Work Of Non-governmental Organizations Research Articles

“To be led differently”: Neoliberalism, road construction, and NGO counter-conducts in Peru

This essay explores how neoliberal governance is being contested, adapted, and engaged by Peruvian NGOs responding to the Interoceanic Highway, a large infrastructure project in southern Peru. The road is an anchor project of a continent-wide regional integration effort called IIRSA (Initiative for the Integration of Regional Infrastructure in South America), begun in 2000 and spearheaded by Brazil. IIRSA is a result of Latin America’s neoliberal reorientations in the 1980s and 1990s and seeks to facilitate the extraction of resources and the movement of capital. IIRSA has been carried out with very little publicity, but in 2006, a group of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) formed a coalition named the Civil Society Working Group for the Interoceanic Highway, and began critiquing both the road’s massive ecological and social consequences as well as the Peruvian government’s poorly designed impact mitigation program. Following Foucault, this paper suggests that NGO critique of the IIRSA project represents a form of counter-conduct and at once co-constitutes and challenges neoliberal practices of rule in Peru. Through the lens of “counter-conducts” – defined by Foucault as “the will not to be governed thusly, like that, by these people, at this price” – this essay shows how the NGO working group largely acts within the political space of the state through neoliberal ideas of good governance, while its discourses and actions point to a more profound reworking of environmental politics in Peru, a call in Foucault’s words, “to be led differently… and towards other objectives.”

Teetering on the Edge of Legal Nihilism: Russia and the Evolving European Human Rights Regime

In 2013, Russia’s human rights record remains one of the poorest among the members of the Council of Europe. A painstakingly sluggish compliance with international human rights obligations and several recent incidents of the crackdown on civil society since Putin’s return to the presidency, as demonstrated by a series of restrictive laws, harassment, and intimidation of political prisoners, interference in the work of non-governmental organizations and a notorious prosecution of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, cast further doubt on the Kremlin’s genuine commitment to perform its obligations under the Convention. This essay in Part I maps out the place of the ECHR in Russian law and practice, highlighting the most important hurdles to smoother relations between Russia and the ECtHR as well as to fuller enjoyment of Convention rights by individuals in the country. Part II considers the current round of proposed reforms of the European human rights regime as embodied in the 2012 Brighton Declaration, with particular attention to the relevance of such reforms for Russia in view of the elements highlighted in Part I.

Community mental health care in South Asia

Community mental health care in South Asia

Corporal Punishment and the Rights of the Child in Nigeria

All human rights covenants recognises the rights of the child as an entity, entitled to the basic fundamental human rights, but the guarantee and enforcement of the rights are subject to regional understanding of what it means and what constitutes an abuse. In Nigeria for example, corporal punishment of the child in school, at home and as sanctions for children in conflict with the law, are rarely considered as a human rights issue, but viewed more as enforcement of cultural and moral values, necessary for maintenance of law and order, and the moral upbringing of the child in the society. My work will produce evidence justifying the above stated position, through reference to the relevant legal frameworks like, The Nigerian federal Constitution, the penal code, regional law of the states, The Sharia Law practices, current newspapers and amnesty report amongst other Non Governmental organisation(NGO) reports on the situation in Nigeria. Also, it will examine the human rights implications of corporal punishment, using the relevant international and regional instruments available like convention on the rights of the child, European convention of human rights and African charter on declaration of human, civil and political rights. Finally, it will highlight some of the Claw back provisions in the African charter normally use to justify the practice as being in accordance with the law, efforts of political lobby groups and NGO working on change of the law to conform with International standards, like commission on the rights of the child will be acknowledged, relevant recommendations will be made and conclusion drawn from the discussion.

The HURT (Headache Under-Response to Treatment) questionnaire: utility in a specialist care center in Denmark

Background The HURT Questionnaire was developed by Lifting The Burden, a non-governmental organization working in official relations with the World Health Organization, as a tool to aid in the management of headache. It has eight questions which the patient answers as a measure of effectiveness of intervention, by indicating when outcome is less than optimal, and by suggesting what changes in management might lead to improvement.

