Non-governmental Initiatives Research Articles

Value co-creation through social innovation in healthcare: a case of WE CARE Solar

PurposeMaternal mortality is an acute problem for many countries around the world, particularly those at the bottom of the pyramid (BoP). Most remote locations in these underdeveloped nations, for instance, in Africa, have to cope with the problem of interrupted electricity supply making healthcare practitioners often experience a helpless compulsion to compromise in providing quality medical attention, especially during childbirth. Along with many public, private and nongovernment initiatives, WE CARE Solar (hereafter WCS) – a social innovation venture comes with an idea of developing portable solar suitcases to respond to this intransigent problem.Design/methodology/approachThis paper introduces a social enterprise that established its operation in Africa and so far has served in more than 30 similarly impoverished economies. Data was collected, analyzed using documentary research method. The authors have also collected and correlated the statements from the founder of WCS to complement the authors’ findings. With this paper, the authors intend to establish the type of innovation tools that are needed to provide value with a social innovation initiative in the health sector in the least developed country perspective. To facilitate better social outcomes and to ensure greater good, innovation requires to be accompanied by stakeholders’ involvement.FindingsThe findings indicate that WE CARE Solar has a positive social contribution toward ensuring safe motherhood and childbirth in underdeveloped countries by providing access to reliable solar power sources. The six-step social innovation process can be adopted by other social ventures to propose innovative solutions to social needs. Analyzing WCS's service delivery from the perspective of the 4As framework and value co-creation model, it is suggested that sustainable social change can be established with value co-creation through community engagement with multiple stakeholders.Research limitations/implicationsThis research was solely focused on one organization alone. Future research could look into the model to ascertain its acceptability in similar social innovation in healthcare initiatives.Originality/valueThis paper attempts to address a gap in social innovation in healthcare and its adaptability using the 4As framework with the value co-creation model. The authors propose this model from the data accumulated throughout the research, which could also serve to assist organizations looking for scalable and sustainable change.

The First Convention of Tobolsk Governorate’s Country Doctors (1911)

The events and activities of the convention of Tobolsk Governorate’s country doctors are reconstructed for the first time in historiography. The convention took place in January-February 1911 and was the first professional medical forum in Siberia. The convention is considered to be an important indicator for the development of non-governmental initiative. Taking into account archival records and published documents that are being introduced into the academic context for the first time, we reveal the background of the convention, describe the materials, the agenda, basic resolutions and results of the sessions. The doctors’ convention highlights the development of corporate self-management of the regional medical community. In the early 20th century the latter grew mature enough to formulate collective interests, to adjust governmental activities in the health care to the local specifics.

Challenges to effective governance in developing health systems: a qualitative study in Malawi

Abstract Effective governance is vital in maintaining and improving health systems but has received little attention in research, especially in developing countries. All United Nations (UN) members have committed to Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030. Malawi, a member and one of the five poorest countries in the world, is highly dependent on donor contributions. Recent poor governance of government-funded healthcare saw donors withdraw funding, limiting services and resources. The government identifies the need for better oversight to improve health system efficiency and achieve UHC. This study contributes to a better understanding of the relationship between governance and health systems in developing countries moving towards UHC by identifying stakeholder perceptions of the challenges in this area, using Malawi as a case study. Interviews were conducted with 22 representatives of non-government organisations, civil society groups, local government and government-funded organisations and governance bodies and the transcripts and field notes were analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Four main issues emerged: accountability; resource management; power dynamics; non-government actors. We conclude that political, structural and financial challenges are seen as barriers to effective health governance at all levels (national, local, service provider). These include little monitoring of health policy implementation, little accountability of the government to the public on health policies and spending decisions, and poor resource management, especially in the drug supply chain. In response to the government's perceived disinterest, non-government initiatives (often supported by donors) advocate for greater governance and monitor the health sector, including progress towards UHC. Poor governance adversely affects health system functioning and may prevent developing countries achieving UHC by 2030. Key messages There are political, structural and financial challenges at all levels of the Malawian health system (national, local, service provider) that are perceived as barriers to effective health governance. Poor governance adversely affects health system functioning, limiting the services and resources available, and may prevent the goal of Universal Health Coverage by 2030 in developing countries.

