Participation of Iranian non-governmental organizations in health policy-making; barriers and strategies for development

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-56
Author(s):  
Rahim Khodayari-Zarnaq ◽  
Edris Kakemam ◽  
Morteza Arab-Zozani ◽  
Jamal Rasouli ◽  
Mobin Sokhanvar

PurposeThe effectiveness of non-governmental organization (NGO) participation in the healthcare sector has been demonstrated globally. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the status of Iranian NGOs’ contribution to health policy-making, the barriers to and strategies for developing their contribution.Design/methodology/approachIn this qualitative study, 25 participants were recruited from health-related NGOs in Tabriz, Iran. Semi-structured, in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted. Furthermore, a set of relevant documents were collected and their contents evaluated. The text of documents and interviews were analyzed using a thematic (deductive–inductive) approach using NVivo software.FindingsMost NGO activity has been in the area of providing services, whereas the least amount of activity has been in the domain of policy-making. Factors that were influential for NGO participation in policy-making were divided into three categories: those related to government, to civil society and within NGOs themselves. The primary barriers to participation in policy-making were related to government and the way that NGOs operated. Recommendations include the production of supportive law, financial aid to NGO and infrastructure that facilitates NGO participation.Practical implicationsFinancial support from the government and legislation of supportive laws could help to realize the potential of NGOs.Originality/valueNo such research has been undertaken before to evaluate what activities health-related NGOs undertake, their contribution in health policy-making and obstacles and facilitators of this contribution. NGOs can play a key role in ensuring accountability, transparency and empower citizens to demand basic health services from government.

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheshadri Chatterjee ◽  
Sreenivasulu N.S. ◽  
Zahid Hussain

Purpose The applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in different sectors have become agendas for discussions in the highest circle of experts. The applications of AI can help society and can harm society even by jeopardizing human rights. The purpose of this study is to examine the evolution of AI and its impacts on human rights from social and legal perspectives. Design/methodology/approach With the help of studies of literature and different other AI and human rights-related reports, this study has taken an attempt to provide a comprehensive and executable framework to address these challenges contemplated to occur due to the increase in usage of different AI applications in the context of human rights. Findings This study finds out how different AI applications could help society and harm society. It also highlighted different legal issues and associated complexity arising due to the advancement of AI technology. Finally, the study also provided few recommendations to the governments, private enterprises and non-governmental organizations on the usage of different AI applications in their organizations. Research limitations/implications This study mostly deals with the legal, social and business-related issues arising due to the advancement of AI technology. The study does not penetrate the technological aspects and algorithms used in AI applications. Policymakers, government agencies and private entities, as well as practitioners could take the help of the recommendations provided in this study to formulate appropriate regulations to control the usage of AI technology and its applications. Originality/value This study provides a comprehensive view of the emergence of AI technology and its implication on human rights. There are only a few studies that examine AI and related human rights issues from social, legal and business perspectives. Thus, this study is claimed to be a unique study. Also, this study provides valuable inputs to the government agencies, policymakers and practitioners about the need to formulate a comprehensive regulation to control the usage of AI technology which is also another unique contribution of this study.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belaynesh Tefera ◽  
Marloes L. Van Engen ◽  
Alice Schippers ◽  
Arne H. Eide ◽  
Amber Kersten ◽  
...  

This study looks at the equality challenges and opportunities for women with disabilities in low and middle income countries (LMICs) to participate and succeed in education, employment and motherhood. It is based on a systematic review of the literature from academic and non-governmental organization databases. The search of these databases yielded 24 articles, which were subsequently passed through open, axial, and selective coding. The resulting review found that women with disabilities in LMICs have severe difficulty participating and succeeding in education, employment and motherhood due to a number of interrelated factors: (i) hampered access to education, employment, intimacy and marriage, (ii) stigma and cultural practices resulting in discrimination and prejudice, and (iii) lack of support from family, teachers and institutions—all of which are exacerbated by poverty. Support from families, communities, the government, and non-governmental organizations improves women’s ability to fulfil their social roles (as students, employees and mothers), resulting in a better quality of life. Strategies that create awareness, minimize poverty and facilitate justice may improve the opportunities for women with disabilities in LMICs to participate in education, employment and motherhood, as well as their ability to succeed in these domains.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.B. Novozhilov ◽  
A.V. Starshinova ◽  
E.B. Arkhipova

This article deals with international experience integration of openness and transparency level evaluation of activities by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) into the Russian practice. The object of this study is socially oriented non-governmental organizations — both those that receive financial support from the state and those that do not. The subject of the study is the transparency and openness of the socially oriented non-governmental organizations of the Sverdlovsk region. The article proposes the following hypothesis: the government provides financial support to exceptionally transparent and open socially oriented non-governmental organizations; the most popular socially oriented non-governmental organizations are considered the most transparent, and the state financial support is provided to them. To evaluate the level of openness and transparency of non- governmental organizations the authors use quantitative methodology for websites monitoring of non-governmental organizations. The indicators proposed allow for the evaluation of the current level of openness of socially oriented non-governmental organizations. In addition, the article assesses available statistics to evaluate the popularity indicator of specific socially oriented non-governmental organizations. Keywords: non-governmental organization, openness and transparency of NGOs, financial support, social partnership, government social policy


