In “The Good Project Humanitarian Relief NGOs and the Fragmentation of Reason” (Chicago University Press 2014), Krause examined the shared space of humanitarian relief organizations; she also has done some research with comparative questions, about the forms of organization, professions, expertise, and fields of practice. She addressed how agencies manage their commitments to specific causes, people and territories. Krause mainly focuses on how organizations make decisions about how to allocate resources and the way to translate values and interests into practice.
Relief is a form of production which is so-called a project, the project and the beneficiaries who helped by humanitarian relief agencies become a commodity. The exchange market
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This book review will first briefly introduce the book and then mainly focuses on some points, which either I found the worthy parts to extend.
Through the investigation of the mundane activities from desk officers, in which relief agencies exist mainly in European and American countries, Krause found the method, which compares the relative need of the resources in various areas. It leads her to deeper insights to think about the questions, such as how do organizations decide whom to help, which areas to go, what way to involve in and how long will they stay? It is also worthy to discuss, how do we assess the performance from the humanitarian relief agencies? “How does NGO assess a good project” is the trickiest question, since the word of good is an objective judgment. Krause claimed that most people believe a good project is about well-allocated distribution, and also the activities that the majority prefers to see with harmless outcomes. The original definition of humanitarian relief, which is based on its objectives and ideas, Krause created her own version that the core of the project and the role of the logframe are the key factors, combine with the daily basis that brings to the successful project. Undoubtedly, it is a good way to measure the program with logical goal and day-to-day self-reflection.
According to these purposes, however, the organizations aim to pursue the successful project and some donors make an effort to win the high reputation, it
Over the recent years the military has had a greater involvement with aid programs, this was most notable from her experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. Militarization of aid politicizes it for something that shouldn't be political. As the author believes humanitarian aid needs to exist in a neutral humanitarian space in order to remain its legitimacy and maintain close ties to the community level. From one example mentioned in Damned Nations, during the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, international aid agencies that worked closely with communities showed greater progress and effectiveness (Nutt, 92). In essence this administered a positive attitude towards westerners, and symbolized progress within hostile nations. Aid that is not militarized allows civilians to feel safe access to services and without the fear in putting themselves or their families at risk (Nutt, 92). In comparison military administered aid has proven to lack the same level of trust because civilians inherently become worried about being targeted as collaborators (Nutt, 92). In addition the militarization of aid proves to bring further danger towards humanitarian workers. “Over the past decade, attacks against aid workers have increased 177 percent, with reports of rape, violence, extortion, abduction, and killings” (Nutt, 94). The author states this was reflected from a misjudgment that involving armed militants into
The leader needs to instill urgency into the workers and volunteers of the ARC. Taking an organization that’s on its knees requires great cooperation, initiative, and willingness to make sacrifices from many people (Kotter, 2011). Based on the case study, the ARC lacks all these characteristics for change to occur. It needs to look how to improve its response times, how to become more efficient in collecting denotations and how to prioritize and quickly distribute the donations it receives in a fair and efficient manner. It needs to hold its leaders to a higher standard that will instill a culture of high moral standard in its employees and volunteers. Once the nation sees a change in the behavior of the ARC they will be more willing to give donations and their time to support disaster relief efforts.
Caritas is a worldwide organisation that relies on donation (incorporating ‘The Common Good’) to supply third-world countries with resources and supplies, and usually teach them how to become self-sustained. Caritas was founded in 1965 as a project of the United Nations in response to global health needs and malnutrition. It was originally known as Project Compassion, and became an extremely successful ‘self-help’ campaign. An example of Caritas’ work is their work in Central Africa, where they supply the almost 3 million people in need with shelter food and peace building
Lesley Boone once said, “We are a country that prides itself on power and wealth, yet there are millions of children who go hungry every day.” When people think of world issues, many do not consider America’s stand point on the ordeal. They are unable to fully comprehend the growing lack of jobs, poverty, hunger, poor health care, and meager education that takes place across the nation. American charity foundations are often eager to jump to the rescue of other countries, but what about the detrimental issues that occur and worsen here every day? In the past, the majority of organizations are predominantly directed at foreign countries; helping places such as Ethiopia, India, Somalia, etc. While here, poverty and debt are increasing by surmountable amounts. Charities for other regions are beneficial, but shouldn’t people here be first priority? The majority of problems have the potential to be easily fixed. What happens when we have nothing left to give? If the United States does not soon take this into consideration, it could be hazardous and irreversible to the American society. When considering where America’s charitable hands should go, many things need to be taken into consideration such as; charities outside of the U.S., should America put more effort into problems here, the increasing debt and poverty levels, and how benefits of focusing more here. The first point of this essay will discuss problems within the
