Introduction Whenever a disaster occurs, the international community, such as states and international organizations, has always responded by sending various forms of humanitarian aid. Emergency assistance has been provided not only in the form of food, clothing and medicine, but also in the form of manpower; experts and project coordinators from many international humanitarian organizations hoped to be able to help people in an affected area. However, every humanitarian aid endeavor that has been dispersed has not always been successful. According to the World Bank (2008), this failed international humanitarian response can be identified in the large amount of aid that has been given out by the international community that was not in accordance …show more content…
Moreover, George Mitschel (2005), through his writing, criticizes that many aid projects were designed and executed exclusively by the foreign institution without considering the knowledge and experience of local communities. As a result, there was an ineffective use of funds due to the execution of many incompatible projects. In addition, this failure is widespread and has been found throughout the emergency/aid response phrase, the stage of rehabilitation and during post-disaster development projects. This paper will specifically discuss the role of local and global knowledge during humanitarian and/or development projects as both are considered as crucial aspects in implementing humanitarian/development project. The method used is by conducting a literature-based analysis and drawing from real-world …show more content…
Oftentimes, this addition is not part of the equation and creates an environment that lacks an interdisciplinary approach because it disregards local and indigenous knowledge. Dörner (1997) proves how knowledge lacking an interdisciplinary approach by disregarding local knowledge can lead to failure, and in many cases, efforts that have no sustainable
Her memoir starts off in Darfur in 2005, where in her late 20’s, she hits rock bottom while managing a refugee camp for 24,000 civilians. It backtracks to her internship in Rwanda, while moving forward to her challenges in Darfur, in addition to her experiences in post- tsunami Indonesia, and post-quake in Haiti. By sharing her story, Alexander gives readers an opportunity to go behind-the-scenes into the devastations that are censored on media outlets. She stresses that these are often the problems that individuals claim they are educated on, but rarely make it their priority to solve. However, that is not the case for Jessica Alexander as she has over 12 years of experience working with different NGO’s and UN operations. As a result, Alexander earns the credibility to critique the multi-billion-dollar humanitarian aid industry. From her painful yet rewarding work experience, Alexander gives an honest and empathetic view of humanitarian aid as an establishment and a
Given the title of his book, David Rieff’s main idea claims that humanitarianism is in a state of crisis because humanitarian efforts are inadequate. Rieff argues that humanitarianism, despite its moral intentions, negatively transformed into an ineffective movement that fails to carry out its mission of providing relief aid. The author
A Thousand Hills to Heaven is an apt expose of the world of international development through the lens of Rwanda. Ruxin’s five rules outline the basics of aid work and his story shows the realities that developers must face while living in impoverished countries. His book, while narrative heavy, is a helpful guide for any person considering development work. He also explains the rising star of Rwanda through their advent of good governance, stability, bettered healthcare, and economic growth. The catalyzing of the Rwandan economy and spirit bode well for their future prosperity. God is no longer resting in Rwanda.
Humanitarian intervention after the post-cold war has been one of the main discussions in the International Relation theories. The term intervention generally brings a negative connotation as it defines as the coercive interference by the outside parties to a sovereign state that belongs in the community. The humanitarian intervention carried out by international institutions and individual sovereign states has often been related to the usage of military force. Therefore, it is often perceived intervention as a means of ways to stop sovereign states committing human rights abuse to its people. This essay will focus on the key concepts of allowing for humanitarian intervention mainly in moral and justice in international society. This essay will also contribute some arguments against humanitarian intervention from different aspects of theories in International Relation Theory.
“ Humanitarianism aspire to relief victims of human-made and natural disaster, but for many it does not end with the termination of emergency. Many aspire to transform the structures that endanger populations” (Fassin
This paper will discuss the dynamics of the American Red Cross case and how it affected the ability to provide adequate emergency response to catastrophic events. Over 10 years, the American Red Cross has been implementing strategies to ensure that the organization is better equipped when dealing with disasters. Not only has the American Red Cross has been faced with so much negativity, the organization is fighting very hard to change the concepts of how the organization can rebound from such criticism.
