Q: Research and provide an example of the conflict between a country’s government with the international responding community.
1) The American Government has, for an extended period, been donating a lot of money to EL-Salvador in the Northern Triangle as foreign aid. This foreign intervention has been driven through US aid. Much of the money donated to this region has been meant to address the concerns of poverty within the country, which would, on the other hand, reduce cases of immigration from the country to the USA. Through various governments, the American humanitarians’ work has invested a lot in an expectation that the high immigration rate from the country will face a decline (Lind, 2019). This money was being received directly by the El-Salvador government, which was meant to improve infrastructure and create employment opportunities.
The El-Salvador government has, however, been remained unaccountable too much of the money offered as foreign aid. This has led to a growing conflict between the government and US aid and the Red Cross. The NGOs, in this case, have been demanding accountability and results of the much money they have channeled into the country (Meyer & Gracia, 2018). However, the EL-Salvador government has been unable to provide a report on how they have been using the money. This has caused disagreements between the government and the American organizations. This has much been fueled by President Donald Trump, who has requested the organizations to go for accountability of the money they offer. Whenever there are conflicts within humanitarian organizations and the government, the general public suffers massively (Fielding, Allen, Chu, Galdo & Gayle, 2016). This is similarly evident in a majority of humanitarian work that has been done in different nations.
Such kind of conflicts are normally devastating to the economy in general (Haver, 2011). The described conflict led to a cut of foreign aid by the US aid and Red Cross into El Salvador. The organizations have claimed that the Northern triangle countries are doing nothing to prevent immigration despite them pocketing a lot of money from humanitarian organizations. The cut and withdrawal of this aid will drastically affect various operations within the country. With an already worse poverty level, the levels are going to face a decline continuously. This will mean that a majority if the standards will not be in a position to cater for their essential commodities. This can further fuel immigration cases into the USA and neighboring countries as people escape the hard-economic times.
References
Fielding, J., Allen, T., Chu, B., Galdo, J., & Gayle, H. (2016). Report of the Independent Panel on the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Ebola Response. Washington, DC: United States Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR).
Haver, K., (2011). Haiti Earthquake Response: Mapping and analysis of gaps and duplications in evaluations
Lind, D. (2019). Trump’s decision to cut off aid to 3 Central American countries, explained.
Meyer, P. J., & Gracia, E. Y. (2018). US foreign assistance to Latin America and the Caribbean: FY2018 appropriations. Congressional research service.
2) Hurricane Katrina: Government vs. International humanitarian response
Hurricane Katrina was a disaster that affected New Orleans in the United States in 2004, killing many and displacing many more. The governmental response from the United States in this disaster was found to be disorganized, and NGOs and FBOs (faith-based organizations) had to step up and take care of a significant part of the relief efforts (Gajewski et al., 2010).
This was a particular case in the United States, mainly because the inadequate national response caused an unprecedented flow of international NGOs (INGOs) for a disaster within this country. Usually, INGOs such as UNICEF and World Relief go to third world countries to help with humanitarian response. With Hurricane Katrina, the situation was different because INGOs traveled from abroad to the United States, while in the past, it had been the opposite, with American organizations going overseas to give humanitarian aid. In fact, small and poor countries sent help to the United States for the Katrina disaster, even though the US is considered the leading country in helping other countries. Interestingly, some of the INGOs that responded to Katrina were based on the United States, and some had the policy only to provide humanitarian relief overseas, so they had to break this rule in the case of Katrina (Eikenberry et al., 2007).
The conflict in the governmental and international response efforts to Katrina was twofold: On one hand, the US government pressured INGOs to step up when it was apparent that the government could not face the disaster. On the other hand, the US government was unable to direct and coordinate the response efforts of INGOs successfully. The media coverage that Katrina received showed a side of impoverished America that many had not seen before, and these images pushed people to donate to INGOs and pressure them to take action. This was coped with the fact that local authorities had no guidance from governmental authorities on what to do. When INGOs did step up, they had the same problem as local agencies: they could not get a clear or timely response from governmental authorities regarding the allocation and availability of resources (Eikenberry et al., 2007).
The lack of preparedness, coordination and communication of United States authorities to face the Hurricane Katrina tragedy caused a conflict with international humanitarian agencies in the sense that there were chaos and disorder, so international agencies found it quite hard to do their job, which was not supposed to be their job in the first place. The whole world was astonished at the subpar response from governmental forces, in a country that was supposed to be the primary international potency, and therefore self-sufficient.
References
Eikenberry, A. M., Arroyave, V., & Cooper, T. (2007). Administrative failure and the international NGO response to Hurricane Katrina. Public Administration Review, 67, 160–170.
doi: 10.1111/j.1540-6210.2007.00825.x
Gajewski, S., Bell, H., Lein, L., & Angel, R. J. (2010). Complexity and instability: the response of non-governmental organizations to the recovery of Hurricane Katrina survivors in a host community. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 40(2), 389–403. doi: 10.1177/0899764010362115
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