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EDITORIAL

ENCOURAGING RESEARCH

Projects funded in 2016Prizes awarded in 20163 questions for Hugues du Jeu

PROJECT FOCUS

International aid perceived by Burundian refugees in the Mahama camp (Rwanda)Management of security risks and social relations in Haiti

DIALOGUE

Which humanitarian transition in Madagascar?We were there / Upcoming events

IN ACTION

The end of the Ebola mission: feedback from French Red Cross personnel

DOCTORAL TRIBUNE

The role of borders in climate adaptation: Bangladeshi migrants in India

A WORD FROM THE FRENCH RED CROSS

«Comparing points of view between humanitarian action Over There and social work Here»The photo of Aylan Kurdi, the Kurdish child found dead on Turkish beach on September 2nd 2015, moved the whole world. Two months before the end of 2016, the UN announced the record number of 3800 migrant deaths in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year. The figure was more than for the whole of 2015, which recorded 3220 deaths at sea in the course of attempted crossings to Europe.

Beyond the legitimate emotion which this image and these figures provoke, the human realities of migratory phenomena observed in Europe have come to impact public policy with regard to these fragile people, no doubt lastingly. More specifically, they have impacted the operational modes of actors in the social and medical-social fields who act alongside them. It is therefore interesting and necessary to observe with the utmost attention the emergence of new actors alongside these people on European soil in general, and French soil in particular. Whilst the link between Here and Over There, between humanitarian action and social work, has been at the heart of the reflection and practices of organisations such as the French Red Cross or Medecins du Monde for a number of years, the recent massive intervention by Médecins sans frontières in Calaisis is probably an important decision which is gradually breaking down the barriers between humanitarianism and social work.

These people’s life stories lead us to observe the transformations of our contemporary world with fresh eyes. It is doubtless time to compare perspectives between a «faraway anthropology and a sociology of proximity». Notions such as the quality of practices and accountability, but also access to the field, relationship to the state, and actors’ security, are not one or the other’s prerogative.

The Fund’s decision to allocate funding for a research project located in the migrant camps of Calais and Grande-Synthe is a real opportunity for the research world and for aid actors. Comparing perspectives and practices is more of a necessity than ever. The human tragedies which these migratory journeys reveal to us remind us of it every day.

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Olivier BernardFrench Red Cross Board member

Former President of Médecins du monder

N°5 DECEMBER 2016

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A NEW THEME: MIGRATIONS

In 2016, five research projects were selected in the course of the Fund’s third call for projects, launched at the beginning of the year. Two projects from the 2015 call are presented in detail in the Project Focus section of this issue. This year, the Fund decided to explore more specific questions, by launching two calls for thematic projects. The question of «Childhood and the Environment in Humanitarian Transition» led to a research project supported by the Claire & François Fund. In partnership with the Malakoff Médéric group, another call for projects was launched on the theme of «Migrations in Northern France», an innovative approach which, for the first time, takes France as the site of investigation. Seven projects have therefore benefited this year from funding of 20 000 € over the course of a year.

TWO RESEARCH PRIZES AND AN HONORARY PRIZE AWARDED BY THE FUND

The Fund’s Research Prizes, of 5000 € each, reward young graduates or more experienced researchers whose work or journeys present audacious or original angles, in fundamental or applied research on humanitarian action, development policy or international charitable aid. Alongside these two distinctions, the Fund awards an Honorary Prize to a researcher whose career has advanced scientific research in the humanitarian field. The 2016 prizes were awarded, and the ceremony in the context of the Fund’s annual seminar in Madagascar organised with the support of the AXA Fund for research, with Le Monde diplomatique remaining the event’s media partner.

ENCOURAGING RESEARCH

The Fund on Course for its First Mission: supporting humanitarian researchTraditional humanitarian action is evolving. The Fund endeavours to apprehend its transformations through research, in order to anticipate them and reinvent a sustainable mode of humanitarian action. The two axes of this support are, on the one hand, the allocation of post-doctoral fellowships for research projects, and on the other hand, the awarding of research prises, which reward fundamental research or applied work on humanitarian action.

ENCOURAGING RESEARCH

1. What reasons motivated your engagement with the French Red Cross Fund?First of all, we share the same concern for the respect of each person, and notably the most fragile, as well as the desire to help them in a concrete way, in a way that is as close as possible to reality, to their reality. We also wish to ground our actions in the most solid knowledge possible, particularly in the social field, and therefore in studies of quality. Finally, our association with a key player in the humanitarian field, which the Fund represents, is evidently a way for us to progress further in the quality of our social action.

