Languages and international NGOs: cultural knowledge in communities in crisis
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Reading
Department Name: Modern Languages and European Studies
Abstract
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.
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.
Planned Impact
LINGOS aims to be of benefit to a range of potential users: 3rd sector organisations, locally recruited intermediaries working in conflict areas, and governmental organisations engaged in supporting humanitarian aid.
For the third sector:
by developing a 'Building Future Projects' research agenda on languages and international NGOs, LINGOS will :
a)contribute to improving the operational effectiveness of NGOS in the field,
b) publicise the role and importance of languages in NGOs to a younger volunteer audience through the Worldwrite film
b) contribute to the work of the International Association of Conference Interpreters as they examine the employment conditions, training and status of locally employed personnel.
For locally recruited language intermediaries working with NGOs now or in the future:
by raising awareness of the complexities of their position, and by directing research towards the related issues, LINGOS will help to improve the welfare and status of the personnel involved.
For governmental agencies in the UK and the EU:
by developing a future research agenda on languages and international NGOs, and strongly advocating its importance, LINGOS will help to embed languages in policies concerning the organisation and support of humanitarian and peace building initiatives.
For the third sector:
by developing a 'Building Future Projects' research agenda on languages and international NGOs, LINGOS will :
a)contribute to improving the operational effectiveness of NGOS in the field,
b) publicise the role and importance of languages in NGOs to a younger volunteer audience through the Worldwrite film
b) contribute to the work of the International Association of Conference Interpreters as they examine the employment conditions, training and status of locally employed personnel.
For locally recruited language intermediaries working with NGOs now or in the future:
by raising awareness of the complexities of their position, and by directing research towards the related issues, LINGOS will help to improve the welfare and status of the personnel involved.
For governmental agencies in the UK and the EU:
by developing a future research agenda on languages and international NGOs, and strongly advocating its importance, LINGOS will help to embed languages in policies concerning the organisation and support of humanitarian and peace building initiatives.
Description | 'Languages and International NGOs ( LINGOS): Cultural Knowledge in Communities in Crisis' brought together languages and international relations specialists, international NGOs, and professional interpreters in order to a) examine the role of languages in NGOs, and b) develop an interdisciplinary research agenda of specific relevance to the language-related challenges which NGOs face. The Network concluded that there was currently a lack of awareness on the role of languages in NGOs and began to develop questions and research-partner relationships to take the issue forward. |
Exploitation Route | The work of this Network and its conclusions have relevance to international NGOS, and in particular to NGO attempts to improve operational effectiveness on the ground, and to strengthen the beneficiary components of their accountability procedures. Follow up funding from the AHRC ('The Listening Zones of NGOs: languages and cultural knowledge in development programmes' ) will be taking these findings further. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Education Security and Diplomacy |
URL | http://www.reading.ac.uk/modern-languages-and-european-studies/research/LINGOS.aspx |
Description | NGOs met in a Workshop to discuss: 'Do NGOs need a languages policy?' NGOs identified key issues that needed to be addressed and requested that further specific work should be done to provide information and best practice in the area. This has resulted in the formulation of a new research bid which was successful and which brings together language/translation scholars, translators/interpreters, development studies specialists, and UK-based NGOs. This further project ( 'The Listening Zones of NGOs: languages and cultural knowledge in development programmes') will build substantially on the original award. |
First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Government, Democracy and Justice |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | Awareness of foreign languages among UK development NGOs |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | NGOs identified specific gaps in current knowledge which they saw as crucial to developing their language policies in the future. |
Description | AHRC |
Amount | £305,547 (GBP) |
Funding ID | AH/M006808/1 |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 06/2015 |
End | 06/2018 |
Description | AIIC |
Organisation | International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) |
Country | Global |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | By working with AIIC, the research network raised the profile of language brokerage in post conflict and development zones. |
Collaborator Contribution | A IIC's participation enabled the team to work with interpreting professionals in the field. |
Impact | AIIC contributed to the conceptual development of the successful follow on bid. |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | 'Disaster Politics and changing cultural paradigms' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Paper given to Stockholm Conference on Development and Security Invited paper to Stockholm conference on Development and Security |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | 'Do NGOs need a languages policy?' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Workshop resulted in a Report and in an application for funding NGOs and professional interpreters/translators suggested follow-up work |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://www.intrac.org |
Description | 'Global Governance and the Politics of Language Knowledge' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Invited paper at the Cambridge Conference on Dismantling Security Paper presented at Cambridge conference on dismantling security |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | 'Language knowledge in global NGO work' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | Paper presented to the LBAS/British Academy conference on 'Building the language base for research: the impact and future of language-based Area Studies'. Paper at conference held in association with the British Academy's 'Language Week' |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | Discussion of language issues raised for NGO activity |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Discussion of language issues raised for NGO activity with members of the European parliament Development Committee at Strasbourg Discussions with MEPs and civil servants from the European Parliament's Development Committee |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | Languages of trauma in NGOs |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talk on BBC Radio 4 Thinking aloud Talk on languages of trauma in NGOs on BBC Radio 4 'Thinking Aloud'. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | Languages research seminar series, University of Aston |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Paper in the School of Languages and Social Science research series Discussion |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
Description | Panel on 'International NGOs and the Politics of Cultural and Language Knowledge' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Panel of three papers at the major 'Humanitarianism: Past, present and future' conference attended by a broad range of NGOs. Panel specifically on languages and NGOs attended by a broad range of NGOs |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | Report of Workshop 'Do NGOs need a languages policy?' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Report of Workshop 'Do NGOs need a languages policy?' posted on website of the International NGO Training and Research Centre (INTRAC) Online full report of Workshop available to NGOs on INTRAC's extensive network |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | School of Modern Languages and Cultures, Research seminar, Glasgow University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | ' Languages in the context of war' in research series on languages in historical context. Colleagues asked questions about the area of research and methodology |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
Description | Talk on language politics |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Talk on language politics in East Midlands Salon Derby |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
Description | Translation Research Seminar, University of Manchester |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | ' Fraternizing or not fraternizing with the enemy?' Questions from and discussion with postgraduates |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010 |
Description | University of Salford Translating and Interpreting Studies Seminar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Scientific meeting (conference/symposium etc.) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Type Of Presentation | keynote/invited speaker |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | 'Paper on ' Jewish refugees as linguists? British war crimes investigations and trials in Germany, 1945-48' Postgraduate students asked questions about the area of research |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009 |
Description | Workshop for NGOs on languages and power |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This Workshop held for NGOs reported on the first year's activity of the project, using archival material from 3 major UK-based NGOs as case studies to discuss 'listening' in NGO practice, and the role of languages and cultural knowledge in this. A report was written on the outcomes, and the suggested next steps. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.reading.ac.uk/listening-zones-ngos |