Social work as an traditional aid is an area that provides welfare services financed from public funds, which is one of the methods of microloans. Microloans have since the mid-1970s has become an increasingly common tool in the fight against poverty. Instead of purely assistance is now offered microloans from more banks and other institutions, as well as NGOs (non governmental organization). This paper aims to study whether and how microcredit can contribute to the empowerment of women in Bangladesh and India. This study is based on a qualitative text analysis, and has hence been based on a number of reports and articles. The paper examines, from a radical feminist perspective how microcredit can fight and eliminate poverty, and how empowerment can help women in developing countries to become independent and liberated. The introduction of micro-loan is considered to have positive effects on women's empowerment in the short term. But it is, however, the longer term effects that are considered to have the greatest positive impact on society's unequal structures.

The purpose of this study has been to investigate the prospects for identifying and prosecuting individuals suspected of war crimes, within the process of exclusion from refugee status under article 1F(a) of the 1951 Refugee Convention, and using subsequent mechanisms for extradition or prosecution in international criminal law. A number of principles within human rights law and public international law have been advocated by the UNCHR and several human rights NGOs as necessary for a thorough application of the exclusion clauses; one that takes individual responsibility into account and upholds the aims and purposes of the exclusion clauses. There is a discussion as to whether specialised or accelerated exclusion procedures are justified for reasons of security and efficiency, or if they put the rights of the individual at risk and limit the opportunities for gathering information to support investigation and prosecution of the crime in question. Apart from the instruments of asylum law and procedure that have emerged within the EU harmonisation process, there are no general, binding rules on the procedural aspects of the exclusion clauses. One principle that regulates the consequences for the individual of exclusion from refugee status and decisions on extradition is, however, the principle of non-refoulement.

Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) and Active Ownership have become increasingly important concepts when it comes to the corporate governance of investors today. Institutional owners highlight the importance of engaging in dialogue, in their pursuit to influence the companies to become sustainable. However, stakeholders and academia are requesting more insight into the workings of these dialogues, concerning their purpose, design and function. This study attempts to increase the existing knowledge of dialogue as a tool for active engagement, used by institutional investors in Sweden. The performed study is based on interviews with five public and private Swedish institutional investors, an SRI consultant firm as well as representatives from two NGOs.

Syftet med denna studie är att ta reda på vad som gör att Ukraina lyckats bli en erkänd demokrati samtidigt som Vitryssland förblir en auktoritär diktatur. Vi ska i denna jämförande analys titta på de demokratiseringsprocesser som ägt rum i de båda länderna. Vi kommer lägga energi på staten, det civila samhället och globaliseringen. Vår analys visade att det efter självständighetsförklaringarna fanns auktoritära tendenser båda länderna. Trots att Kutjma så tidigt som 1998 tog avstånd från ett direkt auktoritärt styre liknande det i Vitryssland förblev Ukraina en semi-diktatur fram till den orangea revolutionen då landet fick en ny chans att bygga demokrati.

The purpose of this case study was to examine consequences of a limited social citizenship among young adults in the refugee camp of DeHeishe in Palestine. In order to receive a profounder understanding of conditions and structures that affects young adult?s experiences of social citizenship, status in the community and practices a case study was carried out during April 2013.The data has been collected by triangulation, conducted through nine interviews, 52 survey forms and several observations in DeHeishe camp. The data was analyzed through the theoretical approach of social citizenship, intersectionality and the concept of ?empower-ment?.

The purpose of this degree project is to obtain a greater understanding of how the support for abused immigrant women is designed and if these measures respond to the women?s own wishes and needs. I also want to investigate the possible advantages and disadvantages, there are under the social ser­vi­ces and voluntary organizations (NGOs) and women themselves when it comes to spe­cific sup­port measures for immigrant women. On which basis have these support measures been designed and what experience or research starting points are based on? To what extent do they answer to women?s needs according to the staff, and to the women's own view?The study is based on qualitative data consisting of five interviews and one case report of an abused woman.

The aim of this study is to investigate differences that exist in Estonia and Russia with regard to civil society, democracy and corruption and try to find out what can be possible causes to the vast differences in these two countries. Many political scientists claim that civil society plays a key role in democratic transitions. This paper takes its point of departure in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Estonia and Russia became independent. Since then Estonia has had a flourishing economy which attract many foreign investments, with Sweden as the greatest investor. The country has also managed well to adjust quickly from totalitarianism to democracy.

Samarbeten mellan näringsliv och mindre konventionella samarbetspartners såsom olika bistånds- och frivilligorganisationer blir allt vanligare. Uppsatsens syfte är därför att undersöka vilka drivkrafter som finns hos de olika parterna för att samarbeta och samtidigt ge en övergripande bild av fenomenet genom att inkludera olika typer av samarbeten. Uppsatsens icke-vinstdrivande aktör är Sida, en myndighet vars verksamhet delar många karaktärsdrag med NGOs. Sidas samarbete med tre olika företag studeras. Studien skedde genom insamling av sekundärdata och kvalititativa intervjuer och visar att företagens drivkrafter är delad monetär risk, möjlighet att tillämpa CSR, tillgång till tillväxtmarknader, expertis, affärsutveckling, legitimitet, olika nätverk, influera nya branschstandarder, undvika konfrontation och intern stolthet medan Sidas drivkrafter utgjordes av tillgång till företagens kärnkompetens, möjlighet att influera kommersiella aktörer, undvika konfrontation och långsiktighet.

