International Rescue Committee Research Articles

Emergency Response in War and Natural Disasters: A Look at the IRC

This research is of utmost importance in studying the application of immediate emergency response programs and interventions by the esteemed International Rescue Committee (IRC). The IRC is instrumental in rescuing affected individuals or communities from wars and natural disasters. The project's interest lies in examining strategies and criteria for distributing and allocating limited resources during crises and after restoring the situation. It identifies the primary objectives sought to evaluate the access to basic needs to support the livelihood of communities, including health, education, financial inclusions, local capacity, and infrastructure. The research aims to analyze the scope of emergency response programs and interventions and the effectiveness of the applications where the IRC team directs emergency response programs and interventions. The research methodology incorporates a robust mixed-method, quantitative and qualitative research design based on affected populations by war and natural disasters. The collected data was obtained from individuals under the programs and interventions. The answers reveal the effectiveness of the emergency response programs and interventions and how they correspond to the hypothesis of implementing a mindfulness-based intervention that significantly reduces the stress levels from war and natural disaster-affected communities. The collected data from questions or digital search engines shows that the IRC's emergency response programs and interventions provide robust impact and effectiveness for affected individuals by wars and natural disasters. The recommendation is that this research study be expanded to explore and collect more data to determine the depth of effectiveness of emergency response programs and intervention outcomes.

The Community Health Response Team: a culturally and linguistically tailored community response to COVID-19 addressing barriers to testing and vaccinations for refugee, immigrant and migrant communities in Atlanta, Georgia.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Atlanta and Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) established a Community Health Response Team in May 2020. The team members represented refugee, immigrant and migrant populations and had expertise in health care and public health. These 18 individuals were recruited from IRC Atlanta's Career Development program, had a variety of backgrounds and spoke 20 languages. They implemented a community-centered COVID-response intervention model of pairing education and outreach efforts with testing and vaccination clinics. Due to their team makeup, the Community Health Response Team conducted tailored outreach and education that was culturally and linguistically congruent with their target communities. They administered over 16,000 COVID-19 tests at mobile community sites within the first 6 months. Once COVID-19 vaccinations were available, the Community Health Response Team coordinated a total of 834 vaccination events in communities with a high number of refugees and in partnership with refugee- and immigrant-trusted community-based organizations, resulting in 31,888 vaccinations. Hiring staff from refugee, immigrant and migrant populations created a sustainable staffing model. Also, embedding culturally specific strategies in their model of pairing education and outreach led to long-term relationships and greater trust with community members. This approach of engaging and empowering community members to create tailored public health responses should serve as guidance for future public health campaigns.

Refugees In the EU And the SDGs: Decoding Inclusivity of Refugees In Assessment System Of SDGs And Progress Towards SDGs.

Migration issues began specifically after the world wars and evolved in various forms to this day. The biggest inflow of refugees in Europe was seen in 2015 which brought new issues at the forefront of the European Union. European Union had tried to control the crisis through various policies and systems in place. EU countries have shared responsibilities to ensure the asylum seeker is processed in a dignified manner. But the process is not as simple as it looks. And many a times there are incidences of violation of basic universal Human rights which are also part of SDG’s. When we look into SDG’s, one point strikingly comes into light which is the “refugee gap” connoted by the International Rescue Committee in their report “Missing Persons: Refugees Left Out and Left Behind in SDGs” (2019). Such other reports point out lacunas in the policies made to achieve inclusivity. My proposed topic is Refugees in the EU and the SDG’s: Decoding inclusivity of refugees in assessment system of SDG’s and progress towards SDG’s. The paper will try to study SDG’s, migration, policy lucidity and responsibilities of member states to ensure providing basic services obligated under SDG’s. It is crucial to study whether the “well-managed migration policies” are able to include refugees into the SDG’s assessment and are they coherent with SDGs aim of “not leaving anyone behind.”

