Developing Civil Society via Case Studies: A North American Perspective
Background
Many believe that the secret to maintaining a healthy, vibrant society lies in the creative energies and dedication of civil society sector organizations. But what exactly do we mean by civil society? The term has come to cover all of formal and informal organizations that use public and private funds to formulate solutions to community problems and implement programs aimed at addressing these needs. Civil society organizations include everything from local associations and unions, to human service delivery organizations, to groups that advocate for policy changes. Operating between the state and the market, these organizations are both a way for citizens to express and enact their values and a way in which basic human needs are met. Civil society can be used interchangeably with third sector, volunteer sector, or non governmental sector (NGO).
In recent years, governments in North America have begun restructuring management and service delivery, giving nonprofit and voluntary organizations more responsibility in comparison to previous decades. Part of the voluntary sector's growth stems from the need to fill gaps left by declining local, provincial and federal government support for many social welfare and cultural programs. Almost everywhere around us, crucial services such as youth-at-risk programs, mental health services or settlement services for immigrants are being offered by organizations that run on a non-profit basis.
Nevertheless, the nonprofit and voluntary sector faces many steep challenges. Many of these challenges are common to voluntary organizations the world over. While much academic research has focussed on the challenges facing this sector, such as governance crises and lack of capacity, not nearly as much emphasis has been put on the creative solutions and strategies citizens put forward in order to strengthen the sector.
As such, The Developing Civil Society via Case Studies: A North American Perspective (DCSCS), a cross-cultural student exchange program, was launched in 2006 to promote research on the North American nonprofit sector. The program will offer 50 semester-long exchanges for graduate and senior undergraduate-level students over three years in partner universities in Canada, the US and Mexico.
Between 2006 and 2010, DCSCS will be offered at six institutions of higher education in North America: in Canada, Carleton and McGill University; in the United States, the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Washington; and in Mexico, El Colegio Mexiquense and the Mexico City campus of the Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey. Each university will offer a selection of its own courses on civil society issues, as well as two new program-wide courses: one dealing with non-profit strategies and a second course on case study research. In the latter, participating students will gain training in case study research methods which they will then use in analyzing questions of interest facing a nonprofit organization in their country of exchange. This opportunity to study the operations and management of nonprofit and voluntary organizations is intended to complement their classroom study of the voluntary sector and give students hands-on, real-world experience. Case study groups will be organized into tri-national teams in order to maximize the benefits of cross-cultural learning.
In addition to the students selected for study abroad, another 150 students (50 per country) will be able to attend DCSCS's case study research methodology course.
Benefits for Students
The benefits that DCSCS offers students are numerous. Firstly, students will gain valuable academic and practical experience in the nonprofit sector. Furthermore, they will have the opportunity to gain academic recognition for their research. (Upon completion of the program, for example, selected case studies will be published on the University of Washington's Electronic Hallway). Secondly, they gain valuable international experience by studying in a cross-cultural setting, as well as in a foreign language (for the Anglophone students sent to Mexican universities and Mexican students sent to American or Canadian universities). Thirdly, students participating in the DCSCS program will gain valuable opportunities for service learning.
General Objectives of DCSCS
In addition to providing students with an in-depth and comparative perspective on the complex and changing nature of North American civil society, the goal behind DCSCS is to create a long-term cooperative relationship between partner universities in Mexico, Canada and the U.S. that supports the development of leaders in civil society throughout North America. We believe that the components of DCSCS offer participating students the appropriate analytical and practical skills to succeed in the nonprofit and voluntary sector in the future. Furthermore, by increasing knowledge-sharing across borders, DCSCS hopes to advance more efficient and effective operating methods for nourishing entrepreneurship and innovation in the social sector. Partner universities will also benefit enormously from the program through common curricula development and increased collaboration between departments that share expertise on nonprofit and voluntary research across North America. Lessons learned on teaching methods and strategies will improve the quality of learning on nonprofit issues in the long run. And lastly, as the voluntary sector becomes larger and more developed, DCSCS aims to contribute to public knowledge of the voluntary sector in North America generally.
DCSCS Sponsors
DCSCS receives funding from the Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education, a funding competition undertaken co-operatively by the governments of Canada, the US and Mexico. The following public sponsors ensure that DCSCS will have funding through 2010:
- In Canada, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC)
- In the US, the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)
- In Mexico, the Secretaria de Educacion Publica (SEP)
Participating universities include:
- The Centre for Voluntary Sector Research and Development, (CVSRD, Carleton University);
- The RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service, (University of Texas at Austin);
- The Interdisciplinary Program for Third Sector Studies, (El Colegio Mexiquense A.C).
