Impunity, freedom of expression and social justice

There is an apparent low profile war going on against progressive circles in Honduras, and this edition of Envio magazine demands that the international community take notice. It reports on an international expert meeting in which Hivos teamed up with CEJIL, ERIC and Jueces por la Democracia to talk about impunity, freedom of expression and Justice. The goal of the event, held in october 2011, was to support Honduran human rights activism with reflextions and lessons from neighbouring countries.

Civic Driven change:Bringing Politics back in

Politics is central to development discourse, yet remains peripheral.  And, over some twenty years, a civil society narrative has not fulfilled  its potential to ‘bring politics back in’. Reasons can be found in  conceptual confusion, in selectivity in donor thinking and policies  towards civil society and in the growth-driven political economy of  NGO-ism.

State, society and nature in Ecuador: the case of the Yasuní-ITT initiative

This paper critically analyses the emergence and development of the Yasuní-ITT initiative, which is built on the idea of leaving oil underground in exchange for financial contributions from the international community .Development politics in Ecuador has experienced major changes since the   election of Correa in 2007.

Participation, planning and natural resources in Bolivia: from fiction to practice?

In this paper, we focus on participation in the main planning documents produced in Bolivia in the first decade of the 2000s: the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the National Development Plan (PND). We analyze how these planning instruments have been able to capture popular participation through diverse mechanisms and how these practices fit in the current mainstream participation discourse. For more knowledge programme publications on participation in development click here. In t...

When Civics go Governance

In ‘When Civics go governance’ Ria Brouwers analyses the stormy ascent of African NGOs in the field of good governance. Tracing the tracks of the NGO-boom in Africa, Brouwers brings together key academic writings with ISS led field on NGO interventions in Zambia, Uganda, Kenia and Tanzania conducted under the banner of the Hivos/ISS Civil Society Building Knowledge Programme.

Social movements and NGO interaction

Are we entering a post-NGO era in development? Aid critics very much  suggest so. Hailed as a magic bullet for development two decades ago,  NGOs are increasingly criticized for being ineffective agents of change,  out of touch with broader social currents in society and operating in a  fragmented way. Under pressure to show results, NGOs and their donors  are increasingly attempting to align with social movements in a bid to  scale up their impact. Social moveme...

Participation for What:Social change or social control?

'Participation for What' is about meaningful participation in development. How and when does it work? What are the downsides? And what does it imply for development practice and research? This book brings together a rich collection of essays on participation by Phd -  students from the Institute of Social Studies

Mobilizing Social Justice in South Africa: Perspectives from Practitioners and Researchers

South Africa grapples with serious social and economic  inequalities, including inequality in access to basic services. At a  time of rising social tensions, the country’s institutions are in danger  of losing the legitimacy they gained in the wake of democratic  dispensations of the 1990s. This book presents  the findings of five research projects that address  these key areas in  partnership with practitioners, which were  presented at an internationa...

7 Citizenship in Social Movements: Constructing Alternatives in the Anti-Privatization Forum, South Africa Meghan Cooper

This paper explores how social movements construct citizenship and redefine the very notion of the political realm. Social movements have quickly become powerful actors within South Africa’s civil society.

5 Rights, Politics and Power: The Struggle over the 2006 Abortion Reform and the Women’s Movement in Nicaragua Katherine Kruk

Since 2006 the Nicaraguan abortion law eliminates all forms of therapeutic abortion in the country with a penalty of up to three years in prison. This paper considers the 2006 Nicaraguan abortion law reform by looking at the situation in the country, with special attention to women’s rights, in particular reproductive rights—and, more specifically, abortion rights. The paper shows that the reform is unrepresentative of the attitudes and opinions of much of its civil society members, namely, w...

