Abstract
Nina Berman describes the increase of charitable activities in Kenya in tandem with neo-liberal economic policies since the early 1990s. By using two specific case studies, Berman stresses the challenges deriving from long-term patterns of land alienation, the issue of local knowledge, the emergence of a culture of charity, and the disruption of local forms of community support by international charity. She argues that, in particular, the approach pursued by foreign-based MONGOS (MONGO stands for “my own nongovernmental organization”) may have negative effects on the recipients of aid in Kenya.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Discussions of humanitarianism generally consider the shorter timeframe, even though several studies highlight the connection to colonialism and imperialism. See, for example, Barnett (2011).
- 2.
The United States has a comparable domestic history of “good intentions” that focuses on improving the situation of, among others, African Americans (Ryan 2003).
- 3.
- 4.
In late 1981, Böhm founded “Menschen für Menschen,” an organization dedicated to providing humanitarian assistance to Ethiopia. A German version of Bob Geldof’s Band-Aid concert was organized by Herbert Grönemeyer in 1985; Band für Afrika produced a single, “Nackt im Wind,” and gave a concert in July 1985. Currently, the Bavarian soccer organization, in conjunction with the Philipp Lahm Foundation, is promoting a fundraiser in support of projects in Africa (“Tore für Afrika,” n.d.).
- 5.
Orford, for example, writes that “some of the appeal of the idea of humanitarian intervention lies in the moral authority of the notion of democracy” (2003, p. 18).
- 6.
The terms African, Indian, and European (or African Kenyan, Indian Kenyan, and European Kenyan) are used by Kenyans to describe themselves and others. Only rarely are “black” and “white” used as descriptors.
- 7.
In the late 1990s, I conducted my first study on German, Swiss, and Austrian repeat visitors who vacationed on the Diani coast, and learned about the extent and nature of their interaction with the local population. See Berman (2004c: 175–212).
- 8.
The names of the individuals have been changed, and I also altered other aspects of their story to ensure anonymity. I provide a more detailed discussion of the activities of the Müller’s, in the context of historical patterns of aid to Africa, in Berman (2013: 67–92).
- 9.
According to Wanyama, data on successful community-based initiatives in Kenya remains scarce (2001: 56).
References
Amutabi, M. N. (2006). The NGO factor in Africa: The case of arrested development in Kenya. New York: Routledge.
Angel, R. (2012). Community lost: The state, civil society, and displaced survivors of hurricane Katrina. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Avery, N. (1994). Stealing from the state (Mexico, Hungary & Kenya). In K. Danaher (Ed.), 50 years is enough: The case against the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (pp. 95–101). Boston, MA: South End Press.
Ayittey, G. B. N. (1998). Africa in chaos. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Barnett, M. N. (2011). Empire of humanity: A history of humanitarianism. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
Bate, R., Hess, K., & Mooney, L. (2010). Antimalarial medicine diversion: Stock-outs and other public health problems. Research and Reports in Tropical Medicine, 2010(1), 19–24.
Berman, N. (2004a). Impossible missions?: German economic, military, and humanitarian efforts in Africa. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Berman, N. (2004b). The civilizing mission: Albert Schweitzer in Gabon. In N. Berman (Ed.), Impossible missions?: German economic, military, and humanitarian efforts in Africa (pp. 61–97). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Berman, N. (2004c). Tourism: Repeat visitors turned aid workers in Kenya. In N. Berman (Ed.), Impossible missions?: German economic, military, and humanitarian efforts in Africa (pp. 175–212). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Berman, N. (2013). Contraband charity: German humanitarianism in contemporary Kenya. In B. Everill & J. D. Kaplan (Eds.), The history and practice of humanitarian intervention and aid in Africa (pp. 67–92). London: Palgrave.
Betterplace Lab: Digital for Sozial. (2015). Spenden in Deutschland: Ausgabe 2015. http://www.betterplace-lab.org/projekte/deutscher-spendenmarkt
Brenton, P. (2012). Africa can help feed Africa: Removing barriers to regional trade in food staples. Washington, DC: World Bank, Africa Region, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Division 1.
Christoffel-Blindenmission. (n.d.). CBM Disability and Development Policy. [Pdf]. Retrieved from http://www.cbm.org/article/downloads/54741/Disability_and_Development_Policy.pdf
Crumplin, G. (2003, February). EU reimporting drugs meant for Africa is only part of story. BMJ, 326(7383), 285.
