A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in the Political Studies Department, Faculty of Humanities,
University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
8 March 2015 / HIV is the most pressing public health and development challenge facing Botswana.
Reducing gender-related vulnerability to HIV is one of the top priorities of the
government and its development partners. Civil society organisations (CSOs) have been
identified as crucial in these efforts. As a result, civil society has grown in Botswana, in
both numbers and size, to deliver services such as home-based care, counselling, and
testing. Yet to reduce gendered vulnerability to HIV, social and human development
goals must be met in several sectors of society. The focus on HIV-related services has
implications in practise, policy, and theory that may compromise long-term development
aims and co-opt civil society. This research draws on critical theory and uses action
research methods to investigate the role of civil society in Botswana for reducing
gendered vulnerability to HIV, now and in the future.
The case of Botswana is a crucial one, as it has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates,
as well as the resources, both domestic and from partners, to mobilise a comprehensive
response. The combination of these factors has afforded the opportunity to gain insights
to inform civil society theory and development approaches in both policy and practise to
improve the HIV response and civil society’s role in it. Through a literature review,
interviews with key informants, a survey, and a workshop, this research found that the
HIV response in Botswana is addressing many of the issues suggested by global
development partners, such as UNAIDS, at the policy level, though implementation is
lacking, especially concerning male involvement in gender programming. It found that
efforts to meet the immediate needs are in place, but the long-term strategic interests are
only incrementally addressed. This suggests that HIV is causing a development deficit.
Additionally, the roles that CSOs serve in the response are focussed on serving these
immediate needs, making it increasingly difficult for the response to effect broader social
change to achieve gender equality and development. Civil society is taking on more
responsibility in the public sector, which puts it in a vulnerable position. Its role needs to
be reconceptualised in the HIV response and in development more broadly.
This research proposes theoretical and policy implications to inform civil society-state
relations; approaches to address complicated social development issues, such as genderbased
violence; and offers an 18-point analytical framework to address operational and
programmatic capacities in civil society. The framework offers a new category for the
dynamic analysis of civil society organisations while working with the state called ‘civil
agents’. It also describes the bridge function that CSOs serve when working with key
populations, such as sexual minorities, in criminalised settings. Together these theoretical
and policy implications can contribute to the understanding of civil society in the HIV
response, and gender equity in the context of the post-2015 global development agenda.
Key words: Civil Society Organisations, Non-governmental Organisations, HIV,
Gender, Botswana, Development, Critical Theory, Action Research / MT2016
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/21360 |
| Date | 02 November 2016 |
| Creators | Pulizzi, Scott |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (302 leaves), application/pdf, application/pdf |
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