"Participatory photography initiatives promise to ‘empower’, ‘give voice’ and ‘enable social change’ for marginalised communities through photography. This thesis questions this promise, demonstrating participatory photography to be a contested practice defined as much by inherent tensio
...
n, ethical complexity and its limitations as by its potential. Caught up in governmental practices and instrumental discourses, ‘NGO-ised’ participatory photography has lost its purpose and politics. Using multiple case-studies and presenting empirical research on TAFOS, a pioneering Peruvian participatory photography project, this thesis explores under examined areas of participatory photography practice, including its governmentality, spectatorship and long term impact on participants. It establishes the effectiveness of photography as a tool for fomenting an enduring critical consciousness (Freire 1970, 1973) while questioning the romantic narrative of participatory photography’s inherently empowering qualities and capacity to enable change. Pluralism is used as a theoretical and conceptual framework for re-framing the promise of participatory photography. It is argued that a pluralized notion of participatory photography highlights the paradoxical, uncertain and negotiated character of the practice. It re-conceptualises the method as a mode of mediation that enables a plurality of seeing, that supports emerging and unrecognized claims and that cultivates a critical engagement with difference; qualities that are vital to democratic pluralism. The notion of a ‘Photography of Becoming’ re-imagines the critical and political character of participatory photography and the complex and vulnerable politics of voice in which it is immersed." (Abstract)
more
"How do interventions by the UN Security Council and the International Criminal Court influence representations of mass violence? What images arise instead from the humanitarianism and diplomacy fields? How are these competing perspectives communicated to the public via mass media? Zooming in on the
...
case of Darfur, Joachim J. Savelsberg analyzes more than three thousand news reports and opinion pieces and interviews leading newspaper correspondents, NGO experts, and foreign ministry officials from eight countries to show the dramatic differences in the framing of mass violence around the world and across social fields." (Publisher description)
more
"We provide an assessment of the change in knowledge of a rural village in the Congo Basin after inhabitants listened to one of the radio programs that were prepared on climate change. The document also provides potential indicators for result up-scaling. After applying a micro-economic model to a c
...
ase–control experiment, both before and after exposure to one radio program, the results show an increase in knowledge of 22.3% attributable to the radio program. In addition, a series of reactions were recorded from different end users, such as other media, ministries, NGO representatives and researchers, who reacted positively to the broadcasts. We recommend the use of radio programs to increase knowledge and induce behavioral changes with regard to climate change adaptation and mitigation." (Back cover)
more
"In contrast to the contemporary media perception the government aid provided to Ethiopia was pretty much existing money that was reconfigured and, despite appearances, there was no ‘new money’. The UK Government rejected any longer term ongoing engagement and was just concerned with short-term
...
emergency relief, appearing to be generous in reaction to disturbing media images. Furthermore Ministers were concerned that the relief that was provided (airdrops of food by RAF planes) should garner the maximum possible domestic political benefit and reap the best political dividend vis-à-vis Cold War adversaries. It is apparent from this analysis that the ability of the media coverage to produce change in official policy and official assistance was less apparent than might first have appeared. Ultimately the impact of the coverage was far more significant upon driving public opinion and (with the advent of Band Aid) in the way it changed the nature of charitable giving and private philanthropy. So that in terms of policy effects the media on this occasion appears to have a greater effect upon the policies and institutions of the voluntary sector and NGOs. If the 1980s is considered the ‘decade of the NGO’, then the response to the media coverage of Ethiopia played a key part in this expansion. Thus, we can see that in response to the media coverage of the Ethiopian famine the ability of news coverage to push official policy was far less substantial than may have appeared at the time. When in successive academic debates the Ethiopian famine is considered historically as a case of a ‘strong CNN effect’ that is not strictly speaking true. Public policy did not shift as a result of powerful media coverage of suffering. Official humanitarian assistance was severely limited and there was no change of heart about development aid." (Conclusions)
more
"This is a hands-on guide for setting up, managing and using formal networks efficiently and effectively. It focuses on the structural and operational issues of networks and explains the most important aspects in making them work. The guide addresses networking practitioners, as well as other profes
...
sionals wishing to establish a network." (Introduction, page 16)
more
"Strategic Planning for Nonprofit Organizations, Third Edition, offers a conceptual framework and detailed process suggestions for strategic planning by nonprofit organizations. For readers of one of the first two editions, much will look familiar, but much is new as well. The logic and flow of the
...
