Experiences of Right Sharing of World Resources (original) (raw)
The ethics of assistance: morality and the distant needy
We citizens of the affluent countries tend to discuss our obligations toward the distant needy mainly in terms of donations and transfers, assistance and redistribution: How much of our wealth, if any, should we give away to the hungry abroad? Using one prominent theorist ...
The Un/Ethical Demand: A Responsive Approach to Sharing and Its Ethics.
Ethnoscripts, 2023
Many anthropological theories address food sharing as an intentional act, asking what motivates people to give. They show how one gives for generosity, reciprocity, or becoming virtuous. In these views, the answer to the ethical question of whether to give is to be found inside the giving self. However, for Damara pastoralists and others, sharing is often initiated by the beneficiaries. To address this, I propose using Bernhard Waldenfels's responsive phenomenology that locates and theorises the mainsprings of ethical action beyond the subject. According to Waldenfels, Fremdheit (alienness) is a salient dimension of how the world appears to us. This alienness solicits us; it causes a demand to which we must respond. With sharing, the 'needs' of others are alien. They include the needs of those giving and demanding, and of others present in the situation. The pre-reflective response to these demands is almost always mās |guisa ra hî, one just gives. Only in select cases is a reflective choice made, where (1) multiple demands compete and (2), importantly, the alien largely withdraws from the attempt, sticking out and exceeding the ethical orders of the everyday. I conclude by showing how sharing and its ethics can be theorised as an interplay between the habitual and creative response to the demands that situations create.
The book gives a comprehensive and systematic presentation of Catholic social ethics on human rights, ecology, globalisation, international co-operation and aid, human and cultural development, business ethics, social justice, and the challenges of poverty eradication, and the need for solidarity to the poor, minorities, and those on the margins of life. The book shows how the social questions of the day impact the African continent. It further engages the principles and practice of Christian charity, aid and development and their implications for the challenging African social context. This work is a refreshing attempt at a transformative Christian theological praxis, and takes Catholic social ethics from the confines of rectories, chanceries, lecture halls and conferences to the living life situation of millions of Africans in their challenging social context. It proposes an integral theology of development, and creatively lays the groundwork for Christian humanitarian and social ministry in Africa. This work is a ground breaking attempt at vulnerable missional praxis through a social analysis informed by the Gospel, and a Gospel analysis which is capable of radically altering the ways and means Catholic and Christian charities carry out their humanitarian work, aid and development initiatives in developing countries of Africa, and among the poor in our world. This is a Christian manifesto for a better world.
Philanthropy as an Emerging Contributor to Development Cooperation
Philanthropy as an Emerging Contributor to Development Cooperation, 2014
Philanthropy resists easy definition and categorization. That has made it difficult to track its contribution to specific development goals. But it need not impede philanthropy’s ascent into deep engagement with others in international development cooperation. Philanthropy, no matter where it originates, is driven by the imperative to meet human needs, alleviate suffering, and tackle the systemic challenges that prevent human development and progress. On one end of the spectrum it can be pathbreaking, supporting innovation, field building, first movers and fast movers - and at the other, it provides patient capital for long-term challenges that require painstaking efforts that go beyond political winds and shorter-term business interests. Philanthropy needs to leverage the larger resources and expertise of official development cooperation actors. And governments and the UN system need to leverage the insights, innovations and more nimble approaches of philanthropy and those organizations who the sector supports. Philanthropy reaches across borders and silos to create a better and safer world for all. The power of joining the forces of official development cooperation and philanthropy in the service of the new international, universal development goals will make a substantial difference. But this will require new mindsets, partnerships and forms of collaboration amongst the UN system, governments and the philanthropic sector alike. The challenge is worth surmounting for the leverage and greater impact it will bring.
