Social Development (social + development)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Humanities and Social Sciences


Selected Abstracts


Linking Social Development with the Capacity to Carry Debt: Towards an MDG-Consistent Debt-Sustainability Concept

DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 3 2009
Bernhard G. Gunter
Owing to concerns among low-income countries that the new debt sustainability framework of the Bretton Woods institutions may lock them into a so-called ,low debt-low growth' scenario, the United Nations has called for a more MDG-consistent debt-sustainability concept. This article shows that there is a robust relationship between achieving the Millennium Development Goals and having a higher capacity to carry debt. It then discusses options for modifying the current debt-sustainability framework, and suggests that including progress made in achieving the MDGs in determining borrowing limits would be a first step towards adopting such a concept. [source]


MEASURING POVERTY , WHAT HAPPENED TO COPENHAGEN?

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS, Issue 3 2007
Chris Sarlo
Absolute poverty can be thought of as a condition of ,insufficiency', i.e. the inability to acquire the basic necessities of life. Relative poverty can be thought of as a condition of ,inequality'. At the World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995, all participants made a commitment to produce official measures of both absolute and relative poverty and to strive to eradicate absolute poverty within a reasonable time frame. Despite these commitments, measures of absolute poverty are rare in the developed world. This paper concludes that both kinds of measures are needed for intelligent discussions and good policy-making. [source]


The reform of the developmental welfare state in East Asia

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 2009
Huck-ju Kwon
This article examines social policy reforms in East Asia and whether the welfare states in the region became more inclusive in terms of social protection while maintaining their developmental credentials. It draws on findings from the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) project on social policy in East Asia, covering China, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China, Japan, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, Taiwan Province of China, and Thailand. It shows that East Asian economies responded differently to the crisis in terms of welfare reform. While Singapore and Hong Kong maintained the basic structure of the selective developmental welfare state, Korea, Taiwan, and, to a lesser extent, Thailand implemented social policy reforms toward a more inclusive one. Despite such different responses, policy changes are explained by the proposition of the developmental welfare state: the instrumentality of social policy for economic development and realization of policy changes through democratization (or the lack of it). [source]


Life success of males on nonoffender, adolescence-limited, persistent, and adult-onset antisocial pathways: follow-up from age 8 to 42

AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, Issue 2 2009
Lea Pulkkinen
Abstract A random sample of 196 males, drawn from the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development, was divided into four groups of offenders using information from government registers of convictions between ages 21 and 47, from local police registers searched at age 21, from a Self-Report Delinquency Scale administered at age 36, from a Life History Calendar for ages 15,42, and from personal interviews at ages 27, 36, and 42. The groups were: persistent offenders (offences before and after age 21; 29% of the men); adolescence-limited offenders (offences before age 21; 27%); adult-onset offenders (offences after age 21; 16%); and nonoffenders (28%). The profile of the persistent offenders included many characteristics of antisocial personality and problems of social and psychological functioning at all ages. In childhood and adolescence, the adolescence-limited offenders tended to display higher self-control than the other offenders indicated by less negative emotionality and higher constraint. In early middle age, they were well established in terms of work and marriage, but they differed from the nonoffenders in higher neuroticism, aggressiveness, and psychosomatic symptoms as did the other offender groups. The adult-onset offenders displayed an emotionally unstable personality, and in adulthood, they tended to be heavy users of alcohol. Parental SES did not differentiate the groups, but the parents of the persistent offenders tended to use alcohol heavily, and the social capital of the family tended to be low compared with the other groups. Aggr. Behav. 35:117,135, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Parents' Affect, Adolescent Cognitive Representations, and Adolescent Social Development

JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 3 2000
Blair Paley
Prior research regarding the role of parent-child relationships in children's social development generally has been limited to concurrent or short-term longitudinal data and has focused primarily on mothers' influence in the early or middle childhood years. Using a multimethod, multiinformant design, the present study extends previous findings by examining whether maternal and paternal affect predicted adolescent social behavior and peer acceptance 2 years later. Both maternal and paternal affect had significant direct and indirect effects (via adolescent cognitive representations of parents) on adolescent negative social behavior as reported by siblings, which in turn predicted decreased peer acceptance as rated by teachers. Findings suggest that both mothers and fathers shape adolescent social development and attest to the importance of exploring multiple pathways that may account for continuity in parent-child and peer relationships. [source]