process are the same, but we have broken out the middle section into a few more specific steps. In particular, we have added more detailed guidance on developing the program strategy and business model. The book is the product of the authors’ experience as planning and organization development consultants. The concepts, process design, and language presented here have been shaped by our strategic planning work with hundreds of nonprofit organizations. Many of the worksheets and approaches to formulating strategy were developed while working with individual clients in response to particular situations. Our approach is informed by the work of many published authors and dozens of colleagues, including in particul ar the wisdom and experience of our colleagues at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, where we both worked for many years. We hope that this book provides you with a practical approach that is comprehensive, without being either overly complex or unduly simplistic. The user-friendly tools and techniques will help you put the framework into action. Those who have experience with strategic planning will find the book a useful refresher and a one-stop source book of fundamental concepts and techniques; those without such experience will find it a valuable introduction to what strategic planning is—and is not—and how to make the best use of the process." (Preface)
more
"The five reports that make up this collection are variously concerned with humanitarian aid, social and cultural evolution, crisis response, the mitigation of cultural divides, and political unrest. The themes that bind them are an international movement towards public safety; a trust-based relatio
...
nship between states and citizens; community led social development; and the capacity of social media and big data to make use of, and amplify, the thoughts and voices of under-represented elements of society. Importantly, the reports also begin to question the inluence these violent contexts are having on the development of social media, where communities in crises utilise and shape these new technologies though real-time engagement. The potential of these media is being maximised to such an extent that these platforms are under strain, and developers are increasingly learning how to adapt to the needs of a variety of audiences in volatile contexts." (Introduction, page 6)
more
"Building a body of empirical evidence about why and how journalists use such multimedia and the consequences of this for journalism, NGO-work and those represented, is the central focus of this thesis. Unlike previous research on news coverage of
...
Africa and journalists’ use of NGO-provided multimedia that tends to focus on the coverage of ‘disasters’ or ‘humanitarian emergencies’, this study analyses journalists’ use of NGO-provided multimedia about Africa during a very different news-making period – what journalists call a ‘quiet news week’.
The research involved sixty semi-structured interviews with those whose decisions shaped the production of six media items, which were also subject to qualitative content analysis. These items were about a range of topics and African countries: all of which were published or broadcast in news readily available to British audiences. But why and how journalists used NGO-provided multimedia was shaped most powerfully by the ‘moral economies’ (Sayer 2007) structuring each news outlet. These moral economies were found to have brought about a ‘quiet revolution’: leading to the emergence of a number of heterogeneous, normatively-laden coalitions between NGOs and news outlets, often hidden from the view of audiences. Consequently, journalists’ use of NGO-provided multimedia was found to have limited progressive potential: for it inhibited collective reasoning by preventing critical scrutiny, as well as systematically excluding the political value of ‘voice’ in ways which further marginalised the disadvantaged and powerless (Sen 2010)." (Abstract)
more
"In 2008, an NGO showed videos about rice to farmers in 19 villages in Benin. A study in 2013 showed that farmers remembered the videos, even after five years had passed. In most of the villages at least some farmers experimented with rice farming
...
or with new technology after the video screenings, which attracted large audiences of community members, including youth and women. Some of the villagers also visited extension agencies to get rice seed, and occasionally to seek more information. Farmers can benefit from agricultural learning videos shown by organisations with little previous agricultural experience. Videos do not necessarily need to be facilitated by an expert who knows the subject. Sometimes the video can speak for itself." (Abstract)
more
"In March 2012, American NGO Invisible Children released an online video about the crimes committed by Ugandan war lord Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army. Rapidly shared through social network sites, Kony 2012 soon earned the title of fa
...
stest spreading online video ever produced. At the same time, the video and its makers also came under massive criticism from bloggers, journalists, academics, and the general public. This study offers an exploration of the phenomenon Kony 2012 from an audience perspective. Theoretically building on the literature on mediated distant suffering and empirically based on an online survey, we explore how the video was successful in exerting moral pressure on a critical online audience of ‘Ironic Spectators’. In particular, we investigate to what extent different forms of being critical towards the video and its makers have mitigated a sense of personal moral responsibility to act towards the distant suffering other." (Abstract)
more
"This article defines feminist media activism in terms of counter-public communication and provides a brief overview of activities, functions, types of activists and historical contexts relevant to this kind of feminist activism. Following this research approach, it then examines the specific cases
...