Impact of Implementing ISO 26000 on the Service Quality: The Mediating Role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)

The purpose of the study is to test the impact of implementing ISO 26000 on service quality and examine of the mediating role of information and communication technology (ICT) of the humanitarian organization; the International Rescue Committee (IRC). This study has two types of objectives; theoretical and practical objectives that aim to clarify and explain: the principles of ISO 26000, the service quality dimensions, and the ICT role as a mediating factor between ISO 26000 and service quality. This study also aims to identify the clauses and standards that the IRC is committed to and to what extent this commitment impacts the service quality in the presence of ICT. Lack of clarity at the level of compliance with the social responsibility standards (ISO 26000) of the provision of services by the IRC, and lack of clarity of the framework used by the IRC in the governance and management of ICT to provide these services were the main reasons to conduct this study. Two questionnaires have been used to collect the data. The first one was filled by the beneficiaries of IRC and the second one was filled by the IRC seniors. The findings show a statistically significant impact of implementing ISO 26000 on service quality. There is also a significant positive relationship between ISO 26000 and ICT. Finally, findings revealed a significant indirect impact for ISO 26000 of which ICT played a mediating role on the service quality. This study strongly recommends decision makers at IRC to pay more attention to implementing ISO 26000, and to examine the role of ICT which improves the service quality.

Ea$ing into the USA: study protocol for adapting the Economic and Social Empowerment (EA$E) intervention for US-based, forcibly based populations

IntroductionImmigrant and forcibly displaced women and girls are disproportionately impacted by the harmful health consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the USA. Economic and Social Empowerment (EA$E), a women’s...

Bridging the gap: Sound as a tool towards resettlement

Over the past three years, various sound initiatives have been conducted in a collaboration between the College of Architecture and Planning at the University of Utah, and the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Led by Milad Mozari, an artist and researcher, the medium of sound is used as a tool for exploration, place-making, and spatialization between students and refugees. This paper presentation will go over three categories of how audible sound is used in this collaboration. (1) The use of omnidirectional microphones to create sound collages as a way of introducing a place. This was distinctly differently interpreted in proximity to sound sources by students and IRC clients. (2) Experiments in analog synthesis to create collaborative performances between individuals with different musical backgrounds. (3) The use of ambisonic mixing for virtual reality videos that former IRC clients and students create as a tool for the resettlement of future refugees. Overall, this ongoing initiative is at the intersection of social design and emerging technological tools, which marginalized communities are often unaware of. At its core concept, the project aims to increase accessibility to sound tools to communities that may not come across it in their resettlement process.

Refugee Status in Turkey After The End Of World War II, As Reported By The International Rescue and Relief Committee (IRRC)

Türkiye, Asya ile Avrupa arasında köprü vazifesi gören konumu ve tarafsız statüsü ile II. Dünya Savaşı döneminde binlerce mülteciye ev sahipliği yaptı. Savaşın Balkanlara yayılmasıyla Türkiye’ye sığınan mültecilerin sayısında da her geçen gün artış oldu. 1943 yılının Mart ayı itibarıyla bu kapsamda ülkede bulunanların sayısı 22.209’a ulaştı. Bu mültecilerden önemli bir kısmı 1943 yılında ülkelerine iade edildi ya da başka ülkelerdeki mülteci kamplarına sevk edildi. Ancak savaş sona erdiğinde çeşitli sebeplerle ülkelerine iade edilemeyip Türkiye’de kalmaya devam eden yaklaşık 1.500 mülteci bulunmaktaydı. Bu çalışmanın amacı II. Dünya Savaşı’nın sona ermesinin ardından Türkiye’de bulunan bu mültecilerin durumunu, Birleşmiş Milletler Arşivinde bulunan ve Uluslararası Kurtarma ve Yardım Komitesi (IRRC) tarafından hazırlanan rapor ile T.C. Devlet Arşivleri Başkanlığı Cumhuriyet Arşivinde yer alan belgeleri karşılaştırarak tespit etmektir.

Transforming forced displacement response through innovation

Abstract With more individuals forcibly displaced than any time since the Second World War, forced displacement has emerged as one of the defining political and humanitarian issues of the twenty-first century. In response to the changing nature of displacement, shortcomings of the humanitarian sector, and several ideological shifts that have taken place over the past 20 years, innovation has been embraced as a method to generate new breakthrough solutions for forced displacement. This article takes stock of innovation in forced displacement and charts a path forward for innovation in the sector. We articulate a vision for what forced displacement response should look like in 20 years, detailing an innovation agenda at the individual level, country level, and sector level. Grounded in our lessons learned from leading innovation at the International Rescue Committee, a large humanitarian non-governmental organization (NGO), we outline a set of strategies the sector should adopt to increase the quantity and quality of new innovations, improve the mechanisms to identify cost-effective innovations, and enhance the paths to scale for these innovations.

