Det humanitära biståndets hjärna och hjärta : Professionalisering inom svenska humanitära frivilligorganisationer

Sammanfattning: Humanitarian crises, including natural disasters, epidemics and armed conflicts are managed mainly by humanitarian NGOs (non governmental organizations). In their work, NGOs have to encounter challenging ethical dilemmas, within other social organizations this has led to aspects of professionalism. The purpose of this study was to analyze if and in that case how professionalism appears within Swedish humanitarian NGOs who work within international humanitarian aid. To meet the purpose of the study, four different Swedish NGOs have been studied through semi-structured interviews with five unit chiefs and two officers within humanitarian departments. The empirical material implied an organizational perspective to understand how external pressures influenced the NGOs ability to either accept or challenge these pressures towards professionalism. Theoretical concepts by Bourdieu have also been used to analyze environmental terms within the field of NGOs and their internal abilities to adapt to these conditions. The results of the study indicated that the humanitarian field of NGOs can be divided into a theoretical and practical hierarchy between professional and voluntary humanitarian work. The professional part of the hierarchy within the Swedish departments had adapted all aspects of professionalism, whilst some of these aspects also had influenced the voluntary work in the local countries exposed to disasters. This division can also be understood within a western societal development towards an increase in scientific knowledge in favour of knowledge based on social interactions.