This thesis explores the social and political relations of an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Senegal. NGOs and international development have been the subject of research from a number of different perspectives, including the politics (and anti-politics) of development, post-development, structural violence and the ‘everyday lives' of NGO participants and workers (Ferguson 1990; Escobar 1995; Farmer 2004; Bornstein 2005; Hilhorst 2003). The present study builds on this scholarship through an ethnographic exploration of the networks of people involved with Tostan, an American NGO based in Senegal whose developmental objective is to engender social change among rural groups in Senegal (particularly those that practice female genital cutting), using a human rights education framework. Through identification and scrutiny of the organisation's macro- and micro-level social relations, I critically examine how ‘development' operates as a cultural and political process. I focus analytically on conceptions of knowledge and ignorance, particularly the ways in which these constructions are acted upon and utilised by different actors within the organisation. I argue that, as an NGO (and thus a ‘moral actor,' Guilhot 2005: 6) within the contemporary donor-driven development industry, a key preoccupation for Tostan as an organisation is the management of perception, or a concern for the ‘spectacle of development' (Allen 2013). Flowing from this argument is the assertion that the activities carried out by actors at every level of the organisation to produce and re-produce particular narratives through strategic knowing and unknowing are as significant (if not more so) as the formal programmatic activities implemented by the organisation ‘on the ground.' As David Mosse argues, development involves not only social work, but also the conceptual work of ‘enrolment, persuasion, agreement and argument that lies behind the consensus and coherence necessary to sustain authoritative narratives and networks for the continued support of policy' (Mosse 2005: 34). As I argue here, NGO actors work to (re)produce, project and protect particular narratives, through the strategic exercise of knowledge and ignorance, in order to access or consolidate positions of power within the politics of aid. Drawing on critical theories of development and human rights (e.g. Sachs 1992; Escobar 1991, 1995; Guilhot 2005, inter alia), within a political context succinctly described by Ellen Foley (2010: 9) as ‘the neoliberalization of just about everything,' I explore how actors across the organisation are linked in a web of cultural and political presuppositions, values, and motivations.

La réflexion autour des droits fondamentaux des personnes morales n’est guère si nouvelle comme pourrions nous être tentés d’y croire ; elle interpelle toutefois par son caractère antithétique. La personne humaine apparaissant comme l'unique destinataire de ces droits, elle avait capté toutes les attentions doctrinales. L'intimité du lien entre l'Homme et le concept des droits de l'homme, d’où découlent les droits fondamentaux, justifiait aisément l'exclusion des personnes morales. L'idée d'inclusion des groupes et des organisations qui semblait impensable va in fine être admise, voire se rendre indispensable à la démocratie, chère au système européen de défense des droits de l’homme et cadre de notre étude. La personne morale joue indiscutablement sa partition à la réalisation de la société démocratique à travers notamment la presse ou le jeu des partis politiques. Elle contribue énormément à l’économie des États par l’action des sociétés commerciales ou autres entreprises, et même à l’épanouissement des individus par le biais des associations dont les missions sont diverses et variées. On ne saurait valablement refuser à un tel sujet de droit la protection de la Convention. D’ailleurs c'est avec la force de l'évidence que ces personnes morales ont pu bénéficier de diverses dispositions de cette dernière. Le groupement à but politique ou syndical ne pourrait paisiblement accomplir sa mission sans la couverture de l’article 11 de la convention consacrant la liberté d’association et de manifestation pacifique. Aussi l’entreprise dépourvue de l’exercice et de la jouissance du droit au respect des biens, tel que défini à l’article premier du Protocole additionnel n° 1, ne pourrait-elle prospérer dans un domaine où intervient régulièrement la puissance publique. La sauvegarde de ces droits, avec bien d’autres, est conséquemment vitale pour les personnes morales. Le décryptage des droits et libertés qui leur sont garantis par le texte européen appelle à observer méthodiquement les différents mouvements de la jurisprudence européenne. Pour ce faire, notre réflexion préfère à une approche dogmatique, s’appuyant sur le particularisme des personnes morales pour dégager leurs droits et libertés garantis, une méthode plutôt pragmatique. Cette approche se fonde uniquement sur la protection effective que le juge européen consent à l’organisation non gouvernementale aux prises à l’arbitraire des pouvoirs publics. Il convient d’analyser chacun de ces droits et libertés garantis, et d’en dégager un relief d’avec la nature et l’activité de la personne morale. L’interprétation prétorienne du texte et des notions, telles que la personne ou le domicile, se présente délibérément extensive, dans le but assumé de permettre aux groupements de prendre part aux bénéfices de la Convention. L’accès à la juridiction européenne est par ailleurs largement ouvert aux groupements : tout pour faire en effet de la personne morale un sujet à part entière apte à exercer et à jouir de droits fondamentaux dans la Convention européenne des droits de l’homme. / The reflection about the fundamental rights of entities is not so new as we might be tempted to believe. However, the reflection raises the question by its antithetical. Natural persons appear to be the only beneficiaries of such rights. They were the centre of all doctrinal attention. The intimacy of the relationship between man and the concept of human rights, from which flows the fundamental rights, easily justified the exclusion of entities. The idea of including groups and organizations, which seemed unthinkable will be accepted in fine, indeed will become indispensable to an effective democracy, dear to the European system of human rights and our study. Entities undoubtedly play a vital role in the achievement of a democratic society, particularly through the press or the actions of political parties. They contribute enormously to a country's economy by the actions of commercial enterprises or other businesses, and even to the development and fufillment of individuals through associations whose missions are many and vary. We can not reasonably refuse such a subject of law the protection of the Convention. Beside, it is with the strength of the evidence that these entities have benefited from various provisions of the Convention. Groups for political purposes or unions cannot accomplish peacefully their mission without the protection of Article 11 of the convention enshrining the freedom of association and peaceful protest. Also, entities deprived of exercising the right to peaceful enjoyment of property, as defined in Article I of Additional Protocol No. 1, cannot thrive in an area where the public authority intervains regularly. Safeguarding these rights, with others, is therefore vital for corporations. Decryption of rights and freedoms guaranteed to them by the european legislation calls to observe systematically the different movements of European jurisprudence. To do this, our thinking prefers a dogmatic approach, based on the particularity of legal entities to the end of assertaining their rights and freedoms, to a more pragmatic approach. This approach is based solely on the effective protection that the european Court agrees to non-governmental organizations facing arbitrary actions of public authorities. It is necessary to analyse each of these rights and freedoms guaranteed, and to establish a link with the nature and activities of the entity. The Praetorian interpretation of the text and concepts such as individual or domicile is deliberately done in a broad sense in order to allow the groups to participate in the benefits of the Convention. Access to the European court is also provided for all groups: indeed, to the end of making the entities a full-fledged subject of human rights in the European Convention on Human Rights.

M.A. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The thesis deals with examining, if the non-governmental organizations are ready for extraordinary situations, specifically is focused on organizations, which are located in the area of České Budějovice region. The topic is actual, the reason being high frequency of those extraordinary situations in the south Bohemia and it is important to find out, if the help of volunteers is effective. For non-governmental organizations is specific that they are not managed by the government. Their activities try to substitute non-existing or poorly functioning services, which are provided by the government. Activities include realization of free time activities for children, helping socially weak, educational activities in many areas, protection of the environment or historical landmarks, helping disabled and elderly, humanitarian and development aid and many others. The objective of the thesis is to find out, how much are non-governmental ready to deal with extraordinary situations and how they engage in education to prepare population for dealing with extraordinary situations. In the thesis is used the method of information analysis, that meaning content analysis of information, where is specific gathered knowledge ordered on the basis of literature search. To fulfill set objective a semi-structured interview with employees of the chosen non-governmental organization was conducted. The results of the thesis will be offered to chosen non-governmental organizations, which participated in the research. These results could be used to increase quality of training of members of non-governmental organizations and volunteers.

