Empowerment Of Members Research Articles

The Influence of Telecentre Components on the Psychological Empowerment of Underserved Community Members in the Western Cape, South Africa

AbstractICTs and ICT4Ds are powerful socio‐economic enablers within developing countries and provide members of “underserved” communities within these countries with tools for self‐empowerment and circumvention of inequalities. Telecentres provide public access to ICTs to meet the educational, social, psychological and economic needs of a community. However, few studies have focused on the influence that telecentres have on the psychological empowerment of members of “underserved” communities in which they are situated. This study addresses this gap by investigating the perceived influence of telecentre components on the psychological empowerment of “underserved” community members in Cape Town, South Africa. This study is interpretive and has been executed through the use of a qualitative case study. Deductive in nature, the research was guided by a conceptual model depicting constructs (intrapersonal factors, interactional factors and behavioural factors) related to the psychological empowerment of telecentre users. The research findings confirm that the various components of telecentres such as services, computer training and entrepreneurial support can positively influence and contribute to the perceived psychological empowerment of “underserved” community members. The findings could improve our understanding of the relevance of various components of telecentres towards leveraging psychological empowerment. In practice, emphasis could be placed on the implementation and elaboration of the most significant components of telecentres within “underserved” communities.

“WE TAKE CARE OF OUR ELDERLY ON OUR OWN”: OBSERVATIONS ON AN AMIS COMMUNITY SENIOR CENTER IN TAIWAN

AbstractFaced with population aging in Taiwanese society, the government has promulgated the “Long-term Care Services Act” as the principal legal basis for developing a comprehensive long-term care system for improving the quality of life of the elderly. Resources, however, are distributed unevenly between urban and rural areas. To compensate for this, scholars have recently introduced the concept of “Culture Care”, and called on locals to build up their own care network through cultural knowledge that integrates interpersonal relationships and the social resource of the community. This study was conducted from January 23rd to 31st in 2016, under the course “Field Methods of Cultural Anthropology (with Practices),” with assistance of the professor in arranging research area and connecting informants. The study describes how the concept of culture care works in a Taiwanese indigenous community’s senior center through participant observation and in-depth interviews. By understanding how the project was initiated, the organization of members, member interaction and local viewpoints on care of the elderly, it is found that clan-based caring boundaries, member interaction following the pattern of the Amis finawlan (age-set organization), curriculums focusing on member empowerment, and concerns of cultural heritage make the center not only a caring organization but also a social support network. In addition, the center enables every generation to take part in caring for the elderly and strengthens their social identity at the same time.

Building Leadership from Within the Ranks: Leadership Fellow Initiative

Creative approaches in the field of leadership often yield positive results. This article highlights an example of how out of the box thinking with regard to building a strong leadership foundation in the area of higher education benefits a community of learners. Within the field of education and human services, a new administrator facilitates innovative approaches to provide opportunities of empowerment for team members. The sustainable and abundant positive results are outlined in detail.

The effect of knowledge sharing on the psychological empowerment in higher education mediated by organizational memory

ABSTRACTThe purpose of current research is to study the effect of knowledge sharing on the psychological empowerment of faculty members considering the intermediary (mediating) role of organizational memory in Semnan University. To study research variables, three standard questionnaires were distributed among 334 faculty members of the studied sample. Structural equation modeling has been used to test the hypotheses. Results show a meaningful effect between knowledge sharing and empowerment. They also show that organizational memory plays an intermediary role in affecting knowledge sharing over empowerment of faculty members. The important message for Semnan University is creation of strong cultural academic in accepting organizational memory and participating in the process of its creation and its implantation in forms of systems that facilitates the process of sharing knowledge by faculty members. Also, the empirical findings of this study will develop the literature on knowledge sharing, empowerment and organizational memory in higher education institutions.

Food Policy Council Self-Assessment Tool: Development, Testing, and Results.

A large number of food policy councils (FPCs) exist in the United States, Canada, and Tribal Nations (N = 278), yet there are no tools designed to measure their members’ perceptions of organizational capacity, social capital, and council effectiveness. Without such tools, it is challenging to determine best practices for FPCs and to measure change within and across councils over time. This study describes the development, testing, and findings from the Food Policy Council Self-Assessment Tool (FPC-SAT). The assessment measures council practices and council members’ perceptions of the following concepts: leadership, breadth of active membership, council climate, formality of council structure, knowledge sharing, relationships, member empowerment, community context, synergy, and impacts on the food system. All 278 FPCs listed on the Food Policy Network’s Online Directory were recruited to complete the FPC-SAT. Internal reliability (Cronbach’s α) and inter-rater reliability (AD, rWG(J), ICC [intraclass correlations][1], ICC[2]) were calculated, and exploratory and a confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. Responses from 354 FPC members from 94 councils were used to test the assessment. Cronbach’s α ranged from 0.79 to 0.93 for the scales. FPC members reported the lowest mean scores on the breadth of active membership scale (2.49; standard deviation [SD], 0.62), indicating room for improvement, and highest on the leadership scale (3.45; SD, 0.45). The valid FPC-SAT can be used to identify FPC strengths and areas for improvement, measure differences across FPCs, and measure change in FPCs over time.

