Non-governmental Organization Staff Research Articles

Piloting “From the Inside Out” — a toolkit addressing tuberculosis-related self-stigma

BackgroundSelf-stigma among people who have tuberculosis (TB) can contribute to non-adherence to medication and disengagement from care. It can manifest in feelings of worthlessness, shame, and guilt, leading to social withdrawal and disengagement from life opportunities. Self-stigma may also affect families of those who have TB, or healthcare workers who treat them. However, few interventions addressing TB self-stigma exist to date.MethodsWe piloted the delivery of a toolkit of psychosocial interventions using a “training-of-trainers” approach with six staff members of a TB-focused NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) and partner organisations in Jakarta, Indonesia. These trainers could then disseminate the toolkit among community partner organisations. Local staff involvement throughout the study supported translation and adaptation to enhance cultural and language appropriateness. Over a 2-day training-of-trainers workshop, the NGO staff were familiarised with the mode of delivery of the toolkit, which they then delivered via a four-day participatory workshop with 22 people who have TB/TB survivors, who were representatives of partner organisations working among communities affected by TB.ResultsThe newly-trained local facilitators delivered the toolkit to the participants, who self-reported significant increases in knowledge and efficacy around TB self-stigma post-intervention compared to baseline (Z = 1.991, p = 0.047, Wilcoxon signed-rank test). The participants’ levels of self-compassion were also significantly higher post-workshop (Z = 2.096, p = 0.036, Wilcoxon signed-rank test); however, these effects were not maintained at 3-month timepoint. There was also a significant increase post-workshop in one of the participants’ Ryff dimensions of psychological wellbeing, that of positive relationships with others (Z = 2.509, p = 0.012, Wilcoxon signed-rank test) but this was also not maintained at the 3-month timepoint.ConclusionsThe observed changes in recipients’ self-reported levels of knowledge and efficacy, self-compassion, and psychological wellbeing may warrant further investigation into the best modalities for toolkit delivery (frequency, dose, duration) and support for individuals as they progress through the TB treatment journey.

Signing documents: Accountability politics and racialized suspicion in Africa's development audits

Signing documents: Accountability politics and racialized suspicion in Africa's development audits

Education as the revolving door into the streets and back home among street-involved children in Harare, Zimbabwe

This article explores the roles of education in driving children onto the streets and facilitating reunification with family. These roles are discussed in terms of how they contribute to street childhood and how they become part of a reintegration package. Against this background, education is considered a social vaccine against risky behaviours among children. The data were collected using a qualitative research approach, employing semi-structured interviews with street-involved children and key informants. The study purposively sampled 18 participants, including 10 street-involved children, eight informants from the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, Non-Governmental Organisation staff, guardians and former street-involved children. Of the 10 street-involved children, five were females and the other five were males. Data analysis revealed that these children faced education-related risk factors such as material poverty, differential treatment, adverse childhood experiences, truancy, stigma, and peer influence. The children employed resilience pathways like reunification support and putting personal effort into their schooling. The article recommends the government ensure that children from poor, blended and at-risk families receive mental health and financial support to continue attending school. Street-involved and at-risk children require comprehensive schooling support, family strengthening and protection from abuse to ensure their well-being and safety.

Remedial, institutional or radical? Explaining community responses to violence against women in an NGO programme to prevent violence in Mumbai, India

