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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social work > Charities & voluntary services
"Bureaucratizing the Good Samaritan" is about the organization of refugee relief programs. It describes the practical, political, and moral assumptions of the "international refugee relief regime." Tony Waters emphasizes that the agencies delivering humanitarian relief are embedded in rationalized bureaucracies whose values are determined by their institutional frameworks. The demand for "victims" is observed in the close relation between the interests of the popular press and the decisions made by bureaucracies.This presents a paradox in all humanitarian relief organizations, but perhaps no more so than in the Rwanda Relief Operations (1994-96) which ended in the largest mass forced repatriation since the end of World War II. This crisis is analyzed with an assumption that there is a basic contradiction between the demands of the bureaucratized organization and the need of relief agencies to generate the emotional publicity to sustain the interest of northern donors. The book concludes by noting that if refugee relief programs are to become more effective, the connection between the press's emotional demands for "victims" and the bureaucratic organizations's decision processes need to be identified and reassessed.
America's founding fathers established an idealistic framework for a bold experiment in democratic governance. The new nation would be built on the belief that "all men are created equal, and are endowed...with a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The challenge of turning these ideals into reality for all citizens was taken up by a set of exceptional American women. Distinguished scholar and civic leader Claire Gaudiani calls these women "social entrepreneurs," arguing that they brought the same drive and strategic intent to their pursuit of "the greater good" that their male counterparts applied to building the nation's capital markets throughout the nineteenth century. Gaudiani tells the stories of these patriotic women, and their creation of America's unique not-for-profit, or "social profit" sector. She concludes that the idealism and optimism inherent in this work provided an important asset to the increasing prosperity of the nation from its founding to the Second World War. Social entrepreneurs have defined a system of governance "by the people," and they remain our best hope for continued moral leadership in the world.
Do you find yourself again and again wondering what it would take to get some new volunteers onboard for your ministry? And yet does it seem that you are never able to focus your energy on recruitment? Maybe you find yourself saying things like: "It?s just easier for me to do it myself." At one level, of course, this is true. Almost always, it is easier to "do it ourselves." We avoid the hassle of having to coordinate and communicate. We avoid having to follow up with people who drop the ball. Youth leaders Mark DeVries and Nate Stratman have heard dozens of reasons why leaders choose not to build a solid volunteer team. But faithful ministry is not a do-it-yourself project. It?s more than just recruiting-it involves changing the culture of your ministry so that volunteers want to become involved.That's why they have developed this 30-day change approach. In these pages you will find the step-by-step support you need to actually make one of the most important changes you want to see in your ministry. DeVries and Stratman are so commited to the ideas that they offer the following guarantee: If you work this 30-day process for one to two hours a day, six days a week, for 30 days, and it does not create significant change in your ministry, Ministry Architects will gladly refund the cost of this book and offer a credit of $20 toward any downloadable resource in their online store at ymarchitects.com. You have so little to risk and everything to gain. It's time to put together that team you've been longing for!
This book addresses the concept of need and how needs can be, and are, met in western societies. Different models of welfare provision are examined both in theoretical terms and through two case studies: of models of pension provision and of the connection between the satisfaction of needs and electoral success for governments. This timely study makes an important contribution to the understanding of welfare and politics in advanced industrial western states.
A wonderfully engaging and accessible book, Who Cares? emphasizes finding humane responses to developmentally and physically disabled individuals that are community driven rather than solely reliant on problem-solution oriented social service organizations. David Schwartz examines the roles of both informal communities and sectarian communities for examples and practical techniques that can be applied to the reader's situation. The beautifully written, touching accounts of individual lives swept under the carpet of the social services system make it impossible to read this book without being affected by the stories?such as the boy who was afraid of white,Nancy who moved to an apartment after forty years in a nursing home, and everyday life in a small east coast town whose inhabitants help one another in times of need.Schwartz does not advocate the overthrow or dismantling of the social services, but instead proposes supplemental responses that will lead to richer, better lives for both the recipient and the caregiving individual and community. The practical, easily encouraged methods of building informal models suggested by the author grow out of both his own practice and his informed experiences as director of a state social services agency and are grounded in the basic desires for nurturing, belonging, and a sense of community. Who Cares? will appeal to those working in the field of social services as well as the general reader searching for ways to bring meaning into the modern, disconnected life.