HUMAN CAPITAL OF POLISH NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS: FROM MACROECONOMIC CONTEXT TO MICROECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS

Abstract. The paper1 aims at emphasizing the importance of a proper recognition and disclosure of human capital in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on the example of Poland. Although NGOs do significantly contribute to social well-being, the economic focus paid to commercial businesses and public institutions causes that a scope of civil initiatives is not recognised to a sufficient extent. It is, therefore, a role of the Third Sector to promote its activities and to inform extensively on the effects generated. The issue which requires particular attention in this respect is the human capital which propels all benevolent activities.The author analyses, firstly, the historic, economic, and legal circumstances that shaped the modern Third Sector in Poland. Subsequently, an analysis of human resources available to Polish NGOs in comparison to the situation of their German and British counterparts is conducted. The results of a study on the attractiveness of the non-governmental sector as an employer are discussed next. The paper is concluded with a presentation of methods which enable to quantify and valuate human capital in a non-commercial environment, including the ratios used to monitor the development of that capital.The results presented in the paper clearly demonstrate that it was possible due to involvement of socially sensitive people to rebuild social activities in Poland after the long period of the state’s exclusivity in defining and addressing social issues. Those people made the initial human resources of Polish NGOs as their members, governors or volunteers. Nonetheless, the development of a comprehensive legal framework stimulating co-operation between the state and NGOs, and an extensive use of European funds helped to extend the labour force of the sector by 120 000 employees. A priority for now proves to be sustaining that growth by attracting young people. The results of the author’s study on the perception of the Third Sector by students show that most of them still know NGOs from mass media only, and one third of them would not consider working for an NGO in future. On the other hand, opinions of those who already work in a non-commercial environment prove to be positive, what entitles to formulate the conclusion that a better knowledge of the ways NGOs work is vital to build their human capital. If social managers develop proper systems of measuring and reporting human capital, such as the one presented in the paper, they will gain a tool to demonstrate that human capital of their organisations is used to make social initiatives as effective and efficient as possible.Key words: non-governmental organisation (NGO), the Third Sector, human resources, human capital

Socio-cultural trends in Women’s Founders Training, Mentorship, Transition and Transformation with a Special Focus on Botswana

Botswana women have historically played very crucial roles in the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) as great partners and gap fillers in national development. Among the most important aspects of founding NGOs organization is the need to train, mentor and transform, and transit from the organization with no doubt about its autonomy and sustainability. This article is informed by a Based on a workshop methodology with a total of twenty women from the USA and Botswana women assembled under the auspices of the Women’s Affairs Department and have occasional meetings since 2008. A key finding from studying the Women’s Founders Collective is that women are socio- culturally groomed to participate in unpaid NGO work even if they have been trained, mentored and make an impact enough to transform organizations and communities they serve. With the advent of the cash economy, the trends of women as key actors in NGOs have changed to include men especially in instances where there are some financial rewards. Regardless of whether key actors are men or female, the need for intensive training, mentorship, transition and transformation can not be overemphasized. This is the gist of the journal article, using women as a point of contact.

Weaving Networks of Responsibility: Community Work in Development Programs in Rural Malawi

The need to cope with the impact of the AIDS epidemic on communities in Africa has resulted in the emergence of numerous community health and development programs. Initiated by governments, international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and local organizations, such programs target local communities with the goal of building care and support mechanisms in the local level. Based on ethnographic field research in rural Malawi, and drawing from the cross-disciplinary debate on development work, the article explores the work of an NGO offering health and care programs to orphans and vulnerable children. Through analyzing the organization's scope of work, the article demonstrates how the NGO acts to structure local social networks as instruments of care and offers a new reading of the role of NGOs in which the limitations of development work and the work of NGOs are understood within their local context and not only in the context of broad cultural critique.

Saving Egypt’s Village Girls

Bridging literature on modern governance with youth subjectivity, this article examines the globalization of female youth in contemporary Egypt through transnational humanitarian interventions. Drawing on over twenty-seven months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Egypt and France with non-governmental organization workers and village girls, it demonstrates how humanitarian work is rendered meaningful by specific actors, its effects coexisting alongside, rather than supplanting, other forms of sociality. In tracing the ways in which a youth habitus based on rights is “made” through the daily work of intervention, I suggest that girl initiatives of this kind constitute a transnational “regime of care” centered on the protection and politicization of particular kinds of adolescent life in Egypt and the broader Arab world.

Formulating professional identity

Recent scholarly and practitioner research on the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has been concerned with questions about the moral legitimacy of humanitarian aid in settings of armed conflict. At issue is the extent to which NGO activities are said to affect the conduct and outcome of warfare, thereby potentially implicating humanitarian aid in the partisan interests which it has traditionally eschewed as a condition of its legitimacy. This paper explores how such issues are taken up in the explanations offered by humanitarian aid operatives in descriptions of the work they carry out in settings of armed conflict. Drawing on a corpus of conversational material recorded in open-ended interviews with representatives of various NGOs that operate in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), I examine how speakers work to make themselves accountable to demands for sympathetic affiliation with the losing (or vanquished) parties in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict while maintaining a non-aligned stance relative to the partisan considerations that animate that conflict’s conduct. Both in first-hand narrative accounts of personal transformation and in descriptions of contrastive examples where professional colleagues are said to maintain a too-sympathetic affiliation with the partisan concerns of the Palestinian population whose needs they service, speakers work to provide for the legitimacy of their professional activities in the context of otherwise conflicting demands for moral accountability.

