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Development

in
States of War
Selected articles from Development in Practice

Introduced by Stephen Commins

A Development in Practice Reader


Series Editor: Deborah Eade

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Published by Oxfam (UK and Ireland)
First published 1996

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Contents
Preface
Deborah Eade 5

In the line of fire: development in conflict


Stephen Commins 8
Operationality in turbulence: the need for a change
Chris Roche 15
Breaking the cycle of violence: doing development in situations of conflict
Linda Agerbak 26
Famine and human rights
Alex de Waal 33
'Dancing with the prince': NGOs' survival strategies in the Afghan conflict
Jonathan Goodhand with Peter Chamberlain 39
The role of Salvadorean NGOs in post-war reconstruction
Francisco A Ivarez Solis and Pauline Martin 51
Children of war in the Philippines
Hans Buwalda 61
Training indigenous workers in mental-health care
Jane Shackman and Jill Reynolds 69
The United Nations speaks out on forced evictions
Miloon Kothari 78
Assisting survivors of war and atrocity: notes on 'psycho-social' issues for NGO
workers
Derek Summerfield 85
Supporting education in emergencies: a case study from southern Sudan
Alison Joyner 90
Family tracing: in whose interests?
Lucy Bonnerjea 95
Annotated bibliography 98
Research projects and relevant organisations 106
Addresses of publishers and other organisations 108
4 Development in States of War
Preface
Deborah Eade

It is now almost routine to begin an essay on international humanitarian aid programme


conflict-related emergencies by stating that since World War II whether Europe in
contemporary wars are fought not on 1945-6, Palestine in 1948, Biafra in 1968-70,
demarcated battlefields, but in the towns, Ethiopia in 1974 and 1986, or Cambodia in
villages, and homes of ordinary people. The 1979 could usefully be described as simple,
fact that 90 per cent of today's war casualties in either political or operational terms. So it
are civilians, and the fact that four out of five may seem almost perverse to define certain
refugees and displaced persons are women and emergencies as 'complex', as though others
children (perhaps over 40 million people were somehow not.
worldwide) are so often quoted that we hardly However, the term 'complex emergency'
stop to think about what they mean. The end of was coined in the United Nations to describe
the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet those major crises, which have indeed
bloc are thought to have intensified these trends proliferated since 1989, that require a 'system-
and ushered in the New World Disorder and the wide response': a combination of military
concomitant phenomenon of the complex intervention, peace-keeping efforts, relief
humanitarian emergency (CHE).1 Humanitar- programmes, high-level diplomacy, and so on.3
ian aid is no longer seen as being insulated from In other words, the complexity refers to the
politics, nor are aid workers immune from 'multi-mandate' nature of the international
attack when they assist civilians in war zones. response as well as to the multi-causal nature of
Agencies, relief personnel, and humanitarian the emergency; to the recognition that major
assistance are all subject to fierce and some- crises are necessarily political and economic
times violent dispute. All, in various ways, can (in their causes as well as their consequences),
be manipulated to influence the outcome of and never 'merely' humanitarian; and to our
conflict. engagement as humanitarian agencies in this
Experienced development and relief reality as much as it refers to the reality itself.
agencies know (but sometimes seem to have The world may or may not be a more
forgotten) that emergencies have always been complex place than it used to be though we
complex. Twenty years ago, the 1976 earth- should beware of inventing a mythical Golden
quake that devastated Guatemala exposed that Age of shared moral certitudes, 'clean' wars,
country's deep social, economic, and cultural and the uncontested simplicities of
rifts and sparked one of the most brutal, administering first aid to war casualties. But
sustained, and comprehensive military our understanding of how humanitarian relief
campaigns against civilians in Latin America's fits into the international scene has undeniably
violent history: a chain of events that led to its had to become more intelligent, and more
being dubbed an 'unnatural disaster'.2 No critical, in recent years. We have had to learn to
6 Development in States of War

see beneath the surface, to hear what is not Survival may appear to depend on international
spoken, in framing humanitarian interventions. assistance, but the future must be built by the
Gender analysis offers a useful analogy. Only a actual survivors, long after the dust has settled.4
decade or so ago, relief workers could content Its all-encompassing nature can make the
themselves with consulting with the village impact of modern warfare both randomly
headmen or 'community leaders' about what impersonal and yet highly intimate. Political
was going on, and what they thought was disappearances, 'ethnic cleansing', and gross
needed; and then draw up a response on that violations of human rights whether in
basis. In those days, any such consultation with Guatemala, Burma, Indonesia, Rwanda, or ex-
the 'victims' was seen as an enlightened Yugoslaviaare designed to destroy a society
advance on earlier practice. Yet societies are through systematic terror and hatred; and to
not a linear hierarchy, in which those at the top destroy individuals through fear, pain, and loss.
represent the interests of everyone, including The millions of anti-personnel mines strewn
those at the bottom of the pile. They are a across the paddy-fields of Cambodia or the
tangled web of relationships based on small-holdings of Angola ensure that this
exclusion as well as inclusion, and permeated cruelly indiscriminate destruction will con-
by diverse perspectives and life experiences. tinue for generations to come. Mending lives
With this insight, deciding how to act for the and relationships will demand patience, trust,
benefit of women and children, as well as of and immense courage. For a society that has
men, becomes a more demanding (and been ripped apart by civil war, developing a
certainly more time-consuming) matter. This is shared and sustainable vision of justice and
not because gender roles and identities have peace may prove yet more complex than the
become more complex. Rather, it is because we emergency itself.
have (or should have!) a deeper appreciation of
how they shape people's needs; and have Deborah Eade
learned that ignoring such gender dynamics is Editor, Development in Practice
most damaging precisely to those who most
need support. Similarly, the politico-military
dimension of emergencies is not new; but
understanding how it influences relief
programmes does indeed challenge many
Notes
deeply held beliefs about neutrality and justice. 1 The terms 'complex emergencies', 'politi-
A regrettable consequence of viewing the cal emergencies', 'complex political emer-
end of the Cold War as the global watershed for gencies' (CPEs), and 'complex humanitari-
humanitarianism is a tendency to dismiss an emergencies' (CHEs) are used inter-
earlier experience as having nothing to offer us changeably. Here, following the practice of
today. As Stephen Commins stresses in his many humanitarian agencies, we use the
introductory essay, nothing could be less true. latter.
If we turn our backs on the past, we not only 2 See, for example, Roger Plant (1978):
lose the opportunity to learn from experience, Guatemala: Unnatural Disaster, London:
but may also misread the present. Written by Latin America Bureau.
practitioners from many different backgrounds 3 A document produced by the UN
and countries, this compilation of papers from Department of Humanitarian Affairs,
Development in Practice shows that, to be Protection of Humanitarian Mandates in
effective, interventions must always be based Conflict Situations, states that '... given the
on the recognition that societies in crisis retain inter-related causes and consequences of
and are shaped by their own past one that complex emergencies, humanitarian action
pre-dates the arrival of the international aid cannot be fully effective unless it is related
juggernaut, CNN television, or the Blue Berets. to a comprehensive strategy for peace and
Preface 1

security, human rights and social and eco-


nomic development'.
4 The annotated bibliography in this volume
cites several works addressing the conse-
quences for civilians of the twelve-year
war in El Salvador, which might serve as a
microcosm of the complex emergency.
These works portray both the broad and the
specific policy dilemmas and practical
issues implicit in providing humanitarian
assistance to civilians, refugees, displaced
people, and returnees in a climate of
counter-insurgency and hostility to such
intervention. They also show the complexi-
ties of embarking on post-war reconstruc-
tion in a post-Cold War environment of
economic liberalisation. See Larkin et al.
(1991); Macdonald and Gatehouse (1995);
Pearce (1986); Thompson (1996; 1997
forthcoming).
In the line of fire:
development in conflict

Stephen Commins
The blurred continuum A changed environment: new skills
and challenges
International non-governmental organisations
(NGOs) and other humanitarian agencies have Operations in conflict-related emergencies
traditionally assumed a dichotomy between require different skills and time-frames, and a
relief and development work. Sometimes, this recognition that local communities have their
dichotomy has been reinforced by the way in own resources and priorities, and are not
which bilateral donor bureaucracies allocate helpless victims, even in situations of brutality
funds for programmes and projects. and suffering. The experiences of NGOs
Occasionally, as Jonathan Goodhand and operating in such situations can provide a
Peter Chamberlain illustrate in their paper on valuable base for helping other agencies to
NGOs in Afghanistan, reprinted in this identify development potential within conflict,
volume, donors have even refused to support to review their priorities and capacity for work
projects in what are deemed as relief areas if the in different settings, and to present policy
programmes are 'too developmental'. Over the challenges to governments and donors.
past decade, there has been a move towards Without an understanding of the ways in which
establishing clear links, both conceptual and development can and does occur on the midst
operational, between initial relief operations of conflicts, NGOs will miss opportunities to
and longer-term development goals. Indeed, strengthen local communities. Further, without
there is now a common language to describe a political and/or a human-rights perspective
'the continuum' between relief and on conflicts, NGOs may either unintentionally
development work. This has proved helpful in strengthen warring groups, or serve as political
contexts of food-insecurity and drought, but cover for the lack of action by donor
changes in the nature of emergencies governments.
demanding a humanitarian response now NGOs have begun to move, however
require the recognition that both the old uncertainly, towards a wider understanding of
dichotomy and the new continuum may development, which is not limited to economic
obscure more than they clarify. The difference indicators. They have come to recognise that
between relief and development has been there are questions of social relations,
substantially blurred in situations of long-term production relations, gender, and the manage-
political emergencies related to civil conflict. ment of human capacity and natural resources
What is now apparent is that some forms of that need to be considered. In order to achieve
gap-filling development work to provide lasting and real changes, they need to
stabilising mechanisms can be done, and are understand development as a more inclusive
indeed necessary, in situations of conflict. concept that cannot be contained in the old
In the line of fire: development in conflict 9

linear continuum of 'relief-to-rehabilitation- outcome of the conflict. In a world where


to-development'. The new concepts do not situations of long-term conflict are on the
view development as depending on the end of increase, these papers offer insights that will be
armed hostilities, because they include a valuable resource for practitioners.
relations and capacities that require attention
even during conflictsas can be seen from the
experiences of agencies in places as diverse as
Complex humanitarian
Sudan and El Salvador.
emergencies and 'the new reality'
The end of the Cold War in 1989 has been seen
Reflections for fresh insights as creating the conditions for increased civil
strife and internal wars.2 There is a danger in
This Reader is a collection of papers from implying that 1989 was the date on which
previous issues of Development in Practice, complex humanitarian emergencies (CHEs)
offering a range of perspectives on the came into being. Instead, it may be that the
challenges that confront NGOs in situations of removal of super-power restraints on client
conflict. The designation 'NGO' is often over- states has also been accompanied by growing
inclusive (one colleague described 'NGO' as awareness of the spread of such emergencies.
equivalent to calling a table 'not water'); but, These are characterised by the breakdown of
for the purposes of this essay, it includes local, political, economic, and social orders, and by
national, and international NGOs, with an the targeting of civilian populations for
emphasis on the roles of the latter in the context violence. The cruel realities of today's CHEs
of conflict. The relationship between inter- can be found in the earlier civil wars in which
national NGOs and local organisations is often NGOs gained important experience in the
complex, as is clear from several of the papers 1970s and 1980s. For example, there were
in this Reader. Learning from these many significant and brutal emergencies
experiences is not a matter of finding answers before 1989 (in places such as Afghanistan,
to simple or linear questions; rather the papers Mozambique, Cambodia, and El Salvador), but
can help practitioners to recognise their own these were overshadowed by the Cold War, and
perspectives and assumptions about working in many were somewhat muted by the actions of
conflict, the importance of providing policy various external actors. They share with more
input to governments and humanitarian recent crises the character of being political,
agencies, the need to review the priorities of rather than natural, emergencies. And as such
their own organisations, and questions related they are important sources of information and
to operational practice. experience that can provide guidance for
If the experiences from the mid-1970s practitioners today.
onwards are inadequately understood, NGOs The Cold War was a time of vicious, proxy
will miss opportunities to improve their wars. While the patrons have been removed,
effectiveness while operating in the line of fire; the arms and sources of conflict have not. The
their goals may be at odds with community growth of CHEs is documented in the increased
perceptions; and, as observers such as Mary B. numbers of refugees since 1990, the growing
Anderson and John Prendergast have pointed numbers of internally displaced persons
out, they may worsen rather than alleviate the (IDPs), and the higher proportion of official
conflict.1 The provision of food and other development assistance (ODA) now spent on
resources, the hiring of armed guards, agree- emergency relief. One result of the recognition
ments with particular political factions, or the of the realities of working in long-term CHEs is
selection of specific regions in which to a rethinking of the role of NGOs in these
concentrate can all have an influence on conflicts. The harsh lessons from experiences
contending factions and even on the eventual such as Rwanda, Somalia, and Bosnia point to
10 Development in States of War

the need for NGOs to give serious attention to education and community-based health,
how they operate in such contexts. Increased economic and social development, particularly
recognition of the difficulties of working in in areas and communities most severely
situations of armed conflict should not detract affected by war'. The very difficulties inherent
from lessons that have been learned in the past in assessing the impact of assistance in unstable
two decades. Because of the decline of security environments point to the importance of
issues related to the Cold War, greater attention enhancing local capacities in this area.
has been paid to other kinds of conflict. In
particular, the unravelling of a number of states
in Africa has created the impression for some
that the work of NGOs in situations of conflict
Building on local institutional
is fairly new. However, this is far from the case, capacities and local learning
as can be seen when reviewing the range of As noted earlier, the relationship between
NGO experiences in several long-term international NGOs and local organisations is
conflicts around the world before 1989. complex in ways that require attention and
Although there has been a tragic increase in astute responses. NGOs experience tensions
the overall number of CHEs involving warfare over the use of funds and programme priorities,
and violence, over the past several decades as well as the problem of sub-contracting.
many NGOs have gained significant exper- International NGOs, in particular in
ience of working in the line of fire. As the emergency-relief situations, often operate as
papers on Sudan and El Salvador in this volume implicit or explicit sub-contractors for multi-
point out, NGOs (local and international) lateral and bilateral donors. When they begin to
which have worked with local communities in work with local NGOs or grassroots organis-
times of conflict have learned valuable lessons. ations, there is a danger that, due to pressures of
Other places in which long-term development time and the larger operational structure within
work has been done in the context of conflict which they must function, the relationship will
include Ethiopia, Mozambique, Afghanistan, be established on a contractual basis for
and Cambodia. In this Reader, the paper by reasons of expediency. A further risk is that the
Alison Joyner on work in Sudan provides pressure to 'go operational' will reduce the
insights into the task of incorporating ability of international NGOs to assess their
development goals into long-term work with potential counterparts. Yet the task of assessing
refugee populations. As she notes, it is 'too late the legitimacy and accountability of different
to wait until after the emergency'. In this case, local organisations raises important issues that
require careful analysis.
the introduction of a flexible system for
educating teachers offers an approach for In civil conflicts, there are often new roles for
human development that is not contingent local NGOs and grassroots organisations that
upon investing in buildings that might not stretch them in their operations and skills.
survive the war. Joyner notes that, even in Local organisations such as labour unions,
prolonged conflicts, depending on the nature of churches, peasant cooperatives, and women's
the warfare, societies will continue to 'develop' groups may move into different aspects of
through crisis periods. If NGOs can also be relief and rehabilitation work, out of necessity.
flexible and mobile in their efforts, then This transition can cause difficulties when
improved education and training becomes an conflicts die down or cease, as Goodhand and
investment in people which can survive Chamberlain, as well as Alvarez Soli's and
physical destruction. This is echoed by Martin, point out. New roles, new tasks, and
Francisco Alvarez Soli's and Pauline Martin, even new structures emerge from conflict and
writing about El Salvador, who conclude that must then adapt when conflict diminishes. In
'a wealth of experience has been accumulated the Salvadorean civil war, many local groups
in humanitarian assistance, non-formal emerged to defend community resources and
In the line of fire: development in conflict 11

provide for survival; and it was indeed in conflicts. This has begun to change, as NGOs'
response to violence that new forms of social conduct in complex emergencies comes under
organisation evolved. This is also a reminder to closer scrutiny. The increased presence of
international NGOs that they should be seeking NGOs in contexts of long-term conflict has
locally generated forms of organisation to act created greater questions about the impact and
as their partners and as the lead agencies in the role of any humanitarian agencies in such
community, rather than seeking to generate situations. Serious questions about their impact
their own structures or projects. Assessing the have been raised by commentators who have
realities in Central America, Alvarez Soli's and challenged NGOs to consider the real nature of
Martin point out that 'many of the 1980s their roles in multi-mandate operations. (The
generation of NGOs are essentially the institu- annotated bibliography in this volume contains
tional expression of sectors of the urban and examples.)
rural poor who organised to defend themselves
from violence and oppression'. Given the
enormous differences in country or regional
contexts, the capacity or legitimacy of local Lost neutrality and other
NGOs cannot be taken for granted and requires complications
astute on-the-ground assessment by those Mary B. Anderson has shown that there are
agencies which would support them. many ways in which NGOs can exacerbate
Work in El Salvador, Cambodia, Sudan, and conflict. Frequently, the introduction of
other countries has provided NGOs with external resources has been interpreted as
lessons about, among other things, how either favouring one side against another, or
development for survival occurs in the midst of providing invaluable material that enhances
conflict. The line between 'relief and the power of factional leaders. When NGOs
'development' disappears, especially when hire guards or negotiate agreements with
one recognises that local populations have lives particular leaders, they move from a neutral
and histories that pre-date the presence of role to one which may influence the outcome of
external agencies (as James Scott and Robert the conflict. Anderson's concerns are echoed
Chambers have emphasised). The challenge here by Alvarez Soli's and Martin, who
for NGOs is to understand the geographic comment that the contribution of NGOs in El
spread and impact of contemporary conflicts, Salvador was not entirely positive, as they also
as well as the long historical time-frame. This brought competition, duplication, poor
comes though clearly in Goodhand and planning, lack of coordination, and generally
Chamberlain's paper on Afghanistan, where weak evaluation of their work. They also point
NGOs are forced to recognise that their work is to the difficulties that arise from competition
occurring in situations of complexity and between NGOs for funding, and the tensions
multi-layered realities. Similarly, the paper by between NGOs and popular organisations. A
Chris Roche offers insights into operating in problem which afflicts many NGOs, and not
turbulence and shows the possibility of finding only in situations of conflict, is the increasing
stabilising points which do not resolve the reliance on packaging and selling projects to
conflict, yet may provide a foundation or base donors.
for future development. These types of criticism are welcome and
As NGOs learn from their experiences in necessary, because during the 1980s there was
CHEs, they have to confront questions about a tendency to generalise about the attributes of
their wider roles and responsibilities, NGOs, without a concomitant willingness to
especially in relation to the victims of violence. ask hard questions about the quality of their
There has been an accepted distance between work. NGOs are under growing scrutiny
NGOs and other humanitarian agencies in regarding their legitimacy, accountability, and
relation to the politics of warfare and civil effectiveness.3 There is a need to evaluate their
12 Development in States of War

impact and determine how accountability to and political questions within conflicts, they
local populations can be balanced with the are also faced with the emotional toll of
requirements of different donors to NGO violence on both their own workers and on
programmes. And accountability is also civilian populations. A seminal essay6 by Hugo
required when NGOs respond to hard political Slim on 'endangered chameleons' underlines
questions arising from conflict. the increased targeting of humanitarian
The organisation African Rights has workers, who had previously been able to
produced trenchant criticisms of the operate in a neutral space between combatants.
shortcomings of international agencies in NGOs have had a sense of protection and
Somalia, Sudan, and Rwanda. Its Discussion uniqueness which has encouraged them to
Paper Humanitarianism Unbound? questions operate in such situations, in the belief that risks
the role of humanitarian agencies and asks were fairly low. This has changed with the
whether there is a new imperialism and increase in kidnapping and armed theft and
arrogance among those who call for military even intentional targeting of NGO staff for
action or 'humanitarian intervention' as aquick violence. Slim's identification of the security
fix to complex emergencies.4 A question that issue and the psychological toll on NGO staff
emerges from this critique and from the wider has been borne out in Rwanda, Burundi, and
literature is whether humanitarianism is un- Liberia, as elsewhere, where NGOs and other
bound or has unravelled. Have NGOs called for humanitarian agencies have had offices
intervention through arrogance, or rather as a attacked, staff killed and wounded, and threats
result of their uncertainty about what to do in delivered to their personnel by various military
situations of conflict? factions.
The demand on NGOs to operate in
situations of conflict and high risk is paralleled
Security risks, violence, and by the challenges of working with traumatised
psychosocial trauma populations. The papers in this volume by
Hans Buwalda, Lucy Bonnerjea, and Jane
If NGOs accept that they are working in the Shackman and Jill Reynolds all point to the
context of emergencies that are political, and costs imposed on civilians that often last longer
that often involve widespread and deliberate than the need for food, shelter, or health-care
violence against civilians, they should not keep services. These three papers all address social
silent. But how they should convey their costs borne by communities caught up in
concerns about human rights and political warfare. At the same time, as Derek Summer-
issues is not always clear. Alex de Waal, the field stresses, it is important to note that these
co-author of many African Rights reports, communities and their residents are not passive
notes in this volume that the point of entry for victims, nor are they simply 'trauma cases'.
human-rights concerns during famines may be Again, there are complex historic and political
the issue of the denial of food to civilians, for circumstances in each situation, to which
political rights are crucial to fighting famine.5 NGOs must be sensitive when planning and
Miloon Kothari makes similar points in the conducting their operations.
observation that forced evictions and uprooting
of people and communities are becoming a
recurrent aspect of conflict and government Developing wider experimental
power-plays. The brutalisation of civilians, by resources
famine or forced displacement, demands a
clear role for NGO advocacy at a policy level, The papers in this Reader provide several paths
as well as provision of immediate relief. for NGOs working during conflicts or after
Even as NGOs struggle to find ways to their formal cessation. There cannot be one
address dilemmas concerning human rights answer to the question of how NGOs should
In the line of fire: development in conflict 13

operate within such settings. But to encourage What are the challenges to the bureaucratic
thinking within NGOs and by practitioners, and administrative management of relief and
these papers have been chosen to bring together development programmes in the context of
the diverse experiences of NGOs and complex emergencies?
practitioners, and so to offer starting points for
reflective questions and for generating new Can NGOs ignore the urge to ensure their
ideas out of organisational learning. own institutional survival and work for coher-
There are indications that NGOs and other ence and common programme standards?
humanitarian agencies are giving greater
attention to the dilemmas presented by Are NGOs willing to address staff-capacity
working in complex emergencies. Along with issues, as well as the question of credentials or
the just criticism that NGOs compete at times codes of conduct for working in complex
for resources and media coverage, the level of emergencies?
cooperation among NGOs, both at the national
and international levels, has increased sub- How can NGOs respond to the challenges of
stantially in the past five years. Evidence for new staffing and personnel roles, as well as
this is seen in the efforts of umbrella bodies new types of teams?
such as the International Council of Voluntary
Agencies (ICVA) and the NGO coordination Are there operational roles for NGOs in
with United Nations Department of Humanit- situations where they have no previous
arian Affairs (DHA). This is happening both in experience?
terms of operational work and in the interests of
establishing a stronger and more coherent How can NGOs most effectively 'scale up'
policy voice. There is interest in establishing from field experience to policy-making and
mechanisms for giving accreditation to become public voices for the victims of
individual NGOs for different sectoral skills, violence?
partly to modify the media-driven and
resource-driven nature of NGO work. Further, How can NGOs 'scale down' or redirect
important questions are being asked about the their work to be attuned to the communities'
difference between neutrality and independ- own perceptions of their survival and
ence in situations of egregious human-rights development needs?
violations.
In conclusion, there are several wider issues These questions are meant to encourage all
that require further elaboration. The following NGOs and individual practitioners to think
questions may serve as the basis for greater creatively about alternative futures. NGOs
reflection within and between agencies. could become little more than ladles in the
global soup kitchen, superficially alleviating
Given the widespread violations of human the misery of the victims of conflict, but
rights that are committed in some political lacking the capacity, understanding, or interest
emergencies, do NGOs believe in the use of to address its causes and consequences. NGOs
lethal force? may also become public-sector contractors for
large donors; but, if so, can they retain
In view of the longer-term nature of political independent voices and engage in well-
emergencies, what are the best policy roles for informed actions in difficult situations?
different NGOs, especially in relation to the Experience of working in situations of armed
root causes of such conflicts? conflict has shown that opportunities for
adaptive and creative programmes do exist,
How can NGOs extend their time-frame for even when to the outsider it appears that little or
working in conflict situations? nothing can be accomplished. The paper by
14 Development in States of War

Chris Roche offers both a challenge and an The author


opportunity for NGOs to establish stabilising
Stephen Commins has an extensive back-
points for their operations. Despite both
ground in policy advice for a range of non-
international and national dislocations, NGOs
governmental and other organisations in the
can build accepted frameworks for working
United States, and has for the last six years
and interpreting what is happening. Even in the
been working for World Vision International.
face of rapid, discontinuous, or turbulent
He was previously Director of the Develop-
change, where old assumptions are no longer
ment Institute, Center for African Studies, at
valid, it may indeed be possible for NGOs to
the University of California in Los Angeles,
operate in the line of fire with effectiveness,
and he has written and published widely on
accountability, and positive long-term impact.
development and food-security issues.

Notes
1 Mary B Anderson: 'Relationships between
Humanitarian Agencies and Conflict and
Remedial Steps that Might be Taken',
unpublished paper presented at the Sympos-
ium on Humanitarian Assistance and
Conflict in Africa, 1995; also, International
Assistance and Conflict: an Exploration of
Negative Images, (1994), Issues Series No.
1, The Local Capacities Peace Project,
Collaborative for Development Action.
2 Mark Duffield: 'Complex Emergencies and
the Crisis of Developmentalism' (see
Annotated Bibliography).
3 Michael Edwards and David Hulme (1996):
Non-governmental Organisations: Per-
formance and Accountability Beyond the
Magic Bullet, London: Earthscan/SCF.
3 African Rights (1994): Humanitarianism
Unbound? Current Dilemmas Facing Multi-
Mandate Relief Operations in Political
Emergencies, Discussion Paper No 5,
London.
5 See also Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen
(1989): Hunger and Public Action, Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
6 Hugo Slim: 'The Continuing Metamorphosis
of the Humanitarian Professional: Some New
Colours for an Endangered Chameleon' (see
Annotated Bibliography).
15

Operationality in turbulence:
the need for change

Chris Roche
Introduction
activities with concerns about human rights
and political freedoms?
The Agency for Cooperation and Research in
Development, ACORD,1 is an operational
NGO which, under certain conditions, under- The need for new ideas
takes so-called relief and rehabilitation
activities within Africa. Its first priority is to Unpredictability and crisis are a fact of life,
facilitate the emergence of local organisations even in the West, where it is becoming clear
and structures, to enhance the socio-economic that 'sustainable growth' is over. In the African
position of poor people in Africa. It defines context, some have argued that the very
operationality as continuous presence, and survival of the continent is at stake. Such
works where this is required, over a limited failures require us to rethink what we do in the
period, with the people it supports. face of this crisis for development thinking and
In Africa, it is now estimated that some 40 practice (Hettne 1990). Can NGOs continue to
million people are in need of emergency respond to unexpected fluctuations and oscilla-
assistance as a result of war, famine, insecurity tions in their traditional way that is, by
and, increasingly, the effects of AIDS. In the ignoring them, or reacting after the event?
past, crises or disasters2 such as war and famine There are new ways of thinking about, and
were seen by ACORD as temporary blips managing, change for example in the areas
which were 'unusual'; it was assumed that of catastrophe,3 chaos,4 and complexity5
'normal' conditions would resume after a time. theories. In fact, nothing less than a paradigm
Inherent in the organisation's thinking was shift has been suggested.6 For, if development
some idea of a continuum of relief is about the process of change, we need a more
rehabilitationdevelopment; while crises refined analysis of what change is.
were viewed as setbacks on a path that had to be
weathered before continuing the journey.
There has, however, been a gradual realisation
that such assumptions are no longer valid.
On change7
What are the implications for NGOs? How For many years, natural and social sciences
do we respond to the depth and rapidity of tended to concentrate on those aspects of
change in the world around us? What does change that are smooth, linear, ordered, and
development mean in such circumstances? predictable in other words, those types of
How do we balance short- and long-term change that are easiest to analyse, or those that
needs, the distribution of relief and provision of some have described as leading to 'tame'
services with the nurturing of sustainable self- problems. But rapid, discontinuous, turbu-
reliance, and the implementation of operational lent change, such as occurs when a coup d'etat
16 Development in States of War

happens or a currency is suddenly devalued, without having seen the continents they drew.
has tended to be ignored, basically because it is The shape was more important than the detail.
more difficult to measure, predict, and handle. If the exact details cannot be known, what can
However, most development problems are be said about the overall shape? In northern
'wicked', not 'tame', and involve just such Mali in 1991, the ACORD team, after analys-
types of discontinuous change. An analysis of ing the situation, looked at several different
'wicked' (or turbulent) change can illuminate scenarios, ranging from the optimistic to the
how we can support people to cope with and pessimistic, and then developed 'la methode
promote change, as well as how we might inversee' (basically a process which involved
organise ourselves to do so. partners visiting ACORD or sending messages
rather than ACORD visiting them), a way of
Interdependence: Real problems are working which would have been possible
caused not by one factor, but by many interdep- under all but the most dangerous situations.
endent factors. For instance, a famine can be
caused by drought, rising cereal prices, declin- Stabilising points:11 Although situations
ing animal prices, poor roads, and lack of food never repeat themselves exactly, they often
aid all at the same time. It is not one factor focus around certain stable points. It is
that is the cause, but the combination of them important to understand what these stable
which leads to famine. points might be. In Somalia, for example, in
many areas it is the elders who have proved to
The butterfly effect:8 Small changes can be the most stable element in the current crisis,
produce large, and very divergent, effects and agencies have been able to build upon their
under the right conditions. This indicates how influence and knowledge to distribute relief
important it is to try to understand what goods and initiate rehabilitation activities.
happened at the outset of turbulence. For
example, in Niger in 1990, the fact that aid Food crises and conflicts are not exceptional or
agencies did not provide food aid to nomads static events, but are rooted in the past. As
recently returned from Algeria led to demon- expressions of struggles over power and rights,
strations that eventually resulted in the they are but a moment in existing processes of
rebellion in Mali. This small incident did not political, social, and economic change, the
cause the rebellion, but was one of the sparks effects of which vary by class and gender.
that provoked it. In essence, it set off changes Strategic intervention demands an under-
that were already embedded in the processes of standing of these processes of change. This
latent revolt in the area. means understanding that each crisis is differ-
ent; and, as Michael Watts (1991) suggests,
Feedback'9 Feedback enables organisms to each is the product of interlinked and mutually
adapt and develop and ultimately survive determined factors, including:
changing circumstances. It is also the mechan-
ism by which variables inter-relate with and long-term processes, producing patterns of
alter each other. The result of one process is the vulnerability, such as soil erosion or declin-
input for another. Feedback is essential, if we ing terms of trade;
are to adapt to circumstances that vary rapidly contingent or proximate events, producing
and unpredictably. For NGOs, this means that reductions in resources and/or entitlements,
the ability to monitor our work and alter things such as war or drought;
accordingly is the key to coping with change. the specificity of local factors, such as social
structures and access to and control over
Patterns of change:10 The map-makers of resources, which gives a particular 'rhythm
the Middle Ages made great voyages possible, and timbre' to vulnerability (for instance
because they boldly put forward their ideas culture, or gender relations).
Operalionality in turbulence 17

The need for a mix of responses agencies moving food-aid through the port, and
to make tents for refugee populations.
So what has all this got to do with development When the margin between 'falling over the
in practice! In contemporary Africa, we could edge' and being able to survive without the
classify degrees of turbulence as follows: charity of others is so small, aid agencies must
concentrate on enabling people to avoid being
1 situations where the community is engulfed caught in a downward spiral by finding new
in severe crisis; economic niches and using the market,13 as
2 situations where crisis is threatening; well as providing for more immediate needs.
3 situations where the community is recover- Figure 1 (overleaf) illustrates the pattern by
ing or rebuilding; demonstrating that, although it is likely that the
4 situations where the community is dealing major thrust of support in a situation of severe
with long-term trends, or smooth change, crisis will be towards meeting immediate
and agencies can support people's ability to needs, there are also needs which relate to
cope with and promote change: situations capacity-building, income-generation, and
where some might say that 'sustainable institutional development.
development'12 was possible. This analysis suggests that the conventional
division of programmes into the categories of
ACORD's assistance has tended to fall into relief, rehabilitation, or development is not
three types: material input through grant, sale, only unhelpful but more importantly
or credit; technical input, such as technical does not reflect local reality, where roles
assistance or training; and organisational and normally associated with 'development' are
moral support. What is striking about possible in 'relief situations, and vice versa.
ACORD's experience is how far it has been For example, social security payments in
possible to provide all of these in nearly all industrialised countries, or guaranteed employ-
circumstances, except where life is physically ment schemes or other safety nets for the most
threatened. Capacity-building can and should vulnerable in developing nations, could be
be as much a need in the face of severe crisis as described as 'relief, although many would see
in a more settled situation. Similarly, the them as an essential facet of 'developed'
strengthening of local coping mechanisms and societies. As Dreze and Sen (1989) have
political protection and lobbying are needed illustrated, in their detailed studies of countries
just as much by communities dealing with which dealt with famines, governments which
long-term trends as by those dealing with crisis. integrated relief, rehabilitation and develop-
ACORD's experience also illustrates that ment rather than dividing them into
change can have a vastly different impact on components of an evolutionary process are
different members of a community. It is thus those which have had the most success in
essential to determine the distinct needs of men alleviating hunger. What is needed, therefore,
and women, and of people with different is an adequate mix of responses.
livelihoods, in the face of crisis. The role and Famine and war are about struggles for food
functions of ACORD are determined by whom and, ultimately, power. If emergency or
it is aiming to support, as much as by the overall humanitarian assistance is strictly defined in
situation. Examples from recent experience terms of food aid and medical relief, it runs the
which lead to this analysis include the case of risk of weakening and undermining local
Somalia, where staff recognised the need to production systems, local organisations, and
support poor female entrepreneurs involved in local self-esteem. This in turn may lead to a
food preparation who were being put out of weaker civil society and the reinforcement of
business by food distributions: ACORD's those unpopular and undemocratic govern-
response was to give loans to enterprises in Port ments that are often the cause of the problem.
Sudan to allow them to manufacture pallets for Emergency relief should not be defined solely
18 Development in States of War

severe crisis crisis pending recovery stable change

A A A A

B
B

C B

D
B

D C

D D

Figure 1: The changing emphasis of support

A represents support needs and roles related roles and gender relations; promoting and
to income-generation, enterprise development, strengthening women's groups and women in
savings and credit, sustainable health and mixed groups.
educations systems, environmental protection, C represents support and roles related to
capacity-building, institutional development; preparedness for possible crises, contingency
encouraging strategic alliances, increasing planning, securing production, diversifying
ability to dialogue with the state and undertake options, strengthening coping mechanisms;
national and international lobbying, autonom- consolidating local control and management of
isation, preparing withdrawal; the need to resources by credit, training, support for organ-
reinforce women's entitlements and rights to isational capacity; women as managers and
gain access to credit, health, education, legal consumers of a shrinking resource base,
protection; to promote and strengthen directly involved and supported in all projects.
women's ability as individuals and as groups, D represents support needs and roles related
and to develop networks and alliances with to relief (e.g. provision of food, shelter, medi-
progressive agencies, legal services, etc. cine), preservation of local culture, strength-
B represents support needs and roles related ening of local coping mechanisms, political
to political stability, democracy at all levels, protection, and lobbying, securing production;
organising capacity, self-confidence, increased the provision of a liaison between community
ability to deal with the next crisis, securing and and external providers; thinking with commun-
re-starting production, rehabilitating or estab- ity, 'being there', moral support, emphasis on
lishing infrastructure; broad-based training, net- life-enhancing principles, and avoiding depen-
work building, strengthening people's ability to dency; women as guardians of family and
make demands on government, building econ- culture, and as providers; protection, ensuring
omic foundations for group development; the that, although vulnerable, women are not seen
readjustment and renegotiation of women's as victims.
Ope rationality in turbulence 19

as food aid or medicine, but should also Capacities and vulnerabilities


include, among other things, such seemingly
bizarre concepts as 'relief production', 'relief The traditional approach to crisis or emergency
employment', 'relief income-generation' and tends to divide activities into pre-emergency,
'relief institutional development'. emergency, and post-emergency stages. How-
ever, the long-term nature of certain emerg-
encies requires a long-term response that does
notfitneatly into the relief/development boxes.
Turbulence and programming
As Anderson and Woodrow (1989) argue, we
policy
need to analyse vulnerabilities, which refer to
There are clearly important differences the long-term factors which affect the ability of
between conflict and other disasters, such as a community to respond to events, and which
famine, which may become critical in determ- make it susceptible to crisis, in addition to
ining the response of the NGO community. needs, which refer to immediate requirements
Conflict is the playing out in violent form of for survival or recovery from a crisis.
political relations, which must be understood Vulnerabilities (for example, the lack of access
by NGOs if they are to avoid becoming part of to land) precede disasters, contribute to their
the problem, rather than part of the solution. On severity, impede response, and continue after
the one hand, conflict can become structural or the immediate crisis. Needs, by contrast, are
long-term in nature, and may lead to migrations generally shorter-term and immediate, such as
which are far more massive and more long- the need for food or medicine.
term than those caused by natural crises Analysing vulnerabilities may prevent the
(Macrae and Zwi 1992), which are usually less urge for a 'return to normal', because, by
prolonged and less socially destructive. On the exploring the factors that contributed to the
other hand, production and distribution, as well crisis, it is seen that the previous situation
as restriction of movement and disruption of involved vulnerabilities (or long-term trends)
markets, are deliberately targeted during that may lead to future crises. In addition, it
conflict. In such contexts, relief responses can alerts relief workers to the potential for
easily be drawn into intensifying and contributing to future vulnerabilities by their
prolonging conflict. interventions. To avoid this, we also need to
There are, however, similarities between the look at people's existing capacities, in order to
two types of situation. ACORD programmes in know what strengths reside within a society, on
Mali, Somalia, and Uganda have followed a which the future can be built. When a crisis
process which begins with a shrinking of becomes a disaster, a society's vulnerabilities
development activities as the crisis looms, are more noticeable than its capacities.
moves through a phase of consolidation or However, we must understand both.
enters a holding pattern, before arriving at an
assessment of what is possible in order to deal
with long-term problems created by the crisis Local organisations and gender relations
itself.14 Being there and remaining there, even An analysis of ACORD's experience
if no 'activities' are possible for a period, is (ACORD 1991) indicates that those pro-
important, for reasons which include moral grammes which have successfully adapted in
support, playing a witness role, providing a times of crisis have been those that have
symbolic presence, and enabling the invested in the long-term development of
programme staff to reassess what role they can people and organisations with the skills,
play and what new opportunities they might capacities, and above all confidence to propose
take. and manage activities, as well as to sort out
those conflicts among themselves which were
generated by crisis. Thus ACORD has tended
20 Development in States of War

to address vulnerabilities from an organisa- also have to change rapidly, and possibly break
tional perspective, by strengthening existing up and re-form in new ways, as needs arise? Is
groupings where possible. This has reinforced the establishment of hierarchies,
and extended local survival strategies, while bureaucracies, and formal structures wise in
also strengthening organisations' ability to these circumstances? Or should we be looking
negotiate with a wide range of external for much looser, informal alliances and
agencies, including distributors of emergency networks?
supplies. This allows local groups to
interweave and enhance their own survival
strategies with external support.
Turbulence and management15
In times of unrest, new opportunities can
arise, as the very crisis in which people find Rapid change requires sideways communica-
themselves forces them to work together. In tion within organisations to become more
Gulu (Uganda) and Somalia, this has enabled commonplace. Hierarchical decision-making
ACORD to work through community leaders is suitable for routine problems that can be
and elders who had hitherto been seen as solved at a moderate pace. Agencies coping
controlling power and influence, to the detri- with rapid change cannot afford structures and
ment of others. As crises subside, these procedures where decisions are allowed to
opportunities can also start to disappear. A wend their leisurely way up and down the
developmental approach to recovery is about hierarchy. Some have argued that this means
using this period to bring about change, or the end of bureaucracy and the beginning of
consolidate gains made during the crisis. It is 'ad-hocracy', because the more rapidly the
not about returning to the 'normality' or status environment changes, the shorter the life-span
quo which led to the crisis in the first place. For of organisational form must become. Putting
instance, gender relations are often radically people in rigid slots and hierarchies becomes
changed during a crisis, sometimes for the self-defeating, because it slows up responsive-
better. In several countries in Africa (and ness and adaptability. What is required are
elsewhere), there has been a tendency for flexible organisational forms and alliances.
women who played important roles during This means organising into many semi-
liberation struggles later to be expected to autonomous, semi-attached units, which can be
return to their pre-crisis roles. In Eritrea, the spun off, and re-join if necessary, according to
challenge is to preserve the gains made by circumstances.
women during the war, and to help them to Turbulence can lead to managers spending a
resolve long-standing problems. Although lot of time as trouble-shooters: rushing from
societies seem not to act out of character in one job to another, putting out fires, solving
crises (inasmuch as cultural traits persist, problems, or dealing with crises. Managers
sometimes in exaggerated form), new may concentrate on technical or organisational
opportunities for change may emerge. matters (programmes, representation, fund-
There is a danger that outside interventions raising) rather than on supervising, supporting,
may warp or destroy local institutions, by and managing staff. Managers must be
trying to determine things on their behalf. prepared to give more time and priority to their
Providing information on experiences else- management responsibilities; they need to get
where, and reinforcing learning skills for out of the 'trouble-shooting' mode, and spend
groups to decide their own rules, structures, more time on motivating their staff, training,
and procedures are preferable to deciding for facilitating discussions, and generating new
others on the basis of ideal models. However, initiatives. This does not mean forgetting
turbulence questions the notion of the institu- crises, but instead seeing the managers' role as
tionalisation of local structures and organisa- creating the capacity throughout the organisa-
tions. If they are to respond rapidly, do they not tion or programme to cope with crises. It also
Operationality in turbulence 21

means being able to provide staff with adequate and bottle-necks can also be more rapidly
trainingand then delegate to them. identified.

