Socio-economic Development Programs Research Articles

The elusive ‘promised land’: South Africa’s rural community struggles after thirty years of democracy

This study highlights the struggles of Black South Africans in rural communities, which define inequalities and socio-economic conditions thirty years after the first democratic elections in 1994, regardless of the ANC's promise of “a better life for all.” The purpose of discussing these challenges was to explore selected areas relevant to these issues as a delimitation. A closer look at the socio-economic history of a people reveals factors and circumstances that either promote, sustain, or challenge the livelihoods of a society or community, as in South Africa, race and geographical location define social status and quality of life. Such circumstances have particularly affected Black South African rural communities, who continue to experience abject poverty and destitution. This points to a departure from the Batho Pele Principles, which aimed to focus on socio-economic development programmes. The data used was ‘desktop’ from secondary sources, reports, and policy papers deemed relevant to the study and related to the experiences and struggles of rural communities against inadequate education, sustainable livelihoods, water and sanitation, and health, among others. The study concluded that, despite the gains of democracy, more needs to be done. An Afrocentric perspective was preferred because it is suitable for conceptualising, operationalising, and understanding social human problems such as rural community struggles outside the confines of Eurocentric knowledge ‘paternalism’. An Afrocentric method was used to present the findings of the study, based on the identified subtopics.

Directions of emerging structural changes in the use of biometric data in Russia

Objective: to identify the emerging structural changes in the use of biometrics in Russia, namely the multiple growth of market participants and brands, the multiple growth of the number of biometrics samples in a single biometric system, and the multiple growth of market volume and institutional design of biometrics use in Russia. Methods: general scientific, abstract-logical, dialectical, phenomenological methods, observation, description. Results: the article describes approaches to the use of biometric data in some regions of the world, identifies the risks and potential benefits of wider use of biometric data, summarizes the main trends in the use of biometric personal data in Russia, presents a comprehensive author’s approach to the analysis of structural changes in the economy, taking as an example thedevelopment of solutions using biometric personal data for the identification of individuals. Scientific novelty: the author proposes to consider the formation of structural shift by identifying its four components and qualitatively assessing their level of formation (low, medium, and high); shows the formation of macro-shifts from micro-level initiatives and sequential passage of the stages of specific structural changes, complex micro-shifts, institutionalization andconsolidation of new practices. In addition, the process of implementation of structural shifts from the macro- to the micro-level is traced, which consists in the changes more widely covering economic agents compared to the stage of a structural shift formation. All this constitutes a comprehensive author’s approach to the regularities of the structural shifts developmentin the economy. Practical significance: clarification of interrelations between the processes of structural change will improve the programs of socio-economic development of regions, industrial policy for medium- and high-tech industries through the use of modern technological methods of identification and authentication of customers and employees with biometrics. It may also create a basis for deepening the existing knowledge in the development of biometric technologies in Russia and expanding the practice of their application.

Sustainability and Transformation: Assessing the Success of Socioeconomic Development Programs for the Orang Asli in Enhancing Livelihood and Communities

Sustainability and Transformation: Assessing the Success of Socioeconomic Development Programs for the Orang Asli in Enhancing Livelihood and Communities

Правовое регулирование системы государственных закупок как инструмента воздействия на внутреннюю экономику

The article analyzes the legal regulation of the public procurement system and its impact on the domestic economic activity of the country. The article shows the positive impact of effective legal regulation of the public procurement system, justified by the International Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as a real and effective tool for implementing scientific, technical, innovative, and socio-economic development programs of states, ensuring budget savings on a competitive basis for public procurement, as well as minimizing the shortage of certain goods and works (services) and the maintenance of a domestic manufacturer.

