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This practical note presents striking findings from a research project in Malawi, comparing the cost effectiveness of a traditional project approach with a church and community mobilisation approac...

Local consultants are an implicit, but overlooked, part of many capacity development strategies. It takes a trustworthy consultant to facilitate genuine change in a civil society organisation. This practical note identifies the learning from a local consultant formation programme (“Consultants for Change” – C4C) implemented in five countries in 2016–17. The note highlights six factors critical to C4C’s apparent success: recruitment; focus of the learning; design of the process; assignments between modules; mentoring support; and the human/financial resources. These same factors may be relevant and applicable to other capacity development programmes.

Based on studies linking positive outcomes to subsequent helping, it was hypothesized that when individuals receive their choice of items when supply is constrained they will show heightened prosoc...

According to the economic analysis of law, an efficient property regime is premised on the universality, the exclusivity, and the transferability of property rights. Ideally then, every (legal) person can enjoy the status of an owner and any (economic) resource can become private property; ownership titles could be bought and sold across national jurisdictions and would ultimately be respected everywhere in the world. Throughout history, property regimes indeed seem to have moved towards this ideal. However, this conception of private property is far less natural than it seems, and not without problems. Instead, the institution of property rights is inherently connected with the development of capitalist society, and it reflects the latter’s underlying tensions. The starting point for a sociological account of property rights is to conceive them as a social relation, or a relation of power, which includes (other) owners and non-owners as well as the state as a ‘third party’. In this chapter, the authors build on the work of Karl Polanyi and John R. Commons to suggest that the property regime of the market society relies both on the reification of property (identifying it with the thing owned) and the commodification of the right of ownership (turning it into a marketable commodity). Looking back, the authors retrace how the concept of property changed with the advent of modern capitalism, and how it evolved in the transition from agricultural to industrial capitalism. Looking into the future, they also address the challenges of today’s informational capitalism, which is characterized by the commodification of knowledge. Based on James’s work, the authors introduce the ‘correlative rights doctrine’ as an alternative to the remnant ‘property rights absolutism’ in the field of intellectual property law, but also beyond. With cross-border conflicts in who owns what having proliferated in the global age, investigations into the relational quality of property rights also matter for international lawyers, who are confronted with new subjects and objects of property, from international investment law to intellectual property law.

Traditional pedagogical practices—lecturing, standardization, product-based quality grading—do not promote deep, critical learning. Addressing the deficiencies of traditional pedagogy, gaming pedagogy is a branch of critical pedagogy that identifies the effective design principles of games and then applies these principles to course design. In doing so, gaming pedagogy reproduces the experience-based, autotelic, intrinsically-motivating properties of games within the classroom, making education more fun and effective. In this document, I apply gaming pedagogy specifically to rhetorical education, which is uniquely advantaged to benefit from game design principles. In what follows, I present an objective definition of play and game, identify the overlapping design goals of games and education, identify the useful experiential qualities of games and explain how they apply to rhetorical education, summarize and analyze useful course design praxes from the perspective of gaming pedagogy, and conclude with an application of gaming pedagogy to my own first-year writing classroom.

This article revisits central questions arising from Pentecostal actors’ development practices. These were raised during the final panel discussion of the 2014 GloPent conference on “Pentecostalism and Development”. The four panel participants, all development actors from various organisational and religious backgrounds, considered whether Pentecostal approaches to development work are distinctive, as well as identifying various benefits that can be gained from the engagement of Pentecostal churches in development and some challenges that arise during collaboration between development actors and Pentecostal churches. The discussion was conducted through two rounds of statements by the panel participants, complemented by editorial comments and reflections. It concludes that neither the Pentecostal approach to development nor Pentecostal churches’ links with development actors are necessarily distinctive. However, more exchanges are needed between Pentecostal organisations and their members, development practitioners working with Pentecostal churches and scholars of the Pentecostal movement to improve development work among Pentecostals, links between Pentecostals and other development actors and scholarly awareness of the most salient issues.

The evolution and achievements of the Eagles Relief and Development Programme in Malawi are inspired and influenced by Christian values. The strength of Eagles comes from its integration of religious teaching and values with the way it works and from its decision to work through the local congregations, despite the challenges that such integration entails. The Eagles Programme challenges the stereotype of Pentecostal churches as being preoccupied with providing charity and welfare rather than justice for the poor. This case study shows how combining an explicitly Christian approach with recognised good development practice can lead to sustainable impact in a profoundly challenging context. Lutter contre la dependance par la foi et l'espoir : l' Eagles Relief and Development Programme of the Living Waters au Malawi L'evolution et les reussites de l'Eagles Relief and Development Programme au Malawi s'inspirent de valeurs chretiennes et sont influencees par elles. La force de ce programme reside dans son int...

