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Can NGOs implement rights-based gender equality programs when donor focus on the area is shrinking? This paper explores how one development program has made strategic choices incorporating the interests of multiple stakeholders, addressing donor interests while simultaneously addressing the needs of local communities. It examines the evolution of BRAC's Polli Shomaj, a rural women's civil society organisation designed to challenge power structures through collective action in rural Bangladesh. It draws on interviews with program staff and existing program literature to find that over time, BRAC leadership has narrowed its program focus to shed its broad transformative agenda to focus solely on gender equality through a combination of service delivery and rights-based approaches. The paper suggests that while it is possible for NGOs to promote gender equality through a combination of rights-based and service-delivery approaches, greater focus is needed on challenging power structures to bring about lasting structural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development of tourism symbolizes a type of business activity that satisfies the requirements of both the tourists and the receiving communities. The paper aims to unearth the impact of community empowerment on the sustainable tourism development. Further, local support is incorporated as a mediating variable between the relationship of community empowerment and sustainable tourism development. For data collection, an onsite survey method is employed and the dataset of 368 respondents was analyzed to test the theoretical work. The fit of the framework is evaluated using structural equation modeling (SEM). SEM confirms that all four hypotheses have a statistically significant relationship. The study findings indicate that community empowerment has a positive impact on local support and sustainable tourism development. Further, the study shows local support completely mediates the relationship between the two variables. There is a dearth of empirical research regarding the empowerment of the community, the paper findings will contribute a substantial part to the existing literature on sustainable tourism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although frequently perceived as a 'woolly' policy concept and a means to reduce public service delivery costs, co-production can lead to increased quality and efficiency of services. In this paper, we explore the contribution of a community empowerment policy to co-production processes. Analysing empirical findings from a mixed-method, longitudinal study through the lens of Myers et al.'s (2017) Theory of Change, the paper develops a model of a successful co-production process. We show that changes in working practices and shifts in power can create friction between co-producing actors. By critiquing specific policies, we inform future co-production research, policy, and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although efforts have been made to connect the conservation of protected areas (PAs) to the livelihoods of people living in adjacent localities through sustainable tourism development, the debate is still evolving and inconclusive. This special issue contributes to the discourse by endeavouring to advance discussions on relationships that exist between protected areas, tourism and community livelihoods. This paper synthesizes accomplishments and challenges that exist in studying linkages between PAs, tourism and community livelihoods, which to date have been sporadic and mostly atheoretical. Empirical evidence from different researchers are highlighted to guide interested stakeholders, policy planners and practitioners to glean and adapt their strategies to achieve integrated conservation and community development. The linkages between PAs, tourism and community livelihoods can best be understood by considering different theories, conceptual frameworks and methodologies used to understand the relationship dynamics with a view to resolve the demands of livelihoods and conservation that have been advanced over the last fifty years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The explosive growth of tourism in China since the 1980s has generated attendant interest in tourism research in the country, among researchers both in the mainland and outside. The dialogue between the two communities (domestic and international researchers) is also growing, but is as yet still limited, with insufficient contributions from Chinese mainland tourism researchers to the international academic world. China provides a rich field for examining the cultural, social and institutional context in which tourism develops. Recent studies of village-based community tourism development in China, with an emphasis on institutional perspectives, provide some insight on the dynamic and complex changes of rural communities along with tourism development. In general, these papers show that village participation in decision making is growing, although examples of disempowerment are as rife as those of growing empowerment. Contested resources are one of the most influential factors in this struggle, along with the rapid growth of tourism that the country has experienced since the 1980s. The papers in this special collection also demonstrate the distinct character of domestic tourism research in China, which engages the rich body of literature published in Chinese, but is generally less connected to broader international debates in the predominantly Anglo-American English publishing realm. