Niger
Conference

From their point of view

Caroline
Abu-sada

Director of the Research Unit on Humanitarian Stakes and Practices (UREPH), Médecins Sans Frontières, based in Geneva

Caroline Abu-Sada holds a doctorate in political science and international relations from Sciences Po Paris. She has held several positions in the field, notably in the Middle East, for Oxfam GB, the United Nations and Médecins Sans Frontières Switzerland. She is the author of "ONG palestiniennes et construction étatique: L’expérience de Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committees (PARC) dans les Territoires occupés palestiniens", 1983-2005 (2007, Beyrouth: IFPO), Dans l’œil des autres: Perception de l'action humanitaire et de MSF (2011, Lausanne: Ed. Antipodes), "Le développement, une affaire d'ONG? Associations, Etats et Bailleurs dans le monde arabe" (2011, Paris: Karthala-IREMAM-IFPO), "Dilemmas, Challenges, and Ethics of Humanitarian Action: Reflections on Médecins Sans Frontières' Perception Project" (2012, Montréal: McGill Queen’s University Press, Médecins Sans Frontières), as well as numerous articles, reports, and chapters on humanitarian action, NGOs, and the Middle East. Since 2010, she has represented MSF at the Steering Committee of the Centre for Studies and Research on Humanitarian Action (CERAH) in Geneva and is currently Honorary Lecturer at the Humanitarian and Conflict Research Institute (HCRI) of the University of Manchester.

The reasons why we are accepted, tolerated or sometimes rejected in the contexts where we work are often obscure. Caroline Abu-Sada and her team of sociology student shed some light on these issues.

In charge of this research project for MSF Switerzland, Caroline interviewed villagers, local authorities and staff members to find out how they perceive MSF and others humanitarian actors.

With examples from Niger, Cameroun, Liberia, Kenya, Ouganda, Jordanie, Guatemala and Irak, she presents here the initial conclusion of her work.

Table of contents

1. Introduction
2. Results of the study
3. Stable and unstable contexts
4. Unsurprising results
5. Perception and identity
6. International and local staff
7. International or local staff
8. Duration of projects
9. Principles of perception
10. Healthcare quality
11. Humanitarian assistance
12. Social categories
13. Semantic interpretation
14. Can we control our image?
15. Different sections

To cite this content :
Caroline Abu-sada, “From their point of view”, 10 mars 2009, URL : https://msf-crash.org/en/conferences-debates/their-point-view

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Past events

conf nicolas mariot Conference

Motivations for mass violence: different interpretations

10/03/2019 - 06:00 PM 08:00 PM Nicolas Mariot

Conference – debate, Thursday, 3 October 2019, 6-8pm, 1st floor meeting room at MSF, 8 rue Saint Sabin. Streaming and simultaneous translation into English available.
 
What turns ordinary men into killers? The CRASH team invited you to a conference – debate with the sociologist and historian, Nicolas Mariot, author of an article entitled « Faut-il être motivé pour tuer?  Sur quelques explications aux violences de guerre » (Genèses, n°53, 2003, p. 154-177) and books such as  “Face à la persécution. 991 Juifs dans la guerre" (with Claire Zalc, Paris, Odile Jacob, 2010), “Tous unis dans la tranchée ? 1914-1918, les intellectuels rencontrent le peuple" (Paris, Seuil, 2013). Nicolas Mariot presented two different interpretations of motivations for mass violence in the 20th century, drawn from a series of studies and surveys on the subject.

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conf eleanor davey Conference

Third-Worldism and Sans-Frontiérisme 1954-1988

04/11/2019 - 06:30 PM 08:30 PM Eleanor Davey

Eleanor Davey, historian of ideas and humanitarianism, senior lecturer at the Humanitarian and Conflict Research Institute, University of Manchester, discusses her book, Idealism Beyond Borders. The French Revolutionary Left and the Rise of Humanitarianism, 1954-1988, devoted to the intellectual history of sans-frontiérisme and Third-Worldism, in France, from the Algerian war to the early years of Médecins Sans Frontières.

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conf caroline iz Conference

Healing foreigners in France: The State and the civil society organisations from the 80s to the 90s

12/17/2018 - 06:00 PM 08:00 PM Caroline Izambert

The CRASH team invited you to the debate-conference “Healing foreigners in France: The State and the civil society organisations from the 80s to the 90s” on Monday 17th of December 2018 from 6 to 8pm, in the 1rst floor room at the 8 rue Saint-Sabin. We hosted Caroline Izambert, who recently defended, at the EHESS, her PhD thesis focusing on the foreigners’ access to healthcare in France. Her title: “Heal foreigners?” The State and the civil society organisations for the health coverage of the poor and foreigners in France from the 1980s to the present day. 

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De gauche à droite, Michaël Neuman, Lise Barnéoud et Emmanuel Baron lors de la conférence du Crash du 5 décembre 2017 sur la vaccination MSF-Crash Conference

Immunization: new perspectives on vaccines - Conference with Lise Barnéoud

12/05/2017 - 06:00 PM 08:00 PM Lise Barnéoud

Who profits from vaccination? Individuals? Society? Companies? Is vaccination efficient? Is it dangerous? Profitable? What are the factors influencing public opinion in this domain? Lise Barnéoud, science journalist and author of Immunisés ? Un nouveau regard sur les vaccins, has engaged in an investigation revealing multiple - and sometimes contradictory - realities observed in the French vaccination sector. She has carried out her investigation from three distinct viewpoints: the one of a mother who needs to decide whether to vaccinate her children or not; of a journalist leading an enquiry; and of a scientist analyzing how facts are built.   
 
Lise Barnéoud was a Crash guest speaker at a conference on vaccination held on December 5, 2017. A discussion with Epicentre, Crash and the MSF Medical Department allowed us to exchange views on vaccinal policy, which remains a cornerstone of MSF operations and a recurring subject of discussion and controversy.

 

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Sharon Abramowitz and Michaël Neuman during MSF Crash conference about humanitarian anthropology MSF Conference

Humanitarian anthropology : conference with Sharon Abramowitz

10/23/2017 - 06:00 PM 08:00 PM Sharon Abramowitz

Sharon Abramowitz is an anthropologist and a visiting researcher at the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University, co-editor of recently published Medical humanitarianism. Ethnographies of practice. She has devoted much of her work to responding to epidemics - most recently in Ebola, and in West Africa, Liberia in particular.

During the conference organized by MSF-Crash on 23 October 2017, she discussed the contribution of medical anthropology to humanitarian action as well as her latest book and most recent projects.

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