Urban reform coalitions for transformative sustainability: reflections and lessons from Durban, South Africa

Peter Piot (Executive Director of UNAIDS) challenged Bangkok International AIDS Conference attendees to think ahead 10 years or more so we will be prepared to meet the challenges that will face us [1]. Over this next decade, many formidable challenges are likely to stem from the interactions of social, ecological, political, and economic change; existing social structures; the changing HIV epidemic, and changes produced by emerging biomedicine and viral evolution. Although some challenges will be unpredictable, we should plan ahead for those we are able to anticipate. This paper identifies important social research issues regarding the changing global epidemic so funding agencies, journal editors, social science communities, individual researchers and students, non-governmental organizations, communitybased organizations, and the general public can debate them and, hopefully, act on them.

Governance of the COVID-19 pandemic required decision-makers to make and implement decisions amidst uncertainty, public pressure and time constraints. However, few studies have attempted to assess these decision-making processes empirically...

The corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature has increasingly explored relationships between civil society and social movements, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and corporations, as well as the role of NGOs in multi-stakeholder governance processes. This paper addresses the challenge of including a plurality of civil society voices and perspectives in business–NGO relations, and in CSR as a process of governance. The paper contributes to CSR scholarship by bringing insights from feminist literature to bear on CSR as a process of governance, and engaging with leaders of women’s NGOs, a group of actors rarely included in CSR research. The issues raised inform contributions to the CSR literature relating to the role of women’s NGOs with regard to the gender equality practices and impacts of corporations, and with respect to defining the meaning and practice of CSR. The paper frames marginalized NGOs as important actors which can contribute to pluralism, inclusion and legitimacy in CSR as a process of governance. It identifies several key barriers to the participation of women’s NGOs in CSR, and concludes by making suggestions for future research, as well as practice.

The Challenge of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Local Level: Become Pragmatic or an Accelerator of a Good Governance?

Addressing Social Determinants of Mental Health in Pediatrics During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic.

Background: This article is based on a case study research on evidence use in Africa, drawing from four cases to focus on the role of civil society in evidence use. The countries included Benin, South Africa, Kenya and Ghana and sectors included agriculture, violence against women and children, sanitation and wildlife. Objective: The objective of this article is to discuss emerging lessons from the experiences of engaging civil society in evidence-informed policy-making and practice in different countries and sectors. Method: This research examined processes enabling and hindering evidence use using a demand (policy) rather than supply (research) perspective. It was guided by an analytical framework using a behaviour change approach to understand the evidence journey. It used a case study approach applying qualitative methods. Results: The cases show that civil society organisations (CSOs) can make a valuable contribution towards evidence-informed policy and practice through a variety of different roles. They also demonstrate the implications of participation levels and relationship types between government and CSOs as well as within CSOs. The cases equally demonstrate the significance of evidence-informed engagement processes. Conclusion: Deliberate efforts need to be made to maximise the value and potential of CSOs in evidence-based policy and practice. This includes establishing relationships and trust through dialogue, supported by strong facilitation, knowledge brokering and well-defined guidelines and incentives. This requires ensuring that the right capabilities are in place for the different actors to engage effectively.

Marine communities : governing oil & gas activities and cruise tourism in the Arctic and the Caribbean

• Civil society has become one of the most popular concepts within international development discourses. But, what is civil society? Civil society is defined as an arena of collective social interaction situated between the state, market and household, encompassing a range of non-state organisations, groups and associations, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The article assesses the range of different interpretations of civil society highlighting its diverse makeup at local, national and transnational scales. • Why has civil society become so important within international development? Democracy and delivery of services. As people organised collectively against totalitarian regimes in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and the Global South, civil society emerged as a manifestation of democratisation processes. The neoliberal agenda also wanted to capture and channel civil society to foster democracy, but also to take on service delivery functions as the role of the state diminished. This article outlines how these roles relate to two theoretical viewpoints – the Marxist or Gramscian that sees civil society as a site of resistance and counterhegemony, and the liberal democratic that views it as a beneficial force for good. • Civil society in practice. In the 1990s, development agencies championed civil society from an undertheorised liberal democratic viewpoint as a saviour or ‘magic bullet’ as it channels more and more funds via NGOs. But, civil society has increasingly been criticised as undemocratic, unable to reach the poor and unaccountable. This article describes this evolution. • The emergence of global or transnational society. In these days of globalisation, global civil society is increasingly important. This is neither civil society at a global level, nor is it a unified global force for good, lobbying and challenging the neoliberal order. Instead, viewed as ‘transnational civil society’, it is a complex mix of competing, overlapping and intersecting groups that operate beyond national borders for a range of reasons. Especially important actors in transnational

