Reclaiming the “Third Sector” from “Civil Society”

Viterna, Jocelyn; Clough, Emily; Clarke, Killian

doi:10.1525/sod.2015.1.1.173

Cited by 33 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…On the one hand, it may be that engagement indicates more contentious relationships, making partnerships less likely. On the other hand, it may be that NGOs are playing a substitutive role for civil society, which supports the literature that suggests that NGOs and civil society are sometimes at odds (Viterna et al 2015;Álvarez 1999).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 76%

“…Others assert that collaboration urges NGOs to shift away from their diverse approaches, which can be more contentious in challenging the state, to a more professionalized, hierarchical organization acting as a contractor for state-supported service delivery (Álvarez 1999). Moreover, government collaboration with more technical NGOs or those with stronger ties to international donors can overshadow the voice of community groups that may not be well represented by such organizations (Álvarez 2009; Viterna et al 2015).…”

Section: Ngo-government Collaborationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Getting Along or Going Alone: Understanding Collaboration Between Local Governments and NGOs in Bolivia

Nelson‐Nuñez¹,

Cartwright

2018

Lat Am Polit Soc

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What explains mayors’ collaboration with nongovernmental organizations in delivering public goods and services? While some successful collaborations are established, in other cases the call for NGOs to coordinate with governments goes unheeded. Collaboration minimizes the duplication of effort, maximizes information sharing, and builds capacity. Given the scholarly consensus on the importance of collaboration, we know little about it at local levels, where it may matter most. This article focuses on Bolivia, a country with deep decentralization reforms and an active NGO sector. It utilizes survey data on mayors from 2007 to provide insight into the variation in NGO–local government collaboration across a country. It argues that political context is important: mayoral turnover, greater community group engagement, and more municipal resources deter collaboration. The findings illustrate the strategic interplay between state and nonstate actors and explain the uneven geographies of partnerships in governance.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 76%

Section: Ngo-government Collaborationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Getting Along or Going Alone: Understanding Collaboration Between Local Governments and NGOs in Bolivia

Nelson‐Nuñez¹,

Cartwright

2018

Lat Am Polit Soc

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“…The main point made in the rebuttal was that given the structure and potential funding sources of Third Sector organizations, they are equipped to engage in both those roles simultaneously, and, indeed, in democratic societies, Third Sector organizations are not only engaged in service delivery but in building leadership, advocacy, etc. (Viterna et al 2015;Gidron 2010).…”

Section: Key Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Third Sector

Gidron

2020

International Encyclopedia of Civil Society

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For the stranger to the field, the term "Third Sector" is very confusing. It is often confused with the "Third World" or the "Third Age" or the "Third Way" (in the United Kingdom). It actually denotes the sector of organizations that are neither public nor business, which means that it entails private organizations that are not-for-profit. While the other two sectors are called by a name that characterizes their activity ("public," "business"), "third" is a neutral term, which depicts the fact that it is difficult to characterize its activities within a simple and concise term. Indeed, an analysis of the organizations that comprise that "sector" suggests that this group of organizations is very diverse and heterogeneous, which often calls into question the very idea of a "sector" when dealing with them. The term "Third Sector" also serves as a neutral concept in international forums or organizations (such as the International Society for Third-Sector Research-ISTR), where it is used to bridge various cultural traditions regarding that sector of organizations, such as "nonprofit" (United States), "voluntary" (United Kingdom), "nongovernmental," "economie sociale," and "civil society."

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“…Moynihan concludes by highlighting the irony that PSM, which is crowded out by the market model, becomes the main counterweight to its own moral hazard problem. In this criticism of the market model, Moynihan does, however, acknowledge the need for greater consideration of comparative cases, namely, the distribution of motivation, moral hazard, and agency problems in otherwise similar settings but under a traditional, often centrally administered, public model of service delivery, as well as the increasingly common polycentric or third‐sector models (Ostrom, Tiebout, and Warren ; Viterna, Clough, and Clarke ).…”

Section: Theoretical Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Sector Governance Reform and the Motivation of Street‐Level Bureaucrats in Developing Countries

Zarychta

Grillos

Andersson

2019

Public Administration Review

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This article draws on health sector reform in Honduras to examine the mechanisms through which governance reforms shape the behavior of street-level bureaucrats. It combines insights from behavioral public administration with original data from lab-in-the-field workshops conducted with more than 200 bureaucrats to assess the relationship between decentralization and motivation. Findings show strong evidence that motivation, measured as self-sacrifice, is higher among bureaucrats in decentralized municipalities compared with bureaucrats in comparable centrally administered municipalities. Increased motivation is most pronounced in decentralized systems led by nongovernmental organizations compared with those led by municipal governments or associations. Additionally, the evidence suggests that higher motivation is related to changes in the composition of staff rather than socialization or changes among existing staff. Overall, this research helps move beyond indiscriminate calls for decentralization by highlighting the interplay between reform design and bureaucratic behavior, as well as the limitations of governance reforms in motivating more experienced bureaucrats. Evidence for Practice • Decentralization reforms that include performance-based incentives have both advantages and challenges;proponents of such reforms should consider the interplay between changes in governance structures and the behavior of frontline staff when advocating for, designing, and implementing such policies. • To the extent that local intermediary organizations have power over staff selection, they may be better positioned to identify motivated staff and incorporate those staff into service delivery than regional or central administrators. • Different strategies are needed to value and draw on the experiences of long-term staff members, for whom structural reforms and performance-based incentives may be less motivating. • Administrators should consider and try to account for the unintended consequences of reforms that introduce large numbers of new, less experienced staff into systems that deliver social services. University and a faculty affiliate of the Purdue Center for the Environment. Her research focuses on human decision-making and behavior in the context of sustainable development, particularly questions of participation, deliberation, collective action, and public goods provision.

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Reclaiming the “Third Sector” from “Civil Society”

Cited by 33 publications

References 71 publications

Getting Along or Going Alone: Understanding Collaboration Between Local Governments and NGOs in Bolivia

Getting Along or Going Alone: Understanding Collaboration Between Local Governments and NGOs in Bolivia

Third Sector

Public Sector Governance Reform and the Motivation of Street‐Level Bureaucrats in Developing Countries

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