Local Community Engagement Research Articles

Baza ekonomiczna w procesie rewitalizacji miast poprzemysłowych

Polskie miasta ulegają ciągłym przemianom, a w dobie intensywnych przemian społeczno-gospodarczych i politycznych borykają się z wieloma problemami. Wskutek przemian polityczno-gospodarczych po 1989 r. wiele miast poprzemysłowych stanęło przed wyzwaniem dostosowania nie tylko ich przestrzeni do zmieniających się uwarunkowań i potrzeb mieszkańców, ale także przed wyzwaniem dostosowania kompetencji i umiejętności pracowników do zmieniających się wymagań i potrzeb rynku pracy. Problemy bezrobocia, w tym długotrwałego, ubóstwa, marginalizacji społecznej oraz te związane z brakiem aktywności lokalnej społeczności w życiu publicznym powodują trudną sytuację wielu miast poprzemysłowych. Rewitalizacja jako proces naprawczy, wyprowadzający fragmenty lub całe miasta z sytuacji kryzysowej wydaje się idealnym narzędziem poprawy sytuacji miast poprzemysłowych. Niniejszy artykuł stanowi próbę identyfikacji kluczowych związków przemian gospodarki miast poprzemysłowych, szczególnie ich bazy ekonomicznej i procesu rewitalizacji.

Trusting land to volunteers: How and why land trusts involve volunteers in ecological monitoring

Land trusts play an increasingly important role in conservation both in terms of the magnitude of conservation activities in which they participate and the total proportion of all conservation that they represent. Making informed conservation management decisions and local community engagement are two critical problems facing operators of locally-owned protected areas including those managed by land trusts. Engaging volunteers for critical management needs, such as collecting ecological data, is one way to overcome the challenge of managing and monitoring resources as a small organization. Partnering with volunteers can also help achieve other conservation goals including educational outreach and increasing public support. Land trusts that engage in volunteer-based monitoring (VBM) provide an opportunity to study how citizen science activities can contribute to conservation in practice. We surveyed land trust organizations across the United States to learn about their VBM programs. We received survey responses 332 organization, 133 of which maintain VBM programs. We found that the majority of land trusts with VBM programs are small organizations with less than ten employees (79.1%), few volunteers (50.4% with <10 volunteers, 87.2% with <50 volunteers), and little funding dedicated to the volunteer management (70.9% with <$1000 annually). Volunteers collect data on a wide variety of monitoring targets including vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant species, as well as water, soil and air quality measurements. Volunteers also engage in many different stages of the monitoring process including data collection, entry and analysis, and even dissemination of results. While increasing civic engagement and educational outreach were reported as the most important motivations for land trusts to engage in VBM, organizations reported that increasing civic engagement is the most difficult benefit to achieve. These results have implications for how land trusts can use citizen science and other participatory approaches to engage volunteers for conservation actions and increase public engagement. This study also shows that scientists interested in citizen science may engage with land trusts to learn about the potential for citizen science to improve conservation management.

Community Based Conservation: Redefining Boundaries

Conservation and management of biodiversity is complex and a localized phenomenon in the Terai Arc Landscape (TAL) which is inhabited by 7.4 million people out of which 25 per cent are still below the poverty line. There is significant interaction between the human and natural resources with diverse values of biodiversity and ecosystem services to the local populations. The implications of variations in terms of dependence on natural resources are that conservation and management strategies broadly vary across the landscape. Success and failures of conservation strategy/approach cannot commonly be extrapolated across this diverse landscape. While many projects in TAL have failed, some have succeeded too and is shaped by multiple factors including the type and level of human interactions with biodiversity. This review article provides reflections on experiences of decades of Community Based Conservation (CBC) in Nepal with a specific focus on Chitwan National Park and its buffer zone located in TAL. CBC confronts newer challenges and issues pertaining to inadequate mechanisms to address communities beyond buffer zones in a scenario where conservation needs to move beyond the conventional boundaries of parks and buffer zones, equitable benefit sharing, inequalities within communities, increasing human-wildlife conflicts, ecotourism, nexus of poverty-livelihood and conservation. However, CBC offers greater potentials and opportunities for greater local community engagement in a changing context to reconcile local development with conservation.