In 2000, the first social agenda in the history of the European Union was launched, and the endeavor to combat poverty came increasingly to the forefront as a specific area for EU policy cooperation and coordination. Regrettably, however, little progress has been achieved so far, either at the national or European level. On the contrary, the EU's social fabric is under major stress: convergence in national living standards has halted or reversed while progress in terms of poverty reduction in the last decades has been disappointing in most EU Member States. In Europe, despite high social spending and work-related welfare reforms, poverty often remains a largely intractable problem for policymakers and a persistent reality for many European citizens. In Decent Incomes for All, the authors shed new light on recent poverty trends in the European Union and the corresponding responses by European welfare states. They analyze the effect of social and fiscal policies before, during, and after the recent economic crisis and study the impact of alternative policy packages on poverty and inequality. The volume also explores how social investment and local initiatives of social innovation can contribute to tackling poverty, while recognizing that there are indeed structural constraints on the increase of the social floor and difficult trade-offs involved in reconciling work and poverty reduction. Academics and graduate students in comparative social policy, inclusion and anti-poverty policy, sociology, and public economics will find the book to be a particularly helpful resource in their work.
A compelling new picture of one of the most important, complex, and misunderstood figures of our time. The name George Soros is recognized around the world. Universally known for his decades of philanthropy, progressive politics, and investment success, he is equally well known as the nemesis of the far right-the target of sustained attacks from nationalists, populists, authoritarian regimes, and anti-Semites-because of his commitment to open society, freedom of the press, and liberal democracy. At age 91, Soros still looms large on the global stage, and yet the man himself is surprisingly little understood. Asking people to describe Soros is likely to elicit different and seemingly contradictory answers. Who is George Soros, really? And why does this question matter? Biographers have attempted to tell the story of George Soros, but no single account of his life can capture his extraordinary, multifaceted character. Now, in this ambitious and revealing new book, Soros's longtime publisher, Peter L. W. Osnos, has assembled an intriguing set of contributors from a variety of different perspectives-public intellectuals (Eva Hoffman, Michael Ignatieff), journalists (Sebastian Mallaby, Orville Schell), scholars (Leon Botstein, Ivan Krastev), and nonprofit leaders (Gara LaMarche, Darren Walker)-to paint a full picture of the man beyond the media portrayals. Some have worked closely with Soros, while others have wrestled with issues and quandaries similar to his in their own endeavors. Their collective expertise shines a new light on Soros's activities and passions and, to the extent possible, the motivation for them and the outcomes that resulted. Through this kaleidoscope of viewpoints emerges a vivid and compelling portrait of this remarkable man's unique and consequential impact. It has truly been a life in full.
British hospitals and their administration have changed dramatically since the nineteenth century, when the provision of medical care depended very heavily upon philanthropic bodies. The King's Fund was the leading charitable institution for the defence and development of London's voluntary hospitals before the creation of the National Health Service. Since 1948, it has worked alongside the NHS and has sought to promote good practice and innovation in health care through grants, training, and a range of other services. Dr Prochaska's readable and scholarly study places the King's Fund in the wider context of the history of philanthropy and social provision. It provides an illuminating analysis of the evolution of the relationship between the voluntary and public sectors in the twentieth century, and points to the continuing importance of voluntary organizations to the nation's health and welfare.
The untold story in the AIDS crisis is that of the mobilization of the gay community. Bearing Witness is a compelling study of how a community-based initiative--Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York--neutralized the immobilizing power of homophobia and fear of AIDS. From his unique perspective as both a sociologist and volunteer at Gay Men's Health Crisis, Philip Kayal illuminates the social and political meanings of volunteerism by showing how gay/AIDS volunteerism is radical political and religious work.
