scholarly journals Understanding Dynamic Engagement of Community in Local Governance, Enhancing Grassroots Development in South Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1(S)) ◽  
pp. 22-32
Author(s):  
Andrew Osehi Enaifoghe ◽  
Cotties Toyin Adetiba
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Secondary Source ◽  
Grassroots Development ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Community Interest ◽  
Poor Access ◽  
Basic Ideas ◽  
Access To Data

The discourse on "Community engagement and commitment” is a critical subject that requires the interest of individuals within communities to fully participate in activities that address community needs. A meaningful citizen engagement reaches out beyond physical inclusion to incorporate the generation of thoughts and deliberations. In addition, it includes the commitments to leadership process in decision-making and the involvement of community members in the administrative responsibility. Among the elements that propel individuals to take an interest to participate in local governance need to assume a functioning role in bettering their very own lives, satisfying social or religious commitments feeling a need for a sense of community, and other quantifiable benefits. This study conceptualizes what community engagement, models, and frameworks is about and that can be used as a guide, to inspire communities in meeting various challenges relating to their interest in participation and cooperation. The study does not claim to cover all the accessible and significant human sociology on public cooperation literature. Qualitatively, the study gave an outline of the basic ideas that shed light on community participation, cooperation and commitment to duty and responsibility. As the study adopted a qualitative approach, mostly secondary source was consulted to address the research question. The findings show that the instrumental way to deal with citizens’ concerns, with attention to results and adequacy is considerably more far-reaching than the more transformative method. Furthermore, people ought to review challenges related with gathering politicization of improvement and participatory structures, the absence of responsibility towards organizing community interest, the absence of limit capacity among partners, poor access to data or information, and inability to perceive and work intimately with community-based associations. It was then recommended that the community and different partners take part in the discussions that prompted the last record, as this is required by the South African Municipal Structures Act.

scholarly journals Sustaining community-university partnerships

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Northmore ◽  
Angie Hart
Keyword(s):  
Research Question ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
The United States ◽  
University Partnerships ◽  
Reciprocal Relationships ◽  
Mutual Learning ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
University Partnership

In recent years there has been a huge growth in the academic literature on community-university partnership working. However, much of this is practice based and the issue of how such partnerships can be sustained over time is not adequately reflected in the literature. This introductory chapter lays the foundations for the subsequent thirteen articles by first discussing notions of sustainability, in part by providing a brief overview of the Community University Partnership Programme (Cupp) at the University of Brighton, UK. After a period of rapid growth, we are increasingly concerned with how to sustain the reciprocal relationships that underpin long-term engagement, a situation exacerbated by potential looming funding cuts. Paradoxically, however, this article suggests that while funding is an important element of sustainability, the current economic challenges may help to generate sustainability as community-university partnerships are forced to examine what other factors contribute to lasting relationships. It is these ‘other factors’ that the articles in this collection fruitfully explore. Coming from the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, they examine the core research question that concerns us: how do we address the challenges of building sustainable community-university partnerships, especially with disadvantaged and excluded communities, at a time of diminishing resources? Despite the wide range of community needs and methodological diversity involved, the articles suggest that some common characteristics underpin sustainability. These include: genuine reciprocity; mutual learning; and a creative approach to partnership building that recognises the diverse purposes of partners. This introductory chapter concludes that there is a need to further refine our understanding of community-university partnerships through the development of more theoretical models of sustainability. Keywords: sustainability, partnerships, reciprocal relationships, mutual learning

scholarly journals A Gas Pipeline Investigation Built on Community-Centered Ideas

Eos ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly Cartier
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Gas Pipeline ◽  
Scientific Process

From developing a research question to enacting solutions, environmental justice requires community engagement in every step of the scientific process.

scholarly journals My history, your history, our history: Developing meaningful community engagement within historic sites and museums

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 300-321
Author(s):  
Jessica Stroja
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
Participatory Process ◽  
Historic Sites ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Sense Of Ownership ◽  
The Past ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities

AbstractVarying models of community engagement provide methods for museums to build valuable relationships with communities. These relationships hold the potential to become ongoing, dynamic opportunities for active community participation and engagement with museums. Nevertheless, the nuances of this engagement continue to remain a unique process that requires delicate balancing of museum obligations and community needs in order to ensure meaningful outcomes are achieved. This article discusses how community engagement can be an active, participatory process for visitors to museums. Research projects that utilise aspects of community-driven engagement models allow museums to encourage a sense of ownership and active participation with the museum. Indeed museums can balance obligations of education and representation of the past with long-term, meaningful community needs via projects that utilise aspects of community-driven engagement models. Using an oral history project at Historic Ormiston House as a case study,1 the article argues that museums and historic sites can encourage ongoing engagement through active community participation in museum projects. While this approach carries both challenges and opportunities for the museum, it opens doors to meaningful and long-term community engagement, allowing visitors to embrace the museum and its stories as active participants rather than as passive consumers.

scholarly journals COVID-19 response in northwest Syria: innovation and community engagement in a complex conflict