Deutsches Zentralinstitut für soziale Fragen. (2014, March 5). Spendenbilanz 2013: Katastrophenspenden bringen Wachstum. Retrieved from http://www.dzi.de/dzi-institut/das-dzi/presse/presse-detailansicht/?10933
DZI. (2011, August 9). Deutschland: Schon 91 mio. Euro Spenden für die Hungernden in Ostafrika. Retrieved from http://www.dzi.de/dzi-institut/das-dzi/presse/presse-detailansicht/?9040
Easterly, W. (2006). The white man’s burden: Why the West’s efforts to aid the rest have done so much ill and so little good. New York: Penguin Press.
Emeagwali, G. T. (1995). Women pay the price: Structural adjustment in Africa and the Caribbean. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press.
Erler, B. (1985). Tödliche Hilfe: Bericht von meiner letzten Dienstreise in Sachen Entwicklungshilfe. Freiburg im Breisgau, West Germany: Dreisam-Verlag.
Fassin, D. (2012). Humanitarian reason: A moral history of the present times. Trans. R. Gomme. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Fee, D. (2012). How to manage an aid exit strategy: The future of development aid. London: Zed Books.
Feierman, S. (1998). Reciprocity and assistance in precolonial Africa. In W. F. Ilchman, S. N. Katz, & E. L. Queen (Eds.), Philanthropy in the world’s tradition (pp. 3–24). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Fundraising Verband Austria. (2013). Spendenbericht 2013. Retrieved from http://www.fundraising.at/FACTSFIGURES/SPENDENAUFKOMMEN/Spendenberichte/tabid/421/language/de-DE/Default.aspx#2013
Girls’ Hope. (n.d.-a). Ein Beitrag in Sachen Nachhaltigkeit—Bildung für Mädchen in Kenia. Retrieved from http://www.girlshope.de/
Girls’ Hope. (n.d.-b). Finanzen. Retrieved from http://www.girlshope.de/
Giving USA Foundation AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy., & Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. (2013). Giving USA 2013. Chicago, IL: Giving USA Foundation.
Global Impact. (2013). Assessment of US giving to international causes. Alexandria: Global Impact.
Hearn, J. (1998). The ‘NGO-isation’ of Kenyan society: USAID & the restructuring of health care. Review of African Political Economy, 25(75), 89–100.
Heinl, A., & Lingelbach, G. (2009). Spendenfinanzierte private Entwicklungshilfe in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. In T. Adam, S. Lässig, & G. Lingelbach (Eds.), Stifter, Spender und Mäzene: USA und Deutschland im historischen Vergleich (pp. 287–312). Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag.
Horton, K., & Roche, C. (2010). Ethical questions and international NGOs: An exchange between philosophers and NGOs. Dordrecht: Springer.
Hutchinson, J. F. (1996). Champions of charity: War and the rise of the Red Cross. Boulder: Westview Press.
Igoe, J., & Kelsall, T. (2005). Between a rock and a hard place: African NGOs, donors and the state. Durham, NC: Carolina Academic Press.
Index Mundi. (2015). Historical data graphs per year: Kenya: Demographics: Population. Retrieved from http://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=ke&v=69
Johnson, M. C. (2011, January 1). Lobbying for trade barriers: A comparison of poultry producers’ success in Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 49(4), 575–599.
Kabou, A. (1991). Et si l’Afrique refusait le développement? Paris: L’Harmattan.
Kang’ara, S. W. (1999, January 1). When the pendulum swings too far: Structural adjustment programs in Kenya. Third World Legal Studies, 15(1), 109–151.
Kibicho, W. (2009). Sex tourism in Africa: Kenya’s booming industry. Farnham, UK: Ashgate.
Kipkemboi, R. J. (2002, January 1). The impact of the structural adjustment programmes on Kenyan society. Journal of Social Development in Africa, 17(1).
Klein, N. (2007). The shock doctrine: The rise of disaster capitalism. New York: Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt.
Lancaster, C. (1999). Aid to Africa: So much to do, so little done. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Lekan, T. (2011, June). Serengeti shall not die: Bernhard Grzimek, wildlife film, and the making of a tourist landscape in East Africa. German History, 29(2), 224–264.
