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Organizational Capacity Assessment Tool for Senegalese Youth Advocacy Organizations
No full textOrganizational capacity assessment (OCA) is a widely used tool for assessing the strengths and gaps of civil society organizations and for identifying their capacity development needs. However, the available OCA tools that are mostly used by NGOs and civil society organizations do not appear well adapted to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the emerging African youth organizations engaged in advocacy. The majority of these OCA tools are designed mainly for funding purposes or are specific to certain fields of intervention. Most of them are time and resource consuming and are based on complex processes.
The final objective of this work is to design and test on a specific case a new simplified OCA tool that—although inspired by the existing ones—would be more effective at assessing the strengths and weaknesses of the new type of Senegalese youth advocacy organizations, which focus their advocacy activities to challenge the status quo and make their voice heard. After producing an assessment of the strengths and gaps of this new type of organizations, the evaluation resulting from the proposed tool provides a good basis for the design of a strategy and a detailed work plan to strengthen the capacity of this type of youth organizations.
The research methods used for the project included the analysis of articles published in journals, books, newspapers about Youth organizations engaged in advocacy in Africa in general and in Senegal in particular. The method of gathering data was largely based on content analysis.
In its first part, the paper investigates the motives that drive African youth in general and Senegalese youth in particular to raise their voice and ask for changes. Through the literature review I examine and explain the dynamics which developed within this type of organizations and how that dynamics plays out in strengthening or weakening the effectiveness of the actions of these organizations, with respect to the achievement of their objectives.
The second part is dedicated to the specific case study of Y’en a marre, the Senegalese youth organization born in 2011, which has been at the forefront of the fight for democracy improvement and transparency in Senegal and that has inspired the creation of several other sub-Saharan African youth organizations now engaged in advocacy in their own countries. The case study of Y’en a marre is the basis for a thorough understanding of the organizational structure of this kind of spontaneous organizations and an examination of their strengths and weaknesses. In this part of the paper, I also describe the more standard capacity assessment tools currently in use and point to their limitations when applied to the capacity assessment of emerging African youth organizations engaged in advocacy.
The final part of this paper presents the tool that I propose and its application to the case of Y’en a marre, including an overview of its user guide
Vasudhara Lodge: A Social Venture Plan for Women’s Empowerment Through Community Based Eco-Tourism
No full textThis paper presents a social venture plan for Vasudhara Lodge, a community-based ecotourism project designed to address a need for female-friendly tourist destinations and a system of gender inequality and rural poverty in of Nepal. Vasudhara Lodge will operate on a for-profit model, using room and restaurant purchases, and other service and product fees to support community re-investment. The Lodge is built and maintained using green practices for construction, products, services, waste, water and energy. The Lodge adheres to a Community-Based Ecotourism methodology, to address community need, human rights, and local decision-making involvement. Vasudhara will contribute to economic empowerment of the local community, and of women in particular, through an interwoven platform of employment, microfinance, microinvesting and a girls’ education fund. The paper includes the social enterprise Theory of Change, financial plan, operations management and implementation plan and a section that describes the social innovation theory that informed development of the model
Black Gentrification Twice Removed: A Study of Migration and Community Involvement in Washington, DC
Get PDFThis paper is about Black people and community involvement against the backdrop of gentrification in Washington, DC, and possibility of Black-led neighborhood revitalization. My practicum in Southeast Washington DC compelled me to examine the ability of a Black person in Washington DC to sustain commitment to a community that they do not live in, and if Black people moving to gentrifying areas of Washington DC can help the predominantly Black non-gentrifying areas to gentrify on their own terms.
This paper focuses specifically on Black individuals who have spent time in DC and proposed ways that Black non-gentrifying communities can revitalize their areas without the threat of displacement.
Research showed that a number of Black men and women are able to maintain significant support to the gentrified DC community over an extended period of time, regardless of living in the area of community support. The findings shed light on a seldom discussed aspect of gentrification, namely, the Black people who choose to live in gentrified areas with the intent of making a positive impact in the gentrification narrative than is often not perceived or acknowledged
Cross-Cultural Confidence: A Program Design for Accessible Intercultural Competence on Campus
Get PDFInternationalization is currently one of the greatest issues facing higher education today. Colleges and universities have sought to produce graduates who are globally ready and capable of effectively navigating intercultural situations due to increasing diversity in the workplace and globalization; however, it has become apparent that efforts towards this end have not paid off as well as it was assumed they would. Now that US universities are admitting greater numbers of international students, intercultural competence and programs which build connections across cultural groups have become increasingly important on campus.