Since the beginning of the new millennium the world?s population has increased exponentially fast. The majority of this growth has been accommodated for by urbanization of the developing world. This in turn has lead to a wide spread of informal settlements. Thus, areas of urban slums, that have risen illegally on the marginal lands within and at the periphery of the formal city.

Corporate Social Responsibility, företagets sociala ansvarstagande, har de senaste åren uppmärksammats mer och mer. Medierna och intresseorganisationer har fått allmänheten intresserad av dessa frågor och trycket på att företag ska ta sitt sociala ansvar har ökat. Det sociala ansvaret ska genomsyra företagens hela organisation och sträcker därför sig även till leverantörer. Att kontrollera att leverantörer arbetar på ett etiskt korrekt sätt är inte alltid helt enkelt då geografiska avstånd försvårar kontrollen.Vi har för avsikt att undersöka hur mindre textilföretag kontrollerar sina leverantörer i u-länder med avseende på CSR. Vi vill ta reda på om relationens karaktär har betydelse för kontrollen och jämföra ifall små och stora företag arbetar på olika sätt.Vi har kommit fram till att små och stora företag arbetar olika med kontroll av leverantörer.

Over the last few years, many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the aid sector have grown and become important economic, social and political actors in Sweden. However this sector has also been hard criticized in terms of aid effectiveness. Church of Sweden (CoS), a well established organization in this sector, has faced new challenges in form of demands from their environment regarding reporting aid work. These demands have pushed the International Department of Church of Sweden into a process for adapting the structure in order to meet the new effectiveness requirements. Using both, Contingency Theory and Resource Dependence Theory as theoretical framework and a single case study as research strategy, this master thesis goes in deep into the description of the change of the structure of the International Department. This work shows how the different parts of the organization functions and what impact will these changes in the structure mean for the future of the organization. The analysis of the empirical evidence related to the theoretical framework shows that the organization responds to external demands through a more centralized structure than before.

Det svenska biståndet inriktat mot demokratisering uppgick 2008 till ca 4 miljarder kr. Det civila samhällets roll i demokratiseringsprocesser har fått ökad uppmärksamhet de senaste 15 åren och är numera ett av de vanligaste fokusområdena inom demokratibistånd. Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka det svenska demokratibiståndet inriktat på det civila samhället och dess effekter och dess möjligheter att påverka demokratiseringsprocesser Genom att undersöka utvärderingar av olika projekt, vars syfte varit att stärka det civila samhället, har biståndets egentliga effekter kunnat redovisas. De länder som undersöks i denna uppsats är Moldavien, Etiopien, Zimbabwe och fyra län-der i Latinamerika; Bolivia, Guatemala, Peru, Nicaragua. De resultat som redovisas i upp-satsen ligger först och främst i attityd- och beteendeförändringar på individnivå hos de som varit inblandade i organisationer, men även bland vanliga medborgare.

Changes in the environment are affecting the world market, and pressures from several stakeholders? are forcing different enterprises to adjust to the current situation. Farmers? difficult working conditions and environmental impacts of the conventional cotton production in India have been highlighted. The small-scale production that is characterising India?s cotton farmers implies an insufficient competition power.

Syfte och frågeställningarStudien avser att undersöka hur idrottsföreningar upplever LOK-stödet. Följande frågeställningar har valts för att uppfylla syftet:? Hur fördelas det statliga LOK-stödet i föreningarna?? Hur anser föreningarna att arbetet med aktivitetskort fungerar?? Vad betyder LOK-stödet för föreningarna?? Anser föreningarna att LOK-stödet är ett rättvist system för att fördela pengar till ungdomsidrotten?? Finns det någon skillnad mellan stora föreningar (>500 medlemmar) och små föreningar (<50 medlemmar)?MetodStudiens mätinstrument utgjordes av enkäter och omfattar 2000 slumpvis utvalda svenska idrottsföreningar som uppbådar statligt LOK-stöd. Urvalet utgjordes av föreningar som ingår i RF:s organisation. Ur RF:s medlemsregister valdes sedan var tionde förening ut, oavsett verksamhet, storlek och regional tillhörighet.Studien är ett samarbete mellan IH och RF där RF angav vad de ville ha undersökt.

Engelsk titel: Greater opportunities than interests : Civic culture and deliberative discourse on Swedish NGO websitesThis is a critical and normative study, which examines a selection of Swedish NGO websites as potential forums for civic culture and deliberative discourse in the public sphere. Sociocultural, political and sociological and media and communication theories are combined.The work is made within a Habermasian tradition, but the importance of a hermeneutic methodology is stressed, along with the sociocultural perspective to reach an understanding of why citizens engage in politics. In contrast to much of the earlier research concerning deliberative discourses on the Internet, a more informal understanding of how people discuss politics is stressed.The questions are: What kind of civic role do the websites discursive dimensions address? What kind of civic identity do the users address in the websites resource dimensions?The empirical results are both discouraging and encouraging for advocates who put their trust in the Internet as a potential civic tool, in these times when neoliberal models of citiziens are prioritizing citizens as consumers, thus neglecting citizens as political actors. The study reveals that the websites show good results in general, regarding the civic roles and identities of the websites as both discourse and resource for the users.