Peacebuilding NGOs are increasingly aware that religion is a steadfast and sometimes growing influence in the contexts in which they work. Despite this, many fail to meaningfully integrate religious perspectives into their initiatives. This thesis examines and consolidates criticisms of NGO responses to religion in peacebuilding programmes, identifies factors inhibiting responses from advancing, and explores NGO staff attitudes regarding religion, including perspectives on whether a conducive environment exists for developing alternative responses. It then formulates recommendations for advancing practice and suggests future research directions.  The research approach consists of an examination of literature regarding NGO responses to religion, accompanied by a survey using semi-structured interviews of nine people who have worked on NGO peacebuilding programmes across the world. The main conclusions drawn from this study are that whilst NGOs consider religious actors as potential allies, they rarely utilise the role of religion in society as an analytical lens. This impinges their ability to understand contexts holistically. The contemporary funding environment is also found to discourage alternative approaches from emerging. This thesis recommends that further research is conducted in order to produce examples of improved NGO responses to religion. This will provide practical evidence of how to enhance practice.

The role and importance of international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) has increased with globalisation and the growth of global institutions. Not only do INGOs play a major role in aid delivery in developing countries, they also serve as the voice of the people in the growing global governance system. Thus they have an increasing impact on the social and economic welfare of people around the world. For this reason, the performance and management of INGOs is vital. However, research on their management is lacking. INGOs possess unique characteristics including complex environments, value-based missions and no financial bottom line. Therefore, management practices, like internal communication, that are generally developed for for-profit organisations need to be evaluated for suitability within the INGO context. Strategic internal communication has been identified as driving organisational performance. Internal communication can be defined as strategic when its purpose is to align internal stakeholders with the organisation’s strategic intent. By facilitating strategic alignment, internal communication can play a critical role in organisational performance. Research on strategic internal communication is limited and virtually non-existent when considered within the INGO context. However, by considering communication management theory, strategic management theory and NGO management theory, it is possible to develop theoretical propositions on the strategic functioning of internal communication in INGOs. In particular, the theory suggests that a postmodern approach to strategic management and strategic internal communication can assist INGOs in addressing many of the challenges they face. This study explores the strategic functioning of internal communication in INGOs through exploratory, qualitative case studies. The evidence shows that internal communication in INGOs does not generally function strategically. However, the function is recognised as having potential to improve the performance of these organisations. In particular, there is support for the suitability of a postmodern approach to strategic internal communication in INGOs. / Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Communication Management / MPhil / Unrestricted

This thesis discusses the extent to which non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in postcolonial countries work with religious institutions to promote social and economic development. Through postcolonial theory, and by using a qualitative approach combined with a critical methodology, this thesis will examine the relationship between particular NGOs and religion in the countries in which they operate. More precisely, this thesis will consider whether it is helpful, or a hindrance to development if NGOs work cooperatively with religious leaders and institutions.

International non-governmental organisations (INGOs) play an important role in tackling gender based violence in many countries. Hundreds of reports have been written and thousands of recommendations made. Yet, rates of gender based violence are known to increase during conflict and post-conflict. Needing a vast multitude of needs addressed in attempt for INGOs to support survivors of gender based violence. This study sets out to understand the ways that INGOs support, empower and advocate for women concerning gender based violence in post-conflict countries such as Colombia. It further analysed how INGOs implemented preventions and interventions of gender based violence. Specifically, exploring aspects such as, empowerment, gender roles and overall service provision. The research takes an intersectional feminist perspective to consider what gender based violence interventions have been used by these INGOs and see how aligned these interventions are with intersectional feminist theory. Further, the research focuses on the involvement of INGOs in gender based violence and their view of women as displayed in that involvement. The study adopts a desk-based research design to explore the involvement of INGOs looking at gender based violence in Colombia. The material was analysed in relation to gender, intersectionality and feminist theory, specifically referencing back to values embedded in inclusivity and gender equality. A number of aggravating factors are identified that seem to critically evaluate the involvement of INGOs in regards gender based violence. Despite their best efforts to provide an inclusive approach, the study indicates that some INGOs perpetrate unequal power dynamics, depict survivors of gender based violence as victims and do not address other intersectional issues such as lack of inclusivity. Overall, the thesis is critical as to why gender based violence seems to be a lower priority for INGOs and local actors and recommends that more intersectional feminist values should be included within projects and programs.

