Paper details

Paper authors	doris schopper
In panel on	Localising Research on Humanitarian Concepts
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

With an estimated 450,000 people working in some 4,500 organizations, today’s diversity of geographical, cultural, organizational, linguistic, and professional profiles in the humanitarian field is simply unprecedented. Despite such diversity, the existing narratives and concepts of humanitarian action still largely reflect the values and practices of long-established organizations of high-income countries. Unsurprisingly, low- and middle-income countries are challenging the traditional foundations of humanitarian action; yet a conceptual frame with which to analyse the narratives and concepts, and notably their impact on practice, is lacking. At a time when practitioners are called upon to increase local ownership of humanitarian programmes, key concepts must be contextualized and adapted to the local realities of crisis-affected communities. To respond to this need, the Humanitarian Encyclopedia, a project led by CERAH, collectively interrogates how humanitarian concepts are used across time, geographical contexts, organizational cultures, disciplinary backgrounds, and professions to improve mutual understanding among practitioners and accompany the localization of humanitarian knowledge.
To grasp practitioners’ experience with regards to concept variation and its impact on practice an online survey of humanitarian professionals was launched in January 2018. About 65 % of the humanitarian professionals surveyed (n=1453) agree that humanitarian actors use the same terms – in a sector specific way – to refer to different realities hence hampering the communication between humanitarian stakeholders and between them and non-humanitarian actors. Results of the survey will be presented and the necessity to localize research on conceptual uses will be discussed.

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