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22. Building Effective Drinking Water Management Policies in Rural Africa
- Author:
- Christopher Opio
- Publication Date:
- 09-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Abstract:
- The importance of providing clean, safe drinking water and sanitation to rural inhabitants of developing countries is widely recognized. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly, for instance, declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation, and the World Bank has been increasing financial assistance to developing countries in support of water supply and sanitation improvements (Cho, Ogwang and Opio, 2010).
- Topic:
- Development, Non-Governmental Organization, Natural Resources, and Water
- Political Geography:
- Africa and United Nations
23. Building Effective Drinking Water Management Policies in Rural Africa: Lessons from Northern Uganda
- Author:
- Christopher Opio
- Publication Date:
- 08-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for International Governance Innovation
- Abstract:
- While the need to provide clean drinking water is widely recognized as a priority in rural Sub-Saharan Africa, there is a lack of specific data on water quality to build effective drinking water management policies. This discussion paper describes a water quality study undertaken in Northern Uganda, to test the potability and potential contamination of water taken from wells, open water sources and households. Key lessons from the study include the fact that clean well water can be contaminated during transportation to, and storage in, homes. Building on the data from the water quality tests, this paper explores the policy implications for national governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and individuals at the household level. In the absence of more specific, country-by-country studies, the results from this study are applicable across the region due to similarities in water sources and storage practices in rural Africa.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Non-Governmental Organization, Poverty, and Food
- Political Geography:
- Uganda and Africa
24. A Global Trust for Rule of Law
- Author:
- Mark P. Lagon
- Publication Date:
- 10-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- The rule of law is critical for people to have a meaningful opportunity to thrive. Still, for billions of people around the world today, the rule of law exists on paper but not in practice. Even though a theme for the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Panel in fall 2012 is rule of law, various UN programs devoted to rule of law have not had a transformative impact. Traditional intergovernmental institutions will never offer enough to achieve systemic change. To supplement them and achieve what they alone cannot, the United States should take the lead to forge a more nimble partnership with public, private, and nonprofit sectors and establish a Global Trust for Rule of Law (“Global Trust”). Similar to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (“Global Fund”), a diverse board of donor states, philanthropists, rule of law experts, and civil society representatives would run this Global Trust. Its purpose would be to build developing nations' capacity to implement rule of law and unleash the potential of marginalized groups worldwide, promoting not only human dignity but, crucially, global economic growth.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Human Rights, International Cooperation, International Law, Non-Governmental Organization, and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- United States
25. Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors in Areas of Limited Statehood
- Author:
- Bernd Ladwig, Daniel Jacob, and Andreas Oldenbourg
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Collaborative Research Center (SFB) 700
- Abstract:
- The idea of a natural duty of justice expresses our cosmopolitan duty to ensure that everyone's human rights are institutionally protected and promoted. The state system is one way to specify this duty: Within a moral division of labor, states have an obligation to protect their citizens' human rights, and the community of states as a whole has subsidiary obligations if states fail to do so. In areas of limited statehood, however, both the remains of the state and the international community often do not fulfill their obligations. Without relieving them of their obligations, this raises the question as to whether it is possible to assign human rights obligations to non-state actors operating in areas of limited statehood, such as TNCs or NGOs. Our core argument is that these non-state actors do indeed have specific human rights obligations, which can be specified by examining their special relations to their social environment. Making use of criteria prominent in the global justice debate, we propose to distinguish four types of special relations: membership, cooperation, negative impact, and power. The relation between a non-state actor and society, then, determines the social scope of its human rights obligations.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Human Rights, International Law, Non-Governmental Organization, and Governance
26. Crises in a New World Order: Challenging the humanitarian project
- Publication Date:
- 02-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- Tens of millions of people suffer in today's humanitarian crises. In East Africa alone, over 13 million have faced a devastating food crisis. But millions of people also help their neighbours, families and communities. For example, in Pakistan, neighbours, communities and local NGOs were once again first with relief when floods struck in 2011, just as they had been in 2010, when aid agencies struggled to reach the 14 million in need of assistance.
