Members Of Non-governmental Organizations Research Articles

Article-Processing Fees and Subsidies: The Colonial Entanglement of Knowledge Production in South Africa—The Case of Gender-Based Violence Research

In this article, we studied the contribution of the current South African publishing ecosystem to the hierarchisation, elitism and monopolisation of knowledge production in social-justice studies, taking as an example the research area of gender-based violence (GBV). We examined the Sabinet database of articles published in South African journals on GBV between 2018 and 2022, and reviewed the pre- and post-production value chain related to the publication of these articles (especially the article page-fee structure and the governmental subsidy system). In addition, we couched this discussion in feminist decolonial critique. We conclude that the current publishing ecosystem—with the more or less active involvement and/or support of the government, journals and academics—greatly limits the diversity of voices able to contribute to the production of knowledge on GBV. This ecosystem hampers, minimises or even excludes the first-hand knowledge and experiences of those located outside of academic institutions (particularly, local researchers unaffiliated with South African universities, grassroot activists and members of non-governmental organisations). It conversely renders academics and the tertiary educational institutions which employ them as the only actors capable of benefiting financially from or contributing to the knowledge-production chain and, in return, feeding it. This cycle seems to propel the creation of an echo chamber of views, perspectives and opinions with academics and their tertiary educational institutions de facto acting as the only knowledge producers in the country. We propose that the solution to such an unjust situation is a radical decolonisation of the deeply epi-colonial South African publishing ecosystem.

Citizenship Education and Political Literacy in Hungary According to Hungarian Non-Governmental Organizations Focusing On Citizenship Education

Through citizenship education, countries try to provide individuals with the desired knowledge, skills and values. Although curriculums are prepared for this purpose, deficiencies may occur in practice because of various reasons. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) interested in education can also contribute to completing these deficiencies. The European Union also supports the work of NGOs in this direction. It’s understood that citizenship participation in Hungary, a member of the European Union, is less than other member countries. In this context, this research aimes to reveal the views of NGOs -interested in citizenship education in Hungary- regarding citizenship education and political literacy. In this study, an example of a case study from qualitative research designs, the opinions of members of NGOs working on citizenship education were taken within the scope of a purposeful sample. The data were analyzed by content analysis. As a result of the research, it’s seen that members of various NGOs organize educational and awareness-raising activities for students and teachers. According to them, citizenship education isn’t carried out at an adequate level in Hungary. So, it’s thought that political literacy, one of the basic elements of citizenship education, should be included in the program. But, it has also been concluded that political literacy is handled more with the knowledge dimension.
 
 Key Words: Citizenship education, Hungarian non-governmental organizations, political literacy

Doing and contesting borderwork in Senegal: local implementers of migration information campaigns

ABSTRACT European states and international organizations employ migration information campaigns to discourage African youth from trying to get to Europe without the necessary papers. Campaigns count on a variety of actors, including local staff members of Non-Governmental Organizations in origin countries. Yet, little is known about how local campaign implementers perceive and perform their tasks. This article investigates why and how Senegalese citizens help to implement campaigns in Senegal when such campaigns try to curb the very mobility they aspire to themselves. Drawing on 15 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Senegal, where we observed how migration campaigns were organized and run, the article shows how local implementers produce borders in their daily activities while at the same time making use of the ambiguity campaigns create. We find that local campaign staffs are brokers who simultaneously reinforce and undermine ‘soft’ borders in their work of translating policy into practice. We analyze how campaigns are performed through the speech acts of local staff, which define and consolidate control over the mobility of Senegalese youth. At the same time, local implementers, in their practical and discursive labor, find fissures to contest dominant discourses and push an alternative message.

