| | Since the early stages of the epidemic, many Southern NGO and CBO voices have angrily asserted that HIV interventions are donor-driven. Indeed, some international agencies appear to act on the basis of shallow knowledge. Many projects are distinguished by their lack of understanding of the lived experiences of the people behind the statistics, and the social dynamics of the communities they are committed to helping. Analyses of international humanitarian NGOs and their crisis interventions have criticised their 'unpolitical' and standardised responses. Others draw attention to the narrowness of 'good practice' codes while ignoring the underlying inequalities of bilateral economic relations between North and South. A few outspoken analysts have gone so far as to suggest international NGOs represent a form of neo-colonialism, while other critics are motivated to broaden citizen and southern NGO involvement in policy change. While insights into the working processes of international AIDS NGOs may create a buzz in conference corridors, this kind of knowledge is rarely brought into the public domain and opened to greater scrutiny. |