Despite ambitions in development and global health policy to transform communities into supportive environments for women facing risks of violence, our understanding of how to best engage communities remains incomplete. In particular, there is little evidence on the types of strategies that communities employ to address violence against women (VAW). We aimed to describe and analyse the processes involved in community responses to incidents of VAW in a non-governmental organisation (NGO) violence prevention programme in Mumbai, India. We conducted a grounded theory study involving 30 focus group discussions and 36 semi-structured interviews with 113 community members and 9 NGO staff, as well as over 170 h of field observation. Informed by comparative case study methods, we compared community actions across six informal settlement neighbourhoods. We found considerable variation in the type of action taken across neighbourhoods. This variation was not arbitrary, but reflected systematic cost-benefit considerations in heterogeneous environments, accounting for factors such as trust in neighbours, violent (armed or gang-related) crime, and corruption in state institutions. We found that institutional action was only favoured in neighbourhoods with strong state capacity and high social capital, whilst remedial action—resolving violence through ‘private’ talks in the family and community—and radical action involving extra-judicial violence—became favourable under conditions of weak social capital or low state capacity. Institutional action was, however, sometimes as violent as radical action, as police were reported, sometimes even relied upon, by residents to use force against perpetrators of VAW. We argue that these contextual features oblige policymakers and prevention researchers to grapple with contentious issues such as the legitimate use of force by the state. We caution against maximising community action without a clear vision of the type of action hoped for.

‘Happy’ activists: Non‐governmental organization staff navigating the social movement/service provider divide in India

AbstractIn the Global South, non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) face criticism; staff employ strategies to mitigate it. What happens when NGO staff express different levels of awareness about such criticism? How are these differences shaped by whether staff identify themselves as ‘community’ members the NGO serves or ‘non‐community’ members whose work serves the community? How do these identities impact NGOs? Through an 18‐month ethnographic study at a large NGO in Bangalore, India, I show that NGO staff members' identification as ‘community’ or ‘non‐community’ members shapes their perceptions of the NGO, their work and the NGO's work. I trace these differing perceptions to mission creep.

Speculating with Care: Worker-centered Perspectives on Scale in a Chat-based Health Information Service

Seeking to address barriers to in-person care, governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) globally have been pushing for scaling chat- or phone-based information services that rely on care workers to engage with users. Despite theoretical tensions between care and scale and the essential role of care workers, workers' perspective on scale and its impact on care provision is rarely centered early on in decisions to scale. In this paper, we examine care and scale from the perspective of medical support executives (MSEs) who support a chat-based health information service for maternal and child health deployed across multiple states in India. We draw on observations of MSEs' work, interviews with MSEs, NGO staff who implement the service, and families who use the service, and speculative design sessions conducted with MSEs. We find that by centering MSEs' perspectives, we can differentiate between growth of the relationships and heterogeneity that enable social impact, versus scale-thinking that promotes the decontextualization of care. We leverage our findings to discuss implications for scale and automation in chat-based health information services, including the importance of human connection, place, and support for care workers.

How Moral Goodness Drives Unethical Behavior: Empirical Evidence for the NGO Halo Effect

With the occurrence of high-profile scandals in the nongovernmental organization (NGO) sector, scholars and practitioners alike have questioned why “good” organizations behave badly, yet little empirical research has explored this topic in depth. The present study examines the NGO halo effect, a conceptual framework that proposes three mechanisms to explain how NGO moral goodness can lead to NGO unethical behavior, that is, moral justification, moral superiority, and moral naivety. Through an analysis of 34 interviews with NGO staff and volunteers, we identify 151 unique cases and 17 different types of unethical behavior. We find that 92% of these cases are related to the halo effect, with 22% through moral justification, 25% through moral superiority, and 45% through moral naivety. This study provides empirical support for the NGO halo effect as a factor for understanding NGOs’ unethical behavior, with implications for future research.

The effect of becoming a Fistula Advocate on the recovery of women with Obstetric Fistula in Sierra Leone: A qualitative study.