Intensity of Aggression in Childhood as a Predictor of Different Forms of Adult Aggression: A Two-Country (Finland and the United States) Analysis

JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, Issue 1 2009
Katja Kokko
This study examined the prediction of different forms of adult aggression in 2 countries from child and adolescent aggression. It was based on 2 longitudinal projects: the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS; N=196 boys and 173 girls) conducted in Finland and the Columbia County Longitudinal Study (CCLS; N=436 boys and 420 girls) conducted in the United States. The same peer-nominated items for aggression were used in both studies at age 8; comparable measures of aggression were also available in adolescence (age 14 in the JYLS/19 in the CCLS) and adulthood (ages 36/30 and 42/48). Results showed that in both countries and in both genders, aggression in school age was linked significantly to physical aggression and lack of self-control of anger in adulthood but not to verbal aggression. This differential predictability of aggression over 40 years suggests that individual differences in physical aggression are more determined by lasting individual differences (including emotional reactivity) than are individual differences in verbal aggression. [source]


Regional tourism and South-South economic cooperation

THE GEOGRAPHICAL JOURNAL, Issue 2 2001
Krishna B. Ghimire
Regional tourism within developing countries is a growing phenomenon. Yet this aspect has been largely neglected in social science research as well as tourism planning. This paper highlights the general nature, scale and economic significance of regional tourism in three leading regions in Asia, Africa and Latin America. The topic is especially timely as economic self-reliance and cooperation are increasingly reiterated in the context of the emergence of regional groupings. A key question addressed is whether regional tourism development represents any new and viable prospects for regional economic improvement and partnership, especially compared to international tourism centred on attracting visitors from industrialized countries. Based on a critical assessment of the experiences of three regional blocs (ASEAN , the Association of South-East Asian Nations; SADC , the Southern African Development Community; and Mercosur , a common market comprising Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, with Chile being an associated member), the paper suggests that a basic appreciation of the prospects of regional tourism is not enough to produce perceptible benefits. Regional tourism development is occurring in a haphazard manner, with little attention to managing existing socio-economic inequalities and centre-periphery relations. The paper is based primarily on the review of secondary literature readily available to the author combined with a few documents obtained directly from different regional organizations or through Internet search. A small amount of material, especially concerning emerging tourism trends and outcomes, is drawn from a research project on national mass tourism in developing countries coordinated by the author at the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, Geneva. [source]


Duration and Developmental Timing of Poverty and Children's Cognitive and Social Development From Birth Through Third Grade

CHILD DEVELOPMENT, Issue 4 2005
Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, National Institute of Child Health
Relations of duration and developmental timing of poverty to children's development from birth to age 9 were examined by comparing children from families who were never poor, poor only during the child's infancy (0,3 years of age), poor only after infancy (4,9 years of age), and chronically poor. Chronically poor families provided lower quality childrearing environments, and children in these families showed lower cognitive performance and more behavior problems than did other children. Any experience of poverty was associated with less favorable family situations and child outcomes than never being poor. Being poor later tended to be more detrimental than early poverty. Mediational analyses indicated that poverty was linked to child outcomes in part through less positive parenting. [source]


,Social Development' as Neoliberal Trojan Horse: The World Bank and the Kecamatan Development Program in Indonesia

DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2009
Toby Carroll
ABSTRACT This article seeks to reconceptualize the post-Washington consensus (PWC) by focusing not simply upon the institutional structures and ideology promoted by it, but the manner in which these are promoted on the ground. The aim is to reveal a central distinction between the Washington consensus and the PWC that has been somewhat neglected: their diverging approaches to implementation. The author focuses on the World Bank-funded Kecamatan Development Program (KDP) in Indonesia, a project that is viewed by some as being somewhat unorthodox. He argues that in addition to its promotion of the latest round of institutional reforms, what is really different about KDP, compared with older approaches to market-led development typical of the Washington consensus, is the manner in which it delivers its mix of neoliberalism. What is radical about a programme like KDP is that it constitutes a new Trojan horse for embedding market-centred norms and practices.1 In general, this is demonstrative of a key difference between the Washington consensus and the PWC that has been undervalued in many analyses of the dominant development paradigm: the methods used to embed and sustain liberal markets. [source]


Social development: bridging the theory,practice divide past and present

JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 7 2003
Eleanor Fisher
First page of article [source]


