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Formal, state-sanctioned self-help housing for blacks in whitedesignated areas of South Africa is discussed. Based on two case studies, the actual and potential impacts of this form of self-help housing on the participants are examined. It is shown that national settlement policies and local interventions have to some degree constrained the range of user opportunities potentially opened up through the self-help process, and it is argued that the case studies presage the residential future of increasing numbers of South African black people.

MICROFINANCE has emerged as an instrument poverty alleviation by way of providing credit and other financial services to the poor. It has been promoted by Jinkin self help groups (SHGs) of the poor with banks, either directly o through non" government organisations (NGOs). It is estimated that India has nearly 400 million people living below the poverty line. Approximately 75 million households need micro-finance, of which nearly 60 million households are in rural areas and 15 million are urban slum dwellers.

We explore how Norwegian self-help groups are defined and managed to create a particular form of health system governmentality. Self-help groups are typically framed as therapeutic communities where participants define the agenda creating a space where open and equal interaction can produce individual learning and personal growth. In Norway, however, self-help groups are managed in a way that integrates them in to the health system but insulates them from clinical medicine; an approach that disciplines participants to act in a particular way in relation to the health system. We draw on the analysis of 1456 pages of public documents and websites from the National Nodal Point for Self-Help (NPSH), the organisation that manages self-help groups, and central government including individual testimonies from participants published between 2006 and 2014. We argue, drawing on Foucault, that self-help premised on lay-leadership and self-determination is at odds with the centrally defined regulation apparent in the model adopted in Norway and an example of disciplining that reinforces health system governmentality and serves the interests of the medical profession and the state. Further we propose that this illustrates the contestation between the pastoral power of medics, the National Nodal Point for Self-Help and the Ministry of Health. Our analysis of Norwegian self-help as a mechanism to create a particular form of health system governmentality helps explain the expansion of self-help and self-management within developed health systems and provides an explanation for why self-help within health systems, is typically situated adjacent to, rather than integrated into, clinical medicine. ; publishedVersion ; Paid Open Access

We explore how Norwegian self-help groups are defined and managed to create a particular form of health system governmentality. Self-help groups are typically framed as therapeutic communities where participants define the agenda creating a space where open and equal interaction can produce individual learning and personal growth. In Norway, however, self-help groups are managed in a way that integrates them in to the health system but insulates them from clinical medicine; an approach that disciplines participants to act in a particular way in relation to the health system. We draw on the analysis of 1456 pages of public documents and websites from the National Nodal Point for Self-Help (NPSH), the organisation that manages self-help groups, and central government including individual testimonies from participants published between 2006 and 2014. We argue, drawing on Foucault, that self-help premised on lay-leadership and self-determination is at odds with the centrally defined regulation apparent in the model adopted in Norway and an example of disciplining that reinforces health system governmentality and serves the interests of the medical profession and the state. Further we propose that this illustrates the contestation between the pastoral power of medics, the National Nodal Point for Self-Help and the Ministry of Health. Our analysis of Norwegian self-help as a mechanism to create a particular form of health system governmentality helps explain the expansion of self-help and self-management within developed health systems and provides an explanation for why self-help within health systems, is typically situated adjacent to, rather than integrated into, clinical medicine. ; publishedVersion ; This article is available under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND license and permits non-commercial use of the work as published, without adaptation or alteration provided the work is fully attributed.

In 1972 a group of women met to discuss the growing problem of parents under stress, especially the problem of child abuse. With the increase in single parent families, the escalating number of broken marriages and the disappearance of extended families, the pressure of parents was becoming greater. These women decided to form a group, a self-help group, non denominational and non profit making. Parents Anonymous was born.A common complaint from people who seek help from Parents Anonymous is that many doctors, infant welfare sisters, or other professional workers do not have the understanding or experience to skilfully guide or refer parents who have trouble coping with their children, especially in times of stress. In most cases, particularly with doctors, it is the general practice to either underrate the problem or to hand out a prescription to "calm poor mum down". Also, to some parents, doctors and other professional workers represent an "authority" and this inhibits their ability to express themselves. They also fear that by admitting their parenting problems they are "failures" and fear that they may have their children taken from them. As parents are particularly vulnerable at such times, it would be helpful if professionals could be more perceptive of stress situations and their underlying causes, and be able to make parents more comfortable about talking out their problems and needs.