Equity Problems Research Articles

INNOVATION IN OPEN AND DISTANCE LEARNING SYSTEM: The IGNOU Experience

The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) occupies a prominent position in the academic world by way of shouldering the responsibility of providing quality education to the growing numbers of learners. Its journey of achieving its objectives is marked with the problems of efficiency, equity, quality and benchmarking of the ODL system. The IGNOU had established the experience that there are several impediments to innovation, most of which are of bureaucratic nature. In this paper we present our experience of nurturing innovations with an aim to sensitize the ODL functionaries towards creativity and innovation.

On Attempting to Do What Lord Said Was Impossible: Commentary on van der Linden's “Some Conceptual Issues in Observed‐Score Equating”

van der Linden (this issue) uses words differently than Holland and Dorans. This difference in language usage is a source of some confusion in van der Linden's critique of what he calls equipercentile equating. I address these differences in language. van der Linden maintains that there are only two requirements for score equating. I maintain that the requirements he discards have practical utility and are testable. The score equity requirement proposed by Lord suggests that observed score equating was either unnecessary or impossible. Strong equity serves as the fulcrum for van der Linden's thesis. His proposed solution to the equity problem takes inequitable measures and aligns conditional error score distributions, resulting in a family of linking functions, one for each level of θ. In reality, θ is never known. Use of an anchor test as a proxy poses many practical problems, including defensibility.

Problems and challenges of educational policies in Latin America. The Argentina viewpoint

Abstract The objective of this article is to describe the most significant changes which are being carried out in Latin-American educational systems, taking Argentina as a point of reference. To that end, this comparative study tackles the following essential aspects: the principle of equal opportunities and social cohesion; decentralisation of educational systems at an institutional level; educational quality and equity problems; the career of teaching; and financial resources. The reforms carried out at university level have not been analysed, since their complexity exceeds the limits of this article. To conclude, we briefly mention the future goals which have been agreed by those responsible for education in diverse Latin-American countries.

Indicadores de gobernanza para el desarrollo de estrategias binacionales deprotección social en la salud de los migrantes

Este artículo presenta resultados de un estudio cuyo principal objetivo fue identificar los actores clave, sus roles, coaliciones y los espacios de interacción para el desarrollo de protección social en la salud de los migrantes. Se identificaron 10 categorías de actores clave para estrategias de salud para emigrantes, así como metas de política y estrategias binacionales de salud con diferentes niveles de factibilidad y efectividad. Un seguro público binacional de salud para emigrantes indocumentados es factible pero requiere una gran inversión y movilización de recursos públicos. Para ello se deberán desarrollar nuevas iniciativas dirigidas a resolver los problemas de equidad y acceso en la salud de los migrantes.

Wedging Equity and Environmental Justice into the Discourse on Sustainability

This paper examines the problems and prospects for including meaningful indicators of intragenrational equity into the city based regional planning efforts unfolding around the globe. The central focus of the paper is on the challenges that environmental justice (EJ) activists face as they attempt to frame the problem of equity in ways that the general public would see as not only informative, but compelling. After reviewing examples of successful efforts to reframe debates about equity, the paper concludes with a discussion of a set of EJ concerns and indicators that have the greatest potential for capturing public attention and commitment despite mounting resistance to the use of redistributive policies in support of sustainability goals.

Wedging Equity and Environmental Justice into the Discourse on Sustainability

This paper examines the problems and prospects for including meaningful indicators of intragenrational equity into the city based regional planning efforts unfolding around the globe. The central focus of the paper is on the challenges that environmental justice (EJ) activists face as they attempt to frame the problem of equity in ways that the general public would see as not only informative, but compelling. After reviewing examples of successful efforts to reframe debates about equity, the paper concludes with a discussion of a set of EJ concerns and indicators that have the greatest potential for capturing public attention and commitment despite mounting resistance to the use of redistributive policies in support of sustainability goals.