Engaging women affected by Obstetric Fistula as advocates has been proposed as an effective strategy to raise awareness of the condition. Limited literature exists on the experience of those who become advocates. A model of community education, in Sierra Leone, trained women affected by Obstetric Fistula to become volunteer Fistula Advocates. This study explored Advocates' perception of their role and its influence on their recovery and reintegration. This was a qualitative study, undertaken in Sierra Leone, collecting data from 7 Fistula Advocates and 3 Key Informants (with roles in either clinical or outreach care for women with Obstetric Fistula or training and supervision of Advocates), using semi-structured interviews. Data was subject to a thematic analysis and related to a conceptual framework for mental health recovery. Intrinsic factors motivating Advocates to undertake this role were influenced by psycho-social support received and the possibility for financial independence. Advocates used personal stories in their work to define a new identity, change perceptions and reduce stigma. Benefits associated with the interactions and relationships created through providing and receiving peer support were voiced. Surgical treatment was described as an important factor influencing recovery. The Advocates said economic empowerment helped recovery and reintegration, and the voluntary nature of the Advocate role limited the impact of this. Overall Advocates perceived their role positively, reporting psychological, social, and economic benefits. The complexities of recovery from Obstetric Fistula were highlighted and connections drawn between the treatment of physical symptoms, the socio-cultural context and mental health recovery. They described the role positively influencing existing relationships and initiating supportive, empowering social interactions between women affected by Obstetric Fistula and with Non-Governmental Organisation staff and community members. The study offers insights into the potential for community-based approaches to facilitate access to treatment for sensitive and stigmatising health problems and support recovery.

"We will need to build up the atmosphere of trust again": Service providers' perceptions of experiences of COVID-19 amongst resettled refugee adolescents.

Adolescent resettled refugees across the United States have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, through socio-economic stressors in households, disproportionate morbidity and mortality in immigrant communities, and social isolation and loss of learning due to school closures and the shift to online learning. The Study of Adolescent Lives after Migration to America [SALaMA] investigates the mental health and wellbeing of adolescents who come from-or who have parents who came from-the Middle East and North Africa [MENA] region and settled in the U.S. There is a gap in understanding of the experiences during the pandemic of MENA-background adolescents in the U.S. The objective of this study was to describe the perspective of educators and other school-affiliated service providers on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and wellbeing of adolescent resettled refugees and access to and quality of education and support services for adolescent resettled refugees. The researchers collected data using in-depth interviews with key informants in Chicago, Illinois; Harrisonburg, Virginia; and Detroit Metropolitan Area [DMA], Michigan, Key informants were school administrators, managers of English language learning services and programs, teachers, therapists, staff of non-governmental organizations and/ or community-based organizations, and case workers. Data analysis was conducted utilizing directed content analysis to develop an initial codebook and identify key themes in the data. Findings revealed a number of pathways through which the pandemic impacted adolescent refugees and immigrants' mental health and wellbeing, with online programming impacting students' engagement, motivation and social isolation in terms of peer and provider relationships. Specific dynamics in refugee adolescents' households increased stressors and reduced engagement through online learning, and access to space and resources needed to support learning during school closures were limited. Service providers emphasized multiple and overlapping impacts on service quality and access, resulting in reduced social supports and mental health prevention and response approaches. Due to the long-term impacts of school closures in the first two years of the pandemic, and ongoing disruption, these data both provide a snapshot of the impacts of the pandemic at a specific moment, as well as insights into ways forward in terms of adapting services and engaging students within restrictions and limitations due to the pandemic. These findings emphasize the need for educators and mental health service providers to rebuild and strengthen relationships with students and families. These findings indicate the need to consider, support and expand social support and mental health services, specifically for refugee adolescent students, in the context of learning and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Paranirvar mānis (dependent people)? Rethinking humanitarian dependency syndrome: a Bourdieusian perspective.

Disaster survivors are often criticised for being dependent on humanitarian (and development) assistance. This dependency is perceived pejoratively by civil servants and other elites, including non-governmental organisation staff. Officials offered up such narratives in relation to the disaster response and recovery programmes following the Nepal earthquake of 2015. Using a Bourdieusian framework, and undertaking qualitative inquiry in four earthquake-affected districts of Nepal, this paper contrasts the official narratives of dependency syndrome with people's perspectives and lived experiences. The findings problematise official discourse. Aid was frequently insufficient, poorly targeted, or non-existent. Moreover, the Bourdieusian framing highlights the agency of survivors, as their habitus predisposed them to help others. It broadens the notion of assistance and dependence, suggesting that social and cultural (as well as economic) capital are vital resources for recovery. Lastly, it shows that dependencies are not necessarily bad. Greater attention to these non-economic capitals and 'good dependencies' could expedite recovery from future disasters.