Health professionals donating work hours: an initiative for improving access to healthcare in Brazil: case study and initial results

BackgroundEven with a universal public health system, the Brazilian population faces inequalities on access to healthcare. Long queues for medical appointments, caused by lack of professionals, space and equipment, are...

Energizing Mid–East water diplomacy: The potential for regional water–energy exchanges

ABSTRACT This article presents a nongovernmental initiative to address asymmetric hydropolitical relations in the Jordan River basin through issue linkage. The initiative would develop desalination capacity along the Mediterranean to supply water to Jordan, with Jordan generating and distributing solar energy to Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Such a project could provide a range of economic, environmental and geopolitical benefits to the parties involved, though it would also increase national dependencies on critical resources, which may be a serious impediment to adoption. Still, such mutual dependencies may be preferable to the current unilateral and asymmetric relations.

Initiation and establishment of ecotourism development: Pandin Lake of San Pablo City and Tayak Hill of Rizal, Laguna, Philippines

The Philippines is blessed with an abundance of natural-cultural attractions with an excellent prospect for ecotourism development. Ecotourism has become a key national strategy in promoting local development. Despite this, the country continues to lag behind in ecotourism development as many of its tourism resources in the countryside remain untapped and undeveloped. This situation is exacerbated by the few scholarly discussions on how ecotourism development takes root in a local context. Against this backdrop, the study explores the specifics and dynamics of initiating and establishing ecotourism at the municipal level by looking into the experiences of two localities—Pandin Lake of San Pablo City and Tayak Hill of Rizal Municipality, both in Laguna province of the Philippines. Using a case study design, the article illustrates that in Pandin Lake, the ecotourism development is a locally driven and nongovernmental organisation-inspired initiative, and in Tayak Hill, it is a top-down driven endeavour where the efforts are mainly personal actions of the local executives. In Pandin Lake, the instigating conditions include: the awareness brought about by the save Sampaloc Lake movement; the constraint to aquaculture expansion; the scenic natural beauty of the small lake; and the lack of development-oriented actions by its administrative agencies. In Tayak Hill, the precipitating conditions comprise: the urgent need for instituting a promotional identity for the town and a catalyst for the local socioeconomic development; the advent of a new local government administration that is open to novel development strategies; and the discovery of Tayak Hill as a historical landmark.

From elite-driven to community-based governance mechanisms for the delivery of public goods from land management

Several non-governmental initiatives have emerged in the Czech Republic in recent years with the aim to organise the provision of public goods or ecosystem services from agriculture and forestry. These initiatives are usually started by activists (elites) and take forms such as foundations or trust funds, but often present themselves as collective actions of communal interests. This paper sets out to present four cases of such efforts and to show their common and contrasting features in light of their relevance to local needs and possible integration in the future CAP framework. A particular focus is on the community-based character of these initiatives for the provision of public goods. This is done by examining the necessary conditions for the success of collectively managed common pool resources. The research shows that elite-driven non-governmental organisations often emerge because of a lack of interest on the part of public bodies and because local communities do not have the capacity to set up a collective action for the provision of environmentally and socially “beneficial outcomes” (ESBO). The investigated NGOs, however, soon came into conflict with non-involved actors. To improve the governance mechanism, an extension towards a community-based collective action is proposed. However, each step of such a transition is a challenge for the initiatives of the presented case studies. The first critical issue is to find a common interest among actors. Similarly, “sharing power” represents a struggle which consequently delays progress in creating effective internal governance. The difficulty in progressing towards community-based collective action is amplified by the uncertainty concerning property rights induced by the activities of the NGOs and unfavourable socioeconomic and institutional conditions. Finding that the private initiatives are far from being able to transform into community-based collective action, we propose to launch a measure of institutional funding for the coordination and management of their projects – similar to LEADER but more concentrated in scope.