'Them Two Things are What Collide Together': Understanding the Sexual Identity Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans People Labelled with Intellectual Disability.

Previous research aiming to understand the lives of lesbian, gay bisexual and trans (LGBT) people labelled with intellectual disabilities is limited. There are few recent studies and available findings are often contradictory and inconsistent. This study aimed to explore how LGBT people labelled with intellectual disabilities experienced their sexual identities. Five LGBT people labelled with intellectual disabilities were interviewed, and data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis methodology. Four superordinate themes represented the following: common experiences of bullying/abuse, understanding sexualities, other's responses to intellectual disabilities and sexualities, and navigating acceptance. Strategies for coping with abuse maintained participant's engagement in local communities. Sexuality was often problematized by others despite being generally accepted by participants. Coming out was a continual process of decision-making to facilitate safety and acceptance. To feel fully supported, participants desired holistic service provision sensitive to their sexuality and intellectual disability needs. Clinical and research implications are suggested.

Higher education student learning beyond the classroom: findings from a community music service learning project in rural South Africa

ABSTRACTInspired by local arts community engagement initiatives and community music interventions internationally, Wits University (in Johannesburg, South Africa) developed a model of service learning that links the intentions, methodologies and purposes of these domains to promote student learning and benefit communities. This paper examines the quality and content of Community Music students’ learning in a pilot project located in Limpopo province in South Africa. Data from student focus groups and academic essays were analysed in terms of the discernible levels of students’ ‘academic, personal and civic learning’ [Ash, S. L., and P. H. Clayton. 2009. “Generating, Deepening, and Documenting Learning: The Power of Critical Reflection in Applied Learning.” Journal of Applied Learning in Higher Education 1: 25–48]. This critical reflection framework enabled students to articulate and deepen their learning, demonstrating their development in creative musical leadership and sense of social responsiveness and responsibility. Findings prompt further interrogation of the purposes and impact of community music service learning as a model of community engagement in South African higher education, to advance the key role of the arts in South Africa’s social transformation.

Discerning the air: locating local government community engagement practice – reflections on selected Australian experience

The structures and locations of communities have been reconfigured by the arrival of digital technologies. “Smart” devices, such as portable tablet computers, smart phones, and associated applications (apps), raise questions about how communities connect, understand and experience each other in the context of a disaggregated model of the social. Much has been written about changed practices in public administration in view of new digital capabilities, but little exists in the form of critical reflections about engagement practice itself amid the current wave of digital experiences of place and the social. Accordingly, this article discusses what can be brought to local government community engagement practice through the presence of digital devices, inviting engagement practitioners to reconsider how communities are configured through extended understandings of the local. In highlighting selected dialogue with community engagement practitioners, the discussion articulates the internal structure of engagement practice beyond a notion of consultation, or the survey of community views, toward more effective understandings of engagement which arise from the proliferation of potential locations inspired by digital concepts. In this sense, it addresses questions of regionality in local governance, thus reviewing ongoing issues of place and place-making in the 21st century.

International Models of Care that Address the Growing Diabetes Prevalence in Developing Countries.

Diabetes care involves a complex interaction between patients, physicians, the health care system, and society. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where the majority of individuals with diabetes live, there is a shortage of resources and infrastructure for diabetes care. Translation of proven interventions for diabetes prevention and care from experimental settings to the real world is a major challenge, and there is limited evidence from LMICs. To curtail the diabetes burden in LMICs, it is crucial to develop and execute innovative diabetes care models that improve access to care, knowledge, and outcomes. Additionally, adequate training of local health professionals and community engagement can help LMICs become self-sufficient in delivery of diabetes care. In this paper, we reviewed the existing models of diabetes care and prevention in LMICs and provided recommendations to guide the development of a comprehensive and effective future model for diabetes care in LMICs.

Biodiversity conservation status in China's growing protected areas

The past 40years witnessed a boom of protected areas (PAs) in China. To date, China has established 11 types of PAs, whose conservation objectives vary from protecting biodiversity and geological features, preserving scenic landscapes and seascapes, to restoring and maintaining ecosystem services. Covering over 17% of the land and 3.5% of the marine territory of China, the PAs have had beneficial effects on conservation in this country. However, the success of these PAs is largely restricted by ecological gaps in PA structure, defects of the management system, and is also negatively influenced by local development and urbanization driven by a growing economy. To improve the conservation efficiency of China's PAs, we suggest structural adjustment based on integrative research, practical strategies to alleviate administrative conflicts, increased engagement of local communities, transparent allocation of conservation funding, strengthened supervision and penalty mechanisms for destructive activities, and improved large-scale designation to coordinate demands of conservation and socioeconomic development.

