Download or read book Civil Society and Health written by Scott L. Greer and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2017-11-20 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) can make a vital contribution to public health and health systems but harnessing their potential is complex in a Europe where government-CSO relations vary so profoundly. This study is intended to outline some of the challenges and assist policy-makers in furthering their understanding of the part CSOs can play in tandem and alongside government. To this end it analyses existing evidence and draws on a set of seven thematic chapters and six mini case studies. They examine experiences from Austria Bosnia-Herzegovina Belgium Cyprus Finland Germany Malta the Netherlands Poland the Russian Federation Slovenia Turkey and the European Union and make use of a single assessment framework to understand the diverse contexts in which CSOs operate. The evidence shows that CSOs are ubiquitous varied and beneficial and the topics covered in this study reflect such diversity of aims and means: anti-tobacco advocacy food banks refugee health HIV/AIDS prevention and cure and social partnership. CSOs make a substantial contribution to public health and health systems with regards to policy development service delivery and governance. This includes evidence provision advocacy mobilization consensus building provision of medical services and of services related to the social determinants of health standard setting self-regulation and fostering social partnership. However in order to engage successfully with CSOs governments do need to make use of adequate tools and create contexts conducive to collaboration. To guide policy-makers working with CSOs through such complications and help avoid some potential pitfalls the book outlines a practical framework for such collaboration. This suggests identifying key CSOs in a given area; clarifying why there should be engagement with civil society; being realistic as to what CSOs can or will achieve; and an understanding of how CSOs can be helped to deliver.

Download or read book Role of Civil Society in Enhancing Governance and Accountability written by Jacinta Mondo Okwaro and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Accountability through Public Opinion written by Sina Odugbemi and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2011-05-10 with total page 539 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Accountability” has become a buzzword in international development. Development actors appear to delight in announcing their intention to “promote accountability”—but it is often unclear what accountability is and how it can be promoted. This book addresses some questions that are crucial to understanding accountability and for understanding why accountability is important to improve the effectiveness of development aid. We ask: What does it mean to make governments accountable to their citizens? How do you do that? How do you create genuine demand for accountability among citizens, how do you move citizens from inertia to public action? The main argument of this book is that accountability is a matter of public opinion. Governments will only be accountable if there are incentives for them to do so—and only an active and critical public will change the incentives of government officials to make them responsive to citizens’ demands. Accountability without public opinion is a technocratic, but not an effective solution. In this book, more than 30 accountability practitioners and thinkers discuss the concept and its structural conditions; the relationship between accountability, information, and the media; the role of deliberation to promote accountability; and mechanisms and tools to mobilize public opinion. A number of case studies from around the world illustrate the main argument of the book: Public opinion matters and an active and critical public is the surest means to achieve accountability that will benefit the citizens in developing countries. This book is designed for policy-makers and governance specialists working within the international development community, national governments, grassroots organizations, activists, and scholars engaged in understanding the interaction between accountability and public opinion and their role for increasing the impact of international development interventions.

Download or read book DAC Guidelines and Reference Series Accountability and Democratic Governance Orientations and Principles for Development written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2014-09-15 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is growing recognition of the need for new approaches to the ways in which donors support accountability, but no broad agreement on what changed practice looks like. This publication aims to provide more clarity on the emerging practice.

Download or read book Modernizing the United Nations System written by John E. Trent and published by Verlag Barbara Budrich. This book was released on 2007-06-20 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contends that civil society must mobilize its capacities to bring a new will to national and international politics and oblige governments to act. It starts by demonstrating the need for institutional change at the UN and then shows how, both in the past and the present, leading individuals and nongovernmental organizations, using their knowledge base and their organizational networks, have lead the fight for international organizations. After a summary of major UN reform proposals over the years, the book concludes by identifying leading global ""reformers"" and elaborating a detailed plan for a global reform movement to spearhead the modernization of the UN system.

Download or read book Citizens and Service Delivery written by Dena Ringold and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2011-12-01 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The report reviews how citizens can influence education, health and social protection services through access to information and opportunities to hold providers accountable. It takes stock of international evidence and experience from projects supported by the World Bank to identify knowledge gaps, key questions and areas for further work.