Shortcuts and detours of environmental collective legal mobilizations: the cases of the Atrato River and the Amazon region in Colombia

AbstractColombia's Atrato River and Amazon region were declared legal entities by Colombian judges in 2016 and 2018 respectively. This set the stage for a new era of environmental litigation in Colombia, in which a number of natural entities have been granted this status. In both contrasting cases, non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) brought dramatic environmental harms to court through the special acción de tutela procedure, but did not claim a new ecocentric legal status for nature. This article asks how rights were collectively mobilized in the Atrato and Amazon cases and led to ecocentric judgments. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted in 2020 with members of NGOs and grassroots organizations involved in these two cases, revealing the emergence of grievance collectives. Through the analysis of these qualitative data, we argue for a perspective that considers the interdependence of legal mobilization and the collective as a social relationship. Collective support led to the choice of an unconventional process. However, this supported the litigation collectives and resulted in ecocentric judgments that generated challenges for the associated collectives in the post‐litigation phase. Thus, the analysis of legal mobilization and social relations in the collectives as interdependent improves the understanding of the shortcuts and detours through which complex conflicts have been presented in cases of environmental litigation, and helps to strengthen the scope and concepts of collective legal mobilization.

A Contested Script: Conjuring Security through Registration in Italy

This article aims to map out the various meanings of security entailed by the different uses and misuses of registration in Italy. As will emerge from this analysis, population registers have been employed either as tools for observing the population and its dynamics or, on the contrary, as devices for identifying its “deserving” members. By drawing this map, this article contributes to the analysis of the “technical shaping of social outcomes” that is at the center of the special issue on the continuum between contingency and obduracy in sociotechnical practices of securitization. Theoretically, population registers are framed in the article as socio-technical and socio-legal devices which embed scripts. As will emerge, they have been historically sub-scribed, de-scribed, or de-inscribed by their users. Methodologically, this analysis relies on a research path focused on registration as a bordering device which has been conducted over the last ten years through several methodological approaches and on a research/action experience which was launched in 2020. Through the author’s participation in a group of political activists, nongovernmental organization members, lawyers, and scholars who are committed to combatting discriminations, original ethnographic, documentary, and discursive data have been collected.

The road to recovery: the provision of health services to French, German and Italian children in the aftermath of the Second World War (1944–49)

ABSTRACT In the aftermath of the Second World War, the children of Western Europe were suffering. Millions of them were ill, anaemic, tired and deficient in vitamins and proteins. Houses, hospitals, sewers and other hygiene infrastructure was destroyed by the fighting and bombing across Europe. As a result of the material conditions that prevailed after Germany’s capitulation, child relief was a real challenge for experts, members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and state organizations alike, who tried to identify, treat and help sick children. In some countries, the task was made all the more difficult due to political and institutional instability, as was the case in France, Germany and Italy, where state structures had largely collapsed. By focusing specifically on these countries, all three of which shared an unprecedented institutional crisis despite profoundly divergent national contexts, this article examines how the various entities in charge of children and childcare – and voluntary organizations in particular – faced the challenges of the health emergency of the immediate post-war period. At the crossroads of the history of child welfare and humanitarianism, the aim of this article is to document and analyse the many roles these organizations took on – as care providers, information gatherers, parcel transmitters and so on – to help child victims of war, as well as understand the relationships they forged with other actors involved. The comparative approach will provide a stimulating opportunity to look more closely at the ways in which non-state actors participated in the post-war recovery of children’s health, and to point out common dynamics and specificities for each country.

Development and national security: Indonesia’s Natuna Island and the South China Sea issue

This article analyses the demands and interests of the Natuna Regency of Indonesia and interprets the disputes in the South China Sea from the perspective of local factors. Based on an analysis of numerous documents and reports, as well as field research trips to Natuna and online interviews with local government leaders, members of nongovernmental organisations and businesspeople, the study concludes that the securitisation of Natuna Regency, with its rich resources and special strategic position, has attracted great attention. The local government has no authority over the waters around Natuna, and while it can share a small portion of the profits made from local resources, it cannot promote local economic development or protect the rights of fisheries. The local government can only promote the policies of the central government in economic development and cooperate with the military to ensure the safety of the surrounding waters and local fishing vessels. The local government continues to actively petition the central government to designate Natuna-Anambas a special province to gain more management rights. The development demands of resource-rich areas drive local leaders to seek cooperation with the military and the international community, increasing the uncertainty of the situation in the South China Sea.

