Search results for: local community

Authors: Muhammad Yusuf Abduh, Robert Manurung, Hero Jan Heeres

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Biodiesel can be produced in small scale mobile units which are designed with local input and demand. Unlike the typical biodiesel production plants, mobile biodiesel unit consiss of a biodiesel production facility placed inside a standard cargo container and mounted on a truck so that it can be transported to a region near the location of raw materials. In this paper, we review the existing concept and unit for the development of community-scale and mobile production of biodiesel. This includes the main reactor technology to produce biodiesel as well as the pre-treatment prior to the reaction unit. The pre-treatment includes the oil-expeller unit to obtain oil from the oilseeds as well as the quality control of the oil before it enters the reaction unit. This paper also discusses the post-treatment after the production of biodiesel. It includes the refining and purification of biodiesel to meet the product specification set by the biodiesel industry.

Keywords: biodiesel, community scale, mobile biodiesel unit, reactor technology

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Authors: Allison Tucker, Carolyn Clarke

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This study arose from the understanding that school cultures are shaped by the stories of school as known by teachers, students, and families. These sometimes-conflicting stories, based on a myriad of influences, present challenges to school culture. Layered on stories of school are the policies, developed often from central jurisdictional agencies, that direct schools on their daily operations from things such as curriculum to schedules and school calendars. This study investigates the stories of one Canadian school with the teachers, students, and families of the community. Using appreciative inquiry to consider the influence stories of school have on the ways policies are interpreted and lived in their school community, participants interrogate the stories that currently overarch the school community, and explore ways they might actively foster a school community whose lived experience aligns with what they dream for their schools. Paradigmatic analysis was used to reveal commonalities in participant responses. The findings of the study indicate that schools face challenges in creating a cohesive school community due to related to conflicting interpretations of school stories and the attempts to integrate jurisdictional policies in ways that reflect and make sense in their communities. Differing beliefs about the structure of school, misalignment in what was felt was the purpose of school, diverse understandings of curriculum, and even disparities regarding what the role of each group was in the school community, all create barriers to the creation of a well-connected school community that shares a common purpose. Results from the study, assist the school community to more effectively respond to the impacts that stories from the community and factors external to the school have on the community, and by extension the daily lived experiences of teachers and students in the school. It also offers other school communities a framework through which they could respond sensitively to the lived experience and stories of the teachers, students, and families of their schools.

Keywords: school community, appreciative inquiry, school policy, school culture

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Authors: Andi Triswoyo

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The establishment of ASEAN Community 2015 was proposed to integrate concretely, in terms of regional cooperation. All of the members of the ASEAN itself compete to prepare themselves in the actual place. Regarding to the Bali Concord III, subsequently ASEAN Community was categorized by three elements, such as (1) ASEAN Political-security Community (APC), (2) ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), and (3) ASEAN Socio-cultural Community (ASC). Preparing on three components above, civil society organizations must be prioritized as the main body, which ensure grassroots society itself obtain maximum benefits or advantage of these declarations. NU, as the representative of mass-based organizations, was choose, due to the highly influences toward Moslem rural-traditionalist, which has the largest followers in Indonesia. This paper was aimed to explain the contribution of NU in developing and empowering society. Furthermore, it will use historical perspective, by looking for related data, which contain basic- knowledge and explanatory facts in literary desk. It would elaborate in NU’s urgency for promoting civil societies roles in ASEAN Community. In the ends, this paper was proposed to measure to what extend NU’s roles in promoting the Civil Society in Indonesia and its potential capability to get involved at the upcoming regional communities. Hopefully, the attempt to strengthen Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), like NU can push faster in creating good governance and democracy, toward social configurations amongst state, market and civil society.

Keywords: ASEAN community, Nahdlatul Ulama, civil society organizations(CSO), civil society

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Authors: Caroline Spencer, Suzanne Cross, Dudley McArdle, Frank Archer

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Objectives: The evolution of the Victorian Compendium of Community-Based Resilience Building Case Studies and its capacity to help communities implement activities that encourage adaptation to disaster risk reduction and promote community resilience in rural and urban locations provide this paper's objectives. Background: Between 2012 and 2019, community groups presented at the Monash University Disaster Resilience Initiative (MUDRI) 'Advancing Community Resilience Annual Forums', provided opportunities for communities to impart local resilience activities, how to solve challenges and share unforeseen learning and be considered for inclusion in the Compendium. A key tenet of the Compendium encourages compiling and sharing of grass-roots resilience building activities to help communities before, during, and after unexpected emergencies. The online Compendium provides free access for anyone wanting to help communities build expertise, reduce program duplication, and save valuable community resources. Identifying case study features across the emergency phases and analyzing critical success factors helps communities understand what worked and what did not work to achieve success and avoid known barriers. International exemplars inform the Compendium, which represents an Australian first and enhances Victorian community resilience initiatives. Emergency Management Victoria provided seed funding for the Compendium. MUDRI matched this support and continues to fund the project. A joint Steering Committee with broad-based user input and Human ethics approval guides its continued growth. Methods: A thematic analysis of the Compendium identified case study features, including critical success factors. Results: The Compendium comprises 38 case studies, representing all eight Victorian regions. Case studies addressed emergency phases, before (29), during (7), and after (17) events. Case studies addressed all hazards (23), bushfires (11), heat (2), fire safety (1), and house fires (1). Twenty case studies used a framework. Thirty received funding, of which nine received less than $20,000 and five received more than $100,000. Twenty-nine addressed a whole of community perspective. Case studies revealed unique and valuable learning in diverse settings. Critical success factors included strong governance; board support, leadership, and trust; partnerships; commitment, adaptability, and stamina; community-led initiatives. Other success factors included a paid facilitator and local government support; external funding, and celebrating success. Anecdotally, we are aware that community groups reference Compendium and that its value adds to community resilience planning. Discussion: The Compendium offers an innovative contribution to resilience research and practice. It augments the seven resilience characteristics to strengthen and encourage communities as outlined in the Statewide Community Resilience Framework for Emergency Management; brings together people from across sectors to deliver distinct, yet connected actions to strengthen resilience as a part of the Rockefeller funded Resilient Melbourne Strategy, and supports communities and economies to be resilient when a shock occurs as identified in the recently published Australian National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework. Each case study offers learning about connecting with community and how to increase their resilience to disaster risks and to keep their community safe from unexpected emergencies. Conclusion: The Compendium enables diverse communities to adopt or adapt proven resilience activities, thereby preserving valuable community resources and offers the opportunity to extend to a national or international Compendium.

