How do different NGOs, individuals, charities, government agencies apply certain principles to their attempt to achieve personal,
local, and global social justice. Consider the various elements of the social justice lens reviewed in class, and assess one of those individuals or institutions.
Taking a look at first the Social Justice lens and then the ideals and goals of World Vision, an organization dedicated to delivering international and national aid and relief, I was very interested to analyze this organization because my family and I are active sponsors of one of a “World Vision Child”. Her name is Colette, and I’m really looking forward to really seeing where our money IS going, where it COULD be going, where it SHOULD be going, and how could they be better managed in terms of their giving and donations.
ReplyDeleteWhen I look at the centre of the lens, I see a focus on equity—a focus that I believe World Vision maintains. The first page on their site, when you’re looking to sponsor a child, gives you the option to specify the child’s gender, age, and geographical location, but it’s default setting is to “Any Age”, “Any Gender”, “Any Country”, which I believe is a very large step in the right direction of equity. They’re giving you equal and impartial access to all of the children “under their wing”. The interesting thing about clicking “Sponsor a Child” on the internet is the fact that you’re immediately assigned one child. They give you options to scroll through the other “available” children, but they try to subtly discourage the sponsor, in my opinion, from scrolling through. They encourage you to sponsor the first child they give you, which in my opinion is a good idea. That avoids the sponsor doing a bit of triage work, trying to find the child that is best suited for the family’s needs. Every child is in dire straits—the access to funding is available and open to all the children under the world vision scope. But, given that this is a religious organization, I wonder how many children who don’t wish to follow the scripture are given funding. It’s interesting to ponder, and even more difficult to find statistics because it’s impossible to analyze what hasn’t been done in the first place. I would assume that there is a heavy element of educating the sponsored children about the aspect of Christian Charity when they receive their donations. It is also a matter of waiting for individual sponsors to arrive. The children are, in essence, in line for sponsors. This could be considered unfair and unequal to some, but in my opinion, it is the only way to effectively cycle through sponsorships. Therefore, that part of the lense is covered.
PART TWO OF COMMENT WILL BE POSTED BELOW.
PART TWO.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of the participatory democracy of it all, the organization doesn’t focus on governmental change, so I do believe that part is both unconsidered by World Vision, and unimportant to their universal cause. In terms of solidarity action, World Vision partners collectively work for change by ensuring that no child is left behind. They release advertising—considering that this organization is non-profit, I assume that the advertising funding comes from a bit of dipping into the sponsorship money—and try to get as many sponsors as possible. They search for celebrity endorsement to try to have a greater impact on those who are looking to sponsor a child, and really work together to encourage everyone to change the life of a child for the better. The general public can even get involved, taking part in volunteer trips. This works hand in hand to create a civil society. The organization also clearly has the intention to change, focusing all this time and resources into creating a sustainable world for those suffering from various ailments in the developing world. With your sponsorship money, you ensure an education for your sponsor child, a full stomach, clean drinking water, and a bright future. With each sponsorship that comes in, World Vision helps to break the cycle of poverty with education, in turn giving the children a more positive life-path to walk on. This truly is transformative practice. Finally, World Vision has the skills to effect change, backing their efforts “in the field” with scientific evidence. They like to release a yearly report detailing their findings so as to better manage the next fiscal year, they send trained volunteers to destinations with the hope of them changing the world—key word here is trained—and finally, they try to maximize the skills of everyone, even though they aren’t professional. The World Vision organization tries to encourage children to join their initiative, such as the thirty hour famine—they even have a map detailing all the places in which one can get involved. They try to maximize the skills of the individual to as to induce systemic change.
It is my opinion, therefore, that World Vision, despite some speculation over the past years, does indeed follow the Social Justice lens principle. I deem this organization worthy of funding. They try to make a real difference in the lives of impoverished children around the globe.
Social Justice is a very broad topic, encompassing many concepts in society that deal with the practice of human rights. For this reason, it is very important that guidelines are developed on how to go about taking social action and have it be as effective as possible. The Committee for Action on Social Justice lens breaks down effectiveness into different aspects, explaining that action is at it’s best when all of these are used simultaneously. At first, I was not convinced that their “system” consisted of the most important components of planned action; however, as I began to review my chosen organization and compare it to these few policies I realized that when combined they could have significant impact.
ReplyDeleteThe “Highlander Research and Education Center” is an NGO that begun in 1932 as a school.
Based on Danish folk schools that played a vital role in revitalizing Danish culture and addressing the country’s social and economic problems, the founder wished to recreate a similar system in America. Such schools had significant student-teacher interaction, which they combined with the use of culture as a tool for learning and thereby solved community problems.
