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News from the field

Published 16. May 2016
Expert Deployment NORCAP

Latest news from the field

The Nigerian election delegation speaking to a representative from the Conservative party, the largest party in government in Norway, during the campaign. (Photo: NORCAP/Ida Sem Fossvik)
Europe |

Learning about Norwegian elections

What can the Norwegian parliamentary elections learn from countries with far less experience in democratic election processes? Election observers from seven countries gave their recommendations to Norway after the parliamentary elections earlier this month.

Bidibidi settlement in northern Uganda was established in August 2016 and has quickly become one of the world's largest refugee settlements. (Photo: NRC/Tiril Skarstein)
Uganda |

Uganda: Inadequate response for women and girls

Ahead of the ‘Uganda Solidarity Summit on Refugees’ on June 22-23, NORCAP experts stress the urgent need for more funding to Uganda’s refugee situation. The humanitarian response particularly fails to address the needs of women and girls.

NORCAP expert Hari Prasad Vajja (left) with a UNOSAT colleague looking at flood maps connected to the UNOSAT Flood finder tool. (Photo: UNOSAT)
Global |

Using satellite technology for humanitarian relief

With the assistance of satellite technology, NORCAP deployees to UNOSAT in Geneva develop new tools and initiatives in disaster risk reduction and climate services.

Representatives from several EU countries have participated in the EU meeting in Oslo. (Photo: NORCAP/Ida Sem Fossvik)
Global |

Discussing challenges in election observation

Social media, accusations of fake news, and nations trying to influence elections in other nations are crucial challenges for election observers to handle on future missions, says Emanuele Giaufret, Head of Division, Democracy and Electoral Observation in the European External Action Service. Giaufret is in Oslo for the EU focal point meeting for election observation, organised by NORDEM.

Myanmar |

"Not just paying lip service to humanitarian ideals"

“We can see exciting new developments in Myanmar, both economically and politically. However, there are further humanitarian needs and human rights violations, including in Rakhine State, that should be addressed to ensure all people in Myanmar enjoy peaceful coexistence and prospects for prosperity,” says Ingvill Tveite, NORCAP deployee in Myanmar.

Protection expert Helene Ruud, deployed to WFP in Haiti after hurricane Matthew in October 2016, talking to an affected family in Jeremie, Grand Anse province. (Photo: Ingrid Prestetun/NRC)
Haiti |

"Communication is key to protection"

“The most important thing is to make sure people get information about what, when and where. That takes a way a lot of frustration”, says NORCAP protection expert, Helene Ruud. She recently finished her first mission to the World Food Programme, in Haiti.

Landslide in Mocoa, Colombia. NORCAP and GenCap expert Devanna de la Puente, currently deployed to OCHA in Colombia.
Colombia |

Fear of increased emergency in Mocoa

The upcoming rainy season in Mocoa, Colombia, could increase the vulnerability of women and girls in the area, fears GenCap adviser, Devanna de la Puente. Heavy rains and mudslides resulted in over 300 deaths in Mocoa earlier this month. Women and children are in particular need of help and attention.

A presentation of the winning design, the Women's Bazaar, by the architecture students at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. (Ill: Maria Årtun and Nicole Lilly Gros/AHO)
Jordan |

Prize-winning humanitarian architecture

Architecture students from the Oslo School of Architecture and Design have won a prestigious award in the competition “Place and Displacement: A marketplace in a refugee settlement”. NORCAP experts and teachers Tone Selmer-Olsen and Håvard Breivik are impressed with their students.

Ethiopia is experiencing one of the most severe droughts in half a century due to the effects of El Niño. Significant rainfall deficits – up to 50 percent below average – have severely impacted the lives and livelihoods of farmers and herders throughout the country. Following two consecutive poor rainy seasons – belg (February to May) and kiremt (June to September) – harvests were well below average, with some regions experiencing between 50 and 90 percent crop loss.
Africa|Kenya|Niger|South-Sudan |

How accurate climate information save lives

NORCAP work hard to help people most affected by climate changes. Meet five of our climate experts explaining why it is important to understand the need for accurate climate information and what they do about it.

From left: Amal Zakir (Oxfam), Saba Gawbah (OCHA), Deborah Clifton (GenCap/OCHA) and Layla Lutf (Sam Ban Noah Organisation). (Photo: Alvhild Strømme/NRC)
Middle East|Yemen |

Yemen: An extreme situation for women

Since the war in Yemen started two years ago, women have been pushed to the margins of political influence in the country. GenCap Advisor Deborah Clifton says the situation has gone from bad to worse.

7 March 2017, local women sit under the tree waiting for food distribution in Ngop, Unity State, South Sudan. Photo: Albert Gonzalez Farran/NRC
Africa|South-Sudan |

"If we give up, they might give up"

"It is us, who are outsiders, who need to engage and encourage," says Jeffrey Mapendere, a NORCAP mediation expert deplyed to Juba.

