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The Personal and the Professional: Aid workers' relationships and values in the development process Introduction
Abstract
This introduction, and the special issue as a whole, consider how the personal and the professional are interrelated, and how they matter for aid work. Taking up Chambers' call for the ‘primacy of the personal', this paper explores why the personal often remains un-acknowledged in development studies, even though its salience for aid workers is well-documented, for example, in the growing popularity of their blogs and memoirs. One possible reason for this is an implicit narrative of aid work as altruistic and sometimes self-sacrificing, which renders it inappropriate to devote much attention to the experiences and challenges of aid workers themselves. As the contributions in this volume demonstrate, however, their personal relationships and values significantly shape perspectives and practices of aid work. They therefore need to be taken into account in order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of development processes.
... This literature has paid much attention to formal procedural rules and professional norms on governance and accountability requirements (see Ebrahim 2003;Agyemang et al. 2017) to the neglect of the informal aspects of such relationships. While some existing studies have focused on social relations and informal networking between foreign and local aid agency staff (see for example, Eyben 2010Eyben , 2011Fechter 2012), they fail to address how the social relations that govern donor-NGO relations influence their daily operations and the effects of attempts to formalise such relationships. In particular, there are relatively little empirical research on how informal networks and personal connections enhance collaborations between donors and national NGOs from the perspective of sub-Saharan Africa. ...
... For instance, Eyben (2011, p. 246) found that trust-based personal relationships were required by development professionals in Bolivia 'to take them through the rocks and rapids of negotiating a multi-donor budget support facility'. Recent studies (see Fechter 2012;Heuser 2012) have also shown that social relations including friendships and the primacy of the personal among development workers facilitate development work. ...
... This is an indication that donor relations are based on informal and interpersonal relationships and not only limited to institutionalised business relationships. The findings are supportive of current research on the importance of friendship in the creation of social identities (Eyben 2011;Fechter 2012;Heuser 2012). The findings on of the use of interpersonal relations in resource acquisition also cast doubts about the extent to which acquiring the latest development jargon helps NGOs to secure funds. ...
The article examines the institutions governing relations between grant using national NGOs and grant giving international donors in three regions of Ghana (Upper West, Northern and Greater Accra Region). Formal procedural rules and professional norms can be viewed as necessary to minimise opportunities for informal patronage, rent-seeking and corruption made possible by the unequal access to
resources. However, semi-structured interviews, life histories and observation highlight the positive role informal networks, connections, personal contacts and friendship play in enhancing collaboration between donors and national NGOs. Friendships originating in kinship and ethnicity, school links and past collaboration offer opportunities for influencing and resource mobilisation, but can also weaken NGO
sustainability. Informal contacts and face-to-face interactions also build trust and strengthen lines of accountability, with non-adherence to shared norms resulting in sanctions and reputation loss. These findings affirm the positive role of informal relations, and highlight how they can complement formal rules and professional norms governing NGO–donor relations rather than undermining them. It throws a very different light on the role of informal institutions than that fostered by a discourse of clientelism and provides a more nuanced conceptual foundation for assessing ‘formalisation’ as a normative strategy.
... Previous studies highlighted the importance of achieving work-life balance (WLB) in the empowerment and well-being of employees (Haar et al., 2014). However, the self-oriented roles and values espoused by WLB seem to run counter to the expectations of selflessness (Fechter, 2012) and orientation toward calling (Dempsey & Sanders, 2010) among NGO workers. Thus, an examination of the NGO workers' experiences could reveal how they navigate through these aforementioned tensions in achieving WLB. ...
... NGO work is very other oriented, as most of its development workers are expected to immerse themselves in their partner communities as they provide assistance and services. This suggests the possibility of NGO work seeping into the workers' personal and social lives (Fechter, 2012). However, some literature (Fechter, 2012) put forth that when NGO workers recognize how important their personal lives are, they will more likely see themselves as having agency in the development process that in turn allows them to be better agents of change. ...
... This suggests the possibility of NGO work seeping into the workers' personal and social lives (Fechter, 2012). However, some literature (Fechter, 2012) put forth that when NGO workers recognize how important their personal lives are, they will more likely see themselves as having agency in the development process that in turn allows them to be better agents of change. With this, Giri and Ufford (2003) pushed for the notion of the "care of the self" in which caring for other people's needs must be complemented by caring for the self. ...
Impact and Implications
This study looked into the experiences of work–life balance (WLB) among national, nongovernment organization (NGO) development workers in the Philippines. NGOs are private, voluntary social organizations that contribute to social change by empowering the marginalized (Lampauog, 1996). These organizations contribute to the attainment of most, if not all, of the United Nations sustainable development goals at the global and local levels. The sustainable development goals highlight the importance of decent and sustainable work opportunities and conditions as well as the promotion of good health and well-being. However, the wellness of NGO workers seems to take a back seat as resources and efforts of these organizations are directed toward the communities and sectors that they serve (Batti, 2014). This research ascribes to Giri and Ufford’s (2003) notion of the “care of the self” where caring for other people is deemed to be more effectively complemented by caring for the self. It specifically examines the experiences of balancing work and nonwork aspects of an NGO worker’s life as well as the barriers and enablers of achieving WLB. Findings of the study will hopefully orient people management programs that promote workers’ wellness in NGOs.
... There is also an element of selfcensorship. I argue that the ideology of altruism (discussed further below) sets development workers apart from other Western professionals working outside their country (e.g. in military, diplomatic or business fields), as does Fechter (2012a). Naturally, it is likely that army personnel, for example, have their own habitus. ...
... I had earlier been very judgemental of others working in better paid roles in development. I describe this positioning in Article I, as being typical of those working within the business, as referred to by other researchers also, such as Fechter, 2012a;Eriksson Baaz, 2005;Shutt, 2006;McWha, 2011 andStirrat, 2008. Having worked in many roles, I had become more pragmatic, seeing the advantages and disadvantages of each type of post. ...
... In this case the technical fix may be a good one, but the acceptability and sustainability will be doubtful. Fechter (2011Fechter ( , 2012a and Hindman and Fechter (2011) argue that when studying development there is a need for increased focus on development workers' lives, rather than seeing them as marginal in comparison to a focus on traditional issues of sustainability, different modalities of aid, etc. They argue that the development literature often considers the workers themselves invisible, interpreted simply as instruments for policy implementation. ...
Billions of Euros are spent each year on the highly contested subject of development cooperation. Is it the right thing to do, and is it doing any good? It is assumed that carefully crafted policies from donors will be implemented worldwide, regardless of the cultural setting. There is an assumed flow from rational aid policies, to financing aid practice, to aid consequences and impacts, yet none of these steps are certain and uncontested. Little attention is given to the go-betweens, the people and organisations responsible for the practice of development policy.
The key question asked within this dissertation is what are the roles, motivations and contribution of individuals and organisations in development cooperation? The overall research questions are grouped into three parts: a) What are the roles and motivations of individuals and the consulting companies working in development cooperation?; b) What contribution can (or should?) these individuals and companies make to translating norms, regulatory frameworks and values into practice in complex operating environments?; and c) What is the role of technical assistance in achieving sustainable and equitable water governance in Nepal?
My contention is that the development complex (and development interventions specifically) depends on human agency and capabilities in the form of individuals and organisations – rather than only the transfer of money or technology. This includes the attitudes and motivations of the beneficiaries themselves, the local governments, donor government staff, NGOs and researchers, and the persons involved in the provision of technical assistance. All these groups have the chance to contribute to, or to impede development.
These articles drill down particularly to the role of the latter group. These individuals providing technical assistance need to operate within the norms and regulations of the donor and recipient governments, and the local cultures and realities of the countries, local governments and communities they work with. The individuals both influence the group they work with, and in turn are influenced by the group habitus.
In this thesis I contend that people at all levels have an important role in the implementation of development cooperation. Staff working in donor and recipient governments, and community level actors are all critical for facilitating or blocking development activities; just as are the technical advisors themselves. All bring in their own motivations, values and incentives.
However, I cannot rule out the role of modalities, institutions or cultures as well, as clearly in the case studies the local cultures and institutions (both project imposed and community-based) are constantly interacting with each other and with the individuals involved. In addition, evidence of a habitus among development workers suggests that there is also a significant role for the development ‘culture’. Hence, I operate between methodological individualism and collectivism, with a constructivist approach.
In particular, my study is focused on Finnish development cooperation, including Finns working in a variety of roles and modalities, and Nepalese co-workers in my two case study projects. The major approaches and themes regarding technical assistance and development cooperation that emerged in my research included: motivations; habitus; brokerage, translation and bricolage; gender equality and human rights; and principal-agent theory. The research approaches different concepts of technical assistance from many directions. It covers the different individual motivations for working in development, from students of development studies, through people working in many types of role – what I have referred to as the spectrum of technical cooperation. It also analyses the role of consulting companies working in development – a topic rarely studied. Using two Finnish funded rural water management projects in Nepal as case studies, I considered the role of technical assistance in transferring the values and policies of donors and recipient governments into practice. I examine the way that the international and Nepali experts translate the policies into practice, and feed practices and learning back up to the policy setters and donors. This is supported with discussion on operationalising the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and human rights in Nepal. And finally, I consider the role of the TA in supporting development of the nascent local governments in Nepal, building their capacities to secure safe water for all. The methodology includes questionnaires, interviews, and two case studies.
Development cooperation does not function simply as a financial transfer mechanism. Yet the role of individuals to facilitate implementation is often ignored. Acknowledging the role of individuals in coordination with other stakeholders, in implementing policies and strategies, and adapting them to local realities, would be a critical step in development cooperation in general, and specifically, in water governance and human rights. This is important both for decision-makers and for researchers.
... This literature has paid much attention to formal procedural rules and professional norms on governance and accountability requirements (see Ebrahim 2003;Agyemang et al. 2017) to the neglect of the informal aspects of such relationships. The existing literature is silent on how the culture (i.e. the social relations, informal networking, values and ideas) that governs donor-NGO relations influences their daily operations and the effects of attempts to formalise such relationships (Eyben 2006;Yarrow 2011;Fechter 2012;Sundberg 2019). In particular, there are relatively little empirical research on how informal networks and personal connections enhance collaborations between donors and national NGOs from the perspective of sub-Saharan Africa. ...
... Similarly, Bachmann (2016) illustrates how personal relations and interactions between EU diplomats in Nairobi created opportunities for collective diplomacy. Recent studies (see Fechter 2012;Heuser 2012) have also shown that social relations including friendships and the primacy of the personal among development workers facilitates development work. The social and the professional are intertwined in development work. ...
... This is an indication that donor relationships are based on informal and interpersonal relationships and not only limited to institutionalised business relationships. The findings are supportive of current research on the importance of friendship in the creation of social identities (Eyben 2011;Fechter 2012;Heuser 2012). The findings on of the use of interpersonal relations in resource acquisition also raise questions about the extent to which acquiring the latest development jargon helps NGOs to secure funds. ...
