Paper details

Paper authors	Louise Beaumais
In panel on	Trust in Humanitarian Numbers? Bringing Critical Data Studies into Humanitarian Studies
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

In the realm of the Datawar project, this paper aims to reflect upon the “trust in numbers” of NGO’s practitioners by uncovering how quantitative conflict related databases, such as ACLED or the Fragile State Index, are mobilized in their everyday work. In a context of quantification of the humanitarian field, where population needs are more and more identified through quantified categories, goals taking the form of numerical targets and modelling presented as the future of the profession, one could assume that quantitative models inherited from the academic field of international relations would represent a boon and be mobilized as tools to better apprehend the international environment. They could, for instance, be used to prepare for operations or to monitor the level of violence in several countries. However, annual reports barely mention any of those databases and preliminary interviews seem to invalidate this postulate. What could be the reasons for this seeming contradiction? Our purpose is therefore to take a step back and question the status of quantitative analyses in the humanitarian field thanks to a qualitative assessment of annual reports from fifteen NGOs (from 1989 to 2020) completed with several interviews of NGOs’ practitioners.

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