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Civil society in Uganda : at the crossroads?

DEVELOPMENT NETWORK OF INDIGENOUS VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS (DENIVA)
June 2006

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This report provides useful and relevant knowledge on the state of civil society and increases the capacity and commitment of civil society stakeholders to strengthen Ugandan civil society, by mapping the structure, environment, values and impact of the NGO Sector in Uganda. It is also intended to contribute towards improving the quality of these structures, and of credibility and policy advocacy activities for a vibrant, active and independent civil society that will command respect among other stakeholders in development and governance activities in Uganda. The study was part of an international initiative, the Civil Society Index (CSI) project, coordinated by CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation

Making space for citizens : broadening the ‘new democratic spaces’ for citizen participation

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES (IDS)
March 2006

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This briefing takes a closer look at examples of 'new democratic spaces' in a number of very different countries, which seek to extend the range and scope of opportunities for citizen participation. It argues that if they are to avoid becoming just another set of one-size-fits-all models, much more attention needs to be paid to key contextual factors as well as to institutional design. It concludes with some practical lessons on dealing with the key challenges which ‘new democratic spaces’ pose for policymakers and for citizen representatives

Civil society perspectives on TB/AIDS : highlights from a joint initiative to promote community-led advocacy

OPEN SOCIETY INSTITUTE
TREATMENT ACTION GROUP
2006

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This publication presents six case studies of community-led advocacy activities, aimed at enhancing the capacity of the community to participate in the design, implementation and evaluation of TB/HIV programmes. The HIV epidemic has significantly contributed to the rise of TB incidence, but disease control programmes and policies are generally designed to be implemented independently, with limited resources often allocated to TB projects. The case studies outline some success stories of an integrated approach to TB and HIV, the TB/HIV Advocacy Grants Project, and highlight examples of effective community mobilisation and inclusion of people with HIV. This is a valuable resource for policy makers, organisations and practitioners working in HIV and tuberculosis

Scaling up access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support: the next steps

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
2006

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This is a review of country and regional consultations undertaken by UNAIDS, following the United Nations' Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS in June 2006. It explores barriers to UNAIDS' commitment to ensure universal access to comprehensive HIV prevention programmes, treatment, care and support by 2010; and it identifies the next steps that need to be taken for this to become a reality. The key messages are the need for: supportive and protective legislation and programmes to ensure the rights of people living with HIV, women and most-at-risk populations; predictable and sustainable funding for all credible AIDS plans; more trained health care professionals and improved health care systems; and affordable medication, testing and prevention programmes. The review also examines the role of civil society and of faith-based organisations in supporting people with HIV through treatment compliance, prevention, support, care and reducing stigma. It recommends that the high level of response should continue, that targets need to be set and accountability mechanisms improved

Civil society perspectives on TB policy in Bangladesh, Brazil, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Thailand

Public Health Watch, Open Society Institute
2006

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This publication contains an overview of the common themes and funding resulting from five country reports, and the five reports themselves. The World Health Organization has designated all five as TB-high burden countries. The research findings show a low level of awareness about TB, and TB and HIV co-infection; about how TB is transmitted and how it can be cured; and about the link between poverty and TB; as well as low media coverage of TB and a lack of strong communication strategies for national TB programmes. It also contains country-specific recommendations

Coaching and mentoring for leadership development in civil society

DEANS, Fran
et al
January 2006

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This paper discusses how coaching and mentoring practices are increasingly used as tools within the civil society sector. This is in line with the trend towards ongoing capacity-building processes rather than one-off events, informed by an increasingly people-centred and ‘holistic’ approach to capacity building. The paper examines a range of practitioners’ experiences of using mentoring and coaching with leaders of CSOs in a range of contexts, including Kenya, Tanzania, Kazakhstan, Uganda, Bosnia, South Africa, Malawi and the UK

 

Praxis Paper series No. 4

Capacity building at the grassroots : piloting organisational development of community-based organisations in South Africa

YACHKASCHI, Schirin
December 2005

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"This paper explores the use of organisational development (OD) for capacity building of community-based organisations (CBOs) in South Africa. The author works for Community Connections, a South African non-profit support organisation which predominantly provides support to CBOs and community workers. In 2004, the organisation initiated an OD pilot programme, which has been accompanied by research for a doctoral thesis from this year. The aims of the pilot programme and the research are to examine in what ways OD facilitation can support the capacity building of CBOs, and hence contribute to community development and civil society strengthening. This paper presents initial reflections"

Praxis Note No. 18

CBO/FBO capacity analysis : a tool for assessing and building capacities for high quality responses to HIV/AIDS

CORE INIATIVE
November 2005

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This publication was developed by the CORE Initiative to enable community and faith based organisations to analyse levels of capacity in different areas of organisational and technical work. It is based on an existing toolkit for NGOs developed by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance (the NGO Capacity Analysis Toolkit) and on a design developed by Geoff Foster, of Family AIDS Caring Trust in Zimbabwe. This tool can be used with community organisations to identify capacity-building needs, plan any technical support needed by the organisation and monitor and evaluate the impact of capacity-building support

Technological convergence and regulation : challenges facing developing countries [whole issue]

BEZZINA, J
SANCHEZ, B
Eds
November 2005

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This special issue, produced with the support of InfoDev, marked the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) meeting in Tunis (16-18 November 2005). It focuses on technological advances and their implications for regulatory systems, particularly in developing countries. Topics include: new technologies and regulatory regimes; telecommunication reforms in developing countries; structural change in African mobile telecommunications; Internet; broadband technologies and services in sub-Saharan Africa; local software and content production in developing countries; outsourcing in developing countries. Articles are aimed at telecommunications specialists and researchers

Social movement communication

The Communication Initiative
Ed
July 2005

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This issue of The Drum Beat focuses on 12 articles summarised from peer-reviewed journals which examine the communication strategies of various social movements around human and civil rights, health campaigns and ethical issues

Expanding access to HIV treatment through community-based organisations

SIDACTION
JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
July 2005

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This UNAIDS Best Practice Collection document aims to highlight and advocate for the work of civil society, community based organisations in particular, in responding to the AIDS epidemic in Africa. The paper describes a ground breaking survey by Sidaction, a Paris based treatment rights group, which supports community responses to AIDS in low and middle income countries. In 2004, Sidaction, in cooperation with the UNAIDS secretariat and WHO mapped treatment and care efforts by community based organisations in Africa. Many community based organisations are already dispensing ARVs on a significant scale. The survey confirmed that community efforts to provide treatment represent an important opportunity to enrol more people in antiretroviral therapy. To seize this opportunity, national governments and the international community need to quickly provide support to expand the coverage and impact of community based treatment. The aim is for CBOs to work closely with the public sector so that each reinforces the efforts of the other

Civil society involvement in rapid assessment, analysis and action planning (RAAAP) for orphans and vulnerable children : an independent review

GOSLING, Louisa
July 2005

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This review explores civil society organisations' experiences of the Rapid Assessement, Analysis and Action Planning (RAAAP) process - an initiative launched by USAID, UNICEF, UNAIDS, and the World Food Program - for orphans and other vulnerable children in November 2003. It comprises of a review of where civil society organisations were involved and where they were not and an overview of the process of their invovlement. It also offers recommendations for existing and future RAAAPs to ensure greater invovlement of civil society organisations, and includes individual reports on the 16 sub-Saharan African countries invovled in the first round of RAAAP in 2004

The how and why of advocacy

LANEY, Megan Lloyd
SCOBIE, Jane
FRASER, Alastair
March 2005

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This information was collected for an introduction to advocacy training course. It looks at what, why and where to start and includes sessions on participatory advocacy, and monitoring and evaluation

The 'Three Ones' in action : where we are and where we go from here

JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
February 2005

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This report looks at progress on applying the "Three Ones" principles to the end of 2004. The principles are: one agreed AIDS action framework; one national AIDS coordinating authority; and one agreed country-level monitoring and evaluation system. The report provides an assessment of progress so far, and then considers lessons learned, identifies challenges and suggests opportunities for overcoming these challenges. While this preliminary report is not comprehensive, it is a useful step in addressing how we can make optimal use of the limited resources available for tackling the AIDS pandemic.

Global civil society, world citizenship and education

SURANSKY, Caroline
DUBEL, Ireen
MANSCHOT, Henk
Eds
2005

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This book brings together a series of papers on global civil society, world citizenship and education. Part I analyses the concepts of civil society and citizenship in the context of globalisation, and shows how they relate to equality, multiculturalism and women's agency. Part II focuses on education and world citizenship. It highlights some of the challenges posed by the Millennium Development Goals, and discusses the dialectic relationship between patriotism and cosmopolitanism in the education system and school curriculum. It also looks at the contribution of information and communication technology in fostering world citizenship

HIV-related stigma, discrimination and human rights violations: case studies of successful programmes

JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
2005

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This report is a collection of case studies of projects, programmes and activities around the world that have used innovative methods to challenge HIV-related stigma, discrimination and human rights violations. The case studies are grouped under stigma-reduction approaches; anti-discrimination measures; and human rights and legal approaches. They are followed by some cross-project/activity analysis that identifies common elements and a number of key principles of success, each of which offers an entry point for innovative and potentially effective work

DFID departmental report 2005

DEPARTMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (DFID)
2005

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This report gives a comprehensive account of previous spending and future plans for spending of the UK Department for International development (DFID). Specifically, this report focuses on DFID's work and key developments from April 2004 to March 2005 and explains DFID's approach to working as part of a wider international effort to address poverty in developing countries. This resource would be useful for anyone with an interest in international organisations and development

Autonomy or dependence? North-south NGO partnerships

BREHM, Vicky Mancuso
July 2004

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This paper describes research undertaken by INTRAC into the relationships between northern and southern NGOs working in partnership. It summarises European and southern perspectives on partnership based on research and three case studies, and draws out the key themes. It concludes with some recommendations, especially around funding, accountability/transparency, and working together as organisations rather than pairings of individuals or departments

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