The article examines the institutions governing relations between grant using national NGOs and grant giving international donors in three regions of Ghana (Upper West, Northern and Greater Accra Region). Formal procedural rules and professional norms can be viewed as necessary to minimise opportunities for informal patronage, rent-seeking and corruption made possible by the unequal access to resources. Qualitative research confirmed that friendships originating in kinship and ethnicity, school links and past collaboration can also weaken NGO sustainability. But it also highlighted the positive role informal networks, connections, personal contacts, friendship and face-to-face contact play in enhancing collaboration between donors and national NGOs, building trust and strengthening lines of accountability - with non-adherence to shared norms resulting in sanctions and reputation loss. These findings echo Eyben (2010) in affirming the positive role of informal relations, and highlighting how they can complement formal rules and professional norms governing NGO donor relations rather than undermining them. Compared to a narrow emphasis on clientelism, the research throws a more positive light on the role of informal institutions and provides a more nuanced conceptual foundation for assessing ‘formalisation’ as a normative strategy. Donors concerned with supporting civil society need to be wary of trying to do so remotely and in ways that reduce opportunities for closer interaction and investment in trustful relationships.
... Acknowledging that "the personal" is an essential part of understanding "the professional" in aid work (Fechter, 2012a), my thesis will investigate how the working conditions and organisational cultures that are particular to this sector, and a person's positioning in the workplace and in wider society, affect the ways in which stress is understood, talked about and managed. My research site, Kenya -more specifically, the capital city Nairobi and its poorest county, Turkana -may be viewed as Aidland 4 in microcosm. ...
... My thesis will explore these iterations and imagery common in aid practice and how they influence the behaviour of some of my informants. It will expand on the suggestion in some development literature (Fechter, 2012a;Harrison, 2013a;Mosse, 2011) that more attention needs to be given to the personal lives of aid workers if we are to gain a better understanding of the challenges and pitfalls of aid practice, and argue that personal challenges are often shaped by factors such as gender, nationality and age. ...
... This might, as Rodgers suggests in her study of Amnesty International (Rodgers, 2010) staff wellbeing as an unsightly personal indulgence in the face of far greater human suffering. However, the stories in this chapter suggest that this silencing of "the personal" (Fechter, 2012a) is also associated with the upholding of a certain image of how aid is to be practised and delivered. In this image, personal concerns and interests that go beyond simply 'doing good' are dismissed or unseen, and it is often national aid workers that suffer most as a result. ...
... The joke, however, also points to a recognition that the choice of career can involve a great deal more psychological and emotional complexity than a straightforward desire to help the world's poor and dispossessed. Few jobs are as "all-encompassing" (Fechter 2012b) as international humanitarian work, requiring people to live far from their homes and families, often lodged in close proximity to their colleagues while exposed to traumatic events, traumatised individuals, or both. At the same time, the short-term nature of most assignments, especially for those who specialise in emergency response, results in a transient lifestyle that poses particular risks to the maintenance of consistent support structures (McKay 2007). ...
... Further research, along with exploration of these questions in personal therapy, have also prompted me to question whether these difficulties are purely a consequence of working in aid or are, at times, a manifestation of personal relational templates that pre-date people's entry into the sector. And while other helping professions, such as counselling, social work and nursing consider reflection on the personal aspects of practitioners' lives to be a critical component of ethical practice (Hawkins and Shohet 2012), formal processes that would facilitate this are strangely missing in humanitarian aid (Fechter 2012b). ...
... Although research on humanitarian workers themselves seems to be expanding and deepening, anthropologists have identified the striking lack of attention given to the personal aspects of aid workers' lives by training institutions and organisations, especially given the importance assigned to personal considerations in other helping professions such as counselling, nursing and social work (Fechter 2012b). Although studies seem to be implicitly considering the more unconscious aspects of aid workers' minds, psychodynamic approaches to this area are again striking in their absence. ...
Humanitarian organisations and researchers have paid increasing attention in recent years to the psychological wellbeing of aid workers. This attention, however, has tended to focus more on the practicalities of stress management and resilience than on the deeper levels of their relational lives. This qualitative research study explored the conscious and unconscious impact of emergency aid work on the personal relationships of those who deliver it. Six experienced staff members of an international non-governmental organisation (INGO) were invited to reflect freely on their relationships in unstructured interviews. Using psychoanalytic theory, the data were analysed for both surface and hidden content. Every participant identified the significant external split that aid work created between home life and the field and described conscious strategies to manage this challenge. Their narratives, however, also indicated deeper inner dilemmas along with more unconscious strategies for protecting themselves against the anxiety generated by those dilemmas. Although deployed in response to the relational demands of the work, these strategies also appeared to form part of patterns of relating developed prior to entry into the sector. The study concluded that structured spaces where humanitarians can reflect on these issues would be beneficial both to personal resilience and to organisational effectiveness.
... I aim to contribute to understandings of the affective dimensions of aid (see Malkki 2015;Redfield & Bornstein 2010;Schwittay 2014), and the strategies of developers to be able to continue their work in the face of moral challenges. Rather than examine the ways development practitioners reflect on the moral dilemmas and ambiguities experienced in their work (Arvidson 2008;Fechter 2016;Shutt 2012), I instead focus on the ways volunteers repress doubts, misread situations, and renarrate confronting incidents in order to maintain their durable understanding of the self and protect affective investments in self-making. The experiences of local development workers and volunteers, embedded within enduring social relations, are distinctly different to those of expat workers (Redfield 2012). ...
... The difference between what I am suggesting and the ways anthropologists have examined moral dilemmas faced by development practitioners is modest, but has critical implications. The anthropology of morality has been generative of ethnographies exploring the competing moral logics that characterize the development arena, and the consequent moral uncertainties and dilemmas faced by aid practitioners (Arvidson 2008;Fechter 2012;Shutt 2012), and how these can be generative of new ways of being (Eyben 2014;Hoffman 2013;Watanabe 2017). Much of this literature takes Foucault's (1986;1994) ethics and 'care of the self' , or Giri and Quarles van Ufford's (2003) normative reading of it, to unravel the reflective practices that aid practitioners do, or should do, as part of their work. ...
... I suggest that such affective injuries are a common, unrecognized aspect of development and humanitarian work. Their ordinariness is in part due to the impossibility of development practitioners' missions (Fechter 2016), as well as the importance of their work for their sense of self. Roth's (2015) account of 'passionate professionals' is full of people susceptible to affective injuries for these reasons. ...
en Complaints, accusations, and failures of gratitude are everyday experiences for volunteers in community‐driven development in Medan, Indonesia. In this article I develop the analytic of ‘affective injury’ to describe the force of such encounters: the sensation of having one's ethical self questioned or put at risk that manifests as an immediate force or lingering hurt. While humanitarian and development workers are all susceptible to affective injuries, I argue that they operate on a different register for developers who belong to, and have an enduring relationship with, the ‘community’. The ways local volunteers respond to, and seek to recover from, affective injuries are distinct from reflective responses to ethical dilemmas. The suppression of, or diversion from, thoughts that could derail self‐understanding is a hindrance to reflexive development practice.
Abstrait
fr Quand faire le bien expose au mal : blessures affectives dans un programme de développement communautaire à Medan (Indonésie)
Résumé
Plaines, accusations et ingratitude forment le quotidien des bénévoles du développement communautaire à Medan, en Indonésie. L'auteure développe ici l'analyse de la « blessure affective » pour décrire la force de ces rencontres, c'est‐à‐dire une sensation que le Moi éthique est remis en question ou menacé. Celle‐ci se manifeste comme une pression immédiate ou une douleur chronique. Elle avance que, bien que les travailleurs de l'humanitaire et du développement soient tous exposés à des blessures affectives, celles‐ci se situent dans un registre différent pour ceux d'entre eux qui appartiennent à « la communauté » et ont avec celle‐ci des liens durables. La manière dont ces bénévoles réagissent aux blessures affectives et tentent de s'en remettre est distincte des réponses réflectives aux dilemmes éthiques. L'inhibition ou le détournement des pensées qui dérègleraient la compréhension de soi fait obstacle à une pratique réflexive du développement.
... Social support is a robust component of the resilience of AW (Stevens et al., 2022), but the altruism that shows as a dominant value for AW (Fechter, 2012) ...
... Aid work is rarely done half-heartedly (Fechter, 2012), and considerations need to be made about well-meaning and altruistic AW who may also be misguided by a disproportionate need to help (Houldey, 2021 (Fee et. al., 2013). ...
It is because of the survivors of natural disaster, war, homelessness, internal displacement and/or famine that aid work exists, and it is implicitly worthwhile. In comparison to the general population aid workers (AW) experience high levels of burnout and traumatic stress. Traditionally, AW have been held responsible for their own well-being, as self-care is believed to be the primary mode of protection against the stress of humanitarian work. More recently, the psychological safety climate of aid organizations has been recognized as being fundamental for the welfare of aid workers. Therefore, aid organizations, whatever the capacity or role, have a pivotal role in mediating the stress of aid workers. This paper is shared to encourage psychologists to research and embrace careers in the aid sector, as despite its challenges the work can be rewarding. While not intending to be exhaustive of all facets of AW, the presented model illustrates some of the triumphs and struggles AW face. The Aid Organizations’ Stress Prevention and Intervention (AOSPI) model, was forged by gathering empirical evidence and existing best practice. The model provides a template for understanding the complexity of supporting AW at all levels. The AOSPI model is meant to be adapted, developed, changed and moved along the spectrum of needs across diverse aid organizations with the goal of supporting aid worker and aid work as a whole.
... Issue d'une rupture politique et médiatique avec la Croix-Rouge, connue pour ses coups d'éclat sur la scène des relations internationales 2 , ayant fait émerger des responsables devenus ministres dans plusieurs pays 3 , invitée à prendre la parole aux Nations unies et récipiendaire d'un Prix Nobel de la paix, l'organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) offre un terrain privilégié d'observation des dynamiques de politisation. MSF a déjà suscité de nombreux travaux aussi bien journalistiques (Vallaeys, 2004), que sociopolitiques (Bortolotti, 2010 ;Fox, 2014 ;Rambaud, 2015) ou historiques (Falisse, 2009 ;Davey, 2015). L'organisation a même mis en place en son sein plusieurs centres de recherche dont, en France, le CRASH (Centre de Réflexion sur l'Action et les Savoirs Humanitaires), qui est à l'origine de multiples ouvrages de référence sur l'action humanitaire (Brauman, 1995 ;Weissman, 2003 ;Magone, Neuman et Weissman, 2011 ;Neuman et Weissman, 2016). ...
