Background: The administration and management of humanitarian logistical operations are considered critical factors. The extreme and unexpected nature of events such as natural disasters poses logistical challenges to humanitarian support agencies providing aid to the affected area. These...

The war in Sudan, which broke out on 15 April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has triggered the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. Civilians are being directly attacked by the warring parties. The violent actors are destroying...

Background: Each disaster has its specific resource requirements, varying based on its size, location, and the affected region's socio-economic level. Pre-disaster planning and post-disaster dynamic resource allocation including material and human resources is essential. Methods: To address the...

This report presents outcomes from a high-level off-record multistakeholder policy discussion convened by Arigatou International and Globethics in Geneva on 5 March 2025. Representatives from civil society organisations (CSOs), UN agencies, diplomats, and humanitarian experts addressed the...

This report presents a strong economic case for investing in disaster and emergency preparedness. Specifically, this report aims to help policymakers identify and prioritize the most urgent and cost-effective opportunities to bolster the country’s resilience, thereby improving preparedness not...

Background: Despite advances in monitoring and forecasting systems, natural disasters continue to cause significant human losses. During the response phase, fast decisions are required to allocate limited resources, particularly rescue helicopters, which play a key role in reaching inaccessible...

Background: Natural disasters can trigger hazardous material (Hazmat) releases and damage valuable assets, increasing human, environmental, and economic losses. Effective predisaster relocation planning is therefore critical but operationally challenging. Methods: This study develops a...

This evaluation assesses the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) support to Tajikistan over 2015-2024. Tajikistan is highly vulnerable to disasters caused by natural hazards and to climate change due to its topography and limited adaptive capacity. GFDRR has approved 13...

Background: Reverse Logistics (RL) can reduce waste, mitigate environmental impacts, and enhance operational efficiency in Humanitarian Operations (HOs). Nevertheless, it remains weakly institutionalised and insufficiently recognised as a structuring component of Humanitarian Logistics (HL),...

This study examines whether receiving anticipatory cash transfers during an extreme winter affects households’ demand for index-based livestock insurance. We exploit a randomized field experiment conducted during the 2020/21 winter disaster in western Mongolia and combine household panel...

Record numbers of violent conflicts are causing growing needs for humanitarian aid, especially in situations of forced displacement. Given the scarcity of resources, many actors seek to provide more effective, efficient and needs-based support. That is also the objective of the humanitarian,...

We decompose the relationship between food aid and conflict into the channels through which food aid can affect conflict. We address questions of methodological choice and estimation techniques for empirical studies. Our review of the empirical evidence on the effect of food aid on conflict...

The proportion of affected populations who flee violent conflict is much smaller than is widely assumed. Many decide to remain in the conflict zones. They are often referred to as stayees. Three groups can be identified. Some people stay voluntarily. Others do so involuntarily, for example...

The war in Sudan, which broke out on 15 April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has triggered the largest humanitarian crisis in the world. Civilians are being directly attacked by the warring parties. The violent actors are destroying...

Disaster risk management (DRM) plays a critical role in protecting livelihoods and economies from the adverse impacts of disaster and climate-related shocks, while enabling inclusive and sustained growth. The frequency and severity of disasters is rising, driven by the combined pressures of...

Social networks are becoming vital for people to interact with each other, which in turn represent the production of a huge amount of information that can be useful in many contexts (e.g., medicine, natural disasters, commercial purposes, tourism). Nevertheless, analyzing such Big Data for...

Food insecurity remains a global challenge that demands efficient and equitable logistical solutions, especially in the distribution of food aid. This study addresses the Two-Echelon Vehicle Routing Problem (2E-VRP) in foodbank logistics by proposing a novel multi-objective optimization...

Natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods devastate food supply chains and can threaten food security and public health. These disruptions, from production to consumption, lead to shortages, increased waste, and heightened vulnerability among food-insecure populations. This...

The Lessons Learned Exercise (LLE) for Emergency Preparedness and Response (EP&R) in Nigeria is a joint initiative between the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) and the World Bank (WB), spanning eighteen Nigerian states. The LLE is a government-led review of existing EP&R arrangements that...

Romania is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the European Union (EU). The national risk assessment (NRA, RO-RISK) identifies earthquakes as the country's top hazard, potentially affecting over half of the country. Romania's capital city, Bucharest, with its dense population and aging...

The Republic of Cyprus (hereafter referred to as 'Cyprus') faces various natural hazards, including earthquakes. According to the National Risk Assessment (NRA) for the Republic of Cyprus, earthquakes pose the second greatest risk of high impact, following wildfires. Based on national and...

Croatia faces significant earthquake risk due to its moderate to high seismic activity and its vulnerable, aging buildings and other infrastructure. Although earthquakes are comparatively rare in Croatia, they nonetheless pose considerable risk. In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the country...

Big data technologies have greatly enhanced the effectiveness of humanitarian logistics. However, most research in this area has focused on developed countries, with limited application to emerging economies. This study aims to address that gap by systematically reviewing global literature to...

The objective of this combined evaluation was to produce an independent evaluation covering the period of 2019-2023 of two key components, namely: the EU's humanitarian interventions in the Southern Africa and Indian Ocean (SAIO) region (Part A), and DG ECHO's WASH policy (Part B). Part A...

Background: This systematic review explores the integration of green practices into humanitarian supply chains to mitigate environmental impacts and contribute to global decarbonization efforts. Methods: This review focused on peer-reviewed articles published between 2011 and 2024 that addressed...

Background: The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in humanitarian logistics is essential for improving coordination and decision making, especially in the challenging landscape of disaster-relief settings. However, the current literature offers limited empirical evidence with respect to...

Disasters have posed significant economic costs to Bangladesh, and financing needs associated with disaster response are estimated to be substantial. Bangladesh has put in place fiscal mechanisms, social protection programs, and financial instruments to respond to natural disasters. While the...

The European Commission, alongside Poland in its role as the current Presidency of the Council of the European Union, jointly hosted the fourth European Humanitarian Forum in Brussels on 19 and 20 May 2025. Gathering more than 2300 participants, the Forum's high-level discussions, political...