Donors and Do No Harm
Suggested Citation: The Do No Harm Project. Donors and Do No Harm. Cambridge, MA: CDA Collaborative Learning Projects, 2012.
Whose responsibility is it to ensure that international assistance provided in conflict zones around the world does not feed into, exacerbate or prolong those conflicts?
Who is responsible for ensuring that aid programs not only do no harm but also help reduce intergroup hostility and reinforce intergroup connections?
Why is it that, though most international assistance agencies acknowledge that aid can be misused and manipulated in warfare so that it often feeds into and prolongs conflicts, efforts to eliminate these negative impacts remain irregular and infrequent?
This case examines the areas where donor, headquarters or other superstructure actions are implicated in how aid interacts with conflict. It then considers how this can and must change and reflect on why, so far, even those aid donors and agencies that are aware of these issues have not undertaken earnest efforts to eliminate wrongful impacts.
