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Internationalising Institutional and Professional Practices: Community Partnership Models of Change in Post-Tsunami Sri Lanka

Grant reference: RES-062-23-1025

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Conference paper/presentation details

Humanitarian aid in times of disasters : lessons from responses to the 2004 tsunami in Sri-Lanka
Disasters have prompted humanitarian interventions in many parts of the world, giving rise to the view that goodwill is the key ingredient in having successful outcomes that are experienced as empowering by local recipients. This is not always the case (Hancock, 1991). Moreover, contemporary disasters occur in a context of globalisation, the internationalisation of institutions and organisations, and greater personal mobility. What are the implications of international gestures of goodwill for local communities recovering from catastrophic events? Do these increase or reduce global and local inequalities; enable social and community development activities to proceed on the terms set by local residents; and provide for sustainable long-term reconstruction? In this paper we present some findings from an ESRC funded project into disaster relief provided to the survivors of the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka, so get their answers to these questions. This study used qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with over 200 students, staff, community practitioners and residents of villages, triangulated with focus groups and a quantitative survey. These have revealed a mix of responses which range from successful interventions to less successful ones. However, the research revealed that local people felt more empowered by two different initiatives that we call the Institutional Model because it originally originated in an institutional setting in a Western European country and has provided much needed resources and support for young people and their communities; and the other the Capacity-Building Model which began in an NGO with a global reach, but quickly established relationships with local actors and now plays a major role in promoting professional social work education with strong support from social work educators in an Eastern European country.
http://www.swsd-stockholm-2012.org/Pdf/120620_FinalProgram_SWSD2012.pdf
English

Primary contributor

Author Tom Vickers

Additional contributors

Co-author Lena Dominelli
Co-author Joy Palmer-Cooper

Additional details

Conference organised by the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW), the International Council on Social Welfare (ICSW) and the International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW)
08 July 2012
Joint world conference in social work and social development : action and impact
Stockholm, Sweden
2nd
08 July 2012

Files

Vickers_humanitarian.pdf (.pdf / 49kb)

Cite this outcome

Harvard

Vickers, Tom et al Humanitarian aid in times of disasters : lessons from responses to the 2004 tsunami in Sri-Lanka. Joint world conference in social work and social development : action and impact, 2nd, Stockholm, Sweden, 2012.

Vancouver

Vickers Tom et al. Humanitarian aid in times of disasters : lessons from responses to the 2004 tsunami in Sri-Lanka. Joint world conference in social work and social development : action and impact, 2nd, Stockholm, Sweden, 2012.