* How quickly and efficiently an agency


Turbulence and monitoring and learns from listening, and from other
evaluation organisations, and modifies its support
accordingly. Translating listening into action,
Alternative ways of working require new being open to change, constantly testing new
systems to monitor and evaluate them. We ideas, learning from others and from past
must learn to focus on a few manageable mistakes are all essential facets of responding
variables to measure what is important. to turbulence and rapid change.
Paradoxically, increasing complexity calls for
the development of simpler systems. These How well an agency organises itself to
should encourage participation and under- promote learning and innovation and so
standing by everyone, and should support react appropriately to rapid change and
initiative-taking on the 'front line'. If systems turbulence. This demands organising in a way
are too complex, they thwart flexibility and that allows well-trained staff to take decisions,
slow up adaptability. Measurement should not that re-groups different interest-groups
be about collecting masses of data in compre- (donors, agencies, programme staff, and
hensive base-line surveys. We need to keep partners) to solve problems on the spot. This
things simple and visible. The test should be the means more horizontal management and insist-
existence of living, tangible, straightforward ence on the primary focus being the 'front line',
measures at the local level, that people use in not one that puts bureaucratic hurdles in the
practice. way.
In the private sector, Peters (1992) argues
that the essential variables for monitoring and Our methods of monitoring and evaluation
evaluation systems in turbulent contexts are need to recognise that, although the process of
simplicity of presentation, visibility of enquiry is never-ending and subject to
measurements, everyone's involvement, uncertainty, decisions must be reached in the
undistorted collection of primary data, straight- mean time (Mearns 1991). As such, methods
forward measurement of what is important, and indicators need to be not only appropriate
achievement of a sense of urgency, and in terms of the complexity and the cost
perpetual involvement. What to collect, when involved, but also flexible and adaptable, and
to collect it, how to record it, and how to use it able to produce relevant, timely, accurate, and
should be the province of 'front-line staff, who usable information that can satisfy different
are properly informed about the interests of needs and interest groups.
other stake-holders.
We can see how adaptable a programme or
organisation is, and how well it might cope Competition or collaboration?
with rapid change, by asking:
Competition
* How closely and how well an agency
listens to those it is trying to support and to NGOs' current preoccupation with strategic
those who fund them, thus increasing its planning has thrown into sharp relief the
'porosity' to feedback. The point is that, if competitive edge and rising market-share of
those being supported are being constantly those agencies involved in large-scale relief
listened to, agencies should be able to adapt operations. This phenomenon is increasing as
more quickly. With increased listening to levels of available sub-contracting work rise
donors, the potential for misunderstandings for NGOs, especially in areas where bilateral
22 Development in States of War

and multilateral agencies are unable or governments and multilaterals are unable or
unwilling to get involved. unwilling to work. However, when NGOs
For many NGOs who describe themselves as implicitly become the private face of public
'development' agencies, it is not the loss of policy, this abrogates the responsibility of
market share in itself which is seen as the governments to explain what their
problem, but rather a perceived loss of profile conditionality is, and defend their position
and legitimacy, which in turn diminishes their publicly. NGOs themselves are not neutral
ability to advocate and lobby against the factors channels, and are often fearful of alienating
which make relief necessary. It is assumed by governments, both in donor countries and in
some that their inability to act decisively and recipient countries. The result is that there is
visibly compromises their relevance. pressure not to speak about root causes, which
The result for many NGOs is a reworking of would embarrass governments and donors; and
latent arguments about the assumed dichotomy some would argue that NGOs' silence is thus
between relief and development, which are now being bought (Macrae and Zwi 1992).
given added piquancy by strategic planning
exercises based on analyses of strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, and Collaboration
market research. Eventually, NGOs' own New ways of thinking about and managing
survival strategies may become more important change implicitly challenge orthodox distinc-
than those of the people they are trying to help tions between relief and development, between
(see Borton 1993 and Roche 1992). what is normal and abnormal, between decent-
There is increasing funding available for ralisation and centralisation, and between
NGOs, mainly for sub-contracting deals, and diversity and unity. Above all, the assumed
mostly for emergency and rehabilitation work. dichotomy between relief and development
The more opportunistic NGOs, which may be does not have to be managed alone. No single
tempted to rely increasingly on this form of NGO can cover the whole range of emergency,
easily accessible funding, may start to change development, and lobbying activities that are
the public perception of NGOs in general, and required. Turbulence calls for a much greater
so contribute to a gradual reduction in the range degree of coordination and collaboration
of roles which the sector has hitherto played. between agencies operating at different levels
This may promote increasing competition before, at the outset of, and during a crisis. This
between NGOs, lessening the sharing and has to be accompanied by a greater degree of
collaboration between them, and increasing the trust between agencies, and a willingness to
concerns about their legitimacy and account- share problems and discuss solutions.
ability. It may also give rise to increased NGOs have to balance the dangers of
attempts by states to coordinate and control the developing an external, centralised, fixed
proliferating number of NGOs, which in menu of responses against those of decent-
addition to complicating planning will be doing ralised parochialism, when local responses fail
so with monies hitherto destined for Southern to draw on experience from elsewhere, or relate
governments, and thus contributing to their to those root causes which lie outside their area
'institutional destruction' (see Farrington etal. of influence. The need is for a more global view
1993). of development problems built upon alliances
Many argue that NGOs' role is expanding of competent agencies having wider
not because they have a comparative experience and bringing complementary
advantage, but because other 'channelling resources and skills to bear. Such broad-based
options are unavailable' (Fowler 1987). NGOs alliances must include developmentally
have sometimes become the only viable sensitive relief agencies as well as those human
political alternative for channelling food and rights, peace, and lobbying organisations
which are dealing with the wider issues.
services in politically sensitive areas where
Operationality in turbulence 23

Famine, conflict, and abuse of power and situation that occurs when crisis outstrips the
human rights are inextricably linked. NGOs capacity of a society to cope with it.
have to ensure that the negative definition of 3 Catastrophe theory emerged from the work
rights favoured by Northern governments, of the nineteenth-century geologist Georges
which seeks the limitation of state power, is Cuvier, and was developed by a mathe-
complemented by positive definitions which matician, Rene Thorn, in the 1960s. In its
also speak of the obligations and broadest sense, catastrophe is the 'jump', or
responsibilities of national governments and discontinuous change, from one state to
the international community (Macrae and Zwi another, such as from water to steam. It may
1992). It is important that the human-rights be applied to literal disasters, but essentially
card does not become another way of allowing catastrophe theory is a mathematical lan-
Northern institutions to control aid allocations guage created to describe any abrupt change.
without changing their behaviour and their 4 Formal definitions of chaos made by
responsibilities. Human-rights monitoring mathematicians and physicists all include
needs to be integrated with therightto food and the notion of apparently random, irregular,
early warning systems. They should be based but recurrent behaviour which is unpred-
wherever possible on indigenous indicators ictable, such as drought in the Sahel. They
and anecdotal material which can be translated also refer to behaviour which amplifies
into an analysis of need, vulnerability, and small uncertainties, and frees analysis from
capacities. It is important that NGOs do not 'the shackles of order and predictability'
compound the problems created by the (Crutchfield quoted in Gleick 1987). It has
positions of Northern governments on human also been argued that chaos is a set of ideas
rights, by extracting the 'human rights' which allowed various disciplines to share a
questions from the context of daily struggles common and different way of looking at the
for food and peace, and the forces which shape world (Uphoff 1992), offering a way out of
such struggles. the compartmentalised view of science, and
Ideas from the 'chaos' and 'complexity' an end to the reductionist approach.
debates in the natural sciences challenge NGOs 5 Some writers, such as Lewin (1993),
to look more closely at change. We must suggest that chaos can be seen as a subset of
understand the nature and source of change of complexity. If chaos theory was about
which we are a part, rather than viewing it as an showing how a few interactions could
external force with which we have to cope. produce immensely divergent behaviour
Instead of attempting to deal solely with events which looks random but is not, then
produced by different types of change, we must complexity is about how interactions in
try to shape and guide the forces which produce non-linear systems may produce an
such events, in order to change the nature of emergent global order. Such ideas may be
change itself. compared with the sociological notion of
'structuration' (Giddens 1981), which
stresses a recursive relationship between the
whole and the parts of a system. Morgan
Notes
(1986) illustrates this with the example of a
1 ACORD is an international consortium of whirlpool, which gives the impression of
European and Canadian NGOs, working for stability, but has no existence outside the
long-term development in Africa. complex ebbs and flows of the river in
2 Crisis is defined here as a critical juncture in which it exists.
a process at which a radical change becomes 6 See Uphoff 1992, Mearns 1991, Spooner
necessary. Thus a crisis represents a period 1991, and Chambers 1992.
of transformation, ortransition when disaster 7 See Gleick 1987, Stewart 1989, Woodcock
threatens. Disaster is defined here as the andDavies 1978, and Lewin 1993.
24 Development inStates of War

8 In non-linear systems, small inputs can lead and that history demonstrates many cases of
to dramatically large consequences. In societies achieving 'higher' levels of organ-
weather, for example, this translates into the isation, and then falling back.
'Butterfly Effect': the idea that a butterfly 12 This term lacks precision, and is
beating its wings today in the Far East can increasingly seen by ACORD as a less than
trigger storms over the USA at a later date. helpful concept. It is questionable whether
But the next time the butterfly flaps its one can, or should, build sustainability on
wings, nothing might happen, which the basis of the existing relations between
demonstrates the second feature of non- North and South, rich and poor, men and
linear systems: small differences in initial women, humanity and the environment.
conditions can lead to very different Hence ACORD prefers to think in terms of
outcomes. support which helps people to cope with,
9 Looking at feedback encourages us to think and promote, change.
in terms of 'loops not lines' (Morgan 1986). 13 The market can play a role in precipitating
Negative feedback is where a change in a or in preventing famine. Cash support for
variable produces change in the opposite vulnerable groups may improve entitle-
direction, and so leads to stability in a ments, as well as stimulate demand. In
situation, i.e. more leads to less; while addition, 'a reduction in livestock sales on
positive feedback multiplies change, so the part of those receiving support could
that more leads to more. The Club of substantially benefit vulnerable livestock
Rome's project on the Limits to Growth owners outside the relief system, by
made use of feedback models to show how arresting impending collapse of livestock
world trends in population growth, prices' (Dreze and Sen 1989, p. 102).
pollution, and production could not be 14 This is very similar to the process noted by
sustained if positive feedback systems did Agerbak (1991), in a review of Oxfam's
not have stabilising loops of negative work in conflict areas.
feedback to 'damp' their effects. 15 Much of this section is unashamedly
10 Gleick (1987) notes that, to some physicists, plagiarised from Peters (1987).
chaos is a science of process rather than
state, of becoming rather than being. Nature
forms patterns. Some are orderly in space, References
but disorderly in time. Some exhibit the
same structure at different scales, and some ACORD, 1991, 'Famine and Conflict in
give rise to steady states. Pattern formation Africa: Challenges for ACORD', RAPP
has become a branch of physics and of document No.4, ACORD.
material sciences. Looking for patterns of Agerbak, L., 1991, 'Breaking the cycle of
change means asking why and how things violence: doing development in situations of
are different, and looking for underlying conflict'', Development in Practice, 1/3:151-8.
trends of the whole, even if individual parts Anderson, M. and J. Woodrow, 1989, Rising
cannot be so defined. from the Ashes: Development Strategies in
11 Most complex systems contain what Times ofDisaster, Colorado: Westview Press.
mathematicians call attractors, or Borton, J., 1993, 'Recent trends in the
stabilising points, around which change International Relief System', Disasters, 17/3:
occurs, or states to which systems 187-201.
eventually settle. Lewin (1993) uses the Brett, E.A., 1991, 'Recreating War-damaged
examples of bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and Communities in Uganda: The Institutional
states as stabilising points in terms of Dimension', mimeo.
cultural evolution. He also notes that there is Chambers, R., 1992, Rural Appraisal: Rapid,
no necessary progression between these, Relaxed and Participatory, IDS discussion
Operationality in turbulence 25

paper No 311, Brighton: Institute for Develop- Stewart, I., 1989, Does God Play Dice?,
ment Studies. London: Penguin.
Dreze, J. and A. Sen, 1989, Hunger and Uphoff, N., 1992, Learning from Gal Oya;
Public Action, Oxford: Oxford University Possibilities for Participatory Development
Press. and Post-Newtonian Social Science, Cornell
Edwards, M. and D. Hulme (eds), 1992, University Press.
Making a Difference, London: Earthscan. Watts, M., 1991, 'Entitlements or empower-
Farrington, J., A. Bebbington, K. Wellard, ment? Famine and starvation in Africa',
and D J . Lewis, 1993, Reluctant Partners? Review ofAfrican Political Economy, 51:9-26.
NGOs, the State and Sustainable Agricultural Woodcock, A. and M. Davis, 1978,
Development, London: Routledge. Catastrophe Theory, London: Penguin.
Fowler, A., 1987, 'NGOs in Africa: Achieving
Comparative Advantage in Relief and Micro-
development?', paper presented at the
conference on the role of indigenous NGOs in
The author
African Recovery and Development, Chris Roche conducted research in Burkina
Khartoum, Sudan. Faso from 1983 to 1985 on the role of NGOs.
Giddens, A., 1981, A Contemporary Critique He was responsible for ACORD's West Africa
of Historical Materialism, Berkeley: Univers- programmes before becoming Head of the
ity of California Press. agency's Research and Policy Programme
Gleick, J., 1987, Chaos: Making a New (RAPP). He is currently Programme Develop-
Science, London: Cardinal. ment Team Leader in Oxfam's Policy Depart-
Hettne, B., 1990, Development Theory and the ment.
Three Worlds, New York: Longman. This article first appeared in Development in
ICVA, 1991, NGO Management, April-June Practice, Volume 4, Number 3 (1994).
1991 No. 21, Geneva.
Lewin, R., 1993, Complexity: Life at the Edge
of Chaos, London: Dent.
Macrae, J. and A.B. Zwi, 1992, 'Food as an
instrument of war in contemporary African
famines' ,Disasters, 16/4:299-321.
Mearns, R., 1991, Environmental Implica-
tions of Structural Adjustment: Reflections on
Scientific Method, IDS discussion paper No.
284, University of Sussex.
Morgan, G., 1986, Images of Organisation,
London: Sage.
Peters, T, 1987, Thriving on Chaos: A
Handbook for a Management Revolution,
London: Pan.
Peters, T, 1992, Necessary Disorganisation
for the Nano-Second Nineties, London: Mac-
millan.
Roche, C , 1992, 'It's not the size that matters:
ACORD's experience in Africa' in Edwards
and Hulme (eds), 1992.
Spooner, B., 1991, Fighting for Survival;
Insecurity, People and the Environment in the
Horn ofAfrica, Geneva: IUCN.
26

Breaking the cycle of violence:


doing development in situations of conflict

Linda Agerbak
Introduction
was a decade of increasing conflict, the 1990s
Since 1945, armed conflict has proved to be may be a decade in which many warring
increasingly lethal for non-combatants. societies will at last lay down the gun and pick
According to UN figures, there has been a up the hoe again. The end of 1989 marked the
steady rise in the proportion of recorded war- first year for 31 years that no new war had
related deaths among civilians, up from 52 per started (Sivard 1990). Indeed, a number of
cent in World War II to a shocking average of conflicts have already moved to a negotiated
84 per cent today (World Disarmament settlement, as in Namibia and Nicaragua, and
Campaign, 1989). The increase is due not just others are trundling through the talk-talk fight-
to new technology such as anti-personnel fight stage, as in Cambodia, Afghanistan, El
mines and fragmentation bombs. Indeed, most Salvador, and Mozambique. Rebels in Somalia
of those wars have been low-tech, compared and Ethiopia have achieved outright military
with the recent Gulf War. More important is victories over the incumbent regime. What is
that they have nearly all been civil wars, in clear in each case, however, is that, despite the
which both government and rebels have end of one conflict, many issues remain to
viewed whole sections of the population as the threaten these societies with a renewed round
enemy. Such conflicts have functioned less like of violence in the future. This raises the
a duel between two armies and more like a question of what is the most effective role of
massive abuse of the human rights of unarmed NGOs in the immediate post-war phase.
civilians. In the face of the resultant suffering At the reconstruction stage, the traditional
and destitution mainly for women, children, assumption may be that the NGO role is to
and the elderly Northern and Southern assist project holders to return to a previous
NGOs have been challenged to respond with baseline state of normality. For those
more than the usual food parcels. In order to fragmented and impoverished societies,
respond to needs on the ground, some NGOs however, the reality is that economic and social
have also become drawn into human rights reconstruction cannot be divorced from
work, the treatment of trauma, support for questions of governance and political power.
conflict resolution, and campaigning for The fundamental task will be to break out of an
changes in official policy. These newer ways of on-going cycle of violence, as former enemies
working have on occasion challenged attempt to determine how they will relate to
traditional concepts of relief and development, each other in the future. During the years of
both within the NGO community and beyond. war, the message has been ingrained that the
The future needs of these war-torn societies way to reclaim dignity and power is through
also challenge NGOs to review their traditional violence, and that the way to settle disputes is
role in supporting reconstruction. If the 1990s by killing the opponent.
Breaking the cycle of violence 27

Added to this legacy of violence, growing accommodation. Such redefinition, however,


population pressures on limited resources of is often resisted by those in charge, who,
land, water, and so on are creating new fearing change, retreat into political repression
tensions. At current rates of population growth, and fundamentalist ideology the so-called
there are 83 million more people to feed each 'fortress mentality'. Even where such fears can
year. Water resources are being diminished, be mastered, objective factors such as poverty,
and present trends indicate that almost afifthof debt, and increasing environmental pressure
the earth's crop-land will have disappeared by limit the options available to those seeking to
the year 2000 (Oxfam, 1990). Options will manage the dynamic of conflict more
inevitably become more limited, fears more constructively.
acute, and conflict exacerbated. In the Sahel, Polarisation and the fortress mentality are
these pressures are already leading to wars, as thought to be created and perpetuated by fear
the Panos book Greenwar (Twose 1991) and insecurity, for example in regimes which
graphically describes. lack political legitimacy, among insurgents
The issue for NGOs then may be how to caught up in a cycle of revenge for past
support the building of the 'civil society' grievances, or in social systems which are
with responsive and accountable social incapable of processing pressures for rapid
organisations which render violence less change. Where change is blocked, a resolution
likely. A second issue is how NGOs can use of the impasse may require a change of leaders,
communications work to challenge unjust a new constitution, or even a new generation
policies and practices which continue to fuel who are able to redefine the issues. Sometimes
renewed conflict long after the peace war is the last desperate option for bringing
settlement has been signed. about such change.

Poverty and conflict


Background
The link between poverty and conflict is often
In the sense of dispute, conflict is of course mentioned, but seldom the nature of that link.
universal in the politics of family, community, Poverty is not by itself sufficient cause, as can
and nation. In that sense, any dynamic human be seen from poor countries not at war, such as
system is by nature a conflictive one, Tanzania. The cause is not so much lack of
encompassing the play of opposing interests. resources per se, as injustice: social, economic,
The crux lies in how such conflict is managed. and political structures which maintain the
So long as the social and political processes dominance of an in-group at the centre of
provide channels for dialogue, participation, power, over an out-group at the periphery, to
and negotiation (such as community the extent of denying the most basic economic,
development work seeks to foster), conflict social, and political rights. Johan Galtung has
plays a constructive role. Where such channels coined the term 'structural violence' to
are blocked, and yet basic needs go unmet, then describe those patterns; others prefer the term
resentment and desperation build up. The 'structural injustice'. Apartheid is an obvious
outcome is protest, repression and violence. example. At the grass roots, such structures
translate for the poor into landlessness, sub-
subsistence wages, ill-health, illiteracy, and a
The 'fortress' mentality lack of control over their own affairs. Such in-
Such blockages are created when opposing group/out-group structures operate at both
interests are defined as vital, yet irreconcilable. local and national levels: through inequitable
Before such conflicts can be resolved, the patterns of land tenure, exploitative labour
dispute must be redefined to provide common practices, lack of access to education and health
ground for dialogue, negotiation, and care, repressive security forces, a corrupt
28 Development in States of War

judiciary, and a muzzled press. Other structures Impact of conflict


and processes are international: the debt
burden, unfair terms of trade, inappropriate aid, Although war is often seen in terms of death
and coercive alliances. and destruction, the reality of it for people
The impact of such structures at grassroots living in poverty produces a much broader
level is that community organisations are range of economic and social effects, even for
harassed or suppressed, offices and vehicles people living far from the actual shooting.
are attacked, community leaders are intimid- Spreading violence makes itself felt first in
ated, abducted, jailed, or killed. In reaction, the economic terms: closed health posts, absent
society polarises into opposing camps, and the teachers, empty shops and markets. It also
political space for independent development means food shortages, due to the disruption of
groups rapidly closes. It is important to recog- farming, transport and trade. Rural subsistence
nise the role of structural violence, and attend- economies are deliberately undermined: crops
ant human rights abuse, in provoking popular are plundered or burnt by soldiers, farmers are
uprisings. These may at first be highly local- maimed by mines, forced conscription diverts
ised, in reaction to micro-incidents. If griev- productive labour. Economic disintegration
ances are not addressed, however, and the State leads to a lack of opportunities for income
is unable effectively to repress opposition, the generation. Many skilled managers and
likelihood is that such local uprisings will technicians use their resources in order to flee;
coalesce over time into a wider insurgency. those who choose to remain become targets of
repression. Eventually war may lead to
economic collapse and destitution. Where this
The chaotic State coincides with the failure of rain, and the
The above in-group/out-group analysis implies deliberate use of food denial as a strategy of
a strong centre and a weak periphery. But in war, the result is famine, as in Ethiopia, Sudan,
other instances, the equation is reversed: weak Somalia, northern Uganda, Mozambique, and
organs of State power at the centre confront Angola (Duffield, 1991).
powerful groups at the periphery, resulting in a Social costs are also high. Military
chaotic State, as in Lebanon, Afghanistan, and operations cause the displacement of families
Uganda. Although many civil conflicts have and the disintegration of communities. Poor
been exacerbated by external rivalries, there people find themselves caught between
are some where outside backers were arguably security forces on the one hand and insurgents
the determinant factor in destabilising a on the other. The deliberate use of terror to cow
fledgling central government. the population has taken its toll on thousands of
non-combatants in many conflicts. The
survivors carry nightmare memories of attack,
The role ofNGOs
family separation and loss, displacement from
When societies turn to reconstruction, and their land/community, and perhaps abduction,
where governments make a commitment to rape, and torture. Psychiatrists speak of the
work for social justice, one option for NGOs tendency for individuals, including health
may be to work with various branches of professionals, to withdraw from the survivors
government to strengthen their capacity for of violence (Goldfeld, 1988). Where trauma
good governance. Northern NGOs may also has affected many people in a community, it
have a role to play by liaising with their own may be difficult to reknit the trust and social
governments on the need for reconstruction aid cohesion necessary for post-war recovery.
to include bilateral aid for democratisation and NGOs are still at the beginning of their search
human rights. NGOs in Canada, the for an appropriate and culturally sensitive role
Netherlands, and the Scandinavian countries in response to widespread war trauma among
have led the way on this (Tomasevski, 1989). refugees and the displaced.
Breaking the cycle of violence 29

Development out of conflict? second, intensifying violence creates a turning


point when development is shelved and short-
It is a truism that the demoralisation, impover- term relief programmes spring up. In the third,
ishment, chaos, and social breakdown created programmes acquire 'development' character-
by war damages a society's longer-term istics: i.e. longer-term planning, belated socio-
capacity for development. But the experience economic assessments, democratisation, insti-
of Zimbabwe, Nicaragua, Eritrea, and South tution-building; technical training; increasing
Africa shows that the conflict may also create self-reliance. And finally, when a peace settle-
new social structures and ways of working, and ment is reached, there is the task of recovery.
the political solution it brings forth may open
up new possibilities for development.
Stage I: damage the shrinking
development programme

How programmes evolve: relief In countries where long-term development


and development programmes are gradually overtaken by
conflict, the tendency has been to persevere
The high-profile disaster relief programme with development in the face of increasing
with its dramatic public appeal, rapid assess- political polarisation, violence, unpredictab-
ment, and special funding procedure con- ility, and economic decline. NGOs try to keep
veys the unspoken message that the appropriate vulnerable community projects alive and in-
NGO response to conflict is an emergency dependent. In the growing atmosphere of sus-
programme. Despite many years of war, such picion, it is also important, but increasingly
palliative, 'short-term' emergency projects still difficult, to maintain space for NGOs to talk to
account for the greater part of NGO response to each other.
conflict in Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Angola,
and Mozambique. Such work, however valu-
able it has been in relieving immediate suffer- Stage 2: crisis from development to
ing, has made little impact on the underlying relief
problems and causes of the conflict; food A turning point comes when intense violence
packages, which are an appropriate response and impoverishment force NGOs to reassess
for natural disasters, are inappropriate as the the aims and style of their programmes. Devel-
sole response to conflict. Careful assessment is opment projects are shelved. Project holders
needed before any intervention is made, to gear up to meet urgent new conflict-related
ensure that, at a minimum, the NGO response needs, but they work with a sense of doing a
will not exacerbate the underlying problems holding operation until things improve. No
and causes of the conflict. Moreover, where long-term plans are possible. As one develop-
attention is focused on the process as well as the ment worker stated of Lebanon in 1984, 'What
inputs of relief, opportunities can be found to is becoming more and more clear is the
empower local groups and beneficiaries, intrinsic absurdity of trying to initiate develop-
particularly women. ment in a society that is crumbling at every
Apart from the emergency response, NGOs level and in every way, whether economically,
can become more effective across the board in politically, socially, culturally or morally.'
responding to conflict when they understand
how programmes grow and change, as
problems and opportunities are identified and Stage 3: Consolidation
addressed. Four stages can be discerned: doing development in conflict
damage, crisis, consolidation, and recovery. In Over time, the conflict settles into a pattern, and
thefirst,emerging violence causes the existing project holders gain experience. Both funding
development programme to be cut back. In the NGOs and project holders take stock, which
30 Development in States of War

leads to the application of more stringent Strategies for avoiding going operational,
standards of project assessment and greater such as networking in advance of a settlement
commitment to a focus on poverty, particip- in order to identify possible project partners.
ative structures, and gender awareness.
As a result, criticisms of hastily designed Increased needs for training in negotiation
projects begin to surface. Evaluations and skills, as former enemies are thrown together,
reviews take place. Project holders undertake and the opposition gains a political role at all
institutional development, and professionalise levels, as in Namibia, South Africa and
their approach with appropriate training and Nicaragua.
staffing. Emergency and recovery programmes
give way to social organisation and commun- The need for a national development plan,
ications, with a view to addressing the longer- policy, and structures, as in Namibia and
term problems created by conflict, and perhaps Cambodia.
even some of the causes of it.
In Lebanon, for example, where sectarian The importance for NGOs of maintaining
fragmentation was a major cause of the independent space. The current government
conflict, an NGO might choose to work with may not be the same as in a few years' time, and
non-sectarian partners, and fund cultural and NGOs which have become identified with one
youth work with Arab groups, to lay the side or another may find themselves marginal-
foundations for a more united country. Where ised as political power begins to shift.
minority rights have been a source of discord,
as among the indigenous peoples of Guatemala The need for active lobbying for official
and the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, it would reconstruction aid, to cover not only economic
be possible to support work to strengthen measures but also democratisation and human
cultural identity and reduce isolation. Where rights work.
Northern factors have been important,
campaigning and networking come into play,
as with Cambodia, Nicaragua, and southern
Africa. Factors blocking the evolution of
programmes
Stage 4: Planning for peace Reviewing the experience of development
Once a settlement is within reach, attention agencies suggests that it is three or more years
needs to be directed to building the peace. The before any conflict-related programme pro-
concept of recovery should be broadened, to gresses beyond crisis into an effort to address
include not just the rural economy's need for development in conflict. The question must be
such inputs as seeds and tools, but also whether NGOs might arrive at such a
strategies of empowerment and advocacy that consolidation earlier.
will tackle the longer-term cycle of violence. Why do NGOs report such difficulty in
These are some of the issues involved in moving towards programmes that tackle the
planning for peace: deeper problems and causes of conflict? What
are the blocking factors? Certainly a sustained
The difficulties of going from a relief high level of violence; also perhaps the lack of
approach, based on inputs, to a development suitable partners.
approach, based on self-sufficiency. The habit But there may also be internal NGO factors
of dependency is so strongly ingrained that blocking such change. Where a rigid distinc-
NGOs may have to close projects and open new tion is made between relief and development,
ones with other project holders. programmes may be slow to evolve. Staff
selection may also be a problem: staff most
Breaking the cycle of violence 31

appropriate for emergency relief situations Limited options


may not have development experience. Staff
isolation may be another block. For some The options open to NGOs will be limited,
agencies, the ease and attraction of fundraising however, not only by the intensity of violence,
for high-profile short-term relief activities may but also by the general level of economic and
influence interventions. Agencies must ask social development, the political climate, and
themselves how they can overcome these the presence of other agencies. To understand
internal blocks. this helps to answer the nagging question of
New staff, outside visits, and external why programme profiles are so different in
reviews often act as catalysts in the evolution of Central America from those in Sudan or
the programme. If sufficiently prepared, reg- Mozambique. In areas where suitable local
ional conferences can promote further reflec- organisations exist, and popular education is
tion and cross-fertilisation. It has also been generating a struggle for empowerment and
suggested that conflict-related programmes social and economic justice, donor NGOs will
should be reviewed more frequently. find opportunities to move their programme, as
advocated above, beyond the relief stage. Thus
NGO interventions would include work to
strengthen popular organisations, human
Defining aims rights, development work with refugees and
While high-profile conflict emergencies, such displaced people, and communications work to
as the displacement of Kurds in Iraq in 1991, promote a critical analysis of the situation.
create their own momentum, some Northern Such options may not, regrettably, exist in
NGOs have become wary of starting relief many other conflict situations. Often there are
work in a new country where they have not few independent organisations to work with;
been working in development. Others, how- widespread violence impedes operations; and
ever, welcome the opportunity to go into a new the climate makes human rights work and
country, where a relief programme may later advocacy difficult. The only option then might
lead to development work. well be a holding action in the context of a
It is not enough to respond to a situation of rolling crisis.
conflict with unquestioning efforts to supply
water, food, and shelter. NGOs must also make
an effort to analyse the roots of the conflict and Conclusion
the problems it creates for the poor, and from
this to identify the NGO's most effective role, The difficulties and dilemmas described above,
with a coherent programme that addresses the however, must not hold NGOs back from
key issues. Such an analysis cannot of course reflecting on their approach to conflict.
take place without a working knowledge of the Immense amounts of public money go into
culture and a good grasp of political, social, and conflict-related aid, and NGOs have a duty to
economic factors. Longer-term objectives make good use of it, and to be accountable for
developing from this analysis may include doing so.
securing the food supply, enabling economic, The most pressing need is for conflict-
social, and environmental recovery, supporting related work to be reviewed more frequently,
the efforts of the displaced to return home, and for concerned staff to be given the
opposing abuses of human rights, empowering opportunity to stand back from their crisis-
communities to resist repression, affirming ridden programmes in order to reflect. This in
their cultural identity, healing social fragmen- turn implies more resources put into staff
tation, addressing the need for peace, or training, to exchange the best experience
campaigning against certain official policies. among relief and development workers, to
extend thinking about the aims of such
32 Development in States of War

programmes in conflict, and the options for Duffield, Mark, 1991, War and Famine in
doing development in specific conflict Africa, Oxford: Oxfam Publications.
situations. A way must be found to train relief Goldfeld,Anneetal., 1988, 'The physical and
staff in rapid socio-economic assessment, and psychological sequelae of torture', Journal of
particularly in the needs of women. the American Medical Association, 259:2725-
Specifically, there is a need to share thinking, 9.
research, and experience on four crucial Keen, David, 'A disaster for whom? Local
matters: interests and international donors during
famine among the Dinka of Sudan',
possible programme options in cases where Disasters 15/2:151-65.
traditional work in conflict zones actually Miall, Hugh, 1989, 'How Conflicts Were
reinforces repressive governments; Resolved 1945-1985', Oxford: Oxford
Research Group.
working with human rights organisations in Oxfam, 1990, Oxfam and the Environment,
conflict; Oxford: Oxfam Publications.
Sadruddin Aga Khan, 1981, Study on Human
the appropriate NGO role in the treatment of Rights and Massive Exoduses, New York:
war trauma, in both relief and development UNESCO Commission on Human Rights.
situations; Sivard,Ruth, 1990, World Military and Social
Expenditures 1989, New York: World
in post-war situations, how to develop in- Priorities.
country capacity to manage future conflict Tomasevski, Katerina, 1989, Development
more constructively, perhaps through Aid and Human Rights, London: Pinter.
organisations which can offer training to Twose, Nigel (ed.), 1991, Greenwar, London:
community groups, labour unions, security Panos.
forces, youth workers, health personnel, and World Disarmament Campaign, 1989,
local government employees. 'Disarmament Facts 70: Armament and
Disarmament: Questions and Answers',
Finally, agencies need to be more open, to London: World Disarmament Campaign.
share experiences and dilemmas of working in Wallace, Tina, 1990, 'Refugee Women, Their
conflict. In the context of the end of the Cold Perspectives and Our Responses', paper
War, they have an important role to play in presented at a Refugee Consortium, Institute of
helping to build civil societies which have the Social Studies, The Hague.
resources to break the historical cycle of
violence.
The author

