Paper details
| Paper authors | Nazanin Zadeh-Cummings, James Banfill |
| In panel on | Student “field trips” in humanitarian studies–a roadmap for “do no harm” |
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Abstract
This paper explores the value of experience-based learning in preparing transnational aid workers and volunteers to spend time in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea). Despite its reputation as a ‘closed’ country, thousands of foreigners have worked or volunteered in North Korea on aid-related projects since the mid-1990s. However, there are few cross-organisational, openly accessible avenues to prepare individuals new to the country for the challenges they may face. Aid workers and volunteers thus often must learn the same lessons and repeat the same mistakes as one another, particularly in their early interactions inside the country. What tools can help prepare humanitarian workers for the unique working environment of the DPRK? This paper considers the potential for independent – meaning not aligned to any one organisation working in the country - experience-based learning to prepare foreigners for engaging in North Korea. It surveys the potential benefits of such an approach, as well as the limitations that experience-based learning faces, particularly when applied to an authoritarian context. While experience-based learning cannot address every challenge of working in North Korea, it holds potential for better preparing foreigners for time in country, sharing past lessons learned in a safe manner, and ensuring that international engagement continues to evolve rather than continuously meeting the same pitfalls as individuals navigate this sensitive context.
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