Extractive Industries

"New initiatives recognize that resource wealth can provide a means, when properly used, for poorer nations to decisively break with poverty by diversifying economies and funding development spending. Extractive Industries: The Management of Resources as a Driver of Sustainable Development explores the challenges and opportunities facing developing countries in using oil, gas, and mining to achieve inclusive change. While resource wealth can yield prosperity it can also, when mismanaged, cause acute social inequality, deep poverty, environmental damage, and political instability. There is a new determination to improve the benefits of extractive industries to their host countries, and to strengthen the sector's governance. Extractive Industries provides a comprehensive contribution to what must be done in this sector to deliver development, protect often fragile environments from damage, enhance the rights of affected communities, and support climate change action. It brings together international experts to offer ideas and recommendations in the main policy areas. With a breadth of collective insight and experience, it argues that more attention must be given to the development role of extractive industries, and looks to the future to explain how action on climate change will profoundly shape the sector's prospects.

Think big, start small : restricted room for manoeuvre by practitioners in socio-spatial planning of peripheral regions in Third World Countries

In a first part of this study van den Ham reacts to the increased free-market thinking and makes in chapter 1 a plea for continued efforts in active, public socio-spatial development policies in order to contribute to sustainable poverty alleviation in remote areas. This policy should aim at lifting restrictions, both material and socio-cultural, of people to realise their human capabilities to qualitatively and sustainably change the conditions of life and livelihood. It is argued why, from a development practitioner's perspective, it is important to understand the dynamics in both development thinking and doing. A research construct is introduced to explore the framework within which development paradigms, policies and practices at normative ( "what for" and " for whom?" ), strategic ( "how ") and operational ( "what, where, when, by and with whom?" ) level change over time. This change is assumed to be influenced by key-development practitioner's 'inner-guiding' individual beliefs and values, acquired academic insights and practical, learning-by-doing experiences. In practice the proposed policies seem to be very much constrained or stimulated by the development practitioner's appreciated, influenceable and controllable environment which are subject to changing power relations between the state, the corporate sector and civil society.In chapter 2 Veenstra elaborates the above research framework by highlighting the various components on the three axes depicting (1) inward-looking personal perspectives, focusing on habitual life-attitudes and roles of both indigenous and expatriate development practitioners (2) outward-looking, professional knowledge bases expanding in substantive, procedural as well as politico-institutional sense and (3) problem and action orientations as tried-out in time at various levels.In chapter 3 van den Ham reviews at a glance the origins of international development co-operation and the elements that in practice impact upon the outcome of foreign-supported, expatriate-staffed development projects; they relate to identification, organisational setting, the role of expatriate practitioners, co-operation with local counterparts, the time dimension, the role models in transfer of knowledge and "voice, loyal and exit" strategies of the practitioners.In the second part of the book seven case studies from Africa and Asia, all within the framework of international development assistance, are presented and related to the framework that has been introduced in the previous three chapters. In chapter 4 Veenstra explores his sequential experiences and struggles with emic and etic aspects in the evolving design of development programmes and practices in five projects in Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Yemen, Indonesia and Cameroon with special reference to area development planning and natural resource management. Both in sub-sections 4.6 and 6.3 Veenstra sums up his conclusions from outer and inner learning rounds in socio-spatial planning practices. In reaching after 'sustainable' livelihoods, -particularly in agrarian societies under patrimonial resource control in Sierra Leone, West Africa, of the 