The object of this law is to define the rules for: a) The competencies of the state authorities responsible for relations with the Diaspora; b) The method of maintaining, strengthening and realizing diaspora links with the country of origin; c) The establishment of the Diaspora Coordination Council; ç) The award of national prizes in the field of relations between the country of origin and the diaspora; d) The preservation and cultivation of national, linguistic, cultural and educational identity of diaspora members and their linkage with the state institutions in their country of origin. <

Funded by USAID, the DEMAC initiative – 

This article provides information on how to self-build, and what promotional messages work best to share critical information

This working paper presents the findings from a pilot research project that investigated how disaster-affected households in low- and middle-income countries rebuild their homes in situations where little or no support is available from humanitarian agencies. The project was an interdisciplinary collaboration involving social scientists, geoscientists, structural engineers and humanitarian practitioners.

The Humanitarian Library is designed as a global clearinghouse for regional humanitarian knowledge. As a user-oriented resource, it is designed to be the first reference for both sharing and searching for field-relevant documents. Documents can be found by searching the website using keywords or by using a map search function to find information on specific countries or regions.

UNHCR is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. It also has a mandate to help stateless people.

The Global Shelter Cluster (GSC) is an Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) coordination mechanism that supports people affected by natural disasters and internally displaced people affected by conflict with the means to live in safe, dignified and appropriate shelter. The GSC enables better coordination among all shelter actors, including local and national governments, so that people who need shelter assistance get help faster and receive the right kind of support.

The Sphere Project and its Handbook are well known for introducing considerations of quality and accountability to humanitarian response. Sphere’s philosophy is based on two core beliefs: first, that those affected by disaster or conflict have a right to life with dignity and, therefore, a right to assistance; and second, that all possible steps should be taken to alleviate human suffering arising out of disaster or conflict. The Sphere Project’s minimum standards are evidence-based and represent sector-wide consensus on best practices in humanitarian response.

The Humanitarian Needs Assessment E-learning program is designed to provide an overview of the Humanitarian Needs Assessment process. The process can look very different depending on the scale of a disaster, the role of humanitarian organizations involved and the resources available to any particular organization or to organizations collectively at the country level. The training course looks at assessment from various angles—from the field level to the capitol level—and views the process through the eyes of an assessment coordinator as well as enumerators on the ground.

This course introduces the basics of humanitarian community shelter and settlements (S&S) activities, including some history and trends related to the sector, best practices in assessments and programming strategy, basic shelter responses, the relationship between shelter and its context (settlements), and how to promote the recovery of affected settlements.