Paper details
| Paper authors | Diego Fernandez Otegui |
| In panel on | Participation and Accountability in Humanitarian Disaster Management |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
International humanitarian efforts are anchored in the needs of disaster victims, through the deployment of needs assessment evaluation teams. This paper discusses the inability of humanitarians to accurately understand local needs. Using a combination of institutional theory and social psychology, I present the finding of in depth-interviews with top humanitarian officials and data collected from Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico after the Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017. The main finding is that humanitarian action is driven exclusively by personal interpretation which facilitates a combined imagination of social life that results in the creation of a global collective, “The Humanitarians”. It also facilitates the symbolic creation of ‘The Other’, a construct that encompasses all those that must be served. Both collectives are separated by a thick dome. The space under the dome serves to enhance coordination and collaboration, where humanitarians support each other, reach for answers, information and validation. But this mutual support within the humanitarian space has also unwanted effects. The stronger the relationship between the elements in this space, the harder it is for them to understand the reality in front of them, as understood by the impacted community. The paper also discusses the practical application of institutional theory to humanitarian work, including recommendations to augment the precision of needs assessment.
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