Enhancing Diabetes Health Outcomes Among Haitian Migrants Living in Dominican Bateyes.

The purpose of this study was to better understand the factors that influence the ability of batey adults to self-manage their type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A qualitative descriptive approach was used to conduct in-depth, individual interviews in Spanish. Participants (n = 12) were health care workers and members of a nongovernmental organization (NGO) that provides direct diabetes care to batey residents via free, pop-up, mobile medical clinics. Conventional content analysis was used to identify categories and common themes in the data. Participants described daily existence in the bateyes as a constant "scarcity of resources." Additionally, four themes and one subtheme emerged that participants felt impacted diabetes health outcomes and the ability of NGO health care workers to provide diabetes care. NGO members, while committed to serve and improve health outcomes for the batey population, often felt overwhelmed. Findings from this qualitative descriptive study may be used to inform novel interventions, which are needed, to enhance the diabetes outcomes of the batey residents who are living with T2DM. In addition, strategies are needed to build diabetes care infrastructure in the batey community.

Financial Transaction Management for NGO using Block Chain

Non-governmental organizations or NGOs, are primarily nonprofit groups, and a large portion of them are supported by members of NGO and public donations. The credibility of an NGO is substantially enhanced and donor confidence is greatly increased by maintaining transparency regarding how donations are used. Donor organizations provide funding to non-governmental organizations(NGOs) in developing various initiatives such as economic development, women’s empowerment, promoting education, responding to calamities and natural disasters. Due to some NGOs’ involvement in the misuse of funds, some donor agencies cease to have faith in NGOs method of operation. This system is decentralized, not owned or operated by a single person or organization but rather shared among users. We have developed a blockchain-based Donation System capable of decentralizing the resources used by a given organization. The user may create any new organization and others will be allowed to donate money in the organization. As a result, the public become the true owners of the resources, and the charity fund system as a whole becomes more transparent. Blockchain technology and distributed ledgers can reduce operational costs and bring us closer to real-time transactions between financial institutions. System uses cross chain protocol for reliably exchanging information without third party in a multiple Blockchain system

Towards interactive customization of multimodal embedded navigation systems for visually impaired people

Working technologically with the limitations imposed by the lack of vision is a challenge when the objective is to guarantee an improvement in the lives of people with visual impairment. Trivial tasks for people with vision become challenges for those who cannot see obstacles, resulting in accidents. Thanks to technology, these tasks may be alleviated for people with visual impairment by detecting safe paths and obstacles. However, there may be different needs and preferences among people with visual impairment, and this issue lacks exploration in the literature, since most of the existing approaches offer little or no flexibility in their functioning, not allowing visually impaired users to self-customize them. Thus, this article presents a research effort towards the autonomous, interactive, and multimodal customization of navigation systems for visually impaired people with total vision loss or severe low vision by introducing an abstract model for interactively customizable multimodal navigation systems to serve as a basis for developing this type of system as well as the development of a vision-based multimodal, embedded, and interactively customizable navigation system with input from 14 members of a local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) for visually impaired people. The developed system was embedded in a wearable prototype based on a System on Chip, validated, and then submitted to evaluations in two experiments carried out with the NGO members, who also co-designed the wearable aspects of the prototype. The evaluation results show that by allowing a navigation system to be fully customized, different needs and preferences can be satisfied, making it easier to be adopted in the daily lives of visually impaired people and contributing to the state of the art of this type of system’s customizability.