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ngalogat is a type of pesantren tradition in Indonesia that is increasingly recognized as a local cultural heritage. However, there have been limited studies on the local potentials and assets in Jambudipa Village. This paper aims to explore the transformation of the Ngalogat tradition into new commodities, specifically Gentur lantern crafts, as a contribution to heritage studies. The research utilized a phenomenological approach involving observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation. The results indicate that the preservation of Ngalogat as a Gentur lamp commodity is indirectly influenced by religious figures advising students (Santri) living in Jambudipa and promoting the iconic heritage to residents. This has led the local government to initiate One Village One Product program, involving locals in producing Gentur lamps. While the pesantren traditions were once viewed with suspicion during the Dutch colonial regime, the post-independence era has brought hope for preserving local cultural heritage as a national identity and a driver of national development. However, these potentials have not been fully realized as authentic crafts of the people. This study suggests that the government should assist local communities in nominating intangible cultural assets to the World Heritage Committee (WHC) to gain recognition and protection of local identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to examine understandings and applications of rural community resilience. Scottish policy has shifted toward neoliberalism and community empowerment, with communities encouraged to play a proactive role in enhancing their own resilience. We argue that it is important to understand the perspectives of multiple stakeholders to identify what practical factors they believe enhance community resilience and to provide a greater understanding of the mechanisms through which community resilience can be delivered. Drawing on qualitative data collection, we question what resilience means and what factors can facilitate it in practice. We find that dual discourses of resilience emerge: the emergency which reflects the policy focus on short-term damage reduction, and the everyday which reflects the desire for more long-term adaptive capacities developing in response to gradual change in rural communities. We conclude that the discourse which stakeholders align with will affect how they understand, adopt, and practice the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both environmental improvement and collective agency over local decisions are recognised strategies for promoting health and health equity. However, both strategies have been critiqued for their association with policies that emphasise local resources and decision-making while the state disinvests in social and environmental determinants of health. This paper explores the role of place-based community empowerment initiatives in building collective control and improving health. We examined the perspectives of participating communities using qualitative data from interviews and observational fieldwork embedded within an evaluation of a national community empowerment initiative: Big Local (funded by The National Lottery Community Fund and overseen by Local Trust). We selected five examples of community action to improve and maintain built environments. We found that while academics (including the authors) are interested in mechanisms to health impacts, participants focused on something more general: delivering benefits to their communities and maintaining services threatened by state disinvestment. Participants sometimes used 'health' as a pragmatic justification for action. We posit that systemic pathways to health impact are plausible even when communities themselves do not forefront health goals. For example, 'quick wins' and 'quick losses' resulting from early community action have potential to galvanise or undermine collective agency, and so affect communities' capability to deliver future improvements to social and environmental determinants of health. However, structural limitations and unequal access to resources limit the potential of communities to make health-promoting change, as some participants acknowledged. Collective agency may improve socio-environmental determinants of health but systemic barriers to empowerment and equity persist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Police attempts to engage with communities and involve the public in decision-making within co-governance meetings has a long history in the UK. This paper examines the most recent initiative for such engagement, exploring the potential and problems for community empowerment in meetings set up as part of the development of neighbourhood policing in the UK. The paper contributes to existing research by offering a more nuanced understanding of how cogovernance is constructed in meetings, drawing on a longitudinal ethnography of the experience of these meetings in advantaged and disadvantaged communities. Our findings demonstrate the complex reality and practice of co-governance meetings between the police and community members and the paper explores three key themes in relation to these meetings. First, in examining the potential for community empowerment, we show that while these meetings may have some regressive effects, core attendees fully embrace them and seek to establish an active citizen identity. Secondly, we offer some support for a radical communitarian thesis, demonstrating how residents even in disadvantaged communities are able to have their voices heard. Finally, the research demonstrates that while the police attempt to control these meetings, this control is not uncontested with frequent challenges against police and partner (in)actions. The paper concludes by identifying critical areas of change for improving community empowerment in co-governance meetings with the police. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach (SLA) to explore the development of ecotourism in a Taiwanese community after a major earthquake. The study employs interviews with different NGO groups and residents, participant-observation and documentary analysis. Through a political economy lens, the study examines the social and political influences on, and the social and political consequences of, ecotourism development. Results reveal insights into political elements of the community asset base, calling for its inclusion in the existing model. The paper illustrates the challenges of ecotourism development and recognises the importance of attention to differing values if it is to be considered as a sustainable livelihood option in vulnerable communities. In particular we critique the positions of both existing power structures and NGOs, often envisioned as “experts” in the tourism governance process. In this case the imposition of various political values led to failures in inclusivity, particularly in terms of goal