Foreign donor assistance and environmental capacity building: evidence from Serbia and Bosnia–Herzegovina

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Fagan ◽  
Indraneel Sircar
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Capacity ◽  
Block Grants ◽  
Donor Funding ◽  
Sustainable Resources ◽  
Environmental Ngos ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
External Assistance ◽  
Empirical Perspective ◽  
The Impact

Early analyses of the impact of donor assistance for NGOs across post-socialist Eurasia documented the extent to which the ubiquitous new NGOs were disconnected from indigenous networks, lacked sustainable resources and capacity, and were accountable to donors rather than citizens and governments. Although this article does not entirely contest such conclusions, it examines the role of NGOs from a different normative perspective based on their role as conduits of change rather than as emblems of democratic participation or liberal representation. However, in its critique, the research does contend that there are three fundamental problems with the earlier, somewhat negative analysis: (i) too much was being expected of NGOs and donor assistance; (ii) scholars were attempting to judge the impact of the intervention far too quickly; and (iii) the focus on democracy and civil society obscured the critical ‘governance’ impact that certain NGOs were having in terms of transforming decision-making and state power ‘behind the scenes’. From the empirical perspective of environmental NGOs in post-conflict Bosnia and Serbia, the paper uses a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative methods in order to ascertain better the impact of external assistance in terms of particular development skills and strategies employed by recipients. The conclusion reached is that donor funding seems to be exerting a positive longer-term impact on thetransactionalcapacities of a small core of environmental NGOs in both locations. Organizations with the most developed transactional capacities, and the few organizations now able to engage transnationally, have obtained a succession of grants over a number of years and have had their transactional activities have been funded specifically by international donors via block grants. Although this does not necessarily prove a positive relationship between donor funding and transactional capacity, it nevertheless challenges more negative assessments in the existing literature.

scholarly journals Evaluating ‘homegrown’ research networks in Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 114 (3/4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Camilla Adelle ◽  
Nico Elema ◽  
Ereck Chakauya ◽  
David Benson
Keyword(s):  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Regional Research ◽  
Research Networks ◽  
Sustainable Resources ◽  
Science Policy Interface ◽  
Mere Existence ◽  
The Impact

Attempts to improve the policy environment have led to a growing pressure on governments in Africa to embark on policymaking that is more evidence based and considers a wide spectrum of scientific and indigenous knowledge. Local – or ‘homegrown’ – research networks on the continent can help strengthen the role of scientific knowledge in policymaking by increasing the capacity of researchers and by enhancing the visibility and communication of the research produced. While a large number of regional and sub-regional research networks have sprung up in Africa, the mere existence of networks does not guarantee their success. In reality, the impact of research networks on the science–policy interface depends on how well the networks operate in practice. We present a framework for evaluating the effectiveness of research networks in a way that is comparable across networks. The evaluation framework was used to evaluate two sub-regional research networks: the NEPAD Southern African Networks of Water Centres of Excellence (SANWACTE) and the NEPAD Southern African Network for Biosciences (SANBio). The evaluation revealed some shared constraints limiting the effectiveness of both networks, including uneven regional representation, asymmetry between network members, and difficulties in securing sufficient, diverse and sustainable resources. Further research into network design and funding models is suggested in order to enhance the role of these networks in providing locally appropriate knowledge for policymaking on the continent.

The Political-Military Organizations and the Emergence of Mass-Based Grassroots Organizations

2019 ◽  
pp. 28-56
Author(s):  
Manal A. Jamal
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Relative Effectiveness ◽  
Grassroots Organizations ◽  
Donor Funding ◽  
Military Organizations ◽  
Democratic Development ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
The Impact

This chapter outlines how patterns of socio-political organizing diverged in the Palestinian and Salvadoran cases during the beginning of their respective conflicttopeace transitions. Departing from explanations that focus on the professionalization of mass-based organizations, the author explains how the domestic political contexts shaped the mediating role of Western donor funding. More specifically, the book argues the that “inclusivity” of political settlements (assessed by the extent of participation of major political groups and the degree of societal support) shaped the relative effectiveness of democracy promotion efforts and the impact of Western donor assistance on civil society and democratic development more generally. This chapter also explains how civil society is being addressed in the book and the methodology employed, which is a structured, focused comparison that is historically sensitive but conducive to generalizing across cases. It also explains how the quality of civil society and democratic development are assessed, and why the women’s sectors were chosen to examine these developments. It concludes with an outline of the remaining chapters of the book.

Europeanization in a Difficult Environment

2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-223
Author(s):  
Sandro Knezović ◽  
Valbona Zeneli
Keyword(s):  
National Level ◽  
Academic Community ◽  
Institution Building ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Shared Beliefs ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Accession Process ◽  
Technical Sense ◽  
The Impact

This article examines the impact of the process of Europeanization on the consolidation of political systems and on the pace of European Union (EU) accession in very difficult transitional environments like those of Croatia and Albania. Croatia, a post-socialist and a post-conflict state, and Albania, heavily burdened with the consequences of its recent isolationist history (which is unprecedented among other post-socialist states), were intentionally selected for this research as atypical cases. Acknowledging the lack of consensus about the Europeanization phenomena in the academic community, the authors decided to rely on indicators that focus not only on institution-building and policy-making processes in the technical sense, but also in the processes of construction and diffusion of formal and informal rules, procedures, styles and shared beliefs, norms and identities that are being transmitted from the European to the national level. Based on qualitative research comparing the two countries – that is, Albania and Croatia – and using a number of indicators, the authors conclude that while Europeanization is an important part of European politics in general and the EU accession process in particular, it does not result in having a uniform impact on different candidate countries. On the contrary, the pace of integration depends on the specific domestic political context, on the role of the institutions, and on the processes of adaptation to the European political environment.

African conflicts

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Lee
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Northern Uganda ◽  
Rwandan Genocide ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Societal Norms ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

The chapter investigates the experience of children born of war in late 20th century sub-Saharan Africa by exploring the fate of children conceived during the Rwandan genocide and the children born of forced conjugal associations during the LRA war in Northern Uganda. Using extensive fieldwork in Northern Uganda, the analysis focusses on the impact of the ethnic undertones of the conflicts and the role of kinship in determining what guides the integration of CBOW into volatile post-conflict societies. It reflects on the gendered societal norms and their role in shaping the communities into which CBOW and their mothers have to settle and explores healing mechanisms and their limitations for affected children.

Intergroup Threat and Outgroup Attitudes

2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (5) ◽  
pp. 311-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Brambilla ◽  
David A. Butz
Keyword(s):  
Gay Men ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Welfare Recipients ◽  
Intergroup Attitudes ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Intergroup Threat ◽  
Economic Threat ◽  
The Impact ◽  
General Climate

Two studies examined the impact of macrolevel symbolic threat on intergroup attitudes. In Study 1 (N = 71), participants exposed to a macrosymbolic threat (vs. nonsymbolic threat and neutral topic) reported less support toward social policies concerning gay men, an outgroup whose stereotypes implies a threat to values, but not toward welfare recipients, a social group whose stereotypes do not imply a threat to values. Study 2 (N = 78) showed that, whereas macrolevel symbolic threat led to less favorable attitudes toward gay men, macroeconomic threat led to less favorable attitudes toward Asians, an outgroup whose stereotypes imply an economic threat. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the role of a general climate of threat in shaping intergroup attitudes.

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