Community Involvement In Decision-making Research Articles

Toward Environmentally Sustainable City in Indonesia: Case Study on Environment Protection in Surabaya

There is a trend that development in big cities in Indonesia has neglected the principle of environmentally sustainable city. The problems faced by big cities in Indonesia are: air and water pollution, land degradation and lack of green space areas. This condition is indeed not only jeopardizing the present but also the future generations. Surabaya the second largest city after Jakarta has not implemented environmentally sustainable city due to several reasons. These includes: the local government is much prefers to take economic benefit rather than environment protection, weak of enforcement mechanism and institutional deficiencies. Thus, to overcome this problem the government should make a policy reform. This includes setting priorities in controlling air, water and land pollution, improving the capacity building of environment agency in doing monitoring and law enforcement and finally to improve community involvement in decision making.

Sex education in rural schools in the United States: impact of rural educators' community identities

Purpose: The overall purpose of this exploratory research was to better understand rural educators' feelings about school‐based sex education in order to foster better communication and collaboration between prevention researchers and rural teachers and administrators. In order to accomplish this purpose, the research question asked ‘How does perceived community identity influence rural educators' decisions regarding school‐based sex education?’ Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 24 high school educators in four rural counties in the southern part of the United States about how alike and different urban and rural teachers and administrators are in their decisions about sex education in their schools. The interview data were categorized according to their perceptions of similarities and differences between rural and urban teachers and administrators. Results: Rural educators believed that rural and urban educators were alike because of a common concern for students and the common issue of community involvement in decisions related to school‐based sex education. Rural educators believed that rural and urban educators were different because of greater religiosity in rural communities; greater scrutiny of administrators' decisions by the church, school board, and community; and greater physical proximity and emotional closeness between rural educators and their students. Conclusion: With a better understanding of rural educators' perceived community identities, prevention researchers will be able to develop closer collaborations with schools on strategies to prevent high‐risk sexual behaviors among rural adolescents.

Green development and participation-implications for countries in transition: Case study of Stara Planina, Republic of Serbia

The following research looks at opportunities and obstacles for applying public participation and sustainable environmental management in countries in transition. The case study analyses how the plans to develop a ski resort on the Stara Planina in the Republic of Serbia were created. The results show that factors which influence unsustainable developments are a lack of enforceable laws and the rule of law; lack of public awareness and information on relevant issues; weak civil society and lack of community involvement in decision making; high level of corruption in government and the public sector; highly politicized society with much influence from informal sources of power and their interests. The research concludes that with effective public participation the developments would be more environmentally sustainable. For participation to be effective there is a need to raise environmental awareness in the region as a consequence of the communist past and marginalisation of rural areas. .

The Uncoordinated Giant: Why U.S. Weather Research and Prediction Are Not Achieving Their Potential

Abstract Although the large U.S. meteorological community has made significant strides in weather diagnosis and prediction, progress has been slowed by a lack of cooperation, coordination, and pooling of resources. This paper analyzes such problems in a number of areas, ranging from numerical weather prediction to forecast dissemination, and proposes an alternative approach of greater community involvement in decision making, coupled with closely coordinated research and application, which might facilitate improvement in our ability to predict the weather and to apply weather information to societal needs.

A Systemic Approach to Addressing the Complexity of Energy Problems

This paper presents a conceptual framework for using energy as a vehicle for holistic development to address: poverty, gender discrimination, community involvement in decision making on social, economic, and environmental issues. The approach is systemic and participatory ironically, energy is always seen or considered in fragmentation from other areas and as a technical subject, without considering it in less literal and more metaphorical terms as an end and means of communication. Energy should be seen holistically. Holism is based on a profound understanding of the interconnectedness of the various parts and their relationship to the whole. The point made in this paper is that, by adding energy to the development plan, we solve nothing unless we also consider community mobilization, participatory approaches, and the role of gender in development. Pradhan's research in Nepal has demonstrated that if one thinks of energy only in technical terms and development projects strive to provide more electricity, the interventions can paradoxically just add more drudgery to the lives of women, unless policies consider energy within the context of the whole social, political, economic, and environmental system. Energy provision is more than merely a technical intervention. Participation uses human energy and the creative energy of human beings in a different way. The heart of participatory development is co-creating (in the sense used by Reason, 1988, 2002) understanding based on communication that is generative in the sense used by Paulo Freire. Generative understanding provides a different kind of energy, based on resonance. So this is a play on words when we place energy in a technical sense and energy in a human sense at the center of development. Also, physicists would argue that energy needs to be considered far wore widely as a basis for communication and life. Some also argue that energy is the basis of all organic and inorganic matter in the universe; it is the communication across subatomic matter.

Rural integrated systems in California: preparing for managed care.

The recent rapid growth of managed care has been largely an urban phenomenon. Given their narrow population and economic bases, many rural communities lack the volume necessary for the cost-effective management of health care, which is required under managed care systems. 1 As a res ult, providers in many rural areas are only peripherally influenced by recent changes in health care financing, and these providers continue to operate under fee-for-service or cost-based reimbursement systems. However, market forces and government initiatives, among other factors, are forcing change on the existing health care organization and financing systems in these communities. As both the public and private sectors shift to managed care and other strategies for controlling health care costs, many rural communities and providers are seeking to respond to this administrative and financial environment. Preserving local access to services and gaining control of local premium dollars are particularly important to rural communities, for both the health of their residents and for economic well-being. In response to this rapidly changing environment, the James Irvine Foundation launched a four-year, $6 million initiative in 1997. The goals of the Developing Rural Integrated Systems (DRIS) Initiative are to help rural California communities to better understand managed care and to spur the development of integrated, community-based health systems that can operate effectively in the changing managed care marketplace. The DRIS Model The DRIS Initiative is designed to support a community-based dialogue and planning process that engages various parties in the community and results in the creation of integrated health systems at each participating site. Under the DRIS Initiative, integration can occur at different levels of the health care system: clinical (the coordination of patient care services); functional (the coordination of key support or administrative functions); and/or financial (the sharing of capital, risks, and profits). The primary value of the DRIS Initiative is that it provides a structured framework for rural communities to examine their health care delivery systems. The framework involves three phases of activity, defined as follows. Phase I includes data collection and assessment, community education, formation of local community health councils, and selection of managed care functions. Phase II includes feasibility analysis of the selected func

Environmental health conditions in remote and rural aboriginal communities in western Australia.