Across the world the Western dominated international aid system is being challenged. The rise of right-wing populism, de-globalisation, the advance of illiberal democracy and the emergence of non-Western donors onto the international stage are cutting right to the heart of the entrenched neoliberal aid paradigm. Foreign Aid in the Age of Populism explores the impact of these challenges on development aid, arguing that there is a need to bring politics back into development aid; not just the politics of economics, but power relations internally in aid organisations, in recipient nations, and between donor and recipient. In particular, the book examines how aid agencies are using Political Economy Analysis (PEA) to inform their decision making and to push aid projects through, whilst failing to engage meaningfully with wider politics. The book provides an in-depth critical analysis of the Washington Consensus model of political economy analysis, contrasting it with the emerging Beijing Consensus, and suggesting that PEA has to be recast in order to accommodate new and emerging paradigms. A range of alternative theoretical frameworks are suggested, demonstrating how PEA could be used to provide a deeper and richer understanding of development aid interventions, and their impact and effectiveness. This book is perfect for students and researchers of development, global politics and international relations, as well as also being useful for practitioners and policy makers within government, development aid organisations, and global institutions.
In recent years the popularity of service learning and study abroad programs that bring students to the global South has soared, thanks to this generation of college students' desire to make a positive difference in the world. This collection contains essays by undergraduates who recount their experiences in Togo working on projects that established health insurance at a local clinic, built a cyber cafe, created a microlending program for teens, and started a local writers' group. The essays show students putting their optimism to work while learning that paying attention to local knowledge can make all the difference in a project's success. Students also conducted research on global health topics by examining the complex relationships between traditional healing practices and biomedicine. Charles Piot's introduction contextualizes student-initiated development within the history of development work in West Africa since 1960, while his epilogue provides an update on the projects, compiles an inventory of best practices, and describes the type of projects that are likely to succeed. Doing Development in West Africa provides a relatable and intimate look into the range of challenges, successes, and failures that come with studying abroad in the global South. Contributors. Cheyenne Allenby, Kelly Andrejko, Connor Cotton, Allie Middleton, Caitlin Moyles, Charles Piot, Benjamin Ramsey, Maria Cecilia Romano, Stephanie Rotolo, Emma Smith, Sarah Zimmerman
Public service is a way of life for Americans; giving is a part of our national character. But compassionate instincts and generous spirits aren't enough, says veteran urban activist Robert D. Lupton. In this groundbreaking guide, he reveals the disturbing truth about charity: all too much of it has become toxic, devastating to the very people it's meant to help. In his four decades of urban ministry, Lupton has experienced firsthand how our good intentions can have unintended, dire consequences. Our free food and clothing distribution encourages ever-growing handout lines, diminishing the dignity of the poor while increasing their dependency. We converge on inner-city neighborhoods to plant flowers and pick up trash, battering the pride of residents who have the capacity (and responsibility) to beautify their own environment. We fly off on mission trips to poverty-stricken villages, hearts full of pity and suitcases bulging with giveaways--trips that one Nicaraguan leader describes as effective only in "turning my people into beggars." In Toxic Charity, Lupton urges individuals, churches, and organizations to step away from these spontaneous, often destructive acts of compassion toward thoughtful paths to community development. He delivers proven strategies for moving from toxic charity to transformative charity. Proposing a powerful "Oath for Compassionate Service" and spotlighting real-life examples of people serving not just with their hearts but with proven strategies and tested tactics, Lupton offers all the tools and inspiration we need to develop healthy, community-driven programs that produce deep, measurable, and lasting change. Everyone who volunteers or donates to charity needs to wrestle with this book.
In the world's most affluent and food secure societies, why is it now publicly acceptable to feed donated surplus food, dependent on corporate food waste, to millions of hungry people? While recognizing the moral imperative to feed hungry people, this book challenges the effectiveness, sustainability and moral legitimacy of globally entrenched corporate food banking as the primary response to rich world food poverty. It investigates the prevalence and causes of domestic hunger and food waste in OECD member states, the origins and thirty-year rise of US style charitable food banking, and its institutionalization and corporatization. It unmasks the hidden functions of transnational corporate food banking which construct domestic hunger as a matter for charity thereby allowing indifferent and austerity-minded governments to ignore increasing poverty and food insecurity and their moral, legal and political obligations, under international law, to realize the right to food. The book's unifying theme is understanding the food bank nation as a powerful metaphor for the deep hole at the centre of neoliberalism, illustrating: the de-politicization of hunger; the abandonment of social rights; the stigma of begging and loss of human dignity; broken social safety nets; the dysfunctional food system; the shift from income security to charitable food relief; and public policy neglect. It exposes the hazards of corporate food philanthropy and the moral vacuum within negligent governments and their lack of public accountability. The advocacy of civil society with a right to food bite is urgently needed to gather political will and advance 'joined-up' policies and courses of action to ensure food security for all.
