CARE, one of the most easily recognizable international organizations around the world has presence over 70 countries, supported by over 12,000 staff and has its international secretariat located in Geneva, Switzerland. CARE is commended for its international efforts for caring about the poor and the needy, but what do people working at CARE care about CARE? Michael Bear who has been surveying about the best and worst of working in international organizations, including the UN found that though CARE’s rights-based approach, staff security, pay, autonomy and its wide range of programs were commendable, it still suffered from problems such as its decline in basic operations capacities such as grants management, its cozy relationship with the US Government, its never-ending process of planning, the work load and, of course, the bureaucracy.
According to the humanitarian workers at CARE, the organization has some unique aspects such as its transparency, accountability, the diversity and autonomy, which could be a rare characteristic for many other international development agencies. But the worst of CARE identified by its workers can shake its basic foundation. Someone pointed out that CARE’s popularity is mostly because of its past work and now it has become something of a “dinosaur.” The agency seems to have made a deviation from its core business. Someone else in the group also added that there is a considerable delay in CARE’s response to humanitarian situations, which was part of its core philosophy initially. CARE’s excessive dependence on few donors, such as the US Government has raised some doubts about its approach which can get easily influenced. Few donors can have larger sway over the organization’s approach for work.
18 August 2009