‘We try to Humanise their Stories’: Interrogating the Representation of Migrants and Refugees Through the Shift from ‘Poverty Porn’ to Humanisation and Resilience

How do non-governmental organisations (NGOs) represent migrants and refugees? Based on 24 interviews with staff members of US-based NGOs I show that organisations aim to emphasise migrants’ and refugees’ resilience and to highlight our ‘shared humanity’. While these strategies seemingly mark a break from previous criticisms that NGOs mobilise racialised and gendered narratives of victimhood or model minority achievements which demarcate between those who deserve support and those who do not, they still operate under the same meta-narrative: An understanding of worthiness predicated on individual deservingness. Based on critical and post-colonial migration studies, I argue that this not only ignores the racist structures that shape people’s lives. It also silences the racial underpinnings of who has historically been considered fully human. I further embed these narratives in the industry and the white saviour culture of humanitarianism, which are centred around individual action and individual donations and thus favour individualised stories. « Nous essayons d’humaniser leurs récits » : Interroger la représentation des migrants et des réfugiés à travers le basculement d’une « pornographie de la pauvreté » vers l’humanisation et la résilience

Enhancing the social integration of people with disabilities among Ukrainian refugees in the urban environment of Georgia

The article reveals the main factors that influence the integration of refugees from Ukraine, including persons with disabilities, into host communities in Georgia. Social integration is a growing concern in global migration studies. The study aimed to analyze what factors influence the social integration of refugees with disabilities into the host community environment in Tbilisi (Georgia). Through field observation and semi-structured interviews with volunteers and members of non-governmental organizations providing services to Ukrainian refugees, including people with disabilities, the study examined how Ukrainians’ participation in Georgian community life contributes to social integration. The results of the study highlight three dominant themes that permeate all three levels of socialization of refugees from Ukraine in a large city (micro, meso, and macro levels): the charitable model of social attitudes that portrays persons with disabilities as victims who deserve compassion; invisibility; and activity and resistance. The article also highlights the peculiarities of the integration process of Ukrainian refugees, which are typical for Georgia.

Bomberos, maestros y psicólogos: Guatemalan civil society response to the Volcano of Fire disaster

Natural disasters are devastating in many ways; the impact is worse when government response is insufficient. Guatemala’s government has a history of corruption and of contributing to socially constructed vulnerability; government policies have made parts of the population more insecure and vulnerable to disasters. Our study examines individual perceptions of how volunteers, first responders, and members of nongovernmental organizations responded to the deadly eruption of Volcán de Fuego (Volcano of Fire) in Guatemala in 2018, and how this experience influenced their views of the government as well as their own role in civil society. To gain an understanding of civil society reaction, we conducted field research in Guatemala in 2019 and 2020; in addition, we analyzed Facebook posts from a nongovernmental organization formed in the wake of the disaster over the course of two and a half years. Our research suggests that, in the absence of government efficacy, civil society will take a greater role in responding to disasters, despite incurring personal risk by doing so. In addition, it gives voice to the experience of many who witnessed the immediate aftermath of the disaster, adding their insights to the narrative of the tragedy.

233.11: Attitudes and Behaviors Towards Ethical Dilemmas in Organ Transplantation and Organ Donation

Introduction: Despite the increasing number of transplantable organs and tissues and advances in transplantation, there is a serious shortage of organ donors. Traditions, perceptions, attitudes, habits, value judgments and belief systems related to ethical dilemmas play an active role, in shortage of organ donors. The aim of this study is to evaluate the attitudes and behaviors related to these ethical dilemmas. Method: In the cross-sectional survey study, 563 people (278 male, 285 female) evaluated 10 questions about 10 ethical aspects of organ transplantation. Participants are those working in the field of law (n=30), education (n=36), health (n=124), social services (n=50), communication (n=37), members of non-governmental organizations (n=37), people who have received Islamic education (n=23), the public (young, adult, old, n=156), individuals from different religions (n=523 Islamic, n=40 other religions) and belief groups, and people with disabilities (n=30). The ethical dimensions addressed in questions are as follows; Ethical issues in animal tissue and organ transplantation, the ethical dimension of the effect of religious belief in organ transplantation, the ethical dimension of organ transplantation within the framework of human rights, ethical problems arising from the patient-physician relationship in organ transplantation, social risk sharing and ethical dimensions in organ transplantation, the effect of organ transplantation and the role of the media in ethics, ethical problems arising from lack of informed consent in organ transplantation, ethical dilemmas in organ and tissue distribution, ethical problems in artificial tissue and organ transplantation. Results: The mean age of participants is 36.6 ±13.9.The education level of 63.4% is at the undergraduate level. 95.7% of the participants accept organ donation from another religion. 74% accept tissue and organ transplantation from animals. 21% of the participants do not want to donate their organs in line with their religious beliefs in order to preserve their body integrity after death. 59% stated that they may be affected by the activities of political parties for organ donation. The rate of those who think that the demographic characteristics of the people waiting on the organ list should be taken into consideration is 21%. The percentage of those who stated that they would accept to receive an organ from the organ mafia if they were left in a desperate situation is 27%, and the percentage of those who are undecided is 20%. 53% of them stated that they would be highly impressed by their doctor about organ donation. Disabled participants were the most affected by their physicians’ views on organ transplantation. Cadavers were the most requested donor group if they had the right to select from the organ donor list. Conclusion: In ethical terms, it has been determined that there are important dilemmas regarding organ transplantation in the value judgments of individuals.

