scholarly journals Foreign Immigrants in Depopulated Rural Areas: Local Social Services and the Construction of Welcoming Communities

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosario Sampedro ◽  
Luis Camarero

Many rural areas in Spain suffer an acute problem of depopulation. In recent years the arrival of foreign immigrant workers has contributed to alleviating the situation. The social services in rural areas play a fundamental role in the reception of these new residents, and in attending to their needs. These immigrants find themselves in a very vulnerable situation. Added to the needs of any family group with very limited resources are the terms of being a foreigner in an environment in which the coethnic support networks are very scarce. The capacity of both rural councils and local social services to promote the social integration of the immigrants is very limited due to the lack of resources, and to the difficulties associated with the provision of social services in depopulated rural areas. Through in-depth interviews, carried out in a mountainous depopulated region in northern Spain, we analyse the discourses of mayors, social workers and members of civil organizations. The conclusions suggest that the construction of welcoming communities requires reinforcing the community dimension of social work in rural areas, and from an ecological perspective that enhances social participation and coordination among the social actors. Specifically directed initiatives are needed by means of cooperation among the different levels of government and between public and private actors.

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Eljana Brahja

The purpose of this study is to determine the role of high school in managing conflicts between teenagers in the rural areas between Tirana and Elbasan. Conflicts among teenagers are always present. They can happen in families, at school, and in the community, but our focus will be the conflicts generated in school premises. It is concerning that teenagers are seeing school as a battlefield where they can fight away from their parents' eyes. The research will shed light on how the aid offered by the high school social services, impact teenagers’ conflict management. This study uses Psychoanalytic, Humanist and Behavioral Directions to explain the source of violent behavior among students in schools located in rural areas. The study is based on the Positive Paradigm. The research method used for collecting data is the quantitative one. The population of this study is the teenagers of high schools located in rural areas between Tirana and Elbasan. The sample of the study is the students of "Krrabë" and "Ibrahim Hasmema" high schools and the instrument used is the sociological questionnaire. Data analysis will show whether teenage conflicts exist and how schools located in rural area manage these conflict cases. The document argues that conflicts between teenagers are present at school premises and the latest rarely use the social services provided at their school. The teachers' staff should be trained on identifying young people who tend to conflict and to have violent behavior. Teachers should be also trained on the ways to treat those teenagers who are victims of violence.


2022 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Elena De Uña-Álvarez ◽  
Montserrat Villarino-Pérez

Inland territories hold a great diversity of ecocultural resources, increasingly constituted in tourist products for local development. Their role in improving the socioeconomic conditions and wellness of local communities, as well as in promoting tourism and sustainability, depends on the involvement of public and private actors. The relationships and the collaboration of local actors are essential in that regard. The study of aforementioned processes takes place in the inland territory of Galicia (NW Spain). The methodology of research relied on in-depth interviews. Due to the key role of the local actors, the interviews focused on their professional and life experiences. The analysis of the answers establishes the definition and the appraisal of the main resources, attached to territorial identity, and highlights the engagement and involvement of the actors in the territorial dynamics that foster the promotion of the ecocultural resources for tourism.


Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiss ◽  
Emery ◽  
Corradini ◽  
Živojinović

The role of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) in industrialised country economies has declined in the past, but they are generating renewed interest as business opportunities. In a forest-based bio-economy frame, NWFPs can contribute to human nutrition, renewable materials, and cultural and experiential services, as well as create job and income opportunities in rural areas. Applying a service-dominant logic (SDL) approach to analysis of NWFPs, this article aimed to understand how new goods and services are co-created through networks of public and private actors in specific institutional, social, and cultural contexts. This focus sheds light on the experiences associated with NWFP harvest and use, revealing a fulsome suite of values and economic opportunities that include but are greater than the physical goods themselves. Turning the SDL lens on in-depth case studies from Europe and North America, we show dimensions of forest products that go beyond commercial values but are, at the same time, constituent of commercial activities. SDL provides a new view on customer relations, service provision to businesses, and policy measures for innovation support for non-wood forest products.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Bokenchina

The author researchers the social sphere consisting of the branches’ set creating various products in the form of non-material and material services which finally provide inquiries of the society in Kazakhstan that comes to be very important and authentic for the current matter of fact for this country. Transformations associated with the transition to the market economy caused a sharp decline in the rural population of life quality. In the context of transformational recession social services in the rural areas for a long time operated on prevailing conditions in the planned economy assets, resulting in the quality of its services significantly decreased.At the same time, the social sphere of urban economy is largely felt the benefits of the economic growth and participation in the reconstruction of this sector and took the largest system of corporation, especially in the status of city-companies within the social responsibility of business and regional agreements of social partnership.


1995 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 12-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerry Neufeld ◽  
Marilyn G. Smith ◽  
Harvey Estes ◽  
George C. Hill

Residents of rural northeast Nevada lack many of the social services available in the urban parts of Nevada and the nation. One of the services lacking in Battle Mountain, Nevada is quality after-school child care. The University of Nevada Cooperative Extension and the Lander County School District collaborated to develop and administer an after-school program for at-risk elementary students, which addressed this need. The program was designed to provide an educational experience while at the same time providing students with some of the protective factors needed to help them lead more productive lifes. This paper details how the program was carried out and shows the results of the program's evaluation. In lean economic times, a collaborative effort such as this may be one way to address youth needs in rural areas. The result was increased community support for quality after-school child care.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ina Reichenberger

Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This paper examines the social practice of customer-to-customer value co-creation in tourism contexts by considering visitor–visitor interactions, their manifestations, influential factors, and types of resulting value using extended social situation analysis. On the basis of 76 qualitative in-depth interviews, results show that value co-creation is not necessarily dependent upon the underlying social interactions but predominantly influenced by personal factors and attitudes towards sociability. The stronger the focus on other social actors is and the longer and more personal the social interactions are, the more complex and multilayered is the co-created perceived value.