Keywords: case study, community, compendium, disaster risk reduction, resilience

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Authors: Claude Nsobya, Alice Moncaster, Karen Potter, Jed Ramsay

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The shift in Flood Risk Governance (FRG) has moved away from traditional approaches that solely relied on centralized decision-making and structural flood defenses. Instead, there is now the adoption of integrated flood risk management measures that involve various actors and stakeholders. This new approach emphasizes people-centered approaches, including adaptation and learning. This shift to a diversity of FRG approaches has been identified as a significant factor in enhancing resilience. Resilience here refers to a community's ability to withstand, absorb, recover, adapt, and potentially transform in the face of flood events. It is argued that if the FRG merely focused on the conventional 'fighting the water' - flood defense - communities would not be resilient. The move to these people-centered approaches also implies that communities will be more involved in FRG. It is suggested that effective flood risk governance influences resilience through meaningful community involvement, and effective community engagement is vital in shaping community resilience to floods. Successful community participation not only uses context-specific indigenous knowledge but also develops a sense of ownership and responsibility. Through capacity development initiatives, it can also raise awareness and all these help in building resilience. Recent Flood Risk Management (FRM) projects have thus had increasing community involvement, with varied conceptualizations of such community engagement in the academic literature on FRM. In the context of overland floods, there has been a substantial body of literature on Flood Risk Governance and Management. Yet, groundwater flooding has gotten little attention despite its unique qualities, such as its persistence for weeks or months, slow onset, and near-invisibility. There has been a little study in this area on how successful community involvement in Flood Risk Governance may improve community resilience to groundwater flooding in particular. This paper focuses on a case study of a flood risk management project in the United Kingdom. Buckinghamshire Council is leading Project Groundwater, which is one of 25 significant initiatives sponsored by England's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme. DEFRA awarded Buckinghamshire Council and other councils 150 million to collaborate with communities and implement innovative methods to increase resilience to groundwater flooding. Based on a literature review, this paper proposes a new paradigm for effective community engagement in Flood Risk Governance (FRG). This study contends that effective community participation can have an impact on various resilience capacities identified in the literature, including social capital, institutional capital, physical capital, natural capital, human capital, and economic capital. In the case of social capital, for example, successful community engagement can influence social capital through the process of social learning as well as through developing social networks and trust values, which are vital in influencing communities' capacity to resist, absorb, recover, and adapt. The study examines community engagement in Project Groundwater using surveys with local communities and documentary analysis to test this notion. The outcomes of the study will inform community involvement activities in Project Groundwater and may shape DEFRA policies and guidelines for community engagement in FRM.

Keywords: flood risk governance, community, resilience, groundwater flooding

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Authors: S. Khalifa, R. Chkoundali

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The specific role of banks in economic development varies, depending on scope. Firstly, the participation of banks in economic development focus around providing credit and services to generate revenues, which are then invested back into a local, national or international community. The specific roles banks play in the economic development of a small community differ from the role banks play in national or international economic development. Although the role can vary, factors such as access to credit and bank investment policies or practices remain constant, no matter the scope of economic development. This paper provides an overview of the economic situation of Africa and its short-term outlook. He referred to the progress made in the implementation of the Medium-Term Strategy (2008-2012) and some major achievements of the Bank, as the speed and flexibility with which she responded to the oil crisis, food and financial.

Keywords: economic growth, bank, Africa, economic development

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Authors: Ratchasak Suvannatsiri

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The objectives of the research are to find the basic engineering properties of lateritic soil and to predict the impact on community members who live nearby the excavation pits in the area of Amphur Pak Thor, Ratchaburi Province in the western area of Thailand. The research was conducted by collecting soil samples from four excavation pits for basic engineering properties, testing and collecting questionnaire data from 120 community members who live nearby the excavation pits, and applying statistical analysis. The results found that the basic engineering properties of lateritic soil can be classified into silt soil type which is cohesionless as the loess or collapsible soil which is not suitable to be used for a pavement structure for commuting highway because it could lead to structural and functional failure in the long run. In terms of opinion from community members toward the impact, the highest impact was on the dust from excavation activities. The prediction from the logistic regression in terms of impact on community members was at 84.32 which can be adapted and applied onto other areas with the same context as a guideline for risk prevention and risk communication since it could impact the infrastructures and also impact the health of community members.

