Community Development Groups Research Articles

Socio-economic Challenges Deterring Sustainable Pastoralism Among Women Pastoralists in the Sahel Region of Northern Nigeria

Female pastoralists exhibit great strength in the drive to make a dependable livelihood from livestock tending. This is not without challenges that are gender- specific. This paper examines the socio-economic and environmental challenges faced by women pastoralists in the Sahelian Region of Northern Nigeria. Primary data were derived from an interview of 2,290 adult female household members in 6 local government areas in Bauchi and Gombe States in Nigeria. A stepwise regression analysis determined that amongst 23 socio-economic variables, 14 were significant explanatory or predictive variables (p < 0.05) for the socio-economic status of women, as a measure of their capacity to sustain pastoralism. The results indicate that the length of time or experience in pastoralism had the most predictive power (β = 0.31; p < 0.05), and contributed 13% (R 2 = 0.13) in enhancing the socio- economic status of pastoralist women. This was followed by other socio-economic factors such as the level of formal educational attained, participation in household livestock raising, ownership of large livestock, climate change awareness, prevalence of out-of-school children within the household, availability of household transportation means, category of health care facility accessed, involvement in non- agricultural economic sectors, involvement in food crop farming, ownership of small livestock, amount of rest/sleep affordable, membership of community development groups, and age. The paper recommends support for female education in pastoral communities, access to health care in remote areas, and upgrading community development groups to cooperative or self-help groups that can provide affordable loans to assist pastoralist women in thriving better in a supposedly male-dominated profession.

Contribution of the Tanzania Police Gender and Children Desk on Reduction of Gender-Based Violence in Meru District, Tanzania

This study assessed the contribution of the Tanzania Police Gender and Children Desk on reduction of gender-based violence in Meru District in Arusha Region, Tanzania. The objectives of this study were to examine community perceptions of the effectiveness of the Tanzania Police Gender and Children Desk in addressing gender-based violence, to determine the extent of incidences of gender-based violence resolved by the Tanzania Police Gender and Children Desk, and to analyze the influence of the police gender and children desk in addressing gender-based violence. A cross-sectional design was adopted, involving 120 respondents. Data were collected using a household self-administered questionnaire and key informant interviews. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression methods were used in analyzing the collected data. Results showed that the majority of the respondents (65.0%) perceived TPGCD as highly effective in addressing gender-based violence, 26.7%) perceived TPGCD as moderately effective in addressing gender-based violence, and 8.3% perceived TPGCD as lowly effective in meeting its objective of addressing gender-based violence, among others. Likewise, there was a substantial decrease in incidences of gender-based violence in the areas with TPGCD centers, indicating that the decline was due to the eminent effects of TPGCD. Further, the contributions of TPGCD included receiving and summoning resolutions of reported GBV cases, training police officers on GBV issues, and creating awareness among community members about GBV issues. The study concludes that there is a positive influence of TPGCD on the reduction of gender-based violence in the study area. Moreover, it is recommended based on this study that the government, through its Ministry of Community Development, Gender, Women, and Special Groups, amicably extend PGCD throughout all institutions and ward authorities to enable all community members to get gender awareness and access services regarding incidences of GBV in their communities.

Environmental Conservation Costs and Sustainable Business Growth in Listed Oil and Gas Companies in Nigeria

This study examined the relationship between the costs of environmental conservation and sustainable business growth of publicly traded Nigerian oil and gas companies. The study’s major objectives were to determine how the independent variables of environmental conservation represented by community development cost, pollution cost and environmental remediation cost affected the dependent variables of sustainable business growth represented by return on asset and gross margin return on investment. Data for the study came from financial statements and annual reports covering the years 2011–2022, and it employed an ex post facto research design. Regression analysis in E-View 10.0 was used to test the hypotheses. According to the empirical data analysis, there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between community development costs, and gross margin returns on investment (0.526033 and 0.000918), which implies that there is a significant relationship between the gross margin return on investment and sustainable business growth. Similarly, 2.652824 and 0.000000 indicate a favorable and statistically significant relationship between pollution cost and GMRI. However, -0.233125 and 0.000000 demonstrate a negative and statistically significant relationship between environmental remediation costs and GMRI. A total of three independent factors accounts for 53% of the variance in the dependent variable, according to the R-squared value of 0.534613. According to the study’s conclusions, there is a positive correlation between the costs of environmental conservation and the sustainable growth of listed oil and gas companies in Nigeria. The study also suggests that oil and gas companies should maintain a friendly environment for this will reduce the amount spent in repairing the damaged that their activities had caused on the environment. The goal of this initiative is to boost the efficiency of community development groups by providing incentives for their work on the created friendly environment.