References and bibliography Linda Agerbak worked in South East Asia for
six years as a development consultant and
Amnesty International, 1990, Annual journalist, before being commissioned by
Report, London: Amnesty International. Oxfam (UK and Ireland) to undertake a study
Chomsky, Noam, 1991, 'The Struggle for of the NGO response to armed conflict. She has
Democracy in a Changing World', paper recently helped to establish Cardiff Mediation,
presented at a Catholic Institute for a neighbourhood conciliation project in Wales.
International Relations conference on This article was originally published in
'Negotiating for Change', London. Development in Practice, Volume 1, Number
Curie, Adam, 1986, In the Middle, Oxford: 3, in 1991.
Berg.
33

Famine and human rights


Alex de Waal

Where we stand
organisations, and Marxists do not tend to turn
Famine has often been regarded as an act of to human rights organisations for assistance
God, and, no matter how many times academic with analysis or action.
students of famine say otherwise, this attitude The point of entry of human rights concerns
seems to remain well-implanted in the minds of into the issue of famine has been located else-
politicians, journalists, and the general public. where entirely. It has centred round an entirely
These people like to believe that famine different paradigm of man-made famine: the
characteristically follows a natural disaster deliberate denial of relief food to civilians in a
such as a drought or flood. war zone, usually with the aim of starving them
In the 1970s, at the time of the famines in the into submission. This does occur and is import-
West African Sahel, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh, ant, and certainly should be of concern to
the Marxists began to propound an alternative human rights organisations.
view. With regard to Africa, their popular A much more profitable approach to the
slogan was 'drought is not famine'. They issue lies somewhere in between these two
identified famine as the result of long-term angles. Instead of trying to marry the two, it is
socio-economic processes which render rural better to start from scratch in our understanding
populations impoverished and vulnerable to of what famine is (in Africa), and how human
climatic shocks which would otherwise have rights concerns are important to that.
caused no undue distress. Specifically they
blamed the growth of capitalism under the
aegis of the colonial state for supplanting
Understanding famine in Africa
indigenous social and economic structures.
Silent Violence is the name of the best-known Famines in Africa are not what English
study in thisfield.1This approach has received speakers typically think they are. This is not the
a good deal of criticism lately, on the grounds place for a long academic digression into
that there are many famines which do not different definitions of famine, but several
conform to this model, and that the record of points need to be made.
peripheral capitalism in Africa is not one One point is that, while the English
wholly of loss. But it remains undeniable that definition of 'famine' implies mass starvation,
socio-economic processes are central to an most of the famines which we diagnose in
understanding of famine, and that, in the Africa and in which we give assistance are not
extreme, they can cause famine. Starvation, if it episodes of mass starvation. Death rates remain
occurs, is the outcome of long processes of comparatively low (perhaps 4 or 5 per cent per
marginalisation and impoverishment. year), and most deaths that do occur are caused
However, though brutal, the workings of by infectious diseases. Outright starvation is
such socio-economic systems do not fall extremely rare. These are disasters certainly,
obviously under the mandate of human rights but not the apocalypses commonly predicted in
34 Development in States of War

the press. African definitions of famine, by What is striking about these cases is that the
contrast, centre on suffering in general, and first six were famines that occurred in peace
differentiate between famines of different time (excepting Ethiopia, of which see more
degrees of severity. below), whereas the last four were, in one way
The different degrees of famine can be or another, accompanied by violence, forced
represented by the metaphor of a thermometer. removal of populations, and counter-insurg-
The famine becomes more intense as the ency strategies that involved gross violations of
temperature goes down: at 'dearth' we are very human rights. 2
cold; 'famines that kill' start at freezing; and
'famines that starve' are well into the degrees
below zero.
Famine coping strategies: Sudan
The second point to make is that the differ- I984-53
ence between a mild famine and a severe one
can be very great. Table 1 extends the metaphor It is interesting to compare the people of west-
of the thermometer, assuming that the 'temper- ern Sudan in 1984-5 and the southern Sudanese
ature' is directly proportional to the death rate, displaced to western Sudan in 1988. The death
and charts where some well-known famines rates among the latter were, for a few months,
fall (the precise figures should not be taken too 60 times as bad as among the former (about ten
seriously). times as bad as the worst camp populations of
The death rates in camps are always elevated the former). Yet the two famine-stricken popu-
compared with those among the general lations lived in the same area, and there was
population (typically they arefivetimes more), much more food available in that area in 1988
so campfigureshave not been included, except than there was in 1984.
where the entire population has been forced to The key difference between the two was that
live in camps or camp-like conditions. (This in 1984-5 the drought-stricken people of
held in part for both of the last two cases.) By western Sudan were able to pursue their coping
way of comparison, the worst refugee camps strategies. This was by far the most important
and famine shelters in Ethiopia in 1984 scored factor in the survival of the great majority of the
about minus 60. population during that famine. If we take the
With the part-exception of the Sahel famine, population of Darfur region, during the two
all these are famines that kill. Starvation perse years of the famine, the food grown by the
begins to figure at about minus 10, after which farmers themselves accounted for no more than
famines become much worse rather quickly. 35 per cent of their food-consumption needs.
This underlines the need to be very careful in Food aid met only 10 per cent. The balance was
using the term 'famine', and to use special met partly by going hungry, but mostly by
discretion concerning the word 'starvation'. resourcefulness and ingenuity. The 'coping

Table 1

West African Sahel, 1970-3 minus one degree


Ethiopia 1987, Ethiopia 1990/1 minus 1-2
Western Sudan, 1984-5 minus 3
Northern Ethiopia 1973 minus 4
Red Sea Hills, Sudan, 1985 minus 5
Northern Ethiopia, general, 1984 minus 6
Karamoja, Uganda, 1980 minus 9
Northern Ethiopia, worst areas, 1984 minus 10
Resettlement camps, Ethiopia minus 15
Displaced southern Sudanese, 1988 down to minus 240
Famine and human rights 35

strategies' followed, in approximate order of famine and do nothing to initiate relief pro-
importance, were as follows: grammes. But it did nothing to destroy rural
people's livelihoods or to prevent them from
eating wild foods; following their coping strategies. In the south,
migrating to work as hired labour on farms; in 1988, it did precisely these things.
petty trade and casual work in towns; Government action, through the army and
selling animals; the militias, had two main effects. First, it
borrowing; destroyed the productive base of Dinka society.
obtaining charity from richer relatives and Land was made unusable through the threat of
neighbours; raiding or the poisoning of wells, and in some
and a host of other activities. areas through the indiscriminate dissemination
of land mines. Animals were killed or stolen.
These coping strategies were, cumulatively People were forcibly removed from their farms
and in aggregate, at least five times as import- and pastures and taken north or driven to seek
ant as food aid in helping people to survive the refuge in local towns. Commerce was
famine. (We could also point out that the food destroyed or disrupted.
aid came late and went mostly to the wrong Second, action by the army and militias
people, so that for the really poor it provided in prevented people from following their coping
fact only the last ten per cent at most.) strategies. By far the most important of these
In addition, farmers were able to keep their actions was the prevention of free movement.
land, and use it. The famine finished in late This ruled out the possibility of labour migra-
1985 with a good harvest. But this harvest did tion, of collecting wild foods in the forests, of
not just come from nowhere: the crops were travelling to seek help from relatives or to sell
planted and tended by the famine 'victims' assets in markets. Most of the survival strateg-
themselves, right throughout the last and worst ies so important in 1984-5 depended on move-
months of hunger. Similarly, many herders ment, and a ban on movement was tantamount
finished the famine with some animals, which to a sentence of death. People's only chance
they had carefully fed and watered throughout was to migrate out of the counter-insurgency
the long months of drought and hunger: zone altogether a trek of 1,000 miles to
animals they could have sold at any time to buy Khartoum or Ethiopia. Other actions which
food, or consumed themselves. Not only did disrupted or prevented coping strategies
almost all the people survive, but they survived included preventing people working for
with the economic base of their future money, preventing them collecting wild foods,
livelihood intact, so that they could return to preventing free commerce (by stopping
self-sufficiency when the famine was over. markets or fixing prices), and, lastly, prevent-
ing access to food aid and medical assistance.
Thus we see that the obstruction of food aid,
Famine and counter-insurgency: while it was important, was only part of a larger
Sudan I9884 picture of abuses. If the obstruction of food aid
the last ten per cent is of concern to a
The difference between this picture of tenacity human rights organisation, then the prevention
and survival and the cataclysm of 1988 among of the strategies which would otherwise have
the displaced southerners is due to the counter- provided thefirst90 per cent is also of concern.
insurgency methods of the Sudan government.
In 1984 there was no war in western Sudan. The
non-democratic nature of the government Ethiopia
(characterised by unaccountable politicians
and the absence of a free press) meant that the Ethiopia is notorious for its famines, and the
government could ignore the developing Ethiopian government is notorious for its
36 Development in States of War

violations of human rights. [Editor's note: this rebel fronts controlled a much larger area of the
article was written before the fall of the country, and so the government policies and
Mengistu regime.] The two facts are closely army strategies had much less of an impact. By
linked, though Ethiopia shows a slightly differ- 1989 the government had been expelled from
ent pattern of famine-creating abuses from that the whole of Tigray. In contrast to 1984,
in Sudan. therefore, there was very little fighting and no
Some of the practices in Ethiopia which have governmental controls. The effect of the war
turned hardship into famine and famine into was to cut off Tigray from most foreign aid.
mass starvation include the following: This was presented as a disaster for the people.
However there is no doubt that the people of
forced removals and displacement by re- Tigray would rather have no aid and no
settlement, villagisation, and military government controls or attacks, than aid and a
campaigns; government presence.
requisitioning of produce by the army;
destruction of animals, crops, and agricul-
tural implements by the army;
Political freedoms and famine5
the fixed price and quota system of procure-
ment from peasants by the Agricultural When famine looms in a society without a free
Marketing Corporation; press and democratic political institutions,
fear of moving to the towns by peasants there is little pressure on the government to do
afraid of conscription and forced removal; anything about it. On average, Africans eat
heavy taxation; more than Indians. But India has not suffered
bans on free commerce, and bombing of famine for more than forty years, and this can
markets in rebel areas preventing commerce; largely be attributed to the free press and
diversion, obstruction, and destruction of adversarial politics of the country. (The other
food aid. factor in India's success is the government's
willingness to intervene in the economy to
Some of these government actions are support the poor in times of threatening
associated with counter-insurgency methods, famine.)
and some are associated with centralised The occurrence of the great famine of 1958-
totalitarian state planning, without any checks 61 in socialist China has been attributed in part
on it. In general, the famines in the north of the to the lack of information about the crisis,
country have been associated mainly with deriving from Mao's 'Great Leap Forward'
counter-insurgency, and in the south with bad and the strict censorship that entailed. Politic-
planning ruthlessly implemented. Tigray, ians who were aware of the crisis were unable
perhaps the worst-hit region in 1984, suffered to publicise it or organise to represent the inter-
from the most brutal counter-insurgency ests of the vulnerable people, on account of the
campaign, notably the seventh and eighth authoritarian political system. Similarly, the
offensives of the Ethiopian army, and fiercely occurrence of the famine of 1984-5 in capitalist
enforced bans on movement and commerce. Sudan can be attributed in part to the strict
Wollo, hit nearly as badly," suffered both controls on the press and government actions
counter-insurgency measures and disastrous against groups that tried to organise on behalf
agricultural policies. of the stricken people. The Sudan government
These factors were of great importance in did not want to discourage private investment
creating famine in 1984. They were much less by admitting to the embarrassment of a famine.
important in Tigray province of Ethiopia in These examples demonstrate that political
1987 and (especially) 1989/90, despite the rights to information, to free association, to
greater attention given to the war by the representation are important in fighting
international media. This is because in 1987 the famine, irrespective of the economic system.
Famine and human rights 37

They are important in two ways. One, the free on the state, and when that fails, they have few
flow of information means that the powerful alternatives for assisting themselves. Capitalist
people in society know about the plight of the countries may be more often prone to famine,
poor. Two, the rights of association and but these are less likely to degenerate into
representation mean that the poor are able, severe famines, because the system allows for
through adversarial civil politics, to press for greater local-level coping strategies.
their material needs to be met. These rights are We cannot make a strong case for a human
of direct concern to human rights organisa- rights critique of socialism on the grounds that
tions, both because they are prized in them- when it fails, it results in a particularly severe
selves, and because their violation makes a kind of famine.
poor country vulnerable to famine. We should also note that the denials of
economic freedom in Sudan in 1988 occurred
as the result of a counter-insurgency strategy
by a capitalist government. Central socialist
Economic freedoms and famine6
planning played no part. Moreover, in
Some of these famine-creating measures in Ethiopia, while the disastrous economic
Ethiopia, such as the pricing and procurement policies of the government (criticised by socia-
policy of the Agricultural Marketing Corpora- ists and capitalists alike) caused much impov-
tion, or the licensing system for small traders, erishment and misery, even famine, the severe
do not fall under the brief of a human rights famines were associated with systematic
organisation in an obvious way. They are violence. Some of this violence was perpe-
violations of economic freedoms, which are trated during counter-insurgency campaigns,
not normally seen as basic human rights. In and some during the brutal implementation of
normal times these would be of concern only to programmes of social engineering.
economic policy makers and free-market Economic freedoms are therefore not linked
ideologues. However, when rural people are no to famine in a simple way. In certain cases, the
longer living in normal times but have been denial of economic freedoms can be critical in
pushed to the margin of survival, such matters turning a mild famine into a severe one, but in
can mean the difference between life and death. many cases planned economies provide more
How are we to bring a human rights analysis food to the poor than free-market ones. The
to bear on these government actions? One point of concern for a human rights organisa-
approach is to take economic freedoms tion should be not so much the fact that an
seriously. The accounts of Sudan in 1988 and economic freedom is being abrogated, but that
Ethiopia imply that a laissez faire policy of the result of the action is the creation of acute
respecting economic freedoms will help to misery severe famine or starvation. The
prevent famine. In these cases it certainly ethics are essentially utilitarian. (Like utilitar-
would. But in other cases this does not hold. ianism, an approach centred on material rights
Socialist countries are on the whole better than is more powerful when analysing deprivation
capitalist ones at overcoming hunger. Capital- and misery than when analysing fulfilment and
ism allows for the exercise of economic happiness.) In addition, we may note that this
freedoms by wealthy people during famine, typically occurs when a government uses
such as profiteering in the grain market, or violence or coercion.
buying up land or assets cheaply, which help to
make matters worse for the poor. In capitalist
Sudan, merchants continued to export grain
during the famines of 1984 and 1988.
Counter-insurgency famines
When famines do strike socialist countries, The very worst famines are created by counter-
they tend to be particularly bad. People in a insurgency operations. These are of concern to
centrally planned economy are forced to rely human rights organisations in several respects:
38 Development in States of War

1 Counter-insurgency operations that create In addition, if rights to information,


famine usually involve systematic and association, and political representation are
widespread violations of basic human rights, respected, famine is likely to be averted in the
including mass killing and looting. first place.
Such measures would represent real
2 Counter-insurgency operations involve medicine for famine, rather than the current
severe restrictions on economic activities, band-aid approach which conceals the wounds,
including the ability to use productive only to allow them to fester.
resources (i.e. grow food) and the freedoms to
move, trade, etc.
Notes
3 In counter-insurgency operations the delib-
erate creation of famine is often an aim of the 1 Watts, M. (1983), Silent Violence: Food,
government. Famine and Peasantry in Northern Nigeria
(University of California Press).
2 The theoretical underpinnings of this
Conclusion argument are presented in a paper by the
present author: 'A re-assessment of entitle-
Famine is an issue in which material rights and ment theory in the light of the recent famines
liberal human rights come together. This is an in Africa', Development And Change, Vol.
important fact that has often been missed, and 21:469-90(1990).
the ethic of apolitical humanitarianism that 3 This section is based on Chapters 4 to 7 of A.
informs most of the discussion of famine de Waal: Famine That Kills: Darfur, Sudan,
contributes to its being overlooked. The 1984-1985 (Oxford: Oxford University
apolitical humanitarian approach providing Press).
food aid to all without regard to the political 4 This section is based on Chapter 4 of
consequences of this has also proved Denying 'The Honour Of Living', Sudan: A
manifestly inadequate for solving the problem Human Rights Disaster (Africa Watch,
of famine. This is because food relief provides March 1990).
at best the 'last ten per cent' which enables 5 Starving In Silence: A Report On Famine
famine-stricken people to survive, and the And Censorship (Article 19, April 1990).
provision of this relief, no questions asked, 6 See J. Dreze and A. Sen: Hunger And Public
may assist governments in inflicting the Action (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
damage that creates famine in thefirstplace. 1990).
The analysis of this paper implies a
completely different approach to famines,
particularly those associated with counter- The author
insurgency operations. If a government is
required to cease perpetrating the abuses which Alex de Waal was awarded a D.Phil by Oxford
are creating the famine (or are turning a mild University for his thesis, published in 1989 by
famine into a severe one and thus raising death Oxford University Press under the title The
rates tenfold or more), this will have far more Famine That Kills: Darfur, Sudan, 1984-1985.
impact than providing food relief. Specific He has worked for Oxfam as a consultant in
recommendations may include allowing free Tigray, and is currently the Co-Director of
movement of people, allowing people to gather African Rights.
wild foods and seek work, letting 'commercial' This article was first published in Develop-
food move freely across battle lines, ceasing ment in Practice Volume 1, Number 2 (1991).
raids against civilian villages, and stopping
forced requisitioning of crops.
39

'Dancing with the prince':


NGOs' survival strategies in the Afghan conflict

Jonathan Goodhand with Peter Chamberlain


Introduction of palliatives to competing factions in conflict
In the era of democratisation and good (Slim, 1994). Rather than promoting account-
governance, NGOs have become the donors' ability, NGOs are perhaps 'dancing to the tune
'favoured child', with access to growing of the prince', whether the prince is a govern-
resources and influence (Edwards and Hulme, ment, an insurgency movement, or a local war
1995). They are viewed both as 'market lord. We should challenge the assumptions
actors' which are more efficient and cost- underpinning the mythology about NGOs; and
effective than governments, and as the agents donors should base their actions on a realistic
of democratisation, an integral part of a assessment of NGOs' capabilities, rather than
thriving civil society (Korten 1990, Clark, on the suppositions of 'NGO lore'.
1991). Official donors show their support for
the economic and political roles of NGOs in
what has been called the 'New Policy Agenda'
Background to the Afghan conflict
by channelling money through them (Edwards
and Hulme, op. cit.). As one USAID official The end of the Cold War has not meant the end
put it: 'We get a double bang for our buck that of history, as Fukayama suggested (Rupe-
way' (Larmer, 1994). Underpinning this singhe, 1994). Far from being a 'New World
consensus is the presumption that political Order', today's world is characterised by a
democracy and socio-economic development dangerous disorder, in which political
are mutually reinforcing. The State, market, instability is endemic.1
and civil society which, following Korten The Afghan war is a potent example of
(1990), we shall refer to as prince, merchant contemporary conflicts, often described as
and citizen are related in a series of virtuous 'complex political emergencies' (CPEs),
circles. A basic tenet of 'NGO lore' is that which are characterised by combinations of
NGOs promote and strengthen civil society, multiple causes, such as civil and ethnic con-
and thus subject the prince and merchant to flicts, famine, displacement, disputed sover-
greater public accountability. eignty, and a breakdown of national govern-
There is, however, an element of triumph- ment. The Afghan conflict resulted from a
alism in the discourse about the New World complex mix of factors, caused by years of bad
Order, and the belief that NGOs are 'part of the development, Cold War politics, militarisa-
warp and weft of democracy' (Larmer, op. tion, and tribal and ethnic schisms. It thus
cit.). Such words ring hollow in a world char- highlights many critical issues: the breakdown
acterised by instability, fragmentation, and of the nation-state, ethnicity, fundamentalism,
deepening poverty. Far from 'democratising nationalism, displacement, sovereignty, and
development', NGOs are often the providers the role of humanitarian agencies.
40 Development in States of War

CPEs are not temporary crises after which with a strong central government remains
society returns to normal; they have long-term, impossible. Afghanistan has become the
structural characteristics and result from the classic 'weak state' (Duffield, 1994), suffering
failures of development. By the mid-1970s, from systematic instability, and with declining
Afghanistan had become a schizophrenic strategic importance on the world stage.
society: an urban elite whose idea of a strong,
unified State was at odds with the tribal and
ethnic loyalties of the predominantly rural Prince, merchant, and citizen: new
population. From these contradictions arose roles in Afghanistan
the socialist and the Islamicist movements.
Both were based on the 'myth of revolution', Korten's model of functional complement-
and it was the clash between these ideologies arities between prince, merchant, and citizen
which became the catalyst for the conflict. does not resonate in the Afghan context. New
divisions in Afghan society are based on
political allegiance and wealth. CPEs are often
The 'Lebanonisation' ofAfghanistan characterised by the emergence of parallel
The Afghan conflict was characterised by the economies beyond the control of the State. The
implosion of the nation-state, the development new 'princes' in Afghanistan are the com-
of predatory political movements and war manders and mullahs. For example, the
economies, and the erosion of structures economy of Jalalabad is now largely based on
within civil society. Macrae and Zwi (1992) smuggling, opium production, and banditry,
describe the deliberate targeting of production and it is the commanders with influence in the
and distribution, as well as restriction of regional council who control and encourage
movement and disruption of markets, in the such an economy.
context of Africa. In Afghanistan, rural
subsistence economies were deliberately As one enters Jalalabad, a long line of
destroyed by Soviet forces during the 1980s, repainted vehicles for sale at the side of the
and terror was used to cow the population, one road, mostly stolen in Peshawar, provide a
third of whom were displaced to Iran and stern reminder of the type offorces really in
Pakistan. control of the area. (Cutts, 1993:14)
The withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1988 did Civil society is intensely segmented and
not signal an end to the conflict. A process of people's loyalties are directed towards family,
'Lebanonisation' (Roy, 1989) followed, in clan, and lineage rather than community.
which the contradictions within the resistance Kinship loyalties have always been stronger
movement re-surfaced. The conflict thus than obligations towards the State. Dupree
mutated from a counter-insurgency war with (1989:249) describes the 'mud curtain' which
an ostensibly ideological basis into one villagers erect to protect themselves against
characterised by war-lordism and banditry. the incursions of the State:
The overall picture is one of fluidity and
turbulence; alliances are constantly shifting, ... once the modernisation teams leave, the
and violent conflict is interspersed with fragile villagers patch up the breaks in their mud
peace. Competing 'princes' have a vested curtain and revert to their old, group-
interest in the continuation of disorder; where reinforcing patterns.
their fortunes are based on coercion and, The fragmentation of the resistance has led to a
increasingly, on the opium trade, they have process of re-tribalisation; political alleg-
little to gain from an emergent State. Conflict iances have waned at the expense of a renewed
has come to represent the norm, not a diversion ethnic awareness. The Tajiks, Hazaras, and
from it. Few donors are willing to resume Uzbeks, for example, have all found a new
bilateral aid to Afghanistan when dialogue ethnic assertiveness as a result of the war. It is
'Dancing with the prince' 41

difficult to view such a chronically anarchic total expenditure from the US government
and divided society other than in Hobbesian alone was $112 million (Nicholds and Borton,
terms. Villages have undergone the same 1994).
process of fragmentation, with war sweeping The 1988 Geneva Accords included an
away many of the traditional structures, and agreement that, under UN auspices, the inter-
leaving an institutional vacuum, which has national community should undertake a sub-
been subsequently filled by the military stantial programme of relief and rehabilitation
commanders.2 There are few stable founda- inside Afghanistan. The UN Secretary-
tions from which to reconstruct. General appointed a Coordinator for Humani-
The conflict has produced a combustible tarian and Economic Assistance Programmes
cocktail in which both the traditional and State Relating to Afghanistan (UNOCA) to help to
constraints have been eroded, while the mobilise and coordinate resources. UNOCA
technological means to conduct war have (and many international donors) favoured
become more sophisticated. NGOs are strengthening the capacity of Afghan organ-
occupying the space left by the collapse of the isations to manage their own affairs, and
State, and so wield great influence in the 'Afghanisation' or 'de-foreignisation' entered
absence of effective government institutions. the lexicon of Peshawar-based agencies.
UNOCA and other UN agencies thus
encouraged the formation of Afghan NGOs
The humanitarian response (ANGOs), which were then sub-contracted for
specific activities. The process is illustrated in
The humanitarian response to the Afghan the area of mine-clearance where, since the
conflict reflects trends in global aid allocation. capacity of existing NGOs was limited, three
While development budgets are stagnating, were set up to cover different areas of
there has been a marked increase in relief aid; Afghanistan (Nicholds and Borton, 1994).
and, since the 1980s, an enhanced role for By 1994, there were over 200 registered
NGOs. During the Cold War, when the UN ANGOs (Barakat etal. 1994), often scathingly
was constrained by considerations of national referred to as 'UN NGOs', reflecting a view
sovereignty, NGOs attempted to supply that they were merely a fabrication of the
humanitarian aid in contested areas (Duffield, donors. However, ANGOs have become
op. cit.). NGOs are 'rushing in where soldiers major players in cross-border relief and
and bureaucrats fear to tread' (Larmer, op. rehabilitation work. In 1991, approximately
cit.), a phenomenon perpetuated by the sub- 21 per cent of UNDP's $2 million budget was
contracting of NGOs in areas where channelled via ANGOs, through 66 projects or
multilateral and bilateral agencies are unable contracts (Carter, 1991).
or unwilling to get involved, such as
controversial cross-border programmes.
With the 1979 Soviet occupation of Typology of Afghan NGOs
Afghanistan, virtually all Western develop-
ment programmes came to an end.3 NGOs The term 'Afghan NGOs' covers a range of
intervened through non-mandated cross- organisations, many of which bear only a
border programmes. Until 1988, NGOs were tenuous relationship to the family of NGOs.
the principal means by which humanitarian Carter (op. cit.), for example, argues that
relief and rehabilitation was provided to areas 'Afghan Implementing Agency' would be
held by the Mujahideen. Initially, intervention more accurate. Rahim (1991, cited in Nicholds
was on a limited scale, involving fewer than 15 and Borton, op. cit.) distinguishes four types:
NGOs and between $5 and $10 million per
year. By 1991, however, there were some 100 1 Independent NGOs formed by non-
NGOs involved in such operations. In 1989, affiliated professionals.
42 Development in States of War

2 NGOs backed by local shuras (groups of countervailing force to the often arbitrary
elders) and commanders. power of the prince.
3 NGOs established by political parties, either Critics of the ANGO phenomenon argue
individually or in coalition. that they were an opportunist response to a
4 NGOs established by international organ- donor-led demand. Humanitarian agencies
isations (UN or international NGOs). often respond to protracted crisis by
'[replacing] well thought out, bottom-up
A fifth, 'briefcase NGOs', might be added: participatory approaches, reintroducing the
these exist only in name, spawned in response kind of top-down centrally driven crash pro-
to the easy availability of external funding. In grammes long ago discarded by the more
reality, most ANGOs are hybrids: all, for thoughtful and experienced agencies'
example, have to develop links with parties, (ACORD, 1993:3). Baitenmann (1990)
commanders, and local administrations, contends that most NGOs working cross-
whether they are a UN 'spin-off or a pro- border were the conscious agents of political
fessional 'consultancy firm'. Most have interests. In-field cooperation with combat-
developed from the top down, and they are ants meant that NGOs made direct payments
now having to work backwards to find a into the war economy. Cash-for-work
community base of support (Carter, op. cit.). projects, for example, were often re-directed to
fund commanders' military activities. While
NGOs may invoke the concept of neutral
humanitarianism, 'dancing to the tune of the
Afghan NGOs: response to the prince' has for them become an essential
conflict survival strategy.
Inevitably, such diversity has drawn varied A more pragmatic interpretation of ANGOs'
assessments of ANGOs' roles and perform- role is that they are engaged in a holding
ance. Some claim that ANGOs could become operation. As Johnston and Clark (1982) note,
the agents of transformation and reconstitute 'when power confronts persuasion head-on,
Afghan civil society from the bottom up. power wins' (p. 13). By being non-
Critics argue that behind most ANGOs stands confrontational, ANGOs may create some
a foreign initiator and, therefore, a foreign room for manoeuvre for themselves and for
definition of response to Afghan need. 'pro-citizen' groups within civil society. They
Pragmatists see a limited role for ANGOs, may also have a role in protecting and nurturing
essentially as contracting mechanisms for the future leaders, as they have in Latin America
delivery of relief assistance. (Garilao, 1987).
CPEs have accelerated changes in the think- Positive change in such an environment can
ing and practice of humanitarian agencies, occur only through a process of 'trans-
giving rise to the need for revised notions of formation through stealth' (Fowler, 1993).
change and causality (Roche, 1994). Relief ANGOs have a 'Janus-headed role' (Edwards
and development are not discrete processes and Hulme, op. cit.), in which they claim to be
which unfold separately; the imperatives are apolitical, but have a core agenda of support-
similar in terms of addressing vulnerabilities ing democratisation and peace.
and building capacities to enable communities
to cope with change and survive future shocks
(Anderson and Woodrow, 1989).
The relationship between ANGOs
Some would argue that ANGOs may and the prince
transcend the prevailing relief paradigm, and
promote new forms of public action that build The humanitarian response to CPEs is
local capacities and foster peace. Rather than characterised by divergence between the
'dancing with the prince', they constitute a rhetoric of neutrality and the reality of aid that
'Dancing with the prince' 43

is increasingly politicised. In Afghanistan, this declined, so humanitarian aid assumed


response has become part of the political importance as a source of patronage for
economy of violence. Cross-border operations commanders. Many NGOs have become an
were part of a political and ideological Cold extension of the patron-client relationship
War battle against the Soviets. Cross-border between commanders and communities, and
NGOs strengthened the base of the villagers clearly associate particular com-
insurgency, their very presence legitimising manders with certain NGOs (Goodhand,
the rebels (Baitenmann, op. cit.). It may be 1992). The dilemma is that projects will not
asked whether NGOs were indeed strength- survive if they threaten the established power-
ening civil society, or rather attempting to holders; but unless they maintain a distance,
shape it in ways that external actors considered they become part of the patronage system.
desirable. Today, Afghanistan has lost its Survival depends on understanding the local
strategic value and is now what Duffield (op. configurations of power, and success depends
cit.) describes as one of the 'weak states' on the on the ability to draw on this authority without
margins of the global economy. Most of the being co-opted by it. There is a fine line
Western players have made, or are making, a between survival as a means to an end, and
strategic withdrawal. A drip-feed of human- survival as an end in itself.
itarian assistance continues as a feature of the The strategies adopted by ANGOs to
West's 'accommodation with violence' remain operational in a turbulent environment
(Duffield, op. cit.), and the creation of ANGOs are various. Some of them are considered
may have facilitated this withdrawal below.
(Marsden, 1991).
The human factor
The importance of creating space is illustrated
Dancing with commanders and parties in an ANGO director's comment that he spent
ANGOs have two options in cross-border 80 per cent of his time on political issues, 15
work: to cooperate with civilian authorities per cent on tribal matters, and only 5 per cent
like shuras, or to develop ties with on the projects (Goodhand, op. cit.). ANGO
commanders. Initially, the latter was the only managers have to be pragmatists, and they
practicable option, since commanders constit- recognise that the support of commanders and
uted the real power-holders in any locality. In parties is a prerequisite for survival. They must
return for 'protection', commanders insisted also have the Mujahideen credentials, party
on a share of donors' largesse. NGOs had a real connections, and family background to build
impact on the local balance of power, by the necessary support and alliances, both
supporting some commanders in preference to inside and outside Afghanistan. Some ANGO
others. They may thus have contributed to managers may well emerge as future leaders of
local conflicts and diminished social cohesion. Afghan society. Working for an ANGO may,
Cash-for-food distributions in the early 1980s in retrospect, prove to be a more astute career
are an extreme example, where poorly path than that followed by the political party
monitored programmes are suspected of careerists.
having provided Mujahideen commanders
with funds for their military activities. Some Selective collaboration
donors were prepared to accept 'wastage ANGOs are playing a new game by old rules:
levels' of up to 40 per cent for their an intricate balancing act of exploiting the
programmes in Afghanistan (Nicholds and 'economy of affection' of parties and
Borton, op. cit.). commanders without being colonised by
Channelling aid through commanders and them. However, there is a danger of 'meeting
parties has created precedents which NGOs villainy halfway'. The key to creating space is
find difficult to break. As military assistance selective collaboration, rather than identifying
44 Development in States of War

with any one leader. It is a case of building ment becomes the 'science of muddling
strategic alliances with political and religious through'. Responding to the demands of
leaders, without losing one's room for commanders involves a constant balancing of
manoeuvre. ends against means. Coherence comes through
having a strong sense of values and a guiding
Diversification philosophy. 'Dancing with the prince' may be
Some ANGOs have employed staff from a means to an ultimate end of peace and
various political backgrounds to guard against reconstruction.
being partisan, and to maintain their range of
options and contacts. Diversification is an
essential strategy for survival; it is about trying The relationship between ANGOs and
to cover all your bases and to cope with the citizen
uncertainty. UNOCA encouraged the development of
ANGOs in the belief that they constituted the
'Pointing the finger* most effective mechanisms for delivering aid.
When underpressure, field staff are often able Their understanding of the cultural and
to deflect it by pointing the finger towards a political dynamics of Afghan society, and their
distant authority outside the network of network of local contacts, enable them to get to
patronage whether it is the head office, an the parts that international NGOs cannot
expatriate adviser, or the donor. Donors and reach. ANGOs have thus extended the reach of
international staff can be valuable in absorbing aid programmes to remote communities.
such pressures on local NGOs, provided that It has also been argued that ANGOs are not
there is a level of understanding and trust only more effective, but also more cost-
between the two parties. efficient. A UNDP evaluation found that they
had significantly lower costs than organisa-
Keeping a low profile tions employing many expatriates (in Carter,
Keeping a low profile is about not making op. cit.). Also, owing to the high turnover
enemies. It may mean submerging one's among expatriates, there was considerably
identity and occasionally allowing the prince more continuity within Afghan organisations
to take credit. A dual role is needed: the de- than in international NGOs. Finally, ANGOs
politicised public operation which emphasises have provided on-the-job training, especially
humanitarianism, and the private operation at the senior management level, which
which retains a core agenda of empowerment expatriate-run NGOs cannot provide. Many
(Edwards and Hulme, op. cit.). Providing Afghans are now developing skills in manag-
some bags of wheat to a commander, or ing organisations and dealing with donors that
employing some of his Mujahids, may be a will be essential in a future government
necessary price for long-term gains. (Carter, op. cit.).

Pragmatism and values: a Faustian pact?