2. How would you characterise the importance of links between social science research and humanitarian action?The efficacy of our social action, in terms of its utility for its beneficiaries, is a perennial concern. It is therefore essential to be able to apprehend all of the dimensions of reality experienced by those people whom we support, and whose situations are often very complex. It is in this sense that humanitarian action clarifies and completes social action.

3. Whatdoesyoursupportconsistof,andhowdoyouthinkitwillinfluenceabetterunderstandingofthetransformationsunderway in the sector of solidarity?

The Malakoff Médéric Group wished to consolidate a research partnership with the Fund, around a subject which is increasingly topical on a national scale, yet nevertheless seldom addressed from the perspective of social science research: the situation of migrants.This is why we have committed to financing a post-doctorate research fellowship over three years, which will explore the migrants’ motivations and behaviours from both humanitarian and social perspectives.

Hugues du JeuDeputy Director General, MalakoffMédéricGroup

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Research fundedHumanitarian Transition in the Light of Intimate Relationships. « Conjugal mixity » and appropriation of the « development rent » in Niger Postdoctoral research carried out by Mrs. Amalia DRAGANI, affiliated to the Institut des Mondes Africains (IMAf).

Humanitarian Communication and Journalism in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. A Relationship enabling transition? Postdoctoral research carried out by Mrs. Marie Fierens, affiliated to the Research Centre for Information and Communication Sciences (ReSIC) at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB).

Stakes and Practices of Community Participation in Casamance. Postdoctoral research carried out by Mr. Alvar JONES SANCHEZ, affiliated to the National University of Distance Education (UNED) in Spain.

TheInfluencesoftheSecurityEnvironmentontheHumanitarianDynamicinCameroon.Postdoctoral research carried out by Mr. Pierre Boris N’Nde, affiliated to Laval University in Quebec.

TheConfigurationof«SecurityPrinciples»intheHumanitarianFieldinNiger.Postdoctoral research carried out by Mrs. Tatiana Smirnova, associate researcher at the Centre d’études en sciences sociales sur les mondes africains, américains et asiatiques (CESSMA).

Street Children Faced with Humanitarian Transition : a multiplicity of Senegalese and transnational actors in Saint-Louis. Postdoctoral research carried out by Mme Jean SEMIN, affiliated to Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. ThisprojectwasfinancedbytheClaire&FrançoisFund in the context of the fellowship on « Childhood and the Environment in Humanitarian Transition »

From Sanitary Surivival to Social Survival Amongst Migrants: the stakes of pluralisation amongst humanitarian and social aid actors in thecampsofCalaisandGrande-Synthe.Postdoctoral research carried out by Mme Marjorie GERBIER-AUBLANC, affiliated to the Centre de recherche psychanalyse, médecine et société (CRPMS), Université Denis Diderot Paris 7. ThisprojectwasfinancedbytheMalakoffMédéricGroupinthecontextofthefellowshipon«MigrationsintheNorthofFrance».

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THE 3 PRIZES AWARDED With the support of AXA Research Fund

ELEANOR DAVEY

An historian of humanitarianism Eleanor Davey is a young historian specialised in the history of humanitarianism, and already recognised for the quality of her research, namely on the evolution of French humanitarianism. A prolific researcher with a number of articles to her name, she is also the author of « Idealism beyond Borders: The French Revolutionary Left and the Rise of Humanitarianism, 1954-1988 », which examines the specificities of French responses in the face of “Third World” issues. She currently teaches at the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI) at the University of Manchester, and worked for three years for the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

KANTO JUDE RAMANAMAHEFA

Major Issues in Public Health in MadagascarKanto Ramanamahefa is a young and promising researcher, who is beginning a thesis on “The relationship between carers and patients in maternal and infant care in Madagascar: public health issues in the light of socio-cultural dynamics”. She completed her Masters degree at the Catholic University of Madagascar in 2014, with a project concerning the determining factors of care behaviour amongst pregnant women in the rural Malagasy context. Her interest in the anthropology of health, in an academic context where the discipline is still underdeveloped, led her to conceive of a doctoral project which touches on major public health issues in Madagascar.

ALULA PANKHURST

A life dedicated to research and the struggle against poverty and injusticeAlula Pankhurst has been working for years on Ethiopia and the themes of famine, camps for displaced persons, State pressure, conflict resolution, childhood and poverty. Following his studies at Oxford, he taught anthropology at the University of Addis Ababa and participated in research projects with a number of international institutions, such as the World Bank or the International Livestock Center for Africa. Committed to research and to the struggle against poverty and injustice, he is currently the director of Young Lives and is carrying out research which aims to compare the life stories of young people from developing countries throughout the world.

