NGOs and Nation Building: Impact of NGOs on Haiti's internally displaced people (IDP) camp committees

Mark Schuller博士(纽约州立大学)将与海地学者合作，对非政府组织和“公民基础设施”进行研究，这些非政府组织和“公民基础设施”是在最近一次使六分之一的海地人无家可归的地震后为帮助流离失所的人而出现的。国际社会的反应是慷慨地提供援助。在六个月内，美国公民个人向非政府组织(NGO)捐款超过13亿美元。尽管最初提供了这笔资金，但额外认捐的53亿美元援助只收到了一小部分。此外，地震发生一年半后，剩余的境内流离失所者的情况仍然不明朗。国际合作小组将就官方发展援助对海地剩余境内流离失所者营地内的民间组织和运作的影响进行研究。这项研究将主要侧重与境内流离失所者融入和民间社会在这些进程中参与其与非政府组织的关系有关的问题。这项研究将以“公民基础设施”框架为基础，具体询问：*难民营委员会如何运作，如何决策，如何让居民参与，以及如何与选民群体沟通？*官方委员会如何代表弱势群体及其关注的问题？*各种利益相关者如何理解“参与”，以及它如何影响行动？*这些委员会如何与先前存在的民间组织，如亲属关系、邻里团体和基于信仰的网络相交叉？*非政府组织提供援助的政策和方法如何影响难民营委员会以及与国内流离失所者的关系？将对8个境内流离失所者营地进行有目的的抽样，采用观察、个人和焦点小组访谈的混合方法，将有非政府组织管理机构的营地与没有的营地进行比较，并研究性别平等问题。建议的研究涉及大学间的合作，将人种学的核心力量与比较框架结合起来。这项研究的意义在于它关注灾难性破坏后公民治理和公民社会机构的建立条件。这项研究是由美国国家科学基金会国际科学和工程办公室共同资助的，该办公室为教师和学生提供前往海地的旅行资金。

Dr. Mark Schuller (CUNY) in collaboration with Haitian scholars will undertake research on NGOs and the "civic infrastructure" that has arisen to assist displaced peoples in the aftermath of the recent earthquake that rendered one in six Haitians homeless. The international community responded with a generous outpouring of aid. Over $1.3 billion was contributed by private U.S. citizens to non-governmental organizations (NGOs) within six months. Despite this initial funding, only a fraction of an additional $5.3 billion pledged for assistance has been received. Furthermore, the situation remains tenuous for the remaining internally displaced people (IDP) a year and a half following the earthquake. The international collaborative team will conduct research on the impact of official development aid on civic organization and functioning within Haiti's remaining IDP camps. The research will focus primarily on issues associated with IDP inclusion and civil society participation in their relationships with NGOs within these processes. The research will be based on a "civic infrastructure" frame, specifically asking: *How do camp committees function, make decisions, involve resident populations, and communicate with constituent groups?*How are vulnerable populations and their concerns represented by official committees?*How is "participation" understood by various stakeholders, and how does it shape action?*How do the committees intersect with pre-existing civic organization, such as kinship ties,neighborhood groups, and faith-based networks?*How do NGO policies and approaches to giving aid impact camp committees and relationships with IDPs? A mixed methods approach involving observation and individual and focus group interviews will be employed on a purposive sample of eight IDP camps, comparing camps with an NGO management agency with those without as well as looking at gender parity. Proposed research involves an inter-university collaboration blending ethnography's core strength with a comparative frame. The significance of the research lies in its attention to the conditions of the establishment of institutions of civic governance and civil society after catastrophic destruction.The research is co-funded by NSF Office of International Science and Engineering/Americas who provided funding for faculty and student travel to Haiti.