Thesis (M Social Work (Social Work))--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / This research addresses the problem of how formal organisations can assist on building the capacity of informal community based organisations (CBO’s). Although informal CBO’s are being regarded as valuable resources rendering much needed services to marginalized communities, they are at present still exclude from governmental funding, because they do not meet the requirements prescribed by the state. To obtain the funds which will enable informal CBO’s to render effective and sustainable services to marginalized and poor vulnerable communities, it is from the developmental perspective in welfare crucial to build the capacity of these informal CBO’s. As a point of departure the researcher provides a general picture of the current structure of social service providers in South Africa. This is done, first of all, by conceptualizing “social service providers” within the context of general concepts such as “social welfare” and “social work”. In this respect a schematic representation provides a general picture of the various categories of social service providers involved, followed by a concise description of each, including their focuses, roles and responsibilities. This necessitates that a distinction should be drawn between the government sector, parastatal organisations, profit-yielding non-governmental organisations and non-governmental organisations without a profit-seeking motive. The concept “capacity building” is explored in accordance with the policy and legislative framework applicable to the capacity building of informal CBO’s by formal welfare organisations. This framework is supplemented by a description of other key concepts which have a bearing on the capacity building of informal CBO’s by formal welfare organisations, such as “empowerment” and “development”. Emanating from this an attempt is made to formulate the objective of the capacity building of informal CBO’s by formal welfare organisations. From the diversity of the developmental requirements and the obstacles informal CBO’s experience, aims for obtaining capacity building are deduced.

Thesis (MPhil (Sociology and Social Anthropology))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / The NGO sector is continuing to diversify, experiencing increasing competition from the for-profit market and pressure from the state looking for support through service delivery. There are growing internal and external calls for the development of appropriate evaluation methods within NGOs, intended to provide a much needed transparency, and to monitor and evaluate the sector’s accountability, legitimacy, and credibility – the very politics of its image and identity. As a result many NGOs are adapting their strategic behaviour to increase their efficacy to meet these new challenges. Professionalization or corporatization is said to be transforming NGOs into new regimes of efficiency, leading to their absorption of increasingly commercial practices. How professional NGOs go about their business has become as important as what they do. Using an ethnographic approach and participant observation, this study reveals the many constraints and opportunities one such NGO faced as it employed strategies to professionalize, and the various forms of organising it exhibited in its political, economic and social context. I explore the social interface between the organisation and its environment, and again between the staff members and the organisation itself. The study explores the connectedness between the broader context and the local experience, which in turn informs the NGO’s shifting strategies. An ‘embedded’ understanding provides insight into the evolution of social processes behind the production of everyday life within the professional NGO, exploring how it arrives at a certain coherence in the face of multiple realities at the local level. Development literature is used as a point of departure before applying anthropological theory as a lens through which to interpret the research questions. I place the NGO in a historical context and depict the political nature of the state-NGO relationship within a contract culture and competitive market. Discourses around surviving the embedded contradictions within accountability and legitimacy are explored. I reveal the pains of institutional and cultural evolution within the organisation under the push to professionalize as staff search for meaning and agency in everyday practice. And finally, I describe how the professional NGO negotiates an identity through both the external and internal politics of representation. There is no simple trajectory for professional NGOs. I find instead a competitive fight for survival and increasing dependence on political and economic savvy. The professional NGO has to constantly re-define and re-affirm its mission, while staff members weather the effects of this ongoing change and are forced to continually reconcile the very meaning of their work and identity to make sense of this experience. As an organisational study this contributes to an understanding of one professional NGO’s survival strategies in context, its organisational culture as an activity, and individual sense-making and identity formulation in the local setting. This study hopes to reveal what is gained and lost through employing the strategy to professionalize, and add to a growing body of research narrating the evolution within the NGO sector, informing questions currently being asked by state, business, and civil society groups.

Thesis (MPhil (Sociology and Social Anthropology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Worldwide various studies have been undertaken to investigate the influence of discrimination due to sexual preference and the impact thereof on the homo- and bisexual student during his/her student years. As opposed to this, few studies have been done at tertiary institutions in South Africa. This study investigates homosexuality as a sub culture by illustrating the experiences and perceptions of a selected group of homo- and bisexual students with regards to social interaction within a heterosexual student environment.

Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka socionomers uppfattning om förhållningssättet i arbetet med lindrigt utvecklingsstörda föräldrar. Studien syftar även till att undersöka om variationen i förhållningssättet är kopplat till organisation och yrkesroll. Materialet bestod av sex semistrukturerade intervjuer med socionomer från tre olika organisationer som arbetar med föräldrar som har lindrig utvecklingsstörning. Dessa var Vuxenhabiliteringen, LSS- verksamheter och Individ- och familjeomsorgen. I studien genomfördes en telefonintervju med en forskare som har expertkunskaper kring utvecklingsarbetet för föräldrar med lindrig utvecklingsstörning.  Forskarens fokus kopplas till socionomernas upplevelser av arbetet, organisationens roll i arbetet samt betydelsen av samverkan.  Studien syftade till att analysera resultatet utifrån två teoretiska perspektiv. Dessa är Gräsrotsbyråkrati samt Människobehandlande organisationer.  Resultatet i studien visar på att socionomerna i dessa organisationer har olika förhållningssätt beroende på den verksamhet som de arbetar i samt den yrkesroll de har i organisationen. Studien indikerade även hur dessa organisationer påverkar föräldraskapet hos lindrigt utvecklingsstörda föräldrar. / The aim of this study was to describe and analyse social workers’ approach in working with parents with mild intellectual disability. The study intends to find out if work approach is related to position and type of organisation. The data consists of six semi structured interviews with social workers from three different organisations that in work meet parents with mild intellectual disability. These organisations were Vuxenhabiliteringen, LSS and Individ- and Familjeomsorgen. In addition, an interview with a researcher that has expert knowledge in development for parents with mild intellectual disability was done. In the analysis the experiences of social workers were linked to organizational tasks and importance of cooperation. The study purposed to analyse the result from two theoretical perspectives; street- level bureaucracy and human-service organisations. The result shows that social workers in the organisations have different approaches dependent on what organisation they work in and the role and working tasks they have in work. The study also indicated how the organisations and their tasks affected the parenthood for persons with mild intellectual disabled parents.

Thèse réalisée en cotutelle entre le Département de communication de l'Université de Montréal (sous la direction de François Cooren)et le Centre de sociologie des organisation de Sciences Po Paris (Institut d'études politiques de Paris; sous la direction de Bruno Latour). / Comment une organisation peut-elle agir ? Peut-elle être considérée comme un acteur en elle-même ou nécessite-t-elle que d’autres agissent pour elle ? Comment parler de son action sans présumer son existence ? Je voudrais proposer ici une approche proprement communicationnelle à la question de l’action organisationnelle. M’appuyant sur la narratologie de A. J. Greimas pour rendre apparentes certaines des idées centrales de la philosophie de l’individuation, je montre que l’organisation – et tout être social – agit en se faisant attribuer des actions. La philosophie de l’individuation est nécessaire ici pour dériver une théorie de l’action organisationnelle à partir de la manière même dont se constituent les organisations. Cela me permet notamment d’affirmer que l’organisation participe aussi elle-même à ces pratiques d’attribution, car en tant qu’elle existe déjà « plus ou moins et d’une certaine manière », elle appelle des actions particulières. À travers l’imbrication de mandats et de programmes d’actions, dans une logique d’appropriation/attribution, l’organisation peut effectivement agir tout en comptant toujours sur d’autres pour le faire. Nul besoin de s’en remettre à une ontologie essentialiste de l’organisation pour affirmer qu’elle agit elle-même, car il n’y a pas d’opposition entre affirmer que l’organisation agit et que d’autres agissent pour elle. En fait, loin de s’opposer, ces deux affirmations s’impliquent mutuellement. Les pratiques d’attribution sont nécessaires pour agir légitimement – il faut toujours agir pour autre que soi – mais aussi pour agir tout court, car la logique même de la propriété d’action, donc de pouvoir dire que ceci est mon action, suppose que l’action ne soit jamais tout à fait mienne. Les conséquences de cette proposition sur les questions de pouvoir et d’éthique sont brièvement abordées. En observant quatre terrains distincts, j’ancre cette proposition théorique dans l’empirique. Ces terrains sont une association de locataires, un projet de réforme d’un grand établissement d’enseignement français, quelques événements dans la vie d’un gestionnaire de gratte-ciel de New York et une réunion entre des représentants de Médecins sans frontières et des administrateurs de santé congolais. Compte tenu de la nature théorique de ma proposition, cette variété de terrains permet de montrer l’utilité de ces idées à l’étude d’une diversité de situations. / How can an organization act? Can it be considered as an actor in itself or does it need others to act on its behalf? How is it possible to address these questions without presupposing the organization? I would like to put forward a specifically communicational approach to the question of organizational action. Borrowing from A. J. Greimas’ narratology to make salient some of individuation philosophy’s most central ideas, I show that the organization – and any ‘social’ being – acts by being attributed actions. Individuation philosophy is necessary to derive a theory of organizational action from the very manner organizations are constituted. This allows me, among other things, to suggest that organizations themselves also play a part in attribution practices, for inasmuch as they exist “more or less and in a certain way”, they call for further actions. Through the imbrication of mandates and of programs of actions, in a logic of appropriation/attribution, the organization can act by always relying on others to do so. There is no need to invoke an essentialist ontology of organization to state that it acts by itself, for there is no opposition between stating that the organization acts and that others act for it. In fact, far from opposing, both statements imply each other. Practices of attribution are necessary for legitimate action – I must always act for someone other than myself – but also for acting at all. In other words, to be able to say that this is my action, I need this action not to be entirely my own. The consequences of this proposal on questions of power and ethics are also briefly considered. I provide my theoretical discussion with a firm empirical grounding through the study of four different fields. I analyse audio and video recordings from a tenants association, the reform project of a French higher education institution, events from the daily work of a New York skyscraper manager and a meeting between Doctors without border representatives and Congolese health administrators. Given the theoretical nature of my proposal, this variety of empirical data allows me to show the usefulness of those ideas to the study of a large array of situations.

