Engaging displaced citizens : an examination of NGO refugee programming on the Thai-Burmese border

Abstract

Nongovernmental organizations working with refugees have traditionally used a top-down, emergency relief approach. This type of assistance reinforces the idea of refugees as passive, apolitical beings that have no rights as citizens during their displacement. This thesis argues that such an approach is inadequate and that refugees are indeed necessary change agents in dealing with the conflicts they currently face as well as those that have led to their displacement. It is argued that organisations working within a participatory development framework are more able to encourage refugee action. This framework, based on the ideas of Korten and Macdonald, incorporates ideas of empowerment-based participation and programming that facilitates just, sustainable and inclusive development action. This framework is used to evaluate NGOs that are working with the more than 140,000 refugees on the Thai-Burmese border. The types of NGOs examined are international and local NGOs, including refugee-run organisations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)