scholarly journals An Analysis of the Traditional Religious Thought and its Impact on Poverty: A Case Study of the Amansie Traditional Area, Ashanti Region, Ghana

Author(s):  
Charles Owusu Ampofo

It is important to stress that, the Akan amongst many other cultures in Africa by their beliefs and practices, emphasize the individual and the societal wellbeing. Primarily, their idea of wholeness is seen to have been focused on mostly the material and spiritual needs of the human; that is, the complete satisfaction of all members of the community. The people of Amansie West Traditional Area, therefore, view poverty as undesirable and is frowned upon by society. However, the communities should help ease the stress and trauma of the poor. Such insight conforms with an old adage, wo yƆnko da ne wo da, which could in a way be literary translated as, “A friend in need is a friend indeed.” It is essential, then, to probe into the relationship that ever existed between the religio-cultural thoughts on poverty and the perceptible impact of poverty on the living conditions of the people in Amansie. The study consequently applied both qualitative and quantitative methods to extract relevant data from respondents. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered to relevant persons; an interview guide was developed to facilitate the personal interviews conducted with traditional leaders, townsfolks, religious leaders, opinion leaders, and other stakeholders. The findings among others were that poverty has a religio-cultural dimension; it is a spiritual and moral misfortune. The study recommends a Religio-Cultural Renaissance as a possible avenue to resuscitate and strengthen what otherwise looks like a dearth of religio-cultural practices of the community. A collaborative effort is therefore required by religious leaders and adherents, opinion leaders and townsfolks for sensitizing the people against cultural practices that promote poverty. Keywords: Poverty, African Traditional Religion, Traditional leadership, Natural resources and Amansie West

Author(s):  
Zamokuhle Mbandlwa ◽  
Syden Mishi

Background: A municipality is considered as the first level of government that is closer to the people and is expected to deliver to the needs of the people. Political leadership is provided by elected ward councillors with the responsibility of delivering the public services at the local government level and also entrusted with control of the resources of local government.Aim: The aim of this article was to evaluate the leadership characteristics of ward councillors and determine how such characteristics influence public service delivery in the eThekwini Municipality.Setting: The individual leadership characteristics of ward councillors contribute to how decisions are made at the local government level and eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality as the third largest metropolitan municipality in the country is viewed as a strategic municipality.Methods: This article adopted the form of a descriptive case study which employed a mixed-methods approach, using qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection and analysis. The study found that the leadership rating score, education and experience are key factors in good leadership (experienced less or no service delivery protest). A regression variable plot was used to analyse community members’ responses on rating each ward councillor.Results: The results show that lower levels of leadership characteristics are marred by numerous service delivery protests, and leadership characteristics increase chances of getting service delivery response albeit taking a U-shape.Conclusion: It is recommended that ward councillors undergo a background check and enrol for leadership training programmes immediately when they are elected as ward councillors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-66
Author(s):  
Febriani Febriani ◽  
Adhis Tessa ◽  
Ridho Utami ◽  
Wipsar Sunu Brams Dwandaru