Enhancing employee performance through ethical leadership, transformational leadership and organizational culture in development sector of Pakistan

The scale of work of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Pakistan has drastically increased in the last few years due to man-made and natural disasters. These disasters have brought huge funding into Pakistan for implementation of emergency, relief and rehabilitation projects implemented by Government, United Nations, Population Welfare Department, International and Local NGOs. Effective Implementation of these projects was not possible without transformational leaders that could promote ethical values within organizations and contribute for increasing employee performance through their supportive role. Researchers have focused on linkage of transformational leadership with ethical leadership. This study focused on how leadership qualities and organizational culture support employee performance. This study also analyzes how ethical leadership plays a mediating role between organizational culture and despotic leadership. In order to test the research hypotheses, this study used structural equation model (SEM) technique. Stratified random sampling was used and data were collected from 377 management staff of local and International NGOs working in Pakistan. The study has found positive and significant relationship among transformational leadership, organizational culture, ethical leadership and employee performance. The study further found negative relationship between ethical leadership and despotic leadership. The study findings are important for NGOs in promoting ethical values in organizations contributing to employee performance. Key words: Transformational leadership, organizational culture, ethical leadership, employee performance and despotic leadership.

Duty and destiny: Psychometric properties and correlates of HIV-related stigma among youth NGO workers in Delhi, India

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are increasingly providing critical health-related services to hard-to-reach populations. In India, stigma has been cited as a barrier to NGO participation in HIV-prevention activities with high-risk populations. Our study undertook to characterize and contextualize HIV-related stigma within HIV NGOs in Delhi, India. We investigated psychometric characteristics and correlates of HIV-related stigma in a sample of youth NGO practitioners (N=122) working on peer HIV prevention. Factor analyses revealed a “cultural inflection” of stigma in this population: assignment of blame on people living with HIV (PLWH) factored along with individual behaviors and care-taking (Dharma, or Duty), distinct from the perception of HIV as God's punishment, which was connected to ostracism from society (Karma, or Destiny). Exposure to HIV-related messages in newspapers was associated with 55.7% lower levels of Dharma-related stigma (p=0.07) and 58% lower levels of Karma-related stigma scores (p=0.01), respectively, while recall of HIV-related messages on the radio was associated with 57.3% lower Dharma-related (p=0.03) and 34.1% lower Karma-related stigma scores (p=0.06), respectively. The strongest correlate of lower HIV-related stigma was social proximity to PLWH (~76% reduction on both stigma factors, p<0.03). Future research on HIV-related stigma should consider the unique cultural properties and correlates of stigma among young NGO practitioners.

Entrepreneurship and sustainability: Can business really alleviate poverty?

An alarming percentage of the world’s population lives below the poverty line of less than USD 2 per day. Various approaches to poverty alleviation have been implemented through governmental policy reforms as well as the work of non-governmental organizations. Many approaches have focused on disparities evident in gender, employment, education and decision making, seeking to address limitations in these areas. However, mostly unabated poverty levels and a growing global population require a new approach to improving the living standards of those in Less Developed Countries. This can be achieved by boosting local economies with the support of entrepreneurial activities operating on the small and micro-scale.

Citizenship Education in Kyrgyzstan: Building a New Democracy

This article reviews a country-wide citizenship education programme in Kyrgyzstan, exploring its reception within the context of an emerging democracy. Qualitative interviews with students, teachers and non-governmental organisation workers in three regions of Kyrgyzstan highlight the value given to particular aspects of the curriculum: new content and perspectives on citizenship; an engaging, content-rich textbook; and interactive instructional methods. These are all found to transform individual outlooks, self-efficacy, classroom dynamics and teacher–student relationships. Because the context is an unstable political, economic and social situation, the curriculum becomes positioned as revolutionary as students are encouraged to build a new system, albeit one that resembles Western democracy. Critical issues arising out of the programme include the meaning and purpose of consensus within a classroom; ways to value different types of participation; and how to indigenise the type of citizenship in the curriculum.

