general two-stage network DEA model for evaluating various HSCN configurations. The proposed transformation procedure could be extended for designing some supply chain systems with conflicting performance metrics more effectively and efficiently.

The impact of COVID-19 on food rescue organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand and future crisis management

Purpose The study analyses the resilience of food rescue organisations' operating as "essential services" in response to the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020) in Aotearoa New Zealand. It explores the impact of COVID-19 on the organisations' operation, preparedness, and potential positive impacts. Design/methodology/approach The study employed a qualitative approach based on semi-structured interviews with 19 out of 23 active food rescue organisations across the country. Interview participants included CEOs, founders, managers, and coordinators. Findings The study identifies six impact areas experienced by food rescue organisations during COVID-19, policy and preparedness, funding, operation - logistics and personnel, supply continuity, food security and sector collaboration. Despite these impacts, the organisations showcased admirable resilience through innovation, adaptability, and collaborative practices, enabling the continuation of their services during the crisis. Practical implications The paper provides a three-stage crisis management framework to guide the development and implementation of a crisis management plan to improve the resilience and preparedness of food rescue organisations' response to future crises. The framework is flexible and adaptable to each food rescue organisation's unique operation and capacity. Originality/value This paper offers a retrospective analysis of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 on 83% of food rescue organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand. It is the first paper to study the impact of COVID-19 on food rescue organisations.

Estimates of Power Shortages and Affected Populations during the Initial Period of the Ukrainian-Russian Conflict

Since the outbreak of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict on 24 February 2022, Ukraine’s economy, society, and cities have been devastated and struck on multiple fronts, with large numbers of refugees fleeing to neighboring countries. The lighting systems in Ukrainian cities have been severely restricted due to Russian missile bombing and curfew policies. The power shortages adversely affected the livelihoods of the Ukrainian residents dramatically. For a timely assessment of the power shortages’ extent and the affected population in Ukraine, this study tracked the dynamics of nighttime light emissions in Ukraine based on the newly developed daily Black Marble product (VNP46A2) from NASA. The results show that the average light radiance in Ukrainian urban areas has decreased by about 37% since the eruption of the war, with Kiev city being the most dramatic region, having a post-conflict decrease of about 51%. In addition, by introducing near-real-time population data, we have implemented a survey of the affected population in Ukraine suffering from war-induced power shortages. Estimates show that about 17.3 million Ukrainian residents were affected by power shortages. In more detail, the number of children under 10 years old was about 2.35 million (about 5.24% of the total population), while the number of elderly people over 60 years old was about 3.53 million (about 7.86% of the total population). Generally, the results of this study could contribute positively to the timely assessment of the impact of the conflict and the implementation of humanitarian relief.

Pandemics and Other Health Crises: A Special Report from a European Parliament Workshop.

Once an emergency has passed, general attention typically returns to dealing with day-to-day system management, and the opportunity to learn from the crisis and improve is missed. Lessons from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis must be learned, and the necessary changes made at all levels, both in terms of improving collaboration and strengthening health systems. This special report provides the conclusion of a workshop held in the European Parliament (EP) in Brussels, Belgium. The event explored the modalities of response and preparation to the COVID-19 pandemic, and to health crises in general. The workshop considered actions at different levels: international organizations (global level), European Union (EU) Member States ([MS] national level), and health services (local level). It provided an opportunity to look back at several initiatives taken during the pandemic, and to draw inspiration from them.

Trend of The Utilization of COVID-19 Hotline as a Service Provider on Information Regarding COVID-19 in the Special Region of Yogyakarta

The number of positive cases of COVID-19 in the Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY) is still increasing every single day. One of the measures which can be taken to reduce the number of positive cases of COVID-19 is to provide credible and valid information services regarding the disease. The information provider service is in the form of an interactive hotline so that people can ask for more detailed information related to COVID-19. The purpose of this study is to identify the provision of information about COVID-19 through the COVID-19 Hotline in DIY and analyze its trend of the utility. The research method used is qualitative with descriptive analysis techniques. There are two types of COVID-19 hotlines operating in DIY managed by the Regional Disaster Relief Agency (BPBD) and the Health Office of DIY. The results obtained from this study are the trend of the number of COVID-19 Hotline users in DIY is fluctuative according to the situation and conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic in DIY. The information submitted to the BPBD DIY COVID-19 Hotline is general information related to the way of handling COVID-19. Meanwhile, more detailed health information and mechanisms for handling COVID-19 can be obtained through the COVID-19 Hotline of the DIY Health Office. Through this research, it can be concluded that the COVID-19 Hotline in DIY can provide the information that the community needs. The most asked category of information was related to health services regarding COVID-19. The trend of the utility of the COVID-19 Hotline can be seen through the spread of incoming calls. The largest number of users is in the city of Yogyakarta. This is due to the highest positive cases of COVID-19 in DIY are in the city of Yogyakarta, so the need for information related to the development of COVID-19 also increases. The difference in the number of COVID-19 calls in DIY in each regency can be caused by the COVID-19 Hotline service at the city and district levels as well.

