Humanitäre Hilfe und Entwicklungszusammenarbeit im Wandel : eine Analyse von Diskursen und Aktivitäten deutscher Hilfsorganisationen im Gesundheitsbereich seit 1970

This thesis sets out discourses and activities of German aid organizations in the health sector since the 1970s against the background of changes in humanitarian aid and development cooperation (DC). The analysed aid organizations were Cap Anamur, the German Red Cross (GRC) and medico international. The self-perception, principles and motivation to provide international health care, which shaped concepts and contents of projects, both differed significantly across and changed within the assessed aid organizations over time. Medico international has undergone a significant change as organization, which was founded as humanitarian aid organization with disaster response as its key pillar and nowadays considers itself as a global development and human rights organization. Cap Anamur and the GRC showed changes on different levels, like the extension of scope of their activity, whereas their core focus remained on humanitarian aid. The relationship between humanitarian health care and politics became an increasing challenge for aid organizations, which need to position themselves within this tension field. In political conflicts, especially the GRC needed to defend neutrality as its core organizational principle. The issue of a distinction between humanitarian aid and DC in the health sector was of great importance for the analysed aid organizations. Whereas a rather clear boundary between humanitarian aid and DC existed from the 1970s to the 1990s, more integrated approaches developed with the concept of linking relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD), which was established in the middle of the 1990s. The analysis showed internal shifts within the organizations’ priorities and also that long-term development cooperation was a binding element besides humanitarian aid. The comparison of core elements of operational work, such as important project contents, requirements for posted personnel and conflicts during a specific project, demonstrated characteristics of the analysed actors and set these in a larger developmental and historical context. Moreover, the research results illustrated how extensive changes in the global health governance system require adequate approaches for aid and cooperation at a global scale - thereby building a bridge from the historical context to current as well as future challenges in humanitarian aid and development cooperation