Non-Government Organisation - Essay Example

Non-Governmental Organizations Student’s Name Learning Institution A Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) also known as a civil society is a not -for-profit organization which is independent from the government (Coppola, 2010). NGO’s can either be organized to address local, national or international issues. Basically, most NGO’s are task oriented and are formed to serve a common purpose. They perform different kinds of humanitarian functions, which together bring issues affecting public to the attention of the government. In addition, they participate in policy monitoring, implementation of programs and also encourage its member’s to participate in matters concerning the society. Notably, some of the organizations are formed to address specific issues such as defending human rights. Due to the nature of their work, NGO’s have since 1947 worked in partnership with of the United Nations (UN) which is in line with Article 71 of the UN charter. In this vein, the NGO’s are allowed to engage in consultations with other entities of the United Nations. Many NGO’s participate in the rule of law processes by conducting analysis and research in legal issues and other fields. Severally they participate in research and analysis of economic, social and legal issues that affect the society. This helps them to generate reports for use in their advocacy and policy recommendations. Basically, NGO’s assist in monitoring and implementation of international agreements while at the same time giving early warning in their areas of research. Other NGO’s participate in professional fields by sharing good practices and knowledge in areas of rule of law (Hirschman, 1970). Notably, most nongovernmental organizations operating in the field of law provide direct assistance including providing advice in areas of law making, technical assistance and management of rule of law projects. This paper compares and contrasts different approaches assumed by Australian nongovernmental organizations in promoting gender equity. Compare and contrast approaches taken by NGO’s in promoting gender equity In the recent past, there have been varied policy approaches in the way women and other gender related issues are treated by different development partners. Solomon (1995) noted that several NGO’s have taken lead not only in promoting and encouraging new ideas, but also ensuring their implementation. In the past few decades, NGO’s have actively advocated for recognition of the enormous contribution made by women to both family and society as a whole. Basically, NGO’s have in the recent past strongly advocated for thorough implementation of the numerous outcomes of the UN conferences on women. Basically, the concept of gender surrounds the roles carried out by both men and women together with their relationships, which are mostly determined by economic, social, political and cultural factors. Gender as a dynamic concept reflects on these roles and the existing relationships between women and men in respect of the beliefs held by the society. NGO’s recognizes the many gender inequalities that are not adequately addressed in various sectors hence causing adverse effects on women. Regrettably, the discrimination of the girl child commences before birth through pre-natal sex selection, at birth through infanticide, neglect and boy child preference in the course of childhood and unfair share of domestic chores and food all impacting adversely on the girl child. Sterne & Poole (2009), in their studies argued that there are also many cases of unreported violence against women. Notably, women's bodies are susceptible to infection particularly sexually transmitted diseases and many of them risk infection due to their inability to emphasize on safe sex. Moreover, unfair distribution of family income compounded by biased opportunities for girl child education and training causes the girl child to limit the opportunities of obtaining better employment. Lastly, the impact of cultural practices including early marriages deprives women the opportunity of making their own decisions hence leading to early pregnancies and other retrogressive practices such as female genital mutilation and widow inheritance. The following are some of the approaches employed by several NGO’s in promoting gender equity and women's rights; The welfare approach This was the first policy approach formulated around 1950-60’s. With the emergence of social welfare, economic freedom was viewed as the most appropriate way of enhancing social welfare. This same idea was adopted to create economic growth and offer relief aid to vulnerable people. In this vein, vulnerable groups such as women and disabled people benefited from relief aid while economic assistance was channeled to male labor force that was considered economically productive. Notably, in welfare approach, women were considered as passive beneficiaries and not as participants in the development course. Basically, the society considers women as housewives and mothers with their societal role being to give birth and to nurture their families. On this note, relief aid was to satisfy their practical needs for instance through food aid, nutritional education and provision of better health services (Sharp & Broomhill, 1990). However, the assumption held was that the aid given to women would benefit the entire family. In 1970’s, the welfare approach attracted a lot of criticisms as women researchers argued that women did not benefit from any development projects hence leaving them in similar positions if not worse than before. The equity approach The equity approach was introduced around 1976-1985 during the United Nations Decade. Contrary to welfare approach, the equity approach was developed based on the significant role played by women in the society. However, their contribution to the society’s economic wellbeing did not feature anywhere in national statistics or in any development project. In this respect, the equity approach not only addresses women and men inequality at homes, but also in public spheres of the economy and in day to day life. According to Goetz and Jenkins (2005), the equity approach advocates for re-distribution of society’s