Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Assessing The Cypriot Meps' Performance: 2009-2011, Direnc Kanol

Direnç Kanol

The visibility of what the Members of the Parliaments do has serious consequences for accountability and democratic legitimacy. The Members of the European Parliament from various countries conduct their affairs without much visibility as a consequence of limited media focus on the European Parliament. Among these countries one can name the Republic of Cyprus. By relying on the number of reports, opinions, speeches, amendments, questions, motions for resolutions, written declarations, and attendance, this study aims to provide an assessment of Cypriot MEPs' performance so far. It also reports on the rate of activities motivated by national interest and looks at …

In The Face Of Crisis: The Treatment Action Campaign Fights Government Inertia With Budget Advocacy And Litigation, Neil Overy, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

At the turn of the millennium the South African government allocated a total of R214 million (US$28.5 million) to the fight against HIV/AIDS, an epidemic that had reached crisis proportions. Less than 10 years later this figure has risen, in inflation-adjusted terms, to R3.96 billion (US$528 million), a real increase of over 1,850 percent. This study looks at how a civil society organization’s ongoing campaigns for treatment access that combined negotiations with the government, mass mobilization of its members (including civil disobedience campaigns), and litigation contributed to this increase.

The full version, short summary, and one page summary of this …

Samarthan’S Campaign To Improve Access To The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme In India, Ramesh Awasthi, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

In India the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which guarantees a minimum of 100 days of unskilled work per year to every poor rural family that needs employment, has been ridden with bureaucratic glitches and widespread corruption. This case study examines a civil society campaign to address problems in the NREGA’s administration and mobilize people to demand work under the scheme.

The full version, short summary, and one page summary of this case study are available in English. Summaries are also available in Spanish, French, Arabic, and Chinese.

LINK: http://internationalbudget.org/publications/samarthan%E2%80%99s-campaign-to-improve-access-to-the-national-rural-employment-guarantee-scheme-in-india/

Children’S Right To Early Education In The City Of Buenos Aires: A Case Study On Acij’S Class Action, Fernando Basch, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

Through a complex litigation strategy that involved “freedom of information” requests, budget analysis, and media dissemination, the Civil Association for Equality and Justice (Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia, or ACIJ) pressured the formerly reluctant government of the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, to acknowledge a legitimate unsatisfied claim related to school vacancies for initial-level education and commit to making significant policy changes. This case study examines the ACIJ campaign and draws lessons for civil society engagement in public finance processes.

The full version, short summary, and one page summary of this case study are available in English. …

Show Me The Money: Budget Advocacy In Indonesia, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

In "Show Me the Money: Budget Advocacy in Indonesia," authors from five civil society organizations – IDEA, the Inisiatif Association, Lakpesdam NU, the Centre for Information and Regional Studies (PATTIRO), and the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA) – present five case studies on their budget work to fight against corruption and improve the allocation of government resources, and five case studies from smaller organizations based in various local districts in the country.

In addition, check out the related two-page summaries that explore the impact of civil society budget work in Indonesia to improve policies and outcomes in school funding, …

How Can You Decide About Us Without Us? A Canadian Catastrophe In Copenhagen, Sherrie Steiner

Sherrie M Steiner

No abstract provided.

Disaster Risk Reduction, Public Accountability, And The Role Of The Media: Concepts, Cases, And Conclusions, Richard Stuart Olson, Juan Pablo Sarmiento, Gabriela Hoberman

Juan Pablo Sarmiento

Where To From Here?, Wayne Petherick

Wayne Petherick

Extract:

The history of profiling is easy to trace - after all, it has already been recorded and is available for review (see Chapter 1; Petherick, 2003; Turvey, 2008). The future of profiling is another story entirely. Given the nature of the craft and the advances made in recent years, it stands to reason that only further improvements will be made. At least, this should be our hope.

An increase in use in the real world is matched by an increase in the number of scholarly works dedicated to the field. Most provide a general overview of profiling (Ainsworth, 2001; …

Earthquake Reconstruction In Pakistan: The Case Of The Omar Asghar Khan Development Foundation’S Campaign, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

The devastating earthquake that shook the Hazara region and the Azad Kashmir province in Northwest Pakistan on October 2005 led to a flood of donor money for reconstruction and rehabilitation in the affected areas. Three years later many people were still without adequate housing or critical public infrastructure. This is partly the result of unfulfilled government promises and the slow pace of reconstruction projects. This case study describes how a large coalition of civil society organizations (CSOs) and citizens embarked on a campaign to jump-start Pakistan’s efforts to rebuild. The campaign was led by the Omar Asghar Khan Development Foundation, …

South Africa: Civil Society Uses Budget Analysis And Advocacy To Improve The Lives Of Poor Children, Neil Overy, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

In South Africa a range of civil society organizations and coalitions have been central to post-Apartheid efforts to protect vulnerable children through social security grants. This case study describes how the persistent campaigning of these organizations has contributed to significant budget and policy changes over the last decade such as the expanded eligibility for the Child Support Grant.