ПРОГНОЗУВАННЯ ПОКАЗНИКІВ РОЗВИТКУ ПІДПРИЄМСТВ МАЛОГО І СЕРЕДНЬОГО БІЗНЕСУ

The article considers issues related to analyzing the activities of small and medium-sized businesses under martial law. It is established that under such conditions, small and medium-sized enterprises occupy a special place in ensuring the functioning of the domestic economy, acting as one of the primary forms of management and contributing to the processes of demonopolization and privatization. Such enterprises contribute to developing innovative activity, ensuring the market's saturation with goods and services, creating jobs, and forming competition in the market. They are one of the primary sources of income generation for the country. Predictive analytics for small and medium-sized enterprises, in particular, identifying trends in the number of such enterprises and the number of people employed in them, is essential in the strategic planning of their activities. It is established that trend extrapolation models are an effective tool for solving such problems. The article analyzes approaches to modeling the activities of small and medium-sized businesses. It showed various forecasting tools, particularly regression models, production functions, trend extrapolation models, etc. For practical application, the study used trend models that estimate the forecast values of indicators under the complex influence of all factors. The article contains an assessment of the development trends of small and medium-sized businesses, as well as the calculation of forecast values for 2024 for the indicators of the number of enterprises and the number of employees at enterprises, according to which their values are expected to increase. The results obtained during the study and the conclusions formed can be used by state administration bodies, particularly the Khmelnytskyi region, as an analytical basis when reviewing the program of socio-economic development.

EMPOWERING B40 WOMEN IN MALAYSIA: A SOCIOECONOMIC IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF THE ECER-SURI@HOME PROGRAM

Women can be categorised as one of the marginalised and disadvantaged groups in Malaysia. With the COVID-19 pandemic that has hit Malaysia over the past three years, the vulnerability of Malaysian women in aspects of mental health and limited or inflexible occupations has increased. ECER-Suri@Home is a socioeconomic development program designed for women in ECER, especially housewives and single mothers with mobility constraints, to engage in home-based businesses, such as tenun and songket weaving, as a means to help them earn regular additional income. This study aims to assess the socioeconomic impact of the ECER-Suri@Home program on the participants and explore how the monitoring practice used can influence the sustainability of the program in empowering the wellbeing of B40 women in Terengganu. This study employed quantitative and qualitative approaches in data collection by distributing questionnaires to the program’s participants and in-depth interviews with several key informants from ECERDC and Yayasan Pembangunan Keluarga Terengganu. The outcome of this study revealed that this program has had a high impact on the economic status of the participants. The monthly monitoring visit has increased the productivity and quality of the tenun songket produced by the participants; however, this program would not be sustainable for the next cohort due to the difficulty in finding suitable participants.

Theoretical principles of sustainable development of territorial communities: public administrative aspect

The article establishes contradictions between the normatively fixed order of program management of the territory and the realization of the possibility of territorial communities to independently manage the administrative-territorial unit, implementing the provisions of the concept of sustainable development. Differences in the goals, tasks, indicators of the development of territorial communities during the implementation of socio-economic development programs and the implementation of the provisions of the state regulatory acts regarding sustainable development have been proven. It is noted that indicators of socio-economic development are not related to real management processes of the authority, although a significant part of them concerns the components of sustainable development: economic, social, environmental. The article proves that the introduction of reporting of executive bodies of local self-government to deputies and the population based on indicators of sustainable development can be carried out only with a paradigm shift from programmatic socio-economic management to a real assessment of the activities of local authorities. It was concluded that communities cannot carry out this change independently, it must be carried out systematically, centrally with methodical support from the state, as the introduction of new democratic forms of governance, unlike the traditions of the Soviet era. The analysis showed that in order to introduce indicators of sustainable development into the reporting of local self-government bodies on their activities, it is necessary to make changes to normative legal acts of different levels and of different legal weight. It is noted that the implementation of a complex combination of strategic planning taking into account the needs of the community, the peculiarities of the state of administrative-territorial units with the goals and indicators of sustainable development are the primary tasks of changing the development paradigm of our state and its territorial communities in the post-war period. The article emphasizes that the issue of territorial community management based on the concept of sustainable development will become a primary need after the end of the war, since for settlements affected by military actions, the issue of combining economic revival, social protection of the population, and environmental restoration in order to preserve resources for future generations will be the content of their existence.