Gestión de la comunicación en el sector no lucrativo español

La sociedad actual se caracteriza por la existencia de tres sectores básicos: el sector público, el sector privado y el sector no lucrativo, denominado también Tercer Sector. El Tercer Sector es un concepto heterogéneo, de difícil acepción. Está compuesto por entidades que no tienen el lucro como principal objetivo, abarcando principalmente, dos grandes ramas: las entidades de economía social y las entidades no lucrativas. El problema estriba en que dichas entidades son percibidas de manera difusa como consecuencia de su falta de transparencia y, en muchas ocasiones, de su deficiente gestión de la comunicación. Dentro de las entidades no lucrativas se encuentran las Organizaciones no Gubernamentales que son autónomas e independientes del ámbito de los gobiernos sin fines lucrativos y que destinan sus recursos a financiar proyectos que emprenden en el ámbito de la cooperación al desarrollo, a solucionar los crecientes problemas de equidad, pobreza, exclusión social y destrucción ambiental, entre otros. Esta investigación tiene como objeto valorar el campo de la Economía Social y la gestión de la comunicación como herramienta estratégica. La buena gestión de la comunicación servirá para que estas entidades logren el apoyo público para una actividad, causa, movimiento o institución, consiguiendo de tal modo los fines y objetivos que se proponen.

Multi-morbidity of non communicable diseases and equity in WHO Eastern Mediterranean countries

IntroductionNon communicable diseases are the biggest cause of death worldwide. Beside mortality, these diseases also cause high rates of morbidity and disability. Their high prevalence is generally associated to multi-morbidity. Because they need costly prolonged treatment and care, non communicable diseases have social and economical consequences that affect individuals, households and the whole society. They raise the equity problem between and within countries.Methods and limitationsThis annotated bibliography is a systematic review on multimorbidy of non communicable diseases and health equity in WHO Eastern Mediterranean countries. Medline/PubMed, EMBASE and other sources were used to get peer reviewed papers dealing with the review theme. The words/strings used for search and inclusion criteria were: multimorbidity, comorbidity, equity, non communicable diseases, chronic diseases, WHO Eastern Mediterranean and Arab countries.Bibliography with annotationsAccording to the inclusion criteria, 26 papers were included in the present review. Generally, lack or paucity of publications was encountered in themes like headache, cancer and respiratory diseases. Of the 26 contributions selected, twelve dealt with comorbidity of depression and mental disorders with other chronic diseases. Another set of 11 publications was devoted to multimorbidity of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), hypertension, metabolic syndrome and obesity. Considering association of multimorbidity and social determinants, this review shows that female gender, low income, low level of education, old age and unemployed/retired are the most exposed to multimorbidity. It should also be stressed that, geographically, no contribution was issued from North African countries.Non communicable diseases are one of the biggest challenges facing health decision makers in WHO Eastern Mediterranean countries where the multidimensional transition is boosting increases in multimorbidity of depression and mental diseases, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and respiratory diseases among the whole population but with the highest burden among the least disadvantaged individuals or subpopulations. Health ministries in WHO Eastern Mediterranean countries should pay a particular attention to the association between equity and multimorbidity and opt for cost effective strategies based on early diagnosis and sensitisation for healthy diet, physical activity, no smoking and no alcohol.

ANALISIS KEBIJAKAN PENDIDIKAN BERWAWASAN GENDER DI UNIVERSITAS NEGERI PADANG

This article is based on a research on Education Policy Analysis with GenderResponsive in Padang State University, with the purpose of examining gender profile ofstudents and lecturers; to reveal the problems of gender equity and equality; to find outfactors causing gender disparity; and to get solution for the problems. Data is analyzedusing Gender Analysis Pathway. This research recommends that Padang StateUniversity gradually apply the new paradigms of gender responsive for every policybased on university policy groundwork on gender responsive and INPRES No 9 year2000.Key words: responsiveness, gender in education, policy analysis