This work is built on three pillars and seeks to contribute to the understanding of the right to development (RtD) especially from the perspective of human rights non-governmental organisations. First, the right to development, arguably one of the most recent and controversial rights in the architecture of international human rights, shapes the development paradigm in a manner that integrates civil, cultural, economic, social, political and environmental rights of both individuals and groups without distinction. Secondly, in general, social movements – including nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) – play a crucial role as agents for change in any democratic society. Africa, and within it Côte d’Ivoire, is no exception. Thirdly Côte d’Ivoire, an African country once heralded as a success story has been confronted with an internal conflict with impacts which continue to be felt in the form of increased poverty and insecurity. The country strives to resume peace, development and stability but does not appear to have reached the end of the tunnel. The issues confronting this country are similar to those identified by Former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, and others to justify the promotion of the African Renaissance as the vision to pursue. From the perspective of human rights law, these issues are largely covered by the RtD. Therefore, can NGOs in Côte d’Ivoire contribute meaningfully to addressing the challenges facing the country through the pursuit of the RtD? This is the question at the heart of the present work. This thesis establishes two main conclusions. First, in the current context of the Côte d’Ivoire, a shift in focus towards the RtD will enable NGOs be part of the solution to the multifaceted problems Côte d’Ivoire is seeking to overcome. Secondly, no NGO currently has the requisite experience in working on the RtD in Côte d’Ivoire. However, the structural reasons for this vacuum relate in the main to knowledge and capacity. These can be addressed and recommendations are formulated to this end. / Public, Constitutional, and International / LL.D.

No description available.

L’Union européenne est associée à l’activité de toutes les institutions qui encadrent l’économie internationale, qu’il s’agisse d’organisations internationales ou d’autres organismes multilatéraux. L’inclusion de l’Union dans ces communautés juridiques présente des avantages mutuels. L’Union, désireuse d’émerger comme acteur sur la scène internationale, peut promouvoir ses valeurs et ses intérêts. En même temps, intégrée aux espaces normatifs des institutions économiques internationales, elle contribue à la mise en œuvre de l’activité de celles-ci. Toutefois, cette intégration soulève aussi des difficultés. L’Union est soucieuse de préserver la maîtrise de sa propre organisation et une marge d’appréciation dans la régulation des phénomènes économiques. Les institutions économiques internationales, quant à elles, sont a priori peu habituées au fonctionnement de l’Union, notamment en ce qui concerne l’articulation de ses compétences avec celles de ses Etats membres. La participation de l’Union européenne aux institutions économiques internationales est un processus d’interaction institutionnelle permanente qui vise le dépassement de ces difficultés et l’adaptation réciproque. Projetant vers l’extérieur ses politiques publiques, qui constituent à leur tour la mise en œuvre de politiques des institutions économiques internationales, l’Union favorise la continuité des niveaux de la gouvernance économique mondiale. Ainsi, l’Union influence et est influencée par la libéralisation et la régulation multilatérales de tous les phénomènes économiques internationaux : le commerce, l’investissement, la finance et la coopération au développement. / The European Union is involved in the activity of all institutions that shape and supervise the world economy, be they international organizations or other multilateral fora. The Union’s inclusion in these legal communities is mutually beneficial. On the one hand, the Union is eager to assert itself as an actor on the international scene and can promote its values and interests. On the other hand, the Union helps to implement norms produced by host institutions and to achieve their goals, as it is integrated in their legal order or network. However, this integration also gives rise to some problems. The Union tries to protect its own organization and margin of appreciation in regulating economic phenomena. Moreover, in principle host institutions are not accustomed to its functioning, especially as far as relations with member states are concerned. The European Union’s participation in international economic institutions is a process of continuous institutional interaction which aims at overcoming these problems through reciprocal adaptation. As the Union promotes its public policies within international economic institutions, which shape in turn the Union’s policies, this process boosts the coherence between levels of economic governance. Thus, the Union influences and is influenced by multilateral liberalization and regulation of all economic phenomena: trade, investment, finance, and development cooperation.

