Á l’instar des autres pays d’Afrique subsaharienne, le Burkina Faso rencontre encore d’énormes difficultés pour assurer des soins de santé de qualité, et financièrement accessibles à leurs populations. Insuffisance des structures sanitaires, coût élevé des prestations sanitaires, personnel démotivé, corruption, mauvaise qualité des soins sont autant de maux qui fragilisent le dispositif sanitaire. Abandonnées à elles mêmes, les populations utilisent plusieurs itinéraires thérapeutiques pour résoudre leur problème de santé. Guérisseurs traditionnels, consultation de devins, consommation des médicaments de rue, fréquentation simultanée des structures sanitaires et « médecins traditionnels », sont autant de ressources mises à contribution par les individus, pour vaincre la maladie. Les croyances des populations à ces pratiques restent très fortes et répondent à une certaine rationalité. Non seulement, elles ont été léguées de générations en générations mais elles ont fait leurs preuves et continuent même d’être une référence. L’étude révèle que les populations adhèrent de plus en plus aux systèmes de mutualisation des risques sanitaires. Les individus se détachent des contraintes des systèmes d’organisation classiques, en s’orientant vers des choix thérapeutiques beaucoup plus autonomes et individualisés.L’étude montre également les dysfonctionnements, mais aussi les espoirs que suscitent l’implantation des mutuelles de santé, notamment la mutuelle de santé Laafi baoré du secteur informel, la mutuelle rurale de Poa. Ces mutuelles connaissent quasiment les mêmes difficultés : contraintes culturelles, pluralité des itinéraires thérapeutiques, pauvreté des populations, irrégularité des revenus, retard de paiement des cotisations, faible engagement de l’État. Par ailleurs, l’analyse des caractéristiques socio culturelles des populations, nous enseigne la nécessité de prendre en compte, et prioritairement les valeurs sociales intériorisées par les populations concernées dans la mise en place des projets d’assurance maladie. / Like of the other fellow-countryman of sub-Saharan Africa, the meeting Burkina still of enormous difficulties to settle oneself firmly of the cares of health of quality, and financially accessible to their populations. Insufficiency of the structure medical, high cost of the medical, personal furnishings, corruption, and bad quality of the cares is as much ills that weaken the medical device. Abandoned to they same, the populations use several therapeutic itineraries to solve their problem of health. Traditional healers, consultation of diviners, consummation of the medicines of street, simultaneous frequenting of the structure medical and « traditional doctors » are as much revitalize put to tax by the individuals, to defeat the illness. The beliefs of the populations to these practices remain very strong and answer to a certain rationality. Not only, they have been bequeathed of generations in generations, but they did their proofs and continue same to be a reference. To that, the study reveals that the populations adhere more and more to the systems of mutualisation of the medical risks. The individuals detaches to him of the constraints of the systems of academic organization in orienting towards of the much more autonomous therapeutic choice and individualized. Also, the study shows the dysfunctions, but also the hopes that give rise to the planting of the mutual thing of health, notably the mutual thing of Laafi baoré health of the casual sector, the mutual rural thing of Poa. These mutual know almost the same difficulties: cultural constraints, plurality of the therapeutic itineraries, poverty of the populations, irregularity of the incomes, delay of payment of the quotas, feeble pawning of the state. By another way, the analysis of the features socio cultural of the populations, we teaches the necessity taking in account, and as a priority the social values interiorized by the concerned populations in the setting up of the plans of health insurance.