Keywords: lateritic soil, excavation pits, engineering properties, impact on community members

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Authors: Jeremy Schultz, Kelly Bricker

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Ecotourism has proven itself to be a forerunner in the advancement of environmental conservation all the while supporting cultural tradition, uniqueness, and pride among indigenous communities. Successful private-community partnerships associated with ecotourism operations are vital to the overall prosperity of both the businesses and the local communities. Such accomplishments can be seen through numerous livelihood goals including income, food security, health, reduced vulnerability, governance, and empowerment. Private-community partnerships also support global initiatives such as the sustainable development goals and sustainable development frameworks including those proposed by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (WTO). Understanding such partnerships assists not only large organizations such as the WTO, but it also benefits smaller ecotourism operators and entrepreneurs who are trying to achieve their sustainable tourism development goals. This study examined the partnership between an ecotourism company (Rivers Fiji) and two rural villages located in Fiji’s Upper Navua Conservation Area. Focus groups were conducted in each village. Observation journals were also used to record conversations outside of the focus groups. Data were thematically organized and analyzed to offer researcher interpretations and understandings. This research supported the notion that respectful and emboldening partnerships between communities and private enterprise are vital to the composition of successful ecotourism operations that support sustainable development protocol. Understanding these partnerships can assist in shaping future ecotourism development and re-molding existing businesses. This study has offered an example of a thriving partnership through community input and critical researcher analysis. Research has identified six contributing factors to successful ecotourism partnerships, and this study provides additional support to that framework.

Keywords: community partnerships, conservation areas, ecotourism, Fiji, sustainability

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Authors: Kalluru Maheswaramma, Putta Padma

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This study makes an attempt to demonstrate the wondrous world of the upwardly middle black community in Gloria Naylor’s Linden Hills. Gloria Naylor’s first novel The Women of Brewster Place is about the working class and Linden Hills about middle-class Black America. Naylor believes their serenity that is lost in the middle or working class black people as they move into the upper patriarchal society. Naylor challenges the different forms of superiority, homophobia, and chauvinism, interracial bias, and the like, which plague a community so significantly trying to be acceptable in the larger white community. In an ironic twist, Naylor creates characters that recognize their desire for a solid black community but who in reality ignore blackness and negate any emergent sign of its development. Linden Hills is an expose of the wealthy and spiritually dissolute upper class. Linden Hills is an examination of an upper-middle-class African American community in which women are largely exploited or invisible and in which men have, in the course of upward mobility, sacrificed their racial identity and their essence. Linden Hills is a social world, which includes firm stratification, false values, and an immobilizing impact on its residents. Touching a brief note upon the origin and development of African American Literature as well a note on the chosen writer and her works, the paper proceeds to depict the middle-class black community of Linden Hills.

Keywords: gloria naylor, linden hills, African American community, the middle black community

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Authors: Ruchirat Patanathabutr

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This applied research has adopted descriptive social science research methodology to interpret, analyze and assess the data and used descriptive analysis to present the research results. The objective of this research is to investigate the behaviors and opinions on the service and construction of cable car system at the Upper Esaan Wild Animal Adventure Park (Khon Kaen – Udon Thani) in Khao Suan Kwang District, Khon Kaen Province (Khon Kaen Zoo) of people in the local and distant communities as well as the service users. The research results have revealed that the main target group is the residents in the upper northeastern region of Thailand, especially those who have resided in the immediate vicinity of the cable car project and in nearby districts for more than 10 years. They are men and women at the age of 20-60 with high school diploma and higher levels of education, working as traders/entrepreneurs, government officers/state enterprise employees, and freelancers/self-employed, with the average monthly income of no more than 30,000 baht. Khon Kaen Zoo should improve its 4 organizational images as a tourist attraction, an animal display enclosure, an educational institution and as a provincial symbol; however, the zoo should mainly be presented as an important tourist attraction. The service should focus on maintaining the service standards in both the animal display area and the ocean park. The attention should also be directed at the types and numbers of animals, service quality, service fee, convenient access and transportation, promotions and the standards of other services. Regarding the community involvement in the cable car system construction project, it is strongly agreed that there should be a cable car service between the animal display area and the ocean park and a round-trip ticket should cost 20 baht, 50 baht or 100 baht, respectively. Khon Kaen Zoo or responsible entity must provide related groups of people, such as people in the local and distant communities as well as the service users, with accurate information about the community management guidelines. This is because the community opinions have showed the uncertainty about the cable car system construction at Khon Kaen Zoo and the 4 principles of management, including planning, organizing, leading and controlling, are indicated as uncertain as there is no statistically significant difference at 0.05. In addition, the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the cable car system construction at Khon Kaen Zoo on the communities must be considered carefully.

Keywords: community opinion, cable car system, Khon Kaen Zoo, Thailand

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Authors: Enjia Zhang

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During the prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic, all communities in China were gated and under strict management, which was highly effective in preventing the spread of the epidemic from spreading. Based on the TRIZ theory, this paper intends to propose green design strategies of community control in response to public health emergencies and to optimize community control facilities according to the principle of minimum transformation. Through the questionnaire method, this paper investigates and summarizes the situation and problems of community control during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on these problems, the TRIZ theory is introduced to figure out the problems and associates them with prefabricated facilities. Afterward, the innovation points and solutions of prefabricated community control measures are proposed by using the contradiction matrix. This paper summarizes the current situation of community control under public health emergencies and concludes the problems such as simple forms of temporary roadblocks, sudden increase of community traffic pressure, and difficulties to access public spaces. The importance of entrance and exit control in community control is emphasized. Therefore, the community control measures are supposed to focus on traffic control, and the external access control measures, including motor vehicles, non-motor vehicles, residents and non-residents access control, and internal public space access control measures, including public space control shared with the society or adjacent communities, are proposed in order to make the community keep the open characteristics and have the flexibility to deal with sudden public health emergencies in the future.