A detailed description of the projects is available at www.fondcrf.org

Malakoff Mederic Group is funding a post-doctoral research fellowship on the theme : «Migrations in the North of France»

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE FRENCH RED CROSS FUND N°4 JUNE 2016

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International aid perceived by Burundian refugees in the Mahama camp in Rwanda

The Project« Humanitarian Transition and the Appreciation of Local and International Aid by Burundian Refugees in the Mahama Camp »Research co-financed by the French Red Cross Fund and the Monegasque department of international cooperation

Context and Thematic Issue POPULATION FRUSTRATION, FEELING OF REJECTION BY HUMANITARIANS: THE ANALYSIS OF A MISUNDERSTANDING

The political crisis which broke out in Burundi in 2015 falls into the continuity of decades of instability throughout the region. For over a year, the Mahama camp in Rwanda has been receiving refugees who are fleeing the repression of the regime and the generalised insecurity. The study aims to give a voice to the refugees and analyse their perception of the aid that is afforded them. By seeking to understand this reaction, the study strengthens the necessity of humanitarian transition. The initial hypothesis, based on the question of the origins of aid - local or internat ional NGOs - finally gave way to a reflection on the nature of aid and its implementation. The study namely highlights the shortcomings in humanitarian action in terms of listening to the beneficiaries.

Methodology and Roll-Out GIVING REFUGEES A VOICE

Following documentary research, the project put the emphasis on the collection of statements in the field, inside the Mahama camp. Two trips to Rwanda proved necessary. First of all, it was a question of preparing the investigation, the interview guide, of identifying relays and obtaining authorisations. Next, semi-directive interviews were carried out with the refugees, the objective being to create a climate of trust and to encourage free speech as much as possible. The intervention in the camp allowed the team to evaluate the populations’ perceptions relative to several NGOs operating there.

Project Carrier Emeline Uwizeyimana is a doctor in social sciences, affiliated to the Centre d’études de la coopération internationale et du développement (CECID) at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB). She was notably awarded the ULB’s 2014-2015 Alice Seghers Prize for her thesis entitled “An attempt to understand female poverty by way of the specific case of female heads of household in Rwanda in relation to microcredit. From 1994 to 2014”.

PROJECT FOCUS PROJECT FOCUS

InterviewTHE FRUSTRATION OF BENEFICIARY POPULATIONS OF HUMANITARIAN AID SEEMS TO BE THE STARTING POINT FOR YOUR RESEARCH. CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO US WHY YOU HAVE CHOSEN THIS ANGLE TO HIGHLIGHT THE NECESSITY FOR HUMANITARIAN TRANSITION?

Emeline Uwizeyimana: I was a beneficiary of humanitarian aid in a displaced persons camp in 1994. I experienced the relationship with aid actors and the frustration of aid beneficiaries. Then, in the course of my work for an NGO, the roles were reversed… But once again, I was a privileged witness to the gap between humanitarian actors’ good intentions and the disappointed expectations of the populations.We chose a farming project. It was to give 18 cows to women in a village in Rwanda. After a long journey, a night spend in the truck, and the ceremony organised by the village elders, we were able to proceed to the distribution by lottery. Whilst 13 cows were distributed, five were categorically refused. Their colour was incompatible with that of the clan. A full day’s negotiation changed nothing. How could this be interpreted? Was it ingratitude, or a futile experience? One of the women was a widow, she was poor, she had nothing… But poverty is a relative concept. Something stronger than the lack of material goods: social capital, a source of mutual aid, a cultural affiliation. When a gift leads you to renounce what seems fundamental to you, it’s a poisoned gift which, above all, underscores your deprivation and humiliates you.

DID THE INVESTIGATIONS WHICH YOU CARRIED OUT IN THE MAHAMA CAMP IN RWANDA CONFIRM YOUR INITIAL INTUITIONS?

EU: In the camp, I met refugees who have had nothing to eat for 18 months except maize, dried beans and oil. Some go to the markets to sell the maize in order to buy food that they are used to. They lack wood to cook their food. They do not receive any explanations and are neither listened to nor implicated in the aid which is destined to them. Result: they have the impression the maize is being gotten rid of!

Emeline Uwizeyimana

Receiving maize allows them not to die of hunger. But once their problems of insecurity have been resolved, the refugees will not be satisfied by being merely kept alive. After a month spent in the camp, they start to question their future. They know that they will not get their possessions back. They go round and round, have children...