... Les individus politisés traditionalistes sont également au fait des thématiques que l'on pourrait qualifier de taboues ou des sujets qui, à tout le moins, ne semblent pas discutés par les membres de l'organisation. Ces expatriés vont par exemple juger malséant de se plaindre de leurs conditions de travail, voire « excessivement égocentrique, [ou] grossier de s'attarder sur [leurs difficultés] et leurs [tribulations] » (Fechter, 2012(Fechter, , p. 1390) dans un secteur où la souffrance de l'expatrié est supposée moindre que celle du personnel national, et a fortiori inférieure à celle du patient. Autre exemple, pendant de nombreuses années, la question du racisme et des discriminations chez MSF n'était pas un sujet qui nécessitait d'être abordé. ...
Cet article vise à étudier la notion de politisation depuis une perspective anthropologique, en considérant l’organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) comme une société d’individus en soi, avec ses institutions, ses règles, ses normes, ses modes de fonctionnement, et en cherchant à comprendre qui, en son sein, est légitime pour s’exprimer, qui est écouté, et qui participe effectivement au dessin de ses orientations stratégiques. Basé sur cinquante-cinq entretiens et une observation participante, ce travail révèle une pyramide de politisation formée de trois niveaux – impolitisation, politisation traditionaliste et politisation critique –, dont le dernier niveau n’est l’apanage que d’un petit nombre, ceux qui, aux yeux de leurs collègues, sont à la fois légitimes et novateurs.
... Much work is qualitative, reflecting the diverse and individual nature of aid workers' experiences (Hunt 2008). Research identifies aid workers' moral identity-comprised of moral values and the willingness to take losses to their personal lives to realise these-as the main motivator in undertaking assignments (Fechter 2012;Hunt 2008;McCormack and Bamforth 2019). Whilst aid workers aim to realise their values in the work, it is a morally complex environment, where expectations of what one can achieve often fail to match reality under financial, organisational and policy constraints (Chouliaraki 2013;Hunt 2008Hunt , 2010. ...
... They made sense of this belonging through shared moral values, and successfully filling a defined role as an aid worker. The first subordinate theme (1a) 'moral values drive humanitarian action' aligns with studies on the role of moral values in humanitarian work (Fechter 2012;Hunt 2008Hunt , 2010McCormack and Bamforth 2019). Research understands aid work as a way to integrate personal values and work, allowing humanitarian workers to realise their identity by being active in humanitarian aid. ...
This interpretative phenomenological analysis explores aid workers’ understanding of identity and belonging through the transition from working in humanitarian aid to returning home. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 participants who had returned to the UK after working in recently founded non-governmental organisations in Northern France between 2016 and 2019. Analysis of interview data identified four superordinate themes: (1) shared humanitarian identity, (2) limits and borders, (3) holding on to humanitarian identity and (4) redefining belonging and identity. Aid workers’ belonging in humanitarian work settings is rooted in shared moral values and being able to fulfil a clearly defined role. Upon returning, aid workers struggled to reintegrate, manifesting as denial of having left humanitarian work, re-creation of the social setting and moral demarcation. Participants formed a new sense of belonging through redefining their social in-group. The study sheds light on a previously unexplored area of research, specifically characterised through the closeness of the international humanitarian setting and participants’ homes. Findings suggest organisations can assist aid workers’ re-entry by supporting professional distance in the field, and through opportunities that allow to sustain moral values post-mission. Future research should focus on the role of peer support in the re-entry process and the re-entry experiences of aid workers returning from comparable settings further afield (e.g. Greece).
... In times of emergency, when the stresses placed on societies and systems of governance are of unprecedented magnitude, complexity, and consequence, are donor bureaucrats, who are responsible for the delivery of development assistance, encouraged or required, and are they able and willing, to change their minds and habits, or do they continue as before? And do at least some of these 'worker drones'those who are more altruistically inclined (e.g., Fechter, 2012aFechter, , 2012b) and, privately, may acknowledge the legitimacy of the charges levelled by critics against the work that they do and referred to above and below seize the opportunity to try to do what their consciences dictate, or do the 'iron laws of Liberalism' (Graeber, 2015) or the confines of the ruling paradigm keep them firmly in their place, shoulders obediently to the wheel? ...
... However, as the ethnographic literature on development would lead us to expect, we also knew that the positioning of 'red lines' and the fervour with which they are policed and transgressors are punished by institutional power and its principal agents can varybetween actors and by the same actors over time. Li (2007, p. 278), for example, recognises that supply-side actors are not all the same (as does Fechter, 2012aFechter, , 2012b and anticipates precisely the variability and calculation encountered by us in Samoa, and in the other countries discussed in Blunt, (2021a), when she observes that: 'They are variably open to critical commentary by other experts, to observations about the effects of their programmes, and to the reactions and demands of the people they intend to help.' ...
Data gathered in Samoa before and after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic on 11 March 2020 compare and contrast the nature and extent of ‘structural violence’ perpetrated by ‘egoistic’ bilateral development assistance. Despite much higher risks and costs to aid recipients than under normal circumstances, during the pandemic, donor control in ‘increasingly detailed and encompassing ways’ and donor use of ‘technical discourse’ to conceal ‘hidden purposes of bureaucratic power or dominance’ both increased significantly. Pandemic-induced opportunistic abandonments by donor governments of neoliberal policy principles did not ameliorate such structural violence. Individual differences among donor officials affected how control was exercised and whether host-government ‘ownership’ and ‘leadership’ of development assistance was flouted peremptorily, or denied more subtly and politely (with ‘warm regards’); and they influenced the volume and complexity of ‘interpretive labour’ required of resistance. But donor domination and control were undiminished by any of this. ‘Bullshit’ jobs and the blind allegiance of their (donor) incumbents were crucial to the realisation of such ends. The findings reconfirm the embeddedness of the neoliberal order and shed light on the character of its deep-seated bureaucratic resistance to change.
JEL: F35, F54, F55, O19, O20, O22, P48
... Numerous and unique stressors impact aid workers. Considered one of the most "all encompassing" jobs (Fechter, 2012), international aid work involves long hours in unfamiliar settings as well as significant periods of separation from family, friends, and other support systems. Aid workers face frequent travel and international moves, regularly encounter human suffering, and are exposed to both primary and secondary trauma in the course of their work (Eriksson et al., 2001;Fechter, 2012;McKay, 2007). ...
... Considered one of the most "all encompassing" jobs (Fechter, 2012), international aid work involves long hours in unfamiliar settings as well as significant periods of separation from family, friends, and other support systems. Aid workers face frequent travel and international moves, regularly encounter human suffering, and are exposed to both primary and secondary trauma in the course of their work (Eriksson et al., 2001;Fechter, 2012;McKay, 2007). Violent attacks on aid workers are increasing, and in 2019; 483 aid workers faced "major" attacks in 277 separate incidents (Stoddard et al., 2020). ...
International aid workers provide critical services to millions of people around the world who are facing conflict, poverty, disease, and natural disasters. As such, aid workers routinely encounter danger and adversity, and endure negative mental health sequelae, including traumatic stress. While aid organizations have begun to provide psychosocial support services to their employees, the barriers and facilitators impacting aid workers’ access to mental health resources and services are understudied, and it is unclear how organizational actions facilitate or impede aid worker utilization of these services. Fourteen international aid workers participated in 90-min semistructured interviews and reflexive thematic analysis was used to identify key themes from the interviews. Workplace barriers to access and utilization of psychosocial services included expectations of workplace productivity, unsupportive management, fear of negative career consequences, lack of organizational recognition of mental health symptoms, services that do not meet aid workers' needs, and limited resources. Facilitators included positive messaging from employers around mental health, referrals to specific providers experienced in serving aid workers, and training managers about mental health and trauma. Future directions and implications are discussed.
... A central conclusion of this body of literature is that the people and processes that do such translation are not replaceable widgets with limited discernable impact, but powerful forces in shaping outcomes (Hilhorst, 2003;Mosse, 2005Mosse, , 2013Watkins et al., 2012;White, 1996). Yet development scholarship often ignores, or at least fails to recognize, the impact of these individuals-resulting in an incomplete picture of how development happens (Fechter, 2012;Harrison, 2013;Hilhorst, 2003;Watkins et al., 2012). As I describe in this article, the same holds true for the day-to-day processes and objects that constitute development practice. ...
... Whether informed by ethnographic work or an individual's own experiences as a development practitioner, contextual descriptions of specific development interventions offer much needed insight into how policies conceived of largely in donor countries are, in essence, translated into specific activities in specific places (Edelman & Haugerud, 2005;Green, 2009;Mosse, 2005Mosse, , 2013. The lessons that can be drawn from intensive study of the dayto-day of development range from the practical challenges of programme implementation to the ways discourse can challenge implementation efforts (e.g., Abrahams, 2020a;Bebbington et al., 2004;Fechter, 2012;Perreault, 2003). ...
In this article, I demonstrate how soda, an ostensibly inconsequential component of development implementation, can have wide‐ranging impacts in shaping programmatic outcomes. Drawing upon 6 months of participant observation alongside an international nongovernmental organization (NGO), I demonstrate how sodas contributed to new ways of valuing time, altered intracommunity and intercommunity relations, and offered unique insight into programme efficacy. In so doing, I argue that refocusing attention beyond the larger discourses of development to the everyday objects, mundane practices, and the interstitial spaces that populate implementation enables critical insights that would otherwise be overlooked.
... Como ya hemos subrayado, "los trabajadores de MSF tienen la libertad de elegir si aceptan o no trabajar en misiones que impliquen mayores riesgos. Y una vez que aceptan, reciben todas las instrucciones necesarias para minimizarlos; las reglas de la organización tienen como objetivo proteger a los profesionales que han aceptado exponerse" (Cavanellas & Brito, 2019, p. 15). 5. El campo macro político y la experiencia en el terreno (Cavanellas & Brito, 2019), siendo fundamental que el compromiso en el cuidado del otro se complemente con el compromiso en el cuidado de sí mismo (Fechter, 2012). No obstante la mística altruista y el heroísmo asociados a la acción humanitaria, la actividad se desarrolla en el mundo real del trabajo (Lancman & Sznelwar, 2008) y se basa efectivamente en el propósito de socorrer, en momentos críticos, a seres humanos, apoyándolos y ayudándolos a recuperarse para que puedan volver a su camino (Brauman, 2003). ...
... A consecuencia de la importancia de las experiencias de los profesionales en la construcción de la identidad del trabajo humanitario, cada vez más expuestas en diarios y blogs, es importante valorar no sólo las macro, sino también las micro intervenciones en el campo, desplazando el enfoque de la atención y del interés masivamente centrado en las instituciones hacia los individuos. En opinión de investigadores comoFechter (2012), las relaciones y los valores personales contribuyen significativamente a las perspectivas del trabajo humanitario, y es crucial reconocer a los trabajadores como agentes de cambio, que viven en medio de una serie de contradicciones entre la vida personal y la profesional.24 La necesidad de construir una carrera más sólida o una vida afectivo-sexual más estable, además del desgaste físico-emocional que impone el trabajo en el terreno, representan buena parte de las exigencias personales en el trabajo humanitario 50 años de Médicos sin Fronteras y las reflexiones de la labor humanitaria co...Laboreal, Volume 17 Nº2 | 2021 ...
