Understanding voluntary organizations : guidelines for donors

Voluntary development organizations have demonstrated substantial comparatiave advantage in developing countries - especially in their ability to innovate, adapt to local conditions, and reach and work with poor and difficult to reach populations. These capabilities are a function of their values, special skills, small size, limited resources, flexibility, and freedom from political constraints. Their weaknesses are a function of many of the same characteristics - particularly their value commitments, small size, independence, and lack of administrative rigidity. The authors explain that the strongest Voluntary Organizations (VOs) and People's Organizations (POs) respond to more than financial incentives. Their strength lies in the fact that they are not the same as government organizations or businesses. At the same time, they are not immune to financial incentives, which if wrongly applied can destroy the voluntarism of all but the most strongly aware of VOs and POs.Environmental Economics&Policies,Early Child and Children's Health,Health Economics&Finance,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Poverty Assessment

Old institutions, new challenges: the agricultural knowledge system in Hungary

This paper explores and analyses the Hungarian institutional system for the creation and the transfer of knowledge in the fi eld of agriculture and rural development. We consider the constitution and operation of the Agricultural Knowledge System (AKS) in Hungary, focussing on the formally organised aspects, and suggest that both the structure and content of the knowledge needed in the sector have signifi cantly changed during the past decades. These changes, especially in relation to the sustainability of agriculture, pose signifi cant challenges to traditional AKS institutions, which often have failed to change in line with the new requirements. Based on a literature review, interviews and a national stakeholder workshop, we offer an analysis of Hungarian AKS institutions, their co-ordination, co-operation and communication with each other and with Hungarian rurality, and of the arising issues and problems concerning the creation and the fl ow of knowledge needed for sustainable agriculture. We also briefl y explore characteristics of emerging bottom-up structures, called LINSAS (learning and innovation networks for sustainable agriculture), and explore the signifi cance of the fi ndings in this article for the study of AKS in Europe. This article is based on preliminary results of the SOLINSA research project, supported by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme

Report: \u27Climate Change\u27 Not Part of State\u27s Lexicon

Trstram Korten discusses the order that Florida Department of Environmental Protection officials not use the term climate change or global warming in official communicatio

Cognitive Narratology and its benefits for the (archival) historian

While literary theory in general is not employed by historians to any great extent, cognitive narratology presents the historian with tools to appreciate texts more fully. With an emphasis on the mind, cognitive narratology focuses on the emotional side of history, as it were, and can elicit an understanding of the text which would otherwise and normally be overlooked. By examining language, and in particular, metaphors and deictics, in order to script the narrative, historical texts can as well produce cognitive clues about the author’s intent and mindset. For this first time, cognitive narratology is employed in the study of unpublished (archival) letters

Cognitive Narratology and its benefits for the (archival) historian

While literary theory in general is not employed by historians to any great extent, cognitive narratology presents the historian with tools to appreciate texts more fully. With an emphasis on the mind, cognitive narratology focuses on the emotional side of history, as it were, and can elicit an understanding of the text which would otherwise and normally be overlooked. By examining language, and in particular, metaphors and deictics, in order to script the narrative, historical texts can as well produce cognitive clues about the author’s intent and mindset. For this first time, cognitive narratology is employed in the study of unpublished (archival) letters

Voluntary organisations and the challenge of sustainable development

That the world faces a global social and environmental crisis is now beyond question. The issue is how to address it. The institutions of government, including inter-governmental bodies, generally approach solutions within the framework of the conventional growth-centred development vision that has guided most development action over the past several decades. Investment, growth in economic activity, resource exploitation, debt financing, specialisation, corporate ownership, and emphasis on international markets are cornerstones of this vision. This vision dominates policy action at global and national levels. An alternative people-centred development vision, articulated and promoted primarily by voluntary organisations (VOs) emphasises human well-being, stewardship of environmental resources, local self-reliance in basic needs, development of domestic markets, broadly based political and economic participation, local control of environmental resources, and strong participatory local government. The paper questions whether solutions based on the conventional vision are likely to be effective if, as some critics claim, the vision itself is largely to blame for the current crisis. It also asks whether institutions that are competent only in activities that support the conventional vision are in a position to provide needed leadership. It is argued that VOs, ie. organisations driven by a shared value commitment, have a substantial advantage over governmental organisations as catalysts of the type of institutional and values change required to resolve the global crisis. This will involve VOs increasingly in national and global networks concerned with advocacy and public education on policy issues. A two-fold agenda is suggested. The first agenda item calls for historical country assessments of the social and environmental impact of foreign assistance, and trade and corporate investment policies. The second agenda item calls for the documentation of local initiatives that involve comprehensive approaches to development of productive, sustainable, and self-reliant local economies on a meaningful scale