O agravamento das condições sociais de muitos países motivou 189 países-membros da ONU a aprovarem, em 2000, a Declaração do Milênio, que define os Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milênio (ODM). Os valores essenciais necessários para a promoção do bem-estar considerados pelos ODM, que definem os objetivos e as metas, levam em consideração o conceito de desenvolvimento humano da abordagem das capacitações e a Declaração Universal dos Direitos Humanos. Logo, para que haja desenvolvimento, deve haver expansão das oportunidades para que as pessoas possam viver com liberdade e dignidade, a fim de promover a expansão das capacitações fundamentais. Dessa maneira, por meio dos ODM, processo conduzido e monitorado pela ONU, busca-se promover as capacitações fundamentais. Um dos desafios desse processo, e de qualquer processo de desenvolvimento, é a produção de levantamentos estatísticos para o seu acompanhamento. Este estudo estrutura e analisa um indicador social agregado para o Rio Grande do Sul a partir dos ODM. Dada a natureza do indicador, uma das preocupações, além de preservar o seu caráter multidimensional, foi utilizar um sistema de ponderação para que o indicador reflita os pesos de cada dimensão e as variáveis em cada uma delas. Ou seja, levar em consideração que as diferentes dimensões não contemplam a mesma participação na satisfação do bem-estar. Para tal, foram utilizados dados secundários referentes aos ODM, para os 496 municípios gaúchos, coletados em diversas fontes (IBGE, FEE, Datasus, INEP, dentre outros). Inicialmente, através de técnicas estatísticas multivariadas de análise fatorial via componentes principais, foram estimados os pesos. No segundo momento, a partir dos pesos estimados, foi estruturado o indicador, geral e por dimensão, denominado de Índice dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milênio (IODM). Os resultados indicam que o índice é sustentado por três fatores: o primeiro, corresponde a 39,89% (indicadores de ensino básico, sustentabilidade ambiental e saúde materna); o segundo, com 32,58% (indicadores de pobreza e fome, igualdade entre os sexos e autonomia das mulheres); e o terceiro fator, com 27,53% (indicador de combate às doenças e mortalidade infantil). O IODM por município apresenta uma hierarquização diferente dos indicadores comumente utilizados, que levam em conta o princípio da equiproporcionalidade. Logo, infere-se que esse resultado não se dá somente pelas dimensões que o IODM utiliza, mas, também, pelo sistema de ponderação adotado. / The worsening of many countries´ social conditions urged 189 UN member-countries to approve, in 2000, the United Nations Millenium Declaration that establishes the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The essential values - which the MDGs consider necessary to promote well-being and establish the targets and goals - take into consideration the Capability Approach and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights´s concept of human development. Thus, to enhance development, there has to be an increase of opportunities so that people can live in freedom and dignity, and the expansion of the fundamental capabilities can take place. Accordingly, through the MDGs, a process led and monitored by UN, the fundamental capabilities have been fostered. One challenge of that process - and of any development process - is to create statistic surveys for its follow up. The present study organizes and analyses a social indicator added to Rio Grande do Sul as from the MDGs. Given the indicator´s nature, one of the concerns, besides maintaining its multidimensional feature, was that of using a weighting system so that the indicator can show the weights and variables of each dimension. That means taking into consideration that different dimensions do not participate equally in achieving well-being. Therefore, MDGs´ secondary data were used for 496 municipalities of Rio Grande do Sul, collected from several sources (IBGE, FEE, Datasus, INEP, among others). Firstly, weights were estimated by means of various statistic techniques, factor analysis through principal components. Secondly, the general and dimensional indicator - called Millennium Development Goals Index (MDGsI) - was established, as from the estimated weighs. The results show that the Index is supported by three factors: the first one corresponds to 39,89% (indicators of Primary Schooling, Environmental sustainability, and Maternal health); the second one, with 32,58% (indicators of Poverty and hunger, Gender equality and Women empowerment) and the third factor, with 27,53% (indicator of Combat of diseases and Child mortality). The MDsI per municipality shows a hierarchy which is different from the commonly used indicators that consider the principle of equiproportionality. So, one can infer that this result does not only occur due to the dimension that the MDSI uses, but also due to the weighting system used here.