The first reasons to think that foreign aid should be spend is that “Aid saves lives” which is clearly illustrated by the researches conducted. Compare 1990 to 2010, as a result of aid in vaccines and health, there was a decrease in number of children who died from illness of pneumonia and diarrhoea (BBC). For example, in Botswana, the foreign aid fund had provided a test of HIV for pregnant mothers and therefore decrease the amount of newborn babies which catches HIV. Furthermore, in Bangladesh, there is a 62% drop in death rate for the under five children, the aid fund allows the government to be able to afford “vaccines and trained the midwives”.
Governments, the private sector, Non Governmental Organizations and Community Organizations play vital roles in recovery. The essence of a recovery effort is the resources captures to assist, the capability of assistance and other best practices for recovering from a disaster. Rubin and Popkin, (1990) in their report entitled Disaster Recovery after hurricane Hugo in South Carolina thoroughly outline many challenges to which organization and other bodies had face in Hurricane Hugo’s recovery effort. These inefficiencies cause a spiral of increase lost of life, property and livelihood for hundreds of people to which the hurricane affected.
Lauren Evans Professor Gomba POLSC 1113 26 September 2016 Peace Corps Many people would argue that most federal organizations in the present do more harm than good. While I do believe there is corruption in our government, there are many federal organizations that do a lot of good, including the Peace Corps. In my opinion the Peace Corps is one of the least corrupted institutions of the government.
The author underscores the fact that serving as a humanitarian comes with a lot of risk, and aid workers typically understand that. Vehicle accidents, malaria, and other diseases are among the many things that aid workers could possibly be involved in or attract, respectively. It takes a lot of risks to be an aid worker, but the outcome of their service is unmatchable. The author takes time to differentiate the types of risk held by certain NGOs. The author claims that the vulnerabilities of an organization depend on their mandate and mission.
Humans are made up of all the same stuff; therefore, all humans deserve universal rights. This is evident through the social contract theory, which says that there must be mutual respect between the state and people, a balance of powers, and a stable civil society for a government to be legitimate, externally and internally. It is between the trustees (the state) and the trusters (society), the former whose obligation is to protect the rights of the latter. A lack of accountability between the state and civil society creates chaos, and delegitimizes the government in the eyes of its people. When this occurs, often on account of ethnic prejudice, hate and violence, humanitarian intervention is precedented.
For example, The United Nations Humanitarian Charter and some minimum standards in Disaster Response should be a product of the collective experience of many people {victims or survivors}and the 3rd World governmental agencies. The evaluation reports should not be seen as representing the proprietary views of any one agency or organization. Third, We need a public policy directive to hang on the disaster and emergency programs in the nations of societies. Then, the Assessment of humanitarian program performance outcomes can be measurable and tracked to show resilience in the Rwandan communities in their Republic of Rwanda.
Recently humanitarian interventions, such as in Rwanda, Somalia and Kosovo, were led by states out of self-interest. Thus, the question arises if humanitarian intervention is used selectively as a cover for state-interest. This paper describes state-interest as a composition of interests, for instance economic interests, “strategic interests and the personal political interests of the political decision makers” (Krieg, 2013, p. 40). Some critics claim that states intervene selectively if they have in advantage in prospect. This paper argues that a humanitarian intervention is never purely humanitarian but rather based on state-interest than on the altruistic principles as theory
Humanitarian Intervention Hypothesis: That despite the incidents where humanitarian interventions have proved seemingly unsuccessful, they are, nonetheless, a vital tool in alleviating the human suffering that so plagues contemporary society. The post-Cold war world is one that has been riddled with conflict, suffering and war. In the face of such times, the issue of humanitarian intervention and about who, when and how it should be employed, has become hotly debated. While some critics declare this kind of intervention to be a violation of national sovereignty, others believe that relief efforts aimed at ending human suffering are perfectly justifiable. 7.
When considering the concepts of human rights and state sovereignty, the potential for conflict between the two is evident. Any humanitarian intervention by other actors within the international system would effectively constitute a violation of the traditional sovereign rights of states to govern their own domestic affairs. Thus, the answer to this question lies in an examination of the legitimacy and morality of humanitarian intervention. While traditionally, the Westphalian concept of sovereignty and non-intervention has prevailed, in the period since the Cold War, the view of human rights as principles universally entitled to humanity, and the norm of enforcing them, has developed. This has led to the 1990’s being described as a ‘golden