Socio-spatial dynamics and effectiveness of international humanitarian aid in enhancing the living conditions of people displaced in urban settings

Supervised by Dr Tom Goodfellow and Dr Steve Connelly.

My research aims at examining humanitarian and development interventions in urban developing contexts. With focus on studying the urban environment of refugees and poor people living in protracted crises, this research will try to investigate links between humanitarian response approaches and complex urban environments. As more than two thirds of the words’ displaced population have settled in the cities of the global south, there is a global rising concern regarding the suitability of the traditional humanitarian actions. Such actions were originally designed for rural contexts, and now are being implemented in dense and urbanised areas.

Satisfying the overarching aim of this research entails looking at the perspectives of urban refugees and poor people to understand certain priorities and features that motivated them settle or re-settle in certain city or location. In addition, it is essential to understand the preferences of these urban dwellers regarding certain services they receive from humanitarian agencies along with the associated approaches of delivery. Finally, with similar weight of importance, this project will investigate how adaptive humanitarian agencies when dealing with urban dynamics in fragile settings.

I hold an MSc in Management and Implementation of Development Projects. I have more than 10 years experience working in humanitarian and development projects in the Gaza Strip. I have worked for local and international non-governmental organisations. My expertise has diversified in the fields of emergency response and the provision of humanitarian assistance for crises affected communities, community participation and empowerment, and humanitarian and development assistance in urban displacement and emergency situations. This involved managing and implementing humanitarian projects that utilized different transfer modalities including service provision, in-kind, and cash assistance to vulnerable and vulnerable and emergency affected communities.