The Humanitarian Machine: Reflections from Practice

235 Pages·2021·28.012 MB·English

by  Diego Fernandez Otegui and Daryl Yoder-Bontrager

We have long awaited The Humanitarian Machine. Here it is with all the misgivings,
dilemmas, contradictions and rewards that are such lives. Read and cherish
these experiences because they reflect a truth and humanity that screams from
the pages.
– Phil O’Keefe, Professor, Northumbria University, UK

The Humanitarian Machine

As the world reels from the impact of a global pandemic and increasing intensity
of climate- caused hazards, the humanitarian sector has never been more rele-
vant. But providing aid to those affected by disasters and crises is more complex
than ever.
In The Humanitarian Machine aid workers reflect on their own experiences of
working in crisis. As they write about their work and the ways in which they each
approach the challenges of helping people, they comment on some of the most
vexing issues facing the humanitarian sector. Each speaks from their own perspec-
tive, asking tough questions, sharing thoughtful reflections about their ongoing
work, and unpacking what it really means to be a humanitarian worker. The
stories they tell, whether recounting a specific experience or reflecting on years of
practice, reveal the dilemmas they face and demystify the overly romanticized aura
that sometimes surrounds humanitarian practice.
Complementing the candid accounts that humanitarian leaders contribute in
this book, the editors examine how their stories, perceptions, and understandings
align with similar conversations that take place in other settings. Viewed together
in this way, the insights and reflections provided in this book will be invaluable for
humanitarian practitioners, students, and researchers alike.
Diego Fernandez Otegui has almost 25 years of experience in emergency
management and humanitarian affairs, working in East Timor, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, India, Mozambique, Trinidad and Tobago, and Spain.
He is a board member of the International Humanitarian Studies Association
(IHSA) and Representative in the United States of the University Network of the
Americas for Disaster Risk Reduction (REDULAC) and has a PhD in Disaster
Science and Management from the University of Delaware, USA.
Daryl Yoder-B ontrager has worked for over 20 years in humanitarian
assistance and community development with Mennonite Central Committee,
ultimately becoming Director of its Latin America and Caribbean programs
and helping to lead the organization’s responses to Hurricane Mitch in Central
America and the 2010 Haiti earthquake as well as countless smaller disasters
in the region. He holds a PhD in Disaster Science and Management from the
University of Delaware, USA.
Routledge Humanitarian Studies Series

Series editors: Alex de Waal, Dorothea Hilhorst, Annette Jansen
and Mihir Bhatt
Editorial Board: Dennis Dijkzeul, Wendy Fenton, Kirsten Johnson,
Julia Streets and Peter Walker
The Routledge Humanitarian Studies series in collaboration with the
International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA) takes a comprehensive
approach to the growing field of expertise that is humanitarian studies. This
field is concerned with humanitarian crises caused by natural disaster, conflict or
political instability and deals with the study of how humanitarian crises evolve,
how they affect people and their institutions and societies, and the responses they
trigger.
We invite book proposals that address, amongst other topics, questions of aid
delivery, institutional aspects of service provision, the dynamics of rebel wars, state
building after war, the international architecture of peacekeeping, the ways in
which ordinary people continue to make a living throughout crises, and the effect
of crises on gender relations.
This interdisciplinary series draws on and is relevant to a range of disciplines,
including development studies, international relations, international law, anthro-
pology, peace and conflict studies, public health and migration studies.
The Humanitarian Fix
Navigating Civilian Protection in Contemporary Wars
Joe Cropp
Citizen Humanitarianism at European Borders
Edited by Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert and Elisa Pascucci
Adolescents in Humanitarian Crisis
Displacement, Gender and Social Inequalities
Edited by Nicola Jones, Kate Pincock and Bassam Abu Hamad
The Humanitarian Machine
Reflections from Practice
Edited by Diego Fernandez Otegui and Daryl Yoder- Bontrager
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge- Humanitarian- Studies/ book- series/ RHS
The Humanitarian Machine