Women Politicians and Adult Education and Learning in British Columbia

The lack of participation of women in electoral politics is a problem of justice, equity and democracy. Although feminist scholars have explored this phenomenon from a variety of angles, few have focussed on the education and learning dimensions. Using a feminist approach that included individual interviews, focus groups and observations at two training programmes, our two-year study uncovered how women in British Columbia were educated or learned to be or become politicians. Findings show a complex web of practical, transformational or feminist learning, media relations and communications, knowledge and power, passion and subservience, neutrality and normativity. We argue that this complex web of powerful, problematic and often, contradictory practices contributes to but also impedes women’s political empowerment and thereby, substantive political change.

Epic Fail: An Institutional Analysis of Financial Distress

This paper presents an institutional analysis of financial distress. “Institutional analysis” assesses the comparative effectiveness of large-scale social processes, such as markets, courts, and governments, at solving social problems. Although financial distress is one of our most acute problems, there has been virtually no effort to analyze it from an institutional perspective. This paper fills that gap. Institutional analysis shows that, contrary to conventional wisdom, financial distress is not a problem that courts, such as bankruptcy courts, usually solve by themselves. Instead, it is increasingly a problem that political organs (whether elected or regulatory) both create and purport to resolve. Government creates financial distress when it subsidizes private debt, through guarantees and regulatory exemptions for certain debt-like transactions, among other things. Government increasingly seeks to resolve it through laws such as Dodd-Frank, which tend to vest decision-making authority in government, not the stakeholders (e.g., creditors and debtors) involved. Institutional analysis is, in important part, about the nature and effect of stakeholder participation. On this metric, the trend is worrisome. Government tends to rob stakeholders of the participatory capacity to resolve financial distress inter se. Markets and courts, by contrast, generally create more participatory mechanisms, most commonly through the renegotiation (“work out”) of debt. To be sure, government has an important role in resolving financial distress. It is likely the best institution to prevent bank panics. But this is precisely because of the participatory failures that characterize a panic. Failing to recognize the institutional dimensions of financial distress has important implications. In the short term, laws such as Dodd-Frank codify institutional mistakes that contributed to the financial crisis. In the long term, government cannot subsidize debt as it has in recent years without creating significant problems of intergenerational equity. The paper concludes by exposing weaknesses in recent proposals to prevent future crises. I also offer an example of an institutionally-attuned solution: the strict liability claw-back for compensation received on account of government-subsidized debt.

간선시설 설치비용의 합리적 분담분 추정 : 택지개발사업시 조성되는 도로시설을 중심으로

택지개발사업비에서 간선시설 설치 비용이 차지하는 비중은 상당히 높으나, 부과의 행정적 편의상 일정규모 이상의 사업시행자가 부담하는 경향이 크다. 이로 인해 주변 기성시가지 및 소규모 택지개발사업지구에서 설치된 간선시설에 무임승차하게 되는 경우가 빈번하여 분담의 형평성 및 개발이익의 사유화 문제를 노정하고 있다. 이 연구는 대규모 택지개발사업에서 설치되는 도로시설의 무임승차를 파악하기 위한 방법론을 정립하고 실증분석하여, 합리적인 간선시설 비용분담을 위한 합리적 근거를 제시한다. 실증분석을 위한 사례지구로 부천상동택지지구를 선정하였다. 부천상동지구에 의한 교통유발을 도출하기 위해 개발시나리오를 설정하였으며, 교통네트워크 분석을 사용하여 간선시설을 이용하는 교통량, 통행시간, 통행비용을 시나리오별로 산출하였다. 그 결과, 부천상동택지지구 주요 간선시설 중 당해 지구가 부담해야 할 비율은 전체의 83% 정도로 분석되었다. 이 연구의 방법론과 결과는 향후 개발사업에서 간선시설 설치를 위한 비용의 부담주체와 부담정도를 설정하는데 기여할 수 있을 것이다. Although infrastructure cost comprises the great proportion of residential development cost, all of it tends to be borne by land developers which develop large area. This brings about free-riding by adjacent small development or built-up area, followed by the equity problem in terms of infrastructure development cost sharing and the privatization of development gain. This study aims to establish the method to analyze free-riding on the transportation infrastructure(roads) and investigate empirically how much the free-riding occurs. It sets several development scenarios to calculate the part generated by Bucheon Sangdong district, the case area of this study, of all the traffic flow on the roads. The Network analysis is used to estimate the proportion, by development scenarios, of traffic flow, travel time, and travel cost. As a result, the developer of Bucheon Sangdong district is responsible for 83% of the construction cost of selected roads. The methodology and empirical result of this study would contribute to determine who are liable for the infrastructure facilitation and to estimate how much of the cost the obligators have to share.