Working behind the 'mud curtain'
When does the struggle for survival become an
end in itself? At what stage does strategic co- ANGOs' principal advantage is that they were
operation become co-option? Many ANGOs formed for Afghans by Afghans; as such, they
have fallen into a kind of Faustian pact, in have the political instincts and cultural
which 'eternal life' is brought at the price of awareness to act with sensitivity and caution in
their 'pro-citizen' soul. But all interventions the complex web of Afghan society. Many
represent an interaction between pragmatism Afghans have voiced a fear that external
and moral values, and the weighting given to agencies undermine Afghan cultural values.
each will vary with every decision. Manage- ANGOs, however, can work quietly and
'Dancing with the prince' 45

carefully behind the 'mud curtain', and may directed at women, though usually in
thus also be producing an important resource: traditional areas. Further success is likely to be
a cadre of 'organic intellectuals' with slow and painstaking, requiring stealth as
community-mobilisation skills. much as technical and managerial proficiency.
But however real the constraints, ANGOs
have all too often avoided dealing with gender-
Gender: constraints, openings, and based oppression on the grounds that it is 'too
missed opportunities sensitive' or threatens local (patriarchal)
Conflict has brought new opportunities and culture. Thus opportunities have been missed
new threats to NGOs seeking to address to develop programmes that would directly
gender-related issues. While the disruption of benefit women in areas such as agriculture,
the war years created an environment which fuel collection, and food production.
challenges traditional gender roles, an upsurge
in fundamentalism has tended further to
restrict women's rights. Reconstituting civil society?
Most NGO projects aimed at women have The conflict has presented new opportunities
worked with the relatively accessible refugees. in the sense that NGOs can work directly with
It may never again be so easy to reach women communities, unencumbered by a government
from so many different parts of Afghanistan bureaucracy (Marsden, op. cit.). ANGOs may
(Dupree, in Huld and Jansson, 1988). However, represent an important bridge between the
NGO attempts to work with women have people and emerging government structures.
tended to be rather superficial; handcraft and They can help to re-connect people with the
health projects, for example, that do not State by communicating local needs to the
challenge existing power relations. ANGOs government, and reducing the princes' mono-
occupy an uneasy position; on the one hand, poly over the flow of information. Optimistic
they are more vulnerable than international observers would argue that ANGOs represent
NGOs to conservative pressures from a patriar- an alternative development path for
chal society. On the other, they are better able to Afghanistan: an alternative to the schizo-
work behind the 'mud curtain', where access to phrenic society produced by modernisation.
women is restricted to those with kinship and Radical visions may, however, risk being
social ties. Currently, there are very few women associated with communism.
in positions of reponsibility within ANGOs, In rural Afghanistan, elders, religious
and this will be slow to change. But ANGOs do leaders, and local shuras all function as
at least have the understanding of social and stabilising points in a volatile environment.
cultural norms to recognise opportunities and Most ANGOs have used these as the founda-
take advantage of them. tions for their projects, despite the danger of
While some commentators are optimistic skirting round the issue of re-distributing
about the possibilities for social change, the power and resources; for instance, NGO
barriers are considerable.4 Women's projects interventions in the agricultural sector risk
are often associated with the Communists' reinforcing a highly unequal structure. The
earlier attempts at 'social development'. One issue is to strengthen indigenous capacity in a
Pakistan-based ANGO director felt that if his way consistent with humanitarian principles.
group initiated activities that benefited Rather than confront these issues directly,
women, he would be out of business in two some ANGOs have tried an incrementalist
weeks (Carter, op. cit.). If ANGOs confront approach. By focusing on productive
the issue head-on, they may put their entire activities, they have made a strategic response
programme in jeopardy. Some ANGOs, after to practical needs. Many ANGOs, for
building up their credibility in a community, example, have initiated karez (cleaning)
have incrementally introduced activities programmes.5 In the short term, this improves
46 Development in States of War

irrigation and thus food production; in the long wider urban-rural divide. In a society where
term, such projects may develop into new only 5-10 per cent of the population is literate,
forms of collective action. Some karez pro- ANGO staff represent an educated elite, who
grammes have led to the revival of irrigation entertain many of the biases and prejudices
councils and to new village organisations that education has imparted.
coalescing around the ANGOs' projects. As Although the leadership may be indigenous,
Marsden (op. cit.) notes, there are few organ- the organisational model and response is not: it
isations in Afghan civil society above the is that of Peshawar-based international NGOs.
grassroots level, and ANGOs may form an Consequently, ANGOs have reproduced and
important nexus. Ultimately, collective action cultivated many of their models' intrinsic
may become an empowering process which weaknesses. Like international NGOs,
will meet the long-term strategic needs of ANGOs tend to be based in Pakistan and are
vulnerable sectors described earlier as top-heavy, with more office staff than field
'transformation by stealth' (Fowler, op. cit.). staff.
The lack of long-term, flexible funding
including administrative costs has trapped
Demilitarising the mind ANGOs in the 'project-by-project' system,
It is naive to imagine that ANGOs can be the thus reinforcing the image of ANGOs as
catalysts for a grassroots peace movement in service-providers, since they become
Afghanistan in the way that local NGOs have contracting agencies for specific, time-bound
mobilised civil society in, for example, the projects, drawn up to someone else's agenda.
Philippines and parts of Latin America. Any ANGOs are not 'owned' by rural commun-
positive transformation will take place ities; they commonly 'belong' to donors,
through small, incremental changes from the commanders, or Afghan technocrats. Thus
individual and community levels upwards. It is they are accountable upwards to the donor or
as much about demilitarising people's minds commander, but rarely downwards to the
as about getting the princes together at the communities.
negotiating table. Although they could not It is hard for ANGOs to insulate themselves
explicitly refer to it as peace-building, from the ethnic, political, and religious
ANGOs' work is contributing to a peace pressures impinging upon them. Staff are
process within civil society. Several ANGO under great pressure to benefit kith and kin,
managers maintain that reconstruction and and some family-run ANGOs are susceptible
development will encourage Mujahids to lay to using assistance to improve the position and
down their guns, by offering them viable prestige of their family and clan (Carter, op.
alternative livelihoods. Their projects cit.). ANGOs have also been charged (like
embrace different tribal and ethnic groups some international NGOs) with corruption. In
which may also contribute to a peace process Baitenmann's view (op. cit.), they were at least
that can be built upwards by facilitating local accessories to a relief programme that was
cooperation (Marsden, op. cit.). plagued with corruption. And because of the
clandestine nature of their work, cross-border
NGOs were unavoidably drawn into a web of
Questioning the comparative corruption, forced to pay bribes to Pakistani
advantage of ANGOs police or government officials, and protection
levies for the right to travel within the country.
External organisations Most ANGOs were founded by charismatic
individuals who have retained control over
'NGO lore' depicts ANGOs as an integral part their organisation as it grows. This has
of civil society, though in many respects the inevitably placed these now powerful Afghan
ANGO-community relationship mirrors the managers in an exposed position, accentuated
'Dancing with the prince' 47

by the political fluidity of Afghan society and featuresdependency on donors, staffed by a


the bitterness created by the conflict. Some Kabul elite, hierarchical and centralised
ANGO personnel have been assassinated in structures, susceptibility to penetration and
recent years. Good political instincts are colonisation they appear singularly ill-
crucial for survival, both literally and equipped to transcend the prevailing pattern of
figuratively. Such a situation militates against relief. Even supposing this is part of their
open and participatory management styles. vision, the means are not consistent with the
The leader is unwilling to delegate authority ends.
because of the potential consequences of a
'bad' decision, so strategic planning tends to
be subservient to crisis management. Going it alone
Centre-field relations become hierarchical, Over the years, NGOs working cross-border
with field staff having little authority or status, have demonstrated a remarkable inability to
and only the head-office senior managers coordinate, or to avoid duplication. This 'lack
allowed to see the whole picture. of coordination and unified strategy amongst
NGOs' was noted at a conference of ANGOs
and donors (Barkat et ai, op. cit.). Although
Prisoners of a relief paradigm coordination has since improved, it continues
There is some evidence that the general to be a problem for several reasons. Firstly,
direction of change in NGO approaches has ANGOs are competing for a declining market-
followed the pattern described by Korten: share of resources from donors. They may be
from the 'first generation' approach of relief responsive to demand, but it is a demand
and welfare, towards the 'second generation' created by the donors, rather than by the
stage of community development, and in some beneficiaries. Projects become little more than
cases towards the 'third generation' stage of pins on a map as evidence to meet the donors'
'sustainable systems development' (Korten, criteria. Security and contacts, perhaps under-
op. cit.). Some cross-border NGOs are standably, have been the primary factors in
embracing development concepts related to deciding where to work; long-term needs often
community participation, monitoring and appear almost incidental. Consequently, 150
evaluation, participatory needs analysis, and NGOs are working in Jalalabad and less than a
so forth. However, they are influenced by a handful in the central province of Hazarajat.
legacy of more than 15 years of relief opera- Coordination takes place in Pakistan, in
tions. Most Afghan and international NGOs isolation from relevant government depart-
are still based in Pakistan, and find it difficult ments in Afghanistan. A lack of coordination
to break from their cross-border mode of encourages duplication and undermines local
operation. initiative. For example, in 1994, the World
Many NGOs have been active in Nangarhar Food Programme (WFP), by distributing food
Province in Eastern Afghanistan since the in Hazarajat, undermined the more participat-
mid-1980s, because of its proximity to the ory initiatives of local NGOs (Cutts, op. cit.).
Pakistan border. Free hand-outs were the norm
and are now expected by local communities;
relief has precluded, for the time being at least, A holding operation?
an approach which places responsibility for Claims that ANGOs can transcend the
development with local people. Critics would political pressures and their own internal
argue that the internal and external constraints limitations, to bring about a shift from relief
already mentioned make ANGOs unlikely assistance towards a more inclusive develop-
vehicles for transforming this paradigm. There mental approach, must still be treated with
is very little in their background to suggest that some scepticism. Afghanistan is not the dance
they can fulfil such a role. With their defining floor for a confrontational 'pro-citizen' stance.
48 Development in States of War

Most commonly, 'dancing with the prince' has role, in that they can affect and are affected by
involved co-option, or at best the the dynamics of the conflict. It is naive to
creation of a little room for manoeuvre through regard them purely as service-delivery
compromise and selective collaboration. mechanisms.
ANGOs are not a panacea for the intractable
problems of development in Afghanistan.
They do, however, have a role to play in an
Towards a new form of engagement
environment where the State and civil society There are tensions in trying to achieve multiple
structures have been eroded. The key is to objectives in supporting NGOs. For example,
analyse the success stories those ANGOs funding ANGOs for delivering relief to
that have 'danced with the prince' and main- meet the objectives of the donors has often
tained their integrity and develop strategies been to the detriment of longer-term aims of
for replicating them. capacity-building. Ways are needed to
broaden the relationship beyond that of being
simply partners in aid delivery. Duffield (op.
cit.) argues that engagement should be linked
Donors and their impact on the
to a 'new ethics': showing solidarity, rather
dance
than keeping a distance from the fray and
The future direction of ANGOs will be paying lip-service to neutrality.
determined largely by the policies of the Fine words, but what do they mean in
donors and their intermediaries, the inter- practice? A starting point must be a broader
national NGOs. How can these identify, learn and more flexible relationship between donors
from, and 'scale up' the successes? and ANGOs: breaking out of the 'project
Firstly, their policies and practice should be syndrome' (where projects and development
based on an informed analysis of the nature of are assumed to be synonymous), and making a
conflict and its relationship to development. long-term and open-ended commitment to
This means recognising that conflict is a selected ANGOs. Projects in Afghanistan are
strategic issue, not to be ignored by the often risky and involve slow and careful work
development planners. which cannot be melded into 'projectised
Secondly, a more flexible and long-term chunks'. This means moving from the 'culture
response is required. In Afghanistan, funding of concrete results'. However, although
requests were often turned down on the basis capacity-building is a fashionable term, it is
that they were 'too developmental'; donors' not always clear what it actually means. In
thinking and institutional arrangements are Afghanistan, it often translates into building
based on linear notions of the 'relief to the capacity of ANGOs to implement their
development continuum'. Experience in donors' agendas. However capacity-building
Afghanistan exposed the lack of institutional should not be limited to 'skilling up'
frameworks within which to provide organisations, or providing a technical fix. It
assistance for transitional activities which are implies a wider dialogue, based on shared
neither 'relief or 'development'. values and ethics. Some donors and NGOs
Thirdly, a more informed political analysis have now started to work in this way, to
is vital. In Afghanistan, donors must make formulate working principles for peace-
difficult choices about which princes or which building and reconstruction in Afghanistan
citizens to support. What are the political (Barakat etal, op. cit.).
implications of policies which strengthen In general, ANGOs have had to dance to the
provincial structures rather than central tunes of both the donor and the prince. These
government, or ANGOs rather than commun- roles need to be reversed in order to make a
ity organisations? It needs to be explicitly reality of the civil-society rhetoric. A starting
acknowledged that ANGOs do have a political point might be to introduce mechanisms that
'Dancing with the prince' 49

empower organisations within civil society, Rising from the Ashes: Development
whether these be NGOs or community groups, Strategies in Times ofDisaster, Boulder/Paris:
to help to set the agenda and so call the tune. Westview/UNESCO
Baitenmann, H (1990) 'NGOs and the
Afghan war: the politicisation of humanitarian
aid', Third World Quarterly, Vol. 12 no. 1
Notes
Barakat, S, M Ehsan, and A Strand (1994)
1 According to the UNDP 1994 Human NGOs and Peace-Building in Afghanistan:
Development Report, in 1993 42 countries Workshop Report, University of York,
experienced 52 major conflicts and another England
37 countries experienced political violence. Carter, L with A Eichfield (1991) Afghan
Only three of the 82 conflicts between 1989 Non-Governmental Organisations and Their
and 1992 were between States. In 1993-4 Role in the Rehabilitation of Afghanistan',
alone, there were 4 million deaths as a result unpublished report for International Rescue
of ethno-political wars, mostly of civilians. Committee, Peshawar, Pakistan
Without an effective international ombuds- Clark, J (1991) Democratising Development:
man and with the thriving international arms the Role of Voluntary Organisations, London:
trade, conflict is bound to continue. Earthscan
2 Many NGOs latched on to the concept of Cutts, M (1993) 'Report on SCF Visit to the
shuras (councils of elders), believing them North Western, Central and Eastern Regions
to be stable, community-based organisa- of Afghanistan', unpublished report, London:
tions which could be building blocks in the The Save the Children Fund
reconstruction process. However, this is to Duffield, M (1994) 'Complex emergencies
misunderstand the character and role of and the crisis of developmentalism', IDS
shuras, which are loose consultative bodies, Bulletin: Linking Relief and Development, vol
brought together on an ad hoc basis to 25, no 3
discuss particular issues or resolve conflicts Dupree, L (1989) Afghanistan, New Jersey:
(Marsden, 1991). Princetown University Press
3 Neither the UN nor the International Edwards, M and D Hulme (1995) NGOs
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) could and development; performance and account-
work cross-border; the UN because of its ability in the "New World Order'" in Edwards
mandate to work with recognised govern- and Hulme (eds) (1995) Non-Governmental
ments, and ICRC because it could not secure Organisations Performance and
the consent of all parties to the conflict. Accountability: Beyond the Magic Bullet,
4 The emergence of the Taleban (a movement London: Earthscan with The Save the
of religious students) from late 1994 has Children Fund
further narrowed the scope for agencies Fowler, A (1993) 'NGOs as agents of demo-
involved in women's programmes. The cratisation: an African perspective', Journal of
Taleban now control much of the country International Development, vol 5 no 3
and insist that women and girls remain Garilao, E (1987) 'Indigenous NGOs as
within the confines of their compounds. strategic institutions: managing the relation-
5 Karezes are traditional underground ship with government and resource agencies',
irrigation systems. World Development, Vol. 15, Supplement, pp.
113-120
Goodhand, J (1992) 'Report of the Rural
References Assistance Programme Cross Border Training
Programme', unpublished report, Inter-
ACORD (1993) Annual Report, 1993 national Rescue Committee, Peshawar,
Anderson, M B and P J Woodrow (1989), Pakistan
50 Development in States of War

Huld, B and E Jansson (1988) The Tragedy Central Asia Programme Manager at
of Afghanistan: The Social, Cultural and INTRAC. Peter Chamberlain worked for the
Political Impact of the Soviet Invasion, Austrian Relief Committee in Pakistan (1989-
London: Croom Helm 93) and since 1995 has been Oxfam's
Johnston B and M Clark (1982) Redesigning emergency programme coordinator based in
Rural Development: A Strategic Perspective, Goma, Zaire.
London: Johns Hopkins Press This article first appeared in Development in
Korten, D C (1990) Getting to the 21st Practice, Volume 6, Number 3, in 1996.
Century: Voluntary Action and the Global
Agenda, London: Routledge
Larmer, B (1994) 'The new colonialism',
Newsweek, 1 August 1994
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instrument of war in contemporary African
Famines', Journal of Disaster Studies, Vol. 16
no. 4
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British Agencies Afghan Group
Nicholds, N and J. Borton (1994) The
Changing Role of NGOs in the Provision of
Relief and Rehabilitation Assistance: Case
Study I Afghanistan/Pakistan, ODI Work-
ing Paper 74, London: Overseas Development
Institute
Roche, C (1994) 'Operationally in
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or on to Lebanon?', Third World Quarterly,
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Preventative Diplomacy in a Post-Cold War
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London: Overseas Development Institute
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osis of the humanitarian professional: some
new colours for an endangered chameleon',
Disasters

The authors
Jonathan Goodhand worked for the Inter-
national Rescue Committee in Afghanistan
(1987-90) and as distribution coordinator for
Save the Children Fund in Sri Lanka
(1992-94), before taking up his current post as
51

The role of Salvadorean NGOs in


post-war reconstruction

Francisco Alvarez Solis and Pauline Martin

Introduction estimated total of between 1.17 and 1.65


million Salvadoreans have been forced to leave
On 16 January 1992, the Salvadorean Govern- their homes between a quarter and a third of
ment and the leadership of the Farabundo Marti the population. For those who stayed in the
Liberation Front (FMLN) signed a Peace country, there has been increased impoverish-
Agreement which 'would put a definitive end ment. These factors, together with the
to the armed conflict'.1 Eleven years of civil deterioration and destruction of basic services
war and over a year of intense negotiation, and damage to production, are some of the
mediated by the United Nations Secretary- main problems which will have to be addressed
General, ended in a formal ceremony in in reconstruction strategies.2
Mexico City. The Peace Accords set the The Salvadorean Government puts total
political and military framework for the reduc- losses for the decade at US$ 1,579 million, and
tion of the Armed Forces, the demobilisation of costs of repairs and replacements at US$1,627
FMLN combatants, and the legalisation of the million.3 The latter figure is equivalent to 44
insurgents as a political force inside El per cent of the economic and military aid
Salvador. The Agreement also includes 'a provided by the United States government
minimum platform of commitments to from 1979 to 1990, which reached a total of
facilitate development (social and economic) US$3,732 million.4 The amount is also
for the benefit of all sectors of the population' equivalent to only 6 per cent less than the
(PA, 42). capital flight from 1980 to 1988, which is
The reconstruction of El Salvador may have estimated at US$1,732 million.5 In operational
passed to the top of the Central American terms, the amount needed is equivalent to 2.6
agenda. However, it is the terms on which it is times the 1991 national budget.
undertaken which will determine the possibili- Material reconstruction and the process of
ties of a lasting peace. These, in turn, will repairing El Salvador's social and cultural
depend upon the capacity of national and fabric will require the mobilisation of human,
international policy makers to address the institutional, and financial resources on a
social and economic roots of conflict and crisis massive scale, both nationally and inter-
in El Salvador. nationally this at a time when there are
The war, economic crisis, and natural demands for international aid from other parts
disasters during the 1980s have between them of the world, perhaps considered more strategic
caused huge losses of human life and extensive than Central America in terms of political
destruction of the national infrastructure and stability and trading potential.
natural resources. An enormous price has been Against this background, this article sets out
paid in terms of social disintegration: an to explore the various components of
52 Development in States of War

reconstruction what is needed and how this He defines NGOs as falling into five main
might be achieved. In this context, it will categories, according to how they originated or
contrast the declared aims of the Government's who set them up. These are:
National Reconstruction Plan (NRP) with the
experience in social development accumulated the churches (Catholic and Protestant), some
by NGOs and social organisations during the of which have mediated between the
war years. In particular, it will point to the need Government and the FMLN;
for national and local reconstruction strategies donor governments or international NGOs;
to incorporate the active participation of com- political parties;
munities, their own representative structures, communities of displaced people (a variation
and the NGOs which have worked with them, if of grassroots organisations);
they are to ensure a lasting peace in El groups sponsored by the Salvadorean
Salvador. Government, but called NGOs.

In response to war and widespread political


The experience and potential of violence throughout Central America, the
NGOs people most affected developed new forms of
social organisation for self-defence and
During the period 1952 to 1979, there were survival during the 1980s. Many of these
only 22 NGOs registered in El Salvador. From defined themselves as popular organisations,
1980 to 1991, the number increased more than and as part of a popular movement with a
threefold to 74.6 The proliferation of NGOs common platform for social and economic
was an attempt by different sectors of change. As traditional political-party structures
Salvadorean society to respond during the lost credibility in much of civil society, so the
1980s to the problems created by war, social popular organisations became the main
and economic crisis, and natural disasters.7 The channel of participation for large numbers of
presence of NGOs in the polarised context of people who were otherwise marginalised. In El
civil war established a kind of mediation Salvador in particular, the popular organisa-
between the unsatisfied needs of the population tions became vital channels of humanitarian
and the social and economic policies of suc- aid, especially to displaced people and to
cessive governments. However, NGOs have refugees returning to the country.
often been assumed to have political sympa- Thus many of the 1980s generation of NGOs
thies, or indeed have aligned themselves with are essentially the institutional expression of
one of the parties in the conflict. sectors of the urban and rural poor who
Gonzalez (1991) gives a number of explana- organised to defend themselves from violence
tions for the increased numbers of NGOs in the and repression. A wealth of experience has
1980s. Among them, he mentions: been accumulated in humanitarian assistance,
non-formal education, and community-based
economic support from the US Government; economic and social development, particularly
the reform policies of the Salvadorean in areas and communities most seriously
Government; affected by the war.
widespread deterioration in living Salvadorean NGOs developed considerable
conditions; administrative experience and operational
counter-insurgency and military 'civic capacity in the process. They had support in
action' programmes; this from international agencies, as well as
the social cost of the war and the humani- through bilateral and multilateral aid. This has
tarian response; been extremely important in the development
international NGO funding. of the Salvadorean NGO sector, irrespective of
the political persuasion of donors or recipients.
The role of Salvadorean NGOs in post-war reconstruction 53

The existence of such NGOs and social The peace agreements and the
organisations is a concrete manifestation of the National Reconstruction Plan
energy, creativity, and organisational and
negotiating capacity developed by poor people, One of the Agreements was that the Salvad-
simply in order to survive. orean government would present a National
The inefficiency of the State, the diversion of Reconstruction Plan (NRP) to the FMLN and
resources to military spending, and the to different sectors of society, including the
application of structural adjustment measures NGOs, for discussion, 'with the intention that
leading to privatisation of public services recommendations and suggestions would be
vastly increased social need. At the same time, taken into account' and 'that the Plan would
this meant an expansion in the opportunities for reflect a common will in the country' (PA, 52).
NGOs to take on a role in social development. The Peace Agreement defines three principal
Their effectiveness in this work can be objectives within the NRP: firstly, the
measured by the trust they have gained from integration and development of areas affected
the beneficiary population, and by the extent to by the conflict; secondly, attention to the
which project and programme work has been immediate needs of those most affected by the
able to address the needs of the poorest sectors. conflict and to the needs of ex-combatants of
There are negative trends too. The NGO both sides; and thirdly, rebuilding of damaged
'boom' also brought competition, duplication, infrastructure.
lack of planning, poor coordination, and a lack The government, with the support of the
of self-critical evaluation. Most of their UNDP, agreed to facilitate the channelling of
structures, priorities, and programmes were international aid by setting up a National
established and implemented in a context of Reconstruction Fund (PA, 53). The UNDP also
emergency. Today, NGOs are in a process of has a key role to play in mobilising inter-
reassessing their roles. They are also analysing national aid, planning projects, providing
their relationships with their beneficiaries or technical assistance, and ensuring compatibi-
constituencies, with each other, the State, their lity between governmental and non-
current donors, and potential funders who may governmental plans at local and regional level
be seeking ways of channelling resources on a (PA, 53). In the specific case of NGOs, the
larger scale. government would aim to 'approve legal and
NGOs with a strong background in working institutional facilities for external private aid
with poor communities and displaced people destined for communities, social organisations
during the war years are well placed to play an and NGOs provided it could be established that
important function in national reconstruction. they were developing or wished to develop
To do so, however, the nature and quality of the integrated development projects' (PA, 50).
work they carried out must be recognised by The National Reconstruction Plan8
the Salvadorean government, as well as by underlines the Government's stated intention
international donors. In the short term, such to promote broad-based participation in
NGOs need to define common strategies in national reconstruction and to forge social
relation to two crucial factors: first, the Peace consensus around it. To bring about such
Agreement and the Government's National participation, the NRP identifies specific roles
Reconstruction Plan (NRP) for social and and functions for NGOs and communities. For
economic recovery; and second, USAID and example, both State institutions and NGOs
the multilateral agencies, in particular the may be contracted by local mayors for
World Bank, Inter-American Development developing projects which have been approved
Bank (IDB), and United Nations Development as priority through local public assemblies
Programme (UNDP). (cabildeos abiertos). State entities, including
the Secretariat for National Reconstruction
(SRN) which answers directly to the President,
54 Development in States of War

may also contract the services of NGOs or assumes a total figure of only US$1,304
community organisations to carry out projects. million, of which 30 per cent would be
However, NGOs and community organisa- allocated to the social sector and human capital,
tions will be allowed to develop their own 31 per cent to infrastructure, 19 per cent to
projects and programmes only after approval production, 6 per cent to environment, 12 per
bytheSRN. cent to democracy programmes, and 2 per cent
In the light of such prescriptions for NGO to technical assistance.
and community participation in the NRP, The differences in total budgets and the
certain conclusions can be drawn: allocations outlined are large, and it is apparent
that final budgets are yet to be approved.
1 The government sees the NGOs as private
entities to be contracted for defined services.
Their participation is limited to the USAID and the multilateral
implementation of specific programmes or agencies
projects.
The reconstruction scenario would be
2 There is no recognition of those organisa- incomplete without a brief analysis of the roles
tions who represent the beneficiary commun- of both USAID and the multilateral agencies
ities. (mentioned above) within it.
USAID was the main source of foreign
3 Local government is accorded very funding to the Salvadorean government during
significant levels of responsibility in the the 1980s. In fact, El Salvador became the third
coordination, administration, and implement- major recipient of US foreign aid in the world,
ation of programmes at both local and regional with only Israel and Egypt receiving higher
levels. amounts. USAID is now a key player in the
design of the National Reconstruction Plan,
4 The participation of NGOs and social within the context of its overall strategy for
organisations in the Secretariat for National Latin America. In its 'Economic Assistance
Reconstruction is not contemplated: in fact, the Strategy for Central America: 1991 to 2000',
SNR is established as a top-down structure to USAID announced a change in its approach to
impose policy. the region:

The State apparently seeks to be the protagonist There is an unprecedented opportunity over
in national reconstruction. Yet there seems to the next decade to achieve the political
be little real recognition that popular stability, economic prosperity and social
organisations and NGOs have eleven years' justice that have for so long eluded the people
experience in working precisely in the areas of of Central America.
the country and with those social sectors which
were abandoned by the State, both before and These objectives are set in the broader
during the war years. framework of the Bush Administration's
An additional difficulty concerns the vision for Latin America, as presented in two
distribution of the budget. The third draft of the recent policy statements. The 'Enterprise of the
Plan, published in February 1992, provides Americas Initiative' (EAT) is intended for all of
two budgets. The first puts a figure of Latin America, and focuses on free trade,
US$1,627 million on reconstruction costs, of investment, and debt reduction. It links
which 3 per cent would be allocated to health, democracy, trade, and investment as the basis
education and housing, 4 per cent to agricul- of sustainable economic growth. The policy
ture, and 93 per cent to infrastructure. was summarised by President Bush as 'free
However, the budget by sector and projects governments and free markets'. The second
The role of Salvadorean NGOs in post-war reconstruction 55

policy statement, 'The Partnership for Demo- However, the Salvadorean counterparts for
cracy and Development in Central America', USAID do not fall within the NGO sector.
creates a forum for fostering international Instead, USAID works largely through the
support for regional development in Central National Commission for the Restoration of
America; and aims to promote a coordinated Areas (CONARA), which was involved in
approach to bilateral and multilateral aid, civic action programmes in conflict areas as
placing particular emphasis on strengthening part of counter-insurgency strategies. The
democratic institutions. multilateral agenciesWorld Bank, IDB, and
Thus, USAID is explicitly aiming to further UNDP together with USAID, are assisting
US strategic interests in Central America. It the Cristiani Government in the design of its
plans to support the positive trends it sees by economic and social policies. These include
consolidating democratic societies, and by the establishment of the Salvadorean Social
promoting sustainable economic growth and Investment Fund (Fondo de Inversion Social
regional cooperation. At the same time, with Salvadorena FISS). This is intended to
diminished resources, it is looking to administer social compensation programmes,
encourage other donors to help to foot the bill. as a means of cushioning the worst effects of
Throughout Latin America, USAID also structural adjustment programmes on the
envisages an increased role for NGOs in the poorest, similar to the programmes already
context of further cuts in State spending and being operated in Costa Rica, Guatemala,
public services and the transfer of productive Honduras, and Nicaragua.
activity and services to the private sector. A number of bilateral donors, especially
Municipal governments, the private sector, and Scandinavian and European Community
NGOs are seen as playing a more active part, governments, are making their aid conditional
especially in the provision of social services. In on greater involvement of NGOs. However,
general, USAID aims to involve the NGO the Salvadorean government is demonstrating
sector in the following ways: caution. One observer describes attempts to
incorporate NGOs in the FISS:
Democracy programmes to improve civil
participation: funds will be channelled through The limited effort to create a framework to
NGOs for civic education, including through incorporate NGOs into the FISS reflects
the schools, and strengthening of judicial government policy to work only with NGOs
systems. with proven links to business groups, and the
IDB's relative inexperience of welfare-
Welfare and social services: funds for health orientated NGOs. The IDB's cautious and
care, family planning, nutrition for the poor, unimaginative hands-on approach has not
and increased efficiency in delivery systems pushed government to deal with an NGO sector
would be handled by NGOs. Proposals include [which] government considers subversive.9
the use of debt-swap arrangements for family-
planning services to be delivered through the The overall intentions of USAID for Central
NGOs. America are compatible with the aims of the
National Reconstruction Plan in El Salvador.
Environment: local and national NGOs will They each promote the discourse of consensus-
be engaged to work on environmental building, social participation, and democracy.
concerns. But the rhetoric has yet to translate into a
development practice which will ensure that
Sustainable development: USAID will help the stated aims of 'political stability, economic
NGOs and governments to develop policies, prosperity and social justice' are able to be met.
laws, and programmes for sustainable
agriculture, especially land use.
56 Development in States of War

The response of local NGOs They are concerned that it is not the result of a
process of building a broad-based social
Five major Salvadorean NGO networks were consensus, and that the Salvadorean govern-
active during the war in humanitarian relief and ment plans to control implementation in a way
social development with refugees, displaced which does not permit the direct participation
people, and repatriated communities through- of representative social organisations in
out the entire country. Joining their efforts in a decision-making.
loose coalition body, the Concertaci6n The Plan is also criticised because it creates
Nacional,10 they see themselves as beneficiaries, rather than active participants in
the process of reconstruction, ignoring local-
working towards and contributing to the level organisational structures and their years
formulation of a single national plan for of experience in self-development.
reconstruction. Such a 'Civil Society Recon- The coverage of the Plan is seen to be
struction Plan' would represent planning inadequate. It addresses a target population of
input, as well as implementation activities by a 826,117 people in 99 municipalities; yet El
wide range of governmental and non- Salvador has a population of over 5 million in
governmental entities.'' 262 municipalities.13 Moreover, it concentrates
exclusively on the rural population directly
These NGOs argue the need for a National affected by the conflict, and ignores the large
Reconstruction Plan whose success will and expanding urban population living in
depend upon comprehensive participation and extreme poverty.
consensus in its design as well as its Finally, critics argue that the government
implementation. Such a Plan would require a lacks the social base to implement the proposed
new vision of social and economic develop- programmes, and the resources to implement
ment and a modification of the 'emergency and them. The lack of consensus in the formulation
compensation' approach which has deepened of the Plan is likely to dissuade the international
the poverty of the poorest. community from funding it.

