Thesis (M. P. A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

<p>UN is a non-governmental organization which should promote gender equality within the organization. It is an organization which is based on human rights and claims that in order to solve the problem of poverty, famine and development we need to promote women’s status. In Sweden there is a strong tradition of gender balanced representation at the governmental level and this perspective raise the question if there is a spill-over effect to the civil society as in the case of a non-governmental organization. This makes it interesting to look at if a non-governmental organization which is not under state control work for gender equality within their own organization. What does the gender equality pattern look like in a sphere that is not controlled by the government? Does it work by itself? The main purpose of this thesis is therefore to examine opinions about the gender balance within the Swedish UN-movement.</p><p> In order to understand and analyse the gender equality context within UN, interwievs with chairmens for each UN-district in Sweden was conducted and it was found that there was no active promotion of this issue within the organization. Instead, the survey showed that the promotion of gender equality issues was directed towards other societys. To a certain extent it was also shown that women’s understanding of UN as a gender equal organization was less prominent than men’s understanding. This thesis concluded therefore that gender equality does not work by itself in the civil sphere. Instead, it seems as if work for gender balance needs directive and control from the government in order to function. </p><p>Key words: Gender equality, FN, feminism, politics of presence, non-governmental organizations.</p>

UN is a non-governmental organization which should promote gender equality within the organization. It is an organization which is based on human rights and claims that in order to solve the problem of poverty, famine and development we need to promote women’s status. In Sweden there is a strong tradition of gender balanced representation at the governmental level and this perspective raise the question if there is a spill-over effect to the civil society as in the case of a non-governmental organization. This makes it interesting to look at if a non-governmental organization which is not under state control work for gender equality within their own organization. What does the gender equality pattern look like in a sphere that is not controlled by the government? Does it work by itself? The main purpose of this thesis is therefore to examine opinions about the gender balance within the Swedish UN-movement. In order to understand and analyse the gender equality context within UN, interwievs with chairmens for each UN-district in Sweden was conducted and it was found that there was no active promotion of this issue within the organization. Instead, the survey showed that the promotion of gender equality issues was directed towards other societys. To a certain extent it was also shown that women’s understanding of UN as a gender equal organization was less prominent than men’s understanding. This thesis concluded therefore that gender equality does not work by itself in the civil sphere. Instead, it seems as if work for gender balance needs directive and control from the government in order to function. Key words: Gender equality, FN, feminism, politics of presence, non-governmental organizations.

Collaboration between international NGOs (INGOs) and governmental organizations (GOs) have contributed significantly to the goals of poverty alleviation and agricultural development in developing countries. Much of the literatures on NGO-GO partnerships have explored theoretically or empirically what motivate and hinder cross-sector collaboration. But not many have studied cross-sector collaboration from both analytical and descriptive perspectives. This study filled in this gap by drawing from previous studies a conceptual framework through which contexts, incentives, and barriers that influence INGO-GO partnerships were described and explained. The researcher adopted a qualitative case-study method with emergent design. Personal interviews were conducted with 20 key informants, including eight Vietnamese staff from one INGO and 12 government officials from six GOs who partnered with the INGO. All participating organizations were institutions serving agricultural and rural development in the south of Vietnam. The data were collected in 2010 and analyzed using the software package ATLAS.ti. The results showed four categories that interact to form a framework of a dynamic continuum of partnership development. The four categories included conditioning factors, incentives, barriers, and feedback loop. The categories held the following themes: 1) socio-political contexts and organizational natures for conditioning factors, 2) shared missions, resource mobilization, capacity building, and networking for incentives, 3) ideological conflicts, structural constraints, and operational hurdles for barriers, and 4) reflections and recommendations for feedback loop. The study contributed a theoretical- and empirical-based perspective on INGO-GO partnerships in post-reform countries. It provided a framework that comprehensively describes and explains partnership dynamics. The study also shared knowledge of the intricacies of INGO-GO partnerships in rural Vietnam. For institutions serving agricultural and rural development, the study could assist in strategic management to minimize constraints and maximize opportunities in collaborative environments.

<p>Abstract</p><p>The landscape of socially oriented NGOs – a study of how they are created and established in</p><p>a local Swedish context.</p><p>This thesis is an inquiry into local, socially oriented non-governmental organizations (NGOs)</p><p>in Swedish municipalities. Previous research has indicated that changes in the monitoring and</p><p>steering of financial support during the 1990s altered the conditions for and practices of</p><p>NGOs. The inquiry – based on archival material and interviews with organization</p><p>representatives from the twelve NGOs receiving financial support from the social welfare</p><p>board in Växjö municipality – showed instead that the organizations were unaffected by the</p><p>changes, and that the set of recipient organizations had been stable over time. A comparison</p><p>with four other communities reveals that the same pattern is repeated in other municipalities</p><p>of similar size. The purpose of the thesis is to develop a theoretical framework to account for</p><p>stability in sets of recipient organizations. It is argued that set stability is explained by</p><p>affiliations with well-known national organizations, in conjunction with the boundary-work of</p><p>the local organizations.</p>

Thesis (doctoral)--Universiteit Utrecht, 2007. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (p. 463-479).

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The present study investigates the instructional and organizational strategies used by participatory action research (PAR) facilitators at the Summer Youth Research Institute of the Institute for Community Research in Hartford, Connecticut (US), a six-week program that engages urban multi-ethnic teenagers in youth participatory action research (YPAR) for social change. During the last three decades, PAR has proven to be a very effective methodology for creating sustainable solutions to social problems by involving community members in the process of identifying, investigating, and collectively resolving them. In particular, YPAR provides young people with the opportunity to study social problems that affect themselves and their communities. Through experiential learning, YPAR allows youth to understand that structural injustices are produced, not natural, and can be challenged. Youth discover spaces for hope and resistance and become agents of change for their own communities. While recent years have witnessed an increased effort from researchers and practitioners alike to apply PAR approaches to various fields within community and international development, little has been written addressing educators about the designing and implementation process of a curriculum in PAR methodology. The present exploratory ethnographic study aims to address the theory-practice gap of PAR literature, which offers only a limited number of case study analyses of the facilitation and implementation process of PAR projects, and offer advice for PAR facilitators which is currently lacking.