Doctoral Dissertation Research: Gendered Empowerment of Community Organizations in Ahmedabad, India: Toward a Socio-Spatial Model of Sustainable Civil Society Participation

对权力下放的依赖意味着，地球仪的中央和地方政府越来越依赖非公营部门提供关键的公共服务。 在发展中国家的贫民窟改造部门，这一趋势正在增长，非政府组织和地方民间社会团体不仅发挥社区组织者的作用，而且还发挥大型公共服务和住房项目开发者的作用。 在印度，贫民窟现在占所有城市住房的25%，阿赫梅达巴德贫民窟联网方案经常被引用为分散提供服务的“最佳做法”，地方政府严重依赖当地社区组织提供和维护其社区的基础设施。 然而，研究人员和决策者仍然对阻碍社区组织或使其能够生存的社会空间维度知之甚少，特别是在资金减少、非政府组织的组织培训或地方政府参与激励措施减少的情况下。 为了解决这一差距，本博士论文研究项目从组织结构的假设开始-特别是在性别领导方面-导致不同的能力来做出选择和有效地采取行动。 博士生将专注于她的研究的主要假设是，这是这种能力，使选择和行动，决定是否以社区为基础的组织仍然活跃或成为倒闭。 学生将采用与关键线人的信息访谈，与非政府组织管理层和实地工作人员的深入访谈，以及对CBO官员和总务委员会成员的调查的混合方法来收集测试这一假设所需的关键信息。尽管关于反贫困工作和性别赋权计划的好处之间的脱节的关键研究，很少有研究关注这种脱节如何也会影响以社区为基础的民间社会机构的中级发展。 现有的许多研究都集中在大的结构性力量，如全球化经济，或微观层面的个人行为，如妇女是否觉得参与计划的权力。 通过直接关注社区机构，该项目将加强对个人行为和结构力量影响当地社区组织可持续性的方式的基本理解。 因此，这项研究将解决有关社区机构的重要概念差距。 除了潜在的理论贡献外，研究结果还将有助于实践者和决策者，因为它突出了社区组织在短期和长期提供城市社会服务和基础设施方面的潜在优势和缺陷。 作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立的研究生涯。 这个支持印度研究的奖项是由NSF地理和空间科学计划以及NSF国际科学和工程办公室共同支持的。

Reliance on decentralization has meant that central and local governments across the globe have increased their dependence on non-public provision of key public services. This trend is growing in the slum-upgrading sector in the developing world, where nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and local civil society groups have taken on roles not only as community organizers but also as developers of large-scale public service and housing projects. In India, where slums now account for 25 percent of all urban housing, the Ahmedabad Slum Networking Program (SNP) is frequently cited for "best-practices" in decentralized service delivery, where the local government relies heavily on local community-based organizations (CBOs) to provide and maintain infrastructure in their neighborhoods. Researchers and decision makers still know little about the socio-spatial dimensions that impede CBOs or enable them to survive, however, especially with reductions in funding, organizational training by NGOs, or local government incentives to participate. To address this gap, this doctoral dissertation research project begins with the assumption that organizational structures -- especially with respect to gendered leadership -- lead to different abilities to make choices and act effectively. The primary hypothesis on which the doctoral candidate will focus her research is that it is this ability to make choices and act on them that determines whether a community-based organization remains active or becomes defunct. The student will employ a mixed methods approach of informational interviews with key informants, in-depth interviews with NGO management and field staff, and a survey of CBO officers and general committee members to gather critical information needed to test this hypothesis.Despite critical research regarding the disconnect between the benefits of anti-poverty work and gender-specific empowerment programs, little research has focused on how this disconnect also can impact development at the intermediate scale of community-based civil society institutions. Much existing research has focused on large structural forces, such as the globalizing economy, or micro-level individual behavior, such as whether women feel empowered by participating in programs. By focusing directly on community institutions, this project will enhance basic understanding of the ways that individual behavior and structural forces influence the sustainability of local community-based organizations. Consequently, this research will address important conceptual gaps regarding community-based institutions. In addition to potential theoretical contributions, the study results will be useful to practitioners and policy makers by highlighting the potential strengths and pitfalls of community-based organizations for providing urban social service and infrastructure provision over both the shorter and longer terms. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career. This award to support research in India is jointly supported The NSF Geography and Spatial Sciences Program and the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering.