Perceptions Of Community Leaders Research Articles

Perceptions of community leaders about normative understandings of good family care of older people in rural and urban Zambia

Drawing on qualitative interviews and focus groups with 35 community leaders, this article investigates how community leaders understand norms of care for older people in Zambia. I ask what leads older people in Zambia to receive good care from family. The findings show that across both rural and urban settings, respondents related profoundly powerful norms of reciprocity in both family and community care, with older people viewed as reaping what they have sown in terms of religious and economic contributions throughout their lives. The study raises challenging questions from a rights-based perspective as to who is deserving of care.

Perceptions of community leaders with respect to workforce skills in the caribbean region

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is changing the workplace and the skills employees need to participate in today's global economy. There are many articles on the growing skills gap and the need to build capacity to develop and retain competitive advantage as individuals, firms and countries. This research paper is a preliminary step in assessing the skills gap in the Caribbean region using a mixed method approach including a survey and semi-structured interviews with members of Rotary International. Members of Rotary International were selected for the research as they are community leaders and have experience promoting the importance of vocational training. The research suggests that there are skills gaps across the Caribbean and that there is a need for additional structured, flexible, industry certified training to build workforce capacity in the region.

PERSEPSI TOKOH MASYARAKAT KOTA TANJUNG PURA TENTANG ISU RIBA DALAM MENINGKATKAN MINAT MASYARAKAT MENABUNG DI BANK SYARIAH INDONESIA KCP STABAT

Sharia Bank is a financial institution tasked with collecting funds and distributing funds as well as providing other services based on the principles of partnership, fairness, transparency and universality as well as conducting banking business activities based on sharia principles. The development of Islamic banks is currently quite fast, but lately Islamic bank customers have different perceptions of Islamic banking, where some people hear about news or issues circulating about the perception of public figures who say that Islamic banks still use the principle of usury. which is a benchmark for some people and raises its own doubts about saving in Islamic banks, this is caused by several factors. First, the lack of socialization carried out by Islamic banks. Second, the lack of understanding of public figures regarding the system and objectives of Islamic banking itself.
 The formulation of the problem in this research is how is the perception of community leaders in increasing people's interest in saving?
 This type of research is a field research (field research), and is descriptive qualitative. The results of this study state that the perception of public figures in increasing public interest in saving in Islamic banks is in the Good category. Good category, customers already understand what Islamic banking is like, customers already know Islamic banks and not a few customers who already understand Islamic banking, and the public confirms that there are issues circulating in the community where public figures still have the assumption that Islamic banks are no different from conventional banks, while the issue of usury on people's interest in saving Islamic banks is in the medium category, meaning that the issue of usury circulating among the public has quite an impact on people's perceptions, therapy does not have much impact on people's interest in saving.

Persepsi tokoh masyarakat dan peternak terhadap kinerja penyuluh dalam meningkatkan usaha peternakan sapi potong di Kecamatan Sangkub Kabupaten Bolaang Mongondow Utara

PERCEPTION OF COMMUNITY LEADERS AND FARMERS TOWARDS THE PERFORMANCE OF EXTENSION WORKERS IN IMPROVING BEEF CATTLE FARMING BUSINESS IN SANGKUB DISTRICT NORTH BOLAANG MONGONSOW This research was a descriptive research that is aim to know the perception of community leaders and breeders on the performance of extension workers. The selection of sample respondents was determined deliberately (Purposive) namely village officials, community leaders and farmers in the villages of Sangkub 1, Tombolango, Busisingo, Pangkusa and Sidodadi, as many as 30 respondents. Variable measurement is done by following the guidelines "Likert Scale" with member score on each respondent's answer. The results showed that the perception of community leaders on the performance of extension workers in improving the business of beef cattle farming in Sangkub District, North Bolmong Regency, in the extension aspect as a communicator 100% of respondents rated it useful, the material aspect of counseling 93% of respondents rated it useful and 7% of respondents were hesitant, aspects of counseling methods 63% of respondents rated it useful and 37% of respondents rated it as doubtful, aspects of counseling aids 100% respondents considered it un useful , aspects of the counseling target 93% of respondents rated it useful and 3% of respondents were hesitant, the time and place aspects of counseling 100% of respondents rated it useful, as well as aspects of increasing the beef cattle farming business 100% of respondents rated the benefits. Based on the results of analysis of the relationship of perception of community leaders and breeders to the performance of extension workers in improving the business of beef cattle farming with the model "rank spearman" showed that there was a significant correlation between the perception of community leaders and village officials to the performance of extension workers in improving the business of beef cattle.

