Whitman, Kara Denise
(2016)
WHERE DO HUMANITARIANS CONNECT TO FIND DATA? A STUDY OF ACCESSIBILITY IN ONLINE INFORMATION ABOUT ADULT REFUGEES IN EMERGENCY EDUCATION.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
There are more than 15 million refugees registered with UNHCR and an unknown unregistered number of refugees worldwide. Among these refugees are scholars, academics and adult professionals. In 2010 for instance, the largest group in the Iraqi refugee populace in Jordan, was adults 18-59 years old. Thirty percent of these adults were university graduates. Yet, according to the dominant narrative, refugees are women and children, unskilled and traumatized, terrorists and vigilantes, ineligible and queue-jumping or short-term and freeloading. Thus, refugees are framed in ways that minimize their capacity and underscore a dependency upon or threat to the host state and aid community. Subsequently, compliance tasks have precluded aid for INGOs, which in turn, have “responsibilized” refugees through ever-restrictive eligibility criteria and rules. Adult education and livelihoods have been limited and some refugees have been denied services. As a result, the people with the least resources have been apportioned a disproportionate amount of responsibility, for an environment in which either few relevant services were provided or no accountability relationship was afforded.
INGO-donor networks have published online data to increase accountability, yet it has been examined most often quantitatively. Therefore, through network perspectives and the conceptual framework of downward accountability, I analyzed program reports from humanitarian activities implemented from 2010-2015, for Iraqi and Syrian refugees in Jordan. In an open data repository, I reviewed more than 1,800 program profiles and 47 documents were selected for content analysis. The analysis suggests emergency education decreased tensions, raised awareness about diseases and hygiene, achieved child protection and gender-inclusion goals and remediated noncompliance. The information however, was most often in regard to local beneficiaries, refugees with the least skills and refugees highly dependent upon humanitarian aid. Thus, there was minimal reporting of links between accountability policies, outcomes and the livelihoods aspirations of the refugee/scholar/professional.
Recommendations encompass educational policies and practices such as requalification, continuing education, professional development and certification, because they lead to sustainable livelihoods. Through comparative qualitative research, this study problematizes accountability information in open data and underscores the Iraqi and Syrian crisis as an adult education emergency – a circumstance not often associated with refugeehood.
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| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
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| Date: |
19 May 2016 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
31 March 2016 |
| Approval Date: |
19 May 2016 |
| Submission Date: |
19 May 2016 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
219 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
School of Education > Administrative and Policy Studies |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
Middle East; Humanitarian; Downward Accountability; Refugees; Adult Education; Open Data |
| Date Deposited: |
19 May 2016 16:16 |
| Last Modified: |
15 Nov 2016 14:33 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/28047 |
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