Dissecting and customising the Childhood Obesity Prevention Advisory Council (COPAC): the development and application of a community engagement framework to improve childhood obesity prevention among migrant populations

ABSTRACT Background: Migrant communities in Australia bear a disproportionate childhood obesity burden. They also show poor engagement in obesity prevention initiatives which may contribute to widening obesity disparities. Community engagement has been shown to be effective in reducing health disparities by improving migrant communities’ participation in prevention programmes. Objective: This study aimed to develop a community engagement framework to improve childhood obesity prevention among migrants. Design: Based on the African Review Panel model and the Community-Based Participatory Research conceptual logic model, the Childhood Obesity Prevention Advisory Council (COPAC) framework was developed and established in four disadvantaged areas in Victoria, Australia. The COPAC included service providers and migrant community members from the same project’s site. Results: COPAC demonstrated several benefits including cross-organisational and multidisciplinary collaborations; understanding of the cultural barriers in childhood obesity prevention; enthusiasm from the COPAC members in addressing childhood obesity in their multicultural communities; equitable involvement, motivation, and empowerment of COPAC members in research development; and establishing organisational affiliations to foster long-term community involvement. This study also documented several challenges in community engagement including lack of prioritisation of migration-related childhood obesity disparities by the policymakers; staffing constraints among service providers leading to frequent disruptions in COPAC members’ contributions; and lack of adequate training and skill-building of bicultural workers. Conclusions: The COPAC model adopted a flexible and dynamic community engagement process to suit the ongoing needs of the migrant community which incorporated the existing talents and resources within the community. For effective community engagement of migrant communities, it is important for policymakers to develop the knowledge, capacity and skills of the bicultural migrant workforce. Integrating both service providers and migrant community members in the COPAC has demonstrated that a multifaceted community-led approach has the potential to reduce childhood obesity-related disparities in Australia.

Social Inclusion Despite Exclusionary Sex Offense Laws: How Registered Citizens Cope With Loneliness

The use of social media has become associated with empowerment, social capital, and social inclusion for members of marginalized groups in society. Few groups in today’s social environment are as marginalized, if not more, than sex offenders. This article explores the use of social media among 112 registered sex offenders who are in the community, no longer under correctional control, and self-report no reoffending. Self-reports of desistance were triangulated through interviews with 38 spouses/relatives of registrants and arrest data. Unlike prior studies of sex offenders’ use of social media to facilitate offending, we found the use of social media helps create informal social networks, reduces loneliness, and provides a sense of empowerment among sex offenders and their family members. These are all factors important to promoting public safety and reducing sexual recidivism.

Implementing a video-based intervention to empower staff members in an autism care organization: a qualitative study.

BackgroundImplementing good-quality health and social care requires empowerment of staff members within organizations delivering care. Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) is an intervention using positive video feedback to empower staff through reflection on practice. This qualitative study explored the implementation of VIG within an autism care organization in England, from the perspective of staff members undergoing training to deliver VIG.MethodsSemi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 7 participants working within the organization (5 staff undergoing training to deliver VIG; 2 senior managers influencing co-ordination of training). Participants were asked about their views of VIG and its implementation. The topic guide was informed by Normalization Process Theory (NPT). Data were analysed inductively and emerging issues were related to NPT.ResultsFive broad themes were identified: (1) participants reported that they and other staff did not understand VIG until they became involved, initially believing it would highlight negative rather than positive practice; (2) enthusiastic feedback from staff who had been involved seemed to encourage other staff to become involved; (3) key implementation challenges included demands of daily work and securing managers’ support; (4) ideas for future practice arising from empowerment through VIG seemed difficult to realise within an organizational culture reportedly unreceptive to creative ideas from staff; (5) individuals’ emotional responses to implementation seemed beyond the reach of NPT, which focused more upon collective processes.ConclusionsImplementation of VIG may require recognition that it is not a ‘quick fix’. Peer advocacy may be a fruitful implementation strategy. Senior managers may need to experience VIG to develop their understanding so that they can provide appropriate implementation support. NPT may lack specificity to explain how individual agency weaves with collective processes and social systems to embed innovation in routine practice. This exploratory study has provided broad insights into facilitators and barriers to the implementation of an intervention to empower staff within an autism care organization. Further research is needed into similar interventions, including a focus upon staff members’ emotional responses and resources, and how such interventions may relate to the culture of the organization in which implementation occurs.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1820-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Adapting Agriculture Platforms for Nutrition: A Case Study of a Participatory, Video-Based Agricultural Extension Platform in India.

