In the last decade the use of non-governmental agencies (NGOs) to promote development and reduce poverty and hunger has become a major feature of development policy. Donors have poured funds into NGOs, governments have allocated them major responsibilities and their number and size has grown. Has this popularity helped them to solve the problems of poverty or has it changed them so that they are now part of the 'development industry' that they used to criticize?;This book provides the most detailed study available of the ways in which NGO-State-Donor relationships have changed the role that NGOs play in development. Its papers are introduced by two international experts on the topic and the contributors are leading academics and senior practitioners. The picture that emerges from the general reviews and detailed case studies of African, Asian and Latin American NGOs, is a complex one. However, the authors conclude that there is much evidence that NGOs are 'losing their roots' - getting closer to donors and governments and more distant to the poor and disempowered who they seek to assist.

Adventures in the Aid Trade takes us on a fascinating journey through 40 years of work at the coalface of international development. Drawing on his experiences from long periods in the field, the author reflects on what has worked, what has not and why, and considers how these experiences relate to students and practitioners today. Looking beyond high-level policy matters and international relations, this book focuses instead on the author's actual experiences in the field and the inspired local people he encountered. The narrative traces how these people, working through their own organisations, make a difference to the lives of their contemporaries, and learn how to generate the income to do it. Chapters draw on the author's experiences of working with local practitioners from 40 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, South, South East and Central Asia, and the South Pacific. Peppered with lively stories and anecdotes, Adventures in the Aid Trade provides valuable lessons from the shifting aid landscape and reflects on where the industry is likely to go next. Whether you are a current development practitioner or a student just starting out in your understanding of the development and humanitarian sectors, this book provides an invaluable snapshot of the world of civil society organisations, governance and the voluntary sector, and the lived lives of ordinary people in extraordinary times.

Everybody is aware of the tragedies and accidents which have taken place within schools and colleges that have hit the headlines in the last few years. This training manual will help schools and colleges develop procedures that will prevent disasters from occurring and promote a safer environment both for the teaching staff and for the student. By giving background information on how schools which have suffered disaster have coped, this books helps senior management teams to provide training in disaster management. It also provides plans and policies that can be used and adapted by colleagues.

Adventures in the Aid Trade takes us on a fascinating journey through 40 years of work at the coalface of international development. Drawing on his experiences from long periods in the field, the author reflects on what has worked, what has not and why, and considers how these experiences relate to students and practitioners today. Looking beyond high-level policy matters and international relations, this book focuses instead on the author's actual experiences in the field and the inspired local people he encountered. The narrative traces how these people, working through their own organisations, make a difference to the lives of their contemporaries, and learn how to generate the income to do it. Chapters draw on the author's experiences of working with local practitioners from 40 countries across sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, South, South East and Central Asia, and the South Pacific. Peppered with lively stories and anecdotes, Adventures in the Aid Trade provides valuable lessons from the shifting aid landscape and reflects on where the industry is likely to go next. Whether you are a current development practitioner or a student just starting out in your understanding of the development and humanitarian sectors, this book provides an invaluable snapshot of the world of civil society organisations, governance and the voluntary sector, and the lived lives of ordinary people in extraordinary times.

When the United Nations sanctions a humanitarian relief operation, how can the numerous and diverse UN, Non-Governmental Organizations and military elements be coordinated? What are the practical, political and institutional considerations and impediments? What can be learned from previous experience? This is a volume of practitioner perspectives: the views of distinguished individuals from all of the concerned professions, including former Special Representatives of the Secretary-General and Force Commanders, as well as senior UN officials and representatives of the NGO community.

The U.S.-led intervention in Somalia that began in December 1992 is the most significant instance to date of "peacemaking" by the international community. The heady promise of Operation Restore Hope and the subsequent disappointments have had a resounding impact on the policies of Western governments and the UN as they have tried to cope with humanitarian emergencies in Rwanda, Bosnia, and elsewhere. However, it is questionable how correct the lessons so quickly derived from the Somalia experience actually were. At the same time, many important organizational and operational innovations during the Somalia exercise have not received sufficient attention. Learning from Somalia is therefore critical if the international community is to respond better to tragedies that threaten millions of human lives.Contributors to this book, many of whom are policymakers who were either in Mogadishu or Washington during the relief missions, examine the intervention in Somalia and draw lessons for future peacekeeping operations. They analyze many aspects of peacemaking that are not well understood, including efforts to rebuild the police force, the dynamics of the economy, the relationship between the military and nongovernmental organizations, and the performance of European armies. The book also discusses international politics surrounding the crisis, especially the relationship between the United States and the UN and the legal justifications for intervention. The concluding chapters discuss the prospects for intervention efforts in light of the Somalia experience.