Le couple constitue dans notre société une structure favorisant la solidarité. Il trouve une expression sous trois modes de vie reconnus par la loi : le mariage, le Pacs, le concubinage. Tous trois sont ouverts sans condition de différence de sexe. La loi a construit un cadre juridique à cette solidarité (très organisé, impératif, où la volonté contractuelle qui a plus de place aujourd’hui est soumise au contrôle du juge) dans le mariage, puis dans le Pacs où a été laissé une place bien plus grande à la volonté contractuelle. Elle a abandonné à la jurisprudence le soin de remédier aux conséquences que l’absence de texte relatif au concubinage pouvait avoir dès lors que l’équité et la justice le commandaient. Lorsque la loi ne les a pas prévus, c’est la jurisprudence qui a construit les mécanismes juridiques justifiant l’existence d’une solidarité du couple. La solidarité relève donc bien de la nature même du couple. Il existe une unité à la vie de couple parce que celle-ci répond à des caractéristiques, à des nécessités, qui sont identiques quel que soit le mode de vie, qu’il y ait ou non différence de sexe dans le couple. Les différenciations auxquelles aboutit la reconnaissance de plusieurs modes de vie en couple apparaissent aujourd’hui de plus en plus inadéquates. La reconnaissance d’une seule forme officielle de vie en couple constituerait le moyen d’effacer les différences dans la mise en oeuvre de la solidarité et permettrait ainsi de corriger les effets négatifs liés à la solidarité du couple. Ce cadre juridique serait constitué d’un ensemble de règles obligatoires, essentielles à la vie de couple, concernant tant les intérêts extra patrimoniaux que les intérêts patrimoniaux ; une place serait laissée à l’organisation contractuelle de la vie de couple. C’est dans les deux fonctions de la solidarité, que sont l’entraide entre les membres du couple et la garantie vis-à-vis des tiers créanciers du couple, que se construirait ce droit nouveau de la solidarité dans une union civile unique. / The couple constitutes in our company a structure supporting solidarity. It finds an expression under three lifestyles recognized by the law: the marriage, Pacs, the common-law marriage. All three are open without condition of difference in sex. The law built a legal framework with this solidarity (very organized, imperative, where the contractual will which has more room today is subjected to the control of the judge) in the marriage, then in Pacs where a place much larger was left with the contractual will. It gave up with jurisprudence the care to cure the consequences that the absence of relative text to the common-law marriage could have since equity and justice ordered it. When the law did not envisage them, it is the jurisprudence which built the legal mechanisms justifying the existence of solidarity of the couple. Solidarity thus concerns well the nature even of the couple. There exists a unit with the life of couple because this one answers characteristics, with needs, which are identical whatever the lifestyle, that there is or not difference in sex in the couple. Differentiations to which the recognition of several lifestyles in couple leads appear increasingly inadequate today. The recognition of the only one official shape of life in couple would constitute the means of erasing the differences in the implementation of solidarity and would thus make it possible to correct the negative effects related to solidarity of the couple. This legal framework would consist of a set of obligatory rules, essential with the life of couple, concerning as well the patrimonial extra interests as the patrimonial interests; a place would be left with the contractual organization of the life of couple. It is in the two functions of solidarity that are the mutual aid between the members of the couple and the guarantee with respect to the creditor thirds of the couple that would build this new right of solidarity in a single civil union.