Gotong-royong merupakan nilai budaya yang menjadi identitas dan dasar dari bangsa Indonesia. Akan tetapi, saat ini gotong-royong mengalami pergeseran yang berpengaruh terhadap pola hidup masyarakat Indonesia, khususnya dalam hal ini sifat individualis. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah  mempelajari pengaruh nilai gotong-royong terhadap pola hidup masyarakat di Kelurahan Tamanan, Banguntapan, Bantul, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta (DIY) dalam bentuk peta dan pengaruhnya terhadap sifat individualis masyarakat. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode kualitatif dan kuantitatif (metode campuran). Metode campuran dilakukan melalui wawancara dan survei dengan warga desa Tamanan di sembilan padukuhan. Berdasarkan peta gotong-royong diperoleh hasil bahwa padukuhan yang paling kuat nilai gotong-royong adalah Kragilan, Kerobokan, dan Glagah Kidul. Sedangkan padukuhan dengan nilai gotong-royong yang paling lemah ada di Rejokusuman dan Tamanan. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa kuat-lemahnya nilai gotong-royong tidak bergantung pada jauh-dekatnya letak padukuhan tersebut dari Kota Yogyakarta. Selanjutnya, peta gotong-royong ini berbanding terbalik dengan peta sifat individualis dalam masyarakat, yakni semakin kuat nilai gotong-royong dalam masyarakat semakin lemah sifat individualis dalam masyarakat.-----The Effect of Mutual Cooperation Values Towards People’s Lifestyle in the Form of Maps. Mutual cooperation is a cultural value that becomes the identity and basis of the Indonesian nation. However, currently mutual cooperation underwent a shift that may affect the lifestyle of the Indonesian people, especially in this case individual behavior. The objective of this research is to study the effect of mutual cooperation towards people’s individual behavior in Tamanan village, Banguntapan, Bantul, Special Region of Yogyakarta (DIY) in the form of maps and its effect towards the individual behavior of the community. The research method used is qualitative and quantitative methods (mixed method). Qualitative and quantitative methods have been carried out through interviews and surveys with villagers in nine hamlets of Tamanan village. Based on the mutual cooperation map the results obtained from this study show that Kragilan, Kerobokan, and Glagah Kidul hamlets have the strongest mutual cooperation values, whereas Rejokusuman and Tamanan hamlets have the weakest mutual cooperation values. This shows that the strength of mutual cooperation does not depend on the proximity of the hamlets from the city of Yogyakarta. Moreover, the mutual cooperation map is reciprocal to the individual behavior of the people in the hamlets, i.e.: the stronger the mutual cooperation values the weaker the individual behavior.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anas Abudaqa ◽  
Seena Al Nuaimi ◽  
Hayfa Buhazzaa ◽  
Sumaya Al Hosani

Abstract Objective Scope: ADNOC group of companies introduced the Fursa platform which is an internal online website where HR acquisition partners among the 13 companies can post vacancies and employees from any of the 13 companies can apply to those vacancies. The aim of this initiative is to move ADNOC's employees internally to reskill, fill department gaps, and cross-collaborate to get a project done or hit an organizational goal with minimizing hiring cost and accelerate recruitment process. This study considers the above stated program as an explanatory factor to determine the individual's as well as organizational outcomes in ADNOC group of companies. Methods, Procedure, Process: To address the study objectives, qualitative and quantitative methods are adopted. More specifically, for quantitative approach, structural questionnaire was developed through adopting different items from the literature. Whereas qualitative analysis are conducted while using the information from structured interviews. Results, Observations, Conclusions: The study findings indicates that both individual and organizational outcomes are positively and significantly determined by internal mobility program. Similarly, analyses through qualitative approach confirms that internal mobility program helps to provide learning and development of the employees, productivity and performance in terms of individual outcomes, and sales and growth to reflect the concept of organizational outcomes. It is stated current program Enabled employees to find their next position, project, or mentor internally, and maximized ADNOC workforce potential and unlock the capacity to meet the corporate objectives. Other interesting outcomes are It takes less time and money to source (and saves money on relocation costs and as known during pandemic situation there is a restriction on international movement between countries); it enables faster onboarding and ramping up. Additionally, during internal mobility the company is confident that the candidate shares your mission and vision, and It also implies that you are aware of a candidate's most recent performance. Novel/Additive information: the study is unique in the sense that it is done in one of the giant oil and gas companies which employees working in different aspects of the business; upstream, downstream, and mid-stream. The study introduces modern ways of work in a speedy, natural manner, and the use of MS Teams to do virtual interviews. Fursa platform allows companies to act quickly. It only takes a few seconds to determine where talent should be directed, and a few more seconds to deploy it.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hemangi Kadlak ◽  
Pradeep S. Salve ◽  
Payal Karwade

The issues of women safai karamcharis are less discussed in academic sphere compared to male safai karamcharis and given minimum importance. These women face multiple problems at the family level, at the working places and in the society; their problems are largely unheard. In the light of this limitation, the present study aimed to give visibility to their problems and their coping mechanisms. It is a collaborative work of three different surveys conducted with 115 safai karamcharis women in Nagpur (60), Kalyan (30) and Mumbai (25) cities applying qualitative and quantitative methods in Maharashtra. The results revealed that women aged 19 years to 46 years are engaged in safai kam and majority of them are widowed or currently married. Almost three-fourths of women resumed this occupation through preferential treatment (PT) case and those of direct recruitment are because of their Scheduled Caste background. Health problems and discrimination at the workplace are common and most of the time neglected. There is a need to establish a strong bridge between workers and academicians who form the policies and welfare programmes for safai karamcharis in order to realize their real conditions and needs. In social sciences, theories of knowledge production have to be utilized for the upliftment or betterment of the people irrespective of the caste and gender.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 34-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thidima Umpawan