1960s-, strategic and operational incommensurabilities, with hindsight, cropped up as related to large-scale 'hard' infrastructure and agro-technical innovations. After actuality had completed its developmental course, shortcomings were, later on, laid open inside and between knowledge bases used, of corresponding policy instruments (not) employed, of statutory powers (not) granted and skilled personnel, budgets plus equipment (not) available. Above all, incongruity made itself manifest among stakeholders' normative outlooks holding sway at various territorial levels for prioritising their own resource claims. So it happened that in spite of 'common-good and great cause' intentions, 'kleptocratic' life styles both of rural and urban élites in a 'soft-state' setting were to be, distrustfully, endured.In the case of socialist single-party Tanzania of the 1970s 'integrated' rural development pointed toward self-reliance, poverty alleviation and fair distribution of social and physical infrastructure. These laudable aims were thwarted, however, by a over-burdened state-apparatus and the rural populace, of necessity, exiting both into 'black-market' sales of its produce and clientship-like distribution channels for local provision of its basic services,- without revenues for the state coffers. So, both the Tanzanian bureaucracy and its open-handed foreign-aid advisors made themselves not responsive and trust-worthy, - in terms of the 'good local governance' fashion of the 1990s. Under these adversary working conditions expatriate area planners were willy-nilly forced to self containment, - for instance, in our 'remote' case of the neglected Shinyanga Region. Here, a prudent step-by-step integration both in planning and eventual implementation was intended 'from overseas' through initially restricting sectoral, time/space, problem and resource development perspectives to prioritised, low-level and small-scale, concentrated area project packages. So, 'for the time being', long-haul normative policy making, including its medium-term strategic issues, were put aside; socio-spatial arithmetics were to prevail through index-number, factor-, and flow-analysis methods; thus entrapped, both expatriate and indigenous planning officers felt their 'rationalising' efforts being frustrated by short-sighted detachment in public choice situations - like ostriches bury sometimes their heads in the sand.In entering the 1980s, this neutral technocratic habitus was, -depending on politico-institutional contexts-, re-shaped towards those of mediatory brokers and advocates on behalf of beneficiary target groups. In the Rada'-case of North Yemen, 1981/82, phased social differentiation and changing leadership-styles in the long run were accounted for, but immediately shifting gears from operational towards strategic models of resource management emerged as leading theme. Here, in promoting still sustainable livelihoods, foreign development practitioners were to manoeuvre between the 'devil and the deep blue sea' of conflicting policy sets:on the one hand, in response to self-interests of national government headquarters and of private enterprise including 'progressive farmers', in favour of politico-institutional stability and free-market economic growth guided 'from above'; andon the other hand, in response to local community interests of deprived peasants and herdsmen in favour of equalisation, citizen participation and resource mobilisation 'from below', in combination with local value patterns and natural resources to be left in a well balanced order.After a decade of Rada'-development efforts, i.e. 1975-85, it was concluded that in spite (or because) of selectively applied, concentrated area project packages local village life remained principally unchanged; that at a higher level of district government implementation capacity improved through ad hoc foreign assistance; but that at the higher sub-national level of the province strategic planning and governance did not find their co-ordinating niche, neither divergent statesman-like leadership. Therefore, the two case-studies of Aceh in Indonesia, 1977-1986, and of the Tikar water catchment basin around 1990 in Cameroon, West Africa, refrained initially from formulating a e state, corporate sector and civil society was rather modest.In sub-sections 6.1 and 6.2 van den Ham concludes that the views of the key-players in the development projects can very much be traced to their previous experiences. The extent to which their views can be 'translated' into new approaches towards local area development is only to a small extent influenced by the 'power' of either the normative/inward-looking or the