Medecins sans frontieres______________________________
Doctors without borders
“Put Your Ideals Into Practice.”
Recruitment slogan from the MSF / DWB website
Haiti 2010
Doctors without Borders is among the first relief agencies to arrive in Port au Prince
Syria 2012MSF deploys medical teams to region to provide treatment for victims of government violence
Public disclosure:Syrian government’s strategy of using medicine as a weapon of persecution
Arresting wounded peoplearrest and torture of doctors and health care workers
MSF Mission: The “Charter”
Volunteer association of doctors and health sector workers AIM: humanitarian/medical assistance to distressed populations…………advocacy
Principles:Assistance irrespective of race, religion, creed or political
convictionsNeutrality and impartiality in the name of universal medical
ethics The right to humanitarian assistance Respect for professional codes of ethics Independence from all political, economic or religious powers Voluntary commitment without compensation
MSF Mission: The “Charter”
Volunteer association of doctors and health sector workers AIM: humanitarian/medical assistance to distressed populations…………advocacy
Temoignage “the witnessing and shaming of humanitarian
abuses”
MSF Core Values: humanitarianism
medical ethics
organization absorbs and mirrors
values of individual members
organization enables individual members to act on and maximize the effects of their existing value commitments
Volunteerism
“MSF is an organization based on volunteerism. The volunteer not only gives freely of his/her humanity, but creates a link of solidarity from his/her own community to a population in need…It is the independent nature of the volunteer’s commitment that… ensures the organization’s continued dynamism.”
MSF Organizational Structure
Participatory governance: General Assembly Operational Sections Non-operational Sections Public Health Centers Training Facilities
Varying settings and modes of volunteer service
MSF Culture and Organizational
Socialization • Organization’s structure and functions built out of
volunteer members – training / expertise / commitments
• What is not needed… complex machinery of enculturation and socialization members’ existing ethical enculturation is harnessed by organization
1999 Nobel Prize • “Despite grand debates on world order, the act of humanitarianism comes down to one thing: individual human beings reaching out to their counterparts who find themselves in the most difficult circumstance. One bandage at a time, one suture at a time, one vaccination at a time.”
Dr. James Orbinski, International PresidentMedecins Sans Frontieres
“Ours Is Not A Contented Action”