Languages and international NGOs: cultural knowledge in communities in crisis

在过去十年中，国际非政府组织领域的重大变化同时强调了在人道主义援助方面增强当地社区的能力的必要性，并暴露出相对缺乏文化知识来促进这种“自下而上”的干预。联合国强调了“确保人道主义人员……向当地民众清楚地传达他们的目的和目标”的重要性。然而，该部门对更大的文化敏感性的期望是在人道主义空间本身不那么安全的时候提出的，因此非政府组织越来越被迫限制其人员在危险地区的行动。所有这些变化的结果是，地方中介机构成为非政府组织和它们所服务的社区之间文化知识的重要传播者，因此它们本身就是关键的参与者。虽然许多非政府组织从业人员和专业口译员/笔译员意识到这些中介机构的重要性与日俱增，但对它们的作用和地位，以及它们日常工作的语言和文化影响的学术研究很少。语言和国际非政府组织：危机社区的文化知识“旨在制定一项研究议程，通过特别关注非政府组织面临的语言和文化挑战，以有意义的方式支持非政府组织在国际危机地区的实地运作，LINGOS将召集四个小组讨论这些问题：--研究语言在冲突中的作用的语言研究人员--对非政府组织的工作特别感兴趣的国际关系研究人员--开展国际业务的非政府组织和人道主义组织--特别关注当地招聘人员的雇用和培训的专业口译员/笔译。LINGOS将把这四个小组聚集在一个有组织的研讨会上，以确定这一领域的语言/文化交流所涉及的一系列问题，并在所涉四个小组的相关网络中提高对这些问题的认识。在此基础上，LINGOS将通过“建设未来项目”活动制定未来研究的议程。LINGOS将宣传这一议程，并在专门针对年轻志愿者群体的电影中宣传这一议程，并在更广泛的非政府组织领域内宣传其重要性，并在发展研究和笔译/口译方面为学术界/实践者受众撰写文章。它将通过在DFID的早餐活动和在欧洲议会的午餐时间演示进一步将这一议程带给政府机构。

Over the last decade, major changes in the international NGO sphere have simultaneously emphasised the need for local community empowerment in humanitarian aid, and exposed the relative lack of cultural knowledge with which to facilitate such 'bottom up' intervention. The UN has stressed the importance of 'ensuring that humanitarian personnel ...communicate clearly their purpose and objectives to local populations'. The sector's expectation of greater cultural sensitivity however comes at a time when the humanitarian space itself is much less secure, so that NGOs are increasingly forced to restrict the movement of their personnel in danger zones. The result of all these changes is that local intermediaries become vital transmitters of cultural knowledge between NGOs and the communities they serve, and thus key players in their own right. Whilst many NGO practitioners and professional interpreters/translators are aware of the growing importance of these intermediaries, there has been little academic research into their role and status, and into the linguistic and cultural implications of their day to day work.' Languages and International NGOs: cultural knowledge in communities in crisis' (LINGOS) aims to develop a research agenda which can support in a meaningful way the operations of NGOs on the ground in international crisis zones by focusing specifically on the language and cultural challenges they face, and on the role of the local personnel they employ.LINGOS will bring together four groups to discuss these isssues:- language researchers working on the role of languages in conflict- international relations researchers with a particular interest in the work of NGOs- NGOs and humanitarian organisations which operate internationally- professional interpreters/translators with a particular concern for the employment and training of locally recruited personnel.LINGOS will bring these four groups together in a structured workshop in order to identity the range of issues involved in language/cultural exchange in this area, and raise awareness of these questions within the relevant networks of the four groups involved. From this, LINGOS will develop an agenda for future research through a 'Building Future Projects' event. LINGOS will publicise this agenda and advocate its importance within the wider NGO sphere in a film aimed specifically at younger volunteer groups, and in articles for the academic/practitioner audiences in development studies and translation/interpreting. It will further take this agenda out to governmental agencies through a breakfast event at DFID, and in a lunch time presentation at the European Parliament.