The full version, short summary, and one page summary of this case study are available in English. Summaries are also available in Spanish and French.

LINK: http://internationalbudget.org/publications/south-africa-civil-society-uses-budget-analysis-and-advocacy-to-improve-the-lives-of-poor-children/

Quality Of Education Reforms: The Case Of Hakielimu’S Campaign Of 2005-2007, International Budget Partnership

International Budget Partnership

HakiElimu is a civil society organization in Tanzania that works to ensure that all the country’s children receive high-quality basic education. When developing its Programme Strategy for 2004-2007, HakiElimu noted improvements in enrollment levels, but identified a lack of attention to education quality. This case study describes the campaign that led to improvements in Tanzania’s schools.

A short summary and one page summary of this case study are available in English. Summaries are also available in Spanish, French, Arabic, and Chinese.

LINK: http://internationalbudget.org/publications/quality-of-education-reforms-the-case-of-hakielimus-campaign-of-2005-2007/

The Politics Of Partnerships. A Critical Examination Of Nonprofit-Business Partnerships, Maria May Seitanidi

Maria May Seitanidi

The widespread partnering phenomenon in the US and the UK spurred a significant amount of literature focusing on its strategic use. The Politics of Partnerships diverges by examining if partnerships can deliver benefits that extend beyond the organisational to the societal level resulting from the intentional combined efforts of the partners. The book offers under the chronological stages of formation, implementation, outcomes a critical examination and proposes a holistic framework for the study of partnerships allowing for observations beyond any single stage.

Resources On Partnerships & Groups, Maria May Seitanidi

Maria May Seitanidi

This is a list of Groups on Partnerships

Getting Closer To Context. A Case Study Of Communication Between Ship And Shore In An Emergency Situation, Lisa Froholdt

Lisa L. Froholdt

No abstract provided.

Reading List On Nonprofit-Business Partnerships, Maria May Seitanidi

Maria May Seitanidi

This is a reading list for those interested to pursue research on nonprofit-business partnerships

Retooling The Profession: Librarianship In An Era Of Accountability And Competition, Gregory A. Smith

Gregory A. Smith

Librarianship has changed substantially in recent years. We who work in libraries must continually acquire new knowledge and skills. We must adapt to the reality that academic libraries, along with their parent institutions, face increased accountability. The functions that many of us have thought to be at the core of our profession are slipping from our grasp and will leave behind a mere managerial role. Nevertheless, many academic libraries will find a viable future by adopting and taking seriously the role of supporting learning. As we look at disruptive innovators in the information and learning scene, we should consider carefully …

Accountability, Cost-Effectiveness, And Program Performance: Progress Since 1998, Dennis P. Culhane, Kennen S. Gross, Wayne D. Parker, Barbara Poppe, Ezra Sykes

Dennis P. Culhane

The authors summarize the progress made in the past decade toward making homeless assistance programs more accountable to funders, consumers, and the public. They observe that research on the costs of homelessness and cost offsets associated with intervention programs has been limited to people who are homeless with severe mental illness. But this research has raised awareness of the value of this approach, such that dozens of new studies in this area are underway, mostly focused on "chronic homelessness." Less progress has been made in using cost and performance data to systematically assess interventions for families, youth, and transitionally homeless …

Ngos In China: Issues Of Good Governance And Accountability, Reza Hasmath, Jennifer Yj Hsu

Reza Hasmath

对中国公民社会组织良好治理的研, Reza Hasmath, Jennifer Yj Hsu

Reza Hasmath

Mega-Cases, Diversity, And The Elusive Goal Of Workplace Reform, Nancy Levit

Nancy Levit

Employment discrimination class action suits are part of a new wave of structural reform litigation. Like their predecessors - the school desegregation cases in the 1950s, the housing and voting inequalities cases in the 1960s, prison conditions suits in the 1970s, and environmental lawsuits since then - these are systemic challenges to major institutions affecting large segments of the public. This article explores the effectiveness of various employment discrimination remedies in reforming workplace cultures, promoting corporate accountability, and implementing real diversity.