Перспективы развития жилищного фонда в крупных городских агломерациях (на примере г. Волгограда)

In the current conditions of uncertainty and disproportionality in the development of the housing sector associated with various differences among large urban agglomerations, the condition of the available housing stock plays a very special role. This role determines the socio-economic conditions for the development of municipalities and the quality of life of the population. The existing number of barriers of an economic and administrative nature predetermines the need to analyze the prospects for the development of the housing stock as a driver of increased investment attractiveness, improvement of the city, and the creation of the necessary favorable conditions for the demographic development of Volgograd. Based on the results of the article, the current state of the housing stock of the city of Volgograd and the trends in its development are revealed, taking into account the implementation of state and municipal programs of socio-economic development, which allows us to assign a separate priority to the development of the housing stock of the city of Volgograd. The authors concluded that, despite the increase in the average level of wear and tear and the increase in the number of housing units recognized as dilapidated dwellings, the ongoing housing and construction policy compensates for most of the housing problems. However, the issue of choosing the most economically feasible approaches in relation to housing stock, which requires financing for its further operation or liquidation, still remains. The politics of the development of the housing stock of Volgograd should occur comprehensively along the following trajectories: capital improvements and reconstruction of the housing stock; housing construction using municipal and state contracts; carrying out renovation programs; and others.

Climate Change Adaptation Strategies among Coastal Community

Using seven themes of adaptability strategies drawn from existing literature, this study examines the strategies for adaptation among the Bajau community in Lok Nunuk to cope with the impacts of climate change in the area. Questionnaires were distributed to 60 household heads, and descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The four obvious adaptation strategies identified in this study are social-related activities, physical infrastructure, technology-assisted, and government and organization support. There needs to be more than adaptation strategies to improve income among the people; they must be integrated into broader socioeconomic development programs and environment management levels.

Interbudgetary transfers role in regulating the budgetary provision of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation

The article studies the issues of assessing the state of fiscal capacity of the economies of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Inter-budgetary transfers are important for ensuring the financial stability of economies and creating conditions for the implementation of socio-economic development programs of subjects. Because of this, it becomes relevant to administer the distribution and definition of criteria for the distribution of inter-budgetary transfers. The revenues volume indicators of the entities and federal districts with and without interbudgetary transfers, as well as their values per capita have been studied. The comparative analysis of the budget revenues and interbudgetary transfers dynamics has been carried out. The structure of interbudgetary transfers distribution among the regions has been assessed. Statistical characteristics of the interbudgetary transfers share in the revenues of the budgets of the entities showing their heterogeneity has been obtained. The fiscal capacity per capita indicators in the regions and their dynamics have been analyzed. The influence of inter-budgetary transfers on increasing the level of budgetary security of the population in the subjects of the Russian Federation is shown. The correlation per capita of interbudget transfers and gross regional product has been carried out, indicating their variability in time and space, as well as the presence of significant differentiation of their values in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

ЗАСАДИ РОЗВИТКУ МІСЦЕВИХ БЮДЖЕТІВ В УМОВАХ РЕФОРМУВАННЯ МІСЦЕВОГО САМОВРЯДУВАННЯ

The article is devoted to an overview of some of the main organizational and economic foundations of the development of local budgets in the conditions of local self-government reform. It was determined that local self-government is a manifestation of the democratic management of social development, which is based on the idea of citizen participation in solving community problems. The main functions of local self-government are the involvement of citizens in issues of local development, management of communal property, socio-economic and cultural development, provision of social services to the population. The powers of local self-government bodies include the preparation of community socio-economic development programs, the involvement of enterprises and ensuring the efficient use of resources. The implementation of the organizational and economic mechanism benefits all participants in the process, because the accumulation of taxes in the local budget contributes to the growth of the quality of life of the population, creates additional conditions for the development of enterprises, the creation of new jobs, and affects the formation of the investment climate. In the conditions of martial law, changes were made to a number of regulatory and legal documents regulating budgetary issues to ensure the smooth functioning of budgets at various levels during the war. The changes concerned the provision of prompt, continuous and timely implementation of local budgets, which provide for the needs of both residents and business entities of the OTG. To ensure the restoration of the work of enterprises and organizations in the liberated territories, local self-government bodies redistribute state aid. At the same time, the biggest changes in legislation related to the cancellation of mandatory taxes and deductions to the budgets of the OTG. Further scientific research in this direction concerns the improvement of the methodology for analyzing the development of local budgets in the context of local self-government reform. A number of regulatory and legal documents regulating budgetary issues under martial law were reviewed.

