Sustainable Empowerment Research Articles

Microfinance And Empowerment: A Case Study On Beneficiaries Of A Community Development Program

In the current era, for developing countries, empowerment as a mechanism for poverty alleviation, is becoming a challenge. Poverty alleviation requires a shift from a traditional “top-down” approach to a “bottom-up” approach. This can be done by building capacity within the communities. Considering the importance of the bottom-up approach a microfinance institution started its activities in a small village under the scheme of a community development program for getting sustainable empowerment. In order to explore the change that has occurred because of microfinance, provided under the scheme of a community development program, a qualitative study has been conducted. For data collection, two focus groups were conducted over the community development program. The findings revealed that beneficiaries experienced four different phases of empowerment; sensitization, intervention, initiating empowerment, and sustainable empowerment.

المسئولیة الاجتماعیة لشرکات القطاع الخاص فی مصر

المخلص: وبما أن المسئولية الاجتماعية أحد المفاهيم المرتبطة بالتنمية المستدامة إضافة إلى مفاهيم التمکين المستدام والإنصاف، واعتبارها وليدة متطلبات التنمية المستدامة ، فإن هذا يلزم القطاع الخاص بالمشارکة في التنمية المستدامة لبناء مستقبل أفضل للأجيال القادمة من خلال الابتکار والإبداع في شتي المناحي بما يؤکد على ضرورة دراسة دور المسئولية الاجتماعية لشرکات القطاع الخاص في تحقيق أهداف التنمية المستدامة الـ 17 هدفا وربطها برؤية أو استراتيجية مصر 2030 م. Abstract Social Responsibility of the Private Sector Companies in Egypt: Social responsibility is one of the concepts connected to : sustainable development, sustainable empowerment and fairness. Thus, the private sector is bound to contribute to sustainable development to insure a better future for the next generations, through production and creativity in all fields. This accentuates the necessity of studying private sector companies’ social responsibility to achieve the seventeen goals of sustainable development and relate them to Egypt’s strategy by 2030.

21st Century experiences in the development of school-based management policy and practices in Indonesia

Since 2001, Indonesian schools have implemented a mandatory school-based management (SBM) policy for better quality education in general and more particularly for better school improvement and student achievements. The major purpose of this paper is to explore the conditions of school improvements resulted from SBM policy and programs. In view of the fact that there have limited previous studies to make a valid claim on SBM results for better school environment and student achievements, an empirical survey was conducted in both primary and junior high schools of Denpasar district municipality in Bali, Indonesia. In addition to the survey, qualitative research with focus group discussions and in-depth personal interviews were conducted with the active participation of 43 key school stakeholders, including principals, council members, teachers who experienced in operating school councils, and education department authorities. Results of both quantitative and qualitative data analyses affirm that devolving authority to school level decision-makers has resulted in increased participation and commitment, which led to improved teaching–learning environment. This study suggests the significance of sustainable empowerment on the part of school councils as well as leadership in-service training to school principals for an effective implementation of SBM policy and practices in developing countries.

Sustainable Empowerment as a Tool to Activate Brownfield

The redevelopment of brownfields participate to sustainable urban development, it can make cities more valuable worth for community and more attractive for companies to settle down their projects through investment, and it can help to reduce expenditures for the construction of infrastructures and other services. Recent studies in brownfield redevelopment and investment have shown great interest in urban planning studies because of their negative effects on cities, they promoted sprawl, pollution, social and economic problems. There is a general agreement among researchers and experts that brownfield sites can be reused as green spaces, commerce centers, and residential projects. To promote sustainable urban development the role of the community must be strengthened and enabled to participate in the development process. The partnership between stakeholders such as community development organizations and investors are critical to promoting both communications and build confidence, which are important elements to a sustainable redevelopment program. The paper Highlights the role of community participation including society, public-private sector and local organization in activating brownfield projects through analysis several projects, from this analysis we point out that most of the brownfield project need huge corporation between community and public and private sector in addition to various disciplines such as urban planning, policy management and economic and environment aspect

Social Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Livelihood Empowerment: Study of an Estonian NGO’s Operations in Ghana

Social Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Livelihood Empowerment: Study of an Estonian NGO’s Operations in Ghana

