site selection
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This research will lead to guidelines for field operations for Oxfam. The conclusions have been incorporated in the new
Sphere Minimum Standards in Disaster Response,
supported by most of the leading emergency relief agencies.
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The most critical period in the life of refugee camp is when a site is being selected and physical planning begins. While refugee numbers have increased globally many-fold over the past two decades, refugee camps have largely remained a by-product of the emergency response by the international aid community and the security concerns of host governments.
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Many camps last a number of years, constituting major settlements with populations of hundreds of thousands. Very little has been done to understand the impacts of camps on the refugees themselves, on local populations, on the environment, or on what might be done to mitigate these impacts or turn them to advantage.
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The siting, planning, technical, and management decisions involved in establishing camps determine initially the survival and later the quality of life of many millions of refugees.
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The project has drawn upon collaborative research with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Overseas Development Institute. It will be based upon comprehensive interviews with the leading relief aid agencies and United Nations departments and upon fieldwork case studies in refugee camps for Kosovars, Congolese, Sierra Leonians, Bhutanese, Somalis, Sudanese, Ethiopians, and Rwandans.
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