scholarly journals Homophily Groups, Social Capital and Community Development in Cameroon

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 42-55
Author(s):  
Lema Catherine Forje
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Group Formation ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Policy Formation ◽  
School Buildings ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
External Sources ◽  
Individual Security

Social groups have contributed enormously in community development in Cameroon. Such contributions have very often been overlooked by policy makers, as such; is not included in policy formation.  Social capital generated by groups has been discussed at length in the literature, but its effects on the society remain unclear, thus often only associated with poverty. Such association discourages creative endeavours as well as distorts its meaning and functioning. It also misleads future studies and distort their information searching path. This study discusses how homophily groups in Cameroon get funds from members, the diasporas and well wishers and use to provide services  to the community.  Some of the projects provided by these social groups include: school buildings, hospitals, water supply tanks; church buildings and equipments.  They also provide individual security in the form of supporting vigilantic  groups that help maintain law, order and peace in the community at large.  The paper discusses the bases of their group formation which is the core of group sustainability.  Data was collected from two large homophily groups, one ethnicity and one alumnae base with an average of one hundred and twenty five members per group in one region in Cameroon, and twenty five related Cameroonian in the diasporas.  The result shows that the homophily groups are very devoted and committed in carrying out developmental projects in their various communities.  The implication is that this study will encourage policy makers to recognise the activities of such groups which could motivate the emergence of others  to imitate the approach to the overall communities. The recommendation is that they need to invest in money generating activities to enable them achieve their objectives without the strain of constantly dipping into their personal budget and depending on external sources for sustainability. The society needs to be educated to know the contributions of groups in the community.

scholarly journals Rethinking Group-Based Development Approach in Nepal: Ways Forward

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-64
Author(s):  
Stuty Maskey
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Group Formation ◽  
Entry Point ◽  
Group Approach ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Developing Communities ◽  
The Common ◽  
Development Approach ◽  
Substantial Interest

Over the last few decades, the role of ‘group-formation’ for community development has drawn substantial interest from policy makers, academics and development practitioners. This paper aims to examine the growing popularity of these development groups especially in the context where ‘groups’ are now the common entry point in most development programmes and projects in Nepal. The increasing popularity of the group approach, however, brings attention to some important questions. Is group formation a sin-qua-non for community development? Does group mobilisation always work out as per expectation? The purpose of this paper is not to provide a complete alternate option to the group approach but rather raise a note of caution on why excessive reliance on this approach must be viewed cautiously. By highlighting some issues related to this approach, this paper claims that although groups formed for community development have great potential, they should not be viewed as a panacea for developing communities; instead they should be viewed as an important component in tackling developmental challenges.  

Distressed Asian American Neighborhoods

2003 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-84
Author(s):  
Douglas Miller ◽  
Douglas Houston
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Educational Attainment ◽  
Asian Americans ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Selection Criteria ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Ethnic Enclave ◽  
Racially Diverse ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Socioeconomic Data

There is a serious lack of demographic and socioeconomic data about Asian Americans living in distressed areas. The approach suggested to address this problem is community development with professional and academics to provide updated information on many issues such as poverty, educational attainment pertinent to these disadvantaged AA communities. The article discusses the selection criteria employed to choose the fourteen distressed communities that is analyzed. Details describing demographic characteristics, such as most AA communities are racially diverse, are supplemented with statistics to provide concrete data. Unemployment and poverty go hand-in-hand and in distressed AA communities these problems are occurring in higher frequency than other communities. The typical depiction of an AA community as a rich ethnic-enclave is debunked. The dominant problems in these communities are also representative of the problems most immigrants face today. The motivation for this analysis is to compel policy-makers to develop further research into these communities to understand their problems in order to make policies effectively addressing their needs.

scholarly journals Anxiety Level of University Students During COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heba Bakr Khoshaim ◽  
Areej Al-Sukayt ◽  
Karuthan Chinna ◽  
Mohammad Nurunnabi ◽  
Sheela Sundarasen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
University Students ◽  
Anxiety Level ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Enemy ◽  
Anxiety Levels

COVID-19 is the worst pandemic of this millennium, and it is considered to be the “public enemy number one.” This catastrophe has changed the way we live in the blink of an eye. Not only has it threatened our existence and health status, but the damage associated with it could equally affect our economic, social, and educational systems. The focus of this study was on the anxiety level of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. The study was conducted between March and June 2020. A questionnaire was administered online, and 400 completed questionnaires were returned. In this study, the Zung self-rating anxiety scale was used to determine the anxiety levels among the respondents. The results indicated that about 35% of the students experienced moderate to extreme levels of anxiety. Anxiety was highly associated with age, sex, and level of education. These findings can enlighten government agencies and policy makers on the importance of making prompt, effective decisions to address students' anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers are encouraged to focus their future studies on how to develop strategies to boost students' resilience and enhance their adaptability skills for similar disasters in the future.

