Navigating crisis and conflict : a study of humanitarian aid in addressing food security in Yemen

Abstract

This research examines the interconnected roles of international organizations and donors, humanitarian action, challenges of aid delivery, and their relationships with food security within crisis contexts. Using Yemen as the case study, this research will clarify how the mediating role of external assistance and gaps with logistics influence responses to food security in humanitarian emergencies. A quantitative approach was adopted, undertaking regression analysis to examine the direct and indirect relationships between a number of variables - international organizations and donors (RO); humanitarian action (HA); aid delivery (AD); and food security (FS). Ultimately, we concluded with mediation analysis to investigate the indirect effects of RO and HA on FS through HA and AD respectively. Data was collected from key stakeholders involved in humanitarian assistance using questionnaires which were then analyzed to tease out the findings related to our hypotheses. The findings evidence that donor role (RO) is a strong predictor of humanitarian action (HA), which is directly, positively associated with food security (FS). Moreover, aid delivery (AD) issues exhibit substantial predictive capacity regarding food security, thus accentuating the important role of logistics. Mediation analysis indicates that RO has an indirect effect on FS via HI, while HI has an indirect effect on FS via AD. In sum, the findings highlight the critical relationships between donor engagement, aid effectiveness, and logistics management in determining food security outcomes in emergencies. The study finds that achieving food security when humanitarian crises demand coordination means exerting donor engagement, aid effectiveness, and logistical capabilities into a joint effort. The impact of conflict-related challenges shows that overcoming logistical and operational challenges in aid distribution can maximize the positive advantage that interventions can do to positively address food security. The findings of this study have actionable implications for decision-makers, donors, and agencies to develop more integrated approaches even under conflict. The study offers future research options to examine these relationships in different contexts and suggest ways to overcome the limitations of the study.