This dissertation thesis is trying to find and apply a political-geographical approach to the study of political activities of the civil society. At first, it searches it theoretically, for example on the bases of theories of democracy, relations among the state and civil society, social capital etc. It stresses an importance of an active role of a citizen as an actor in liberal democracy, in a complex society, but also a conflictful character or forms of a part of civil society, which, by its public control, finally contributes to strengthening and maintaining of democracy. It also admits a possible risk of conflict with representative democracy. The thesis tends towards those approaches which investigate the relationship of the civil society with the state and the commercial sphere, in which conflicts occur in the (public) space and about the space. Thereafter, the issue is studied empirically on the example of local and regional level in the Liberec Region, where impacts of a hierarchical level, a distance from the centre, the territory resettled after the Second World War and other possible geographical influencing factors. As the data source about the organisations and activities of the civil society the thesis uses namely these three items: (i) data from the Register of Economical Subjects...

The topic of this thesis is political socialization of selected former members of the Czech-German Youth Forum towards political participation and democratic citizenship. Four former members whose terms in office were between 2007 and 2009, but are still politically active were chosen. The objective of the thesis is to learn what competencies, values and thinking the Czech-German Youth Forum passed on the respondents for their further political participation and what the contextual and organisational circumstances were like within this process. In the theoretical part, selected factors of political participation towards democracy and political socialization of the youth during generally beneficial work in civil society organizations were presented. In the empirical part, qualitatively-acquired data were analyzed as they were obtained by means of interview. In the closing part, the findings were related to the theoretical framework of the thesis.

Magister Economicae - MEcon / In this mini-thesis, I explore what impact a particular project in Indonesia on strengthening micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has on economic development. I argue, firstly that the project makes a positive contribution to development and secondly that an approach which combines training programs and technical assistance with credit makes a greater contribution than training programs and technical assistance alone. I use the view that SMEs are very important for development as the basis of my argumentation. In spite of this, there is a lack of support for SMEs from the Indonesian government. This gap of support for SMEs was and is partially filled by non governmental organizations (NGOs). The NGOs support SMEs in dealing with problems such as the lack of working capital as well as the lack of knowledge about production, marketing, and management. I focused my field study on the USC-Satunama project. USC-Satunama is a non-governmental organization which works (amongst other activities) to strengthen SMEs. Its activities include the provision of training programs and technical assistance to improve the human capital of the entrepreneurs as well as providing credit. Training programs and technical assistance are provided to all the beneficiaries of the project. However, not all beneficiaries are provided with a credit facility. Therefore, the respective impact of the two different types of support, (i)' a combination of training programs and technical assistance with credit and (ii) training programs and technical assistance alone, can be explored. I use the improved welfare of the entrepreneurs indicated by the increase of their profits as yardstick to ascertain the impact of the project on development. The result of the field study is: the approach of the USC-Satunama project, according to which a training program and technical assistance are combined with credit, indeed makes a significant and positive contribution to the welfare of the entrepreneurs and thus it contributes to the development of Indonesia.

This study explores the relationship between journalists and NGOs in news making from a social exchange theory perspective. Drawing on semi-structured reconstruction interviews with journalists from Swedish media and representatives from the communications departments of Swedish NGOs, it examines motivations, contextual influences, and trust building processes that shape the relationship. The findings from the thematic analysis suggest three main characteristics of the journalist-NGO relationship. Firstly, the actors are motivated to interact due to a mutual dependency despite having separate goals. Secondly, the interactions are marked by an initiative imbalance caused by the contextual norm of a ruling media logic. Thirdly, trustworthiness is established between the actors through successful social exchanges which tend to reoccur and rationalize professional processes, ergolong-term relations lead to trust and efficacy. This thesis further concludes that journalists hold an upper hand in the news making process which NGOs accommodate to be recognized by media. Simultaneously, the NGOs play an important part in supplementing and substituting journalistic shortages which enhances their influence on news content. This leads to a relationship of mutual dependency which is sustained through reciprocal social exchanges that build trust and enable efficiency on both an interpersonal micro level, and an organizational meso level.