Leo, C. (1984). Land and class in Kenya. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Levitt, J. I., & Whitaker, M. C. (2009). Hurricane Katrina: America’s unnatural disaster. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Lingelbach, G. (2009). Spenden und Sammeln: Der westdeutsche Spendenmarkt bis in die 1980er Jahre. Göttingen: Wallstein.
Moyn, S. (2010). The last utopia: Human rights in history. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Moyo, D. (2009). Dead aid: Why aid is not working and how there is a better way for Africa. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Murdie, A., & Bhasin, T. (2011). Aiding and abetting: Human rights INGOs and domestic protest. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 552, 163–191.
Mutua, M. (2009). Human rights NGOs in East Africa: Political and normative tensions. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Kampala, Uganda: Fountain.
Okoth-Ogendo, H. W. O. (1991). Tenants of the crown: Evolution of agrarian law and institutions in Kenya. Nairobi, Kenya: ACTS Press, African Centre for Technology Studies.
Orford, A. (2003). Reading humanitarian intervention: Human rights and the use of force in international law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Polman, L. (2010). The crisis caravan: What’s wrong with humanitarian aid? Trans. L. Walters. New York: Picador.
Prelinger, C. M. (1987). Charity, challenge, and change: Religious dimensions of the mid-nineteenth-century women’s movement in Germany. New York: Greenwood Press.
Quataert, J. H. (2001). Staging philanthropy: Patriotic women and the national imagination in dynastic Germany, 1813–1916. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Redfield, P. (2013). Life in crisis: The ethical journey of doctors without borders. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Rotary International. (n.d.). Communities in action: A guide to effective projects. [Pdf]. Retrieved from http://shop.rotary.org/Communities-Action-Community-Assessment-Tools/dp/B0043N1V4E
Ryan, S. M. (2003). The grammar of good intentions: Race and the antebellum culture of benevolence. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Sachs, J. (2014, January 21). The case for aid. Retrieved from http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/01/21/the_case_for_aid
Schama, S. (1987). The embarrassment of riches: An interpretation of Dutch culture in the Golden Age. New York: Knopf.
Siringi, S. (2004, January 31). AIDS drugs being sold illegally on market stalls in Kenya. The Lancet, 363 (9406), 377.
Stein, H. (2008). Beyond the World Bank agenda: An institutional approach to development. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Swamy, G. (1996). Kenya: Patchy, intermittent commitment. In I. Husain & R. Faruqee (Eds.), Adjustment in Africa: Lessons from country case studies (pp. 193–237). Brookfield: Ashgate.
Swissfundraising, Der Berufsverband der FundraiserInnen. (2015, July 31). Spendenvolumen in der Schweiz wieder gestiegen: Über 1,6 Mrd. Retrieved from http://www.swissfundraising.org/index_de.php?TPL=26010&x26000_ID=596
Tore für Afrika. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.philipplahm.de/fileadmin/Dateien/stiftung/pdf/Ankuendigungsschreiben_fuer_HPs.pdf
Ullrich, A. (2009). Wohin fließen die Spenden? Eine Analyse zur Verwendung von Spenden in Deutschland. Berlin. Retrieved from www.betterplace-lab.org
Verkaart Development Team. (n.d.). Home. Retrieved from http://www.vdt.nl/
Wanyama, F. O. (2001). Grass-roots organization for sustainable development: The case of community-based organizations in Western Kenya. Regional Development Studies, 7.
Whitworth, S. (2004). Men, militarism, and UN peacekeeping: A gendered analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
Wildenthal, L. (2013). The language of human rights in West Germany. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
World Bank. (1992). Kenya—re-investing in stabilization and growth through public sector adjustment. Washington, DC: World Bank.
World Bank. (2015). Poverty rates at national poverty lines. Table 2.7. In World development indicators. Washington, DC: The World Bank Group, 2015. http://wdi.worldbank.org/table/2.7
World Tourism Organization. (2015). Kenya: Overnight stays of non-resident tourists in hotels and similar establishments, by country of residence. Table 5. In Yearbook of tourism statistics. Madrid: UNWTO.
Wrong, M. (2009). It’s our turn to eat: The story of a Kenyan whistle-blower. New York: Harper.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Berman, N. (2016). Contemporary German MONGOs in Diani, Kenya: Two Approaches to Humanitarian Aid. In: Witkowski, G., Bauerkämper, A. (eds) German Philanthropy in Transatlantic Perspective. Nonprofit and Civil Society Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40839-2_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40839-2_13
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-40837-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-40839-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)