published_or_final_version / Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

This study was aimed at analysing structural relations between the State and the non-governmental organizations (NGO) sector. It focused on the relations between two NGOs, namely the Labour Research Service and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa on the one hand and the National Development Agency on the other. The National Development Agency is a State intermediary structure established to facilitate funding and policy dialogue between the State and the NGO sector. The three institutions have been included in order to analyse the way in which a state-designed institution relates with NGOs and in turn the NGOs responded in general.

非政府社會服務機構作為第三部門，於社會福利服務擔當重要角色。由於近年的全球化引致社會問題性質複雜化，以及本地政經環境的挑戰，令非政府社會服務機構面對不少前所未有的困難。如能有效掌握建制對機構的規範、與提供資源者互相依存的關係，將有助機構成功的生存和發展。 / 管理者與前線社會工作者是兩群主要面對上述困難的相關人員，他們如何理解現況、管理者會作出何種應對策略、前線社工又如何反應等都是值得深入研究的課題。 / 管理者及前線社會工作者是本研究的主要研究對象，本研究成功訪問了17位管理者及11 位前線社會工作者。研究發現管理者普遍關心機構的財政穩健情況。基於管理者的關注角度，機構所採納的策略傾向是配合建制規範、擴展服務及資源、提升資助者及服務使用者對機構的信任度。可是這等機構策略卻換來前線社會工作者的負面回應，尤其被認為是導致低工作滿足感及士氣低落的成因。前線社工關心的是專業形象及個人的身心健康。除了注重制度化的認受性及爭取資源外，本研究建議機構宜多促進前線社工對機構使命及目標的共同承擔。此外有鑑機構於公民社會的參與及倡導工作承擔的有限性，建議宜提升此方面的關注。 / It is generally agreed that Non-Governmental Social Service Organizations (NGSSOs) play specific roles as part of the third sector in the process of social welfare service provision. However, due to the globalized and structural nature of the emerging social problems, as well as the local challenges, NGSSOs are experiencing difficulties in reaching their goals and performing their missions. To manage well the institutional rules and the interdependent relation with the environment may lead to effective organizational survival and development. Management staff as well as frontline social workers are two major parties who may have significant responses upon these challenges and difficulties. How these two groups perceive the current situation, how management staff decide to adopt whichever kind of organizational strategies; whereas how frontline social workers respond to these organization policies are areas worth for study. / In this study, organization leaders and frontline social workers were selected as the study target. A total of 17 management staff and 11 frontline social workers were interviewed. It is revealed that NGSSO management staff concern most with the financial stability and viability of their organizations. Under such an orientation, organizational strategies adopted by these leaders relate largely to compromising to institutional rules, expanding services and resources, and increasing organizational credibility among funders and service users. These organization-wide behaviors have turned out to have negative effects on job satisfaction and work atmosphere among frontline social workers. Comparing to their supervisor counterpart, they concern more about their professional identity and subjective well being. / Apart from gaining institutional legitimacy and environment resources, it is recommended that NGSSOs may put extra effort in promoting shared mission and organizational goals among their frontline staff. It was also found that representing civil society and doing advocacy work do not take high priority among NGSSO informants. It is suggested that NGSSOs focus more on this area and readjust the balance of being a service provider and an active member of civil society. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Au, Kit Ying Anita = 香港非政府社會服務機構的機構生存與發展策略 / 區潔盈. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 313-348). / Abstracts also in Chinese; appendixes includes Chinese. / Au, Kit Ying Anita = Xianggang fei zheng fu she hui fu wu ji gou de ji gou sheng cun yu fa zhan ce lüe / Qu Jieying.

