Transforming territories program (Latin America) Final technical report

This document reports the results of the Transforming Territories Program – TTP, funded by the International Development Research Center - IDRC - and coordinated by Rimisp - Latin American Center for Rural Development.The objective of the Transforming Territories Program – TTP – (February 2016 – February 2019) is to support policies and programs that originate greater opportunities and improve the well-being for approximately 900,000 women and men in rural-urban territories in Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, by leveraging the interaction between urbanization patterns, agrifood system transformations, and changes in farm and non-farm employment

An aesthetic for sustainable interactions in product-service systems?

Copyright @ 2012 Greenleaf PublishingEco-efficient Product-Service System (PSS) innovations represent a promising approach to sustainability. However the application of this concept is still very limited because its implementation and diffusion is hindered by several barriers (cultural, corporate and regulative ones). The paper investigates the barriers that affect the attractiveness and acceptation of eco-efficient PSS alternatives, and opens the debate on the aesthetic of eco-efficient PSS, and the way in which aesthetic could enhance some specific inner qualities of this kinds of innovations. Integrating insights from semiotics, the paper outlines some first research hypothesis on how the aesthetic elements of an eco-efficient PSS could facilitate user attraction, acceptation and satisfaction

A Conversation Analysis of Therapist-Client Interactional Patterns in Single Session Therapy: A Researcher\u27s Interpretation

In response to the growing awareness of the issue of accessibility to mental health services (World Health Organization, 2013), single session therapy (SST) has been implemented in various settings throughout the world. (Hoyt &Talmon, 2014b; Miller, 2008; Miller & Slive, 2004; Talmon, 2014). Although there has been much advancement in the knowledge and application of SST, an understanding of therapist-client interactional patterns that enfold in SST is extremely scarce. In this study, I investigated how therapists collaboratively improved the talk in SST turn by turn in such a way that promoted therapeutic improvement. I utilized conversation analysis (Sacks et al., 1974) to analyze a video-recording of a SST consultation within a single instrumental case study format (Stake, 2005). The findings of this study provide an interactional understanding of the collaborative practice, valued in SST literature (e.g., Campbell, 2012; Miller & Slive, 2004; Slive et al., 2008). Specifically, the therapists’ collaborative manner is exemplified in how the therapists oriented to the moment-to-moment interaction with the client within and across various interactional practices to coordinate their interaction, form and maintain the therapeutic relationship with the client, invite therapeutic change, and negotiate advice with the client. The findings of this study offer SST therapists and supervisors a potential interactional repertoire that they can utilize in their SST consultations and SST trainings. This study also presents a method of psychotherapy research that can address the research-practice gap (Strong & Gale, 2013)

The Political Economy of Poverty and Social Transformations of the Global South

This book contributes to the debates on the production and eradication of poverty in the global South. It collects a set of innovative articles concentrating on the way in which poverty, as a social process, has been addressed by popular movements and the governments of various states across the globe. Providing new insights into the limitations of traditional strategies to confront poverty, it highlights how social organizations are working to transform the livelihoods of people through bottom-up struggle and more participatory approaches rather than passively waiting for top-down solutions.Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP) at the University of BergenpublishedVersio

