Want those fancy resumes? Be an intern at an NGO, go to those refugee sites, meet those marginalized people, deceive them into actually helping out and your social media will look like this then.
Yes, we are talking about the truth about NGOs, international organizations and those volunteers who work under them not for the sake of helping those who are displaced, but for adorning their resumes and securing that dream school/job. The existing narratives on these NGOS and international organizations portray the good side of their work. Whereas, in fact they plague the system and focus more on the short term benefits over long term. The short term benefits include providing relief to the masses, integrating them back to the society and arranging funds for those displaced. This seems imperative for an emergency situation but the real problem lies in the long term.
NGOs prioritize quick, visible results and a media presence over the sustainable solutions like skill building, education opportunities and thriving environment that are done at the expense of long term solutions. The lack of culturally sensitive programs and language barriers doesn’t align with the local customs hence it provides a resistance in the response process, alienates the refugees and enforces a whole new system upon them. This further connects with how the NGOs undermine local governments. The local organization are subverted by the much richer international NGOs, who have no know how of the area. What that does is, people lose trust and ignore the efforts of local government which weakens the credibility and capacity of government. We have an example of the Haiti documentary that showed how when the NGO workers came, they took charge of the situation and pushed aside the local humanitarian workers already working there. This speaks much about the savior complex or more commonly known as the White Savior Complex, which explains how the individuals who are more privileged deem it as a duty to save those who are marginalized or less privileged, believing in themselves as only capable of saving those in less fortunate situations. Relating it to the refugee situation, the western dominated NGOs have a motive that serves them more than the refugees. They see the local government as defeated or incapable of helping their people, so they practice their powers over them. This pressurizes the government and the economy as NGOs inadvertently contributes to inflation in local markets by driving up prices of goods and services. This strips off the local government from policy-making powers. All those NGOs make an annual report that are very glossy but doesn’t include their accounts of where they find the money and show everyone what they are doing. A lot money laundering and corruption cases, as we saw in India documentary, are present where they acquire the money for the operations and providing relief but that isn’t reflected in their efforts.
This becomes all in all a matter of personal benefits and who suffers the most are those refugees who are already on the brink of falling into the traps of death. The seemingly “neutral” stance of international organizations get exposed in the media, where it is apparent how the placement of NGOs or international organizations depend on state’s political motives. The influx of UN’s refugee camps and aid in Ukraine, and almost non-existent relief in Gaza, explains much about how the matter is more of a political and not humanitarian.
Your article reminds me of the privileged students who would start NGOs to put it on their resumes before applying to Ivy Leagues. Once they got admission, they would disband these pages and desert the underprivileged who were dependent on them. This points to how empty these attempts are and most of these projects undertaken by billionaires are to get away from tax or to act as PR stunts to keep their reputation intact - These people are more than just charity cases, they need help from the grassroots level and not just temporary aid. Short term solutions to assuage guilt are as empty and useless as not doing anything. The problem lies with accountability and the pretense of these people…
The critique of NGOs and international organizations highlighted in this post sheds light on a darker side of humanitarian aid: the short-term, image-driven actions that often take precedence over sustainable, long-term solutions. While NGOs may appear to be helping marginalized communities, their focus on quick results and media presence undermines the deeper, more complex needs of these populations. By prioritizing visibility over cultural sensitivity and skill-building, NGOs often fail to align with local needs and customs, potentially harming rather than helping the communities they aim to support. The example of the Haiti documentary we studied, where international NGOs displaced local workers, demonstrates how this "savior complex" often results in undermining the very systems that could provide long-term, locally-driven solutions.
But…
This post sheds light on some crucial truths about NGOs and their role in refugee crises, and I’m glad to see these uncomfortable conversations happening. The idea of NGOs prioritizing short-term relief over sustainable long-term solutions is a real issue. As you pointed out, while these quick fixes can be vital in emergencies, they rarely help refugees build a lasting future. How can we expect lasting change if the focus remains on flashy media-friendly solutions that fail to address deeper, systemic problems like education, skill-building, and empowerment?
The cultural insensitivity and language barriers you mention are often overlooked in the mainstream narrative, and it’s frustrating to see how international organizations sometimes undermine local efforts. The White Savior Complex is not…
This piece sheds light on the uncomfortable truth about many NGOs and international organizations. While they’re often praised for their work, the focus on quick, visible results over long-term solutions is deeply problematic. Prioritizing short-term relief like food or shelter is important in emergencies, but neglecting sustainable measures like education or skill-building leaves displaced communities stuck in cycles of dependency.
The example of Haiti is telling—international NGOs took over, sidelining local efforts and reinforcing the harmful "White Savior Complex." This approach alienates local communities, weakens trust in governments, and often creates economic problems like inflation. Instead of empowering those they aim to help, these organizations sometimes do the opposite.
What’s most troubling is how aid often serves political agendas rather…
I have never look at NGOs and international organizations this way. Your post presents a sharp critique of NGOs and international organizations, challenging the widespread perception of their altruism. The discussion on short-term relief versus sustainable solutions is particularly thought-provoking. How do you think NGOs can be incentivized to prioritize long-term, culturally sensitive programs without compromising their immediate relief efforts?
Learning from your post can really help us think deeper than believing what we see on their medias platforms. We must open the blindfold. Thank you for such an insightful and hard-hitting post. It’s a necessary call to rethink the role and practices of international organizations in truly serving those most in need.