Community-Based Urban Farming in Yogyakarta: Building Social Capital and Resilience for Sustainable Empowerment Family

This study attracted researchers to examine empowerment efforts based on Adult Farmer Groups by involving family members and using social capital owned by members of the Gemah Ripah Adult Farmer Group (AFG) in Bausasran Village Yogyakarta City. The study used a qualitative research method with purposive sampling as a sampling technique for determining informants. Data collection was carried out through observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation to be analyzed. Resulting that empowerment in AFG is sought and has brought various benefits for empowerment and family socio-economic resilience. Social capital is used in this empowerment effort, emphasizing family functions, namely the socialization function and the economic function. In the existing efforts and empowerment, there is potential for its sustainability, namely various forms of social capital that are still maintained and refreshed in the dynamics of AFG. There is support from residents, government, universities, the private sector, and the media. Meanwhile, the obstacles faced are that there are still some residents or family members who do not yet have awareness or concern about the essence of urban agriculture, including the young people who are more challenging to empower than the elderly, then the busyness constraint which is a classic obstacle for urban society.

Sustainable Community Development for Developing of Coastal Areas in Alor Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia

Community empowerment activities are carried out in Alor Regency - East Nusa Tenggara through the application of fish-based food processing technology in 2018 & 2019, aimed at improving the community’s economy in the coastal area of Alor Island and building the concept of sustainable empowerment. The intervention stage is approached by the Community Capacity Building method. Community empowerment carried out through the transfer of knowledge and technology with continuous assistance has implications for improving coastal communities’ skills and the use of technology to increase added value to get better income. In order for community empowerment to be sustainable, LIPI and the local government of Alor Regency have developed a community empowerment concept that local governments can implement to develop their areas and communities in a better and more competitive direction. By collaborating between R & D institutions, local governments, and business actors (triple helix) and the market, it is hoped that the economy of the people in the coastal area of Alor Island will run well and can be a lever in the development of areas based on the use of technology in the community.

The Optimalization of Zakat in Achieving Maqashid Sharia

Zakat is one of the instruments for well-being distribution. Zakat is also one of the most significant institution of Islam, in early Islamic zakat proved to be an extremely effective tool for poverty alleviation and inclusive finance. Total potential of zakat in the OIC member countries ranges from 1.8 percent to 4.34 percent of their GDP. Zakat has the potential to be developed economically. In contrary, development and performance of zakat institutions was relatively poor and this is illustrated by the collection of zakat in Muslim countries on average very low, less than 1% of GDP.
 Maqashid Syariah is considered intellectual methodologies for Islamic studies and Non-Law studies. This has been used by the Muslim scholars to propose Islamic reform and revival in many aspects of live and to address problems of the Ummah in a way that is in line with Islamic tradition and aspirations. The institutions could make the Maqashid Sharia as an essential benchmark to design zakat distribution programs in both countries.
 Zakat Institution objective should be the leading institution in economic empowerment of society by enacted Maqashid Sharia as the basis of designing the sustainable empowerment indicators. This paper aims to analyze and evaluate institutional program of collecting zakat in reaching Maqashid sharia and to identify the issues and the strategies of Zakat institutions. This study presents a comparison of zakat distribution programs between two countries, Indonesia and Malaysia, represented by Bazis DKI Jakarta and LZS in achieving five Maqashid Sharia aspects. This paper contributes to sustain the social life development in terms of the proper Zakat distribution by considering Maqashid Sharia. The originality of this paper is to provide provide insight for strategy on how Zakat institution could optimize their potency in achieving Maqashid Sharia.

Starting from Home: Development of a Sustainable Parenting Education Program for Caregivers with Young Children in Rural Malawi

The purpose of this study was to design a community-based, needs-sensitive, and culturally appropriate parenting education program that is effective for rural Malawian caregivers. With the use of the five-stage model, qualitative methods and procedures were used for developing the program. The presented program emphasized securing sustainability and community empowerment by listening to the voices of Malawian mothers, community leaders, and Malawian facilitators who are also parents. In order to ensure the cultural appropriateness and feasibility of the program, contents were provided in both English and Chichewa, and utilized Malawian folklore, well-known Malawian songs, and children’s play during the home visit sessions. In the process of developing and implementing the parenting education program, Malawian caregivers’ prior knowledge, cultural assets, needs and wants were honored and actively reflected, in order to make the program locally relevant and meaningful.