Socio-psychological aspects of grassroots participation in the Transition Movement: An Italian case study

In this article, we present a case study investigating the socio-psychological aspects of grassroots participation in a Transition Town Movement (TTM) community initiative. We analyzed the first Italian Transition initiative: Monteveglio (Bologna), the central hub of the Italian TTM and a key link with the global Transition Network. A qualitative methodology was used to collect and analyze the data consisting of interviews with key informants and ethnographic notes. The results provide further evidence supporting the role of social representations, shared social identities, and collective efficacy beliefs in promoting, sustaining, and shaping activists’ commitment. The movement seems to have great potential to inspire and engage citizens to tackle climate change at a community level. Grassroots engagement of local communities working together provides the vision and the material starting point for a viable pathway for the changes required. Attempting to ensure their future political relevance, the TTM adherents are striving to disseminate and materially consolidate inherently political and prefigurative movement frames – primarily community resilience and re-localization – within community socio-economic and political frameworks. However, cooperation with politics is perceived by most adherents as a frustrating and dissatisfying experience, and an attempted co-optation of the Transition initiative by institutions. It highlights a tension between the open and non-confrontational approach of the movement towards institutions and their practical experience. Corresponding to this tension, activists have to cope with conflicts, contradictions, and ambivalence of social representations about community action for sustainability, which threaten the sense of collective purpose, group cohesion and ultimately its survival.

Nature-based solutions: lessons from around the world

This paper considers an emerging group of coastal management approaches that offer the potential to reduce coastal flood and erosion risks while also providing nature conservation, aesthetic and amenity benefits. These solutions mimic the characteristics of natural features, but are enhanced or created by man to provide specific services such as wave energy dissipation and erosion reduction. Such approaches can include beaches, dunes, saltmarshes, mangroves, sea grasses, coral and oyster reefs. The paper describes a number of innovative projects and the lessons learned in their development and implementation. These lessons include the planning, design and construction of projects, their development following implementation, the engagement of local communities and the cost-effectiveness of solutions.

Towards the idea of the interconnected university for sustainable community development

ABSTRACTUniversities have long been considered to possess the capacity that can foster local community development in a developing context such as in sub-Saharan Africa. Yet, it is not clear what disposition the university should adopt, given the complexity surrounding its mission in a changing landscape. Drawing on the meaning of community development and the centrality of the idea of ‘working together’ to effect ‘change’ associated with it, the research underpinning this article investigated how well the university can effectively respond to local needs and stimulate development. Interviews and focus-group discussions took place with university and community participants drawn from disparate backgrounds within a Cameroonian context on the nature of a local university's community engagement. The findings reveal that the university's capacity to enhance local development could be engendered through interconnections within its community, as well as with the wider community. This article maintains that the premise of the interconnected university can be drawn on African philosophy of Ubuntu and buttressed by narrowing existing power gaps through the fostering of transparency, decentralisation and democratic values so that constructive dialogue can ensue within the university and between it and the wider community.

Challenges in groundwater resource management in coastal aquifers of East Africa: Investigations and lessons learnt in the Comoros Islands, Kenya and Tanzania

Abstract Study region Coastal areas of Kenya (Kilifi County), Tanzania (Kilwa district) and Comoros (Ngazidja island), East Africa. Study focus Research aimed to understand the physical and societal drivers of groundwater accessibility and identify critical aspects of groundwater access and knowledge gaps that require further monitoring and research. Interdisciplinary societal, environmental and hydrogeological investigations were consistently undertaken in the three areas considered as exemplars of the diversity of the coastal fringes of the wider region. This paper focuses on the hydrogeological outcomes of the research, framed within the principal socio-environmental issues identified. New hydrological insights Results confirm the fundamental importance of coastal groundwater resources for the development of the region and the urgent need to match groundwater development with demographic and economic growth. Hydrogeological knowledge is fragmented, groundwater lacks a long-term monitoring infrastructure and information transfer from stakeholders to users is limited. Current trends in demography, climate, sea-level and land-use are further threatening freshwater availability. Despite possessing high-productivity aquifers, water quality from wells and boreholes is generally impacted by saltwater intrusion. Shallow large-diameter wells, following the traditional model of these areas, consistently prove to be less saline and more durable than deeper small-diameter boreholes. However, promoting the use of large numbers of shallow wells poses a significant challenge for governance, requiring coherent management of the resource at local and national scales and the engagement of local communities.