‘Our courage has grown’: a grounded theory study of enablers and barriers to community action to address violence against women in urban India

Transforming communities into supportive environments for women facing risks of violence requires community members to play an active role in addressing violence against women (VAW). We did a grounded theory...

Facilitators and barriers to TB care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Knowledge about factors influencing access and adherence to TB care, and on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB care in resource-restricted settings is scarce. We conducted this study in Atsimo-Andrefana, a rural region in southern Madagascar where TB prevalence, poverty and food insecurity rates are high. We aimed to determine facilitators and barriers to access to and provision of TB care in rural Madagascar during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted qualitative focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs) with patients with TB, community health workers, facility-based health workers, public health officials and non-governmental organisation staff. We analysed interviews using thematic analysis. We conducted 11 FGDs and 23 IDIs. We identified three main barriers to access and adherence to TB care: 1) stigma, 2) indirect treatment costs, and 3) food insecurity. The facilitator perceived as most influential was high health worker motivation. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB care varied between stake-holders; some health workers described delays in TB diagnosis and increased workload. To improve access and adherence to TB care, both indirect treatment costs and stigma need to be reduced; undernourished patients with TB should receive food support.

Perspectives on violent extremism from development–humanitarian NGO staff in Southeast Asia

Violent extremism (VE) significantly affects many contexts within which international development–humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operate in Southeast Asia. Recent preventing/countering violent extremism (P/CVE) models highlight the need for community-based preventative activities; however, there has been little research to date examining the understandings of international development–humanitarian NGOs regarding VE in their context, and little attention paid to their views as to how development–humanitarian NGO programming might seek to address VE. This paper explores the meaning and impact of VE as understood by the Myanmar, Indonesia and Philippines country office staff of a large international NGO. Drawing on 40 interviews, the findings illustrate new understandings of VE and the role NGOs can play in shaping and improving counter-extremism strategies. This includes a proposition to broaden the conceptual focus on extremism to include expressions of hatred and intolerance that do not necessarily involve threats, physical violence or links to violent extremist networks. Additionally, the findings point to the importance of relationships between VE and women’s and girls’ position in society, its effect on youth, and the relationship between extremism and any extreme use of force by the state or its promotion of hate towards minority groups.

A critical assessment of the structural dimensions of gender-based violence

Purpose Despite the fact that the gender-based violence (GBV) term has different interpretations, leading to the assumption that all types of harmful acts against all gender identities and either sex will be addressed under the GBV umbrella, in reality, GBV remains to be synonymous with violence against women (VAW). Thus, this paper aims to assess the accountability and transparency of GBV policies and interventions in addressing the suffering of GBV victims other than women. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents two main arguments; firstly, the authors explore the understanding and the capacities of humanitarians and protection International Non-Governmental Organizations staff in GBV response and prevention, and the reliability of the data that is mobilized to build policies and frameworks for addressing GBV. Secondly, they argue that in addition to gender being a main factor in violence, age, disabilities and other factors of vulnerability can also cause being subjected to different types of violence. Findings The adaptation of such holistic approach when addressing the causes behind violence will result in protecting the most vulnerable from all ages, genders and people with disabilities by applying an inclusive, cross-cutting response to GBV survivors in general. Originality/value This paper paves the way to research studies that shed light on violence against men and boys at war zones and conflict areas especially in the Middle East where this type of violence is strongly stigmatized, and the survivors have limited access to needed services.

