scholarly journals Principles to Guide a Volunteer Humanitarian Faith-based Short-Term Medical Mission in Nepal: A Case Study

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
Rebecca Houweling ◽  
Barbara Astle
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Host Country ◽  
The United States ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
International Volunteers ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Mass Migration ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations

Global health inequities, natural disasters, and mass migration of refugees have led to an increase in volunteer humanitarian responses worldwide.  While well intentioned for doing good, there is an increasing awareness of the importance for improved preparation for international volunteers involved in short-term medical missions (STMMs).  This case study describes the retrospective application of Lasker’s (2016) Principles for Maximizing the Benefits for Volunteer Health Trips to international volunteers from two faith-based non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Canada and the United States partnering with a faith-based NGO in Nepal.  These principles are intended to maximize the benefits and diminish challenges that may develop between the international volunteers and the host country staff.  Lessons from this case study highlight the importance of applying such principles to foster responsible STMMs.  In conclusion, there is an increasing call by host country staff for collaborative and standardized guidelines or frameworks for STMMs and other global health activities.

scholarly journals Global Health Equity and Advocacy: The roles of international Non-Governmental Organizations

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
S G Lurie
Keyword(s):  
Health Promotion ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Health Equity ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fund Raising ◽  
Community Empowerment ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations

International health equity and community empowerment are promoted through local and global collaborations with non-governmental organizations (NGO’s). Civil society organizations and inter-agency partnerships assume central roles in addressing global health inequity, within the context of national health and social systems, local realities and priorities. Community health promotion through public-private collaboration by NGO’s on health needs assessments and fund-raising is designed to increase support for local programs in the United States. This paper compares health promotion and advocacy roles of an international non-governmental organization in global and local arenas, based on community case studies by the author in rural Hungary and North Texas from 2009 to 2011, using ethnographic and qualitative research methods. Findings confirm the need for systematic evaluation of the effects of complex socioeconomic, political and multi-ethnic contexts, and the impacts of prevention programs and healthcare on health equity.

Detecting astroturf lobbying movements

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 164-177
Author(s):  
Brieuc Lits
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The United States ◽  
Framing Analysis ◽  
Private Interests ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Grassroots Support

Astroturf lobbying refers to the simulation of grassroots support for or against a public policy. The objective of this tactic is for private interests to pretend they have public support for their cause. However, omitting to disclose the real sponsor of a message renders the communication unauthentic and undermines democratic and pluralist values. This article seeks to develop a method to detect astroturf movements based on emphasis framing analysis. The hypothesis is that astroturf groups employ different frames than genuine grassroots movements to comply with the private interests they truly represent. The results of the case study on the shale gas exploration debate in the United States show that astroturf groups used frames that differed significantly from authentic non-governmental organizations, which allowed their detection.

scholarly journals Legal framework governing Short-Term Medical Missions

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 01-05
Author(s):  
Pedro Clarós
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Medical Missions ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Non Profit ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Health And Development

The presence and influence of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in the landscape of global health and development have dramatically increased over the past several decades. Increasingly, Medical Practitioners in industrialized countries have become interested in global health issues, an interest that often takes the form of Short-Term international Medical Missions (STMMs). His article will aim to help Medical Practitioners to have a synthetic overview of the legal framework governing medical volunteering in STMMs and give them some recommendations. The idea of this article started from the need to have an overview of the legal framework governing medical volunteering missions organized by the Claros’s Foundation named "Foundation Clarós" (hereinafter also "FC"). To better understand who this article is addressed to, it is interesting to bring to your attention the concrete case from which this article was born. The following is a brief outline of what FC is all about. FC is a private, non-profit organization (NGO) whose aim is to provide medical care and alleviate the suffering of people in health and medical precarious situations.

Understanding the Outcomes of Climate Change Campaigns in the Australian Environmental Movement

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Robyn Gulliver ◽  
Kelly S. Fielding ◽  
Winnifred Louis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Environmental Advocacy ◽  
Personal Support ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Collective Response ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Advocacy Network ◽  
Australian Climate

Climate change is a global problem requiring a collective response. Grassroots advocacy has been an important element in propelling this collective response, often through the mechanism of campaigns. However, it is not clear whether the climate change campaigns organized by the environmental advocacy groups are successful in achieving their goals, nor the degree to which other benefits may accrue to groups who run them. To investigate this further, we report a case study of the Australian climate change advocacy sector. Three methods were used to gather data to inform this case study: content analysis of climate change organizations’ websites, analysis of website text relating to campaign outcomes, and interviews with climate change campaigners. Findings demonstrate that climate change advocacy is diverse and achieving substantial successes such as the development of climate change-related legislation and divestment commitments from a range of organizations. The data also highlights additional benefits of campaigning such as gaining access to political power and increasing groups’ financial and volunteer resources. The successful outcomes of campaigns were influenced by the ability of groups to sustain strong personal support networks, use skills and resources available across the wider environmental advocacy network, and form consensus around shared strategic values. Communicating the successes of climate change advocacy could help mobilize collective action to address climate change. As such, this case study of the Australian climate change movement is relevant for both academics focusing on social movements and collective action and advocacy-focused practitioners, philanthropists, and non-governmental organizations.

