Oxfam and the Problem of NGO Aid Appraisal in the 1960s

Hilton, Matthew

doi:10.1353/hum.2018.0000

Cited by 19 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 25 publications

(4 reference statements)

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“…Anecdotally, there has also been a growing exasperation among practitioners at witnessing the same approaches being repeated, with the same misguided but not unexpected results. The quest for efficiency, effectiveness and data-driven strategies has informed aid policy for at least five decades (Hilton, 2018). In the rush to record and justify their actions, however, humanitarians often have little time to reflect on the process of decision-making.…”

Section: Humanitarian History and Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Past Practice into Future Policy

O’Sullivan¹,

Chéilleachair²

2019

Journal of Humanitarian Affairs

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This article describes the results of a pilot project on using historical reflection as a tool for policy-making in the humanitarian sector. It begins by establishing the rationale for integrating reflection into humanitarian practice. It then looks at the growing interest in humanitarian history among practitioners and academics over the past decade and sets out the arguments for why a more formalised discussion about humanitarianism’s past could result in a better understanding of the contemporary aid environment. The main body of the article focuses on our efforts to translate that potential into practice, through a reflective workshop on Somalia since the 1990s, held at National University of Ireland, Galway, in June 2017. Drawing on our experience of that event, the article puts forward four principles on which a workable model of reflective practice might be developed: the importance of the workshop setting, how to organise the reflective process, the value of pursuing a single case study and the careful management of expectations and outcomes. This article is not intended to be prescriptive, however. Rather, our aim is to put forward some practical suggestions and to open a conversation about how a model of historical reflection for aid practitioners might be developed.

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Section: Humanitarian History and Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Past Practice into Future Policy

O’Sullivan¹,

Chéilleachair²

2019

Journal of Humanitarian Affairs

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The NGO Moment

O’Sullivan

2021

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This book is a study of compassion as a global project from Biafra to Live Aid. Kevin O'Sullivan explains how and why NGOs became the primary conduits of popular concern for the global poor between the late 1960s and the mid-1980s and shows how this shaped the West's relationship with the post-colonial world. Drawing on case studies from Britain, Canada and Ireland, as well as archival material from governments and international organisations, he sheds new light on how the legacies of empire were re-packaged and re-purposed for the post-colonial era, and how a liberal definition of benevolence, rooted in charity, justice, development and rights became the dominant expression of solidarity with the Third World. In doing so, the book provides a unique insight into the social, cultural and ideological foundations of global civil society. It reveals why this period provided such fertile ground for the emergence of NGOs and offers a fresh interpretation of how individuals in the West encountered the outside world.

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Introduction

2021

The NGO Moment

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Oxfam and the Problem of NGO Aid Appraisal in the 1960s

Cited by 19 publications

References 25 publications

Past Practice into Future Policy

Past Practice into Future Policy

The NGO Moment

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