Do No Harm: Meanings and Practices of Nepali Fieldworkers’ Engaged in Peacebuilding. Opinions about DNH and peacebuilding with emphasis in fieldwork level in the hierarchical level of an Organisation

This research analyses the meanings and practices that fieldworkers and other INGO staff attached to peacebuilding processes have in Kailali district-Nepal. The study also takes into consideration the ‘Do no Harm’ approach as a perspective, and the meanings given to this by the different organisational hierarchical levels in the INGO CARE Nepal, with a particular focus on the Nepali fieldworkers. The research was conducted through workplace ethnography of around a month, which made it possible to observe, discuss and interview staff at different levels, national, regional and local, in relation to Nepali fieldworkers specifically, within two selected local communities in the Western region of Nepal. In this paper I argue that the understanding of peacebuilding and ‘Do no Harm’ changes drastically depending on the different hierarchical levels of occupation. This is due to the level of knowledge each actor has of the communities, and the role they play in their projects. One of the assumptions is that ‘Do no Harm’ theory is supported in the design and scheme of the programmes, but not supported totally by the practices in the work done by local practitioners, which are more controlled by the experiences and feelings they have with and towards communities. One of the key findings is that meanings of peace and ‘Do no Harm’ are limited by the sphere where the person intervenes at each hierarchical level and change in accordance with the realities and problems practitioners face in their daily jobs. This tends to refute the assumption that the INGO national-level understanding of both concepts (peace and Do no Harm) are being effectively translated and communicated through the hierarchical chain, and acted on.