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Purpose – To examine the role of Latino community-based nonprofits in integrating first- and second-generation Latino immigrants into mainstream society.

Methodology/approach – This place-based study uses a mixed methods approach to analyze financial and administrative data from the National Center for Charitable Statistics and semi-structured interviews with organizational leaders.

Findings – Latino community-based nonprofits provide a wide range of programs and services to their constituents that promote the social and political mobility of Latino immigrants and their families. Findings also suggest a potential spatial mismatch between Latino-serving nonprofits and the people they serve. The organizations are concentrated in the Washington, DC metropolitan area while the Latino community is branching out into the outer suburbs of Maryland and Virginia. Moreover, different political and administrative structures and policies affect the ability of these nonprofits to serve their constituents.

Research limitations/implications – The study's geographic boundaries may limit the generalizability of spatial mismatch between Latino-serving nonprofits and their constituents. However, the findings about programs and services and the impact of political and administrative structures and policies can be applied to other immigrant-serving organizations.

Practical implications – Policy makers, elected officials, and other stakeholders can learn the importance of Latino and immigrant community-based nonprofits. These organizations act as bridges to the Latino and other immigrant communities.

Social implications – Latino and other immigrant community-based nonprofits are integral to the integration of immigrant communities as active and contributing members of wider society.

Originality/value of paper – This study looks at immigrant integration through the lens of community-based nonprofits.

This paper aims to report on empirical research that investigated the records management practices of two motor sport community-based organisations in Australia.

This multi-method case study was conducted on the regulator of motor sport, the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport Ltd (CAMS) and one affiliated historic car club, the Vintage Sports Car Club (VSCC), in Western Australia. Data were gathered using an online audit tool and by interviewing selected stakeholders in these organisations about their organisation’s records management practices.

The findings confirm that these organisations experience significant information management challenges, including difficulty in capturing, organising, managing, searching, accessing and preserving their records and archives. Hence, highlighting their inability to manage records advocated in the best practice Standard ISO 15489. It reveals the assumption of records management roles by unskilled members of the group. It emphasises that community-based organisations require assistance in managing their information management assets.

This research focused on the historic car clubs; hence, it did not include other Australian car clubs in motor sport. Although four historical car clubs, one in each Australian state, were invited to participate, only the VSCC participated. This reduced the sample size to only one CAMS-affiliated historical car club in the study. Hence, further research is required to investigate the records management practices of other CAMS affiliated car clubs in all race disciplines and to confirm whether they experienced similar information management challenges. Comments from key informants in this project indicated that this is likely the case.

The research highlights risks to the motor sport community’s records and archives. It signals that without leadership by the sport’s governing body, current records and community archives of CAMS and its affiliated car clubs are in danger of being inaccessible, hence lost.

The research highlights the risks in preserving the continuing memory of records and archives in leisure-based community organisations and showcases the threats in preserving its cultural identity and history.

It is the first study examining records management practices in the serious leisure sector using the motor sport community.

This chapter illustrates local responses to disaster and highlights the potential role of three community-based society organizations (CBSOs) – women’s groups, youth groups, and religious groups – as risk communicators in Bandung, Indonesia. A framework is modeled for CBSOs’ risk communication process in bridging the gap between the local government and the community. A set of indicators in social, economic, and institutional resilience activities (SIERA), with a scope of 45 disaster risk reduction (DRR) activities covering three different disaster periods was developed to characterize the process of the delivery of risk information by these CBSOs through their activities at subdistrict and ward levels. The data were collected through a questionnaire survey method using the SIERA approach. Each CBSO leader in a ward was surveyed about their perceptions of these 45 ongoing SIERA activities and their risk information source and dissemination process. Statistical analysis was applied to determine the relationship between variables such as periods of disaster and types of SIERA activities and its attributing factors (location, population, and dynamic of organizations in their locale) in finding variations of risk communication activity that may function for communities. Five risk communication processes of the CBSOs are identified; when their perceptions and ongoing activities are compared, activities such as dissemination of disaster risk information, conveying early warnings to their peers, and involvement of the local government have been carried out by these CBSOs. This indicates that CBSOs’ activities already have a certain degree of risk communication embedded in the communities. The results confirm that these CBSOs, through their social networks, can become active agents of change and bridge the communication gap between government and community. Thus, CBSOs’ risk communication provides the opportunity to contribute to the overall resilience-building and disaster risk reduction as part of people-centered actions and local responses to disasters.

Persons with disabilities face the impacts of disasters differently. Early warning systems can be one of the powerful tools to reduce the vulnerabilities of persons with disabilities and mitigate the impacts of disasters. The main objective of this study was to assess the disability inclusiveness of the current early warning system (EWS) in flood-prone areas of Bangladesh.

