The practice of female genital cutting/s (FGC) has been under national scrutiny in Sweden for decades. Besides strong laws and policies enforced by the Swedish government, civil society organisations have played an important role in addressing the subject of FGC in Sweden. The purpose of this research is to examine what roles and functions civil society organisations assume as they tackle the practice of FGC. Based on semi-structured interviews conducted with employees and volunteers from civil society organisations that address the practice on a daily basis, this study sheds light on the possibilities and challenges civil society organisations face when they approach the question of FGC in Sweden. This research finds that civil society organisations carry a lot of responsibility in terms of tackling FGC in Sweden, as governmental efforts are perceived to be insufficient. Criticism against the Swedish government is first and foremost directed to the lack of knowledge and understanding on FGC within authorities and to the lack of grassroot efforts together with diaspora communities. Thus, this examination shows how civil society organisations engage and provide complementary efforts. First, civil society organisations raise awareness and shed light on the complexity on the practice of FGC within several authorities to secure that knowledge about the practice is maintained. Second, civil society organisations strive to involve, engage and empower individuals on grassroot levels by creating safe and familiar spaces to talk about FGC. Finally, local efforts provided by civil society organisations aim to empower people affected by the practice of FGC to make their voices heard and to represent themselves. In conclusion, this research demonstrates that civil society organisations hold vital complementary roles in relation to the Swedish state in terms of addressing the practice of FGC in Sweden.

The multiple components of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), promotes women’s wellbeing and rights to a life free from discrimination and violence. Gender-based violence (GBV) is a matter closely related to SRHR and affects women globally on daily basis. South Africa is estimated to score one of the highest rates of GBV in the world. This thesis aims to gain an understanding of how civil society organisations (CSOs) working with SRHR-related issues, approach South African state institutions with regard to strengthen strategies against GBV. A qualitative content analysis is adopted to analyse the CSO’s documents that frame their advocacy work against GBV and how they approach state institutions in South Africa. The results from the analysed documents are thereby examined through theoretical approaches, mainly targeting CSOs ability to translate universal human rights into local contexts, and contributions to social justice. The analysed documents reveal that the selected CSOs mobilise their advocacy against GBV through different media platforms. Moreover, the CSO’s advocacy is presented through evidence-based research, policy briefs, articles and campaigns. Through their approaches to state institutions, the CSOs demand the state to recognise that inequality and patriarchal structures cause GBV and negatively affect women’s wellbeing. Furthermore, the selected CSOs demand fair distribution of resources that ensures women’s safety in the public sphere. In addition, the CSOs demand implementation of educational programmes with gender perspectives in all aspects of society. Finally, the CSOs demand South African state institutions to include all sectors of society in decision-making processes of strategies against GBV. Thus, state institutions can unsure proper implementation of preventative methods against GBV.

In this master thesis I deal with civil society organizations in Tunisia with a focus on women's rights. Firstly, I present the conceptual frameworks I work with and I set the indicators on the basis of which I assess the organization. I present context in which organisations are operating, I describe the history of Tunisia and the state of women's rights in Tunisia. First I focus on the period before the first democratic elections, between 1987 and 2011, when president Zin Abidin bin Ali ruled. Then I move on to the period after the first democratic elections, which took place in 2011, until 2018. Subsequently, I compare the functioning of civil society organisations with a focus on women's rights in these two periods. I discuss what organizations have to deal with during their operation, what influences them and what problems they concentrate on within the framework of women's rights. I collect information and data using document analysis, and then analyze the data with open coding.

There is no doubt that civil society organizations play an important role in the regional development. One of the inner factors of the regional development potential and the tool to ensuring the quality and sustainability of the implemented measures is the cooperation and partnership between the civil and public sector entities. The cooperation and parthership should be strenghtened by the inner organization of civil sector into the ubrella organizations and by the provision of their services. In this diploma thesis is realized the quantitative research which is focused on the fact what is the role of regional umbrella organization in the setting of cooperation and partnership with the regional government.

Networking of civil society organizations has been occurring in the Czech civic sector for several years. Since the nineties a number of new networks has emerged or extended their membership base. Networks can be examined diversely. This work is focused principally on the network internal operations. The aim of this work is to show the forms of organizational structure and collective action on the example of the Czech Forum for Development Cooperation (FoRS). The operational objective is to determine whether the examined internal form of network has an effect on the achievement of its objectives. The hypothesis that the centralised and hierarchical forms of network achieve more likely their objectives was confirmed in this case. The analysis also revealed that the network FoRS acts as a "consensus- based organization". This type of structure has typically sparse network of interactions, weakly shared collective identity and the absence of conflicting orientation towards a defined enemy.

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, & International / LL.D.

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.