World Relief is an agency that comes with various values. It has a vision and mission statement which reaches throughout the whole community as well. Moreover, World Relief is dedicated to “empowering the local church to serve the most vulnerable is the mission
Importantly, my project raises questions about how to better understand the relationship of donors and recipients to reduce the disconnection between projects that donors support and actual needs of recipients. The disconnection of donors and recipients caused damage to Congo, and the disconnection is a issues that effects how effective international aid is to a country. Importantly, further research needs to be conducted to gauge the impact of community-based projects, over the issue-based project to understand if one is a more effective use of aid. The aid process needs to involve native intellectuals, community leads, and other the communities to better accesses issues that affect the recipients of aid. Ultimately, there needs to be further research on the consequences, intended and unintended, for over reporting on a single issue of a conflict, because the simplification of a conflict into a single issue can cause damage by those with the intention to
Although volunteers for Medecins Sans Frontiers are commonly stationed in various countries with a dire healthcare worker shortage, regions with refugee camps and internally displaced persons are also a focus for this organization. Refugees and internally displaced persons often come from war torn regions and live in close confines with poor sanitation and limited resources. These living situations become a breeding ground for diseases and other health issues like malnutrition, yet the individuals lack access to any sort of healthcare. The organization also responds quickly when regions suddenly experience an increased need for healthcare, for example in times of an epidemic or a natural disaster. Medecins Sans Frontiers’ involvement across its varying regions and their attempt to address a broad spectrum of healthcare truly show how altruistic the organization is to individuals regardless of race, gender, or religion.
Humanitarian action is what the world turns to in case there is a crisis in any part of the world. But as David Rieff suggests in his book, “A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis,” there is a crisis in the humanitarian world and space. He draws from first personal experience in places like Bosnia, Rwanda and Kosovo to tell how some of the challenges humanitarian organizations face; including their struggle to be neutral and apolitical.
The acts of Medecins Sans Frontieres results in the better being of others. This is demonstrated through their tireless efforts, resulting in less people at risk. This is well presented, as evident in the events of March 1999. The expulsion of ethnic
The nineteen-chapter, two part book starts off with a brief introduction. This introduction sets up the first part of the book, where the
In conclusion, it is no surprise that the Doctors Without Borders organization is one of the world’s leading relief organizations for devastated and needy people. Started in France in 1971, it has grown to an international entity that reaches all corners of the earth. It is the ability of this organization to work simultaneously at the international, intermediate, and local levels, as a result of globalization, uneven geographies and neoliberalism that make MSF such an effective disaster relief aid. Famine, epidemics, malnutrition, death and the other numerous problems around the world can be tackled on multiple levels and dealt with by organizations like Doctors Without Borders, because of globalization and the integration of the various scales
The Red Cross is one organisation that provides cares the ones who need it most. The network of the movement is composed of all the donors and other supportive and assisting people that are there to help. The movement is providing support with its employees and anyone who wishes to help. They take care of the disasters and are the relief disposers of the reconstruction of any of the problems and the shelter provisions in the time of the disaster that is their main focus with other activities like the supporting of the people of the military personnel’s that are protecting the nation and they help the people respond to the challenges of the military life that is there and that needs to be attended to in order to be compensated. (American Red Cross, 2015)
Since 1979, Mercy Corps has responded to Global disasters, whether it’s a natural disaster, economy failure or corruption. Mercy Corps is there as a global aid to assist with shelter, food, and water. Over the years, they have provided aid for over 40 countries and try to help them build stronger communities. We believe secure, productive and just societies emerge when the private, public, and civil society sectors are able to interact with accountability, inclusive participation and mechanisms for peaceful change. The vision statement serves its purpose because it illustrates what they want to see happen by getting others to get involved to make a difference.
In continuing to define pure humanitarianism by explaining what it is not, we’ll delve into institutionalization. We can understand contemporary humanitarians by “their commitment to defending their own institutional interest, as well as the degree to which that commitment influences the way they conceive of providing help to people in need.” Humanitarian actors might not be willing to provide aid if it means violating their own interests. This further takes away from the goal of humanitarianism of providing universal aid. Increasingly bureaucratic humanitarian organizations are becoming more subjective in who can be helped and how interests can be elevated as a result.
Before 1990 and the emergence of disaster risk reduction or (DRR), humanitarianism, which is fueled by the fervent belief in “the kindness of strangers” remained largely unchallenged as the preferred approach to disaster management. (Hannigan 42). Humanitarian action is taken on a moral claim and human rights are almost always based on a legal claim. Activism and humanitarianism have taken parallel courses in recent years, due to the fact that the basis for intervention has shifted from intervening states toward individual victims of abuses. (Hannigan 43). Not only has there been a shift in intervention, but in how responses to humanitarian emergencies victims find themselves are handled. I will explore the changes in responses to