Social development: the intellectual heritage

JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT, Issue 7 2003
James Midgley
Because social development is primarily concerned with practical matters, little attention has been paid to the ideas, concepts and theories that inform social development interventions. Most publications on social development make little reference to theoretical issues, and most practitioners are unaware of the conceptual derivation of their activities. However, although seldom recognized or acknowledged, social development practice has, in a subtle and indirect way, been informed and shaped by a variety of intellectual ideas that, in turn, reveal a commitment to different normative perspectives. This paper traces the contribution these perspectives have made to social development over the years. By documenting this intellectual heritage, it hopes to promote a greater awareness of theoretical issues and, at the same time, to foster social development's conceptualization. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Repeating the Race Experience: John Dewey and the History Curriculum at the University of Chicago Laboratory School

CURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 3 2009
THOMAS FALLACE
ABSTRACT Despite the vast literature on Dewey and his laboratory school, most scholars have failed to contextualize Dewey's pedagogical ideas in the intellectual currents of the period, particularly the historicist concept of social development known as recapitulation and/or correspondence theory. In this article, the author explores how and why history was taught at Dewey's laboratory school at the University of Chicago (1896,1904). To do so, the author traces how Dewey's approach to teaching history not only emerged out of pedagogical disputes, but also out of 19th -century historicist theories of evolutionary anthropology and genetic psychology. From this context, the author argues that Dewey's history curriculum was based entirely upon his own interpretation of the anthropological-sociological-psychological theory of recapitulation, which suggested that the stages of child development corresponded with the development of Western civilization. Drawing on Dewey's professional correspondence, course syllabi, and book reviews in addition to his published essays, the author suggests that this ethnocentric theory of recapitulation served as the foundation for the entire curriculum at the laboratory school, guiding both theory and practice. [source]


Bridging the Social and Digital Divides in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala: A Capabilities Approach

DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2008
Jayan Jose Thomas
ABSTRACT Combining empirical evidence with Amartya Sen's concept of capabilities, this article argues that the digital divide is not merely a problem of access to ICTs. It is part of a larger developmental problem in which vast sections of the world's population are deprived of the capabilities to use ICTs, acquire information and convert information into useful knowledge. Fieldwork research including sample surveys conducted in rural locations in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh in India shows that these capabilities can only be created through large-scale complementary interventions in economic and social development. [source]


Transforming the Developmental Welfare State in East Asia

DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 3 2005
Huck-ju Kwon
This article attempts to explain changes and continuity in the developmental welfare states in Korea and Taiwan within the East Asian context. It first elaborates two strands of welfare developmentalism (selective vs. inclusive), and establishes that the welfare state in both countries fell into the selective category of developmental welfare states before the Asian economic crisis of 1997. The key principles of the selective strand of welfare developmentalism are productivism, selective social investment and authoritarianism; inclusive welfare development is based on productivism, universal social investment and democratic governance. The article then argues that the policy reform toward an inclusive welfare state in Korea and Taiwan was triggered by the need for structural reform in the economy. The need for economic reform, together with democratization, created institutional space in policy-making for advocacy coalitions, which made successful advances towards greater social rights. Finally, the article argues that the experiences of Korea and Taiwan counter the neo-liberal assertion that the role of social policy in economic development is minor, and emphasizes that the idea of an inclusive developmental welfare state should be explored in the wider context of economic and social development. [source]


The Aid Paradigm for Poverty Reduction: Does It Make Sense?

DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 4 2008
John Weiss
Thinking on economic policy for development has undergone many shifts in response to the perceived weak results of earlier adjustment reforms. A new donor consensus has emerged based around the central themes of economic growth, good governance and social development. This article examines the logic behind this new aid paradigm, revealing a nuanced story with country circumstances playing a critical role and particular interventions varying in impact. For example, growth does not always lead to gains for the poor that match the national average; public expenditure needs to be targeted to achieve social development, but effective targeting is difficult; governance reform may be critical but there is no simple governance blueprint, and the corruption-growth association need not always be negative. [source]


