scholarly journals Spirituality, shifting identities and social change: Cases from the Kalahari landscape

2015 ◽  
Vol 71 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary E. Lange ◽  
Lauren Dyll-Myklebust
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Artistic Expression ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Spiritual Beliefs ◽  
Change Projects ◽  
Shifting Identities

Storytelling, art and craft can be considered aesthetic expressions of identities. Kalahari identities are not fixed, but fluid. Research with present-day Kalahari People regarding their artistic expression and places where it has been, and is still, practised highlights that these expressions are informed by spirituality. This article explores this idea via two Kalahari case studies: Water Stories recorded in the Upington, Kakamas area, as well as research on a specific rock engraving site at Biesje Poort near Kakamas. The importance of the Kalahari People’s spiritual beliefs as reflected in these case studies and its significance regarding their identities and influence on social change and/or community development projects is discussed. The article thus highlights ways in which spirituality can be considered in relation to social change projects that are characterised by partnerships between local community, non-government and tertiary education representatives and researchers and that highlight storytelling as an integral part of people’s spirituality.

scholarly journals Social Change through Entrepreneurship: Utilizing Portable Sawmill Based Small Businesses to Promote Community Development

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Crystal Lupo
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Small Businesses ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Wood Products ◽  
Forest Industry ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization

Reduced demand for wood and wood products resulting from the economic crisis in the first decade of the 2000s severely impacted the forest industry throughout the world, causing large forest-based organizations to close (CBC News, 2008; Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2009; Pepke, 2009). The result was a dramatic increase in unemployment and worker displacement among forest product workers between 2011 and 2013 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). Forested rural communities often depended on the large-scale forest industry for their livelihood, and as a result, decreased reliance on large-scale industry became increasingly important (Lupo, 2015). This article explores portable-sawmill-based entrepreneurship as an opportunity to promote social change in the local community. Results indicated that portable-sawmill-based small businesses created community development opportunities, which promoted social change in the larger community through farm business expansion, conservation efforts to improve local community development, and niche market creation in the local or larger community.

Co-Producing a Nicer Neighbourhood: Why do People Participate in Local Community Development Projects?

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daphne Vanleene ◽  
Joris Voets ◽  
Bram Verschuere
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Production Efficiency ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Economic Position ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Improve Service Quality

Co-production is often considered a solution to improve service quality and production efficiency, yet research on the reasons why citizens participate in the creation and/or implementation of public services is still limited to specific sectors. In this article, we study the different citizens’ motivations discussed in the literature. We distinguished two categories of motivations, personal and circumstantial. By means of a guided survey, we collected data on these different motivations in a Belgian case in the unstudied setting of community development. The results show that even in a community development case, where material incentives are used to entice citizens in a vulnerable socio-economic position to participate, the reasons behind co-production are still more diverse and complex than simple benefit maximization.

The Rural Municipality as Developer - Entrepreneurial and Planning Modes in Community Development

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 373-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils Aarsaether ◽  
Toril Ringholm
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Entrepreneurial Orientation ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Rural Municipality ◽  
First Case ◽  
Planning Tools ◽  
Planning Orientation

The planning orientation and the entrepreneurial orientation are traditionally portrayed as opposites in analyses of local development. Based on a survey of developmental activities in Norwegian municipalities, the authors argue that municipal leaders apply planning tools also when engaged in local development projects. The mechanisms at work when planning practices and entrepreneurial-type actions intersect are analysed by case studies. There is no uniformity in the ways municipalities handle the planning-entrepreneurialism nexus; only in one instance a classical “planning-first” case is found. A bottom-up approach, in which a multitude of initiatives elicits coordination by planning, seems to be a more apt description. Keywords: • planning • entrepreneurialism • leadership • community development

STAKEHOLDER PARTICIPATION AND SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS IMPLEMENTED BY PLAN INTERNATIONAL IN KILIFI COUNTY, KENYA

