scholarly journals The contributions of civil society to food security in the context of COVID-19: A qualitative exploration in Uruguay

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Gerónimo Brunet ◽  
Alejandra Girona ◽  
Gabriela Fajardo ◽  
Valentina Iragola ◽  
Leandro Machín ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Dietary Guidelines ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Socioeconomic Vulnerability ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
News Websites ◽  
The Face ◽  
Access To Food ◽  
Qualitative Exploration

Abstract Objective: The aim of the present work was to explore and analyze the actions implemented by civil society to contribute to food security in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak in Uruguay, a high-income country in South America. Design: An exploratory systematic approach was used to identify the contributions of civil society to food security through reports in news websites and Facebook posts. Data were analyzed based on content analysis following a deductive-inductive approach. Setting: Uruguay, Latin America. Results: A total of 1220 civil society organizations were identified, which developed two main actions to increase access to food among the Uruguayan population: food baskets and “community pots” (also known as “common pots”). Most of the initiatives targeted citizens under socioeconomic vulnerability in the face of COVID-19, without specifying any specific requirement or population segment. Actions were mainly led by spontaneously organized community groups, and, to a lesser extent, by consolidated organizations. Interactions between organizations were identified. The foods provided by the organizations were mostly aligned with national dietary guidelines. Social media posts evidenced that the main challenge faced by organizations was related to the lack of funds or supplies. Conclusions: Results from the present work suggest that the lack of funds or supplies poses challenges to the medium- and long-term contributions of civil society to food security and stresses the need for comprehensive governmental measures to guarantee food security among Uruguayan citizens.

scholarly journals Ciència i Tecnologia per a l’Agricultura del Futur

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pere Arús
Keyword(s):  
Crop Yields ◽  
Population Based ◽  
First Century ◽  
Highly Qualified ◽  
Sustainability Criteria ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
Correct Application ◽  
Access To Food

Guaranteeing access to food for a growing human population – based on sustainability criteria and in the face of the climate change threat – is the main challenge for twenty-first-century agriculture. The solutions are inevitably complex, require a variety of coordinated measures, and essentially, are dependent on the progress of science and the development of technologies to make more efficient use of available resources to increase crop yields and food quality to feed the world. Technologies such as genomics, computing, robotics, and nanotechnology, along with their correct application – which will require highly qualified users – will also be crucial elements to reach these objectives.

scholarly journals State-Funded Activism: Lessons from Civil Society Organizations in Ireland

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 231-243
Author(s):  
Anna Visser
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Government Funding ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
State Funding ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Face ◽  
Working Together ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Civil society organizations (CSOs) in Ireland receive significant state funding and institutional support according to the logic that they are important contributors to democratic governance, with the effect that the CSO sector has expanded and become more embedded in formal decision-making processes over the past several decades. At the same time, dependency on government funding exposes CSOs to three important challenges: to stay true to activist mandates in the face of pressure from state funders to focus on service provision; to maintain accountability to constituents while also satisfying the vertically oriented accountability requirements of the state; and to nurture collaboration among CSOs in a context of competition for state funding. University-based activists, who are also reliant on (increasingly scarce) government funding, face similar challenges, and therefore should pay more attention to debates regarding state funding in the CSO sphere. By working together to overcome common challenges associated with state funding, activists in both spheres can more effectively contribute to progressive social change.

Resisting Democratic Backsliding: Malawi’s Experience in Comparative Perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 858-882
Author(s):  
Peter VonDoepp
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Collective Resistance ◽  
The Face ◽  
Democratic Rights ◽  
Action Theories

AbstractWhy does collective resistance to democratic backsliding emerge in some contexts and not others? The experience of Malawi in 2011–2012 offers an opportunity to explore this question. In the face of attacks on democratic rights and institutions, large-scale popular and civil society mobilization challenged the government’s authoritarian tendencies. Drawing on collective action theories and comparing Malawi’s experience to that of Zambia, VonDoepp argues that Malawi’s resistance arose in an environment that was favorable to its emergence. Economic conditions had generated grievances against government, polarization remained modest, and civil society organizations benefitted from credibility and the presence of allies that facilitated activism.