Religious faith has always had an intense but uneasy relationship with development. Donors are currently seeking greater engagement with faith-based organisations (FBOs). This positive shift needs careful consideration. Faith can be a powerful – but flammable – fuel for change. FBOs are highly diverse and complex. Donors therefore need to handle them with understanding and care. This article outlines both the major concerns about faith in development and also the potential ‘value-added’ of FBOs. It charts growing interest yet residual ambivalence on the part of donors towards faith in development. It presents the practical challenges and suggests ways forward for both donors and FBOs.

Access to essential goods and services is increasingly recognized as a key factor influencing household socioeconomic disadvantage within cities. Socioeconomic status (SES) and spatial location partly determine differential accessibility. Spatial variation of low-SES groups across cities and the travel patterns of these groups have been mostly ignored by strategic transport models, which have been concerned more with traffic volumes on the road network and peak hour travel. This study expanded on a method that used cluster analysis techniques to identify low-SES groups on the Gold Coast of Australia from a large regional household travel survey. This method allowed for the identification of the actual travel behavior of low-SES groups. With this information, the study advanced a new origin–destination-based land use and transport accessibility model. The model used the output from the cluster analysis, in conjunction with 2006 Australian census data, to highlight accessibility to goods and service needs for a set of low-SES groups on the Gold Coast. The method developed provided unique opportunities for research into spatial disadvantage and accessibility in Australian cities. The conceptualization of the transport network with outputs provided at the census collection district level (approximately 200 households) ensured that the model could be run concurrently with conventional transport models.

We know what works in capacity development: a succession of studies from official agencies, academics and NGO practitioners have all highlighted similar principles of good practice. But the evidence also suggests that there is a distressing dissonance between what international development agencies know about capacity development and what they implement. This article explores the reasons for this failure. It highlights constraints that arise from the changing aid context and from a lack of resources and skills. Ultimately, however, it concludes that capacity development is driven more by self‐interest than by knowledge of what works. Until agencies' pride, greed and self‐interest can be restrained, much capacity development will continue to be disappointing and ineffective. But if agencies combine existing professional knowledge with virtues of humility, patience and a genuine commitment to others, then capacity development becomes something that can bring transformation.

This paper contributes to the understanding of transport disadvantage and the transport dimensions of environmental justice by investigating the travel behavior patterns of socially disadvantaged groups by using household travel survey data. The study described in this paper goes beyond determining the basic descriptive statistics that are commonly reported in this area of research and instead uses cluster analysis to identify socially disadvantaged households. The study then uses the six clusters generated by the analysis to identify the differences in the travel behaviors between these groups. The paper shows considerable differences in travel behavior between socially disadvantaged households that must be recognized if scholars and policy makers are to describe and respond adequately to the experience of transport disadvantage for these groups. The paper concludes with some comparative observations about the travel behavior of the disadvantaged population in dispersed rapidly growing regions and the wider implications for ensuring environmental justice in transport.

HIV threatens the survival of many civil-society organisations (CSOs) in Africa. While we know the range of potential costs to such groups, we lack a detailed picture of the extent of the impact. This article highlights important findings from exploratory research in Malawi. Respondents perceived that overall performance in the four CSOs studied declined by an average 20 per cent because they were working in a context of high HIV prevalence. Yet the CSOs' workplace response to this threat was very limited, and they remain highly vulnerable to future impact. We consider why the CSOs have not been more proactive, and we recommend that donor policy should help partners to respond to the epidemic and enable them to remain effective.

Leadership development is a high priority for African nonprofit organizations, but we know very little about what causes leaders in Africa change their behavior and how. Most leadership development programs use imported Western models that at best pay only lip-service to the very different culture and context in Africa. This article outlines the research findings of a three-country study conducted in Malawi, Uganda, and Kenya. This study found that changes in leadership style, although individual and complex, followed an underlying pattern. External events catalyzed an inside-out change process. Effective leadership development requires in-depth understanding and application of local contextual and cultural issues. Ultimately, however, the process of leadership development is tied to deeper, universal principles of human behavior.

The objectives were to assess the social and economic costs of HIV / AIDS infection on the organisational capacities of selected non-government organisations (NGOs) in Malawi. Sixteen semi-structured interviews with senior staff of four NGOs to estimate the costs paid by the NGO and the loss of management and staff time over the last 12 months because of HIV / AIDS plus questionnaires filled in by 48 NGO leaders. Labour costs were an estimated 12.5% higher because of HIV / AIDS corresponding to a 3% increase in overall budget costs. There was also an estimated 12.4% loss of staff time to address HIV-related issues such as funerals sickness and management time. The organisational costs of HIV / AIDS on NGOs in Malawi may be considerable and more serious than perceived by NGOs who must develop a workplace response. It also has policy implications for donors who may need to adjust their funding strategies. (authors)

Accessibility indexing is important in evaluating existing land use patterns and transportation services, predicting travel demands and allocating transportation investments. A GIS-based land use and public transport accessibility indexing model has been developed for measuring and mapping levels of accessibility to basic community services by walking and/or public transport, within local government areas. The model aims to assist the planning and decision making process to deliver integrated land use and transportation outcomes. It is an origin-based accessibility model that determines levels of accessibility by utilising GIS analysis techniques to measures accessibility based on both actual walking distances and public transport travel time. The model has been applied to two pilot studies in the Gold Coast City to assess its practicality and effectiveness. This paper outlines the methodology of the model and the findings related to these pilot studies. The paper also demonstrates benefits and application of the model to other urbanised local government areas.

