This study entails an examination of the extent of participation by the non-governmental organisations in the legislative process of the KwaZulu Natal legislature. It aims to explore how far these NGOs have taken advantage of the new South African polity based on transparency, openness and accountability. It is hypothesised that organised groups such as these have been very much involved in government decision- making process, since the start of the new democratic South Africa in 1994. This study, however, proves, that there is very minimal public participation and especially NGO participation in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature and in government in general. It further uncovers are various problems experienced by these NGOs in trying to participate in the legislative process. The legislature's inaccessibility was seen as one of the major inhibiting factors. Apathy and lack of interest in the legislative process was also identified as a problem among these NGOs. This study has raised many issues that both the NGO sector and the KZN legislature itself have to address in order that our newly founded democracy can be truly nurtured. This study is divided into two parts in which Part One explores literature on democracy, the policy making process and civil society to help give a clear indication on what various authors think should be the input of civil society in the policy making process of any democratic country. The second part looks at the South African situation and the findings of this study. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

Throughout the Europe, special attention is paid to the development, provision and design of electronical services. Experience of foreign countries proposes that e-education plays a significant role both in social development and the development of country or its regions in economical, cultural and other aspects. Goal of work: to analyze the influence of the provided services of e-education to the social development in the municipal level.

This study aims to advance the understanding of Digital Opportunity Trust’s (DOT) value proposition by characterizing the ‘modus operandi’ and to develop a method to explore the impact of entrepreneurship in the developing (or under-developed) regions of the world undertaken by Digital Opportunity Trust. DOT is an initiative to help reduce poverty, and to achieve greater social and economic stability by empowering people with skills and knowledge by utilizing new technologies in their communities. Prior research suggests the adaptation of ‘Information and Communication Technology’(ICT) and technological advancement as a means of addressing 500 million people worldwide, those residing at the ‘bottom of the pyramid’ (Prahalad, 2005) for an effective social transformation. “Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT)” is one of the not-for-profit (NFP) / non-governmental organizations (NGO), which strives to accomplish this goal by blending ‘entrepreneurial’ education with ‘corporate social responsibility’ to foster new ventures that use digital communications technology. DOT is operating in eleven (11) countries for more than eight (8) years now, rendering it important to validate and evaluate the extent to which Information and Communication Technology ICT allows people in poor communities to exchange knowledge, and to compete with new enterprise. Personal interviews (Case Study Methodology) with DOT’s executives, staff, interns and contractors were arranged to gather insightful information and to characterize the value proposition. The aim is to gather estimates of achievement for each of the defining attributes (‘as things are’ to reflect present achievement and ‘as things could be’ to reflect how far the attribute might be ‘pushed’). While it must be the responsibility of DOT’s leaders to articulate formally its value proposition, evidence gathered in this case study points in possible directions. For example, DOT’s value proposition is based on a humanitarian goal and a win-win situation that benefits the people of underdeveloped regions as well as DOT itself. DOT does not merely advance monetary aid to the poor regions of the world; rather it creates a model of economical sustainability. It empowers people by imparting technical prowess and training to them. This not only keeps them abreast of the whole world, but also helps improve their quality of life. DOT provides technological initiatives and programs in developing areas, while adhering effectively to accountability structure. Multinational companies and not-for-profit organizations can gain useful and practical knowledge from DOT’s experience. DOT brings an edge to entrepreneurship by advocating productivity and skill, especially in technological fields. The poor man’s plight turns into a healthy, industrious skill. An emerging paradigm for creating shared value suggests that this is precisely the model worldwide corporations should invest in and apply in these ever-challenging economic times.

<p>Social welfare services are essential for development of human capital and eradication of poverty in South Africa generally. Social welfare plays a pivotal role in enabling the impoverished and vulnerable communities and households to lead their lives through provision of care, social relief, stability and human resource development. Non-Governmental Organisations form an integral part of the welfare system through their formal and informal welfare and residential and non-residential welfare services. The role of the NGOs becomes imperative precisely because of their inherent empathy and proximity to the communities they serve. Government itself has been engaged in the process of transformation and the same challenges of transformation, governance, and effectiveness still profound the NGO sector. Notwithstanding the contribution of the NGOs in the welfare system, it is crucial to scrutinise the nature of their work and the rate of transformation to flourish in the democratic dispensation. To enhance the process of transformation in the NGO sector, government passed a plethora of policies and legislative requirements, inter alia, White Paper for Social Welfare 1997, Non-Profit Organisations Act of 1997. The intent of this research therefore, was to establish the significance of transformation and inherent issues of governance, effectiveness and efficiency in service delivery and sustainability of the nature of social welfare services rendered by the NGO sector in the Western Cape, particularly the Worcester district.</p>