[pt] O presente trabalho parte das transformações ocorridas nas duas últimas décadas do século XX no Brasil, quando, com os fenômenos da democratização e internacionalização, novos paradigmas de ação política se faziam necessários para integrar um novo condicionante da política externa brasileira: a incorporação de novos atores no processo de sua formulação. O novo contexto legitima as proposições oficiais de promoção de uma diplomacia pública, favorecendo o estabelecimento de um paradigma diplomático fundado na inclusão dos cidadãos e na redução da autonomia decisória do Ministério das Relações Exteriores do Brasil. É na abertura desse espaço que as ONGs ampliam a atuação na política externa brasileira. As conferências sociais realizadas pela ONU, na década de 1990, são representativas do novo modelo. Consagrando o envolvimento da sociedade civil no debate internacional, contribuem para a politização do processo decisório da política exterior brasileira, propiciando o diálogo entre o Itamaraty e a sociedade civil. Em que pese a importância de cada conferência, a presente pesquisa tem por foco a IV Conferência Mundial sobre a Mulher, realizada em Beijing, em 1995. À luz da teoria liberal, a Conferência de Beijing é analisada tendo por base a interlocução estabelecida entre governo e sociedade, tanto no processo preparatório, como na conferência em si. / [en] The present work analyses the transformations that took place in Brazil during the two last decades of the 20th century, when, due to the phenomena of democratization and internationalization, new paradigms for political action became necessary to integrate a new element of the Brazilian foreign policy: the incorporation of new actors in the process of its formulation. The new context justifies the official propositions to promote a public diplomacy, favoring the implementation of a new diplomatic paradigm settled in the inclusion of citizens and reduction of the power of decision of the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations. In this new conjuncture, NGOs increase their participation in the Brazilian foreign policy. The social conferences promoted by the UNn in the 1990 s are representative of the new model. Sanctioning the participation of civil society in the international debate, they contribute to the politization of the decision-making process of Brazilian foreign policy, stimulating the dialogue between Itamaraty and civil society. Despite the relevance of each conference, the present research focuses on the 4th World Conference on Women, held in Beijing, in 1995. In the light of the liberal theory, the review of the Beijing Conference is based on the discourse established between government and society, not only in the preparatory process, but also in the conference itself.

O trabalho elabora a etnografia de uma relação de parceria entre três grupos populares que trabalham com crianças e adolescentes de seus bairros em Recife e Olinda o Galpão dos Meninos e Meninas de Santo Amaro, o Grupo Comunidade Assumindo suas Crianças e o Grupo Sobe e Desce de Olinda e a agência católica de desenvolvimento internacional com sede em Londres, CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development), que os financia desde o final da década de 1980. A parceria é intitulada pelos próprios atores de Projeto Tarrafa, em homenagem à pequena rede usada por pescadores em Pernambuco. A pesquisa valeu-se de extenso trabalho de campo em cada um dos três grupos em Recife e Olinda, junto a educadores populares; no escritório da seção da América Latina na CAFOD em Londres, junto a funcionários que gerenciam os programas do Brasil; e no escritório regional da CAFOD na diocese de Westminster, no norte de Londres, junto a voluntários católicos. O deslocamento pelos canais institucionais que ligavam doadores a beneficiários revelou que a apreensão da singularidade de cada parceria transnacional depende da identificação de quais partes das organizações estão conectadas imediata e mediatamente à parceria, ou seja: a) de que atores específicos os emaranhados institucionais de longo alcance são constituídos; e b) como um ponto distante afeta, mesmo que involuntariamente, outros pontos do mesmo emaranhado institucional. A etnografia explora os efeitos que a conexão através de emaranhados institucionais opera nos seus diferentes pontos. Demonstra-se, em primeiro lugar, como emaranhados institucionais de longo alcance se constituem concretamente através da conexão entre fragmentos de organizações; em segundo lugar, como canais institucionais alimentam reciprocamente as composições de mundo dos atores neles envolvidos; e em terceiro lugar, como são tais composições enleadas que permitem que a relação se sustente. A Tarrafa