scholarly journals The Tale of Two Civil Societies: Comparing disability rights movements in Nicaragua and Uruguay

2014 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Meyers ◽  
Elizabeth Lockwood

<p><span>The UNCRPD is unique amongst international rights instruments because it empowers civil society organizations to represent the rights-bearers themselves&mdash;persons with disabilities. As such, DPOs in the Global South have become a major concern for UN agencies and international NGOs who believe that grassroots disability associations need political advocacy training in order to take up their role as rights advocates. These expectations contain implicit assumptions regarding civil society-state relations and the existence of governmental capacity. The authors, however, hypothesize that not all civil societies will fit the rights advocacy model due to the political culture and public resources available within their respective, local communities. Disability movements in Nicaragua and Uruguay are compared and contrasted. In Nicaragua, a disability rights coalition dismisses many international expectations in favor for continuing to follow traditional civil society expectations to provide services. In Uruguay, a long history of high levels of social spending and disability organizing enabled DPOs to successfully advocate for progressive laws. The deaf community, however, decided to implement their own, separate advocacy strategies to ensure a fairer distribution of public resources. The authors conclude that rather than top-down civil society training, the international movement should allow local organizations set their own priorities.</span></p>

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402110067
Author(s):  
Babayo Sule ◽  
Usman Sambo ◽  
Abdulkadir Ahmed ◽  
Muhammad Yusuf

Civil society organizations have played a pivotal role in democratization process in Nigeria since the advent of the Fourth Republic. They have greatly helped in the success of the 2015 and 2019 General Elections through pre-election, during election, and in post-election monitoring and advocacy. This article, therefore, examined the role of the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room (NCSSR) in improving the election in Nigeria during the 2015 and 2019 General Elections. While many civil societies flourished recently in Nigeria, their role toward democratization and facilitating credible election remain insignificant until in the 2015 and 2019 General Elections where their activities helped immensely the process of a credible election. A Civil Society as the Third Tier of Government framework was adopted as a theoretical explanation of the context of the work. The research used a qualitative case study method of data collection where informants consisting of members of NCSSR, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and academicians were selected for the interview and Focus Group Discussion. The total number selected was 16 from the three identified categories. The research discovered that the NCSSR aided the process and fairness of the 2015 and 2019 General Elections through proper monitoring, civic voter education, active collaboration with electoral body (INEC), and collaboration with international donor agencies through what they called “Civil Society Situation Room” which consist of more than 60 registered civil societies. The research recommends that civil societies should be empowered with constitutional backing and independent funding to enable them carry out their responsibilities adequately. Also, the article recommends that the electoral body (INEC) should liaise more and cooperate with civil societies to enable them conduct good and credible elections in future.


2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 103-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fikru Negash Gebrekidan

Abstract:This article examines the early history of disability rights activism in Kenya. The transitional years from colonialism to independence were a period of great expectations. For persons with disabilities in particular, decolonization held additional possibilities and potential. National independence promised not just majority rule but also an all-inclusive citizenship and the commitment to social justice. Among the visually impaired of Kenya, such collective aspirations led to the birth of the Kenya Union of the Blind in 1959. In 1964, after years of futile correspondence with government officials, the Union organized a street march to the prime minister's office to attract attention to its grievances. The result was a government panel, the Mwendwa Committee for the Care and Rehabilitation of the Disabled, whose published report became the blueprint for social and rehabilitation programs. The government possessed limited resources, and the reforms that ensued were long overdue. Yet the sociohistorical dynamics behind the march are of particular significance. From the social historian's point of view, they affirm not only the historical agency of persons with disabilities, but also the need to recast and broaden the scope of African social history.


2021 ◽  
Vol 03 (03) ◽  
pp. 299-303
Author(s):  
Hassan Mohammed ABUOKATYYIF

Many are strategies to ensure disability in areas of education and health and access to place and information, but in this experience, we are in the role of civil society organizations in providing possible services in the community integration of an important chip, especially the time of crises and wars (The subject of this experience). We aimed to prepare a model for an inclusive and supportive summer club for children with disabilities with ordinary children from 7 to 14 years old, taking into account the awareness and understanding of ordinary students or children and accept them for their counterparts, unity, mobility and others. We have divided the club into many programs, paragraphs and science and put them through video, participation and entertainment as well as many supporting psychosocial and participation and entertainment as well as many supporting mental and social programs and contracted a specialized organization that took it upon itself to study the behaviors and submit reports with the club's specialists. the topics of the club have covered an interactive and entertainment study as well as the science of Quran and development and life skills such as drawing and coloring – young media, theater and crochet – computer principles as well as weekly and monthly encouraging competitions which made us believe that we have been in the theme of cleaving and integration, and this is evident in the clear harmony through competitions, dances, songs, and the fear and tightness and intensity we have noticed at the beginning of the club, which made us seek to mainstream and develop the idea and recommend to the government, private sector and civil society and urged them to conduct efforts for effective participation and ensure persons with disabilities, especially children to remove them from the situation of war and conflict and support their psychological and social balance..