Evidence on Causes and Impacts from Indonesia

Human induced land-use change has direct economic and ecological consequences, which are felt the most in the poorest world regions. Therefore, the key question in land-use change research is how to protect and enhance the ecological functions of tropical landscapes while simultaneously improving human welfare. Addressing the complex links between the economic and ecological sphere, this dissertation seeks to shed a light on the socio-economic drivers of land-use change in developing countries. Taking Indonesia as an example, this thesis will specifically focus on the determinants and impacts of land-use change that are relevant for income growth of farm households in developing economies. The cumulative dissertation has five chapters, one introductory chapter and four separate papers. The first analysis within the second chapter uses a meta-analysis to explore the underlying drivers of land-use change at the farm household level across the tropics. In reviewing 91 recent empirical and theoretical studies, this chapter identifies the key determinants of households’ decisions on land-use change within the current literature. The literature on micro-level drivers on land-use change points towards micro-level economic growth (e.g. in income and capital endowments) being a strong catalyst of human-induced land-use change. Further, the review suggests that there is substantial heterogeneity among farm households regarding these endowments, which is also significantly associated with households’ land-use changes. The second paper explores how cocoa cultivation contributes to poverty reduction and whether income gains from cash crops are more volatile. The results show that cocoa cultivation is associated with strong and sustainable poverty reduction. Yet, yield gaps among cocoa smallholders remain large and are increasingly heterogeneous. Productivity heterogeneity can be traced back to farm management practices. Linking these findings to poverty transitions, results show that better management practices facilitate the transition out of poverty and shield against income losses. Having gained insights into households’ potential of cash crop cultivation, the third paper within the fourth chapter presents a dynamic ecological-economic model of land-use change. The integrated model explores the potential of landscapes with different land-use patterns to balance ecological and socio-economic goals. Within the economic submodel, smallholders’ land use and management decisions are based on a profit maximization assumption bounded by the available wealth of that household. Households’ land decisions are directly linked to the ecological submodel, which includes a simple account of carbon sequestration in aboveground and belowground vegetation. First simulations show that the relationship between carbon accumulation/storage and economic benefit might not be completely straightforward. The fourth paper complements the previous papers’ focus on the micro-level determinants of land-use change by concentrating on the broader scale effects, particularly on the trade-offs between economic gains and the loss of ecosystem functions achieved through the agricultural specialization within transformed landscapes. The analysis takes Jambi province, Indonesia, a current hotspot of rubber and oil palm monoculture, as a case study to illustrate these issues. It empirically shows that the level of specialization differs across scales, with higher specialization occurring at the household and village levels. Findings further suggest that there are gains from specialization at the farm level but that this specialization does not necessarily lead to a consolidation of smallholder farms to ever-larger units. This result can be set in the context of a conciliating landscape design within multi-functional landscapes, where land use patches of highly specialized smallholders are intermingled with areas characterized with high levels of ecosystem services

Physical activity in development of motor skills and cognitive processes in preschool children: consequences in school readiness.

A survey of the scientific literature shows that there is a large consensus in the scientific and education communities on the beneficial effects of physical activity on health; accordingly, recommendations on levels and types of activities to be performed by children and adults have been published by scientific associations and international organizations (WHO, NASPE, AAP, HAH). Good health is a fundamental right of children important for both well being and for school success; good health is also important for development of executive functions, which also contribute to well being and school readiness. Despite this correlation, the relationship between motor and cognitive development in children has not been extensively studied, also because the methodological difficulties occurring when the focus are rapidly developing human beings of age ranging from 3 to 6 years. Note that most of the studies addressing physical and cognitive competences in this population of children are based on parent's reports and interviews and that methods for objective and reliable quantitative and qualitative data acquisition have only recently been introduced. In addition, the classical view that children "mature by themselves" and that acquisition of skills depends on chronological age rather that experience, environment and cultural context is still very popular among parents and educators as well as among some components of the scientific community. On the other hand a new era on the science of development is approaching. Recent data from neuroscientific studies suggest a positive association between physical activity, physical fitness, executive functions and academic performance. In the international congress of Seattle (2013) on Child Development data were presented showing that the practice of physical activity can promote development of executive functions and school success in children; in line with these suggestions, new data were recently published (Verburgh, 2014) and more are now expected to appear. The ICSSPE (International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education) has organized a "by invitation only" symposium held in Berlin in September 2014 where a task of world experts of science, education, business and politics was asked to discuss on the scientific and practical aspects of promoting cognitive development with physical activity. In those two days of "brain storming", we concluded on the need of interdisciplinary approaches to promote both the growth of scientific knowledge and the identification and implementation of specific programs to develop school readiness in children. In that meeting some important different points of view by different cultural contexts also emerged, confirming that an ecological perspective is necessary to understand and promote motor and cognitive development. In this thesis I investigate the possible association between physical activity, physical fitness, executive functions and school achievement. In the first section I discuss the theoretical framework of development by reviewing past and recent theories of child development. In the second section I review the methodological aspects of my approach to the study of 3-6 years old children for acquiring both qualitative and quantitative information on their development. In the third section I present the data and the studies that I have performed during my PhD course addressing three basic questions: a) What is the role of the environment in developing physical activity in preschool children?” b) “How may we develop motor skills in children?” c) If and how may we develop cognitive processes by means of physical activity?". The last sections summarises and draws the conclusions of my studies that highlight the role of the environment (physical and cultural) in child physical development and proposes new approaches to physical education that may contribute to cognitive development and school readiness in preschool childre

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN ROMANIA

The purpose of this paper is to identify the main opportunities and limitations of corporate social responsibility (CSR). The survey was defined with the aim to involve the highest possible number of relevant CSR topics and give the issue a more wholesome perspective. It provides a basis for further comprehension and deeper analyses of specific CSR areas. The conditions determining the success of CSR in Romania have been defined in the paper on the basis of the previously cumulative knowledge as well as the results of various researches. This paper provides knowledge which may be useful in the programs promoting CSR.Corporate social responsibility, Supportive policies, Romania