Regulations of Large-Scale Acquisitions of Land: The Case of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Land, Fisheries and Forests

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenza Paoloni ◽  
Antonio Onorati
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Negotiation Process ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
International Agreement ◽  
World Food Security ◽  
Responsible Governance ◽  
Voluntary Guidelines

AbstractThis article focuses on the recent international agreement now known as Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Land, Fisheries and Forests. The drafting process for this international agreement, achieved through a transparent consultation activity, started by FAO and finalized through intergovernmental negotiations led by CFS (Committee on World Food Security, a body of the U.N.), also including the participation of civil society organizations, international organizations, private sector representatives, academics and researchers. The engagement of rural social movements and other Civil Society Organizations in the negotiation process is an unprecedented effort in influencing governments to establish guidelines to gain greater access to land resources at the global scale. The Guidelines aim to promote food security and sustainable development by improving secure access to land, fisheries and forests, especially for small food producers, and protecting the legitimate tenure rights of millions of people against forms of grabbing, concentration, commodification and privatization of land which are shaping agrarian systems. They have been elaborated on the basis of human rights and in respect of local communities rights. From a strictly legal point of view, the Guidelines are not mandatory and hence they are not a source of legally binding effects for every single State. They do not derive from a formal legislative proceeding, and they are the result of a consultation and negotiation process coming from the bottom. Every State and international organization is called on to guarantee the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Guidelines. The authors contend, with critical arguments, that the process of consultation and negotiation that led to the endorsement of the Guidelines is quite relevant – in the current context of the large-scale land acquisitions – and very significant because it involved civil society and social movements, giving rise to an innovative instrument of soft law.

scholarly journals The review on the smallholder Farmers’ Food security and Conflict in Ethiopia

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 107-112
Author(s):  
Chayot Gatdet
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Population Pressure ◽  
Nutrition Status ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Irrigation Practice ◽  
Family Based ◽  
Access To Food

The growing food insecurity in Ethiopia is exceedingly associated with the prevalence of conflict. Thus, the main aim of this paper was to review food security in the context of conflict in Ethiopia. The data of the paper were collected using an intensive literature review of the relevant documents. In the paper, conflict is the cause and the result of food insecurity. Hence, the predominance of conflict, periodic drought, deficiency of infrastructure amenities, human population pressure and traditional farming were the main causes of food insecurity in Ethiopia. More than the rests, the prevalence of conflict affects food security severely. It disrupts food production, reduces the nutrition status, retards access to food and increases the population displacement in the country. Therefore, addressing the situation of food insecurity and conflict requires the involvement of all Ethiopian communities, civil society organizations, governmental organizations and NGOs by increasing the non-farm activities, promoting family-based economics, strengthening the irrigation practice and improving the conflict management techniques.

The elimination of violence and terrorism in Iraq strategy

2019 ◽  
pp. 375
Author(s):  
Mona Ali Duaij ◽  
Ahlam Ahmed Issa
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
The State ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Terrorist Organization ◽  
The Media ◽  
Causes Of Crime ◽  
Religious Aspect

All the Iraqi state institutions and civil society organizations should develop a deliberate systematic policy to eliminate terrorism contracted with all parts of the economic, social, civil and political institutions and important question how to eliminate Daash to a terrorist organization hostile and if he country to eliminate the causes of crime and punish criminals and not to justify any type of crime of any kind, because if we stayed in the curriculum of justifying legitimate crime will deepen our continued terrorism, but give it legitimacy formula must also dry up the sources of terrorism media and private channels and newspapers that have abused the Holy Prophet Muhammad (p) and all kinds of any of their source (a sheei or a Sunni or Christians or Sabians) as well as from the religious aspect is not only the media but a meeting there must be cooperation of both parts of the state facilities and most importantly limiting arms possession only state you can not eliminate terrorism and violence, and we see people carrying arms without the name of the state and remains somewhat carefree is sincerity honesty and patriotism the most important motivation for the elimination of violence and terrorism and cooperation between parts of the Iraqi people and not be driven by a regional or global international schemes want to kill nations and kill our bodies of Sunnis, sheei , Christians, Sabean and Yazidi and others.

The Meritocratization of Civil Society

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Bovens ◽  
Anchrit Wille
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Public Affairs ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Advocacy Groups ◽  
Interest Representation ◽  
The People ◽  
Professional Advocacy ◽  
Education Gap

Civil society organizations are, if not schools, at least pools of democracy. In the ‘third sector’, too, active engagement and participation ‘by the people’ have given way to meritocracy, or, in other words, to rule by the well-educated. Many popularly rooted mass organizations have witnessed a decline in membership and political influence. Their role as intermediary between politics and society has been taken over by professionally managed advocacy groups that operate with university educated public affairs consultants. First, the chapter describes the associational revolution, the enormous increase in the number of civil society organizations. Then it in analyses the education gap in membership and the shift from large membership organizations to lean professional advocacy groups, which has occurred over the past three decades. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the net effect of this meritocratization of civil society for political participation and interest representation.

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