Citizen Scientist: Frank Von Hippel’s Adventures in Nuclear Arms Control PART 5. Working in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

ABSTRACT Von Hippel describes his introduction to the ways of the government bureaucracy as an assistant director in the White House Office of Science and Technology (OSTP). He describes providing White House support to the lab-to-lab program through which the US helped Russia strengthen the security of its nuclear materials and his visits to the Kurchatov Institute and Russia’s first plutonium city to discuss such upgrades, and also the false starts that delayed the replacement of the heat and electricity generated by Russia’s last three operating plutonium-production reactors so that they could be shut down. He also describes some the other efforts in which he became consequentially involved: ending HEU use in research-reactor fuel, opening up the issue of converting US naval reactors to low-enriched uranium, shutting down Experimental Breeder Reactor II, raising safety issues with NASA’s plutonium-heat-powered Cassini mission to Saturn, and a failed attempt to intervene in the UK’s decision to launch its new THORP reprocessing plant into operation. Finally, he explains why he left OSTP eight months before his originally planned return to Princeton. He also discusses his failed nongovernmental initiative to promote an end to the production of fissile materials for weapons in South Asia and the Clinton Administration’s half-hearted efforts to negotiate warhead arms control with Russia. Finally, he discusses highlights of his life in Washington, DC and the lessons he learned about working in the government.

The Uses of Running: Urban Homelessness, Creative Initiatives, and “Recovery” in the Neoliberal City

Across North American cities, emerging forms of urban governance from the 1970s produced forms of racialized, visualized, and spatialized urban poverty. Attempts to revitalize, recast, and spectacularize the urban environment left cities with vexing questions about what should be done with homeless people and also what homeless people should be doing. Amidst the rolling back of State social welfare policies and provision (Peck & Tickell, 2002), creative, informal, communal, or non-governmental initiatives have emerged in response to urban poverty and homelessness. One such organization is Back on My Feet, a national, not-for-profit organization that partners with homeless and addiction recovery facilities, which strives to utilize running as a means of empowerment. This ethnographic inquiry speaks to the ways in which the social practice of running amongst those housed in a temporary recovery facility is imbricated with their lifestyles and identities, an urban context, and homeless discourses and stigmas. It is illustrative of how the rhetoric of “recovery” yokes together the entrepreneurial ethos of neoliberalism with the management of homeless people.

Navigating the next Industrial revolution: Future Work Force analysis based on Western Australian narrative

The study adopts a Focus group discussion than the more dominant quantitative data in studying Western Australian Business landscape and it’s local and global disrupters, repellents and extractors are exhaustively and critically analyzed. In order to ascertain needed competencies to navigate the next industrial revolution, current practices of government and non-government initiatives can be Juxtaposed to rowing and rafting phenomena. The current global strategic HR perspective should be focused, fast and flexible but the Australian Government and most corporate conglomerates view are it should be Safe, Slow and Strict. People make sense of their world where human actions are based upon the person's interpretation of events, societal meanings, intentions and beliefs (Gill and Johnson 20101; Denzin and Lincoln, 20052). The Australian public’s belief in navigating the next industrial revolution and the effect of Government policy-making is analyzed critically in this paper. The following two questions being answered with practical disparity and in the end, adjusted accordingly to make sense to the layman terms. First “Why we need to reimagine Human Resource Management perspective?” was unveiled. Secondly, the key features of future Human Resource Management were questioned. Thirdly what should the Australian corporates and Governments do differently to assimilate our workforce to reap benefits from the next industrial revolution is discussed. Finally championing the change using the right blend of leadership style and scale of change discussed in length to add clarity to the perspective.