Antenatal care use in Brazil and India: Scale, outreach and socioeconomic inequality

This paper investigates the extent of socioeconomic inequalities in antenatal care use and related medical procedures in Brazil and India, which represent transition economies with contrasting geographical and sociocultural composition and health care provision. Concentration indices and regression analyses applied on recent Demographic Health Survey data reveal high and proportionate distribution of antenatal coverage in Brazil, whereas the Indian case present problems of both scale and equity. Inequalities in access to four or more antenatal visits are significantly pronounced in India, and in Brazil the differences are significant only for those who had six or more visits. Brazil's universal healthcare model which proved effective in promoting equitable distribution of antenatal care could be implemented in India. Future interventions should emphasis quality of care in monitoring essential antenatal services especially targeting the poor and deprived communities.

Management of physical illness in mental health services

SummaryThere is excess morbidity and mortality from physical illness in people with mental disorders. Problems of somatic care in this patient group comprise difficulties of access to care, problems of equity and adequate use of diagnostic procedures and interventions. There are deficits in routine screening and monitoring, e.g. of metabolic and cardiovascular risks. Measures to ensure adequate physical health care include practical steps to increase service uptake and screening, service-level change such as integrated care models, preventive health interventions and optimisation of psychotropic drug treatment to reduce risk profiles. Issues of stigma and discrimination are important, and the level of staff training and quality of professionals are likely to be pivotal in bringing about change.

Making the Multiversity: An Open Higher Education Model

7 Higher education creates professionals, thinkers, future teachers, researchers, economists and knowledge workers, who, besides inhabiting knowledge societies, can be instrumental in creating them. Higher education also has a direct correlation with GDP, health indicators, and development (World Bank, 2002). The current scenario of higher education is marked by various problems of access, equity, and quality. The ills that afflict higher education in the country relate to outdated and rigid curricula, large number of vacant faculty positions, poor faculty quality in terms of both commitment and competence, poor systemic enablers for student mobility, absence of research, minimal and poor extension work, low levels of skill development, low employability, flawed and rigid system of examination, poor methods of teaching and learning, presence of strong vested interests, poor management and educational services, and problems of governance in the ecosystem of higher education. As we grapple with all these problems, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) comes through as a possible silver bullet offering a lot of promise and prospects. With the possibilities of ICT-driven access to quality education, 24X7 availability of educational resources, penetration of Internet, and the now available mobile access to these resources, a fresh perspective on the approach to solving the problems afflicting higher education becomes possible.

Work–Life Balance and Parenthood: A Comparative Review of Definitions, Equity and Enrichment*

This review investigates the problems of definition and inequity with which the literature on parenthood and work–life balance is beset. It analyses research trajectories first within the established disciplines of organizational psychology and the sociologies of work and family practices, and then within the newer field of management studies. Gender, class and difference are singled out as troubling themes, especially in relation to fathers and impoverished parents. A tendency towards mono‐disciplinarity is observed within organizational psychology and sociologies of work and family practices. The review offers explanations for the historic but narrow definition within organizational psychology and sociologies of work and family practices of work–life balance as affecting mainly heterosexual dual‐career parent couples. The authors show how this narrow definition has led to inequities within research. They further identify as limiting the definition of work–life balance to be always ‘problematic’, rather than enriching, among employed parents. Consequently, a three‐factor framework is recommended, through which future studies may address the problems of definition and equity in work–life balance literature, including: a broader definition of work–life balance to include marginalized parents; the defining of parenting and employment as potentially life‐enriching; and a commendation of the transdisciplinary approach within management studies as poised to move debate forward.