4 Localised Voices in the Globalised Amazon: Challenges of Civil Society Building in Ecuador Brian Wallis

Civil society building efforts in Ecuador have provided the Achuar and Kichwas of the Amazon with a voice. This is particularly relevant given the global significance of the Amazon, which makes it essential that local voices are empowered to have a say in the future of their local space. Civil society building efforts aim at empowering historically excluded groups, leading to their political inclusion, as well as to an increase in their decision-making power.

1 Seizing and Stretching Participatory Space: Civil Society Participation in Tanzania’s Policy Processes

This paper takes as its starting point the perspective that civil society participation in governance—particularly policy processes such as the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and related policy developments—largely takes on a mere consultative rather than a transformative role when initiated and driven by government or donors.

Middle class activism in China, India and Brazil?

A gradually expanding wave of middle class activism is spreading across the emerging powers. Development organizations could do more with its transformative potential, argues Peter Konijn, director of the Emerging powers programme in this new column.

The End or the And?

Can civil society organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa succesfully advocate, lobby and mobilize to fight poverty and corruption, and to bring development and democracy? Have citizens’ organizations in the new roles of policy making and participation in service delivery been able to realize the high hopes and aspirations surrounding their explosive growth. And how has international assistance promoted or hindered their struggle to catalyze social change and pro-poor development?...

Book Release: Mobilising Social Justice: Perspectives from Researchers and Practitioners

South Africa grapples with serious social and economic inequalities, including inequality in access to basic services. At a time of rising social tensions, the country’s institutions are in danger of losing the legitimacy they gained in the wake of democratic dispensations of the 1990s.

HIVOS-ISS seminar: 'seeing like a citizen' 25/11

On the 25th of November, from 13:00-14:30, Professor John Gaventa will facilitate a seminar at ISS on particiation, power and mobilization. If you are interested in citizen action this is an event not to be missed

Stretching a Human Rights Approach in Search of Social Justice

Rights based strategies for obtaining social justice tend to focus on claiming legal rights at the level of the nation state. Drawing on findings from the Hivos knowledge programme in India, South Africa and Uganda, we argue that such a ‘purist’ rights based approach may overlook the potential of ´culture´ as a complementary source of inspiration for civic action.

The End or the And?

Can civil society organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa succesfully advocate, lobby and mobilize to fight poverty and corruption, and to bring development and democracy? Have citizens’ organizations in the new roles of policy making and participation in service delivery been able to realize the high hopes and aspirations surrounding their explosive growth. And how has international assistance promoted or hindered their struggle to catalyze social change and pro-poor development?...

Investing in the Immaterial

The heart of civil society work lies beyond what meets the eye, in the less visible qualitative dimensions of process, values and relationships. Yet, all over the world, practitioners find it increasingly difficult to secure the resources to honour the immaterial essence of development practice. ‘Investing in the immaterial’  is the central theme of CDRA’s first practice digest, a new platform for reflections on the practice of development. 

Contingent social security schemes for unorganised workers in India

As per the estimates provided by the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS), the unorganised workers constitute 92.37 percent of the Indian workforce – out of which, 86.01 percent eke out their living by performing various activities related to the unorganised sector whereas 6.36 percent work as unorganised workers in the organised segment. Exposure to various vulnerabilities is the common plight of these workers.

Afluence, vulnerability and the provision of social security

09/05/2011 This paper by Varinder Jain is a study in assessing a sub-national state’s concern for the working poor in India. The state that he has selected is the prosperous state of Punjab in North West India. Despite Punjab’s relative prosperity both in rural and urban areas, what Jain finds is the pervasiveness of vulnerable livelihoods among large segments of the working persons and their households. While there are a few state-funded social security schemes in Punjab they hardly address the widespr...

The challenge of universal coverage for the working poor in India

The paper by K.P. Kannan deals with the challenge of universal coverage for the working poor in India. He draws attention to the fact that both basic social security and contingent social security are important from the point of view of the working poor. The fact that social security entitlements as part of one’s employment is confined only to less than 10 percent of India’s work force points to the enormity of the problem of coverage and the long road that lie ahead. While welcoming the two...