Aisling Irwin
Aisling Irwin joined AlertNet in early 2006. She is a freelance journalist and has lived and worked in Angola, Zambia and Indonesia. Before that she was science correspondent for The Daily Telegraph. Aisling has written several books including the story of her journey through Africa retracing the last footsteps of David Livingstone, and a guide to the Cape Verde Islands.
Cash or food? The debate continues...
By Aisling Irwin
The prospect of thousands of Mozambicans dealing with their devastated homes and crops after the current floods subside has highlighted the debate in the aid community about whether to give help with food handouts or cash aid. The agency Save the Children today urged everyone involved in the flood crisis to opt for cash: Cash is the best way to encourage self-sufficiency, to stimulate local markets and to give people the dignity of choice, said Chris McIvor, Save the Childrens country director in Mozambique. ... Full article
By Aisling Irwin
The prospect of thousands of Mozambicans dealing with their devastated homes and crops after the current floods subside has highlighted the debate in the aid community about whether to give help with food handouts or cash aid. The agency Save the Children today urged everyone involved in the flood crisis to opt for cash: Cash is the best way to encourage self-sufficiency, to stimulate local markets and to give people the dignity of choice, said Chris McIvor, Save the Childrens country director in Mozambique. ... Full article
Did the tsunami change the donor landscape?
By Aisling Irwin
Two years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, media interest may be waning, but a report out today is optimistic that when it comes to humanitarian donorship, the wave sculpted a permanent new form.
Global Humanitarian Assistance 2006, published by Development Initiatives, says a new humanitarian architecture is emerging. It attributes much of this change to the tsunami.
... Full article
By Aisling Irwin
Two years after the Indian Ocean tsunami, media interest may be waning, but a report out today is optimistic that when it comes to humanitarian donorship, the wave sculpted a permanent new form.
Global Humanitarian Assistance 2006, published by Development Initiatives, says a new humanitarian architecture is emerging. It attributes much of this change to the tsunami.
... Full article
The trouble with disaster reduction
By Aisling Irwin
Everyone who works in aid -- whether they focus on disaster response or long-term development -- knows that reducing the risk of disasters is of paramount importance. Communities need projects that help prepare them for the worst, so that when disaster strikes both the short-term trauma and the farther reaching fall-out can be adequately managed. ... Full article
By Aisling Irwin
Everyone who works in aid -- whether they focus on disaster response or long-term development -- knows that reducing the risk of disasters is of paramount importance. Communities need projects that help prepare them for the worst, so that when disaster strikes both the short-term trauma and the farther reaching fall-out can be adequately managed. ... Full article
The tipping point of disaster prevention
By Aisling Irwin
New Document The tipping point of disaster prevention After decades of international disaster response -- and the analysis, workshops and rhetoric that have gone with it -- an important new truth has lately been discovered: Prevention is better than cure. More precisely, says Jan Egeland, U.N. Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This, translated into monetary terms, means that one dollar invested in disaster reduction today can save up to seven dollars tomorrow in relief and rehabilitation costs, he reminds us. ... Full article
By Aisling Irwin
New Document The tipping point of disaster prevention After decades of international disaster response -- and the analysis, workshops and rhetoric that have gone with it -- an important new truth has lately been discovered: Prevention is better than cure. More precisely, says Jan Egeland, U.N. Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. This, translated into monetary terms, means that one dollar invested in disaster reduction today can save up to seven dollars tomorrow in relief and rehabilitation costs, he reminds us. ... Full article
Georgia still awash with weapons
By Aisling Irwin
It's less than a month since Saferworld, an NGO that works to prevent armed violence, revealed there are 289,000 small arms and light weapons washing around the breakaway Dnestr region of Moldova.
Now the same NGO, working with the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development, says there are 409,000 weapons in civilian hands in government-controlled Georgia. That means almost one in ten people has a gun. Around 159,000 are registered but the rest appear to be illicit.
... Full article
Next entries
By Aisling Irwin
It's less than a month since Saferworld, an NGO that works to prevent armed violence, revealed there are 289,000 small arms and light weapons washing around the breakaway Dnestr region of Moldova.
Now the same NGO, working with the Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development, says there are 409,000 weapons in civilian hands in government-controlled Georgia. That means almost one in ten people has a gun. Around 159,000 are registered but the rest appear to be illicit.
... Full article