Influence of rural women’s time allocation on their wealth statuses in busega district, tanzania

The study examined time allocation per day among household chores versus income generation activities that influence wealth statuses of rural women in Busega District, Tanzania. Cross-sectional research design was adopted to conduct the study. The methods applied for data collection include household survey, focus group discussions, non-participant observations and documentary reviews. Qualitative data were analysed through content analysis. Quantitative data were analysed through cross-tabulation and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The results show that, the means of hours used by rural women in conducting each activity per day were lopsided on household chores. The average time shows that each rural woman used approximately 6 hours for conducting household chores and at least two hours for income generation activities per day. Furthermore, the wealth statuses were established by computing Principal Component Analysis as it was revealed that the majority 62.9% (132) of the rural women were poor having low incomes. The tercile classification took account for below TZS 200,000 indicating poor, TZS 200,001 to 600,000 for middle and TZS 600,001 and above for better-off as higher income. The study concludes that rural women’s income growth has been hampered by the burden of household chores because they were limited to participate effectively in productive activities. The paper recommends that, the government through the Ministry of Community Development, Gender and Special Groups experts should foster interventions that are grounded on increasing rural women’s participation in income generation activities

SOCIAL CULTURAL PRACTICES AFFECTING THE LEVEL OF WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: A CASE OF TURKANA CENTRAL SUB-COUNTY, TURKANA COUNTY, KENYA

Purpose: Women's participation in development is considered essential because it helps to achieve social justice and tackle poverty globally. However, women’s level of participation is still facing challenges and difficulties, especially in Africa. For instance, in Turkana County in Kenya, the status of women's success remains limited despite laudable efforts to promote their status in society. This is attributable to cultural factors, which often make women sidelined in productive and economic activities. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effects of social-cultural practices on the level of women's participation in development.
 Methodology: Liberal feminist theory that believes gender inequality is produced by reduced access for women and girls to civil rights and the allocation of social resources such as education and employment was used to guide the study. A descriptive survey research design was employed in the study to blend the quantitative and qualitative research approaches and for holistic investigation of the study problem. The study was a survey of the 31 women self-help groups in Turkana Central Sub-County and the elected women political leaders. The leaders of the women self-help organizations were randomly selected and women political leaders were purposively selected, where 98 study participants constituted a study sample. Questionnaires were used for data collection. Data analysis was done using both descriptive (frequencies, means, percentages, and standard deviations) and inferential statistical methods (regression analysis and Analysis of Variance- ANOVA).
 Findings: The study established that 62.9% of the respondents agreed that gender disparity affected women's participation in development. This implied that socio-cultural practices such as early marriages, polygamy, womens’ restrictions on owning land, marital status, and gender roles hindered women from participating in development.
 Recommendations: The study recommends that government and privately-owned organizations collaborate with the Turkana Community leadership and development groups to create sensitization and awareness of the importance of women's participation in development activities. The study further recommended that the Turkana community needs to abandon some beliefs that hinder women from participating in development and embrace new paradigm shifts and good practices for their social mobilization and participation in issues of socioeconomic wellbeing.