The NGOs deal with emergencies. But they carry out projects where the refugees remain dependent, at the mercy of aid. In the long run, this situation gives rise to immense frustration. On the basis of these feeling suspicions, doubts and rejection develop: “humanitarians are here for the money, we see them drive past in their big cars. They’re rich and they give us maize. There are here for political reasons, or just for the pleasure of travelling…”

WHAT ARE THE SOLUTIONS TO COUNTER THESE HARMFUL EFFECTS? YOU INITIAL HYPOTHESIS QUESTIONS THE ORIGINS OF AID, THE SATISFACTION OF THE BENEFICIARY DEPENDENT ON WHO IS PROVIDING IT. WHAT OF THAT?

EU: My starting hypothesis was based on the influence of an NGO’s identity, be it national or international, as a factor in the positive appreciation of aid. The study in the field invalidated this hypothesis and brought to light opposite and encouraging results. Never mind who provides the aid. It is the capacity for listening, the victim’s participation, and finally, the humanity of the proceedings which really count.

Out of the 13 NGOs operating in the Mahama camp, only two have put projects in place which aim to restore the beneficiaries’ autonomy: Maison Shaloom, a local NGO, and Save the Children, an international NGO. Both develop professional training programmes so that refugees can learn a trade: hairdresser, shopkeeper… They benefit from microcredit, begin to exercise their new profession in the camp and no longer fear for their return to their country. These NGOs also encourage schooling. Since the temporary situation can last for years, some refugees end up leaving the camp to enrol in universities. Limiting the humanitarian response to vital emergencies would mean missing out on an essential need for every man: his feeling of dignity.

Surface Area(km2)

Population(thousand inhabitants)

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Number of children per woman

Average life expectancy (years)

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GDP/inhabitant (current US$)

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1 Number of inhabitants + or – per year for 1000 inhabitants2 Number of deaths between 0 and 1 year for 1000 births3 The Human Development Index, calculated by the UNDP, is a composite indicator of development including data relating to schooling, life expectancy and quality of life4 Proportion of the population living in urban areas

Sources :- UNDP: hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI- World Bank: donnees.banquemondiale.org/indicateur- INED: www.ined.fr

“Poverty is a relative concept”

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Management of security risks and social relations in Haiti

The Project“Humanitarianism in the age of rationalisation. The impact of security risk management on social relations in the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince”

Context and Thematic IssueSECURITY: THE TECHNOCRATIC RESPONSE TO A RELATIONAL PROBLEM

The question of the security of humanitarian actors currently constitutes a major challenge for NGOs in Haiti. Faced with developing insecurity in general and hostility towards humanitarians in particular, the managerial and rational approach triumphs. It is a question of minimising the threat in order to continue saving lives, without worrying about the causes. The standardisation of humanitarian practices and the growing role of experts tend to provide purely technical responses to a relational problem. What happens when humanitarianism is conceived of in a rational, rather than in a relational manner? A gap gradually opens up. This response, the result of previous works by the researcher, orientates the present research towards the relationship between humanitarians and local populations through an analysis of the unequal and paradoxical terms between expatriates and their cleaning ladies.

Methodology and Roll-Out FROM INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS TO RELATIONS BETWEEN EXPATRIATES AND THEIR CLEANING LADIES

This research is based on a previous study which examined NGO’s security policies. The procedures, expert rhetoric, and humanitarian actors’ practices were analysed and confronted with the reality of the figures regarding insecurity. The first conclusions on the choice of bunkerisation and avoidance strategies gave way to a second section which radically differed in its approach. The study was based on ethnographic observation of the relationship between humanitarian actors and their cleaning ladies, and was completed by interviews, as well as focus groups with cleaning ladies. Analysis of the data collected was strongly influenced by theories of care and the concept of privileged indifference.

Project Carrier Arnaud Dandoy is a doctor in Criminology. He is a teacher at Haiti’s State University in Port-au-Prince, and associate researcher at the Centre de recherche interdisciplinaire sur la déviance et la pénalité (CRID&P) at the Université catholique de Louvain. This project is part of his post-doctoral research.

“Walls, real or imaginary, are part of the problem rather than the solution”

InterviewIN WHAT WAY IS THE SECURITY POLICY FOLLOWED BY NGOS, IN HAITI AND ELSEWHERE, OPEN TO CRITICISM OR EVEN COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE?