2021 ◽  
Vol 120 (828) ◽  
pp. 274-279
Author(s):  
Svetlana Borodina

Despite Russia’s history of state surveillance of activists and civil society, both in the Soviet era and after, people with disabilities have found ways to challenge their living conditions and push for change. Through a variety of grassroots tactics, they have historically been active participants in society. Disability rights activists have developed an expansive repertoire of activist engagements (including online) that transcend the boundaries of familiar models of overt protest, dissent, and confrontation typical of disabled activists in Western democratic countries.


Author(s):  
Kinda Mohamadieh

This chapter examines the various roles undertaken by civil society organizations (CSOs), or nongovernmental organizations, in the Arab region and their implications for collaboration between CSOs and the United Nations, with particular emphasis on how CSOs figure in policy debates and the human rights movement. CSOs in the Arab region, mainly those working on policy and legislative issues, have been engaged with UN-led processes and conferences since the 1992 Earth Summit, and including the 1995 Summit on Social Development and the 2000 Millennium Summit. However, as some UN agencies, driven by a quest for funding, have moved into programmatic interventions, tensions have sometimes emerged between CSOs and UN agencies when some UN agencies have ended up potentially competing with CSOs for funding or crowding out the space available for CSOs. This chapter first traces the history of CSO-UN interactions in the Arab region before discussing the new challenges and possibilities raised during the period of the Arab uprisings.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-72
Author(s):  
Kate Mah

This paper examines the emergence of civil society in China under the authoritarian system in the last thirty years. It seeks to explore the ways in which an initial, traditional notion of civil society has altered in the context of China, as well as the respective challenges faced by both the organizations and the government in carrying out their goals and governance. The rapid rise of market capitalism, globalization and Chinese economic success in the last forty years to present day has made room for the rise of non-governmental organizations as well as social mobilization and engagement from citizens. This paper suggests that China has been able to accept the emergence of civil society, however, despite these developments, the government has been able to sufficiently suppress civil society from carrying out any objectives of transparency, social justice and accountability. It surveys the history of civil society within the authoritarian state, analyzes the specific government-NGO relations between the Chinese Communist Party and civil society organizations, and reflects upon the implications of the current legal and political framework that Chinese civil society must operate under.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-206 ◽  
Author(s):  
Domenic Vitiello ◽  
Arthur Acolin

How has the diversity of post-1965 immigration to the United States influenced newcomers’ housing experiences and civil society’s housing support systems? Planning scholars have shown immigration’s role in revitalizing cities and housing markets, but we have done less to parse the variety of housing problems that immigrants experience and the ways civil society addresses them. This article examines the recent history of civil society organizations’ housing support strategies in Chinese, Southeast Asian, and African communities in Philadelphia. We find that the diversity within and between groups has shaped largely distinct “institutional ecosystems” and approaches to housing support.


2007 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
B. Kubbinga ◽  
I. Hoffmann ◽  
B. Scherf

SummaryIn light of the upcoming first International Technical Conference on Animal Genetic Resources (September 2007), experts have been interviewed to tell about their experiences in the management of animal genetic resources over the past fifty years. They identified three milestones in the history of Animal Genetic Resources (AnGR) management: the foundation of the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (1973), the FAO/UNEP 1980 Technical Consultation on AnGR, and the signing of the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992). Conservation of AnGR started at grassroot level and eventually led to policies at governmental level. The passion of civil society organizations remains vital to conserve local livestock breeds. Technical and financial support will be crucial for the future of AnGR conservation. The next milestone will be a Global Plan of Action that is expected as one outcome of the International Technical Conference.


Author(s):  
Nivea Ivette Núñez de la Paz E Renate Gierus

Este artigo, embasado em relatos de experiências, quer compartilhar processos educativos vivenciados a partir de duas organizações da sociedade civil - OSCs, o Centro Ecumênico de Capacitação e Assessoria - CECA e o Conselho de Missão entre Povos Indígenas-COMIN, instituições que tem suas sedes localizadas em São Leopoldo/RS. O CECA atua na formação de lideranças estudantis, comunitárias, de movimentos eclesiais e sociais; e o COMIN, com povos indígenas, ambas na promoção de cidadania e direitos humanos. Iniciamos o relato com um breve histórico de cada instituição, seguido da descrição metodológica da experiência, finalizando com uma análise da mesma.This article, based on experience reports, wants to share educational processes experienced based on two civil society organizations - OSCs, Ecumenical Centre for Training and Consultancy - CECA and Council of Mission among Indigenous people - COMIN, institutions that have their headquarters located in São Leopoldo / RS. CECA acts with formation of student leaders, community, ecclesial and social movements; and COMIN with indigenous peoples, both promote citizenship and human rights. We begin this reporting with a brief history of each institution, followed by the methodological description of the experience, ending with an analysis of that experience.


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