Research project

Network governance - Social responsibility of enterprises - Social economy

In West Africa countries, the field of Humanitarian Action manages countless networks of collective action mobilizing numerous organizations which are representative of quite different areas of intervention (health, education, food security, children…). Humanitarian organizations structure multiple networks of actors that could facilitate the emergence of new forms of governance. These actors come both from the public sphere, the private sector and civil society and they work at all levels of decision.

By their intersectoral nature, these networks of humanitarian actors represent complex spaces whose operationalization feeds a whole universe of potentially conflicting, even divergent practices. These clashing practices become real organizational challenges that researchers, policy-makers and professionals of International Cooperation should better understanding to improve the quality of humanitarian interventions. Adopting a collaborative approach and partnership between France and Senegal, this research examines the strategic dynamics and normative devices structuring the complex field of Humanitarian Action.

The aim is therefore to understand how, considering the mutation of the humanitarian field, the emergence of new forms of governance is structured in a complex context of social and organizational transition. The search results show us three emerging themes that could become key concepts for the new Humanitarian Action: the network configuration of the governance of humanitarian interventions; the prominence of civil society in humanitarian issues; and the social responsibility of enterprises and humanitarian organizations.