For-Profit Democracy: Why the Government Is Losing the Trust of Rural America by Loka Ashwood

2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 754-755
Author(s):  
Caroline R. Peyton
2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 60-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfredo Fort

Though difficult to ascertain because faith based organizations (FBOs) might keep a low profile, be confused with other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), or survey respondents may not know the nature of facilities attended to, these organizations have a long presence in teaching health personnel and delivering health services in many rural and remote populations in the developing world. It is argued that their large networks, logistics agreements with governments, and mission-driven stance brings them closer to the communities they serve, and their services believed of higher quality than average. Kenya has a long history of established FBOs substantial recent health investment by the government. We aimed to find the quantitative and qualitative contributions of FBOs by analyzing two recent data sources: the live web-based nationwide Master Health Facility List, and the 2010 nationwide Service Provision Assessment (SPA) survey. Using this information, we found that FBOs contribute to 11% of all health facilities’ presence in the country, doubling to 23% of all available beds, indicating their relative strength in owning mid-level hospitals around the country. We also constructed an index of readiness as a weighted average from services offered, good management practices and availability of medicines and commodities for 17 items assessed during the SPA survey. We found that FBOs topped the list of managing authorities, with 70 percent of health facility readiness, followed closely by the government at 69 percent, NGOs at 61 percent and lastly a distant private for profit sector at 50 percent. These results seem to indicate that FBOs continue to contribute to an important proportion of health care coverage in Kenya, and that they do so with a relatively high quality of care among all actors. It would be of interest to replicate the analysis with similar databases for other countries in the developing world.


Author(s):  
Henrik Jordahl ◽  
Mårten Blix

The Swedish welfare state is known for providing extensive services to its citizens. Much less well known is that a fair amount of the services are delivered by private for-profit firms. The first steps of privatization were taken in the mid-1980s for childcare services at the municipal level, and the government often found itself scrambling to introduce regulation afterwards. Other sectors were subsequently privatized, most notably through an extensive voucher scheme to provide choice in compulsory and upper-secondary education. A key question throughout this process has been how to maintain the Swedish egalitarian ethos while undergoing extensive privatization. How has the country managed to reap the benefits from market forces without endangering equitable outcomes? The Swedish system is no middle road between socialism and capitalism. Instead, it is more akin to a large-scale laboratory for institutional design with lessons that should be of broad relevance to other countries aiming to get high-quality welfare services while containing costs. Focusing on what others can learn from Sweden, the book makes accessible original research on schools, health care, and elderly care. The privatization of service production has occurred despite major political controversy between two competing visions for the welfare state. Successful experiments have spread organically to neighbouring municipalities. What was done well in this process and what were the mistakes? The book addresses the fundamental economic challenges, the trends of the future, and the implications for institutional design


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Singgih Muheramtohadi

Syariah Financial Institution means that the financial institution is run based on the Islamic teaching that refers to Qur’an and the Sunnah. Practically, it beganin early history of Islam, then was developed into Syariah Financial Institution. So, the purpose of Syariah Financial Institution is not merely for profit orientation. Further, it should be in accordance with Islamic value and the human philanthropy. Most of Syariah Financial Institution’s financing is for business sector and its ability to reach the micro business, that can’t be done by commercial banks. The financing for small business is funded by Islamic institutions due to Grameen Bank effect. Previously, Grameen Bank was built in mid-decade of 1970. The Financing of Syariah Financial Institution, in any sort, including cooperative union or BMT (Baitul Maal wa Tamwil), increased over time in both Institution Revenue and the Financing Rate. According to Financial Service Authority, most of financing of Syariah Banking is for the Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises that is very important for the nation economy, because it is engaged in the real sector of economy. And the other characters of the Micro, Small, medium enterprises in Indonesia are holding the honesty ethics and resistante to the crisis. They are the strengths of UMKM which must be considered to make the decision by the government or the Financial Institutions.Lembaga Keuangan Syariah (LKS) berarti badan yang bergerak di bidang keuangan yang dilandaskan pada ajaran Islam yang bersumber pada al Qur’an dan As Sunnah. Praktek ini sudah terdapat pada sejarah awal Islam, dan asas moralitas Islam dikembangkan dalam bentuk LKS. Sehingga, tujuan dari LKS tidak semata Profit Oriented, melainkan terdapat unsur-unsur keislaman dan kemanusiaan di dalamnya. Lembaga Keuangan syariah sebagian besar pembiayaannya diperuntukkan kepada sektor usaha, dan punya kemampuan untuk menjangkau usaha mikro, Sesuatu yang jarang dilakukan oleh pihak perbankan konvensional. Pembiayaan kepada UMKM ini tidak lepas juga dari pengaruh Grameen Bank sebelumnya, yang telah berdiri sejak medio 1970-an. Pembiayaan Lembaga Keuangan Syarah, baik dalam wujud Bank, Koperasi Simpan Pinjam maupun BMT mengalami peningkatan dari waktu ke waktu. Baik itu dari segi omzet LKS maupun tingkat pembiayaan nya. Berdasarkan data dari Jasa Otoritas Keuangan sebagian besar dari pembiayaan tersebut disalurkan kepada UMKM. Pembiayaan UMKM sangat penting dalam perekonomian nasional, karena bergerak di sektor riil. Karakteristik UMKM adalah sebagai usaha menengah ke bawah, pada umumnya dikelola dengan etika kejujuran masih dipegang kuat, serta relatif lebih kuat ketika dihadapkan pada krisis. Inilah yang jadi potensi UMKM yang harus diperhatikan dalam mengambil keputusan publik, baik itu oleh Pemerintah maupun Lembaga Keuangan (perbankan). 