Perceptions of the community leaders on adolescents' HIV status: cross sectional study in Mulanje, Malawi.

Introductionthe spread of HIV among adolescents requires effective interventions as new infections are high in this cohort globally. We explored perception of community leaders on the prevalence of adolescent´s HIV in Mulanje, Malawi.Methodsfocus group discussion (n=11) and in-depth interviews (n=15) were conducted with community leaders in all Traditional Authorities in Mulanje district, Malawi. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed. Data were analysed using thematic content approach.Resultsthe perceptions of community leaders on the HIV prevalence among adolescents fall into three groups: lack of access to health services in rural areas, cultural beliefs and social practices. Unavailability of condoms and youth centres were perceived to contribute to lack of access to health services. On harmful cultural beliefs, study participants observed that initiation ceremonies and prolonged wedding dances at night were contributing to HIV spread. Several issues were reported on social issues including poverty, illicit drug and substance abuse, long distances to school, modern technologies and peer pressure.Conclusionthere are many factors perceived to contribute towards high HIV prevalence among adolescents. Our study suggests urgent need for the country to sustainably address key harmful cultural and social practices that potentially increase adolescents´ vulnerability to HIV.

Effects of Social Media Use on Millennials' Perceptions of Community Leaders

Acknowledging that social media use is ever growing and increasingly used to communicate with constituents, this article investigates the effect that a community leader’s social media activity has on young adults’ perceptions of leadership. The method utilized a qualitative analysis of research related to young adults’ relationship with politics juxtaposed to a quantitative analysis of a Qualtrics survey of 106 people between 18 and 24 years of ages’ self-evaluated trust of community leaders on social media. It illustrates that perception of community leaders is not significantly improved through use of social media.

Persepsi Masyarakat Terhadap Keberadaan Penyuluh Agama Hindu Di Kecamatan Denpasar Selatan

<p><em>The phenomenon of the existence of Hinduism Extension workers civil servants and non civil and social religious civil servants in modern times is an interesting theme to be studied, the fact that people in South Denpasar Subdistrict cannot avoid modernity is where the role of extension workers in providing guidance and counseling to Hinduism is required. able to improve the quality of religious life. Digging and dissecting the formulation of predetermined problems using three theories are: (1) theory of existence, (2) perception theory, and (3) theory of communication barriers. This study uses research methods which include: research approaches using qualitative methods. The research location is in the District of Selatan Denpasar. Types and sources of data used are types of qualitative data, while data sources used are primary and secondary data. The technique of determining the informants used is purvitative sampling. Data collection techniques include: observation techniques, interviews, literature, and documentation. The results of the analysis obtained from this study are 1) the existence of Hinduism extensionists. In this task, the Hinduism Extension has 5 (five) functions, namely, administrative, educative, facilitative, consultative, and transformative. Potential This fostered area is classified as a densely populated urban area and a high level of religious heterogeneity. The need for worship facilities and infrastructure is sufficient. The number of Hinduism Religious instructors in the City of Selatan Denpasar is as many as 2 Hindu Religion Extension Servants PNS and 16 Non-PNS Hindu Religion Extension. 2) Community perception is categorized into, a). Perceptions of community leaders, b). Stakeholder Perception, c). sekaa perception, d). widyasabha perception. Perception is seen as the most important component in the delivery of information. Through the public perception can be realized, can understand about the condition of the community in 10 villages / villages in Selatan Denpasar. The community can reveal how the performance of the Hindu Religious Extension in each of the target areas 3) internal and external constraints that occur when coaching Hinduism.</em></p>

Evaluation of community leaders’ perception regarding Alerta Rio, the warning system for landslides caused by heavy rains in Rio de Janeiro