... Pela importância das vivências dos profissionais na construção da identidade do trabalho humanitário, cada vez mais expostas em diários de bordos e blogs, cabe valorizar não só as macro, mas as micro-intervenções no campo, fazendo migrar o foco de atenção e interesse massivamente voltado às instituições para os indivíduos. Na opinião de pesquisadores como Fechter (2012), os relacionamentos e valores pessoais contribuem significativamente para as perspetivas do trabalho humanitário, sendo fundamental reconhecer os trabalhadores como agentes de mudança, que vivem em meio a uma série de contradições entre vida pessoal e profissional. 24 A necessidade de construção de uma carreira mais sólida ou de uma vida afetivo-sexual mais estável, além do desgaste físico-emocional imposto pelo trabalho no terreno, representam boa parte das demandas pessoais no trabalho humanitário (Cavanellas & Brito, 2019), sendo fundamental que o engajamento no cuidado com o outro seja complementado pelo compromisso no cuidado de si (Fechter, 2012). ...
... Na opinião de pesquisadores como Fechter (2012), os relacionamentos e valores pessoais contribuem significativamente para as perspetivas do trabalho humanitário, sendo fundamental reconhecer os trabalhadores como agentes de mudança, que vivem em meio a uma série de contradições entre vida pessoal e profissional. 24 A necessidade de construção de uma carreira mais sólida ou de uma vida afetivo-sexual mais estável, além do desgaste físico-emocional imposto pelo trabalho no terreno, representam boa parte das demandas pessoais no trabalho humanitário (Cavanellas & Brito, 2019), sendo fundamental que o engajamento no cuidado com o outro seja complementado pelo compromisso no cuidado de si (Fechter, 2012). Apesar da mística altruísta e do heroísmo associado à ação humanitária, a atividade acontece no real do trabalho (Lancman & Sznelwar, 2008) e se baseia efetivamente no propósito de socorrer, em momentos críticos, seres humanos, apoiando-os e ajudando-os a recuperar-se para poderem retomar seu caminho (Brauman, 2003 ...
... La cellule psychologique de MSF-Belgique n'apporterait plus seulement un soutien aux expatriés revenant de missions aux contextes de guerre, exposés à la mort, mais un soutien aux expatriés aux contextes de travail simplement tendus, aux ambiances pesantes, et aux projets jugés frustrants. En effet, selon Cassandre, rejoignant les remarques de l'anthropologue de l'humanitaire Anne-Meike Fechter, « le stress serait aussi prévalent chez les travailleurs ne devant pas affronter de situations traumatiques » 40 (Fechter 2012(Fechter , 1401 et les souffrances psychologiques existeraient quel que soit le contexte. Les débriefings seraient nécessaires car il n'y aurait « pas de bonne santé sans une bonne santé mentale » (Prince et al. 2007). ...
... Bien que le processus que j'ai mis en évidence soit a priori toujours similaire, je suggère dans ce propos conclusif que certaines caractéristiques du secteur humanitaire peuvent exacerber ce sentiment. (Fechter 2012(Fechter , 1390 dans un secteur où la souffrance de l'expatrié est supposée moindre que celle du personnel national, et a fortiori moindre que celle du patient. ...
À une époque où l’épanouissement personnel constitue un enjeu central dans nos différentes sphères de vie, le travail est pourtant régulièrement présenté comme source de stress, de risques psychosociaux voire de burn-out. En prenant appui sur le personnel international humanitaire, aussi appelé « expatrié », de l’organisation « Médecins Sans Frontières » (MSF), cette thèse étudie l’insatisfaction, entendue ici comme l’ensemble des expériences ou des émotions jugées négativement par l’individu. Sur la base d’une cinquantaine d’entretiens réalisés sur le terrain et d’une observation participante en tant qu’« expatrié » lors de dix missions humanitaires sur quatre continents, cette recherche ouvre plusieurs perspectives. Elle offre non seulement une vision, de l’intérieur, d’un secteur en mutation (croissance de la proportion d’expatriés issus du Sud, multiplication des critiques internes et externes, étiolement de l’engagement au profit de la professionnalisation), mais elle interroge en même temps les ressorts sociaux du processus émotionnel. L’insatisfaction, en l’occurrence la « frustration » du personnel international humanitaire, est communément décrite comme un écart entre des attentes et la survenue d’événements. Grâce à l’étude successive des tensions inhérentes au fonctionnement de MSF, des parcours de vie des « expatriés », puis de l’interaction entre ces individus et l’organisation, cette recherche défend la thèse suivante : quel que soit l’écart entre attentes et survenue d’événements, l’insatisfaction ou non d’un individu est d’abord le reflet de sa confiance dans l’entité jugée responsable, c’est-à-dire de sa reconnaissance des légitimités et des rapports de domination en jeu.
... This is power as experienced on the intimate, felt level, and as tied to personal motivations and self-understandings. The 'personal' is hence a valid object of study not only to reveal what drives the 'doers' of development (Chambers 1997;Fechter 2012), but also as a site for the expression of power (Pedwell and Whitehead 2012). ...
... Development is an ideal site to explore these possibilities, as it is perhaps one of the few arenas in which the desire to transform relationships, empowering the power deficient and disempowering the powerful, is explicit, and (mostly) genuine (Chambers 1983). While early attempts simply disrupted knowledge hierarchies and relocated decision-making, the need to work on the 'self' of the development actor is increasingly seen as critical to transforming development (Chambers 1997;Fechter 2012). Quarles van Ufford and Giri (2003, 253) take from Foucault (1986) the 'care of self' , calling for 'the cultivation of an appropriate mode of being' , with critical self-reflection a starting point for new visions and practices of development. ...
This paper introduces new analytical concepts to reveal overlooked dimensions of power inequalities between elite development agents (EDAs), local development agents and the targets of aid. Affective privilege captures the positioning of EDAs within affective patterning that sustains their dominant position. They enjoy a greater capacity to affect others in ways that reproduce structural power. Affective resilience captures their reduced capacity to be affected in ways that challenge their prior understandings, including understanding of self and their relations with others. Both affective privilege and affective resilience act as barriers to mutual understandings, limit reflexivity and, crucially, sustain hierarchies that are intimately felt by the power-deficient, but that pass unnoticed and therefore unaddressed by EDAs. I propose vulnerability as an ethical practice by the powerful as a means to both be attentive to these hierarchies, and to meaningfully transform relationships in development.
... The study of the people doing development and aid and their work has been another such important tool. Literature on 'Aidland' has scrutinized the everyday lives, biographical trajectories and motivations of aid professionals (Apthorpe, 2011;Fechter, 2012aFechter, , 2012bFechter and Hindmann, 2011). ...
... Aid work, Fechter (2012aFechter ( : 1391 has noted, can be 'an all-encompassing endeavor, constantly seeping into practitioners' personal and social lives'. In the case of locally recruited staff employed in response to the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan and Lebanon, however, the pervasive nature of the job has to do less with extra hours at the office, uprooted transnational lives and expectations of networking and work-related expatriate sociality, and more with the materiality and physicality of care work. ...
Recent research has highlighted the relevance of spaces of international aid and development as sites where global politics materializes. However, the position of local aid workers within these spaces remains less explored. Drawing on fieldwork with humanitarian professionals employed in responses to the Syrian refugee crisis in Jordan and Lebanon, this paper theorizes the salience of labour and precarity in the geographies of contemporary humanitarian aid. The ethnographically informed argument is built through three main points: (1) unemployment and insecurity among locally recruited humanitarian staff; (2) the forms of care and affective labour that the aid sector mobilizes; and (3) racialized and classed relations within humanitarian spaces. I argue that the differential precarities experienced by aid workers reproduce a porous and contested ‘local vs international’ divide. While challenged by the ‘new inclusions’ brought about by the global expansion of the aid industry, this divide perpetuates entrenched exclusions and hierarchies, raising ethico-political concerns about the presumptions of abstract universality inherent to humanitarianism.
... While this is an important avenue for future research, the distinct institutional conditions of studentbased organizations may make students more likely to act on critical views than professionals in conventional development organizations. As Fechter (2012Fechter ( :1394 notes, development professionals who "make personal doubts and critical views of aid public" risk "jeopardising their jobs" and provoking "hostile reaction[s]," demonstrating "how contested professional reputations of organisations and individuals in this field can be." "Venting professional misgivings" is only accepted if one's views "give credence to policy recommendations which, while critical of existing approaches, do not fundamentally question the joint aid endeavour." ...
International volunteering has become a popular way for students to travel, engage in rewarding service, and build credentials of global citizenship for a competitive job market. In this context, we explore a puzzling phenomenon: why would a group of students choose to end a seemingly successful international volunteer program legitimized by affirmation from their community partner in the global South, their peers, and their institution? Research has shown that international volunteering organizations, and development organizations more broadly, are resilient, even amid critique, as they continually reconstruct their legitimacy vis-à-vis donors. We argue, however, that student volunteer organizations that intentionally foster reflexivity in development work may choose organizational demise after grappling with the tensions inherent in international alternative breaks. These volunteer programs train students in critical perspectives on international development, yet the institutional conditions under which they operate, as well as some of their implicit neoliberal assumptions, frustrate the realization of this critique in practice. Students develop critical and neoliberal anxieties that lead them not only to indict the moral legitimacy of the organization but also to reject the credentials and career paths of global citizenship they initially sought to attain.
... Development as a project has been described as a 'time-lagged diffusion of capitalist modernity' (Soja 1989: 33) where, as Arce and Long argue, the exoticism of the societies targeted for intervention revealed to the West of 'the need for these "backward" societies to strive for development and cultural modernity ' (2000: 5). Likewise, the discourses and critiques of developmentalism often point to the fixity of thought, a mode of rendering technical or apolitical the development endeavours and yet the life worlds of, and politics of, international development, professionals and institutions are caught in complex webs of power, relationality, of aid workers traversing through different sites and as such typically described in Aidland studies as cocooned in a 'global bubble' ( Van Voorst 2019 : 2114; see also Harrison 2013 ; Snelling 2018 ), 'parochial cosmopolitanism' ( Rajak and Stirrat 2011 : 161), lacking agency, reclaiming agency partially through roles of 'brokers and translators' ( Lewis and Mosse 2006 ), 'experts' and professionals' and indeed because they engaged in 'moral labour' (Fechter 2016) that has come to define doing and being good ( Fechter 2012a( Fechter , 2012b. As international development and aid workers translate information and channel action in sights away from home, there is perpetual tensions that arise, intransigence Introduction 7 and (im)mobility of both thought and action. ...