How faith-based organizations perceive their role in community development: An exploratory study

ABSTRACT This paper examines the research and conceptual literature about the role of faith-based organizations in community development. For the most part, there are relatively few community development studies about faith-based community development groups. This qualitative study explores two research explorations: First, how do Christian faith-based community development organizations in Kentucky perceive and employ the concepts of solidarity and agency (capacity building) in their work. Second, how do they perceive their role in the context of a systems approach to community development as measured through the Community Capitals Framework (CCF) which includes the application of seven capitals in planning and implementation: Natural, cultural, human, social, political, financial and built capitals. While the organizations in our research initiative employ many of these major concepts we learned they do not have an explicit understanding of these approaches. This study also suggests there are also spiritual and emancipatory capitals which merit further investigation as part of a systems approach. The article includes several recommendations about strengthening the potency of faith-based community development organizations through a more explicit understanding of the concepts of solidarity and agency and the community capitals framework and potential partnerships with government and other non-governmental organizations.

Toward a Theoretical Understanding of Placemaking

Historically, planners, community development groups, and other place-engaged organizations and practitioners have worked to elevate the importance of place and placemaking in economically, socially, and environmentally responsible development. However, recent studies have presented the concept of placemaking from professionally different perspectives using a variety of definitions to both rationalize and operationalize this still somewhat nebulous concept. This ambiguity surrounding the term placemaking is further compounded by the use of three different types of spellings for the term in the research literature, with none of the spellings having a clear, consistent, or universally accepted definition aligned to it. Without a common understanding of placemaking as a concept, or how placemaking works theoretically, measuring the value or impact placemaking has as a process on community development is conjectural. The purpose of this article is to provide a review of the academic research literature related to placemaking over the past 5 years, describe the current state of placemaking as a concept based on the issues raised in past literature, identify key theoretical principles that consistently support placemaking as it is being used in the research literature, and then use these principles to propose a theoretical model describing how placemaking works as a process. The theoretical model proposed in this work is offered for further examination, description, and testing and as a foundation for future research on the role placemaking plays in community development professional practice.

Designing a road map for geoscience workflows

Advances in geoscience research and discovery are fundamentally tied to data and computation, but formal strategies for managing the diversity of models and data resources in the Earth sciences have not yet been resolved or fully appreciated. The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) EarthCube initiative (http://earthcube.ning.com), which aims to support community‐guided cyberinfrastructure to integrate data and information across the geosciences, recently funded four community development activities: Geoscience Workflows; Semantics and Ontologies; Data Discovery, Mining, and Integration; and Governance. The Geoscience Workflows working group, with broad participation from the geosciences, cyberinfrastructure, and other relevant communities, is formulating a workflows road map (http://sites.google.com/site/earthcubeworkflow/). The Geoscience Workflows team coordinates with each of the other community development groups given their direct relevance to workflows. Semantics and ontologies are mechanisms for describing workflows and the data they process.

Rural Intelligentsia and Path Dependency in Post‐socialist Civic Organising: The Case of Lithuania

AbstractSince the late 1990s the number of rural community development groups in Lithuania has grown exponentially. The article presents the results of one of the first representative surveys of rural NGOs (N = 326) in Lithuania designed to evaluate their structure and resources. Unlike civic organising during the perestroika period, which was characterised by charismatic personalities and organisational innovations, the most recent surge in rural activism follows a path‐dependent trajectory. The movement is lead by representatives of former collective farms, or kolkhoz intelligentsia (white‐collar professionals who served in collective farm social infrastructure during Soviet times) engaged in reconstituting volunteer groups based on a modified Soviet institution of the rural ‘culture house’ or Soviet civic centre (SCC). The prevalence of the SCC‐based rural organising model provided opportunities as well as imposed limitations on post‐socialist civic activism. Community development groups were relatively successful in the types of activities in which SCCs were effective as well (such as culture, leisure and sports), while their capacity to deliver social services were marginal. Although this survey reported relatively high levels of engagement by the community groups with local and county governments, their influence remains constrained by the paternalistic, client–patron type of power relationships that prevail in rural areas.

HOPE VI Housing Program: Was it Effective?