Successful integration of nutrition interventions into large-scale development programmes from nutrition-relevant sectors, such as agriculture, can address critical underlying determinants of undernutrition and enhance the coverage and effectiveness of on-going nutrition-specific activities. However, evidence on how this can be done is limited. This study examines the feasibility of delivering maternal, infant, and young child nutrition behaviour change communication through an innovative agricultural extension programme serving nutritionally vulnerable groups in rural India. The existing agriculture programme involves participatory production of low-cost videos promoting best practices and broad dissemination through village-level women’s self-help groups. For the nutrition intervention, 10 videos promoting specific maternal, infant, and young child nutrition practices were produced and disseminated in 30 villages. A range of methods was used to collect data, including in-depth interviews with project staff, frontline health workers, and self-help group members and their families; structured observations of mediated video dissemination sessions; nutrition knowledge tests with project staff and self-help group members; and a social network questionnaire to assess diffusion of promoted nutrition messages. We found the nutrition intervention to be well-received by rural communities and viewed as complementary to existing frontline health services. However, compared to agriculture, nutrition content required more time, creativity, and technical support to develop and deliver. Experimentation with promoted nutrition behaviours was high, but sharing of information from the videos with non-viewers was limited. Key lessons learned include the benefits of and need for collaboration with existing health services; continued technical support for implementing partners; engagement with local cultural norms and beliefs; empowerment of women’s group members to champion nutrition; and enhancement of message diffusion mechanisms to reach pregnant women and mothers of young children at scale. Understanding the experience of developing and delivering this intervention will benefit the design of new nutrition interventions which seek to leverage agriculture platforms.

An impactful crowdsourcing intermediary design - a case of a service imagery crowdsourcing system

Crowdsourcing is usually implemented using an intermediary organization or directly coordinated by solution seekers. For those using an IT-based crowdsourcing intermediary, the important factors of intermediaries that impact the crowdsourcing outcome are yet unclear. In addition, little research was conducted on how to design a crowdsourcing intermediary that can address the combined challenges of considering different cognitive demand levels of solution providers’ contributions, combining contributions and evaluating contributions. This paper identifies three important factors and provides a novel design of crowdsourcing intermediary to cope with these challenges. This study uses a case that focuses on how to assist small and medium businesses (SMBs) to develop their service imageries in triggering service innovation and designing their service experiences as to fulfill the desired outcomes of customers. Through the case, the benefits of our crowdsourcing intermediary design are demonstrated and justified. The three important factors are the crowdsourcing intermediary knowledge base, generative networks and empowerment of crowd members. This study shows that the crowdsourcing process can facilitate achieving a higher chance of attaining creative solutions for SMBs’ innovation problems when the three factors are well incorporated and managed within the crowdsourcing intermediary design. This study also presents a novel design of crowdsourcing intermediary that can address the combined challenges of coping with different cognitive demand levels of crowd members and combining and evaluating crowd members’ contributions, in order to attain impactful crowdsourcing outcome.

Factors Influencing Self-Help Group Members Empowerment in Nigeria

The wide spread of self-help groups (SHGs) in both urban and rural communities in Nigeria and the low empowerment of the members economically, socially, politically and psychologically raises a lot of questions about what exactly is happening, since the primary objective of forming the SHGs is to empower the members holistically. The overall aim of the paper is to identify and discuss the factors influencing SHG member empowerment in Nigerian communities. The paper briefly discusses leadership, cohesiveness, participation, volunteerism, communication, goals/objectives as (Group factors), while age of SHG member, gender, location and marital status as (Personal factors). The paper concludes that understanding why community members remain in their various SHGs or otherwise is very important in empowerment studies and holistic community development. There is every need to keep encouraging community members to form both homogeneous and heterogeneous SHGs to enable elimination of barriers towards participation and allow all community members participate in empowerment process. The paper contributed to the debates on the most influential factors leading to overall empowerment of members in a group setting, it also added to the existing literature on empowerment as an outcome rather than a process only. The paper also recommends that regulatory agencies should be more active in their supervisory and monitoring role in order to identify fake SHGs and those operating below standard and also reward those adhering to ethics and code of conduct; more studies need to be conducted with a view of exploring more factors influencing SHG members empowerment in Nigeria and compare with what is obtained globally to strengthen the system for better performance and management. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2016.v6n3p55

Factors influencing change in clinical practice: A qualitative evaluation of the implementation of the quality improvement in colonoscopy study.