Brokering Gender Empowerment in Energy Access in the Global South

How do energy professionals in the Global South facilitate the brokerage of gender equity and empowerment in energy access? Energy sector professionals, including planners and members of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), are crucial development actors in off-grid contexts. They operate at the intersection between grassroots-level energy access in off-grid household and community buildings and overarching policy frameworks. However, despite their central role, the relationship between their professional practices and gender empowerment in energy access has received little attention. This paper investigates ‘energy brokers’ across Ghana, India, Nigeria and Pakistan based on interviews (<em>n</em> = 86). Subsequent thematic analysis explores these energy brokers’ overarching understandings of gender equity and empowerment, their agency, and brokering practices for energy access (including in relation to emerging energy technologies). Analysis shows ‘differentiated brokerage’ in that energy professionals from the NGOs and the delivery sectors are often better positioned to broker gender equity and women’s empowerment in energy access. However, linkages between equitable access and empowerment need to be better understood, especially at the ‘top’ and go beyond women’s economic productivity. Women’s participation across supply chains of emerging energy-access technology, in energy governance and as energy brokers needs strengthening. <em><strong>Practice relevance</strong></em> Energy professionals occupy an important ‘middle’ position and can help to create changes to overcome gender bias in access to energy. They facilitate the brokerage (understandings, agency and practices) of gender equity and empowerment in energy access in off-grid contexts, including household and community buildings. The evidence from this study shows the performance of energy professionals is critical in facilitating women’s empowerment in energy access. Key recommendations are: (1) energy professionals at the top need to recognise differentiated brokerage across the grassroots–policy spectrum to better identify and equip key actors; (2) energy brokers need to move beyond gender neutrality and economic participation acting on the breadth of women’s empowerment, including psychological dimensions; and (3) women’s participation across energy system transitions needs to be strengthened, with regard to energy supply chains, energy governance and as energy brokers.

Evaluation of Prospective Teachers’ Attitudes Towards Sustainable Environmental Education

The aim of this study is to reveal the attitude levels of prospective teachers, who are the teachers of the future, about sustainable environmental education. This study is a quantitative research based on survey design. 471 prospective teachers studying in different departments of the Education Faculty of a university in Black Sea region participated in the study. The data were collected from prospective teachers studying at the departments of Science Teaching, Mathematics Teaching, Preschool Teaching, Primary School Teaching and Social Sciences Teaching. All of the prospective teachers were reached through an online form and 471 participants were reached as a result of the participation of volunteering students. “Sustainable Environmental Education Attitude Scale” was used in the study. SPSS 22.0 package program was used in the analysis of data. As a result of data analysis, it was found that prospective teachers who were studying at the department of Science Teaching, those who were members of non-governmental organizations related with the environment, and those who followed printed or online publications and female prospective teachers had higher attitudes towards environmental education. According to the results obtained, it may be an effective solution to provide education to prospective teachers about sustainable environment and to add more courses in the curriculum on these topics.