Employees are an organisation’s most valuable asset. Their significance to an organisation means that not only the best talent should be attracted but that they should also be retained for the long run. The purpose of this study was to explore the talent retention challenges faced by an HIV/AIDS testing organisation in Lesotho. The study intended to unearth the ideologies behind the high staff turnover in the organisation. The findings of the study indicated that the testing organisation in Lesotho should develop and implement effective policies, systems and strategies that would improve their level of talent retention. These findings can also apply to other non-governmental organisations. An ethnographic qualitative research design and snowball sampling, using semi-structured interviews were utilised to collect data from the testing organisation staff. The study found that field workers in the testing organisation worked extensive hours with limited resources. In terms of decision-making policies, only senior officers were included in the decision-making processes. There was lack of support from management to aid employees to achieve their targets. While the benefits were satisfactory, staff found their salaries low and not competitive in the market. Moreover, management’s lack of implementing training and development policies crippled the employees’ career growth and talent. Most managers did not regard the testing organisation as an employer of choice.Employees are an organisation’s most valuable asset. Their significance to an organisation means that not only the best talent should be attracted but that they should also be retained for the long run. The purpose of this study was to explore the talent retention challenges faced by an HIV/AIDS testing organisation in Lesotho. The study intended to unearth the ideologies behind the high staff turnover in the organisation. The findings of the study indicated that the testing organisation in Lesotho should develop and implement effective policies, systems and strategies that would improve their level of talent retention. These findings can also apply to other non-governmental organisations. An ethnographic qualitative research design and snowball sampling, using semi-structured interviews were utilised to collect data from the testing organisation staff. The study found that field workers in the testing organisation worked extensive hours with limited resources. In terms of decision-making policies, only senior officers were included in the decision-making processes. There was lack of support from management to aid employees to achieve their targets. While the benefits were satisfactory, staff found their salaries low and not competitive in the market. Moreover, management’s lack of implementing training and development policies crippled the employees’ career growth and talent. Most managers did not regard the testing organisation as an employer of choice. / Business Management / M. Com. (Business Management)

This unique and first-time research explores the parameters of effectiveness among HIV/AIDS and development NGO managers in India. The aim of this research has been investigate and explore how these managers perceive and view their own effectiveness at work. This research contextualises Analoui's Model (1999, 2002) of eight parameters of managerial effectiveness and three contextual factors, which explores and identifies the inter-relationship between the factors and causal influences which form the basis for their increased effectiveness. The methodology employed include qualitative semi-structured individual interviews with 16 NGOs managers and 2 focus-group interviews with 16 non-managerial staff. The results revealed a myriad of factors and influences concerning the NGO managers’ perception, managerial skills and competencies, organizations criteria for effectiveness, opportunities, demands and constraints involved, as well as the inter-organisational relationship and the dominant managerial philosophy of effectiveness. All the parameters of effectiveness and contextual factors of the Model (1999, 2002) apply and are suitable for this context, however, based on the main findings and in-depth discussions, the model has been adapted and modified in order to fit this unique and complex, highly diverse, holistic, multi-faceted and culturally specific context. The findings also indicate to numerous inter-linked factors both internally and externally of the NGOs and, include various training and development (T&D) needs for managers, with implications for the formation of adequate policies and implementation of relevant development programmes to improve and increase NGO managers effectiveness in India.