The Nutrition Transition in the Developing World

DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 5-6 2003
Barry M. Popkin
This article explores shifts in nutrition transition from the period termed the receding famine pattern to one dominated by nutrition-related noncommunicable diseases (NR-NCDs). It examines the speed of these changes, summarises dietary and physical activity changes, and provides some sense of the health effects and economic costs. The focus is on the lower- and middle-income countries of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. The article shows that changes are occurring at great speed and at earlier stages of countries' economic and social development. The burden of disease from NR-NCDs is shifting towards the poor and the costs are also becoming greater than those for under-nutrition. Policy options are identified. [source]


Social Protection: Defining the Field of Action and Policy

DEVELOPMENT POLICY REVIEW, Issue 5 2002
Andy Norton
This article reviews recent developments in the concept of social protection, beginning with an attempt to establish a working definition of the term. This is set in the context of globalisation and new thinking on connections between the management of vulnerability, risk and poverty on the one hand and long,term economic and social development on the other. The article identifies aspects of the debate which require further development, by exploring the relationship between social protection, equality, social cohesion and rights. It also reviews contemporary definitions of social protection in the policies of donors and international organisations, and summarises lessons to be learnt from experience to date with civil society practices and state policies in the developing world. [source]


Maternal behavior changes after immune challenge of neonates with developmental effects on adult social behavior

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGY, Issue 1 2003
Kathryn E. Hood
Abstract To examine whether maternal responsiveness during interactions with endotoxin-treated pups contributes to long-term effects on social development, neonatal mice were fostered on postnatal day 1 to dams from three selectively bred lines that differ in social behaviors. On day 5, neonates were administered saline or 0.5 mg/kg endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, i.p.). Observations of undisturbed dams and litters on days 2, 4, 6, and 8 showed modest line differences in maternal behaviors. At the peak intensity of the transient illness induced by endotoxin (3 hr postinjection on day 5), dams increased licking and decreased time off-nest for endotoxin, but not saline-treated pups. As adults, fostered-reared males were observed in brief social interactions. Males exposed to endotoxin early in life showed changes in adult social behaviors that depended on foster dam line as well as individual differences in maternal responsiveness. Maternal responsiveness to stressed neonates can ameliorate the social,developmental effects of early illness. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 42: 17,34, 2003. [source]


Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia:its impact on social functioning

ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 400 2000
P. F. Liddle
Objective: To examine cognitive impairment in schizophrenia and its impact on social functioning. Method: Cohort studies recording cognitive and social development, studies of predictors of poor community outcome, and evidence from brain imaging studies are reviewed. Results: Executive function deficits, and poor performance in verbal memory, vigilance, and working memory tests are strong predictors of poor community outcome and impairment in skills learning. PET scans of regional cerebral blood flow suggest a dynamic imbalance between different cerebral areas rather than overall loss of brain function. Conclusion: Chronic cognitive impairment is the strongest predictor of social disability. Results suggest that the impairment of brain function associated with executive deficits is not necessarily irreversible and may therefore be treatable with appropriate drug therapy. [source]


ARGUING OVER [THE] REMOTE CONTROL: WHY INDIGENOUS POLICY NEEDS TO BE BASED ON EVIDENCE AND NOT HYPERBOLE

ECONOMIC PAPERS: A JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECONOMICS AND POLICY, Issue 1 2007
BOYD H. HUNTER
Recent public debate on Indigenous issues has been provoked, inter alia, by a 2005 Centre for Independent Studies paper by Helen Hughes and Jenness Warin, who focused on the extent to which policies have been effective in improving the living conditions of Indigenous Australians since the era of self-determination commenced. Unfortunately, the quality of historical data is questionable, and hence we need an appreciation of the reliability of estimates. The 2002 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey allows a detailed interrogation of the reliability of estimates. This paper critically analyses socioeconomic changes between 1994 and 2002 for remote and other areas by comparing the recent data with analogous data collected in 1994. Changes in health status and a range of socio-economic indicators are documented to provide a more balanced assessment of the level of economic and social development in the respective areas. [source]


The Habitats Directive as an instrument to achieve sustainability?

