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Post conflict reconstruction and aid

Improving the safety of civilians: a protection training pack

How to protect civilians: a training guide for humanitarian actors

Authors: R. Hastie; S. Swithern; A. Bhreathnach; A. Bonwick
Publisher: Oxfam, 2009

Full text of document

In 1991 during the first Iraq war, a destitute little girl in the holy city of Safwan stood in the middle of a crowd of displaced people with a placard around her neck: ‘We don’t need food, we need safety.’ She epitomised a shift in the understanding of what civilians expect from the international community and the role of humanitarian agencies in securing it. The aftermath of the Rwandan genocide in 1994 saw a further shift. The militarisation of the refugee camps in Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) led agencies to question whether their provision of aid in the camps contributed to the insecurity in the region and had actually undermined the safety of the people they were trying to assist.

There are two sides to protection: first ensuring that humanitarian action does not expose civilians to further risks, and second, proactively using humanitarian action to improve the safety of civilians. Although the two can never be entirely separated, this training pack focuses on the latter: designing programmes that aim to improve the safety of civilians being subjected to violence, coercion, or deliberate deprivation.

It is intended to help humanitarian workers to improve the safety of civilians being subjected to violence, coercion, or deliberate deprivation. It is intended for use by experienced facilitators, who have some knowledge of protection issues, to train emergency-response teams.

The pack includes modules on:

  • What is protection?
  • Planning a programme
  • Mainstreaming protection
  • Programming for protection
The activity sessions within the modules cover topics as diverse as international standards for civilian protection, objective setting, indicators and monitoring, humanitarian negotiation, co-ordination and alliance building, reducing the risk of sexual violence and advocacy for humanitarian protection. A selection of core exercises at the end of the book is designed to encourage interaction and create debate.

[adapted from author]