Critical analysis of the main discourses of the Spanish press about the rescue of the ship «Aquarius»

This article presents an analysis of the main discourses that appear in a sample of Spanish newspapers before and after the arrival of the Aquarius at the port of Valencia in June 2018, in order to observe if there is a solidarity discourse or one that rejects the arrival of the rescued immigrants in Spain. The corpus consists of all the news published from June 10 to July 10, 2018 in the electronic version of the Spanish newspapers ABC, El Mundo, El País and La Vanguardia. The methodology is mainly qualitative-descriptive. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) was chosen to observe the main linguistic characteristics of the collected news items and the topics that appear in the articles. The analysis shows that the testimonies of politicians and members of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) predominate, but there are few testimonies of immigrants. The solidarity and acceptance of Spain are strengthened, as well as the defense of human rights. This contrasts with the discourses that the press presents after the arrival of the ship in Valencia. A discourse related to the health of immigrants and their need for help and resources predominates, a fact that contributes to the alarm of the majority group.

Prioritizing Variables for Evaluating the Efficacy and Effectiveness of Brief Interventions for Reducing Alcohol Consumption: A Latin American Perspective

The purpose of this study was to identify priority variables to evaluate alcohol brief interventions from the perspective of experts in the field in Latin America. A two-round Delphi procedure was carried out through online surveys of 465 individuals from 18 Latin American countries, including core outcome set developers, researchers, health professionals, users of healthcare services, journal editors, members of nongovernmental organizations, and policymakers. The questionnaire, in Spanish and Portuguese, rated 101 variables according to their relevance to the efficacy and effectiveness of brief interventions. Round 1 yielded 47 variables that met the consensus criterion of at least 70% of participants; Round 2 yielded 63 variables. To reduce the possible effect of varying levels of expertise, data were analyzed by subgroup, with consensus defined as 70% of each subgroup rating a variable as critical. Seventeen outcome variables met this criterion, 14 from the initial set and 3 suggested by the participants in Round 1. Only four outcomes coincide with the findings of a similar international Delphi study that underrepresented Latin American countries. The findings point to the importance of including a wider variety of professionals and cultural backgrounds in international consensus panels to minimize the risk of predominance of a single perspective.

Turning Indios into Nationals. The Field of Indigenism in Brazil and Paraguay From the Beginning of the 19th to the End of the 20th Century

Indigenism is a particular Latin American version of cultural field (in Bourdieu's sense) whose various participants (most notably government agencies, missionaries, anthropologists, media people, members of non-governmental organizations, as well as political and religious leaders of indigenous communities) vie for the prerogative to determine and enforce a historically specific notion of “Indigenousness” as part of the process of defining the national self. This process includes, among other things, efforts to “convert” and incorporate indigenous population into national society in reference to four narratives: universalism, citizenship, ethnicity, and − beginning in the 1970s − the (frequently subversive) voice of indigenous peoples themselves. This article is a comparative analysis of this process in Brazil and Paraguay, in the period extending from the early 19th to the end of the 20th century.

Farmers’ Lives in the Wake of Sustainable Development

The objective of this research is to study the socio-economic challenges faced by farmers in the wake of sustainable agriculture in India. This paper identifies issues related to sustainable agriculture that contribute significantly to the lives of rural populations and examines the role of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in addressing them. The study also seeks to focus on the replicability of sustainable agricultural practices. The analysis is conducted through online surveys and telephonic interviews with farmers and members of NGOs working in the area of sustainable agriculture. It has been found that the practice of sustainable agriculture is growing. However, despite this positive assessment, sustainable agricultural practices have encountered numerous challenges like the inappropriate use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, hesitation to opt for new practices, shortage of resources, gender discrimination, landholding being too small to make sustainable farming practices economically viable, and many more. The involvement of NGOs and other self-help groups in the lives of farmers, in order to pursue sustainable agriculture, has made a positive impact. Although developments are taking place, the rate is quite low. Therefore, we may conclude that change for the better is coming albeit gradually and more active steps towards the process need to be taken.