Local to Global Protection (L2GP) is an initiative to document and promote local perspectives on protection in major humanitarian crises. Based on research in Myanmar, Sudan, South Sudan and Zimbabwe, L2GP explores how people living in areas affected by natural disaster and armed conflict understand ‘protection’ – what they value, and how they go about protecting themselves, their families and their communities. The research also examines how people view the roles of others, including the state, non-state actors, community-based organisations and national and international aid agencies. Are they seen as protection actors or sources of threat – or a combination of both?
This Network Paper presents the findings of five community-based studies on self-protection in Myanmar (Burma), Sudan, South Sudan and Zimbabwe. The studies demonstrate how vulnerable people take the lead in activities to protect themselves and their communities. Often, local understandings of ‘protection’ are at variance with – or extend beyond – how the concept is used by international humanitarian agencies. In most of the studies, livelihoods and protection were intimately linked. Customary law and local values and traditions mattered at least as much as formal rights. Psychological and spiritual needs and threats were often considered as important as physical survival. Local understandings and self-protection activities, while hugely important for everyday survival, are rarely acknowledged or effectively supported by aid agencies.