Peacebuilding and Humanitarian Support

Peacebuilding and Humanitarian Support

In today's world, various crises threaten people's survival, livelihoods, and dignity. These include armed conflicts, large-scale natural disasters, outbreaks of infectious diseases, and transnational crimes. There are many underlying causes of these crises—such as poverty, discrimination, inequality and climate change—requiring the international community to think and act innovatively and dynamically.

From the perspective of realizing human security and sustaining peace in the face of imminent threats, we attempt to analyze the factors behind these crises in a more systematic way and explore effective approaches to address them through comparative studies of initiatives taken by diverse actors engaged in humanitarian support, sustainable development, and sustaining peace.

Research Project (Ongoing)

Past Research Projects

Comparative Study of Humanitarian Crisis Management from the Perspective of Bilateral Cooperation Agencies

In addressing humanitarian crises, joint efforts by the global community are not only limited to offers of relief but also include support for recovery activities and the need to establish foundations for the prevention of similar crises in the future. Consequently, it is imperative to catalyze effective collective action in order to achieve the best possible outcomes in these areas. This need for collective action was envisioned by the UN General Assembly in Resolution 46/182 of 1991, at the outset of the present humanitarian system, as a `continuum from relief to rehabilitation and development'. This recognition also requires a cooperation among various actors transcending the humanitarian and development divide. Although JICA's new strategy in 2008 emphasizes the importance of providing integrated and seamless assistance, JICA still faces number of challenges in actual practice which requires the improvement of assistance system.
Based on this background, since January 2015, JICA Research Institute conducted a research project, “Comparative Study of Humanitarian Crisis Management from the Perspective of Bilateral Cooperation Agencies" to compare approaches to international humanitarian crisis management realizing the continuum from the viewpoint of bilateral agencies. In this project, our team conducted empirical research through case studies of six humanitarian crises caused by violent conflicts and natural disasters; Timor-Leste, South Sudan, Syrian crisis, Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami (Indonesia), Typhoon Yolanda (The Philippines), and Hurricane Mitch (Honduras). Until now our team has conducted interviews with international organizations, bilateral cooperation agencies, NGOs, and research institutes at HQ and field level in 13 countries. In May 2016, our team distributed the Messages for the World Humanitarian Summit in a side event. The final outcome of this research project will be published as JICA Research Institute Working Papers and a book.

Research Term|2015.01.01〜2019.03.31
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