Influence of Monitoring and Evaluation on Sustainability of Donor Funded Projects in Afghanistan

Monitoring and evaluation is a continuous management function to assess if progress is made in achieving expected results. The study sought to examine the influence of monitoring and evaluation on the sustainability of donor-funded projects in Afghanistan. The study adopted the descriptive research design. The descriptive research design is a type of research design that systematically aims to obtain information to systematically describe a phenomenon, situation, or population. The target population included employees working at Afghanaid and International Rescue Committee. The study used the purposive sampling technique to get the sample size. The collection of the data was done using the questionnaires. The analysis of the data was done using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found that monitoring and evaluation are critical in determining the sustainability of donor-funded projects in Afghanistan. The study found that monitoring and evaluation is positively and significantly associated with project sustainability (r=.418, p=.000). It was also found that project monitoring and evaluation is positively and significantly related to sustainability (B=0.521, p=0.009). The results implied that when the project monitoring and evaluation improve by one unit, the sustainability will increase by 0.521 units while holding other factors constant. The monitoring and evaluation enhance the proper utilization of donor funds. The research recommended that a monitoring and evaluation plan be embraced that overviews the enhancement of monitoring and evaluation systems and sets out actions and procedures to develop a durable monitoring and evaluation system. A restructuring of the existing monitoring and evaluation framework should be evaluated regularly. Keywords: Monitoring and Evaluation, Sustainability, Donor Funded Projects, Afghanistan

Save the Ukrainian People First: They Carry their Culture in their Hearts

Save the Ukrainian People First: They Carry their Culture in their Hearts

Fostering Protective Assets Among Syrian Refugee Girls Who Experience Child Marriage: Findings from a Formative Program Evaluation

The International Rescue Committee's Life Skills Tailored Package for Early Marriage focuses on engaged, married, and divorced Syrian refugee girls aged 13-18 living in Lebanon. This paper details findings from a qualitative program evaluation. In-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) explored participants' viewpoints about program components. IDIs engaged program staff and adolescent girls. FGDs included adolescent girls, husbands/fathers, and mothers/mothers-in-law. Data were audio-recorded, transcribed, and assessed using inductive content analysis. Three themes emerged: (1) engaging influencers with discretion facilitated girls' participation, (2) reaching out to vulnerable girls required foresight and flexibility, and (3) participation fostered development of personal resources and adaptive capacities among adolescent girls, who described improvements in self-confidence for decision-making/time management, reproductive health knowledge, emotional regulation/understanding of healthy relationships, and self-protection. Efforts to improve psychosocial and reproductive health of refugee adolescent girls experiencing child marriage should integrate lessons learned through this program.

A Process Evaluation of Social Protection Policy in the Unconditional Cash Transfer Programme for Vulnerable People

This study is a Process evaluation of the Unconditional Cash Transfer (UCT), which is implemented by the International Rescue Committee (IRC), in Chipinge District. The study assessed the program's implementation methods. The study utilized a mixed methodology approach. Semi structured interviews were utilized to interview beneficiaries and project staff. A total of 10 interviewees were interviewed and 80 questionnaires were distributed to beneficiaries. Interviewees were purposely selected, and 80 questionnaire respondents were randomly selected. The author also gathered data through document analysis and observations. The study assessed if activities were being carried out according to plan, if non-cash and cash resources utilized according to plan, and whether the skills and competencies of the personnel were adequate. The study also analyzed beneficiary satisfaction and potential changes to the UCT program’s implementation. The findings were that UCT activities are being carried out according to plan. Cash and noncash resources are always available for the implementation of the UCT Programme and there is no abuse of funds. The findings indicated that the personnel are qualified enough for the implementation of the programme and that beneficiaries are satisfied with the UCT programme services. The study recommended that it might be necessary to increase the frequency of the cash transfer payments to a monthly basis instead of bi-monthly to empower the beneficiaries to generate more income. It was recommended that there be an exit strategy to phase out eligible beneficiaries and bring in new beneficiaries. It was also recommended that the payment process may be electrified to cut costs and for easy tracking of payments Since the study was based on a single case, Chipinge, it was recommended that there is need to conduct process evaluations on the UCT programme in other parts of the country to get a broader spectrum on the implementation of the UCT programme.

