This paper investigates the relationship between student-led consulting teams and community organizations as one part of Eller Social Innovation (ESI). The research conducted to analyze the relationship between these entities is most similar to program evaluation. Program evaluation has become commonplace in the nonprofit sector and it is important method for these organizations to establish the value of all of their activities (Carman, 2007). Through data collected from interviews and surveys of community organizations, this article seeks to understand the efficacy of student-led consulting projects and determine the effect that they have on these organizations. The answer to this question will inform stakeholders in ESI about the potential value that further collaboration with community organizations could create for both parties.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Antioch University, 2010. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed July 22, 2010). Advisor: Richard Couto, Ph.D. "A dissertation submitted to the Ph.D. in Leadership and Change program of Antioch University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, March 2010."--from the title page. Includes bibliographical references (p. 155-165).

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There is consensus in the development communication field about community participation being a holistic approach required to address social development challenges. Participatory development, also known as another development, is considered invaluable in the social change process. While participatory principles have enjoyed increasing influence over the work of development organisations, there is still confusion as to what participation really is and how it must be applied as an approach to social change. As a result, development in (marginalized) communities has remained what I would call a Sisyphean task despite tremendous funding and effort that is being put towards development. This study is motivated by three factors relating to the practical and theoretical issues characterising participation. First is the acknowledged lack of a consistent definition as well as inconsistencies characterising the application of participation. The second factor is the contention that participation has remained under theorised and the third is what can be arguably conceived as the influence of stakeholder theory on development communication discourse. The focus of this study is how a theory commonly used in the strategic communication field, the stakeholder theory, applies to deliberate development communication efforts, particularly how the theory sheds light on the concept of participation. It introduces and examines the relevance of Edward Freeman‘s (1984) stakeholder theory in defining and applying participation in social change initiatives. Three development agents namely OneVoice South Africa (OVSA), The Valley Trust (TVT) and Drama for Aids Education (DramAidE) are used as a case study of the concept of participation. The study begins with a critical exploration of the complex participatory communication for social change narrative discussing key ontological and epistemological assumptions as well as a pastiche of approaches often reified as participation. It goes on to present a comprehensive review of the stakeholder theory and its critique, followed by an exploration of how the three development agents develop, implement and manage their respective participatory programmes. It concludes by applying stakeholder theory to the analysis of these programmes to determine whether the theory can be conceived as an accurate descriptive tool of the participation process and if its normative tenets are valid to the process. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

My dissertation is a critical ethnography of grassroots feminist agencies and immigrant organizations involved in the governance of gender violence in Toronto, Ontario. Along with examining the agencies operating on the outskirts of the law, I also observe the organizations that contract directly with the provincial government to counsel abusers prosecuted through the city’s specialized domestic violence courts. Drawing on the methodological and theoretical insights of socio-legal studies, postcolonial feminism, and governmentality scholarship, my research explores the governance of domestic violence through the community. Specifically, I examine how the voluntary sector performs the state’s work of prosecuting domestic violence, punishing offenders and building citizens. My research reveals the significant influence that community organizations exert on the prosecution of gender violence and in defining the conditions of punishment for offenders. Through court observation of Toronto’s domestic violence plea court, I show how grassroots administrative workers transform into hybrids of the prosecutor and defense within governance networks. In addition, based on interviews with service providers delivering counseling to offenders, I document how non-profit organizational habits add distinctive flavors to the administration of punishment, materializing in governing regimes that emphasize care in some contexts and discipline in others. Finally, I also explore the dual constructions of immigrant counselors as both the experts and the “others” to the nation with regards to gender violence. In contrast to assumptions of ignorance amongst the immigrant “other” in the liberal imaginary, my findings indicate that the notion of women’s empowerment is nothing new or unfamiliar within Toronto’s diasporic communities; several of the immigrant anti-violence experts involved in this research credit their politicization and training “back home” as foundational to their involvement in feminist and the anti-violence movement. These findings challenge liberal assumptions of the East as a space devoid of the cultural material of women’s empowerment, which form the backbone of Western performances of modernity.

For this research project I used grounded theory methodology and qualitative research methods to examine how and why citizens participated in local community-based planning and land development entitlement processes, and learn about their experiences participating in those processes. I conceptualized the citizens' main concern as preserving the character of the place they consider their community. This research demonstrates that citizens participate in community-based planning and land development entitlement processes out of a concern for preserving the character of their communities. They define the character of their communities in terms of their geographic boundaries, history, traditions, people, lifestyle, and qualitative features including land uses, architecture, terrain, and environmental attributes. "Preserving Place" refers to citizens' efforts to maintain the character of their communities as they know and embrace them. Citizens participate in collaborative community-based planning because they believe the process affords them an opportunity to set public policy that directly impacts their lives and their communities. Likewise, citizens participate in land development decision-making and entitlement processes in an effort to ensure that land use decisions are consistent with their community plan and preserve their community's character. Citizens form networks, such as voluntary community organizations, through which they organize their efforts and mentor each other to learn about complex local government land use processes and how to participate in them effectively. Through their network organizations citizens also marshal resources when necessary to mount formal legal actions in response to land development decisions they perceive as inconsistent with their community plan and their community's character. Citizens who participate in local government land use processes are often pejoratively called "activists" and accused of being "anti-growth" or "NIMBY" (Not-In-My-Back-Yard). However, this research shows the main concern of citizens who participate in the community-based planning and other land use processes is not to oppose growth and development in their communities; but rather to plan for growth and development and ensure they occur in a way that respects and preserves what the citizens know as the character of the places they consider their communities. I collected data from public records of community-based planning workshops and other land use decision-making processes that affected three communities in Hillsborough County, Florida between 1998 and 2011. I analyzed public record archives and interviewed 22 citizens, all of whom had participated in community-based planning or plan review processes and land development entitlement processes. The model that emerged from the data in this research demonstrates how significant the character of a community is to the people who embrace the community and consider it their home, and how their concern for preserving the character of their community motivates people to get involved in land use policies that affect them. The model further demonstrates the capacity of citizens to organize their efforts to defend and preserve their community's character. This research contributes to the literature on citizen participation by providing an explanatory model that demonstrates how and why citizens participate in local government land use processes. This research can also be applied to practice to improve collaborative processes and help local government land use policy makers and land developers understand the motivations behind citizen participation in land use processes, and thus how to approach the resolution of conflicts among citizens, planners, local governments, private landowners and land development interests.

