Rural Councils Research Articles

Regional Institutions in Rural Council Area Development in the North West Region, Cameroon

Regional institutions remain a spring board for the development of the rural council areas in the North West Region of Cameroon. An example is the Grassfield Participatory and Decentralized Rural Development Project, GP-DERUDEP operating in the North West region of Cameroon. These institutions carry out innovations in the council area development process. Today, with specific or common development policies they make significant contributions to the council area development process. They use the council areas as the unit for development activities and international institutions, the local councils, village organizations and the council area population as their partners in development. This study brings to focus the policies and actions as well as the performance of GP-DERUDEP, a regional development institution analyzing its contributions in the development process. The methodology consisted of a study of published and unpublished scientific documents and project institutional reports on development activities in the various council areas. This was completed with field survey in project areas. The result is revealing as evidence in the council areas show a significant innovation of the development process through capacity building of beneficiaries and the construction of socio economic infrastructure. But there is need for a close monitoring of the realizations especially the physical infrastructure if sustainable quality service provision is to be assured.

Налогообложение личных подсобных хозяйств на территории Средне-Волжского края

Much of the food and funds for the building industry went through taxes. During the thirties, private farms were subject to a rather complicated system of taxes. They can be divided into several groups: natural (tax for meat supply, milk, potato and wool), money (insurance, self-taxation, cultural duty, agricultural tax), indirect (loans for the creation of machine and tractor stations (Traktorotsentr shares), the second five-year plan, etc.; taking tax for a place in the market (one-time charge). These taxes are very different in importance and therefore possible to avoid them. If the natural taxes were high priority and almost did not develop, the money (especially local) had a fairly extensive system of benefits. However, this situation was ambiguous. Everything depended on the leadership of the district and village councils, which are adjusted to the specific tax assignments smallholdings. In some places, the authorities took the initiative to establish new taxes. These include: the establishment of tax for housing constructions in rural areas, the for coachman keeping, fire buildings, for an extra staff in rural councils, the beautification of the club. In other cases - unjustifiably inflated rates of existing taxes. A particular story - the imposition of fines and penalties on arrears. In some cases, local authorities have resorted to unjustified repression (assorted home, described the property, etc.). Despite the difficult conditions, during this period smallholders played a positive role in providing rural people with food. So in 1936, compared to the drought at 1930, there were no hunger in the Middle Volga region.

Антропогенна трансформація території регіонального ландшафтного парку “Верхньодністровські Бескиди” та шляхи її зменшення

The main types of human impacts in the RLP “Verhnodnistrovski Beskidy” have been analyzed. The biggest changes here have been caused by agricultural, forestry, pastoral, residential and recreational impacts. For RLP territory in the context of rural councils, the value of human transformation and the ways of its reduction have been set. Key words: RLP “Verkhnodnistrovski Beskidy”, human impact, human-induced transformation.

Smoke‐free outdoor areas: supporting local government to introduce tobacco control policies

ObjectivesTo ascertain the proportion of councils with smoke‐free outdoor areas (SFOA) policies in New South Wales (NSW), Australia and to explore the enablers and barriers to local governments introducing such policies. MethodsA structured survey of council staff at NSW councils was conducted by telephone in 2011. Participants were asked about the existence of any SFOA policy, and enablers and barriers of the policy. ResultsThe study was completed by 148 of 152 NSW councils. Eighty five (57%) councils had an SFOA policy, with playgrounds most likely to be covered by the policy. The most frequently cited enabler for the introduction of SFOA policy was direct advocacy letters, while the most commonly mentioned barrier was a lack of resources. Conclusion and implicationsIn the absence of state or federal legislation, local government or councils may respond to community expectations for smoke‐free outdoor areas by introducing policy. Advocacy and support from non‐government health organisations can increase the likelihood of this occurring and address barriers facing councils, with rural councils most likely to benefit from such support. Interest from councils can influence the adoption of state‐wide smoke‐free outdoor areas legislation.

