Contribution Of Civil Society Research Articles

Contribution of Civil Society in Climate Change Adaptation in Nairobi City County, Kenya

The impacts of climate change, the brunt of which is experienced in the Global South, have occasioned the development of adaptation plans, policies, and strategies by developing countries, with the aim of reducing vulnerability and risks. By and large, however, these adaptation plans and strategies have not yielded the expected results, as evidenced by the increasing manifestations of climate change, including declining agricultural production, food insecurities, and floods, among others. Against this backdrop, this study sought to explore the avenues for enhancing the contribution of civil society organizations in adapting to climate change in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study adopted the descriptive survey design, targeting all 267 civil society organizations pertinent to adapting to climate change in Kenya. A total of 160 top administrative personnel were randomly sampled from among the civil society organizations. Primary data was gathered for the study using a standardized questionnaire. In data analysis, descriptive analysis and a Chi-square test were performed. The results established that mobilization, knowledge sharing, and policy support have a significant effect on the contribution of CSOs in adapting to climate change in Nairobi City County. It was also found that institutional coordination was also found to have a significant intervening role in the association between the avenues for enhancing the contribution of CSOs in adapting to climate change in Nairobi City County, Kenya. It is thus recommended that administrators of CSOs involved in adapting to climate change in Nairobi City County, invest in mobilization, knowledge sharing, policy support, and institutional coordination.

Plugging the holes: Identifying potential avenues and limitations for furthering Dutch civil society contributions towards flood resilience

AbstractClimatic changes can cause unpredictability in flood regimes that traditional flood risk management (FRM) approaches may struggle with. Therefore, flood resilience is seen as a supplementation to these approaches, putting a larger emphasis on flood acceptance and minimising consequences. An (emergent) group contributing towards flood resilience is civil society. This paper examines how civil society contributions can be furthered and guided in the Netherlands as well as exploring potential limitations in doing so. To achieve this, England is used as a good practice example due to a more developed and defined role for civil society being present here. Data were collected on both actual (England and the Netherlands) and potential (The Netherlands) civil society contributions. These were compared to identify potential avenues for Dutch civil society contributions to flood resilience that can be further investigated. The research shows that the most promising avenues are improving advocacy from citizens, improving local flood awareness and developing relationships between FRM authorities and existing citizen groups that can be harnessed and mobilised to support flood resilience. Additionally, the research also provides insights into potential limitations for transferring resilience approaches from one context to another beyond the cases discussed in this publication.

‘You Realise We’re Not the Only Ones Stuck Living Like This’: Comparative Learning, International Partnerships and Civil Society Peace Education in Conflict-Affected Societies

One of the capacities of civil society in peace processes is the promotion of peace-oriented attitudes among citizens through peace education. This article investigates how civil society peace education may be enhanced through collaboration with counterparts in another conflict arena. The article begins by discussing the potential and pitfalls of the comparison of peace/conflict contexts. The empirical findings are based on interviews and focus groups with peace educators in Northern Ireland and South Korea who have engaged in dialogue and partnerships with each other, and they indicate perceived benefits and impact of both the comparative learning to the personnel and the partnership to the organisations. The discussion sets out an ideal model of the peace educative impacts of comparative learning and encounter. Overall, the findings show how local-to-local engagements between peace processes can support the civil society contribution to peacebuilding.

Analysis of Walhi's Advocacy Strategy in Green Open Space Policy in Bandar Lampung City

The development process in Indonesia has currently experienced a very rapid development, especially in the industrial and property sectors. However, this is obviously inversely proportional to environmental management in Indonesia, which basically the development carried out must pay attention to various aspects, one of which is the environmental aspect. Massive development often overrides the ecological or environmental balance in urban areas, including forgetting the importance of abandoning green areas or Green Open Space (RTH). According to the Bandar Lampung City RTRW Evaluation Document, the current RTH area of Bandar Lampung City is 1,895.89 hectares or only 9.61% of the area of Bandar Lampung City. In order to meet the minimum standards for the provision of urban public RTH, Bandar Lampung City must at least strive for the provision of 10.39% or around 2,049 hectares of public RTH. There are seven sub-districts in Bandar Lampung City that are the locations for public RTH distribution, namely Sukarame, Kemiling, Way Halim, Enggal, Tanjung Karang Barat, Bumi Waras and Panjang districts. This study examines the role and contribution made by WALHI Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to the condition of Green Open Space (RTH) in Bandar Lampung City, and aims to provide an analysis of the role and contribution of civil society in its efforts to advocate for RTH policies in Bandar Lampung City and Map the obstacles faced by civil society in advocating for RTH policies in Bandar Lampung City.