... Whilst there have long been calls to recognise the importance of 'the personal' in development practice (Chambers 1989), given that it is 'fuelled by the imperative to change the lives of the poor, its narratives do not usually feature changes in aid workers themselves' (Fechter, 2012(Fechter, : 1389. Leading postcolonial scholar Gayatri Spivak (1988) warns, however, that identity and positioning (socioeconomic, gendered, cultural, geographic, historical, institutional) and the 'baggage' carried by those engaging in development mean 'our interaction with, and representations of, the subaltern are inevitably loaded. ...
The future of inclusive forestry in Nepal depends on forestry professionals who can recognise patriarchal roots of gender injustice as they operate in the ideologies and apparatus of forest governance, and who can resist those injustices through their work. This paper uses the notion of knowledge practices to explore the recognition of injustice amongst Nepal’s community forestry professionals, and the relationship between recognition and resistance, highlighting the inherently political nature of all knowledge practices. By drawing on over fifty interviews and ethnographic insights, this paper goes beyond the typically black-boxed and essentialised ‘forestry professional’ and unsettles the false dichotomy between ‘the professional’ and ‘the personal’. Nepal’s community forestry professionals represent a plurality of knowledges, emerging from unique positionalities and personal experiences; however, the demand for quantifiable, short-term project outputs (attributed to funders and donors) shuts down their opportunities to meaningfully practice their knowledges. This paper articulates how, in order to resist injustices within both forest user communities and forestry institutions, professionals are demanding a greater focus on learning—from the lived realities of forest users, from each other as practitioners, from qualitative engagements with complexity and processes of change, from so-called mistakes, and ultimately from greater reflexivity. Through such learning and reflection comes the opportunity to recognise and resist injustices and create socially just community forestry. This paper urges scholars to go beyond black-boxing those in the forestry sector, and instead to offer solidarity and support in promoting knowledge practices that recognise and resist injustices and thus help build socially just forest futures.
... Teaching development geographies, particularly from a Western institution, thus entails engaging students in discussions of power and privilege, and a praxis of critical self-reflection (Pailey, 2019;Sultana, 2019). We view student field trips as an opportunity to do just this; as is increasingly practiced within mainstream development itself (Eyben, 2014;Fechter, 2012;Fine, 2019). Emotions matter in this reflective process because of their relationality i.e. their capacity to circulate, to create connections (or disconnects) between people, places and processes (Ahmed 2004;Wright, 2012). ...
This paper explores the roles and relationships of emotions in the promotion of critical development geographies, as engendered through a student field trip from a university in the so-called Global North to a country in the so-called Global South. Through a case-study involving a field trip led by the authors taking Masters students from the UK to Nepal, we find that emotions are integral to the pedagogical process and critical political potential of the trip. We show how emotions are central to the connections students create with people and places during the trip, and to their learning within it, particularly around questions of positionality, privilege and power. We highlight crucial emotions of curiosity and care, demonstrating however that these do not emerge out of nowhere, but rather can be deliberately cultivated by reflective pedagogies and practices. We argue that when conducted sensitively; involving reflective pedagogies and close collaborations, field trips to the so-called Global South can promote critical learning on questions of global justice, that are in line with demands to decolonize academia, geography and development geographies specifically.
... Inspired by Florida's 'fire councils', they have formed a "Southern Belize Fire Working Group." As anthropologists of development have emphasized, personal relationships can bring continuity where project funding is sporadic and create dialogue between different knowledges and approaches (Fechter 2012;Heuser 2012;Stern and Baird 2015). Similarly, where the GFI and the Darwin Project catalyzed modest change toward some of the aims of integrated fire management it was because TIDE's staff built lasting friendships and working relationships with external consultants, logging concession-holders, and local villagers. ...
This article examines the past century of fire management of the coastal pine savanna in Belize, drawing on archival evidence,interviews, and ethnographic enquiry into an international development project in Belize. It considers contemporary approaches that seek to use prescribed fire with the participation of local communities in relation to past practices. The Belizean savanna has long been shaped by human fire use. Its flora is ecologically adapted to fire. Yet fire has been repeatedly cast as a problem, from c. 1920, by British colonial and, later, USA foresters, and, most recently, by international and local non-governmental nature conservation organizations. Informed by different schools of thought, each of these organizations has designed programs of fire management aiming to reduce wildfire frequency. Yet little has changed; Belize's diverse and growing rural population has continued to use fire, and the savannas burn, year upon year. While the planned aims and methods differed, each program of fire management has, in practice, been similarly structured and constrained by its genesis within colonial or international development. Funding and leadership for fire management has been inconsistent. Each program has been shaped by a specifically Belizean ecology and politics, in excess of its definition of the fire 'problem' and 'solutions' to it. Powerful political elites and fire users in Belize have not seen clear incentives for the fire management supported by official policy. This analysis highlights that contemporary efforts to build more ecologically and environmentally just forms of fire management must be understood in the context of broader political struggles over land and resources.
... There is wide recognition of the unequal nature of relationships between the givers and receivers of assistance (Fechter, 2012;Hilhorst, Weijers, & Van Wessel, 2012). In capacity development, aid politics creates an unequal relationship between the capacity receiver and giver (Lopes & Theisohn, 2013), where the support provider decides which capacities require strengthening. ...
A central goal of capacity development is transforming participants into autonomous agents. However, there is often an inherent tension between capacity development and autonomy because capacity development programs are frequently set up to fill an externally predefined lack in capacity. In this article, we argue that this tension can be addressed when capacity development is set up to advance what we call “narrative autonomy” (Williams, 1997). Narrative autonomy centers on individuals’ narrative interpretations as they reveal or create the meaning of their own identity and situation, creatively draw on available materials, and discern courses of action true to these interpretations. The advancement of narrative autonomy requires certain capacities and conditions. Expanding on existing participatory approaches that focus on capacity development occurring within relationships and informal processes, we show how capacity development programs can be set up to advance these capacities and conditions through the intricate relations between formal and informal processes. We illustrate our theoretical claims through an empirical study of a capacity development partnership program involving a feminist Delhi-based civil society organization and seven local partner organizations in the state of Jharkhand. This program targeted women who had been elected to village councils. We show how the program advanced elected women representatives’ narrative autonomy through informal relationships that undergirded formal capacity development, and how the formal training helped to provide a language for constructing these narratives and a context conducive to advancing autonomous action that was true to the women’s narratives. By redefining the relationship between autonomy and capacity development, we move the theoretical debate beyond problematizing the aid-dependency power relations often seen in capacity development programs and provide a way forward for practice.
... 9. We do not suggest that people working in larger, professional NGOs do not have personal motivations and objectives. For a larger discussion see Fechter (2012). ...
This research comparatively examines grassroots international NGOs (GINGOs), a growing subset of international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) working in private development aid. GINGOs are small-scale, ongoing development initiatives through voluntary third sector organizations. How do GINGOs' founders and volunteers understand their role in private development aid? The article uses an interpretive framework to examine three in-depth comparative case studies of GINGOs based in the US and working in South Sudan, Nepal and Haiti. Its contribution is that it provides rich data to build further theory about the experiences, or multiple realities, in private development aid. It is found that GINGOs' founders and volunteers attach new meanings to private development aid to distinguish themselves from larger professio-nalized INGOs and emphasize personal connections.
... For those who remain in the humanitarian sector long term, commitment, tightly woven with a personal worldview of altruism, appears important. Together, commitment and altruism are posited to promote altruistic intent and actions, including awareness of other, spontaneity, and choiceless action (Fechter, 2012b;Monroe, 1996). Furthermore, altruistic intent in humanitarians appears dependent on morality, with moral identity regarded as a strong motivator of volunteerism and moral behavior as a motivator for seeking to perform right actions during deployment (Hunt, 2008). ...
The 2014 Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, West Africa, was a public health crisis that triggered international fear, border shutdowns, and a declaration of an unprecedented international public health emergency. However, no known research has explored the subjective experience of international humanitarian health care workers deployed to provide on-the-ground support during the Ebola epidemic. This phenomenological study explored the subjective interpretations of 5 career-international Red Cross/Red Crescent health care delegates who deployed to the 2014 Ebola epidemic. Data were collected using semistructured interviews, transcribed, and analyzed using the protocols of interpretative phenomenological analysis. One superordinate theme: Beyond human fear and catastrophe: I can't save you, but I am here; overarched four subordinate themes: Calm amidst hysteria; Living in a pressure cooker; Journeying alone; Altruistic authenticity. These themes reflect the heavy burden felt by these participants in response to a strong altruistic call-"Who will go if I do not?" "Like no other" humanitarian deployment, unquestionable allegiance and trust among in-the-field colleagues were the only barriers against sudden and untreatable death. Official and societal criticism postdeployment precipitated social retreat wherein feelings of isolation and invalidation threatened psychological well-being. However, a strong sense of altruistic commitment remained unwavering and protective against psychological debilitation, as did positive support from the deploying organization. Despite daily confrontation with death, hypervigilance, and fear, altruistic purpose remained the beacon for professional and personal integrity in these participants. It counterbalanced the distress of isolation and invalidation from societal criticism. We recommended that strength-based predeployment humanitarian training is prioritized by deploying organizations.
... 81). In Aidland, work and personal lives are intermingled in an intense way such that the life cannot be separated from the career: hence the lifecareer (Fechter, 2012b). Aid workers are expected to lead highly mobile and flexible careers, but this mobility also leads to less of a division between their personal and professional lives in ways that are quite different from a typical career (Nowicka, 2012;Redfield, 2012). ...
In the past decade, there has been increasing psychological research interest in both the experiences of international aid workers and in the relationship between meaning and work. However one of the unexplored research areas in occupational psychology is the process of meaning-making. There is also a lack of knowledge of the experience of meaning in aid work. A review of the literature suggests that meaning is a key motivational factor in work, particularly in international aid work, but how the experience of meaning is navigated over time is a neglected question. This study undertook to explore the process of meaning-making in international aid work, using an interpretative phenomenological analysis methodology. Written reflections were collected and semi-structured interviews were conducted with six Canadian aid workers. The transcripts were analyzed and coded, resulting in four superordinate content themes related to the experience meaningfulness in the lifecareer, and four superordinate process themes were identified. The four content themes were: being values-driven, having an impact, relationships and passion. The four process themes were: motivation, confirmation, renegotiation and re-evaluation. Implications for both aid workers and aid organizations were discussed and opportunities for further research were identified.
... At the individual level, recent research into the motivations of international aid volunteers rejects the standard assumption that altruism and selfishness are mutually exclusionary ( de Jong 2011;Fechter 2012). Optimistic analysts, such as development assistance scholar Sara de Jong (2011,30), suggest that the reality is more complex and that "it is possible for an act to be altruistic when the consequences of the act benefit both the person who performs the act and the person the act is done for." ...