Empowering Poor-Households Women on Productive Economy Businesses in Indonesia

Self-efficacy has been extensively evaluated, but no studies have investigated the effect of self-efficacy on the self-reliance of women in poor-households economic productivity. This study analyzes self-efficacy as a personal factor, learning processes, and social support as an environmental factor towards the achievement of self-reliance in women from poor-households in productive economy businesses. Despite the dominant logic of this scheme, there is a need for field-based data regarding whether the variable really supports the sustainable empowerment of poor-households women. This study used the quantitative method through the survey technique. The samples of this study included 250 people collected from five regencies in Indonesia by using a multiple-stage random sampling. The data were analyzed with structural equation modeling. The results show that social support has a significant positive impact on the learning process; social support has a direct negative impact on self-efficacy. The learning process has a direct positive influence on self-efficacy, while social support has a non-significant impact on self-reliance. The learning process has a direct influence on self-reliance. Social support and the learning process both have significant positive impact on self-efficacy. Social support, learning process, and self-efficacy simultaneously have a positive impact on self-reliance in productive economic activities.

Assessment of Forest Degradation Indices in Mokwa Forest Reserve, Niger State, Nigeria

Forest degradation has become a major concern in many countries around the world as it has become one of the most debilitating land use crisis in tropical ecosystems. Hence, this study assessed the forest degradation indices in Mokwa forest reserve. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and field reconnaissance survey. Five settlements were selected in and around the forest reserve namely Mokwa, Jangi, Epa, Kpataki and Tswanle. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed that farming (41.7%) was the main occupation of the people, artisan works (18.8%) and studentship had the least (4.2%). Briquetting of charcoal (20.8%) was the highest causes of forest degradation; commercial farming (18.8%), overgrazing (16.7%) and population increase was the least (4.2%).Global warming (22.9%) was the major effect ofdegradation in the study area, soil erosion (20.8%) and the least was low rainfall (9.4%). Agroforestry practices (27.1%) were recorded as the main mitigation measure for reducing degradation in the area. This was followed by Afforestation and enrichment planting (22.9%), tree planting campaign (18.8%) and the least was forest conservation and management (6.3%). The stepwise multiple regression analysis of the causes with other variables showed that briquetting of charcoal had the highest R2 (0.88), followed by commercial farming R2 (0.84), while population increase had the least R2 (0.57). Nevertheless, sustainable empowerment programs are recommended to boost the livelihood of the rural populace and to reduce the overdependence of the people on the forest reserve.
 Keywords: forest degradation, enrichment planting, livelihood, briquetting.

Sustainability empowerment in the workplace: determinants and effects

There is a dynamic stream of research, which examines why and how employees contribute and respond to corporate social responsibility (CSR). Building on these micro-CSR findings, this article makes a contribution to a better understanding of employee engagement in CSR by considering its determinants and effects. The research centres around the established motivational concept of psychological empowerment in the workplace and applies it to sustainability. The authors propose a model of sustainability empowerment in the workplace (SEW) and empirically test the construct in a comprehensive framework. Results indicate that the sustainability-orientation of employees and the perceived organisational support towards sustainability act as two valid determinants of SEW. It is also shown that SEW has positive effects on job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Further results indicate that the sustainability-orientation of employees plays an important role as a moderator in the relationship between SEW and its effects. In the overall view, the paper contributes to micro-CSR research by showing that SEW is a valid construct that helps to answer why and how employees engage in CSR activities and what positive effects arise therefrom for organisations. The authors give an overview of these contributions and discuss the implications for researchers and practitioners in the field of CSR and HRM.

