Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Cross-National Comparison of Non-Governmental Organizations

SE-0623542 PI(S)：罗纳德·安吉尔·哈维尔·佩雷拉·布鲁诺研究所：德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校这项研究考察了在拉丁美洲三个国家：阿根廷、智利和乌拉圭，非政府组织和民间社会组织在妇幼保健长期不平等的背景下所发挥的作用。经过1980年代和1990年代20年的改革，健康不平等现象依然猖獗，贫困社区妇女和儿童的健康标准暴露出国家能力和方法的局限性。在这方面，各国政府和多边金融机构对非政府组织接触贫困社区的潜在能力寄予厚望，并推动预防性护理模式和制定旨在满足特定群体需求的干预对策。扩大非政府组织部门的机会、非政府组织参与妇幼保健服务的机会以及非政府部门有效满足妇幼保健需求的能力因国家而异，并受国家经济、社会政治和体制历史的影响。研究设计包括在三个首府城市(布宜诺斯艾利斯、圣地亚哥和蒙得维的亚)进行密集的人种学家庭访谈，以及对贫穷城市环境中的保健非政府组织进行逐个街区的普查，以便比较有需要的家庭可以获得的服务和使用的服务。这项研究的跨国家性质为理论建设提供了独特的可能性，因为它提供了机会来比较经济自由化、福利下放、社会政策改革的不同路径，并评估它们对以贫困和社会排斥为标志的社区的妇幼机构格局的影响。通过比较各国的经验，这项研究将提供有用的信息，说明非政府组织是否以及在何种条件下能够改变贫困人口获得适当保健的情况，并将提供不同的政策制度如何加强或阻碍国家和民间社会机构之间的有效联盟的信息。虽然第三部门文献和多边组织往往认为非政府组织部门相对于国家部门的优势是理所当然的，但这项研究从中立的立场出发，考察了这两个部门的相对优势和劣势。此外，它还审查了它们之间的相互作用，并探讨了在妇幼保健领域正在形成的新的体制安排的出现。作为近期民间社会历史基础的政治和体制变化提供了极好的机会，促进对大型结构在特定机构部门内相互联系的模式的社会学、政治、经济和组织方面的理解。更广泛的影响：已经与国家学术机构达成的合作协议将增加阿根廷(Sarmiento国立大学)、智利(Innovocion Ciudadana大学)、乌拉圭(Catolica大学)和美国(得克萨斯大学，奥斯汀)的教职员工和学者开展合作和传播研究成果的机会。作为研究活动的一部分，本科生将接受培训，并参与研究数据的收集和编码。参与的非政府组织及其受益者将对其工作有一个比较的看法。分析结果将在上述机构的社会学期刊、专业会议和讲习班上发表，供公众查阅。

SES-0623542PI(s): Ronald Angel Javier Pereira Bruno Institution: University of Texas-AustinThis research examines the role that NGOs and civil society organizations are playing in the context of enduring inequalities in maternal and child health, in three countries of Latin America: Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. After two decades of reforms in 1980s and 1990s, health inequality remains rampant and health standards of women and children in poor communities reveal the limits of state capacities and approaches. In this context, national governments and multilateral financial agencies are placing great hope in the potential ability of NGOs to reach poor communities, and to advance preventative models of care and develop intervention responses designed to address the needs of specific groups. Opportunities for the expansion of the NGO sector, its involvement in maternal and child health services, and the capacity of the non-governmental sector to effectively address maternal and child health needs varies across countries and is influenced by national economic, socio-political and institutional histories. The study design includes intensive ethnographic household interviewing in the three capital cities (Buenos Aires, Santiago and Montevideo) and a block by block census of health care NGOs in poor urban settings in order to compare services available to and used by families in need. The cross national nature of the study provides a unique possibility for theory building since it provides the opportunity to compare different paths of economic liberalization, welfare decentralization, social policy reforms, and gauge their impact on the maternal and child institutional landscape in communities marked by poverty and social exclusion. By comparing national experiences, the study will provide useful information as to whether and under what conditions NGOs can make a difference in poor populations' access to adequate health care, and it will provide information on how different policy regimes enhance or hinder effective alliances between state and civil society agencies. While third sector literature and multilateral organizations tend to take the advantages of the NGO sector over the state sector for granted, this study begins from a neutral position and examines the relative strengths and weaknesses of both sectors. In addition, it examines their interactions and explores the emergence of new institutional arrangements that are being forged in the maternal and child health field. Political and institutional variations underpinning recent civil society history offer excellent opportunities to advance sociological, political, economic, and organizational understandings of the modes in which large structures interrelate within particular institutional sectors. Broader Impacts: The collaborative agreements already made with national academic institutions will enhance the opportunities for collaborative work and the dissemination of findings among faculty and scholars from Argentina (Universidad Nacional General Sarmiento), Chile (Corporacion Innovacion Ciudadana), Uruguay (Universidad Catolica) and the United States (University of Texas, Austin). As part of research activities, undergraduate students will be trained and involved in the collection and coding of data for the study. Participant NGOs and their beneficiaries will gain a comparative perspective of their work. The analysis will be made available to the general public through publication in sociological journals, professional conferences and workshops at the mentioned institutions.