Telaah Keterlibatan Masyarakat Sipil dalam Tata Kelola ASEAN

ASEAN is facing criticism in its journey towards a regional organization that involves civil society participation based on Vision 2020 which was first introduced on 15 December 1997. Whereas after the regional financial crisis in 1997-1998, ASEAN leaders began to promote people-oriented ideas in Southeast Asia. Thus, this paper aims to explain the mechanism for involving civil society in ASEAN governance. The logic of appropriateness about the involvement of civil society in the policy-making process at global institutions becomes a theoretical framework for understanding implementation in regional organizations. This study applies a qualitative analysis method. The technique of collecting data is through literature study that relies on research publications, government reports, and internet-based literature. The results of the study understand that the ASEAN Charter and Guidelines for Affiliation of Civil Society Organizations 2012 are official documents that contain rules for ASEAN in opening up space for civil society involvement in governance in ASEAN. There are three mechanisms for involving civil society in ASEAN governance, namely affiliates, ad hoc consultations and GO-NGO forums. The contribution of civil society is adjusted to the prevailing institutional objectives. However, these three participation mechanisms serve to limit civil society organizations from using these channels to challenge policies or propose alternative agendas.

Women entrepreneurship development through MSMEs

Empowerment of women although a phenomenon of recent time, has now become a global movement along with social and political empowerment economic empowerment holds the greatest significance of women empowerment in India focus challenges on all these fronts, partially acts as an invisible force and tries to control the trajectory of women's empowerment in India in all possible milieus be it domestic, work, financial or political to counter this invincible force called patriarchal mindset another invisible force must step in. It is an active and effective participation of government through practical policies and in its implications contribution of civil society to make it more accountable. The nature of the data was used for the study is completely based on secondary sources of data. For the proposed study, we used descriptive research. The study covered condition of Indian women entrepreneurs.

The Decriminilisation of Homosexuality in Botswana

ABSTRACT This article discusses the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Botswana. It discusses the various cases that addressed issues relating to LGBTIQ+ in Botswana to highlight the incremental approach toward decriminalisation of homosexuality laws. The article also highlights the role and the contribution of civil society to the decriminalization of homosexuality in Botswana. It does so by providing an overview of queer activism in Botswana and highlights the various queer actors in the country. The article notes that the Botswana Court of Appeal has emphatically settled the debate concerning the constitutional protection of members of the LGBTIQ+. This article points out that the successes recorded in Botswana by civil society as regards the decriminalisation of homosexuality are attributable to several factors. These factors include the consolidated efforts of civil society in the country, the advocacy that accompanied the decriminalisation of homosexuality litigation and the use of various public interest litigation strategies. Combined, these factors paint a clear picture of the nature of queer lawfare in Botswana. Overall, the article highlights that while some sections of the society in Botswana are still reluctant to recognize members of the LGBTIQ+ community as right bearers, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that there has been a great shift toward inclusivity.

The National Recovery & Resilience Plans According to Citizens’ Perspective: will the EU regain its Leadership in Health? From the Italian Case History to the XVI European Patients’ Rights Day