The Plan should legitimise and institutionalise


the participation of civil society in its various Prospects for post-war
expressions, especially participation of the reconstruction
new socio-economic actors that arose during
the war, as well as of those from the popular Presidential elections are scheduled for 1994,
movement and its institutional representatives and the FMLN is expected to participate as a
... The Plan should become an arena for political organisation. Demands for rapid
consensus building to advance the construc- responses from all levels of society will exert
tion ofa new model of the prosperous, just and pressure on the government; and reconstruc-
democratic society to which we aspire for El tion plans will be expected to provide the basis
Salvador.12 for answers. One of the key problems for
Cristiani's government is how to bring people
These NGOs have been invited by the together in the cause of national reconstruction.
government to take part in discussions of the The NRP states that its success depends on
National Reconstruction Plan. However, they political viability and 'a minimum consensus
make major criticisms of the NRP, observing between the country's social and political
that it is based on out-dated concepts of forces; the active participation of the popula-
development which have failed in the past in tion which will benefit from the projects ...'
Latin America and which aim to stimulate (NRP, 16).
economic growth with little attention to social In our view, one of the principal issues which
development or to environmental protection. will cause tension between the government and
The role of Salvadorean NGOs in post-war reconstruction 57

the popular sectors is the economic framework government plans; and to put forward
in which the government has defined the NRP. alternatives based upon NGOs' own consid-
The Plan states that 'it must be consistent with erable experience in providing humanitarian
the global aims of the macro-economic assistance, and promoting social and economic
programme and complementary to the development in the context of civil war.
Government's investment plan' (NRP, 15). In The experience of NGO work in Nicaragua
other words, the Plan has to be consistent with under the Sandinista government (1979-90) is
structural adjustment policies. To date, the salutary and relevant. It points to certain risks
effects of these policies in El Salvador have which their Salvadorean colleagues may need
been similar to the results of their application to consider and which may have broader
throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. relevance to post-war reconstruction
Yet, by stating that the Reconstruction Plan programmes elsewhere in the world.14 From
is a political as well as an economic instrument, the perspective of the national NGOs, there are
the government makes plain its wish to restore three main areas of potential difficulty:
the legitimacy of the State by gaining the
confidence of the people: '[The government Competition between NGOs for funds,
possesses] the legitimacy to carry through the influence and power, especially in the case of
political projections on which it based its those working in the same geographical area
electoral campaign ... the NRP constitutes a or sector.
political project' (NRP, 13). Similarly, the Competition between NGOs and popular
local assemblies (cabildeos abiertos) are organisations, all seeking to be the
envisaged as a mechanism for meeting two counterparts of donor agencies.
objectives: 'strengthening the legitimacy of the A tendency to 'package and sell' projects
State and democratising decision-making on which the NGOs considered to be attractive
programmes and projects for the communities' to the donors resulting in many projects
(NRP, 12). which responded more to supply from the
The economic orientation of the Plan, its North than to a demand from the South based
limited institutional and administrative on a clear strategy for sustainable alterna-
structure, and the intention of the government tives in development.
to use it as a political instrument together
suggest that many social and popular For the international donor NGOs, other
organisations, NGOs, political parties, and problems also arise. There may be tensions
churches will opt to redefine their participation. between NGOs competing for the same
Other groups, such as NGOs which work with counterpart organisations or projects; and
government programmes or demobilised competition between international NGOs from
members of the armed forces, may provide a the same country for access to their own
limited social base of support. However, a government's aid budget, or to funds raised
National Reconstruction Plan cannot forge the from the general public. There may in addition
social consensus and active support considered be differences of opinion between confessional
essential for its success if it becomes simply the and secular agencies and between church-
political project of the Government or of one linked agencies. And, cutting across all of these
political party. tensions, there may be conflicting theoretical
and methodological approaches to humanit-
arian aid and social development.
Lessons from Nicaragua There are also difficulties which affect
relations between national NGOs and inter-
The Salvadorean NGO community has already national donor agencies. These tend to arise
made important advances in coordinating its when there is not sufficient clarity about the
strategies to highlight deficiencies in existing specific role of each. It may be very much
58 Development in States of War

harder to define such roles during a period of American governments, and national and
transition from one context to anotherin the international NGOs. The process itself
case of Nicaragua, from a revolutionary to a provides a valuable experience and example of
conservative government committed to neo- consultation and joint planning between
liberal policies. In a new setting, old governments and NGOs, as a result of which,
methodologies may no longer be the most shared positions and strategies have been
appropriate. reached.15
Finally, for all autonomous NGOs, there is At the heart of the debate lies the urgent need
the ever-present risk of co-option by the State for more creative thinking on how to design
or by political parties. strategies for more equitable development and
sustainable growth which address the roots of
conflict and crisis in El Salvador. The Peace
Hopes and fears: some Agreement offers many opportunities to begin
conclusions to build a stable and democratic society; it also
contains the risk that the cycle of poverty,
At the time of writing, the people of El violence, and repression will not be broken.
Salvador are living through a complex
transition from eleven years of war towards the
promise and the expectation of peace. The
Notes
Peace Agreement provides a basic political
framework for ending the conflict and 1 Gobierno de El Salvador y Frente
rebuilding the country. But national concilia- Farabundo Marti de Liberacion Nacional
tion in El Salvador cannot be decreed, and is (January 1992). (Succeeding references to
certainly not created by signatures on this document will refer to Peace Agree-
documents in Mexico. ment (PA), with the page number of the
The National Reconstruction Plan of the document.)
Salvadorean government does not in our view 2 The United Nations Economic Commiss-
inspire much hope that it has the will or the ion for Latin America and the Caribbean
ability to go beyond party-political interests to (CEPAL) reported in December 1990 the
build a broad-based consensus around following consequences of a decade of war
rebuilding the country. The Plan's restriction to and economic crisis: 70,000 people killed
existing economic policies, and the exclusion (combatants and civilians); 500,000 people
of key social sectors from real participation in displaced inside the country (10 per cent of
planning and decision-making, suggest the total population); 447 schools closed,
increased social polarisation. And due to partial or total destruction, or to poor
communities in areas of conflict, to which the security; a 20 per cent drop in GNP per
Plan gives priority, have demonstrated in the capita; an estimated 68 per cent of the
past their capacity to block programmes which population living below the poverty line
have attempted to assimilate them. (CEPAL, December 1990).
NGOs, social and popular organisations, and 3 These figures do not include the material
other sectors are drawing' up their own damages caused to the rural population,
proposals for national reconstruction and will especially refugees and displaced people.
offer them to the international community as an 4 Roberto Codas F. and Francisco Alvarez
alternative plan. This approach draws on the S., September 1990, page 35.
experience of the International Conference for 5 Roberto Codas F., July 1990, page 30.
Central American Refugees (Conferencia 6 Victor Gonzalez, August 1991.
International para los Refugiados Centro- 7 An earthquake in 1986, drought and floods
americanos CIREFCA), which has been a each year since 1987.
three-year process involving donors, Central 8 Ministry of Planning and Coordination of
The role of Salvadorean NGOs in post-war reconstruction 59

Economic and Social Development, The attitude of several major donors has
Executive Summary, February 1992. This been very important in stressing the
is the third draft of the Plan. Each version importance of the NGO input; they have in
has carried different budgetary informa- some cases made their aid conditional on
tion. such participation.
9 Peter Sollis, 1991.
10 Thefiveare ASDI (Asociaci6n Salvadorena
de Desarrollo Integral), CORDES References
(Fundaci6n para la Cooperaci6n con
Pobladores y Desplazados Salvadorenos), Agency for International Development
FASTRAS (Fundacion para la Autogesti6n (January 1991),'Economic Assistance
y Solidaridad de los Trabajadores Salvador- Strategy for Central America: 1991-2000',
enos), FUNSALPRODESE (Fundaci6n Washington DC.
Salvadorena para la Promoci6n del CEPAL (December 1990), 'El Salvador: El
Desarrollo Social y Economico), and Estado de la Pobreza y Lineamientos de
REDES (Fundacion Salvadorena para la Politica para Afrontarla'.
Reconstrucci6n y Desarrollo). Codas F., Roberto (September 1990), 'El
11 Report on the Concertaci6n Nacional visit perfil externo del sistema socioecon6mico
to Washington DC, January 1992, prepared salvadoreno', San Salvador: PREIS.
by the Unitarian Universalist Service Codas F., Roberto, and Francisco Alvarez S.
Committee. (1990), 'La asistencia de Estados Unidos a El
12 Salvadorean NGO Association, Salvador en los ochenta; una revisi6n
'Comments on Reconstruction: How its preliminar', San Salvador: PREIS.
Work with Repatriates and the Displaced Concertacion Nacional de El Salvador (July
Shapes the views of Concertacidn 1992), 'Salvadoran NGO Association
Nacional', Washington, January 1992. Comments on National Reconstruction',
13 These figures are taken from the second Washington DC: Unitarian Universalist
draft of the National Reconstruction Plan, Service Committee.
published in September 1991. The third Cordes, Diaconia et ah, 'CIREFCA: el
draft of February 1992 mentions 800,000 proceso de concertaci6n entre las ONG's y el
people in 106 municipalities mainly in the Gobierno de El Salvador'.
north of the country. According to the Frente Farabundo Marti Para La
FMLN, there is a total of 200 Liberation Nacional (February 1992),
municipalities in El Salvador. 'Propuesta a la Nation; Plan de reconstrucci6n
14 These are reflections of a consultant who para el desarrollo de la nueva sociedad
has worked in Nicaragua for a decade, for salvadorena; versi6n preliminar', San
an internal coordination meeting of NGOs. Salvador.
The document is for restricted circulation, Gobierno de El Salvador (September 1991),
and the authors of this article are not 'Plan de Recuperation Econ6mica y Social
authorised to quote from it. However, they Nacional (PRESN), versi6n preliminar', Vol.
will make reference to a number of points, 1, San Salvador.
given their relevance for El Salvador. Gobierno de El Salvador (February 1992),
15 The next CIREFCA conference was due to 'Plan de Reconstrucci6n Nacional de El
take place in San Salvador in April 1992. Salvador', Resumen Ejecutivo, San Salvador.
Following months of work to improve Gobierno de El Salvador y Frente
NGO participation in national planning of Farabundo Marti Para La Liberation
projects for refugees and displaced people, Nacional (January 1992), 'Acuerdo de paz',
the government and NGOs were due to Mexico.
present a joint position to the conference. Gonzalez, Victor (August 1991), 'Las
60 Development in States of War

Organizaciones No Gubernamentales Pauline Martin is Regional Manager for


ONGs: Una nueva expresidn de la Sociedad Oxfam (UK and Ireland), responsible for
Civil Salvadorena', San Salvador. Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Sollis, Peter (1991), 'Poverty Alleviation in El She has worked in Latin America for fourteen
Salvador: An Appraisal of the Christiani Gov- years. In the UK, she has published research on
ernment's Social Programme' (unpublished). education in Chile. Following a year based in a
Salvadorean NGO, she has also published
papers in El Salvador on international
cooperation in Central America.
The authors
This article was first published in
Francisco Alvarez Soils is a Salvadorean Development in Practice Volume 2, Number 2
sociologist at present studying in Mexico. He (1992). Since it was written, the peace process
has worked on development-related research in El Salvador has taken many directions, some
projects at the Universidad Centroamericana of which point to the inadequacies of the terms
(UCA) and EDC-Alternatives for Develop- of the Peace Accords. For further information,
ment in San Salvador. Until 1990 he was based refer to the Washington Office on Latin
at PREIS, a Salvadorean NGO which conducts America, which publishes authoritative brief-
and publishes socio-economic research. He has ings on the region.
written a thesis on the experience of repatria-
tion of refugees to El Salvador, and the return of
internally displaced people to their homes.
61

Children of war in the Philippines


Hans Buwalda

Introduction process, especially for children who are caught


up in it.
The problems of children in war-time are Children of war often show symptoms of
generally not dealt with in much of the litera- severe psychological trauma: sleeping
ture on development. However, some organis- disorders and impairment of their concentra-
ations, particularly in countries where political tion, nightmares, withdrawal, aggression, fear
armed conflict rages, are increasingly realising of unexpected sounds and movements,
that children are often victimised in the clinging behaviour, depression, inability to
process; and that this has important ramifica- form close relationships, bed-wetting, and so
tions, not only for the children as individuals on. These symptoms affect the way they relate
but also for social development more gener- to the world around them.
ally. In various countries, there are groups in It is very difficult for Filipino children to
the process of setting up programmes to help understand the situation of armed conflict in
children deal with the trauma resulting from their country. Often they try to find explana-
war. But they suffer from a lack of expertise. tions for the killings, 'disappearances', or
This article1 looks at the children of war in forced evacuations, by creating fantasies about
the Philippines. It is based on my experiences them. Often, these imagined explanations are
as a Western-trained therapist working with irrational, and even more frightening and
those involved in development issues; and confusing than what really happened. A child's
specifically with children suffering from, or explanation for the killing of her father, for
potentially facing, war-related traumatisation. example, may go like this: the day before the
It provides an account of combining a Western killing, the child was punished by the father for
therapeutic approach with an indigenous pro- stealing a mango. She was very upset and
gramme of therapy for young war victims, as wished she did not have a father. The next day
developed by the Children's Rehabilitation the father is dead. The child concludes that he
Center in Davao City.2 This may provide a way was killed because she wanted him dead; and
of dealing with the larger social problems feels very guilty because she thinks she caused
among children growing up with violence. the father's death.
As a general rule, a bereaved family does
not want to expose the children to the pain of
War-related trauma in children knowing what really occurred, especially
where loved ones have died. For example, a
We all structure our own environment: all mother may tell her children that their father is
human beings try to find a basic logic, or to dead, but she still promises that they will see
establish an explanation connecting the things him again. She does not show her own pain
we perceive, know, and feel into a more or less about the loss of her husband in front of the
comprehensible unity. War disrupts this children. The children are left confused. When
62 Development in States of War

they understand that death means that the dead The imprisonment of a parent also causes
person is not returning, they do not know what emotional problems. Some children refuse to
to think. Which is true: their own knowledge go to school, because the gates and walls
about death? or the assurance of their mother remind them of prison. How can a child make
the person they trust most in the world? sense of the fact that his parents are in prison
Apart from the confusion, the children are not without committing any crime? Others have
given the chance to grieve, nor are they only known their parents separated one in
provided with a model for how to express the prison and the other at home and do not
feeling of loss. understand the relationship between them after
Children of war face numerous emotional the incarcerated parent is released. When a
problems. One of the most difficult things for father returns home from prison, a young child
them is the question of trust. Some of them are who has been used to sleeping with his mother
even given 'cover names' and are totally finds himself sleeping alone - separated from
confused about knowing to whom they can or his mother and replaced by an estranged father.
cannot confide their real names. This is In addition to these psychological traumas
especially common when the parents are not and it is very common for children to suffer
around to tell them which name to use. a number of the problems described above
Another problem is that of parents' some children are also physically disabled for
'disappearance': the children are left with the the rest of their lives.
fear that what happened to their parents will The situation in which the children of war
also happen to them some time in the future. find themselves has been described as follows:
Will their parents ever return? Are they still
alive? Are they being hurt and tortured? Why A healthy child, not only from a medical point
did they leave the children behind, all alone? of view, but also from a psychological and
Some children have witnessed massacres in social perspective, is a child who is trans-
which other children were killed. How can a parent. One can see what is going on inside the
child understand that? If other children can be child, and the child does not have to hide his or
killed, how can they themselves be safe? her feelings and genuine thoughts. He or she
Others have been caught in cross-fire or knows that his or herfamily will protect him or
bombardments, and sometimes been severely her, and he or she has a network of relations
wounded. They are scared by every unexpected and security systems which will protect
sound or movement. Many children see their him/her, in case his/her family fails to do so.
parents being beaten up or even killed before The child of war is caught in a tangle of chaos.
their own eyes. If their parents are not able to The child without symptoms is probably
protect and defend themselves, who is going to worse offthan the child with symptoms. At least
protect the child? Such children live in great the child with symptoms is trying to work
fear and uncertainty. his/her way out of the chaotic environment.
And what about those children who have Symptoms could take the form of an enhanced
been forcibly evacuated from their homes? aggressiveness, regressive reactions and
After being displaced from everything that is psychosomatic symptoms. Children with
familiar to them, they are taken to an under- symptoms are able to allow others to see their
resourced evacuation centre where they may fears, their protests and their sorrow. As long
as there are symptoms, there is hope. What is
face hunger, as well as having to deal with
far more serious is the child without symptoms.
many strange and unfamiliar people, also
The shell is opaque, the child has lost his/her
victims of forced evacuations. Lack of food and
ability to communicate his/her emotions to the
health care and hygienic conditions means that
outside. Denial seems to be at the bottom ofthis
measles epidemics are common. What is the
reaction denial of feelings of fear, anger or
impact on a child of seeing other children dying
sorrow.3
all around them, sometimes in their hundreds?
Children of war in the Philippines 63

These problems are very extensive in the member would explain to the mother that she
Philippines. As of December 1988, there were can only help the children when she makes clear
3,800,000 children who were victims of to them that the father is dead and so will never
involuntary displacement; 144,000 children of return. She also has to show her own grief about
political detainees; 4,681 children who had the loss of her husband in front of her children,
witnessed massacres; and 138,600 children to give them a model of grieving: children need
orphaned by the 'disappearance' or killing of that model in order to be able to give form to
their parents.4 their own feelings. Only when the children's
The government of the Philippines does confusion is cleared up and they are given the
almost nothing to help these children. space to grieve can the symptoms from the
Sometimes local government officials try to original trauma, as well as those caused by the
supply food and medicine for the evacuation confusion itself, disappear. As the mother does
centres although they are never given this, those behavioural problems in the children
enough resources to meet the needs, even when which are symptoms of psychological trauma
they sincerely try to carry out their jobs. have a chance to be resolved.
However, psychological assistance is not It is not enough to talk just with the parents:
available. The national government does not the CRC staff also work with the children to
want to admit that children are victims of find out what is going on. To continue our
human-rights violations by its military and example, the mother has told the CRC staff
often human-rights workers themselves are member that her oldest son has been stealing
harassed or suffer similar violations. money from other people in the community
and that this has given rise to anger against him.
If the CRC staff member talked only with her,
and not with the son, the suggested solution
Therapy at the Children's
might revolve around getting the boy to stop
Rehabilitation Center
stealing. However, working through painting,
Much of the therapy work of the Children's drama, and story telling, the CRC staff member
Rehabilitation Center (CRC) in Davao City is finds out from the boy that he began stealing the
done at home, with children and their parents money to give to his mother, so that she would
(or with whoever takes responsibility for the not have to go out to work and leave him and his
children's welfare). The work is done at home, siblings alone, since he fears that she might not
because that is where the children are, and return either. Thus the stealing is a behavioural
where they have to function.5 In addition, symptom of the psychological trauma that
because the parents see the children so much arose through his father's killing, and the
and are so aware of their problems, they have to child's confusion about his death.
learn how to help the children deal with them. It is only through working with all parties
Much of the therapy work is done through concerned in this case the parents and the
talking with the parents: one cannot help the children that solutions can be found. Clear-
children to change if the parents do not change ing up the confusion and allowing the boy to
too. The CRC staff member will question the grieve over the loss of his father, and support-
parents or carers to get a sense of the child's ing him in his grief, are essential if he is to work
problems and how the parents and child are through his father's death in an effective way.
dealing with them. Then the CRC staff member
will make suggestions to encourage the parents
to change any behaviour that is evidently
Creative Process Therapy
working against the well-being of the children.
To return to our earlier example, where the Creative Process Therapy (CPT) was
mother told the children that the father was dead developed in The Netherlands. It is a type of
but they would see him again: the CRC staff psycho-therapy using non-verbal media for
64 Development in States of War

individual expression. Five different media are children were already at the centre, arriving a
used in CPT: visual arts, music, gardening, week before the workshop, to give them a
drama, and dance or movement. chance to get used to the immediate environ-
CPT is built around how individuals relate ment of CRC. They had come from a centre in
to their immediate environment. For those North Cotabato, a two-hour bus drive from
working with visual arts, which is my area of Davao City, and were going to attend the whole
training, the key factor is how a person relates six weeks of the workshop. The 'live-in
in the therapy environment to handicraft children' would attend the CPT sessions in the
material, to the tools available there, to the morning, as well as the regular afternoon
furniture in the room and how it is arranged, as workshops.
well as to the therapist. The important thing in My first reaction to this invitation was one
creative therapy is not the artistic quality of the of panic. How was I going to cope, without
product, but rather the manner in which it is material, without knowing the language and
madein other words, the process. without the same cultural background?
There are several different ways in which Besides, the children in the group would have
people can feel themselves drawn to material. different cultures and languages among
From the manner in which the patient is drawn themselves, for they came from distinct ethnic
to material and handles it, the therapist can groups and areas. What could the series of
make an 'appeal analysis'. Because the appeal sessions achieve? How was I going to devise
of a medium has very much to do with the needs enough activities, given the limited resources?
of the patient, the therapist can then draw up a All I had was what I could find around the
'needs hierarchy', derived from this analysis. If house. Furthermore, these children were also
needs are seldom or never expressed, a defence not at all used to expressing themselves
mechanism is probably at work. through any form of visual arts. And all this, six
Before she can begin to experiment with mornings a week from 9 am to 12 noon an
those areas she considers 'dangerous', the extremely intensive schedule, requiring both
patient needs to feel completely secure in the the children and myself to be very concentrated
therapy situation. After the therapist has for a relatively long period of time. (By
analysed the way in which the patient contrast, in The Netherlands, group sessions
structures the environment, and how she last between only one and four hours a week!)
creates unity in her relationship with it, it is In addition, I would not have time to make
possible to help to build up that sense of written reports, because in the afternoon I was
security. Play and 'pretend' situations often to take part in the CRC sessions. This meant
provide a feeling of security. Only when these that I would be unable to plan the sessions very
conditions have been established can a creative thoroughly, and would have to rely on my
process emerge, in which the patient can intuition and experience to ensure that they had
express existing needs and feelings, and some therapeutic value.
gradually develop new understandings and Despite all the questions and uncertainties,
possibilities for dealing with herself and the the fact that the children had managed to
surrounding world.6 overcome linguistic and cultural barriers in
order to establish contact with me, and that I
really wanted to help them deal with their
Planning to implement Creative trauma, made me decide to face the challenge
Process Therapy at CRC and give it a chance, to see it as an experiment,
a learning experience. I decided that, rather
During the preparations for a residential than aiming for advanced therapeutic goals, the
workshop, the CRC staff suggested that I aim of the sessions would be to let the children
should attend it, and also conduct CPT sessions have a pleasant time working together with
with the so-called 'live-in' children. These visual arts. For children who had been through
Children of war in the Philippines 65

such traumatic experiences, I felt it important witnesses of gross human rights violations by
that they have a positive experience, doing soldiers and vigilante groups their own lives
something they might enjoy, in an environment were in constant jeopardy.
that was caring and supportive. Positive The children came mostly from very poor
experiences such as these can often help in families. After the parents were killed or
building self-esteem something these 'disappeared', other family members tried to
children were, understandably, seriously take care of them. But because none of the
lacking. uncles, aunts, or grandparents had enough
money to feed their own children, these already
traumatised children were moved from one
The children family to another. By the time the family caring
for them actually asked for help, most of these
There were eight children in the group. The five children were seriously malnourished and felt
'live-in' children came from a house for child totally abandoned. Indeed, the children all
war victims in Kidapawan called 'Pagsagop showed the symptoms of severe psychological
Foundation'. The others spent the whole day at trauma from the events mentioned above.
the centre because their mothers volunteered to
do the cooking there. The children were
between 7 and 17 years old and had all gone
Results of the Creative Process
through some traumatic war experiences. Tata
Therapy
(10) and Gaga (7) had lost their parents and two
sisters during a massacre in which the family A CPT therapist working in a centre like CRC
members were hacked to death with bolo has to be far more creative than one working in
knives by fanatics from the Tad-Tad (which a more economically developed country, such
literally means 'chop-chop') vigilante group, as The Netherlands. The therapist needs to be
and which the then 7-year old Tata witnessed. creative enough to find activities and materials
Their grandmother had tried to take care of appropriate to the stage in the patient's
them but, in view of her own poverty and the development at the particular moment of the
behavioural/emotional problems of the session.
children, this was no longer possible. Royroy's We had few resources for the children to
(11) parents were arrested and 'disappeared*. use. I could only use areas in the house that the
Nonoy's (10) father was killed in front of their larger workshop was not using, and these
house, and his mother had left with Nonoy's changed from day to day. My entire range of
older brother to restart her life on the northern materials and tools were scissors, glue, pencils,
island of Luzon; she had no intentions of letting crayons, and paper. Once in a while, I had the
Nonoy live with them after she remarried. money to buy coloured paper. So, I was obliged
Baby's (17) father was killed before her eyes. to find as many activities as possible that could
Weng (14) was gang-raped by a group of be carried out with these materials, plus what I
soldiers. Gigi (10) and Jun (12) were part of a could find around the house, such as plants,
group of internal refugees who had fled from seeds, cardboard boxes, and sea shells left from
their area because of years of massacres, dinner.
hostage-taking, burning of houses, and Drawing was the children's only previous
bombardments by military and vigilante experience of working with visual arts, so it
groups. became central to our work. The children
In addition, since human-rights lawyers use began with dozens of depictions of bombard-
survivors to bring charges against the vigilante ments, killings, military encounters, and the
groups, military units, and individual soldiers, like. They drew those things that had hurt them
and because most of the children had witnessed or that they feared most of all. They did this day
such events indeed, some were the sole by day, hour by hour, for around four and a half
66 Development in States of War

weeks. Only then, when this fear and child present in the house when this happened.
aggression had been reduced sufficiently, did He claims that he recognised the armed men
the children have room to express other and can identify them. His parents were found
feelings. They would then begin to see what dead the next morning.
other things were going on around them to be Like all the other children in the group,
explored and perhaps even enjoyed; they Royroy started with drawing. He produced
started drawing children eating ice-cream, and drawing after drawing full of little human
houses, trees, fruits, kites, and lovely dresses. figures carrying guns, shooting at each other
The children's self-esteem improved great- and at helicopters. Royroy was usually present
ly over this time, as I taught them techniques in his own drawings, fighting with the good
that were very simple but gave surprising and guys against the bad guys. The bad guys were
beautiful results. For example, I would have the from the military unit that took away Royroy's
children draw with glue on a piece of paper. parents. It seemed as if Royroy wanted to take
After that they would cover their paper with revenge. His depictions were very detailed and
fine sand, so that when they lifted it, they had a it was clear that he had a talent for drawing and
picture. For some of the children, it was a big composition. He worked quietly and had little
surprise to find out they were actually good at conversation with the other children in the
something and genuinely appreciated by the group. I was ignored by him most of the time
people around them. This made it possible for and Royroy pulled away if he was touched. He
some of them to start experimenting with the seemed to have little self-esteem and to be shy.
possibilities of a wider range of materials, I let Royroy work in peace. I didn't express
including things that were to be found in the any expectations, just provided him with
garden and house. Every time they succeeded enough paper for all his drawings. I also told
in making something or finding something him that I thought he had a talent for art-work.
useful, they were proud and praised; this built That comment made him look me straight in
up their self-esteem. the eyes with delight, but he withdrew again
The CPT sessions were consolidated by the almost immediately.
afternoon workshops, where the children Slowly I introduced other techniques which
would sing, play games and sports, and share in the children could use in their drawings, such as
discussions about their experiences with the the use of glue and sand described above.
other children and staff members. Royroy turned out to be very creative. He also
One example shows what this process seemed to enjoy the sessions more and more.
meant for the children. One evening, Tata, for He was the first one who had the idea of using
the first time in two months, was sitting in my other materials that he found in the garden,
lap. It was very cosy and we were not disturbed such as grass and leaves. From there, he made
by other children. He told me he wanted to sing the step to three-dimensional art work, like
me a song, but that he was not a good singer. I folding paper in the form of a boat. His work
replied that I would really like to hear the song continued to be detailedhis paper boat had a
anyway. He sang it while sitting in my lap and sail, a net, and fishermen and beautiful. The
also held my arms around him and pinched me other children and I all showed our
with his nails. It was very painful, but I didn't appreciation of Royroy's work. He gradually
show it because I sensed that Tata was experi- become less shy and started to show me things
menting with being close to somebody again. of which he was particularly proud.
One day in the fourth week, Royroy showed
me a picture of two armies fighting each other.
The case ofRoyroy He pointed out where he was in the drawing
Royroy's parents had been community and than he pointed at another figure fighting at
organisers. One night, they were arrested by his side and said that it was me. He had
men in military uniforms. Royroy was the only accepted me and even felt that I was on his side.
Children of war in the Philippines 67

After that, Royroy started drawing other designing a more formal experimental process
things like houses, trees, and children with ice- for comparable situations, so that the potential
creams. His pictures about war retreated into application of this therapeutic approach may be
the background. He smiled more, talked with more fully evaluated. Similarly, although this
the other children, was obviously proud of his article points to the cross-cultural and cross-
art-work and stopped ignoring me. Even so, he lingual capabilities of the approach, further
was more shy than the other children. studies are required.
In the meantime, Royroy had saved all his While it will not be possible universally to
pocket money and, on the last day of the apply CPT in precisely the same form as it is
programme, he bought a toy gun and a toy implemented in The Netherlands, I am con-
knife. These must have given him a feeling of vinced that the basic principles and ideas
security and possibly power, as he walked behind it will fit any child in any setting as
around sure of himself, looking people straight long as the indigenous culture and situation are
in the face, and talking to others. Indeed, these specifically taken into account and incorpor-
toy items seemed to give him his self-esteem. ated into the therapy process. Furthermore, it is
Of course, Royroy still has a long way to go, essential to have local staff with previous
but he has gained some things from the CPT experience in the use of creative activities for
sessions: he has started to connect with others, therapy purposes, who can be trained in the use
feeling again that there are people who support of CPT; this will help to ensure that it enriches
him and who are on his side. He has had the any existing indigenous therapeutic models.
experience of being good at something, For example, the CRC staff members knew
realising that he is creative and that he is what they wanted to learn; they were keen to
appreciated by other people. He has regained understand why certain activities had the
some self-esteem and was able to express some impact they did on particular children. If there
of his vengeful feelings. In the future, he may is no such experience among the local staff, the
be able to use his obvious creative talents, in danger is that this Western therapeutic
dealing with other events in his life. approach will predominate over indigenous
initiatives, and so fail to meet the needs of the
patients themselves. For this reason too, it is
essential that the trainee participants and the
Conclusion trainer share a language that they all understand
Armed conflict has a disproportionate impact and speak fluently.7
on the children in the areas affected by it. While In terms of development policy, the funding
traumatised children are initially a by-product and training of local people in CPT could offer
of violence, eventually they threaten the future beneficial long-term results. Working for the
stability of any community, since they have no mental health of the children of today should
way to deal with feelings triggered by the war, contribute to building a mentally healthier
except through disturbed behaviour. This itself generation of adults in the future.
reduces social stability, making the entire
community more vulnerable to outside
pressures. It is crucial to any development
Notes
process to help children to overcome the
traumatic experiences they may have suffered, 1 Thanks to Kim Scipes for his assistance in
in a way that supports and validates them. preparing this article.
While the experiment in Davao City was not 2 For a detailed interview with Beth Marcelino,
formally designed, nor were daily accounts co-founder of the CRC, see Joseph Collins:
kept, empirical evidence suggests that CPT is a 'Interview with Dr Elizabeth Marcelino,
tool that might be of very great use in rehabilit- Director, Children's Rehabilitation Center,
ation and development. It may be worth Manila', in The Philippines: Fire on the
68 Development in States of War

Rim, San Francisco: Institute for Food and get a feel for the culture and for indigenous
Development Policy: 291, 292 (1989). art forms in preparation for the training; and
Although CRC was first established in adequate time needs to be built into the
Manila, it has expanded to include regional process for assessment sessions and final
offices in Davao City on Mindanao, the evaluation. In all, a complete CPT training
Bicol region in the far southern tip of Luzon, would require between 28 and 43 weeks,
and in Bacolod and Iloilo in the Western exclusive of all the written and other
Visayas region. This account is based on my documentary work entailed.
experiences in CRC-Davao City.
3 Jasmin E. Acuna: 'Children of war: state of
the art' in Elizabeth Protacio-Marcelino The author
(ed.): First International Seminar-Work-
shop on Children in Crisis: Working Paper, Hans Buwalda is a Creative Process Therapist.
Quezon City, Philippines: Children's When she wrote this article, she was a
Rehabilitation Center: 175,183-184(1989). volunteer, working with the Children's
4 These data were cited from an article by Rehabilitation Center in the Philippines, an
Rolando Rodriguez in Kalingangan, a organisation that is developing a treatment and
magazine of the Institute for Religion and rehabilitation programme for children psycho-
Culture, in Sylvia Estrada-Claudio, Jose' F logically traumatised by war experiences.
Bartolome' and Grace Aguiling-Dalisay: This article was first published in
'Pilot study on children in crisis' in Development in Practice, Volume 4, Number
Protacio-Marcelino (op. cit.): 71,73. 1, in 1994.
5 While most of the work done in Western
Europe and the United States with torture
victims and refugees has been valuable, it
differs from work in a war-ravaged area: in
war zones, children remain subject to future
violence, and so much of our work, by
necessity, focuses on enabling past victims
to deal successfully with their still-violent
environment.
6 J. Houben, H. Smitskamp and J. te Velde
(eds.): The Creative Process, part I,
'Applications in Therapy and Education',
Culemborg, Netherlands: Phaedon (1989).
7 Assuming that CPT trainees have some
background in rehabilitation work and are
familiar with non-verbal forms of therapy,
my experience suggests that a two-week
formal training programme (based on a six-
hour working day) should be followed with
between 15 and 30 therapy sessions under
supervision: at the end of this, trainees
should be able to transfer their skills to other
colleagues, though they may need further
back-up in teaching and instruction
methods. It is also important that trainees
are monitored regularly, throughout the
process. The trainer will also need time to
69

Training indigenous workers


in mental-health care

Jane Shackman and Jill Reynolds

Introduction as a Training Officer for a non-governmental


organisation (NGO) in Croatia. Her main role
Hans Buwalda's article, 'Children of war in the would be to train Serbo-Croatian speaking
Philippines' [reprinted in this volume], workers in counselling skills and mental-health
describes some of the emotional problems of care for their work with displaced people from
children in the Philippines, traumatised by Bosnia. A psychiatric social worker herself,
political violence, and relates her introduction she had years of experience in the mental-
of Creative Process Therapy at the Children's health field, in various different settings but
Rehabilitation Center in Davao City. It raises she had no experience as a trainer, nor in work
interesting issues concerning the modification with refugees. She was clearly anxious about
and application of a Western therapeutic model her role, and phoned us for advice two weeks
to a South-East Asian country experiencing before going to Croatia.
long-term conflict. Her questions to us included the following:
We would like to explore this further in How do I plan and run appropriate training
relation to the kinds of training programme that courses? What are the participants going to
are currently being developed in former want to know? How do I find an effective way
Yugoslavia and other areas of war or civil war. to share my own skills? In an attempt to address
The aim is to train workers from ethnic mino- some of these issues, we offer this article to
rities in mental-health care and counselling everyone working in similar areas of conflict.
skills, to enable them to work with refugees and
displaced people who have been subjected to
war and extreme brutality, including detention, First thoughts
rape, and torture. All will have been affected by
these experiences, and some may have been If you are feeling anxious about the limitations
seriously traumatised. The training pro- of your own skills and experiences in an
grammes and subsequent mental-health work unfamiliar context, remember that this may be
often take place in over-crowded and under- how the participants on your training courses
resourced refugee camps, or in situations will be feeling. If you feel daunted by the task
where fighting still rages, and basic needs for ahead, this may well reflect some of the fears of
safety, food, and shelter can barely be met, let those whom you are setting out to train in
alone social, emotional and mental-health mental-health work.
needs. We suggest that addressing participants'
As trainers with experience in the field of own concerns and anxieties is a good way to
refugee rehabilitation, we were approached by start such a training course. It will enable you to
a British worker who had just been appointed identify more clearly their training
70 Development in States of War

requirements, and increase their confidence in does not form a separate 'topic' in training, but
expressing and asserting their needs. runs throughout the entire course. You need to
It will be important to combine your own build in opportunities for participants to reflect
therapeutic approaches with the cultural frame- on and talk about their own feelings about the
works and ways of working familiar to work, and indeed about the training exercises
participants, so you need to become as familiar you have asked them to do, and the feelings
as possible (as quickly as possible!) with the these may stir up.
local cultures, values, and situation, and take The aim is to help workers to deal with their
account of these in your training programmes feelings of being overwhelmed or distressed.
and models of work. The participants on your Remember that they are intimately involved
training courses will be arich source of inform- with the conflict in ways that you are not. They
ation and knowledge, and they should be able are likely to share many of the losses and
to work with you to adapt ideas into culturally traumas of those they will be working with.
appropriate ways of working. That gives them both a unique strength, in
understanding and empathising, and a vulner-
ability, in that the work may leave their own
sorrows exposed.
The selection of trainees
In addition, clients can be very demanding,
The trainees' own experiences, knowledge, and angry with workers who are unable to provide
status within their communities will affect how what they want, and jealous of workers' paid
they are seen and are able to function. Selection employment. The workers will have respons-
needs to take account of their standing and status ibilities that are new to them, such as assessing
within their communities, if they are to be clients for propensity to suicide and this can
trusted and well received. Primary heath-care be a heavy burden.
workers or community health promoters, for Mental-health work is often painful and
example, will usually be known and trusted, and draining. The training should help workers to
may be possible candidates for training courses. recognise their own emotional needs, and
You may have little control over selection of support them in their right to ask for help
trainees when you first arrive, but ideally you themselves. One Bosnian worker in the UK
should introduce a sensitive selection works all hours of the day and night, so that (she
procedure. Clearly the existing knowledge and says) she can keep her feelings of distress at
skill-level of trainees will guide the design and bay. She receives no continuous support or
process of your course. supervision. This is one way of dealing with
painful feelings that threaten to overwhelm us,
but workers should be given opportunities to
Emotional impact of the work seek and receive support from others.
There are many ways in which you can pay
In training people to work with refugees and attention to the trainees' emotional responses,
displaced people, you need to address the and you will have to make judgements about
emotional impact of the work on the trainees. how far deliberately to encourage self-
No matter what ideas, training modules, disclosure in the groups with whom you work.
exercises, and frameworks you bring, it is If people have been working hard to keep their
important to help participants understand and feelings of distress at bay, they will not
come to terms with their own mixed feelings welcome being stripped of their defences.
about the work they are going to undertake. Exercises and discussions which give partic-
They are likely to have feelings of impotence ipants the opportunity to 'put themselves in the
and inadequacy, even sometimes of despair, as position of the client' can be a gentle way to
well as hopes, commitment, energy, and give recognition to participants' own needs for
creative ideas. Acknowledging such emotions support.
Training indigenous workers in mental health-care 71

An exercise on 'Asking for help' (Open can become depressed, bored, or discouraged
University 1993) draws attention to the (van der Veer 1992), and support networks for
anxieties and loss of control that people often them need to be established early on.
feel in seeking help.