In rural China, when approaching the end of nine-year compulsory schooling, students face four equally popular post-compulsory education decisions (PCED): dropout, work after graduation, vocational high school, and academic high school. The literature tends to simply treat PCED as dichotomous (continue vs. leave school), and there is a geographical research imbalance favoring inner China. An increasing volume of studies also suggest that traditionally recognized factors like socioeconomic status and academic performance are not as influential as before in advancing the schooling. People have started to look at socio-emotional support, such as the promotion of self-discipline and confidence. At present, it is grassroots NGOs (GNGO) who take the major responsibility for providing this type of support in rural China, and there is rare discussion of achievements, let alone evaluation of practical impact. Given the existing problems, the key research questions of this study are: (1) What are the current PCED determinants for China’s rural students? More specifically, what are the PCED determinants for lower secondary students in rural Guangdong, a coastal province? (2) How can GNGO intervention affect PCED by boosting certain subjective factor(s)? The tested treatment is the Lighthouse program, whose one-month summer camp aims to improve student attitudes towards their life, such as making them more confident, organized, and social. The key to answering the first question is to explore a comprehensive list of variables applying to local populations, which cannot be achieved simply through a literature review. When answering the second question, since Lighthouse participation is voluntary, it is important to deal with selection bias, to ensure that any identified Lighthouse impact results from its activities rather than the student characteristics that lead to their participation. To overcome these methodological challenges, I first employed the Delphi approach. Delphi is an iterative process used to collect and distill the judgments of experts using a series of questionnaires interspersed with feedback. It is used to identify possible PCED determinants that are missing in the literature, to determine factors that lead to Lighthouse participation, and to collect discussions about both PCED determinants and GNGO intervention. Based on the Delphi results and literature, I then designed five questionnaires for students, households, teachers, principals, and Lighthouse volunteers. In Jun-Oct 2012, I led seven research assistants in conducting two waves of surveys in eight towns, building a firsthand dataset of 6298 valid observations with imputations. Multinomial logit was used to investigate PCED determinants. It predicted the PCED probabilities, given nine groups of independent variables. Propensity score matching was used to evaluate the program impact. It calculates the treatment propensity for each student based on their characteristics, so the Lighthouse impact can be compared between treated and untreated students of similar treatment propensity. Tests of robustness and heterogeneity were conducted after both methods. Qualitative materials collected from Delphi and on-site interviews were used to explore the causal mechanism. I use relative risk ratios to report the findings of PCED determinants. The findings challenge the existing literature regarding the roles of gender and parental background, further extend knowledge of monetary reward/cost and subjective factors, and confirm new possible determinants that have seldom been investigated in literature. The main model passes the robustness check, and there exist explainable heterogeneity effects. It is notable that education aspiration stands out as a strong PCED determinant, ceteris paribus. Propensity score matching shows that the Lighthouse program mainly affects PCED by boosting educational aspiration for students with high academic performance, although that impact fades gradually if there is no follow-up service. The novelty of the program to local people, volunteer team morale, and volunteer acceptance of Lighthouse training could help explain why increases in aspiration varied across sites. The role-model effect might explain why the increase in aspiration exists, as there are signs that the students tried to copy the volunteer’s schooling decision once trust was built. This study makes three major contributions. It can be translated into comprehensive advocacy for education policies related to PCED, such as dropout prevention and the promotion of VHS. It may also suggest the value of, or at least the required improvement to, China’s educational GNGOs, which are young and remain confined by governmental regulations. Last but not least, this is a unique showcase of how qualitative-quantitative sequential mixed-method works better in exploratory analyses. The study has limitations in timing, missing data, external validity, implementation of research methods, and heavy rely on self-reported questionnaires, but they can be largely eliminated by conducting proper further studies.