The relations between Croatia and Serbia are determining for regional peace and stability and for the course of the EU enlargement in the Western Balkans. The Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) is the funding mechanism designed for the implementation of the EU's enlargement policy in the Western Balkans. This research investigates the extent to which IPA has integrated to the local cross- border initiatives in culture and youth and has fostered social reconstruction between Croats and Serbs in Slavonia (Croatia) and Vojvodina (Serbia). Co-operation in the cultural sector is an important element of social reconstruction, as it favours contacts and the erosion of antagonistic prejudices against the other ethnic group. The objective of this research is defined as two-fold, firstly to test a model of cross-border co-operation devised from EU integration theories and, secondly to provide an accurate picture of the cross-border initiatives in Slavonia and Vojvodina based on ground-level experience. The analysis of the data collected shows mixed results. On one hand IPA has integrated successfully into the landscape of local cross-border initiatives by stimulating socialisation between civil society organisations. IPA has also increased local ownership of cross-border co-operation amongst the...

This thesis is concerned with civil society organisations (CSOs) and the challenges of facilitating sustainable societal transformation in Africa, focusing on the case of Ethiopia. The thesis underlines the fact that the conceptualisation of civil society is controversial. Some western scholars argue that the Enlightenment period in Europe provided the bedrock for the foundation of „modern‟ CSOs. As a result, they believed that the life patterns and „traditional‟ social organising practices of Africans, Asians and other societies of the world are incompatible with the civilised world. This outlook constitutes the mainstream view that has played an uncontested role in the decades of development in Africa. Proponents of African and „traditional‟ perspectives of civil society, however, argue that many nations in Africa have centuries-old humanism and a history of volunteerism and civic institutions, which form the backbone of their social fabric. They argue that Africa has its own rich culture and civilisation which is the bedrock for generating and developing healthy human societies and effectively functioning CSOs on the continent. These African civic cultures nurture character and intellect within communities and social spaces despite the challenges of colonialism, globalisation and other external pressures. For this reason, they challenge western-based perspectives on „modern‟ CSOs. Given the predominance of and the tension in these two perspectives, this thesis calls for a re-examination of the concepts, meanings and practices of CSOs and the exploration of the role of „traditional‟ CSOs in facilitating societal transformation in contemporary Ethiopia, Africa. In so doing, it critically examines how the tensions in various international development agendas have led to the legitimisation and proliferation of „modern‟ and western-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) interventions in Africa, and then discusses the way the civil society sector, particularly „traditional‟ CSOs, is side-lined owing to the funding formulas that regard western-based NGOs as preferred development partners. For this, the thesis takes a case-based approach to the study of „traditional‟ CSOs in Ethiopia, and examines their goals and practices leading to social transformation experiences by reviewing the political history, genesis and civic functions of CSOs and the social changes at grassroots levels. The thesis also analyses the ways in which local communities organise their „traditional‟ associations and collectively engage in social action to transform their communities. It also highlights the negative implications of the neoliberal theoretical discourses and the developmental state approaches in relation to „traditional‟ African CSOs. In conclusion, the thesis suggests critical pathways for harnessing the role of „traditional‟ African CSOs in the future societal transformation process in Africa. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

This thesis is concerned with civil society organisations (CSOs) and the challenges of facilitating sustainable societal transformation in Africa, focusing on the case of Ethiopia. The thesis underlines the fact that the conceptualisation of civil society is controversial. Some western scholars argue that the Enlightenment period in Europe provided the bedrock for the foundation of „modern‟ CSOs. As a result, they believed that the life patterns and „traditional‟ social organising practices of Africans, Asians and other societies of the world are incompatible with the civilised world. This outlook constitutes the mainstream view that has played an uncontested role in the decades of development in Africa. Proponents of African and „traditional‟ perspectives of civil society, however, argue that many nations in Africa have centuries-old humanism and a history of volunteerism and civic institutions, which form the backbone of their social fabric. They argue that Africa has its own rich culture and civilisation which is the bedrock for generating and developing healthy human societies and effectively functioning CSOs on the continent. These African civic cultures nurture character and intellect within communities and social spaces despite the challenges of colonialism, globalisation and other external pressures. For this reason, they challenge western-based perspectives on „modern‟ CSOs. Given the predominance of and the tension in these two perspectives, this thesis calls for a re-examination of the concepts, meanings and practices of CSOs and the exploration of the role of „traditional‟ CSOs in facilitating societal transformation in contemporary Ethiopia, Africa. In so doing, it critically examines how the tensions in various international development agendas have led to the legitimisation and proliferation of „modern‟ and western-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) interventions in Africa, and then discusses the way the civil society sector, particularly „traditional‟ CSOs, is side-lined owing to the funding formulas that regard western-based NGOs as preferred development partners. For this, the thesis takes a case-based approach to the study of „traditional‟ CSOs in Ethiopia, and examines their goals and practices leading to social transformation experiences by reviewing the political history, genesis and civic functions of CSOs and the social changes at grassroots levels. The thesis also analyses the ways in which local communities organise their „traditional‟ associations and collectively engage in social action to transform their communities. It also highlights the negative implications of the neoliberal theoretical discourses and the developmental state approaches in relation to „traditional‟ African CSOs. In conclusion, the thesis suggests critical pathways for harnessing the role of „traditional‟ African CSOs in the future societal transformation process in Africa. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)