Emerging countries have enriched supply chains of influential multinational organizations. Business in emerging markets have led to both positive and negative outcomes. Stakeholders have a strong impact in emerging markets in relation to local communities. There have been lots of research connecting stakeholder responsibility with sustainability. Those studies have been the inspiration for this study. This research recognizes how stakeholders can contribute in the emerging market through the help of third parties. The study models the relation between CSR and stakeholders. The risk factor is more pronounces in some industries more than others, so this study primarily seeks to examine how risk factors can be mitigated in the Bangladesh garments industry.  In this case study, the qualitative method was approached and followed up by semi-structured interviews to answer the research question. The interview was held in various organizations, and 13 respondents shared their experiences through interviews. Six of the interviewees were managers from different parts of ready-made garments business and operations functions. The rest of the interviewees belong to the production floor. The interviewees answered questions related to the importance of buyers, safety regulations, and NGOs in the industry. From the findings, thematic analysis was conducted. Based on the findings, the study has concluded that engagement of third parties can impact work conditions in the examined setting. The importance of audit is underscored by in the data and seems to be instrumental for efforts of preventing accidents. To successfully develop an industry without creating negative effects on society, stakeholders need to be more involved in the safety of factory workers. Approaching this issue with third party involvement can be a useful solution for the buyer. / <p>Confidential</p>

This thesis discusses the extent to which non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in postcolonial countries work with religious institutions to promote social and economic development. Through postcolonial theory, and by using a qualitative approach combined with a critical methodology, this thesis will examine the relationship between particular NGOs and religion in the countries in which they operate. More precisely, this thesis will consider whether it is helpful, or a hindrance to development if NGOs work cooperatively with religious leaders and institutions.

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The core issue of this thesis deals with the global issue of poverty and gender inequality inBangladesh. The research problem deals with the concept of empowerment in relation tomicrofinance loans as poverty alleviation strategies. The most developed theoreticalframework of empowerment in the microfinance field, developed by Naila Kabeer is utilised.This thesis analysed through a qualitative content method if Kabeer´s framework can beoperationalized to understand three of the most known MF-NGOs approach to women&amp;#39;sempowerment in Bangladesh. The findings were that the most common concepts to describeempowerment were linked to sustainability and building capacity. It was also found that thepractical approach was mostly found on a community level. The research further concludesthat it raises questions to what extent development work can address individuality. Though,concluding arguments hold that measuring and identifying when empowerment is achieved ishowever heavily evident to further fulfil microfinance promise of empowerment for womenin poverty.

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This unique and first-time research explores the parameters of effectiveness among HIV/AIDS and development NGO managers in India. The aim of this research has been investigate and explore how these managers perceive and view their own effectiveness at work. This research contextualises Analoui's Model (1999, 2002) of eight parameters of managerial effectiveness and three contextual factors, which explores and identifies the inter-relationship between the factors and causal influences which form the basis for their increased effectiveness. The methodology employed include qualitative semi-structured individual interviews with 16 NGOs managers and 2 focus-group interviews with 16 non-managerial staff. The results revealed a myriad of factors and influences concerning the NGO managers’ perception, managerial skills and competencies, organizations criteria for effectiveness, opportunities, demands and constraints involved, as well as the inter-organisational relationship and the dominant managerial philosophy of effectiveness. All the parameters of effectiveness and contextual factors of the Model (1999, 2002) apply and are suitable for this context, however, based on the main findings and in-depth discussions, the model has been adapted and modified in order to fit this unique and complex, highly diverse, holistic, multi-faceted and culturally specific context. The findings also indicate to numerous inter-linked factors both internally and externally of the NGOs and, include various training and development (T&D) needs for managers, with implications for the formation of adequate policies and implementation of relevant development programmes to improve and increase NGO managers effectiveness in India.