academic/outward-looking perspective of the concerned development practitioners. Effectuating the aspired 'real' participatory development, -implying redistribution of resources and (decision-making) power-, within the context of 'foreign' projects would for example run up against the resistance of vested interests; such an approach, whatever its desirability, can therefore not be pursued. Political room for manoeuvre turns out to be the determining factor in the normative domain. However, there is usually (limited) room at the strategic and operational levels. There it appears that the design and implementation of the advocated strategies and practices is guided by the (normative) disposition of the key players towards the essence of development and their perception of the (strategic) role of the various actors in the development process. These are fed by a commensurate cognitive outlook on reality as well as their practical experiences. Again, substantive 'objective' knowledge bases appear to play only a rather limited role in the actual formulation of programmes and practices. Hence, the foreign-funded socio-spatial development projects 'ploughed through' with limited, isolated and above all 'accidental' (because very much depending on the individual practitioner involved and very specific local conditions capacitating or constraining the potential actors) experiments.With a view towards the future van den Ham outlines in sub-section 6.4 a changing context for local development practitioners. As in sub-section 6.5 van den Ham explains, this changing context poses new challenges to, and requires new roles to be played by (teams of) future development practitioners. It is suggested that specific capabilities are required to more structurally and successfully address the socio-spatial inequalities from the local level upwards. Development practitioners should not only be technically trained in a number of skills that have traditionally been linked to the function of regional development officer. They rather should start with acquiring a thorough understanding of the dynamic way normative, strategic and operational dispositions are achieved in practice and can be influenced in an effective and legitimate way. Empathy towards other stakeholder's dispositions and potential contributions as actors in their own right, as well as self-critically reflecting on their own positioning, should development practitioners make more conscious of the link between personal or inner change, and social or outer change. This (un-)conscious reflection on implementation will contribute again to reshaping the perspectives on intended societal advancement and results in new approaches to deal with the outstanding issues.However, development practitioners should be aware that neither their own understanding of reality and their way to deal with it, nor the other stakeholder's positioning and his/her use of the results are fixed or value-neutral. These are all very much influenced by personal and professional life history, inner normative guidelines of individual beliefs as well as values, economic interests, gender, class - all very much time-, space- and context-bound possibilities and constraints. Therefore, it is for development practitioners highly important that they are capable of opening up space for public dialogue on the directions of development. They should be able to analyse the diverse options of the participants and identify the potential conflict of interest that will occur among the various stakeholders, before certain positions getting accepted as "appreciated' and translating them in (normatively) disputable strategies, projects and programmes.In addition to the 'traditional' technical skills in economics, regional science, physical geography, public administration, data management etc., communicative and analytical skills as well as abilities in the field of conflict prevention and resolution are needed to (help) translating the normative dispositions in strategic and operational terms. Next to engaging actor groups in shaping development processes, local development practitioners should also be able to facilitate reconciliation of the claims of people living in poverty with those of other contesting actor groups and to integrate them in the framework of (central) state policies. Thus, the development practitioner should facilitate that lower-level needs, aspirations and potentials meet response at the higher influenceable/strategic and appreciated/normative levels with the ultimate aim of creating an effectively enabling environment that continuously facilitates and supports people to build sustainably upon their own strengths.</p

