The following are the main collaborative research projects I am leading.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT-NGOS RELATIONS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Creating and sustaining good governance and development remains elusive efforts for many nations. Many of these efforts involve decentralization; successful decentralization, however, involves more than governments. NGOs complement and supplement the work of governments, in general, and local governments in particular.
Most of the current research is based in a Western context or focuses on central government-NGO relations in developing countries. Yet international donors are pushing for NGO-local governments partnerships due to growing concerns about aid effectiveness and sustainability of development efforts.
This project explores relations between local governments and NGOs in Lebanon. This project relies on original data from two national surveys conducted in 2017 targeting Lebanese local governments and NGOs (and a second wave targeting NGOs in 2019). It explores issues of organizational capacities and management structures, nature and types of services, and issues of legitimacy and credibility.
Project DOI: https://dra.american.edu/islandora/object/auislandora%3A85565
REFUGEE CAMPS MANAGEMENT
As of December 2020, over 80 million people worldwide have been forced to flee their homes; over 26 million have left everything behind, including their native countries with around a quarter of whom live in refugee camps. With a projected 150-200 million climate change refugees by 2050, the problems and challenges of creating and coordinating effective multilateral humanitarian response programs will only grow.
Public administration, which is concerned with the development and implementation of public programs and policies and the provision of services, is implicit to refugee camp management. However, the application of public administration concepts, tools, frameworks, and research to camp management recommendations does not meet the expectations.
This project draws on empirically-grounded concepts and frameworks in public administration, as well as field work in refugee camps, to examine two broad questions:
How, why, under what circumstances, and to what effect actors involved in refugee camp management coordinate and collaborate to fulfill their responsibilities?
To what extent do refugees have voice in camp management? How, why, and under what circumstances is participatory governance used in refugee camps?
The goal is to offer practical, actionable solutions and policy change recommendations that improve camp management and security. Thus, the project addresses a critical and growing transnational challenge, and specifically responds to the question of how international institutions might be reimagined and/or reinvigorated to better respond to the 21st century security challenges stemming from the refugee crises.