Planning for population ageing: Ensuring enabling and supportive physical-social environments – Local infrastructure challenges

Ensuring enabling and supportive environments is a key global priority in planning for population ageing. This paper examines the challenges local governments face in creating age-friendly physical-social environments. Findings from a recent study of local government and ageing in New South Wales, Australia and subsequent research are reported. The analysis reveals that local councils have differing abilities to provide age-friendly local infrastructure. Challenges are greater overall for regional, rural and fringe councils compared to metropolitan. Timely provision is greatly constrained by insufficient resources, the large scale of the task and the low priority accorded, despite the immediate need for action. A pressing requirement is demonstrated for local councils to give primacy to population ageing in their long-term strategic, asset and financial planning, and to engage in reform measures to assist in financing the cost.

Carbon Management by Queensland Local Councils: Citizenship for Transitioning to a Low Carbon Future

Climate change and carbon mitigation are key issues for local government. This paper evaluates carbon actions by 32 local councils in Queensland, Australia. A climate action framework and carbon management matrix were used to assess corporate citizenship by councils on emissions reduction. This study found carbon actions related to council size and capacity, coastal location and climate change strategies. Carbon mitigation actions were mainly implemented by city, then regional and lastly shire councils. Carbon leadership was mainly evident among larger councils (>30,000 population), that have climate change plans and targets. Coastal and metropolitan councils were more ‘carbon-ready’ (i.e. consolidating or mainstreaming carbon actions) than smaller inland rural councils (i.e. latent or emerging actions). Most Queensland councils were minimalistic or opportunistic in adopting eco-efficiency actions while a few progressively integrated low carbon measures in council operations. The paper identifies key issues for local government in transitioning to a low carbon future. O Climate change

Council-supported condom vending machines: are they acceptable to rural communities?

Twenty-four hour access to condoms for young people living in rural Victoria is problematic for many reasons, including the fact that condom vending machines are often located in venues and places they cannot access. We partnered with three rural councils to install condom vending machines in locations that provided improved access to condoms for local young people. Councils regularly checked the machines, refilled the condoms and retrieved the money. They also managed the maintenance of the machine and provided monthly data. In total, 1153 condoms were purchased over 12 months, with 924 (80%) obtained from male toilets and 69% (801 out of 1153) purchased in the second half of the study. Revenue of $2626.10 (AUD) was generated and no negative feedback from residents was received by any council nor was there any negative reporting by local media. Vandalism, tampering or damage occurred at all sites; however, only two significant episodes of damage required a machine to be sent away for repairs. Condom vending machines installed in rural towns in north-east Victoria are accessible to young people after business hours, are cost-effective for councils and have not generated any complaints from residents. The machines have not suffered unrepairable damage and were used more frequently as the study progressed.

Medical Evidence of Human Rights Violations against Non-Arabic-Speaking Civilians in Darfur: A Cross-Sectional Study

Ongoing conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan has resulted in a severe humanitarian crisis. We sought to characterize the nature and geographic scope of allegations of human rights violations perpetrated against civilians in Darfur and to evaluate their consistency with medical examinations documented in patients' medical records. This was a retrospective review and analysis of medical records from all 325 patients seen for treatment from September 28, 2004, through December 31, 2006, at the Nyala-based Amel Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture, the only dedicated local provider of free clinical and legal services to civilian victims of torture and other human rights violations in Darfur during this time period. Among 325 medical records identified and examined, 292 (89.8%) patients from 12 different non-Arabic-speaking tribes disclosed in the medical notes that they had been attacked by Government of Sudan (GoS) and/or Janjaweed forces. Attacks were reported in 23 different rural council areas throughout Darfur. Nearly all attacks (321 [98.8%]) were described as having occurred in the absence of active armed conflict between Janjaweed/GoS forces and rebel groups. The most common alleged abuses were beatings (161 [49.5%]), gunshot wounds (140 [43.1%]), destruction or theft of property (121 [37.2%]), involuntary detainment (97 [29.9%]), and being bound (64 [19.7%]). Approximately one-half (36 [49.3%]) of all women disclosed that they had been sexually assaulted, and one-half of sexual assaults were described as having occurred in close proximity to a camp for internally displaced persons. Among the 198 (60.9%) medical records that contained sufficient detail to enable the forensic medical reviewers to render an informed judgment, the signs and symptoms in all of the medical records were assessed to be consistent with, highly consistent with, or virtually diagnostic of the alleged abuses. Allegations of widespread and sustained torture and other human rights violations by GoS and/or Janjaweed forces against non-Arabic-speaking civilians were corroborated by medical forensic review of medical records of patients seen at a local non-governmental provider of free clinical and legal services in Darfur. Limitations of this study were that patients seen in this clinic may not have been a representative sample of persons alleging abuse by Janjaweed/GoS forces, and that most delayed presenting for care. The quality of documentation was similar to that available in other conflict/post-conflict, resource-limited settings.