This article is the second of two papers that review the field of spatially sensitive social scientific research into the links between social status and transport disadvantage. The first paper undertook a comprehensive review of the social scientific and transport planning literature to mark the level of development in the field and identify conceptual and methodological issues and constraints in this field of inquiry. The present article supports the advancement of socially and geographically sensitive transport research by opportunities for the development of more sophisticated spatial analytical methodologies. The approach we present is able to account for factors not previously addressed in either social or transport planning research, in particular the temporal dimensions of transport service accessibility. The article articulates the methodology through an empirical case study of socio-spatial transport disadvantage within the Gold Coast City. The article demonstrates that there are important theor...

Towson University. Department of English. English Forum.

This paper examines the role of leadership development in NGO capacity building and assesses some of the challenges of developing a new generation of NGO leaders. The paper draws on the analysis of new and existing research into the dimensions of NGO leadership highlighting the importance of both individual attributes and contextual relevance. Effective NGO leaders are able to balance a range of competing pressures from different stakeholders in ways that do not compromise their individual identity and values. Leadership development programmes therefore need to focus on both the values and identity of individual leaders while also assisting leaders understand and proactively respond to their rapidly changing external environment. We conclude that there is an urgent need to build the capacity of NGOs to develop their leadership capability. Unless systems and processes to support this work are put in place then the apocryphal warning “trees die from the top” will have more than a ring of truth in it.

Organization development (OD) has become an increasingly popular approach among international donors who are eager to improve the impact of their aid to developing countries. Major questions, however, have been raised as to whether this is not another example of “technique peddling” by Western donors and consultants. Many argue that this participatory, imported, Western approach to organizational change relies on cultural assumptions of open discussion that are simply not present in many developing societies. Taking up Lewis's challenge in his article “Organization and Management in the Third Sector: Towards a Cross-Cultural Research Agenda” (NML 2002), this article explores the veracity of such concerns. Using practitioner experience of implementing OD with African NGOs, this article reveals that many principles of OD are pre-existing within African cultures and are not a new foreign import. It concludes that, as with any culture, there are aspects that undermine and reinforce particular approaches to management and change. An anthropological perspective can assist in understanding the local culture sufficiently to be able to identify, avoid, or overcome cultural resistance, while at the same time using cultural symbols as levers for change.

Increasing numbers of international NGOs and official donors have responded to the crisis of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa by putting considerable and commendable effort into mainstreaming HIV/AIDS issues into their funding programmes. Many have shifted their funding strategies to prioritise support for HIV/AIDS programmes. Some like DFID (the UK government Department for International Development) have even altered their systems of funding to ‘appraise HIV/AIDS compliance’ making mainstreaming a condition for financial support. But this emphasis on programme mainstreaming though vital is only a partial and technical response to the problem. While programme mainstreaming does recognise and address the impact of HIV/AIDS on ultimate beneficiaries at the grassroots level it ignores the debilitating organisational impact that HIV/AIDS is also having on the local NGOs which are expected to implement the programmes. (authors)

Learning and knowledge management are crucial capacities for many NGOs. This article attempts to answer such questions as: why is learning seen as so important for NGOs? How do successful NGOs actually learn? And what role do key individuals or leaders play in this process? The article draws heavily on the findings of a study of South Asian NGOs, which suggests that an NGO's ability to learn is dependent on its organisational culture and in particular the development of an internal culture of learning. The case studies from South Asia reveal that the creation of this 'learning culture' derives primarily from the attitude of the leadership towards learning: at the heart of a learning organisation is a 'learning leader'.

This paper explores the nature of organizational strengthening, the organizational implications for European NGOs wishing to strengthen Southern partner NGOs and the pressing organizational strengthening needs which European NGOs themselves have. The paper concludes that European NGOs through their donor role are not in the best position to actually implement the organizational support themselves and that their primary role is to be effective funders of the process, not directing the process itself. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Enterprise promotion programmes often receive severe criticism for the damaging effects they inflict on the local culture. A 'Western capitalistic' model for growth which rewards greed and self-interest is being imposed on countries, permanently maiming traditional ways of life. Some even accuse business development of causing the eradication of cultures.At first glance there appears to be a fundamental clash between two of the most fashionable issues in development: the preservation of indigenous cultures and the promotion of small-scale enterprise. However in the Mosquitia, a remote region of Honduras, Central America, rather than being diametrically opposed these two issues are inextricably linked, as business development is proving to be one of the vital means of ensuring the survival of Indian culture.