Adaptation of a Theory-Based, Clinic-Affiliated Smartphone App to Improve HIV Testing and Pre-exposure Prophylaxis Uptake Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men in Malaysia

Background In Malaysia, HIV disproportionately affects gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM). Homosexuality and substance use are criminalized in Malaysia, making GBMSM bear multilevels of social stigma and discrimination, including in health care. Mobile health (mHealth), particularly smartphone apps, is a promising and cost-effective strategy for reaching stigmatized and hard-to-reach populations like GBMSM and linking them to HIV prevention services (eg, HIV testing and pre-exposure prophylaxis [PrEP]), particularly in the context of COVID-19. Objective This study aimed to adapt the HealthMindr app (Emory University), which was developed with GBMSM in the United States, to improve HIV testing and PrEP uptake for GBMSM in Malaysia. Methods We conducted online focus group discussions (FGDs) between August and September 2021 with 20 GBMSM and 16 community stakeholders (eg, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and nongovernmental organization staff). Participants were asked questions regarding their preferences for functions and features in mHealth apps among GBMSM and suggestions for adapting the HealthMindr app to the Malaysian context. Each session was digitally recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were inductively coded using Dedoose software (University of California, Los Angeles) and analyzed to identify and interpret emerging themes. Results The FGDs with GBMSM revealed preferences for interfacing with apps to access HIV testing, PrEP, and counseling services. Stakeholders showed strong interest in using the app-based platform to deliver integrated care (eg, HIV and mental health). The key themes mostly focused on adaptation and refinement for the Malaysian context and were related to cultural and stylistic preferences (design and user interface), engagement strategies (reward systems, marketing campaigns, and reminders), and recommendations for new functions (enhanced communication options via chat and discussion forums) in a one-stop hub for all HIV prevention needs (HIV self-testing, PrEP, and postexposure prophylaxis) that minimize privacy and confidentiality risks. Conclusions Our data suggest that a tailored HIV-prevention app would be acceptable for GBMSM in Malaysia. The findings provided detailed recommendations for the successful adaptation and refinement of the existing platform for optimal use in the Malaysian context. Conflicts of Interest None declared.

The Twilight of Cutting: African Activism and Life after NGOs by Saida Hodžić

Reviewed by: The Twilight of Cutting: African Activism and Life after NGOs by Saida Hodžić Miriam Hird-Younger Saida Hodžić, The Twilight of Cutting: African Activism and Life after NGOs. Oakland: University of California Press, 2016. 416 pp. Those reading The Twilight of Cutting seeking a delineated or straightforward overview of the meaning of cutting or Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), its prevalence, and the rates of its decline in Ghana will be disappointed. Instead, what this detailed text offers is an intricate "ethnography of problematization," in which the purpose is to "examine how cutting becomes an object of intervention" (8). This ethnography provides a historicization and exploration of how cutting has been made into an immutable problem requiring anti-cutting campaigns and sensitization programs in Ghana. Hodžić's appoach introduces the central paradox of such problematization—cutting is waning in Ghana even as international and national discourses articulate its intractability. In her investigation, Hodžić focuses on the perspectives and histories of Ghanaian-led Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that work on anti-cutting. The rich ethnography and the skillful circumvention of the typical questions of prevalence and meaning relating to FGM provide the reader with an in-depth and nuanced understanding of how Ghanaian NGOs operate within global development discourses, social norms of relationality in Ghana, and their own ways of making sense of their efforts to regulate and to campaign for the end of cutting. Through ethnographic fieldwork with two NGOs in Accra and the Upper East Region of Ghana between 2002 and 2009, including research in rural communities of the Upper East, Hodžić "examines the genealogies of anti-cutting campaigns and the forms of rule, subjectivity, and positioning they instantiate" (9). The problematization of cutting has long historical [End Page 691] trails, Hodžić argues, as it has been bound up in efforts to govern the Northern regions of Ghana as well as modernization and development ideologies about the Ghanaian state. A central theme of the book is the continuity of moralizing projects from colonial to development interventions, which have constructed groups that practice cutting as "unruly and against whom [the state] defines itself as modern and governable" (15). The production of the "traditional" and "modern" binary is a mechanism of governing rural subjects, which Hodžić traces through the colonial period (Chapter 1) to global and national articulations of "harmful traditional practices" (Chapter 2) and to the ongoing surveillance of rural communities by articulating cutting as going "underground" (Chapter 3). The subsequent chapters subtly unpack and complicate such mechanisms of governance by demonstrating how NGOs work in their own ways beyond international discourses (Chapter 4), how waning practices of cutting can be understood through structural inequalities and scarcity (Chapter 5), and how the lifeworlds of NGO staff and activists are not wholly encompassed by governmental regulations and interventions (Chapters 6 and 7). The analysis begins in Chapter 1 with a history of how cutting has been made legible as a practice to be regulated and governed. In the 1920s, white British women in Parliament campaigned against cutting in British colonies, requesting administrators to report on the practice. Hodžić shows how male British colonial administrators took a more relativist perspective and prepared ethnographic accounts of the prevalence and practices of cutting, pushing back against legislation. Hodžić illustrates that these ethnographic accounts come back to the same questions on which anthropologists are still asked to comment: prevalence, age, meaning, geographic regions, etc. Arguing that colonial officials were interested in preserving "tradition" as a foundation for colonial rule, Hodžić's historical tracing offers a subtle critique of the limits of relativism. Northern Ghana was administered through indirect rule, which "remade the region as traditional" (77) in order to maintain a social order that served the British. While such colonial accounts were representations by and for British administrators and audiences, in the subsequent chapters, Hodžić focuses on the ways that Ghanaian NGOs have problematized, intervened in, and advocated against cutting, all while still being bound up in global discourses and meaning making. As the title of the chapter suggests, Chapter 2 outlines the attribution of poverty to "Harmful Traditional Practices" (the chapter title...