Objective:The design of OTOP exhibition centre was aimed to study the background and local lifestyle of people in Kra Isthmus, Ranong Province and OTOP exhibition centre design for Kra Isthmus to increase the value of community shop’s appearance in accordance with Thailand 4.0 policy which aims to promote Thailand’s economy to be an innovation-driven economy. Methodology:Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used to conduct this study. The background and local lifestyle of the people at Kra Isthmus were studied by using the conceptual framework of ThidimaUmpawan.The survey was conducted with the participation between researcher and people from the community. Three models were created. 1st Prototype was Fon Pad Dad Si (eight months of rain and four months of sunshine) is interior design keyword. 2nd Prototype was Thammadha (normal) and 3rd Prototype was Tuk-mai (wooded shophouses). The design detail of each model consisted of location, organization management, behavior analysis of service provider and service consumer, correlation analysis, image, color schematic, material management, floor plan and other related plans, and perspective. Main Findings:The results from expert’s opinions on the all models showed that the appropriateness of the location was at the high level ( = 3.80 , SD = 0.60) as well as the organization management ( = 3.70 , SD = 0.65). The third model had the highest score among the three models in floor planning and merchandising ( = 3.45 ,SD = 0.62).Moreover, the third model could well represent lifestyle of Kra Isthmus( = 3.50, SD=0.60) and use appropriate material ( = 3.70 , SD = 0.52). The color schematic of the second and third models was at the average level( = 2.80 , SD = 0.60). The first model had the highest score in lighting design ( =3.20 , SD =0.50) at the average level. For the overall design, the third model had the highest score ( = 3.30 , SD = 0.62). Implications: As modern agriculture focuses on the management, interior design and technology, modern community shops are established. People in the community become the entrepreneurs who plant, process and sell their own products. Having unique style shop is one way to develop Kra Isthmus area to be Ranong’s cultural tourism area.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Therese Öhrling

Like many other industries, today the cleaning industry is affected more than ever by competition and pressure toward low prices, which leads to a nonadvantageous situation for cleaners. These days many Swedish municipalities choose to outsource cleaning service in order to save money, although the situation for the cleaners appears to be worsening. The aim of this paper is to evaluate an alternative organizational structure within a Swedish public cleaning division to investigate how good work environment for cleaners can be combined with economical savings for a municipality. Like many other cleaning organizations, both national and international, the present cleaning division has been struggling for a long time with high levels of sick leave and early retirements. After years of unsuccessful attempts to improve the situation by reducing the physical load, cleaning managers made a decision to broaden their strategy by changing the structure of their organization. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative methods have been applied to identify and understand the effects of the organizational change, both on an individual level and on an organizational level. The results show that the organizational change, which leads to increased participation and autonomy for the cleaners, in combination with a high degree of social support, had a positive effect on job satisfaction, work motivation, and pride among the cleaners. Sick leave within the division has decreased, and both the quality and efficiency of the cleaning service have increased. It can be concluded that there are other alternative organizational structures that could be applied within the public sector and prove advantageous, both for the individual cleaners and for the municipality. Further research of similar organizational structures within the private cleaning sector is recommended.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amanda Gilbertson

<p>Marcus Banks (1996: 8) argues that the life of ethnicity has been lived out through the writings of academics rather than in the lives of the people they have studied and, indeed, local discourses of ethnicity are remarkably understudied. This thesis takes a step towards addressing the lack of attention given to local discourses of ethnicity by exploring the ways in which sixteen New Zealand-born Gujaratis talked about their Indianness in interviews conducted specifically for this project. Herbert Gans’ (1979) notion of symbolic ethnicity is initially employed as a framework for understanding participants’ narratives. Although this analysis gives an indication of the salience of ethnicity in the lives of my participants, it fails to account for the complex dilemmas of difference they expressed – the definition of ‘Indian culture’ in terms of difference from other ‘cultures’ and the suggestion that they were different from other New Zealanders by virtue of their Indianness. These issues are explained through an exploration of the assumptions about the cultural and the person that were inherent in notions expressed by participants of living in ‘two worlds’ and having to find a balance between them. This analysis suggests that participants constructed both ‘culture’ and ‘the individual’ as highly individuated categories. It is argued that these conceptualizations of ‘culture’ and ‘the individual’ can be usefully understood in terms of reflexive, or liquid, modernity and reflexive individualism. Under the conditions of late modernity, reflexive – that is, selfdirected and self-oriented – thought and activity become idealised and individuals are ideologically cast as the producers of their own biographies. My participants’ discussions of their Indianness can, therefore, be understood to represent a kind of ‘self-reflexive ethnicity’ that is centred on the person rather than on social networks or cultural practices. This mode of ethnicity does not necessarily require the decline of such networks and practices; they are simply reconfigured in terms of personal choice.</p>