This thesis critically compares how domestic human rights NGOs (DNGOs) in the United States, Britain and Germany use (or mobilise) law to enforce human rights standards and proposes a method to measure their effectiveness in doing so. To do this it draws upon both case studies and literature from many disciplines. On the basis of the data and the literature it finds that, despite their great diversity, DNGOs in each jurisdiction show general similarities in their ???styles??? of operation and use of the law. It also finds that their effectiveness in enforcing human rights can be ascertained with reasonable accuracy and that a DNGO???s size and access to resources does not necessarily correlate with its effectiveness. The context in which the above questions were investigated was one in which there existed very little literature that examined the work of DNGOs (as opposed to international NGOs) as well as few theoretical approaches that would allow their activities to be critically examined and compared. It was also a context in which there was a great deal of discussion in the literature about the crucial importance of DNGOs in human rights enforcement and a growing suspicion that Globalisation might be making their role even more important than it was in the past. To address these issues the author used case studies to supply the necessary detail and a method using ???ideal types??? to assess the data. He also proposed a method to measure DNGO effectiveness so that the case studies could be more thoroughly compared and their true success in human rights enforcement revealed. Despite the incredible diversity among DNGOs the author was able to draw a few useful conclusions about how successful DNGOs operate. In response to these conclusions the author proposed that one possible route by which DNGOs could improve their effectiveness was to transplant their characteristics between jurisdictions. The author also found some evidence that Globalisation was having an effect on DNGOs and proposed some ways in which individual case studies could take advantage of this.

Thesis (MPhil (Information Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / South Africa’s ten year old democracy puts great emphasis on being a participatory government, where citizens are able to engage with the policy and legislative process. An important aspect of this is the role played by Parliament which is not only the place where citizens are able to make their voices heard, but is also an important mechanism in keeping the government in line with the views and needs of the “people”. Its role of oversight (of the government departments) is a critical one in keeping the democracy intact, and an important part of this is their ability to access and use information from a wide range of sources. The purpose of this assignment was to consider the current use of information in Parliament and identify the flaws in the management and use of information by Parliamentary Committees. A number of questions are posed, questioning whether the current management and use of information allows Parliamentary Committees to fulfill their obligations in terms of the Constitution. In exploring these questions I have provided background to the role that NGOs have played in the past in South Africa, with specific reference to their relationship to Parliament/government and their expertise in the area of sustainable development. I have explained the role of Parliament (and more specifically the Parliamentary Committees in South Africa), as envisaged in the Constitution, as well as the problems facing Parliament in fulfilling these roles. I also indicated the ways in which civil society organizations could assist Parliament in fulfilling its role as effectively as possible. After considering the various theories of information and knowledge management a model was built on which the current information behaviors of Parliamentarians, specifically with regard to their work in the Committees, could be evaluated. Various key problems were identified and elaborated on. A strategy was outlined to address some of these problems.

L'action humanitaire a connu un développement exponentiel au sein de la société internationale au cours de ces dernières années. Multiplication des résolutions humanitaires votées par les Nations unies, mise en place d'une justice pénale internationale chargée de réprimer les violations du droit international humanitaire, émergence de la responsabilité de protéger impliquant un recours à la force à des fins humanitaires, développement des organisations non gouvernementales en sont les manifestations majeures. Toutefois, la portée de ces évolutions récentes de l'action humanitaire tant sur le plan de la normativité que de l'opérationnalité est à relativiser. Si les insuffisances du droit de Genève ont pleinement justifié l'émergence d'un droit de New York, ce droit de nature essentiellement déclaratoire éprouve de réelles difficultés à palier les lacunes du droit de Genève. En outre, la mise en oeuvre contemporaine de l'action humanitaire, soulève de nombreux questionnements juridiques liés aux modalités et aux conditions de mise en oeuvre. La présente étude a pour objet d'analyser les évolutions et les limites du cadre juridique de l'action humanitaire afin de faire des propositions pour améliorer la condition juridique des victimes des catastrophes humanitaires. / Humanitarian action has seen such an exponential growth in international society in recent years that humanitarianism seems to be carrying increasing weight in international relations. Some of the main examples of this phenomenon are the increased number of humanitarian resolutions passed by the United Nations, the creation of an international court of justice to reprimand violations of international humanitarian law, the emergence of a sense of responsibility to ensure protection by means of force for humanitarian purposes, and the development of non-governmental organizations. However, the scope of these recent developments in humanitarianism, on both the normative and operational levels, needs to be put into perspective. Indeed, while the shortcomings of Geneva law fully justify the emergence of New York law, this essentially declaratory law faces real challenges in overcoming the short comings in Geneva law. Further more, humanitarian action as it has been carried out in recent years gives rise to a number of legal questions relating to the conditions under which such action is taken. This study aims at analyzing the developments and limits of the humanitarian action legal framework, in order to put forward proposals for improving the legal position of the victims of humanitarian disasters.