benefits, a consideration that could see men losing some of the benefits they had acquired earlier. Unlike, the welfare approach, an equity approach, considers women as active players in the development of both reproductive and productive capacities. Further different from the previous approach, the equity approach to gender equity requires women to be given absolute economic and political rights to enable them play their societal roles actively. However, similar to the welfare approach, many development partners express their reluctance to meddle with countries cultures and traditions that guide power re-distribution among the two sexes. Another challenge experienced and also common to the welfare approach is lack of both legislative and political frameworks hence hampering in the implementation of equity programs despite formulation of good policy statements that are in accordance with equity approach. Anti-poverty approach This form of approach was introduced around 1970’s and is considered to be a diluted version of the equity approach. In this sense, the anti-poverty approach does not demand any realignment in power relations hence fails to address women strategic gender needs. Compared to equity approach that requires women to have equal political and economic powers as their male counterparts, anti-poverty approach emphasize on reducing income inequality, failing to address the subordinate position accorded to women by the society. This approach is built on the premise of unequal access to productive resources for instance land, funding as well as sexual discrimination in the labor market as the major cause of men and women's inequality. Notably, the aim of this approach is to re-distribute growth to alleviate poverty and create opportunities for women’s income generation International Institute for Environment and Development, Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods Program (2005). Unlike the other two approaches, anti-poverty approach target women in the low- income group who are seen as the poorest. This is because women play a vital role in their families, and therefore, any development project that tends to ignore them is considered as not bringing any development to the society. The income generating projects for women tends to be small and only increases productivity of the traditional women's activities at the expense of introducing newer ones. In this vein, such small traditional income generating activities have been heavily criticized as women's income generating activities are treated as less superior to those undertaken by men. However, similar to the previous two approaches, women anti-poverty projects continues to face cultural restrictions such as those barring women from owning land or even securing credit. This approach deviates from the welfare approach as it advocate for women to move from their reproductive roles and assume more productive activities that would contribute to their economic well-being. Nonetheless, similar to both welfare and equity approaches, unless antipoverty approach devise means to alleviate women domestic work burden, there still remains a challenge in gaining meaningful gender equity. The efficiency approach The other approach towards gender equality is the efficiency approach that gained popularity around 1980’s. According to the efficiency approach, women should participate in development projects to contribute to the society. Unlike other approaches, this approach is based on the premise that increased women's participation would contribute to a more equal and just society (Budlender and Hewitt, 2005). The proponents of this approach believe that society’s development is feasible when more and more women participate in development projects actively. On the other hand, women are expected to participate in development in all the three roles including; as productive workers, community managers and as reproductive members who take care for their families. This approach is based on the ability of women to switch from one role to the other. A good example of efficiency approach is the structural Adjustment programs (SAPs) introduced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the world bank requiring the countries borrowing from them to scale down the state expenditure. In this case, SAP’s requires the countries to rely on unpaid women's labor for instance in the production of food and looking after the sick people. However, just like the other approaches, this approach overburden women who are already heavy loaded by the many societal roles placed under their care. The empowerment approach Empowerment approach was formulated as a result of dissatisfaction with both efficiency and antipoverty approaches. According to Lewis (2006), it is the most recent approach and the one mostly used by non-governmental organizations. However, due to its demanding nature, it is quite unpopular with both bilateral and government agencies. Though empowerment approach acknowledges the inequality of women and men, it stresses that women have distinct subordinate position due to their class in the society, race, economic situation and colonial history of their country. The approach further admits the importance of realigning the power balance in the society in order to allow women sufficient power though this does not amount to reducing powers accorded to men. In this light, the approach first stresses that women should trust their abilities and skills in order to gain control of both non-material and material resources that influence their lives and position in the wider society. Unlike all other approaches, empowerment approach starts from the grassroots by practically solving gender issues to first address problems at hand while at the same time raising awareness of related strategic gender needs (Tamara, 2007). This approach has proven that, through the bottom-up gender solution, women can work beyond their subordinate roles to transform their position in the society. However, to completely eliminate gender inequality, it is not only bottom-up approach that will lead to success, but also cooperation with other organizations and through legislative changes. Which organizations have had the most influence in terms of both