Examines the economic impact of aid, but not in the sense that it questions the relevance of this objective, or tries to measure whether aid works or not. The focus of this book is on the evaluation process itself. Can aid evaluation be improved in order to increase the effectiveness of aid?

According to the FAO, one person in three in sub-Saharan Africa suffers from malnutrition, and one in seven is in danger of dying. Most African countries no longer seem capable of ensuring that their people have access to sufficient food. Given the failure of past efforts the objectives of food security policies and their effectiveness have to be reconsidered. This book shows that the debate on food security policies has changed with the passage of time. The entitlement debate triggered by A. Sen had a major influence on this change but, the bearing of socio-economic structures on the food security of African households and their individual members are still not fully recognised.

After a decade of uneasy peace, the historic conflict between the Northern Sudanese, who identify with their Middle Eastern neighbors, and the Southern Sudanese, who are of African heritage, erupted into violent conflict in 1983. This ferocious civil war, with its Arab militias and widespread use of automatic weapons, has devastated the populace. Nature has added to the miseries of war, bringing drought and famine to the already battered victims of violence. Although this regional calamity remains largely unknown to the outside world, the death toll among the Southern Sudanese far exceeds that in both Somalia or Bosnia. Over a million people have either perished or been displaced.This chilling account of the ravages of drought and civil war is based on a wealth of documents?never made public?from Sudanese government sources, private and foreign governmental aid agencies, research groups, international media, and other organizations involved in famine relief efforts. The authors graphically recount how the attempts of the international agencies and humanitarian organzations to provide food and medical relief have been thwarted by bureaucratic infighting, corruption, greed, and ineptitude.This rich narrative illustrates with great clarity the convoluted relationship that relief agencies had with the Sudanese government as they tried to negotiate the means of survival for the area's desperate population. It is a sad tale of the tragic human consequences of the failure of conflict resolution, of organizational mismanagement, and of a government hostile toward its own people.

The Syrian war has been an example of the abuse and insufficient delivery of humanitarian assistance. According to international practice, humanitarian aid should be channelled through a state government that bears a particular responsibility for its population. Yet in Syria, the bulk of relief went through Damascus while the regime caused the vast majority of civilian deaths. Should the UN have severed its cooperation with the government and neglected its humanitarian duty to help all people in need? Decision-makers face these tough policy dilemmas, and often the "neutrality trap" snaps shut. This book discusses the political and moral considerations of how to respond to a brutal and complex crisis while adhering to international law and practice. The author, a scholar and senior diplomat involved in the UN peace talks in Geneva, draws from first-hand diplomatic, practitioner and UN sources. He sheds light on the UN's credibility crisis and the wider implications for the development of international humanitarian and human rights law. This includes covering the key questions asked by Western diplomats, NGOs and international organizations, such as: Why did the UN not confront the Syrian government more boldly? Was it not only legally correct but also morally justifiable to deliver humanitarian aid to regime areas where rockets were launched and warplanes started? Why was it so difficult to render cross-border aid possible where it was badly needed? The meticulous account of current international practice is both insightful and disturbing. It tackles the painful lessons learnt and provides recommendations for future challenges where politics fails and humanitarians fill the moral void.

Since 2006, specialists, doctors, psychologists, and therapists of Parzival-Zentrum Karlsruhe have taken part in emergency education crisis interventions, carried out by the organization Friends of Friends of Waldorf Education. They work with psychologically traumatized children and young people in war zones and disaster areas, including Lebanon, China, the Gaza Strip, Indonesia, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan, and most recently in Japan following the tsunami there and the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Bernd Ruf, who heads these operations, describes in his book in various ways the basics of anthroposophically extended "emergency education," including the anthroposophic understanding of trauma itself. In addition, he describes processes and experiences, focusing on recent experiences in Japan at the center of his descriptions. Educating Traumatized Children offers much-needed insight into this little-known area of education and healing for traumatized children and young people. This book will be valuable not only for those working in areas of disaster and armed conflict, but also for any teacher or parent who is teaching or caring for a traumatized child.