The question of what agenda drives NGO peacebuilding in post-conflict setting has been raised in a number of literatures which make generalized conclusions that NGOs tend to respond to the liberal peace agenda, and in the process co-opt local peacebuilding initiatives. Liberal peace agenda refers to the post-conflict peacebuilding approach based on the promotion of democracy, economic liberalization, human rights and the rule of law. As such, NGOs are seen as privatizing peacebuilding, marginalizing local initiatives and applying unsustainable approaches to peacebuilding in post-conflict contexts. Provoked by these assertions, I conducted field research in northern Uganda, which up to 2006 had experienced 22 years of conflict between the Lord¿s Resistance Army (LRA) and Government of Uganda (GOU). I contend in my findings that while to some extent the generalized observations made by liberal peace critics are true, they fail to fully engage with the micro aspects of post-conflict peacebuilding. The macro-analytic assertions of the liberal peace critics ignore the plurality of the NGO peacebuilding practice, the diverse internal organizational culture, and the complexities and diversities of the contextual dynamics of post-conflict settings. My research was based on a micro level analysis and demonstrated that the peacebuilding process in northern Uganda was interactive, and, as such, engendered diverse encounters of sense-making, relationship building and co-construction of peacebuilding discourse and practice between NGOs, donors and local community. The study shows that peacebuilding was essentially relational and developed through a process of relational constructionism, which denotes social processes of reality construction based on relational encounters.

In 1999 the European Union (EU) defined for the first time common priorities in the area of migration and asylum. In 2014 the Justice and Home Affairs Council is deciding on the fourth multi-annual strategic guidelines. This thesis examines the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the EU influencing these guidelines through the European Commission public consultation, and their impact on shaping the future agenda for migration and asylum. While the EU has gained more competences in this field and increased legal protection standards across the EU, member states favour restrictive and security-oriented policies. EU NGOs represent a more liberal rights based approach, and having difficulties getting their points across. A step-by-step process tracing reveals the factors that enabled influence, such as a structured civil dialogue with opportunities for input. However, there were also elements disabling this influence, related to the disconnection between civil society and the Council, which partly undermined the purpose of the consultation.