Para a mensuração da insegurança alimentar freqüentemente são feitas estimativas a partir da definição de linhas de pobreza ou indigência, associando o grau de carência alimentar ao nível de rendimentos do domicílio, intuindo que famílias pobres (baixa renda) vivam em condição de insegurança alimentar. Entretanto, é possível encontrar unidades domiciliares com rendimentos situados abaixo da linha de pobreza e que vivem em segurança alimentar, do mesmo modo que existem aquelas com rendimentos acima do corte da pobreza que passa por restrição alimentar quantitativa. O exercício teórico desenvolvido por Amartya Sen, abrange uma série de conceitos que permitem a análise de realidades sociais, como a insegurança alimentar no Rio Grande do Sul, de maneira multidimensional, incorporando variáveis quantitativas e indo além delas. Um desses conceitos que pode auxiliar na compreensão das dificuldades de acesso digno a alimentos adequados, quantitativamente e qualitativamente, é a noção de intitulamento (entitlement), termo que foi originalmente desenvolvido por Sen para tratar do problema da fome na Ásia e na África. Através da abordagem das capacitações, o objetivo deste trabalho é analisar os intitulamentos que se relacionam com a insegurança alimentar no Rio Grande do Sul, e avaliar os impactos dessa situação para a expansão das capacitações das famílias rurais gaúchas. Os resultados da análise realizada, através do Coeficiente de Contingência, Teste Qui-Quadrado e do modelo de regressão Probit, que permitiram diferenciar e tecer comentários entre os espaços rural e urbano do Rio Grande do Sul, evidenciam a necessidade de um tratamento multidimensional para a caracterização das situações de insegurança alimentar no estado gaúcho, sugerindo a inclusão de novas percepções que permitam melhor caracterizar as dificuldades de acesso à alimentação adequada, propondo uma alternativa à perspectiva tradicional. / Frequently, estimates to measure food insecurity are made based on the definition of poverty lines or indigence, associating the degree of lack of food considering the household productivity, and having in mind that poor families (low income) live in a condition of nutrition insecurity. However, it is possible to find household units with income considered below the poverty line and that live in a nutritional stability, as well as those ones with income above poverty line that have quantitative food restriction. The theoretical exercise developed by Amartya Sen encloses a series of concepts which allows the analysis of social reality, like food insecurity in Rio Grande do Sul, in a multidimensional way, including quantitative analysis and venturing beyond them. One of these concepts which can help the understanding of those difficulties of reaching dignified access to adequate nutritional levels, quantitatively and qualitatively, is the notion of entitlements, terminology which was originally developed by Sen to deal with the problem of hunger in Asia and Africa. By means of the capability approach, the objective of this work is to analyze the entitlements which are intertwined with food insecurity in Rio Grande do Sul, and evaluate the impacts of this situation to expand the condition of rural families in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. The results of this analysis which was performed through contingency coefficient, chi-square tests and a probit regression model, which allow to differentiate between rural and urban spaces in Rio Grande do Sul, show clearly the necessity of a multidimensional treatment in the Gaucho State, suggesting an inclusion of new concepts which allow better characterize the difficulties of access to adequate alimentation, proposing an alternative to traditional perspective.

This master thesis is a case study on the remittance corridor between South Africa and Zimbabwe. The purpose of the study was to explore and evaluate the dilemmas the remittances senders face in the migration process and how they are dealt with. This was further investigated in the connection to what possibilities the remittances sender have in the host country to increase both the own, as well as the family’s, level of development. Research about the remittance process from the remittances sender’s perspective suffers from shortcomings, a problem this study addresses. A collection of life stories helped to identify the dilemmas and trade-offs the remittances sender faces. The results show that dilemmas exist in every phase of the migration process. How well the remittances senders cope with these dilemmas, seems to be connected to their socio-economic background to a large extent. The pressure to remit affects the available possibilities in the host country to improve the remittances sender’s level of development. An exciting finding and contribution of this study is the remittances senders’ perspective on their future, whether to stay or return home. This complex dilemma, that lacks research, is so interesting that it calls for more investigation.