State (or governmental) legislation, policies and action are critical components in Political Geography in general, and for urban areas in particular, with important consequences for, and impacts on, space. A focus on how politics and the local state impact on space in urban areas has, for long, been a central theme in urban-political geography. However, this focus at the urban (or local) scale does not deny that political geography also incorporates studies at the international, regional and national scales. In South Africa, the state—during apartheid and in the postapartheid period—has been largely strong and powerful. State legislation and policies, and their implementation at the local scale have provided a rich terrain for studies in urban-political geography. Urban-political geographers have also extended their focus beyond the political structure to include the economic, social and cultural structures. Moreover, people and organizations (e.g., non-governmental organizations [NGOs], non-profit organizations [NPOs] and faith-based organizations [FBOs]) (collectively referred to as agency) interact with these structures to produce particular (or contingent) spatial outcomes in different localities. Within this context, this chapter provides an overview of some of the key themes in urban-political geographical studies in South Africa.

This literary study argues that South Africa’s three government tiers have failed the majority of the country’s citizens in their efforts to provide adequate security and combat xenophobia. The study upon which this article is based focused on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and some international organisations (IOs) collaborating with governments to address xenophobia, particularly in South Africa. The study aimed to critically analyse and discuss the government’s, IOs’ and NGOs’ role in combating xenophobia in South Africa. The study utilised a qualitative approach with a historical design. Data were collected from secondary sources, which included books, journals and the Internet and were discussed in themes after performing textual analysis. The available published, reviewed articles were utilised to debate, argue and discuss governments’, IOs’ and NGOs’ role in xenophobia in some African countries. The results revealed that governments, NGOs, IOs and other stakeholders have provided support to ensure economic and social stability, but xenophobia persists in South Africa and several other African countries. One of the government's roles in preventing xenophobia is the provision of adequate security where xenophobic violence occurs. The study explained governments’, IOs’ and NGOs’ role in addressing xenophobia in South Africa and other African countries with a focus on issues relevant to addressing xenophobia in South Africa. The study was anticipated to inform government programmes and IOs’ and NGOs’ efforts to alleviate poverty among local citizens in South Africa and prevent hostility towards foreign nationals.

To secure a safe and just future for our oceans and generations to come, Coastal Voices, a transdisciplinary research collective, upholds and practices science and conservation that is revitalizing ancient Indigenous laws and knowledge systems. We are accountable to, and uphold the rights and responsibilities of, Indigenous Hereditary Leaders and their Nations along the West Coast of Canada. Coastal Voices was born out of the need to replace present colonial ocean policies and governance arrangements that have been unsuccessful at supporting resilient coastal social-ecological relationships. In contrast, ancestral Indigenous laws better reflect interlinked social and ecological processes and objectives that are place-based yet nested within regional governance systems. A Steering Committee of Indigenous Hereditary leaders, representing Chiefs’ Councils of the nuučaanuɫ, Haíɫzaqv and Xaayda Nations, guides Coastal Voices, our collective of cultural advisors, practitioners, artists, and a research team of natural and social settler scientists and Indigenous scholars. Together, we examine how the revitalization of Indigenous laws, such as respect, responsibility and balance, and stewardship practices, such as sea gardens and hunting, can support food sovereignty, cultural identity, and biodiversity conservation amid the recovery of a keystone predator, the sea otter, and a changing ocean climate. Coastal Voices strives to live our words by putting research results and stewardship practices into action. In summer 2024 we helped build a clam garden, a type of ancestral sea garden, that increases production of clams by buffering them from climate extremes. To inform continued care-taking actions in the future, we also co-created a simulation model that allows us to compare how sea otter-human-shellfish relationships may change under alternative stewardship scenarios. Through an iterative process of workshops, witnessing, interviews, and validation with Indigenous leaders, we identified diverse objectives and responsibilities of Indigenous leaders, and brought in empirical data to create a model rooted in place-based Indigenous knowledge systems, the ancient laws of balance, respect, and interconnectedness, and western science. By upholding ancestral Indigenous authority, protocols, and laws, our Coastal Voices approach reflects an ancient and unique way to create equitable, relevant science that aligns with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) and supports Nation-to-Nation environmental governance and knowledge mobilization processes. This approach elevates Indigenous traditions, knowledge, and governance authority in science and its application in ocean decision-making.