Download or read book Engaging Civil Society written by G. Shabbir Cheema and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rapid pace of globalization has led to the increasing interdependence of member states of the United Nations to achieve sustainable development objectives, including the eradication of extreme poverty, environmental protection, access to basic services and livelihoods, and the promotion of economic growth and opportunities. Policymakers, scholars, and development practitioners recognize the centrality of effective governance at the local, national, and global levels to promote sustainable development. Along with governments and the private sector, civil society organizations (CSOs) are playing an expanded role in improving transparency, participation, access to services, and the rule of law. This book looks at the changing roles of civil society in global and national governance. It identifies factors that influence the effectiveness of civil society in promoting democratic governance. It asks: To what extent and how has the global civil society been influencing global governance and democratic change? What have been the patterns of growth of civil society in Asia and Africa, including the legal frameworks under which CSOs are established? How and with what effect has civil society been engaged in promoting democratic change and inclusive governance? Contributors include William Ascher (Claremont McKenna College and Soka University of America), Robertson Work (Innovative Leadership Services and New York University), Denny Roy (East-West Center), Kadmiel Harrison Wekwete (United Nations Capital Development Fund), Denison Jayasooria (Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and Human Rights Commission of Malaysia), Jin Sato (University of Tokyo), Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, (Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency), John Clark (The Policy Practice), Goran Hyden (University of Florida), Naresh Singh (Canadian International Development Agency), L. David Brown (Harvard University), Rehman Sobhan (Centre for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh), and Massimo Tommasoli (Permanent Observer for International IDEA to the United Nations).

Download or read book Good Governance and Civil Society Participation in Africa written by Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2008-12-31 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: governments and the public at large. --Book Jacket.

Download or read book Towards Improving Governance written by S. K. Agarwal and published by Academic Foundation. This book was released on 2008 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Compiled to identify both sound and unproductive practices while suggesting advancements for India's governance, this volume seeks to analyze India's efforts made towards progress and to eradicate corruption. Containing previous exemplary initiatives and information about public-domain tools, this resource deals with the perception of governance in India and its status in the monopolistic services including the four major ones--the police, judiciary, income tax, and property registration. This account also discusses citizens' charters, the right to information, e-governance, social audits, report cards, and the integrity pact as means for positive development.

Download or read book Good Governance and Civil Society written by Adam Jarosz and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2015-01-12 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept of “governance” is a key issue for public sector work at all levels. In today’s environment of globalization and the growing significance of communication and participatory managing methods, public service provisions and dialogue with citizens have to be developed. Governance provides an answer to these challenges: it combines cooperative forms of governing, involving both the private sector and social partners, which can form networks to develop policies in different fields. “Good” governance is generally seen as an outcome of transparent and efficient governing methods, as well as multi-level governance utilising both state instruments and other institutions, such as supranational organisations and local and regional governments. This book is devoted to these questions and research problems. The contributors are predominantly young scientists, and examine a wide range of different examples, issues and case studies, in order to analyse various elements and aspects of the concept of “governance”. The book provides interdisciplinary and multidimensional research in order to analyse the numerous different facets of this broad term. As such, the contributors to this volume are drawn from the various fields of politics, the economy, society, and communication, in order to provide a well-rounded and in-depth analysis of “governance”.

Download or read book Building Global Democracy written by Jan Aart Scholte and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The scale, effectiveness and legitimacy of global governance lag far behind the world's needs. This path-breaking book examines how far civil society involvement provides an answer to these problems. Does civil society make global governance more democratic? Have citizen action groups raised the accountability of global bodies that deal with challenges such as climate change, financial crises, conflict, disease and inequality? What circumstances have promoted (or blocked) civil society efforts to make global governance institutions more democratically accountable? What could improve these outcomes in the future? The authors base their argument on studies of thirteen global institutions, including the UN, G8, WTO, ICANN and IMF. Specialists from around the world critically assess what has and has not worked in efforts to make global bodies answer to publics as well as states. Combining intellectual depth and political relevance, Building Global Democracy? will appeal to students, researchers, activists and policymakers"--

Download or read book Governance and Service Delivery written by Anna Wetterberg and published by RTI Press. This book was released on 2016-09-25 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: RTI International has extensive experience implementing international donor-funded programs and projects, including single-sector and multisector policy and service-delivery improvement efforts, as well as governance and public management reforms. Drawing on that experience, this collection examines six recent RTI International projects, funded mostly by the United States Agency for International Development, that pursued several different paths to integrating service delivery and governance through engaging citizens, public officials, and service providers on issues related to accountability and sectoral services. The six cases illustrate the multiple ways in which citizen participation in accountability, called social accountability, can lead to positive effects on governance, citizen empowerment, and service delivery. The analysis focuses on both the intended and actual effects, and unpacks the influence of context on implementation and the outcomes achieved.

Download or read book Promoting Good Governance written by Sam Agere and published by Commonwealth Secretariat. This book was released on 2000 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book aims to show that a strong and achieving public service is a necessary condition for a competitively successful nation. The concept of good governance is linked with institutionalised values such as democracy, observance of human rights and greater effectiveness of the public sector.