Over the last few years, the town of La Oroya, in Perú’s central Andes has received significant international attention due to the alarming number of children suffering from high levels of lead poisoning as a result of pollution from the town’s smelter. Paradoxically, instead of collectively unifying voices to claim the protection of their health and environment, a significant portion of members of this community opted to minimize the problem with the purpose of defending job opportunities at the smelter.This dissertation examines the deep structural causes that have placed residents of this community in the difficult position of having to sacrifice their human right to health in order to preserve their right to work at the smelter. I argue that the La Oroya community acquiesced in forfeiting their own rights because they have been historically trapped in a “context of systemic unfreedom.” This is a historically formed and politically and economically reproduced context of human rights abuses, a context that affects the overall well-being of individuals and communities, and diminishes their ability to challenge such abuses and transform their realities. To assess the exact contours and components of the context of systemic unfreedom in La Oroya, and respond to the question of how this context has encouraged the trade-offs of health for work, I have designed a “capability-oriented model of human rights.” Conceptually, this model builds upon structural approaches to human rights proposed by authors such as Paul Farmer, Tony Evans and Mark Goodale. It also adopts Séverine Deneuline’s relational-political interpretation of the capability approach pioneered by Amartya Sen. Methodologically, a salient feature of my model is its incorporation of voices of affected community members as an important source of knowledge. Results of this study show the extent to which the context of systemic unfreedom in La Oroya has been sustained by the interconnection of a constellation of factors: environmental (historical pollution); institutional (economic dependency, the state’s leniency in enforcing the smelter company’s environmental obligations, the extraction-based model of economic development in Perú, the institutional fragility of the human rights discourse); social (migration, loss of collective identity, socio-economic and gender inequalities, uncertainty about pollution, limited access to information, assignment of responsibility for pollution-based illness to individuals, stigma against the poor); and personal (individual values and needs, characteristics of individual identity). These factors have converged over time and intersected at the macro, meso and micro levels, trapping residents from La Oroya in a vicious cycle of disadvantage. I conclude by suggesting that, in order to effectively address “systemic unfreedom” in this smelter town, both short-term and long-term solutions are required. That is, in addition to promoting the completion of proposed environmental mitigation and soil remediation plans in La Oroya, I offer suggestions towards reversing entrenched socio-economic and gender inequalities and reconstituting a collective community identity. Fundamentally, the ultimate goal of structural transformation in La Oroya requires addressing current patterns of power, economic dependency, and domination, thus fostering changes in the state’s vision of development. / Graduate / 2016-04-30

This is an inter-disciplinary argument for a moral entitlement to a capability to be healthy. Motivated by the goal to make a human right to health intelligible and justifiable, the thesis extends the capability approach, advocated by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum, to the theory and practice of the human health sciences. Moral claims related to human health are considered at the level of ethical theory, or a level of abstraction where principles of social justice that determine the purpose, form, and scope of basic social institutions are proposed, evaluated, and justified. The argument includes 1) a conception of health as capability, 2) a theory of causation and distribution of health capability as well as 3) an argument for the moral entitlement to a sufficient and equitable capability to be healthy grounded in the respect for human dignity. Moreover, the entitlement to the capability to be healthy is defended against alternative ethical approaches that focus on welfare or resources in evaluating and satisfying health claims. In specific, it is argued that human health is best understood as a capability to be healthy - a meta-capability to achieve a cluster of basic and inter-related capabilities and functionings. Such a cluster of capabilities and functionings is in line with Martha Nussbaum's central human capabilities. A theory of causation and distribution of health capability is put forward that integrates the 'classic' biomedical factors of disease (genetic endowment, exposure to hazardous materials, behaviour), social determinants of disease, and Drèze and Sen's econometric analysis of the causation and distribution of acute and endemic malnutrition. Furthermore, the argument critiques Norman Daniels's revised Rawlsian theory of health justice, and advocates for the capability approach to recognize group capabilities in light of 'population health' phenomena. Lastly, the thesis also argues that a coherent, capability conception of health as a species-wide conception will tend to make any theory of justice recognizing health claims a cosmopolitan theory of justice.

