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February 1st, 2006 Meeting participants:
Prof. Ram A. Cnaan, Program for Religion and Social Policy Research, School of Social Policy & Practice, University of Pennsylvania: "Congregations and Faith-Based Organizations as Community Hubs and as Service Providers."
Ms. Lina Vayman, Israeli Center for Third Sector Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev: "Social entrepreneurs- immigrants from FSU: the meaning of entrepreneurship".
Dr. Moshe Sharir, Rupin Academic Center and Ashkelon Academic College: "Here they don't count: non-profit organizations and local authorities - spacies of action".
September 2005 meeting update
Dr. Hagai Katz from the Dept of Business Administration at Ben Gurion University presented the findings from his dissertation research, which analyzed the global network of international NGOs in the context of Neo-Gramscian theory. A network analysis of the interorganizational links between 10,001 international NGOs, demonstrated severe inequalities and gaps in the global presence of INGOs and the density of their interorganizational linkage, while at the same time revealed a highly integrated global network that can serve as an infrastructure for a global social movement. The import of the findings for the prospects of a counter-hegemonic movement rising from this infrastructure and for alleviating gaps in the global governance system were considered, and were concluded with recommendations for strategically advancing global INGO linkages.
Dr. Richard Wamai from the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at Oxford University, lectured on the transforming health systems in and through a study of the roles and significance non-governmental organizations (NGOs) exact in health services provision, health promotion/prevention and health policy making. Key elements of the NGO health systems’ organization, development and collaborations are dealt with in a comparative perspective based on empirical research and policy analysis. The analysis suggests that the contribution of NGOs to developing the countries’ health systems is larger than hitherto understood, that NGOs are firmly at the centre of health policy discourses and that international health trends informs countries’ health systems development greatly thus the major similarities in policy developments in the two diverse countries. The research findings have a broad relevance to health systems development in advanced welfare states and developing countries in general and in particular for the understanding of the complexities surrounding NGOs in this sub-field of social policy.
Ms. Esther Levinson from ICTR presented the findings of her research on nonprofit organizations in the field of food security in Israel 2004. The study provides a broad, comprehensive, and thorough picture of the patterns of activity and the geographical spread of non-profit organizations for which the provision of food is a major part of their work, and for which the provision of food is a goal in itself.
June 2005 meeting update
Mr. Raviv Schwartz, from the Department of Social Work, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, presented findings from his doctoral dissertation, currently in the last phase of external review. A secondary analysis of data collected in an international comparative study of peace/conflict resolution organizations in Israel, South Africa and Northern Ireland, his focus was on the role of a common identity (gender, religion and professional background) on the ways in which these organizations understand the conflicts in which they are embedded and the possibilities for resolution thereof. Analyzed specifically were: ideology, tactics and organizational parameters in an attempt to understand the differences between these "identity-based" organizations and the non-identity-based or "generic" ones, as well as the differences among themselves in their relative use of identity in their interpretive and organizational work. A common social identity among the organizations studied appeared to equip them with a more expansive set of terms of reference or "frames" with which to construct and transmit ideology and, in the case of identity-based organizations composed of those sharing a common professional background, seemed to provide a framework for activism for those that might not otherwise have been mobilized.
Mrs. Ester Zychlinski, form the Department of Social Work, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, presented partial findings of the research she is conducting in the framework of her doctoral studies - “Exchanges In Israeli Third Sector Organizations And In Their Ability To Produce Social Capital In Light Of The Processes Of Government Involvement And Commercialization”. The findings illustrate that the process of in-part privatization and commercialization influences the organizations, but distinct differences exist according to key financial source (government, donations, user participation), and according to domain organizations (elderly, women, children and youth). The findings demonstrate a complex picture that conveys the advantages and disadvantages of these processes in third sector organizations providing services.
Dr. Naomi Feldman, from the Department of Economics, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, presented research on the relationship between donations of money and volunteering and how government policies that provide favorable tax treatment to monetary donations can affect an individual's decision to engage in one charitable activity but not the other, neither charitable activity or both. She finds that as providing favorable tax treatment to monetary donations increases monetary donations and decreases volunteering, that is, individuals substitute one form of charitable good (volunteering) for the other (monetary giving).
January 2005 meeting update
Dr. Elias Zeidan, from ICTR, spoke about his research ' Volunteering, Giving and Attitudes Regarding NGOs In the Palestinian Arab Society in , A Different Perspective. The research aims to provide a aims to give an overview on volunteering and giving within the Palestinian Arab society in Israel during the years 2001-2002 and to verify attitudes of volunteers toward the organizations they supported.(for more on Dr. Zeidan's research see New Research).
Dr.Varda Shiffer, Director of the Mandel Institute for Leadership in the Negev, presented findings from a research done in the framework of her doctoral thesis 'The civil society and redistribution of authority among governing entities' the research analyses the influence of civil society activities (via organizations for change) on the division of authority, which is determined in terms of participation. The findings show that civil society organizations have in fact increased the circles of participation in decision making, created new power hubs, included groups which previously have not participated and influenced the structure of coalitions. However, these achievements were not constant, and after two to three years the participation circles diminished, although they have not gone back to their original state.
Ms. Galit Yanai Ventura, from the Department of Behavioral Science, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, presented findings from her master's thesis on the 'Decline in motivation - factors involved in volunteer dropout'. Her work included the research of emotional factors, situations and conditions which cause volunteers to drop out. Findings conclude that stopping to volunteer is not an outcome of decline in motivation but that of the saturation of the motivation through achievement. Dropping out of a volunteering program can occasionally be the output not of lack of will, but inability to continue, an undefined goal at the beginning of the process, exhaustion due to overly intensive work, deficient emotional management, incorrect understanding of the volunteering concept by the organization.
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