{"id":634,"date":"2016-10-13T08:43:45","date_gmt":"2016-10-13T12:43:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.elon.edu\/aidworkervoices\/?p=634"},"modified":"2017-10-25T11:39:29","modified_gmt":"2017-10-25T15:39:29","slug":"what-i-learned-from-putting-together-aid-worker-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elon.edu\/aidworkervoices\/?p=634","title":{"rendered":"What I learned from putting together Aid Worker Voices"},"content":{"rendered":"

What I learned from putting together Aid Worker Voices<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Aid Worker Voices<\/em> was published back in September, 2016 and since then I have been busy extending the research with more in-depth interviews with local aid workers and other posts based on more thought and research about a wide variety of topics. Look soon for update posts about local aid workers here in North Carolina, what is it like to be a LGBQI+ aid worker, and some thoughts about the sector overall.<\/p>\n

On the margins
\n<\/strong>I am\u00a0an academic that studies and teaches about aid and development and founded\u00a0a program<\/a> with a global development focus,\"awv-ecover\"<\/a> and this puts me\u00a0decidedly only on the fringes of “the humanitarian aid and development industry.” \u00a0What I have learned from working with J (aka Evil Genius<\/a>)\u00a0on our survey, writing dozens of posts about the data and, finally, putting together Aid Worker Voices<\/em><\/a>\u00a0is that though I have a lot to learn, my overall experience and my\u00a0sociology background have provided tools for meaningful comment.<\/p>\n

Among others, Thomas Kuhn<\/a> argues that sometimes the most insightful observations about any field are made by outsiders. Though\u00a0I am sober enough to know I have not arrived at any profound conclusions about the sector, I do hope that my book\u00a0adds some useful insights.<\/p>\n

The conscience\u00a0of our global community<\/strong>
\nI wrote in the preface that collectively workers\u00a0in the aid and development sector are the conscience\u00a0of our global community and as such deserve our\u00a0support and as such merit a deeper and more intense study by both insiders and outsiders. \u00a0Insofar as there is a ‘global community’, aid workers are its most empathetic and informed representation.<\/p>\n

In scouring the academic literature about this topic I found some good resources,\u00a0for example Silke Roth’s The Paradoxes of Aid Work,\u00a0<\/em>the Fecher and\u00a0Hindman edited book\u00a0The Anthropology of Professionals in International Development<\/em>, and Adventures in Aidland:<\/em>\u00a0Inside the Everyday Lives of Development Workers<\/em> edited by\u00a0<\/em>David Mosse. Though these books are very solid\u00a0and there is growing academic interest in this filed,\u00a0I did not find large scale, coordinated and focused emphasis that I think this topic demands. \u00a0My hope is that Aid Worker Voices<\/em>\u00a0makes a useful contribution to this growing body of literature, bit more so that the sector continues to do more\u00a0navel gazing, lint and all.<\/p>\n

Take aways from the survey?
\n<\/strong>I was very surprised and pleased at the amount of time, thought, and passion many respondents put into completing the survey. \u00a0This shows me at least two things. \u00a0First, aid workers\u00a0cared enough to take the time to share their thoughts and emotions and, secondly the survey provided a cathartic moment for many, an opportunity to step outside of their normal routine and be elevated to 35,000 feet for a moment and reflect on the big picture of their life in the sector and broad, related issues.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many views on the future of aid and development were\u00a0thoughtful -and critical- especially\u00a0regarding the overall global structure of aid. \u00a0Selective perception it may be, but I found very good support for a sober and decidedly anti-neoliberal stance regarding how complicit we (“Westerners”) are in terms of supporting the conditions that make aid and development work necessary. \u00a0Climate change related disasters will increase, all caused by an blind and consumeristic “developed” world, wars continue in large part in reaction to Western imperialism both past and present, and global poverty is due in no small measure\u00a0to rampant neoliberalism. This respondent represents many:<\/p>\n

“I think humanitarian aid work operates within a system that is built on inequality – we won’t see large scale change\u00a0happen in the lives of people, in terms of long term development, until we start to challenge the structures and\u00a0systems that result in this inequity in the first place. And the heart of those institutions is within North America and\u00a0Europe – until we recognize how dependent we are on the oppression and marginalization of others for our own\u00a0betterment and benefit (i.e. access to cheap disposable goods, foreign foods and fresh imports, temporary foreign\u00a0workers to fill low-income job vacancies, etc…), humanitarian aid work is just another cog in this bullshit machinery.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Many aid workers though\u00a0very critical of smaller ’boutique’ NGO’s, saw the need for more flexible response allowed for by smaller aid and development entities. Their comments on this topic and several others -corruption, getting fired in the sector, the future of aid and development- presented ample evidence that this industry, like all others, suffers from the inherent and inexorable impact of bureaucratization. \u00a0Though efforts like those yielding the Core Humanitarian Standards<\/a> indicate that there can be productive sector-wide coordination, cooperation, and communication responses to\u00a0several survey questions underlined\u00a0a high level of frustration among aid workers.<\/p>\n

My main take away from the results is that the voices of aid workers are passionate, funny, snarky, and for most part on point. \u00a0Many of them have useful thoughts about the way forward for the sector and need to be listened to be those in positions to impact policy.<\/p>\n

I will continue exploring and reporting on the inhabitants of “Aidland” in hope that my contributions will add to the growing body of knowledge about -and by- this “conscience\u00a0of our global community.”<\/p>\n

Comments or thoughts? \u00a0Contact me<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What I learned from putting together Aid Worker Voices Aid Worker Voices was published back in September, 2016 and since then I have been busy extending the research with more in-depth interviews with local aid workers and other posts based on more thought and research about a wide variety of topics. Look soon for update … <\/p>\n

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