The Concept of Environmental Justice in the Nigeria Legal System

Environmental justice is a progressively advancing subject, social movement and practice, which requires fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all humans, regardless of sex, age, class, income, race, colour or nationality. Environmental Justice is geared towards the development, management, implementation and enforcement of plans, policies, laws and regulatory practices, towards the protection and management of the environment in the course of socio-economic development programmes, including projects. It also requires equitable distribution of benefits and thus indiscriminate exposure of all to environmental good and harm. It is an advancing social movement that advocates a healthy and eco-balanced environment, towards human’s wellbeing, sustainable communities and all-embracing sustainable development in the overall interest of society within the Planet (Mother Earth). The aim of the study is to examine the effectiveness of environmental Justice in Nigeria, with the view to ascertain if justice is actually done to victims of environmental degradation in Nigeria. The study found that there is need for courts to give wider interpretation to existing relevant fundamental rights to secure a healthy environment. Flowing from the above finding, the study recommends that Section 20 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should be amended to recognize the environment as legal personality with the citizens as its trustees. The study has shown that there should be an interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers, policymakers, activist and civil society organization, who will work on environmental justice issues in Nigeria in fostering dialogue, sharing best practices and mobilizing collective actions, thereby enabling victims of environmental hazards get justice they deserve.

Population Changes Under the Impact of Industrialization in Vietnam: A Case Study of Binh Duong Province

Population change is a key component of Vietnam's economic development paradigm. However, in each locality, population shifts can be stimulating while also posing hurdles to socioeconomic development programs. This article assesses population changes in Binh Duong province and suggests plans for development and population control. The findings suggest that Binh Duong has a diversified population and is constantly receiving new population classes. Binh Duong's population increased the most rapidly between 1997 and 2023, following a centuries-long steady pace. This is also a time of dramatic demographic change, with the population becoming more multi-ethnic, multi-regional, multinational, and multicultural. Binh Duong's socioeconomic development successes reflect the contributions of all segments of the community, with immigrants playing a significant role. Binh Duong province must develop and implement policies for sustainable population management and development, including the establishment of a population database system linked to economic and social development strategies, the incorporation of population policies into economic, social, and cultural development programs and plans, and the linking of population development and management policies to sustainable population policies.

Social investments: Performance assessment tools

Subject. This article analyzes the impact of social factors on the sustainable development of the region. Objectives. The article aims to analyze the relationship between social factors and economic indicators. Methods. For the study, we used the resource-based approach. Results. The article presents a regression economic and mathematical model based on the net present value as an efficiency criterion. The model helps determine the payback period of budget investments. Conclusions. The developed methodology can be used to design regional socio-economic development programmes, as well as to assess the feasibility of investment support for certain sectors of the economy.

Autonomy Acquisition and Performance within Higher Education in Vietnam—A Road to a Sustainable Future?

The Vietnamese Government prioritizes education as a developmental investment within its socioeconomic development programs. Subsequently, Vietnam’s higher education system (HE) is experiencing substantial transformation, emphasizing autonomy, because institutions endowed with self-governance capabilities may allocate societal resources more efficiently for developmental purposes. In this paper, we measured Vietnamese universities’ total factor productivity change (TFPCH) in the autonomy context, using it as a proxy for the sustainable performance of HE institutions. We decomposed TFPCH into Technical Efficiency Change (EFFCH) and Technology Change (TECHCH) and regressed these indices with independent variables to derive their determining factors. Notably, we employed the derived intercept as a proxy for the autonomy context of Vietnam. The DEA found significant advancements in productivity and technology, indicating a positive paradigm shift within Vietnam’s higher education system. The intercepts obtained from these regressions are positive and significant, implying that the autonomous environment supports the sustainable advancement of Vietnam’s higher education system in both components of TFPCH: the catch-up ability (EFFCH) and technological improvement (TECHCH). In addition, we found that investment in vital resources (number of laboratories, research funding, or quality accreditation) improves productivity (TFPCH) via technological improvement. We also observed that private universities experienced higher performance progress than public ones. However, we did not find any significant relationships between the university scale or the location of the main campus and their performance. To further the growth of Vietnam’s higher education system, we propose that the autonomy of institutions continues to be granted.