Gender equity in Senegal's forest governance history: why policy and representation matter

SUMMARY This paper highlights the ways that gender analysis has been ignored in the development of forestry and land policy in Senegal. The development of local governance/ rural councils through history and their increased decision-making power that occurred with the 1996 decentralization/ regionalization did not take into account the ways that women’s representation (or lack of) on these councils would affect women’s ability to access needed resources. This gender policy analysis paper is guided by two main questions: do the main decentralization reforms, which aim for the principles of equity, accountability, ownership and local participation, promote gender equity and tenure rights in access to land and forest resources? How are the forest and land laws and policies gendered and right-based? I argue that, the lack of adequate gender analysis, consideration of local communities’ rights, and of accountability mechanisms in forest and land policy reforms is due to the low participation and representation of women in political institutions such as political parties, in legislature, and in local governments and to the fact that the forest sector is not gender sensitive. These traditionally male dominated national and local government institutions are the main causes of inequity and exclusion of marginalized groups mainly women in land and forest governance both at the policy and practical level. As long as forest and land policies remain ungendered and do not have a rights-based approach, women will always be legally and socially marginalized from decision making and benefits from forest and land resources. Before advocating for gender equity and women’s rights and tenure in practice, it is necessary and a pre-requisite to have clearly defined gendered national forest and land laws and policies, effective participation and representation of women in political institutions, and gendered accountability mechanisms to hold political leaders, government and local government officials accountable if they fail in practice to recognize women’s ownership rights to land and forest resources.

The challenges of redistributing forest-related monetary benefits to local governments: a decade of logging area fees in Cameroon

The Cameroonian regulatory framework on forest, wildlife and fisheries requires logging companies to pay an Area Fee (AF), half of which must be redistributed to rural councils (40%) and villages (10%) neighbouring the logging concessions. The AF had the main objectives to provide a consistent contribution to the State budget and to improve rural livelihoods through an equitable and effective redistribution of forest-related benefits. After a decade of implementation, and about 85 million redistributed to about 50 councils, the literature unanimously evaluates the livelihood impacts of the distribution of the AF to communities as weak. Less comprehensive assessments have been carried out on the impacts of distribution of the AF to local governments. This paper discusses the potential of the AF as a tool for local development through local councils, with particular attention to the economic, equity and governance issues. One of the most significant findings is that mayors, although elected and unanimously blamed for embezzlements and mismanagement of the AF, are often only scapegoats in a complex political system that does not allow the rural population to directly sanction the misuse of the AF via the current electoral system.