Abstract. This article is a case study of the Park DuValle Revitalization Project in Louisville, Kentucky, to evaluate whether the Department of Housing and Urban Development's HOPE VI program enhances quality of life. Park DuValle has gotten national attention and has received awards from HUD, the American Institute of Architects, and the Congress on New Urbanism. The research finds that HOPE VI, which tends to serve the needs of non–public housing tenants (80 percent of whom are now residents of the Park DuValle development), does not help the vast majority of residents who are displaced. Furthermore, HOPE VI builds housing that is two to three times more costly per unit than housing provided by competing nonprofit community development groups.

How community development programmes can foster re-engagement with learning in disadvantaged communities: Leadership as process

Family and community capacity building projects in Tasmania are attempting to address the disadvantage of communities marginalised by socio-economic and other influences. Collaborations between the projects, community members and groups, and education and training organisations, have resulted in a leadership process which has fostered reengagement with learning in these disadvantaged communities. This study uses an ethnographic research methodology to examine the experiences of a number of new students or trainees, and the partnerships and collaborations which evolved between community development programmes, community members and groups, and educational and training organisations. Such collaborations may develop into dynamic leadership processes, enhancing social capital formation—thereby fostering genuine community development—while also facilitating re-engagement with learning.

Culture and the state: Institutionalizing 'the underclass' in the new Ireland1

This paper analyses some of the activities of a community development group connected to a very poor neighbourhood in Dublin, Ireland within the context of anti-poverty discourses and types of targeted funding generated by the European Union. Community development groups and discourses are saturated with terms such as the 'social market', 'inclusion' and 'community' that are an interesting combination of progressive politics and concepts recognizably connected to social science disciplines like Anthropology and Human Geography. In this essay, the authors examine a 'community' response to the so-called 'horse protest' in Dublin, a response in large part funded by EU mechanisms geared to combating 'social exclusion'. They also trace back some of the connections between the institutional actors in this community and EU policies and funding mechanisms. Finally, they examine the trajectory of the Republic of Ireland, especially its experience of a booming economy, that has influenced perceptions of, and reactions to, problems in this neighbourhood. This work represents an attempt to merge ethnographic data and policy analysis within one textual frame, and in particular it represents the authors' attempt to understand how certain discursive sign-posts like 'social exclusion' are given content as concrete social-historical processes.

Community energies under‐evaluated: Drug initiatives on the margins

This article draws on the experience of conducting an effectiveness review of community responses to drug concerns and supplementary interviews with key informants. Despite accessing nearly 300 publications relating to initiatives, there is a paucity of published evaluative evidence. The literature does provide a greater amount of information about initiatives that are delivered into the community as opposed to initiated by the community. Community‐led responses have taken a number of approaches. To assess the current evidence on ‘what works?’ we have defined community responses to drug problems under five banners: self‐help groups; parents' groups, residents' groups, community development groups and diversionary activity groups for ease of discussion. There are a number of commonly identified elements that exist in successful and sustainable initiatives which are discussed.

Community-backed drug initiatives in the UK: a review and commentary on evaluations.

This article presents a review of evaluations of community-backed initiatives for drug users in the UK. Community-backed responses have taken a number of approaches. Despite accessing over 250 publications relating to initiatives in the course of this study, a paucity of published evaluative evidence on 'what works?' and 'why does it work?' was apparent. The readily accessible literature is examined under five broad types of initiative: self-help groups, parents' groups, residents' groups, community development groups and diversionary activity groups. In a further commentary on evaluation issues for such drug initiatives, it is argued that they are under-evaluated, partly because they are on the margins of drug services and partly because of a lacuna of support in evaluation skills.

Review of Teen pregnancy and parenting: Social and ethical issues.