setting, empowerment, leadership, organisational fragmentation and benefit sharing, all of which are important principles of sustainability. Greater attention to the political nature of community-based tourism through the revised SLA model could reduce the many documented cases of hosts being merely objects of development, rather than active subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on the inspiring experience of the heritage conservation and revitalisation in Beitou, a district of Taipei City in Taiwan, this paper explores the role of community in heritage conservation, the interactive process of heritage formation by community engagement and empowerment, the different approaches of heritage conservation between experts and local people, and the corresponding theoretical implications of heritage definitions. This paper argues that heritage, as the inseparable right of people from the point of view of cultural citizenship, is more helpfully seen not as an absolute idea like an artefact, but rather a relative concept which depends on the cultural consensus of the particular group of people who cherish it. Beyond the top-down and linear model of traditional heritage, the community-based heritage model adopts bottom-up and cyclic approaches in the process of heritage formation. Various stakeholders, social actors, and local authorities need to participate, communicate, and reach a compromise to decide what could be their heritage. Only then does heritage become the heritage of the people and an inalienable means of knowing ourselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The devolution of governance to communities is an integral aspect of the state strategy of localism but may conflict with a spatial restructuring dedicated to the liberalization of economic growth. In England, community opposition to house-building has been cited as one of the key factors in the decline in new housing supply over the last decade. The policy of neighbourhood planning was introduced there in 2011 to overcome this opposition by devolving limited powers to communities to influence development. It was anticipated that giving communities the right to draw up neighbourhood development plans would secure their compliance with a pro-growth agenda and increase the number of sites allocated for housing. This paper explores the impact of neighbourhood planning in England on housing development and analyses its lessons for the state strategy of localism. It argues that neighbourhood planning is emerging as the proponent of sustainability and social purpose in the English housing market, in conflict with the corporate interests of a liberalized housing development market. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

On the 20th anniversary of the Glasgow Centre for Inclusive Living, this paper looks at the situation of the disabled people's Independent Living Movement (ILM) in Scotland. With the passing of the Social Care (Self-directed Support) Scotland Act, in 2013, self-directed support became the default position within the assessment process for social care. Such success may have marginally improved the liberal values within the ILM-the individual's freedom, dignity, choice and control. However, the neo-liberal managerialism within today's Scottish social care system, operated by Scottish local authorities, is seen by the movement as impeding disabled people's group rights and civic participation, by cutting or withdrawing funding to the collective and its peer services. The consequence of such impediment not only restricts the group's participative citizenship, but that of the individual. The paper calls for some time to reflect on this dilemma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been growing emphasis on the need to develop ways of capturing 'complexity' in the evaluation of health initiatives in order to produce better evidence about 'how' and under what conditions such interventions work. Used alone, conventional methods of evaluation that attempt to reduce intervention processes and outcomes to a small number of discrete and finite variables, are typically not well suited to this task. Among the research community there have been increasing calls to take more seriously qualitative methods as an alternative or complementary approach to intervention evaluation. Ethnography has been identified as being particularly well suited to the purpose of capturing the full messiness that ensues when health interventions are introduced into complex settings (or systems). In this paper we reflect on our experience of taking a long term multi-site, multi team, ethnographic approach to capture complex, dynamic system processes in the first phase of an evaluation of a major area-based community empowerment initiative being rolled out in 150 neighbourhoods in England. We consider the utility of our approach for capturing the complexity inherent to understanding the changes that ensue when the initiative is delivered into multiple diverse contexts/systems as well as the opportunities and challenges that emerge in the research process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the history, composition, and community intervention activities of the Community Crisis Response Team (CCRT) of the Victims of Violence Program and the community empowerment model of intervention that guides its work. The paper uses a single case study to illustrate the nature of community-wide trauma, the core attributes of ecologically informed and effective community intervention, and the intervention design, implementation, and evaluation processes that are embedded in the community empowerment model. The paper includes a description of the CCRT's approach to the conduct of traumatic stress debriefings and a discussion of the practical and theoretical implications of the CCRT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing stock transfer is arguably one of the more controversial aspects of New Labour's housing policy, it was a policy originally pursued under the Conservative governments from the 1980s into the early 1990s and has gained pace under New Labour since 1997. Across Britain, the Westminster government, along with the devolved Scottish and Welsh administrations in Edinburgh and Cardiff have all demonstrated a commitment of late to the use of stock transfer