This capstone seeks to fashion an accessible, effective, on-campus program for the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, which can provide a model for direct development of intercultural competence for university students. This Cross-Cultural Confidence program takes into consideration the particular needs of international and domestic students regarding intercultural contact through institutional support. Participants will learn intercultural competencies that will allow them to feel more confident when interacting with people of different cultural backgrounds and gain awareness of their own cultural point of view. This six-part, semester-length series will utilize workshops and participation in pre-existing cultural activities and events. Workshops will cover content which follows the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) as a guide for learning goals and objectives, and to help students understand and progress in their intercultural sensitivity. Workshops will also make use of experiential learning techniques to encourage reflection on the learning taking place. The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), an assessment tool based off of the DMIS, will be used to measure participant learning and the effectiveness of the program
The Amandla Project
Get PDFThe Amandla Project is designed to increase the number of disabled American college students pursuing educational opportunities abroad. Incorporated as a nonprofit organization, the Amandla Project will cover all costs for accepted participants through fundraising activities, removing the financial barrier for participants. Participants will complete internships with organizations serving South Africans with disabilities, in roles that match their professional and academic goals. With educational excursions and learning activities to supplement internship experiences, the Amandla Project meets its mission while benefiting the host country and fostering leadership and advocacy skills within participants
A Critical Analysis of the Public Sphere: How the LGBTQ Movement Utilizes and Occupies Space in Morocco
Get PDFThis paper examines the nature of the LGBTQ movement in Morocco in relation to the theoretical concept of the public sphere. Specifically, it explores what spaces LGBTQ organizations, which do not have access to the public sphere in Morocco, occupy in order to pursue activism. Theory surrounding the public sphere and collective social movements is very much based on a Western perspective, despite claims of universalism. Western theory defines modern social movements by collective action, a unified movement, occupying and the public sphere as a site of resistance. However, this fails to recognize the fact that many people in semi-authoritarian and repressive states are deprived of the ability to access collective, or even public, forms of political dissent. This scholarly work will attempt to address the LGBTQ movement and how it operates separate from such Western conceptions by exploring the tactics and actions of LGBTQ organizations. Furthermore, the paper will explore if the actions of these organizations have an impact on the public sphere and discourse in Morocco
The Impact of Religion and Culture on Coparenting in Morocco
Get PDFCoparenting is an important relationship between mothers and fathers, which children can benefit from.Coparenting involves the active role mothers and fathers play in raising a child as well as communication between mothers and fathers regarding child related issues. Findings show that positive coparenting relationships lead to overall more satisfaction among both mothers and fathers in terms of child rearing. Additionally, positive parental involvement, especially father involvement, is shown to result in overall better psychological, physiological, and emotional development among children. Identifying ways to create positive interactions and ways to coparent can improve a child’s development. This study involves interviews with 8 mothers and fathers in Rabat, Morocco. This study aims to identify ways Moroccan couples coparent, working together to raise their children. A small link was found between increased coparenting and increased levels of father involvement. A link was also found between religion and gender roles within the family. Specifically, this study analyzes how Islam influences gender roles within the family and how fathers engage with their children. This study analyzes how cultural values, gender roles, and societies influences play a role in the coparenting relationship among Moroccan families. This paper will look at how Islam in Morocco affects the dynamic between men and women in terms of child rearing
Annapurna’s Porters: Labor Conditions and the Factors that Shape Them
Get PDFThis project sought to determine what the labor conditions of porters working in Annapurna are and the factors both immutable and human-influenced that shape them. To do so, I interviewed government bodies, national and regional trekking organizations, unions, agencies, guides and porters to ascertain what issues a broad term such as “labor conditions” encompasses. Participants highlighted the importance of insurance, wages, weight carried, equipment, access to employment, job training and topography as important factors. I will argue that large advocacy organizations shape these issues, and therefore the porter market, at a national level. Discrepancies in employment experiences between porters are therefore only somewhat shaped by region; more influential are the employers, who apply, ignore, or distort nationally set labor standards. While this paper will focus on large organizations, their policies, and the application of those policies by agencies, other “objective” factors such as topography and the new road from Pokhara to Jomsom and Muktinath will be examined as well
They Come Like the Clouds: Governing the Mountainous Periphery
Get PDFThis paper addresses the extension of governmental power into the mountainous periphery of the village of Dho Tarap in the Dolpa District of Nepal. New technologies, new markets, and new social dynamics are penetrating the Himalaya and reshaping the connections that mountain people have to the outside world. In this context of connectivity and modernity, the people of Dho Tarap are also being thrust into far closer proximity to the Nepali government. After a series of geopolitical moves in Nepal and China in the 1960s, Dho Tarap as part of an isolated border region has been a part of a national statebuilding effort at consolidating borders and border populations. These statebuilding efforts have included asserting and establishing the sovereignty of the state, and then attempting to reach these populations to raise revenues, keep records, and to generally govern.
This paper, then, tells a story of people who have, until recently existed in the “periphery” of the nationstate and explores and tells their experiences with incorporation into that state. The paper suggests that it is far easier to exert influence and establish sovereignty over a peripheral region than to govern it fairly. State power has been established in the Tarap valley, but through the testimony of villagers this paper argues that the Nepali government has failed to deliver on the promise of government itself: namely protecting and providing for the welfare of its citizens. In Dho Tarap, instances of governmental presence are defined by neglect and both by the exploitation of villagers and the support of existing exploitative power structures. Finally, the paper identifies spaces where the state may have more influence and more responsibility in the future, hinting at the normalization of state control in Dho Tarap and exploring the active process of a modern state attempting to govern its people
Global Citizenship Certificate Program
Get PDFIn today’s highly globalized and increasingly interconnected world, we face many pressing world problems including poverty, social inequalities, and climate change, to name a few. Reflecting this stark reality and acknowledging that these problems are indeed borderless, it has become vital to rethink education and provide the next generation of worldwide change-makers with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to solve these problems and make our world more equitable and sustainable. One avenue for achieving this shift in education and fostering these global problem-solving skills and attitudes, is global citizenship. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon corroborates this point, stating, “We must foster global citizenship. Education is about more than literacy and numeracy. It is also about citizenry. Education must fully assume its essential role in helping people to forge more just, peaceful, and tolerant societies” (Oxfam, 2015).
More and more schools, particularly international schools with their inherent global context, are currently recognizing the value of global citizenship. However, even though many schools see the value in bringing global citizenship into their classrooms and communities, educators often lack clarity and vision on how to foster this change. Although global citizenship is a core component of the vision of The JUMP! Foundation, an experiential education non-profit social enterprise, JUMP! programs specific to global citizenship have yet to be fully developed or implemented. Drawing from the needs of JUMP!, its international partner schools, and the greater state of education, this capstone outlines The Global Citizenship Certificate Program, a three-year, sequential program analyzing global citizenship at the personal, community, and global levels, with the aim of fostering informed, empathetic, innovative, and engaged global citizens