No description available.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The point of departure for this study was the wide-ranging furore in media publications regarding the pervasive decline in donor funding for civil society organisations in South Africa, as influenced by the recent global financial crisis, and the subsequent shutting down of a number of civil society organisations. The decision to embark on this study has its roots in the fact that civil society is an important feature in a democracy with regards to government responsiveness, accountability as well as citizen participation in democratic governance. In South Africa, particularly, this is important in light of the country’s fledgling democracy, and even more so, when considering the ruling party’s overwhelming political power resulting in a dominant party system. The aim of this study was to find out what accounts for the plummet in donor funding, and the overriding question guiding this study was: Has the global financial crisis influenced civil society in South Africa? The broader question asked was: What are the challenges facing civil society organisations in South Africa? This study aims to assist in the evaluation of the potential role that civil society has played and continues to play in South Africa’s young democracy and what the implications would be for democracy if civil society organisations were hampered in these roles and continued to close offices. This study is explorative in nature and relied on qualitative data obtained from in-depth interviews conducted with two prominent South African non-governmental organisations; namely the Institute for Democracy and the Treatment Action Campaign. A key informant was selected and interviewed from each organisation. The findings of the interviews were operationalised through the lenses of Andrew Heywood’s (2007) conceptual theoretical framework, which puts forward five resources that civil society organisations need in order to exert their influence. While acknowledging the importance of all five resources, this study pays particular attention to financial resources received through international donor funding, for without financial resources it is difficult for an organisation to survive. The findings of the interviews and the conclusions drawn underscored four realities: firstly that the decrease in funding is not limited to the organisations examined in this study, but civil society as a whole. The second reality rests on the fact that the global financial crisis has indeed influenced the Institute for Democracy and the Treatment Action Campaign in ways that are a cause for a concern, not only for the survival of the organisation, but also for the durability of South Africa’s young and at times fragile democracy. The third reality points to other challenges that have influenced donor funding, such as South Africa’s middle income status, a shift in donor orientation and focus and donor-specific problems. The fourth reality that was pointed out thrust this study into the conclusion that financial resources are the essential life-blood of civil society organisations. In light of the role that civil society plays in a democracy, the findings in this study point to a concerning trend in South Africa. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die aanvangspunt van hierdie studie is die omvangrykende mediadekking aangaande die wydverspreide afname in donateursbefondsing vir burgerlike samelewingorganisasies in Suid-Afrika. Hierdie afname is beïnvloed deur die onlangse globale finansiële krisis en het tot gevolg die ontbinding van ʼn aantal burgerlike samelewingorganisasies. Die besluit om met hierdie studie te begin het sy oorsprong in die feit dat die burgerlike samelewing ʼn belangrike kenmerk van demokrasie is veral met betrekking tot regeringsresponsiwiteit, aanspreeklikheid sowel as die deelname van burgers aan ʼn demokratiese regering. In Suid-Afrika is dit belangrik, veral met die oog op die land se jong demokrasie en nog meer wanneer die heersende party se oorweldigende politiese mag in ag geneem word en dat dit tot ʼn dominante partystelsel lei. Die doel van hierdie studie is om vas te stel wat die oorsaak van die daling in skenkersfondse is. Die rigtinggewende vraag vir die studie was: het die wêreldwye finansiële krisis die burgerlike samelewing in Suid-Afrika beïnvloed? Die studie beoog om by te dra tot die evaluasie van die potensiële rol wat burgerlike samelewing in Suid-Afrika se jong demokrasie gespeel het, en steeds speel, en wat die implikasies vir demokrasie sou wees indien burgerlike samelewingorganisasies se rol bemoeilik word en verplig word om nog meer van hulle kantore te sluit. Die studie is ondersoekend van aard en het staatgemaak op kwalitatiewe data wat verkry is deur in-diepte onderhoude met twee vooraanstaande Suid-Afrikaanse nie-regeringsorganisasies te voer naamlik die Instituut vir Demokrasie en die ‘Treatment Action Campaign’. ’n Gesaghebbende segsman uit elke organisasie is gekies vir die onderhoude. Die bevindings is geoperasionaliseer deur die lense van Andrew Heywood (2007) se konseptuele teoretiese raamwerk wat aanvoer dat daar vyf hulpbronne is wat burgerlike organisasies nodig het om hulle invloed te laat geld. Terwyl die waarde van al vyf hulpbronne erken word, skenk hierdie studie in die besonder aandag aan die finansiële hulpbronne wat van internasionale skenkersfondse ontvang word omdat burgerlike organisasies beswaarlik daarsonder kan oorleef. Die bevindinge van die onderhoude en die gevolgtrekkings wat gemaak is beaam vier realiteite: eerstens dat die daling in befondsing nie beperk is tot die organisasies wat aan die studie deelgeneem het nie, maar burgerlike samelewing as ʼn geheel. Die tweede realiteit berus by die feit dat die globale finansiële krisis inderdaad die Instituut van Demokrasie en die ‘Treatment Action Campaign’ op kommerwekkende maniere beïnvloed het, nie net in terme van die organisasies se oorlewing nie, maar ook in terme van die behoud van Suid-Afrika se jong en soms brose demokrasie. Die derde realiteit dui op ander uitdagings wat skenkersfondse beïnvloed het soos Suid-Afrika se middel inkomstestatus, ʼn fokusverskuiwing van skenkingsgeoriënteerdheid tot skenker-spesifieke probleme. Die vierde realiteit wat uitgewys is dwing die studie om tot die gevolgtrekking te kom dat finansiële hulpbronne ʼn noodsaaklikheid vir die behoud van burgerlike gemeenskapsorganisasies is. In die lig van die rol wat burgerlike gemeenskap in demokrasie speel, is die bevindings van die studie kommerwekkend.