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2S9) ◽  
pp. 1016-1020

In Indonesia, people with disabilities continue to increase, based on quotes from www.kemsos.go.id, the highest number of people with disabilities is in West Java Province (50.90%). Of the age group, ages 18-60 years occupy the highest position. The most experienced disabilities were leg defects (21.86%), mental retardation (15.41%) and speech (13.08%). Referring to the results of a study from the UB Disability Study and Service Center 2017, there were 1,835 people with disabilities in the city of Bandung who needed empowerment by both the government and non-governmental organizations. Empowerment is important to increase the self-confidence of persons with disabilities and a shift in social stigma towards disability, public trust plays an important role in building opportunities to work and work for disabilities the same as a non-governmental organization. This study examines how the quality can influence trust with product quality as a moderating variable, the approach used is quantitative, and the method used is descriptive with datacollected by observing many subjects at the same point of time, From the populace of 200 consumers taken 67 samples using the Slovin formula, respondents taken were respondents who had bought disability products and were domiciled in Bandung, West Java. This study was tested using PLS Method run by XLSTAT software


2020 ◽  
Vol V (I) ◽  
pp. 30-39
Author(s):  
Abid Mehmood ◽  
Sajjad Ali

Health conditions in Pakistan are very bad. Government and non-governmental organizations are trying to meet international standard of health services. Some healthcare providers are educated, trained and certified from the government but some are unqualified and not certified. In this research two national newspapers are analyzed the daily Jang Urdu and the daily Dawn English. These newspapers cover healthcare services such as indoor patient, outdoor patient maternity and other health services in news stories. These services are also seen in the Literature Review. The researcher analyzed on coverage of healthcare in newspapers the daily Jang and the daily Dawn. This research has been performed by using content analysis technique under quantitative methodology. Media agenda setting theory was adopted in the theoretical framework as in the literature review. The statistical analyses of data analysis have been done in the form of frequency distribution and correlation analysis. SPSS is used to analyze the content of data. The results show that daily Jang is giving more coverage to health-related news stories than daily Dawn.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Saraite-Sariene ◽  
Federico Galán-Valdivieso ◽  
Juana Alonso-Cañadas ◽  
Manuela García-Tabuyo

PurposeThe role of female managers has been of increasing interest among scholars in recent years, especially regarding sustainability issues. The same could be said about the usefulness of social media in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in demonstrating accountability to their stakeholders and attracting and keeping donors and volunteers. This paper aims to meet both research interests by analyzing to what extent women in top positions can foster stakeholders' engagement via social media.Design/methodology/approachOnline engagement can be proxied using data from social media to develop a measure that summarizes the main actions social media users are able to use in order to show their reactions to social media publications. Facebook data were obtained using proprietary software (Facebook data model) developed by the research team to carry out data massive extraction, processing and exploration.FindingsThe results of the multivariate analysis show that female leadership in both top and environmental-specific positions enhance social media engagement, while a higher percentage of women on the board of directors exert the opposite effect.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is not without limitations. First, this research is focused on a specific type of non-governmental organization (environmental NGO). Second, this study does not include economic variables such as donation income or expense structure. Third, data come only from Facebook as the leading social network.Originality/valueThis paper advances in the scarce knowledge about the role of women and the levels of online engagement (interactive conversations) in NGOs focused on sustainability.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 11-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Schwenger ◽  
Thomas Straub ◽  
Stefano Borzillo