CURRENT ISSUES OF THE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN HEALTH IN EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES. LITERATURE REVIEW

EU countries have accumulated a considerable amount of scientific research demonstrating the influence of a number of environmental factors on human health. The paper reviews European research on the relation between the environment and human health. The authors present a review of normative and non-governmental initiatives in the field of environmental control and human health in the European region, major environmental causes of human health deterioration and initiatives aiming at preventing ecology-dependant health issues. In 1989 World Health Organisation (WHO) held the First Ministerial Conference on Environment and Health that kickstarted the process uniting the healthcare field and the field of environmental protection. The main objective of the “Environment and Health” Process is to mitigate major environmental risks for human health. The objective is to be achieved through regular Ministerial Conferences held every five years by the World Health Organisation Regional Office. According to the policy stated in “Health-2020”, ecology is an important factor for maintaining good human health and establishment of sustainable communities and favorable environment should be prioritized in the European region of WHO. According to the research presented by WHO, major environmental causes of increased disease rate are atmospheric pollutants, accumulation of heavy metal leads and other harmful chemicals in the environment, climate change, noise pollution, low quality of drinking water and poor hygienic conditions. The review presents a consideration of recommendations given in “Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement”, Scopus, Web of Science, eLIBRARY.RU, CyberLeninka, and other scientific databases were used for this review.

Gaps in Protection of Important Ocean Areas: A Spatial Meta-Analysis of Ten Global Mapping Initiatives

To safeguard biodiversity effectively, marine protected areas (MPAs) should be sited using the best available science. There are numerous ongoing United Nations and nongovernmental initiatives to map globally important marine areas. The criteria used by these initiatives vary, resulting in contradictions in the areas identified as important. Our analysis is the first to overlay these initiatives, quantify consensus, and conduct gap analyses at the global scale. We found that 55% of the ocean has been identified as important by one or more initiatives, and that individual areas have been identified by as many as seven overlapping initiatives. Using our overlay map and data on current MPA coverage, we highlight gaps in protection of important areas of the ocean. We considered any area identified by two to four initiatives to be of moderate consensus. Over 14% of the ocean fell under this category and most of this area (88%) is not yet protected. The largest concentrations of medium-consensus areas without protection were found in the Caribbean Sea, Madagascar and the southern tip of Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Coral Triangle. Areas of high consensus (identified by five to seven initiatives) were almost always within MPAs, but their no-take status was often unreported. We found that nearly every marine province and nearly every exclusive economic zone contained area that has been identified as important but is not yet protected. Much of the identified area lies within contiguous stretches of >100,000 km2; it is unrealistic to expect that all this area be protected. Nonetheless, our results on areas of consensus provide initial insight into opportunities for further ocean protection.

El voluntariado juvenil y los debates sobre la educación ciudadana. Alemania Occidental y Gran Bretaña en los años cincuenta y sesenta del siglo XX

En México, como en muchos otros países del mundo, numerosas iniciativas estatales y no gubernamentales se han dedicado al fortalecimiento de la sociedad civil en los últimos años —y muchos de ellas particularmente a través de la participación de los jóvenes (p. ej. Centro Mexicano para la Filantropía, 2014)—. Políticos, periodistas y científicos promocionan el voluntariado como medida para mejorar la cohesión social y para fomentar la democracia (Aguilar Valenzuela, 2006). Esa valoración es parte de una tendencia global que se refleja por ejemplo en la atención de Naciones Unidas respecto del voluntariado (United Nations General Assembly, 2001). Sin duda alguna, la democracia depende de la participación activa de los ciudadanos. No obstante, el discurso actual normalmente trata el voluntariado y la sociedad civil como instituciones a-históricas e ignora su volubilidad. Con el enfoque en Alemania y Gran Bretaña, dos países en los que los esfuerzos para promover el voluntariado juvenil se efectuaron ya relativamente temprano, ese artículo tiene el objetivo de mostrar que es importante de no entender la sociedad civil y el voluntariado desde una perspectiva normativa, pero de considerarles en su historicidad.

