Empowerment and Protection - Stories of Human Security Oct. 2014 | Page 96

If applied consistently
with its underlying
principles, methodology
can pave the way
towards operationalising
human security from a
theoretical framework
towards a practical
approach.

A
Methodology
for Human
Security

It is worthwhile to look more closely at the ‘how’
of applying the human security approach towards
the local and individual level. Drawing from the
experiences of producing this publication, this
section reflects on the relevance of a methodology
for human security. First, a brief description of the
process to develop this publication is provided,
including our approach to developing a common
yet flexible method to capture the individual
experiences of people in all the featured countries.

Gabriëlla Vogelaar

In the second section, the authors and the
organisations involved share how they conducted
the interviews, and some of the challenges
they faced in their respective contexts. Their
observations regarding methodology are revealing
about the levels of fear associated with discussing
‘security’ or human security issues. It shows that
human security concerns are also part of the
process, and not merely an outcome.
In the third section, we elaborate on why a focus
on methodologies for human security is important.
It has the potential to lead to a better understanding
of how to operationalise the human security
approach in research, policy and practice.

Menu

3

The range of different types of security, from freedom
from fear to freedom from want and freedom
from indignity, are unique to each individual and
context. This publication does not aim to provide a
comprehensive overview of all the human security
threats in the featured countries, nor does it attempt
to describe all the country facts. It tries to build on the
existing efforts of others and on the experience of the
participating organisations. Given the flexible approach,
the sample size and limited scale, the findings of these
studies cannot be interpreted as representative. Instead,
it aims to reflect a snapshot of lived experiences of
insecurity, and to inform recommendations from a
civil society perspective, which can counter-balance
dominant top-down narratives.
A small number of statistics and figures were featured
in the country chapters to relate to the relevant
themes and connect the stories to existing larger scale
indexes and quantitative data. However, it should be
noted that statistics are also subject to interpretation
and inaccuracies, and, in some cases, contested
between the discordant actors. They were used here
only as background information.

97