Electronic learning (e-learning) has recently introduced by the Saudi government to expand educational opportunities at higher education level, especially for women. However, due to the status of women in Saudi society, understanding the ability of women to take advantage of such technology rather than just making it available to them is required and should not be ignored. In this regard, this study aims to illuminate the ability of Saudi women to convert the opportunity offered by e-learning into a valuable educational achievement, by identifying the factors that affect their ability and the dimensions that characterise their capability requirements. To achieve this, the study adopts the capability approach as a guiding theoretical framework to provide a strong foundation and address the developmental theoretical insights as well as to demonstrate the ability of Saudi women to access and use e-learning freely in order to achieve their higher educational goals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect data from twenty-four women living in the Najran and Northern Border regions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using a proxy interview approach. Alkire’s and Robeyns’ techniques, with the support of the Straussian grounded theory procedures, were used to analyse the data collected. The study finds that the ability of Saudi women to convert the opportunity offered by e-learning into a valuable educational achievement is limited and affected by four factors: tribal society culture, cultural use of the internet, family willingness and government stimulation factors. It also identifies thirty-four dimensions that empower or prevent Saudi women’s freedom to access and use e-learning efficiently as a means to attain a valuable educational outcome. The value of the capability approach to inform an analysis on Saudi women's access to e-learning as well as the usefulness of applying the grounded theory to support the capability approach in the process of selecting the valuable dimensions for Saudi women to access e-learning, were also found. The study concludes that e-learning could probably be a bridge to enable women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to access higher education. However, the issue is not just about technical availability, it is also about the capability of women to benefit from such a technology. Therefore, it is not enough to provide Saudi women with an opportunity to complete their higher education via e-learning without giving them the power to access and use it freely, whenever they are able to and want to do so. The study contributes by helping to open the window in front of women so they can make their voices heard and draw the attention of the government on the dimensions that characterise their capability requirements to access and use e-learning freely, as well as to give a better understanding about their situation within Saudi society and its role in affecting their ability. It also introduces a distinctive analytical framework to combine practical and theoretical strands in order to develop practical capability approach dimensions.

Disaster vulnerability and health status are determined by the intersecting social identities individuals possess in a given context. Based on two months fieldwork in Bangladesh, this study employs a comparative exploratory case study methodology to understand the way in which the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Oxfam and Gonoshasthaya Kendra construct and deploy the concepts of gender, empowerment and women’s health within their disaster management policies and programs. It finds that disaster management interventions that fail to understand the intersectional nature of women’s vulnerability risk entrenching or creating forms of both privilege and oppression. Combining intersectionality, Moser’s Practical and Strategic Gender Needs and Sen’s Capability Approach, this study aims to deconstruct the embedded view of women in disaster management by suggesting that a social determinants of health approach, paired with intersectionality, could provide important insights into disaster management interventions and their effectiveness in addressing the gendered realities of women facing disasters.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo examinar a formação do senso de justiça das pessoas sob a perspectiva da teoria de justiça da escolha social e de rankings incompletos, de Amartya Sen (2009). Pretende também investigar algumas formas de educar o cidadão para a justiça a fim de se pensar políticas públicas nas escolas que estimulem o florescimento do sentido de justiça nas pessoas. Para tanto, a teoria de justiça de Sen (2009) é apresentada e relacionada a teorias sobre a formação do indivíduo e fases críticas de seu desenvolvimento, em específico a formação de aspectos cognitivos e não cognitivos e sua interação. Ao fim, são indicados caminhos para a educação voltada para a justiça. / This study aims to examine the development of the sense of justice following Amartya Sen’s (2009) social choice and incomplete rank justice theory. Alongside this, in order to present some alternatives about public policies in schools that could encourage the flourishing of a sense of justice, a reflection about ways to educate citizens towards justice is made. To do so, Sen’s Idea of Justice is introduced and related to theories about individual development, combined with an analysis of sensitive stages of human development. Particular attention is given on the interaction of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. At the end, some thoughts about public policies and the education system are made.