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 504-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdulkarim Ekzayez ◽  
Munzer al-Khalil ◽  
Mohamad Jasiem ◽  
Raed Al Saleh ◽  
Zedoun Alzoubi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Seasonal Influenza ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Leadership Role ◽  
Local Resources ◽  
Response Network ◽  
Health Directorate ◽  
Social Media Tools

ABSTRACT Despite lacking capacity and resources, the health system in the northwest Syria is using innovative approaches for the containment of COVID-19. Lessons drawn from previous outbreaks in the region, such as the polio outbreak in 2013 and the annual seasonal influenza, have enabled the Early Warning and Response Network, a surveillance system to develop mechanisms of predicting risk and strengthening surveillance for the new pandemic. Social media tools such as WhatsApp are effectively collecting health information and communicating health messaging about COVID-19. Community engagement has also been scaled up, mobilizing local resources and encouraging thousands of volunteers to join the ‘Volunteers against Corona’ campaign. Bottom-up local governance technical entities, such as Idleb Health Directorate and the White Helmets, have played key leadership role in the response. These efforts need to be scaled up to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 in a region chronically affected by a complex armed conflict.

Local Governance in a Developing Country

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 750-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustafa Kemal Öktem
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Developing Country ◽  
Random Sampling ◽  
Sampling Method ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Citizen Involvement ◽  
The Public ◽  
Open Research

How the implementation of local governance can be improved in the developing world is an open research question. This study discusses the difficulty of transitioning toward local governance in Turkey. To analyze the basic difficulties of local governance, a survey was conducted using a random sampling method within the inner city municipalities of Ankara. The findings indicate that improving local governance by enhancing transparency and building mechanisms of e-governance is the first step to motivating the public to participate in and to move toward a system of local governance. In general, each of these strategies would likely increase overall citizen involvement and, in particular, would increase the involvement of those citizens between 26 and 35 years old.

scholarly journals Is Participatory Budgeting Understood Enough by Citizens in Terms of Being Reachable for Them?

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Saniela Xhaferi ◽  
Blerina Dhrami
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Employee Performance ◽  
Participatory Budgeting ◽  
Community Needs ◽  
Public Investments ◽  
Local Budget ◽  
The Relationship

<p><em>This study focuses mainly on participatory budgeting issues, citizen budget education; informing citizens about public investments/projects; community needs; employee performance; the quality of public services provided. The above issues, and especially the relationship between local leaders and citizens, are a good indicator to assess how local governance and citizens are moving in the same direction and to what extent is this inverse fulfillment of expectation. This relationship is expressed in terms of an unclear and incomplete perception of the ratio between what citizens pay in the form of local taxes and public services provided by the Municipality. This fact, mainly related to the expectations of citizens from local government for the use/management of the local budget, highlights the gap between the two parties involved in this process. It is evident the lack of a budgetary education from citizens and the need to orient and clarify citizens on this process, the importance it has for direct involvement of citizens and prioritization of community needs. The article concludes: in order to bring local government closer to citizens and the community, aiming at maximizing the fulfillment of the principle of “subsidiary” of local self-government, the Participatory Budgeting process should be done more inclusive and accessible to citizens.</em></p>

scholarly journals Institutional solutions for sectarian conflicts in the Middle East in the context of imperial legacy

2021 ◽  
pp. 140-164
Author(s):  
Irina Kudryashova ◽  
Alexander Kozintsev
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Local Governance ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Diversity Management ◽  
Institutional Framework ◽  
Late Ottoman Empire ◽  
Ethnocultural Diversity ◽  
Late Ottoman

The article focuses on the nature of sectarian conflicts in the Middle East as well as ways to resolve this and possible transformations. We assume that the rising level of ethnic confrontation stems from the disruption of governance regimes established during the Ottoman Empire. Hence, the research question states as follows: are there any ways to use the imperial practices of ethnocultural diversity management as the institutional framework for the resolution of current sectarian conflicts? By applying a structural functional approach, we identify the political space of the late Ottoman Empire, its main elements and constellation. We show that the process of statebuilding in the Middle East resulted in the decay of social ties between local communities and the increase of ethnic violence. These claims are confirmed by comparative analysis of a number of conflicts. It is found that the institutional framework for conflict resolution in Arab states should be based on political devolution and powerdividing agreements. This allows to reset inactive imperial practices in order to mitigate violence and enhance legitimacy. We point out that among the various reforms designed to achieve harmonization of formal and informal political institutions are federalization, non-territorial autonomy, consociationalism and local governance.

scholarly journals Common unity: reconnecting people with the environment through indigenous values and participatory design

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Fetu Ese
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Existing Problems ◽  
The People ◽  
Final Design ◽  
Community Growth

