Image: Edinburgh University, Flickr/StephenGG, Creative Commons license.
The last few weeks have seen huge controversies surround the charity organisations Oxfam and Save the Children. In both, senior men have been accused of acting inappropriately; in the case of Oxfam, involving the grotesque spectacle of Haitian disaster survivors being sexually exploited.
Whilst the right-wingers predictably tried to capitalise on the controversy to undermine the aid budget, the response from the aid sector (particularly Oxfam) has been slow, bewildered, and insufficiently contrite. The issue has highlighted how aid agencies have become mini empires, sometimes shaped by paternalism and the idea that they know best. These modern day missionary attitudes have been exacerbated by the cult of leadership and managerialism in many big charities, and by the adoption of modern business practice.