My dissertation is a critical ethnography of grassroots feminist agencies and immigrant organizations involved in the governance of gender violence in Toronto, Ontario. Along with examining the agencies operating on the outskirts of the law, I also observe the organizations that contract directly with the provincial government to counsel abusers prosecuted through the city’s specialized domestic violence courts. Drawing on the methodological and theoretical insights of socio-legal studies, postcolonial feminism, and governmentality scholarship, my research explores the governance of domestic violence through the community. Specifically, I examine how the voluntary sector performs the state’s work of prosecuting domestic violence, punishing offenders and building citizens. My research reveals the significant influence that community organizations exert on the prosecution of gender violence and in defining the conditions of punishment for offenders. Through court observation of Toronto’s domestic violence plea court, I show how grassroots administrative workers transform into hybrids of the prosecutor and defense within governance networks. In addition, based on interviews with service providers delivering counseling to offenders, I document how non-profit organizational habits add distinctive flavors to the administration of punishment, materializing in governing regimes that emphasize care in some contexts and discipline in others. Finally, I also explore the dual constructions of immigrant counselors as both the experts and the “others” to the nation with regards to gender violence. In contrast to assumptions of ignorance amongst the immigrant “other” in the liberal imaginary, my findings indicate that the notion of women’s empowerment is nothing new or unfamiliar within Toronto’s diasporic communities; several of the immigrant anti-violence experts involved in this research credit their politicization and training “back home” as foundational to their involvement in feminist and the anti-violence movement. These findings challenge liberal assumptions of the East as a space devoid of the cultural material of women’s empowerment, which form the backbone of Western performances of modernity.

Historically, religious congregations and other church organisations have had a long involvement in the provision of community services in English-speaking societies. Nonetheless, despite the development since the 1950's of extensive government provision, the growth of large church-sponsored agencies, and the advent of secular community services, there is reason to believe the trend for congregational involvement persists. However, there is also reason to believe that provision of services by congregations is not well understood, an issue of more significance in view of recent policy shifts, especially in the US and UK, promoting an increasing emphasis on government support for welfare service delivery by these “pervasively sectarian” groups. Within the Australian setting little is known about the contribution of local religious congregations to the provision of local community services, although limited data from the 1996 National Church Life Survey indicates in excess of 65% of congregations claim some local community involvement. (For complete abstract open document)

Voluntary and community organisations are fundamental to society because they are major stakeholders in building the social capital that underpins healthy and well-functioning communities. Yet many of these organisations are small and possess limited resources when measured against the challenges and needs that they address. This raises the issue of the capacity of organisations within the sector to operate effectively. Within the range of capacity issues, governance is consistently rated as an area requiring development. This research seeks to contribute to a better understanding of issues impacting on the governance capacity of voluntary and community sector organisations within the overall context of capacity building. A focused study in the Taranaki region examines the factors impacting on the governance of community organisations providing social services. The research identifies the level of governance capacity demonstrated within the organisations studied and also explores the level of awareness around the need to enhance governance capacity. The research examines a range of frameworks and models used to build governance capacity to see if they could be adapted for the Taranaki region. The study suggests that, although a number of frameworks and models are useful, every situation is different, and models must be responsive to the social and cultural context and the particular history and mission of each organisation. As a result, the study concludes that further work should be undertaken to develop a model of governance for the voluntary and community sector.

Voluntary and community organisations are fundamental to society because they are major stakeholders in building the social capital that underpins healthy and well-functioning communities. Yet many of these organisations are small and possess limited resources when measured against the challenges and needs that they address. This raises the issue of the capacity of organisations within the sector to operate effectively. Within the range of capacity issues, governance is consistently rated as an area requiring development. This research seeks to contribute to a better understanding of issues impacting on the governance capacity of voluntary and community sector organisations within the overall context of capacity building. A focused study in the Taranaki region examines the factors impacting on the governance of community organisations providing social services. The research identifies the level of governance capacity demonstrated within the organisations studied and also explores the level of awareness around the need to enhance governance capacity. The research examines a range of frameworks and models used to build governance capacity to see if they could be adapted for the Taranaki region. The study suggests that, although a number of frameworks and models are useful, every situation is different, and models must be responsive to the social and cultural context and the particular history and mission of each organisation. As a result, the study concludes that further work should be undertaken to develop a model of governance for the voluntary and community sector.