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND GOVERNANCE, Issue 3 2006
An analysis through the case of the Rotterdam Mainport Development Project
Abstract The Habitats Directive is a key document for the protection of critical natural capital in the European Union. In a manner consistent with the understanding of sustainability in the European Commission, even critical natural capital is subject to trade-offs in favour of economic and social development. This is reflected in Articles 6(3) and 6(4) of the directive. This paper analyses the planning process leading to the approval of the expansion of the port of Rotterdam project , which will significantly affect Natura 2000 , against sustainability criteria. Although it shows that the directive is powerful to promote sustainable planning, the success of the case study was due mainly to elements specific to the particular planning process, namely the use of deliberative public participation mechanisms as well as specific assessment tools. Lessons are drawn and recommendations made to strengthen the Habitats Directive and the national planning processes in relation to projects potentially affecting Natura 2000 sites. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [source]


Opening the Social Gateway: Early Vocal and Social Sensitivities in Brown-Headed Cowbirds (Molothrus ater)

ETHOLOGY, Issue 1 2002
David J. White
The organization of cowbird (Molothrus ater) social groups affords individuals living in the groups different opportunities for learning and also structures trajectories of social development. Here, we studied the influence of adults on social organization of very young cowbirds. In three experiments, we housed juvenile birds in large, seminatural environments that either contained or did not contain adult conspecifics. We then observed the social associations and vocalizations of juveniles in each environment. The presence of adults in the social environment influenced the assortment and singing patterns of juveniles, although throughout the three experiments adults rarely interacted physically with juveniles. Juveniles housed with adults interacted with other juveniles more often and sang significantly less often than juveniles housed without adults. Effects of adult presence or absence on social organization and singing patterns emerged extremely rapidly and could be reversed quickly. Taken as a whole, the experiments revealed that very young cowbirds, in the first days of independence from their hosts, were sensitive to, and reacted rapidly to, the composition of their social environment. Specifically, presence of other age classes of individuals within the group increased juvenile associations and delayed production of vocalizations by juvenile males. Self-organization within the social group produced different social environments, which could in turn create different gateways for social learning and vocal development. [source]


The Impact of Fair Trade on Social and Economic Development: A Review of the Literature

GEOGRAPHY COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 6 2008
Ann Le Mare
This article explores the outcomes of Fair Trade for producers, artisans and their organisations. It asks the question, ,what happens to people who are involved in Fair Trade?', and reviews the case studies and empirical research conducted on Fair Trade for a range of products in different countries. The article is organised around important aspects of development which Fair Trade seeks to influence, including market relations, institutional development, economic development and reductions in poverty, social development, gender equity and sustainable development. The outcomes are diverse and complex, though, most studies found significant impact on social and economic aspects of development, contributing to the capacity to improve and diversify livelihoods. Fostering sustainable commercial organisations is an important contribution of Fair Trade networks. However, there appears to be less success in achieving gender equality and dealing with issues of importance to women. Both the enactment of partnership and the achievement of development goals require continuous commitment, a variety of strategies and cooperation with other actors, such as government and non-governmental organisations. [source]


Modelling opportunity in health under partial observability of circumstances

HEALTH ECONOMICS, Issue 3 2010
Pedro Rosa Dias
Abstract This paper proposes a behavioural model of inequality of opportunity in health that integrates John Roemer's framework of inequality of opportunity with the Grossman model of health capital and demand for health. The model generates a recursive system of equations for health and lifestyles, which is then jointly estimated by full information maximum likelihood with freely correlated error terms. The analysis innovates by accounting for the presence of unobserved heterogeneity, therefore addressing the partial-circumstance problem, and by extending the examination of inequality of opportunity to health outcomes other than self-assessed health, such as long-standing illness, disability and mental health. The results provide evidence for the existence of third factors that simultaneously influence health outcomes and lifestyle choices, supporting the empirical relevance of the partial-circumstance problem. Accounting for these factors, the paper corroborates that the effect of parental and early circumstances on adult health disparities is paramount. However, the particular set of circumstances that affect each of the analysed health outcomes differs substantially. The results also show that differences in educational opportunities, and in social development in childhood, are crucial determinants of lifestyles in adulthood, which, in turn, shape the observed health inequalities. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Land Administration in Medieval Japan: Ito no shô in Chikuzen Province, 1131,1336

HISTORY, Issue 289 2003
Judith Fröhlich
The topic of land administration is central in historical studies of medieval Japan, since it provides insight into the social and economic development during the medieval period and highlights the lives of various social groups, courtiers, clerics, warriors and peasants. Based on the case of Ito no shô, an estate in northern Kyushu, this article analyses the establishment of a wide system of land administration under courtiers and central religious institutions during the twelfth century and its decline during the thirteenth century. The concurrent rise of local land managers and their social and economic activities during the thirteenth century are also explored. Finally, an assessment is made of the impact of the Mongol invasions of 1274 and 1281 on economic and social development during the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, in particular the loss of influence of central authorities in regions remote from the capital and the formation of rural communities under the leadership of local warriors. [source]