Keywords: green design, community control, prefabricated structure, public health emergency

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Authors: Sophaphan Intahphuak, Narong Pamala, Boonyaporn Yodkhong, Samuhavitayaa

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The amount of solid waste increases each year as a result of population growth, urbanization and economic expansion; however, there was little public cooperation in the segregation of solid waste due to the lack of awareness. This study aims to encourage all sectors in the community to participate in the development of a suitable model to reduce environmental waste by emerging the cultural context that bares a close relationship with Buddhism through faith and merit-making. The monks, involving stakeholder in the entire waste management system, help publicize the campaign on Buddhist holy days, religious ceremonies and they also teach people to be responsible for the garbage problem in the community. As for the garbage brought for merit-making, they are sold and the money is used to help build the pavilion. It was found that people can separate recycled garbage and the amount of solid waste slightly decrease. The results obtained suggest that the religion is not only the moral center of the community, it is also the center of community empowerment to consciousness in waste management.

Keywords: community empowerment, religion’s role, waste management, recycled garbage

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Authors: Soma Sarkar

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A number of authors have recently argued that there are strong links between ecosystem services and sustainable development, particularly development efforts that aim to reduce rural poverty. We see two distinct routes by which the science of ecosystem services can contribute to both nature conservation and sustainable development. First, a thorough accounting of ecosystem services and a better understanding of how and at what rates ecosystems produce these services can be used to motivate payment for nature conservation. At least part of the generated funds can be used to compensate people who suffer lost economic opportunities to protect these services. For example, if rural poor are asked to take actions that reduce farm productivity to protect and regulate water supply, those farmers could be compensated for the reduced productivity they experience. When the benefits of natural ecosystems are explicitly quantified, those benefits are more valued both by the people who directly interact with the ecosystems and the governmental and other agencies that would have to pay for substitute sources of these services if these ecosystems should become impaired. Appreciating the value of ecosystem services can motivate increased conservation investment to prevent having to pay for substitutes later. This approach could be characterized as a ‘‘government investment’’ approach because the payments will generally come from beneficiaries outside of the local area, and a governmental or other agency is typically responsible for collecting and redistributing the funds. Second, a focus on the conservation of ecosystem services could improve the success of projects that attempt to both conserve nature and improve the welfare of the rural poor by fostering markets for the goods and services that local people produce or extract from ecosystems. These projects could be characterized as more ‘‘community based’’ because the goal is to foster the more organic, or grassroots, development of cottage industries, such as ecotourism, or the production of non-timber forest products, that are enhanced by better protection of local ecosystems. Using this framework, we discuss the factors that may have contributed to failure or success for several projects in the district of Purulia, one of the most backward districts of India and inhabited by indigenous group of people. A large majority of people in this district are dependent on environment based incomes for their sustenance. The erosion of natural resource base owing to poor governance in the district has led to the reductions in the household incomes of these people. The scale of our analysis is local or project level. The plight of poor has little to do with the production functions of ecosystem services. But for rural poor, at the local level, the status of ecosystem services can make a big difference in their daily lives.

Keywords: ecosystem services, governance, rural poor, community based natural resource management

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Authors: Mita Sirait

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Everyday Jakarta produces 7,000 tons of solid waste and only about 5,200 tons delivered to landfill out of the city by 720 trucks, the rest are left yet manageable, as reported by Government of Clean Sector. CLEAN Jakarta Project is aimed at empowering community to achieve healthy environment for children and families in urban slum in Semper Barat and Penjaringan sub-district of North Jakarta that consisted of 20,584 people. The project applies Community Based Total Sanitation, an approach to empowering community to achieve total hygiene and sanitation behaviour by triggering activities. As regulated by Ministry of Health, it has 5 pillars: (1) open defecation free, (2) hand-washing with soaps, (3) drinking-water treatment, (4) solid-waste management and (5) waste-water management; and 3 strategic components: 1) demand creation, 2) supply creation and 3) enabling environment. Demand creation is generated by triggering community’s reaction to their daily sanitation habits by exposing them to their surrounding where they can see faeces, waste and other environmental pollutant to stimulate disgusting, embarrassing and responsibility sense. Triggered people then challenged to commit to improving their hygiene practice such as to stop littering and start waste separation. In order to support this commitment, and for supply creation component, the project initiated waste bank with community working group. It facilitated capacity-building trainings, waste bank system formulation and meetings with local authorities to solicit land permit and waste bank decree. As it is of a general banking system, waste bank has customer service, teller, manager, legal paper and provides saving book and money transaction. In 8 months, two waste banks have established with 148 customers, 17 million rupiah cash, and about 9 million of stored recyclables. Approximately 2.5 tons of 15-35 types of recyclable are managed in both waste banks per week. On enabling environment, the project has initiated sanitation working group in community and multi sectors government level, and advocated both parties. The former is expected to promote behaviour change and monitoring in the community, while the latter is expected to support sanitation with regulations, strategies, appraisal and awards; to coordinate partnering and networking, and to replicate best practices to other areas.

Keywords: urban community, waste management, Jakarta, community based total sanitation (CBTS)

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Authors: Pimrawee Rocharungsat

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The study of Phetchaburi Local Food Image in order to Support Tourism aimed 1) to overview Phetchaburi tourism images; and 2) to clarify Phetchaburi local food image. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis were used in this study. Questionnaires were delivered to sample group of 1,489 tourists from 8 districts of Phetchaburi. Results were found that Phetchaburi local food image could be as tool for tourism promotion. Strong place images were within Phetchaburi center city (35%) and in the markets (34.50%). As for satisfaction of local food comparing in descending order of excellent level mean score were its eminence, identity, quality, taste, creativity, and sanitation. Results of prominent images of well-known local food of Phetchaburi were Thai custard dessert, other desserts, palm and sugar palm drink and rice in ice water. The results can be applied as promotional tools for future food tourism in Phetchaburi.

