Community participation in upgrading irregular settlements: The community response

This second paper on community action in Bogotá (Colombia), Mexico City (Mexico) and Valencia (Venezuela) examines levels of direct community involvement in improving irregular settlements. Our surveys reveal that family involvement in activities such as lobbying officials, attendance at community meetings or providing labour for neighbourhood schemes was quite limited — no more than two-fifths of owner households in survey barrios participated. Participation varied with tenure and the project; owners participated more than tenants and water and electricity programmes generated high levels of support. Despite these findings we argue that the extent and form of community participation is shaped less by local or settlement conditions than by government needs and policies.     

Reform of the shareholding system for collective assets,residents' participation,and community debts risk

The reform of the shareholding system for collective assets (SSCA) has made clear the community members' rights to collective assets and their possessory rights, while changes in the residents' rights may alter their behaviors and community interests. In this study, the Difference-in-Differences estimation method is used to examine the impact of the SSCA reform on residents' participation in community governance. With residents' participation as the mediating factor, the mediating effect model is used to study the impact of the reform on community debts risk (CDR). When the household, community, and economic variables are controlled, the probability of residents in communities that have undergone reform being willing to participate in community governance is 5.6% higher than those in communities that have not. The results are significant at the 5% level. In terms of CDR, the SSCA reform has significantly reduced the debts–assets ratio by 7.9%. These findings have passed a series of robustness tests. This conclusion provides new ideas for promoting communities' democratic participation and debts risk management.     

Local participation in transfrontier tourism: Case of Sengwe community in Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area,Zimbabwe

Transfrontier cross-border nature conservation has become a fashionable target in many parts of the world, including Southern Africa. Transfrontier conservation initiatives are considered to have great capacity for biodiversity conservation and sustainable tourism development by providing employment and revenue opportunities for poor people and communities. However, many previous studies have indicated that in spite of expectations and rhetoric there is often rather minimal community awareness and participation in conservation management, tourism economy and related opportunities. This study aims to discuss local people’s perceptions of community participation, opportunities and constraints in sustainable transfrontier tourism in south-eastern Lowveld, Zimbabwe. The results based on community interviews show that the people are aware of the potential role of tourism in improving livelihoods. The major challenge, however, is to address how this can be turned into concrete benefits for households and communities.     

Participatory research as a tool for community development

In Third World countries, where resources are scarce, social scientists are confronted with the challenge of providing knowledge and services relevant to national development. This paper attempts to address this ‘relevance’ question by exploring the relationship between participatory research (as a social science research paradigm) and community development. The assumption is that people possess indigenous skills and knowledge, but that these need to be harnessed and refined in order that they can be effectively utilised in the planning and implementation of development processes. It is argued that human capacity building and empowerment are core components of participatory research and a prerequisite for appropriate development. A participatory research project in a rural resettlement village in the Ciskei is presented to illustrate the implementation of participatory research as a tool for community development.     

为中国港口业参与国际竞争提供制度保障

在经济全球化的大趋势下,现代港口业已经成为世界经济、国际贸易发展的重要组成部分。同样,中国在成为“世界工厂”的进程中,没有港口的超前发展也是不可想象的。中国港口的发展不仅给中国制造业的提升带来了新机遇,而且随着国际市场逐渐融为一体,港口业的发展在中国参与国际竞     

社会组织参与社区服务的调查研究——以南京汤山街道为例

近年来,随着"慈善法"的出台,国内社会组织如雨后春笋般壮大,为了推动社会组织的良性发展和改善社区治理的服务现状,文章以江宁区汤山街道为调研对象,通过实地调研的方式了解汤山街道"益乐家园"服务中心的服务水平和治理现状,服务项目开展的领域、范围和民众满意度,并针对当前社区服务频次低、领域窄、范围小等问题提出对策和建议,以及结合南京工业大学学生参与汤山街道社区服务的模式为大学生志愿者参与当地社区服务提供路径选择。     

中国现代物流业发展对策

现代物流作为一种先进的组织方式和管理理念,是企业降低物耗、提高劳动生产率以外的第三利润源泉。根据对我国加入世贸组织时承诺的内容,中国道路货运、仓储行业、货运代理及其他辅助服务等将会逐步对外开放。国际大航运企业正在利用这个有利条件和时机把现有的全球运输服务网络逐渐延伸到国内的各个主要城市,从而使国内物流企业     