to reshape and reconfigure social housing provision. This paper considers some of the key aspects of stock transfer not least the underlying national policy drivers of demunicipalization and use of private finance, and then explores the contrasting fortunes of stock transfer in the two largest local authority social housing authorities in Britain, that is Birmingham and Glasgow. In 2002 Birmingham tenants rejected stock transfer while in Glasgow, following a tenant vote for transfer the city `s entire council housing stock was transferred to a not-for-profit housing agency. The different experiences of the pursuance of stock transfer in these two cities together highlight some of the key questions and issues that are now being asked of this central component of New Labour's approach to social housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working on theEncyclopedia Africanaunder the sponsorship of Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, W.E.B. Du Bois reversed his conviction that only the ‘talented tenth’ could profit from a university education. He proposed that virtually all humans have a right to a university education. He further insisted that Africana (African and African in the Diaspora) universities are ethically obligated and uniquely positioned to spearhead a movement to train students to become professionals who solve problems community members are unable to solve for themselves. Africana universities can, with the aid of appropriate technology and service learning, take the steps necessary to achieve Du Bois’s vision. In this paper, we present a practical account of how universities may work with local communities to determine the questions to research and then deploy appropriate technologies through community-based but student-driven service learning projects. Our hypothesis is that students can become community leaders of tomorrow by partnering with community members to solve theoretical issues and practical problems of their communities. As university graduates inspired by Du Bois’s vision for Africana universities, their mission will be to establish alumni communities of learning that transfer problem-solving skills to community members who do not yet have access to university education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Plant Pathology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The recent growth and gentrification of many cities has shifted the electoral and financial power, leaving low-income households with few options through which to claim rights to the city and remain in their communities. This type of community empowerment has been theorized as a dialectical relationship between the institutionalization and the assertion of discursive rights. However, this relationship requires the interactions of diverse actors and structures of governance to change the opportunities for marginalized groups to resist and build substantive rights. Using the case of housing and community development in Washington, DC, this paper explores the interplay between multiple sites of planning that have interacted over the past 40 years. These sites – government, advocacy and grassroots – have institutionalized discursive rights and created the conditions in which these rights can be effectively exercised to create opportunities for resistance against displacement. These relationships have created a new kind of governance based on housing policy and community empowerment in Washington, DC. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, there have been many political and economic debates in Hong Kong, and heritage conservation has been used as a political and economic weapon by some members of the community. Based on participant observation and in-depth interviews, this paper analyses how buildings of a small street built in the 1950s were constructed as ‘heritage’, and how a community heritage discourse was used by a group of local residents (Kiefang), university students and professionals to object to the urban renewal project led by the Hong Kong government. In this context, heritage was used to obtain political rights and to express anger against the increasing gap between the rich and poor of Hong Kong. Though the immediate objectives of this group were not achieved, the protest process empowered a group of local residents, and has marked the commencement of a politicalized heritage conservation movement in post-colonial Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coastal areas across the globe are experiencing alarming levels of degradation, including in East Africa. In response, marine conservation efforts in the region are on the rise, many of which claim community empowerment as an essential goal. At the same time, research from geography and cognate disciplines has been working to detail the ways in which conservation practices in Africa can negatively impact communities living in and around protected areas. However, due in part to the much more recent history of coastal conservation, much of this important research is focused on land-based ecosystems. This paper adds to the burgeoning literature on coastal conservation efforts in the region by presenting findings from a case study of a World Bank-funded project in the Menai Bay Conservation Area (MBCA), in Zanzibar, Tanzania. This study combines interview-based fieldwork and a review of policy literature to conclude that while the project in MBCA maintains a strong rhetoric of community involvement, the goal of achieving community empowerment remains elusive. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 1997, Thailand began to devolve essential public service functions to a local level. However, the implementation process has been slow, especially in the public health domain. Public concerns with local government ineffectiveness and corruption have prompted the Ministry of Public Health to launch a pilot decentralization program whereby a small number of local communities across Thailand were chosen to receive the budget and management authority over basic health services. To evaluate the outcome of health decentralization in these pilot communities, this paper argues that the conventional health outcome measures (e.g. infant mortality rate, fertility rate, and average life expectancy) are inadequate for understanding the dynamics of community learning and development. To address this inadequacy, the community empowerment concept is used to analyze the social and political aspects of public health decentralization. Qualitative techniques, including participant observation, focus group interviews, and face-to-face interviews, are used to analyze the impact of localized public health programs on community empowerment in four communities in northeast Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Initiatives over the last decade on both sides of the Atlantic and beyond have sought to re-position museums at the heart of their communities as agents for civil engagement. This paper explores the principles involved in making the role possible, using the example of urban history museums. It argues that this will take time, commitment and careful planning, and will impact on every aspect of the museum's activities. It is an essential task, however, reflecting the direction museums should be taking in society in the twenty-first century, but will only be achieved if there is a change of culture across the profession. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on a case study which examined mental health service users and carers, public housing tenants and non-government organisations' (NGO) participation and representation within policy processes. A particular focus was influence upon policies aimed at achieving housing outcomes for people with a psychiatric disability. The research was a case study of a period of mental health system reform in South Australia (2000–2005) and involved primarily qualitative research; interviews, focus groups and participant observation, as well as document analysis. Participants (n = 92) included service user and carer representatives, public servants from across the health, housing and disability sectors, and NGO professionals from across sectors. The study found that the community participation that existed during the reform period was largely an end in itself rather than a means for groups to shape policy processes, including housing policy. A number of barriers to service users and NGOs influencing policy agenda setting and implementation were determined and described. A range of strategies and processes to enhance community participation, representation and accountability in policy processes are recommended. These include cross-sectoral policy development and accountability mechanisms, advocacy coalitions across sectors for policy agenda setting, public forums involving both service users and professionals, and challenging ‘consumerist’ discourses on participation. Such strategies could facilitate policy debates on housing for people with a psychiatric disability, counter dominant professional interests within policy networks, and help to address community stigma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tourism Geographies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the global cocoa-chocolate chain, sustainability certification became the most widely applied industry tool to respond to sustainability challenges, such as extreme poverty among cocoa producers, and related issues of child labor and deforestation. This contribution analyzes how sustainability certification shapes broader social dynamics in targeted communities by applying the concept of social cohesion. This framework allows for the discussion on the appropriateness of sustainability certification to foster the needed societal conditions for community empowerment and collective action, both of which often regarded as key for a broader sustainability transition. Insights from key informant interviews in two Ghanaian cocoa communities targeted by a Rainforest Alliance cocoa sustainability project indicate that there is an enhanced interaction between scheme participants leading to new ingroup-outgroup patterns among community members. Further, while some informal institutions and one particular societal group are negatively affected by the sustainability intervention, no broader effect on communities' overall social cohesion was measured. Finally, despite contributing to the greening of cocoa production, certification implements measures that risk to hamper the spread of collective action and may dilute the "societal glue" in targeted communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community engagement approaches are case-specific, enabling communities to address health and well-being challenges. The stages of community engagement are progressive, and particularly, the early stage of community engagement ensures researchers have access to potential participants and research sites. This study aimed to document the processes, challenges and lessons learned by KwaZulu-Natal Ecohealth Program researchers in engaging with the Ingwavuma community. We used a phenomenological qualitative approach to document the KwaZulu-Natal Ecohealth Program research team's lived experiences during community engagement process. In-depth, semi-structured interviews with researchers, staff, and the project investigator were conducted and thematically analysed. The findings revealed that the issue of language and cross-cultural interactions, which resulted in misunderstanding and incorrect interpretation of the data being communicated with communities, appeared to be a recurring issue that caused dissatisfaction in the community engagement process. Therefore, informing the community about the research study is a subjective experience that necessitates mindfulness when interacting and engaging with communities. We recommend an inclusive framework for a higher level of engagement that would give guidance to both researchers and communities to ensure active participation and a collaborative decision-making process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Civil society engagement in the spatial planning of neighborhoods has been an increasing trend from the middle of the 1960s. Advocacy planning has been a branch of planning theory and a strategy for activist planning practice ever since. This study surveys the properties of advocacy planning cases reported in English in academic journals and books between 1980 and 2020. The main purpose is to provide a reality check intended both for scholars teaching advocacy planning and activists practizing it: Do preconceived expectations and claims concerning the features and effects of advocacy planning correspond with reality as portrayed in the twenty identified case studies? To what extent have advocacy planning processes been successful? The empirical results show that community goals were wholly or partly achieved in the great majority of cases. Further, some expectations held by planning scholars turned out to be quite different from reality, especially regarding how confrontational advocacy planning is in practice, how much attention is given to means and substance relative to ends and process, and how participatory and empowering the process designs are. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A delicate touch is required to empower neighborhoods using civic media. Funding is persistently scarce. Especially in marginalized neighborhoods, blunt designs can be counterproductive and even entrench complex problems. New metaphors may be needed to guide design and empower local neighborhoods. Urban acupuncture is used as the basis for this study, emphasizing a light-touch strategy that has shown success in Brazil with urban transit, and more recently in Europe with urban design. We specifically propose “neighborhood acupuncture” to address the local level, tapping the sociology of place-based communication. To investigate the implications for systematic design, a case study is probed in South Los Angeles using mobile media for community mapping. Using qualitative methods, three tactics were investigated for the potential to “poke” the network into action, including one to bridge diverse storytelling networks. Each tactic ultimately seeks to build the capacity for collective action around neighborhood issues. Acupuncture is broadly argued to sustain two design shifts: first to help approach neighborhoods as ecosystems, and second, to design for circulation rather than any single technology platform. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Community-level stress, such as pervasive substance abuse and violence, can yield negative health and mental heath outcomes for youth from disadvantaged communities. Community empowerment is a process whereby community members work together to increase control in their community. This qualitative inquiry analyzed in-depth interviews with adult stakeholders (n = 17) as well as focus group interviews with token youth (n = 85) to explore perceptions of community stress and empowerment in one disadvantaged locale. Each of the 102 total participants helped interrogate the research questions: What does it mean to live in a stressed community? How might youth and adults perceive themselves capable of impacting a stressed community's quality of life? Emergent themes, which include a nod to the utility of coalition building, are explored. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Smart Community Development Framework (SCDF) is a methodological framework that selectively identifies and optimizes sustainable development approaches such as permaculture, sustainable livelihood approaches, community-based social marketing, environmental impact assessments and project management to effectively design and introduce clean social technologies for and with vulnerable communities. The framework was created and evaluated with the goal of ensuring community-empowered decision-making that will result in permanent and sustainable improvements to community design, infrastructure, and technology. The SCDF model is a workflow model that supports communities in establishing their vulnerability level and identifying problems; selecting targeted actions; determining resource availability and major obstacles; optimizing specific appropriate technologies and social programmes to address problems; assessing environment impact and implementation; analyzing empowerment; and developing power transfer guidelines. Local leaders, engineers, project managers and policymakers can use the SCDF model to collaborate in the formulation of effective action plans worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methodologies that are locally relevant, empowering and replicable offer a way forward for improved policymaking and efficient resource governance in a globalised landscape of rapid change and scarce resources. Using the principles of equal participation and distribution, this article shows how the use of participatory methods can lead to greater community ownership and cohesion around shared concerns over access to healthy food and sustainable resource use in challenging urban environments. Drawing on contextualised examples from small-scale projects carried out by Charushila, an international environmental design charity, in Venezuela and Palestine, the article presents a co-design approach that puts people in touch with food growing and the reuse of resources to transform open spaces. An analysis of community-led co-production projects in these two contrasting urban environments shows how such processes can contribute to policymaking for longer-term sustainable development in the field of disaster relief and amid political upheaval in low- and middle-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay doubles as a critique of the brutal violence visited upon the immigrant community in Austin, Texas, in the wake of Donald Trump’s presidency, and a deeply personal account related to the establishment of Academia Cuauhtli, a language and culture revitalization project in Austin, Texas. It narrates our origins as a community-anchored, partnership-based effort that has culminated in a Saturday academy for east Austin fourth graders attending four elementary schools. With implications for community empowerment, culturally relevant social justice pedagogy, and spirituality, it illustrates what is possible when individual biography or circumstance intersects with caring friendships, politically astute community members, social justice initiatives, and a candid expression of need by community-anchored teachers. This timely and crooked path to social justice has situated those whose lives we touch with the kind of sustenance we all need to face the most significant political and policy challenge of our lives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Bulletin of Indonesian