Everyday practices of humanitarian aid: tsunami response in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This article underlines the importance of grounding the analysis of humanitarian aid in an understanding of everyday practice. It presents ethnographic vignettes illustrating three aspects of aid response in Sri Lanka following the tsunami disaster in 2004. The first deals with the nature of humanitarian actors, the second explores how different kinds of politics intertwine, and the third considers humanitarian partnerships. The authors discuss the need for a shift in current academic approaches, where discussions on humanitarian aid usually start from the level of principles rather than practice. They argue that accounts of the everyday practices and dilemmas faced by NGOs help to correct blind expectations, expose uncritical admiration, and put unrealistic critiques into perspective.

Notes

1. This research was conducted together with Marijgje Wijers Tangalle, who did fieldwork on the tsunami response in Sri Lanka from the end of December 2004 to the end of March 2005. We thank Marijgje for sharing her insights and field observations.

2. Although one speaks of three factions, JVP is currently represented in the government.

3. The visit took place on 8 January 2005 by a group foreigners representing the aid agency that sent the money, accompanied by Udan Fernando.

4. At Tangalle on 16 March 2005 (www.colombopage.com/archive/March16123144JV.html). Soon the Presidential Secretariat announced that ‘The Sri Lankan government has categorically rejected media reports quoting President Chandrika Kumaratunga as saying that the government had not received even a cent in tsunami aid. The Secretariat reported that what the President had said was, ‘The international assistance pledged as tsunami aid did not consist of cash and [the] cash funds received were only those remitted to the President's Fund and the Prime Minister's Fund’ (www.colombopage.com/archive/March21123438JV.html).

5. ‘Sri Lanka accuses NGOs of ethnic bias and political agendas’, Asian Tribune, 4 June 2005, available at www.asiantribune.com/show_news.php?id = 13943 (retrieved 8 November 2005).

6. Estimate based on various interviews.

7. After a joint visit by Dorothea Hilhorst and Marijgje Wijers in January 2005, Marijgje stayed in touch with the programme, while Dorothea conducted several follow-up interviews at DCFA headquarters in The Hague.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Udan Fernando

Udan Fernando, a freelance consultant, is a PhD candidate at the University of Amsterdam, focusing on Dutch donors and Sri Lankan NGOs.

Dorothea Hilhorst

Dorothea Hilhorst is senior lecturer at Wageningen University, and specialises in natural disaster, conflict, and humanitarian assistance.