UN Sustainable Development Goals and the “Refugee Gap”: Leaving Refugees Behind?

Abstract The Global Indicator Framework for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) identifies seventeen goals with related targets and indicators of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and only one target includes an explicit reference to migration processes and policies. Under Goal 10 “Reduce inequality within and among countries,” target 10.7 concerns the facilitation of “orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration, and mobility of people, which includes the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies” that should be measured through four related indicators, three of which are potentially relevant to refugees. After exploring what the International Rescue Committee defines as “refugee gap” concerning SDGs (2019) in their report “Missing Persons: Refugees Left Out and Left Behind in SDGs,” this article reconfigures this gap as a multidimensional concept, and seeks to provide insights on which further steps could be undertaken to bridge it. The main analytical threads identified in this process include: 1) the partial availability of data concerning refugees” progress towards SDGs due to current data disaggregation policies and practices; 2) the limited presence of refugees in voluntary reporting activities by States; and 3) the conceptual framework behind target 10.7, as well as the methodology used to measure progress of three (out of four) indicators toward this target. The focus on target 10.7 and related indicators is aimed at checking their ability to provide information on how refugees’ access to fundamental rights and well-being are taken into account in the assessment of so-called “well managed migration policies.” From a methodological point of view, our analysis has also been supported by semi-structured interviews with the main experts on the issue, having key roles both in the conceptualization of the SDG refugee gap and in the definition and proposal of three selected indicators. To conclude, this article will ask whether and to what extent the refugee gap is still present despite the inclusion of a new refugee dedicated indicator in 2020 and despite the UNHCR’s advocacy efforts to include the forcibly displaced dimension in disaggregation policies. Moreover, it will investigate how such a gap can potentially be closed and whether the definition of “well-managed migration policies” is sufficiently comprehensive, is able to involve refugees in the assessment of progress towards SDGs and is consistent with the SDGs-linked principle of “leaving no one behind.”

1100-P: A Four-Humanitarian Agency Survey of Diabetes Care in 83 Humanitarian Settings

Background: We are currently facing unprecedented humanitarian crises. With diabetes at record-high levels and projected increases in humanitarian crises globally, data on the burden and management of DM in humanitarian crises is needed to stop unnecessary disability and death. Methods: We surveyed data on diabetes care provision in humanitarian medical services in 2018 across 4 humanitarian agencies (Doctors Without Borders, International Committee of the Red Cross, International Rescue Committee, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) with 83 randomly selected sites across 27 countries in 5 global regions. Of 83 sites, 65 (78%) reported collecting DM care data and were used for cross-sectional analysis of rates and proportions. Results: Of 65 sites, most were in the Eastern Mediterranean (n=29, 45%) and Africa (35%), with 20% elsewhere; 34% were refugee camps, 34% rural non-camp sites, 21% urban non-camp sites, 11% internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. Populations were mostly a mix of refugees, IDPs and the general population (n=46/65, 71%), with refugees only at 23% and IDPs only at 6% of sites. Of 65 sites, 58 were affected by conflict (89%), 5% epidemics, 1% natural disasters and 5% multiple crisis types. Most sites (n=49) were in protracted crises (75%), with 23% in recovery stages and 2% in acute crisis. Of 65 sites, 46 (71%) reported providing clinical DM management. However, only 66% had insulin available, 71% had capillary glucose testing, 55% urine dipstick glucose, 19% hemoglobin A1c testing, 22% home glucose monitoring, 35% community outreach, 58% patient education, 32% training of staff and 52% continuity of care systems. Conclusions: DM services were mostly provided in protracted humanitarian settings. Services were widespread but often rudimentary and delivered to the general population as well as refugees and IDPs. Improving DM care for crisis-affected populations is urgently needed. Disclosure S. Kehlenbrink: None. S. Kayden: None. K. Donelan: None. B. Porneala: None. J. B. Meigs: Consultant; Self; Quest Diagnostics. O. Mahboob: None. S. A. Al-zubi: None. P. Boulle: None. S. Aebischer perone: None. L. Kiapi: None. A. H. Alani: None. H. Hering: None. M. Woodman: None.

Children's learning and development in conflict- and crisis-affected countries: Building a science for action.

