1,721,037 research outputs found
Decentralisation meets local complexity: conceptual entry points, field-level findings and insights gained
Full text linkThis article summarises and discusses eight case studies from Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Pakistan, India and Nepal that focus on the everyday realities of decentralisation. It recalls the mainstream arguments favouring decentralisation as a basic human right (i.e. to be able to participate in decision-making) and in a more utilitarian sense (i.e. decentralisation for development). The eight case studies support aspects of the mainstream; however, they also present new insights. To position these insights, the article deconstructs mainstream decentralisation discourses as based on a functionalist ontology, often leading to rather managerial and mechanistic approaches. To contrast such a functionalist position, three critical social science perspectives are introduced: the neo-Marxist view of the hegemonic state (including the notion of subalterns), Scott’s simplifying state techniques, and Midgal’s state-in-society approach. A reading of the case studies in this context highlights that decentralisation programmes often follow standardised procedures that encounter social, political, economic and ecological local complexities. Dimensions of these complexities are: already
ongoing contestations among social groups; conflicting expectations upon, and interpretations of, the meaning of decentralisation; and strategic handling of decentralisation as a resource – highlighting the importance of agency. The article concludes with the proposition that decentralisation is not primarily a managerial challenge (i.e. to introduce improved governance
mechanisms), but is inherently political, influenced by interests and agency, and thus contingent. The challenge for researchers and practitioners is to support adequate social processes that allow decentralisation to give local
complexities more room, without fuelling local competition over the scarce resources offered by decentralisation
State forest administration, donor support, and forest realities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan
Full text linkThe management of forests involves, very basically, three main issues: (i) how the forest resources under consideration should be used, for what purpose, and by whom; (ii) to decide on a specific procedure on how the use of forests in the agreed manner should be organised; and finally (iii) the practicing or implementation of the decisions taken. In all these three basic dimensions of forestry, various groups of people want their ideas to be considered. Generally, one distinguishes between the state and its line departments, the local people or communities (or citizens), the civil society, and (specifically so in southern contexts) the development donors. The dominant global discourse argues that the state is the custodian of forests in the name of the people and the nation as a whole. Therefore, state Forest Departments are mandated to oversee and implement forest policy, enabled to do so through policies, laws, rules, management tools, enforcement powers, finances and staff. This is a very general overview, but it holds true for most countries on our globe – and it holds true as well for Pakistan and its Khyber Pakthunkwa (KP) Province. The present article describes and discusses this official system of forest governance, its evolution over time, and the enormous challenges it faces at present
Adaptation or adoption?: Integrating different perceptions of soil and water conservation in Ethiopia
No full textInnovation and Adaptation in a New Environment - Knowledge Management among Peasants in the Upper Ewas Ng'iro River region, Kenya
No full textHow can weaker sections of the society exercise their rights and participate in the management of their physical environment? What factors enhance the development and adaptation of knowledge in view of sustainable natural resource management in rural as well as urban contexts? What roles do development agents such as public administration, community development organisations, training and research institutions, and international development agencies assume in these regards? Centralised, expert-led environmental management has lost its acceptance by those affected. Therefore, solutions are increasingly searched for through "participation", i.e. by considering the capacities, interests and concerns of citizens and local communities. The authors of this book present practical approaches. Case studies are located on the one hand in southern countries, i.e. Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Madagascar, and Vietnam, and on the other hand in the "North", i.e. Switzerland - thus attempting a comparative analysis of similar approaches in different settings. The first part of the book focuses on innovative ways of participatory management. In the second part, the authors look at how knowledge links to actual practices of natural resource use, at the conditions of production and adaptation of new knowledge and at the role of agents of development to improve knowledge management
Livelihood Strategies, Knowledge Management, and Innovation in a Slash-and-burn Cultivation System in Madagascar
No full textSlash-and-burn cultivation of pluvial rice (tavy) is the main component of the agricultural system on the eastern escarpment in Madagascar. Changing socioeconomic, political, and demographic framework conditions have rendered this ancestral cultivation system unsustainable. Whereas conservationists see tavy, or shifting cultivation as highly destructive of the rainforest, farmers still consider it to be the best way to secure their livelihoods in the medium term. As a consequence, tavy cultivation has remained largely unchanged over generations, while innovations were adopted within other components of the farming system, such as cash cropping and agroforestry systems. Accordingly, two knowledge systems have developed that show only very limited interaction: traditional knowledge, which is constantly regenerated and transmitted from one generation to another, and what we call “potential knowledge,” which is the result of an innovation process nurtured by constant exchange with external actors and their knowledge. This knowledge is potential only, as it has virtually no positive impact on sustainable land management. The reasons we identify for the lack of interaction between the knowledge systems relate to the lack of feasible alternatives to secure livelihoods, to social and cultural obstacles, and to the reticence of the local population to work with external actors based on past experiences. We argue that the most promising pathways towards more sustainable land management depend on improving vertical as well as horizontal information flows: Vertically, improved coordination and consultation among stakeholders must be attained, because the visions of future development and innovation needs still diverge dramatically. Yet, the combination of internal as well as external knowledge is a necessary precondition to identifying feasible development options. Horizontally, the exchange among individuals, households, and communities must be facilitated to improve the diffusion of new knowledge
Decentralisation meets local complexity: Local struggles, state decentralisation and access to natural resources in South Asia and Latin America
Full text linkForests, livelihoods and power relations in North-West Pakistan: Introduction, insights gained and challenges ahead
Full text linkForest related interventions and the stakeholders of forests in the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan
Full text linkThe forests of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP – now known as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) of Pakistan are vanishing at high rate in spite of more than two decades of donors led interventions and extensive forest governance system led by the state. Failure of most of the forest related projects and policies in meeting their intended objectives calls for searching out the underlying causes of the ineffectiveness of such interventions. The importance of stakeholders’ analysis has been stressed by many development researchers. A holistic analysis of the stakeholders, conflicts and power relations is an essential step to ensure the sustainability of development interventions and active participation of local actors. There is a wide range of actors who can influence or can be influenced by any forest related intervention in NWFP. This paper, therefore, presents an exploratory analysis of the stakeholders’ characteristics, power relations and conflicts in the context of interventions in the forestry sector of NWFP. Various groups of stakeholders for example local communities, civil society organizations, religious and traditional institutions, state agencies, global actors etc. are trying to operate within the contested political arena of NWFP. The paper shows that on the one hand, the state as well as donors led interventions do not really engage in a meaningful dialogue with the local stakeholders and institutions, and on the other hand these entities themselves are not in a position to initiate a change in local resource use. Thus, a way forward is seen in fostering a dialogue among key stakeholders
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
- …