中国连锁业发展对策

一、我国连锁业的发展概况 自1990年第一家连锁经营企业在广东成立以来,我国连锁业经过10多年的积累,已取得了长足的发展。 从连锁企业的数量、门店数和销售额来看,我国连锁业一直处于快速发展阶段。自1996年至2000年,连锁企业从700家增加到2000家;门店数也从10000个增长到32000个;销售额更是从300亿元增长到2300亿元,年均增长率高     

论资源节约型社会发展的长效机制

工业革命以后的先期工业化国家走的是以消耗和破坏自然资源换取经济增长的恶性循环道路。中国在重视经济发展总量和速度的同时,必须根据我国资源紧缺的基本国情,建设资源节约型社会,选择一条与发达国家不同的资源组合方式,即非传统的现代化道路,为此需要建立相应的长效机制来推进资源节约型社会的发展。     

经济过热环境下商业银行的发展策略

中国当前经济过热现状 2006年5月10日．世界银行发表最新《中国经济季报》。报告认为，今年一季度中国经济的快速增长令人惊讶。同时投资持续增长，信贷快速扩张，投入房地产开发的新增贷款增多。建议中国进一步采取措施，遏制投资和信贷增速过快，缓解国际收支不平衡状况，以实现增长的重新平衡。     

Spatial Disparities in Developing East Asia: a survey

Intra-country regional disparities and centre-region relations are important issues in developing East Asian countries. Most governments are experimenting with decentralisation initiatives, some of which are quite radical. There is disaffection towards centralised capital city control in several countries, most notably in Indonesia, where the possibility of further territorial fragmentation cannot be discounted. Rapid economic growth is inevitably uneven in its sub-national impacts. Some regions—usually those with better connections to the international economy—grow faster than others. In the wake of the 1997/98 economic crisis, fiscally constrained governments find it increasingly difficult to finance fiscal equalisation mechanisms and other measures designed to assist poor regions. Paradoxically, as international boundaries become increasingly porous and blurred, regional identities and aspirations are more sharply defined.     

New environment for development of NGOS in China

Since 1978, great changes have taken place in the environment for the development of NGOs in China. From a macroscopic perspective, China's transformation process in the economic, political and social systems, has been progressing successively. The transformation process has broken the traditional structure of the Government's monopolization of resources and the strictly controlled private action space. The reforms have restructured the relationship between the Government and the market society, and thus provided an opportunity for the existence and development of all kinds of NGOs in China. In addition, China's entry into the WTO and current trends towards globalization also has promoted the development of NGOs in China.     

The international environment for adjustment in developing countries

The international disequilibrium of the 1970s imposed on developing countries a burden of adjustment out of all proportion to their degree of responsibility for the imbalances incurred. The application of traditional stabilization programmes resulted, in a number of cases, in severe disruption of development. There was, moreover, a perverse distribution of the burden of adjustment, the poorest countries suffering most. A number of changes in international policy and practice are required to avoid a repetition of this experience. In particular, special provision is needed for cases in which deficits are largely of external origin, involving more adequate IMF financing at low conditionality so as to permit a stretching out of the period of adjustment.     

The demand for labor in Caribbean community MDCs

This article presents a comparative analysis of labor market demand in the three major economies of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) in the period since 1970. The regression analysis indicates that the manufacturing sectors in Barbados and Jamaica were more responsive to changing domestic and international market conditions than the agricultural sectors, or than the Trinidad & Tobago manufacturing sector. Other important conclusions based on specifications at the aggregate level are that the real wage explained labor demand only in Jamaica, and that there was a secular increase in the demand for labor in both Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, even after wages and output were controlled for. Taken in conjunction with the other findings for Trinidad & Tobago, we conclude that there is a need to focus on other sectors as important employers of labor in the period under analysis.     

Perceptions of common helminth infections in a rural community

Common parasite infections cause energy depletion and growth stunting in children in endemic areas, and there is a suggestion that mental processes and school achievement are affected. The efficacy of control and treatment programmes, as with other development programmes, will depend to a great extent on the acceptance and support of people in affected areas. This study focused on the views of women who have young children in their care with the object of understanding their perceptions, and the implications these would have for intervention programmes.