Revitalising Jiri Technical School in a Dramatically Changed Context: Governance, Management and Employability

This paper examines two assumption: First, whether inadequate practical training, including much shortened apprenticeship training, has negatively affected the employability and incomes of graduates of TVET institutions in Nepal, and the second, whether it is good institutional management and governance that provide the systems for quality training and positive labour market outcomes. Tracer studies and an institutional assessment of Jiri Technical School (JTS) confirm the first assumption. The review of select literature on institution building and the benchmarking of JTS’ operative practices against those of high performing educational institutions (in India) confirm the second assumption. It is argued that poor management and governance of TVET institutions drifts the mission of Technical Schools away from their initial socio-economic mandate: the provision of skilled human resource and access to qualification opportunities to the youth having the aptitudes for such an education. Social rather than labour market demand with corresponding politics is one major force for such deviation. To revitalise the JTS, it is proposed to bank on the federalisation of the TVET governance system to professionalise Board, Management and teachers for enhanced labour market outcomes in closer cooperation between actors from the education and employment systems.

The future: towards agenda 2063.

This chapter discusses the foreseeable future of agriculture in Africa, which has a major contribution to make in terms of food security, and also in terms of economic, social and environmental development. The changing climate in Africa already calls for the adoption of the best alternative agricultural production strategy that can deliver both productivity and ecosystem services. This chapter also highlights important findings from the book such as the new expertise and experience in Conservation Agriculture (CA) that has been gained, especially during the last decade. Research, training, farmer innovation and the increasing agricultural investments in institution building mean that CA now holds greater promise of serving as a sustainable pillar in the implementation of Agenda 2063. Also included in this chapter is a transcription of the speech of the Director General of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF), Mr Mzamo Michael Mlenganaduring during the official opening of the Congress, wherein he called for a greater contribution by CA and the multi-stakeholder CA community of practice towards Agenda 2063.

The Role of Public Art in Solar Commons Institution-Building: Community Voices from an Essential Partnership among Artists, Community Solar Researchers, and Activists

In this urgent decade when American democracy faces the challenge of decarbonizing the U.S. electric grid and assuring that the economic benefits of our energy transition are equitably shared, many solar energy researchers and activists are searching for new ways to partner with the civic sector. Instead of treating energy users as passive customers, experts understand the importance of engaging community as active decision-makers, beneficiaries, and communicators for a just energy transition. Distributed solar technology offers more democratic potential than small savings on individuals’ electric bills. Energy experts working on the Solar CommonsÔ community solar model at the University of Minnesota are piloting demonstration projects with community partners in Arizona and Minnesota. These solar commons aggregate savings through power purchase agreements that create 25-year peer-governed revenue streams to support mutual aid and reparative justice work in neighborhoods. This article describes a Solar Commons research project in Arizona, with a conversation among the public artists who partnered with the legal research team to co-create communication and peer governance tools that will allow DIY Solar Commons to iterate throughout the US as a new institution in our civic sector. Images of the Solar Commons public art demonstrate how the artists helped expand the vision of solar energy from the iconic individual solar panel to a technology embedded in community justice and in a complex human-more-than-human environment.

Implications of the Resource Nexus on International Relations: The Case of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam is causing tensions and potential for conflict along the Nile. Egypt fears water losses and threatens sanctions; Ethiopia plans to expand the electric power supply. The United Nations Security Council is advocating negotiations under the auspices of the African Union. Against this backdrop, this article discusses the nexus between water and energy in International Relations. A constructivist perspective helps to elaborate potential solutions on energy systems, water demand management and food that may be helpful in upcoming talks and in institution-building in similar endeavours.

The Two Faces of the ‘Global Right’: Revolutionary Conservatives and National-Conservatives

Studies of the Global Right usually trace its intellectual underpinnings to the revolutionary conservative New Right and its ideas claiming to defend an ‘ethno-pluralist’ European identity from the multiculturalist threat of a ‘Great Replacement’ through immigration. A second lineage, which we refer to as ‘national-conservative’, is less explored and is more concerned with threats to moral order and the loss of moral bearing due to liberalism’s relativism. These two intellectual lineages, and corresponding political alignments, engender different political projects of the Global Right, which is not that coherent as it seems. Taking a long-term historical-ideational perspective that underlines the power of ideologies as templates, we argue that a closer look at the different intellectual traditions of the Global Right can help explain the contrasting political preferences for socio-economic action, institution-building and transnational cooperation.

