Building Paths to Caring in Crisis and Mitigating the Crisis of Caring

Abstract

The chapter examines four tensions between the public’s voices, as expressed in the focus groups and interviews, and NGOs’ views and practices, as revealed by the practitioner interviews: (1) public’s expectations of messages about suffering vs the emphasis of NGO communications’ on positive depictions and ‘feel good’ effect; (2) NGOs’ reliance on the emergency model vs the public’s desire to engage with sufferers relationally on a longer-term basis; (3) public’s appetite for more direct and reciprocal relationships with NGOs and beneficiaries vs NGOs’ perception of their role as gatekeepers and money-collectors; and (4) crisis of public’s trust in NGOs vs NGOs’ partial admission of this crisis. Informed by this discussion, specific recommendations are outlined as to how NGOs might rethink their communications approaches and relations with the public.