What are the mechanisms and contexts by which care groups achieve social and behavioural change in low- and middle-income countries? Group motivation findings from a realist synthesis.

Infant and under-five mortality rates in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) can be reduced by encouraging behaviours such as sleeping under insecticide-treated bed nets, exclusive breast-feeding for the first 6 months, regular handwashing, etc. Community-based volunteer or peer-to-peer mechanisms are cost-effective ways of promoting these lifesaving practices. However, the sustainability and reach of community-based behaviour change promotion remains a challenge. Our inquiry focuses on the utilisation, by non-governmental organisations (NGO), of Care Groups, a peer-to-peer behaviour change intervention. We asked: What are the mechanisms and contexts by which Care Groups achieve social and behavioural change in nutrition, health and other sectors? Realist synthesis reviewing forty-two texts that contained empirical evidence about Care Group interventions. LMIC. We held consultations with a research reference group, which included Care Group and nutrition experts, and Care Group - implementing NGO staff in Malawi. Different types of motivation drive the establishment and the sustainability of peer group interventions. A certain amount of motivation was derived from the resources provided by the NGO establishing the Care Groups. Subsequently, both volunteers and neighbourhood group members were motivated by the group dynamics and mutual support, as well as support from the wider community. Finally, volunteers and group members alike became self-motivated by their experience of being involved in group activities. When designing and implementing community-based behaviour change interventions, awareness of the multi-directional nature of the motivating drivers that are experienced by peer- or community group members is important, to optimise these groups' reach and sustainability.

Are We a Bigger Problem Than We Realize?

Abstract The impact of social media — in particular Twitter — on the field of international criminal justice cannot be overstated. Thanks to an active community of online commentators made up primarily of academics, researchers, staff of non-governmental organizations and journalists, Twitter is a vibrant place to monitor the pulse of international criminal law generally and the International Criminal Court specifically. Twitter, thus, uniquely elevates a comparatively small commentator class and amplifies their narratives about the field of international criminal justice. Yet with an apparent lack of voices from across the diverse community of practitioners, or the input of diplomats and technocrats who make the field possible, commentators may exert a disproportionate influence over public perceptions of international criminal justice. Cognisant of the stark interplay between politics and law in international criminal justice — often including powerful forces with nefarious agendas — and an abundance of individuals motivated by a desire to be seen and heard, this community may at times exhibit problematic behaviours (unwittingly or otherwise). This article dissects these issues of online communication, and argues that greater care with commentary may be the best salve to these cultural flaws in the formation of public perception.