Participants work in threes and each person is Create a safe atmosphere


asked to think of a relationship with which
there were difficulties Whether or not they If you can create an atmosphere of trust and
sought help in improving the relationship at the openness, where trainees feel comfortable
time, what difficulties could there have beenfor enough to share their anxieties, fears, vulnera-
them in asking someone outside the relation- bilities, hopes, and ideas, and to acknowledge
ship for help? When all three have discussed the emotional impact of the work on
what might have made it hard to ask for help, themselves, they will be prepared to take risks
they are then asked to consider what additional in learning and trying out new techniques in
factors might make it difficult for refugees, or working with clients. If you create a safe
those who have been traumatised, to ask for atmosphere, trainees will be able to make better
help. use of any structured activities and exercises
which you introduce, and to practise,
You can vary this exercise by making challenge, and adapt new skills.
'difficulties in working relationships' into the How can such an atmosphere be created?
focus. It is in either case likely to give rise to Think about how you will introduce the
some acknowledgement of trainees' own training course, and the way in which you
needs, and their feelings of ambivalence in intend to work. Proper introductions are
seeking help. important, and the chance to 'warm up'
Often clients will not talk immediately through non-threatening activities. We often
about emotional problems, but may discuss use an exercise which combines elements of
more practical concerns. Trainees can be introductions and warm up.
helped to attend sensitively to these demands,
to build up trust first, before trying to open up Ask each participant to tell the group about his
more emotional topics for discussion. or her name, and what it means. Each person
speaks in turn for a few minutes only.
Participants will decide for themselves how
On-going support for workers much they want to share at this stage. If you
start, you can set the tone for others. The
In times of conflict, normal support networks exercise gives opportunities for people to talk
are disrupted or broken completely, and new about their ethnicity, family history, religion. It
ones may need to be built. Training courses is surprising how much a name can mean to its
give an opportunity to start this process. Allow owner and how quickly a few words on this can
time for trainees to discuss what kind of support give others in the group a glimpse, revealing
they need, and how it could be provided. They more of the whole person.
may be able to meet together in smaller groups
on a regular basis, if they work in nearby You can use warming-up exercises for a few
geographical areas; or they may ask the minutes at the beginning of each new session:
organisations employing them to establish a something light-hearted before serious
support or supervision structure. You will business begins, and a chance for individuals to
probably need to back up such requests by feel connected again with the group. Talking
holding your own discussions with employing about something which they have enjoyed
organisations. Burn-out is a real factor in this recently, or a memory of the last session, are
type of work: after a while workers themselves other ways of giving each person a moment to
72 Development in States of War

say something at the start of a new session. programmes for slum dwellers in Brazil
Giving each person a turn is less embarrassing involved people in group efforts to identify
for them than if you put pressure on an their own problems, to analyse critically the
individual to speak in general discussion. cultural and socio-economic roots of the
Exercises can help people to think about problems, and to develop strategies to effect
issues from a different angle, and should positive changes in their lives and in their
promote discussion. A good approach is to communities. In effect, people teach them-
move from individual work, to paired conver- selves in dialogue with each other. Paulo
sation, to small-group discussion. If people Freire's advice on this process is relevant:
have had a chance to note down their own
thoughts first, they are more likely to feel Every human being is capable of looking
confident enough to talk to one another, and critically at his world in a dialogic encounter
then to enter into group discussion. Encourage with others ...In this process, the old patern-
everyone to participate, using their own alistic teacher/student relationship is over-
experiences and ideas, and value all their come. A peasant can facilitate this process for
contributions. Acknowledge and deal with the his neighbour more effectively than a 'teacher'
emotions that are evoked. Give plenty of brought in from the outside. Each man wins
opportunity for participants to use their own back his ownrightto say his own word, to name
case-studies and examples in their paired and the world. (Freire 1972)
group discussions.
While trainees on your courses may hope
that you are coming as an 'expert', to impart
Training methods solutions to the problems with which they are
grappling, you are more likely to be struck by
You mayfindthat the way of training which we the fact that you are working in a country,
are advocating is very different from what culture, and situation where your knowledge is
trainees expect. Perhaps they hope you will limited. You may wonder whether your
present lectures, or teach more formally; experience and skills have relevance. It is
whereas we are suggesting training that is important to clarify your role early on: you do
experiential and participatory, with you in the have expertise and techniques to share, but as a
role of facilitator rather than teacher. We trainer you are there to help trainees to
believe this can be negotiated with the group, recognise and draw on their own resources and
by explaining your training methods and the skills. You are there to help the group to tap
reasons why you use them. But you may need their own wealth of experiences and creative
to make some concession to your trainees' ideas. We find that case-studies and role-play
preferences. This could be by giving some help this process.
short prepared inputs, perhaps summarising
learning and discussion from earlier sessions. It In small groups of four or five, trainees can
is hard for people to adapt to unfamiliar learn- think of a real or hypothetical client they are
ing styles, and you will need to take this into worried about, or you can present a prepared
account. case-study. After reading the outline of the
Participation is one of the keys to a success- case, and particularly the presenting problem,
ful training course. We believe that people ask trainees to discuss in their groups (1) what
'learn by doing', and by reflecting on their own do you feel?, (2) what do you think?, (3) what
work. You can achieve a high level of partic- are your first steps going to be?, (4) how are
ipation by starting where they and their com- you going to approach the client, what are you
munities are.The theoretical underpinning for going to say? After discussion, trainees can
this approach comes from the ideas of Paulo role-play the start of the interview with the
Freire on popular education. Freire's literacy client.
Training indigenous workers in mental health-care 73

Role-play should be seen not as a test, but as Participants may be surprised at values
an opportunity for trainees to practise different which are held in common, despite cultural
ways of intervening, and to receive feedback differences, or at different interpretations of
about their impact and ideas about other what values mean in terms of behaviour. They
approaches. Those in the role-play and the can recognise that most values are passed on by
observers can swap places to try out different example and non-verbal means. Participants
strategies. Linked with discussion, planning, will usually identify the dangers of imposing
and review, and done in a supportive environ- their own value system. If the group you are
ment, role-play can be one of the most effective working with share a common cultural back-
ways of learning. ground, this exercise brings out differences in
emphasis, interpretation, and upbringing. This
is helpful in cautioning trainees against
assuming that they and their clients share
Cultural considerations common values and aspirations.
There are likely to be considerable cultural Again, opportunities for participants to
differences between yourself as trainer, and think about their individual responses and to
your trainees, just as there may well be differ- work first in small groups are important in
ences within your group of trainees, and giving everyone a chance to be heard, and
between the trainees and the clients with whom allowing differences to emerge.
they will be working. You cannot assume that There is still a risk of inadvertently
trainees understand everything of their clients' imposing your own cultural bias and value
backgrounds and values, just because they are system in your powerful position as a trainer. It
members of the same wider community. An is not always easy to recognise your own
examination of cultural expectations, values, cultural 'spectacles' (Finlay and Reynolds
strengths, and differences on training courses is 1987). For example, your own professional
important, in order to sensitise participants to social work training, if rooted in Western,
their own cultural norms and biases in relation to Anglo-Saxon, and Christian values, has
their clients, and to encourage them to build on probably tended to focus on personal, rather
the inherent cultural and community strengths than collective, achievement, fulfilment and
in coping with losses, crises, and traumas. satisfaction, and to have valued independent
Here is an exercise which can open up some thought and action. But the individual perspec-
discussion on different cultural values. tive is not always central. Be prepared to have
your own assumptions challenged.
Participants first note their individual An awareness of gender-linked differences
responses to the following instructions: is vital. How men and women are seen in their
culture, and their investments in it, are not nec-
List six values passed on to you by parents essarily the same. Their responses to pain and
or care-givers. losses, how they process these, and their will-
How did your parents or care-givers make ingness to express emotions may differ. There-
you aware of important values ? fore you should think about how you might
Circle the values that you consider to be handle mixed training groups of men and
peculiar to your cultural, ethnic, or racial women, and how you will deal with issues that
group. may generate different reactions and responses
Place a tick next to the values that you still according to gender. Sexual crimes, such as
adhere to and a cross next to those that you no rape during civil conflict, would be a case in
longer adhere to. point. It may be helpful for participants to work
in same-sex groups on some topics, so that
Participants then work in groups of three to people have the chance to work out their ideas
discuss their responses (Christensen 1992). before sharing them with the mixed group.
74 Development in States of War

Course content better position than you to know what is


regarded as 'normal' and 'abnormal' in their
So far we have mainly discussed the process of own culture, and this should be openly
the group, and methods of training. We now discussed. The stigma of mental illness may
consider some of the topics which we think you prevent many people from coming for help.
could usefully include (Reynolds and Workers can find ways to encourage people to
Shackman 1993). ask for help after extreme suffering, without its
Theories of loss and bereavement are being seen as illness, or weakness. A checklist
central to work with refugees and displaced for assessing suicide risk in clients can be
people. They will have suffered personal useful, as can an analysis of the uses (and some-
losses: the deaths of family and friends, the times abuses) of psychotropic medication. You
destruction of their homes, the loss of will want to raise trainees' awareness of the
belongings; and abstract losses: certainly the more vulnerable members of the community:
loss of their familiar life-style, and maybe the for example, children, particularly those who
loss of beliefs, ideologies, and hopes for the are unaccompanied; women on their own; the
future. They will be uncertain whether some of elderly; and those with a previous history of
these losses are permanent or temporary. They mental illness.
will be struggling to make sense of what has An understanding of some of the possible
happened, to give meaning to the appalling effects of torture and trauma will help trainees
events. An understanding of loss and bereave- to make accurate assessments: nightmares,
ment can help trainees in their assessments. But lack of concentration, and flashbacks of traum-
you need to take into account that different atic events are often experienced by survivors
societies have different ways of dealing with of torture and trauma, but are not an indication
massive losses and grief, and have their own of mental ill-health unless they are seriously
mourningritualsandritesof passage. These are affecting the person's ability to cope.
often more collective and community-based Workers can reassure clients that these
than in Western society. Training should help kinds of symptom are to be expected after a
trainees to recognise community responses and traumatic experience. If the person is unable to
strengths, so they can build on these in their manage daily living tasks and interactions, this
work. Many refugees and displaced people feel is a better indication than symptoms alone that
guilty about the deaths of loved ones, and have a person is at risk and that extra help is needed
been unable to grieve for them. (Summerfield 1992). Often members of the
Crisis intervention is another theoretical surrounding community will be able to identify
framework which can be useful, so trainees can those whom they see as 'not managing'.
look at the more normal stages of transition in a Counselling skills and supportive, attentive,
person's life (such as adolescence, marriage, and non-judgemental listening can be devel-
unemployment, old age), and how they are oped by practice and role-plays. Trainees can
differently affected by unexpected crises or choose or be given case-studies and can
changes. Times of crisis are difficult and practise, for example, how to approach and talk
painful, but sometimes can present opportun- to a person who is withdrawn and very
ities for positive, as well as negative, changes. depressed; how to listen and respond to
Training in assessment skills is a useful tool, someone who is extremely distressed and
in helping to identify what a client may need, agitated; how to work with a client's anger and
and who needs additional help. Trainees can be bitter hopelessness about the future.
helped to distinguish between 'normal' distress Exercises and discussions that enable
and more serious mental-health problems, so trainees to clarify their role and limitations are
they can decide when to refer on for psychiatric helpful. This was a topic that took up consider-
help (a tricky decision, when specialist services able time on a recent training course which one
are likely.to be scarce). Trainees will be in a of us helped to run for Serbo-Croatian speaking
Training indigenous workers in mental health-care 75

workers in the UK, who worked with Bosnian Constructing an interesting


refugees in exile. They were beset by demands programme
from clients, colleagues, and their employing
agencies. Becoming clear about their role and Working with clients who may be traumatised
asserting what expectations they could, or and experiencing mental-health problems can
could not, meet gave them confidence to say be draining, and so can training courses dealing
'No' when necessary. with these issues. Having a variety of topics
Other useful topics could include problem- and exercises will enable you to vary the pace
solving techniques, interpreting skills, com- and the atmosphere. Sometimes you might
munity development, and working with women want to lighten the tone. Warm-up exercises
who have been raped. (Such women are can be fun, and can have useful teaching points.
unlikely to come forward for 'rape If you have access to video and/or slides, they
counselling', but might welcome the chance to too are useful teaching tools, which give partic-
be medically examined, and later may want to ipants a break from concentrating on them-
talk about their experiences or meet with other selves. Prepared hand-outs provide reminders
women who have suffered in similar ways.) of key points covered. Summaries, feedback,
Developing group-work skills is extremely and evaluation sessions at the end of each day
useful, where numbers affected by violence will reinforce what has been done, highlight
and trauma are large, and where there is a more what participants have found useful, and
collective approach to dealing with grief and disclose what the gaps are.
loss. People can gain confidence and strength During the training course for Serbo-
from sharing experiences and supporting each Croatian speaking workers we spent time
other (Blackwell 1989; Shackman and Tribe reading poems, singing folk and popular songs
1989). Guatemalan women in Mexico City from Bosnia, telling jokes, and drawing (they
who met as a self-help group realised that they produced some vivid group pictures represent-
had all been going around thinking 'I'm crazy', ing 'Being a Good Listener'). All these
when really they were suffering the effects of activities helped to build a strong group
severe political repression and isolation (Finlay identity, and created a good atmosphere of trust
and Reynolds 1987). and openness, in which many difficult issues
You will probably think of many other were discussed and tackled.
topics: in developing the contents of training We recommend that participants evaluate
courses, you can make full use of your own each training course at the end, to help you to
professional training and skills. We suggest develop other courses. Ask for comments on
that you list all the topics you could cover, and various aspects, including your own style: if
what you think trainees may want to learn. you can get people to write down responses
Make up or adapt exercises to allow partic- before you all disperse, you should get some
ipants to try out new skills and techniques, and honest feedback.
be clear about the teaching points you want to
make. You probably won't use all of them and,
once you find out the needs of your trainees,
Be prepared for the unexpected
you will have to adapt your plans accordingly.
You will feel more confident if you know you Quite often trainers face the uncertainty of
have some ideas prepared: a selection you can being unsure how long the training courses will
dip into, a varied and filling menu from which be, or who will attend them. It is likely that you
you and the participants can taste samples. You will be required to run a variety of different
will learn about new approaches and ways of courses for both inexperienced and more
working from the trainees themselves. experienced workers. In addition, you may
perhaps be asked to act as a consultant to
groups or teams of workers. This is a different
76 Development in States of War

role, and you need to clarify what you are being References
asked to do. Every training course is different,
but we hope we have given you some useful Ball, C , 1991, 'When broken-heartedness
general guidelines. becomes a political issue', in T. Wallace and C.
If it is possible to work alongside another March (eds.): Changing Perceptions: Writings
trainer, do so, preferably someone who shares on Gender and Development, Oxford: Oxfam
language and culture with the participants. It is Publications.
always more productive and creative to work Blackwell, R.D., 1989, The Disruption and
with a co-trainer, to plan courses together, to Reconstruction of Family, Network and Com-
deal with difficult situations, to support each munity Systems Following Torture, Organised
other. You will need to spend time developing Violence and Exile, London: The Medical
a working relationship with a co-trainer, and Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.
even then things will not always go smoothly, Buwalda, H., 1994, 'Children of war in the
but it is time well spent (Reynolds and Philippines', Development in Practice, 4(1): 3-
Shackman, forthcoming). 12.
Christensen, C.P., 1992, 'Training for cross-
cultural social work with immigrants, refugees
Developing a model of training for and minorities, a course model', in Ryan (ed.):
the future Social Work with Immigrants and Refugees,
New York: Haworth.
We hope we have given you some ideas and Finlay, R. and J. Reynolds, 1987, Social
confidence to get started. As you continue your Work and Refugees: A Handbook on Working
preparation, it is worth reading accounts of with People in Exile in the UK, Cambridge:
training programmes developed in Latin National Extension College/Refugee Action.
America which provide models of how work Freire, P., 1972, Pedagogy of the Oppressed,
can continue to have effects long after your Harmondsworth: Penguin.
own relatively brief appointment is over. The Open University, 1993, Roles and Relation-
self-help group we have already mentioned ships: Perspectives on Practice in Health and
with Guatemalans in Mexico City developed a Welfare, (K663), Workbook 2, 'Focusing on
core group of female mental-health promoters Roles and Relationships', Milton Keynes:
who continued to work with refugee women Open University.
and children, and to run workshops for others Reynolds, J. and J. Shackman, 1993,
for some years after the initial project (Ball 'Refugees and Mental Health: Issues for
1991). A training model that reaches respected Training', Mental Health News.
members of a community can have a 'multi- Reynolds, J. and J. Shackman (forthcoming),
plier' effect in ensuring that skills and appro- Partnership in Training and Practice with
priate methodologies are passed on to others. Refugees.
It is important for the NGOs implementing Shackman, J. and R. Tribe, 1989, A Way
training programmes in mental health to Forward: A Group for Refugee Women,
integrate this work into longer-term develop- London: Medical Foundation for the Care of
ment projects. All too often, such work is part Victims of Torture.
of a crisis response, when what is needed is Summerfield, D., 1992, Addressing Human
commitment to supporting psycho-social Response to War and Atrocity: An Overview of
programmes over a period, to give continuity Major Themes, London: Medical Foundation
with wider-ranging health and community- for the Care of Victims of Torture.
development plans. If you can raise these issues van der Veer, G., 1992, Counselling and
with your NGO at an early stage, you may be Therapy with Refugees: Psychological
able to ensure that your work has far-reaching Problems of Victims of War, Torture and
effects on the life of the community. Repression, Chichester: Wiley.
Training indigenous workers in mental health-care 77

The authors

Jill Reynolds is a lecturer at the Open


University (UK) in the School of Health,
Welfare and Community Education. Her
previous experience includes providing train-
ing for para-social workers and community
workers from Vietnam and other refugee
groups. She has developed teaching pro-
grammes on refugees for social work
professional training.
Jane Shackman is a training coordinator at
the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims
of Torture, specialising in the needs of
refugees. She has developed training on the
problems of refugees for various local
authorities, aimed at social-work staff and
teachers.
This article was first published in
Development in Practice, Volume 4, Number
2, in 1994.
78

The United Nations speaks out on


forced evictions
Miloon Kothari

Introduction 1970s and 1980s.1 There is now a critical and


Perhaps the most crucial yet widely timely understanding of the structural
misunderstood aspect of human rights inequities that contribute to the prevalence of
concerns international action pertaining to phenomena such as forced evictions. Critical
these rights. On the one hand, it is seen as an for all those struggling with daily survival
instrument with which the United States and issues is the attempt to 'blur' the distinction
other Western countries are seeking to brow- between economic, social, and cultural rights
beat the nations of the Third World. On the on the one hand, and civil and political rights
other, the more realistic course of enforcing on the other. Such an artificial distinction has
human rights through the United Nations overshadowed and often undermined any
system is overworked or deliberately ignored. meaningful work in the field of international
This is noticeable when poor and vulner- human rights. The recent holistic approach is
able sections of society face crises of susten- particularly timely, given that the USA, even
ance and survival. The widest-known instance under the Clinton Administration, continues
concerns large-scale displacement, eviction, to play down the importance, recognition, and
dispossession, and forced migration of ratification of international instruments that
literally millions of people around the world - confer economic, social, and cultural rights.
usually in the developing world, though often The last few years have witnessed rapid
perpetrated and initiated at the instances of developments. The work of the UN Sub-
global institutions like the World Bank, and Commission on Prevention of Discrim-
the donor agencies of industrialised nations. ination and the Prbtection of Minorities
Forced evictions, the uprooting of people (henceforth the Sub-Commission), a sister
and communities from their homes against their body of the UN Commission on Human
will, have become a recurring phenomenon in all Rights charged with carrying out studies and
regions of the world. In many countries, forced making recommendations to the Com-
evictions are a routine event; but their impact of mission for further action, is noteworthy. The
dislocation and devastation is hard to imagine, pioneering work of its member, Danilo Turk,
let alone assess. UN Special Rapporteur on the Realisation of
However, spurred on by spirited NGO Economic, Social and Cultural rights, has
involvement, and influenced by ground- brought these rights into clear focus. His
breaking work of the UN human rights bodies, second progress report was devoted entirely
the concerns, studies, and resolutions now to documenting the adverse impact of
emanating from the UN human rights economic adjustment policies, particularly
programme are markedly different in tone and those fashioned by the IMF and the World
content from those that characterised the Bank, on the realisation of economic, social,
The United Nation speaks out on forced evictions 79

and cultural rights.2 One of the recommend- articles in the ICESCR that contain the
ations - for the need to draft guidelines on principal rights on which the covenant is
economic adjustment policies set within the based: Health, Education, Food, Housing and
human rights framework - is currently under so on. The first General Comment on a
consideration at the UN Centre for Human specific right, the right to adequate housing,
Rights. was adopted in December 1991.6
The foundation of this document is the
understanding that all human rights are
The right to adequate housing integrally linked, and that the right to housing
'should not be interpreted in a narrow or
In August 1992 the Sub-Commission on restrictive sense which equates it with, for
Human Rights appointed Justice Rajindar example, the shelter provided by merely
Sachar as the UN Special Rapporteur on the having a roof over one's head, or views
realisation of the right to adequate housing. In shelter exclusively as a commodity. Rather it
his Working Paper, Justice Sachar tried to should be seen as the right to live somewhere
identify the root causes for the prevalence of in security and dignity.' In addition, the
housing crises, including the failure of Committee has begun to argue for new
government policies; discrimination in the instruments, such as an Optional Protocol to
housing sphere; structural adjustment pro- the ICESCR.7 Such a mechanism would
grammes and debt, poverty, and the depriva- finally allow individuals and groups whose
tion of means; and forced evictions.3 rights under the Covenant have been violated
The working paper was acclaimed both by to submit formal complaints to the
members of the Sub-Commission and by a Committee, seeking redress and compens-
range of NGOs active at the Sub-Commission ation for such infringements.8
on issues as diverse as health, environment, These recent developments in the UN are
poverty, and torture. What was particularly in large part a result of the insight and inform-
appreciated was the attempt to identify a series ation that has been generated by NGOs, many
of violations to which the right to housing is from the Third World. On the issue of forced
routinely subject, and to project the need for evictions, for example, information from a
sustained work on such 'preventative' rights, range of NGOs from across the world helped
so as to gain a grasp on the structural causes for to convince the UN to adopt resolutions on the
the decline of housing and living conditions subject.
worldwide. In 1993 Justice Sachar presented
his first Progress Report, in which he focused
on the nature of government obligations
regarding the right to housing. This has
The Forced Evictions Resolution
contributed to furthering the understanding of One reflection of the trend within the UN
how economic, social, and cultural rights can towards a more holistic view of human rights
be realised, and what actions governments are is the ground-breaking resolutions and
expected to undertake and what processes they pronouncements addressing the phenom-
are supposed to halt, so that these rights can be enon of forced evictions.
gained and retained.4 Recognising that forced evictions are not
The Committee on Economic, Social, and limited to large-scale development projects
Cultural Rights, the UN treaty body which is and so-called 'urban redevelopment' and
charged with monitoring compliance with the 'urban beautification' plans, the UN now
International Covenant of Economic, Social admits that 'forced evictions' encompass a
and Cultural Rights (ICESCR),5 has since range of more insidious phenomena that result
1991 been giving legal interpretation, in the from the ravages of insensitive and misguided
form of General Comments, to the various development policies, and have a deleterious
80 Development in States of War

effect on the skills, identity, and sheer survival resources to meet growing markets in urban
of people and communities. areas for the consumer needs of elite classes.
In India alone, some analysts put the figure,
just for the large dam projects, at an
The Commission on Human Rights astounding 20 to 30 million people displaced
In March 1993 the UN Commission on since the country gained independence in
Human Rights adopted a resolution entitled 1947."
'Forced Evictions', urging governments For countries going through stages of
immediately to desist from all processes that 'structural adjustment', such processes are
lead to the large-scale displacements of bound to accelerate. This is partly a result of
people and communities from their homes, a the severe erosion of the rights of access to
practice which it terms as a 'gross violation of basic social resources, caused by reductions in
human rights, in particular the right to government spending. When one adds the
adequate housing'.' The Commission defined impact of rising land prices in an unbridled
the phenomenon of forced evictions as 'the speculative market and the additional burden
involuntary removal of persons, families and of paying for civic services (electricity, water,
groups from their homes and communities, sanitation) on the already limited purchasing
resulting in increased levels of homelessness power of the majority, the prospects are
and in inadequate living conditions'. ominous indeed.12
This historic resolution, from the UN's The resolution urges governments to
leading human rights policy-making body, 'confer legal security of tenure to all persons
consisting of 53 governments, provides a currently threatened with eviction and to
major instrument for all groups struggling adopt all necessary measures giving full
against the widespread and growing phenom- protection against forced evictions, based
enon of forced evictions. The adoption of the upon effective participation, consultation and
resolution comes after a three-year effort at negotiation with affected persons or groups'.
the UN in Geneva by a Mexico-based NGO, It admits that forced evictions and
Habitat International Coalition (HIC), which homelessness intensify social conflict and
has been leading the NGO initiative within the inequality and invariably affect the poorest,
UN on the issues of housing rights and most socially, economically, environmentally
evictions. HIC has been backed by a growing and politically disadvantaged and vulnerable
network of NGOs and CBOs across the world sectors ofsociety'. (The resolution needs to be
that have provided information to HIC and read as a whole, but it is worth pointing out
have been sending activists to testify to the here the portions that signify major departures
various UN Human Rights Bodies. from standard UN positions.)
In the various submissions to the UN and Taking account of the special needs of all
the various global surveys of past and pending those who have already been forced to leave
forced evictions prepared by HIC, examples their homes, the resolution places an injunc-
such as the Sardar Sarovar project on the tion on governments to provide immediate
Narmada river in India have been used to resettlement with all the prerequisite services.
illustrate the folly of indulging in projects It urges them to 'provide immediate restitu-
involving large-scale evictions.10 In addition tion, compensation and/or appropriate and
to the evictions resulting from mega-projects, sufficient alternative accommodation or land,
many more insidious processes have pre- consistent with their wishes and needs, to
vailed across the world, ranging from lack of persons and communities which have been
livelihood opportunities, increased insecurity forcibly evicted, following mutually satisfact-
from communal strife, the changes in modes ory negotiations with the affected persons or
of agricultural production partly affecting groups'.
small farmers, and extraction of natural
The United Nation speaks out on forced evictions 81

The Sub-Commission on Human Rights In 1991 and 1992, the Committee, using
evidence brought to its attention on evictions
The UN body directly responsible for putting in Panama and the Dominican Republic,
forward the resolution for action by the Com- declared both these countries to be in violation
mission is the Sub-Commission on Human of the Covenant.15 The information that led to
Rights. In August 1991, the Sub-Commission these historic pronouncements was made
adopted the first UN resolution on 'Forced available by Habitat International Coalition,
Evictions'.13Taken together, the two resolu- and the subsequent exposure which it
tions form a significant departure from achieved, combined with mobilisation work
standard UN positions on such matters and against the government policies in both these
constitute a powerful instrument for exposing countries by local NGOs and mass-based
the forces responsible for evictions. The Sub- campaigns, has led to a significant decrease in
Commission resolution, for example, admits forced evictions.16 The Committee continues
that 'discrimination based on race, ethnic to rebuke governments for forced evictions
origin, nationality, gender, and social, and to monitor the situation in the Philippines,
economic and other status is often the actual Nicaragua, Kenya, Panama, and the Domin-
motive behindforced evictions'. ican Republic. Other countries that have
The role of policy making and planning is received cautionary statements are Italy,
also exposed in the resolution, which states Mexico, and Canada.17
without reservation that 'misguided develop- The combined impact of the efforts
ment policies can result in mass forced described above, and in particular Habitat
evictions' and that 'governments often seek to International Coalition's role in dissemina-
disguise the violence that may be associated ting these pronouncements, has already
with forced evictions by using terms such as resulted in the protection from planned
"cleaning the urban environ-ment", "urban evictions of at least 250,000 families, primar-
renewal", "overcrowding" and "progress ily in the countries of the Dominican Republic
and development"'. and Zambia.18
NGOs which have taken advantage of
these channels to publicise their causes inter-
The UN Committee on Economic, Social
nationally and to minimise the forces causing
and Cultural Rights violations of the Housing and Land Rights,
The most relevant article of the ICESCR that including forced evictions, are the Brazilian
has formed the basis for the Committee's Movement in the Defence of Life, Brazil;
work on Evictions and Housing Rights is COPADEBA (Committee for the Rights of
Article 11(1): 'The States Parties to the the Barrio) and Ciudad Alternativa, Domin-
present Covenant recognise the right of ican Republic; Urban Poor Associates and
everyone to an adequate standard of living for Saligan, Philippines; Unione Inquilini, Italy;
himself and his family, including adequate Centre for Equality Rights and Accommod-
food, clothing and housing and to the continu- ation, Canada; Habitat Mexico and Casa y
ous improvement of living conditions'. In its Cuidad, Mexico; ZWOSAG, Zambia; and
General Comment No.4, on the right to CONADEHUPA (National Commission of
adequate housing, the Committee in a legal Human Rights in Panama), Panama.19
interpretation of Article 11(1) has explicitly
stated that 'forced evictions are, prima facie,
incompatible with the requirements of the
Conclusion
ICESCR and could only be justified in the
most exceptional circumstances and in We can be certain that, given current social
accordance with the relevant principals of and political priorities whereby people are
international law'.14 evicted to meet the needs of ill-defined
82 Development in States of War

development models, most governments will including urging the Commission on Human
not voluntarily follow the imperatives laid Rights to consider appointing a UN Special
down in the UN pronouncements. If anything, Rapporteur on Forced Evictions.21
the priorities of governments are tending in It is vital that all concerned and interested
the opposite direction. To take just one people should contribute, particularly with
example from the recent stands being taken by strategies to counter evictions, to the work
some Asian countries, a new justification going on at the UN. This would be entirely in
captures the selectivity with which States treat line with the fact that these recent
development options and issues of human developments are part of a new consciousness
rights. These Asian States have recently stated that has seeped into the work of the UN,
that the State's exclusive right to development primarily influenced by the vocal participa-
is more important than human rights tion of concerned NGOs, which have taken
considerations. This is an apparently contra- full advantage of the spaces available within
dictory but convenient assertion, which the UN system for the benefit of the causes
allows for the concealment of human rights they have been championing all along. An
violations. The message is clear: forced important initiative remains to be taken by the
evictions and a host of other gross violations NGOs whose work is in the field of civil and
of human rights will continue to be tolerated. political rights. The mandates of these groups
Given such double standards, mass at local, national, and international levels
organisations, trade unions, and campaigns need to include issues such as forced
against evictions should use the human rights evictions. The indivisibility of human rights -
instruments protecting the right to housing, always accepted by the people and
including the two powerful resolutions communities struggling for justice, and
described above. A special task rests with stressed in Vienna at the World Conference on
progressive lawyers in relevant countries, Human Rights - needs to be translated into
who must utilise the resolution, along with the action, and the conceptual barriers broken
relevant articles of National Constitutions, down. Pressure must be maintained on
and build up legal arguments and develop case governments worldwide, so that the
law so that the practice of forced evictions can reprehensible and illegal practice of forced
be challenged. The immediate task, given that evictions and the forces that abet this process
governments will not publicise this can be exposed and stopped.
resolution, is to bring it to the notice of
authorities and bureaucrats at all levels of the
government. The media, which have covered Notes
this historic development from the UN only
very superficially, can also play a valuable 1 In particular the work of the Commission
role, both locally and internationally, in on Human Rights, the Sub-Commission
publicising the resolution.20 on the Prevention of Discrimination and
In addition to the continuous involvement the Protection of Minorities, the
of the Committee on Economic, Social and Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights as described above, the UN Cultural Rights, the Committee on the
Secretary-General has compiled an analytical Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and
report on forced evictions, based on an the Committee on the Rights of the Child.
analysis of international law and jurisprud- 2 See UN doc. no. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1991/17
ence and the responses received from govern- (Second Progress Report prepared by
ments, relevant UN agencies, and NGOs and Danilo Turk, Special Rapporteur on the
community-based organisations. The report Realization of Economic, Social and
contains powerful recommendations to the Cultural Rights), pp.18-19. Mr Turk's
UN system and the World's Governments, final recommendations, presented in
The United Nation speaks out on forced evictions 83

1992, called for the appointment of a UN various aspects of housing rights and
Special Rapporteur on the subjects of forced evictions by Habitat International
Housing, Income Distribution, and Coalition to: (a) UN Commission on
Population Transfer. Partly as a result of Human Rights (1988-1994); (b) UN Sub-
this, such appointments are gradually Commission on Prevention of
taking place. Discrimination and Protection of
3 See UN doc. no. E/CN.4/Sub.2/1992/15 Minorities (1989-1993); and (c) UN
(Working Paper prepared by Justice Committee on Economic, Social and
Rajindar Sachar on the Realisation of the Cultural Rights (1988-1993).
Right to Adequate Housing). 11 See, for example, Walter Fernandes and
4 See First Progress Report on the Right to Enakshi Thukral: Development, Displace-
Adequate Housing, prepared by the UN ment and Rehabilitation: Issues for a
Special Rapporteur on the Right to National Debate, Indian Social Institute,
Adequate Housing, August 1993, UN doc: New Delhi, 1989.
E/CN.4/Sub.2/1993/15. 12 For a discussion of how structural adjust-
5 As of April 1993, the ICESCR has been ment policies can lead to increased
ratified by 128 countries. displacement, see National Campaign for
6 See 'General Comment No. 4 on the Right Housing Rights: Sapping India - Sapping
to Adequate Housing (Article 11(1) of the the Indian People: The Impact of the IMF
Covenant on Economic, Social and Structural Adjustment Package on
Cultural Rights)', adopted by the Housing and Living Conditions in India,
Committee on Economic, Social and NCHR, Bombay, 1992; also see Miloon
Cultural Rights on 12 December 1991 at Kothari and Ashish Kothari (1993):
its sixth session, UN doc: E/C. 12/1991/4. 'Structural adjustment vs. environment',
7 See in particular the line of reasoning Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.
developed by the UN Committee on XXVIII no. 11, March, Bombay.
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 13 See resolution titled 'Forced Evictions'
UN doc: E/C.12/1992/CRP.2/Add.3. (1991/12), adopted unanimously by the
8 For an NGO-generated draft text of an UN Sub-Commission on the Prevention of
Optional Protocol and for a discussion on Discrimination and the Protection of
the relevance of such an instrument, see Minorities, 26 August 1991. For an
the written submission to the UN World analysis of this resolution, see Miloon
Conference on Human Rights, June 1993, Kothari and Scott Leckie (1992): 'United
by Food First International Network Nations condemns forced evictions',
(FIAN) and Habitat International Third World Resurgence, no. 17, pp.43-5.
Coalition (HIC), 'Concerning an Optional 14 Op. cit., no. 6, UNdoc.no. E/C. 12/1991/4.
Protocol to the Convention on Economic, 15 See UN docs. E/C.12/1990/B (p.64,
Social and Cultural Rights', HIC, Mexico Dominican Republic) and E/C. 12/1991/4
City, 1993. (p.32 Panama), Reports of the Fifth and
9 See resolution titled 'Forced Evictions' Sixth Sessions of the Committee on
(1993/77), adopted unanimously by the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
UN Commission on Human Rights on 10 16 For examples of the kind of documenta-
March 1993. tion that led to these pronouncements, see
10 See A Global Survey of Forced Evictions: op. cit. no. 10(c); Habitat International
Violations of Human Rights, (1994, 1993, Coalition (HIC) and CODEHUCA
1992b 1992a, 1991, 1990), Habitat (1992): Report on the Verification Visit of
International Coalition, Mexico and the the Habitational Situation in Panama,
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions; HIC, November 1992, Mexico City and
also see the written submissions on Habitat International Coalition.
84 Development in States of War

17 For the kind of documentation that has led The author


the Committee to take action on countries,
see Centre on Housing Rights and Miloon Kothari is a human rights activist
Evictions: 'Prima Facie Violations of the involved since 1987 in research, advocacy,
Covenant on Economic, Social and and networking on the issues of housing rights
Cultural Rights by the Government of and forced evictions. Since 1991 he has
Philippines' (November 1993); Urban represented the Habitat International
Poor Associates, Saligan, et al.: A Report Coalition (HIC, based in Mexico City) at the
to the United Nations Committee on UN Human Rights bodies in Geneva. He is
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on currently the Convener of the HIC Housing
Housing Rights Abuses in the Republic of Rights Sub-Committee, responsible forHIC's
the Philippines 1986-1994, Manila (April Global Campaign on the Right to Housing,
1994); and Cuidad Alternativa: Informe al and its Global Campaign against Forced
Comite de los Derechos Economicos, Evictions. He is a founding member and Co-
Sociales y Culturales de ONU Sobre la Director of the Centre on Housing Rights and
Situacidn de los Desalojos en Republica Evictions (COHRE), an advocacy group on
Dominicana, Santo Domingo (May economic, social, and cultural rights based in
1994). Utrecht, Netherlands. In these capacities he is
18 For a compilation of the various currently working closely with community
instruments that have assisted efforts in groups and campaigns on housing rights and
different countries to halt evictions, see against forced evictions in India, Palestine,
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions Israel, Brazil, and Turkey to promote the
(COHRE) (1993): Forced Evictions and housing-rights approach and to apply
Human Rights: A Manual for Action, international human rights law in local and
COHRE, Utrecht, June. national situations.
19 For a description of how the UN system This article was first published in
can be utilised, see Miloon Kothari: Development in Practice Volume 5, Number
Tijuca Lagoon; evictions and human 1 (1995).
rights in Rio de Janeiro', Environment and
Urbanisation, vol. 6, No. 1, April 1994,
International Institute of Environment and
Development, London.
20 For a listing of options available to local
and international groups to mobilise
different sectors of society and the
international community, see op. cit.
no. 17, Chapter 4.
21 See UN Secretary-General, Forced
Evictions: Analytical Report Compiled by
the Secretary-General submitted Pursuant
to Commission on Human Rights
Resolution 1993/77 (10 March 1993) UN
doc. no. E/CN.4/1994/20. For a discussion
on the relevance of the appointment of a
UN Special Rapporteur on Forced
Evictions, see op. cit. no. 18, Chapter 9.
85

Assisting survivors of war and atrocity:


notes of'psycho-social' issues for NGO workers

Derek Summerfield

Introduction and more than 90 per cent of all casualties are


What has been generally labelled the 'psycho- civilian. Exemplary brutality is often systemat-
social' dimension of the impact of war and ically used to create terror as a means of control
organised violence has been of increasing of whole populations. Abductions, extra-
interest in the development field, and in judicial executions, and torture are frequently
agencies like the World Health Organisation public and witnessed by families of victims.
(WHO) and United Nations High Commiss- Sexual violation is a standard and under-
ioner for Refugees (UNHCR). This offers reported element: women are exposed to this in
some positive possibilities, but the danger is prisons, in their homes in conflict zones, during
that a narrowly 'medicalised' and 'psycho- flight, and in refugee camps. In twenty violent
logised' view of 'trauma' will be imposed in conflicts during the 1980s, children were not
diverse settings worldwide. This would just passive bystanders, but also had active
constitute a typical North-South transfer of roles, including bearing arms either as
concepts and practices. volunteers or through coercion. Damage,
Because this issue has become fashionable, frequently intentional, to social, economic, and
funding is being attracted to some highly flawed cultural institutions and ways of life takes place
proposals. What are the issues for agencies almost invariably. This may disrupt the way a
which aim first and foremost for the fullest particular people connect with their history,
possible understanding of the experiences of identity, and lived values, all of which define
war-affected peoples and of the factors which their world. Prominent and respected people
shape their responses over time, including the community leaders, health workers, priests,
decision to seek help? Can such NGOs enrich educated people are often targeted. The
the relationships they forge with those they seek neutrality of medical facilities is not respected.
to assist, and go on to highlight new possibilities The cumulative effect can mean that large
for well-grounded interventions? numbers of civilians are rendered near-
The following notes are not intended to be destitute, whether or not displaced from their
prescriptive, but to sketch out a framework to communities. Modern conflict is frequently
guide workers in whatever war-affected setting chronic and fluctuating, with hostilities
they are addressing. Actual approaches and varying in intensity and location. People feel
solutions have to be locally tailored. besieged and threatened, even when their
particular locality is quiet. Staying silent about
what they have endured or seen may be
1 There is a set of themes running through
important for survival. In many parts of the
most modern conflict. Violence is played out
world, social tension and war are not
where people live and work; there is little
extraordinary or 'abnormal'; their effects are so
distinction between combatants and others;
86 Development in States of War

chronic that they have come to be incorporated 5 Supportive interventions for war-affected
into economic and social life; various groups, people must ideally be based upon an accurate
affected in varying ways, respond and adapt to and comprehensive grasp of the complexities
the situation by diverse and shifting means. of what has happened. Naturally this starts with
appraisal of the scale and nature of the material
2 Thus survivors suffer multiple injuries, not damage and upheaval which the war has
just to life and limb but to the social fabric of wrought. But the experience of people on the
their communities, which may no longer be ground also involves subjective, less material
able to play its customary protective and elements. War provokes states of feeling and
problem-solving role. They will be horrified thinking which to the people concerned are not
and grieving, not just for what has happened to necessarily any less 'real' as reflections of what
individual human beings, but to their com- has happened than, say, the total numbers of
munity, society, and culture. Most will register dead and injured. For them this is part of the
the wounds of war in social rather than psycho- story of the war and is destined to become part
logical terms. Those who are refugees must of social memory. These factors will influence
also contend with the insecurities and hardship what survivors say and do, and what they want,
of their new situation, including (for some) a and thus shape short-term and, arguably,
cultural gulf between themselves and the host longer-term outcomes for individuals and for
society. their society.