2020 ◽  
Vol 198 (7) ◽  
pp. 85-96
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Mokronosov ◽  
Ekaterina Ogorodnikova ◽  
Andrey Plakhin

Abstract. The purpose of this article is to analyze the forms of stimulating competition among social market participants in rural settlements of the Sverdlovsk region. Research methods. The method of studying the factors of development of competition in the market of social services of rural settlements within the framework of the Standard for the Development of Competition in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation involves the decomposition of the general objectives of the Standard in the blocks for assessing the competitive environment by market participants and consumers. The information base of the study is formed on the basis of interrogation methods for obtaining information on the results of the implementation of the Standard and covers rural areas of the Sverdlovsk region. The results of the study. The study confirms the use of infrastructural and institutional stimulation of competition in the social services market in rural areas, based on the methodology of the procedures of the regional Standard for the Development of Competition. The results of using this methodology to stimulate competition show unsatisfactory results for the rural social services market. Scientific novelty. The study confirms the use of the methodology of infrastructural and institutional stimulation of entrepreneurial activity in the procedures of the regional Standard for the Development of Competition. Accordingly, the standard does not take into account the properties of the “quasi market” characteristic of the social services market. At the same time, the features of the distribution process when paying for social services provide additional tools to stimulate competition. The authors of the article give a model of using the properties of the “quasi market” to solve the main barrier for entrepreneurs of rural settlements of the Sverdlovsk region expressed in the need to provide activities with their own premises. The compensation mechanism will create a steady demand for the services of organizations investing in the creation of premises for the implementation of their activities.


2018 ◽  
pp. 99-108
Author(s):  
Nataliya Nikolenko ◽  
Yana Serova

The study investigates the changes taking place in the domestic market of social services expressed in the appearance of "new players" in the form of socially oriented non-profit organizations (SO NPO) within its field in addition to public institutions for social protection and social services of the population. The authors identify the advantages and disadvantages of SO NGO compared to government organizations and social services, describe the processes of shadow economy expansion to the social services market and formation of regional "quasi-markets". The empirical part of the article is based on the data of two studies conducted in the form of indepth interviews. First, with experts on "Practices of interaction and prospects of cooperation between NPO and government organizations of social services in the Volgograd region", N = 52 (27 representatives of the public sector, 25 representatives of NPO, January-March 2018). Then with recipients of social services from government organizations and clients of SO NPO on the theme "Availability and quality of paid and free social services provided in the Volgograd region for retiring aged women" N = 46, 60 years and older (21 people-clients of SO NPO, 25 people-recipients of social services. services, October 2017 – January 2018). The analysis of these in-depth interviews with experts allowed to draw the following conclusions. There is a duplication of functions of the organizations of public and non-public sectors providing social services to the population. The activities of modern SO NPO operating in the social services market contain innovative and commercial components. The expansion of the "platform" of the social services market does not yet lead to full competition between organizations, encouraging them to constantly improve the quality of services. The analysis of in-depth interviews with recipients of social services from government organizations and customers of SO NPO showed that the commercialization of activities of SO NPO does not make social services more accessible to those who are in need of them. There is the necessity of changes in the way social services are being provided in the Volgograd region as they do not meet the needs of women of retirement age, do not take into account their level of income and material well-being.


2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Bacter ◽  
Sorana Săveanu ◽  
Cristiana Marc

Abstract The crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic implied specific intervention measures in all areas worldwide. Social workers from the social care system and health services, along with other specialists, have played an extremely important role in providing support to vulnerable groups, in order to manage social and psychological issues that have emerged in this period. This paper presents the results of a study involving 94 social workers from Romania. The aim of the research was to identify the main changes in the activity of social workers from public and private social services during pandemic, a period characterized by restrictive measures in order to limit the transmission of the virus. The paper focuses on vulnerabilities and challenges imposed by these changes in order to continue to provide social services for those in need. Recommendations on social policies are outlined based on the lessons learned in this period. The results show that communication and the maintenance of the relationship with beneficiaries are the parts where most changes occurred. The limitation of direct contacts has led to a decrease in field activity, online work, increased workload, or changes in working schedule, and also sometimes (mainly in public institutions) increased bureaucracy. Based on the results of the study, some recommendations for policy makers are identified, taking advantage of the lessons from this period of crisis: the need for the authorities to prioritize the allocated resources and to impose stricter rules to follow, provide funding for specific resources, intensifying the collaboration between all social actors involved, developing and implementing unitary intervention models, greater interest and understanding from authorities and responsiveness to new intervention methods, maintaining the online activity where the situation allows it in order to reduce bureaucracy in public institutions.


Radical Hope ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 203-210
Author(s):  
Michal Krumer-Nevo

This is the first chapter of Part Four of the book, which is titled “Solidarity”. Solidarity is an ethical principle that dictates the positioning of the social worker vis-à-vis service users. The chapter tells the story of a woman who was evicted from the apartment that she had occupied for 12 years and the struggle of her social worker to change the eviction order. The chapter addresses the tension between practice based on solidarity and mainstream social work practice in local social services.


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