During 1994-1995 environmental health conditions of about 13,760 persons in 155 remote and rural Aboriginal communities in 20 local shires in Western Australia (WA) were surveyed. A semiquantitative questionnaire sought data about the communities and their services, including water supplies, power, sanitation and disposal of solid and liquid waste; a separate section dealt with conditions of individual dwellings. Data were recorded by experienced local workers. Thirty-five communities considered to have the worst conditions were evaluated on-site by a team of senior personnel in mid-1995. Environmental health problems were prevalent and often serious: over one-third of the communities had water supply or sanitation problems and 70 per cent had housing problems, with overcrowding and substandard housing being commonplace. Thirty-six per cent had difficulties with waste water disposal, 37 per cent had no rubbish disposal, and in others, the methods of disposal were often inadequate; pests were problems in 44 per cent of communities and the hygiene and maintenance of communal toilets was unacceptable in 25 per cent. Seventy-two per cent had no on-site environmental health worker and 44 per cent had no on-site or visiting medical, nursing or health worker personnel. An action plan was developed and the highest-priority communities were targeted in a program of major works (for example, housing, drainage and sewerage) and minor works, which have been commenced. The remote-area environmental health workers' program is being expanded. Increased intersectoral collaboration and enhanced community involvement in decision making have occurred as a result of this work.

Local Government-Sponsored Community Development

Local governments are increasingly turning to community-based organizations (CBOs) to support improvement in low-income neighborhoods. Perceptions of more than 70 community leaders and 120 citizens involved in the formation of a CBO in the Orlando, Florida, metropolitan area are used to illuminate relationships between community empowerment and community improvement. Congruent with expectations, findings suggest that both local government responsiveness and community involvement in decision making are linked to perceptions of community improvement. In contrast to expectations, findings suggest that in early stages of community development, citizen involvement in the development activities of the CBO is not strongly correlated with either the perception of community impact or the anticipation of positive change. As a result, local governments sponsoring similar ventures need to recognize the importance of information and communication as tools to secure citizen participation until such time as citizen volunteers are more fully engaged in the development process.

The Appropriateness of the Lawyer as Advocate in Contemporary Aboriginal Justice Initiatives

This article discusses circle sentencing as a means of addressing the high proportion of aboriginal offenders in the prison system and allowing aboriginal communities greater participation in sentencing decisions. The difficulties of continuing the lawyer's role as advocate, a primary duty of lawyers in this process, is also explored. Ultimately, it is the clients decision whether to allow community participation in sentencing. The article queries whether by allowing community involvement in decision-making, the lawyer is disregarding a commitment to act in the client's interests. For circle sentencing to be effective, not only must the lawyer relinquish the role of advocate, but equally importantly, the client must accept this non-adversarial role. Similarly, the function of the judge must change from passive neutrality to mediation. Until there is legislative reform, the extent to which aboriginal communities may be involved in the sentencing process rests within the judge's discretion.

The new policies for rural health: institutional, social and financial challenges to large-scale implementation.

Rural development activities are frequently more important than isolated health care interventions in maximizing improvements in rural health status. In addition, integrated socio-economic development of rural areas ensures availability of local resources to finance health schemes, encourages community involvement in development and reforms and strengthens management capacity for health programme implementation and development. Public health services provide in turn an entry point for directly productive development activities. In designing, implementing and operating health components of rural development projects in developing countries, the most serious obstacles are almost invariably the following: (i) how to strengthen the managerial capacity of the health administration from the national to the local level and how to execute integrated programmes through decentralized and uncoordinated agencies; (ii) how to ensure adequate recurrent cost financing and contribution of beneficiaries to operating cost; and (iii) how to achieve active involvement of rural communities in decision-making and services delivery when projects are large and planned and executed by government authorities. In discussing these issues the paper will cite the World Bank’s experiences in a number of African, Asian and Latin American countries.

Book Reviews : Decision-Making in British Education Systems, Units 11-12: Decision-Making in the School Open University Press, 1974, £1.95 Unit 11 "The Curriculum and Decision-Making" by Robert Bell and Malcolm MacKenzie Unit 12 "Decision-Making in Schools" by Tony Bates Decision-Making in British Education Systems, Unit 13: "Community Involvement in Decision-Making" by Colin Morgan Open University Press, 1974, £1.80

Book Reviews : Decision-Making in British Education Systems, Units 11-12: Decision-Making in the School Open University Press, 1974, £1.95 Unit 11 "The Curriculum and Decision-Making" by Robert Bell and Malcolm MacKenzie Unit 12 "Decision-Making in Schools" by Tony Bates Decision-Making in British Education Systems, Unit 13: "Community Involvement in Decision-Making" by Colin Morgan Open University Press, 1974, £1.80

Community participation in neighborhood health centers.

Abstract Community involvement in decision making is relatively new in the health field but is being attempted in some neighborhood health centers. Participation may be handled in one of three ways...