The Public Politics of Supplication in a Time of Disaster

The research explores supplications—acts and utterances seeking divine relief—as responses to disaster in Muslim Indonesia, focusing specifically on the way these are facilitated in public communication at events held by political actors and holders of public office. Two contrasting Islamic perspectives on disaster responses are examined, namely the ritual practices observed by the elites and followers of the traditionalist Nahdlatul ‘Ulama civil society organization and the disaster relief NGO and associated theodicy established by the modernist organization known as the Muhammadiyah. The article observes that collective supplications seeking divine relief—practices typical of traditionalist practice but objected to on doctrinal grounds by modernists—have become dominant in public events, even where the audience is plural in terms of its Islamic affiliation. In explaining the expanding dominance of traditional styles of supplication, we propose two reasons: first, that the modernist repertoire lacks techniques and ritual styles suitable for the collective supplications that audiences demand in times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and second, that the styles of the traditionalist current, oriented to group supplication, are favored by the political actors who mobilize Islamic messaging in political communication. Supplications are approached analytically not simply as requests seeking divine assistance, but also as genres of public communication that are influenced by the dynamic nexus of Islam and politics in Indonesia. © 2022, Cornell University. All rights reserved.

Modularity maximization to design contiguous policy zones for pandemic response.

The health and economic devastation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has created a significant global humanitarian disaster. Pandemic response policies guided by geospatial approaches are appropriate additions to traditional epidemiological responses when addressing this disaster. However, little is known about finding the optimal set of locations or jurisdictions to create policy coordination zones. In this study, we propose optimization models and algorithms to identify coordination communities based on the natural movement of people. To do so, we develop a mixed-integer quadratic-programming model to maximize the modularity of detected communities while ensuring that the jurisdictions within each community are contiguous. To solve the problem, we present a heuristic and a column-generation algorithm. Our computational experiments highlight the effectiveness of the models and algorithms in various instances. We also apply the proposed optimization-based solutions to identify coordination zones within North Carolina and South Carolina, two highly interconnected states in the U.S. Results of our case study show that the proposed model detects communities that are significantly better for coordinating pandemic related policies than the existing geopolitical boundaries.

Micro-estimates of wealth data ‘can help tackle poverty’

Speed read Researchers say new wealth data set can help policymakers tackle poverty Around 97 million people were pushed into extreme poverty in 2021 But experts say more local, disaggregated data collection is needed A data project charting poverty levels in detail across the global South could help policymakers better target social assistance and humanitarian aid, researchers say. Deborah Hardoon, poverty and inequality lead, Development Initiatives Joshua Blumenstock, chancellor’s associate professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information and one of the lead authors of the study, said: “The estimates of absolute and relative wealth are very fine-grained, with one for every 2.4-kilometre square grid cell, which is small enough to satisfy the needs of most policymakers, but also large enough to respect the privacy of individual households. See PDF] “For instance, we compared what our algorithm-generated estimates say about the wealth of people in village X to what an independent survey firm says about the wealth of people in village X. We found that — across four independent data sources from 18 different countries — our new micro-estimates provide remarkably accurate measurements of relative wealth and poverty in LMICs,” Blumenstock told SciDev.Net.

TE RANGA TUPUA: An Iwi (Tribal) Response to COVID-19 in Aotearoa New Zealand

This whakatau&amarc;ki or proverb, from Dr. Whakaari Te Rangitakuku Metekingi (LLD, CBE) of Whanganui and Ng&amarc;ti Hauiti tribes reminds us that, while we must have a vision to aspire toward, we must also tend to the here and now, to the issues that are up front and close to home. It exhorts us to strengthen what has already been achieved and to find ways of creating benefits for others. This paper presents the collaborative response to COVID19 by Iwi (tribes) within Te Ranga Tupua (TRT), a collective of Iwi from the South Taranaki/Whanganui/Rangit&imarc;kei/Ruapehu regions of Aotearoa New Zealand. The research employs a mixed methods design, based on a Kaupapa M&amarc;ori approach. The quantitative section identifies the population served and quantum of support provided, while the qualitative data presents the processes and associated learnings from the perspective of those tasked with the response. TRT's response to the threat of COVID-19 is shown to have been grounded in Maori tikanga (values), wh&amarc;nau (family) based and holistic, taking into account the mental, emotional, social, cultural, and spiritual elements of safety and wellbeing rather than just the absence or presence of the virus. The extensive relationships and networks that existed between tribes represented in the TRT collective were key to the timely distribution of care and support to Iwi members, to appropriate and relevant information dissemination, and to the overall well-being of the people during the most difficult times of the COVID-19 response.

A Model for Understanding the Mediating Association of Transparency between Emerging Technologies and Humanitarian Logistics Sustainability

There has been considerable worldwide attention to the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain technology (BCT), and artificial intelligence (AI) in all sectors of the economy. Despite still being in the expansion phase, the application of the IoT, BCT, and AI to humanitarian logistics (HL) has drawn a lot of interest due to their significant success in other industries. Commercial and noncommercial organizations are both under growing universal pressure for transparency. Therefore, this study offers a model for understanding the mediating association of transparency between emerging technologies and HL sustainability. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was used in conjunction with SmartPLS3. The software was applied to information acquired via questionnaires from 434 disaster relief workers (DRWs) chosen using the snowball sampling approach. The findings suggest that in disaster relief operations (DROs), where corruption and mismanagement in HL have been key concerns for all stakeholders, emerging technologies could be a way forward to achieving system transparency and HL sustainability. The ultimate beneficiaries of transparent and sustainable HL will be all of society, especially the victims of catastrophes. Such victims can receive proper aid on time if the appropriate technology is used in DROs, and early warnings can save many lives. This study adds to the body of knowledge by providing the first empirical evidence assessing the role of emerging technologies in HL transparency and sustainability.