mantém-se quando a luta dos educadores populares pelos meninos do seu bairro torna-se parte da estratégia dos funcionários de desenvolvimento para a redução da pobreza e violência no continente, e da promessa do Reino de Deus na terra para os católicos doadores. / This work offers an ethnographic account of a long-term partnership between London-based Catholic Agency for Overseas Development (CAFOD) and three grassroots organizations, one in Recife and two in its neighbouring town Olinda. The three groups Galpão dos Meninos e Meninas de Santo Amaro, Grupo Comunidade Assumindo suas Crianças and Grupo Sobe e Desce de Olinda have been working with young people in their own neighbourhoods since the late 1980s when the numbers of street children in poor areas of the Greater Recife rose significantly. CAFOD has funded them since the early stages of their work through its connection with a parish priest, as was the case of many partnerships facilitated by priests supporting social movements in Brazil in the 1980s and 1990s. In the early 2000s the partnership underwent changes as a consequence of CAFODs adoption of a programmatic approach, an attempt to push its international work into becoming more result-oriented. Funding was directed to wider programmes instead of individual projects and there were more demands on partners for a higher standard in programme design, implementation and accountability. As part of the process, CAFODs Brazil programme officer encouraged the groups to work more closely in a network which they dubbed Tarrafa, in a poetic reference to a small fishing net used by local fishermen. This research is based on extensive fieldwork, first, among educators and coordinators in each of the groups in Recife and Olinda; second, among the Brazil team staff at CAFODs head office in Brixton, London; and third, among Catholic volunteers in one of CAFODs regional offices, CAFOD Westminster. Following institutional paths that connect beneficiaries to donors proved to be, rather than a movement within a development chain, one through what could be described as institutional entanglements. An ethnographic approach reveals how partnerships are sealed and kept between interconnected teams and departments across different organizations, which may hold closer bonds than they would with other teams in their own organizations. Every development partnership entails institutional entanglements of different shapes and forms, depending on the specific cross-organizational links involved. Thus in order to comprehend a development partnership in its singularity, one is faced with the task of identifying: a) what teams across organizations are connected; and b) how different nodes in these institutional entanglements, often beyond the view of the actors immediately involved in the partnership, affect one another. The entanglements of the Tarrafa network are of two kinds. One is the concrete institutional entanglements which it originates. These contribute to another sort of entangling, that of the symbolic realm of actors connected by these relationships. The Tarrafa network is maintained when the fight of grassroots educators for the children in their neighbourhoods becomes part of the strategy of development experts for the reduction of poverty in Latin America, and part of the promise of Gods Kingdom on Earth for Catholic donors in England and Wales.

O objetivo central desta tese é o de analisar a participação de Organizações Não Governamentais (ONGs) internacionais nas políticas e práticas do Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas (CSNU) voltadas às agendas temáticas Crianças e Mulheres. Com base no estudo de duas coalizões, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict e NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, busca-se examinar o panorama político e normativo que condiciona a atuação das ONGs, bem como as estratégias específicas utilizadas por elas para adentrar no domínio de paz e segurança internacionais. Pretende-se discutir se as ONGs estão presentes nas discussões do órgão e, caso afirmativo, em que medida suas estratégias influenciam as decisões estatais. A metodologia empregada foi a análise dos documentos divulgados pelas coalizões e das resoluções aprovadas pelo CSNU. Além disso, foram realizadas entrevistas com funcionários das coalizões e das missões estatais para entender como funcionam as relações entre as ONGs e o CSNU. A partir das perguntas de pesquisa e da metodologia empregada, o estudo discutiu proposições teóricas sobre a possibilidade de os atores não estatais interferirem nas deliberações intergovernamentais. Sugere-se que o enquadramento das ideias e normas, a formação de coalizões e a mobilização por meio de redes de advocacia