A qualitative method was focused on getting in-depth information. Persons with disabilities participated in focus group discussions (FGDs) and shared the inclusiveness and gaps of the current EWS. Through extensive literature review, a checklist was developed to conduct the FGDs. QDA Miner 6.0.6 software was used for coding and analyzing the data.

Results indicated that, though persons with disabilities have proper risk knowledge, the current monitoring and warning service, dissemination and communication, and response capability are not fully inclusive. A significant gap in the EWS was found in response capability. Even if somehow persons with disabilities manage to receive a warning about a flood, they lack the capacity to respond to the warning.

The study proposed that to make an EWS inclusive and effective, the concerned authorities should focus on all four parts of the EWS.

Studies related to disability and disaster management are not very common. Conducting a qualitative study provided the persons with disabilities the opportunity to share their perspectives. Future studies can focus on vulnerability and capacity assessment of persons with disabilities to identify areas requiring interventions to enhance resilience.

Democracy can be viewed as an end state (structure) or as a process. In the 20th century, theories of the democratic structure and process (and thus the end state to be achieved and the structures necessary to achieve it) were highly contested. Some argued that only by freeing markets from state control could democracy materialize. Others argued that getting policies right would promote democracy – and a free market. A third group argued that the state was the problem, and that only by relying on civil society could democracy emerge and be maintained. We can classify differing approaches to democracy under three ideal types that drove debate and practice, depending on the sector seen as critical to the process. Stemming from 19th century theorists, three sectoral approaches were in conflict: those that stressed the market (neoliberalism), those that stressed the state (statism), and those that stressed “the people” or civil society (the populist approach).

The purpose of this study is to present an in-depth examination of stakeholder engagement processes in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from the perspective of NGO managers to enhance accountability and the effectiveness with which aid services are delivered. Specifically, demand-side (downward) accountability and the implications of an accountability system that is predominantly supply-side (upward) focused are explored.

This study draws on evidence gathered from 25 in-depth interviews with representatives of leading NGOs in Nigeria to explore and uncover the nature of stakeholder engagement and accountability processes in their respective organisations. This study shows prospects for entrenching organisational reform that balances power and influence that benefits the less economically powerful demand side of the stakeholders. A relevant aspect of stakeholder theory was used to frame the analysis.

The study reveals an overlay of a blanket engagement system and a seeming reluctance of NGOs to disclose critical information to the demand-side stakeholders (DSS), and suggests ways to meet sustainability demands and address the militating concerns. A perceived lack of understanding and prospects or outcomes of demand-side accountability are central to this; however, engagement outcomes that account for impact rather than output are explored and reported. The findings suggest that proper accountability involves adequate stakeholder engagement which is a prerequisite and paramount for sustainability.

This study primarily delineates NGO managers’ views on NGO engagement and accountability dynamics. Future research may explore the perspectives of downward stakeholders themselves. The study highlights the concern for NGOs to maintain a defined stakeholder engagement process that resists external forces that may impact on their operations and derail their mission, resulting in duplication of services.

The study shows the implications of donors’ influence on accountability practices which can be improved by re-structuring supply-side stakeholders to significantly include DSS accountability requirements in the key performance indicators of NGOs in developing countries. The authors present a nuanced perspective to aid delivery and access that ensures improved services and more effective, impactful and sustainable aid which is of practical relevance to NGOs and their accountability mechanism.

This study deepens the understanding of the dynamics of stakeholder engagement and accountability processes and shows that the most effective way to deploy aid funds to meet sustainability goals is to draw on the experiences and local knowledge of the DSS. This would require an effective and results-driven dialogue among all the stakeholders involved. The proposed engagement and management framework contribute to theory and practice by fostering multi-stakeholder cooperation, DSS accountability and the advancement of sustainable development

This paper offers grounded insights on organization–government relationships, or the practice of public affairs, in Kenya.

In-depth interviews were conducted with senior Kenyan practitioners. Interviewees represent national corporations, multinational corporations with offices in Kenya, consulting agencies, parastatal intergovernmental organizations, national government and county governments.

Results suggest Kenyan public affairs is centered on relationship management, research and intelligence gathering, risk management and strategic communication. Second, while lobbying is a tactic, it is not synonymous with the broader scope of public affairs strategy. Third, the absence of educational training, a professional body to oversee the profession and the perception of public affairs as “bribery” are threats to the profession's growth.

Findings should not be interpreted to represent “Africa's public affairs industry,” rather a snapshot of the profession contextualized in Kenya.

Kenya needs a professional body to manage the public affairs profession at a national level. It also needs an established curriculum in its higher education environment. Lastly, as one of the fastest growing markets in the world, understanding the public policy environment will benefit multinational organizations looking to expand and operate in Kenya.

This study contributes diverse and inclusive insights on the practice of public affairs in a leading economic and political actor in sub-Saharan Africa. It also expands organization–public relationship theory to articulate engagement with governmental stakeholders.