Warning systems help reduce damage and save lives in disasters; however, there is a lack of research analyzing the population perception of these systems. In Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), because the city slums face the risk of landslides caused by heavy rains, a siren early warning system named “Alerta Rio” was installed in 102 areas. The purpose of this paper was to understand the perception of community leaders regarding this alert system. To this end, a survey was conducted with community leaders to collect data on whether and why the public do or do not attend to the alert. Results indicated that (1) public adherence to Alerta Rio is low despite the generally positive view of the system, (2) local violence was reported as the reason for staying at home to protect one’s property, and (3) problems with temporary shelters and the routes to them result in lack of people’s involvement in the system. Whereas these factors are similar to population perception regarding other warning systems, the community leaders also raised the public’s lack of trust in the city hall’s adopted concept of risk and in the politicians as a relevant factor in the population perception of Alerta Rio. These factors, together with the lack of prevention policies complementary with the alert system, led to perception of reduced importance of the system. For potential solutions to enhance alarm compliance, this study recommends improvement in communication, educational programs, and public engagement strategies tailored for each target group.

CARACTERIZAÇÃO PRODUTIVA DE UM PROJETO DE ASSENTAMENTO RURAL NO SEMIÁRIDO NORDESTINO (RIO GRANDE DO NORTE, BRASIL)

The rural settlements are agricultural production units created in order to reordering the use of land for the benefit of rural landless or with little land. However, it should be noted if them adequately fulfill its function after the first few years of installation. The objective of this study was to characterize aspects of the agricultural production of the Maisa Settlement Project, located in the Rio Grande do Norte State, Brazil. Interviews with community leaders from the ten rural villages that make up the settlement were made in August 2013. It was noted that land distribution did not occur equally between rural villages and dwellers; that the perception of community leaders is, in general, less than willing in government document, established by the agency responsible for agricultural development in Brazil (INCRA). It was identified that 1.7% of the area for cultivation is currently being used; and that crops planted are beans, melon, watermelon, corn, barbados cherry, papaya, pumpkin and grass. It was observed that a larger area is planted in the communal area (125 ha) than in cultivated in the Individual Lots (93.4 ha). However, the agricultural production in these two compartments shows a negative correlation, 4,861 and 6,070 tons, respectively. In 90% of rural villages the main source of income is wage labor on private farms. This study revealed that the Maisa Settlement is not fulfilling its social function, and that the productive potential is mainly related to the availability of financial resources to capture groundwater for irrigation.

Running Head: School-Community Partnership Mitigates Student Truancy: The Case of a Seaman’s Son in Ghana

The author revisited the school site where a case study on parental involvement on their children’s education was held five years ago. This move was in response to a participant’s request during the research interview five years ago. The participant requested that the research findings of the study should not be left on the shelf to collect dust. The author therefore made a follow-up study to find out the impact of the previous study, including recommendations of the study on the students, institution and community. Participants’ contributions in the previous study were reviewed by the author. These include perceptions of parents of children in the school where the study took place, perceptions of community leaders, perceptions of teachers and the perceptions of school administrators on education. The follow-up study discussed a success story centered round a student, who played truancy and later became a hero. The outcome of the study confirmed the benefits derived from teamwork by parents, teachers, school administrators, community members as well as community leaders in educating a child. In addition, it laid bare the defects on children whose parents were not involved in their education. This study will be of great importance to teachers, parents, educational leaders, community leaders and community members in children’s education.

Improving disaster risk reduction capacity of District Civil Protection Units in managing veld fires: A case of Mangwe District in Matabeleland South Province, Zimbabwe.

This article analysed disaster risk reduction capacity of District Civil Protection Units (DCPUs) in managing veld fires in Mangwe District of Matabeleland South Province, Zimbabwe. Veld fires have resulted in unnecessary material, environmental and economic losses. Communities’ livelihoods and property have been destroyed, and the natural environment depleted. The research sought to improve disaster risk reduction capacity of DCPUs in managing veld fires, through new intervention strategies and a new model. The objectives of the study were to investigate the main causes of veld fires; to analyse their impacts; to examine the effectiveness of the current intervention strategies; and to identify challenges in implementing these interventions. Furthermore, the study sought to recommend new possible intervention strategies. This mainly qualitative study employed self-administered questionnaires, interviews and focus-group discussions. Questionnaires were used to investigate members of the DCPU's ideas, views and experiences, interviews solicited perceptions of community leaders and their subjects, whilst focus-group discussions assisted with information from members of the District Civil Protection Planning Committee. Veld fires in the district are mainly caused by human activities, and they are prevalent during the months of September and October. They affect livelihoods and the natural environment the most. This study found that DCPUs are not prepared to manage veld fires and therefore recommended new strategies and adoption of the community-based disaster risk reduction model. The new strategies include involving community leaders and members of the communities in DCPUs; regular training and workshops to members of DCPUs on veld fire management; creation of fire protection associations; regular campaigns and rehearsal of emergency drills by the DCPU personnel; the introduction of competitions and incentives in veld fire management; vigorous public education on the erection of proper fireguards around homes, cattle pens, crop fields and vegetable gardens; and the imposition of stiffer penalties for carelessly or deliberately causing veld fires. Policy-makers, governments and stakeholders would benefit from the new intervention strategies. The community-based disaster risk reduction model would benefit researchers and disaster risk reduction practitioners.