Políticas educativas de apoyo a escuelas de sectores pobres y de bajo logro académico en Chile: 1990-2011

Although Chile is a country with significant problems of quality and equity in it’s education system, since the arrival of democratic system in 1990, public authorities have made a great effort in improving investment in education and develop educational programs focused in improving the quality of education and the fight against inequalities. This article describes and analyzes the educational policies developed by the Government of Chile, focused on supporting schools that welcome children from vulnerable and bad academic results. We study, first, the focused programs developed in the country between 1990 and 2007, among them are the Quality Improvement of Primary Schools in Poor Areas Program (P900), the Program for Improving the Quality of Rural Education (PRural), the Intercultural Bilingual Program, Critical Schools and the Priority Schools. In the analysis highlights the limitations given by the non-consideration of extra-academic factors as well as assimilate a pro-equity education policy with a proactive action. The study and critical analysis of current education policy, the Law School Grant Preference (SEP), focused the second part of the text. It concludes with the need of a further development policies and compensatory actions focused and framed within broader strategies that take the integral formation of individuals in relation to the context, history, community and culture, policies for democratic citizenship, systems and schools that model and promote socialization processes inclusive, supportive, tolerant and egalitarian, capable of realizing the projects of life for every child and young, but also relevant in a civic education which constitutes handle and support of just, egalitarian and participatory societies.

WHAT ELUDES INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS ON CLIMATE CHANGE? THE ECONOMICS OF GLOBAL PUBLIC GOODS

This paper provides an analysis of global warming policy as the provision of a global public good. Using a regional model composed of thirteen world regions, the paper shows how disparate incentives among the regions hinder a shift from a Business As Usual (BAU) policy to a Globally Optimal Policy (GOP). In the BAU scenario, there will be large variations in impacts from warming across the regions, meaning some countries have little incentive to participate in collective agreements. Under the GOP scenario, negative impacts from global warming will be significantly reduced in some regions resulting in strong incentives for these regions to press for action. The paper finds that an optimal regulation could save Europe, India, and Africa hundreds of billions of dollars per year by the end of this century, but would cause additional costs to China, Russia, Canada and the USA. Under the optimal regulatory framework, higher levels of abatement are required for developing countries, worsening the existing climate equity problem.

Concentración y crecimiento en Chile: una relación negativa ignorada

Different studies show that, given the size of Chile and its level of development, there is an excess of concentration of population and activity in the Metropolitan Region. Furthermore, during the past two decades, spatial inequality has increased in Chile. This situation could negatively affect national growth, something that has been systematically ignored in the design of public policies. This article shows that some market mechanisms, such as labor mobility and inter-regional trade flows, and many public policies tend to strengthen the centripetal forces that have shaped the economic geography of Chile during the past decades. These results reveal the need to incorporate explicitly and actively the regional problem in the national development strategy, not only as an equity problem, but also as part of the policies oriented to improve the efficiency of Chilean economy.

Tariffs for Urban Water Services in Spain: Household Size and Equity

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the consequences of tariffs that use sliding-scale prices to assess the aggregated consumption of households in terms of equity. Particular attention is paid to special tariffs for larger households. The study analyzes the tariffs that were in effect in Spanish provincial capitals in 2008. The results confirm that there are equity problems associated with the size of the household, particularly regarding large households. Furthermore, the results show that a large part of the special tariffs that have been adopted do not solve that equity problem.