Islam Md. Saiful. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 175-181). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract / Abstract in Chinese --- p.ii / Acknowledgements --- p.iii / Note --- p.iv / List of Figures --- p.ix / List of Plates --- p.x / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction --- p.1 / Statement of the Problem / Literature Review / Chapter - --- "Minority Groups, NGOs and Development Issues" / Chapter - --- Education Among Minority Groups / Chapter - --- Minority Groups as Discriminated and Stigmatized / Chapter - --- Fighting Against Discrimination: The Art of Resistance / Methodology / Chapter - --- Selecting the NGOs / Chapter - --- Finding the Field Site / Chapter - --- Settling / Chapter - --- From Padri through Sir to Dada: Rapport Buildup / Chapter - --- How I Collected Data / Chapter - --- Pains and Pleasures of Fieldwork / Chapter - --- Limitations of the Study / Structure of the Thesis / Chapter Chapter Two --- "Barind Tract of Northwest Bangladesh: The Villages Studied, Ecology and Cultural Mosaic" --- p.37 / The Study Villages: A Brief Profile / Chapter - --- Ruposhi: A Santal Village / Chapter - --- Fulpur: An Oraon Village / Northwest Bangladesh: Ecology and Implications / People of Barind Tract: The Cultural Mosaic / The Santal and the Oraon: From Historical Context to the Present Situation / Chapter Chapter Three --- "NGOs in Bangladesh: Growth, Rhetoric and Realities" --- p.56 / The Growth of NGOs in Bangladesh: A Brief Overview / Chapter - --- NGOs and Their Achievements / Chapter - --- The Rhetoric Behind the Reality: Challenges and problems of the NGOs / Prochesta: A Minority-run NGO / Chapter - --- "Goals, Objectives and Programmes of Prochesta" / Chapter - --- Organizational Structure of Prochesta / Unnoyan: A Bengali-run NGO / Chapter - --- "Vision, Mission and Programmes of Unnoyan" / Chapter - --- Unnoyan: Organizational Structure / Chapter Chapter Four --- "Minority Groups, Economic Livelihood and NGOs" --- p.79 / Agrarian Economy with Single Crop Cultivation / Land Ownership and Patterns of Tenancy / Agriculture and Food Sufficiency: A General Calculation / Supplementing Household Income / Economic Support: The Santal and Prochesta / The Oraon and Unnoyan in Promoting Economic Livelihood / "Minority Groups, Economic Livelihood and the Role of NGOs" / Chapter Chapter Five --- "Education Among Minority Groups: The Santal, The Oraon and The NGOs" --- p.114 / The General Situation of Education Among Minority People in the Study Villages / Dropout From the School: Minority Point of View / Medium of Instruction for Minority Students: The Dilemmas of Monolingualism / The Santal and Prochesta in Promoting Education / "The Oraon, Unnoyan and Education" / Chapter - --- Primary Education for the Oraon Children / Chapter - --- Lahanti: The Adult Education Programme / Chapter - --- Preparing Curriculum in Oraon Language: The Action Research Project / "Minority Groups, Education and the NGOs" / Chapter Chapter Six --- Minority Groups and Fighting Against Discrimination: The Art of Resistance and the Involvement of NGOs --- p.144 / Everyday Discrimination Encountered by Minority People: Nature and Pervasiveness / Fighting Against Discrimination and the Involvement of NGOs / Chapter - --- The Santal and Prochesta in Fighting Against Discrimination / Chapter - --- The Oraon and Unnoyan in Fighting Against Discrimination / Minority Groups and the Role NGOs in Fighting Against Discrimination / Chapter Chapter Seven --- Conclusion --- p.164 / Bibliography --- p.175

Ng King Sau. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-147). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.iii / 論文摘要 --- p.iv / Acknowledgements --- p.v-vi / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Research Background --- p.1-3 / Chapter 1.2 --- Research Questions --- p.3-5 / Chapter 1.3 --- Research Significance --- p.5-7 / Chapter 1.4 --- Overview of the Research --- p.7-9 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Literature Review / Chapter 2.1 --- Definition of Civil Society --- p.10-16 / Chapter 2.2 --- The Idea of Global Civil Society --- p.16-19 / Chapter 2.3 --- Development of Chinese Civil Society --- p.19-23 / Chapter 2.4 --- Development of Global Civil Society in China --- p.23-26 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Analytical Framework and Methodology / Chapter 3.1 --- Structural Level of Analysis --- p.21-29 / Chapter 3.2 --- Organizational Level of Analysis --- p.29-33 / Chapter 3.3 --- Individual Level of Analysis --- p.33-34 / Chapter 3.4 --- Definition of Culture --- p.34-40 / Chapter 3.5 --- Methodology --- p.40-45 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Global Civil Society: The case of Greenpeace / Chapter 4.1. --- A History of Greenpeace --- p.46-47 / Chapter 4.2. --- The Mission of Greenpeace --- p.47 / Chapter 4.3 --- The Resources of Greenpeace --- p.48-49 / Chapter 4.4. --- Organizational Structure of Greenpeace: a M-form organization --- p.49-52 / Chapter 4.5. --- Global Strategy of Greenpeace --- p.52-56 / Chapter 4.6 --- Background of Establishment of China Office --- p.56-57 / Chapter 4.7 --- Greenpeace China I: An Introduction to the Hong Kong Unit --- p.57-58 / Chapter 4.8 --- Greenpeace China II: An Introduction to the Beijing Unit --- p.58-60 / Chapter 4.9 --- Greenpeace China III: An Introduction to the Guangzhou Unit --- p.60-62 / Chapter 4.10 --- Conclusion --- p.62-63 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Guangzhou Unit: Process and Mechanisms of Cultural Diffusion / Chapter 5.1 --- Structural Level of Analysis: An Introduction of Guangzhou --- p.64-69 / Chapter 5.2 --- Organizational Level of Analysis: Cooperation with local civil society and local authorities --- p.69-82 / Chapter 5.3 --- Individual Level of Analysis: Social Remittance Theory and Opinion Leader --- p.82-83 / Chapter 5.4 --- Conclusion --- p.83-84 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Before Change: Development of Traditional Chinese Civic Culture / Chapter 6.1 --- Chinese Civility: From Traditional to Contemporary China --- p.85-88 / Chapter 6.2 --- Compare Chinese Civility to Western Civility --- p.88-92 / Chapter 6.3 --- Conclusion --- p.92-93 / Chapter Chapter 7 --- After Change: Success and Constraints on Cultural Change / Chapter 7.1 --- Diffusion of the Consciousness of Civil Rights --- p.94-100 / Chapter 7.2 --- Diffusion of the Consciousness of Social Rights --- p.100-102 / Chapter 7.3 --- Diffusion of the Consciousness of Political Participation --- p.102-104 / Chapter 7.4 --- Diffusion of the Consciousness of Community Participation --- p.104-112 / Chapter 7.5 --- Constraints --- p.112-117 / Chapter 7.6 --- Conclusion --- p.117-120 / Chapter Chapter 8 --- Conclusion / Chapter 8.1 --- Globalness and Cultural Change --- p.121-122 / Chapter 8.2 --- Roles Played by Local Civil Society --- p.122-123 / Chapter 8.3 --- Culturla Change led by Greenpeace --- p.124-128 / Chapter 8.4 --- Reflections and Implications --- p.128-129 / Appendix I --- p.130-131 / Appendix II --- p.132-135 / Appendix III --- p.136 / Appendix IV --- p.137 / Bibliography --- p.138-147

