In the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, many indigenous communities further their struggles for greater political and cultural autonomy by working with transnational non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Communication technology (what I call comtech) is increasingly vital to these intersecting socio-spatial relations of activism and advocacy. In this dissertation, I examine how comtech offer indigenous individuals and organizations with the means for visualizing their political-cultural agendas. Approaching the access and use of comtech, especially video technologies, as a partial and situated technoscience, I inquire into how and why these activities reconfigure the production and evaluation of authoritative knowledge about indigenous peoples, places, and practices. More specifically, I undertook an organizational ethnography of a small intermediary NGO comprised of individuals who self-identify as indigenous and others who do not, Ojo de Agua Comunicacin Indgena, which endeavors to place communication technologies (especially video equipment) at the disposal of indigenous communities. Through participation-observation and interviews, I explored this groups everyday strategies of networking in the name of assisting indigenous actors access and appropriation of visual technologies. I also pursued interpretive analyses of video-mediated articulations of indigenous knowledge and identity that were enabled by Ojo de Agua. My research indicates that Ojo de Agua has selectively built upon the ambitions and the socio-spatial connections of a government program that emerged from the initiatives of academic advocates, who sought to open new spaces of participation for indigenous peoples. Members of Ojo de Agua have, however, found their goal of service somewhat stymied by a situation that positions them within a flexible labor force of knowledge workers. Their livelihoods as media makers did not allow them (the time or money) to pursue as much altruism and advocacy as they would have liked. Nonetheless, Ojo de Aguas corpus of videos established the group as an alternative and yet authoritative source of visual knowledge of indigenous peoples, places, and practices. This relocation of advocacy is symptomatic of the creative destruction fueled by the neo-liberal economic policies that, for the last thirty years, have been reconfiguring spaces of cooperation and conflict in Latin America.

This thesis examines the relationship between the Japanese government and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) involved in Official Development Assistance (ODA). Japanese NGOs are too easily co-opted into the mechanisms of state power, sometimes putting at risk the very objectives that ODA is meant to embody. Against this prevailing trend; however, some NGOs have rallied to resist and transform undemocratic ODA policies and practices, and challenge Japan’s traditional bureaucratic politics. Gramsci’s theory of state and civil society, which treats civil society as a field of contention between hegemony and counter-hegemony, provides a useful frame of reference to understand the contradictory role of Japanese NGOs. / Graduate

There is a growing body of literature arguing that NGOs are an important tool in the efforts of civil society to influence the actions of the State, especially in the process of economic development. NGOs are primarily seen as effective advocates for the less privileged sectors of civil society. This study examines the influence of local NGOs participation in the implementation of PLANAFLORO, a regional economic development program partially funded by the World Bank in the Brazilian state of Rondônia. This study focuses on four issues that are commonly used to justify the inclusion of NGOs in the development process: representativeness, accountability, autonomy and effectiveness. This study relies on three basic methods of data gathering: focused interviews of key informants, questionnaire-based surveys of different stake-holder groups, and information from secondary sources. This study’s results challenge the common wisdom regarding the positive impacts of NGO participation in economic development programs, and on their contribution to democratic governance. NGOs participating in PLANAFLORO faced great institutional and political difficulties in the process of participation. Many NGOs did not have either the institutional capabilities or the financial autonomy to influence the process of policy-making in PLANAFLORO effectively. Moreover, most NGOs did not have mechanisms of accountability to inform the program’s intended beneficiaries of the state of PLANAFLORO’s implementation. Finally, both the local State and the World Bank only reluctantly accepted the participation of NGOs in PLANAFLORO. This fact served to greatly limit the contribution of NGOs in PLANAFLORO. / Ph. D.

Previous research on expatriation has focused principally on managers in multi-national corporations. However, there is an acknowledged need to disaggregate the expatriate population in order to recognise the different contexts in which expatriation takes place. This thesis focuses on expatriation within the context of international development, evaluating the process and outcome of sociocultural adjustment in individual development workers. Development workers are an important type of expatriate to study. Their ability to adjust effectively to host cultures is increasingly important as NGOs face growing competition for funds alongside greater calls for accountability and increased demand for their services. Moreover, development work is theoretically challenging as a result of close contact with host nationals, a greater degree of cultural distance between home and host cultures, and the witnessing of poverty and inequity. A mixed method approach was employed in this thesis. Semi-structured interviews were used to evaluate the sociocultural adjustment experiences of expatriate development workers together with reflections on the contribution of their sending organisations. A postal survey was subsequently used to examine recruitment, selection and cross-cultural training practices in a broader sample of UK-based NGOs. This thesis makes its contribution by evaluating sociocultural adjustment in an under-researched expatriation context that is argued to be especially challenging both for the sending organisations and the individual expatriates. The findings identify a number of specific challenges, and provide a rich insight into the way in which these combine to influence the sociocultural adjustment of expatriate development workers and the adjustment outcomes that they achieve. Despite being a challenging context, the development workers in this study had all reached positive adjustment outcomes. The role of sending organisations was also examined, which indicated that recruitment, selection and cross-cultural training practices were shaped by pragmatic considerations. This was evidenced by an emphasis on recruitment sources and selection criteria that sought to identify qualified and experienced individuals with minimal training needs. Cross-cultural training focused on the provision of project and organisational inductions, supporting this interpretation. The findings led to the proposal of a model of sociocultural adjustment in expatriate development workers. The model emphasises the need to balance the use of other expatriates as a support mechanism with the effect of this on the individual’s relationship with host nationals. The model also identifies several factors that can simultaneously create tensions between expatriates and host nationals whilst driving the expatriate to seek support from other expatriates.