Arnaud Dandoy: In the face of insecurity which in certain zones affects humanitarian actors, NGOs’ security policies are often limited to a technocratic and standardised approach which does not take the context into account.

Summarily, in a country labelled “at risk”, security experts decide to build walls of a certain height, impose rules, curfews… Bunkerisation, and avoidance strategies, are the only responses to the threat. This defensive posture, conceived of out of concern to preserve the efficacy of humanitarian action, ends up cutting humanitarian actors off from populations, and maintaining, more than security, a certain self-segregation.

Why are humanitarian actors the victims of this insecurity? The question is quite simply not addressed. The roots of the threat are necessarily with the other: the government, the beneficiary… or even with the immature and reckless humanitarian, who would require disciplining. Yet, there is another way: instead of looking for the others’ shortcomings, it consists in examining the link between one and the other.

THAT’S WHY YOU WANTED TO STUDY THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMANITARIANS AND THEIR CLEANING LADIES?

AD: Indeed, I wanted to explore the unequal and paradoxical relationships which develop in a hidden way between humanitarians and household staff, based on the theory of care. Expatriates come to Haiti to provide care for the most vulnerable populations. They gain prestige and recognition. Their mission is rendered possible by domestic workers, who in turn take care of the expatriates. This task, whilst indispensable, is on the contrary devalued, ignored, and erased. Recognising the importance of domestic work would highlight, in an unbearable way, the inequality in the division of privileges, in which the expatriates are the winners, in spite of their values of altruism and solidarity.

Very often, awkwardness predominates on first contact with a driver or a cleaning lady. The reflex is to erase the hierarchical link, impose familiarity, and attempt to develop a friendly relationship. Then, over time, humanitarians learn to become indifferent again, in order not to live in discomfort. Maternalism sets in, with its array of infantilising behaviour and reassuring arguments: “we treat them our employees better than the Haitians, we allow them to work, to get out of precariousness, we give them gifts, they’re part of the family…”

The reality experienced by the cleaning ladies is very different. A number of witness statements which I collected allude to feelings of humiliation, a lack of recognition, which is much worse than the situation of precariousness. Ultimately, this relationship of masked domination is unbearable for both parties.

WHAT ALTERNATIVES AND IMPROVEMENTS DOES YOUR RESEARCH OPEN UP FOR SECURITY POLICIES IN HUMANITARIAN ACTION?

AD: I wanted to demonstrate that the hostility towards humanitarian actors is not a phenomenon that is separate from humanitarian action, that could be treated separately in a technical manner. It is born of a relationship of domination which manifests itself the world over in relationships between developed and developing countries, and which infiltrates relationships between humanitarian personnel and local populations. It is necessary to understand the mechanisms rather than confining the security question to norms and procedures. The responses to security issues should be flexible and intuitive. They possibly reside in the construction of a link of equality, a less-marked hierarchy, and in the reduction of disparities between lifestyles. Yet my approach is realistic: it is not a question of doing away with the technocratic approach to risk. As long as these forms of inequality are not resolved, we will need to build walls… But we must be aware of the fact that walls, real or imaginary, are part of the problem rather than the solution.

Signs at the entrance of an NGO

Secured entrance of an NGO

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1 Number of inhabitants + or – per year for 1000 inhabitants2 Number of deaths between 0 and 1 year for 1000 births3 The Human Development Index, calculated by the UNDP, is a composite indicator of development including data relating to schooling, life expectancy and quality of life4 Proportion of the population living in urban areas

Sources :- UNDP: http://hdr.undp.org/en/composite/HDI- World Bank: http://donnees.banquemondiale.org/indicateur- INED: http://www.ined.fr

27 750

10 744 (87th)

13 (88th)

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64 (159th)

37 (50th)

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Population(thousand inhabitants)

Population growth rate1

Number of children per woman

Average life expectancy (years)

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We were there…Convergences World Forum PARIS / SEPTEMBER 2016

“Insuring against crisis risks: A path towards a humanitarian transition?” Such was the theme of the third round table discussion organised by the Fund in the context of the 9th edition of the Convergences World Forum, on September 5th 2016 in Paris. At the crossroads between technological and humanitarian sectors, insurance mechanisms are real strategic and preventive tools in the face of natural disasters and climate hazards. Alongside Virginie Troit, the Fund’s General Delegate and chair of the round table discussion, three experts took part in the discussion: Christiane Rafidinarivo, doctor in Political Science at the University of Saint Denis in Réunion, Assia Sidibe, Country Engagement Manager for Central and West Africa at African Risk Capacity, and Tanguy Touffut, director of the Parametric Insurance department at AXA Corporate Solutions. All three demonstrated that insurance could play an increasingly important role in situations of crisis, which themselves are increasingly prevalent given the context of widespread climate change. Insurance allows for a transition towards the countries’ autonomisation in the management of natural disasters and their humanitarian consequences.