Municipal councils, international NGOs and citizen participation in public infrastructure development in rural settlements in Cameroon

The study reported in this paper is premised on a belief in citizen participation (CP) as a viable cost-saving strategy for public infrastructure provisioning in rural human settlements in particular, and in the development process in general, in Africa. The prowess of CP is widely acknowledged in the development literature. However, there is a dearth of knowledge on how to go about promoting CP especially in rural human settlements. The study contributes to efforts to reverse this situation by highlighting the activities of major institutional actors involved in CP initiatives in public infrastructure development in rural Cameroon. One international non-governmental organization (NGO), Helvetas, and four government rural councils based in the Northwest Region of Cameroon constitute the empirical referent for the study. It is revealed that the NGO served as the main source of funds, technical and organizational expertise, while the councils coordinated and oversaw the CP activities designed to manage and maintain the public infrastructure projects. It is also shown that exogenous factors (e.g., interference by national authorities) and endogenous problems (e.g., scarcity of skilled labour) conspired to thwart the efforts of the councils. Furthermore, the tendency on the part of national authorities to appropriate locally-realized projects was identified as a critical barrier to CP. The paper concludes that the willingness of citizens to contribute in-kind or financially to any given self-help infrastructure project is contingent upon the extent to which they perceive the project as veritably theirs. The Cameroonian experience holds potentially valuable lessons for CP efforts in rural infrastructure development in other developing countries.

Qualité de l'eau de consommation des ménages : analyse et plan d'action en zone rurale sénégalaise

Résumé Ce travail avait pour objectif d’évaluer l’approvisionnement et la conservation de l’eau de consommation des ménages en vue de proposer des solutions pour l’amélioration de sa qualité. L’inspection du forage a été complétée par l’analyse bactériologique de l’eau du réservoir et la réalisation d’une enquête auprès de 216 chefs de ménages et des 32 membres du Conseil Rural. Le réservoir du forage, à ciel ouvert, était envahi par des algues et des objets divers. Il n’avait pas de dispositif de traitement chimique, et les tuyaux de distribution manquaient d’étanchéité. De l’eau du réservoir, les bactéries Serratia marcescens et Streptococcus faecalis ont été isolés. Dans les ménages, l’absence de couverture du réservoir et la non chloration de l’eau du forage étaient respectivement ignorées dans 55 % et 56 % des cas. L’eau, non javellisée dans 53 % des cas, était conservée dans des récipients inappropriés dans 88 % des cas. Parmi les 32 membres du Conseil Rural, 26 ont proposé la javellisation et 18 la couverture du réservoir pour l’amélioration de la qualité de l’eau du forage. Pour résoudre le problème, un plan d’action budgétisé à 664 000 francs CFA a été coordonné par le médecin chef du district sanitaire. L’implication de la communauté a permis un tel engagement que, finalement, un château d’eau fût construit en 2005, au bénéfice de la santé des populations de Mbar.

Managing tricky decentralised competencies: case study of a participatory modelling experiment on land use in the Lake Guiers area in Northern Senegal

We describe an action-research project whose objective was to help stakeholders at different organisational levels achieve sustainable land management by developing mediation models and tools. We chose to test a specific approach called companion modelling in the framework of a multidisciplinary research partnership and a formal local partnership (a ‘users committee’) involving an array of stakeholders at different organisational levels. The study area covers 10,000 km2 of agro-pastoral land around Lake Guiers in northern Senegal. We conducted studies to update the knowledge base of the area and organised six field workshops that clearly revealed three important tool functions to support decision-making on land use at different scales, i.e. understanding maps, monitoring and evaluating land tenure, and foreseeing changes in land use. We found that a toolbox approach was the best way to implement the three functions and overcome the constraints faced by the research team and those linked to the timing of the project. Therefore, we produced five simple complementary tools aimed at various users: a farm-level optimisation model (for researchers and technical services), a database for land allocations and a discussion tool to assess the impact of land allocation decisions (for the rural council), a paper atlas (for local players) and a regional land use change simulation model (for regional and national planners). Participants were able to work with paper maps, to interpret computer-generated simulations of land use change and understand the strengths and limitations of each. Self-assessment of the research process emphasised the importance of the context and the critical role played by social capital at both the research and the field level, which, in turn, emphasised the need for major improvements in the design and implementation of a quality process for participatory modelling. It turns out that action-research may be an effective way to undertake sustainability science.

Governance Reforms and Rural Women in India: What Types of Women Citizens are Produced by the Will to Empower?