In the world's most affluent and food secure societies, why is it now publicly acceptable to feed donated surplus food, dependent on corporate food waste, to millions of hungry people? While recognizing the moral imperative to feed hungry people, this book challenges the effectiveness, sustainability and moral legitimacy of globally entrenched corporate food banking as the primary response to rich world food poverty. It investigates the prevalence and causes of domestic hunger and food waste in OECD member states, the origins and thirty-year rise of US style charitable food banking, and its institutionalization and corporatization. It unmasks the hidden functions of transnational corporate food banking which construct domestic hunger as a matter for charity thereby allowing indifferent and austerity-minded governments to ignore increasing poverty and food insecurity and their moral, legal and political obligations, under international law, to realize the right to food. The book's unifying theme is understanding the food bank nation as a powerful metaphor for the deep hole at the centre of neoliberalism, illustrating: the de-politicization of hunger; the abandonment of social rights; the stigma of begging and loss of human dignity; broken social safety nets; the dysfunctional food system; the shift from income security to charitable food relief; and public policy neglect. It exposes the hazards of corporate food philanthropy and the moral vacuum within negligent governments and their lack of public accountability. The advocacy of civil society with a right to food bite is urgently needed to gather political will and advance 'joined-up' policies and courses of action to ensure food security for all.
The question of why countries give aid and assistance to other countries has long been a topic of debate- is it altruism, or selfishness? The assumption is sometimes made that donors from developing countries might be more motivated by altruism than 'traditional' western donors. This book demonstrates that on the contrary, the provision of development assistance can be used to serve national interests, allowing so-called 'emerging' donors to gain soft power in the international sphere by improving their image and global influence. Technical cooperation, or the transfer of knowledge, is an area of particular interest, as it can enable donors to position themselves as a global leader in a given field, with a unique set of skills and expertise in a knowledge area. This book uses the Brazilian case to demonstrate how a country such as Brazil can seek power and influence by providing no-strings-attached technical assistance. The empirical analysis unpicks the motivations behind development assistance, and how it can be used as a foreign policy tool. In doing so, the book sheds light upon the similarities and variations in the provision of technical cooperation as a foreign policy tool by China, India, and Brazil. This book will be of interest to researchers of International Development, South-South Cooperation, International Relations, and those working on Brazil specifically.
One day Greg Mortenson set out to climb K2 - the world's second highest mountain - in honour of his younger sister, but when another member of his group fell ill, they turned around and Greg became lost in the mountains of Pakistan. He wandered into a poor village, where the chief and his people took him in. Moved by their kindness, Greg promised to return and build a school for the children. This is the remarkable story of how, against all the odds, Greg built not only one but more than sixty schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and how he dedicated his life to establishing literacy and peace, and understanding.
Peace Corps volunteers seem to exemplify the desire to make the world a better place. Yet despite being one of history's clearest cases of organized idealism, the Peace Corps has, in practice, ended up cultivating very different outcomes among its volunteers. By the time they return from the Peace Corps, volunteers exhibit surprising shifts in their political and professional consciousness. Rather than developing a systemic perspective on development and poverty, they tend instead to focus on individual behavior; they see professions as the only legitimate source of political and social power. They have lost their idealism, and their convictions and beliefs have been reshaped along the way. The Death of Idealism uses the case of the Peace Corps to explain why and how participation in a bureaucratic organization changes people's ideals and politics. Meghan Elizabeth Kallman offers an innovative institutional analysis of the role of idealism in development organizations. She details the combination of social forces and organizational pressures that depoliticizes Peace Corps volunteers, channels their idealism toward professionalization, and leads to cynicism or disengagement. Kallman sheds light on the structural reasons for the persistent failure of development organizations and the consequences for the people involved. Based on interviews with over 140 current and returned Peace Corps volunteers, field observations, and a large-scale survey, this deeply researched, theoretically rigorous book offers a novel perspective on how people lose their idealism, and why that matters.