Author(s):  
Horen Goowalla

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) defined as “the ethical behavior of a company towards the society,” manifests itself in the form of such noble programs initiated by for-profit organizations. CSR has become increasingly prominent in the Indian corporate scenario because organizations have realized that besides growing their businesses, it is also vital to build trustworthy and sustainable relationships with the community at large. This is one of the key drivers of CSR programs. Though India is one of the fastest growing economies, socio-economic problems like poverty, illiteracy, lack of healthcare etc. are still ubiquitous and the government has limited resources to tackle these challenges. This scenario has opened up several areas for businesses to contribute towards social development. Companies have CSR teams that devise specific policies, strategies and goals for their CSR programs and set aside budgets to support them. Corporate Social Responsibility means the way in which  business firms integrate environmental, economic and social concerns into their culture, values, strategy, decision making and operations in an accountable and transparent manner and therefore, leading to better creation of wealth, an improved society and better  practices in the business organization. The research study has been undertaken by selecting three tea estates of Jorhat District of Assam, out of the total tea estates 135(Annual Report2013, Published tea Board of India). These tea estates are considered only Company based, tea estates for the study. This paper is about how Tea Industry performs their Social Responsibility towards their workers. Research is based on the three Tea Gardens industry i.e. how they fulfill their task towards the benefit of Society. In this paper,  an attempt has been made to highlights how the companies based tea industries have introduced many workers welfare activities, social development programmes, better working conditions,provide better medical and sanitation facilities, sports and cultural activities in order to improve  their standard of living of employees.


Author(s):  
Chris Rose ◽  
Peter Melchett

This chapter deals with three linked issues. First, the nature of modern campaigning, with particular reference to the work of Greenpeace and the solutions they offer. Second, the role of Greenpeace and other nongovernmental organizations from the not-for-profit sector. Third, the challenge and opportunities created by ‘globalization’ and what this means for global governance from an environmental point of view. For some years Greenpeace has argued that ‘solutions’ have moved to centre stage in the work of pressure groups, as they used to be known. The formative role of environmental campaigning organizations was to draw attention to problems, but by the 1990s, finding and demonstrating solutions, and getting them applied, became much more important (see Yearley, this volume). This has proved a long and hard road. Indeed, the gap between what can be done and what is being done has, if anything, widened. This is mainly because the technical potential has improved while, in Britain at least, implementation has moved much more slowly. It was once famously said of an incompetent British government that this is an island built on coal and surrounded by fish, but still it manages to run out of both. Similar things could be said today. The government has patently failed to protect fish stocks but that can be conveniently blamed on the EU Common Fisheries Policy. But no such excuse will wash on energy. Britain’s wave energy resource is more than 70 times the UK electricity demand. Britain’s wind resource is also vast. Offshore wind could meet Britain’s entire electricity demand three times over. Against this, the government’s unattained target of 10 per cent for renewable electricity is simply pathetic. Contrast Britain with Denmark, which is phasing out fossil fuel use in electricity generation and is on course for generating 50 per cent of its electricity from wind alone by 2030. Little wonder Denmark is reaping the benefits in terms of engineering jobs in wind turbines, an industry in which it is world leader. The story in Germany and the Netherlands is similar: yet Britain is far, far windier.


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