public opinion and government policy on this issue? Why? Caritas Australia Australia has a long way to go in addressing gender biases. Caritas Australia is one of the non-governmental organizations playing an influential role in promoting gender equality (Horton & Roche, 2010). Caritas has continuously offered financial support to enable the girl child get an education as the organization believes that armed with proper education, the girl child will be competitive in the job market. Caritas Australia has overtime held different workshops aimed at boosting the institutional capacity to deal with sexual violence. Notably, their track record both in public and government circles coupled by its workforce comprising of youthful members have strengthened the organization enabling it to pursue its goals. According to Caritas president, capacity building programs are important for national stability and the organization will continue engaging in gender equity and sexual violence prevention programs including literacy intervention for various women's groups. Since its inception, the organization has offered capacity building programs such as basic computing training and English language. Luckily, about one hundred of the women who have undergone training have secured jobs with the Ministry of Social Solidarity, the Armed forces, the National Police while others have won international scholarships. Care International, Australia Care International Australia has a vision of a world full of hope, social justice and tolerance and one with reduced poverty levels with populations living in security and dignity. For this reason, CARE International has a strategic plan with a strategic direction of first addressing underlying causes of poverty and social injustices ailing the society. Notably, this strategic approach to address the underlying causes of poverty and social injustices advances at all levels within CARE Australia through various means including various programs and standards. Basically, CARE Australia emphasizes on the vital role of women in the society, and therefore, advocate for commitment to capacity building together with the development of policies, culture and practices that enhance their plight. The organization believes that social, economic and political conditions cannot realize significant improvements without promotion of women's rights. Basically, the groups that are marginalized in the society due to their sexuality and cultural beliefs are in one way, or the other denied the opportunity to better their lives. Therefore, CARE International believes that promoting gender equality and diversity affects the way people work in an organization, particularly their commitment to their work. CARE Australia is of the opinion that, by virtue of shared humanity, all people carry equal rights and dignity irrespective of their gender. For this reason, the organization seeks to promote and affirm equal rights and opportunities for both men and women. Interestingly CARE Australia, which is rated among the best champions of gender issues, have different programs in about nineteen countries each of which has its own unique culture and social economic environment. Nevertheless, such diversity is also reflected within the organization being one of the key pillars to promote quality operations and robust organization culture. Care International has gained popularity in Australia due to its commitment in enhancing both the ability of men and women to work effectively and creatively in organizations by increasing awareness of gender inequalities on changing all the conditions that cause inequalities. In addition, the company also advances their gender equity through organizational culture and human resources departments. Another way that the organization has chosen to enhance gender equality is through programming, fundraising and influencing the policies guiding on gender equality. Therefore CARE International, Australia continues to demonstrate its commitment to gender equity and diversity by promoting cultural diversity and gender balance in all organizational levels starting with top management while also ensuring that even the staffs within the lower cadre are involved in decision making irrespective of their gender (Rugendyke, 2007). In conclusion, the disproportionate representation of men in all spheres of the society has had serious consequences on the girl child. In addition, little if no recognition has been given to the many adverse effects facing women. However, the society should recognize that women and the girl child also have rights to enjoy and that any form of discrimination amounts to violation of human rights. References Budlender, D. and Hewitt, G. (2005). Gender Budgets Make More Cents - Country Studies and Good Practice, Commonwealth Secretariat, London. Coppola, D . (2010). Introduction to International Disaster Management. Ed: 2 .Amsterdam: Elsevier. Goetz, A.M. and Jenkins, R., (2005). Reinventing Accountability - Making democracy work for human development, Palgrave McMillan, New York. Hirschman, A., (1970). Voice Hirschman A., Exit, Voice, and Loyalty - Responses to decline in firms, organizations, and states, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, pp. 30-43. Horton, K & Roche, C. (2010). Ethical Questions and International NGOs: An Exchange Between Philosophers and NGOs. Munich: Springer. International Institute for Environment and Development, Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods Program. (2005). Civil Society and Poverty Reduction. New York: IIED. Lewis, D. (2006). The Management of Non-Governmental Development Organizations. London: Taylor & Francis. Rugendyke, B. (2007). NGOs as Advocates for Development in a Globalising World. London: Routledge. Sharp, R. and Broomhill, R., (1990). Women and government budgets, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 25.1, 1–14. Solomon, L . (1995). People: From Impoverishment to Empowerment. New York: NYU Press. Sterne, A & poole, L. (2009). Domestic Violence and Children: A Handbook for Schools and Early Years Settings. London : Routledge. Tamara, R. (2007). NGOs and Empowerment: Creating Communicative Spaces in the Realm of HIV/AIDS in India: India: ProQuest. Read More