Keywords: food tourism, image, tourist, Phetchaburi province

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Authors: Alwyn John Lim

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Philippines is one of the most vulnerable areas to natural disasters in the world. Almost every year different types of natural disasters occur in Philippines and destroy many lives and resources of people. Although it is not possible to prevent the occurrence of disasters influenced by natural causes, proper plan and management such as disaster risk reduction may minimize the damage cause by natural disasters. Based on literature review this paper will analyze literatures on public/community awareness and education in disaster risk reduction that would help promote a country wide public disaster awareness and education program in the Philippines. This will include best practices and importance of community disaster awareness and education. The paper will also tackle ICT tools that will help boost the process and effectiveness of community/public disaster awareness and education.

Keywords: community awareness, disaster education, disaster risk reduction, Philippines

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Authors: Sony Baral, Harald Vacik

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This study analyzes the sustainability of community forest management in two community forests in Terai and Hills of Nepal, representing four forest types: 1) Shorearobusta, 2) Terai hardwood, 3) Schima-Castanopsis, and 4) other Hills. The sustainability goals for this region include maintaining and enhancing the forest stocks. Considering this, we analysed changes in species composition, stand density, growing stock volume, and growth-to-removal ratio at 3-5 year intervals from 2005-2016 within 109 permanent forest plots (57 in the Terai and 52 in the Hills). To complement inventory data, forest users, forest committee members, and forest officials were consulted. The results indicate that the relative representation of economically valuable tree species has increased. Based on trends in stand density, both forests are being sustainably managed. Pole-sized trees dominated the diameter distribution, however, with a limited number of mature trees and declined regeneration. The forests were over-harvested until 2013 but under-harvested in the recent period in the Hills. In contrast, both forest types were under-harvested throughout the inventory period in the Terai. We found that the ecological dimension of sustainable forest management is strongly achieved while the economic dimension is lacking behind the current potential. Thus, we conclude that maintaining a large number of trees in the forest does not necessarily ensure both ecological and economical sustainability. Instead, priority should be given on a rational estimation of the annual harvest rates to enhance forest resource conditions together with regular benefits to the local communities.

Keywords: community forests, diversity, growing stock, forest management, sustainability, nepal

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Authors: Albert T. Akume, Ankama G. Rosecana, Micheal Solomon

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Every citizen has rights that must be respected by others in the community. Ironically however, women in most communities are not accorded some of those rights as the male folks. This has not only facilitated their disempowerment but inhibited them from being treated with equal dignity that they deserve as their male counterpart; despite their valuable contribution to the society. Those forces against women empowerment are not limited to socio-cultural practices alone, but the character and nature of the state in Nigeria point to indicators of systemic and structural exclusion embedded in its framework. The consequence of this is that the vital contributions of women to sustainable community development have eluded many communities in Nigeria with adverse tell-tell signs on the environment. It is for this reason that the objective of this study is not only to highlight the causes and challenges associated with women disempowerment, but also to draw attention to the need to correct those anomaly against women in order to genuinely empower them to contribute to sustainable community development in Nigeria.

Keywords: capacity development, community, social sustainability, sustainable development, women empowerment

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Authors: Chia-Chi Cheng

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After the implementation of “the internet plus,” several puzzles emerge as below: why does China impose more regulation and laws on economic development on the Internet? Why does China urge the importance of manufacturing industry? Why does China’s local government passively implement the policy imposed by the central government? What kind of factors can influence China’s local government’s economic preference? In the framework of neo-institutionalism, this research considers China’s local government as changing agents to analyze its preferences and behavior. In general, the interests urged by the local government will decide its preference and behaviors. They will change its counterpart to cooperate if the change will bring more benefits. Thus, they will change its preference and behavior while the external environment alters. While the local government has the same definition on political activity and economic interest, they will prefer to cooperate with the local enterprises in the way of laying symbiont, within the presumption that the institution remains. While the local government has the different positions on political activity and economic interest, they will re-define the existed regulation or create new regulation in the condition of institution vacuum. Sequentially, they will replace the targets, and the policy, which does not fit in the Central government’s policy, will emerge.

Keywords: China, institutional change, government enterprise relationship, e-commercial policy

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Authors: Mubarak Alhajri

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This paper addresses certain inherent limitations of local priority hysteresis switching logic. Our main result establishes that under persistent excitation assumption, it is possible to relax constraints requiring strict positivity of local priority and hysteresis switching constants. Relaxing these constraints allows the adaptive system to reach optimality which implies the performance improvement. The unconstrained local priority hysteresis switching logic is examined and conditions for global convergence are derived.

