Municipal Services Project
Co-Directors: Professor Greg Ruiters (Rhodes University) and Professor David McDonald (Queens University)
Who We Are
The Municipal Services Project is an inter-disciplinary project made up of academics, labour unions, non-governmental organizations, social movements and activists from around the globe. The project is guided by a Steering Committee, made up of representatives from project partners and coordinated by the project co-directors, David McDonald (Queen’s University, Canada) and Greg Ruiters (Rhodes University, South Africa).
Project Partners
The Institute for Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University
The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) is an inter-disciplinary research centre based at Rhodes University, South Africa. It is involved in a wide range of socio-economic research in southern and eastern Africa.
Rhodes University
PO Box 94
Grahamstown 6140
South Africa
- Dr Greg Ruiters, Co-Director of the MSP
email: g.ruiters@ru.ac.za
tel: +27 (0) 46-603-8551
fax: +27 (0) 46-622-3948 - Julie Borland, Project Manager
email: j.borland@ru.ac.za
tel: + 27 (0) 46-603-8937
Southern African Research Centre, Queen’s University
The Southern African Research Centre (SARC) is a focal point within Canada for research and international development programs focused on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. The overall aim of SARC is to contribute to regional cooperation and development in Southern Africa through basic research, training and capacity building, the delivery of Canadian expertise and policy inputs; and the planning and development of academic and applied research and development projects.
Queen's University
152 Albert Street
Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6 Canada
- Dr David McDonald, Co-Director of the MSP
Phone: + (613) 533-6962
Fax: + (613) 533-2986
email: dm23@queensu.ca - Amanda Wilson, Website and Publications Coordinator
email: mspadmin@queensu.ca
Focus on the Global South
Focus on the Global South (Focus) is a non-governmental organization with twenty staff working in Thailand, the Philippines and India. Focus was established in Bangkok in 1995 and is affiliated with the Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute. Focus combines policy research, advocacy, activism and grassroots capacity building in order to generate critical analysis and encourage debates on national and international policies related to corporate-led globalization, neo-liberalism and militarization.
- Jenina Joy Chavez
Coordinator, Focus on the Global South Philippines
#19 Maginhawa Street
UP Village, Dilman
Quezon City, Philippines
email: j.chavez@focusweb.org - Meena Menon
Coordinator, Focus on the Global South India Programme
A-210 Kailash Apartments
Juhu Church Road, Juhu
Mumbai 400 049, India
email: meenamen@gmail.com
Regional Centro de Estudios Superiores Universitarios (CESU)
The Centro de Estudios Superiores Universitarios (CESU) is a multidisciplinary research center at the University Mayor San Simón, Cochabamba, Bolivia. Its mandate is to conduct research on pressing current issues and to provide research training and capacity building for graduate students. Research themes are multidisciplinary in character and organized around the following key themes: environment, economics, planning, legal and political studies, and development. The Center organizes seminars, courses and conferences to discuss topical issues, and disseminates its intellectual production through books and a semi-annual magazine.
- Dr Carlos Crispo
Fax: (591-4) 425625
Tel: (591-4) 4220317 or 4252951.
crespoflores@yahoo.com
Africa Water Network
Africa Water Network (AWN) is a collective of water workers and activists in Africa working towards equitable access to water for all through active campaigns against policies of commercialization. The AWN is committed to fighting against all forms of water privatisation, resisting prepaid water meters, and recognizing water as a human right. To achieve this they promote alternatives to commercialization and public investment in water and sanitation services.
C/O Civic Response
37 New Town Loop
D.T.D Accra-North, Ghana
- Al-hassan Adam - Coordinator of AWN Tel: +233-21248745 or +233-244208184 email: alhassan.adam@gmail.com
EQUINET AFRICA
EQUINET, the Regional Network on Equity in Health in Eastern and Southern Africa, is a network of professionals, civil society members, policy makers, state officials and others within the region who have come together as an equity catalyst, to promote and realize shared values of equity and social justice in health.
Regional Network for Equity in Health in Eastern and Southern Africa (Equinet)
TARSC
47 Van Praagh Avenue
Milton Park
Harare
Zimbabwe
Phone: + 263 4 708 835
Fax: +263 4 737 220
- Dr Rene Loewenson, Research Associate ?Email: rene@tarsc.org
- Dr. Di McIntyre, Health Economic Unit Email: Diane.McIntyre@uct.ac.za
- Dr Yoswa Mbulalina Dambisya, Senior Professor, Pharmacology, School of Health Sciences University of Limpopo Private Bag X1106, SOVENGA 0727, South Africa? Tel: +27 15 268 2353? Email: yoswad@ul.ac.za or: mbulalina@yahoo.com
Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU)
PSIRU researches the privatization and restructuring of public services around the world, with a focus on water, energy, waste management, and healthcare. It produces reports and maintains an extensive database on the multinational companies involved. This core database is financed by Public Services International (PSI), the global confederation of public service trade unions.