3 Fundamental to the human processing of 6 NGO workers must be aware of these issues,
atrocious experience is the subjective meaning and pay attention to the ways in which they may
it has or comes to have for those affected, the be manifesting themselves in a particular
understandings and attributions they draw on in setting, if they are to deepen their background
the struggle to encompass what has happened. knowledge and capacity for accurate empathy
These understandings, and the adaptations that with those they seek to assist. This may
flow from them, are drawn from society, its generate new possibilities for creative
history and politics. People who have not been intervention and provide more criteria for
able to generate an interpretation of what has choosing between proposed projects. It may
happened, and who find events minimise misunderstandings, make survivors
incomprehensible, are likely to feel the most feel more understood, and thus improve the
helpless and unsure what to do. relationship between NGO and 'client' group,
Help-seeking behaviour will be determined whether the project is to do with emergency
by background, culture, and social norms. aid, agriculture, education, or whatever. Thus
War-affected communities are hetero- we are talking about an approach, about the
geneous, and there will not be one standard way NGO workers engage with war-affected
reaction to events. Those affected are not 'pure' peoples, and not just about defined projects.
victims, and even the most destitute still The effectiveness of project evaluation will
exercise active interpretations and choices. also be strongly influenced by the quality of
They are victims, but they are also survivors. It this relationship over time.
is important to know as much as possible about
how the particular society functioned in the 7 NGO workers need first to reflect on their
past. own assumptions about the personal impact of
war, atrocity, torture and so on. Do you think,
4 The sense which people make of their for example, that someone who has been
predicament, and the priorities they nominate, tortured is likely to be psychologically
are not static; they may shift with time, with disturbed or damaged, if not overtly, then under
change in the war situation, and as people adapt the surface? Psychological concepts are part of
and reorganise. Western culture and thought and are thus not
Assisting survivors of war and atrocity 87

absolute or universal, though they are being this is what survivors should do if they want to
increasingly globalised. 'Trauma', and a get better; some cultures do not prescribe this,
presumed need for psychological treatment, is and even in the West individual needs vary.
a fashionable concept in the West and there is a
danger of inappropriately applying it to war 10 What is fundamental is that suffering is a
settings worldwide. Every culture has its own social experience and not a private one. What
con-structions of traumatic events and recipes this suffering provokes in war-affected peoples
for recovery. Interventions aimed at alleviating is played out in public. They struggle to come
the psychological distress of war-affected to terms with their losses (which sometimes
peoples may be simplistic and ignorant of local seem to amount to their whole world),
culture, and risk being experienced as engaging with their situation in what one hopes
insensitive or imposed. If this is so, they will is a problem-solving way.
fail anyway. Local workers can also feel
undermined by imported concepts and 11 Provision of the essentials for daily living,
'experts' who implement them. and issues of physical security, obviously come
first. Beyond that, the major thrust of NGO
8 Wars cause distress or suffering, and this is interventions will be towards the social world
of course understandable and 'normal'. We of survivor populations, for herein lie the
should not generally interpret and re-label this sources of resilience and capacity for recovery
as psychological 'trauma', denoting a mental for all. Thus the 'psycho-social' agenda is sub-
injury, analogous to a physical injury, needing stantially a social one. Because of its associa-
treatment or 'therapy'. This basic error is tion with the mental-health field, it might be
already being made, at the risk of distortion in better to drop the term 'psycho-social' in
the wider debate about the effects of war and favour of one indicating that the core task is to
the prioritisation of resources to address them. address the social and collective wounds of
Only a small minority develop a psychological war. Interventions should not use a (mental)
problem which (if facilities permit) merits aid-and-relief model, addressing 'psycho-
professional help. Expressions of distress, even logy', but a social development model,
when forceful, do not generally imply psycho- addressing suffering.
logical frailty or damage, or nearness to
breakdown. Survivors do not want to be 12 Most people endure war and recover from
psychologised or have some kind of 'sick' it as a function of the extent to which they can,
identity imputed to them. The few who do firstly, regain a measure of dignity, control, and
develop objective psychological disturbance autonomy over their immediate environment.
generally show themselves by their inability to They will seek to reconstitute what they can of
function properly in their situation. For this their family and other networks, so often
reason their family or community tend to splintered in modern conflict. Anything that
identify them for themselves. It is not these few generates a sense of solidarity or community,
but the majority, and the processes which can and bolsters the viability of local organisations
sustain them, which will be the focus of and structures, must be helpful. Meaningful
interventions by the NGO field. training and work can be one logical focus of
NGO efforts, allowing people to feel useful and
9 The narratives of survivors can give a effective again, as well as perhaps generating
graphic illustration of their experiences, what income or essential items for subsistence. Most
they mean to them, and the coping processes people would rather be active citizens than
brought to bear on them. Some may seek to tell mere recipients of aid. Involvement in projects
their stories to others, including NGO workers, can help people to sustain their weakened
to obtain ordinary human comfort and social relationships, or develop some new ones.
solidarity. However, we must not assume that In a partial way, such engagement can perform
88 Development in States of War

some of the functions which peacetime society NGOs need to support the structures which
used to do: helping people to generate a social help these people to endure and keep going. A
meaning for events, to recognise, contain, and proper counting of the costs and a 'recovery'
manage grief and its social face, mourning; to have to be postponed.
stimulate and organise active means of coping
and problem-solving, individual and collect- 16 There are few prescriptions which can be
ive, in the face of continuing adversity. carried from one context to another: solutions
And when in due course they get the need to be local, trading on survivors'
chance, people will seek a substantial resilience, skills, and priorities. War-affected
reconstruction of the damaged social fabric, peoples are often in fluid or evolving situations:
including the economic and cultural forms and with time, their perceptions and priorities may
institutions which make sense to them. The change, so their relationship with an NGO
restoration of health services and schooling are needs to be able to accommodate this. Will the
generally high priorities in all cultures. NGO be able to detect and respond to such
However, they will not necessarily seek just to shifts, to join in their exploration of what is
restore to their old state what they valued possible over time, without sacrificing clarity
before the war; they recognise that some things and rational planning?
may have changed for ever.
17 While many of the experiences which war
13 NGO workers may represent a source of brings are shared by young men, young women
emotional support to war-affected people; but and mothers, children and elderly alike, we
this is not, and does not have to be, 'therapy' or may also delineate differential effects in some
'counselling', implying a professional activity circumstances. For example, the key role of
with a technology. None the less, in some women, both in relation to their increased
situations workers may feel empowered by vulnerability (particularly to sexual and other
some basic and contextualised advice on violence) and their responsibilities as providers
mental-health issues, either through contact and protectors of the children, should be
with local professionals or from written recognised. They often constitute the majority
material. An example of the latter are the of adult refugees. Time needs to be taken to
succinct Save the Children Fund manuals on establish the expressed needs of women, both
assisting children in difficult circumstances, in their own right and in respect of those they
notably war zones. care for.
Women can be the focus of projects which
14 Those refugee camps which emphasise generate community-wide benefits. The
confinement and control, which provide physical and emotional well-being of children
residents with insufficient protection against in war is strongly dependent on the capacity of
further violence and abuse (often from within), their principal care-givers to cope. Once this
or which do not involve them in decision- fails, their morbidity and mortality rapidly
making obviously breach the basic principles escalate. Orphaned and otherwise unprotected
outlined above. In some situations, NGOs also children are a high-priority group and urgently
need to take account of the local people among need reconnecting, if possible, with surviving
whom refugees have come to rest. A good family members or others from their original
working relationship between them and the community. All children need as much day-to-
refugees may help both parties. day normality and structure as can be managed,
inside the home and outside it for example,
15 Much modern conflict worldwide is through the restoration of some schooling.
endemic, so that those affected have not even People with physical disability (frequently
got to the stage of an aftermath and must keep war-induced) represent another group which
up a kind of crisis-management response. may have distinct problems.
Assisting survivors of war and atrocity 89

18 When we are discussing 'targeting', we The author


should also note that there have been projects
which focused exclusively either on a Derek Summerfield is a medical doctor with
particular event such as 'rape', or a particular first-hand experience of war in Central
group, such as 'traumatised children', and so America, Southern Africa and, via political
imposed a simplistic and decontextualised refugees with a history of torture, in London.
view of the experiences of survivors. He has been a consultant to Oxfam (UK and
Ireland) since 1990. He is currently principal
19 Some survivors are aware that their psychiatrist at the Medical Foundation for the
experiences amount to testimony which may Care of Victims of Torture, London, and is a
have a wider political and legal significance, research associate at the Refugee Studies
and are a part of the history of the war and a Programme, Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford.
counting of its costs. It may apply universally This article was originally published in
that victims suffer more over time when they Development in Practice, Volume 5, Number 4
are denied official acknowledgement or (1995).
reparation for what has been done to them.
NGOs could consider collation, publication,
and dissemination of their testimonies. This is
evidence which could be presented to war-
crimes tribunals and other forums.

20 To summarise, it is pivotal to recognise that


the social fabric is a core target of modern
warfare and in its damaged state remains the
context in which large numbers of people must
manage their distress and cope with their
fractured lives. A basic task is to help them to
sustain some social 'space' within which they
can foster their collective capacities for
endurance and creative survival.
The NGOfieldshould largely avoid Western
approaches which presuppose the incidence of
mental trauma and tend to take a simplistic
view of the complex and evolving experiences
of war-affected populations. Too often, such
approaches ignore the way in which people's
experiences are shaped by their background
norms and current understandings; and too
often such approaches merely assign people the
role of client or patient. Instead, the basic
framework should adopt the model of social
development a model which is already well
understood by the NGO field. Actual projects
should ideally be locally tailored, situation-
sensitive, able to adjust as circumstances
change, and capable of taking root and thus of
being self-sustaining.
90

Supporting education in emergencies:


a case study from southern Sudan

Alison Joyner
Permanent emergencies and the
interruption of a process of development soon
scope for development
to be restored.1
'Emergencies' war, famine, and natural 'Development', in the sense of longer-term
disasters create immediate basic needs. change, is irrevocably affected by such emerg-
Shelter, water, food, and health and sanitation encies. Violence and insecurity become part of
facilities are generally the priorities, particu- the way of life. People often have to move,
larly when there have been large-scale move- perhaps several times, to try to avoid conflict.
ments of population. Insecurity, political Some form of 'normality' is re-established
tensions, and fear often compound difficult within the context of the upheaval.
physical conditions. The society affected continues to develop
Is there time to consider the importance of through the crisis. In this way, crisis itself can
education in such situations? The answer create opportunities as well as problems. The
should be an unequivocal 'yes'. Education way in which the emergency is addressed must
should be a crucial part of relief operations in take into account these long-term implications.
emergencies. In practice, however, educational Education is a critical aspect of this approach.
needs in emergencies have been neglected in
competition with the demand for more
conventional relief.
The case of southern Sudan
An example from southern Sudan demon-
strates how educational needs can be addressed The 'emergency' in southern Sudan started in
in an emergency. Indigenous initiatives for re- 1983. The civil war between the
establishing and improving educational provi- predominantly Muslim, Arab leadership in the
sion have been supported by a group of north and a Christian/animist, African south
agencies working as part of the emergency has destroyed the limited social services and
operation. A flexible system of teacher educa- infrastructure which previously existed.
tion is the focus of a programme which invests Hundreds of thousands of people have been
in people rather than buildings. It emphasises displaced. Family and social structures have
the crucial importance of the involvement of been severely disrupted.
local communities, on whom the success of The lack of educational facilities has serious
rural primary school education depends. consequences for relief operations. It is
Most relief operations are today dealing with increasingly hard, for example, to find people
areas in conflict. The list includes Rwanda, with a sufficient level of school education to be
Bosnia, Angola, Liberia, Somalia, and others, trained as health workers. The implications of
besides Sudan. These 'complex emergencies' this, both now and for the future, are severe,
are becoming permanent, not a temporary however the war develops.
Supporting education in emergencies 91

Schools began again to be set up in areas held of RASS and SRRA. Its success rests on the
by the SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation willingness of all parties to cooperate towards
Army) in southern Sudan in 1988. Many were improving the quality of school education
in rural areas, where there had never previously available to children in southern Sudan.
been a school: a positive step, prompted by the
emergency. The schools are run and supported
by local communities under the guidance of the Establishing priorities
relief wings of the two factions of the SPLA: The ECC provides a forum for discussion
the Sudan Relief and Rehabilitation Associa- between those locally responsible for the
tion (SRRA) and the Relief Association of existing system represented by SRRA and
South Sudan (RASS). An estimated 900 RASS and those willing to support them.A
schools are operating in these areas. sense of direction and priorities has evolved,
The teachers in these schools are unpaid. A and teacher education has been identified as the
few are well qualified and experienced. Most key activity, based on some fundamental
have had only a few years' schooling and no principles:
teacher training. Many schools operate under
The educational level of most teachers needs
trees. Any school buildings are usually built
up-grading, alongside professional training.
from local materials. There are some dilapida-
This is recognised in the concept of teacher
ted permanent structures left from earlier
education, rather than teacher training alone.
government and NGO inputs, but no means to
repair them. There are almost no textbooks, and Improved education and training is an
basic school materials are inadequate. investment in people which can survive
Girls are a very small proportion of those physical destruction. Teachers trained in
children who do go to school. Estimates earlier schemes re-emerge sometimes
suggest that girls represent between one and ten hundreds of miles from where they trained.
percent of the majority of school rolls. Cultural
To improve the quality of education in
factors work strongly against rapid change in
school, competent teachers are essential.
this situation.
Teachers are respected members of their
community. Raising their awareness of the
Support for existing structures importance of such issues as health, girls'
Limited support was offered to schools in some education, and psycho-social needs is a crucial
areas up to 1993. Materials and a little training first step to long-term and culturally appro-
were provided by individual NGOs and priate development in these fields.
UNICEF. As an 'emergency relief operation,
Operation Lifeline Sudan (OLS, a consortium
of agencies operating in Sudan under a UN In-service teacher education
umbrella) was slow to recognise the place of To implement teacher education in the context
education within its sphere of activity. of a war, flexibility and mobility are essential.
The Education Coordination Committee If an area becomes unstable, the population will
(ECC) of OLS (southern sector) was estab- move, and agencies pull out. Resources must
lished in February 1993. It comprises repres- be moveable too.
entatives from RASS and SRRA, NGOs,
organisations such as churches involved in Training materials
education, and UNICEF. The ECC is developing a modular teacher-
The ECC aims to consolidate education education scheme at five levels. Each level
work throughout SPLA-held areas of southern involves a two-to-three week in-service course
Sudan. It seeks to support the education held inside Sudan, covering academic and
structures already existing under the auspices professional subjects.
92 Development in States of War

Materials for distance education are being education courses include a discussion module
written by educationists who are either south- to raise awareness of psycho-social needs.
ern Sudanese or have extensive experience of More advanced training for teachers has been
southern Sudan. Materials are designed for run in some areas, and it is planned to expand
continued use as a reference after intensive, this.
limited contact time with tutors on the in-
service courses.
Textbooks in English and local languages
Community support for schools
are supplied to support the teacher-education The key to the support of schools rests with
courses.2 Training is given in how to use the local communities. Schools were initially
books as part of the course modules. established at the village level, with local
people who volunteer their time for whatever
Training of trainers payment in kind the community can give
The long-term aim is to train enough southern frequently nothing. Where there are school
Sudanese trainers to run courses without buildings, they are often built by villagers.
expatriate personnel. This will take time, as the Parent Teacher Councils and village elders
number of southern Sudanese teachers able to generally oversee such involvement.
work as trainers is currently very small. No material support is available from the
Meanwhile, trainers are NGO staff or are civilian administration for education. The
seconded from the teaching profession in limited funds available to outside agencies are
Kenya and Uganda. best concentrated on providing resources such
A number of international NGOs have south- as training which cannot be found within
ern Sudanese staff members. These people are Sudan. The day-to-day running of schools will
crucially important as a link with local people be threatened if it is dependent on the inevitably
and in helping to evaluate the appropriacy of precarious support of agencies operating in a
the courses and their future direction. 'relief context.
A workshop facilitated by the ECC was held Agencies of the ECC have sought ways of
before the first courses, to introduce 60 senior helping to stimulate community support. Items
teachers and education coordinators to the which complement the community input have
course materials and textbooks. These people been provided, such as seeds and tools for
are now involved in their areas in helping to run school gardens (600 in 1993 and 1994). The
the in-service courses. They are also respons- aim is to enable schools to produce vegetables
ible for following up and supporting the which can be used to support teachers or
teachers who attend the courses after they children. The school garden should also be
return to their schools.3 used as an educational experience for the
pupils. Another form of input is the provision
The psycho-social importance of schools in a of sewing materials for women's tailoring
war zone groups to make school clothes.
The psychological importance of schools in the Women's tailoring groups have been
context of war is considerable, particularly supplied with cloth and sewing materials in
among displaced populations. Schools are several pilot areas. A proportion of the cloth
symbolic of a return to some form of (normally two thirds) is used to make school
recognisable routine. They are often among the clothes for pupils and teachers, prioritising
first community structures to be re-established dresses for girls. Recipients barter for the
during or after disruption caused by war. clothes, which provides a small income for the
Psycho-social needs have received increased school. The remaining cloth is payment for the
attention in recent years. Schools provide the women. UNICEF supplies more cloth on
ideal forum for reaching, through teachers, receipt of forms to show that the clothes have
war-affected children and adults. Teacher- been made and received by the school.
Supporting education in emergencies 93

Basic education materials in the form of Understanding the cultural factors which affect
Education Kits are also supplied to all schools the attendance of girls is essential. Only by
by UNICEF. The contents of the kits (currently working with communities to establish why
being revised) are chalk, exercise books, pens education for girls is important will change
and pencils, and a football. None of these can gradually come about.
be purchased in southern Sudan. Ways of improving access for all children
need to be found, within the constraints
imposed by the shortage of teachers and other
Looking to the future: key issues resources. Supporting local education
coordinators in planning for this process
What has been achieved so far in southern which is already clear as an issue for themis
Sudan is only a beginning. Within the structure an important role for staff of NGOs and other
of teacher education which has been agencies working in southern Sudan.
established, a number of issues need to be When a school receives attention
considered as the system develops. education materials or training for teachers
the number of children attending invariably
rises. As rural communities are convinced of
Quality of school education
improved quality and access, school
The impact of improvements in the provision attendance rates will improve.
of school education must be measured in terms
of quality and appropriateness to southern
Sudan. School education should help to Conclusion
provide life skills useful in a rural context
where the majority of children cannot expect The experience of southern Sudan has
more than a few years' primary education. provided valuable lessons for other situations
Existing materials and methods will need to be of conflict. It has shown that education is both
revised in the light of experience of the teacher- an essential and a possible component of
education courses, and extensive follow-up emergency operations.
and involvement with communities. The key elements of the programme can be
summed up as follows.
Certification/assessment
Focusing on people more than buildings
Assessment and certificates provide important through teacher education.
recognition for teacher trainees and pupils, but Building on the existing involvement of
should also reflect achievement that is relevant communities to support school education.
to their holders. Fostering cooperation and consistency of
School examinations need to be compared approach between agencies.
with systems in neighbouring countries and as Recognising the importance of schools for
far as possible made compatible with them. conveying information and stimulating
The few pupils who are able to continue discussion on topics such as health, psycho-
beyond primary education will have to do so social needs, and girls' education, and
outside Sudan for the foreseeable future. integrating these cross-cutting issues into
External moderation is a priority for both teacher education.
school and teacher-education examinations. Advocating to donors the importance of
funding for education as a part of emergency
operations.
Access
The imbalance between the number of girls and
boys in school needs urgent attention.
94 Development in States of War

Notes The author

1 Mark Duffield, 'Complex emergencies and Alison Joyner was from 1992 to 1994 the
the crisis of developmentalism', IDS Project Officer for Education for UNICEF/
Bulletin: Linking Relief and Development, Operation Lifeline Sudan (southern sector),
Vol. 25, No. 3, October 1994. before which she was a teacher at the Sudan
2 English was chosen by the SPLA as the University for Science and Technology in
medium of instruction for schools in their Khartoum. She later became SCF (UK)
areas. It has been agreed through discuss- Education Project Manager in the South Sudan
ions in the ECC that books produced by the Programme. She is currently Education
Sudan Literature Centre (SLC) can be Adviser for SCF in Lhasa, Tibet.
supplied to schools. SLC is run by southern This article was originally published in
Sudanese educationists producing trial Development in Practice, Volume 6, Number 1
editions of textbooks in English for the first (1996).
five or six years of primary education,
depending on subject. They are based on a
syllabus designed for southern Sudan under
a pre-war regional Ministry of Education.
3 Follow-up visits are made to schools to
support and offer advice to the recent
trainees, and to assess the impact of courses
on teachers and schools. NGO staff support
RASS and SRA Education Coordinators to
do this in their areas. A supervision form has
been agreed by the ECC, to give consistency
and means of comparison between schools
and areas in the formal assessments.
95

Family tracing: in whose interests?1

Lucy Bonnerjea

'He does not know the names of his ancestors; she Can it be done?
does not know how to shop or cook or look after
babies; none ofthemfitsinto society any more. This Can families be traced in the middle of a war or
is what our institutions have done.' drought? Not always, but often they can
depending largely on how good a tracing
programme exists. Such a programme entails
bringing together clearly developed principles and
Family tracing
values (on the importance of children having
In every war, disaster, or population displacement, families, and communities having their children
children become separated from their families. back) as well as efficient logistics and systems,
Often they are lost when they flee from attacks on including excellent record keeping, filing systems,
villages or when they are travelling long distances and good transport.
looking for food or safety. Some are kidnapped, Family tracing is usually tackled in four stages:
abducted, or abandoned. identifying the children who need tracing;
Past responses have often been to keep these documenting information from them; tracing
children together. Most governments and NGOs family members; and, where possible, reuniting
have placed children in orphanages, in children's children with their families. Gender-determined
sections of refugee or transit camps, even differences must be considered at everystage, since
deliberately separating them for feeding in camps the circumstances and experiences of boys and
or hospitals. This has generally been done for the girls often vary considerably.
best of motives: children come first, they are the
most vulnerable, they need priority attention. The
main concern has been their immediate safety and Identification
survival. Identifying the children who need assistance is the
Family-tracing projects, however, argue that, in first step. Children cannot be expected to ask for
most cases, members of these children's families tracing; they must be offered it. Some programmes
can be found, and living with them is in their best begin with the visibly separated children, such as
interests. Families are thought to be best for the those in a children's feeding centre or children's
child's development, protection, and long-term home. Others systematically map the places where
sense of identity. They are the place where social separated children may be found (in police stations,
skills are learned, where members share the same in the streets, in the community) and decide which
language and the same culture, and where there is a children are the most vulnerable, and which need a
shared ancestry. Children learn how families work, tracing service first.
how roles are developed, because they have social Identifying the children often needs a national
and economic models to observe and from which to education programme. Wars usually create a great
learn. This gives a sense of continuity: a past that deal of fear and mistrust about the abuse of person-
people know about, which links to the future.2 al information. People fear being victimised,
96 Development in States of War

punished, abductedfor who they are, and not for Tracing works only if it is done with the help of
what they have done. They will volunteer personal people living in the areas from which the children
information only if they understand and accept the come. It relies on information from communities; it
tracing programme. needs people to place their trust in the tracing staff,
to discuss possibilities, and to identify neighbours,
relatives, or local leaders who might help. Tracing
Documentation works best through recognised local leadership
Documenting children is the next step. It involves structures, whether traditional or religious leaders,
getting information from individual children about elders, or chiefs.
the past, the present, and their wishes for the future.
There are many obstacles to adults listening to and
hearing children. All over the world, children are Reunification
expected to listen to adults, rather than the other Reunification is the goal. Ideally, family members
way round: this makes listening to children a skill are found, the children want to live with them, and
that has to be taught and developed in a family- the family is happy to have them. But it is important
tracing programme. Some children may not know to assess whether there is enough food to feed the
their family name or the name of their village. child, and whether the area is reasonably secure.
Some may be too traumatised to remember. Then the child can be returned, often with dancing,
Documentation depends on building a trusting music, and thanks to the ancestors.
relationship, encouraging each child to talk, and Often the reality is more difficult, and tracing
then recording all bits of information. Some staff face a great many problems before anyone is
children, especially the older ones, will be able to located. They might find that parents and grand-
provide factual information from which a tracing parents are definitely or probably dead. Other
trip can be planned. Others will need to be asked family members may be very distantly related and
questions such as: were there any rivers near where economically destitute. What does one do? Each
you lived, any mountains, any schools? Where did family situation needs to be assessed, with
you buy bread? Did the shopkeeper know you? recognised authorities within the community
Was there a church or mosque or market? invited to discuss whether families can and should
Having got the facts, there are two more sets of look after the child. Limited economic help may be
questions. The first is about the child's short-term offered.
needs: is she safe and happy staying where she is, Substitute families may be needed, either as a
while the tracing takes place? Or should she be short-term placement, while the search for families
moved to somewhere safer or better? The second is continues; or as a long-term placement, when
about her long-term needs, such as which relatives avenues for searching have been exhausted. Again,
would she like to live with? This is usually relevant local help is needed, to assess the families'
only if parents are dead or not found; then the motivation and economic situation. Monitoring
choice of alternative family members needs to be remains important, whether this is done by social
made with the child. workers, community leaders, or adults chosen by
the child.

Tracing
Tracing means going off into the unknown, often In whose interest?
over-land, and covering long distances on foot. It
means asking at market places, meeting village But one must always ask in whose interest it is to
elders and local leaders, sometimes carrying photo- conduct a family-tracing programme or an
graphs of the children, sometimes taking only the individual placement. Each programme planner,
documentation forms, sometimes together with the funder, and evaluator, as well as each member of
children themselves. Tracing may also be done the tracing team, needs to ask this question
through newspapers, posters, or radio. constantly, as a reminder of the goals of family
Family tracing: in whose interests? 97

tracing. This should not only be about closing The author


feeding programmes, saving money on
institutional care, or following new fashions in Lucy Bonnerjea, a lecturer at the London School of
NGO project design. Nor should it be about Economics, was commissioned by Save the
dumping children at the first available opportunity Children Fund to carry out a review of five family-
in any community setting. The long-term interests tracing programmes. A guide to good practice,
of the children in the context of their culture, based on this work, was published by SCF in early
their language, their safety, their development, and 1994.
their countries must be considered, together This article was originally published in
with their short-term survival. We have now come Development in Practice, Volume 4, Number 3
full circle. (1994).
We used to take children out of their
communities, 'in their own interests'. We are now
returning them to their own communities, again 'in
their own interests'. We need to open up the debate
about what really is in the child's own interests, in
each country, in each emergency, and in each
development situation.

Notes
1 This article is based on a review of SCF's
programmes in five African countries: Angola,
Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, and Uganda.
Some are operational projects, others consist of
funding and supporting national government
staff to do the work. In each case, the review
consisted in examining the programme and
interviewing government policy-makers,
community-based tracing staff, SCF staff,
families, and children. In addition, two pieces of
research were commissioned: a postal survey of
all social action staff in Mozambique who had
carried out tracing and reunification of children,
and a follow-up of 100 families in Uganda,
where children had been returned after varying
lengths of separation. Children and families
were interviewed separately.
2 Families are synonymous neither with parents
nor with household members. Family structures
vary enormously. Extended families play very
important roles, and in this context the family
constitutes anyone to whom the child is related,
by blood or marriage.
98

Annotated bibliography

This is a selective listing of recent English-language publications about development work in the
context of crisis and armed conflict, with particular reference to Complex Humanitarian
Emergencies (CHEs). Much of the richest and most innovative thinking in thisfield is to be found
in unpublished programme evaluation reports, in scholarly journals, or in detailed case-studies.
Here, we havefocused on major works and material that is readily accessible; most of them also
have bibliographies to which readers can refer. Country-specific material has been cited where
it illustrates broader issues of humanitarian policy and practice, or where it gives voice to those
directly affected by war and armed conflict. A listing of major international research projects is
included; most of them publish studies in their own right, and hold specialised databases or
documentation centres.
The Bibliography was compiled and annotated by Deborah Eade and Caroline Knowles,
Editor and Reviews Editor respectively o/Development in Practice, with Stephen Commins and
Chris Jackson.

African Rights: Humanitarianism Unbound? Building on several case-studies, the authors


Current Dilemmas Facing Multi-mandate show that relief programmes are never neutral
Relief Operations in Political Emergencies in their impact on development. They present a
Discussion Paper No 5 simple framework (known as CVA: Capacities
London: African Rights, 1994 and Vulnerabilities Analysis) for under-
A study of the moral and practical dilemmas standing the dynamic relationship between
posed by the 'unbridled' involvement of NGOs different people's needs, vulnerabilities, and
in post-Cold War complex emergencies, and a capacities. Assessing current emergency-relief
fierce critique of their role in making influential practice, the authors show various practical
(and often naive or opportunist) political ways in which it might be improved.
judgements that are 'apparently unimpeded by
limits on their mandate and expertise, or by Jon Bennett: Meeting Needs: NGO
accountability'. Examining the performance of Coordination in Practice
NGOs and UN agencies in Ethiopia, Sudan, London: Earthscan, 1995
Angola, Somalia, Bosnia, and Rwanda, the A compilation of eight case-studies document-
authors call for NGOs to clarify their ethical ing examples of NGO coordination in emerg-
mandate and operational principles and apply encies in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa,
them in a clear and consistent manner. Cambodia, and Central America. An overview
examines the dangers of NGO expansion in
Mary B Anderson and P J Woodrow: Rising emergencies, especially where it allows
from the Ashes: Development Strategies in bilateral and multilateral aid to be channelled
Times ofDisaster through the non-governmental sector at the
Paris: UNESCO/Boulder: Westview Press, expense of Southern governments and public-
1989 service structures. It asks why NGOs
Annotated bibliography 99

coordinate best in crisis, and what their true their staff, and so improve their chances of
impact is if they undermine government continuing their humanitarian work. Drawing
structures. on SCF's experience, it examines safety in
terms of basic principles such as risk manage-
Michael Cranna (ed): The True Cost of ment and non-partisanship; safety-conscious
Conflict management practices; and practical security
London: Earthscan with Saferworld, 1994 measures. It also offers advice on the evacua-
Since 1945, some 22 million people have died tion of employees, and explaining actions to the
in wars, and many of the 42 million displaced media.
persons worldwide are victims of conflict. This
book assesses the true costs, using case-studies Mark Duffield: 'Complex emergencies and
of the Gulf War, East Timor, Mozambique, the crisis of developmentalism', IDS Bulletin,
Peru, Kashmir, Sudan, and former Yugoslavia. 25/4: 37-45, October 1994
It examines the human casualties, as well as the In this influential paper, the author draws a
consequences in social, developmental, and direct relationship between political instability
environmental terms. It also attempts to and the rise of internal wars and complex
calculate the wider costs both to the countries political emergencies, which threaten to
involved and to their economic partners, and destroy the entire cultural, civil, political, and
asks who ultimately benefits from conflict. economic integrity of a society. Ethnic factors
are common to these emergencies. Relief
Dene Cohn and Guy S Goodwin-Gill: Child agencies and NGOs often fail to recognise the
Soldiers: The Role of Children in Armed distinction between natural disasters and
Conflict complex emergencies, and so adopt 'linear'
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994 analyses and responses based on inappropriate
War has caused the death of two million assumptions about the possibility of 'a return to
children and left six times as many without normal'. Instead, they should design their
homes since the mid-1980s. Related to this is programmes around the fact that complex
'the increased participation of children in emergencies are the norm in the post-Cold War
hostilities, in terms both of numbers and the ... era. However, in shaping their appeals (and
nature of their involvement'. Written for the hence their accountability) to their donors
Henry Dunant Institute of the Red Cross, this rather than to those affected by political
book examines the plight of child soldiers in the violence, NGOs may implicitly further
context of International Humanitarian Law Western disengagement from a commitment to
(IHL) and the 1989 Convention on the Rights equitable development.
of the Child. Drawing on data from Africa,
Asia, and Latin America, the authors explore Deborah Eade and Suzanne Williams: The
the motivations of child soldiers, as well as Oxfam Handbook ofDevelopment and Relief
those of the adults who recruit and exploit Oxford: Oxfam Publications, 1995
them. This three-volume reference book offers an
authoritative guide to policy and practice in
Mark Cutts and A Dingle: Safety First: every area of development and emergency-
Protecting NGO Employees who Work in relief work in which Oxfam is involved.
Areas of Conflict Chapter Two, 'Focusing on People', explores
London: Save the Children Fund, 1995 those aspects of social identity that should
Humanitarian organisations which work in war inform all development and emergency relief
zones must weigh their responsibility to the work, such as gender, ethnic and cultural
affected populations against their obligation to identity, childhood, old age, and disability.
protect their own employees. This book Chapter Six, 'Emergencies and Development',
advises NGOs on how they can better protect focuses largely on Complex Humanitarian
100 Development in States of War