To be viewed at www.fondcrf.org

Forum espace humanitaire ANNECY / OCTOBER 2016

The FEH, was held at the beginning of October in Annecy, on the theme “Istanbul and Beyond”. As co-founder and co-organiser of this international meeting of peers, the Fund was heavily involved in the choice of themes and speakers for the success of the 2016 edition, which gathered together nearly seventy heads of French, European, American, Asian and African humanitarian organisations. Over the course of three days, the discussions opened up perspectives and allowed participants to better take into account the new challenges which the humanitarian sector is facing today.

Francophonie Summit ANTANANARIVO / NOVEMBER 2016

In the week leading up to its 2016 annual Seminar in Madagascar, the Fund had the opportunity to participate in a high-level research event organized by its partner, the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), among others, at the 16th Summit of La Francophonie in Antananarivo. Entitled «Elites, Democracy and Growth: Elites in Favor of Balanced Growth? «, the panel discussion brought together the chairman of the National Steering Committee of the Summit, the Malagasy Minister of Higher Education and Research, and the Deputy Director General of the IRD.

DIALOGUE

Which humanitarian transition in Madagascar?Each year, the Fund organises a scientific seminar in one of its priority research countries. Following on from Dakar in 2014 and Abidjan in 2015, Antananarivo took up the initiative, by hosting the seminar last 29th and 30th of November. The aims of the seminar are to encourage debate on the Fund’s themes from different national angles and to break down the barriers between the academic world and action in the field.

Upcoming events…Preparatory meeting for a seminar at Senghor University in Alexandria EGYPTE / JANUARY 2017

At the end of January 2017, the Fund will be in Alexandria, in Egypt, on invitation of Senghor University, to put in place the organisation of the 3 to 4 day seminar for students and future African decision-makers. It is a question of raising awareness regarding the potential of research and ethics in redesigning international cooperation. Senghor University, a direct operator for French-speaking countries, trains francophone students from a number of countries whose calling is to hold office in key positions of national or international governance in Africa (see the p.3 interview of the previous issue).

Etats de la recherche 2017 PARIS / MARCH 2017

Following their year of research, the laureates of the 2015 Fund fellowships will present their conclusions in March in Paris, during the “États de la recherche 2017” day event. The Fund will take the opportunity to renew its partnership with Le Monde diplomatique, which shares the Fund’s interest on themes of humanitarian transition. The day will consist of a number of round table discussions involving the Fund laureates and experts from Le Monde diplomatique.

DIALOGUE

At the FEH 2016

The Convergences 2016 panel discussion

Madagascar, subject of study and debate stimulatingMadagascar is a laboratory of diverse solidarity initiatives which mobilise actors from every sector. The management of risks of catastrophes is a perennial challenge for the country, which is particularly vulnerable to climate hazards. It was therefore a natural choice for the annual seminar this year. Studying humanitarian transition and ethics in the Malagasy context seems as topical as it was stimulating, whilst statistics show no improvement in terms of human development and that demographic pressure is set to increase.

EncountersanddialoguesbetweendifferentworldsDeliberately open to a limited number of participants, the seminar gather together 70 people, actors, sponsors and researchers from the humanitarian field, thereby guaranteeing a direct and local dialogue. The seminar, co-organised with the local representation of the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD), was held at Madagascar’s Institut d’études politiques (IEP), in partnership with the Malagasy Red Cross, the National Office for Disaster Risk and Disaster Management (BNGRC), the Malagasy Ministry of Further Education and Research (Mesupres), and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

Two days to further sustainable humanitarianismSix round table discussions took place over two days, each welcoming three or four speakers from academic, humanitarian or Malagasy civil service circles. The discussions on the first day were instructive, drawing the outlines and specificities of humanitarianism in Madagascar, of the transition underway and of ways of reconciling emergency action and more long-term operations. The second day, which was more specifically dedicated to the ethical principles pertaining to humanitarian action, consisted of three round tables and debates concerning autonomy, beneficence/non-maleficence and justice.

The seminar achieved its goal of allowing different actors engaged locally to meet and exchange, and to reinforce the as-yet underdeveloped links between researchers and operatives, in order to endeavour to anticipate humanitarianism to come and shape sustainable action together, in favour of the most vulnerable amongst the Malagasy population. Finally, to launch new dynamics and partnerships so that research may best serve the interests of the population.