In 1993, the Government of India reserved one-third of the seats in rural councils (panchayats) for women, and along with NGOs, set up programs to empower rural women. We examine the usefulness of a Foucauldian governmentality framework in analyzing how women participants in panchayati raj institutions in Pune District, India, have been produced and the ways in which they respond. We conclude that the emphasis of a strong Foucauldian perspective on structure at the expense of agency obscures the complexity of women's responses. In contrast, a weak Foucauldian perspective is able to recognize that in some cases these incorporation processes create assertive, reformist, and resourceful citizens.

Authority over Forests: Empowerment and Subordination in Senegal's Democratic Decentralization

ABSTRACTSenegal's 1998 forestry code transfers rights to control and allocate forest access to elected rural councils, ostensibly giving the elected authorities significant material powers with respect to which they can represent the rural population. But the Forest Service is unwilling to allow rural councils to exercise these powers. To retain control, foresters use pressure, bribes and threats while taking advantage of the inability of the rural representatives to influence actors higher up in government. They justify themselves with arguments of national good and local incompetence. The foresters ally with urban‐based forest merchants and are supported by the sub‐prefect. Despite the transfer of forest rights, the foresters continue to allocate access to lucrative forest opportunities — in this case charcoal production and exchange — to the merchants. Despite holding effective property rights over forest, such as the right to exclude others, rural councils remain marginal and rural populations remain destitute. The councils cannot represent their populations and therefore cannot gain legitimacy: they have no authority. Despite progressive new laws, the Forest Service helps to maintain Senegal's healthy urban charcoal oligopsonies, while beating back fledgling local democracy.

LA «SOCIEDAD DE MOZOS» DE PRIORO Y LA EVOLUCIÓN DE SU REPERTORIO MUSICAL

Despite having always played a prominent role in folkloric and musical traditions, of all the different types of associations existing in rural communities, societies, meetings or councils of mozos (young men) have yet to be studied at length in ethnomusicological research. This article focuses on the case of Prioro (in Leon), whose municipal archives hold the Statutes of the meeting of mozos. This document This content downloaded from 157.55.39.248 on Mon, 16 Jan 2017 18:14:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 130 DAVID FERNANDEZ DURAN is particularly profuse in its regulations with respect to other societies, and examines its membership, positions, operating procedures and relationship with the community, paying special attention to the chapter on musical instruments and their use. It also discusses its possible origins, distribution, evolution and the current state of its repertoire, which has been reduced and homogenized and reflects the influence of specialists in song-books, recording libraries, performances and folk versions and their transmission in the media.

Report: access to land at the northern periphery of Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal

Based on research conducted in Senegal in 2004, this field report focuses on the politics of access to land at the northern periphery of the Niokolo-Koba National Park, where a group of villages evicted from the national park were resettled in the 1970s. Conflicts over the allocation of land resurfaced in the 1980s, following the application of laws authorizing rural community councils to allocate use rights in village agricultural lands. The land claims of evicted villages were challenged by the rural council and local state authorities, who sought to define such claims as illegal or ambiguous based on exclusionary discourses of productive use of land, autochthony and citizenship. The politics of access to land at the northern periphery are shaped by land and administrative reforms undertaken since the end of colonial rule in Senegal and the on-going local transformation of authority and property relations under increasing commoditization and insecurity of land use rights.

Testing the feasibility of performance indicators for play facilities in England

Play England, the leading national voluntary organization for play in England, commissioned research into the feasibility of four performance indicators being utilized as national indicators for play provision in local authority areas. The four indicators represent participation in outdoor play, satisfaction with local play spaces, quality of local play spaces, and accessibility to local play spaces. Six pilot authorities agreed to participate in the feasibility study, including five from metropolitan (mainly urban) councils and one from a district (more rural) council. The methods employed to generate the performance data comprised household surveys, surveys of children and young people via schools, professional assessment of play space quality using a standard assessment tool, audits and mapping of local play spaces, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The results suggest that three of the indicators are suitable for national comparisons, but the quality indicator is only suitable for local management purposes. The participation indicator should be constructed using a household survey and the satisfaction indicator from an online survey of children and young people via schools. The audit and mapping data assembled for the access indicator proved more useful for local performance management than the access indicator itself. Considerable challenges are evident in some authorities, particularly achieving the necessary cooperation of (and IT capacity in) schools to conduct the survey of children and young people, and generating the necessary GIS resource to map the access data.