Searching for sexual revolutions in India: non-governmental organisation-designed sex education programmes as a means towards gender equality and sexual empowerment in New Delhi, India

At the foundation of most inequalities in expression of sexuality lie social constructions of gender. In this paper, sex education is considered as a possibility to challenge sexism and promote healthy and self-affirmative sex lives. In the past decade, the discourse of sex education in India has become a ‘battle of morality’ where concerned citizens condemn sex education on the grounds it may encourage sexual activity and immoral conduct (e.g. promiscuity or infidelity). The work of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is an alternative to the governmental national curriculum plan. This paper discusses NGO potential in terms of sexual empowerment by examining beliefs and understanding, choices of information, strategies and methods, and approaches apparent in sex education programmes and projects. Through qualitative data, findings were analysed by constructing a sexual empowerment model that divides components of sex education into four parts and utilises theories of empowerment. The main findings include that all four components of sex education – foundation, content, strategies and approaches – show great potential to challenge gender inequalities in regard to sexuality. Sexual health programmes and projects are seen to be highly participatory, deliberative and encouraging of critical thinking. Some concerns are highlighted: the strong focus on girls as the main actors of change, and external limitations such as parents and institutions.

Why Do NGOs Go Where They Go? Evidence from Kenya

Summary Using Kenya as a case study, this paper provides preliminary evidence of the factors influencing Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to choose their locations within a country. Interpreting the findings from a range of models evaluating 4,210 organizations in 70 districts, and drawing on in-country interviews with NGO leaders and workers, government officials, and politicians, it finds that sub-national NGO location corresponds to an area’s objective level of need, as well as the convenience of the location for accessing beneficiaries, donors, and elite goods. Contrary to dominant theories of African political economy, political factors like patronage appear to have little or no significant influence.

Experiences about HIV-AIDS preventive-control activities. Discourses from non-governmental organizations professionals and users

Objectives The main aim of this study was to identify the experiences of professionals in nongovernmental organizations (NGO) in Catalonia (Spain) working in HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities and potential areas of improvement of these activities and their evaluation. A further aim was to characterize the experiences, knowledge and practices of users of these organizations with regard to HIV infection and its prevention. Methods A phenomenological qualitative study was conducted with the participation of both professionals and users of Catalan nongovernmental organizations (NGO) working in HIV/AIDS. Theoretical sampling (professional) and opportunistic sampling (users) were performed. To collect information, the following techniques were used: four focus groups and one triangular group (professionals), 22 semi-structured interviews, and two observations (users). A thematic interpretive content analysis was conducted by three analysts. Results The professionals of nongovernmental organizations working in HIV/AIDS adopted a holistic approach in their activities, maintained confidentiality, had cultural and professional competence and followed the principles of equality and empathy. The users of these organizations had knowledge of HIV/AIDS and understood the risk of infection. However, a gap was found between knowledge, attitudes and behavior. Conclusions NGO offer distinct activities adapted to users’ needs. Professionals emphasize the need for support and improvement of planning and implementation of current assessment. The preventive activities of these HIV/AIDS organizations are based on a participatory health education model adjusted to people's needs and focused on empowerment.

Rights Based Approaches to Development: Implications for NGOs

The rights-based approach (RBA) emerged as a new development paradigm in the late 1990s. Within ten years, it had swept through the websites, policy papers and official rhetoric of multi-lateral development agencies, bi-lateral donors, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) throughout the global development assistance sector. Today, specialized consultants and advisors are elaborating and mainstreaming the paradigm through reports, workshops, and project evaluations, ensuring that rights-based thinking will continue to proliferate for years to come. Many view this trend with excitement, highlighting the normative and practical value of injecting human rights principles into standard development thinking and practice. These commentators hope rights-based approaches will empower marginalized groups, focus attention on inequality, and boost state and donor accountability. Skeptics, however, fear the emergence of yet another development fad. What, then, is really happening? Is the rights-based approach having observable impacts? This Article proposes five hypotheses about the likely impact of rights-based approaches on the work, structure, and number of NGOs involved in the development process. If the rights-based paradigm is having real effects, we should be able to observe its traces in the work and activities of development-related NGOs that accept overseas resources and aid.