L’étude part de la prémisse de l’analyse de la politique étrangère bissau-guinéenne en considérant le processus de la formation de l’État dans la période de la postindépendance, travers de leurs faiblesses (la dépendance) et de leurs potentiels (l’autonomie) par rapport au système mondial. Ainsi, l’étude s’insère dans le cadre temporel d’accumulation historique et institutionel de la Guinée-Bissau dans le système mondial contemporain (1973-2014).Notre hypothèse est que la politique étrangère bissau-guinéenne peut avoir résulté de deux facteurs: (a) des facteurs internes associés à l’instabilité politique et à la mauvaise gestion des ressources donnés; et (b) des facteurs externes liés à la mauvaise conduction de la politique étrangère et du financement externe, dans ses relations avec les organisations internationales. De ce fait, l’objectif de cette thèse de doctorat a été comprendre la politique étrangère de la Guinée-Bissau, en tenant compte le processusde la formation de l’État national, en considérant les crises multidimensionnelles et le rôle de deux organisations internationales – la Communauté des Pays de la Langue Portugaise (CPLP) et la Communauté Économique des États de l’Áfrique de l’Ouest (CÉDÉAO) – dans ses lignes directrices de politiques publiques, en obsérvant le degré d’influence de ces organisations internationales et le progrès atteint, ou non, au début du XXIème siècle. Dans le cadre de cette étude, nous avons choisi la période de la postindepéndance pour être étudiée, dans laquelle nous avons délimité trois phases différentes pour analyser la politique étrangère de la Guinée-Bissau, deux organisations internationales et ses impacts dans la politique intérieure; sont-elles: (a) phase du parti unique (1973-1993) – dont le but principal a été examiner si la politique étrangère a impacté, ou non, dans la faisabilité de l’État-nation bissau-guinéen et au projet de coopération internationale et à l’aide extérieure; (b) phase découlant de transition politique, d’exécution de la démocratie et de la première eléction jusqu’au coup politique (1994-1998), réformes politiques, constitutionnelles, économiques et son impact dans la politique étrangère; et (c) phase d’instabilité politique, économique et social au pays, coups et contrecoups (1998-2014) qui ont causé des impacts directs ou indirects dans la politique étrangère de la Guinée-Bissau, en considérant la dispute et le conflit idéologique des organisations qui sont objets de cette étude (CPLP et CÉDÉAO) et qui font part de la même. / O estudo parte da premissa de análise da política externa guineense levando em conta o processo de formação do Estado na pós-independência a partir de suas fragilidades (dependência) e de suas potencialidades (autonomia) em relação ao sistema mundial. Assim, o estudo se insere no marco temporal de acúmulo histórico e institucional da Guiné-Bissau no sistema mundial contemporâneo (1973-2014). A nossa hipótese é que apolítica externa guineense pode ter resultado de dois fatores: (a) fatores internos associados à instabilidade política e ao péssimo gerenciamento de recursos doados; e (b) fatores externos relacionados à má condução da política externa e do financiamento externo, na sua relação com organismos internacionais. Com isso, o objetivo dessa tese de doutoramento foi compreender a política externa da Guiné-Bissau, levando em conta o processo de formação do Estado nacional, tendo em conta as crises multidimensionais e o papel de dois organismos internacionais- Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP) e Comunidade Econômica dos Estados da África Ocidental (CEDEAO)- nas suas diretrizes de políticas públicas, levando em consideração o grau de influência destas organizações internacionais e o progresso ou não alcançado no início do século XXI. Neste estudo, o período pós-independência foi o estudado, no qual delimitamos três períodos distintos para analisar a política externa da Guiné-Bissau, dois organismos internacionais e os seus impactos na política interna; são eles: (a) período de partido único (1973 a 1993) - cujo objetivo principal foi analisar se a política externa teve ou não impacto na viabilização do Estado-Nação guineense e o projeto de cooperação internacional e ajuda externa;(b) período decorrente de transição política, implementação da democracia e primeira eleição até o golpe político (1994-1998), reformas políticas, constitucionais, econômicas e o seu impacto na política externa; e (c) período de instabilidade política, econômica e social no país, golpes e contragolpes (1998 a 2014) que causaram impactos diretos ou indiretos na política externa da Guiné-Bissau, levando em consideração a disputa e o conflito ideológico dos organismos objetos deste estudo (CPLP e CEDEAO) que da mesma fazem parte. / The study starts from the premise of analysis of the Guinean foreign policy, taking into account the process of formation of the State in the post-independence, through its weaknesses (dependence) and its potentialities (autonomy) regarding the world system. Thus, the present study is inserted in the time frame of historical and institutional accumulation of Guinea-Bissau in the contemporary world system (1973-2014). Our hypothesis is that the Guinean foreign policy can result of two factors: (a) internal factors associated to the political instability and to the terrible management of donated resources, and (b) external factors related to the bad conduction of foreign policy and of external financing, in its relationship with international organisations. Thereby, the aim of this doctoral thesis was to understand the foreign policy of Guinea-Bissau, considering the process of formation of the national State, taking into consideration the multidimensional crises and the role of two international organisations (CPLP and ECOWAS) in its guidelines of public policies, considering the degree of influence of such international organisations and the progress, or not, reached at the beginning of the XXI century. Therefore, in this study, the period of post-independence was studied, in which we will delimitate three different periods to analyse the foreign policy of Guinea-Bissau, two international organisations and its impact on domestic politics. They are: a) period of a single party (from 1973 to 1993) - whose main purpose is to analyse if the foreign policy had, or not, the impact into the viability of the Guinean nation state and the project of international cooperation and foreign aid, b) period due to political transition, implementation of democracy and first election until the political coup (1994-1998), political, constitutional and economic reforms and its impact on foreign policy, and c) period of political, economic and social instability in the country, coups and anti-coups (from 1998 to 2014) that caused direct or indirect impacts, in the foreign policy of Guinea-Bissau, considering the dispute and the ideological conflict of the organisations object of this study (CPLP and ECOWAS) that the same is part.

