A Word from Ross Mountain
A word from Ross Mountain
Ross Mountain served the United Nations for over 36 years. He has been a major driver of reforms in the humanitarian system and has led some of the world´s largest emergency operations. Every month Ross speaks out on key humanitarian issues. Read more...
December 2012: Transition
A word from Ross Mountain: December 2012 After a particularly full and interesting three years with DARA, the time has come for me to move on. During my tenure I have been pleased to be part of the consolidation and expansion of the organisation’s evaluation [...] Read more...
October 2012: Save Lives and Money
A word from Ross Mountain: October 2012 Climate change thinking received a shot in the arm with the launch of the second edition of DARA’s Climate Vulnerability Monitor developed on behalf of the Climate Vulnerable Forum, an international initiative currently [...] Read more...
June 2012: Wide stakeholder survey on the value of the Humanitarian Response Index
A word from Ross Mountain: June 2012 In 2007 DARA created the Humanitarian Response Index (HRI) to appraise donor government efforts around the quality, transparency and accountability of their humanitarian aid against GHD criteria. The aim has been to encourage [...] Read more...
April 2012: Aid efforts no longer the exclusive domain of Western donor governments and aid agencies
A word from Ross Mountain: April 2012 For the past 5 years DARA’s Humanitarian Response Index (HRI) has been researching how governments can make the most effective use of the money they provide to respond to disasters and conflicts around the world. [...] Read more...
February 2012: Five years of the Humanitarian Response Index
A word from Ross Mountain: February 2012 This year marks the end of the first five-year phase of the Humanitarian Response Index (HRI). Since the initiative began, we have learned a great deal about the challenge of effectively providing humanitarian assistance [...] Read more...
January 2012: When will we learn?
A word from Ross Mountain: January 2012. The recent famine in the Horn of Africa and the currently recurring drought in West Africa’s Sahel region are classic examples of why prevention and preparedness are so important, and reveal the chronic inability of the humanitarian sector to address what are essentially predictable crises early. Read more...
December 2011: US cuts to humanitarian assistance would be severely felt
A word from Ross Mountain: December 2011 Amid the ongoing debate for substantial cuts to the State Department’s foreign aid budget based on the argument that it has been a poor investment without the expected results, it is crucial that legislators in Congress [...] Read more...
November 2011: The Third Way
A word from Ross Mountain: November 2011 Another year is drawing to a close and the humanitarian community is still grappling with the large-scale drought-driven emergency in the Horn of Africa. At the same time, the world's main scientific body on the [...] Read more...
November 2011: Climate Vulnerable Forum 2011 in Dhaka, Bangladesh
A word from Ross Mountain: November 2011 Dear Friends, It gives me great pleasure to draw your attention in this message to an important international event that DARA is involved with: the 2011 Ministerial Meeting of the Climate Vulnerable Forum taking [...] Read more...