The Potential of Floating Markets for Creative Tourism: A Study in Nakhon Pathom Province, Thailand

This article examines the potential of floating markets in the Nakhon Pathom province as a creative tourism destination by performing a two-stage qualitative study. It explores in particular the perceptions of community leaders toward the possibility for established floating markets to become creative tourism destinations and the current and future constraints in such development. In the first stage, an environmental scanning is performed using readiness indices for tourism destination, which are adopted from two sources. In the second stage, the perceptions of community leaders toward floating markets are examined through in-depth, semi-structured interviews. These investigations reveal the significant role of community leaders and their perspectives toward the direction and development of their communities. The investigations also identify the factors that promote and obstruct creative tourism in a particular floating market destination.

Identifying solutions to increase participation in physical activity interventions within a socio-economically disadvantaged community: a qualitative study.

BackgroundThere is an urgent need to increase population levels of physical activity, particularly amongst those who are socio-economically disadvantaged. Multiple factors influence physical activity behaviour but the generalisability of current evidence to such ‘hard-to-reach’ population subgroups is limited by difficulties in recruiting them into studies. Also, rigorous qualitative studies of lay perceptions and perceptions of community leaders about public health efforts to increase physical activity are sparse. We sought to explore, within a socio-economically disadvantaged community, residents’ and community leaders’ perceptions of physical activity (PA) interventions and issues regarding their implementation, in order to improve understanding of needs, expectations, and social/environmental factors relevant to future interventions.MethodsWithin an ongoing regeneration project (Connswater Community Greenway), in a socio-economically disadvantaged community in Belfast, we collaborated with a Community Development Agency to purposively sample leaders from public- and voluntary-sector community groups and residents. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 leaders. Residents (n = 113), of both genders and a range of ages (14 to 86 years) participated in focus groups (n = 14) in local facilities. Interviews and focus groups were recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using a thematic framework.ResultsThree main themes were identified: awareness of PA interventions; factors contributing to intervention effectiveness; and barriers to participation in PA interventions. Participants reported awareness only of interventions in which they were involved directly, highlighting a need for better communications, both inter- and intra-sectoral, and with residents. Meaningful engagement of residents in planning/organisation, tailoring to local context, supporting volunteers, providing relevant resources and an ‘exit strategy’ were perceived as important factors related to intervention effectiveness. Negative attitudes such as apathy, disappointing experiences, information with no perceived personal relevance and limited access to facilities were barriers to people participating in interventions.ConclusionsThese findings illustrate the complexity of influences on a community’s participation in PA interventions and support a social-ecological approach to promoting PA. They highlight the need for cross-sector working, effective information exchange, involving residents in bottom-up planning and providing adequate financial and social support. An in-depth understanding of a target population’s perspectives is of key importance in translating PA behaviour change theories into practice.

Traditional Healing Practices Among American Muslims: Perceptions of Community Leaders in Southeast Michigan

Despite growing numbers of American Muslims, little empirical work exists on their use of traditional healing practices. We explored the types of traditional healing practices used by American Muslims in southeast Michigan. Twelve semi-structured interviews with American Muslim community leaders identified through a community-academic steering committee were conducted. Using a framework coding structure, a multidisciplinary investigative team identified themes describing traditional healing practices. Traditional healing practices can be categorized into three domains: Islamic religious text based practices, Islamic worship practices, and folk healing practices. Each domain may further contain therapies such as spiritual healing, medicinal herbs, mind body therapy, and dietary prescriptions. Traditional healing practices are utilized in three capacities of care: primary, secondary, and integrative. Our findings demonstrate that American Muslims actively utilize traditional healing practices. Healthcare practitioners caring for this population should be aware of the potential influence of these practices on health behaviors.