Download or read book Corporate Social Responsibility Accountability and Governance written by Istemi Demirag and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-10-08 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The "business case" for corporate social responsibility, which suggests that socially and environmentally aware companies can expect to reap financial rewards, is seemingly gaining widespread acceptance within the business community. This is particularly apparent in the ever-increasing number of prominent companies parading their social, ethical and environmental credentials by producing paper- or web-based social and environmental, or sustainability, reports. In so doing, reporting companies claim, they are demonstrating a clear commitment to transparency and accountability to their key stakeholder groups. However, in the prevailing voluntaristic, business-case-centred climate within which such initiatives are taking place, little thought appears to have gone into the question of how stakeholders, other than the capital provider group, can actually use corporate disclosures offered in order to hold management accountable for the social and environmental consequences of their actions. While much corporate rhetoric abounds concerning notions of stakeholder dialogue and engagement, rigorous analysis of the governance implications of their claimed commitment to the principles of corporate social responsibility is largely conspicuous by its absence. Corporate Social Responsibility, Accountability and Governance seeks to explore this "missing link" between CSR (and associated reporting initiatives) and governance mechanisms that are capable of embracing true stakeholder accountability. A wide range of case studies, drawing on experiences of both public- and private-sector initiatives in Europe, the United States, Canada, South America and Asia, offer insightful analysis of the complex relationships between the state, the market and civil society in the development of CSR, accountability and sustainable development. The book employs a multidisciplinary perspective in order to analyse the political, social, economic, technological, legal and organisational shaping of CSR. The complexities underpinning the concept are thereby clearly drawn out and the gross oversimplifications inherent in the prevailing consultancy-driven, business-case literature painfully exposed. Above all, the book offers a sound, practically and theoretically informed contribution to public policy debate and reflects and builds on urgent calls from public- and private-sector policy-makers as well as academics to develop better governance and accountability frameworks for business to deal with the imperatives of social responsibility, sustainable development and ethics. This book is divided into five parts. In Part 1, the complex concepts of responsibility, accountability and governance are discussed, and in particular the presumed relationships between the state, the market and civil society in improving accountability and governance are explored and critiqued. Part 2 consists of chapters relating to corporate social responsibility and stakeholder theory. Part 3 is concerned with empirical studies covering governance structures, networking and corporate social responsibility. Part 4 deals with corporate governance and its implications for regulators and civil society. Part 5 discusses multinational companies and how they impact on national governance regimes. Finally, a summary is provided with emerging international patterns of accountability and governance structures. Corporate Social Responsibility, Accountability and Governance will be essential reading for public and private policy-makers and practitioners and academics interested in how CSR can become more than a soundbite, and rather a substantial force for better global corporate governance and accountability.

Download or read book Opening the Black Box written by Helene Grandvoinnet and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2015-04-17 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Opening the Black Box: Contextual Drivers of Social Accountability fills an important knowledge gap by providing guidance on how to assess contextual drivers of social accountability effectiveness. This publication aims to more strategically support citizen engagement at the country level and for a specific issue or problem. The report proposes a novel framing of social accountability as the interplay of constitutive elements: citizen action and state action, supported by three enabling levers: civic mobilization, interface and information. For each of these constitutive elements, the report identifies 'drivers' of contextual effectiveness which take into account a broad range of contextual factors (e.g., social, political and intervention-based, including information and communication technologies). Opening the Black Box offers detailed guidance on how to assess each driver. It also applies the framework at two levels. At the country level, the report looks at 'archetypes' of challenging country contexts, such as regimes with no formal space or full support for citizen-state engagement and fragile and conflict-affected situations. The report also illustrates the use of the framework to analyze specific social accountability interventions through four case studies: Sierra Leone, Pakistan, Yemen, and the Kyrgyz Republic.

Download or read book Open Government Fostering Dialogue with Civil Society written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2003-12-11 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines how to build robust legal, institutional and policy frameworks for access to information, consultation and public participation in policy-making.

Download or read book How to Improve Governance written by David Ferranti and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2009-09-01 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years, the developing world has seen a burst of efforts to reduce corruption, increase transparency and accountability, and improve governance. Needless to say, this is an important and encouraging development. However, the lack of a reliable compass to describe where a country is at a given moment—and where it could be heading in the absence or acceptance of proposed reforms—can result in disastrous missteps. The unfortunate absence of such a guide has helped lead to innumerable failed governments or ineffective regimes. This important book aims to fill that void. How to Improve Governance emphasizes the need for an overall analytical framework that can be applied to different countries to help analyze their current situations, identify potential areas for improvement, and assess their relative feasibility and the steps needed to promote them. A country-specific analysis needs to be comprehensive, in the sense that it includes the four concepts of transparency, accountability, governance, and anticorruption throughout the calculus. Without such an analytic framework, any reform attempt is likely to flounder for lack of a shared understanding of the underlying problems and of the feasible reforms. The book gives special emphasis to the potential for civil society groups to play a stronger role in holding governments accountable for their use of public resources, and to the importance of developing politically feasible, prioritized country strategies for reform. "Whether one looks at how to increase domestic demand for good governance, how to make government more accountable to the public, or how to build democratic processes that deliver results, the underlying issues are essentially the same.... As development actors of various types... seek to help, more and more of them are calling for a clearer conceptual framework to guide their efforts."—From the Introduction