Makonde Chairman Thomas Nguli has his finger prints taken during the launch of the naturalisation and registration drive in Kenya. The Makonde people came as labourers from Mozambique and Tanzania in the 1930s, and their descendants have long been ineligible for citizenship. Photo: Wanja Munaita/UNHCR
Africa |

Confronting statelessness with statistics

People who have no official nationality are often denied their most basic rights. Understanding the scale, causes and consequences of statelessness is vital to addressing the issue.

An internally displaced family in a make-shift shelter in Muna Garage Camp, Maiduguri. (Photo: Tommy Sandlokk/NORCAP)
Nigeria |

Fighting a double crisis

“People in north eastern Nigeria is battling one of the most severe humanitarian crises of today. Most of the food production has collapsed completely, and the conflict with Boko Haram makes it impossible for people to return home and pick up their lives”, says NORCAP expert, Virginia M. Moncrieff.

From left: Benedicte Giæver (NORCAP) and Leni Stenseth (NMFA) signing the new framework agreement. (Photo: Mariken Bruusgaard Harbitz, NMFA)
Global |

76 million to improved crisis response

NORCAP has signed a three-year framework agreement with the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “It is important to ensure quick and efficient access to competent and experienced personnel when a crisis hits, the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Børge Brende, says.

Jacqueline Frize, deployed from the CashCap roster as focal point to the Cash Learning Partnership (CaLP) in the Middle East. Amman, Jordan 2017. (Photo: NORCAP/Tuva Raanes Bogsnes)

Why cash matters

Want to know more about the use of cash in humanitarian work? NORCAP cash expert, Jacqueline Frize, currently working in Jordan, gives you the basics.

Many refugees in Moria camp in Lesvos have been living in tents in the cold weather. NORCAP experts work with Greek authorities and international aid agencies to move the refugees to warmer locations as snow and cold weather has hit the Greek islands and mainland. (Photo: Anthony Geddes/NORCAP)
Europe|Greece |

Greece: Frustration mounts as temperatures fall

Snow and freezing temperatures have made it impossible for refugees in Greece to continue living in tents. NORCAP experts are alarmed and urge the EU to accelerate the relocation process.

After days of continuous rains, parts of Haiti's north, including Cap Haïtien, suffered serious flooding, leaving more than a dozen dead and thousands homeless. (Photo: UN Photo/Logan Abassi)
Morocco |

Everybody needs to act

Attending this year’s UN Climate Change Conference in Morocco, we highlighted how climate services is a crucial tool to reaching the goals established in last year’s Paris agreement. But for it to succeed, everyone must pull together.

NORDEM joins NORCAP

As of 2017, NORDEM, the Norwegian Resource Bank for Democracy and Human rights, will join NORCAP.

Journalism is increasingly dangerous, especially in countries of crisis or conflict. (Photo credit: NRC/ Fredrik Lerneryd)
South-Sudan |

New partnerships to advance safety of journalists

In December NORCAP and UNESCO hosted a roundtable event with Norwegian and Scandinavian media enterprises, journalists’ unions, academia and international media development NGOs to discuss how to improve journalists’ safety and press freedom, especially in times of crisis or conflict.

Aliya* paints at the women and girls protection centre in Debaga camp for internally displaced people, in northern Iraq. (Photo: UNOCHA/Sylvia Rognvik)
Iraq |

Finding solace from sexual violence in Mosul

For the two past years, Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, has languished under the rule of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Under their control, women and girls have been abducted, held in captivity, and subjected to rape, torture and abuse. Two women tell their stories to NORCAP deployee in Iraq, Sylvia Rognvik.

Iraq|Jordan|Liberia |

Responding to the world's crises

NORCAP has more than 200 experts in the field at all times. Although every mission is different, deployees also have many similar experiences. Meet three of our Norwegian NORCAP experts, Sylvia, Sara and Annelies.

One of Ardeshir Baiki's most important tasks as NORCAP staff care adviser is to do debriefs with experts when they return from field missions. (Photo: NORCAP/Andreas Stensland)

Support in stressful times

NORCAP staff care adviser, Ardeshir Baiki wants all deployees to realise that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but strength.

San Calixto, Ocaña municipality in the Colombian Department of Norte de Santander. (Photo: NRC/Fernanda Pineda)
Colombia |

Pioneering peace in a polarised population

Two months after the people of Colombia voted no to the peace agreement, a new agreement has been approved and the president has received the Nobel Peace Prize. Restoring peace in Colombia is more urgent than ever, say NORCAP experts Devanna de la Puente and Åshild Falch.

Three boys from near the city of Aweil in South Sudan, carry their belongings on a cart out of floodwater. (Photo: UNMISS Photo/Staton Winter)
Morocco |

NORCAP attends "the COP of Action"

The UN Climate Change Conference (COP22), takes place from 7th to 18th of November 2016, in Marrakesh, Morocco. Together with participants from all over the world, NORCAP will attend what has been billed as the COP of Action.

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