Antonio Donini

Visiting Fellow

Contact

Antonio Donini works on issues relating to humanitarianism and the future of humanitarian action as well as on Afghanistan. He is also a research associate at the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Programme for the Study of Global Migration. From 2004 to 2013 he was a senior researcher at Feinstein. Prior to joining the Center he worked for 26 years in the United Nations in research, evaluation, and humanitarian capacities. His last post was as Director of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan (1999-2002).

Before going to Afghanistan Antonio was chief of the Lessons Learned Unit at OCHA, where he managed a program of independent studies on the effectiveness of relief efforts in complex emergencies. He has considerable experience in doing research in volatile or fraught contexts and experience in collecting and analyzing the perceptions of groups affected by crisis and conflict.

Antonio has published widely on humanitarian policy and practice issues, including on Afghanistan. In 2004 he co-edited the volume Nation-Building Unraveled? Aid, Peace, and Justice in Afghanistan (Kumarian Press). He coordinated the Humanitarian Agenda 2015 research project which analyzed local perceptions of humanitarian action in 13 crisis countries and authored the final HA 2015 report, The State of the Humanitarian Enterprise. He also published an edited volume on the politicization and manipulation of humanitarian action: The Golden Fleece: Manipulation and Independence in Humanitarian Action, Kumarian Press, 2012.

RESEARCH INTERESTS

REGIONAL FOCUS

COURSES TAUGHT

MOST CITED BOOKS & ARTICLES

MOST RECENT EXTERNAL PUBLICATIONS

IRIN features Planning from the Future Report

Every week, IRIN’s team of editors curates a selection of humanitarian reports and opinion you may have missed, from in-depth analyses and features to academic studies and podcasts. On January…

Antonio Donini’s opinion piece published by IRIN

On 30 November, 2016, IRIN published an opinion piece by Feinstein visiting fellow Antonio Donini: “The crisis of multilateralism and the future of humanitarian action.” In his piece, Antonio argues that multilateralism…

Feinstein participation at WHS highlighted by Friedman School

On June 20, 2016, Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy featured the following article: The world is witnessing the highest level of human suffering resulting from conflict and…

Feinstein faculty sign humanitarian scholars commitment at WHS

Dan Maxwell, Helen Young, and Antonio Donini joined the more than 60 scholars present at the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) and signed the Statement of Commitments from Humanitarian Scholars at…

Feinstein faculty participate in the World Humanitarian Summit

The first ever World Humanitarian Summit took place in Istanbul, Turkey on May 23-24, 2016. The summit aimed to set a forward-looking agenda for humanitarian action that addresses future humanitarian…

FEINSTEIN PUBLICATIONS

Evidence Brief: The Impact of Protection Interventions on Unaccompanied and Separated Children in Humanitarian Crises

This is an evidence brief, accompanying the full systematic review on the impact of protection interventions on unaccompanied and separated children in humanitarian settings.

The Impact of Protection Interventions on Unaccompanied and Separated Children in Humanitarian Crises

Programming for unaccompanied and separated children cases is often prioritized in the context of humanitarian interventions. But what is the impact of protection interventions on UASC in humanitarian crises in low and middle income countries?

Planning from the Future: Is the Humanitarian System Fit for Purpose?

Does the humanitarian system have the capacity and vision to respond effectively to the crises of today, tomorrow, and deep into the future? This report analyses the failings of the…

The impact of protection interventions on unaccompanied and separated children in humanitarian crises: An evidence synthesis protocol

This protocol details the methodology for an evidence synthesis on child protection in humanitarian crises. The evidence synthesis asks: “What is the impact of protection interventions on unaccompanied and separated…

Regional Humanitarian Challenges in the Sahel

The Sahel rarely makes headlines. Until the early 2000s, it was on the margins of geopolitical interest and of humanitarian action and debate. Today, the Sahel is on center stage…

Structural Violence and Social Suffering among Marginal Nepali Migrants

Over the past decade, Nepal has witnessed a rapid process of social transformation which has accelerated after the end of the “people’s war”. In this report, the third in our…

Afghanistan: Humanitarianism in Uncertain Times

The Afghan crisis, now well into its fourth decade, has many layers. The military and political dimensions of the crisis grab the headlines. But the structural violence and poor governance…

From Subjects to Citizens?