Keywords: adaptive control, convergence, hysteresis constant, hysteresis switching

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Authors: Su-Lin Yu

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In recent years, we have witnessed the growing scholarship on transnational theorizing and activism within disability. In particular, the universalizing discourses of disability formulated in the Global North seem inadequate in engaging the vast diversity of discourses of disability that emerge in global and local policies as well as the everyday experiences of disabled people in the Global South. This study will further consider the future possibilities of how Taiwanese and global disability studies might interchange disability knowledge. First, this study will determine how a local literature of disability can be formed in Taiwan by examining life writings written by Taiwanese disabled women. Both the texts and the personal experiences are treated as social products which can, through their discourses, offer insight into the socio-cultural practices and norms of disability and womanhood in Taiwan. This paper argues that more than by the impairment in itself, the experiences of disabled women are shaped by the social and cultural discourses and practices that define disability and womanhood as well as the normative roles, places, and contexts associated with them. Simultaneous analysis of disability and womanhood exemplifies the way in which disability operates in a complex interaction with the socio-cultural discourses and practices of womanhood, thus producing gender-differentiated disabling obstacles for disabled women. Another purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the transformative experience of women with disabilities and their perceptions of the self. Designed to provide positive, realistic pictures of the lives of women with disabilities and the social, economic, and political issues they face, their life writings demonstrate how they as disabled women simultaneously struggle with writing a new identity and creating an ethical narrative. These strong and articulate women construct narratives that attempt to recount the remarkable journey that transformed them from dependent women to community activists and writers who speak forcefully about the needs of people with disabilities. More than a story of one woman's struggle for independence, their writing, then, is a testimony to the importance of community building and organizing to enable local people with disabilities to live fulfilling lives.

Keywords: gender, disability, representation, agency

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Authors: Mark Opmeer

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The fruitful relationship between cultural heritage and digital technology is evident. Due to the development of user-friendly software, an increasing amount of heritage scholars use ict for their research activities. As a result, the implementation of information technology for heritage planning has become a research objective in itself. During the last decades, we have witnessed a growing debate and literature about the importance of computer technologies for the field of cultural heritage and ecotourism. Indeed, implementing digital technology in support of these domains can be very fruitful for one’s research practice. However, due to the rapid development of new software scholars may find it challenging to use these innovations in an appropriate way. As such, this contribution seeks to explore the interplay between geospatial technologies (geo-ict), civic engagement and cultural heritage and tourism. In this article, we discuss our findings on the use of geo-ict in support of civic participation, cultural heritage and sustainable tourism development in the southern Italian district of Brindisi. In the city of Latiano, three workshops were organized that involved local members of the community to distinguish and discuss interesting points of interests (POI’s) which represent the cultural significance and identity of the area. During the first workshop, a so called mappa della comunità was created on a touch table with collaborative mapping software, that allowed the participators to highlight potential destinations for tourist purposes. Furthermore, two heritage-based itineraries along a selection of identified POI’s was created to make the region attractive for recreants and tourists. These heritage-based itineraries reflect the communities’ ideas about the cultural identity of the region. Both trails were subsequently implemented in a dedicated mobile application (app) and was evaluated using a mixed-method approach with the members of the community during the second workshop. In the final workshop, the findings of the collaboration, the heritage trails and the app was evaluated with all participants. Based on our conclusions, we argue that geospatial technologies have a significant potential for involving local communities in heritage planning and tourism development. The participants of the workshops found it increasingly engaging to share their ideas and knowledge using the digital map of the touch table. Secondly, the use of a mobile application as instrument to test the heritage-based itineraries in the field was broadly considered as fun and beneficial for enhancing community awareness and participation in local heritage. The app furthermore stimulated the communities’ awareness of the added value of geospatial technologies for sustainable tourism development in the area. We conclude this article with a number of recommendations in order to provide a best practice for organizing heritage workshops with similar objectives.

Keywords: civic engagement, geospatial technologies, tourism development, cultural heritage

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Authors: Olufunmilayo Folaranmi

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The study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of micro-credit scheme of (COWAD) in enhancing the living standard of women in selected local government areas of Oyo State. A survey research design was adopted for the study. A sample of 250 respondents was purposively selected for the study while a structured questionnaire tagged Effectiveness of Micro-Credit Scheme of Community Women and Development and Living Standards of Women Questionnaire (EMCSCWDQ) was designed to collect data for the study. Data collected was analyzed using frequency distribution, tables, percentages and chi-square statistics. Three hypotheses were tested for the study at 0.05 level of significance. Findings from the study indicated that loan provided by COWAD for women in selected local government areas towards improving their economic conditions has improved the living conditions of the women, promoted their general welfare, and reduced their poverty level. Findings also showed that some beneficiaries were not able to pay back, therefore reducing the effectiveness for future beneficiaries. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the providers of various micro-credit schemes of the state should design a convenient pattern of payment which will provide enough time for the beneficiaries of the loan to sell their goods or work for proper and timely payment. Also, the problem of collateral should be reviewed as the majority of women involved are poor. Other recommendations include replication of COWAD facilities in other NGOs as well as sustainability of the facility.

Keywords: micro-credit scheme, welfare, women, development, poverty

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Authors: Jackie Oakley, Alice V. Brown

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Those experiencing homelessness are regularly excluded from the development of policies and services that impact their lives. This is particularly true for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experiencing homelessness in Australia, who tend to have differing needs, cultural obligations, and views of what equates to a ‘home’ and ‘homelessness’ than non-Aboriginal Australians. Aboriginal people are the traditional owners of Australia yet have had to survive within colonial housing customs, housing and homelessness policies, and markets that often conflict with their culture. Recognising this, in 2022, we commenced community-led research into the needs of Aboriginal people experiencing homelessness in Perth. Historically, research has often been done on Aboriginal people rather than with them. As such, a Participatory Action Research methodology was chosen, which recognises that those being researched are the experts of their circumstances rather than the research team, and facilitates their driving of the research, its questions, and how their community can directly benefit. A Community Ownership Group (COG) was formed to guide this process and negotiate the best ways that the Aboriginal community can be fairly and adequately involved. The COG approved a process developed by an Aboriginal Elder called Ngala Kadidjiny (Knowledge Vault), which outlines who and when various groups should be consulted throughout the research to ensure adequate involvement of the Aboriginal community at all stages. The process includes many markers of research integrity, including ensuring a Community Ownership Group is formed with diversity and recruiting its members through votes taking place within Elders groups across the metropolitan area. The process also demands that the community have the chance to review research findings before any findings are published. Additionally, the process asks that draft reports and findings are delivered to the broader community and Community Ownership Groups before being finalised, published, and shared officially with stakeholders and the government. This paper details how Ngala Kadidjiny’s process impacted the research, how it was explained and agreed upon by the Aboriginal community, the benefits and challenges of such a process, and its implications for other community-led research for and with Aboriginal people experiencing homelessness.