scholarly journals Community Development and Local Social Capital

2010 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey L. Jordan ◽  
Bulent Anil ◽  
Abdul Munasib
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Social Capital ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Human Development Index ◽  
Growth And Development ◽  
Local Economic Development ◽  
The State ◽  
Measurement Tool ◽  
Economic Growth And Development ◽  
Geographical Clusters

While a substantial amount of research has been devoted to showing what social capital does, research explaining social capital itself lags behind. The literature has a long tradition of examining the effect of social capital on local economic growth and development. In this paper we examine whether local economic development can explain the variation in social capital across various geographical clusters in the state of Georgia. We begin by devising a measurement tool, a Human Development Index (HDI), to measure community development. Our social capital measure includes associational memberships, voluntary activities, and philanthropy obtained from the Georgia Social Capital Survey. The findings show that even after accounting for various demographic and economic characteristics, the HDI explains the variation in a number of social capital levels (especially those measured by associational involvement) across various geographical clusters in the state of Georgia.

scholarly journals Implications of Autonomous Vehicles for Accessibility and Transport Equity: A Framework Based on Literature

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4448
Author(s):  
Alberto Dianin ◽  
Elisa Ravazzoli ◽  
Georg Hauger
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Transport System ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Autonomous Vehicles ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Social Accessibility ◽  
The Relationship

Increasing accessibility and balancing its distribution across space and social groups are two fundamental goals to make transport more sustainable and equitable. In the next decades, autonomous vehicles (AVs) could significantly transform the transport system, influencing accessibility and transport equity. In particular, depending on the assumed features of AVs (e.g., private or collective) and the considered spatial, social, and regulative context (e.g., rural or urban areas), impacts may be very different. Nevertheless, research in this field is still limited, and the relationship between AV assumptions and accessibility impacts is still partially unclear. This paper aims to provide a framework of the key and emerging aspects related to the implications of AVs for accessibility and transport equity. To set this framework, we perform an analysis of the scientific literature based on a conceptual model describing the implications of AVs for the distribution of accessibility across space and social groups. We recognize four main expected impacts of AVs on accessibility: (1) accessibility polarization, (2) accessibility sprawl, (3) exacerbation of social accessibility inequities, and (4) alleviation of social accessibility inequities. These impacts are described and analyzed in relation to the main AV assumptions expected to trigger them through different mechanisms. Based on the results, some recommendations for future studies intending to focus on the relation between AVs, accessibility, and transport equity are provided.

Enhancing social indicators research in a forest-dependent community

1999 ◽  
Vol 75 (5) ◽  
pp. 771-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Parkins
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Indicators ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Statistical Information ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Measure Change ◽  
Local Residents ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Northern Alberta

Forest industry host communities are receiving increased attention from policy makers, academics, and municipal leaders. Recently, this attention is trained on measuring social and economic change at the community level and on identifying and developing avenues to greater community well-being. This paper examines aspects of two common social indicators, employment and migration, in the context of a forest-dependent community in Northern Alberta. By using statistical information along with two other major data sources that include interviews with local residents and a variety of reports from local institutions, specific social changes taking place within the community are described. Readers are cautioned against relying solely on statistical information to measure change and are encouraged to triangulate data with local sources. Such efforts may be more time consuming but the results are likely to provide more important insights into how and why certain communities are prospering while others are struggling. The paper concludes with a discussion of social capital as a crucial dimension of community well-being. Key words: forest-dependent communities, social indicators, employment, migration, mobility, community well-being, social capital

scholarly journals Posdaya Bina Sejahtera Kota Bogor sebagai Model Pemberdayaan Kemandirian Masyarakat Akar Rumput

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Yannefri Bachtiar
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Action Plan ◽  
Household Waste ◽  
Health Economy ◽  
Implementation Phase ◽  
Grass Root ◽  
Capital Development

As a part of the concern to the grass root society, Bogor Agricultural University had been established family empowerment station (Posdaya) the model of community development since 2007. The purpose of Posdaya is to increase the capacity of grass root society to fulfil their need of live by their social capital development. For this purposes the action research was done to explore the appropriate strategy for social facilitation approach in developing their capacity in education, health, economy, and environment. Until 2010, there was 106 Posdaya at Bogor, Cianjur, and Sukabumi area. Posdaya Bina Sejahtera Kelurahan Pasir Mulya Bogor was one of a good example in developing Posdaya that has been established at 8<sup>th</sup> May 2007. In the initiative phase, several activities had been done, included survey of the potency of community development, mini-workshop, meeting, training, coordinating, and empowering. In the implementation phase, several result had been yielded included organizational establishment, action plan, readiness of cadre, core activities development in education (pre-school and moving library), health services (post health services, geriatric health services, children family planning), economy (<em>syari’ah</em> microfinance institutionalization, small business for food production, and handy-craft), environment (environmental based agribusiness and household waste management). Action research concluded that Posdaya was empowerment strategy in developing grass root society by bottom up program on their self-reliance capacity in using local and potential resources. Posdaya was the institutionalization of social capital that relevant to the need of grass root society in developing education, health, economy, and environment. By these approach Posdaya considered as a proved model of community development in developing both physical and non physical of the society.

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