A Brief History of Highlander
“- focused first on organizing unemployed and working people
- by the late 1930s Highlander was training union organizers and leaders in 11 southern states
- fought segregation in the labor movement, helping with the Civil Rights Movement
- Workshops and training sessions fostered many the movement’s most important initiatives the (Montgomery bus boycott, the Citizenship Schools, and the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).)
- In 1961, the state of Tennessee revoked Highlander’s charter and seized its land and buildings. The school reopened the next day as the Highlander Research and Education Center.
- In the late 1960s and 1970s, supported anti-strip mining and worker health and safety struggles.
-In the 1980s and 1990s, expanded its work to support grassroots groups fighting pollution and toxic dumping, and supported the emerging anti-globalization movement by sponsoring workshops on economic human rights and trade and globalization issues and by forging connections with international activists and organizers.” - http://highlandercenter.org
Highlander’s history is a fantastic, yet brief, overview of how they follow the guidelines of “A Social Justice Lens” quite closely.
Principal #1 - Participatory Democracy
definition: individual participation by citizens in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, especially directly rather than through elected representatives.
Over the past, Highlander has gathered people - and still does today- to strengthen their active efforts in their communities. They provide “guidance and leadership to strengthen efforts of local groups, to connect local efforts with national efforts, to provide strategic spaces, and to help to ensure that voices of people directly affected are in leadership.” And though they believe in such leadership, they host many discussion based workshops to teach and to learn from one another and then act on group developed skills. This is a true democratic system.
Principal #2 - Transformative Practice
“Empowering individuals and groups to discover new levels of awareness, self care and skill development that have the power to transform life.” - tranformativepractices.org
Highlander believes “in the power of people to change the world” and they strive to empower people to do so by hosting social change workshops that teach through full participation and involvement. Participants spend lengthy amounts of time in residence at Highlander, which allows them to truly be engulfed in transformative practice. This method is much more effective than simple lectures or pieces of literature- it is hands on. Communities also offer centers the Highlander has set up where they can study such processes and learn to apply them.
Principal #3 - Systemic Change
ReplyDelete“...enact change while moving beyond thinking about individuals and individual organizations, single problems and single solutions. It entails thinking about systems – policy systems, education systems, social service systems, information systems, technology systems.” - nsba.org
This organization has developed systems to help develop leadership and other skills for the long haul, not just temporarily. In creating these skills that are not specific to any cause they are already much closer to achieving any goals. Their programs consist of participatory research (to get people to experience first hand), language justice (to ensure their programs can reach anyone), popular education, and cultural organizing (relating art and culture to social justice to show how all aspects can influence change.)
“…in connecting people and groups across identities, geography and perspectives builds collective analysis and strategy for movement building.” - highlandercenter.org
Principal #4 - Civil Society
“...civil society refers essentially to the so-called "intermediary institutions" such as professional associations, religious groups, labor unions, citizen advocacy organizations, that give voice to various sectors of society and enrich public participation in democracy” - civilsoc.org
Highlander is an organization that has the capability to seek out many community issues and make them recognized. Their use of systemic change allows them to apply their ways to any cause. Through their efforts they encourage minorities, that may have been discouraged, to fight for democracy and do so using all parts of the “lens”.
Principal #5 - Agency
definition: intention to effect change
- As clearly shown in their history and the principal’s above, Highlander has an intention to effect change.
Principal #6- Advocacy
definition: skills to effect change
- As clearly shown in their history, highlander has the ability to foster social justice movements and this capability came from their skills/principles described above (ie. systematic change etc.).
Principal #7- Solidarity Action
definition: collectively working for change
Highlander focuses on group work. Not only during the process of taking direct action, but also during planning sessions. They believe that group ideas are much more developed than any single person’s idea. When taking extreme action against social injustice they know you must have very concrete and effective strategies, which are best formed in groups with equal say.
Principal #8 - Access
definition: open and available to all
Highlander accepts contact from any group or individual and allows them to voice their cause or passion. The organization devotes their efforts to many causes ranging from environment to gay marriage. They host many workshops at their “home base”, but also develop programs in communities; however, not everyone has the ability to attend these for they are not everywhere. Internship and volunteer opportunities are also available at the center and externally. Additionally, the website is accessible to all (except those without internet access).
Principal #9 - Focus on Equity
definition: (equity) the quality of being fair or impartial
Highlander- “We work with people fighting for justice, equality and sustainability, supporting their efforts to take collective action to shape their own destiny. Through popular education, participatory research, and cultural work, we help people gain knowledge, hope and courage, expanding their ideas of what is possible. We develop leadership and help create and support strong, democratic organizations that work for justice, equality and sustainability in their own communities and that join with others to build broad movements for social, economic and restorative environmental change.”
To expand on their proof of equity focus, Rosa Parks’ actions, as well as many of Martin Luther King’s, were fostered from meetings and workshops and teaching at the Highlander Center for Research and Education.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete