Enterprising or Enterprise? Sustainable rural training centre models in the Solomon Islands

<p>This thesis assesses the educational relevance, impact and operational sustainability, of community rural training centres (RTCs) and external ‘development’ practice across the Solomon Islands over the last five years. It further legitimises RTCs as effective hubs of ‘development’ for informal livelihoods and rural community interests. The thesis adopts a post-development lens in its assessment of insights obtained from qualitative interviews with 87 participants, spanning four RTC locations and in consultation with other stakeholders. Particular attention is given to Escobar’s local models of practice (Escobar, 1995) in understanding processes of ‘development’ at the community level. It assessed the nature and purpose of RTCs for community conceptions of ‘development’ and ‘modernity’, identifying their impact in this regard. Alongside this, the thesis assessed the impact of external ‘development’ programming on the RTC model of practice, including considerations of output relevance and sustainability. Overall, a social enterprise model (Ridley-Duff & Bull, 2018) was found to be insufficient to understanding the RTC model of practice. Such a model failed to account for the varied conceptions of ‘modernity’ at the local level, and instead a more holistic model of RTC operation was proposed. This helps to expand discourses of localised practice in the context of ‘development’. Evidence from participants showed clear positive impacts of the model in supporting different stakeholders’ goals for ‘development’ at the community level. Mainstream discourses of ‘knowledge’ transfer were challenged by showing the agency and, at times, power, community actors possessed in localising new learnings into current understandings as they saw fit. While external programming played a key part in these processes, its role was as a facilitator of RTC models of practice rather than as the main driver of community ‘development’. Rather than simply replacing one set of ‘knowledge’ with another, this expands discourses of localised ‘knowledge’ to show community understandings as separate and adaptable domains of knowledge that should be supported rather than replaced. Finally, this thesis assessed the position of RTCs in wider discourses of Solomon Islands’ ‘sustainable development’, including wider outcomes and implications of this position on their ‘sustainability’, and for community education. National and global processes of ‘development’ we found to have great influence on the successes and challenges of RTCs, showing ongoing and evolving challenges to ‘informal’ livelihoods and practice. External expectations were shown to create a sustainability paradox for rural training centres (Devine, 2003), between conforming to external perceptions to support their ‘development’ or maintaining their relevance in informal settings with few options for growth. A case is therefore made to expand discourses of ‘sustainable development’ to conceive of sustainable outcomes in a more holistic way, acknowledging history and community-level intent over external economic ‘development’ pressures.</p>

Enterprising or Enterprise? Sustainable rural training centre models in the Solomon Islands

<p>This thesis assesses the educational relevance, impact and operational sustainability, of community rural training centres (RTCs) and external ‘development’ practice across the Solomon Islands over the last five years. It further legitimises RTCs as effective hubs of ‘development’ for informal livelihoods and rural community interests. The thesis adopts a post-development lens in its assessment of insights obtained from qualitative interviews with 87 participants, spanning four RTC locations and in consultation with other stakeholders. Particular attention is given to Escobar’s local models of practice (Escobar, 1995) in understanding processes of ‘development’ at the community level. It assessed the nature and purpose of RTCs for community conceptions of ‘development’ and ‘modernity’, identifying their impact in this regard. Alongside this, the thesis assessed the impact of external ‘development’ programming on the RTC model of practice, including considerations of output relevance and sustainability. Overall, a social enterprise model (Ridley-Duff & Bull, 2018) was found to be insufficient to understanding the RTC model of practice. Such a model failed to account for the varied conceptions of ‘modernity’ at the local level, and instead a more holistic model of RTC operation was proposed. This helps to expand discourses of localised practice in the context of ‘development’. Evidence from participants showed clear positive impacts of the model in supporting different stakeholders’ goals for ‘development’ at the community level. Mainstream discourses of ‘knowledge’ transfer were challenged by showing the agency and, at times, power, community actors possessed in localising new learnings into current understandings as they saw fit. While external programming played a key part in these processes, its role was as a facilitator of RTC models of practice rather than as the main driver of community ‘development’. Rather than simply replacing one set of ‘knowledge’ with another, this expands discourses of localised ‘knowledge’ to show community understandings as separate and adaptable domains of knowledge that should be supported rather than replaced. Finally, this thesis assessed the position of RTCs in wider discourses of Solomon Islands’ ‘sustainable development’, including wider outcomes and implications of this position on their ‘sustainability’, and for community education. National and global processes of ‘development’ we found to have great influence on the successes and challenges of RTCs, showing ongoing and evolving challenges to ‘informal’ livelihoods and practice. External expectations were shown to create a sustainability paradox for rural training centres (Devine, 2003), between conforming to external perceptions to support their ‘development’ or maintaining their relevance in informal settings with few options for growth. A case is therefore made to expand discourses of ‘sustainable development’ to conceive of sustainable outcomes in a more holistic way, acknowledging history and community-level intent over external economic ‘development’ pressures.</p>

