Home Themes
The Knowledge Programme consists of an overarching programme and five thematic programmes. The five themes are Civil Society Building, Promoting Pluralism, Civil Society in West Asia, Small Holders Agency in the Globalized Market and Digital Natives with a Cause. These programmes are detailed below. You can also directly link to the different programme websites. The overarching programme is aimed at integrating the different thematic approached as well as stimulating academic-practitioner collaborations and knowledge management strateies. For these details see projects.
Themes
The Changing Face of Citizen Action
How are citizens across the globe claiming their rights in an increasingly interconnected world? That is the central question on this site and the topic of an international knowledge exploration scheduled for september 2011. Together with IDS, ISS and CiS, the Hivos knowledge programme will bring together activists, academic and social practitioners from the global south and global north. We will connect the 'old' world of social movements and civil society...
Promoting Pluralism
The Promoting Pluralism Knowledge Programme is an academic-practitioner collaboration that focuses on understanding pluralism in relation to fundamentalism. The programme will generate knowledge about different forms of fundamentalism and how this affects diversity in society. Bringing together academics and practioners around the issue of pluralism, the programme aims to develop civil society based strategies to increase spaces for pluralism in practice.
Civil Society in West Asia
The Knowledge Programme on Civil Society in West Asia is a joint initiative by Hivos and the University of Amsterdam with the purpose of generating and integrating knowledge on the roles and opportunities for civil society actors in democratization processes in politically challenging environments. This programme integrates academic knowledge and practitioner’s knowledge from around the world to develop new insights and strategies on how civil society actors in Syria and Iran can contribute t...
Small Producer Agency
Three-quarters of the world’s 1.2 billion poor people live in rural areas. Many are small-scale producers who depend on agriculture and natural resources for their livelihoods. International markets have been seen as a way out of poverty and food insecurity for small-scale producers. These markets comprise traditional food and fibre commodities, but also new markets for quality products, biodiversity conservation, and mitigation of climate change. Increasing volatility and stringent requireme...
Digital Natives with a Cause?
The Digital Natives with a Cause? programme is a join initiative by Hivos and the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, that focuses on understanding how citizen agency can be stimulated and power balances challenged by looking at these issues from the combined perspectives of technology, youth and engagement.
Future Calling
What will our world look like a few decades from now and what does that imply for INGO strategy and policy today. "Future Calling" is a new Hivos Knowledge Programme initiative that will explore longer term horizons to ensure that we're well connected into the future.
Civil Society Building
The Hivos-ISS Knowledge Programme on Civil Society Building (CSB) is an academic-practitioner cooperation to strengthen Civil Society Building efforts. It involves knowledge development, dissemination and application on CSB and aims to contribute to the wider debate on how to best strengthen civil society to empower the most margianalized groups in society, such as people with HIV/Aids, women and indigenous people. The programme focuses on Southern Africa and Central America but also includes...
Civic Driven Change
If states, markets and NGOs fail to bring about change and social justice, then who will? Can citizens come up with new perspectives on social change? Are civic driven changes a potential solution to global political problems? They might. In fact they are...The CDC initiative supported by some of the largest development and peace organizations in the Netherlands started from a conviction that the mix and nature of today’s global problems requires a wider range of solutions than those coming f...
Post-conflict Participation
This project delves into the possibilities for civil society participation in post-conflict settings. It focuses on forms of civic engagement and mechanisms that facilitate interactions between local level state institutions and social actors in the specific context of a post-conflict situation. It concentrates on how violent conflict has affected different forms of social organisation. It will single out the crucial social-political factors for engagement, and the characteristics of state in...
Inclusive Improvement
HIVOS is trying to achieve poverty reduction through quality improvement among groups of smallholders in coffee and vegetable production in Kenya and South Africa. These smallholders depend on markets for their livelihood. Main buyers in these markets increasingly demand compliance with a variety of standards. Therefore, in order to avoid being squeezed out of these markets, groups of smallholders need to respond to these demands. Our report analyses the daunting challenges for smallholders,...