2019 ◽  
pp. 67-76
Author(s):  
Abd Al-Satar Shnin Alganaby

Heritage represents the living memory of the individual and society , it is cultural identity that people recognize about the privacy of people . That is the full record of human activity in a society preserved in the collective memory of the people . It is a manifestation of individual and collective creativity of the nation during its long history . As a result , heritage has a strong relationship with the cultural practices of society and its outlook for the future as well as the link between the present and the past. Therefore, the loss of cultural heritage means the loss of the nation's memory , identity and pride in its own history and present. Talking the architectural heritage of Najaf, which is one of the main pillars of the city's heritage through the ages, means talking about the variables in the moving time and the fixed place. Najaf in its plans and architecture as one of the historical cities of religious origin had to respond on its architectural planning to a range of needs and factors that influenced the pattern of planning and the shape of the city and the models of buildings . In order to deepen the subject , we chose the old Najafi house as a model for local architecture . Mr. Ali Al-Damarji's house was chosen as a model in Al-Huwaish district . As it is characterized by the integration of the elements of planning , architectural and construction , as well as the capacity of an area of (380 m2.) , and its good condition as classified by the heritage survey committee of the city of Najaf grade (A) in terms of heritage status , and the state of construction . The study has found that the architecture of the heritage buildings in Najaf and the Najafi house in particular has some characteristics that are almost unique to them . However , this privacy does not mean the identification of an independent identity . Rather , it is the local privacy which is integrated it its overall image within the identity National Heritage of Iraq . In spite of the presence of different oriental influences , the Najafi house remained conservative in its basic layout of its traditional character , which imitates the old and ancient Iraqi style . And this in itself drawn the image of Iraqi cultural communication and authenticity through the ages .


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 335-347
Author(s):  
Dede Fitriana Anatassia ◽  
Mira Noor Milla ◽  
Subhan El Hafiz

The belief in good values that live in the community have an influence on the individual’s behavior. Virtue is one of them. Virtues found to have links with the individual’s character and personality. By using the approach of constructive realism indigenous psychology, this study aims to explore the virtues in the context of Melayu culture. Data collection techniques in this study were open ended questions and multiple responses. Data were analyzed with qualitative and quantitative methods using NVivo. It was found that kindness and loyalty are the core virtues that are considered important in everyday life. In the relationship context, the behaviors target of these values is higher in the community than personal. Virtues was found to be differ according to the demands of the situation. These virtues shifted in problem solving situations, where kindness and empathy are expected to appear less than serenity and resourceful. It is clear that the virtues which embraced by the individual does not always manifest if the situation is not supportive for the emergence of these virtues.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Parveen Kaur ◽  
Chai Nyet Foong ◽  
Arif Jawaid

Recycling is one of the best ways to have a positive impact on the world in which we live in. In this modern hectic world of ours, people are indulging in activities which harm the environment. It is vital to educate our future generation in the preservation of our pleasant environment by not only polluting but also spreading crucial diseases. The purpose of this research is to understand the recycling practices and perceptions among rural primary school children. The sample for this study included Primary Three to Primary Six (N=16, M=11.31 years) school children with different ages and ethnic groups. The research was carried out in SJK Chung Hua Asajaya, Samarahan, Sarawak. This study used both qualitative and quantitative methods to collect the data. Face-to-face interviews guided by questionnaires as a tool determine the habits and practices on recycling activity. Findings of this study indicated that majority of the school children have good habits of recycling in both school and at home. Their perceptions indicated that they were aware on the importance of recycling in preserving the environment. This study would benefit the people in rural areas to be aware on the importance of recycling and how they can practice and improve their habits in recycling. School plays an important role in cultivating this practice. Recycling will help the town council and related institutions to giveindividuals a better quality of living.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document