Healthcare, well-being, and a healthy lifestyle are vital for all of us. In this regard, the engagement of European citizens is key to improve the health system and it is necessary to provide a leading role to the people, the communities, intermediate bodies such as Patients' Advocacy Groups (PAGs), citizens organizations involved in healthcare issues and, more generally, to all actors that promote health as a common good. European institutions struggle to translate into concrete actions the many times highlighted principle relating to the involvement of actors of the civil society and PAGs in the management of health issues. The need to close the gap between the principles affirmed and the real involvement is even more serious when discussing about the management of serious cross-border threats to health. In line with its standing point, the civic organization Cittadinanzattiva [1], being deeply involved in health issues that promote civic participation in the policy-making activities both at the national level in Italy and, through its EU branch Active Citizenship Network (ACN) [2], also at the EU level, is working – of course not alone – to promote civic participation in the drafting and implementation process of National Recovery and Resilience Plans (NRRPs), with relevant political goals already achieved. As the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) [3] is approaching, emphasizing the great contribution of civil society to the success of the EU recovery plans is urgent and essential, now more than ever.

Civil society action: Another formation of civil society in Vietnam (The case studies of environmental protection in Dong Nai River Basin, Vietnam)

Most research on civil society in Vietnam tends to equate civil society with registered civil society organizations. This seems to provide an inadequate understanding of the civil society in Vietnam. To fill this gap, this research adopts the action-based approach that underlines civil society action-another formation of civil society in Vietnam. This approach is examined via the contrast cases between a foreign-invested company and a state-owned enterprise that were a better understanding about the formation and contribution of civil society action on Vietnam’s environmental issue. My findings confirmed that civil society in Vietnam is not only in the form of organizations but also the action via utilizing the chain of activities based on the voluntariness in public space toward common interest and it exists in the Vietnamese color. At the end of this article, I will discuss the implications of this study for the effective contributions of civil society in Vietnam.

THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS, ITS REGIONAL SYSTEM, AND THE ROLE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE FIRST THREE DECADES: CALIBRATING THE “PAPER TIGER”

Neither has any other human-rights treaty received as much vitriolic bashing as the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter), 1981, nor has there been a dearth of negativity about the treaty as a human-rights instrument. Such is the spate of pessimism about the African Charter and its system that it has repeatedly been referred to as “a paper tiger”, among other undignified labels. Beyond the endless lampooning of the treaty and its system as mere platitudes, have there been no opportunities for the civil society to strengthen the promise of this treaty and its system. To what extent has the civil society exploited such opportunities? Can there be a reconceptualization of the roles and attitudes of civil society that will galvanize the African regional human-rights system towards a veritable mechanism for more effective human rights protection? This article examines the contributions of civil society to the evolutionary processes, successes, and perceived weaknesses of the African regional human-rights system since 1981. Extrapolating from some landmark institutional, normative and jurisprudential developments within the African regional arrangement, this article identifies civil society as an inevitable, integral bearer of credit for the successes, and blame for the shortcomings of the aforementioned system. The overarching objective here is to canvass for a repositioning of civil society towards more effective praxis, and, to identify the trajectories for such engagement.

The contributions of civil society to food security in the context of COVID-19: a qualitative exploration in Uruguay.

The aim of this study was to explore and analyse the actions implemented by civil society to contribute to food security in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak in Uruguay, a high-income country in South America. An exploratory systematic approach was used to identify the contributions of civil society to food security through reports in news websites and Facebook posts. Data were analysed based on content analysis following a deductive-inductive approach. Uruguay, Latin America. A total of 1220 civil society organisations were identified, which developed two main actions to increase access to food among the Uruguayan population: food baskets and 'community pots' (also known as 'common pots'). Most of the initiatives targeted citizens under socioeconomic vulnerability in the face of COVID-19, without specifying any specific requirement or population segment. Actions were mainly led by spontaneously organised community groups, and, to a lesser extent, by consolidated organisations. Interactions between organisations were identified. The foods provided by the organisations were mostly aligned with national dietary guidelines. Social media posts evidenced that the main challenge faced by organisations was related to the lack of funds or supplies. Results from this work suggest that the lack of funds or supplies poses challenges to the medium- and long-term contributions of civil society to food security and stresses the need for comprehensive governmental measures to guarantee food security amongst Uruguayan citizens.