The round table discussions are available in video format at www.fondcrf.org

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DOCTORAL TRIBUNE

In the words of Nakia Pearson

Whilst environmental migrations are characterised by population movement between developing countries, the phenomenon is generally treated as a question of security for developed countries, rather than as a humanitarian issue. IN the same way, despite the prevalence of cross-border movement, there is currently no political mechanism intended to protect persons displaced beyond borders as a result of natural disasters. Indeed, the Geneva Convention of 1951 does not provide specific conditions for cross-border migrations linked to the climate, and limits refugee status to persecuted persons fleeing their own governments.

My research project aims to interrogate the concept of “borders” in light of climate change, and more specifically, the strategic role played by borders in climate adaptation in South Asia.

Bangladesh and India share a border that is 4096 kilometres long, the fifth largest land border in the world. Although much of this border is hyper-militarised, it is estimated that 12 to 17 million Bangladeshi immigrants have crossed into India since the 1950s (Reuveny, 2005). Several studies predict that climate change will lead to an increase

in the flux of migrants from Bangladesh to India (Homer-Dixon, 1994; Myers, 2002, Alam, 2003). Bangladeshi immigrants, many of whom have family networks beyond the border, explain that their migration is due to a loss of means of subsistence following cyclones or flooding. April T. Humble (2014) imagines a scenario in which the reinforcement of border security, combined with climate change, could give rise to “populations blocked in their own country or in a transit country, or forced to wander in border regions without being able to access legal protection or essential social services”.

The interviews carried out amongst migrant families, in destination zones in India as well as in native regions of Bangladesh, allowed for the collection of qualitative data on the migrant experience, as well as on the reasons for migration. In the field, help was provided by the community organisation Shushilan, in the coastal region in the south-west of Bangladesh, and by the NGO Swarnivar in the North 24 Parganas district in India, who work on climate adaptation.

The dynamics of human mobility which I observed in this study appear counter-intuitive at first glance. People cross borders inside at-risk zones, exposing themselves to the same cyclones. In order to understand the dynamic of human mobility in a fragile environment, we must therefore call into question our own rationality which is too often based on causal reasoning which treats climate change as an isolated factor. Contact : nakiapearson@gmail.com

The role of borders in climate adaptation: Bangladeshi migrants in India

Houses in the southwest coastal region of Bangladesh

Consultez le texte complet de l’appel 2016 sur : www.fondcrf.orgThe objective of this tribune is to give exposure to the work of PhD students who are carrying out research on topics from the full spectrum of humanitarian affairs. Any PhD student working on such topics through an original angle can propose a presentation of his/her ongoing work (in French or English) and send it to projets@fondcrf.org. The most pertinent contributions may be published in subsequent editions of this tribune.

The first section, an anthropological study, aimed to analyse the ways in which French Red Cross actions had been interpreted, both internally, and externally by patients, populations and other involved parties in the struggle against the Ebola virus in Guinea. The research, entitled “The Red Cross put to the test by the Ebola epidemic in Guinea: an Analysis of an Emergency Humanitarian intervention in the context of a Multidimensional Crisis”, was carried out over the course of a year by Anicet Toily Zran, a historian and disease and health, lecturer and researcher at the Alassane Ouattara University in Bouaké, Ivory Coast, with the participation of Jean-Pierre Dozon, an anthropologist and scientific director at the Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme in Paris. The research aimed to understand the obstacles encountered by the French Red Cross in the implementation of its emergency actions, and particularly the incidence of rumours.

IN ACTION

The end of the Ebola mission: feedback from French Red Cross personnel

Since September 2015, at the request of the French Red Cross, the Fund has been carrying out reflexive research regarding its intervention in Guinea against the Ebola virus. The aim has been to learn lessons from the complex emergency response, in order to better face epidemic outbreaks to come. The research programme included two different but complementary sections.

GivingequalweighttoeachvoiceThe second section of the research programme, proposed by Alain Epelboin, an anthropologist and doctor at CNRD MNHN (Muséum national d’histoire naturelle) and consultant for the WHO on the subject of Ebola since 2003, was focused more specifically on the feedback of French Red Cross operatives in the field in Guinea from 2014 to the present day. An online questionnaire was first submitted to the on July 13th. They were then invited to the “Journée CRF en mission contre Ebola”, which took place at the Ecole pratique des Hautes Etudes on October 15th. With more than 63% participation (118 respondents out of the 186 contacted), the questionnaire fulfilled its first objective of giving a voice to everyone, including those who were unable to attend the gathering.

