Comments for David Campbell

Comment on Responding to crises: the problem of ‘donor fatigue’ by Russell Watkins

Russell Watkins — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:50:34 +0000

Hi David, thanks for another insightful post. I think you make an important differentiation between ‘compassion fatigue’ and ‘donor fatigue’, but the issue that the figures illustrate is not simply about donor fatigue either. The Haiti earthquake humanitarian ‘Flash appeal’ in 2010 was actually pretty well funded (75%) when compared to others – the appeal for Somalia in 2011 is 83% funded, but the one for the 2011 Pakistan floods is only 49% met. This is donor fatigue – getting countries to pledge money in the first place.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t issues with the funds (once pledged) actually getting through to people on the ground – there obviously are. In Haiti particularly there are many complex challenges, especially when it comes to longer term reconstruction projects – land rights and lack of available land, elections, the lack of a properly functioning stable government and rule of law (most of the main Haitian government buildings collapsed in the earthquake and many civil servants were killed). Nobody even knows for sure how many people died in the earthquake, or how many were made homeless by it as opposed to how many already were. Accurately assessing humanitarian and reconstruction needs is also fraught with difficulty. These are just some of the reasons why some of the money pledged simply hasn’t been spent yet – because it simply can’t be. It’s also true that donors are taking greater and greater care to make sure funds are spent properly and accountably – they’d be accused of wasting money if they weren’t. None of the above are excuses, but they are real factors on the ground, factors that the figures alone don’t/can’t explain.

I don’t claim to be an expert in humanitarian funding – I’m most certainly not. I’m just a picture editor who works on development and humanitarian issues. So what has all this got to do with photography? Well, you’re right – photographs have and still can prompt action from donors to meet appeals, to mitigate some of that donor fatigue. Long may they continue to do so.

But they’re also being used increasingly to provide evidence, of when the money pledged has actually been spent, of where it’s been spent. So photography has an important role to play at either end of the process. Donors such as the UK (DFID, where I work), USAID and others are all increasingly trying to illustrate these complex stories using photography – even the US Navy is, as your picture shows. Some of us are even doing it using Creative Commons licensed imagery!

Sadly, two years on from the Haiti earthquake is only really the beginning of the road to recovery for a destroyed country. With the best will in the world, we’ll need to look at the story that the figures – and the photos – tell in five, ten years time. I look forward to reading your paper on compassion fatigue in the meantime – do let me know when its available.

Best wishes, Russell

Comment on Stereotypes that move: The iconography of famine by “Imaging Famine: How Critique Can Help”– David Campbell | HornLight

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:59:42 +0000

[...] the OPEN-i debate Jon argued that these photographs “show you what’s going on.” I think that the stereotypes are politically necessary in certain contexts, and it’s possible to make a case for their use, as Tyler Hicks and Bill Keller of the New [...]

Comment on Missing multimedia: where are the stories from Egypt, Japan, Libya? by “Imaging Famine: How Critique Can Help”– David Campbell | HornLight

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:54:47 +0000

[...] But, as with the coverage of Japan, Egypt and Libya this year, East Africa is being covered by a relatively large number of excellent photographers that surely means there is scope for someone to do something different. Do all of them have to go to Banadir hospital in Mogadishu to photograph fly blown, emaciated children? Could not some of them record audio as well as shoot photos so we can hear from the people affected? Can’t their editors push for alternatives and offer greater support to achieve them? Is it beyond our collective capacity to follow the leads from critical questioning and see what’s really going on with famine?” [...]

Comment on Imaging Famine by “Imaging Famine: How Critique Can Help”– David Campbell | HornLight

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:54:20 +0000

[...] The 2003 cover of the New York Times magazine above, with 36 portraits of malnourished children from dozens of different countries over a 50-year period, illustrates the dominant way of representing this sort of disaster. It has been common from the nineteenth century, as we showed in the 2005 Imaging Famine exhibition. # [...]

Comment on Imaging famine: How critique can help by “Imaging Famine: How Critique Can Help”– David Campbell | HornLight

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:54:05 +0000

[...] of imaging famine. Campbell is also very open about discussing various aspects of photojournalism. This post, on his site is a follow-up to a debate on imaging famine. In it, Campbell looks at how critique of [...]

Comment on TFTW #5: Bolton on photography’s contradictions by davidc7

davidc7 — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:52:08 +0000

I think its more a way of saying photography has no singular identity as such, so it depends on a range of other factors for its meaning and effectiveness.

Comment on Responding to crises: the problem of ‘donor fatigue’ by davidc7

davidc7 — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 11:49:39 +0000

Thanks for the comments Rob and Nick. I don’t have all the answers to your questions Rob – my understanding of CAP is that its usually separate from national aid budgets, and because its meeting humanitarian emergencies operates on a short annual cycle, but I stand to be corrected on that.

Comment on TFTW #5: Bolton on photography’s contradictions by Michael

Michael — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:21:05 +0000

Possible a way of saying.. Photography is everthing, Everything can be photographed, who can be a photographer ?

Comment on Responding to crises: the problem of ‘donor fatigue’ by Nick Whiting

Nick Whiting — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 09:39:57 +0000

Great insight, I find it very hard to understand why more is not said of donor fatigue. More countries should follow the japanese ethic of pledging an amount which they can realistically fufill. I will be very interested to read your work of the myth of compassion fatigue, something i have not questioned.

Regards, Nick

Comment on Responding to crises: the problem of ‘donor fatigue’ by Rob Godden

Rob Godden — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:39:48 +0000

Spot on with the analysis of compassion and donor fatigue in that it implies an idyllic past when we were more generous and less cynical. However, although I don’t work for a development agency, I suspect there may be a lot more behind the disbursement stats than meets the eye. Not least that it is unclear what time frame these pledges were taken under and whether these bids included existing aid? And that often donors are reluctant to release money until they have guarantees that it will be spent appropriately (or it is the right time to spend – I have lost money on projects due to delays that then mean the money is taken back at the end of the financial year). Many agencies in Nepal (where I have worked) are keen to channel money through the government, even in the face of some (relatively small scale) corruption, in order (in the long term) to build the capacity of the government. If hardly any of the money went through the Haitian gov then it would be worth examining why this was? I also wonder if the CAP is an example of evolutionary behavior, in that they over bid and the donors under deliver?