Internal Mobilization vs. External Humanitarian Aid

"generalized internationalized responsibility for fighting famine is far less valuable than having people do it themselves..." Famine Crimes, page 5.

After learning about the structure of de Waal's nonprofit organization, and having seen in countless scenarios in our readings the importance of grassroots work, it doesn't surprise me that he promotes sustainability of programs through local work. However, de Waal seems to be overly critical of humanitarian aid throughout this book.

In an ideal world, I think that need for aid would be organized at local levels and involve people in not only making the decisions for what is needed, but would involved them in the process of distribution, planning and programming. Local people would be involved in monitoring and evaluating programs and ensure that positive progress is made and lessons are learned every step of the way.

There have been countless examples that support this school of thought in the arena of HIV/AIDS thus far in our readings and classes. In Food Security and HIV and Aids in Southern Africa by Action Aid International, there is a section about local mobilization and participatory approaches and how they are critical in getting work done. People with HIV/AIDS often benefit immensely from the positive relationships that they form while working together in planning and organizing programs. One example of this is the Tiyambenawo Orphan Care group that was formed in Malawi in 2003. Three local women formed this group in response to the increasing number of HIV/AIDS related orphans in their community. The group raised all funds, planned and implemented all programs for these children. This is a great example of people getting work done through local means by self-mobilizing.

In addition to local mobilization, de Waal also mentions that it is imperative to have governmental support of programs too and that it is very important to have legal aid and protection in order for your program to be more sustainable. We have seen a slight version of this when African presidents getting tested for HIV and admit to HIV/AIDS being a problem in their country. This allows people to get involved and more local work to be done.

So these are good supporting evidence to the importance of local participation- which we already know. So why do we continue to have external aid drive in in big SUV's and hand out supplies that are not culturally sensitive and staying just long enough to have people depend on aid instead of be proactive in making their own change? Why do we continue to give aid to OVC's and then have them teased and made fun of because they are being set apart from the others and stigmatized?

Why? It is better to give aid than to give nothing, because something is better than nothing, right? I think we do what we feel we have to do. Because it is part of our moral compass to want to help. And I think because it is done out of nothing but good intentions, we simply have to continue on and make changes to the process in order to be more efficient in programming each time.


1. Food Security and HIV and Aids in Southern Africa. Action Aid International. August 2005

reading up on the author

I decided to do a little bit of Google work to find out about Alex de Waal, the author of Famine Crimes (as well as Aids and Power). I was intrigued by Aids and Power, his passionate book about the lack of political support for HIV/AIDS, and it was recommended that I read Famine Crimes to gain a better understanding of the political process. In addition, I am taking a Food Security and Humanitarian Aid course through the Payson Center this summer, which also makes the book directly relevant to my future work.

de Waal is a co-director of Justice Africa, an advocacy and research organization that campaigns for social justice in Africa. The primary slogan for Justice Africa is "Nothing for me without me," which depicts the participatory approach that guides the organization. It has been largely sustainable because it is run, organized and works directly in contact with communities in Africa and African people.
www.justiceafrica.org

He is also a fellow in the Global Equity Initiative at Harvard University, and a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. I think this is VERY interesting because I took a class at Tulane last semester from a visiting professor, Dr. Sheri Fink, who is also a Senior Fellow at HHI. I am going to send her an email to ask her if she does any work with him.

I EVEN found a copy of his CV, which shows all of the articles, chapters and books he has written as well as his past jobs and awards. Most intriguing for me was that de Waal was a co-recipent of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize as one of the co-founders of the Mines Advisory Group, an international campaign to ban landmines.

Fascinating.

Greetings!

Hi!

My name is Caitlin. I moved to New Orleans 9 months ago to begin graduate school in public health at Tulane. I fall more in love with this city more with each passing day. I am very interested in Disaster Planning and Emergency Management and would like to continue that work after I graduate.

I'm reading Famine Crimes by Alexander de Waal for my final project in INHL 607 and will be writing about how it relates to the HIV epidemic in this blog.

Read along...