This study aims to explore how four Syrians, involved as case managers in Questscope’s mentoring program, describe and experience their lives in Zaatari Refugee Camp. The participants were asked to describe their experiences through qualitative interviews. The results were analyzed through the lens of Antonovsky’s salutogenic theory to examine each participant’s sense of coherence and what activities or people contribute towards a strong SOC. The results show that the participants face many challenges in Zaatari Camp, most notably the feeling that their lives have been reduced to a simple existence in which they are expected to be content with food and shelter. They express the feeling that their hopes and aspirations have come to a standstill and that camp conditions do not allow them to move forward in their lives, such as by completing university. However, their stories also include indications of strong SOC in that the participants make sense of their situation, perceive that there are resources available to deal with their situation, and have incentive to persevere in spite of their circumstances. They describe their work with Questscope, through which they are encouraged to take initiative and responsibility, as helpful and motivating because it builds their confidence, gives them purpose and allows them to hope and move forward.

The Tarangire ecosystem of northern Tanzania is proclaimed a site of global biodiversity significance. The economic value of wildlife in Tarangire and Lake Manyara National Parks is substantial and growing. Maintaining the health of these parks is important to Tanzania’s overall tourism industry and macroeconomic health. A considerable proportion of Tarangire’s wildlife leaves the park for approximately six months a year, migrating onto village lands under the jurisdiction of local communities. Of particular importance are grazing and calving areas in the Simanjiro Plains. Conservation of the ecosystem’s migratory wildlife populations largely depends on maintaining these habitats on communally owned lands. However, populations of most large mammal species have declined by over fifty percent in the last decade. The progressive conversion of pastoral rangelands to agriculture is believed to be a major contributing factor to this decline. Community-based conservation (CBC) interventions in the Tarangire ecosystem aim to increase the combined economic returns from wildlife and pastoral livestock production in order to reduce incentives for non-wildlife compatible agricultural land-use change. Increased State investment in CBC, continued growth in photographic and hunting tourism revenues, and large infusions of funding from international conservation organisations suggest that substantial potential exists for CBC to play a significant role in poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation. This thesis examines the fortunes of CBC in the Tarangire ecosystem. It uses a household survey conducted in a village earning substantial wildlife tourism revenues to show that wildlife benefits are concentrated in the hands of the elite, and have limited livelihood or conservation impacts. By documenting the root causes of local resistance to conservation, this thesis explains the failures of new conservation strategies in Tanzania.

M.Comm. / Microfinance refers to the provision of financial services, in particular small loans in the context of South Africa, to poor people with very small businesses. Commercial banks have largely considered poor people in remote areas unbankable, because they lack collateral and have no credit histories. Microfinance institutions emerged as unconventional institutions with innovative techniques, mechanisms and instruments to advance financial services to this segmented part of the population. This has, however, not been without challenges. Microfinance institutions face a number of challenges such as lack of competent human capital, unfavourable regulatory environment, and insufficient financing. The study examines if these challenges are applicable in the South African context and whether financial and operational inefficiency has hindered microfinance institutions in South Africa from sustainably increasing their outreach through the provision of microcredit. It surveys two microfinance institutions, characterised as non-governmental organisations using the group lending methodology to offer microloans to the very poor. The results indicate that microfinance institutions are not on a sound fiscal footing, and large operating expenses have resulted in some form of inefficiency. This has, however, not hindered the microfinance institutions from reaching a greater number of borrowers. The witnessed increased outreach in number of clients reached is considered unsustainable given the existence of inefficiency and financial weakness. The results suggest a number of policy options on the side of government and the institutions concerned. Increasing the funding sources available to microfinance institutions should be considered by both government and private institutions. This policy would succeed if microfinance institutions work at reducing their operational costs and become both efficient and sustainable so as to be seen as viable investment options.

Dissertation thesis aims to analyse prerequisites for performance measurement and to classify, define and evaluate techniques of performance measurement. It discusses information potential of financial reporting for NGO performance evaluation and conducts a survey on current situation in foundation transparency and performance measurement. Solutions to most important problems are suggested.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / This study explored how human agency could be unlocked through youth development programmes using a case study of a selected NGO working in youth development on the Cape Flats in the Western Cape Province in South Africa. The aim of the study was to explore whether the selected youth development organisation encourages and unlocks young people’s aspirations and agency in its program design. The objectives of the study were, firstly, to determine if the organisation provided the students with opportunities and spaces in which the young people could exercise their agency in the development process in order to pursue their goals and aspirations. Secondly, to identify challenges that could inhibit the students from exercising their agency; and lastly, to arrive at recommendations on how the challenges could be overcome or prevented. The argument in this study was that youth development organisations should empower and help to develop the youth in such a way that they could realise their full potential in order to make a positive and constructive contribution to their communities and the South African economy. Human development interventions, the kind that is instrumental to youth development, stresses the importance of helping people to expand on their existing capabilities and strengthening human values such as democracy and agency (Conradie & Robeyns, 2013). As such, the Capability Approach as pioneered by Amartya Sen (1988), was used as the theoretical framework because individuals, specifically young people’s well-being, is often dependent on the extent to which they have the aspirations, freedom and capabilities (in other words the opportunities) to live the lives which they value (Robeyns, 2005). Human agency is thus necessary to translate aspirations, freedom and capabilities into actions that could assist individuals to achieve their desired states of well-being. The six dimensions of agency that the study focused on were reflective judgement, motivation, goal pursuit, autonomy, relatedness and competence as conceptualised by Conradie (2013). The study was located in a qualitative research paradigm and used a case study design. The research participants consisted of two groups. The first group were the two programme managers of the selected organisation. The second group was 40 Grade 10 learners who participated in the youth development programme offered by the selected organisation at a high school on the Cape Flats. The research instruments used included a biographical information sheet, a self-reflective questionnaire and a focus group discussion for the student participants, and individual interviews conducted with the programme’s two staff members. The quantitative data consisted of the students’ biographical information and were analysed through Excel software. Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data through a three-stage open coding process. The importance of the findings of the study was that the youth development organisation added value to the students’ development by assisting them to identify their aspirations and unlock their agency role. The findings also showed that being part of a community characterised by poor households, alcohol and drug abuse, violence and crime, and disadvantaged public schooling; the students’ chances to succeed against those odds were slim. Based on the findings, recommendations were proposed for the Department of Social Development, youth development organisations, post-school institutions, families and communities, and young people, on how the different role players could engage collaboratively in order to empower and assist the youth to realise their full potential; and in so doing, enable them to make a constructive contribution to South Africa at large.

