Gaining access to vulnerable populations is frequently difficult. Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) face many circumstances where they are unable to gain access to vulnerable populations, as well as fierce criticism when they fail in their relief efforts. As with much of aid and development, the story isn’t wholly negative and there have been significant technical innovations recently that have facilitated improved access for NGOs. NGOs continue to operate in remote, unpopular and hostile environments and the challenges they face should not be overlooked. This paper’s aim is not to criticise what is already widely regarded as a flawed sector within the aid industry; rather it is to constructively contribute to the debate on access.
It distinguishes two main thematic areas under which NGOs are unable to gain access to vulnerable populations, namely: technicalities and hostile conflict zones. It also explores the idea that these circumstances mask deeper factors in providing relief; strategic interest and convenience. These influences are indicative of a shift in aid policy which is discussed in an analysis on the implications of ‘access’ on aid policy in terms of conceptual, political and practical implications.
Author: Hannah Taylor
Under what circumstances are NGOs unable to gain access to vulnerable populations? What are the implications for aid policy? (3)
Articles & Papers
Under what circumstances are NGOs unable to gain access to vulnerable populations? What are the implications for aid policy?
Cash or Food Aid? Assessing the role of resource-based transfers in achieving female empowerment and gender equity in social protection programmes
The central objective of this research is to assess the value of resource based transfers in addressing unequal gender relations and power asymmetries within social protection programmes, with wider benefits for increased female empowerment and gender equity. The tendency to generalise assumptions of women and female-headed households as the poorest and most vulnerable has been to the detriment of a contextual analysis of the ways in which poverty has been shaped by gender. A case-by-case study of Nicaragua’s Conditional Cash Transfer, Ethiopia’s Public Works Programme and Malawi’s Food and Cash Transfer concludes that food and cash transfers targeted at women ease gender conflicts over scarce resources and augment household welfare. However it contends safety net programmes must directly integrate men to promote gender equity and enhance women’s agency, power and choice. Putting forward the notion that the objectives of poverty reduction and human capital are not in harmony, the inattention to gender relations has undervalued social protection schemes as a means for reducing poverty. This research is of significance to wider efforts to promote poverty reduction through women.
Author: Shefali Shah
Cash or Food Aid? Assessing the role of resource-based transfers in achieving female empowerment and gender equity in social protection programmes (70)
How can NGOs practice ‘doing good’ and minimise ‘doing harm’? What are the dilemmas and challenges present?
Promoting human rights, driving the cause against climate change, and at the forefront of disaster relief; non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have an essential role in addressing the issues of global poverty and injustice. Despite good intentions, harmful conduct can arise at any time without an NGO even being aware.
This Paper by Carly Garonne contributes to the growing body of research on ‘doing good’ and minimising ‘doing harm’ by arguing that harm can be reduced by deeply understanding the context of each programme, taking a rights-based approach and conducting participatory work. Additionally, one of the most important means, albeit controversial, is to record failure.
Due to the complexities of this debate, this paper specifically concentrates on the role of international NGOs (INGOs) in order to channel the research. The content is structured into three parts beginning with an overview of INGOs in a modern context to show that growing pressure is being placed on NGOs to increase effectiveness and be accountable for their actions. The dilemmas facing INGOs will be analysed in part two, through the provision of numerous examples and case studies to highlight existing challenges. To finish, general principles that all INGOs can adopt to increase effectiveness will be presented.
Author: Carly Garonne
How can NGOs practice ‘doing good’ and minimise ‘doing harm’? What are the dilemmas and challenges present? (117)
Globalization, Regulation and Geography: The Development of the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands Offshore Financial Centres
This Ph.D. thesis – completed in 1996 – used the development of the Bahamas and Cayman Offshore Financial Centres as a lens to understand the evolving relationship between globalization and sovereignty.
Chapter one asks: “what explains the emergence of these new places – offshore financial centres – on the map of international political economy?” Chapter two critically reviews the literature around the themes of globalization, regulation and geography. Chapter three is a “methodology” chapter. Chapter four begins to explore the development of the Bahamas and Cayman OFCs, examining the regulatory construction of place. Chapter five expands the focus to consider the relationship between the Bahamas and Cayman OFCs and how this relationship has affected their development. Chapter six explores the wider regulatory landscape, looking at the relationship of the Bahamas and Cayman OFCs with the USA and at their place within the regulatory framework for international banking provided by the Basle Committee. Chapter seven brings together some of the insights from earlier chapters and puts the “regulatory landscape” metaphor to work, moving towards an explanation for the development of OFCs and processes of financial globalization.