Thesis advisor: William A. Gamson / This work presents a longitudinal study of greater than 10 years, of all the major peace-building initiatives with an educational encounter-based approach in Israel and Palestine, during times of relative peace and times of acute violence (1993-2008). Interestingly, my results indicated that when the environment became more tumultuous and hostile, the effectiveness and even survival of these organizations depended to a significant degree on the ability of the organizations to manage the power asymmetry between the two sides and work as equally as possible. Organizations which failed to deal effectively with matters of equality, and the needs and desires of both sides, ended up struggling to maintain commitment, or were doused in conflict that could have been tempered if they strived for more equality. This study, which involved fieldwork, participant observation, and interviews with Palestinian and Israeli peace-builders prior to, during, and post-the 2nd Intifada, is in many ways a natural experiment of peace-building organizations operating in radically different contexts. Involving various fields, this research contributes to the broad fields of conflict resolution, peace studies, and organization studies. It offers critical insight into how organizations adapt in radically changing environments, what is problematic, what are their possibilities, and what allows some to survive while others do not. Practically speaking, this study also has political import as it suggests ways to strengthen and sustain peace-building efforts in different contexts and strengthen peace-building's symbolic, cultural, and political worth and value. In addition, it has significance for building sustainable coalitions across an arena of inequality, asymmetry, and difference. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

No description available.

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.

Martina Navratilova - Gender Policy of Serbia in the Context of EU Accession Negotiations Abstract This thesis deals with the gender policy of Serbia during the years 2009-2021. During this period, the European Union had a tremendous effect on the gender policies of Serbia, hence it is crucial to include the perspective of NGOs as an important partner of both Serbia and the EU. The aim of the research is to, based on the analysis and the current state of the legislative and institutional framework, assess the impact of Serbia's gender policies on the lives of Serbian women. This analysis is carried out through a thorough examination of official documents, secondary literature and by conducting three interviews with Serbian civil society members. The research has proven that despite the complex progress of Serbian gender policy, its practical results have not been significant.

No description available.

O objetivo do presente trabalho é analisar uma proposta de prática sócio-educativa de uma ONG chamada Fundação EPROCAD, buscando verificar as potencialidades e limites de suas estratégias socializadoras para a constituição das formas de ser, pensar e agir de jovens das camadas populares enquanto cidadãos. Neste sentido procurou-se: 1) constatar que tipo de disposições de habitus políticos a maioria dos jovens pesquisados possuía, classificando-os a partir das categorias cidadão passivo; sujeito à intervenção e sanção de uma ordem político-jurídica que lhe atribui deveres e direitos, mas que não são exercidos, nem questionados, e/ou cidadão ativo; que incorpora em suas disposições a vontade de participação nas esferas públicas de poder, reivindicando direitos e inserindo-se nas relações sociais transformando-as; 2) analisar a ONG a partir de sua história, missão, ações, objetivos, relações institucionais etc, procurando desvendar sua proposta em termos de socialização política dos jovens; 3) examinar a prática educativa desta instituição a partir do conteúdo abordado, das estratégias/ metodologias utilizadas, dos sujeitos envolvidos e do tipo de relação estabelecida entre eles, buscando comparar esta prática com o discurso da organização; e, por fim, 4) comparar o tipo de disposições de habitus políticos dos jovens pesquisados com o tipo de cidadão que a instituição se propõe a formar, para entender a) as potencialidades e limites do poder de socialização política da ONG sobre os jovens e, finalmente, b) que tipo de cidadão ela contribui para formar efetivamente. A pesquisa de campo se deteve em torno de documentos institucionais, da observação de campo, de entrevistas e do desenvolvimento de uma atividade de dramatização com alguns jovens alunos da ONG. Foi possível verificar que a contribuição da ONG no processo socialização política dos jovens é marcada por uma série de contradições, contribuindo de forma tímida, mas efetiva, para que alguns jovens constituam-se como cidadãos que mesclam características ativas e passivas em suas formas de ser, pensar e agir politicamente no mundo. / The objective of the present work is to analyze a proposal of practical social-educative of a NGO called Foundation EPROCAD, being searched to verify the potentialities and limits of its socializadoras strategies for the constitution of the forms of being, thinking and to act of young of the popular class while citizens. In this direction it was looked: 1) to evidence that type of politicians disposals of habitus the majority of the searched young heaved, classifying them from the categories passive citizen; subject to the intervention and sanction of a politician-legal order that attributes to duties and rights to it, but that they are not exerted, nor questioned, and/or active citizen; that it incorporates in its disposals the will of participation in the public spheres of being able, demanding right and inserting themselves in the social relations transforming them; 2) to analyze the NGO from its history, mission, actions, objectives, institucional relations etc, looking for to unmask its proposal in terms of politics socialization of the young; 3) to examine the educative practical of this institution from the boarded content, the strategies and methodologies used, the involved citizens and the type of relation established between them, searching to compare this practical with the speech of the organization; e, finally, 4) to compare the type of politicians disposals of habitus of the young searched with the type of citizen who the institution if considers to form, to understand a) the potentialities and limits of the NGO power of politics socialization on the young and, finally, b) what type of citizen it contributes to form effectively. The field research if withheld around institucional documents, field observation, interviews and the development of an activity of dramatization with some young pupils of the NGO. It was possible to verify that the contribution of the NGO in the process of politics socialization of the young is marked by a series of contradictions, contributing of form shy, but effective, so that some young consists as citizens who mix active and passive characteristic in its forms of being, thinking and to act politically in the world.