Effects of development interventions on pastoral livelihoods in Turkana County, Kenya

Turkana County has a long history of drought and development interventions and remains one of the poorest counties in Kenya. In Turkana, livelihoods are increasingly under threat because of climate change, conflict, and the changing land use and management. There are complex interactions between the multiple drivers of change in landscapes and livelihoods in the region. The question addressed here is: How have external development interventions contributed to the changing pastoralist livelihoods in Turkana? This study is specific to the lower part of the Turkwel River basin, particularly the Nanyee irrigated area in Turkwel, Loima sub-County of Turkana County. This article examines the external development interventions during the colonial, post-independence, and contemporary periods to reveal the ways that land use practices and livelihoods have changed across these periods. Land use practices are changing due to the growing human population, droughts, urbanization, and dispossession of grazing areas through state and donor-supported interventions. It is suggested in this article that the change from a system of customary, unrestricted grazing to one of enclosed pastures has threatened pastoral territories, as well as cultures and livelihoods over the past six decades. The new set of development interventions introduced by international and national actors have failed to support local livelihoods, instead joining the list of existing problems that undermine pastoralism, including drought, livestock diseases, and cattle rustling.

Escaladarea conflictelor regionale în spațiul post-sovietic. Cazul conflictului transnistrean / Escalation of regional conflicts in the post-Soviet space. The case of the Transnistrian conflict

The last decade of the twentieth century was marked by a geopolitical event with long-lasting effects - the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. One of the „poles” of the bipolar system of international relations has completely disappeared, and its fragments have begun to move in different directions - the independent states of the post-Soviet space have begun to form. Thus, the adaptation of the independent states from the post-Soviet space to the new geopolitical realities and the determination of their own political and external development vector began. At the same time, nationalist forces intensified and political tensions increased, leading to regional conflicts, especially in the vast Black Sea basin.

Cryosectioning and Immunostaining of Xenopus Embryonic Tissues

The Xenopus embryo is a classical vertebrate model for molecular, cellular, and developmental biology. Despite many advantages of this organism, such as large egg size and external development, imaging of early embryonic stages is challenging because of nontransparent cytoplasm. Staining and imaging of thin tissue sections is one way to overcome this limitation. Here we describe a step-by-step protocol that combines cryosectioning of gelatin-embedded embryos with immunostaining and imaging. The purpose of this protocol is to examine various cellular and tissue markers after the manipulation of protein function. This protocol can be performed within a 2-d period and allows detection of many antigens by immunofluorescence.

BUILDING PESANTREN ENTREPRENEURSHIP THROUGH INTERNAL INITIATIVE AND EXTERNAL DEVELOPMENT

The objective of this research is to analyze the role of internal initiative driven by pesantren leaders and external development provided by the government in building pesantren entrepreneurship. This research was conducted by utilizing a descriptive qualitative method, with a sample of 5 pesantrens in Garut Regency, Indonesia. The data obtained in this research was collected through focus group discussion (FGD) with a number of stakeholdrs as informant namely leaders of the 5 pesantrens taken as sample along with a couple of their students. Based on field study, we discovered that the success of pesantren in building entrepreneurship activities are dominantly determined by internal initiative and creativity driven by entrepreneurs/managers/ initiators of pesantren, supported by their students. Other pesantrens that have succeeded to build their economic independencies have also received assistance from the government through one pesantren one product (OPOP) program as external development driving factor, which motivated these pesantrens to contribute and to help the government to achieve the goals of this program.

