2. Gëzim Visoka (2015), ‘National NGOs’, in Roger Mac Ginty and Jenny H. Peterson (eds), Routledge Companion to Humanitarian Action, London: Routledge, pp. 267-278.
This chapter focuses on examining N-NGOs as one of the key actors involved in humanitarian action. The analyses are concentrated only on those NGOs who operate nationwide and have their activity spread in more than one particular sector. The discussion is more thematic and analytical rather than chronological and it draws on many cases and levels of analysis. The main focus of this chapter is on exploring the role and function of N-NGOs in different stages of humanitarian action, the advantages and disadvantages of delivering humanitarian aid through national NGOs, as well as critically examining their interaction and relationship with donors, INGOs, governments and other grassroots groups. The chapter also explores the challenges that national NGOs face in the evolving nature of humanitarian aid, the merging of development and security, and the emergence of resilience and post-intervention discourses and practices. Moreover, the chapter will also explore some of the unintended and adverse effects of N-NGOs’ engagement in humanitarian action.