PARADISGM SHIFT AGENDA IN “THE WORLD IN 2050”

“The World in 2050” (TWI-2050) aims not only to contribute to this understanding of sustainable development goals (SDGs) but also develop science-based transformational and equitable pathways to achieve it. TWI-2050 article which was published by The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), covers members from National Member Organizations in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. This publication is a tool or guideline- for policy-makers, experts, scientist and engineers, and revolutionist in SDGs implementers [Nakicenovic, 2019]. TWI-2050 represents the integrated pathways which harness the synergies and multiple benefits across SDGs, and approaches to governing this sustainability transformation [UNSDN, 2019]. The Roadmap 2050 anchored six pillars and reported the most influential component in SDGs. It is translated with variety of hopes, intentions, action plan and more holistic approach with the vital transformational agenda [Horan, 2019]. The endeavour of transformation is about courage to utilize the Industrial Revolution 4.0 [Lafortune and Schmidt Traub, 2019] with the numerous data and autonomous technical system should be the advantage in improving the global issues. The limitation to the poorest country or region must be shaped through the sustainable empowerment, create more benefits rather than competing, and exploitation of opportunities. Finally, transformation on connectivity is the most tremendous effort in the future

PARADISGM SHIFT AGENDA IN “THE WORLD IN 2050”

“The World in 2050” (TWI-2050) aims not only to contribute to this understanding of sustainable development goals (SDGs) but also develop science-based transformational and equitable pathways to achieve it. TWI-2050 article which was published by The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), covers members from National Member Organizations in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. This publication is a tool or guideline- for policy-makers, experts, scientist and engineers, and revolutionist in SDGs implementers [Nakicenovic, 2019]. TWI-2050 represents the integrated pathways which harness the synergies and multiple benefits across SDGs, and approaches to governing this sustainability transformation [UNSDN, 2019]. The Roadmap 2050 anchored six pillars and reported the most influential component in SDGs. It is translated with variety of hopes, intentions, action plan and more holistic approach with the vital transformational agenda [Horan, 2019]. The endeavour of transformation is about courage to utilize the Industrial Revolution 4.0 [Lafortune and Schmidt Traub, 2019] with the numerous data and autonomous technical system should be the advantage in improving the global issues. The limitation to the poorest country or region must be shaped through the sustainable empowerment, create more benefits rather than competing, and exploitation of opportunities. Finally, transformation on connectivity is the most tremendous effort in the future

Gender, caste and movement: Lessons from Sangtin Yatra

This essay draws on ongoing translations of, and reflections on, journeys undertaken since 2002 with members of Sangtin in Uttar Pradesh. Sangtin, originally imagined as an NGO, has steadily evolved into Sangtin Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan (SKMS), a largely women-led movement of 8000 small farmers and laborers, most of them identifying as Dalit. SKMS emerged from encounters with NGOs, academics, and artists whose fixed understandings of ‘feminism’ often failed to recognize that empowering women in isolation from the rest of their communities was not sustainable empowerment. Over the eighteen years of battling on this terrain for their rights, dignity, truths, and justice, the SKMS members and supporters have rejected the institutionalized categories of the development industry and academia that flatten the complexity and creativity of life and struggle. In refusing to separate the activist from the scholar, the expert from the ordinary, and the theoretical from the lived, the essay underscores how the struggles for socioeconomic justice of impoverished rural, Dalit peoples cannot be separated from the fight against epistemic violence and intellectual disempowerment of the same communities. Through situated solidarities that involve delicate dances of i/we/you/they, SKMS saathis – or co-travellers – from unequal locations walk together on bumpy terrains. As we do so, we interrogate our previous understandings of gender violence and entangle them with structures of caste-class, and we reconceptualize the terrain of sex, gender, public, and private while embedding our critiques within the violence of the developmental state and neo-liberal brahmanical capitalist patriarchy.

Sustainable Empowerment Initiatives among Rural Women through Microcredit Borrowings in Bangladesh

Microcredit is an effective instrument that has been recognized to alleviate poverty, especially in developing countries such as Bangladesh. This study seeks to use microcredit as an instrument to bridge the gap between the accessibility of microcredit among poor rural women and sustainable socio-economic development, providing novelty to the concept of “sustainability of empowerment”. In addition, this study employed poor rural women to estimate the empowerment performance of microcredit borrowers compared to non-borrowers in the same socio-economic environment as it relates to microcredit in rural Bangladesh. A regression analysis was used to accomplish these objectives. This study also used propensity score matching techniques to find an easy way to access microcredit. The empirical results not only involve participation in microcredit accessibility but also the particular qualitative attributes of women empowerment. The results also suggest that sustainability is accompanied by affluence among microcredit borrowers, as indicated by women empowerment. The outcome of the empirical analysis shows that there is a significant impact of microcredit on increasing participation in the overall decision-making process, in legal awareness, independent movements, and mobility, as well as enhancing living standards to encourage sustainable women empowerment. This study recommends future investigations for microcredit providers to explore how to build an integrated, holistic approach to women empowerment in Bangladesh.