<p>A significant problem for struggling communities in New Zealand is disconnection from the environment and a loss of cultural values. These issues cause disengagement and division between the people and the environment. Social stability gradually declines, leading to participation within one’s community being discouraged. Investigations into community engagement and the enhancement of the community environment suggest there has been a failure to address the current issues affecting struggling communities. Disconnect and disregard for Indigenous values in communities prove to be a defining factor in the relationship between people and the environment. Indigenous Māori incorporated Mātauranga (knowledge), Tikanga (customs) and Māori values in their way of life which proved instrumental in their development and sense of Kotahitanga (unity) between themselves and with the environment. This allowed Māori to become one with the land and for Whanaungatanga (sense of belonging) and Kaitiakitanga (guardianship of the land) to spread through the people. However, these values have been compromised and subsequently lost due to the European influence on the land and on Māori people. There needs to be a vigorous search for answers on how to reconnect people with these values so as to build strong and united communities.  This design research looks at ways of enhancing the struggling community of Takapūwāhia, Porirua, and the local iwi, Ngāti Toa. It seeks to address problems of disconnect, disengagement and loss of values between the environment and the people. This research aims to answer the research question ‘How can we unite a community by implementing Indigenous values when designing for people?’ The first step will be to undertake a literature review and evaluation of various case studies relevant to the research question. Then community engagement will take place so people can come together to evaluate existing problems and to enable the voice and vision of the people to influence the final design outcome. Effective methods of community engagement will be employed through Participatory and Consultative Design which will provide ways of communicating ideas and solutions.  Design experiments will be carried out on the identified problem degraded sites within the Takapūwāhia community. These will be presented back to the community with participation with other community members in the design process, contributing to community growth and identity.  With the key objective of the research being to unite the Takapūwāhia community, this will be achieved through their voice and their vision being integral to the design outcome, which will portray a story unique to the people of Ngāti Toa and to Takapūwāhia, exploring Māori symbolism essential to Ngāti Toa and integrating Māori values with Landscape Architecture. This will connect people to the design, this particular place and to the environment and help achieve the goal of the project of creating a sense of unity, ownership and belonging, of Kotahitanga, Whanaungatanga and Kaitiakitanga.</p>

scholarly journals Picking Up the Pieces—Harmonising and Collating Seabed Substrate Data for European Maritime Areas

Geosciences ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anu Kaskela ◽  
Aarno Kotilainen ◽  
Ulla Alanen ◽  
Rhys Cooper ◽  
Sophie Green ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Classification Scheme ◽  
Marine Spatial Planning ◽  
Government Decision ◽  
Sediment Classification ◽  
Poor Access ◽  
Acoustic Images ◽  
Data Gaps ◽  
Confidence Assessment ◽  
Marine Areas ◽  
Access To Data

The poor access to data on the marine environment is a handicap to government decision-making, a barrier to scientific understanding and an obstacle to economic growth. In this light, the European Commission initiated the European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet) in 2009 to assemble and disseminate hitherto dispersed marine data. In the ten years since then, EMODnet has become a key producer of publicly available, harmonised datasets covering broad areas. This paper describes the methodologies applied in EMODnet Geology project to produce fully populated GIS layers of seabed substrate distribution for the European marine areas. We describe steps involved in translating national seabed substrate data, conforming to various standards, into a uniform EMODnet substrate classification scheme (i.e., the Folk sediment classification). Rock and boulders form an additional substrate class. Seabed substrate data products at scales of 1:250,000 and 1:1 million, compiled using descriptions and analyses of seabed samples as well as interpreted acoustic images, cover about 20% and 65% of the European maritime areas, respectively. A simple confidence assessment, based on sample and acoustic coverage, is helpful in identifying data gaps. The harmonised seabed substrate maps are particularly useful in supraregional, transnational and pan-European marine spatial planning.

scholarly journals Sustainable crowdfunding: insights from the project perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-302
Author(s):  
Natalia Maehle
Keyword(s):  
Community Engagement ◽  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Building Relationships ◽  
Distinctive Features ◽  
Sustainable Projects ◽  
Depth Interviews

PurposeThis paper explores the peculiarities of sustainable crowdfunding from the project perspective. The research question is: what are the distinctive features of sustainable crowdfunding, in terms of crowdfunding motivation, platform choice, crowdfunding costs and relationships with backers?Design/methodology/approachThe current study follows a qualitative approach, through conducting in-depth interviews with representatives of sustainable projects, which have had successful crowdfunding campaigns. The selected projects represent various industries and crowdfunding models.FindingsSustainable entrepreneurs have both financial and non-financial motivations for crowdfunding. A distinctive feature is the importance of community engagement, since the community spirit of crowdfunding is well suited to sustainable projects. The choice of the crowdfunding platform is more complex for sustainable entrepreneurs, as they need to consider the platform's sustainability. Sustainable entrepreneurs also have to put more effort into their communication activities with potential backers, to compensate for the intangibility of sustainability claims. Moreover, they need to have a greater focus on building relationships with backers due to both the community spirit of their projects and legitimacy issues.Originality/valueThe current paper contributes to the limited literature on sustainable crowdfunding and the literature on funding of sustainable businesses and can act as a foundation for further research in this field. Current findings also have high practical value. Crowdfunding platforms may use the insights provided here to better meet the needs of sustainable entrepreneurs, while sustainable entrepreneurs can better understand what they need to pay attention to in their crowdfunding campaigns.

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