Economic Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure & Events is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Critics of human rights are hesitant to reject them outright for fear of undermining the work they may do in resisting oppression. This pragmatic justification is central to celebrations of human rights as well, but is it more than a failure to move beyond liberal hegemony? I argue that human rights have radical potential because the act of claiming such rights uses the ambiguous but universal identity of ‘humanity’ to make claims on the established terms of legitimate authority. The potential of human rights to fight for social change is examined by looking at the movement for a human right to housing in the USA. I explore how homeless individuals, public housing tenants and low-income urban residents realise their human right to housing through eviction defences, the occupation of ‘people-less’ homes, and attempts to remake the structure of home ownership through community land trusts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of European Early Childhood Education Research Journal is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study assesses American Muslim physicians’ public role and levels of civic, community, and political involvement; examines the relationship between religiosity and civic/community involvement; and identifies community empowerment and social change. The results show that civic/community action is associated primarily with one's level of religiosity, t = 2.74 (df = 301.3), p < .03; age 2.69 (df = 317.7), p = .007; country of origin, t = 11.5 (df = 2), p = .006; and gender, t = 4.52 (df = 1), p = .03. Participants’ charitable giving, willingness to treat uninsured patients without charge, and provision of financial and medical support suggest that their public role could have health policy and community empowerment implications for civic engagement and positive social change in their community vis-à-vis underserved Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami highlighted the importance of interdependencies between nations, delivery of humanitarian aid in an empowering manner, and long-term reconstruction. I examine relationships between overseas actors and local residents in tsunami-affected villages in Sri Lanka in a project initiated by the International Association of Schools of Social Work through its Rebuilding People's Lives After Disasters Network and another based on an institutional endeavour supported by Durham University because these sought to empower local communities through local, egalitarian partnerships. Lacking sufficient educational resources, capacity building in social work education has become a long-term objective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of growing concerns regarding the ongoing drug war in Thailand and a lack of support for people who inject drugs in this setting, in 2008, we undertook a community-based participatory research project involving a community of active drug users at a peer-run drop-in center in Bangkok. This case study describes a unique research partnership developed between academic and active drug users and demonstrates that participatory approaches can help empower this vulnerable population while generating valid research. Further research is needed to explore ways of optimizing community-based participatory research methods when applied to drug-using populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a synthesis of data from three village case studies focusing on how structural and cognitive social capital may have influenced the progression of the HIV epidemic in the Kagera region of Tanzania. Grounded theory was used to develop a theoretical model describing the possible links between structural and cognitive social capital and the impact on sexual health behaviours. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were carried out to represent the range of experiences of existing social capital. Both structural and cognitive social capital were active avenues for community members to come together, empower each other, and develop norms, values, trust and reciprocal relations. This empowerment created an enabling environment in which members could adopt protective behaviours against HIV infection. On the one hand, we observed that involvement in formal and informal organisations resulted in a reduction of numbers of sexual partners, led people to demand abstinence from sexual relations until marriage, caused fewer opportunities for casual sex, and gave individuals the agency to demand the use of condoms. On the other hand, strict membership rules and regulations excluded some members, particularly excessive alcohol drinkers and debtors, from becoming members of the social groups, which increased their vulnerability in terms of exposure to HIV. Social gatherings (especially those organised during the night) were also found to increase youths' risk of HIV infection through instances of unsafe sex. We conclude that even though social capital may at times have negative effects on individuals' HIV-prevention efforts, this study provides initial evidence that social capital is largely protective through empowering vulnerable groups such as women and the poor to protect against HIV infection and by promoting protective sexual behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When community members are allowed to participate in the planning and implementation process of a program, they are empowering themselves and their community. The CHAMP Family Program uses a collaborative programming approach with a focus on building the capacities of community members to deliver a family-based HIV prevention program. The CHAMP Program has a Collaborative Board that oversees all aspects of the research project. Using an empowerment framework, this article explores Community Board members' perspectives on their experience in working on CHAMP. Recommendations to researchers in the form of ten key ingredients for community collaboration are presented. The key points primarily focus on building trust with the community, recognizing community strengths, developing skills, building intragroup relations, and involving the community as partners from the beginning to the end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]