Keywords: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Aboriginal elders, homelessness, community-led research, community consultation

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Authors: Magdy Danial Riad

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Introduction: The ability of our world to support the expanding population after 2050 is at risk due to the food system's global role in poor health, climate change, and resource depletion. Healthy, equitable, and sustainable food systems must be achieved from the point of production through consumption in order to meet several of the sustainable development goals (SDG) targets. There is evidence that changing the local food environment can effectively change dietary habits in a community. The purpose of this article is to outline the policy initiatives taken by local governments to support environmentally friendly eating habits. Methods: Five databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles that described local government authorities' implementation of environmentally sustainable eating habits, were located in cities that had signed the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, were published after 2015, were available in English, and described policy interventions. Data extraction was a two-step approach that started with extracting information from the included study and ended with locating information unique to policies in the grey literature. Results: 45 papers that described a variety of policy initiatives from low-, middle-, and high-income countries met the inclusion criteria. A variety of desired dietary behaviors were the focus of policy action, including reducing food waste, procuring food locally and in season, boosting breastfeeding, avoiding overconsumption, and consuming more plant-based meals and fewer items derived from animals. Conclusions: In order to achieve SDG targets, local governments are under pressure to implement evidence-based interventions. This study can help direct local governments toward evidence-based policy measures to improve regional food systems and support ecologically friendly eating habits.

Keywords: meals, planet, poor health, eating habits

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Authors: Li Yang

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Tourism is employed by many countries to facilitate socioeconomic development and to assist in the heritage preservation. An “ethnic culture boom” is currently driving the tourism industry in China. Ethnic minorities, commonly portrayed as primitive, colorful and exotic, have become a big tourist draw. Many cultural attractions have been built throughout China to meet the demands of domestic tourists. Sacred cultural heritage sites have been rehabilitated as a major component of ethnic tourism. The purpose of this study is to examine the interconnected consequences of tourism development and tourism-related leisure property development and, and to discuss, in a broader context, issues and considerations that are pertinent to the management and development of ethnic attractions. The role of real estate in tourism development and its sociocultural consequences are explored. An empirical research was conducted in Yiren Ancient Town (literally, "Ancient Town of Yi People") in Chuxiong City, Yunnan Province, China. Multiple research methods, including in-depth interviews, informal discussions, on-site observations, and secondary data review were employed to measure residents and tourism decision-makers’ perceptions of ethnic tourism and to explore the impacts of tourism on local community. Key informants from government officials, tourism developers and local communities were interviewed individually to gather what they think about benefits and costs of tourism, and what their concerns about and hopes for tourism development are. Yiren Ancient Town was constructed in classical Yi architecture style featuring tranquil garden scenery. Commercial streets, entertainment complexes, and accommodation facilities occupied the center of the town, creating culturally distinctive and visually stimulating places for tourists. A variety of activities are presented to visitors, including walking tours of the town, staged dance shows, musical performances, ethnic festivals and ceremonies, tasting minority food and wedding shows. This study reveals that tourism real estate has transformed the town from a traditional neighborhood into diverse real estate landscapes. Ethnic architecture, costumes, festivals and folk culture have been represented, altered and reinvented through the tourist gaze and mechanisms of cultural production. Tourism is now a new economic driver of the community providing opportunities for the creation of small businesses. There was a general appreciation in the community that tourism has created many employment opportunities, especially for self-employment. However, profit-seeking is a primary motivation for the government, developers, businesses, and other actors involved in the tourism development process. As the town has attracted an increasing number of visitors, commercialization and business competition are intense in the town. Many residents complained about elevated land prices, making the town and the surroundings comparatively high-value locales. Local community is also concerned about the decline of traditional ethnic culture and an erosion of the sense of identity and place. A balance is difficult to maintain between protection and development. The preservation of ethnic culture and heritage should be enhanced if long-term sustainable development of tourism is to occur and the loss of ethnic identities is to be avoided.

Keywords: ancient town, ethnic tourism, local community, real estate, China

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Authors: Jessica Federman

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The current research offers a longitudinal and qualitative study design to examine how reciprocity improves relations between the homeless and various stakeholders within a community. The study examines a homeless shelter that sought to establish a facility within a community of Los Angeles, that was initially met with strong resistance and opposition from a variety of organizations due to deeply entrenched views about the negative impact of having homeless individuals within the community. The project tested an intervention model that targets the reduction of stigmatization of homeless individuals and promotes synergistic exchanges between conflicted organizational entities in communities. Years later, the data show that there has been a remarkable reversal in the perception of the agency by the very forces that initially prevented it from being established. This reversal was achieved by a few key strategic decisions. Community engagement was the first step toward changing people’s minds and demonstrating how the homeless shelter was helping to alleviate the problem of homelessness instead of contributing to it. Central to the non-profit’s success was the agency’s pioneering formulation of a treatment model known as, Reciprocal Community Engagement Model (RCEM). The model works by reintegrating the homeless back into society through relationship building within a network of programs that foster positive human connections. This approach aims to draw the homeless out of the debilitating isolation of their situation, reintegrate them through purposeful roles in the community while simultaneously providing a reciprocal benefit to the community at large. Through multilevel, simultaneous social interaction, RCEM has a direct impact not only on the homeless shelter’s clients but also for the community as well. The agency’s approach of RCEM led to their homeless clients getting out of the shelter and getting to work in the community directly alongside other community volunteers and for the benefit of other city and community organizations. This led to several opportunities for community members and residents to interact in meaningful ways. Through each successive exposure, the resident and community members’ distrust in one another was gradually eased and a mutually supportive relationship restored. In this process, the community member becomes the locus of change as much as the residents of the shelter. Measurements of community trust and resilience increased while negative perceptions of homeless people decreased.