JAMES WONG and DAVID CHECKLAND (EDS.) Teen Pregnancy and Parenting: Social and Ethical Issues Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999, xxiv + 184 pages (ISBN 0-8020-8070-7, C$18.95, Softcover) Reviewed by MARVIN MCDONALD Are the high rates of teen pregnancy and teen parenting social problems or are they better understood as failed efforts at social control? Why have young mothers, with virtual unanimity, opted out of adoption? What are we left with once socially conservative rhetoric about morality and responsibility is replaced with the language of tolerance? What alternatives to bureaucratic condescension to and moralizing control of young parents can be created? This collection of essays offers little by way of constructive responses to these concerns, but it does highlight several important strategies for framing public debates in the area. Any psychologists concerned with these questions can benefit from working through this collection. The challenge of filling in gaps in this multidisciplinary conversation provides sufficient reward for working through the essays. This volume presents the proceedings of a conference on Early Parenting as an Ethical and Social Issue held in May 1996, at the Ethics Centre of Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto. The major strengths of the collection are a focus on Canadian scenes and a juxtaposition of several disciplinary angles on social, political, and ethical facets of public discussions of teen pregnancy and early parenting. The major shortcoming is a lack of depth, either within or among the essays. The contributors are professionals in the welfare system and academics, including a small selection of voices from outside Ontario. Given the somewhat diffuse focus, the collection nonetheless presents a case for certain kinds of 11 moral complexity among the threads of interests intertwining teen pregnancy and parenting. Several contributors see the most important insights arising from a discrepancy between social norms valuing adoption on the one hand and single parenting as the preferred choice of young mothers on the other. This discrepancy between the choices of youth and widely shared norms among adults provides a thematic thread for the collection. A subtext recurring in several chapters is an emphasis on moving beyond moralistic social conservativism. Although no encompassing vision guiding the empowerment of young parents is promoted by the conference participants, we are reminded to be non-judgemental by an experienced physician, we are told again that our welfare systems oppress many young women, and the incoherence and inconsistencies in the practices of sexuality education across the country is rehearsed. Several research-oriented chapters try to focus the readers' attention on the unheard voices of youth and the situations they encounter. Susan Clark's summary of a landmark study in Nova Scotia seeks to disabuse readers of pervasive stereotypes while Linda Davies' interviews with young mothers invites us to contrast the public construals of young mothers' dependence with their own efforts to achieve independence and getting out on one's own. Susanne Peters' summary of several focus groups suggests ways that social conservatives can be encouraged to engage teen moms as doing their best. Kathryn Addelson's chapter hints at a social location from creative engagement with these questions as she rules out old-fashioned moralizing and bureaucratic policies as offering adequate solutions to pressing human needs. She suggests instead that we look to groups who work at problems of procreation in their own ways... in spaces of tension between official agencies, bureaucracies, and legislatures that rely on professional knowledge and the community locations in which they work. The focus of these local groups seems to be more on how we should then live together in local communities. Although the principle is familiar from the practice community development and social planning groups, Addelson encourages readers to envision these activities as realistic loci for transcending the political and ethical stagnation that characterizes contemporary institutional responses. …

The Wired Village: Building Communities and Improving Government Services Through Advanced Telecommunications and Information Networks