Pia Persson. (2013). Specialpedagogik i Tunisien. (Special Education in Tunisia). (Education Specialisée en Tunisie). Magisterutbildning inom Specialpedagogik, Skolutveckling och ledarskap, Lärande och samhälle; Malmö Högskola.Problemområde: Denna studie behandlar hur utbildning för elever i behov av särskilt stöd är organiserad och utformad i Tunisien. Tunisien är ett utvecklingsland där hela utbildningssystemet har vuxit fram under de senaste decennierna i samarbete med Unicef. Studien lyfter fram hur och i vilken utsträckning elever i behov av särskilt stöd får ta del av utbildning.Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka hur utbildningen för elever i behov av särskilt stöd är organiserad i Tunisien och på vilket sätt den är inkluderande utifrån det som Salamancadeklarationen förespråkar. Som teoretisk ram används capability approach, vilken betonar utvecklingsländers förutsättningar för att utjämna individers olikheter, i detta fall elevers möjligheter till utbildning.Metod: Fältstudien är genomförd i Tunisien där framförallt yrkespersoner från olika nivåer inom utbildningssystemet har ingått som informanter. Studien är etnografisk och vid datainsamlingen har metoder som överensstämmer med fallstudie använts, där flera olika metoder såsom intervju, observation och dokument har använts för ändamålet. Vid sammanställning och analys av innehållet har hermeneutisk tolkning använts för att skapa förståelse för hur specialpedagogik är utformad i landet samt vilka förutsättningar som finns för inkluderande undervisning och utbildning.Resultat: Resultaten visar att det i Tunisien finns former för att möta elevers olikheter inom utbildningen. Det finns handikappcenter där elever med funktionsnedsättning får möjlighet till utbildning. Det finns skolor för blinda och skolor som håller på att utveckla integrerade former för att undervisa elever som är i behov av särskilt stöd i undervisningen. I analysen framgår att den specialpedagogiska verksamheten i flera avseenden är inkluderande, såsom att elever i behov av särskilt stöd får undervisning utifrån sina behov, framförallt då flera yrkesprofessioner samverkar kring eleven. Blinda elever får möjlighet till kompenserande datorprogram, blinda elever ges goda förebilder då de undervisas av blinda lärare. På några skolor går eleverna kvar i sin ordinarie klass och lärarna ges kompetensutveckling. Studien visar också att utbildningen till viss del inte är inkluderande, t ex måste flertalet av eleverna lämna sin lokala skola för att få en anpassad undervisning och undervisningen bedrivs i särskilda grupper eller skolor som är skild från de övriga eleverna. Dessutom har inte alla elever som är i behov av särskilt stöd tillgång till de specialpedagogiska verksamheter som finns i landet. Det finns flera exempel på att eleverna är socialt accepterade av lärare och elever på skolorna, vilket anses inkluderande. Begränsningen för att skapa en inkluderande skola uppstår i klassrummen då elevernas förutsättningar utgör behov av alternativ undervisning för att eleven ska utvecklas, vilket inte alltid kan tillgodoses.Sett ur ett perspektiv utifrån capability approach visar utbildningen i Tunisien många exempel på att det finns en strävan att utveckla en verksamhet för att utjämna elevers skillnader och att skapa ett utrymme där alla kan utvecklas och bli välmående individer. / This thesis is a part of the first level of master degree in Special Education at the University of Malmö. It is a qualitative study with an ethnomethodical approach. The results are presented in a narrative form how Tunisia has organised and accomplished education for children with special educational needs. A hermeneutic methodology is used for the analysis. The conclusion is that there are good opportunities for all children to be educated in spite of handicaps or impairments in specialized schools in Tunisia. Tunisia is developing integrated schools but it is still in small volumes and not attainable for all children who are needy. Some thoughts and examples, of how the education system is trying to create schools where children can be supported in their conditions for learning, are presented in the thesis. The thesis treats how inclusion is present within the education in Tunisia. Also the view of the capability approach, where diversity, equality, capability, well-being and freedom are important assumptions.

Previous studies by Cornforth (2003, 2004), Cornelius et al. (2008), Cornelius and Wallace (2010), and Wallace and Cornelius (2010) highlight the need for further research in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for social enterprises and how their governance systems facilitate social outcomes when aligned to organisational mission. Against this backdrop, the main aim of this study is: to investigate the extent to which social enterprises (not-for-profit social providers) pursue ethical practices and social policies underpinned by their CSR agendas that enhance their stakeholders’ capabilities. The conceptual framework for the study is built on Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach (Sen 1991, 1999). Primary data were collected from face-to-face, in-depth, semi structured interviews with twelve owner-managers of small social enterprises from Bradford, UK. These were designed to understand their enterprise’s ethical views towards the development of deprived communities and the role this has in formulating their enterprise’s CSR agenda. The interview data were transcribed and analysed using constructivist grounded theory. The findings suggest that external CSR provision is often prompted as an immediate reaction to problematic issues arising in society. In general, it consequently lacks sustainability and is insufficiently evaluated for long term social impact. It is therefore argued that the CSR agenda for social enterprises should be based more on the organisation’s social ethos than the current process. Moreover, the findings emphasise the importance of social strategy emanating from governance mechanisms as this was identified as critical for the implementation of the CSR agenda so that social value is created in a structured and planned manner. These findings make a contribution to knowledge by providing conceptual and empirical insights regarding the consequences of social enterprises incorporating capabilities into their CSR policies and practices, and its social impact. Moreover, a conceptual model is developed that reflects the strategic importance of such a convergence in achieving this dual purpose.