A response to the pressing need to address and clarify the substantial ambiguity within current literature, this edited volume aims to deepen readers' understanding of the impact of foreign aid on development outcomes based on the latest findings in research over the past decade. Foreign aid has long been seen as one of two extremes: either beneficial or damaging, a blessing or a curse. Consequently, many readers perceive aid's effectiveness based on the work of scholars who are assessing the impact of aid from one of two antithetical perspectives. This book takes a different approach, shedding light on recent research that can deepen our understanding of the complex relationship between aid and its aftereffects. Drawing from an extensive set of studies that have explored micro and macro impacts of foreign aid for recipient nations, chapter authors highlight more layered and nuanced findings, with a focus on donor characteristics, political motives, and an evaluation of aid projects and their effectiveness, including the differential impact based on type of aid. This volume is the first of its kind to unpack aid as a complex rather than a unitary concept and explore the wide areas of grey that have long enshrouded foreign aid.

Wasteful over-consumption (by some) in the developed countries and the continuing, in some cases worsening, hunger of millions in the Third World is a dramatic indication that food problems are urgent. Anger is not enough and this book, which comes from the research group on Development Policy and Practice in the Open University (DPP), aims to provide some of the analytical tools needed for serious action. Case studies to show ways in which food aid has been used by donor countries for political ends; descriptions of the relationships between markets and human needs; articles on the problems associated with the feminization of poverty; pieces on patterns and trends of food production; analysis of land reform; an evaluation of the effects of biotechnology are all part of this rich and lively collection of articles written specially for this book.

Al Qaeda detonates a nuclear weapon in Times Square during rush hour, wiping out half of Manhattan and killing 500,000 people. A virulent strain of bird flu jumps to humans in Thailand, sweeps across Asia, and claims more than fifty million lives. A single freight car of chlorine derails on the outskirts of Los Angeles, spilling its contents and killing seven million. An asteroid ten kilometers wide slams into the Atlantic Ocean, unleashing a tsunami that renders life on the planet as we know it extinct. We consider the few who live in fear of such scenarios to be alarmist or even paranoid. But Worst Cases shows that such individuals-like Cassandra foreseeing the fall of Troy-are more reasonable and prescient than you might think. In this book, Lee Clarke surveys the full range of possible catastrophes that animate and dominate the popular imagination, from toxic spills and terrorism to plane crashes and pandemics. Along the way, he explores how the ubiquity of worst cases in everyday life has rendered them ordinary and mundane. Fear and dread, Clarke argues, have actually become too rare: only when the public has more substantial information and more credible warnings will it take worst cases as seriously as it should. A timely and necessary look into how we think about the unthinkable, Worst Cases will be must reading for anyone attuned to our current climate of threat and fear.

This book considers various types of microfinance schemes and compares the effectiveness of different approaches in aiding poverty reduction.The provision of credit and other financial services has become increasingly seen as the answer to the problems facing poor people. Microfinance interventions have the capacity to increase incomes, contribute to individual and household security, and change social relations for the better. But it cannot be assumed that they will do so and it may often be more effective in terms of poverty reduction to combine credit provision with other development activities.The authors emphasize the importance of first studying the local context, and then considering the macro-economic factors which may be operating upon the economy of a particular country. Five extended case studies, in the Gambia, Ecuador, Mexico, Pakistan, and the UK, are examined; aspects of sustainability and impact assessment are considered with reference to these case studies and to other examples.

This book examines the international development policies of five East Central European new EU member states, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. These countries turned from being aid recipients to donors after the turn of the millennium in the run-up to EU accession in 2004. The book explains the evolution subsequent to EU accession and current state of foreign aid policies in the region and the reasons why these deviate from many of the internationally agreed best practices in development cooperation. It argues that after the turn of the millennium, a 'Global Consensus' has emerged on how to make foreign aid more effective for development. A comparison between the elements of the Global Consensus and the performance of the five countries reveals that while they have generally implemented little of these recommendations, there are also emerging differences between the countries, with the Czech Republic and Slovenia clearly aspiring to become globally responsible donors. Building on the literatures on foreign policy analysis, international socialization and interest group influence, the book develops a model of foreign aid policy making in order to explain the general reluctance of the five countries in implementing international best practices, and also the differences in their relative performance.