What motivates someone to become a social entrepreneur? What are the competencies needed to be effective social advocates and agents for change? This book answers these questions in an accessible and practical way, providing comprehensive guidelines, numerous examples, and sources of information and training for anyone who wants to start a community-based social advocacy and change initiative or for employees who want to start a corporate social responsibility initiative. Features include the following:
Tony froze to death in the garden of the house he used to own. Aisha
dreams of becoming a nurse, but spends night after night seeking a
place to sleep. Jon is an expert at squatting, using his skills to keep
others off the street. Jim turned a bus he bought on eBay into a
portable shelter. David was a homeless army veteran on the verge of
taking his own life when he was saved by Gavin's kindness, now he's a
successful artist and activist.
In the wake of recent scandals concerning charities such as Kids Company and BeatBullying, as well as the wave of suspicion they have generated about the third sector as a whole, celebrated restaurateur Iqbal Wahhab offers a scathing critique of the cosiness between government and charity, and proposes that the solution lies in business.Indeed, he believes we are entering a post-philanthropy age, where social entrepreneurs are better placed to sustainably solve our problems than the outdated and ineffective donations model. With social mobility on the wane and inequalities widening, he argues, the convention of paying taxes to provide a welfare state that fixes the problems of the poor and infirm is now considered a myth.The problem is that charities aren't evolving in the way businesses have to. They expand by the amount of hope and faith by which they can convince largely uninformed, if well-meaning, donors and philanthropists to finance them. Businesses expand through success, and success wins over hope.Put simply, Wahhab argues, charity sucks because business does it better.
There has been considerable interest in recent years in the ability of non-governmental organisations to work with the rural poor in developing countries in order to improve their quality of life and economic status through the provision of credit, skills training, and other inputs for income-generation programmes. This book brings together the results of 16 evaluations in 4 countries (Bangladesh, India, Uganda, and Zimbabwe) to provide a detailed assessment of the contribution that NGOs make to rural poverty alleviation. The results indicate that NGO projects are successful when they build in a high degree of participation, when the staff are committed to the goals of the project, and when they are managed by strong and competent leaders. Many of the projects studied contributed to increases in income and welfare. However, not all projects were successful, contrary to received wisdom about the efficacy of NGO interventions. many failed to reach the very poorest, most were costly to implement, and few of the projects demostrated an ability to continue once external funding was withdrawn. These findingd provide string support for viewing NGOs as a mechanism for helping to reduce rural poverty, but also demonstrate that many of the interventions are isolated or one-off. The impact of NGOs could be heightened by increasing the size of the intervention, encouraging greater cooperation among NGOs, and by fostering closer cooperation with governments. This study will make an impact in the development community, and its conclusions will help shape NGO and poverty agendas in the coming years. The book will appeal to all those concerned with rural development, NGOs, and development programmes.
In the late 1990s, there was a distinct rise in interest in the non-profit sector, and in retailing and consumption. Drawing together these two concerns this book provides a comprehensive and international account of the retail charity sector. Charity shops are now significant occupiers of the UK high street, and are becoming familiar sites of consumption in the USA, Australia, Canada and Ireland. This volume provides the first overview of the history and development of the charity shop, incorporating material from a variety of disciplines, including marketing, retailing, cultural studies and social geography. Presenting recent research from the UK, Europe, Australia and North America, this book fills gap in the literature of the field, and will be of great interest to all practitioners, researchers and students wishing to study the charity shop phenomenon.
In Civic Gifts, Elisabeth S. Clemens takes a singular approach to probing the puzzle that is the United States. How, she asks, did a powerful state develop within an anti-statist political culture? How did a sense of shared nationhood develop despite the linguistic, religious, and ethnic differences among settlers and, eventually, citizens? Clemens reveals that an important piece of the answer to these questions can be found in the unexpected political uses of benevolence and philanthropy, practices of gift-giving and reciprocity that coexisted uneasily with the self-sufficient independence expected of liberal citizens Civic Gifts focuses on the power of gifts not only to mobilize communities throughout US history, but also to create new forms of solidarity among strangers. Clemens makes clear how, from the early Republic through the Second World War, reciprocity was an important tool for eliciting both the commitments and the capacities needed to face natural disasters, economic crises, and unprecedented national challenges. Encompassing a range of endeavors from the mobilized voluntarism of the Civil War, through Community Chests and the Red Cross to the FDR-driven rise of the March of Dimes, Clemens shows how voluntary efforts were repeatedly articulated with government projects. The legacy of these efforts is a state co-constituted with, as much as constrained by, civil society. |
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