The quality improvement in colonoscopy study was a region wide service improvement study to improve adenoma detection rate at colonoscopy by implementing evidence into routine colonoscopy practice. Implementing evidence into clinical practice can be challenging. The purpose of this paper is to perform a qualitative interview study to evaluate factors that influenced implementation within the study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff in endoscopy units taking part in the quality improvement in colonoscopy study, after study completion. Units and interviewees were purposefully sampled to ensure a range of experiences was represented. Interviews were conducted with 11 participants. Key themes influencing uptake of the quality improvement in colonoscopy evidence bundle included time, study promotion, training, engagement, positive outcomes and modifications. Areas within themes were increased awareness of quality in colonoscopy (QIC), emphasis on withdrawal time and empowerment of endoscopy nurses to encourage the use of quality measures were positive outcomes of the study. The simple, visible study posters were reported as useful in aiding study promotion. Feedback sessions improved engagement. Challenges included difficulty arranging set-up meetings and engaging certain speciality groups. This evaluation suggests that methods to implement evidence into clinical practice should include identification and empowerment of team members who can positively influence engagement, simple, visible reminders and feedback. Emphasis on timing of meetings and strategies to engage speciality groups should also be given consideration. Qualitative evaluations can provide important insights into why quality improvement initiatives are successful or not, across different sites.

PENERAPAN IPTEKS BAGI KELOMPOK TANI TERNAK SAPI-KELAPA DI DESA SAWANGAN

THE APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY FOR BEEF-CATTLE AND COCONUT FARMER GROUPS IN SAWANGAN VILLAGE. Agriculture and livestock development are beneficial and mutually depending each other, so that integrated farming systems provide great benefits for both aspect. But there are some problem for this: Two beef-cattle farmer groups “Habel I” and “Habel II” at Sawangan Village, District Airmadidi, North Minahasa regency do not have any understanding and knowledge about proper cattle-farming development. Based on this, it has made ​​the empowerment of members of the group through the application of science and technology with counseling and training methods. Principally, beef cattle business success is determined by three interrelated elements, e.g. seeds, feed and management. Beef-cattle farmer groups “Habel I” and “Habel II” integrates cattle-farming with coconut plantations simultaneously. Utilization of field under coconut trees to forage also serves as a cover crop. Members of the farmer group responded well to the application of science and technology activities through counseling and training , it can be seen from the availability of dwarf elephant grass in coconut plantations covering an area of 0.5 Ha . Other products produced in the form of silage and compost as well as the implementation of an assisted insemination ( 5 cows) . The application of science and technology through IbM activities can be resumed if there’s any assistance from the universities. Keywords: Cattle, coconut, science technology, farmer groups

Micro Financing Through Women Self-Help Groups and its Socio-Economic Impact- A Case Study of Konkan Region of Maharastra

Micro finance programmes have been receiving a considerable attention world over for their potential to generate income and employment and alleviate poverty. The experience shows that the micro finance programme has a high degree of out reach to women i.e. 82.67 per cent of the aggregate clients in India in 2010, 73 per cent in Latin America, 70 percent in Africa and 88 percent in Asia. In India, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) sponsored SHG-Bank linkage programme is the fastly growing micro finance programme in the world covering 97 million poor households as on 31st March, 2011.The research paper was focused to find out whether micro finance really contributed to the socioeconomic empowerment of group members? To what extent, micro financing through women groups benefited the members? Out of 350 Women groups promoted by Sadbhav Foundation (33 groups), Raigarh district, Manav Sadhan Vikas (25 groups), Kudal, Sindhudurga district and Matru Mandir (19 groups), Ratnagiri district (Maharashtra state, India) 77 (22 percent) were selected. Two members from each group (i.e.154 members) were selected deliberately. After joining the groups, the monthly average income and savings of the respondents had shown increase by 133.73 percent and 76.27 percent respectively. The confidence level of the respondents had increased to a great extent. They had reported active participation in socioeconomic activities. Overall personality index had shown growth of 59.01 percent. It was inferred that micro financing through women self help groups had brought a positive change in the lives of the members. The study concluded that poor, discriminated and underprivileged women if join the groups, can come out of poverty.