UK
- Dr David Hall
Director of PSIRU Tel: +44-(0)208-331-9933
email: d.j.hall@gre.ac.uk - Emanuele Lobina
Senior Researcher at PSIRU
email: e.lobina@gre.ac.uk
Red Vida - Vigilancia Interamericana para la Defensa y el Derecho al Agua (Inter-American Vigilance for the Defence and the Right to Water)
Red Vida was formed in El Salvador in August 2003 when 54 organizations from 16 countries from all over Latin America met to launch a hemispherical campaign to defend water as a public good and a fundamental human right. The network is made up of consumers associations, womens organizations, environmentalists, labour unions, human rights activists, religious groups, indigenous and social organizations.. Red Vida seeks to strengthen civil society groups in particular by coordinating activities and sharing information on the struggle for the right to water.
- Marcela Olivera
Casilla 1099
Cochabamba, Bolivia
Email: molivera@fwwatch.org
Cell: +591-72220216
Of: +591-4- 4588725
fax: +1-413-556.3474
Transnational Institute
Founded in 1974, the Transnational Institute (TNI) is an international network of activist-scholars committed to critical analyses of the global problems of today and tomorrow, with a view to providing intellectual support to those movements concerned to steer the world in a democratic, equitable and environmentally sustainable direction. The Water Justice project promotes participatory, public sector water as the most viable means to achieve the goal of water for all. It facilitates the creation of new regional and global networks to promote public-public co-operation in the water sector. TNI also publishes a Public Services yearbook on the impact of privatisation and experiences of public sector reform globally.
TransNational Institute
De Wittenstraat 25
1052 AK Amsterdam
The Netherlands
- Dr Daniel Chavez
Coordinator – New Politics Programme
tel: + 31 20 662 66 08
fax: + 31 20 675 71 76
chavez@tni.org
The School of International Development and Global Studies - University of Ottawa
SIDGS conduct basic and applied research on an international scale that covers all continents and a variety of fields, such as the environment, health and education, economic policies and development aid, institutionalization of social movements (women’s groups, Aboriginal people, alter-globalist groups), armed conflicts and peacekeeping, the role of international organizations, etc. The School contributes to the development of knowledge, research and public policy dealing with issues of international development and globalization.
University of Ottawa
550 Cumberland St, Tabaret Hall
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5
Canada
- Dr Susan Spronk
Tel: +1 (613) 562-5800 ext. 4426
email: Susan.Spronk@uottawa.ca
The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) is a college of the University of London and the only Higher Education institution in the UK specializing in the study of Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East. SOAS combines language scholarship, disciplinary expertise and regional foci. It has the largest concentration in Europe of academic staff concerned with Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
University of London
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square
London WC1H 0XG
UK
- Dr Ben Fine Department of Economics
Tel: +44 (0)20 7898 4527
email: bf@soas.ac.uk
The People's Health Movement
The People’s Health Movement (PHM) is a global grassroots network of health workers, activists and academics concerned about the growing inequality in health over the last 25 years. The PHM advocates for Health for All, as an equitable, participatory and inter-sectoral movement and rights issue. They also call for a complete revision of international and domestic health policies that have negatively impacted health status and systems.
PO Box 13698 Mowbray
Cape Town, South Africa 7705
Email: globalsecretariat@phmovement.org
- Dr Amit Sengupta People's Health Movement India Email: ctddsf@vsnl.com
Dr David Sanders,
Director of School of Public Health University of Western Cape, South Africa
Email:sandersdav5845@gmail.com
Objectives
The overall research objective of the Municipal Services Project (MSP) is to critically and systematically analyze ‘alternatives to privatization’ in the primary health, water and electricity sectors in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Our aim is to identify and document successful alternatives and the conditions required for their sustainability and/or reproducibility.
The MSP emphasizes participatory research involving communities, front-line service workers, managers and other parties involved in the delivery and/or consumption of services. We work closely with organizations and individuals most directly involved with, and affected by, service delivery reforms to learn from their experiences. This enables us to develop research questions and methods that are most appropriate for the situation, to build research capacity and insights at the grassroots level, and to translate this knowledge into mediums that are accessible to others.
Research findings are used to advocate for policy changes. The MSP has been active in targeting decision-making groups with its research findings in an effort to advocate for more equitable, accessible and sustainable forms of service delivery. MSP research has been taken up by policy makers, organized labour and community activists as tools in their campaigns and efforts to reform legislation. Phase III of the project will build on this, targeting a wider range of national, regional and multinational stakeholders associated with the research. In addition to local state actors and civil society, our engagements will include such multilateral organizations as the international financial institutions, the UNDP, and globally operating NGOs.
More specifically we aim to:
- Develop new and rigorous research methodologies and conceptual frameworks of assessment and evaluation that are regionally and sectorally relevant but allow for inter-regional and inter-sectoral comparison and linkages and which advance overall understandings of health systems;
- Develop a network of researchers and organizations in different sectors and regions to implement research activities and to build long-term research capacity in the field;
- Employ and refine research tools to identify and document successful models of alternative service delivery linked to the health system as well as potential future research priorities;
- Effectively disseminate research findings through multiple publication formats and communication strategies;
- Engage with policy makers, NGOs, labour unions, social movements, academics, donor agencies, development banks and other relevant organizations to promote alternative models of service delivery that advance improved health systems and delivery in the relevant service sectors;
- Identify and work with research partners and funders that fall outside immediate project activities in an effort to develop parallel research and dissemination activities that complement the core objectives of the MSP.