Conservation Science and NGOs

Knowledge co-production has become part of an evolution of participatory and transdisciplinary research approaches that are increasingly important for achieving sustainability. To effectively involve the most appropriate stakeholders there is a need for engagement and increasing prominence of stakeholders in environmental management and governance processes. The paper aims at developing and testing a methodology for stratifying stakeholders by (i) classifying organisations involved in coastal and ocean governance by their agency, and (ii) grouping them into organisational archetypes for representation and selection in research processes. Agency was measured by the three dimensions of scale, resources, and power. Each dimension was further elaborated as a set of indicators. The methodology is applied in the context of a research project set in Algoa Bay, South Africa. The stratification of organisations enabled the research team to gain a better understanding of the stakeholder landscape of organisational agency, and thus identify the most relevant stakeholder with which to engage. The use of a hierarchical cluster analysis identified five organisational archetypes in relation to ocean and coastal governance in Algoa Bay. The methodology used in this study proposes an informed and intentional approach to create the conditions under which the co-production of and participation in research processes can take place.

For decades, the state has been considered as the sole agent of development and governance. However, since the dawn of democracy (which is considered to be the basis for good governance) in the 1980's there has been a paradigm shift in the governance process in sub-Saharan Africa. Different kinds of civil society organizations have mushroomed in the Sub-region, and these have in one way or another contributed to the democratization process of the Sub-region. Civil society organizations play an intermediary role between the citizens and the state. Their contribution to the democratisation process, both during and after the transition period in the different countries of the Sub-region is as varied as they come. On the whole, and to a large extend, the success of democratic transition in sub-Saharan Africa can be attributed to civil society organizations, especially the locally brewed ones, who with the support of the donor community managed to dislodge the hitherto autocratic regimes. The article considers the role of information and communication, the civil society organizations, Librarians and Information Scientists in good governance, with particular reference to sub-Saharan Africa. It is in divided into four sections, namely; Section 1 which introduces the concepts of governance and the role of information and communication in the governance process. This is followed by Section 2, which examines the concepts of good governance, the civil society and how they relate to each other; then Section 3 discusses the role of the civil society organizations in the democratisation process of sub-Saharan Africa. Finally, Section 4 presents some concluding remarks of the discussion.

South Africa has one of the most active civil societies in the world, with more than 85,000 registered civil society organizations (CSOs). However, the growth of CSOs in post-apartheid South Africa does not necessarily imply that the sector is strong. While it is true that the demise of the apartheid regime increased democratic representation within South Africa, CSOs have experienced a series of institutional challenges which have weakened their organizational stability. This has included increased oversight by the state, inefficient and inconsistent funding from government, fickle demands by private donors, and competition from other sectors. Through an in-depth case study of a historically prominent CSO in South Africa, this paper critically analyzes the institutional challenges faced by CSOs in South Africa. Data findings suggest that lack of long-term funding support, ineffective state funding mechanisms, and competition from state programs and new CSOs have resulted in perpetual uncertainty for some CSOs. In all, these institutional problems may have the potential to shrink, destabilize, and limit the viability of South African CSOs. Moreover, this suggests that South African democratization may have simultaneously produced new opportunities for some CSOs, yet reinforced unequal power relations for other CSOs and thus produced a highly polarized CSO landscape.