Embedding community-based service learning into psychology degrees at UKZN, South Africa

From 1999 to 2002, the centrally funded Community-Higher Education Service Partnership (CHESP) aimed to drive community engagement in several South African universities. It intended to develop socially accountable models of meaningful student engagement in communities. This led to community-based service learning (CBSL) being embedded into a number of psychology modules for over a decade (progressing from undergraduate to postgraduate levels of study) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Pietermaritzburg campus. CBSL resonated with many psychology students' motivations to make contributions to socially disadvantaged groups. Evaluation of such initiatives in the South African context are necessary, to assess their contributions and the challenges posed. Three levels of student experience in CBSL modules were considered, using qualitative methodology in order to understand the value of the modules and to draw lessons for deepening the connection between higher education and its social and community contexts. Data about their experiences were collected from focus groups of UKZN students and an interview with the undergraduate-level tutor. The students reported the value of seeing how psychological theory can be applied, and of the ability to "give something back" to communities. In addition, they learned to work in respectful and participatory ways, enhancing their ability to problem-solve. The findings illustrate progressive shifts in students' understandings of the applications of psychology and its potential role; they also evidence the growth in students' critique and social awareness. Recommendations are made for integrating and enhancing local community engagement, and highlight important considerations when students, community partners, and faculty staff interact in community-based initiatives.

Partnering with Rural Farm Women for Participatory Action and Ethnography

Background : U.S. farm women experience poor access to health care and high rates of health disparities. Demographic shifts are increasing isolation and decreasing social capital for these women. Providing locally meaningful health care requires cultural-historical understanding gained through community partnership. Yet, rural farming communities present challenges to establish local-buy-in and participation for research collaboration. Purpose: This article describes the steps taken to establish an action partnership between rural, farm women and a local researcher, and outlines lessons learned from using participatory approaches to inform ethnographic research. Sample: Based in an agrarian county in the Northern Great Plains, a partnership between two farm women developed into a research study inclusive of 24 female informants (ages 22-92). Methods: Ethnographic data (key informant interviews, focus groups, participant observation, artifact review, analytic memos, and reflective field notes) was analyzed thematically and the findings were examined reflexively to discern partnership building and participatory approaches that supported local community engagement with research. Findings: Promoters of relationship building included: 1) identifying the community gatekeepers, 2) using locally familiar language, 3) using a culturally congruent approach to recruitment, 4) accommodating seasonal farm demands, and 5) capitalizing on enthusiasm and community resolve to build partnerships for action planning. Conclusion: Local knowledge and sustained community presence are essential for rural nurses to engage in participatory action partnerships with rural farm women. Keywords: Partnership, engagement, rural farm women, participatory action, ethnography DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v16i1.397

H3ABioNet computational metagenomics workshop in Mauritius: training to analyse microbial diversity for Africa

In the context of recent international initiatives to bolster genomics research for Africa, and more specifically to develop bioinformatics expertise and networks across the continent, a workshop on computational metagenomics was organized during the end of 2014 at the University of Mauritius. The workshop offered background on various aspects of computational biology, including databases and algorithms, sequence analysis fundamentals, metagenomics concepts and tools, practical exercises, journal club activities and research seminars. We have discovered a strong interest in metagenomics research across Africa, to advance practical applications both for human health and the environment. We have also realized the great potential to develop genomics and bioinformatics through collaborative efforts across the continent, and the need for further reinforcing the untapped human potential and exploring the natural resources for stronger engagement of local scientific communities, with a view to contributing towards the improvement of human health and well-being for the citizens of Africa.