Based on a plural approach of power, this study aims at emphasizing how, in organisations that are part of the solidarity economy, women are given the opportunity to develop their self-esteem and confidence in their abilities. The research attempts to show that these organizations are above all a place where women can become autonomous and empower themselves in the different social spheres (domestic, sociocultural, economic and political spheres) i.e. through an empoderamiento process. Women become actors of change, able to collectively question the socio-cultural construction of gender relationships in their organization, their family, and more generally in the political sphere. The empoderamiento appears to be essential at two levels: at the level of individual power, i.e. the ability to choose and act concerning your own life, and at the level of collective power i.e. actions for social, economic and political change. Women's identity changes but not without differences among them. This is an overwhelming sociological change concerning the role women and men play within the family and the society. Women's empoderamiento leads to the search for new points of reference, for the power to remain in the hands of both genders: it's an issue concerning female and male identity. To tackle the empoderamiento process from the people's point of view, field work was carried out in the Bolivian Andes together with a participative methodology. The leaders (men and women) of organizations for a popular solidarity economy have created an analytical framework (with the different empoderamiento aspects) that has led toa unique analysis of the field work. The framework underlined the empoderamiento process of women living in the Bolivian Andes that participate in solidarity economy organizations (Handicraft and farming). Sophie Charlier is an Agricultural Engineer and a research associate in the GRIAL. She is an Associate Professor at the UCL and holds a Masters Degree in Population, Environment and Development Science (IED/UCL). Her Ph.D. represents 20-years of work (or: a 20-year work project) in the field of development, either through research, training or field work for NGOs./ A partir d'une approche plurielle du pouvoir, la thèse cherche à mettre en évidence comment dans les organisations d'économie solidaire, il existe un espace pour les femmes qui leur permet de développer une estime de soi et une confiance en leurs capacités. La thèse démontre que ces organisations sont avant tout un lieu dans lequel les femmes peuvent acquérir une certaine autonomie et un pouvoir dans les différentes sphères de la société (familiale, socioculturelle, économique et politique) soit, un empoderamiento. Les femmes se transforment en actrices de changement capables de remettre en cause collectivement les rapports de genre - construction socioculturelle - dans leur organisation économique, dans leur famille et plus largement dans des espaces politiques. Il apparaît ainsi que l'empoderamiento est essentiel dans sa double dimension : celle du pouvoir individuel, c'est-à-dire la capacité de choisir et d'agir sur sa propre vie, et celle du pouvoir collectif, d'actions orientées vers des changements, sociaux, économiques et politiques. L'identité des femmes se transforme mais non sans certaines différences entre elles ; nous sommes face à un bouleversement sociologique quand aux rôles des femmes et des hommes au sein de la famille et de la société. L'acquisition d'empoderamiento des femmes oblige la recherche de nouveaux repères pour que l'autorité (le pouvoir) ne repose pas sur un seul genre mais sur les deux : c'est une question d'identité féminine et masculine. Pour aborder le processus d'empoderamiento à partir des « gens », la thèse s'appuie sur un travail de terrain, dans les Andes en Bolivie et une méthodologie participative. Les dirigeant-e-s des organisations d'économie populaire solidaire ont construit une grille d'analyse (reprenant les différentes dimensions de l'empoderamiento) qui a permis de tirer une interprétation originale des enquêtes de terrain. Elle a ainsi mis en évidence le processus d'empoderamiento chez les femmes vivant dans les Andes boliviennes et qui participent à des organisations d'économie solidaire (d'artisan-e-s et de paysans/nes). Sophie Charlier, Ingénieur Agronome, chercheure associée au GRIAL, Maître de conférence (UCL) et titulaire d'un DEA en sciences de la population, de l'environnement et du développement (IED/UCL). Sa thèse repose sur vingt années de travail dans le secteur du développement que ce soit à travers la recherche, la formation ou un travail de terrain au sein des ONG.

<p>The essay is about pensioners who are working out at a gym. My starting point is the research program "Culture of ageing” and the theory that pensioners in the post- and late modern society conquer new potential areas. I am studying the meeting between pensioners and the gym. How the pensioners conquer the gym, relate to their training and what makesthem stay after the first introduction. The essay also touches on how the gym profiles themselves in their marketing and adapt at the equipment and training environment to meet pensioners' needs.</p><p>The essay also touches on how previous research, social norms and pensioner organizations, have influence on decisions and choices about the gym work out of pensioners. Individual discretion against creation of norms and perceptions of a good old age.</p><p>Aging actively is a standard but this standard is in an ongoing negotiation of an ever faster-accelerating process.</p>

Klimpfjäll is a mountain village in the south of Lappland. In the middle of the 1970's a mine was set up in Stekenjokk about 20 km west of Klimpfjäll. A new housing estate was built, as an extension of Klimpfjäll, to accommodate the miners (about 170 people) and their families. This new part of Klimpfjäll was named, by the local inhabitants, Nybyn (The New Village), and the original village became known as Gammelbyn (The Old Village). For many of the people, the move to Nybyn was not just a case of being provided with the opportunity to earn a living. It was part of a life-objective. However, this way of life had an obstacle; the mine had a limited lifespan. A number of Nybyn's inhabitants could possibly remain in the village, even after the closing of the mine, but for the majority this was an impossibility. Nevertheless, the people still believed in the possibility of "saving" Nybyn as a whole, despite the unreasonableness of that belief. This was also the belief held by the local council, the state and the mining company. I have named this phenomenon "mystification". The future of Klimpfjäll became a mystery. The people would rather not discuss the future of Klimpfjäll because they know that it does not exist, they, nevertheless, want to believe in it. It is this mystification that made the establishment of the mine possible, and which holds Nybyn together socially. The Social Welfare Service in Vilhelmina had, for a long time, regarded Klimpfjäll as a social problem. The problem was defined as being traditional social problems, due partly to addiction and partly to loneliness. For this reason an action research project was started. But the real problem for the people of Nybyn was the uncertainty of the future. The project was doomed to fail. Why should the people of Nybyn "go to evening classes" when their village was being threatened with closure? The project became just one element in the continuing mystification. It was not possible to redefine the project as a "survival project", since everyone wanted to believe in a continue future for the mine. In this study I have attempted to understand why it was impossible for the action research project to succeed. In understanding its failure I believe that we can also understand the people of Klimpfjäll. / digitalisering@umu