Iranian health houses open the door to primary care

They have been described as an incredible masterpiece. Iranian health houses, conceived and introduced during the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, have been at the centre of a so-called master plan to bring health care to every district. Devised in 1981, the plan was informed by a health-care development programme from the Western Azerbaijan province that had focused strongly on what we now recognize to be primary health care. It emphasized community participation and intersectoral cooperation to serve the needs of the thinly distributed and rapidly swelling population. Locally sourced health workers or behvarzan from the Farsi words beh (good) and varz (skill) were originally trained to meet the basic health-care needs of people living in rural areas. female behvarz was responsible for, among other things, child and maternal health; a male behvarz for sanitation and environmental projects. Both worked out-of the health house, a rural medical post and the most basic unit of service delivery in the country's healthcare plan. health houses refer patients to rural health centres, which cover about 6000 to 10 000 people, and have up to two physicians and several health technicians. These centres are responsible for elective and emergency case management, supporting the health houses, and supervising both the health technicians and the behvarzan or community health workers. Dr Sirous Pileroudi, a retired former senior official with the Ministry of Health and one of the founders of the Iranian health-care system, describes the health houses as an incredible masterpiece. At the beginning, we could never imagine such a breakthrough, he says. We were at war and the country was in a miserable condition. There was strong opposition at the time of its inception from health experts who thought the infrastructure too ambitious and the scheme a regression in health care owing to the limited education of the behvarzan. Despite this opposition and the debilitating eight-year war with its neighbouring country, Iraq, the master plan to bring health to every district has been largely successful. According to Dr Mohammad Esmael Motlaq, the director of the Centre for Healthcare Promotion affiliated with the Ministry of Health, more than 90% of the Islamic Republic of Iran's 23 million rural population enjoys healthcare services through the health houses staffed by these community health workers. People enjoy primary health care services free of charge, Motlaq says. The health workers are well familiar with the culture and traditions and that is a big advantage. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] There are now about 17 000 health houses in the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to the most recent Ministry of Health statistics. Almost 30 000 community health workers are working in these health houses, more than 16 000 of them women. On average, each health house serves 1500 people in its village and surrounding settlements. Community health workers are often from the village they serve, their appointment confirmed by the local rural council. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed. In a speech made in September 2007 at a ceremony to pay tribute to their work, the health minister, Dr Kamran Baqeri Lankarani, said that these community workers had made a significant contribution to the sharp decline in mortality rates in the past three decades, helping to reduce deaths among infants and pregnant women, and curbing contagious diseases. Motlaq concurs, saying the behvarzan are the axis of the village. A community health worker is from the people and has their approval. These workers regularly supervise people's health. Indeed, community health workers often have an impressive knowledge of their patients' case histories. Log books on each household are kept at the health house. These contain the name, gender and age of all family members, sanitation conditions of the household, history of pregnancies, details of care for those aged under-five and dental-care records. …

The Induction of Newly Appointed Social Workers: Some Implications for Social Work Educators

This article draws on the findings of a small study of newly appointed social workers in family and child care work. These practitioners had completed a period of induction with a mainly rural council in the north of England and the purpose of the research was to describe this process from their perspective. The focus on child care was selected given the recruitment and retention challenges in this field. The findings point to the importance of the quality of the new workers' relationships with agency colleagues and supervisors, and are placed in the context of research, policy and guidance on induction. Practitioners' perceptions of qualifying training programmes are described and implications are drawn for social work educators. Links are made with the role of the university tutor and the potential for facilitating critical and reflective professional self‐management initiatives in helping prepare final year social work students for work.