Icelandic NGOs and Humanitarian Aid A look at the Allocation Process Þorsteinn Valdimarsson Lokaverkefni til MA–gráðu í þróunarfræðum Félagsvísindasvið Icelandic NGOs and Humanitarian Aid A Look at the Allocation Process Þorsteinn Valdimarsson Lokaverkefni til MA-gráðu í þróunarfræðum Leiðbeinandi: Jónína Einarsdóttir Félags- og mannvísindadeild Félagsvísindasvið Háskóla Íslands Október 2015 Ritgerð þessi er lokaverkefni til MA-gráðu í þróunarfræðum og er óheimilt að afrita ritgerðina á nokkurn hátt nema með leyfi rétthafa. © Þorsteinn Valdimarsson 2015 Reykjavík, Ísland 2015 ABSTRACT Icelandic NGOs have increasingly engaged in humanitarian assistance in recent years with the support of The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), which announces funds for non- governmental organisations (NGOs) in humanitarian aid biannually, and additionally in case of severe disasters. The aim of this research is to pry into the decision making process of five Icelandic NGOs when applying for such funds and the ethical implications of those decisions. The NGOs are The Red Cross, The Church Aid, SOS Children’s Villages, Save the Children and ABC Children’s Aid. Explored are the NGOs’ connections with INGOs, their Codes of Conduct, their relations with the MFA and the factors that influence their selection of projects. The research is primarily based on interviews with NGO employees. While there is much variety in the NGOs practices, they have a common ambition for the advancement of their humanitarian efforts. The NGOs appear prone to apply for funds if emergencies occur close to their own projects, are in the MFAs focus areas, are emphasised by their INGO contacts, are considered extensive by the NGOs and if they believe their expertise is of use. All interviewees agreed that the allocation system of the MFA should be improved, and believed that professionalism could be increased with steadier funding. Keywords: Development studies, humanitarian aid, NGOs, Iceland, allocation, ethics, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) 3 ÚTDRÁTTUR Íslensk borgarasamtök hafa undanfarin ár aukið umsvif sín í veitingu mannúðaraðstoðar með stuðningi Utanríkisráðuneytisins. Ráðuneytið auglýsir eftir umsóknum borgarasamtaka um mannúðaraðstoð tvisvar á ári og aukalega í tilfelli alvarlegra hamfara. Rannsókn þessi miðar að því að skyggnast inn í ákvarðanatökuferli fimm helstu borgarasamtaka þegar kemur að umsóknum um slíka styrki og siðferðilegar hliðar þeirra ákvarðanna. Samtökin eru Rauði krossinn, Hjálparstarf kirkjunnar, SOS barnaþorp, Barnaheill og ABC barnahjálp. Skoðuð eru samskipti félaganna við erlend móður- eða regnhlífasamtök, siðareglur þeirra og samskipti þeirra við ráðuneytið. Rannsóknin byggir fyrst og fremst á viðtölum við fulltrúa samtakanna. Þó talsverður munur sé á starfsháttum samtakanna eiga þau sameiginlegan metnað fyrir áframhaldandi framgangi mannúðaraðstoðar sinnar. Samtökin virðast hneigjast til þess að sækja um fé ef neyðarástand verður nálægt þróunarverkefnum þeirra, er á áherslusvæðum utanríkisráðuneytisins, er sérstaklega auglýst af erlendum samstarfsaðilum, ef neyðin þykir umfangsmikil eða ef samtökin telja sérkunnáttu sína koma að gagni. Allir viðmælendur voru sammála um að bæta mætti kerfi Utanríkisráðuneytisins, og töldu að með stöðugri fjármögnun mætti auka fagmennsku innan sviðsins. Lykilorð: Þróunarfræði, mannúðaraðstoð, borgarasamtök, Ísland, úthlutun, siðfræði, Utanríkisráðuneytið 4 FOREWORDS This thesis represents 60 ECTS units worth of my MA program in Development Studies, and was supervised by Jónína Einarsdóttir, Professor of Anthropology at the Faculty of Social and Human Science at the University of Iceland. To begin with I must thank her for her suggestion of this research topic, as well as the steady guidance provided through the period of research and writing. I also thank my other professors, whose courses provided the necessary groundwork for this research as well as my classmates, many of whom possessed experience and provided interesting insights into humanitarian work. This thesis is mainly built upon interviews, and I thank all my interviewees for their honesty and openness. I remain hopeful this research can add something to the discourse on humanitarian issues in the local Icelandic context and ultimately be of some benefit for both the MFA and the NGOs discussed. Development Studies became my field of choice because of the inspiration received in my work with Changemaker, the youth movement of the Icelandic Church Aid, which provided me a window into development and humanitarian work. The many I have worked alongside there, staff and volunteers, must be thanked for their inspiration. Sometimes life seems like a series of random events that lead to unexpected paths; I must thank my childhood friends for dragging me along that Sunday night in 2005, to the Church Aid youth meeting that hooked my interest in this work and in some way started a journey I am still on. Lastly I wholeheartedly thank my wife, Ísold Ellingsen Davíðsdóttir, for her support in the years this program has taken, and especially for enduring the last few months of completing this thesis. Our daughter, Lovísa Hind, I thank for the joy she has brought into the lives of everyone around her for almost two years now. My parents, Jóhanna Stefánsdóttir and Valdimar Harðarson, also must be thanked for their contribution, not just for proofreading but also their babysitting and general helpfulness in life. 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................... 3 ÚTDRÁTTUR ................................................................................................................................................ 4 FOREWORDS............................................................................................................................................... 5 TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................................................... 6 LIST OF ACRONYMS ..................................................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................... 8 1 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND STATE OF THE ART ...........................................................................10 1.1 Origins, Concepts and Context .................................................................................................. 10 1.1.1 A Short History ............................................................................................................. 10 1.1.2 Definitions of Humanitarian Aid .................................................................................... 14 1.1.3 Humanitarian Actors .................................................................................................... 16 1.2 Ethics in Humanitarian Aid ........................................................................................................ 18 1.2.1 Justice and Fault........................................................................................................... 19 1.2.2 Codes of Conduct ......................................................................................................... 20 1.2.3 Where does the Responsibility Lie? ............................................................................... 21 1.3 The Allocation of Humanitarian Aid ........................................................................................... 24 1.3.1 Which Factors Influence where Aid is Allocated? ............................................................ 24 1.3.2 How is Aid Delivered and How Much is Given? ............................................................... 27 2 SETTING ...........................................................................................................................................30 2.1 Humanitarianism in Iceland Through the Years ........................................................................... 30 2.2 Humanitarian Aid and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs .................................................................. 31 2.3 Humanitarian Actors in Iceland ................................................................................................. 37 3 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................41 3.1 Research Methods ................................................................................................................... 41 3.2 Collection of Data ..................................................................................................................... 42 3.3 Analysis of Field Data ................................................................................................................ 44 3.4 Ethical Concerns ....................................................................................................................... 45 4 RESULTS ...........................................................................................................................................48 4.1 Perspectives from the MFA ....................................................................................................... 48 4.2 International Connections of the NGOs .....................................................................................