Este artigo examina a relação entre indivíduo e processos de desenvolvimento. Apontando aspectos da clássica discussão sobre indivíduo-sociedade nas ciências sociais, explora-se a temática do desenvolvimento por meio de uma única entrevista e se constrói um retrato relativo ao principal período de vida narrado. Analisa-se o modo como o caso apresenta, na situação de um ex-empregado tornado empresário, a ética do esforço e do sofrimento que se vincula ao modo de investimento de si nas atividades econômicas cujos efeitos no nível do indivíduo são
a manutenção de uma conduta orientada pelo progresso e no âmbito social uma concepção de desenvolvimento na qual é imprescindível a ação dos sujeitos. O caso expõe que o desenvolvimento é entendido como um desenrolar histórico naturalizado e, tal qual o progresso, é idealizado e neles aparece a ambivalência de os indivíduos poderem ou não realizar atividades por meio de esforço e sofrimento almejando o sucesso.///
The article examines the relationship between the individual and developmental processes. Pointing out aspects of the classic discussion on individual-society in the social sciences, the theme of development is explored through a single interview and a portrait of the main narrated period of life is constructed. It analyzes the way
in which the case presents, in the situation of a former employee turned entrepreneur, the ethic of effort and suffering that is linked to the way of investing oneself in economic activities. The effects at the individual level are the maintenance of a conduct oriented by progress and in the social sphere a conception of development in which the action of the subjects is essential. Development is understood as a naturalized historical process. Like progress, it is idealized. In both appears the ambivalence of individuals being able or not to perform activities through effort and suffering aiming at success.
Development is a multifaceted human activity involving a wide variety of actors and interests. Underlying its practice is an equally complex collection of individual attitudes and impulses. Reflecting upon the broader shifts that have occurred within the so called Aidland literature since the early 2000s, and drawing on primary research data, this paper examines the personal motivations of International Development Workers operating in a particular locale – the post-conflict state of Timor-Leste. In the 16 years since the restoration of independence, Timor-Leste has been home, albeit temporarily, to thousands of international development workers, project officers, capacity builders and volunteers. Despite this prolonged period of engagement and the prominence of the roles held, our understanding of these individuals, including why they choose to work in Timor-Leste, remains very limited. This paper observes that workers frequently hold multiple motivations including: meaningful employment, social justice, enacting belief and self-exploration. In so doing it contributes new understanding about the malae that are ‘here to help’.
While much attention has been paid to the ways in which the private sector is now embedded within the field of development, one group of actors — for‐profit development consultancies and contractors, or service providers — has received relatively little attention. This article analyses the growing role of for‐profit consultancies and contractors in British aid delivery, which has been driven by two key trends: first, the outsourcing of managerial, audit and knowledge‐management functions as part of efforts to bring private sector approaches and skills into public spending on aid; and second, the reconfiguration of aid spending towards markets and the private sector, and away from locally embedded, state‐focused aid programming. The authors argue that both trends were launched under New Labour in the early 2000s, and super‐charged under successive Conservative governments. The resulting entanglement means that the policies and practices of the UK government's aid agencies, and the interests and forms of for‐profit service providers, are increasingly mutually constitutive. Amongst other implications, this shift acts to displace traditional forms of contestation and accountability of aid delivery.
Εισαγωγή: Η συμπόνια κι η ενσυναίσθηση στην ανθρωπιστική δράση κατέχουν έναν πρωταρχικό και μοναδικό ρόλο. Σε μια ανθρωπιστική αποστολή ένας επαγγελματίας υγείας καλείται να ανταπεξέλθει σε ιδιαίτερες συνθήκες και να εργαστεί σε ένα ασταθές και ταχέως μεταβαλλόμενο περιβάλλον. Σκοπός της παρούσας ανασκόπησης είναι να περιγράψει τον ανθρωπιστικό χώρο ως χώρο εργασίας για τους επαγγελματίες υγείας, καθώς επίσης και να περιγράψει τις συνέπειες στην ψυχική υγεία των εργαζομένων στον ανθρωπιστικό χώρο. Μεθοδολογία: Eφαρμόστηκε κριτική ανασκόπηση της βιβλιογραφίας στο θέμα του δευτερογενούς τραυματικού στρες και του ηθικού αδιέξοδου σε επαγγελματίες υγείας που απασχολούνται σε ανθρωπιστικές αποστολές. Η αναζήτηση υλοποιήθηκε στις διεθνείς βάσεις δεδομένων PubMed, Scopus, και Google Scholar, χρησιμοποιώντας λέξεις κλειδία που εξυπηρετούσαν τον σκοπό της βιβλιογραφικής ανασκόπησης. Αποτελέσματα: Η ετερογένεια των πεδίων άσκησης, των επαγγελματικών καθηκόντων των μελών μιας ανθρωπιστικής ομάδας, σε συνδυασμό με τις πρακτικές δυσκολίες κατά την εκτέλεση των καθηκόντων τους, καθιστούν ευάλωτους τους επαγγελματίες υγείας σε σωματικούς αλλά και ψυχικούς κινδύνους. Συμπεράσματα: Η συνεχής έκθεση των εργαζομένων στον ανθρωπιστικό χώρο σε τραυματικά γεγονότα και σε καταστάσεις έντονου στρες και άγχους φαίνεται ότι μπορεί να οδηγήσουν σε κακή ψυχική υγεία, και σε φαινόμενα όπως η κόπωση, το δευτερογενές τραυματικό στρες, το στρες ενσυναίσθησης και το ηθικό αδιέξοδο, τα οποία σχετίζονται με μείωση της επαγγελματικής τους απόδοσης, ανάπτυξη ψυχικών διαταραχών και προβλημάτων υγείας και εντέλει, στην πρόωρη αποχώρησή τους από το συγκεκριμένο πεδίο εργασίας. Ταυτόχρονα, συναισθήματα όπως η ικανοποίηση συμπόνοιας, η αυξημένη εργασιακή ικανοποίηση σε συνδυασμό με τη θέληση των επαγγελματιών να βοηθήσουν στην αντιμετώπιση του ανθρώπινου πόνου, φαίνεται να λειτουργούν ως κίνητρα για την παραμονή τους στο συγκεκριμένο εργασιακό χώρο. Η ενδυνάμωση των επαγγελματιών υγείας και του προσωπικού που λαμβάνει μέρος σε ανθρωπιστικές αποστολές θα πρέπει να βρίσκεται πάντα στο επίκεντρο του ενδιαφέροντος των οργανώσεων ανθρωπιστικής βοήθειας για την υποστήριξη και προαγωγή της ψυχικής υγείας του προσωπικού.
Prior studies show how race, class, and gender matter for worker identities within organizations, but there is an opportunity to focus on worker nationality and class background within nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Using evidence from ethnographic fieldwork, in-depth interviews, and organizational documents at a small NGO in Kenya, I show how nationality and class mediate how NGO workers assign and accomplish organizational tasks. My results suggest that a process of elastic transnational stratification determines how nationality and class distribute tasks and decision-making power in relation to the location and organizational domain in which they must act. While both nationality and class are used as proxies for one’s proximity to power and influence, there are instances where less privileged identities are more strategic to deploy. Nationality and class shape access to various development spaces, the amount and type of resources one can attain on behalf of the organization, and legitimacy locally and at the global level.
This paper analyses the significance of specific ethical experiences for humanitarian aid workers' motivation. Following Emmanuel Levinas's understanding of ethics as arising from intersubjective face-to-face encounters, the study illuminates the experiential origins of the humanitarian commitment by analysing James Orbinski's memoir entitled An Imperfect Offering: Dispatches from the Medical Frontline. Orbinski, a former International Council President at Médecins Sans Frontières, was directly involved in humanitarian responses to several major crises during the 1990s, including those in Somalia, Afghanistan, Rwanda, and what was then Zaire. This paper explores three formative experiences from Orbinski's childhood and teenage years to analyse the personal ethics of humanitarian aid workers and to illuminate the intersection of the personal and professional level of humanitarian aid work. Illustrating that Orbinski's humanitarian commitment is a surrendering to the other's call, the paper argues for stronger inclusion of aid workers' lives and experiences to achieve a comprehensive understanding of humanitarian work.
Aid partnerships between global north and global south institutions are critiqued for maintaining colonial knowledge politics and restricting the participation of southern development experts. This paper draws on lifework interviews with senior civil servants within the Antigua and Barbuda government to explore how southern development experts subvert the development hierarchies that permeate partnership micropolitics. The paper first reveals how southern development experts draw on their experiences and normative discourses of ‘local knowledge’ to dismantle assumptions that whiteness and ‘westerness’ symbolise expertise in partnerships. Second, southern development experts engage in small-scale acts of everyday resistance to assert their expertise and decentre the authority and knowledge of foreign consultants. Everyday resistance allows this paper to reveal southern experts’ personal agency and subtle forms of resistance, which Foucauldian analyses of power and ‘spectacular’ theories of resistance are unequipped to recognise. I suggest that the racialised and geographic hierarchies, which structure power and privilege in the micro-level encounters between donors and beneficiaries are not as entrenched as we may think.
This article explores the implications for international development policy and practice (specifically within security and justice sector reform) of the departure of those assuming caring roles, predominantly women who become mothers. More broadly, the article investigates how personal life stories impact the choices that we make in our professional lives, including where, when, and how we engage, in this instance, in international development, and the subsequent implications for the field. These choices (the personal) have an impact on policy and practice (the professional) and inform how knowledge is created, circulated, legitimized, and becomes expert knowledge (the political). This article thus explores the implications of an epistemic community being predominantly male (in part as a consequence of the lack of support for social reproductive work) for how security and justice in post-conflict environments are conceived and, ultimately, rebuilt. We reflect on our own engagement in such environments – as scholars and former practitioners – and draw on the life stories of international development practitioners to investigate the personal–professional–political nexus and the impact of narrow epistemic communities on how “security work” is done, whose security matters, and whose voices count.
Chinese capital mobility and knowledge diffusion (CMKD) is visibly present in Ghana's agriculture sector. This has been crystallized in investments, trade, and inventor mobility. Situating this work within the Social Structure of Accumulation theory, I ask: How have Chinese capital mobility and knowledge diffusion influenced political interactions between state institutions and industry players in the agricultural sector? In what ways do Ghana's state institutions work to ensure she takes or refuses to take advantage of the opportunities which accompany Chinese capital mobility and knowledge diffusion? This study addressed these questions by analyzing qualitative data from 49 purposively selected end users of Chinese agricultural inputs, distributers, and co‐owners of Chinese agricultural input, experts, and policy makers in the agricultural sector. The study finds that state institutions' response to economic opportunities embedded in the Chinese capital mobility and knowledge diffusion in the sector was generally indifferent albeit some appreciable political interactions and institutional processes.