On the “Double Adaptation” of Teaching and its Comprehensive Effect

The teaching methods of various subjects should not only meet the inner needs of students, but also conform to the objective laws of external development. So as to realize “double adaptation”. After repeated research and experimentation, we found that the “guided learning method” implemented with a “four-step procedure” can better solve this problem. On this basis, we can achieve a high degree of integration of “teaching” and “learning”, a high degree of integration of lesson plan, textbooks, assignments and examination papers, a high degree of integration of teaching methods of various disciplines, and a high degree of integration of many teaching steps such as explanation, practice, consolidation and review. The role and power of this “high level of integration” All kinds of effects should not be underestimated. With the “high level of integration”, it is easy to knock on the door of simple, efficient and effective teaching and learning, thereby making the education to step on a healthy track.

Testis Development and Differentiation in Amphibians

Sex is determined genetically in amphibians; however, little is known about the sex chromosomes, testis-determining genes, and the genes involved in testis differentiation in this class. Certain inherent characteristics of the species of this group, like the homomorphic sex chromosomes, the high diversity of the sex-determining mechanisms, or the existence of polyploids, may hinder the design of experiments when studying how the gonads can differentiate. Even so, other features, like their external development or the possibility of inducing sex reversal by external treatments, can be helpful. This review summarizes the current knowledge on amphibian sex determination, gonadal development, and testis differentiation. The analysis of this information, compared with the information available for other vertebrate groups, allows us to identify the evolutionarily conserved and divergent pathways involved in testis differentiation. Overall, the data confirm the previous observations in other vertebrates—the morphology of the adult testis is similar across different groups; however, the male-determining signal and the genetic networks involved in testis differentiation are not evolutionarily conserved.

Neurophysiological and Behavioral Analysis in Xenopus

Because of its resilience to hypoxia and trauma, the frog has long been a favored preparation of neurophysiologists. Its use has led to the discovery of many fundamental properties of neurons and neural circuits. Neurophysiologists were originally attracted to Xenopus embryos, tadpoles, and frogs because of their ready availability, their external development, and the anatomical accessibility and relatively simple neural circuitry of the Xenopus visual, locomotory, and vocalization systems. Nowadays, the sequencing of Xenopus genomes and the panoply of tools for manipulating gene expression have created new opportunities for neurophysiologists to address the molecular underpinnings of how neurons generate behaviors in a vertebrate. Here, we introduce protocols for harnessing the power of Xenopus for performing electrophysiological studies of neural circuitry in the developing optic tectum and spinal cord, as well as in vocalization, and for studying the ontogeny of locomotory behavior.

Exploring Community Festivals In The Context of The Chinese Diaspora

This exploratory case study investigated the organisers’ rationale for hosting a community festival for the Chinese diaspora and takes as its context the 2018 Brisbane Chinese Festival held in Queensland, Australia. Diaspora groups are in a paradoxical situation as they hold a dual identity, with a sense of belonging to their homeland and host land simultaneously, and thus festivals aimed at diasporic communities are culturally complex. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 15 Chinese community leaders living in Queensland who were festival organisers. The results show that organisers had reasons for both community internal and external development. The internal focused reasons include reinforcing Chinese community identities and increasing community solidarity and cohesiveness among different individuals and groups. The externally focused reasons include building a united image of the Chinese community, along with fostering social harmony between the minority diaspora groups and the dominant populations in a multicultural society. The research also demonstrated that defining and characterising the Chinese diaspora, which is acknowledged to be super-diverse, was highly complex, but that cultural identity was the key way in which members of the Chinese diaspora define themselves. Suggestions for future research using social capital as a potential theoretical framework are provided.