The research found that MRPO is helpful for environmental protection and poverty alleviation in rural areas. The poor get pay through working for the project of MROP, but it is too little to help them move out of poverty. However, owning some forestry land may give them sustainable income and help them move out of poverty. The project can raise the public environmental consciousness, and improve the natural environment observably, but do not work well in pollution reduction. / The study identified different types of public participation and asset ownerships which have different impacts on the success of the program. There were two participation modes (market-oriented participation and official-led participation) and two types of asset ownership (household ownership and the common ownership). We found that market-oriented participation and household ownership was more effective for poverty elimination and environmental protection than official-led participation and the common ownership. This study suggests that for improving the performance of the program, NGOs should use market-oriented participation when implementing the program, and distribute the asset ownership of the project's outcomes to the poor family when the program is finished. Finally, this study puts forward some specific recommendations in relation to social welfare policies, social work practice, and project implementation to promote the development of NGOs in environmental protection and poverty alleviation in China. / This paper is a case study on an environmental and poverty alleviation program, namely Mother River Protection Operation (MRPO), launched by China Youth Development Foundation (CYDF) in 1999. CYDF hopes to address environmental concerns and alleviate poverty through the implementation of this program in poor rural regions of China. The study, based on a survey of 833 persons in four projects of MROP and interviews with 25 farmers and project staffs, evaluated the performance of the program, and analyzed the factors influencing the program outcomes. The four projects respectively lie in four provinces of China, which are Hebei province, Mongolia province, Sichuan province and Guangdong province. / 劉洲鴻. / 顯微膠片卷端, 作者名誤作"ZHOUHONG, Liu" / 論文(哲學博士)--香港中文大學, 2007. / 參考文獻(p. 438-461). / Xian wei jiao pian juan duan, zuo zhe ming wu zuo "ZHOUHONG, Liu" / Adviser: Kwong-Leung Tang. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-11, Section: A, page: 4867. / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Lun wen (zhe xue bo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2007. / Can kao wen xian (p. 438-461). / Liu Zhouhong.