Community Leaders' Knowledge and Perceptions About Obesity: Implications for Outreach Educators in Designing Interventions

The study reported here examined the knowledge and perceptions of community leaders on overweight and obesity in two racially different counties. Data were collected from 126 individuals, including clergy, physicians, grocery store managers, school administrators, nurses, nutritionists, and university faculty and staff. Statistically significant differences were observed when community leaders were grouped according to race. Additionally, over 90% of community leaders were knowledgeable about obesity. Leaders associated obesity with high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. This article provides insights that can be useful for planning and implementing programs on obesity prevention and reduction.

ZeroGen new generation power–a framework for engaging stakeholders

ZeroGen Pty Ltd (ZeroGen) recently announced its plan to develop the world’s first commercial-scale 450MW clean coal power plant by 2017 in Queensland, Australia. Since the Queensland Government first announced the project in early 2006, stakeholder engagement activities have been a key priority for ZeroGen. The company understands that stakeholder perceptions, particularly of the safety of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) capture and storage (CCS) processes, represent a key challenge to the commercialisation of clean coal technologies. As a result, ZeroGen has developed and implemented an advanced consultation framework to actively engage a wide range of stakeholders to address this challenge. This paper details the consultation framework and outlines the findings of research conducted to assess the perceptions of community leaders where the project’s CCS activities are occurring. The paper confirms that the consultation processes deployed by ZeroGen to date have been successful in overcoming a key challenge to the commercialisation of clean coal technologies involving CCS.

Teen pregnancy and urban youth: competing truths, complacency, and perceptions of the problem

Purpose To compare and contrast perceptions of community leaders, adults, and youth about the extent of the teen pregnancy problem in five American cities: Baltimore, Detroit, Oakland, Philadelphia, and Richmond. Methods In the five cities from late 1998 through early 2000, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 79 key informants (leaders influential in children's policy issues) to ascertain their perceptions of the most pressing problems facing youth in their cities. Structured, computer-assisted interviews on a range of issues, including teen childbearing and sexual activity, were conducted with 7716 randomly selected adults and 2768 youth aged 10–18 years. The key informant interviews were transcribed and coded; reviewers were paired to validate the coding. The surveys were analyzed using SPSS. Results Among the key informants, teen pregnancy was cited as a big problem by only 15%; other issues, such as crime and schools, were seen as more pressing. However, 58% of the adults in the general population thought that teen pregnancy was a big problem. Although almost 3/4 of youth in these cities believed their parents would be upset if they had sex, 87% reported that teen sexual activity before age 18 years was acceptable to their peers, 53% said that teen parenthood was considered acceptable, and 51% had at least one friend who was a teen parent. There were statistically significant differences in the adult and youth responses by race, income, and educational attainment. Conclusions Although few leaders see teen pregnancy as a pressing problem, adults remain deeply concerned, and youth indicate that the problem is prevalent and accepted.

Perceptions of community leaders and the merger of rural health services

The merger of rural primary care and home health services offers the potential of increasing the administrative efficiency of health care, and thereby enhancing quality of care and increasing access to services, particularly health promotion. In a merger of rural health services in Northeastern Vermont, a survey of key community leaders revealed that improved organization of services, improved health status and greater accessibility of services were benefits expected and to some extent realized as a result of the merger process. The desire to preserve community-based services and having a common philosophy were important factors which served to initiate the merger. The actions of a few key individuals and the support of involved organizations were instrumental in continuing the process.

Perceptions of Community Life and Services: a Comparison between Leaders and Community Residents

This study compares the perceptions of community leaders and the general public regarding the importance of 22 proposed community work projects as well as their perceptions of the importance of, and satisfaction with, various dimensions of community life. The two groups were found to differ considerably on specific community work projects but were found to agree on the importance of and satisfaction with seven dimensions of community. Therefore, the question of congruence of perceptions between leaders and residents must be addressed from a specific level of reference. On a general level, leaders and residents were consistent in their perceptions of community life; however, on a specific task or project level, their views differed considerably. Also, the study found that an importance-satisfaction analysis is a viable mechanism for prioritizing community issues that cannot be accomplished by viewing importance or satisfaction ratings independently.