Through a literature review and a qualitative study, this essay examines how experienced professionals in the fields of peacebuilding, development, and humanitarian aid view their vocation and how they conduct themselves at the intersections of work and life. Combining reflections on work–life balance and literature specific to the three fields mentioned above, it offers a theoretical framework for considering how the management of these intersections affects both personal life satisfaction and work outcomes. Individuals in these fields face specific pressures that may contribute to negative spillover from work to nonwork life. These pressures can cause stress and adverse mental health, leading to decreased personal satisfaction and impaired reflective practice. These outcomes can be mitigated by several factors including organisational or social support, work–life enrichment practices, healthy boundaries, and/or strong nonwork identities. A qualitative study of 20 professionals in these fields helps illustrate some of these dynamics.
We can observe a growing discourse in the humanitarian sector to ‘localise’, ie provide national NGOs and civil society organisations with a leading role in affected countries. Yet, structural hierarchies and inherently discriminating practices based on solidified patterns of perception (frames) of local actors impede rapid progress towards this goal on the field level. In order to elucidate these mechanisms, I will from an anthropological perspective first outline the structural and discursive factors within the humanitarian system that serve as obstacles to more participatory and localised approaches. I will then present empirical data from my field research on the humanitarian action of a European NGO in Haiti after Hurricane Matthew. Despite a high degree of ethical concern and critical reflectivity among the management staff, many practices still exclude local actors, and the way they are framed reflects strong tendencies towards both securitisation and paternalism. Framing in general, and these frames in particular, authorise and justify specific policies and practices while precluding others. As a precondition for the humanitarian sector to change in the intended direction towards a stronger inclusion of the affected populations, participation/inclusion frames need to be better anchored and be endorsed. Only against the background of such frames can more localised practices successfully evolve.
This article centers on a particular category of foreign aid workers: the national or local desk officers employed by public foreign donors to run the daily administration of development cooperation in aid recipient countries. These professionals transcend the
socio-professional binary between donor and foreign and recipient and local that is often constructed in anthropological research on foreign aid and its individual actors. While officially representing foreign donor agencies, national aid workers enjoy multiple
ties to the domestic development industry—personal, civic, cultural, and professional. Given the high turnover of staff sent out from donor headquarters, national employees are often important for donor agencies’ ability to build and stabilize relations in the host country and gain the trust (and truth) of their partner organizations. Meanwhile, their ties to the host country also expose national employees to suspicions of “local bias” and the risk of personally losing the trust of their foreign employers. On the basis of the testimonies of donor agency employees in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the article explores the relational work of national staff and how they bring to the fore questions of trust, power, and individual relationships in foreign aid.
Just how many people work as expatriate workers in the field of international development, either directly or in directly is difficult to know. However, the range of employment opportunities in the development sector can be gauged from a glance at the many websites offering advice and advertisements for ‘international development jobs’ ranging from the UN recruitment site -careers.un.org -to NGO specific posts and jobs listed as ‘idealist’ or ‘ethical jobs’1. One of the principal sources of information on employment in the development sector, Reliefweb, listed over 2628open posts in May2018, across a range of professional, volunteer, intern and consultancy categories2. While the majority of these are likely to come from countries in the global north, increasingly, the instance of South-South experience transfer is becoming more visible.Even less is known about the education, training or general level of preparedness of those who work in international development. Some will be specialists in a particular field -engineers, health specialists, agriculture experts; others will be generalists, perhaps having followed development oriented education options or, indeed, finding themselves as accidental development workers, possibly as a result of the increasing trend towards ‘volunteer tourism’(Palacios 2010; Ong et al 2011). Those for whom work in international development has been a deliberate choice may have taken courses in development theory, political economy, conflict, or colonialism but may often end up finishing their education with limited knowledge or understanding of the implications of working in a developing country. Other ‘accidental’ development workers may have simply pursued specialist, vocationally oriented education routes, without any exposure to the politics, economic, management, sociology, psychology or, indeed, the anthropology of aid and all that it entails. However, there is limited evidence in academic literature that third level education courses adequately attend to preparing for the practice, profession and personal challenges of being an international development worker. This article describes one effort to bridge this gap, focusing specifically on the experiences of efforts to enhance students understanding of and engagement with the world of development practice. It describes and analyses an annual simulation exercise undertaken over a three-year period with in a
module on development practice and programme management,designed to bring masters level students as close as possible to the details and dilemma of project management without actually being present in the field. The article sets the broader context for the simulation, with particular reference to the links and gaps between third level education and applied skills requirements and the role of simulation based education in bridging those gaps. The mechanics of the simulation are then described, including its purpose and location and how the simulation operates. The penultimate section reviews the learning from the simulation, drawing on three years of student feedback and voice. The paper concludes with some reflections from the simulation facilitators.
How can support organisations build the capacity of volunteer-driven non-governmental organisations (NGOs)? Citizen aid for relief and development has expanded rapidly in the twenty-first century, and the number of American aid organisations operating in the Global South has grown to nearly 10,000. These grassroots international NGOs – GINGOs – are small-budget, volunteer-driven organisations typically launched by Americans without professional experience in international development or nonprofit management. These groups prize the expressive and voluntaristic dimensions of development work, yet face challenges of amateurism, material scarcity, fragmentation, paternalism and restricted focus. We investigate whether support organisations, whose primary goals are to build the capacity of organisations and strengthen the organisational field, offer solutions to GINGOs’ inherent weaknesses. We draw on 15 semi-structured interviews with a stratified selection of support organisations, including associations tailored towards international development and towards nonprofit work at large. We find that support organisations offer resources to help GINGOs in managerial and administrative domains. Fewer support organisations help GINGOs build technical development skills, and fewer still push GINGOs to critically reflect on their role in development. We find that peer learning and online platforms could help engage GINGOs volunteers in networking spaces, even as their geographic dispersal in the US encourages their fragmentation and isolation.
Each year over the last decade, there were on average 400 humanitarian disasters or emergencies, killing more than 100,000 people and affecting a further 200 million. Such humanitarian events require immediate responses as well as effective longer-term activities to aid communities recover. The global response is now valued over US$27 billion annually. More than half a million people are estimated to work in this sector, the majority being locally engaged staff. The international community provides significant resources to assist local communities impacted by these humanitarian emergencies. This aid flows through multiple channels, including national and regional governments, international non-governmental organisations and local community based organisations. Increasing the skills and knowledge of leaders and managers of these responses is a critical need to ensure the most effective recovery in communities as well as use of resources. Understanding the professional journey in the humanitarian sector is vital, but currently limited. As the humanitarian sector continues to expand, greater focus on the skill-set needed by humanitarian workers responding to these events is needed. However, tensions exist between the primacy given to the experiences and soft-skills of humanitarian workers over the value of academic qualifications. This paper provides some suggestions how this tension within the humanitarian sector may be addressed and reconciled. This paper presents new data based on interviews with 20 humanitarian professionals from a range of humanitarian aid agencies and considers their experiences and reflections on building a career within the humanitarian sector.
This chapter discusses the nature of situated norm engagement in organizations. Organizations represent central arenas within which individuals engage with, combat over, and engage with norms on gender equality. Yet the incremental and stable nature of organizations means that these are not prone to change and less so to the disruptive qualities of a set of norms and ideas such as those on gender equality. In this chapter, Fejerskov and Cold-Ravnkilde provides an answer to why we often only witness ceremonial or symbolic approaches to gender equality in organizations, by explaining the factors that both facilitate and constrain such processes of institutionalization and translation.
This article applies social exchange theory to investigate the relationships between work opportunities and organizational commitment in four United Nations agencies. It demonstrates that international civil servants who are satisfied with their altruistic, social, and extrinsic work opportunities are more likely to declare high levels of organizational commitment. Furthermore, perceived organizational support mediates these relationships. The empirical findings highlight the importance of considering the specificity of organizational features in explaining international civil servants' attitudes and behaviors. Their preferences for altruistic, social, and extrinsic work opportunities are not similar to the motivational orientations and rewards valued by public or private sector employees, confirming the hybrid characteristics of international organizations. Drawing on these original results, the research identifies some practical implications for human resource management in international organizations.
Contemporary development cooperation is characterized by an increasing tension between a growing diversity of actors and significant attempts at homogenizing development practices through global norms prescribing ‘good development’. This special issue shows empirically how diverse development organizations engage with global norms on gender equality. To understand this diversity of norm-engagement conceptually, this introductory article proposes four explanatory dimensions: (i) organizational history, culture and structures; (ii) actor strategies, emotions and relationships; (iii) organizational pressures and priorities; and (iv) the normativeenvironment and stakeholders. We argue that, while development organizations cannot avoid addressing global norms regarding gender equality, they do so in considerably divergent ways. However, the differences are explained less by whether these organizations constitute ‘new’ or ‘old’ donors than by the four identified dimensions.
■ The argument of the article centres around three stereotypes of the development worker: mercenary, missionary and misfit. The origins of this tripartite characterization of the aid community are unclear but certainly it has a currency, or at least a resonance, within the industry. The argument is not so much concerned with the truth or otherwise of this characterization. Rather it seeks to use these stereotypes as an entry point for exploring the tensions and contradictions in ways in which people working in the industry view themselves and others. While there are individuals who can be recognized as approximating to each of the three stereotypes, in general people veer between them, at different points in their careers and even at different points on the same day. Finally, although these three characterizations — missionary, mercenary and misfit — appear to be contrasting, this article will argue that they are in fact variations on a common theme and a modern version of what people in the industry tend to see as the new `white man's burden'.
Janet Townsend is a Research Fellow in Geography at the University of Durham. Her interest in NGOs came from women pioneer settlers in Latin American rainforests, when Mexican respondents proved to see NGOs as the best prospective outside help. Emma Mawdsley lectures at Birkbeck College, University of London. In addition to her NGO research, she is working on the environmental beliefs and behaviours of India's middle classes.Gina Porter is working with Emma Mawdsley and Janet Townsend on a joint study of NGO–state relations in Ghana and India. Her other current research focuses on market access, market institutions, and related urban food-supply issues in Ghana, Nigeria, and Zambia.
Jane Gilbert has extensive clinical and managerial experience as a Consultant Clinical Psychologist in the UK National Health Service (NHS) and has been freelance since 2001. She has carried out consultancies within a variety of mental healthcare environments, and is a skilled facilitator. She has designed and delivered workshops on cross-cultural mental health in the Gambia, Lesotho, Uganda, and the UK, and contributed to pre-departure cultural awareness courses for UK NGOs. Her workshops and publications have focused on the synthesis of Western knowledge with traditional approaches to emotional distress, and she is particularly interested in the development of culturally appropriate curricula in mental health.
