Paper details
| Paper authors | Alemayehu B. Hordofa |
| In panel on | ‘Real’ Humanitarian Governance: Accountability, Advocacy, and Alternatives |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
Ethiopia has a long history of exposure and response to humanitarian emergencies. Following the political reform in Ethiopia in 2018, the country faced numerous humanitarian crises and governance challenges at both the local and national levels. One such challenge is the humanitarian governance challenge, which has been undergoing continuous change and fluctuation. This governance challenge is exacerbated by conflict and other drivers of humanitarian need, which are currently becoming more protracted. Likewise, there is a significant disparity between formal and real governance. The country embraces a state-led humanitarian intervention model in its policy, structure, and normative frameworks. However, the real humanitarian governance in Ethiopia is shaped in practice by continuous interaction among humanitarian actors, which brings their interests, values, and practices to the humanitarian space. Based on ethnographic interviews and observations conducted in IDP camps in Mekele (Tigray) and Western Oromia, as well as semi-structured interviews in Addis Ababa, this paper explores the real angle of humanitarian governance. It offers a critical reflection on how the state-led humanitarian action model is shaped in practice through the interaction, collaboration, and negotiation among humanitarian actors and its ensuing effects on the humanitarian response to affected communities in Ethiopia. As the interaction among humanitarian actors in Ethiopia is often filled with friction and confrontation, the Ethiopian context provides an opportunity to study the real humanitarian governance in everyday ‘state-aid-society’ relations. This PhD chapter is conducted as a part of the International Institute of Social Studies’ Humanitarian Governance: Accountability, Advocacy, Alternatives project (Hum-Gov).
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