Aid work as edgework – voluntary risk-taking and security in humanitarian assistance, development and human rights work

Towards a better understanding of risk-taking: key concepts, dimensions and perspectives

“…Researchers have shown that people more often engage in risk-taking for less self-oriented reasons and their motivation is often rather complex. In her study on aid work, Roth (2015) found that people take part in it for a number of different reasons such as the desire to 'travel to foreign places' and 'to do something worthwhile' and that the social gains such as the 'camaraderie' (p. 7) are important. He noted that altruism is an important reason why individuals are willing to take the risks; they want to do something that actually 'makes a difference' to people and feel that through their work they received much more than they gave (p. 9).…”

“…He noted that altruism is an important reason why individuals are willing to take the risks; they want to do something that actually 'makes a difference' to people and feel that through their work they received much more than they gave (p. 9). Roth (2015) argues that aid-worker have three major strategies to cope with the reality of increasingly unpredictable conditions when working in the field: downplaying the risks by noting that living is intrinsically dangerous; carefully managing their exposure to risks they would 'find scary at home'; using their 'privileged position' as an international aid-worker to control risk (p. 12). There were some workers who took a fatalistic approach to risk arguing they had no agency.…”

Working for Change in India’s Civil Society

“…The narrative here captures Hiresh's life history covering his routes into work, his experiences of working in India's civil society and his own decision to establish an organisation on his own terms with the flexibility and self-management that has come to characterise professionalised aid work (Roth, 2015a). This also covers the significant impact this has on his working life and that of his staff.…”

“…Roth (Roth, 2015a;Roth, 2015b) makes important distinctions between different categories of NGO workers however the focus here is on Hiresh as the organisation's director. Support employs three professional full time educated staff members who come from and understand the Dalit communities in which they work.…”

“…While there are some examples of attempts to understand the experience of NGO workers (Wallace and Bornstein, 1999;Roth, 2015a;Roth, 2012), what is broadly absent from the sociology of work literature, and therefore a focus of this article, is an understanding of the labour process and how work is constructed. This is of importance to work scholars as the 'impact' of this work is tied up with livelihoods, life chances and the eradication of injustice, inequality and exploitation.…”