Three years ago, award-winning actress Angelina Jolie took on a radically different role as a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Here are her memoirs from her journeys to Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Pakistan, Cambodia and Ecuador, where she lived and worked and gave her heart to those who suffer the world's most shattering violence and victimization. Here are her revelations of joy and warmth amid utter destitution, compelling snapshots of courageous and inspiring people for whom survival is their daily work and candid notes from a unique pilgrimage that completely changed the actress's worldview - and the world within herself.

This book focuses on the normative side of trade theory and is divided into five parts: * trade under perfect competition; * restricted trade under perfect competition; * trade under imperfect competition and other distortions; * Compensation: lumpsum, non-lumpsum or neither? * International trade

In Minding Spirituality, Randall Sorenson, a clinical psychoanalyst, "invites us to take an interest in our patients' spirituality that is respectful but not diffident, curious but not reductionistic, welcoming but not indoctrinating." Out of this invitation emerges a fascinating and broadening investigation of how contemporary psychoanalysis can "mind" spirituality in the threefold sense of being bothered by it, of attending to it, and of cultivating it. Both the questions Sorenson asks, and the answers he begins to formulate, reflect progressive changes in the psychoanalytic understanding of spirituality. Sorenson begins by quantitatively analyzing 75 years of journal literature and documenting how psychoanalytic approaches to religious and spiritual experiences have evolved far beyond the "wholesale pathologizing of religion" prevalent during Freud's lifetime. Then, in successive chapters, he explores and illustrates the kind of clinical technique appropriate to the modern treatment of religious issues. And the issue of technique is consequential in more than one way -- Sorenson presents evidence that how analysts work clinically has a greater impact on their patients' spirituality than the patients' own parents have. Sorenson brings an array of disciplinary perspectives to bear in examining the multiple relationships among psychoanalysis, religion, and spirituality. Empirical analysis, psychoanalytic history, sociology of religion, comparative theory, and sustained clinical interpretation all enter into his effort to open a dialogue that is clinically relevant. Turning traditional critiques of psychoanalytic training on their head, he argues that psychoanalytic education has much to learn from models of contemporary theological education. Beautifully crafted and engagingly written, Minding Spirituality not only invites interdisciplinary dialogue but, via Sorenson's wide-ranging and passionately open-minded scholarship, exemplifies it.

Foreign aid is about charity. International development is about technical fixes. At least that is what we, as donor publics, are constantly told. The result is a highly dysfunctional aid system which mistakes short-term results for long-term transformation and gets attacked across the political spectrum, with the right claiming we spend too much, and the left that we don't spend enough. The reality, as Yanguas argues in this highly provocative book, is that aid isn't - or at least shouldn't be - about levels of spending, nor interventions shackled to vague notions of 'accountability' and 'ownership'. Instead, a different approach is possible, one that acknowledges aid as being about struggle, about taking sides, about politics. It is an approach that has been quietly applied by innovative development practitioners around the world, providing political coverage for local reformers to open up spaces for change. Drawing on a variety of convention-defying stories from a variety of countries - from Britain to the US, Sierra Leone to Honduras - Yanguas provides an eye-opening account of what we really mean when we talk about aid.

Composed of activists, academics, religious scholars and professionals, this generation is drawing on new reformist thinking emerging from outside their parents' or grandparents' ethno-Muslim tradition and is using this to inform their activism. The social change that they are leading as well as the resistance which they encounter is the focus of this book.