Purpose – This paper aims to empirically investigate competition within the non-governmental organization (NGO) sector, and presents some strategic approaches to managing it. Porter’s five forces (1980) model was used as a theoretical framework to understand and quantify competition in the NGO sector, as well as to explore the differences between NGOs’ budget sizes. Traditional strategic management often fails to meet NGOs’ needs. While economization is prevalent within the NGO sector, little is known about how NGOs address competition. Design/methodology/approach – An online global survey was conducted between November 2010 and May 2011. Data were collected from 1,211 NGOs that either function as consultants or work in association with the United Nations (UN). The key informants were leaders and executive managers of NGOs. The respondents’ fields of work varied from international advocacy and development (38 per cent), education and research (14 per cent), community and neighborhood (8 per cent), health (8 per cent), environment (8 per cent) and social services (7 per cent) to civil liberty (6 per cent), labor (6 per cent), culture (3 per cent), philanthropy (2 per cent) and religion (1 per cent). Findings – The findings suggest that the NGO sector is becoming increasingly competitive. However, the data suggest that the lower and upper budget classes have different priorities and perceptions. Small NGOs (with budgets <USD250,000 and especially <USD10,000) compete more aggressively for funding, as they have less bargaining power over donors and large foundations, and face stronger competition from social entrepreneurship. This results in income reductions. Large NGOs (with budgets >USD250,000 USD and especially >USD1 million) experience increased pressure for accountability. Research limitations/implications – This research is aimed at a wide range of NGOs. The findings are based on an empirical and open survey that was held among NGOs in association with the UN. Future research should survey NGOs that are not associated with the UN to generalize the results. This may lead to contradictory or more varied results. Practical implications – The findings can help NGOs adapt their strategy to cope more effectively with increasing competition in the sector. Large NGOs seem to prioritize fundraising measures and their positioning (uniqueness) through specialized knowledge. Small NGOs, on the other hand, seem to consider sharing resources, co-operation with other NGOs and co-operation with the private sector slightly more important. To enhance their competitive position, small NGOs are advised to improve their potential by concentrating on developing specific skills that are hard to imitate and to improve their fundraising measures. Finally, large NGOs could benefit from pooling their resources and collaborating with other NGOs and private organizations. Originality/value – NGOs have to pursue their missions under increasing competitive pressure. This paper comprehensively assesses competition, analyzes the various facets thereof and tests these aspects’ relevance to NGOs. It furthermore proposes strategies that are more appropriate for NGOs of different sizes to cope with this competition.


2020 ◽  
Vol V (II) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Abid Mehmood ◽  
Sajjad Ali

Health conditions in Pakistan are very bad. Government and non-governmental organizations are trying to meet international standard of health services. Some healthcare providers are educated, trained and certified from the government but some are unqualified and not certified. In this research two national newspapers are analyzed the daily Jang Urdu and the daily Dawn English. These newspapers cover healthcare services such as indoor patient, outdoor patient maternity and other health services in news stories. These services are also seen in the Literature Review. The researcher analyzed on coverage of healthcare in newspapers the daily Jang and the daily Dawn. This research has been performed by using content analysis technique under quantitative methodology. Media agenda setting theory was adopted in the theoretical framework as in the literature review. The statistical analyses of data analysis have been done in the form of frequency distribution and correlation analysis. SPSS is used to analyze the content of data. The results show that daily Jang is giving more coverage to health-related news stories than daily Dawn.


NATAPRAJA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-105
Author(s):  
Hisyam Yusril Hidayat ◽  
Syarif Amr Hasyemi ◽  
Muhammad Galih Saputra

The paradigm shift in disaster management places non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as the actors who contribute to the process. However, NGOs still face many challenges both internally and externally. The author tries to find challenges from the role of NGOs and tries to formulate the right strategy. This research is categorized as a post-positivist paradigm and uses a mixed active method. The NGOs analyzed were Yayasan Peta Bencana and MPBI. The results show that there are internal and external challenges. The challenges are the number of volunteers are limited, lack of volunteer knowledge, there is no program evaluation, and financial accountability from NGOs. Meanwhile, external environmental barriers are still low in understanding and role of society and the contribution of the private sector is still low. The authors formulate nine strategies to overcome these problems. A limitation in this study is that researchers only use secondary data to explain the role of either the government or other actors.


2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 434-456 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunjan Tomer ◽  
Gaurav Singh Chauhan ◽  
Prabin Kumar Panigrahi

Purpose The paper explores the importance of mobile technology to enable diffusion of agriculture-related knowledge among farmers in India. The purpose of the paper is to evaluate the current socio-economic factors and challenges that impact the feasibility of m-governance project. The authors intend to explore different behavioral aspects of farmers, specifically their information seeking behavior to understand their communication ecosystem. Design/methodology/approach The authors have used multiple methods to analyze the significance of m-governance in current social dynamics. To achieve in depth understanding of farmer’s attitudes and opinion, the authors have conducted semi-structured interviews with farmers. The authors have also applied experimental observations to evaluate the actual effectiveness of information dissemination and the social dynamics behind the process. The secondary/archival data was also collected from the government offices and non-governmental organizations. Findings Findings explore the pattern of mobile usage among the farmers which could lead to interesting implications for the design and implementation of future m-governance projects. The research has also drawn some interesting implication on the feasibility of m-governance project. Research limitations/implications Because the findings are co-related with the prevalent socio-cultural dynamics, testing the findings in different context might add value to the proposed theory and its implications. Originality/value Considering the need and significance of agriculture-based reforms in rural India, present study offers guidance in devising an efficient communication medium among farmers and government. The authors infer from our field observations that the communication platform is vital for successfully reaching farmers for their overall welfare. The present work is based on findings which are drawn from the ground reality which helps in explicating inferences which are useful for implementation purpose.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document