It is argued that the development of stateless monies, particularly since the late 1960s, produced an economic space of flows, increasingly divorced from the political space of states and the productive economy. The OFCs, through the practice of unbundling sovereignty, articulate the economic and political spaces of capitalism.
Author: Alan Hudson
Globalization, Regulation and Geography: The Development of the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands Offshore Financial Centres (71)
‘Everyone is doing something and calling it PRA’ – A Critical Reflection on Participatory Methods in Development
This paper (submitted in part of a Anthropology of Development Masters degree) argues that implementing participatory methods which go beyond consultation involves a wide range of difficulties. Even very careful implementation, which demands a range of skills and critical awareness of the identified problems, can not eliminate all of the issues raised. On the contrary, the mainstreaming of participation has in many instances counteracted its underlying ideals. However, cases of bad practice should not justify writing off the entire approach.
Author: David Parduhn
‘Everyone is doing something and calling it PRA’ A Critical Reflection on Participatory Methods in Development (158)
Focus on Corruption: How to secure the aims of decentralization in Peru by improving good governance at the regional level
Decentralization holds out the promise of improving democratic participation and public service delivery, but this can be undermined where week institutions allow corruption to flourish. In this joint policy analysis paper, the authors create an econometric model of corruption at the regional level in Peru to inform policy recommendations aimed at the Peruvian National Council of Decentralization and the Office of the Public Defender. The paper was awarded Most Outstanding Policy Analysis in 2005 at the MPA/ID program at Harvard Kennedy School.
Authors: Aaron Ausland and Alfonso Tolmos
Focus on Corruption: How to secure the aims of decentralization in Peru by improving good governance at the regional level
Change or Continuity? Female Sex Workers’ Lives in the Dominican Republic
As a response to many studies in which the exploitative nature of sex tourism was pronounced, the work in review about the Dominican Republic emphasises that female sex workers are local agents who take advantage of their clients, transforming their bodies into resources for economic independence, while challenging structures of patriarchy and inverting gender relations. Neo-liberal economic reforms led to a change in the household’s income distribution and gave female sex workers, on a practical level, the possibility to increase their economic independence and status. However, as this paper argues, sex workers’ agency is very limited within well-defined structures and gender roles are not transformed on an ideological level. This paper puts into perspective sex worker’s lives and shows the importance of not loosing sight of structural forces such as economic constraints and familial obligations, and alerts researchers not to apply Western concepts of emancipation.
Author:David Parduhn
Change or Continuity? Female Sex Workers’ Lives in the Dominican Republic (134)
Losing out to Supermarkets – The Transformation of Fruit and Vegetable Supply Chains in Southern Africa
Supermarket chains have spread throughout Southern Africa and thereby restructured agri-food markets. Fragmented public markets have increasingly been replaced by supermarket stores which can offer products of better quality at lower prices. Those farmers who previously supplied public markets are now superfluous and have difficulties in entering new supermarket channels due to high entry requirements, in particular private standards. Although the expansion of supermarkets provides new opportunities for smallholders to participate in new supply chains, their inclusion has failed as supermarkets have not been able or willing to support farmers sufficiently. Instead, they co-operate with bigger farms which are able to meet their standards, or import the desired produce. Several alternative strategies for smallholders have been suggested, however, it remains uncertain whether an inclusion of smallholders into supermarket channels is the best available approach at all.
Author:David Parduhn
Losing out to Supermarkets - The Transformation of Fruit and Vegetable Supply Chains in Southern Africa (172)
‘Money does not always talk’ – Reassessing the Empowerment Potential of Women’s Employment
It has often been assumed that, as a result of access to financial resources, women’s employment would lead to their empowerment. However, this link is not as straightforward as examples from Kenya and Bangladesh show: Firstly, intra-household dynamics shape women’s control over income and secondly, even when they have control, it does not necessarily lead to a transformation of their subordinate status. This paper examines fundamental problems in defining and measuring empowerment and in this context depicts underlying normative Western ideas about agency, emancipation and modernity. The paper argues for the inclusion of the women concerned in policy-making in order to construct locally relevant indicators for empowerment.
Author:David Parduhn
‘Money does not always talk’ - Reassessing the Empowerment Potential of Women’s Employment (223)
Multi-sectoral Approaches to Migration of Health Professionals
In this editorial piece Krystle Lai highlights the issue of the migration of health workers from the Developing World to the Developed and that we must acknowledge the structural causes that are increasing the numbers of those who chose to migrate.
Multi-sectoral Approaches to Migration of Health Professionals (200)
Written by:Krystle Lai
Posted in Article, Comment & Analysis, Global Health