For many years the United Nations (UN) has sought to coordinate its numerous agencies and other humanitarian relief actors during responses to natural disasters and complex emergencies. Its success in this endeavor has been mixed. Through an analysis of three different humanitarian relief operations-the Rwanda genocide in 1994, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's intervention in Kosovo in 1999, and the floods of 2000 in Mozambique-this paper describes more fully the conditions under which coordination efforts occur. Specifically, this essay argues that successful and effective coordination in each particular crisis depends on the extent to which certain capacity and contextual conditions were present. In addition, it suggests that the often-touted "coordination by command" approach, a top-down style of coordination, should not be assumed by the UN since, as the literature suggests, this notion is quite contentious among nongovernmental organizations and United Nations staff alike. This paper critiques the utility of pursuing this model and offers instead an alternative vision of a pragmatic facilitation role for UN agencies in humanitarian relief operations / Master of Public and International Affairs

This thesis aims to study how two organizations communicate to empower women in Tanzania. It is a comparative study of the New Hope for Girls Organization (NHGO) and Young Women Christian Association (YWCA). Furthermore, this study focus on how different contextual factors, such as the size of the organization, religion and values, affect the organizations´ content and strategy of their communication. This study is based on a theoretical framework of previous research about communication from NGOs, Development theory and African feminisms. The empirical data was collected through semi-structured interviews, ethnographic interviews and observations. The result of this study shows that YMCA is highly influenced by its international ties through its international founders and world-wide connection, while NHGO is mainly influenced by the local community in which it operates.

This study aims to examine how the work of NGOs can be beneficial for teenage mothers’ in the Philippines. We wanted to study why they sought support of an NGO and how their lives were impacted after they made contact with an NGO. Teenage pregnancy rates have been rising in the Philippines and mostly affect the young mothers negatively i.e. they often have to quit school and be financially dependent on their parents. They are a stigmatized group and to understand their situation you have to comprehend how the context in the Philippines comes to affect them.  The study was conducted using a qualitative inductive method. By using semi-structured interviews, we have collected our material by interviewing eight young mothers who were in contact with two different organizations.  The result of the study shows that the work of NGOs has a significant influence in improving the young mothers’ lives both mentally and physically. When becoming pregnant they get rejected by their social circle and are left on their own because they are viewed as a disgrace. To analyze our result, we have used stigmatization and empowerment as theoretical framework. The study has shown that the environment is crucial for the outcome of their lives and that the organizations’ play an important role in their lives to empower them to take action and start something new.

In 2001, Amnesty International, the worlds largest international human rights non-governmental organization, made the decision to change its narrow mandate into a much broader mission statement that called for the protection and promotion of both civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights. Although the organization had added to its original mandate core concerning the release of prisoners of conscience before, the addition of economic, social, and cultural rights represented a major shift away from Amnesty Internationals classic focus on civil and political rights. Amnesty Internationals decision to promote all of the human rights listed in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and become a full spectrum human rights defender was a controversial one within the organization. The debate by the Amnesty membership over whether to accept an expanded form of mandate took place within the organization over a period of a decade before any changes were made. Concerns and fears over accepting economic, social and cultural rights into the mandate ranged from the practical to the theoretical.<p> This thesis will look at the decision made by Amnesty International to begin actively promoting and defending economic, social and cultural rights. It will examine why a leading human rights organization decided to modify its focus considerably and what the challenges were in doing this. In exploring the issues of contention brought up during the debates by the organizations membership, the larger questions surrounding international political acceptance of economic, social, and cultural rights will be examined.

This study examines what effects dowry has on the gender relations in the Savar area outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The collection of data was made through fieldwork on sight in Savar, with the help of ADESH, during a two month period, in the spring of 2012. Almost twenty interviews were made out in villages with female members of ADESH who told me of how dowry and their participation in ADESH’s activities affected their lives. A few interviews were also made in ADESH’s own office with employees to gain a deeper understanding of the women’s life situation and the work of ADESH. The focus of this thesis is on analysing how dowry affects different aspects of the society in Savar and how this affects the gender relations. In this thesis I will also examine how ADESH is conducting their work and what activities they offer their members. The conclusion of my study is in short that dowry seems to have a large impact on many aspects of the women’s lives and that the actions that are taken to decrease and remove gender differences might not always work as intended, this does however not mean that they are without effect.