criam estímulos que aumentam as chances de os ativistas influenciarem as decisões dos Estados-membros do CSNU. As conclusões desta tese permitem considerar, de um lado, a participação das ONGs num espaço tradicionalmente fechado à sua presença e, de outro, o desenvolvimento do CSNU, com destaque às adaptações que viabilizaram uma maior aproximação com as ONGs. / The aim of this thesis is to analyze the participation of international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the policies of the United Nations Security Council on Children\'s and Women\'s issues. Based on the study of two coalitions, Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict and NGO Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security, it seeks to examine the political and normative framework that conditions the performance of NGOs. Furthermore, it looks at specific strategies used by them to enter into the field of international peace and security. The intention is to verify if NGOs are present in the discussions of this body and, if so, to what extent they influence state\'s decisions. From these research questions, the study discusses theoretical propositions about the possibility of non-state actors\' interference in intergovernmental deliberations. It suggests that framing of ideas and norms, the formation of coalitions and the mobilization through advocacy networks increase the likelihood of an impact on the decisions of member states. The conclusions allow us, firstly, to reflect upon the participation of NGOs in a space traditionally closed to their presence and, secondly, to visualize the development of the UNSC, highlighting some adaptations that led to a greater proximity with NGOs.

O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar quais os critérios utilizados pela Comissão Interamericana de Direitos Humanos para judicializar demandas perante a Corte Interamericana de Direitos Humanos, tendo em vista ser o órgão legitimado para apresentar casos individuais ao tribunal. A Comissão desempenha um papel de filtro negativo de casos, tanto na análise de admissibilidade de petições iniciais, quanto no envio de casos à Corte IDH. Contudo, apesar dos requisitos previstos na Convenção Americana de Direitos Humanos, nem todos os casos que preenchem esses critérios são judicializados, conferindo ao órgão uma atuação opaca. Em razão disso, o presente trabalho busca verificar quais outros fatores determinantes poderiam ensejar as decisões da Comissão. Casos com determinadas características, sejam elas referentes ao perfil das vítimas, ao tipo de violação ou ao potencial impacto no país ou na região, possuem maiores chances de serem admitidos para análise e, potencialmente, enviados à Corte IDH. Nesse cenário, o este trabalho objetiva também analisar a atuação das ONGs de direitos humanos no papel de representantes das vítimas no Sistema Interamericano, tendo em vista que também utilizam critérios para selecionar quais casos terão seu apoio e defesa. As ONGs, atuando por meio de litígio estratégico, possuem um papel protagonista no Sistema Interamericano. A pergunta que a presente pesquisa visa responder é: a quem serve, afinal, o Sistema Interamericano de Direitos Humanos? / The main objective of this work is to analyze the criteria used by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to submit cases before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, having in mind that the first body is the only legitimate to present individual cases to the court. The IACHR functions as a negative filter of cases, both admitting petitions to processing and deciding which cases will be sent to the IACourtHR. However, despite the requirements set by the American Convention on Human Rights, not all cases that fulfill these criteria are judicialized, providing the body a blurred and not transparent performance. Because of that, the present work seeks to verify what other determining factors could influence IACHR decisions. Cases with determined characteristics, be they regarding the profile of the victims, the type of violation or the potential impact they could cause in the country or in the region, have more chances in being admitted to processing and, later, sent to the IACourtHR. In this scenario, this work also aims to verify the performance of human rights NGOs playing the role of representatives of the victims in the Inter-American Human Rights System, taking into account that they also use specific requirements to select which cases will have their support and defense. NGOs, acting through strategic litigation, have a leading role in the Inter-American system. The main question this work intents to answer is: to whom, after all, serves the Inter-American Human Rights System?