2021 ◽  
pp. 22-31
Author(s):  
Alice Ochieng ◽  
Juster Nyaga
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Stakeholder Participation ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Multiple Regression Model ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Continuous Basis ◽  
Community Staff ◽  
Goals And Objectives

Abstract The study focuses on stakeholder's participation and sustainability of community development projects implemented by Plan International in Kilifi County. The target population was 96 respondents and the study adopted census. Data was collected by use of questionnaires. Data was analyzed by use of descriptive statistics and multiple regression model. The findings indicated that all the three factors which include, interactive participation, functional participation and passive participation are statistically significant in determining the sustainability of community development projects. From the study it is recommended that; Plan International should ensure local communities are involved when making decisions, goals and objectives should be stipulated by both Plan International and Local community. Staff should have adequate skills when implementing projects and should be trained on continuous basis and the organization should give community a chance to present their opinions. Plan International needs to reduce the extent of engaging stakeholder passively, ensure there is interactive participation, coordinate functional participation among stakeholders. Keywords: Functional participation, Interactive participation, Passive participation, Stakeholders' participation, Sustainability

scholarly journals Between research and community development: Negotiating a contested space for collaboration and creativity

2018 ◽  
pp. 21-48
Author(s):  
Sarah Banks ◽  
Andrea Armstrong ◽  
Anne Bonner ◽  
Yvonne Hall ◽  
Patrick Harman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Community Development ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Contested Space ◽  
Inquiry Group ◽  
North East ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter discusses the relationship between co-produced research and community development. In particular, it addresses longstanding debates about whether certain forms of co-produced research (especially participatory action research), are, in fact, indistinguishable from community development. This question is explored with reference to Imagine North East, a co-produced research project based in North East England, which was part of a larger programme of research on civic participation (Imagine – connecting communities through research). The chapter offers a critical analysis of three elements of Imagine North East: an academic-led study of community development from the 1970s to the present; starting with the national Community Development Projects in Benwell and North Shields; a series of community development projects undertaken by local community-based organisations; and the challenges and outcomes of a joint process of reflection and co-inquiry. It considers the role of co-produced research in challenging stigma, celebrating place and developing skills and community networks – all recognisable as community development processes and outcomes. It also discusses the difficult process of bringing together a disparate group of people in a co-inquiry group; the time taken to develop identities as practitioner-researchers; and the skills required to engage in a kind of ‘collaborative reflexivity’ whereby members of the group critically reflected together on the group’s role and dynamics.

Community–Based Activism and Change: The Cases of Sydney and Toronto

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariadne Vromen
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Community Development ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Development Organizations ◽  
Community Development Organizations ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Sydney Australia

How do community–based political activists justify the ongoing effectiveness of their chosen location for political activity? How do they describe the shifts in relationships between community–development activism and the state? This article presents findings from case studies undertaken with two community–development organizations based in Sydney, Australia, and Toronto, Canada. The focus of the analysis is 40 in–depth interviews conducted with activists in the late 1990s. The article details how the activists describe the present realities for community–development activism and what they conceptualize as the future for their field of political action. It is argued that by appreciating how activists substantiate the relevance of community–development activism in periods of economic, political, and social change we are able to build a notion of participation that is inclusive of, rather than critical of, everyday activist experiences.

Overseas Development Administration. A Guide to Social Analysis for Projects in Developing Countries. London: HMSO. 1995. viii+248 pages. Hardbound. £18.95.

1996 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-190
Author(s):  
Mir Annice Mahmood
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Social Analysis ◽  
Economic Perspective ◽  
Human Environment ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Overseas Development

This book, hereinafter referred to as the Guide, has been developed for those social analysts (e.g., anthropologists, sociologists, and human geographers) who have had little or no practical experience in applying their knowledge as development practitioners. In the past, development projects would be analysed from a narrow financial and economic perspective. But with the evolution of thinking on development, this narrow financial and economic aspect has now been broadened to include the impact on society as the very meaning of development has now come to symbolise social change. Thus, development is not restricted only to plans and figures; the human environment in its entirety is now considered for analysis while designing and implementing development projects.

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