An Experiential Learning: Action Learning Set in Nursing Education Setting

Action learning set has been used in many fields including in health care practice with approach of group member empowerment by sharing knowledge, skills and experience through questioning and challenging. The paper presents an experiential learning of action learning set in nursing education setting that is part of group assignment in Education Development subject. The steps taken from the checking in to evaluation phase were performed with the discussion of problems in nursing education from different countries. Within one semester activity, each member could learn every phase which has different purpose and reach its goal. From this activity, many skills were agreeably improved among group members such as organization skill, ability to listen effectively, critical thinking, collaboration skill, embracing disagreement and being empathy. Action learning set activity that was completed in this subject gave new approach in problem solving that it is highly likely to be beneficial for self development, organization and profession.

Die kulturele en praktiese waarde van inheemse kennis oor plantgebruike in die 21ste eeu

Critics of ethnobotanical research may ask the question what the relevance is of documenting the indigenous knowledge of different cultural groups. This article focuses on the value and advantages of ethnobotanical research in the 21st century. The context is quantitative ethnobotanical surveys conducted in South Africa in recent years. For the discussion of the Matrix Method that was developed by Van Wyk and De Beer, reference is made to such surveys in the Hantam, Calvinia district in the Northern Cape, and the Kamiesberg in Namaqualand. The practical implications of ethnobotanical studies are discussed, specifically referring to legal aspects and issues of intellectual property rights. The affordances of ethnobotanical research are then considered, in (1) the development and commercialisation of products; (2) the empowerment of members of the community and the role of eco-tourism in socio-economic development, and (3) education. The cultural implications of ethnobotany is discussed next, such as found in (4) the arts, (5) music, (6) cuisine, (7) writing and poetry, (8) onomastics (the origin of place names – with the name ‘Hantam’ as specific example). Lastly, the focus is on a marginalised and often neglected aspect of ethnobotanical research, namely the magical uses of charm plants.

Engagement, Exploration, Empowerment.

Engagement, exploration, and empowerment are significant practice strategies used by occupational therapy practitioners as a means of getting to know what matters to clients and how to facilitate their participation in everyday life. Applied to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) as an organization, professional engagement, exploration of new service contexts, and empowerment of members to take an active role in shaping the profession's future are examined. This address, given at the 2015 AOTA Annual Convention & Expo, looks to the future in terms of engaging greater numbers of members; participating in Vision 2025, a strategic planning initiative that will be unveiled at the 2016 AOTA Annual Conference & Expo; and empowering members to achieve excellence in occupational therapy.

Contributions of Community Education in the Eradication of Poverty among Communities in Rivers State, Nigeria

This is a descriptive survey research study that sets to examine the extent community education has contributed to the eradication of poverty among communities in Rivers State of Nigeria. Two research questions and one null hypothesis were developed to guide the study. The population of the study was 1,672 respondents made up of 270 married men, 517 married women and 885 youths in there selected local government areas of the state. A sample of 428 respondents was drawn from the population using a purposive sampling technique. A-15 item structured questionnaire weighted on a 4-point rating scale was the data collecting instrument, face validated by three validates from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Descriptive statistics of means and inferential statistics of analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for data analysis. Findings of the study revealed that the extent community education has contributed to the eradication of poverty among communities in Rivers State was low. Inhibiting factors associated with the low level of community education were ignorance, corruption of most of the community leaders, lack of political will and low level of education. There was no significant difference in the mean responses of respondents on the extent community education has contributed to the eradication of poverty among communities in Rivers State. It was therefore recommended among others that sensitisation on empowerment of community members and establishment of more adult education programmes in the state be made.

Impact of women dairy co-operative societies on empowerment of women members

Impact of women dairy co-operative societies on empowerment of women members

Community Forest Management as Virtualism in Northeastern Madagascar

In Madagascar, as elsewhere, decentralization and devolution of natural resource management to local, community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) institutions have been major approaches for the increased engagement of local people in conservation projects. Using virtualism, a set of theories linking abstract models to their implementation in policy, I explore the implementation of CBNRM in the periphery of the newly established Makira Natural Park in northeastern Madagascar. I show that the imposition of an ill-suited model of CBNRM led to community-based institutions becoming instruments of coercion rather than empowerment for community members. Madagascar’s CBNRM legislation implied communal land tenure arrangements, the legitimacy and comprehensibility of written contracts, and an overly onerous regulatory environment prior to decentralization - none of which held true for Makira communities. In Makira, the virtualizing vision of CBNRM led to the further marginalization of already marginal people.