Adele Harmer

Research Associate, Humanitarian Policy Group

Adele is a Humanitarian Policy Group Research Associate based in Kampala, Uganda and a partner with Humanitarian Outcomes. Her work has focused on humanitarian financing and institutional reform, and security of aid operations. She has previously worked for the Australian Government’s international aid agency (AusAID) and with the Australian Defence Force as a civilian peace monitor.

Outputs

Violence towards aid workers increasing

Opinion - Articles and blogs - 30 June 2013

Delivering aid in the midst of conflict has always been dangerous and difficult work. Over the last few years, aid agencies have increased attention to the risks their staff and partners face in these contexts, including examining security, fiduciary, reputational and legal risks.

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Diversity in Donorship: Field Lessons

Publication - Research reports and studies - 6 April 2010

HPG Reports 30

Adele Harmer, Ellen Martin.

HPG’s latest research examines the role of non-DAC donors in relation to three contexts – the response to the Israeli offensive in Lebanon in 2006; the response to the earthquake of 2005, and floods in June 2007 in Pakistan; and the ongoing response to the protracted conflict in Darfur, Sudan.

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Providing Aid in Insecure Environments: Trends in violence against aid workers and the operational response (2009 Update)

Publication - Briefing papers - 6 April 2009

HPG Policy Briefs 34

Abby Stoddard, Adele Harmer and Victoria DiDomenico

In 2008, 260 humanitarian aid workers were killed, kidnapped or seriously injured in violent attacks – the highest yearly toll on record. The majority of these attacks took place in just countries: Sudan, Afghanistan and Somalia. Kidnappings in particular have increased since 2006, increasing 350% compared since 2006. The fatality rate of aid workers from malicious acts alone surpassed that of United Nations peacekeeping soldiers in 2008. In the most violent contexts for aid workers, politically motivated attacks have risen relative to common crime and banditry, as international aid organisations are perceived as part of Western geopolitical interests.

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Study on the relevance and applicability of the Paris declaration on aid effectiveness in Humanitarian Assistance

Publication - Research reports and studies - 1 March 2009

HPG Commissioned Reports

Adele Harmer, Deepayan Basu Ray

This study attempts to identify the points of commonality and difference between the Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD) principles and those established in the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action, with a view to understanding the ways in which the two agendas interrelate.

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Private security providers and services in humanitarian operations

Publication - Briefing papers - 7 January 2009

HPG Policy Briefs 33

Abby Stoddard, Adele Harmer and Victoria DiDomenico

A 2008 global survey of aid organisations conducted for this research revealed that the contracting of certain security functions to external professionals has become increasingly common among humanitarian operations worldwide. This trend has followed both the rise in aid worker violence and the proliferation of international private security companies around the operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet despite alarming predictions, the use of armed protection by security contractors remains the exception and is confined to a small number of contexts.

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