Forty Years of Multilateral Food Aid: Responding to Changing Realities

Book reviewed in this article: D. John Shaw, The UN World Food Programme and the Development of Food Aid.     

Informal Socialization Agencies and Role Development*

The article hypothesizes that informal youth organizations influence processes of transition to adulthood by facilitating role development, that is, the conversion of child-oriented roles into adult-oriented ones. In an attempt to test the hypothesis, two variables were specified. Informality was defined in terms of seven organizational components: moratorium, symmetry, dualism, multiplexity, expressive instrumentalism, voluntarism, and pragmatical symbolism. The impact of these components on role development was measured by three indicators: Role Scope, Role Types and Role Aspects. Residential summer camps served as a quasi-experimental laboratory for the research. A positive significant relationship was found between the level of informality and level of role development, especially in the long run. Findings are explained by the particular experiences youth undergo in informal socialization contexts, in which trial and error behavior, balanced reciprocity, and normative ambivalencies are institutionalized.     

Terry Gibson: Making Aid Agencies Work: Reconnecting INGOs with the People They Serve

VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations -     

The Role of Faith in Christian Faith-Based Humanitarian Agencies: Constructing the Taxonomy

This article sets out to establish a taxonomy of Christian faith-based humanitarian agencies, challenging assumptions that such agencies are similarly informed by Christian theology and pursue a uniform mission. Christian principles and missionary efforts are central in the development of humanitarianism, and the agencies associated with the Christian tradition comprise a prominent and growing portion of international humanitarian agencies. Little, however, is known about how Christian faith-based agencies diverge from one another in their orientation and operations, how their theological tradition shapes their humanitarianism, and whether or how they are distinct from secular agencies. Examining the humanitarianism of Christian faith-based agencies in light of their theological roots, this article delineates three classifications of Christian faith-based agencies: Accommodative–Humanitarian, Synthesis–Humanitarian, and Evangelistic–Humanitarian agencies. The study demonstrates the importance of distinguishing not simply between faith-based and secular agencies, but among faith-based agencies themselves.     

The Role of State Housing Finance Agencies in Providing Housing for the Elderly:

No abstract available for this article.     

Britain's Colonial Emergencies and the Invisible Nationalists

Abstract From the perspective of imperial propaganda Britain's colonial emergencies of the forties and fifties have straightforward, even self-evident explanations. In the case of Malaya the state of emergency declared in June 1948 was a response to an international communist plot designed to seize power. In Kenya, an underground conspiracy of tribal extremists necessitated the implementation of emergency powers in October 1952 and the intervention of the British military. In British Guiana, the October 1953 state of emergency was essential to prevent a communist-inspired reign of terror and sabotage.¹
More objective researchers and journalists have questioned the familiar justification for Britain's colonial emergencies.² However, controversy persists, not simply about the interpretation of these events but about the basic facts.³ This is not surprising, because a study of the available files in the Public Records Office shows that the relationship between the colonial emergencies and their purported causes is far from straightforward. While imperial propaganda projected a sense of single-minded clarity, behind the scenes the leading experts of the Colonial Office were uncertain and deeply disturbed by events that they did not entirely comprehend. Nevertheless, despite their lack of a clear understanding of the situation in the affected colonies, the Colonial administration fully supported a military response. Indeed a study of the emergencies in Malaya, Kenya and British Guiana reveals a common pattern in the response of the British government and helps to place each of these conflicts in a wider perspective.     

Mutual Aid in the Classroom

The purpose of the study is to examine the use of instructional technology in creating a mutual aid environment in the classroom. By developing and exploring Internet-based exercises designed to promote interaction in a distance education environment, the authors tested the hypothesis that instructional technology offers opportunities to promote mutual aid among students. This article describes these exercises and presents the results of a student survey about the application of mutual aid in distance education.     

The Role of Emigration in Foreign Aid Policies: The Case of Spain and Morocco

This article analyses the relationships between emigration and Official Development Aid (ODA) policies, taking the cases of Spain and Morocco as the backdrop to the study. It discusses the principal characteristics of both the Spanish state and non-governmental cooperation in Morocco, the underlying motivations of the principal stakeholders, and the way international cooperation policies now encompass the phenomenon of emigration. The paper compares the field of co-development, which encompasses a rather limited understanding of immigration, with ODA policies, in which immigration is an increasingly important agenda item for both the central government and the Spanish autonomous communities. The article then examines the relationship between migration and development, and considers necessary changes of perspective required to enhance the development and emigration policies in both Spain and Morocco. Lastly, we conclude with a series of recommendations, based on our analysis, aimed at Spanish and Moroccan stakeholders, both state institutions and non-governmental organizations.     

Staff Development in Public Welfare Agencies

This article describes a teaching-learning model that utilizes videotaped segments along with instructional modules and telegraphic prose to teach students the knowledge, values, and skills necessary to function effectively in a health-related clinic setting. The intent is to facilitate the orderly and rapid absorption of the biomedical, genetic content along with the social work practice skills to assist students to function as members of interdisciplinary teams. Its utilitarian capacity makes it adaptable in a variety of field placement settings. It utilizes actual interviews in which staff persons serve as models for the various practice skills described in the instructional unit.     

Food Aid in the 1990s

Book reviewed in this article: Food Aid Reconsidered: Assessing the Impact on Third World Countries. Edited by Edward Clay and Olav Stokke     

Taxation,Fiscal Decentralisation and Legitimacy: The Role of Semi‐Autonomous Tax Agencies in Peru

This article analyses the Servicios de Administración Tributaria (SAT), which currently operate in nine Peruvian cities, to show that semi‐autonomous tax agencies can play a significant role in strengthening the effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy of decentralised tax systems. Its findings indicate that the SAT collect local taxes and non‐tax revenues more effectively than conventional tax administrations, and that, although the SAT model per se does not generate strong incentives for the promotion of efficiency, efficiency may become more important once the SAT are consolidated. Finally, there are hints that the Peruvian SAT contribute to the legitimacy of the tax system thanks to higher levels of transparency and client orientation.     

Aiding the Aid Debate

Book reviewed in this article: Democratizing Development: The Role of Voluntary Organizations. By John Clark When Aid is No Help: How Projects Fail and How They Could Succeed. By John Madeley et al     

Accessibility in Rural Social Service Agencies

ABSTRACT

This study explores the degree that social service agencies are aware of the ADA, the degree that agencies perceive they comply with the ADA, and the barriers these agencies face in making their services accessible. The directors of 28 randomly selected rural social service agencies in a midwestern state completed semi-structured telephone interviews. Interviews explored respondents& knowledge of the ADA, barriers rural agencies face in providing accessible services, types of accommodations they have made and degree of fit between the ADA and rural agencies. The findings suggest that while the ADA is not a significant burden for rural agencies, there is a need for enhanced training and outreach.     

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Faith-Based Welfare Agencies

Abstract

This study examines the methodological challenges associated with conducting research on faith-based organizations. The arguments advanced are based on a group of comparative case studies conducted by the authors on secular and faith-based providers in three different social service domains: (1) transitional housing, (2) parent education, and (3) residential substance abuse treatment programs. All case studies utilized the same research protocol. The study identifies the lessons learned from comparative case study research on faith-based organizations when a similar protocol is implemented to examine a variety of social service domains and provider types.     

Britain's New White Paper: Making Governance Work for the Poor

Books reviewed in this article: Eliminating World Poverty: Making Governance Work for the Poor – A White Paper on International Development. By the Secretary of State for International Development