Emergencies involving war and armed and policies of existing states, and why?
conflict. Oxfam's accent is on building sustain- Strategies to reduce ethnic conflict, such as
able local capacities both to identify needs and autonomy, pluralism, and formal power-
deliver assistance, and also to reduce vulnera- sharing are discussed.
bility in the longer term. Detailed sections
address practical issues concerning NGO International Committee of the Red Cross:
coordination, needs assessment, nutrition, Basic Rules of the Geneva Conventions and
environmental health (including water, their Additional Protocols
sanitation, and housing), and food security. Geneva: ICRC, 1983
Each section includes Key Questions and A booklet summarising the basic rules of
Further Resources. A 500-entry annotated International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which
NGO Resources Directory comprises the third lays out agreements concerning the protection
volume, and is also published separately. of the victims of armed conflicts, for which
there are some 600 provisions in the Geneva
Susan Forbes Martin: Refugee Women Conventions and their Additional Protocols.
London: Zed Books, 1992 Further information about IHL and details of
Despite growing awareness of the other publications are available from ICRC
disproportionate vulnerability of women in (qv).
situations of conflict, and the so-called 'gender
violence' of rape and sexual abuse, aid Michael T Klare and Daniel C Thomas
agencies still show a weak understanding of (eds): World Security: Challenges for a New
how to design relief interventions in a gender- Century
sensitive way. Even agencies with gender New York: St Martin's Press (second edition),
policies may suggest that gender analysis is a 1994
unaffordable luxury in a crisis. The book A collection of essays on the post-Cold War
examinesfiveareas that are central to refugees' world, reflecting on how recent global changes
well-being: protection, access to social and will affect future world security. The first four
material services, economic activity, repatria- focus on the broad political and social contours
tion and reconstruction, and resettlement in a of the emerging international system. Others
third country. Straightforward and gender- cover nuclear proliferation, arms trafficking,
sensitive policy and practice alternatives are ethnic and regional conflict, Third World
presented for each area. militarism, international human rights,
violence against women, environmental
Ted Robert Gurr: Minorities at Risk: A degradation, demographic change, under-
Global View ofEthnopolitical Conflicts development, and hunger.
Washington: United States Institute of Peace
Press, 1993 Mary Ann Larkin, Frederick C Cuny,
Communal identity may be based on shared Barry N Stein (eds): Repatriation Under
historical experiences or myths, religious Conflict in Central America
beliefs, language, ethnicity, region of Georgetown: CIPRA and Intertect, 1991
residence, and, in caste-like systems, As a result of the wars in Central America in the
customary occupations. The identification of 1970s and 1980s, many rural (often indigen-
what are often referred to as ethnic groups or ous) populations were displaced or became
minorities depends not on the presence of homeless. Most remained as internally dis-
particular traits, but on the shared perception placed persons, with little access to inter-
that these set the group apart. Surveying over national protection and assistance. Of the many
200 politically active communal groups, the thousands who sought asylum abroad, few
author asks: what communal identities and acquired refugee status, but faced instead the
interests are most at odds with the structures fear and insecurity of being undocumented or
Annotated bibliography 101

illegal migrants. Continued conflict seemed to David Keen, Alex de Waal, Mark Duffield, and
render repatriation inconceivable. However, Hugo Slim) examining the relationships
many refugees returned from the mid-1980s, between poverty, armed conflict, food
firstly in a spontaneous movement, and later insecurity, and the dilemmas of providing
with assistance from UNHCR and others. humanitarian relief in times of war. Complex
Worldwide, most displaced persons either Humanitarian Emergencies are inherently
do not qualify for, or do not have access to, political, whether they take the form of geno-
international aid; and most refugees return cide (or 'ethnic cleansing') or other forms of
home with little or no international assistance. human-rights violations (such as the denial of
In analysing specific cases of spontaneous food to certain population groups). Donors and
and/or unassisted voluntary repatriation, the NGOs often fail to comprehend the underlying
essays in this book illustrate the wider political causes; and the failures of
dilemmas of policy and practice which the international aid efforts are partly due to this.
phenomenon poses for humanitarian agencies. Drawing largely on case-studies from Africa,
A companion volume, Repatriating During authors call for greater clarity and accounta-
Conflict in Africa and Asia (1992), also edited bility in the international relief system, arguing
by Cuny et al., is published by the Center for that transitional (post-conflict) issues must be
the Study of Societies in Crisis. For a summary addressed by local organisational structures.
of the main issues, see B N Stein and F K Cuny:
'Refugee repatriation during conflict: protect- David Millwood (ed): The International
ion and post-return assistance', Development Response to Conflict and Genocide: Lessons
in Practice, 4/3:173-87. from the Rwanda Experience
Steering Committee of the Joint Evaluation of
Mandy Macdonald and Mike Gatehouse: In Emergency Assistance to Rwanda (5
the Mountains of Morazan: Portrait of a volumes), available from Overseas Develop-
Returned Refugee Community in El Salvador ment Institute, UK, 1996
London: Latin America Bureau, 1995 The Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance
An account of a Salvadoran community of to Rwanda takes as its starting point the fact
8,000, who returned in the midst of civil that the massive humanitarian operation
conflict after nine years as refugees in engendered by the Rwandan crisis ought never
Honduras. The Ciudad Segundo Montes faced to have been necessary in the first place. Had
unanticipated problems in the transition to appropriate political and diplomatic action
post-war reconstruction. With declining been taken at an earlier stage, much of the
foreign aid and international concern, and human devastation resulting from the genocide
without public investment or state subsidies, might have been prevented. The report, which
people had to abandon many of the beliefs and comprises four separate studies and a synthesis
organisational approaches that had motivated document, examines the background of the
and bound them while in exile. The book 1994 crisis, the role of key international
provides unique insights into experiences players, and the performance of the myriad
shared by poor people who struggle to rebuild organisations involved in humanitarian
their lives in a post-war (and post-Cold War) assistance and post-war reconstruction efforts.
framework, and so move from survival and Few of those involved escape criticism: the
subsistence to development. report poses serious challenges for the UN
General Secretariat, the Security Council,
Joanna Macrae and Anthony Zwi (eds): War influential regional and OECD governments,
and Hunger: Rethinking International the UN's humanitarian agencies and human
Responses to Complex Emergencies rights machinery, NGOs, and the media.
London and New Jersey: Zed Books, 1994 Important recommendations are made
concerning the future management of such
A compilation of papers (with contributions by
102 Development instates of War

interventions, and the report is likely to discussing development in conflict. He


influence debate on 'complex emergencies' for analyses the responsibilities of, constraints on,
some time to come. and opportunities for donors, UN peace-
support operations, and NGOs. Mary B
Larry Minear and Thomas G Weiss: Anderson looks at how the international
Humanitarian Action in Times of War community might provide political and moral
Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1993 help to societies emerging from conflict, in
A handbook synthesising lessons and setting order to reduce tensions, support development,
out humanitarian principles and policy and build the wider conditions for sustainable
guidelines for civilian actors involved in peace. Kumar Rupesinghe discusses the
providing humanitarian assistance and relationship between conflict and development
protection in wars and other armed conflicts. and calls for a 'strategic umbrella' approach to
Despite differences among them, UN organisa- conflict-prevention, under which country-
tions, donor governments, NGOs, ICRC, and specific consortia of concerned government
institutions working in conflict areas all share a bodies and NGOs, co-operating with inter-
basic commitment to these principles. governmental groups, would focus on
Agencies that are clear and consistent in how addressing situations of emerging conflict.
they articulate and observe certain human-
itarian principles are thought to function most Oxfam Working Papers include: Develop-
successfully in situations of conflict. But when ment in Conflict: The Gender Dimension
agencies rely on improvisation, unconstrained (1994); Conflict and Development: Organi-
by fidelity to stated principles of action, they sational Adaptation in Conflict Situations
perform less adequately. A range of practical (1995); The Somali Conflict: Prospects for
considerations is offered in the interests of Peace (1994); Famine, Needs Assessment, and
improving performance and accountability, Survival Strategies in Africa (1993); and War
together with a proposed practitioners' code of and Famine in Africa (1991).
conduct for humanitarian organisations, both
individually and as a community. Jenny Pearce: Promised Land: Peasant
Rebellion in Chalatenango, El Salvador
Larry Minear and Thomas G Weiss: Mercy London: Latin America Bureau, 1986
Under Fire A detailed and compelling account of
Boulder: Westview Press, 1995 grassroots development that took place in the
Describing the experience of the international guerrilla-held war zones of El Salvador, as
community in responding to the increase in defined and run by peasant communities in the
violent conflict in the early post-Cold War area. Activities included education and adult
period, the authors review efforts to provide literacy, community health work, agricultural
assistance and protection to civilian popula- production, and systems of community
tions. Writing for the concerned international policing, as well as the organisational skills
public, the authors draw on many interviews required to manage them.
with relief workers, and provide non-
specialists with an insight into the challenges Rosemarie Rogers and Emily Copeland:
faced by humanitarian aid professionals. Forced Migration: Policy Issues in the Post-
Cold War World
Terence Loone Mooney (ed): The Challenge Medford, Massachussets: Tufts University,
ofDevelopment within Conflict Zones 1993
Paris: OECD, 1995 This book highlights the lack of international
Three papers from a 1994 OECD Colloquium, protection and assistance for internally
with an overview and conclusion. Larry displaced persons who have 'fled conditions of
Minear sets out a conceptual framework for generalised violence in which their own
Annotated bibliography 103

government is involved or which it cannot policy-making in the United States; and the
control'. It questions the conventional separa- disputed effects of media coverage and public
tion between internal and external affairs, opinion on policy formulation.
where national sovereignty acts as a shield
behind which a government allows sectors of Kumar Rupesinghe (ed): Ethnic Conflict and
its population to be forcibly displaced. The Human Rights
obligation to protect and promote human rights Tokyo: UN University Press, 1994
resides with States, and hence with the B ased on a 1986 seminar (sponsored by the UN
international community. Policies to assist University, International Alert, the Norwegian
refugees and displaced persons require that Human Rights Institute, and the International
forced migration be addressed primarily as a Peace Research Institute). Contributors
major violation of human rights. explore ethnic conflicts and their relationship
to human rights. Reviewing theories of ethnic
Shawn Roberts and Jody Williams: After the conflict-resolution, and various historical,
Guns Fall Silent: The Enduring Legacy of social, political, and legal factors, they seek
Landmines elements of potential strategies for ending
Washington: Vietnam Veterans of America conflicts and promoting peace. The collection
Foundation, 1995 includes case-studies of Northern Ireland,
Describing the effect of landmines on people, South Africa, Nicaragua, and Sri Lanka.
their communities, their lives and livelihoods,
this book examines the consequences of land- Hugo Slim: "The continuing metamorphosis of
mine use on refugee movement and resettle- the humanitarian professional: some new
ment, and on the environment. It also covers colours for an endangered chameleon',
issues such as mine clearance and mine- Disasters, 19/2:110-26 June 1995
awareness, and medical, rehabilitative, and Relief agencies now work in operational
psychological costs. situations complex humanitarian emerg-
encies that call for re-training (or re-
Robert I Rotberg and Thomas G Weiss skilling). This requires a fundamental
(cds): From Massacres to Genocide: the reappraisal of what constitutes humanitarian
Media, Public Policy and Humanitarian work, which now includes political analysis,
Crises negotiation skills, conflict prediction and
Cambridge, MA: Brookings Institute/The management, and information-gathering
World Peace Foundation, 1986 capacity. For NGOs, new demands include
Discussion of the way that media coverage of working with armed guards and/or military
international crises influences policy-making. forces, specific country information (not relief
Contributors all agree on the importance of generalities), involvement in community
well-informed and well-developed media peace-building, and a better understanding of
attention for the formulation of sensible physical and mental health issues.
policies regarding the resolution of ethnic and
religious conflict and complex humanitarian Rodolfo Stavenhagen: The Ethnic Question:
crises. The issue is examined from many Conflicts, Development, and Human Rights
angles: how the media cover emergency Tokyo: UN University Press, 1990
situations, and the influence of the media A comprehensive picture of contemporary
(particularly television) on both governmental ethnic issues, as manifested in most of the
decision-making and NGO actions; the views world's major regions. After discussing such
of humanitarian groups on the limitations of issues in relation to the theories of nation, State,
media coverage, especially how they can help modernisation, and class, the case of Latin
the media maintain high standards when issues America is analysed in depth. The author
are reduced to sound bites; the current state of examines the extent of ethnic rights protection
104 Development inStates of War

in the UN and other international systems, the 1996) and 7/1 (February 1997) (forthcoming)
problems of indigenous and tribal peoples, This two-part article explores the experience of
racism in Western Europe, and government living and working for an international NGO in
cultural and education policies in relation to a civil war whose roots lay in the inequitable
ethnic minorities. distribution of power and wealth. Drawing on
her 12 years' work in Central America, the
Anjali Sundaram and George Gelber (eds): author reflects on the demands and constraints
A Decade of War: El Salvador Confronts the placed on aid workers in a counter-insurgency
Future war; and on how this shapes relationships with
London: CIIR (with Monthly Review Press local organisations and NGOs. Empowerment
and Transnational Institute), 1991 and participation are examined from the
This collection of ten commissioned articles perspective of people who refused to be war
addresses three broad themes: the concept and victims. In Part II, the author examines the
practice of democracy in El Salvador; the impacts of war and political violence, both on
Duarte period and the role of US political, those who survive and on local and inter-
economic, and military intervention; and major national workers who are concerned to address
social forces within the country the Church, its causes and consequences.
the popular movement, political parties, the
armed forces, and the guerrilla movement UN Centre for Human Rights, The Human
and their role in the peace process. It presents a Rights Fact Sheet series
composite view from Salvadorans and others (available in English and in French), Geneva
who experienced the war, and demonstrates These booklets deal with human rights issues
both the importance of grounding humanitar- that are under active consideration or of partic-
ian work in an understanding of the causes of ular interest. The series (over 20 titles) offers a
conflict, and the limits on external intervention good account of basic human rights, what the
in determining the outcome. UN is doing to promote and protect them, and
the international machinery available to help
Geoff Tansey et al.: A World Divided realise thoserights.Relevant titles include: The
London: Earthscan, 1994 International Bill of Human Rights; Advisory
Global militarism the legacy of the Cold Services and Technical Assistance in the Field
War is, together with deepening economic of Human Rights; Methods of Combating
polarisation between North and South, and Torture; Enforced or Involuntary Disappear-
environmental constraints on economic growth ances; Summary or Arbitrary Executions;
and development, seen as a central factor in International Humanitarian Law and Human
contributing to insecurity. Using illustrations Rights; The Committee against Torture; and
from both North and South to diagnose the Human Rights and Refugees.
problems caused by increasing militarism, the
authors analyse the links between conflict, UNESCO: Non-military Aspects of
poverty, development, and environmental International Security
degradation; and ask why Northern Paris: UNESCO, 1995
governments pursue policies that exacerbate With the end of the Cold War, genuine security
North-South tensions. They propose and stability cannot be ensured without
alternative policy measures for addressing problems of a non-military
demilitarisation, sustainable development, and character, in particular those related to
environmental management. environmental protection, economic and social
development, the prevention of discrimination
Martha Thompson: 'Empowerment and and violations of human rights, and extreme
survival: humanitarian work in civil conflict', poverty and exclusion. The book considers
Development in Practice, 6/4 (November new forms of international, regional, and
Annotated bibliography 105

national security which would be compatible them. This does not imply support for policies
with aspirations for a world in which the ideals to entrench ethnicity in social and political
of democracy, human rights, and development structures. Ethnicity evolves, and some ethnic
can be realised. markers lose significance, while new ones
emerge.
UNHCR: The State of the World's Refugees Given the limitations of third-party interven-
Annual report which examines the plight of tion in ethnic conflicts, the report discusses
displaced people and analyses the world's policy approaches to facilitate accommodation
changing response to forced migration. in ethnically diverse societies. To promote
Contains current statistics, together with peaceful relations, all groups need a shared
appendices giving details of UNHCR's work, interest in society as a whole. This sense of
international instruments and their civic identity cannot be forced on people: it is
significance, and a bibliography. Recent one they must freely adopt. They are most
reports have for example been entitled 'The likely to do so when their society respects and
Challenge for Protection' (1993), and 'In meets everyone's needs, including that of a
Search of Solutions' (1995). sense of ethnic identity.

UNRISD: States of Disarray: The Social Thomas G Weiss and Larry Minear (eds)
Effects of Globalisation Humanitarianism Across Borders: Sustaining
Geneva: UNRISD (available in English, Civilians in Times of War
French, and Spanish), 1995 Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner Pub-
A comprehensive examination of contempor- lishers, 1993
ary problems that often underlie violent con- This, the second of three books from the
flict and thus form a context for complex Humanitarianism and War Project (qv), is
emergencies and post-war reconstruction. aimed both at humanitarian agencies and the
They include poverty, unemployment, inequal- concerned public. It comprises essays by nine
ity, and organised crime; as well as the authors who examine values, the use of
declining responsibility of public institutions. military force, and the future shape of human-
Part I discusses the impact of globalisation on itarian institutions.
impoverishment, inequalities, work insecurity,
weakening of institutions and social support Aristide R Zolberg, Astri Suhrke and Sergio
systems, and the erosion of identities and Aguayo: Escape from Violence: Conflict and
values. Part II explores these developments in the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World
relation to crime, drugs, ethnic conflicts, and Oxford and New York: Oxford University
post-war reconstruction. Part III looks at the Press, 1989
policy environment and the impact on various This book provides both a theoretical frame-
institutions of the principal forces shaping work for understanding the refugee phenomen-
contemporary societies, stressing the links on and a survey of refugee movements in Asia,
between insecurity, and social conflicts, Africa and Central America. Defining refugees
including the rise of extremist movements. as people with a 'well-founded fear of
violence', it classifies them in three categories:
UNRISD: Ethnic Violence, Conflict Resolu- activists, targets, and victims. The first two are
tion and Cultural Pluralism generally able to claim refugee status, but the
Geneva, 1995 'mere' victims are often denied international
The report of a 1994 seminar on ethnicity and protection. The widespread violation of funda-
ethnic conflict. Since ethnicity tends to become mental human rights by governments is the
most destructive when under threat, reducing main cause of forced migration, and must be
tension depends on protecting people's rights addressed as such by the international
to form ethnic loyalties, not on repressing community.
106 Development in States of War

Journals practitioners in the field of humanitarian


assistance and aims to provide a means for
DHA News (ISSN: 1020-2609) policy debate, the sharing of lessons learned,
Published five times a year by the UN and the fostering of cooperation within and
Department of Humanitarian Affairs between the different professions concerned
Addresses issues concerning the provision of with the many aspects of this work.
humanitarian assistance, particularly in con- Encompasses all aspects of humanitarian
flict. For example, the May-June 1995 issue, assistance, from early warning and emergency
'Focus: Aid Under Fire', shows how distinc- provision to post-conflict peace building and
tions between relief and development are the transition to development.
increasingly blurred in practice, and NGO
workers need negotiation and assessment skills Journal ofPeace Research (ISSN: 0022-3433)
as they face situations of violence and Published quarterly by Sage on behalf of the
predation. As NGOs are often in the forefront International Peace Research Institute, Oslo
of assisting in complex emergencies, they face Editors: Nils Peter Gleditsch and Malvern
a crisis of professionalism and the maintenance Lumsden
of integrity (credibility) in the growing With a global focus on conflict and peace-
humanitarian market. making, the journal concentrates on the causes
of violence, and on practical approaches to
Disasters: The Journal ofDisaster Studies and conflict-resolution.
Management (ISSN: 0361-3666)
Editors: Charlotte Benson and Joanna Macrae Journal ofRefugee Studies (ISSN: 0951 -6328)
Overseas Development Institute, UK Published quarterly by Oxford University
A journal for research on disasters, Press
vulnerability, and relief and emergency Editor: Roger Zetter
management. The scope of the journal extends A multidisciplinary journal dedicated to
from disasters associated with natural hazards academic exploration of the problems of forced
such as earthquakes and drought through to migration, and national and international
complex, conflict-related emergencies. responses to them. It promotes the theoretical
development of refugee studies, new
Gender and Development (ISSN: 1355-2074) perspectives on refugee populations, and the
Published three times a year by Oxfam UK and reappraisal of current concepts, policies, and
Ireland practice.
Editor: Caroline Sweetman
Each issue focuses on a specific theme in
relation to gender and development initiatives, Research projects and relevant
and is also published separately in book form. organisations
Women and Emergencies (1994) and Women
and Conflict (1993) explore the experiences of African Rights
women in situations of crisis, including civil Works on issues of human-rights abuses,
and military strife. conflict, famine, and civil reconstruction in
Africa. Believes that the solutions to the
Journal ofHumanitarian Affairs (ISSN: 1360- problems of emergency humanitarian needs,
0222) political reconstruction, and accountability
Editors: Jim Whitman and Chris Alden must be sought primarily among Africans; and
Electronic journal published at the University that the role of international organisations
of Cambridge: http://www-jha.sps.cam.ac.uk/ should be chiefly to support Africans' own
(no print version available) attempts to address these issues.
Brings together academics, policy-makers, and
106 Development in States of War

Journals practitioners in the field of humanitarian


assistance and aims to provide a means for
DHA News (ISSN: 1020-2609) policy debate, the sharing of lessons learned,
Published five times a year by the UN and the fostering of cooperation within and
Department of Humanitarian Affairs between the different professions concerned
Addresses issues concerning the provision of with the many aspects of this work.
humanitarian assistance, particularly in con- Encompasses all aspects of humanitarian
flict. For example, the May-June 1995 issue, assistance, from early warning and emergency
'Focus: Aid Under Fire', shows how distinc- provision to post-conflict peace building and
tions between relief and development are the transition to development.
increasingly blurred in practice, and NGO
workers need negotiation and assessment skills Journal ofPeace Research (ISSN: 0022-3433)
as they face situations of violence and Published quarterly by Sage on behalf of the
predation. As NGOs are often in the forefront International Peace Research Institute, Oslo
of assisting in complex emergencies, they face Editors: Nils Peter Gleditsch and Malvern
a crisis of professionalism and the maintenance Lumsden
of integrity (credibility) in the growing With a global focus on conflict and peace-
humanitarian market. making, the journal concentrates on the causes
of violence, and on practical approaches to
Disasters: The Journal ofDisaster Studies and conflict-resolution.
Management (ISSN: 0361-3666)
Editors: Charlotte Benson and Joanna Macrae Journal ofRefugee Studies (ISSN: 0951 -6328)
Overseas Development Institute, UK Published quarterly by Oxford University
A journal for research on disasters, Press
vulnerability, and relief and emergency Editor: Roger Zetter
management. The scope of the journal extends A multidisciplinary journal dedicated to
from disasters associated with natural hazards academic exploration of the problems of forced
such as earthquakes and drought through to migration, and national and international
complex, conflict-related emergencies. responses to them. It promotes the theoretical
development of refugee studies, new
Gender and Development (ISSN: 1355-2074) perspectives on refugee populations, and the
Published three times a year by Oxfam UK and reappraisal of current concepts, policies, and
Ireland practice.
Editor: Caroline Sweetman
Each issue focuses on a specific theme in
relation to gender and development initiatives, Research projects and relevant
and is also published separately in book form. organisations
Women and Emergencies (1994) and Women
and Conflict (1993) explore the experiences of African Rights
women in situations of crisis, including civil Works on issues of human-rights abuses,
and military strife. conflict, famine, and civil reconstruction in
Africa. Believes that the solutions to the
Journal ofHumanitarian Affairs (ISSN: 1360- problems of emergency humanitarian needs,
0222) political reconstruction, and accountability
Editors: Jim Whitman and Chris Alden must be sought primarily among Africans; and
Electronic journal published at the University that the role of international organisations
of Cambridge: http://www-jha.sps.cam.ac.uk/ should be chiefly to support Africans' own
(no print version available) attempts to address these issues.
Brings together academics, policy-makers, and
Research projects and relevant organisations 107

Hemispheric Migration Project (HMP) International Alert


Project Director: Mary Ann Larkin An NGO engaged in research on the causes of
Sponsored by the Centre for Immigration violent conflict, training in mediation and
Policy and Refugee Assistance (CIPRA) at negotiating skills, advocacy to persuade
Georgetown University, the HMP supports decision-makers to be devoted to conflict-
research on refugees and labour migrants in the resolution and prevention. International Alert
Americas. It encourages research on refugees also has regional and country programmes in
and migration in the countries of origin, and East and West Africa, and South Asia.
publishes the findings for attention of policy-
makers of sending and receiving countries. International Committee of the Red Cross
Publications include From the Shadows to (ICRC)
Center Stage: NGOs and Central American ICRC's role is to protect and assist the victims
Refugee Assistance (S. Aguayo, 1991); Assist- of international and civil wars and conflicts. It
ance and Control: Policies Toward Internally is recognised as a neutral humanitarian agency
Displaced Populations in Guatemala in the Geneva Conventions and their
(AVANSCO 1990); Refugee Policy Additional Protocols, which accord ICRC's
Challenges: The Case ofNicaraguans in Costa delegates the authority to visit protected
Rica (M. Ramirez, 1989); Central Americans persons, such as prisoners of war, or civil
in Mexico City: Uprooted and Silenced (L. internees. Its operations are conducted confid-
O'Dogherty, 1989). entially, and any human-rights abuses are
raised privately with the controlling author-
Humanitarianism and War: Learning the ities. ICRC's unique mandate once made it one
Lessons from Recent Armed Conflicts of the few international agencies working in
Project Directors: Larry Minear and Thomas G armed conflict. However, the rapid growth of
Weiss humanitarian NGOs, as well as the nature of
A major project assessing how international contemporary warfare, are changing this. The
and multilateral agencies and NGOs might ICRC takes a prime role in developing
improve the response to the devastation result- International Humanitarian Law, and has a
ing from war. Launched in 1991, it is sponsored wide range of publications, in English and in
by Brown University's Thomas J Watson Jr French.
Institute for International Studies, and
supported by many governments, UN organ- Mennonite Central Committee
isations, and NGOs. Focusing on 'the interface The relief service and development agency of
between theory and practice', the project has the North American Mennonite and Brethren
published a prodigious range of material, from in Christ churches works in long-term
field manuals to high-level policy documents, development in over 50 countries, and
from newspaper articles to scholarly papers. considers peace education and peacemaking to
be central to all aspects of its work. The MCC
Human Rights Watch (HRW) Peace Office, based in the USA, serves as a
Holding governments accountable if they resource for MCC workers worldwide, and as a
violate the rights of their people, HRW connection to the United Nations.
conducts thorough investigations of human-
rights abuses in some 70 countries, irrespective Minority Rights Group (MRG)
of political ideologies and alignments, or of Publishes authoritative reports on minority
ethnic and religious persuasions. HRW groups all over the world, and on many issues
documents and denounces murders, disappea- relevant to emergency and crisis, for example:
rances, torture, arbitrary imprisonment, dis- Minorities and Human Rights Law; Inter-
crimination, and other abuses of internationally national Action against Genocide; The Social
recognised human rights. Psychology of Minorities.
108 Development in States of War

Quaker Peace and Service English and French, and members can obtain
General Secretary: Andrew C Clark advice on technical and operational problems
QPS, based in London, supports long-term from within the ODI or via the Network itself.
programmes by sending experienced workers
Safenvorld
who contribute to reconciliation at all levels,
An independent foreign affairs think-tank and
sometimes working with the victims of wars or
public-education group, formed to alert
violence. QPS works with the UN in the areas
governments to the need for new approaches to
of disarmament, human rights, refugees, and
dealing with armed conflicts. Safenvorld
economic development through its staff in
focuses on identifying key issues on which
Geneva. It also works with decision makers,
movement is possible, and drawing on the
whether diplomats, politicians or funders, in
diverse contributions of a wide range of people,
non-official ways as intermediaries to
from political leaders to concerned members of
encourage the peaceful resolution of conflict.
the public, in order to generate creative
In special circumstances QPS carries out non-
solutions.
official political reconciliation and commun-
ication work between opposing sides in war. War-torn Societies Project, UNRISD and
Programme for Strategic and International
Refugee Policy Group (RPG) Security Studies (PSIS)
An independent centre for policy research and Project Director: Matthias Stiefel
analysis on refugee and related humanitarian Analyses experience of transforming a fragile
issues, which publishes detailed reports and cease-fire into a lasting political settlement that
policy briefings and houses an extensive can provide the basis for sustainable develop-
documentation centre, on matters concerning ment. Much research is conducted by in-
refugees and displaced persons. Of particular country teams, coordinated via Geneva. The
note is Strengthening International Protection project seeks policy options for international
for Internally Displaced Persons (1993). donors, multilateral organisations, NGOs, and
local authorities and organisations who are
Refugee Studies Programme
tackling these problems; and contributes to
Programme Director: David Turton
integrating international assistance
The Refugee Studies Programme is part of the
economic, humanitarian, political, and military
University of Oxford's International
within a coherent policy framework. It
Development Centre. Established in 1982,
produces various publications, including After
RSP's aim is to increase understanding of the
the Conflict: A review of selected sources on
causes, consequences, and experiences of
rebuilding war-torn societies (1995), compiled
forced migration through multidisciplinary
by Patricia Weiss Fagen.
research, teaching, publications, seminars, and
conferences. Independent of governments and
assistance agencies, RSP provides a forum for
Addresses of publishers and other
discussion among refugees, researchers,
organisations listed
practitioners, and policy makers.
African Rights, 11 Marshalsea Road, London
Relief and Rehabilitation Network SE1 1EP, UK
Part of the Relief and Disasters Policy
CUR (Catholic Institute for International
Programme of the Overseas Development
Relations), Unit 3, Canonbury Yard, 109a New
Institute (ODI), which combines research,
North Road, London Nl 7BJ, UK
evaluation, and communications activities in
collaboration with a range of bilateral, multi- Centre for Immigration Policy and Refugee
lateral, NGO, and academic partners. The Assistance (CIPRA), Georgetown University,
Network serves some 300 members in over 50 PO Box 2298-Hoya Station, Washington DC
countries, mostly field-based. Mailings are in 20057-1001, USA
108 Development in States of War

Quaker Peace and Service English and French, and members can obtain
General Secretary: Andrew C Clark advice on technical and operational problems
QPS, based in London, supports long-term from within the ODI or via the Network itself.
programmes by sending experienced workers
Safenvorld
who contribute to reconciliation at all levels,
An independent foreign affairs think-tank and
sometimes working with the victims of wars or
public-education group, formed to alert
violence. QPS works with the UN in the areas
governments to the need for new approaches to
of disarmament, human rights, refugees, and
dealing with armed conflicts. Safenvorld
economic development through its staff in
focuses on identifying key issues on which
Geneva. It also works with decision makers,
movement is possible, and drawing on the
whether diplomats, politicians or funders, in
diverse contributions of a wide range of people,
non-official ways as intermediaries to
from political leaders to concerned members of
encourage the peaceful resolution of conflict.
the public, in order to generate creative
In special circumstances QPS carries out non-
solutions.
official political reconciliation and commun-
ication work between opposing sides in war. War-torn Societies Project, UNRISD and
Programme for Strategic and International
Refugee Policy Group (RPG) Security Studies (PSIS)
An independent centre for policy research and Project Director: Matthias Stiefel
analysis on refugee and related humanitarian Analyses experience of transforming a fragile
issues, which publishes detailed reports and cease-fire into a lasting political settlement that
policy briefings and houses an extensive can provide the basis for sustainable develop-
documentation centre, on matters concerning ment. Much research is conducted by in-
refugees and displaced persons. Of particular country teams, coordinated via Geneva. The
note is Strengthening International Protection project seeks policy options for international
for Internally Displaced Persons (1993). donors, multilateral organisations, NGOs, and
local authorities and organisations who are
Refugee Studies Programme
tackling these problems; and contributes to
Programme Director: David Turton
integrating international assistance
The Refugee Studies Programme is part of the
economic, humanitarian, political, and military
University of Oxford's International
within a coherent policy framework. It
Development Centre. Established in 1982,
produces various publications, including After
RSP's aim is to increase understanding of the
the Conflict: A review of selected sources on
causes, consequences, and experiences of
rebuilding war-torn societies (1995), compiled
forced migration through multidisciplinary
by Patricia Weiss Fagen.
research, teaching, publications, seminars, and
conferences. Independent of governments and
assistance agencies, RSP provides a forum for
Addresses of publishers and other
discussion among refugees, researchers,
organisations listed
practitioners, and policy makers.
African Rights, 11 Marshalsea Road, London
Relief and Rehabilitation Network SE1 1EP, UK
Part of the Relief and Disasters Policy
CUR (Catholic Institute for International
Programme of the Overseas Development
Relations), Unit 3, Canonbury Yard, 109a New
Institute (ODI), which combines research,
North Road, London Nl 7BJ, UK
evaluation, and communications activities in
collaboration with a range of bilateral, multi- Centre for Immigration Policy and Refugee
lateral, NGO, and academic partners. The Assistance (CIPRA), Georgetown University,
Network serves some 300 members in over 50 PO Box 2298-Hoya Station, Washington DC
countries, mostly field-based. Mailings are in 20057-1001, USA
Annotated bibliography 109

Collaborative for Development Action Inc, 26 Refugee Studies Programme, Queen Elizabeth
Walker Street, Cambridge MA 02138, USA House, 21 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3LA, UK
Department of Humanitarian Affairs, Palais Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1800 30th St,
des Nations, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland Boulder, Colorado 80301, USA
Earthscan Publications, 120 Pentonville Road, St Martin's Press, 175 5th Avenue, New York
London N19JN.UK NY 10010, USA
Humanitarianism and War Project, Thomas J Saferworld, 33 Alfred Place, London WC1E
Watson Jr Institute for International Studies, 7DP.UK
Brown University, Box 1970, 2 Stimson
Sage Publications, 6 Bonhill Street, London
Avenue, Providence, RI02912, USA
EC2A 4PU.UK
Human Rights Watch, 485 Fifth Avenue, New
Save the Children Fund, 17 Grove Lane,
York NY 10017-6014, USA
London SE5 8RD.UK
International Alert, 1 Glyn Street, London
The Fletcher School of Law and International
SE115HT,UK
Diplomacy, Program in International and US
International Council of Voluntary Agencies Refugee Policy, Tufts University, Medford,
(ICVA), Case Postale 216, 1211 Geneva 21, Massachussets 02155, USA
Switzerland
UN Centre for Human Rights, UN Office at
International Committee of the Red Cross, 19 Geneva, 8-14 avenue de la Paix, 1211 Geneva
avenue de la Paix, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland 10, Switzerland
International Peace Research Institute, UNESCO, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75372 Paris
Fuglehauggata 11,0260 Oslo, Norway 07 SP, France
Latin America Bureau, 1 Amwell Street, UNHCR, Centre William Rappard, 154 rue de
London EC1R1UL, UK Lausanne, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
Mennonite Central Committee, 21 South 12th UNRISD, Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva,
Street, PO Box 500, Akron PA 17501-0500, Switzerland
USA
UN University Press, Toho Shimei Building,
Minority Rights Group, 379 Brixton Road, 15-1 Shibuya 2-chome, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
London SW97DE.UK 150,Japan
OECD, 2 rue Andre Pascal, 75775 Paris, Cedex United States Institute of Peace Press, 1550 M
16, France Street NW, Washington DC 20005, USA
Overseas Development Institute, Regent's Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation,
College, Inner Circle, Regent's Park, London 2001 S Street NW, Suite 740, Washington DC,
NW14NS.UK USA
Oxfam Publishing, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford Washington Office on Latin America, 110
OX2 7DZ.UK Maryland Avenue NE, Washington DC 20002,
USA
Oxford University Press, Walton Street,
Oxford OX2 6DP, UK Westview Press, 5500 Central Avenue,
Boulder, Colorado 80301-2877, USA
Quaker Peace and Service, Friends House,
Euston Road, London NW1 2BJ, UK The World Peace Foundation, 1 Eliot Square,
Cambridge MA 02138-4952, USA
Refugee Policy Group, 1424 16th Street NW,
Suite 401, Washington DC 20036, USA Zed Books, 9 Cynthia Street, London Nl 9JF,
Development in Practice
a multi-disciplinary journal of development

Editor: Deborah Eade, Oxfam UK and Ireland


Assistant Editor (Reviews): Caroline Knowles, Oxfam UK and Ireland

Development in Practice is a forum for practitioners, policy makers, official aid agencies,
NGOs, and academics to exchange information and analysis concerning the social dimensions
of development and emergency relief work. As a multi-disciplinary journal of policy and
practice, Development in Practice reflects a wide range of institutional and cultural back-
grounds and a variety of professional experience. All articles are independently refereed. Each
issue offers the following features:
Editorial Feedback
Main Articles Conference Reports
Viewpoint Book Reviews
Practical Notes Book Shelf
Research Round-up News in Brief

The Editor welcomes contributions from any source, but actively encourages contributions
from practitioners, and is pleased to hear from previously unpublished writers and authors
whose first language is not English. Some editorial assistance may be offered where neces-
sary. Guidelines for Contributors are available from the Editor, Development in Practice,
c/o Oxfam, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford 0X2 7DZ, UK.

'Here, in one single publication, are the latest tools, concepts and experiences, written in an
accessible style, by and for development workers and managers. Development in Practice has
proved itself a vital resource for professionals committed to learning and innovation.'
Jethro Pettit, International Director, World Neighbors

Development in Practice is published by Oxfam UK and Ireland. ISSN: 0961 4524

Editorial Advisers
Haleh Afshar, University of York, UK
Mary B Anderson, The Collaborative for Development Action Inc., USA
Chaloka Beyani, University of Oxford, UK
Jan Burgess, Editor, Review of African Political Economy, UK
Urvashi Butalia, Kali for Women, India
Piers Campbell, MANNET, Switzerland
Stephen Commins, World Vision International Inc., USA
Marie Theresa Diokno, Philippine-China Resource Center, The Philippines
Carlos Dore-Cabral, FLACSO, Dominican Republic
Michael Edwards, The Save the Children Fund, UK
Dr Claudia Garcia Moreno, WHO, Switzerland
Eleanor Hill, Independent Health Consultant, UK
Professor Patricia Howard-Borjas, University of Wageningen, The Netherlands
Hazel Johnson, The Open University, UK
Itziar Lozano, Red Entre Mujeres, Mexico
Firoze Manji, Amnesty International, UK
Patrick Mulvany, Intermediate Technology Development Group, UK
Jabulani Manombe Ncube, Development Initiatives and Services, Zimbabwe
Jenny Pearce, University of Bradford, UK
Jethro Pettit, World Neighbors, USA
Renee Pittin, Institute of Social Studies, The Netherlands
Douglas Porter, Australian National University, Australia
Dorienne Rowan-Campbell, Independent Development Consultant, Jamaica
Jose Antonio Sanahuja Perales, Centra de Investigaci6n para la Paz, Spain
Professor Johan Saravanamuttu, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia
Irma Saucedo Gonzalez, El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico
Harsh Sethi, Sage Publications India, India
Professor Issa G Shivji, University of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania
Julio Tan, Community Extension and Research for Development Inc., The Philippines
Melakou Tegegn, El Taller, Ethiopia
David Turton, Refugee Studies Programme, UK
Fernand Vincent, RAFAD, Switzerland

Electronic version
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Subscriptions
Each volume (464 pages) is published in four issues (February, May, August, and
November), with an index and translated abstracts at the end of the volume. Development in
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For further details of current subscription rates or to request a free inspection copy, please
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Development in Practice Readers
Series Editor: Deborah Eade

Each book in this new series offers a selection of articles from past issues of the
journal Development in Practice, chosen to promote debate on a theme of current
concern to the international development community. Each is introduced by a
specially commissioned overview and ends with an annotated bibliography of
current and classic titles.

Development and Social Diversity


introduced by Mary B. Anderson
The first book in the series considers how change affects different members of
society in ways that reflect differences in their power and status, as defined by
their age, gender, and cultural identity. By denying such diversity,
development agencies risk excluding
vulnerable social groups and actually
increasing their poverty.
ISBN 0 85598 343 4 112 pages
1996

Oxfam Publications
Oxfam (UK and Ireland) publishes a wide range of books, manuals,
journals, and resource materials for specialist, academic, and general
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