This paper critically reviews the opportunities and challenges in designing and conducting actionable research on the learning and development of children in conflict- and crisis-affected countries. We approached our review through two perspectives championed by Edward Zigler: (a) child development and social policy and (b) developmental psychopathology in context. The aim of the work was to answer the following questions: What works to enhance children's learning and development in such contexts? By what mechanisms? For whom? Under what conditions? How do experiences and conditions of crisis affect the basic processes of children's typical development? The review is based on a research-practice partnership started in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2010 and expanded to research in Niger and Lebanon in 2016. The focus of the research is on the impact of Healing Classrooms (a set of classroom practices) and Healing Classrooms Plus (an additional set of targeted social and emotional learning activities), developed by the International Rescue Committee, on children's academic outcomes and social and emotional learning. We sought to extract lessons from this decade of research for building a global developmental science for action. Special attention is paid to the importance of research-practice partnerships, conceptual frameworks, measurement and methodology. We conclude by highlighting several essential features of a global developmental science for action.

Information and Communication Technologies Usage in Working with Families of Early Aged and Preschool Children with Visual Impairments in Terms of Distance Psychological and Pedagogical Support

This paper presents the results of studying the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) in working with families of early aged and preschool children with visual impairments. The authors analyze the current situation in families during strict quarantine in 2020 and 2021 and study the possibilities of using information technology in the development of children with visual impairments at home. The study describes how or under what circumstances specialists worked with families of early aged and preschool children with visual impairments, what problems parents, professionals faced, and whether they were ready to solve—via the author’s questionnaires for professionals and parents, identified current problems that need urgent solutions. The theoretical basis and practical side of studying the problem of using information and communication technologies in families’ distance psychological and pedagogical support are presented. Attention is focused on different levels, and specialists with children with visual impairments in the context of family education and the absence or insufficiency of distance correction work with early aged children and their parents are emphasized. The need for further study of the situation for the development of appropriate forms, methods of ICT in working with families of children of early and preschool age with visual impairments. The relevance of scientific research on the use of ICT and distance psychological and pedagogical support is proved, as this format will be in demand not only during lockdown but also in seasonal outbreaks, challenging weather conditions, as well as constantly for families living in settlements, remote from International Rescue Committee and other educational institutions, families who due to various life circumstances are not able to visit institutions that provide educational and psychological services. It is concluded that there is an urgent need to create a holistic system using ICT to work with families of early aged and preschool children with visual impairments, which will help solve a wide range of psychological and pedagogical rehabilitation support tasks.

Using a Participatory Approach to Create SEL Programming: The Case of Ahlan Simsim

This paper highlights the use of a participatory, trauma-informed approach in the creation of Ahlan Simsim, a Sesame Street television program for the Middle East, and asserts the importance of using a participatory approach to designing culturally relevant SEL content. Ahlan Simsim is a component of a larger initiative of the same name, which was created by Sesame Workshop and the International Rescue Committee and funded by the MacArthur and LEGO foundations. This program brings early learning and nurturing care to children and families affected by the Syrian crisis through a combination of mass media and direct service programming. In this article, we present a review of the research and consultations Sesame Workshop conducted with local communities and local child-development experts in Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon from August to November 2018. Sesame Workshop's aim was to identify and refine the television program's focus area and to create locally relevant, trauma-informed content that draws from social and emotional learning strategies that resonate most and have the greatest impact with audiences in the Syrian response region. We argue that, for SEL programming to achieve maximum impact, it is critical that program designers develop social-emotional frameworks for children from the ground up by working with local caregivers and practitioners.

