Citizen aid: grassroots interventions in development and humanitarianism

Abstract

the introduction to this collection brings together, under the umbrella terms of citizen aid and grassroots humanitarianism, interdisciplinary research on small-scale, privately funded forms of aid and development. It notes the steady rise of these activities, including in the Global South as well as north, such as in the context of the recent European refugee crisis. It considers their position vis-à-vis more institutionalised forms of aid; methodological approaches and their challenges; and asks what political dimensions these initiatives may have. It outlines key themes arising from the contributions to the collection, including historical perspectives on 'demotic humanitarianism' , questions of legitimacy and their apparent lack of professionalisation, motivations of their founders, the role of personal connections, as well as the importance of digital media for brokerage and fundraising. Being mindful of its critiques and implicit power imbalances, it suggests that citizen aid deserves more systematic academic attention. Citizen aid as an 'unstable category' one reason why studies of these forms of aid are fragmented are the diverse terminologies which are deployed to describe them. despite this, we propose that they share some ARTICLE HISTORY

Volunteer geographic information in the Global South: barriers to local implementation of mapping projects across Africa

“…In their words, they found that the relationship between digital innovation, NGOs, and funding agencies ''reproduced a hierarchical, top-down 'developmental' logic, whose main inspiration was an uncritical techno-determinist rationality.'' (Omanga and Mainye 2019) Their experiences are consistent with broader critiques of how supply-side aid (Fechter and Schwittay 2019) and digital humanitarianism (Burns2014) use development to extend Western and neoliberal rationalities. There is a risk that these projects feed back into the processes of colonialism and neoliberalism that VGI would ideally resist.…”

Beyond the professionalized nongovernmental organization: Life‐history narratives of grassroots philanthropic leaders in Africa

“…Third, the AEC case contributes further to literature about African philanthropy and provides an illustration of small voluntary organizations as outlets for diaspora. Indeed, even with a vision of modernity, Fechter and Schwittay (2019) suggest that potentially these types of aid “initiatives disrupt the traditional North–South divisions” (p. 1772). African philanthropy has gained more attention in the literature in recent years (e.g., Aina & Moyo, 2013; Fowler & Mati, 2019; Moyo, 2011; Moyo & Ramsamy, 2014) and it is proposed that philanthropy will play a greater means to support development in Africa (Kumi, 2019).…”

“…While in the last 10-15 years researchers have made progress, "there is still much work to be done on what these [actors] actually represent to those who contribute to their existence" (Taithe, 2019(Taithe, , p. 1784. For example, Fechter and Schwittay (2019) have called for a more comprehensive understanding of "our conceptions of contemporary forms of aid and development" (1776).…”

“…Of these, almost 70% of the organizations registered ( n = 10,871) have a budget of US$ 100,000 or less and are predominantly volunteer run, often made up of people like Diana and Eleanor of AEC‐USA. These organizations are examples what is called “citizen aid” initiatives that “are privately funded and aim to support others in need” (Fechter & Schwittay, 2019, p. 1770).…”

“…The case of AEC allows us to examine grassroots philanthropic leadership in both the North and on the ground in the South and the relations among them. These Southern perspectives in global philanthropy and development aid in particular are not abundant in the literature (see Fechter & Schwittay, 2019).…”