South Africa is living is turbulent times at present. Non-government educational organisations are challenged by changes in education policy and by scarcity of donor funding for their work. This study focuses on the management of organisation change in a non-government organisation (NGO) working in rural areas of the Eastern Cape Province. I undertook the research to gain a clearer understanding of the management of organisational change. I used a third-wave change management approach, the future search conference, to conduct the process of change with the NGO. It focuses on the positive aspects of the organisation, its potential and its desired future. I conducted both the study and the future search conference as participatory action research, which involved the participants in the cycles of planning, action, observation and reflection and thus built ownership of the solutions they generated. I used the accounts of the activities arising from the future search conference, minutes of meetings, semistructured interviews and observation of behaviour to gather data. I analysed the data using triangulation, and in particular, space triangulation, to minimise the impact of the differences in culture and language use in the facilitator and participants. Analysis of the data collected revealed in the NGO that change and transformation are slow processes requiring ongoing support from the OD consultant. The staff defined organisational effectiveness, the goal of organisational change initiatives, in terms of fundraising ability. This ability embraces many of the qualities of a learning organisation and open systems thinking, two requirements for successful organisational change. In the NGO both organisation development and transformation were processes as well as products, and changes could not easily be measured until after the processes were completed. Organisational culture, and in particular the juxtaposition of the values of the organisation and staff and those of its partners and clients, played an important role in transformation. The differences lay in a ‘being’ and a ‘task’ orientation and the staff’s responsibility lay in building connections between the two. The staff received the approach of the future search conference well and there was an equally good fit between the future search conference and participatory action research. This needs to be investigated further with regard to change management in South African organisations.

This thesis relates the work of a non-governmental organisation, The Spirals Trust, to discussions on human and participatory development. The focus of the study is one of The Spirals Trust’s projects, the 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project, which is discussed in relation to theoretical material on human development and participatory development. Collectively these perspectives are defined in this thesis as ‘participatory human development’. The 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project illustrates some of the challenges that face the practice of participatory human development. Workshops and focus group interviews were conducted with participants who were part of the 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project in order to draw out their experiences of the project. Questions were created from themes that emerged from the participants’ discussion of their experiences and these questions were then posed to members of staff of The Spirals Trust. The experiences of both the participants and the staff members are discussed in order to explore issues that emerge in the practice of participatory human development in the 2006/7 Tantyi Youth Empowerment Project. The results highlight the challenges of putting into action the tenets of participatory human development. Feedback showed that a focus on personal development can help cultivate the ethic of participation. The effort that this entailed on the part of facilitators is discussed. The importance of exposing and continually working with power dynamics that may emerge in projects of this nature is revealed and the eroding influence of bureaucratic compliance in projects like this one is explored. The study also suggests that there is a need to promote development initiatives that challenge the political status quo rather than just finding ways to incorporate the marginalised more effectively into current systems. New questions that the research poses to the practice of participatory human development are considered in conjunction with suggestions for further research.

Submitted by Renata Oliveira de Siqueira (siqueira.renataa@gmail.com) on 2017-01-15T15:10:43Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Renata Siqueira_19_09_2016.pdf: 4384855 bytes, checksum: 870b8380d293a6c9f5d6a9b69c57bb5b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rafael Aguiar (rafael.aguiar@fgv.br) on 2017-01-30T15:53:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Renata Siqueira_19_09_2016.pdf: 4384855 bytes, checksum: 870b8380d293a6c9f5d6a9b69c57bb5b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-02T18:36:51Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação Renata Siqueira_19_09_2016.pdf: 4384855 bytes, checksum: 870b8380d293a6c9f5d6a9b69c57bb5b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-19 / This paper presents an analysis of the way the third sector and non-governmental organizations - NGOs have been dialoguing with the public and the territory they serve, especially under the focus tool social diagnosis, instrument technically addresses social issues and causalities to the phenomena observed in the localities. Therefore, it is carried out a literature review on the tool and the Third institutionalized context Sector and NGOs and a picture of the realization of the Social Diagnosis by Instituto Bola Pra Frente 2016. / A presente dissertação apresenta uma análise sobre a forma com que o Terceiro Setor e as Organizações Não Governamentais – ONGs vêm dialogando com o público e com o território que atendem, principalmente sob o enfoque da ferramenta diagnóstico social, instrumento que aborda tecnicamente as questões sociais e as causalidades dos fenômenos observados nas localidades. Para tanto, é realizada uma revisão bibliográfica sobre a ferramenta e o contexto de institucionalização do Terceiro Setor e das ONGs, além do retrato da realização do Diagnóstico Social pelo Instituto Bola Pra Frente em 2016.