Abstract
This article explores a so far little researched aspect of the Norwegian development aid – the privatised, personalised aid giving. Elsewhere in Europe, researchers have explored this phenomenon, which they refer to as citizen initiatives (CIs) for global solidarity [Pollet, I., R. Habraken, L. Schulpen and H. Huyse, 2014, The Accidental Aid Worker: A Mapping of Citizen Initiatives for Global Solidarity in Europe, Nijmegen: KU Leuven/HIVA and CIDIN]. This phenomenon coincides with a generalised crisis in the established state-sponsored international aid industry reflecting the extended financial crisis. Against the background of a first exploratory mapping of CIs in Norway, we discuss what we have termed the accidental aid agent and his journey into aid-land. Through the presentation of the case of a Norwegian accidental aid agent in Africa, we discuss how agency and power is played out in terms of the aid agents’ activities in an African context as well as in Norway.
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