Nepal is on the cusp of a major “transformation” from a relatively stable condition of reproduction of social and economic relations based on feudal and caste strictures to a more…

Towards a “Great Transformation”?

This report presents the findings of a two-year field research project on local perceptions of social transformation in rural Nepal. The findings, and our interpretations of them, are presented in…

Afghanistan: Humanitarianism Unraveled?

Researchers at the Feinstein International Center (FIC) at Tufts University have embarked on a major two-year research project on Humanitarian Action and Politics. This project builds upon and expands on…

Aid and Violence

The Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) launched its “People’s War” in 1996. The Maoists’ rise to power was impressive by any standard. After a successful showing at the polls for…

Afghanistan: Humanitarianism under Threat

Based on extensive field interviews in Afghanistan, this briefing paper is an update of a 2006 study on perceptions of humanitarian action in Afghanistan, which was part of the Humanitarian…

Humanitarian Agenda 2015: Nepal Country Study

This study is the twelfth and final country case study of the “Humanitarian Agenda 2015: Principles, Power and perceptions” (HA2015) research project. As with the other case studies it attempts…

Humanitarian Agenda 2015: Final Report

This report summarizes the findings of a major research project on the constraints, challenges, and compromises affecting humanitarian action in conflict and crisis settings. The building blocks are 12 case…

Humanitarian Agenda 2015: Principles, Power, and Perceptions

This report summarizes the findings of the first phase of a major research project on the challenges and compromises that are likely to affect humanitarian action in the next decade….

Humanitarian Agenda 2015 : Afghanistan Country Study

The four themes of the HA 2015 research come together in Afghanistan with clear-cut relevance. The externality of the aid enterprise and the baggage that comes with it—values, lifestyle, attitude,…

Mapping the Security Environment

The data presented and analyzed by the study in three cases-Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Sierra Leone-offers intriguing and provocative look at the wide-ranging security needs of local communities and the uneven…

Ambiguity and Change

This study provides international NGOs with a rudimentary framework for strategic planning in the light of the likely challenges of ambiguity and change awaiting them during the next decade. It…

The Future of Humanitarian Action: Implications of Iraq and other recent crises

A report on an international mapping exercise to understand the implications of the Iraq war and other crises on humanitarian action.

FEINSTEIN RESEARCH PROJECTS

Planning From the Future

The Planning From the Future project aims to influence the direction of ‘non-traditional’ and traditional humanitarian actors to help them deal with a rapidly changing and potentially increasingly vulnerable world.

Humanitarianism and Politics: Briefing Note Series

Building on earlier work in Afghanistan and our briefing note on “Humanitarianism Unraveled?” published in mid- 2010, we have issued similar briefing notes on the relationship between humanitarian action and politics in Sri Lanka, Darfur, Pakistan, and Somalia.

Crisis and Social Transformation in Nepal

How does the work of aid agencies during and after conflict affect people’s perceptions of change? What can we learn from recent experience? Our work in Nepal has uncovered a number of interesting issues around the humanitarian-development relationship and the challenges of social transformation in a (hopefully) post-conflict environment that we feel are important to research both because they are largely unexplored and because of their potential policy implications.

Humanitarian Agenda 2015

Over the past three years, Tufts/FIC has conducted 12 country case studies on local perceptions of the work of humanitarian agencies. The objective was to understand, from the perspective of those most affected by crisis and conflict, whether humanitarian action was seen as responding to a universal imperative or as an externally-driven approach linked to Northern and Western agendas.