Status of secondary school libraries and librarians in Bangladesh

The purpose of this study is to explore the current environment of secondary school libraries and librarians in Bangladesh. To achieve this objective, an exploratory mixed method study was conducted to ensure the best possible outcomes. In the qualitative phase, besides literature review, five school librarians were interviewed. Based on the output in the qualitative phase, a questionnaire was designed for quantitative phase and collected 87 responses using an online survey. In general, it is found that the development of libraries and creating qualified school library professionals have been slow due to a lack of governmental and non-governmental initiatives. School libraries, where they exist, offer minimal services and facilities; school librarians are not integrated with the teaching and learning process. Finally, the school library is identified as being of lesser significance to other priorities in the country’s education system and annual budget, and the resulting issues and challenges are, therefore, an important topic and issue of significance.

Demand for nonprovisioning ecosystem services as a driver of change in the Canadian boreal zone1

The Canadian boreal zone provides ecosystem services from local to global scales. Either directly or indirectly, demands for these services have and will continue to serve as drivers of change in the region. Here we present evidence for past, present, and potential future demand for maintaining nonprovisioning ecosystem services (NPrES), defined as indirect and nonmarketable services obtained from ecosystems as a driver of change in the boreal zone. Our evidence of demand stems from federal and provincial policies, actions by Indigenous peoples, and nongovernmental initiatives that aim to maintain the sustainability of natural resource extraction and ecosystem condition of the boreal. Presently, the demand for NPrES influences decisions related to natural resource development (e.g., forestry) that in turn impacts the condition of the boreal zone. Informed by the present conditions and past trends, three future scenarios to the year 2050 are presented that contrast in their trajectory—status quo, increased demand for NPrES, and decreased demand for NPrES. We also summarize the interactions among other drivers of change in the boreal and the synergies and trade-offs among the different types of demand for NPrES. Ultimately, sustainability of the boreal zone and the ecosystem services it provides will result from a complex suite of interacting drivers of change, where the balance of demands for provisioning and NPrES will continue to influence regional conditions.

Partnering for Resilience: An Innovative Approach to Hazard Education and Child-Centered Risk Reduction

Our study engaged graduate students enrolled in a Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) course designated as Academic Community Engagement (ACE) at an Institution of Higher Education (IHE) in rural Texas. The aim of ACE courses is to employ the scholarly endeavors of facilitating academic content and strengthening transversal competencies of learners to provide needed services in situ to communities in which the IHE is anchored. The study leveraged a nongovernmental (NGO) child-centered risk reduction initiative called the Pillowcase Project: Learn, Practice, Share by the American Red Cross (ARC) in a community with high social vulnerability. Our students taught the ARC initiative to 3rd graders. We envisioned our study to serve as a template for HSEM educators whose objectives were to (a) adopt child-centered risk reduction in contextualized teaching for post-secondary students of disaster, (b) highlight integrative, collaborative processes involved in emergency preparedness and disaster training through experiential learning; (c) engage graduate HSEM students in critical thinking with respect to complex networks of agencies involved in hazards education and with respect to existing risk-reduction educational initiatives, and (d) leverage social capita l of IHEs by providing information on hazards and clear action steps grade school children and households can take in an emergency. We assessed the impact of graduate student-delivered, child-centered risk reduction education through in-class observations, children quizzes (N = 117), Pillowcase Household Surveys (34% return rate), and graduate student reflection logs (N = 14). Our findings offer support that child-centered risk reduction education might influence households to be more likely to consider adjustments such as smoke detector installations and inspections. Moreover, experiential teaching methodology applied highlighted students’ ability to critically assess HSEM concepts and generate field recommendations for better practice.

