If aid is found to support a war effort, should aid agencies and practitioners continue to give it? The resounding answer given by aid workers all over the world is that the needs of suffering people ...are too important to ignore and, further, that there can be no justification for not assisting suffering people. But how can one provide aid in the context of conflict without exacerbating the conflict? The Local Capacities for Peace Project (LCPP) was formed in 1994 to learn how aid and conflict interact in order to help aid workers find a way to address human needs without feeding conflict. This paper will discuss how the learning process of the LCPP was designed, the results gained at each step, and how the results were fed back to the participating organisations.
BARTHÉLÉMY Michel - Public Space and Humanitarian Aid.
This paper examines a text produced by an NGO, to see how it proceeds in order to resolve the uncertainty surrounding the identity of a ...population as victims - Rwanda refugees in Zaire, as it happens. It is not these people's situation that is equivocal but the fact that certain member States of International Organizations in charge of refugee aid decide not to help them, at the cost of keeping the real situation from international public opinion. Through this case study, the aim is to show the pertinence for textual analysis of centering one's approach on the description of reading procedures, considered to be a course of observable actions rather than a set of cognitive operations. The analysis seeks to sound the process of how meaning is built into a text, as well as how the reality described by the text is a social construct.
Le présent article examine la manière dont procède le texte d'une ONG en vue de lever l'équivoque qui plane sur l'identité de victimes d'une population - les Rwandais réfugiés au Zaïre. Pour ce faire, l'équivoque est attribuée, non pas à la situation de ces personnes, mais à la volonté de certains Etats-membres des institutions internationales chargées de l'aide aux réfugiés de ne pas leur porter secours, au prix d'une dissimulation de la situation effective à l'opinion publique internationale. A travers ce cas, l'objectif est de montrer l'intérêt d'une approche centrée sur la description des opérations de lecture, saisies comme un "cours d'action observable" et non comme un ensemble d'opérations cognitives. L'analyse vise à accéder au processus de construction de la signification du texte et, tout à la fois, de construction sociale de la réalité configurée par le texte.
This thesis presents how humanitarian aid workers were attracted, motivated, recruited, and prepared for fieldwork, and how they reported their work experience directly from the field and when they ...returned home. Data were derived from interviews with experienced aid workers, focus group discussions with presumptive aid workers, analysis of letters from aid workers in the field on MSFs homepages in Europe, and from interviews with recruitment officers at some of the main humanitarian organisations. Health professionals were attracted by the positive images of humanitarian action. They wished to work in teams with like-minded people, and to make a difference in the world. However, this image was not supported by the recruitment officers, or experienced aid workers, who described a complex reality in humanitarian action. The experienced aid workers instead had realised they learned more than they contributed. The recruitment system for relief workers would benefit from a more holistic approach, where personalities of the aid workers are more in focus. More time must be spent with the applicants, both recruited and returning aid workers, in order to improve the system. A socialisation approach could help identify the right personnel and to motivate current personnel to continue.
LA INTIMIDAD DICIBLE DE LOS VOLUNTARIOS HUMANITARIOS EN « LETTRES SANS FRONTIERES » Las cartas de los voluntaries constituyen un material rico para quien se interesa en lo humanitario y sus ...motivaciones. Permiten focalisarse en lo que concierne la autœstima. Interpretar estas cartas supone buscar lo que estos discursos deben a los determinantes sociales del compromiso politico, a los sub-grupos de pertenencia de los voluntarios en las ONG y a la evolucion del campo humanitario.
LES INTIMITÉS DICIBLES DES EXPATRIÉS HUMANITAIRES DANS LES LETTRES SANS FRONTIÈRES Les lettres de volontaires sont un matériau riche pour qui s'intéresse à l'humanitaire et aux raisons d'agir. Elles permettent de focaliser sur ce qui touche à l'estime de soi. Donner du sens à ces lettres suppose de chercher ce que les discours doivent aux déterminants sociaux de l'engagement, au sous-groupe d'appartenance des volontaires dans les ONG et à l'évolution du champ humanitaire.
DICIBLE INTIMACIES OF HUMANITARIAN VOLUNTEERS IN « LETTRES SANS FRONTIERES » Humanitarians'letters are a rich material for someone who is interested in humanitarism and the reasons which make a person act. They enable us to focus on what self esteem involves. Yet, giving meaning to these letters implies to determine what these speeches owe to the social determining of commitment, to the part played by the volunteers in the NGO's and to the evolution of humanitarian field.
MUJERES COMPASIVAS, MUJERES MILITANTES EN DOS SEMANARIOS FEMENINOS Varios articulos de la prensa femenina ponen en escena figuras de mujeres involucradas en la accion humanitaria y que se inscriben ...dentro de representaciones divergentes de las relaciones entre ambos sexos. « Elle » desarolla la figura de la militante, « Madame Figaro » la de la mujer compasiva. Esto se arraiga en concepciones diferenciadas de la acción humanitaria, cercanas de la asistencia caritativa (« Madame Figaro »), о del desarrollo y de los derechos humanos (« Elle »).
FEMMES SECOURABLES, FEMMES MILITANTES, DANS DEUX MAGAZINES FEMININS De nombreux articles de la presse féminine mettent en scène des figures de femmes, concernées par l'action humanitaire, qui s'inscrivent dans des représentations divergentes des rapports de sexes. Elle développe la figure de la militante, Madame Figaro celle de la femme secourable. Cela renvoie aussi à des conceptions différenciées de l'action humanitaire, proches de l'assistance caritative (Madame Figaro), ou du développement et des droits de l'homme (Elle).
« HELPFUL WOMEN, ACTIVIST WOMEN IN TWO WOMEN'S MAGAZINES» Women's magazines publish numerous articles on humanitarian action which describe different women's figures. They fit in divergent representations of men and women 's roles, and in heterogeneous conceptions of gender relations. They also linked to different conceptions of humanitarian action which locate the magazines in a constellation that includes charity (« Madame Figaro »), development and human rights (« Elle »).
Frisque Cégolène. Femmes secourables, femmes militantes, dans deux magazines féminins. In: Mots, n°65, mars 2001. L'Humanitaire en discours, sous la direction de Pascal Dauvin et Johanna Siméant. pp. 51-75.