Reflections from Practice
Edited by
Diego Fernandez Otegui
and Daryl Yoder- Bontrager
First published 2021
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2021 selection and editorial matter, Diego Fernandez Otegui and
Daryl Yoder- Bontrager; individual chapters, the contributors
The right of Diego Fernandez Otegui and Daryl Yoder- Bontrager to be identified
as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Otegui, Diego Fernandez, editor. | Yoder-Bontrager, Daryl, editor.
Title: The humanitarian machine : reflections from practice /
edited by Diego Fernandez Otegui and Daryl Yoder-Bontrager.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2021. |
Series: Routledge humanitarian studies |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020057178 (print) | LCCN 2020057179 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Disaster relief. | Humanitarian assistance.
Classification: LCC HV553 .H8555 2021 (print) |
LCC HV553 (ebook) | DDC 363.34/8–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020057178
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020057179
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 68979- 7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 0- 367- 68975- 9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 003- 13986- 7 (ebk)
Typeset in Baskerville
by Newgen Publishing UK
Dedication

Plant a tree, have a child, and write a book. I grew up
hearing this proverb. Family gatherings, Christmas
celebrations, parties, they were all perfect circumstances
for aunts and uncles, grandpas and grandmas, and moms
and dads to insist to the young about the importance of
doing these three things.
I never paid much attention to them to be honest, but
now that I have done all three, I feel different. For quite
some time, for me at least, the list represented the things
that you had to do before being six feet under. They were
supposed to be the culmination of a fruitful life. And
because of this, I was not in a rush. Something inside of
me was telling me that I had to do them all, but I was
planning to do them much further into the future, prob-
ably even right before leaving this earthly life. Today,
I feel complete. And this can mean only one thing: that
I was wrong.
This is not a list of things that you are supposed to do at
the end of your life, nor are they supposed to be done at
the beginning. As I write these lines, it feels like they must
be done only when it feels right. They change you, and
they change you for the better, but they require a little bit
of wisdom and experience. They help you appreciate the
beginning of things. If you think about it, planting a tree
represents the origin of the places and the circumstances
that we all inhabit. Having a child represents the origin
of life. And I believe it comes in second place because
you need to be capable of understanding, embracing and
sustaining those places and circumstances for your child
to grow old, surrounded by love and happiness. Once
you have the circumstances and life itself, and only then,
you can embark on the glorious adventure of writing a
book. This comes in third place, because it represents
the apogee of your own development. Without the book,
without engaging in this troublesome and stressful pro-
cess of creating knowledge for future generations, every-
thing you created so far is stuck in a timeless bubble, with
no option or possibility of evolving into something better.
It took me 45 years to get the three things done. But I do
not complain. I am in a good place. I love my life, and
I am thankful for what I have, and for what I have done.
And if there is one bit of wisdom that I now have, it is that
I could not have done any of the three without the support
of my family. My dad and my mom made me the happy
guy that I am today. I do not know of more loving parents
than mine. They did all that is humanely possible to give
me and my brother everything they could, and their life-
long effort and their complete and absolute surrender to
make me happy will forever be remembered. My brother
is not by my side anymore. Life took us along different
paths, but he was for many years a brother as much as he
was my best friend, and it was by his side that I learned
how to go through life in my early years. I will love him
till the day I die. My wife is the faithful representation
of tenderness and sweetness. She is the one who knows
how to bring me down to the level I need to be at when
my brain is going a million miles an hour. She has not
only been able to cope and endure through my times of
stress, sadness and confusion, but she also gave me my
sweet little Chopi, a fantastic five- year- old girl who I love
beyond comprehension. She is the one who makes me
smile every single morning when I wake up, and every
single night before I go to bed.
This book is for them.
Diego Fernandez Otegui
Contents

About the editors xii

About the contributors xiv

Preface xxi

Introduction 1

PART 1
Flexibility and standardization: the mechanics of
humanitarian delivery 9

Introduction to the conversation 11

1 How standards contribute to the humanitarian sector 13

ANINIA NADIG
2 FAO goats don’t die: can evaluations make aid more inclusive? 27

MARTA BRUNO
3 COVID-1 9 and cholera: reflections on humanitarian
principles and their impact on public health emergencies 42

DAVID EISENBAUM
4 How to be relevant: a personal journey in the aid system 55

VOLKER HÜLS
5 Flexibility in fragility 65

HELEN BARCLAY-H OLLANDS
Extending the conversation 79