Back to the Iron Cage? Institutional Isomorphism of the AIIB

During its first five years of operation, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) is becoming more and more similar to traditional Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) in terms of operational goals, business area, and environmental and social standards. Why has the AIIB, the newest type of multilateral development bank (MDB) initiated by an emerging economy, undergone institutional isomorphism? Based on the socialization theory, this paper argues that the institutional environment in which the AIIB is operating has a strong influence on AIIB’s institution-building, mainly through the coercive, mimetic, and normative institutional isomorphic processes. On coercion, the pressures from European donors, international credit rating agencies, and global civil society have resulted in the AIIB’s institutional isomorphism. On mimicking, the social uncertainty of the relationship between the AIIB and the Belt and Road Initiative and the technical uncertainty of infrastructure projects have triggered the AIIB’s institutional isomorphism. On normativeness, the similar educational backgrounds and working experience of the AIIB’s staff and active interactions among the MDB family members have caused the AIIB’s institutional isomorphism. The paper concludes that the international institutional environment might hamper emerging economies’ capabilities of institutional innovation.

TEACHING OF “CONTROL SYSTEMS OF HAZARDOUS AND HARMFUL FACTORS” WITH “THE LEGAL BASIS FOR CIVIL SECURITY” IN THE INSTITUTION BUILDING AND CIVIL SECURITY PROFILES (FOR SPECIALTY CONSTRUCTION AND CIVIL SECURITY)

Problem statement. The article is aimed at determining the characteristics of the specialty, the presenceof problems in learning. The purpose of the article is to highlight the main problems associated with the production andthe process of mastering the profession. As the specialty is quite young, there are often no materials to master it byfuture specialists. We hope that we have managed to overcome these shortcomings. The training of future specialists intoday's changing conditions of production needs and employers poses new challenges to higher education, includinguniversities that train specialists in the field of civil security. The article is built in the classical style according to therequirements of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to scientific articles. Purpose. The specialty is one ofthe most relevant and popular specialties of training and is focused primarily on training specialists who are able toensure effective implementation of labor protection policy, industrial safety and cooperation with state supervisoryauthorities in accordance with regulations and international standards. The specialty allows to acquire practical andspecialized knowledge and skills in the field of both technical and human sciences, related to the risks that arise in theprocess of work, methods of eliminating hazards, assessment of occupational risks, etc. Graduates can interpret the roleand place of a person in solving health and safety problems with all the consequences. Conclusions. The purpose of thespecialists in civil safety and labor protection is to implement the task of compulsory state social insurance againstaccidents at work and occupational diseases, including participation in ensuring the employer's preventive and othermeasures aimed at eliminating harmful and dangerous factors of production, prevention of accidents at work,occupational diseases and other cases of threat to the health of personnel caused by working conditions, and providingthe employer with practical assistance in constantly improving the forms and methods of preventive work in the field oflabor protection.

Sustainable Development in Middle Powers’ Governance Arrangements

Considering middle powers’ potential to address new demands worldwide and their propensity to contribute to new forms of institution-building in global governance, arrangements between them consist of interesting opportunities to promote sustainable development. However, some have shown to be more effective than others in this regard. When observing two of these partnerships’ outcomes between 2015 and 2018, India, Brazil, and South Africa (IBSA) Trilateral Forum has demonstrated more effectiveness than Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey, and Australia (MIKTA) New Innovative Partnership. To understand why, this study analyses specialized literature, with special attention to Koenig-Archibugi’s (2002) framework on global governance arrangements’ effectiveness. Arguing that middle power arrangements that address sustainable development are more effective when benefiting from greater functional specialization and that diversified power access also plays a role, this study raises awareness about middle powers’ relevance in addressing new global demands. The study points out the nascent research on these informal partnerships and the causal relations between these arrangements’ structures and effectiveness.