In the face of widespread poverty, Peter Singer argues that the best response is giving money to charitable organizations that give aid to the poor. In response, much criticism has been leveled by cosmopolitan philosophers that philanthropy is unable to effectively combat poverty for many reasons: such funds fall prey to corrupt bureaucrats, the poor will waste the money, or become dependent upon donations rather than providing for themselves. In this paper, I argue that the work of the organization GiveDirectly offers an approach that can overcome the criticisms leveled against philanthropy. GiveDirectly works by providing direct cash transfers to the poor; by adopting such a straightforward method, GiveDirectly provides practical benefits to the poor, and overcomes key philosophical critiques. The poor are empowered to make choices to meet their own needs, and do not become dependent upon donations. While GiveDirectly does not constitute the solution to the problem of global poverty, it does provide an avenue by which philanthropic efforts can make a difference in the battle against poverty, in ways that best respect and promote the autonomy of the poor. In the face of widespread poverty, Peter Singer argues that the best response is for affluent individuals to give money to charitable organizations that provide the poor with basic goods. In response, much criticism has been leveled by cosmopolitans (such as Thomas Pogge, Andrew Kuper, and Paul Gomberg) claiming that philanthropy is unable to effectively combat the problem for many reasons: such funds end up being diverted by corrupt bureaucrats, the poor will become dependent upon Western donations rather than providing for themselves, or such a method will not attack the root causes of the problem of poverty. In this paper, I argue that the work of a recent organization called GiveDirectly offers a unique approach that overcomes many of the criticisms leveled against philanthropy.1 GiveDirectly works by providing direct, unconditional cash transfers (" UCTs ") from Western donors to the poor. With this simple and direct method, GiveDirectly provides practical benefits to the poor, and overcomes many key philosophical critiques made against philanthropy: its
The Ecumenical Review, 2016
is a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights in Copenhagen. She works on issues related to religion, development and human rights, with a particular focus on Islam and Muslim organizations. Jannie Le Moigne holds a BA in Religious Studies and MA in Cultural Analysis/Ethnology and Migration Studies from the University of Copenhagen. She has practical experience with the role of religion in integration processes and currently works as a consultant and freelance writer. From Taboo to Trend: Development Donors, Religion and Faith-Based Organizations In April 2015, World Bank director Jim Yong Kim gathered religious leaders and faithbased organizations (FBOs) for a common commitment to "Ending Extreme Poverty-A Moral and Spiritual Imperative." Building on this momentum, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) launched the International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD), an intergovernmental knowledge and coordination hub, with the aim to "strengthen and institutionalise cooperation between governments, multilateral organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), academia, and religious actors working in the fields of development, peace, interreligious dialogue and humanitarian assistance." This is the most recent in a long series of initiatives focusing on the role and relevance of religion in development. As other articles in this issue have discussed, religion was for many years a taboo in development studies and practice, seen to be at best
Current Anthropology, 2017
This study explores how nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) at the recipient end of the foreign aid relationship perceive partnership and cooperation with donors. Empirical research in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has revealed that relations established by foreign aid resemble archaic gift exchange in the extent to which both foreign aid and gift exchange evoke concepts of solidarity, equality, reciprocity, and related power dynamics. The results of the research indicate that return-gifts exist even in financially unreciprocated foreign aid relations. Recipients return the " contemporary gifts " by providing a special material (documenting and sharing stories of suffering or poverty) to the donor, which leads to the constant circulation of the gift (" aid for pain " and " pain for aid, " to put it bluntly). The study draws attention to the complex social and political factors that local NGOs need to navigate to secure contemporary gifts, while it may also strengthen the validity of critical theories concerning the missing rationale behind the official aims of foreign aid.
Missiology: an international review. 2018 46(3), 251-267, 2018
The use of outside resources (and global languages) seriously curtails the ability of intervening agents at engaging with non-western societies at the ontological depth needed to counter unhealthy socially destructive content at pre-suppositional level. Such presuppositional-level content may be perpetuating poverty and hopelessness. Availability of resources is often an excuse used by development workers to avoid in-depth engagement with a people. A case study illustrates how engagement without resources can challenge deep presuppositions associated with poverty. Deep theological engagement with pre-existing ontologies from a position of understanding is advocated as the way forward.
Commons and global public resources are of a composite nature, depending on a lot of actors, historical circumstances and governmental levels (there are no innate GPG). Because of their publicness, their definition, production, consumption and assessment (monitoring) is a case for communities and peoples involved. Their goods character should guarantee that all benefit, in particular the poor. Their globalness means that they require intense cooperation between nations, groups of experts, NGO’s, professions and economic partners. We have distinguished between three processes of managing and assessing GPSs: 1. Political decision making: Who decides whether to make a good public or private? Definition of the quality of common goods and interest With respect to the political process of defining the GPGs, we distinguished input, process and output requirements on three levels (local, national, internationally). 2a. Production of the goods: who pays what? Financing and management 2b. Consumption: Fair and equal access: International and global Management In the study we outlined the advantages and disadvantages of several types of management regimes, dependent on low or high complexity of moral issues and the political playing field. As in the consultations on definition and quality of GPG, also here ethical guidelines for stakeholder management of GPGs (rights of access, exit, and voice) apply. 3. Accountability: setting targets, assigning responsibilities, for the global goods to be produced, monitoring and assessing the results, correcting mistakes and mistaken routes of the production of global goods