Alternative investing as brokering: The embedding process of a Social Impact Bond model in a local context

Community, Forest Carbon & Indigeneity: A Case Study of the Loru Project in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

10.26686/wgtn.17151125.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Bridget Payne

Keyword(s):

Social Constructivism ◽

Social Impact ◽

Research Process ◽

Forest Carbon ◽

Local Context ◽

Community Ownership ◽

Alternative Livelihood ◽

The Social ◽

Carbon Project ◽

Institutional Network

<p>Forest carbon farming offers customary landowners an alternative livelihood to socially and environmentally unsustainable logging, through the sale of carbon offset credits. REDD+, the global forest carbon scheme to address deforestation in developing countries, has attracted scholarly criticism for the risks it poses to communities. Critics warn that REDD+: (1) benefits may be captured by elites, (2) threatens forest-dependent livelihoods, (3) reduces local forest governance, and (4) a results-based payments mechanism can undermine conservation. Community-owned forest carbon farming may mitigate these risks by empowering communities to manage forest resources locally. The Loru project in Vanuatu is the first of its kind, and Indigenous landowners legally own the carbon rights and manage the carbon project. This thesis examines the community ownership and the social impact of the Loru project on its Indigenous project owners, the ni-Vanuatu Ser clan. The thesis uses a ‘semi’-mixed-methods approach, based primarily on interviews conducted in in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu with Indigenous landowners and supplemented with quantitative data from a monitoring exercise conducted by the author. Grounded in social constructivism, the thesis makes a genuine attempt to decolonize the research process, adopting a self-reflexive approach. The research finds that the project is leading to positive social and economic impacts at the community level. Further, the Loru project is legitimately community-owned and driven, meaning it adapts effectively to the local context. Overall, the findings suggest that implementing REDD+ through a multi-scalar institutional network and building local capacity could mitigate the risks of REDD+ to forest communities.</p>

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International Expansion of Social Enterprises as a Catalyst for Scaling up Social Impact across Borders

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su12083262 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (8) ◽

pp. 3262 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Ignacio Bretos ◽

Millán Díaz-Foncea ◽

Carmen Marcuello

Keyword(s):

Social Impact ◽

Social Enterprises ◽

Local Context ◽

International Expansion ◽

The Sustainable Development ◽

International Scale ◽

Multiple Case ◽

Development Goals ◽

National Boundaries

Scaling social impact and solutions beyond the local context is argued to embody a key mechanism for social enterprises (SEs) to contribute to the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and to generate welfare-enhancing systemic change. In light of this, this article explores the potential of SE international expansion as a catalyst for scaling social impact across borders. From our reading of the literature, we discern three major typologies of cross-border scaling: Control-based, altruism-based, and hybrid. Drawing on a multiple-case study of nine international SEs, we examine why and how SEs deploy these scaling strategies on an international scale; the challenges to maximize social impact across borders associated with each of the scaling strategies, and the resources and actions that SEs can mobilize to manage such challenges associated with international expansion. Contrary to conventional wisdom and mainstream theory depicting SEs as small-sized organizations that suffer from different limitations to expand beyond their traditional national boundaries, our findings illustrate how these organizations can successfully operate on an international scale and simultaneously generate financial, social, and environmental value.

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Community, Forest Carbon & Indigeneity: A Case Study of the Loru Project in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

10.26686/wgtn.17151125 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Bridget Payne

Keyword(s):

Social Constructivism ◽

Social Impact ◽

Research Process ◽

Forest Carbon ◽

Local Context ◽

Community Ownership ◽

Alternative Livelihood ◽

The Social ◽

Carbon Project ◽

Institutional Network

<p>Forest carbon farming offers customary landowners an alternative livelihood to socially and environmentally unsustainable logging, through the sale of carbon offset credits. REDD+, the global forest carbon scheme to address deforestation in developing countries, has attracted scholarly criticism for the risks it poses to communities. Critics warn that REDD+: (1) benefits may be captured by elites, (2) threatens forest-dependent livelihoods, (3) reduces local forest governance, and (4) a results-based payments mechanism can undermine conservation. Community-owned forest carbon farming may mitigate these risks by empowering communities to manage forest resources locally. The Loru project in Vanuatu is the first of its kind, and Indigenous landowners legally own the carbon rights and manage the carbon project. This thesis examines the community ownership and the social impact of the Loru project on its Indigenous project owners, the ni-Vanuatu Ser clan. The thesis uses a ‘semi’-mixed-methods approach, based primarily on interviews conducted in in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu with Indigenous landowners and supplemented with quantitative data from a monitoring exercise conducted by the author. Grounded in social constructivism, the thesis makes a genuine attempt to decolonize the research process, adopting a self-reflexive approach. The research finds that the project is leading to positive social and economic impacts at the community level. Further, the Loru project is legitimately community-owned and driven, meaning it adapts effectively to the local context. Overall, the findings suggest that implementing REDD+ through a multi-scalar institutional network and building local capacity could mitigate the risks of REDD+ to forest communities.</p>

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DESIGNING AN ALL-TERRAIN WHEELCHAIR; A CASE STUDY OF INCLUSIVE DESIGN FOR SOCIAL IMPACT IN LOW-RESOURCE SETTINGS

Proceedings of the Design Society ◽

10.1017/pds.2021.113 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 1133-1142

Author(s):

Cara O'Sullivan

Keyword(s):

Social Impact ◽

Design Principles ◽

Local Context ◽

Low Resource ◽

Resource Setting ◽

Low Resource Setting ◽

The World ◽

Applied Design ◽

Human Centred Design

AbstractDeveloping appropriate assistive technology to be manufactured and maintained within the local context of a low-resource setting requires alternative design principles and designerly ways to those used when designing in, or for, more resourced regions of the world. This case study offers an empirical account of the design of SafariSeat, an all-terrain wheelchair which has been designed, tested, manufactured and turned into a sustainable enterprise in East Africa. The wheelchair was developed with intentions to reduce inequality and help alleviate poverty in low-resource communities by improving users' health, wellbeing and participation in society, whilst creating and facilitating local jobs to support communities. Having developed SafariSeat with a human-centred design approach, a local mindset, and prioritisation of usability and affordability, this case study is used to reflect on the applied design principles, practices and processes whilst providing contextual insights for other designers seeking to work in a similar way. The study discusses challenges encountered whilst designing in a low-resource setting, and highlights how local collaboration and partnerships can help lead to the creation of a more sustainable solution.

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Prime Proportion Affects Masked Priming of Fixed and Free-Choice Responses

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000043 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 57 (5) ◽

pp. 360-366 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Glen E. Bodner ◽

Rehman Mulji

Keyword(s):

Decision Process ◽

Free Choice ◽

Masked Priming ◽

Local Context ◽

Previous Trial ◽

Target Response ◽

Global Context ◽

Sequential Trial

Left/right “fixed” responses to arrow targets are influenced by whether a masked arrow prime is congruent or incongruent with the required target response. Left/right “free-choice” responses on trials with ambiguous targets that are mixed among fixed trials are also influenced by masked arrow primes. We show that the magnitude of masked priming of both fixed and free-choice responses is greater when the proportion of fixed trials with congruent primes is .8 rather than .2. Unconscious manipulation of context can thus influence both fixed and free choices. Sequential trial analyses revealed that these effects of the overall prime context on fixed and free-choice priming can be modulated by the local context (i.e., the nature of the previous trial). Our results support accounts of masked priming that posit a memory-recruitment, activation, or decision process that is sensitive to aspects of both the local and global context.

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