White Savior or Local Hero?: Conflicting Narratives of Help in Haiti

White Savior or Local Hero?:Conflicting Narratives of Help in Haiti Diane M. Hoffman (bio) In 2010, Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake that killed over two hundred thousand people and resulted in a vast but ultimately ineffective international humanitarian aid and relief effort. This article considers how the recent August 2021 earthquake has produced a shift in the rescue and assistance narrative that has emphasized the trope of Haitian agency when responding to hardship and disasters. Based on a critical reading of Facebook posts, online news media, and organization websites, this piece argues that while the current shift toward emphasizing themes of Haitian agency and empowerment appears to be a positive trend, a deeper reading suggests that Haitian notions of help and solidarity conflict with the neoliberal understanding of empowerment. Furthermore, narratives about assistance prioritize emotions of white missionaries and aid workers, revealing the persistence of White Saviorism in representations of Haitian agency. Introduction One of the most devastating natural disasters in the Western Hemisphere, the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti which affected Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas unleashed a globally unprecedented level of humanitarian assistance. Nonetheless, the response to the disaster is widely regarded as a manifest failure. Billions of dollars were funneled through approximately two thousand nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and private contractors, creating a fragmented response that lacked accountability.1 An astoundingly small portion of this aid actually reached the Haitian government and people.2 Furthermore, there was no infrastructure to absorb the sudden influx of supplies and personnel, and needs were defined largely without input from those most affected—indeed, the entire aid apparatus largely excluded Haitian voices and involvement.3 Thousands of young American volunteers, armed with little but good intentions, descended on the capital to "help," straining what were already stressed resources.4 Instead of highlighting Haitians' own rescue and assistance efforts, extensive news coverage of the disaster prominently featured actions of Americans and Europeans,5 reinforcing the sense that Haiti was incapable of helping itself. Eleven years later, the response to the August 2021 earthquake in Southern Haiti was palpably different. Prime Minister Ariel Henry told news media, "We will not repeat the same things that were done in 2010 … A lot of donations were made to the country, and a lot of money was spent without seeing the impact."6 Recognizing that Haiti-based organizations were better positioned to conduct needs assessments and allocate aid, Haitian and Haiti-affiliated diaspora groups, celebrities, and academics sent strong messages on social media platforms and various professional list-serves recommending that would-be donors give to local, Haiti-based organizations rather than to large international relief organizations.7 Further, would-be donors were advised not to send physical resources, but to support the local economy by providing funds for resources to be bought locally.8 Organizations told foreign volunteers to stay home; teams of trained Haitians were instead sent into remote areas to deliver relief. White [End Page 99] missionaries and NGO staff living in Haiti filled social media with comments praising the presence of Haitian relief workers on the scene: "I love to see Haitians helping Haitians!"; "Helping in the South—let's start a movement as we post pictures of Haitians working together!"; "I love to see Haitians so passionately serving one another!"9 In sum, a broad consensus emerged that the response to the recent disaster should prioritize Haitian resources, voices, and agency. This effort to represent Haitians as actors capable of addressing their own needs can be read as a shift in the longstanding narrative of Haitian dependency. Instead of representing the country as dependent on handouts and help from foreigners, recent post-disaster narratives reflect a theme that scholars of international aid in Haiti have been pointing out for some time: the way media and policymakers consistently emphasize the role of foreign actors, initiatives, and resources obscures the fact that Haitians have always helped themselves through strong traditions of collective community responses to hardship and disaster.10 This was as true in 2010 as it was after Hurricane Matthew in 2016, which also devastated the southern part of the country.11 As these scholars have pointed out, understanding Haitian traditions...

How to Crush Palestinian NGOs: Just Use the “T” Word

Israel has long sought to erase Palestinians, Palestinian resistance, and Palestinian organizations. In Israel’s latest rendition of erasure, Palestinian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have become the new target. By labeling NGO staff, and now NGOs, as “terror-affiliated,” Israel is attempting to silence these organizations by making it impossible for them to be funded. Looking at the case of Mohammed El Halabi from World Vision, one can see that it does not take much for donors to run scared: just using the “t” word is sufficient, with no need for evidence.