Resource Development Work Research Articles

Partnership for poverty reduction in Gujarat, India: A case study of Sadguru foundation's water resource development work

India's 84 million indigenous people inhabit the harsh drylands that receive low rainfall. In the rankings of the Indian caste system, adivasi (meaning ‘original people’ or tribal) are the most downtrodden socially and economically. They have less access to commerce and public services. The challenges of poverty reduction in India's drylands are complex so not just one agency can tackle this issue. This article offers a case study on how a non-profit agency can contribute to poverty reduction in remote villages through water resource management in partnership with the community, government, non-government and corporate sectors in Gujarat state of India.

Building capacity in health research in the developing world.

Strong national health research systems are needed to improve health systems and attain better health. For developing countries to indigenize health research systems, it is essential to build research capacity. We review the positive features and weaknesses of various approaches to capacity building, emphasizing that complementary approaches to human resource development work best in the context of a systems and long-term perspective. As a key element of capacity building, countries must also address issues related to the enabling environment, in particular: leadership, career structure, critical mass, infrastructure, information access and interfaces between research producers and users. The success of efforts to build capacity in developing countries will ultimately depend on political will and credibility, adequate financing, and a responsive capacity-building plan that is based on a thorough situational analysis of the resources needed for health research and the inequities and gaps in health care. Greater national and international investment in capacity building in developing countries has the greatest potential for securing dynamic and agile knowledge systems that can deliver better health and equity, now and in the future.

Show Us a Story: An Overview of Recent Research and Resource Development Work at the British Film Institute

Over recent years the British Film Institute (bfi) has been involved in a range of research and development initiatives looking at the use of moving image media within the context of English and literacy teaching. Initial findings suggest that some key links exist between the process of making animated narratives and some of the conceptual and knowledge-based goals identified within the National Literacy Strategy. This paper offers an overview of recent bfi research and development projects into literacy and media in formal education and summarises key findings. It looks in some detail at the rationale underpinning a project that is taking place in Scottish schools. The paper goes on to hypothesise ways in which the Scottish initiative may offer a model for media activities within literacy teaching in English schools.

Making human resource development work: a case study on internal training within the Eastern Cape textile industry, South Africa

This paper represents a case study on an internal human resource development initiative, based around the experience of a textile firm in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It highlights some of the limits and possibilities of such training in sectors facing particularly acute crises of competitiveness operating in transitional economies.

Commentary on "Agricultural Land Evaluation for National Land-Use Planning in Nepal"

Those of us involved in natural resource development work in Nepal have been waiting for some time to see the results of the Nepal/Canadian Land Resource Mapping Project (LRMP). In Shah and Schreier's work many of our expectations are realized. The systematic rigour and the detail evident in this work are commendable. The range of land-use alternatives is certainly important to national planners. Given the forthcoming Karnali High Dam construction project in western Nepal, for example, this analysis will be particularly useful in community development and resettlement planning. The authors tell us a lot about land-use alternatives. But

Community Resource Development—An Analytic View of Work Strategies

Abstract The study has concentrated on the comparison of two basic approaches to Community Resource Development work. These two basic approaches are “Process” Strategies and Task-Oriented Strategies. Community Resource Development work styles in three Extension organizations were studied. The findings point out that different styles of work co-exist in these three Extension systems although one or another may be selectively emphasized. In Missouri the dichotomy between process and task orientations was most obvious. In Maryland and Pennsylvania varying work orientations were also found. An interesting finding of the study was the difference in perceptions of CRD of the administrators interviewed and CRD agents and in the number of activities engaged in. Administrators emphasized task and underestimated the number of activities engaged in.