A proposição inicial do uso de camisinha como prevenção de HIV/aids está vinculada à noção de sexo seguro, desenvolvida pela comunidade gay estadunidense no início da década de 1980. No Brasil, o sexo seguro foi incorporado nas primeiras respostas à epidemia e, com o desenvolvimento das ações preventivas, a camisinha foi adotada como a principal estratégia de proteção contra a transmissão do HIV por via sexual. Atualmente, o segmento populacional composto por gays e outros homens que fazem sexo com homens (HSH) configura um dos focos de concentração da epidemia e, portanto, um dos públicos-chave para o direcionamento da prevenção. Este trabalho tem como objetivo recuperar os discursos acerca da camisinha como estratégia de prevenção de HIV/aids entre gays/HSH, construídos pela política pública de saúde e pelos movimentos sociais no Brasil, buscando compreender seus significados no contexto dos impasses enfrentados pela prevenção ao longo de sua história. O estudo é fundamentado nas abordagens construcionistas da sexualidade e utiliza como referências a perspectiva da vulnerabilidade e a teoria dos scripts sexuais. Trata-se de investigação qualitativa, realizada com base em entrevistas em profundidade com 13 pessoas que mantêm/mantiveram envolvimento significativo com o enfrentamento da epidemia de HIV/aids no país e/ou com a reflexão acerca das questões relativas à prevenção, especialmente no âmbito dos cenários sexuais gays/HSH. Foram selecionados atores de destaque no trabalho relacionado à promoção do uso da camisinha: condução de políticas públicas, produção de pesquisa e atuação em movimentos sociais LGBT e de aids. A partir das narrativas colhidas e de referências associadas, é apresentada uma recuperação histórica da trajetória da camisinha como prevenção de HIV/aids. A análise ressalta que a convergência dos discursos preventivos na recomendação da camisinha resvalou no tecnicismo, característico do processo de medicalização do social. O uso tecnicista da prevenção consistiu em (a) uma abordagem prescritiva, expressa na progressiva reprodução da mensagem \"use camisinha\"; (b) na descontextualização dos discursos preventivos em relação ao conteúdo sexual inerente ao uso da camisinha, contestada especialmente nas propostas de erotização desse insumo; (c) na postura impositiva de profissionais e campanhas de prevenção. Adicionalmente, a prevenção tem esbarrado nas dificuldades de abordagem do homoerotismo em função do fortalecimento de resistências moralistas e conservadoras na política brasileira. Esse cenário, que compromete os direitos de gays/HSH à saúde, é agravado por uma crise na estrutura dos programas de aids e das organizações dos movimentos sociais. Desse modo, o avanço no enfrentamento da epidemia e, mais especificamente, a redução das taxas de infecção em gays/HSH dependem da superação dessas barreiras, que tendem a se reproduzir na abordagem das novas tecnologias de prevenção em HIV/aids / The initial proposal for the use of condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS is linked to the concept of safe sex, developed by the gay community in the United States in the early 1980s. In Brazil, safe sex was incorporated in the early responses to the epidemic and, with the development of preventive actions, condom promotion was adopted as the main strategy to protect against HIV sexual transmission. Nowadays, the population segment composed of gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) represents one of the focuses of the epidemic concentration and therefore one of the key populations for targeting prevention. This work aims to recover the discourses on the use of condoms as an HIV/AIDS prevention strategy directed to gay/MSM population, built by both Brazilian public health policy and social movements, seeking to understand their meaning in the context of the impasses faced by prevention throughout his history. This study is based on constructionist frameworks of sexuality and uses as references the vulnerability perspective and the theory of sexual scripts. This is a qualitative research, carried out based on in-depth interviews with 13 people who keep/kept significant roles in fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country and/or in the reflecting on issues related to prevention, especially in the scope of gay/MSM sexual scenarios. The selected participants are prominent actors in the work related to the promotion of condom use: driving public policy, producing research and acting in LGBT and AIDS social movements. From the collected narratives and associated references, a historical recovery of the trajectory of the condom as an HIV/AIDS prevention is presented. The analysis points out that the convergence of preventive discourses on recommendation of the condom slipped on the technicism, characteristic of the process of social medicalization. The technicist use of the prevention consisted of (a) a prescriptive