- Topic:
- Humanitarian Aid, Non-Governmental Organization, United Nations, Natural Disasters, and Reconstruction
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, South Asia, and East Africa
27. A Dangerous Delay: The cost of late response to early warnings in the 2011 drought in the Horn of Africa
- Author:
- Debbie Hillier and Benedict Dempsey
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Oxfam Publishing
- Abstract:
- The 2011 crisis in the Horn of Africa has been the most severe emergency of its kind this century. More than 13 million people are still affected, with hundreds of thousands placed at risk of starvation. One estimate suggests that 50,000–100,000 people have died. This crisis unfolded despite having been predicted. Although brought on by drought, it was human factors which turned the crisis into a deadly emergency.
- Topic:
- Development, Non-Governmental Organization, United Nations, and Famine
- Political Geography:
- Africa
28. Global networks of mediation: Prospects and avenues for Finland as a peacemaker
- Author:
- Touko Piiparinen and Ville Brummer (eds.)
- Publication Date:
- 03-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Finnish Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- The purpose of this report is to explore the contemporary dynamics of peace mediation with a view to three specific objectives. First, it aims to identify the distinctive characteristics of global peace mediation and the roles played by different actors, particularly governments, NGOs and regional organisations, in mediation processes. It also describes the new forms of co-operation between these actors and analyse the challenges and opportunities of the new co-operation frameworks in global peace mediation.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Diplomacy, International Cooperation, Non-Governmental Organization, and Peace Studies
- Political Geography:
- Finland
29. National Minorities and the Media Situation in Georgia
- Author:
- Tobias Akerlund
- Publication Date:
- 01-2012
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Centre for Minority Issues
- Abstract:
- In recent years Georgia has seen positive developments on the policy level as well as on the ground concerning media. The Law on Broadcasting already obliged the Georgian Public Broadcaster to highlight the concerns and issues of relevance to minorities, in addition to airing programs in minority languages. To improve the situation for minorities in Georgia, The National Concept for Tolerance and Civil Integration was adopted in 2009 and contains provisions to remedy deficiencies with regard to media. Despite these positive developments, however, access to information remains an impediment to integration into wider society as Georgia‟s minority communities are largely distanced from mainstream media due to a lack of quality information in the languages they understand.
- Topic:
- Non-Governmental Organization, Mass Media, and Minorities
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Georgia
30. Missing the target: NGOs, global civil society and the arms trade
- Author:
- Anna Stavrianakis
- Publication Date:
- 04-2012
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of International Relations and Development
- Institution:
- Central and East European International Studies Association
- Abstract:
- Non-governmental organisation (NGO) activism on the arms trade is emblematic of the significant and emancipatory role attributed to civil society in post-Cold War international politics. Discussions of NGOs' efforts are marked by a distinctively liberal understanding of civil society as an increasingly global sphere separate from the state and market, promoting progressive and non-violent social relations. However, there are significant conceptual and empirical problems with these claims, which I illustrate using examples from contemporary NGO activism on the international production of and trade in conventional weaponry. First, liberal accounts underplay the mutual dependence between the state, market and civil society. NGO agency is both constrained and enabled by its historical, structural grounding. Second, I argue for a more ambivalent understanding of NGOs' progressive political value. While some NGOs may play a role in counter-hegemonic struggle, overall they are more likely to contribute to hegemonic social formations. Third, liberal accounts of a global civil society inadequately capture the reproduction of hierarchy in international relations, downplaying ongoing, systematic patterns of North-South asymmetry. Fourth, the emphasis on the non-violent nature of global civil society sidelines the violence of capitalism and the state system, and serves as a means of disciplining dissent and activism.
- Topic:
- Cold War and Non-Governmental Organization