This thesis examines young people's attitudes to some aspects of sustainable development.The focus is on attitudes to preservation and to utilization of nature and also to solidarity andto equal distribution of resources. Hence the ecological, social and economic dimensions ofsustainable development are examined in the same survey. The study is aiming to examinehow the attitudes are distributed according to sex, educational programmes and urban/ruralliving as well as to examine how the values, from which the attitudes emanate, are correlatedwith each other.The results show that young female students in theoretical programs and students who livein larger cities are most supportive of nature preservation. The same pattern recurs with evengreater clarity on the attitudes to solidarity. Attitudes to utilization of nature can also be distinguishedclearly between the sexes by young men having more positive attitudes to utilizationthan young women. However, the differences between educational programmes andbetween students from urban and rural areas are clearly smaller than when it comes to attitudesto preservation and to solidarity. Attitudes to equal distribution of recources exhibitirregular patterns. Young women have more positive attitudes than young men but the linksbetween attitudes to equality and educational programme or rural/urban living, are not pointingin any clear direction. The results also show that there is a clear and positive correlationbetween positive attitudes to nature preservation and a willingness to show solidarity with awide circle of people. Those who say they care for nature also say that they are prepared tocare for other people.

<p>Hence, in this mini-thesis I argue that community participation does not automatically facilitate gains for the poor. My main assumption is that internal rigidities in communities, such as weak social capital, culture, trust and reciprocity, affect mutual cooperation towards collective community gains. I used two communities, where a community empowerment project is implemented, as a case study to demonstrate that the success of community participation is contingent on the stocks of social capital in the community. The results show that the responsiveness of the two communities to the project activities differs with the stocks of social capital. I found that trust among community members facilitates information flow in the community. The level of trust is also related to the sources of information of community members about development activities in the community. I also found that solidarity is an important dimension of social capital, which determines community members&rsquo / willingness to help one another and to participate in activities towards collective community gain. The research also demonstrated that perception of community members about target beneficiaries of projects&ndash / whether they represent the interest of the majority of the community or only the interest of community leaders &ndash / influences the level of confidence and ownership of the project. From my research findings, I concluded that, in order for community participation to work successfully, development managers need to identify the stocks of social capital in the community that will form the basis to determine the level of engagement with community members in the participatory process.</p>

This thesis provides a case for the alternative approach to economic and human development through the solidarity economy. Neoliberal growth strategies, including the Washington Consensus, are consistently supported by leading international development organizations yet continue to create marginalized communities throughout the world. Solidarity economies, similar to the one in Conjunto Palmerias, Brazil, move beyond this neoliberal approach to find alternative economic measures that expand the capabilities of the entire community. This type of economy embraces a vision of a market that pragmatically responds to the economic and social challenges of globalization. In conclusion, this thesis argues that the global expansion of the solidarity economy movement affirms confidence that an alternative approach to both human and economic development is possible in today’s capitalistic world.

In asking ‘How do queer Palestinian womyn ‘queer’ Palestinian identity”, the present research focuses on the various forms of traditional, narrative, and creative resistance practices of Palestinian womyn who challenge the following three narratives: 1) the national narrative which tags ‘queer’ as ‘Other’ and which posits the national movement at the top of the hierarchy of struggles; 2) the colonial narrative which is sustained by the Israeli public relations campaigns aiming to portray Israel as a modern, progressive, safe gay haven for queers, in opposition to a Palestine and Arab World which are said to be integrally homophobic, barbaric, regressive, etc. in an attempt to ‘pinkwash’ the occupation; and 3) the neocolonial narrative in which Western and Israeli Jewish queer movements reproduce colonial dynamics in their attempt to ‘save’ Palestinian queers who are deemed to be powerless, voiceless victims in need of saving.

This thesis explores the experiences and practices of disaster relief volunteers. This thesis is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted over a period of fifty-three days in the summer of 2007 at the post-hurricane Katrina Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana. Through innovative practices and a commitment to the principle of “solidarity not charity” volunteers produce not just material aid, but an ideology of social justice. This thesis is also an exercise in engaged scholarship in that the author directly participated in the disaster relief effort as a volunteer.