The Transformation of Sustainable Community Empowerment Based on Islamic Boarding Schools System

Community empowerment and education are closely related to advancing society. The purpose of this study was to analyze the implementation and transformation of sustainable community empowerment based on Islamic boarding school system. This is due to the assumption that Islamic boarding school, as a sharia economic developer, gives several impacts on training entrepreneurship, independence of santri, and prosperity of the society. This research used a qualitative method with the phenomenological approach from Edmund Husserl. Phenomenology or transcendental phenomenology aims to find the existence of consciousness essence (intentionality) which consists of four awareness activities. The results of this study indicate that the community empowerment in Al-Ittifaw Islamic boarding school refers to environmental use. The school also adopts an experiential learning and learning by doing system. These systems accustomed the students to learn, maintain, and preserve nature. The agribusiness development of Al-Ittifaq Islamic Boarding School is based on INPEKBI (Divine, Domestic, Personal, Economic, Family, Passion, Ilmihi) principle. The conclusion of this paper is, several stages are needed in terms of raising awareness, habituation, and reinforcement to build the entrepreneurial spirit during the transformation of sustainable community empowerment based on Islamic boarding school system.

The Age of Automatization and the Evolution of Globalization

Automation is the key word of this century when it comes to describe sustainable development, social evolution, economic empowerment and ease of access to new business solutions. In this paper we try to analyse and re-establish the need to develop, not only as societal and human evolution, but also as a standalone process that shows us that the actual acceleration of automation in everything that surrounds us is actually the next generation of globalization. We also try to analyse the psychological pressure developed of automation and the fact that if we’ll reach an evolutionary ceiling and if it will be followed by a new disruption in the way we see economics. As a research method, we used a mix of methods combining quantitative and qualitative analysis. The main findings have allowed us to highlight the trends in the literature in terms of automation in the era of globalization as well as new practical directions of action. Beyond the pros and cons of globalization, our work allows readers to find new business solutions that contribute to a sustainable development of society, a healthy social evolution, and last but not least an increase in economic power taking into account the risks associated with these changes, including psychologically.

Critical Success Factor of the Sustainable Empowerment of Sericultural Farmers in Thailand

Critical Success Factor of the Sustainable Empowerment of Sericultural Farmers in Thailand

Implementation of Ecotourism Empowerment in Coastal Border of West Kalimantan

Development must be an important and strategic priority, especially in the coastal border village area to prevent economic disparity, community conflict, and national disintegration. The research aims to analyze the implementation of the empowerment of coastal border of West Kalimantan. The research used qualitative methods of Participatory Learning and Action (PLA), data were collected through in-depth interviews, observation, documentation analysis, and Focus Group Discussion (FGD). The research took place in the coastal border area of Temajuk Village, Paloh District, Sambas Regency, West Kalimantan. Informants heve been purposively selected namely activists, students, community leaders, village government, business groups, academics, and tourists. The research analysis through interactive models by collecting data, reduce, verification, categorization and conclusions. The results showed that (1) Implementation of empowerment can be carried out by conducting counseling and training so as to increase awareness, motivation, knowledge, skills and solidarity between participants from the younger generation who form ecotourism community development. (2) Community development has been successfully formed from a young generation with the name "The Borneo tail" to become an activist who preserves and manages the potential of ecotourism by having the spirit of being a public relations (tourism guide), promotional and marketing services, and typical food and beverage entrepreneurs. (3) Development must continue to be improved, namely road infrastructure, availability of electricity and access to telecommunications networks (internet) as a support in the development of ecotourism, especially in Temajuk Village which is still limited and dependent on Malaysian territory. (4) The village and regional governments, academics, activists of empowerment, environmentalists and tourists need to collaborate in carrying out sustainable ecotourism empowerment programs for Borneo tails as community development.