A women’s NGO as an incubator: promoting identity-based associations in Nepalese civil society

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masako Tanaka
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
Alliance Building

This chapter presents a case study of the unique role played by a women’s NGO in actively supporting agency, self-representation, and alliance building among marginalised women. The case study focuses on the NGO’s role as an incubator in promoting identity-based associations (IBAs) that represent and assert the rights of particular groups of marginalised and/or stigmatized women such as trafficking survivors and women working in the entertainment sector, e.g. dance bars, duet restaurants and massage parlours. The presented case demonstrates that IBAs can be empowered to address their own issues as long as NGOs and other supportive parties provide adequate input for provisional capacity building. Finally, the article underscores challenges to and prerequisites for enabling other NGOs to play such a role, to serve as a resource for other civil society organisations.

Enduring Peace: a Case Study of the Opportunities and the Challenges for Engaging in Myanmar’s Peace Process

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 115-136
Author(s):  
José María Arraiza ◽  
Sara E. Davies
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Personal Safety ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Implementation Gap ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Specific Barriers

In 2015, the Myanmar Government, the Myanmar Tatmadaw (military) and eight ethnic armed organisations (eaos) signed the 2015 National Ceasefire Agreement (nca). In 2019, this agreement was signed by three more eaos, and there have been four annual conferences (Union Peace Panglong Conference 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019). The ceasefire arrangements, which are present primarily in Southeast Myanmar, have failed to make significant progress in key areas such as the provision of access to civil documents and land to returning refugees, displaced persons and conflict-affected communities. Violence has escalated in the last two years. It is not an exaggeration to say that Myanmar is at a critical juncture of transition. This article examines how the peace process is being communicated amongst different civil society organisations, international organisations, donor organisations, and government representatives in an area directly affected by the peace process. The article details the experiences of these participants exchanged in workshop in Mon State in July 2018. The exchanges during the workshop reveal a practical obstacles faced by civil society organisations, especially, in their attempt to support returnees. Many reported frustration with the implementation gap between promoting a peace process and providing for local enabling conditions that support peace. Specific barriers faced by civil society organisations, and in turn the communities they are seeking to help were threefold: information and communication barriers concerning the peace process; women’s fear and reluctance to seek services due to personal safety concerns, and the persistence of traditional gender norms which affects access to information.

Capital punishment and virtual protest: A case study of Singapore

First Monday ◽  
2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmin Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Capital Punishment ◽  
Online Community ◽  
Virtual Community ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
The Government ◽  
Media Discourses

This paper analyses how the online community in Singapore protested against the hanging of a Vietnamese drug trafficker in December 2005. Singapore has upheld capital punishment in the island state despite pressure from local and global civil society organisations and diplomatic channels. This paper traces how the online medium was used by the public to protest against capital punishment in the quasi–authoritarian state. The virtual community protested against the hanging by maintaining a rigorous discursive protest on the Internet. These sustained discourses became enmeshed with those of the offline media in Singapore. This confluence of the online and offline media discourses is important in building a two–tier public sphere in Singapore. The first–tier public sphere is one dominated by the government-controlled media and the ruling party while the second–tier public sphere is a space where civil society organisations and social movements express viewpoints marginalised in the offline society. The confluence of these two tiers has a material significance for the political landscape of Singapore. This paper explores this phenomenon through the case study of online protests against capital punishment in Singapore.

The Restructuring and Re-Orientation of Civil Society in a Web 2.0 World

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-61
Author(s):  
Kiru Pillay ◽  
Manoj Maharaj
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Web 2.0 ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Social Advocacy ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Operational Level ◽  
Global Environmental ◽  
Planning Processes ◽  
The Impact

This study focuses on how civil society organisations strategically deploy Web 2.0 technologies for transnational social advocacy and the impact of this technology adoption on civil society organisations' roles, structure, and orientation. The global environmental justice organisation, Greenpeace is used as a case study. Greenpeace advocates for changes in environmental policy and behaviour, has been at the forefront of environmental issues, and has used the mass media as an effective campaigning tool. The key findings that emerged was that social media has become a key ingredient of Greenpeace's campaigning strategy and has been embraced at both a strategic and operational level. The emergence of a collaborative communications paradigm has necessitated a level of organisational introspection evidenced in both changes in the organisation's strategic planning processes and changes to the organisational structure.

scholarly journals Civil-Society Organizations’ Capacity Building in the Local Governmental Sector: Is It Working? A Case Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-80
Author(s):  
Réka Zsuzsánna Máthé ◽  
György Hajnal
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
Civic Life ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
Eastern European Countries

AbstractThe role that a strong civil society plays in socio-economic development is a subject of major scholarly attention today. Many benefits from having a strong civil society are reported in the literature. There is, however, no generally accepted view regarding how capacity-building efforts can help to develop a strong civil society, especially in the Central and Eastern European countries.The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the causal mechanisms existing between capacity-building efforts, a strengthened civil society and socioeconomic development. This case study suggests that a Hungarian local government did appear to strengthen associational activities in its community. Using process tracing, the research identifies specific factors that lead this village to take these uncommon steps, and it assesses the implications for civic life.

scholarly journals Constructing victimhood in divided Germany: The case of the Association of the Victims of Stalinism (1950–1989)

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 422-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Relevance ◽  
Historical Injustice ◽  
Civil Society Organisations ◽  
Divided Germany ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Do So

Taking the Vereinigung der Opfer des Stalinismus (Association of the Victims of Stalinism) as a case study, this article argues that civil society organisations which claim to represent the interests of victims of historical injustice must seek to construct and propagate notions of the political and social relevance of victimhood. They must do so in such a way that victimhood both offers a coherent point of identification for individual victims and speaks to the concerns of the political system on which victims rely for compensation and recognition. By examining the discourse of officials of this organisation over time, it is possible to demonstrate the extent to which victims’ representatives must adapt their conception of victimhood in order to respond to changing circumstances. The article also points to the challenges these organisations face in remaining relevant in the new political contexts.

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