Keywords: stigma, homelessness, reciprocity, identity

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Authors: Ester B. Onag, Manuel Morga, Belen Tangco

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Evidence-based research attested that Climate Change is a global phenomenon that has a massive impact on the economy, the government and the people. To minimize its impact, the national government must undertake social orders to ensure the needs of the people by implementing developmental policies that provide adequate social service to improve the quality of life for all. This research attempts to evaluate the political accountability of the Sangguniang Barangay of Malabon on its readiness for climate change. Which, the theory of decentralization takes an active participation, where the the national policies for climate change are adopted by local ordinances and it is enforced, monitored, and reported through the Barangay ordinance enacted by the Sangguniang Barangay. This paper also analyzes certain factors anchored on the political accountability of the Sangguniang Barangay which determines the state of their readiness in climate change, such as the gravity of their accountability which extends beyond the lines of their responsibility as stated in the local government code. It also evaluated the degree of their capabilities in actual legislation, the nature of their prioritization through their enacted ordinances and the extent of participation from different stakeholders of barangay such as the sectoral representatives and the citizens in which their participation is a means that leads to community awareness.

Keywords: climate change, local government, Sangguniang Barangay, government

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Authors: John Ibanga

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Since May 1999, when Nigeria returned to uninterrupted democratic rule, there have been various attempts by successive governments at committing themselves to democratic ideals. Such efforts include a revision of communication policies after repeated calls by civil society organisations, development partners, researchers, and academics to allow not only the commencement of campus radio broadcasting but also the takeoff of community radio broadcasting. Thus, in 2015, operating licenses were granted to several communities spread across the six geopolitical zones in the country for the establishment of community radio stations culminating in the establishment of the first community radio in Nigeria on July 17, 2015. And, since citizens’ involvement in policy matters and governance is one of the tenets of participatory democracy, it becomes imperative to investigate how the emerging community radio sector in Nigeria is facilitating participatory democracy among Nigerians, even in the face of attempts by the present government to silence all dissenting voices. This study, therefore, examines how residents in Ondo State, Southwest Nigeria, are utilising programmes on Ejule Nen and Kakaaki community radio stations in Ondo State, Nigeria, to deepen participatory democracy. Much of the existing studies on the role of community radio in participatory democracy and citizens' engagement efforts miss out on Nigeria because of the delayed implementation of community radio policy in Nigeria being Africa’s most populous nation as well as a major player in the affairs of the African continent. While the participatory communication and communication infrastructure theories were used as framework, data were collected from in-depth interviews with staff of the community radio station and community leaders, focus group discussions with the community residents, and qualitative content analysis of programmes on the station. The residents used the community radio stations as platforms for demanding accountability from government, mobilising resources for the execution of a number of community projects, promoting credible electoral practices, and influencing the implementation of free education policy in their communities. Hence the community radio stations became the reliable and authoritative voices of residents for participating in the public sphere and, generally, the democratic process.

Keywords: community, community radio, democracy, participatory democracy

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Authors: Ibrahim Umar, S Chindo, A Rajab

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Background: TB remains a disease of public health concern in Nigeria with an estimated incidence rate of 219/100,000. Kano has the second highest TB burden in Nigeria and is the leading state with the highest consistent yearly TB notification. House-to-house (H2H) active case search in the community was found to have major contribution to the total TB notification in the state. Aims and Objective: To showcase the impact of H2H community active TB case search (ACF) to yearly TB notification in Kano State, Northern Nigeria from 2012 to 2022. Methodology: This is a retrospective descriptive study based on the analysis of data collected during the routine quarterly and yearly TB data collected in the state. Data was analyzed using the Power BI with statistical alpha level of significance <0.05. Results: Between 2012 and 2013 there was no House-to-house active TB case search in Nigeria and Kano had zero contribution to TB notification from the community in those years. However, in 2014 with the introduction of H2H Active TB Case Search Kano notified 6,014 TB cases out of which 113 came from the community ACF that translated to 2% contribution to total TB notification. From 2014 to 2022 there was progressive increase in community contribution to TB case notification from 113 out of 6,014 total TB patients notified (2012) to 11,799 out of 26,371 TB patients notified (2022) in Kano State. This translated to 45% increase in community contribution to total TB case notification. Discussion: Remarkable increase in community contribution to total TB case notification in Kano State was achieved in 2022 with 11,799 TB cases notified from the community Active TB case search to the total of 26,731 TB cases notified in Kano State, Nigeria. Conclusion: in research has shown that Community-based H2H Active TB Case Search through Community TB Workers (CTWs) is an excellent strategy in finding the missing TB cases towards Ending TB in the world.

Keywords: tuberculosis(TB), active case search (ACF), house-to-house (H2H), community TB workers (CTWs)

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