State and Society Responses to Social Welfare Needs in China: Serving the People ed. by Jonathan Schwartz and Shawn Shieh (review)

Reviewed by: State and Society Responses to Social Welfare Needs in China: Serving the People ed. by Jonathan Schwartz and Shawn Shieh Qingwen Xu (bio) Jonathan Schwartz and Shawn Shieh, editors. State and Society Responses to Social Welfare Needs in China: Serving the People. New York: Routledge, 2009. 210 pp. Hardcover $130.00, ISBN 978-0-415-45224-3. In the first comprehensive survey of China’s nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and their role and activities in response to natural disasters, public health crises, and social service needs, Jonathan Schwartz and Shawn Shieh offer a provocative conceptualization about the relationship between the state and NGOs, and propose an alternative framework for understanding the emerging civil society in China. Grounded on a series of empirical and/or case studies, their work indicates that state-NGO relationships have assumed different forms and a dynamic process in China. They innovatively categorize the relationships as regulation, negotiation, and societalization. Westerners may assume that Chinese are disengaged from civil and political participation and that NGOs in China are, by and large, quasi-governmental agencies as China’s political structure and system impede such organizations’ development and grassroots participation. While control or regulation is still prevailing in the context of China’s substantial economic but limited political reforms, the increased internal interest in NGOs and participation is due to these organizations’ special position in the society, as well as their role in service programs that affect people’s daily life. China’s post-reform welfare system has adopted a pluralistic approach, which not only has opened up business opportunities for service provision but also has endorsed various approaches to mobilize social resources and promulgated several models in service delivery. Thus, NGOs that are to care for and serve vulnerable populations, such as at-risk children (chapter 3), have the decided advantage of being unusually autonomous, due to the state’s [End Page 395] needs in “socializing resources” that the state is neither willing to nor able to provide. These social service organizations, including ones with religious backgrounds (chapter 6), have gained more spaces and resources, worked with fewer constraints, and become influential at the local level, which they have achieved with less effort in negotiation. For those NGOs whose working scopes are beyond welfare services and charity, development and even survival are, nonetheless, easy. At the heart of the predicament is the competing priority between the state’s professed goal of social justice and equality and the national agenda to sustain efficiently and effectively its economic progress without unnecessary social uprisings. Thus, when an alternative way, complementary to state law, of promoting a common good and sustaining a communal spirit, such as labor rights (chapter 4) and environmental protection (chapter 5), is through self-governing and self-managing groups and/or institutions, the Chinese government practice is far from encouraging collective action. As stated, this type of NGO can operate and push forward its agenda only under a limited and permissible legal framework (pp. 84, 107). From the reading of chapters 3 to 5, the state-NGO relationships—regulation, negotiation, and societalization as proposed by Schwartz and Shieh—accurately describe the dynamic political environment of NGOs in China. These relationships are not a collaborative arrangement that encourages a variety of parallel systems of norms and regulations to interact; rather, they construct a thoughtful structure about which citizens are able to organize and to what extent NGOs governed by multiple authorities at different levels can evolve into a polycentric system. The third part of this book unfolds a unique discussion about the development of Chinese NGOs in crisis situations. In the situations of natural disasters (e.g., earthquakes in chapter 6) and public health crises (e.g., SARS in chapter 7; HIV/AIDS in chapter 8), the local NGOs, by using local knowledge and expertise, undertake all immediate operations, as Chinese society and the government are not well prepared in terms of crisis response structure and strategies. Humanitarian NGOs are thus in general positively welcomed by the government, given that they reduce the burden on the state. Meanwhile, as the degree of political sensitivity of the work of humanitarian NGOs is low, experience in China suggests that NGOs...

Comparison of knowledge on travel related health risks and their prevention among humanitarian aid workers and other travellers consulting at the Institut Pasteur travel clinic in Paris, France

Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) workers are a group of travellers highly exposed to infectious diseases due to the conditions and duration of their stay. Yet little is known about their knowledge concerning travel related health risks and their prevention. From July to September 2008 a self-administered questionnaire was given to all NGO workers coming for pre-travel consultation and to a comparison group of non-NGO travellers. It examined traveller's knowledge about malaria, traveller's diarrhea, transmission routes of infectious diseases and vaccine availability in both groups. 249 NGO employees and 304 non-NGO travellers were surveyed. Mean age (33.7 vs 34.7 years) and sex ratio (M/F 1.16 vs 1.29) were comparable in both groups. Travel destination was more often Africa (75% vs 39%) and duration of travel was longer in the NGO group (75% vs 15% more than 1 month). NGO travellers had significantly better knowledge about the transmission routes of infectious diseases : percentages of accurate answers varied from 20% for Japanese encephalitis, 31% for yellow fever and 41% for hepatitis A to 70% for dengue and 96% for malaria, versus respectively 9%, 17%, 40%, 54% and 94% for the comparison group. However no differences were observed between the two groups concerning the means to prevent malaria or traveller's diarrhea, or the symptoms necessitating medical consultation. In the sub-group analyses medical professionals (23% of the NGO group) performed better than other NGO workers. Even though the knowledge was slightly better in the NGO group, there are still important gaps and a combined effort of all actors is needed to improve the security of expatriated humanitarian aid workers, in particular for the non-medical staff.