ABSTRACT

The raison d’être for humanitarian aid is to help people in need, the beneficiaries. The two beliefs guiding humanitarian operations are, 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”. 1 Although the objective of humanitarian operations is to provide aid to a society, relatively little attention has been paid to the sustainability of humanitarian operations. The focus in humanitarian operations has rather been on (the lack of) aid effectiveness. 2 Facing this criticism and trying to please donors, humanitarian organisations are striving to improve their operational efficiency through a focus on cost and time efficiency and by increasing the transparency of their operations. Some aspects of sustainability, such as environmental responsibility, ethics and longevity, have not been in focus in the humanitarian context on the operational level, but this is slowly changing as humanitarian organisations embrace the agenda of climate change adaptation pioneered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 3