This thesis examines how the humanitarian sector is integrating various data technologies into its work. Innovation offers enormous opportunities for the sector, yet also brings with it new risks....Show moreThis thesis examines how the humanitarian sector is integrating various data technologies into its work. Innovation offers enormous opportunities for the sector, yet also brings with it new risks. Technological innovation is, and will in the foreseeable future continue to be, inextricably linked to partnering with the private sector. This fits in a larger pattern where private sector involvement is becoming increasingly important in humanitarian aid. In this process, private sector norms are increasingly adopted for governing precarity. The research examines the mode of deployment of technologies through a case study of the WFP in Yemen. The Houthi faction’s refusal to accept biometric identity systems there led to a temporary partial suspension of food aid. This deployment is considered through the framework of the humanitarian principles, and finds that the WFP is jeopardizing both the lives of the most vulnerable people and the sector’s sustained access to conflict and disasters. These findings are interpreted through a theoretical framework, focusing on the marketization of multilateralism in the time of surveillance capitalism. The research establishes a technodeterminist reliance on data, represented as neutral reflections of complex realities. The belief in the abilities and necessity of these technologies to maximize impact and efficiency comes as the cost of agency, privacy, and sovereignty. This thesis ultimately argues for recentering humanitarian action and innovation on the humanitarian principles, in order to maintain the legitimate authority of the sector and to safeguard the wellbeing of its beneficiaries.Show less
This thesis deals with the topic of decision making of NGO's in the seventies and eighties. The model of 'webs of significance' is used to describe why the Dutch NGO Novib chose to support specific...Show moreThis thesis deals with the topic of decision making of NGO's in the seventies and eighties. The model of 'webs of significance' is used to describe why the Dutch NGO Novib chose to support specific projects in East-Africa and to reject others. By looking at the motivations which are present in the archival material for support or rejection this thesis argues that external actors did not have much influence on the decision making of Novib. Instead, it argues, internal criteria such as support to local organisations, support for small, sustainable projects, et cetera were very much present in the organisation. Novibs webs of significance (which lead to a decision) were internally formed and therefore Novibs decision making was not only ideological (western) but also independent, pragmatic and risk-averse.Show less
