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中赋予当地社区权力的必要性，并暴露了相对缺乏文化知识，以促进这种“自下而上”的干预。联合国强调了“确保人道主义人员...向当地居民清楚地传达他们的目的和目标。然而，该部门期望提高对文化的敏感性，而此时人道主义空间本身却不那么安全，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与其所服务的社区之间文化知识的重要传递者，从而成为其本身的关键角色。虽然许多非政府组织从业人员和专业口译员/笔译员都意识到这些中介人日益重要，但很少有学术研究探讨他们的作用和地位，以及他们日常工作的语言和文化影响。“语言与国际非政府组织：危机中社区的文化知识”（LINGOS）旨在制定一个研究议程，通过特别关注非政府组织面临的语言和文化挑战以及他们雇用的当地人员的作用，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-对非政府组织工作特别感兴趣的国际关系研究人员-在国际上运作的非政府组织和人道主义组织-专业口译员/LINGOS将把这四个小组聚集在一起，举办了一次结构性讲习班，以确定这一领域语言/文化交流所涉及的各种问题，并在所涉四个群体的相关网络内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”活动为未来的研究制定议程。LINGOS将在更广泛的非政府组织领域宣传这一议程，并在专门针对年轻志愿者团体的电影中宣传其重要性，并在发展研究和笔译/口译领域的学术/从业人员读者的文章中宣传这一议程。它将通过在国际发展部举行的早餐会和在欧洲议会举行的午餐会，进一步向政府机构介绍这一议程。

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.