Fragile Strategies: Getting Pandemic Response Right in Fragile States

Fragile Strategies: Getting Pandemic Response Right in Fragile States1 Blaise Misztal (bio) This article was contributed to Forum—the edition’s portfolio of thematic content—by GJIA’s Global Governance section Crises, conventional wisdom holds, are the only way to jolt our divided, distracted, and dawdling political system into action. In the case of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the world’s fragile states, however, policy responses prompted by the current crisis might actually prove counterproductive. Almost as soon as it became clear in the spring of 2020 that the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus was becoming a global pandemic, alarm bells began ringing among experts who study and work in fragile contexts. Fragility is a political condition best understood as affecting low- or middle-income states—or sub-state regions—that are, or are at risk of becoming, engulfed in political instability or conflict as a result of “deficits of institutional capacity and political legitimacy.”2 The World Bank currently includes thirty-six areas in its list of “Fragile and Conflict-affected Situations.”3 Yet, according to available data, fragile states were recording far fewer COVID-19 cases and deaths than other developing but non-fragile countries, let alone the developed world. This does not mean that the experts were wrong or that the COVID-19 pandemic is not ravaging these countries. Indeed, regardless of its effects on public health—which might be far greater than limited testing data reveals—COVID-19’s second-order economic, social, and political consequences are already severe and threaten to be long-lasting for fragile states. However, these early concerns about fragile states—and the resulting donor response focused on broad health and humanitarian assistance— contradict most of what is known about fragility and how to deal with it. In the last several years, a consensus has emerged in United States and across multilateral institutions—within governmental and non-governmental organizations alike and now captured in recent US legislation and official strategy documents4—on how to address the challenge of fragility. This approach focuses upon individually tailored, long-term preventive engagements designed around building political comity, not through crisis-driven humanitarian assistance or technical capacity building. Yet, these lessons are being sparingly applied—if at all—to the challenge that COVID-19 poses to fragile states. In short, COVID-19 risks not only decimating fragile states but also undoing the progress that has been made in rethinking policy responses to fragility. An unpredictable pandemic In the spring of 2020 and as Europe and the United States were in various stages of lockdown, David Miliband, the former British Foreign Minister and current head of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), warned that “the full, devastating and disproportionate weight of this pandemic has yet to be felt in the world’s most fragile and war-torn countries.”5 The IRC estimated that there could be “between 500 million and 1 billion coronavirus infections, leading to between 1.7 to 3.2 million deaths” in the thirty-four predominantly fragile countries within which the agency works.6 Available data shows that—thus far—this worst-case scenario has not come to pass. As of [End Page 29] January 29, 2021, total worldwide reported COVID-19 infections stood at roughly 102 million, with deaths at 2.2 million. Though there are concerns about the accuracy of that data, fragile states have reported far lower infection and mortality rates than other developing and even developed countries. In the thirty-six areas categorized as fragile by the World Bank, the total number of infections (as of early December 2020) was 1.25 million—with just over 27,000 deaths. Taken together, fragile states average 227 total infections and five total deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, rates that are an order of magnitude lower than the United States—where those figures stand at 4,638 and 88, respectively.7 Even more remarkable is that fragile states in Africa (twenty out of the thirty-six states designated as fragile by the World Bank)—and indeed the continent as a whole—have fared much better than expected. In June, the head of Africa Centers for Disease...

Learning, development and change in a community-based enterprise in Myanmar

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the process of large-scale organizational change in a community-based enterprise in Myanmar. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative case study methodology was selected to understand the phenomenon of change in a community-based enterprise in Myanmar. Data were collected over a four-week period of fieldwork through individual interviews, focus groups, observations and document collection. Data were analyzed via a modified inductive analytic strategy using constant comparative analysis. Findings Findings revealed the processes used in this large-scale organizational change as impacted by the national cultural dimensions of Myanmar and the social learning experienced by the participants. Learning about organization development and change and sharing that learning in the organization by its members who participated in a certificate program in organizational development designed by Payap University (Thailand) and the International Rescue Committee had a major role in the change processes. Myanmar’s high power distance and collectivist culture facilitated social learning by highlighting authority figures as role models and providing high interaction environments conducive to learning. Originality/value This study illuminates the change process in a community-based organization in the emerging economy of Myanmar where no roadmaps for change in these types of organizations exist. The findings of this study are transferrable to community-based organizations in emerging economies with similar national cultural characteristics and call for future case studies to understand the complexities of change in these unique organizations and environments.

Emotion strategies of EU-based human rights and humanitarian Civil society Organizations (CSOs) in times of populism

ABSTRACT This article analyses how the strategies of European Union (EU) based Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) have evolved in the context of the rise of populism with a specific focus on the role of emotions. I propose an in-depth qualitative analysis of human rights and humanitarian EU level CSOs involved in the protection of refugees and asylum seekers. Emotions inspiring CSOs values, such as compassion have been seriously challenged after the populist turn. This article also shows how CSOs’ emotion-based strategies (including blaming and shaming, vilification, boosting and compassion selection) have evolved in the context of the rise of populism. Data is retrieved from semi-structured interviews, position papers, press releases and speeches from key well-established EU-level CSOs including Amnesty International (AI), the International Rescue Committee (IRC), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières-MSF).