Translating religion and development: Emerging perspectives from critical ethnographies of faith-based organizations

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 243-263
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Bolotta ◽  
Catherine Scheer ◽  
R. Michael Feener
Keyword(s):  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Cumulative Effect ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Separate Spheres ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
National University ◽  
Faith Based Organizations ◽  
Henry Luce

Since the turn of the twenty-first century, there has been a remarkable surge of interest among both policy makers and academics on religion and its engagements with development. Within this context, ‘religious non-governmental organizations (RNGOs)’ or ‘faith-based organizations’ (FBOs) have garnered considerable attention. Early attempts to understand FBOs often took the form of typological mapping exercises, the cumulative effect of which has been the construction of a field of ‘RNGOs’ that can be analysed as distinct from—and possibly put into the service of—the work of purportedly secular development actors. However, such typologies imply problematic distinctions between over-determined imaginations of separate spheres of ‘religion’ and ‘development’. In this article, we innovatively extend the potential of ethnographic approaches highlighting aspects of ‘brokerage’ and ‘translation’ to FBOs and identify new, productive tensions of convergent analysis. These, we argue, provide original possibilities of comparison and meta-analysis to explore contemporary entanglements of religion and development. This article was written as part of a broader research project on Religion and NGOs in Asia. We are grateful to the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion in International Affairs at the Henry Luce Foundation for their generous support of this research. We would also like to thank Philip Fountain and other members of the National University of Singapore’s Asia Research Institute for stimulating conversations that have informed our thinking in this article, and the anonymous reviewers for PIDS who have helped us to improve on earlier drafts.

Democratization, Nationalism and Regional Security in the Southern Caucasus

1997 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 399-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Neil MacFarlane
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Pressure Groups ◽  
Democratic Reform ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Independent States

FOR SOME YEARS NOW, WESTERN ACADEMICS AND POLICY-MAKERS HAVE embraced the cause of democratic reform in Central and Eastern Europe. To take but one well-known example, President Clinton in the 1994 State of the Union Address cited the absence of war among democracies as a reason for promotion of democracy around the world. Assistance to former Warsaw Pact and newly independent states has been made conditional to varying degrees on the acceptance of democratic change. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the European Union, the United States Agency for International Development and associated non-governmental organizations have unleashed armies of promoters of democracy throughout the region to: observe elections; monitor human rights; draft new constitutions and laws defending civil and political rights; train judges and police personnel; and organize and assist political parties, media and non-governmental pressure groups. In short, they have sought to transplant the fabric of civil society and democratic institutions. These armies have landed on terrain often quite foreign to them and have often displayed little sensitivity to the social, economic and political context in which they are operating. This may have contributed to results other than those intended.

scholarly journals El secuestro virtual en el continuum de la violencia. Visibilizar lo que se oscurece

Revista Trace ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Cristina Amescua Chávez
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Data ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Spiral Form ◽  
Sociedad Civil ◽  
Nous Examinons ◽  
Société Civile ◽  
Official Sources ◽  
Article Analyse

En este artículo se analizará el tema de la violencia como causa y consecuencia del secuestro virtual buscando integrar sus dimensiones tanto individuales o personales, como familiares y colectivas. Desde una perspectiva social se dará cuenta de las diversas interacciones entre los factores que se entrelazan en este nuevo fenómeno. La violencia será entendida aquí como un ciclo continuo que se reproduce a sí mismo en forma de espiral. Para el análisis se utilizarán datos cuantitativos recabados tanto en instancias gubernamentales como a través de organismos de la sociedad civil, así como información cualitativa proporcionada por un estudio de caso de un secuestro virtual.Abstract: This article analyzes violence both as a cause and as a consequence of virtual kidnapping seeking to integrate individual and collective dimensions. From a social perspective, visibility will be given to the several interactions present in this new phenomenon. Violence will be understood as a continuous cycle reproducing itself constantly but in a spiral form. The analysis will draw from quantitative data collected among official sources as well as non governmental organizations, but it will also include a qualitative perspective build a case study of a specific virtual kidnapping.Résumé : Cet article analyse la violence comme cause et effet du kidnapping virtuel, en prenant en compte ses dimensions individuelles et collectives. Dans une perspective sociale, nous examinons les diverses interactions et facteurs en jeu dans ce nouveau phénomène. La violence est ici comprise comme un cycle continu qui se reproduit luimême sous la forme d’une spirale ascendante. L’analyse part de données quantitatives provenant aussi bien d’institutions gouvernementales que d’organismes de la société civile, ainsi que de données qualitatives fournies par une étude de cas d’un kidnapping virtuel.

scholarly journals Alternative Urban Eco Tours for Responsible Consumption and Sustainability – the Example of Bulgaria

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 416
Author(s):  
Hristina Bancheva-Preslavska ◽  
Jochen Dallmer
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Communication ◽  
Ecological Resilience ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Responsible Consumption ◽  
Environment Agency

The European Environment Agency warns that Europe consumes too many resources and causes environmental degradation all over the world. This leads to growing demands on natural systems for food, water and energy. To achieve sustainability and ecological resilience it is necessary to complement technology-focused measures with approaches addressing consumption behaviors, changing lifestyles, enhancing knowledge and education. There are environmental communication approaches stimulating responsible consumption and ecofriendly behaviors, conducted by science and educational institutions, non-governmental organizations and others. Among them, originating from Germany, are the alternative city tours, spread also in other western countries. The aim of this case study is to design and verify urban eco tours for an eastern country - Bulgaria in order to increase young people's sensitivity to sustainability through responsible consumption and to encourage them for ecofriendly alternatives of everyday goods and services. An approach for their implementation in Bulgaria is developed and proved through qualitative and quantitative analysis, involving two different groups of youth – multipliers leading the tours and teenagers taking part. The case study presents urban eco tours as an environmental protection tool, using information about environmental impact of consumption, combined with motivational activities, to change attitudes and encourage young people for ecofriendly lifestyles.  Keywords: environmental communication, education for sustainable development, eco tour, consumption, ecology

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