of feminist media activism in post-authoritarian and post-conflict Serbia and Croatia. More specifically, it looks into women's NGOs' (non-governmental organizations) attempts to advance gender equality perspectives in and through the television media through providing education for journalists and acting as television sources and pundits. It shows how NGO education can be an effective means of creating pockets of pro-feminist journalism in the mainstream media, whereas feminist activists' performance as television sources results in more mixed outcomes. While some activists' television appearances established women's NGOs as credible parties in popular discussions about gender, other activists shied away from television due to what they saw as anti-analytical, confrontational and stereotypical approaches to feminism on television. Finally, the article identifies the main factors in contemporary Serbian and Croatian societies resulting in comparatively better opportunities for feminist media activism in Croatia than in Serbia." (Abstract)
more
"Through the efforts of increasingly media-aware NGOs, people in the west are bombarded with images of poverty and inequality in the developing world. Representations of Poverty is the first comprehensive study of the communications and imagery used by international NGOs to represent the developing
...
world. In this meticulously researched and original book, Nandita Dogra examines the full cycle of representation - integrating analyses of the public messages of international development NGOs in the UK with the views of their staff and audiences. Exploring the Europeanised discourses inherent in appeals to this notion of a 'common humanity', she argues for a greater acknowledgment of NGOs as significant mediating institutions which can expand understandings of global inequalities and their historical causation." (Publisher description)
more
"Gutes verbreiten, statt neu erfinden – das spart Zeit, Geld und Kraft und ist der beste Hebel, um mit einer Idee viel zu bewirken. Der Transfergedanke, also die systematische Verbreitung eines bewährten Projekts, ist noch längst nicht überall angekommen. Aber es tut sich was. Eine stetig wachs
...
ende Community glaubt, dass gute Ideen nur wachsen können, wenn Wissen weitergegeben und -entwickelt wird. So trafen sich im Laufe des vergangenen Jahres über 500 Projektmacher und Förderer aus allen Teilen Deutschlands auf vier openTransfer CAMPs, diskutierten über Herausforderungen beim Projekttransfer, gaben Erfahrungen weiter und lernten voneinander. Viele dieser Impulse wurden als Beiträge auf der Plattform www.opentransfer.de veröffentlicht und so allen zugänglich gemacht. Dort kann jeder Wissen teilen, kommentieren, weiterdenken und mithelfen, gute Ideen ganz groß zu machen. 87 dieser Beiträge von 56 Autoren liegen nun als E-Book vor. Die freie Weitergabe und Zirkulation dieses Wissens ist nicht nur erlaubt, sondern auch explizit gewünscht. Die erfolgreichen Transfer-Geschichten, Herausforderungen und ganz praktischen Tipps in diesem Buch sollen Ihnen bei der Verbreitung Ihres Projekts helfen. Alle Ideengeber, Projektinitiatoren, Engagierten und Förderer sind eingeladen, Teil der Community zu werden." (Editorial, Seiten 8-9)
more
"This book offers eight orienting insights about network building; each one frames a separate chapter, backed by case studies, illustrations, and how-to information.
1. Know the Network Difference. Networks have unique capabilities for achieving social impact that distinguish them from other forms o
...
f social organizing, and generative social-impact networks are particularly suited for addressing complex problems.
2. Design Thoughtfully. Social-impact networks can be thoughtfully designed from the start; you don’t have to fly blind.
3. Connect, Connect, Connect. The foundation of generative social-impact networks is the connectivity of its members to each other, which can be cultivated by network weavers.
4. Anticipate a Network’s Evolution. A generative network’s capabilities, complexity, and potential for impact increase as the connectivity of its members deepens and the structure of their connectivity evolves.
5. Enable and Adapt. The growth and development of established social-impact networks depend on managing a set of inevitable challenges. 6. Assess to Improve. Monitoring and assessing a social-impact network’s condition and performance is the basis for improving its impact.
7. Revisit Design. Making an existing network more generative, with more engaged members and impact, requires resetting of key design decisions to boost members’ connectivity.
8. Be Network-Centric. In addition to skills and knowledge, network builders hold a distinct net-centric point of view with its own rules.
The flow of chapters traces the life cycle of network building, from designing start-up networks to managing established networks, assessing their performance, and resetting their design to boost performance. With each chapter building on material in previous chapters, the book is designed to be read from front to back. But we’ve organized the table of contents so that you can find the particular topics that are on your need-to-know-now list." (Introduction, pages 10-11)
more
"In this book we help you understand how to measure your online media work by not simply looking at the numbers, but by going beyond the numbers to assess whether the messages you are sending out are actually helping achieve your communications goals." (Page 2)