Comment les organisations internationales produisent-elles leurs statistiques ? Cette thèse dévoile ces activités singulières à partir du cas de l’Office des Nations unies contre la drogue et le crime (UNODC). La démonstration suit une double approche sociologique (des relations internationales et des quantifications) en s’appuyant sur des entretiens menés au siège (à Vienne, en Autriche), la littérature méthodologique (interne et publiée) et les documents onusiens (normatifs et analytiques). Quantifier à l’échelle internationale consiste en un processus complexe organisé en étapes successives : accord d’un mandat, définition d’une méthode, collecte puis traitement et validation des données et, enfin, publication d’un rapport mondial. L’entreprise s’avère collective, impliquant le secrétariat de l’UNODC, les États-membres et des experts. En revanche, la tâche est inégalement répartie, les fonctionnaires internationaux réalisent ou coordonnent l’essentiel ; tout comme les interactions entre les acteurs sont asymétriques, l’UNODC dépend de ses États-membres à plusieurs égards et sans véritable pouvoir de les contraindre. Enjeux bureaucratiques, politiques, financiers, voire autocensure affectent alors le travail statistique routinier. De plus, les sources nationales officielles mais administratives – aux biais pourtant documentés et délicats à surmonter – restent majoritairement utilisées car légitimes. Le recours aux images satellites et aux enquêtes sur le terrain fait figure d’exception. Élaborées dans de telles conditions, les statistiques onusiennes de la drogue et du crime fournissent davantage un inventaire international consensuel que le diagnostic mondial prétendu. / How do international organizations produce their statistics? This thesis unveils these singular activities from the case of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The demon-stration follows a double sociological approach (of international relations and of quantification) based on interviews conducted at headquarters (in Vienna, Austria), methodological literature (internal and published) and UN documents (normative and analytical). Quantifying internationally is a complex process organized in successive steps: agreeing a mandate, defining a method, collecting and then processing and validating the data, and finally publishing a world report. The enterprise is collective, involving the UNODC secretariat, member states and experts. However, the task is unequally distributed, the international civil servants realizes or coordinates a large part of the work; just as the interactions between actors are asymmetrical, UNODC depends on its member states in many respects and has no real power to constrain them. Bureaucratic, political, financial and even self-censorship issues affect routine statistical work. In addition, official but administrative national sources – with their documented and delicate biases to overcome – remain mostly used because of their legitimacy. The use of satellite imagery and field surveys is an exception. Developed under such conditions, UN drug and crime statistics provide a more consensual international inventory than the so-called global diagnosis.