The life-history method is a valuable tool for social policy research. Taking an anthropological approach to studying policy, the article analyses the usefulness of the method using data drawn from a set of recently collected life-work histories from the UK. These life-work histories document the experiences of individuals who have crossed over between the public sector and the ‘third sector’ during their careers. The article first briefly reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the life-history method, then goes on to analyse selected issues and themes that emerge from the data at both the contextual and the individual levels. The article concludes that life-history work adds to our knowledge of the relationship between these two sectors, and of the processes through which ideas about ‘sector’ and policy are constructed and enacted.
The three-sector model—encompassing the private, public and non-governmental or 'third' sectors—is important to much of the research that is undertaken on development policy. While it may be analytically convenient to separate the three sectors, the realities are more complex. Non-governmental actors and government/public sector agencies are linked in potentially important (though often far from visible) ways via personal relationships, resource flows and informal transactions. This paper seeks to understand these links by studying the 'life-work histories' of individuals who have operated in both the government and third sector. Two main types of such boundary crossing are identified: 'consecutive', in which a person moves from one sector to the other in order to take up a new position, and 'extensive', in which a person is simultaneously active in both sectors. Drawing on a set of recently collected life-work history data, the paper explores the diversity of this phenomenon in three countries. It examines the reasons for cross-over, analyses the experiences of some of those involved, and explores the implications for better understanding the boundaries, both conceptual and tangible, that both separate and link government and third sector in these different institutional contexts.
This article is the result of conversations among a group of development professionals associated with the Centre for Poverty Analysis (CEPA) in Sri Lanka, around questions of the values with which we conduct our work and what this means for our practice. Prompted by the opportunity presented by the Reimagining Development initiative and in the wake of the global financial crisis of 2008, specifically we asked: Is there tension between values that drive our life and those that drive the ‘development’ we promote? Is there tension between our personal aspirations and the type of development we promote for the ‘poor’? What are the implications on us as individuals and as professionals? What are the implications on the ‘targets’ of the development that we promote? The discussion that follows is based on a structured process of reflection and discussion of ideas among a purposively selected group of professionals, all institutionally linked to CEPA. The analysis of how these values are reconciled provides a useful basis to take the discussion of an alternative, value-driven development paradigm forward.
Purpose
The guest editorial seeks to introduce the papers in this special issue, which focus on the contribution which industrial and organizational psychology can make towards poverty reduction. It also aims to suggest future research directions.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper begins by offering a broad conceptualization of how industrial and organizational psychology can frame an approach towards poverty reduction. The second part gives a brief outline of each paper in the special issue.
Findings
This special issue brings together studies which generally focus on aspects of the aid worker experience, addressing adjustment issues for international aid workers, relationships between workers, and the value of self‐organizing and social support.
Practical implications
Factors, which could hinder aid workers from achieving their goals, are a common theme across the papers. Variables, which need to be considered, scales, which could be adopted for measuring key issues, and policy issues, which aid organizations need to consider, are discussed.
Originality/value
The paper highlights how industrial and organizational psychology can contribute to poverty reduction.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a measure of relationships and learning within the aid context.
Design/methodology/approach
The Aid Relationships Quality Scale (ARQS) was administered to 1,290 local and expatriate workers across six countries in three regions (Africa: Malawi, Uganda; Asia: India, China; Oceania: PNG, Solomon Islands), as part of a larger study exploring remuneration differences. Data were factor‐analysed and explored using correlations. Individual and organisational level variance was partialed out in the analyses.
Findings
The ARQS showed a stable factor structure and acceptable reliability for each subscale: “relationship with expatriates”, “relationship with locals”, and “learning from expatriates and locals”. Construct validity was examined using a modification of the Multitrait‐Multimethod Matrix. For the sample as a whole, and at the individual level, both relationships subscales were positively correlated with each other, job satisfaction, and “learning from expatriates and locals”. At the organisational level “relationship with expatriates” correlated positively with pay justice, and international mobility, and negatively with de‐motivation, pay comparison and self‐assessed ability. “Relationships with locals” correlated positively with self‐assessed ability, turnover, and job satisfaction, and negatively with pay justice. The convergent and discriminant correlation patterning is largely in line with theory and thus supports the construct validity of the scale.
Originality/value
Relationships between aid workers are integral to the success of development assistance initiatives. This research has developed a new and brief instrument for measuring one aspect of aid relationships – that between expatriate and local workers.
Purpose
– Policy actors around the world are increasingly looking to the social economy – markets explicitly oriented towards meeting social needs, usually through the third sector – to underpin livelihoods and deliver welfare services. Once considered an adjunct to markets and states, and possibly even a residual, the social economy is being seen as a legitimate player in the plural economy, able to thrive through the effort of dedicated individuals and organisations committed to ethical entrepreneurship. The assumption is that future capitalism can accommodate, perhaps even requires as recession deepens, the energies of the social economy in making new markets and meeting welfare needs. While a body of research has emerged examining the economic characteristics of social enterprises and how they succeed or not in managing the interface between market and ethical priorities, little is known about what it is like to be involved in the social economy or about what different social actors gain from the experience. However, most academic and policy thinking assumes that engagement in the social economy is both rewarding and empowering. This paper aims to fill this gap.
Design/methodology/approach
– This paper draws on sobering case evidence from Bristol relating to the experience of social entrepreneurs, employees and volunteers.
Findings
– The critical question raised by this study is whether the role of the social economy should be that of returning the socially disadvantaged back into the formal economy. The evidence in this study tends to suggest that this expectation could be misguided and overly ambitious.
Originality/value
– The paper offers insight into the backgrounds, motivations, experiences and futures of people involved in the social economy.
This article will explore a variety of stressors affecting humanitarian aid workers operating in an increasingly challenging environment and review structures for aid worker support. It will summarise the findings of a workplace stress survey conducted in 2009 by a large international aid organisation and provide a comparative analysis with the 2003 stress survey carried out within the same organisation. The article presents the results of respondent self evaluations relating to key sources of stress in humanitarian aid work and includes an analysis of results by sub-group, comparing staff operating in humanitarian emergencies and those working in the relative safety and security of headquarters environments, male and female, and national and international staff. Finally, the article offers a review of the effectiveness of a range of organisational staff support strategies, including a peer helper programme.
International volunteering occupies a popular place in contemporary UK public imaginations. It is supported by a range of stakeholders, including the state, the corporate sector and non-government organisations (NGOs), which increasingly share a narrative emphasising international volunteering’s capacity to develop volunteers whose impacts on global equity or their professional identities emerge on their return as much as during their stay overseas. This paper explores discourses and practices of citizenship, professionalisation and partnership as they produce and are produced through contemporary international volunteering. We do this through interrogating the overlapping genealogies of international volunteering and development. Our analysis explores the ways in which international volunteering seems to both exemplify neoliberal ideas of individual autonomy, improvement and responsibility and at the same time allies itself to notions of collective global citizenship, solidarity, development and activism. To illustrate our argument we examine two sets of volunteering partnerships, those that support the Department for International Development’s £10 million, 3-year programme focused on sending young, British disadvantaged people as international volunteers, and the corporate citizenship volunteer programmes supported by VSO and the international consulting firm, Accenture. Interrogating contemporary state, corporate and civil society promotion of international volunteering allows us to examine how notions of professionalisation and global and neoliberal citizenship are produced through development imaginaries, and are negotiated and constructed among and by new volunteering populations and sectors at a moment when, particularly due to the credit crunch, economic and career futures are fragile and uncertain.
The politics of life and death is explored from the perspective of Doctors Without Borders (Médecins sans frontières [MSF]), an activist nongovernmental organization explicitly founded to respond to health crises on a global scale. Following the work of Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben, I underline key intersections between MSF's operations that express concern for human life in the midst of humanitarian disaster and the group's self-proclaimed ethic of engaged refusal. Adopting the analytic frame of biopolitics, I suggest that the actual practice of medical humanitarian organizations in crisis settings presents a fragmentary and uncertain form of such power, extended beyond stable sovereignty and deployed within a restricted temporal horizon.
International relief and development personnel may be directly or indirectly exposed to traumatic events that put them at risk for developing symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In order to identify areas of risk and related reactions, surveys were administered to 113 recently returned staff from 5 humanitarian aid agencies. Respondents reported high rates of direct and indirect exposure to life-threatening events. Approximately 30% of those surveyed reported significant symptoms of PTSD. Multiple regression analysis revealed that personal and vicarious exposure to life-threatening events and an interaction between social support and exposure to life threat accounted for a significant amount of variance in PTSD severity. These results suggest the need for personnel programs; predeployment training, risk assessment, and contingency planning may better prepare personnel for service.
The more significant principles of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) concern the behavior and attitudes of outsider facilitators, including not rushing, “handing over the stick,” and being self-critically aware. The power and popularity of PRA are partly explained by the unexpected analytical abilities of local people when catalyzed by relaxed rapport, and expressed through sequences of participatory and especially visual methods. Evidence to date shows high validity and reliability of information shared by local people through PRA compared with data from more traditional methods. Explanations include reversals and shifts of emphasis: from etic to emic, closed to open, individual to group, verbal to visual, and measuring to comparing; and from extracting information to empowering local analysts.
Incl. bibl., abstract This article proposes a theoretical framework, the Capacity-building Paradox, which defines individual relationship work as the basis for capacity building. It explains why capacity building has hitherto been largely unsuccessful. 'Relationship work' is central to the functions of practitioners. It consists of both 'dependent work' and 'friendship work', the latter synonymous with capacity building. To do relationship work, practitioners require power, in order to overcome environmental obstacles. Financial resources emerge as the predominant environmental influence, often prompting practitioners to use dependent work rather than friendship work. This results in a reduction in capacity and does not contribute to sustainable development. Most of the current literature provides organisational and institutional tools for capacity building. While there is an increasing recognition of the centrality of personal relationships in this work, there is as yet no theoretical framework within which to locate it. The article presents original research into people's experiences of capacity-building work in a development context and proposes a conceptual model that may have important implications for capacity-building practice.
58 The term 'aidnography' is shorthand for the 'ethnography of aidIntroducing aidnography Ethnographies of Aid—Exploring Development Ttexts and Encounters, Roskilde: Department of International Development Studies
- J Gould
58 The term 'aidnography' is shorthand for the 'ethnography of aid'. J Gould, 'Introducing aidnography', in J Gould & HS Marcussen (eds), Ethnographies of Aid—Exploring Development Ttexts and Encounters, Roskilde: Department of International Development Studies, 2004. 59 Mosse, 'Introduction', p 20. 60 A Cornwall, S Jolly & S Correa, Development with a Body: Sexuality, Human Rights and Development, London: Zed, 2008.
and is used to explore people's viewpoints and subjectivities. See also S BrownA primer on Q methodology
- Stephenson
Stephenson, and is used to explore people's viewpoints and subjectivities. See also S Brown, 'A primer on Q methodology', Operant Subjectivity, 16(3–4), 1993, pp 91–138.