Youth versus pandemics: the role of future generations in the pandemic treaty

Youth versus pandemics: the role of future generations in the pandemic treaty

Does civil society matter for natural resource governance? A comparative analysis of multi-stakeholder participation and EITI validation outcomes

The EITI leverages a multi-stakeholder model in which government, civil society and business collaborate to improve the quality of resource governance in participating countries. Like other multi-stakeholder initiatives that aim to improve public governance through information disclosure and civic participation, this model relies on an assumption that civil society participation in the process improves EITI outcomes. This assumption is tested through comparative analysis of data from 63 EITI Validation processes. The results indicate that civil society participation has a small but statistically significant correlation with EITI outcomes related to the rules and comprehensiveness of information disclosure, quality assurance processes, public debate, and most clearly in regard to the reforms that follow from the recommendations in Validations. There are, however, important differences between civil society's contributions to different outcomes, and whether or not civil society participation takes place within the multi-stakeholder group (MSG). Notably, restrictions on MSG participation are found to have a strong moderating effect on civil society's contributions to EITI outcomes, but restrictions on national civic space do not. The results suggest that the discourse surrounding the EITI has been overly simplistic in how it has considered the role of civil society and civic space, and would benefit from more precise consideration of different types of civil society engagement with national EITI processes.

The use of environmental DNA in monitoring aquatic biodiversity for conservation: a review of challenges and opportunities

Evidence-based decision-making in conservation and natural resource management is often constrained by lack of robust biodiversity data. Technology offers opportunities for enhanced data collection, with satellite-based remote sensing increasingly complemented by Earth-based sensors such as camera traps, acoustic recording devices and drones. In aquatic as well as terrestrial systems, environmental DNA is increasingly promoted as a tool to monitor species diversity and community composition. But if conservationists and natural resource managers are to know when to use eDNA, they need to understand its relative advantages and disadvantages, and when it can be used with or instead of other tools. In this paper, I expand on two recent publications (Stephenson 2020; Stephenson et al. 2020) to review lessons learned from the application of eDNA, especially metabarcoding, to the monitoring of aquatic biodiversity for conservation and to identify factors affecting its relevance and applicability. Over the past decade there have been many advances in technological solutions for biodiversity monitoring. eDNA and various remote sensing tools offer opportunities to create the enabling conditions for enhanced biodiversity monitoring, and are becoming cheaper and easier to use for scientists, public and private sector resource managers, and citizen scientists. Nonetheless, a number of challenges need to be addressed to, for example, improve the standardisation of tool use and to enhance capacity for the use, storage, sharing and analysis of huge volumes of data, especially in high-biodiversity countries. More studies comparing the relative efficiency and cost-effectiveness of different tools with different species in different habitats would help managers choose the right tools for their needs and capacity and better integrate them into monitoring schemes. eDNA is becoming the go-to option for the monitoring of aquatic species diversity and community composition and has also proven successful in some terrestrial settings. eDNA is especially useful for monitoring species that are in low densities or difficult to observe with traditional observer-based methods; indeed, several studies show eDNA metabarcoding techniques have a much better detection probability overall for taxa such as amphibians and fish. In some cases, eDNA has been shown to complement other tools when used together, by either increasing animal detection probabilities or increasing the number of indicators that can be measured at one site. This suggests that, in future, more effort should be made to test the effectiveness of integrating eDNA with one or more other tools to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of measuring indicators and to increase the diversity of species detected. For example, eDNA could be combined with camera traps for monitoring vertebrates visiting waterholes. Testing multiple tools would also provide better opportunity to quantify when and how traditional observer-based methods can complement the technological solutions and when they are more cost-effective. However, it is noteworthy that, in general, the taxa for which data are most lacking, such as invertebrates, plants and fungi, are still those less easily monitored by eDNA and other new technologies. This suggests a focus only on technological solutions for biodiversity monitoring may perpetuate existing taxonomic data biases. I conclude by discussing the international policy context and the relevance of eDNA for monitoring global biodiversity indicators. Several opportunities exist to integrate eDNA into monitoring programmes to measure government, business and civil society contributions towards delivery of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and the Sustainable Development Goals.