Readiness Level of Bureaucratic Apparatus and its Impact on Online-Based Community Socio-Economic Development Program Services; Evidence from Tebing Tinggi City, Indonesia

Background: The online-based social-economic development program has emerged as a prevalent bureaucratic service model in Indonesia, particularly at the municipal government level. The model has not been consistent across all service units despite the implementation in several agencies providing bureaucratic service. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the factors affecting the readiness of the community and apparatus in the implementation of the online-based government bureaucracy service model. Method: The research with focus of research on the online-based government bureaucratic service system. This research uses descriptive and explanatory methods with a quantitative approach. Descriptive research is a study to describe in detail a particular phenomenon. Results: The results show that understanding, technology mastery, mental and moral guidance, formal and informal education, as well as material and non-material incentives have a positive and significant impact on the readiness of the community and apparatus in providing online-based bureaucracy service. Furthermore, online-based social-economic development program services can accelerate the role of the community and apparatus in developing urban areas. Conclusion: Tebing Tinggi City government and other similar city governments should focus and increase their attention to efforts to increase mastery of technology and moral development in the bureaucratic service apparatus, as well as build a performance-based equitable material incentive system. Improving the three aspects of apparatus readiness will encourage the realization of better community socio-economic development program services.

THE WINDS OF CHANGE: HOW GOVERNMENT-LED PROGRAMS ARE TRANSFORMING THE ORANG ASLI COMMUNITY

The Orang Asli community, Orang Asli Malaysia, has long faced socioeconomic challenges due to being marginalized and isolated frommainstream society. However, the government’s efforts to implement socioeconomic development programs have brought significantpositive changes to their communities. This paper examines the impact of the government-led program on the Orang Asli community,particularly in settlement, economy, and social. This study focuses on the Organized Settlement Program, Economic Development Program and Social Development Program. This study uses data from government reports, academic publications, and interviewswith members of the Orang Asli community. Findings show that government-led programs have increased access to education, bettereconomic opportunities, and better health care services for Aboriginal people. The study also highlighted the challenges that remain in trying to fully address the socioeconomic gap the Orang Asli community faces. Overall, this paper provides insight into the transformative power of government-led programs in addressing the socioeconomic challenges faced by marginalized communities and the importance of continued efforts to promote equitable and sustainable development.

ANALYSIS OF THE STATE OF THE FOOD INDUSTRY

The article presents an analysis of the food industry market according to the Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Statistics, the main share of meat and meat product producers as of 01.02.2023. Meat products are now regarded as high-risk products that carry both biological and chemical dangers. The International Epizootic Bureau (OIE) and Codex Alimentarius papers include guidelines for thuse of a risk-based approach to animal products. The OIE documents, on the other hand, primarily concern the veterinary welfare of farm animals, but in the Codex Alimentarius they relate to the completed product and are seen as relevant to human health. The technology aspect is not particularly addressed in these texts, but it is crucial in managing both individual hazards and their aggregate, allowing to produce products with guaranteed shelf-life safety as well as safety for human health and epizootic well-being. The success of the nation's socioeconomic development program will be greatly influenced by the quality, variety, and availability of food, which should be prioritized as a national effort.

ИНДИВИДУАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОГРАММЫ СОЦИАЛЬНО-ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОГО РАЗВИТИЯ ПРОБЛЕМНЫХ РЕГИОНОВ КАК ИНСТРУМЕНТ ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЯ ЭНДОГЕННЫХ И ЭКЗОГЕННЫХ РЕСУРСОВ В ПРОСТРАНСТВЕННОМ РАЗВИТИИ ДЕПРЕССИВНЫХ РЕГИОНОВ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ

In the context of global challenges of macropolitical and macroeconomic nature, the Russian Federation needs to create and improve more flexible and operational mechanisms for the development of horizontal and vertical meso-economic relations. One of these tools is the "Individual Programs of Socio-Economic Development of Problem Regions" (hereinafter referred to as the IPD), which is designed to reduce socio-economic imbalances, crisis sectors of the de-pressed regions of Russia, to create conditions for extensive growth of the regional economy, which, in turn, over time will have a number of features and competitive advantages obtained as a result of intensive growth. The goal was achieved by solving the following tasks: 1) defining the concept of a depressed region, 2) defining the concepts of endogenous and exogenous resources, 3) definition of the concept of IPDs, 4) study of IPD as a tool for managing endogenous and exogenous resources of a depressed region. Conclusion: as a result of the analysis, the potential risk areas for the implementation of IPD are identified, and the possibility of creating a qualita-tively new direction for the implementation of the essence of IPD as a flexible tool for institutional and economic interaction between the federal center and a depressed region is investigated, tak-ing into account 2 areas: resource provision and established traditions (as capital).

ЕКОЛОГО-ГЕОГРАФІЧНІ АСПЕКТИ ЗМІНИ ГІДРОХІМІЧНОГО СКЛАДУ ВОДИ РІЧКИ УСТЯ В МІСТІ РІВНЕ

Aim. The purpose of this study is the ecological-geographical analysis of the change in the hydrochemical composition of the river Ustya after it flows through the city of Rivne and the extent of anthropogenic transformation of the landscape mosaic of the coastal areas as a result of economic activity uncontrolled by various institutions and organizations by the population and enterprises of the city. The article was a continuation of a series of publications made together with students of the National Academy of Sciences, and is devoted to the study of the quality and composition of surface waters of the Rivne region as a result of the transformation of the components of the natural environment. Method. In the scientific work, the results of local research were analyzed in the performance of the assigned tasks, where general scientific and special methods were used: landscape ecology (geosystem), structural-functional and methods of standard processing of hydrological and hydrochemical information, hydrological calculations. In order to analyze the factors of transformation and formation of the quality of drinking water, the methods of statistical analysis, analogy, interpolation, zoning were used. The results. According to the results of the hydrochemical analysis based on the educational laboratory of the SSU "Rivne technical vocational college NUWM", the content of pollutants exceeds the normative values. For example, the iron content below the city of Rivne is 9.3 times higher than its content above the city. Sulfates in river water at a norm of 150 mg/l, above the city of Rivne - 260 mg/l, and below - 328 mg/l. It is also noted that river water is contaminated with ammonium nitrogen by a factor of 2. Water acidity exceeds the norm in the sample of Myrotyn village. In both samples, there is an excess of hardness and alkalinity indicators, which negatively affects the development of the ichthyofauna of the Ustya River. From the comparative analysis of river water, it is obvious that the content of polluting components is exceeded due to the crazy technogenic influence of the urban agglomeration. The scientific novelty consists of an ecological and geographical analysis of the influence of anthropogenic activities on the transformation of landscapes in the coastal zone of the Ustya River within the city of Rivne, the qualitative and quantitative composition and condition of representatives of flora and fauna, as well as the aquatic environment. The analysis was carried out as part of a research project to establish the ecological state of the Ustya River. Practical significance. The results of the research can be used in the educational process of SSU "Rivne technical professional college of NUWM", Volyn National University named after Lesya Ukrainka, National University of Water and Environmental Management, SSU "Kostopil construction and technological professional college of NUWM" and other educational institutions in teaching geographic, environmental, chemical, economic and local history disciplines. The results will find their application in the legislative and executive work of local self-government bodies when developing programs for socio-economic development of the territorial community of the city of Rivne. Research materials will contribute to the rational use of natural and anthropogenically transformed resources of the Rivne Region. A number of provisions can be used in similar studies of other regions of Ukraine.