Yick, Man Kin. / "August 2011." / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [193]-212). / Abstracts in English and Chinese; appendix includes Chinese. / Abstract in English --- p.iii / Abstract in Chinese --- p.v / Acknowledgement --- p.vii / Contents --- p.x / Abbreviations --- p.xiii / "Lists of Tables, figures and graph" --- p.xv / Chapter Section 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Purpose of the study --- p.4 / Chapter Section 2 --- Historical development of social welfare sector and YWCA --- p.5 / Conceptualizing NGOs --- p.5 / Early colonial period to WWII: Formation of charity organization under minimal welfare provision of the government --- p.7 / Post-WWII to 1960s: Government in need of SSOs for relief work and against communism --- p.9 / 1960s to 1990s: Expansion of social welfare and state incorporation of SSOs --- p.10 / From the 1990s: Towards a contractual relationship between SSOs and government in uncertain times --- p.12 / YWCA has followed the footsteps of social service sector --- p.16 / Chapter Section 3 --- Conceptualizing legitimacy repair --- p.18 / Why legitimacy? --- p.18 / Conceptualizing and defining legitimacy --- p.20 / Typology of legitimacy --- p.22 / Measurements of legitimacy --- p.25 / Legitimacy repair --- p.25 / Stakeholder and stakeholder politics --- p.28 / Chapter Section 4 --- Analytical framework --- p.32 / Determinants of degree of consistency of legitimacy repair strategies --- p.32 / Chapter Section 5 --- Methodology --- p.35 / A longitudinal single case study --- p.35 / A qualitative research --- p.36 / Why TO YWCA? --- p.36 / Research method --- p.37 / Field roles and field relations --- p.39 / Informant selection --- p.40 / A note on the role of media --- p.41 / Ethical issues in this study --- p.42 / Chapter Section 6 --- The setting: Tai 0 --- p.43 / The administrative-political setting --- p.48 / Local associations in Tai O --- p.51 / Chapter Section 7 --- Legitimacy challenge on YWCA during 1988 District Board election --- p.53 / Entry of YWCA --- p.53 / Struggle in 1988 District Board election --- p.63 / YWCA after the election: Formal complaint by TORC and its repair strategies --- p.73 / Chapter Section 8 --- The River Crab Saga from 2008 to 2010 --- p.75 / The two floodings in brief --- p.75 / What were TORC's challenges to YWCA? --- p.76 / Response of YWCA: Apology to TORC and adoption of a softer work strategy of community work --- p.85 / A turn to expression of regret under public scrutiny --- p.88 / The effect of the Saga on Tai O community: TO YWCA and pro-TOYWCA residents --- p.99 / The effect of the Saga on YWCA --- p.100 / Chapter Section 9 --- Discussion --- p.102 / Differences of the two disputes in terms of stakeholder identification and analysis --- p.102 / Explaining the difference of repair strategies of YWCA legitimacy between the two controversies --- p.114 / What factors could link up pro-Beijing and rural forces since the 1990s? --- p.136 / "Advantages of binding together: elections, mobilization, and interests" --- p.140 / Chapter Section 10 --- Conclusion --- p.157 / The case and argument revisited --- p.157 / Theoretical input --- p.163 / Significance of the study --- p.164 / Research limitations --- p.168 / Suggestions for further research --- p.169 / Chapter Appendix 1 --- Informant characteristics and selection process --- p.172 / Informant characteristics --- p.172 / Informant selection process --- p.177 / Chapter Appendix 2 --- Newspaper reports on 1988 DB election --- p.179 / Chapter Appendix 3 --- Chronology of the 2008 River Crab Saga --- p.180 / Chapter Appendix 4 --- Debates over disaster relief process in 2008 in detail --- p.183 / Chapter Appendix 5 --- Letter of complaint to LegCo Redress System --- p.189 / References --- p.193

This study was aimed at analysing structural relations between the State and the non-governmental organizations (NGO) sector. It focused on the relations between two NGOs, namely the Labour Research Service and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa on the one hand and the National Development Agency on the other. The National Development Agency is a State intermediary structure established to facilitate funding and policy dialogue between the State and the NGO sector. The three institutions have been included in order to analyse the way in which a state-designed institution relates with NGOs and in turn the NGOs responded in general.

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have been criticised for depoliticising development through focusing on alleviating suffering rather than on addressing the root causes of poverty and underdevelopment. This research explores whether and how NGOs can act in ways that do not depoliticise development. The research focuses on education NGOs and in particular on the NGO GADRA education in Grahamstown, South Africa, to provide insights into ways in which politically conscious leadership of NGOs attempt to deal with the contradictions that are inherent in this field of work. This research provides a brief history of the South African Education system as a means to set a basis for the discussion of the role of education NGOs in the country. Furthermore it looks at the work that is done by GADRA education in the Grahamstown community. The thesis makes the argument that education NGOs can act in ways that do not depoliticise development because by providing access to education for people who are structurally excluded from education, they contribute to shifting power. This research found that although the leadership of GADRA Education acknowledge that they are confronted with great challenges in terms of how to bring about changes in the education system, they are hopeful that advocating for quality education will bring about the potential for the disruption of power relations as they exist between the state organs and the public.