Feedback collection, from the preparation stage to the return from the missionThe “Journée CRF en mission contre Ebola” was structured around two round table discussions, which organised participants according to their main mission location in Guinea (Macenta, Forécariah, or other). Indeed, it was important for the organising team to take into account the differences between these sites, which inevitably gave rise to different mission experiences. The analysis of the results of the questionnaire provided a list of themes relating to elements which were damaging to the success of French Red Cross actions. These themes were discussed successively in relation to three periods of the humanitarian mission:

● Before the mission: managing delays before departure, the quality of training and knowledge of the context, etc.

● During the mission: difficulties encountered in the field, the quality of relationships between expatriates, between Red Cross personnel and the local population, etc.

● After the mission: managing the return, the quality of the debriefing and personnel support following the mission, etc.

These discussions enabled the identification and understanding of the mechanisms which might impede the efforts made to check and eradicate an epidemic of this size, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the formulation of recommendations to improve actions in order to better prepare future interventions in contexts of epidemic emergencies.

Nakia Pearson, an associate researcher for the FP7 High-End cLimate Impact and eXtremes (HELIX) Eruopean consortium at the University of Liège, is currently carrying out research on social tipping points and on the human impact of extreme climate events in Bangladesh.

The southwest coastal region of Bangladesh

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THE NEWSLETTER OF THE FRENCH RED CROSS FUND N°5 DECEMBER 2016 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE FRENCH RED CROSS FUND N°5 DECEMBER 2016

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE FRENCH RED CROSS FUND N°5 DECEMBER 2016 12

A WORD FROM THE FRENCH RED CROSS

Scientific research, the foundation for action

If we want action to be meaningful, and focused on the beneficiary rather than the actors, without discrediting the latter, it is necessary to base action on research. Research ought to be the foundation of action.

Having worked for years in first aid, I cannot imagine that first aid reflexes, taught to the general public or practiced by first-aid workers, do not directly and integrally benefit the victims, to save their lives or avoid grave consequences. This is impossible if these reflexes are based on recognised scientific principles, which is to say, on scientific research founded in fact.

Research founded in fact has three cornerstones:

• Scientific data;• The quality, skills and training of actors in the field, as well as the means at their disposal; • The needs, wishes and objectives of the beneficiaries.

This research is essential in order to carry out actions in the field, regardless of the field in question. Since its foundation in 2013, following the example of research carried out in the field of first aid by the Red Cross’ Global First Aid Reference Centre, the French Red Cross Fund has supported research in the field of humanitarian action, ethics, but also social action. Indeed, given that they have the same missions - to protect, shelter, feed, and nurse - it seems relevant to bring together humanitarian and social themes in one innovative scientific research structure, such as will be the vocation of the future French Red Cross Foundation.

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THE FRENCH RED CROSS FUND

The French Red Cross Fund is an endowment fund dedicated to research and ethical reflection in the humanitarian field. Created in 2013 on the initiative of the French Red Cross, its mission is to activate, support and reward research projects which put the evolving principles, practices and purposes of humanitarian aid into perspective.

LA LETTRE DU FONDSLa Lettre du Fonds – a bilingual newsletter published twice a year – aims to present the Fund’s research themes by way of its various activities. Subscribe to this newsletter or check out past issues on the Fund’s website.

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Jean-François MATTEI

EDITORIAL BOARD Olivier BERNARDShiana CROSBYVincent LEGERJean-François MATTEIDaniel MEYRANVirginie TROITCaroline VITAGLIONE

EDITORIAL CONSULTING

Agence Galilée www.agencegalilee.com

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Agence Hungry & Foolish www.hungryandfoolish.paris

OUR PARTNERS

The French Red CrossThe Mérieux FoundationThe Claire & François FundThe Princely Government of MonacoAXA GroupMalakoff Médéric GroupLe Monde diplomatique

OUR PARTNERS WITH THE FRENCH RED CROSS

The IRD (Institut de recherche pour le développement)

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Crisis Centre)

ENGLISH VERSION

Juliet Powysjulietpowys.wordpress.com

CONTACT

Fonds Croix-Rouge françaiseHôpital Henry Dunant95 Rue Michel-Ange75016 PARISTél : 01 40 71 16 34Fax : 01 46 51 52 97

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Present on Academia and Research Gate networkswww.fondcrf.org

Daniel Meyran French Red Cross Board member

French Red Cross Fund Board member

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