HSE Professionals Review the Contribution of Civil Society toward Industrial Safety Culture

It was the first time ever during the Covid-19 period that the civil society groups participated so actively for their health and safety concerns all over the countries, and the civil society is now emerging stronger year-on-year to represent on worldly issues. This article attempts to explore the civil societies' contributions towards building the safety cultures of industries, and how it may help achieving a safe place to live and work. The journey from a civil society mindset to an industrial culture poses challenges of change and its implementation. This article brings forth the positive dynamics between the safety mindsets of civil societies and industries, and a possibility of better relationship between businesses and civil society.

Spanish Civil Society Contribution in Overcoming the Migration Crisis

Spanish Civil Society Contribution in Overcoming the Migration Crisis

Why Attacks on Civic Space Matter in Strasbourg: The European Convention on Human Rights, Civil Society and Civic Space

This article explores the role of the European Convention on Human Rights in addressing the issue of attacks on civic space, but also the potential effects of shrinking civic space on Strasbourg’s work. First, an overview of the notions of civil society and civic space is given, linking these concepts to democracy and human rights. Subsequently, the formal and informal roles for civil society in the judicial decision-making are discussed. Finally, the substantive protection offered to civil society and civic space under the ECHR and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights is analysed. This article argues that the differentiations in theory on the varying contributions of civil society to democracy and human rights are to a large extent reflected in Strasbourg jurisprudence. Even more importantly, the ECHR system and civil society benefit from each other. This is why the current attacks on civic space are not just a problem for civil society itself, but also for the work of the European Court: it is submitted that a shrinking of civic space can also negatively affect the Strasbourg system, as the two are intertwined to a considerable extent.Received: 06 July 2019Accepted: 10 October 2019Published online: 20 December 2019

The contribution of civil society to sustainable development in the Gulf and beyond

ABSTRACT Numerous countries across the Arab region are linking national development visions and strategies to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This offers potential opportunities for civil society organisations to push their agendas and build their capacity. Building on a presentation given in Qatar in March 2018, this viewpoint identifies four ways that civil society in the Gulf and other Arab states can link their actions to the SDGs. Notwithstanding the major variations in the contexts for civil society across the region, this framework may help to strengthen the credibility of CSOs in the eyes of state authorities and local societies.

On Civil Society and the Social Economy in Hungary

While the development of civil society organisations in Hungary has been impressive in terms of number and diversity, its influence has remained limited on policy-making. Administrative attempts to draw civil society under tight regulation and control have produced a blurring of the boundaries between the civil and the public spheres that, in turn, has impaired the independent voice and criticism of civil society. Therefore, economic acts based on solidarity and originating from civil society do not automatically form or increase a ‘social economy’ but become as contested by and as intermingled with political developments as other acts of civil society. This development also has affected the profile of civil activities: against the earlier impressive weight of anti-poverty, anti-racist and human rights engagements, the ‘non-risky’ activities of sports and leisure services have come to domination. A turn toward declining participation is a warning sign of the decreasing contribution of civil society to everyday democracy.

Civil society contributions to local level flood resilience: Before, during and after the 2015 Boxing Day floods in the Upper Calder Valley

There is an increasing emphasis on the local level as well as growing expectations regarding civil society actors in flood‐risk management in the UK. However, not enough is known about the potential contributions of civil society to flood resilience at the local level. This paper addresses this knowledge gap by conceptualising flood resilience at the local level across three phases inherent to flood disasters: pre‐flood, during the flood and post‐flood. These phases act as the foundation for this paper's exploration of the contributions of civil society to local‐level flood resilience. Data were collected before, during and after the 2015 Boxing Day floods through interviews (in 2015 and 2017) and from secondary data sources. The paper identifies the importance of time and place when analysing civil society contributions to local level flood resilience. These contributions were dynamic over time with a strong initial response that diminished over time due to apathy, “active forgetting” and lack of further exposure. Exposure and a sense of community strongly influenced civil society contributions to flood resilience in the Upper Calder Valley. Issues of representation and varying place‐based capacities were also identified as relevant for flood resilience‐based policies. These results have larger implications for our understanding of the contributions of civil society actors to flood resilience and suggest that while they can deliver better local context‐specific approaches, there needs to be caution over the long‐term sustainability and longevity of their contributions.