FoodBank Johannesburg, State, and Civil Society Organisations in Post-Apartheid Johannesburg

Warshawsky, Daniel N.

doi:10.1080/03057070.2011.617947

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Clearly, CSOs do not operate in isolation, as they have complicated political and financial ties to government and private sector institutions across scales (see Warshawsky, 2011b). While some CSOs are well-connected to global flows of information, money, and support, other CSOs lack the capacity or knowledge to grow their institutions or serve their communities.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

State, civil society, and the limits of NGO institutionalization in post-apartheid South Africa

Warshawsky

2013

African Geographical Review

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While some civil society organizations (CSOs) initially embraced the state in post-apartheid South Africa, many became increasingly disappointed with the state's incapacity to effect meaningful and long-lasting social change. This has resulted in a range of new CSO activity, including semi-autonomous non-governmental organizations, numerous basic needs organizations, and broad based social movements. Through in-depth interviews and participant observation, this article examines one CSO as a case study to highlight the emerging fractures in South Africa's state-civil society configuration. Findings in this article suggest that some CSOs have successfully disengaged with the South African state due to its inefficient and corrupt funding practices, incapacity for effective leadership, and outright hostility towards CSOs. However, these data also indicate that problematic state-civil society relations may weaken South African CSOs' potential to operate effectively or develop social movements which challenge the state.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

State, civil society, and the limits of NGO institutionalization in post-apartheid South Africa

Warshawsky

2013

African Geographical Review

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“…It is unclear that these expectations can be met in the coming decade, as poverty and social inequality endure (Desai, Maharaj, and Bond 2011;Hart 2014) To examine whether OH reflects the experiences of other CSOs, future studies should analyze the web of institutional relationships which shape how CSOs operate in particular contexts. While some CSOs prosper due to their connections to global flows of information, money, and support (Bond 2008;Warshawsky 2011), other CSOs lack the capacity or knowledge to strengthen their institutions or serve their communities (Swilling, Russell, and Habib 2002;Warshawsky 2014). Importantly, future research could highlight the institutional choices available to CSOs in different socio-political contexts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, as OH, when we saw that we were (duplicating government programs), we realized that we needed to (broaden our mission). (Administrator, Operation Hunger, August 8, 2008) Importantly, OH's mission shift was not sufficient to prevent a substantial size reduction in OH's operating budget (Figure 2 (Operation Hunger 1996, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011and interviews 2007 Operation Hunger: institutional crises OH has faced major institutional challenges during its existence. The first series of crises started in the early 1990s when high-level OH administrators misappropriated money for personal gain (Administrator, Operation Hunger, June 3, 2009).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Perpetual Uncertainty of Civil Society: Case Study of an Anti-Hunger Organization in South Africa

Warshawsky

2015

Nonprofit Policy Forum

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South Africa has one of the most active civil societies in the world, with more than 85,000 registered civil society organizations (CSOs). However, the growth of CSOs in post-apartheid South Africa does not necessarily imply that the sector is strong. While it is true that the demise of the apartheid regime increased democratic representation within South Africa, CSOs have experienced a series of institutional challenges which have weakened their organizational stability. This has included increased oversight by the state, inefficient and inconsistent funding from government, fickle demands by private donors, and competition from other sectors. Through an in-depth case study of a historically prominent CSO in South Africa, this paper critically analyzes the institutional challenges faced by CSOs in South Africa. Data findings suggest that lack of long-term funding support, ineffective state funding mechanisms, and competition from state programs and new CSOs have resulted in perpetual uncertainty for some CSOs. In all, these institutional problems may have the potential to shrink, destabilize, and limit the viability of South African CSOs. Moreover, this suggests that South African democratization may have simultaneously produced new opportunities for some CSOs, yet reinforced unequal power relations for other CSOs and thus produced a highly polarized CSO landscape.

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“…Yet food banking is no longer exclusively a North American institutional form. Emboldened by the successful rollout of food banking in the global North, food banking went global in the late 2000s and today food banks operate in some 30 countries from Ecuador to Egypt, South Africa to South Korea (Warshawsky, 2010(Warshawsky, , 2011. Warshawsky argues that the globalization of food banking illustrates their role as para-statal institutions governing hunger through food distribution to vulnerable households across their territories.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bailing out the food banks? Hunger relief, food waste, and crisis in Central Appalachia

Lohnes

Wilson

2017

Environ Plan A

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In 2015, West Virginia’s flagship food bank confronted a financial crisis that threatened to cut off the supply of emergency food to some 600 agencies serving 300,000 people a month. Focusing on this crisis, we explore the evolution of charitable food networks across the United States with a particular focus on the role of food banking within agro-industrial supply chains. Drawing on a three year institutional ethnography of West Virginia’s food banking economy, we analyze the transition from producer to buyer driven supply chains in a network that is dependent on charitable giving and affective labor to process surplus foods and revalue obsolete corporate inventories. We argue that food banks and their affiliate agencies have become key institutions within a vast food destruction network increasingly serving the needs of large food firms. While food banks and their affiliate agencies provide tax relief for food corporations and offer a highly efficient vent for state subsidized and corporate food waste, they are primarily funded by community-based organizations who are themselves stretched thin by economic crises within their own locales. The entrenchment and evolution of the food waste qua hunger relief circuit is producing new tensions in a network that is conflicted over whom they are ultimately working for, and sheds light on the paradox of hunger relief in the 21st-century.

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FoodBank Johannesburg, State, and Civil Society Organisations in Post-Apartheid Johannesburg

Cited by 15 publications

References 0 publications

State, civil society, and the limits of NGO institutionalization in post-apartheid South Africa

State, civil society, and the limits of NGO institutionalization in post-apartheid South Africa

The Perpetual Uncertainty of Civil Society: Case Study of an Anti-Hunger Organization in South Africa

Bailing out the food banks? Hunger relief, food waste, and crisis in Central Appalachia

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