The U-Turn in Government Facilitation: How Dutch Water Authorities Facilitate Nongovernmental Initiatives

Public authorities in infrastructure, aiming to facilitate societal initiatives, explore new forms of collaboration with nongovernmental actors. A comparative case study of two Dutch initiatives is conducted: energy generation at a public dam and the realization of a nature reserve. It is analyzed how and why the authorities’ strategy regarding their nongovernmental partners changes over time. Authorities’ strategy change is modeled on two axes: governmental investments and governmental influence, and a differentiation is made between limited facilitation, invitational facilitation, partnering, and Design, Build, Finance, Maintain, and Operate. A U-turn-shaped pattern in authorities’ strategy is found: Authorities move from partnering to limited facilitation and subsequently revert to invitational facilitation. Institutional factors, process factors, and initiative characteristics are identified that explain the strategy changes. It is concluded that government facilitation is a dynamic, interactive process and that authorities adapt their strategy to the initiative at hand and are pragmatic in their approach.

Criminalizing “Pro-Immigrant” Initiatives: Reducing the Space of Human Action

The article addresses the problem of the surveillance, disciplining and criminalization of practices of non-governmental initiatives which offer help to irregular migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Slovenia and four neighbouring countries. Based on original empirical work – interviews with members of NGOs – it analyses the dynamic of these processes through several stages of the “continuum of criminalization”. Five types of crimmigration policies and practices of authorities and other actors were identified which produce cumulative effects and reduce space for both political and human action as well as spontaneity.

Proactive Civil Society to Achieve SDGs

This Article has the aim to show how crucial civil society proactive role is to achieve 2030 Agenda. It focusses especially in South regions’ rural areas where communities have never had the opportunity to design and lead their own development.SDGs motto states “leaving no one behind”. However, we still find that one of the great problems regarding 2030 Agenda achievement is the generalized ignorance of what “S-D-G” mean.To tackling these issues, it is essential to provide the necessary tools to population (especially in rural areas) to let them know how they can really be actors of an inclusive sustainable global development and to make them aware that development is a human right recognized to all individuals.This Article it’s about the international partnership for the 17 goals that reunites more than 150 proactive children and young people from San Marcos (Guatemala), Poroma (Bolivia), Yamoussoukro (Ivory Coast) and Navarre (Spain). A Non-governmental organization initiative supported by public authorities and based on a PhD research that defends why small local projects promoted by children and youth people are essential to achieve SDGs.There are currently 25 local projects running as a result of this Education for Development program that boosts North-South and South-South cooperation.Keywords: Education for Development, proactivity, Agenda 2030, society empowerment, South-South cooperation, right to development.

One Step Forwards half a Step Backwards: Changing Patterns of Intimate Partner Violence in Bangladesh

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is still rampant in Bangladesh despite a strong national legal framework and a range of governmental as well as non-governmental initiatives to tackle violence against women and girls (VAWG). This paper explores the influence of social norms on the persistence of IPV in Bangladesh as well as a possible backlash occurring despite progress in many areas in relation to tackling VAWG. Qualitative data were collected through 40 key informant interviews, 21 in-depth interviews with survivors of IPV and with married men, 11 focus group discussions and seven intergenerational trios, in two districts of Bangladesh and in Dhaka in 2016. With appropriate consent, interviews were recorded, transcribed and translated from Bengali to English and coded using MAXQDA software. A thematic analysis was then carried out on the coded segments. Findings from our study sample suggest that despite increased awareness of their rights, women and girls still face social norms that create barriers to attaining these rights. Effective governmental and NGO programming might, according to study respondents, result in backlash by men, leading also to changing forms of IPV. Our findings also suggest that increased access to economic resources may not always be protective, while increased education, mobility and access to new technology may be increasing IPV behind closed doors. We argue that the tenacity of the discriminatory gender norms that underlie the attitudes and behaviours of people in Bangladesh is a critical factor for understanding why, despite progress in many areas, IPV persists.