Publications

ICSW Membership

ICSW members include a wide range of national non -governmental organisations from more than 80 countries. We also have a number of international member organisations which operate in many different countries.

…more about ICSW members

ICSW membership and activities are spread over ten regions: Central & West Africa, East & Southern Africa, North Africa & the Middle East, South & Central Asia, South East Asia & the Pacific, North East Asia, Europe, North America, Central America & the Caribbean , South America.

…more about the regions

SOCIAL PROGRESS AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

31^ST ICSW International Conference on Social Welfare’
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
16 - 19 August 2004

…more in calendar of events

Culture and Public Action: A Cross-Disciplinary Dialogue on Development Policy.

Vijayendra Rao and Michael Walton (editors), Stanford University Press, 2004 (forthcoming in May). South Asia Edition to be published by Permanent Black. How does culture matter for Development? Debates on this topic have been polarised between claims that “culture matters” because poor countries have “toxic cultures” which lock them into low growth rates, and critiques of Development agencies like the IMF and World Bank focusing on their “creation” of a culture of “ideological domination.” This book takes a middle ground between these extremes that treats culture as being primarily about “relationality” – contested, evolving and endogenous attributes that influence how people relate and connect to one another. These include notions such as identity, symbolic exchange, ritual, heritage, norms, meanings, and beliefs. A focus on culture is necessary to confront the difficult questions of what is valued in terms of well being, who does the valuing, and how economic and social factors interact with culture to affect human well-being. To use Amartya Sen’s language, culture is part of the set of capabilities that people have – the constraints, technologies, and framing devices that condition how decisions are made and coordinated across different actors. There is no presumption that these processes are inherently “good”, or inherently “bad,” for economic and social development. By reproducing inequality and discrimination, they can be exploitative, exclusionary and conflictual. Cultural processes, however, can also be harnessed for positive social and economic transformation, through their influence on aspirations, the coordination of collective action, and to change the unequal distribution of power and agency within a society. Via an inter-disciplinary dialogue between distinguished anthropologists and economists, led by Amartya Sen, Arjun Appadurai and Mary Douglas, the book examines the role of culture in reproducing poverty and inequality, and how a cultural “lens” can help understand both the ends of Development, and the means – to improve the quality and equity of public action in Development. Several cases-studies of the role of culture in different aspects of Development are examined - including participation and community development, famine relief, ethnic conflict and fundamentalism, HIV-AIDS, discrimination against ethnic minorities and women, and arts and heritage. The book should be of interest to development practitioners confronting the difficult job of “doing” Development, economists who have increasingly begun to seriously model the role of social and cultural factors in human behaviour, and anthropologists/sociologists for whom these issues are central disciplinary concerns but are searching for practical ways to actively engage and participate in the design of policy. It, therefore, provides a timely and constructive interdisciplinary conversation on Development policy.

The latest booklet in the Youth Advocate Program (YAP)-International’s series on international youth issues. This booklet highlights the conditions of millions of children today who are coerced to perform grueling work, are controlled through violence and receive no pay for the work they are forced to do. YAP International Booklet Series Youth Advocate Program International 4545 42nd Street, NW Suite 209 Washington , DC 20016 USA Phone: (202) 244-1986 Fax: (202) 244-6396
Email: yapi@yapi.org

Women 2000 and Beyond: Women, Nationality and Citizenship

United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW) This issue of "Women 2000 and beyond" discusses discrimination against women in nationality laws by examining laws that differentiate between women and men in the acquisition and retention of nationality, as well as in relation to the nationality of their children. It talks about how international law is used to address discrimination in nationality laws and surveys national and international case law on discrimination in nationality laws, taking into consideration how human rights norms relating to freedom of movement, freedom of information, family rights and other rights have been increasingly applied. Approaches adopted by States to avoid gender-based discrimination are analysed and measures are recommended for States and nongovernmental organisations to ensure compliance with human rights standards in the context of nationality.

Issues of "Women 2000 and Beyond" are available in a paper format by contacting the Division for the Advancement of Women by Fax: (212) 963 3463 or by
Email: daw@un.org

(Also available in Spanish and French)

Let the Dawn Come - Social Development: Looking Behind
the Clichés
By Fabiana Frayssinet et al. Editor(s) Simon Burne
In this book, journalists from Africa, Asia and Latin America present the views of ordinary men and women striving to improve their lives with the help of nongovernment organisations. People speak with pride of gaining control over their lives. They also speak candidly of the problems: men’s resistance to women’s independent initiatives, organisations strapped for funds, and national and international economic ills.

Civil Society

By Michael Edwards

Is civil society the big idea for the 21st century? Or will the idea of civil society – confused, conflated and co-opted by elites – prove another false horizon in the search for a better world? By illuminating the uses and abuses of different theories and traditions in clear and engaging prose, this book will help readers of all persuasions to answer this question for themselves. Drawing inspiration and examples from history and contemporary experience, Islam and Christianity, South and North, and activists and academics, this book gives voice to a rich and diverse account of civil society in its many different guises. In moving systematically through theories of associational life, the good society and the public sphere, exploring the neglected connections that exist between them, and

clarifying their implications for policy and practice, Michael Edwards provides a comprehensive, accessible and often humorous overview of one of the most important debates of our times. This book will be essential reading for students of politics, public policy, development studies and international relations. It will also be read by all those interested in the role of civil society in the media, policy-making and NGO communities. About the author Michael Edwards is Director of the Ford Foundation’s Governance and Civil Society Program Marston Book Services Ltd, PO Box 269, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4YN, UK Or fax: +44 (0)1235 465555. For queries, please telephone +44 (0)1235 465500 or email: direct.orders@marston.co.uk Alternatively, visit the Polity website on www.polity.co.uk