Reviewing the architecture and aftermath of consent decrees in five major employment discrimination cases - the cases against Shoney's, …

Corruption, Governance And Political Instability In Nigeria, Omololu Toluwanimi Omololu

Omololu Michael FAGBADEBO

The Nigerian State is a victim of high-level corruption, bad governance, political instability and a cyclical legitimacy crisis. Consequently, national development is retarded, and the political environment uncertain. The country’s authoritarian leadership faced a legitimacy crisis, political intrigues, in an ethnically - differentiated polity, where ethnic competition for resources drove much of the pervasive corruption and profligacy. While the political gladiators constantly manipulated the people and the political processes to advance their own selfish agenda, the society remained pauperized, and the people wallowed in abject poverty. This invariably led to weak legitimacy, as the citizens lacked faith in their political …

Law's Autonomy, Ashok Agrwaal

Ashok Agrwaal

Like entropy, autonomy exists. As such, the existence of autonomy does not need any law or laws, beyond itself and its nature. Autonomy can, therefore, be said to be an "original" state of human kind; or at least of the individual. Law, which is frequently seen as preserving/ maximising/ conferring autonomy is actually a device to usurp autonomy. The paper looks at a specific example of how the nation-state, the most powerful usurper of autonomies created till date, arrogates autonomy to itself, in the name of ‘public interest’. Needless to say, in the hands of the state, autonomy translates into …

A Report On The Working Of The Writ Of Habeas Corpus In Kashmir: 1990 – 2005 (Chapter-Ii, Methodology), Ashok Agrwaal

Ashok Agrwaal

This report is the first part of a two part study on the functioning of the constitutional and legal redress mechanism for the protection of the most basic of rights, the right to life and liberty, during the period of insurgency in Kashmir: 1990 to 2003. The report is pivoted around a study of petitions for a writ of habeas corpus, filed by the families of the affected persons. All these persons were subjected to illegal arrest (and unacknowledged) arrest and detention by the security forces in Kashmir. Most of them were never seen again. For comparison, we have also …

A Report On The Working Of The Writ Of Habeas Corpus In Kashmir: 1990 - 2005 (Chapter-I, Introduction), Ashok Agrwaal

Ashok Agrwaal

This report is the first part of a two part study on the functioning of the constitutional and legal redress mechanism for the protection of the most basic of rights, the right to life and liberty, during the period of insurgency in Kashmir: 1990 to 2003. The report is pivoted around a study of petitions for a writ of habeas corpus, filed by the families of the affected persons. All these persons were subjected to illegal arrest (and unacknowledged) arrest and detention by the security forces in Kashmir. Most of them were never seen again. For comparison, we have also …

Accountability, Equity, And Practitioner Learning And Change, Estela M. Bensimon, Rueda Robert, Alicia Dowd, Frank Harris

Frank Harris III

Accountability and evidence-based decision-making have become the mantra of government polilcymakers, and even private foundations. Yet most attempts to foster cultures of evidence have not brought about change in Practices, notably because they are treated as management tools rather than learning processes. Equity for All is an approach to accountability that is grounded on the principles of practice theory and sociocultural theories of learning. The authors provide empirical evidence to illustrate practitioner learning.

¿Qué Es La Rendición De Cuentas?, Andreas Schedler

Andreas Schedler

No abstract provided.

Questioning Public Sector Accountability, Bryane Michael

Bryane Michael (bryane.michael@stcatz.ox.ac.uk)

The rise of accountability seems to unambiguously promote more responsible, effective and participatory public sector action. However, the benefits of accountability are less ambiguous than they appear. Activities aimed at increasing accountability generally proliferate as they gain importance – making monitoring an end in itself at both the national and international levels. While there are economic and institutional explanations for the rise of accountability, these fail to explain the political nature of the rise of accountability. Such politics may include negotiations over power, organisational boundaries, image, social value or moral values. If such negotiations imply that some of the value …

Making Homelessness Programs Accountable To Consumers, Funders And The Public, Dennis P. Culhane, David Eldridge, Robert Rosenheck, Carol Wilkins

Dennis P. Culhane

This paper discusses how different types of performance measurement can be used to improve the accountability of homeless programs to consumers, funders and to the public. A distinction is made between the kinds of data used in formal research projects and data that can be practically obtained in a practice setting. Consumer outcomes are discussed in terms of accountability to consumers, program outcomes in terms of accountability to funders, and systems outcomes in terms of accountability to the public. Cost-benefit analyses are also discussed as providing another critical dimension of accountability to funders and the public.