Globalisation A Threat to Equitable Social Provision?1

IDS BULLETIN, Issue 4 2000
Bob Decon
Summaries This article argues that the current phase of neoliberal globalisation presents a challenge to the prospects for equitable social development in developing and transition economies. This challenge flows partly from the unregulated nature of the emerging global economy and partly from the intellectual currents dominant in the global discourse concerning social policy and social development. In particular the article argues that a combination of the World Bank' s preference for a safety net and privatising strategy for welfare, the self interest of International NGOs in being providers of associated basic education, health and livelihood services, and the World Trade Organisation's push for a global market in health, education and insurance services, is generating a set of global conditions which undermine the prospects for any alternative scenario of equitable public social provision. This disturbing trend is taking place within the context of an apparent shift in the politics of globalisation from fundamentalist economic liberalism to global social concern. [source]


The renewed Lisbon Strategy and social exclusion policy

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS JOURNAL, Issue 6 2007
Martina Dieckhoff
ABSTRACT In the light of its manifest mid-term failure to make progress towards its key objectives, the EU introduced in 2005 a major ,relaunch' of its Lisbon Strategy for economic, employment and social development. The core aspect of this was ,prioritisation', involving an increased focus on growth and jobs. This raised the issue of whether the pursuit of greater competitiveness would lead to a downgrading of the importance of the original social objectives of the programme. In its focal concern on the fight against social exclusion, the EU's strategy involved both employment and social objectives. These emphasised in particular the creation not only of more but of ,better jobs' and the pursuit of actions to reinforce ,social inclusion' and ,social cohesion'. This article considers whether a significant shift did occur in policy emphasis and the implications of the Lisbon reform for progress in reducing the risks of social exclusion. It reviews first the basic changes in the formulation of the strategy and then examines in turn the effectiveness of its policy initiatives with respect to employment, the quality of work and social inclusion. [source]


Barriers to girls' education in Mozambique at household and community levels: an exploratory study

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 4 2009
Jini L. Roby
Although education of children is universally accepted as a leading mechanism of poverty eradication and social development, many developing nations continue to struggle in achieving gender parity in primary and secondary education. While Mozambique has recently accelerated its efforts to reduce this gap, girls are still enrolled and attending school at a much lower rate than boys. The present study explored the barriers to children's , especially girls' , education in central Mozambique, based on information on 738 children in two separate communities. Household, child, environmental, and social/cultural factors are examined in the context of global and regional data. The study found girls to be impacted more negatively by every correlating factor, including the lingering practice, in rural areas, of early marriage. Policy and research implications are discussed. [source]


The rise of a ,social development' agenda in New Zealand

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 1 2009
Neil Lunt
Since 1999 New Zealand has seen the election of a series of Labour-led governments committed to a social policy framework of social development. This article outlines the background to the emergence of social development, tracing its antecedents in the neo-liberal administrations of the 1990s. The social development framework consists of commitments around economic development, human capital development, family development and politico-administrative redevelopment. Taking the position that reforms must be seen as concrete policy mechanisms and as discursive cues and conceptual apparatus, the article offers a comparison and critique. First, it identifies the continuities and contrasts with the previous neo-liberal framework of minimal social policy; and second, it begins the process of critically interrogating the potential citizenship implications of social development. [source]


Economic crisis and social policy reform in Korea

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WELFARE, Issue 2 2001
Soonman Kwon
The economic crisis that broke out in Korea in December 1997 has had a chilling impact on social development in the country. Today unemployment is the highest that Korea has experienced in the past thirty years. This paper aims to examine the impact of the economic crisis on social development and the role of public policy to mitigate the problems caused by the crisis. The economic crisis has hit vulnerable groups harder, increased the proportion of part-time and daily workers, and reversed the trend of steady improvement of income distribution. The economic crisis along with the trend of aging population, globalization, and competition calls for an expanded role of social policy, which the Korean government has neglected for a long time. The main targets of social policy reform in Korea include the expansion of government programs and safety nets for the unemployed and redesigning the national pension and health insurance scheme to provide adequate income security as well as to improve the system sustainability. [source]