approach, expressed in the forward playback of the message \"use condom\"; (b) the decontextualization of preventive discourses in relation to sexual content inherent in the use of condoms, especially contested in proposals of eroticizing this device; (c) the impositive posture of professionals and prevention campaigns. Additionally, prevention has bogged down in difficulties on the approach of homoeroticism due to the strengthening of moralist and conservative resistances in Brazilian policy. This scenario, which undermines the rights of gay/MSM to health, is exacerbated by a crisis in the structure of AIDS programs and organizations of social movements. Thus, the progress in confronting the epidemic and, more specifically, in the reduction of infection rates in gay/MSM depend on overcoming these barriers which tend to be reproduced in the approach to the new HIV/AIDS prevention technologies

Este estudo investigou o processo de politização da dor e da indignação de agentes comunitários que convivem com o HIV/aids. O pressuposto principal é que a condição de soropositividade suscita situações de discriminação e estigmatização, geradores de sofrimento expresso por intensa angústia, sentimentos de vergonha, humilhação e culpa, provocando o isolamento social desta pessoa. A questão norteadora deste trabalho é a verificação de como a participação em uma ONG, onde bons encontros são estimulados, podem ajudar pessoas afetadas pela epidemia da aids a extrapolar esta vivência individualista e estigmatizadora com o HIV/aids para o âmbito da vivência solidária/coletiva, contribuindo para o fortalecimento dos agentes comunitários, não apenas como portadores de direitos, mas como sujeitos de direitos. Foram analisados documentos históricos, entrevistas em profundidade e questionários respondidos por agentes comunitários da ONG-Br situada na grande São Paulo. Os resultados indicaram que a participação em uma ONG contribui para o enfretamento da discriminação e estigmatização das pessoas que convivem com o HIV/aids, com base em um processo de politização concretizado por modos de participação diferentes. Estes modos estão associados com a capacidade de elaboração de questões pessoais/afetivas desencadeadas pela vivência de discriminação e estigmatização ligados ao HIV/aids. Isto sugere a valorização de práticas que fortaleçam a construção de sujeitos portadores de direitos iniciada com a recepção destes agentes na ONG, por exemplo, por meio de projetos de resgate da auto-estima. Compreender e acolher modos de participação diferentes significa valorizar o olhar, valendo-se de um campo psicossocial por excelência, ou seja, captar um processo de mudanças subjetivas e psicológicas em interação necessária com o contexto sócio-histórico e cultural, que leve à emancipação psicossocial, ao mesmo tempo fortalecendo estes sujeitos de direitos e da cidadania plena. / This study has investigated the process of politicization of the pain and the indignation of community agents who live with HIV/aids. The main assumption was that the condition of being HIV positive would rise situations of discrimination and stigmatization that generate suffering expressed by deep anguish, feelings of shame, humiliation, and blame, leading to the social isolation of the individual. The guiding question of this work was how the participation in a Non-governmental Organization (NGO) can help people affected by Aids turn this individualist/stigmatizing experience with HIV into a solidary/collective life experience. These NGOs are able to provide good meetings that could contribute to the strengthening of the community agents, not only as a bearer of rights but also as an individual of rights. Historical documents and interviews have been analyzed in depth as well as questionnaires have been answered by community agents of ONGBr, located in the greater São Paulo area. The results of this study show that the participation of a person who is HIV positive in an NGO contributes to make him/her stronger when facing discrimination and stigmatization. This is possible by a process of politicization made real by different ways of participation. These ways are associated to the capacity of personal/affective questioning triggered by the experiences of discrimination and stigmatization related to Aids/HIV. The study suggests the valorization of practices that build individuals who are bearer of rights. These practices can start right at the reception of this agent by the NGO through projects designated to bring up his/her self-esteem. Understanding and to welcoming different ways of participation mean to value a look from a psycho-social scope, that is, to notice a process of subjective and psychological changes in an inevitable interaction with the social-historical and cultural context, that leads to psycho-social emancipation. This emancipation should run in parallel with the strengthening of these individuals and their full citizenship.