A model for making caring communities a reality the New Nexus of Aid post-COVID-19

ABSTRACT

COVID-19 is areminder that all human beings are the same. Everyone has wants and needs, feelings and thoughts; painful and pleasant experiences. Despite this common undercurrent, it is widely recognized that the train of global growth leaves many individuals and communities behind. The world is fractured. A new perspective on aid, the localization of hearts accompanied by the globalization of minds and material resources, can help it heal. This article briefly outlines the dimensions that underpin individual and collective experiences, before proceeding with the consequences of this perspective on the present aid landscape. A new paradigm is offered to provide the theoretical basis for a different approach to compassionate giving in a post-COVID world.

KEYWORDS:

• Pandemic
• paradigm
• transition
• transformation
• aspirations
• emotions
• experience
• behavior
• planet
• dynamic
• system
• influence
• POZE
• aid
• development
• continuum

Notes

1. Which in this article is interpreted broadly to include, for instance, international development and humanitarian assistance as well as national social protInequality and inequity are distinctection schemes, official and charitable support, within a centralized or a local framework, etc., although due to space limitations, the focus is on international aid, the lessons apply across all aspects of aid.

2. Inequality and inequity are distinct. Whereas inequality relates to a quantitative difference, e.g. a person is smaller than another one; inequity is about unfair and avoidable differences, such as women earning less than men for the same job. In economics, when dealing with income, the terminology most commonly used is about inequality. For instance, the Gini, Theil, Palma and Vast Majority are indices of income inequality (Atkinson, 1983; Salverda et al., 2009). For a detailed overview of terminologies related to inequality, inequity, and disparities see (Arcaya et al., 2015; Delamonica, 2020)

3. The understanding of inequality has evolved from the traditional outcome-oriented view, whereby income is used as a proxy for well-being. The opportunity-oriented perspective acknowledges that circumstances of birth are essential to life outcomes and that equality of opportunity requires a fair starting point for all (Stewart, 2013). However, this is not sufficient because equality of opportunity (for children) cannot happen without equality of outcome (among adults). See Vandemoortele (2020).

4. The term “beneficiary” is used with awareness of, and apologies for, its inappropriateness, which includes a notion of passivity on the part of the receiving. For lack of a better, commonly used vocabulary, it refers to the recipient of institutional aid.

5. Individual (micro) wellbeing is the start and end of the meso, macro, meta systems that derive from human action. They were established as a mean and an end geared toward the survival and welfare of individuals. Optimizing this system in awareness of the mutual benefit for all members of society and its entirety is the goal orientation that we need now. Attention to the limits of growth as an end in itself has been raised by philosophers (Næss, 1986) and practitioners for many years (Brundtland, 1987). In 1972, Yale economists introduced their Measure of Economic Welfare (MEW) as an alternative to crude GDP (Nordhaus & Tobin, 1972). MEW took national output as a starting point but adjusted it to include an assessment of the value of leisure time and the amount of unpaid work in an economy, hence increasing the welfare value of GDP. They also included the value of the environment damage caused by industrial production and consumption, which reduced the welfare value of GDP. Still, leaving aside Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness focus (GNH) no other country has thus far consequently shifted away from the traditional growth orientation (Braun, 2009).

6. WHO, with the aid of 15 collaborating centers around the world developed two instruments to measure quality of life (the WHOQOL-100 and the WHOQOL-BREF). These can be used in a variety of cultural settings whilst allowing the results from different populations and countries to be compared (WHOQOL 1998). Other attempts to summarize and quantify quality of life are reviewed by Hagerty et al. (2001)

7. For details see Walther 2020-a, 2020-b and in regards to COVID in particular 2020-c.

8. Empowerment is an over-used word. Here it is interpreted both with an individual connotation (a path for individuals to identify and pursue the purpose of their existence, the cause that is the source of their passion and through it the source of their inherent power to thrive) and a collective perspective (when a critical mass of individuals has found and begun to pursue the meaning of their own life, manifesting it within their communities).

9. For example, we might see an object on the ground, based on experience or book knowledge we jump to the conclusion that it must be a snake; a scary thought which triggers a quicker heartbeat and perspiration, accompanied by feelings of fear that may push us to run. A more analytical take may persuade us to look closer and hereby discover that it is a hose, disarming the internal flight automatism.

10. “Glocalization” is a (business) buzzword that exploded in popularity in 1980s in Japan. Originally derived from dochakuka, a Japanese word typically used to describe the localization of universal farming techniques, the word “glocalization” was hijacked by the business sector and later adopted by social scientists in the English-speaking world. Today, professionals in various sectors, including the aid business, use this term in reference to community organizing, education, and business strategy.

11. The first three principles (humanity, neutrality, and impartiality) are endorsed in General Assembly resolution 46/182, which was adopted in 1991. General Assembly resolution 58/114 (2004) added independence as a fourth key principle underlying humanitarian action. The General Assembly has repeatedly reaffirmed the importance of promoting and respecting these principles within the framework of humanitarian assistance.

12. For a more detailed overview of challenges and perspectives faced by the humanitarian sector please refer to (The Brookings Institute, 2008) and the website of the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International (HAP), which was established in 2003 as the humanitarian sector’s first international self-regulatory body.

13. Cognitive dissonance occurs when a person holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values, or participates in an action that goes against one of these three, and experiences psychological stress because of that. The mind has been finetuned to avoid stress. Thus, individuals who experience/observe individuals and institutions that are supposed to promote solidarity engaged in turf-fighting, seek to solve the dissonance by disengaging and discarding the whole aid debate.

14. The Grand Bargain, launched during the WHS in Istanbul in May 2016, is an agreement between some of the largest donors and humanitarian organizations who have committed to get more means into the hands of people in need and to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of humanitarian action. Currently 63 Signatories (25 UN Member States, 22 NGOs, 12 UN agencies, two Red Cross movements, and two intergovernmental organizations) are working to implement the commitments. .Source: IASC/Grand Bargain website (retrieved Sept 2021) https://interagencystandingcommittee.org/grand-bargain.