Climate change impacts upon the world's poorest most heavily. It is therefore essential that international development initiatives focus on improving the ability of developing countries to adapt to the effects of climate change. This book, a product of research by the JICA-RI (Research Institute of the Japan International Cooperation Agency), examines climate change adaptation from the perspective of development cooperation in order to provide useful lessons for those engaged in research, policy and practice in this vital area. In this book the editors have brought together a wide range of case studies from across Africa and Asia, covering urban and rural areas and different sectors including water, agriculture and disaster management, in order to examine the following: high-resolution climate change projection in Asia and how this can be used in planning appropriate adaptation responses; in-depth case studies of climate change projections, social, economic and environmental impact and vulnerability assessment and adaptation in rural Thailand and urban Philippines; cases across Africa for which climate data is less readily available and alternative approaches need to be adopted; the current situation amongst international donors; emerging issues caused by climate change. In the introductory section, the editors draw together the full implications from the case studies to discuss how international communities can support adaptation in developing countries and to give an assessment of bilateral projects. They reflect on the lessons learned and offer recommendations for future research and international development cooperation.

Paul Collier's contributions to development economics, and in regard to Africa in particular, have marked him out as one of the most influential commentators of recent times. His research has centred upon the causes and consequences of civil war, the effects of aid, and the problems of democracy in low-income and natural-resource-rich societies. His work has also enjoyed substantial policy impact, having seen him sit as a senior adviser to Tony Blair's Commission on Africa and addressed the General Assembly of the United Nations This collection of Collier's major writings, with assistance from Anke Hoeffler and Jan Gunning, and accompanied by a new introduction, provide the definitive account of a wide range of macroeconomic, microeconomic and political economy topics concerned with Africa. Within macroeconomics, there is a focus on external shocks, exchange rate and trade policies, whilst microeconomic topics focus upon labour and financial markets, as well as rural development. Collier's book The Bottom Billion had become a landmark book and this summation of the research underpinning it will be a superb guide for all those concerned with African development.

Hunger and Health explores the multiple relationships between hunger and poor health, and how they affect the growth of individuals, physiologically and psychologically, constraining the development of nations both socially and economically. Examining the profound effect that hunger has on health, including disease prevention and treatment, it gives special attention to access to quality food and healthcare, in particular for the marginalized and poor. It also identifies critical junctures in the human life cycle when the benefits of reducing hunger and improving poor health have a profound impact.It demonstrates how aligning of hunger and health interventions can offer proven solutions that reach those most in need, and contains compelling evidence which confirms that hunger and poor health are solvable problems today. It encourages those involved in policy, programming and advocacy to take action to address some of the most urgent hunger and health problems. This is an essential reading for anyone concerned about eliminating hunger.It is written by the UN's World Food Programme, the world's most important food agency, supplying food to 90 million people in 78 countries in 2006 alone. It sheds light on a vital, hitherto neglected area of the hunger debate - the multiple relationships between hunger and poor health. It offers essential actions and affordable solutions for leaders to reach those most in need, make access to food and healthcare more equitable, and ultimately eliminate hunger. It contains compelling evidence on the profound impact that reducing hunger and improving health has at critical junctures in life as well as the benefits to national economies.

Giordano Sivini has been an international aid consultant for over twenty-five years. Here he channels a 1960s and 1970s idealistic political commitment into fieldwork and the sphere of development from the 1980s to the present. Sivini writes with both passion and cynicism about his experiences with the numerous African aid projects he has been involved with over the years.

While the "fathers of independence" of British and French decolonization wanted to change the colonial conditions of exploitation, Sivini finds that their good intentions have been shipwrecked. Ironically, the longer Sivini served as an aid consultant, the more he found himself dismayed at the various projects that were under way or slated to begin. He perceived some of the projects as grotesque, and, almost all ineffective. The money was wasted on such ventures not because of a particular government's interest in the social effects they would have on the local populace, but because of the direct and indirect benefits the government would receive.

Sivini sees international development aid as its own market: development is a commodity that takes the form of large and small projects, and is traded for loans and gifts to generate political and economic advantages for the institutional participants in the exchange. Ultimately, governmental and aid projects often stimulate resistance from the local populace as agencies upset their usual system of production by regimenting peasants to produce for the market, then appropriate the cattle of nomadic pastoralists, villagizing and resettling peasants in areas of high productivity, and exploiting laborers in large farms. This creates social disintegration, mass migration in urban informal economy, and poverty.

This is a dynamic and moving analysis of foreign aid that will be of interest to students of African studies, governmental programs, rural development, and political economy.