A sizable gap exists between the vision of what telecommunications and information processing networks can provide and what they currently deliver. Some people already accrued benefits from a wired community and many embrace much touted concepts of personal empowerment and frictionless commerce. However, a greater number of people remain skeptical, and many consider the costs of becoming part of a wired community greater than the perceived benefits. The full payoff to individuals and communities can occur if and only if both the services offered and usage reach a critical mass. This White Paper examines the role of federal, state and local governments in stimulating the supply and use of on-line networks. Operating within current budget levels, governments can serve as an essential catalyst by operating as an anchor tenant on various networks, particularly ones serving specific localities. As well, governments should look to using networking as a more effective vehicle for delivering education, social services, job placement, licensing, etc. Just about any service government provides in a direct, physical manner, e.g., walk-in permit applications at a central location, can be mediated via electronic networks and offer faster, better, smarter, cheaper and more convenient service. Much of the public policy debate about access to the vast opportunities in on-line networking has focused on affordability, and the comparative disadvantages stemming from differences in income, education and location. While these factors certainly matter, the White Paper considers the impact of other important factors, including computer literacy, perceptions of value in networking and the extent to which governments used funding to promote the on-line availability of the services they offer. A longstanding multi-billion dollar universal service funding regime has developed primarily to provide financial subsidies to make telecommunications services affordable to rural, elderly and poor citizens. But an equally important tactic involves the development of strategies to encourage an interest in, and the ability to access on-line services. In this pursuit, governments do not to spend more money. Instead they to consider more timely and effective ways for delivering existing services and to explore what new services on-line networks can provide. Governments can stimulate consumer demand for advanced telecommunications and information networks by becoming sponsors, early adopters and facilitators of services that enhance one's quality of life. For some, governments can achieve these objectives simply by eliminating some of the inconvenience triggered by necessary, but routine and frequent transactions with citizens. On-line access to a user-friendly, municipal government World Wide Web page on the Internet offers the convenience of 24 hours a day, seven days a week access, with no lines, transportation problems and other irritations. For other citizens, access coupled with desired content and services can make a difference in one's life and sense of place in the community. For these citizens, governments can team with other community institutions, such as public broadcasters, newspapers, museums, clinics, employment agencies, libraries, schools, airport authorities, tourism and community development groups, etc. to amalgamate desirable content and to make that content more accessible. The White Paper endorses a strategy where governments trigger demand for advanced services and widespread deployment of community networks by offering expanded and enhanced services. These must have applications provide the inducement for citizens to make sizeable investments of time, money and effort. As well these services stimulate the development of advanced, broadband networks that improve the quality and speed of access. The pull of attractive services, and stimulated consumer demand can achieve more than simply pushing the promises offered by new technologies.

Feeling the Heat: Displaced Tobacco Workers in North Carolina

Tobacco control is a successful public health movement, but little attention is being paid to what this success means for workers and communities who are economically dependent on tobacco. The social context of job loss for these workers remains largely unstudied. We conducted a case study of a cigarette manufacturing facility closure in Reidsville, North Carolina and report on the effects of the closure for workers and the community. Results suggest the need for: 1) worker education directed toward developing skills for jobs that pay family-supporting wages, and 2) community-driven strategies to attract new businesses that offer such jobs. Public health organizations, labor unions, community development groups, business representatives, civic leaders, academic institutions, and others should unite in efforts to assist tobacco-dependent workers and communities to transition to other economic bases. These efforts should be funded by the tobacco industry.

Ethnicity, Idiocentrism–Allocentrism, and Intergroup Attitudes1

The study examined the relationships among ethnicity, idiocentrism–allocentrism and intergroup attitudes in Singapore. Thirty Malay and 30 Chinese students completed questionnaires which measured in‐group and out‐group attitudes and attitudes toward ethnic‐based community development groups. Intergroup attitudes were analyzed by a 2 × 2 × 2 (Subject Ethnicity × Target Group Ethnicity × Idiocentrism–Allocentrism) analysis of variance. A 2 × 2 interaction revealed that both Malay and Chinese subjects expressed ethnocentric biases; however, planned comparisons indicated that this was due to the responses of allocentrics. A separate 2 × 2 (Subject Ethnicity × Idiocentrism‐Allocentrism) ANOVA further revealed that allocentrics had more favorable attitudes toward ethnic‐based community development groups than did idiocentrics.

Culture and the State

This paper analyses some of the activities of a community development group connected to a very poor neighbourhood in Dublin, Ireland within the context of anti-poverty discourses and types of targeted funding generated by the European Union. Community development groups and discourses are saturated with terms such as the ‘social market’, ‘inclusion’ and ‘community’ that are an interesting combination of progressive politics and concepts recognizably connected to social science disciplines like Anthropology and Human Geography. In this essay, the authors examine a ‘community’ response to the so-called ‘horse protest’ in Dublin, a response in large part funded by EU mechanisms geared to combating ‘social exclusion’. They also trace back some of the connections between the institutional actors in this community and EU policies and funding mechanisms. Finally, they examine the trajectory of the Republic of Ireland, especially its experience of a booming economy, that has influenced perceptions of, and reactions to, problems in this neighbourhood. This work represents an attempt to merge ethnographic data and policy analysis within one textual frame, and in particular it represents the authors’ attempt to understand how certain discursive sign-posts like ‘social exclusion’ are given content as concrete social-historical processes.