Application of the Ophelia process in a deprived community setting in Newcastle UK: a model for local community engagement and systematic intervention development

Application of the Ophelia process in a deprived community setting in Newcastle UK: a model for local community engagement and systematic intervention development

Dengue Disease Risk Mental Models in the City of Dhaka, Bangladesh: Juxtapositions and Gaps Between the Public and Experts.

Worldwide, more than 50 million cases of dengue fever are reported every year in at least 124 countries, and it is estimated that approximately 2.5 billion people are at risk for dengue infection. In Bangladesh, the recurrence of dengue has become a growing public health threat. Notably, knowledge and perceptions of dengue disease risk, particularly among the public, are not well understood. Recognizing the importance of assessing risk perception, we adopted a comparative approach to examine a generic methodology to assess diverse sets of beliefs related to dengue disease risk. Our study mapped existing knowledge structures regarding the risk associated with dengue virus, its vector (Aedes mosquitoes), water container use, and human activities in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh. "Public mental models" were developed from interviews and focus group discussions with diverse community groups; "expert mental models" were formulated based on open-ended discussions with experts in the pertinent fields. A comparative assessment of the public's and experts' knowledge and perception of dengue disease risk has revealed significant gaps in the perception of: (a) disease risk indicators and measurements; (b) disease severity; (c) control of disease spread; and (d) the institutions responsible for intervention. This assessment further identifies misconceptions in public perception regarding: (a) causes of dengue disease; (b) dengue disease symptoms; (c) dengue disease severity; (d) dengue vector ecology; and (e) dengue disease transmission. Based on these results, recommendations are put forward for improving communication of dengue risk and practicing local community engagement and knowledge enhancement in Bangladesh.

Causing Ripples in Local Power Relations

Hyperlocal news operations have been considered a promising alternative to the shrinking legacy media for sustaining civic discourse and engagement in local communities. However, these operations’ meso-level influence on civic engagement has not been widely investigated. Building upon the Media System Dependency theory, this article proposed an analytical framework for assessing such influence. This framework was applied to an ethnically diverse city as a case study, and 15 interviews with city officials and legacy media reporters helped elucidate the ways in which organizational actors might respond to the entry of a non-commercial, participatory local news website. The implications of these organizational responses for shifting the power–dependency relation between the local media and political systems were discussed, and the findings pointed to both promises and barriers in materializing the democratic potential of hyperlocal news websites while calling for more research across different community contexts.

DEVELOPMENT IN EASTERN INDONESIA: ARE THERE ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES?

Development in Wallacea, and eastern Indonesia generally, is gaining momentum. Here we query the applicability of what has become the standard or western Indonesia, model of development, for that part of Indonesia east of Wallace’s line. The numerous small islands with their finer grain of biological and cultural diversity suggest that alternative models focused locally with strong local community engagement might promote a different kind of economic development that maintains the natural resource base, including biodiversity, while providing opportunities for profitable enterprises to flourish. We describe some current examples that might be applicable more widely. The main problem with wider implementation is scaling up. Multiple conflicting goals have to be accommodated and because these are often not compatible with one another, the problem can only be solved at the landscape or seascape scale. We describe some modern methods for data management and computational analyses that can be used as decision support tools to help achieve this.

SNS Dependency and Community Engagement in Urban Neighborhoods: The Moderating Role of Integrated Connectedness to a Community Storytelling Network

The purposes of the current study were (1) to examine the relationship between social networking service (SNS) dependency and local community engagement among Seoul residents, (2) to test the hypothesis that integrated connectedness to a community storytelling network (ICSN) is positively related to local community engagement, and (3) to investigate the moderating role of ICSN between SNS dependency and local community engagement. The current study is theoretically guided by communication infrastructure theory (CIT). We used online survey data collected during summer 2013 from a sample of 890 SNS users between the ages of 19 and 59 who lived in 25 districts in Seoul. We focused on four variables as local community engagement outcomes: neighborhood belonging, two collective efficacy variables (informal social control and social cohesion), and community activity participation. We found that SNS dependency and ICSN were positively associated with all local community engagement variables. We also identified the moderating role of ICSN between SNS dependency and the two collective efficacy variables. In addition, we found that closed SNSs (e.g., KakaoTalk) are more likely to facilitate community engagement than open SNSs (e.g., Facebook or Twitter).