Occupational health and safety for informal sector workers: the case of street traders in Nigeria

This study examined two important types of occupational hazards in the street trading activities in Nigeria which are (i) injuries sustained from road traffic accident and (ii) harassment of traders through indiscriminate arrest, seizure and confiscation of merchandise and occasional incarceration of sellers in police cells without trials. The data for the study was generated from a 2011 national survey of 3,873 street traders in Nigeria which was made possible through a research grant provided by the Covenant University’s Centre for Research and Development. In addition to the descriptive statistics used in profiling the street traders, the binary logistic regression approach was also used to estimate the log of odds of experiencing occupational hazards in street trading activities. The study found out that 25% of the traders have suffered injury, while 49.1% have experienced harassment from public authority officials. Given these findings, policy measures that are capable of enhancing the safety of street traders, and stem urban-ward migration have been proposed

Proceedings of the West Africa Built Environment Research (WABER) Conference 2021

FOREWORD: I would like to welcome each participant to the WABER 2021 Conference. Since its inception in 2009, the WABER Conference series has done a great deal to nurture and support researchers, initially in West Africa, also, in other parts of Africa and elsewhere. I would like to thank all delegates for your participation which enables us to keep this Conference going. The WABER Conference enjoys a positive international reputation and has continued to grow from strength to strength over the past 13 years. For this, I would like to thank our team, keynote speakers and participants over the years for every contribution you have made to the success of this Conference. This year's Conference has an excellent programme, line up of speakers and authors. I would like to thank and commend the authors of all 72 papers in this Conference proceedings. If the research paper writing process was compared to a marathon, the authors of the 72 papers in this publication would be adjudged as the ones who have endured and finished the race. We opened the call for papers for this Conference in December 2020 and over 100 abstracts were submitted by authors. However, it is one thing to propose to write a paper, and it is quite another thing to actually write the paper. Therefore, I would like to thank and congratulate all authors who succeeded in completing the process of getting published in this conference proceedings. It is befitting that we have an excellent range of interesting topics in the 72 papers to be discussed at this conference. We are honoured to welcome Professor Charles Egbu, Vice Chancellor of Leeds Trinity University, to give us a special opening address. In the three days of this conference, we will have various plenary presentations by experienced international academics and I would like to thank and welcome each of them below. Professor Albert Chan Richard Lorch Professor Taibat Lawanson Professor Dato’ Sri Ar Dr Asiah Abdul Rahim Professor George Ofori. In addition to these speakers, we have other interesting sessions on the programme including a special session for doctoral students and supervisors several other experienced speakers addressing various topics that should be of interest to many of us. I would like to thank all members of the organising team particularly Associate Professor Emmanuel Essah, Dr Yakubu Aminu Dodo and Dr Sam Moveh for their efforts which has helped to organise this Conference successfully. I would also like to thank all of our reviewers particularly Associate Professor Emmanuel Essah and Dr Haruna Moda for the considerable time and effort spent reviewing and checking all papers to ensure a high standard of quality. The WABER Conference Team always plays an excellent role in the success of our events and I would like to thank and appreciate the contributions of Florence, Sam Boakye, Victor Ayitey and his team, Kwesi Kwofie and Issah Abdul Rahman to the success of this Conference. I hope you enjoy our first hybrid conference and engage with our exciting speakers on the diverse topics that will be covered over the three days of this Conference

Towards a practical ecclesiology for urban Scotland

This research is praxiological in nature, arising out of committed action and leading to more informed urban ecclesiological practice in Scotland. It acknowledges the current haemorrhaging of membership and influence facing the Church of Scotland - felt most acutely in the poorest parts of the country - and seeks to plot a practical urban ecclesiology which takes seriously both the urban context and also the gospel priority towards the poorest and most marginalised. Chapter One provides an autobiographical backcloth to the research and highlights the three core principles underlying it: a preferential option for the poor; an understanding of knowledge as situated; and a commitment to an abductive research process. Chapter Two outlines the research methodology and, in particular, justifies the use of Case Studies, with Focus Groups and semi-structured Interviews, as an appropriate research model. Chapter Three focuses on the nature of the post-industrial city. It highlights globalisation, environmentalism and the collapse of western-style democracy as three of the key issues in the current urban context. It considers post-war urban regeneration, highlighting the failings of a model substantially dominated by buildings and a top-down strategy. Chapter Four is concerned with the nature of poverty in Scotland today, including how such poverty can be defined and measured. The causes of poverty are understood structurally and a particular critique of New Labour's social inclusion policies is offered, based on an analysis of their underlying political philosophy of communitarianism and the Third Way. Chapter Five draws on the different theological and ecclesiological responses to the urban and to poverty and, in particular, upon Latin American Liberation Theology and Urban Theology in Britain since 1985. Through an exploration of Pentecostalism, it highlights the need to develop appropriate ecclesiological models which take the nature of rooted hybrid spirituality more seriously. In Chapter Six the focus of the research narrows down to look at Glasgow, giving consideration to both the effectiveness of the city's place-marketing strategy and also some of the patterns of church life in the city. Chapter Seven focuses upon four Case Studies. These affirm and inform the conclusions reached in previous chapters, highlighting the failure of urban policy to adequately address poverty and the need of the Church to move beyond a 'project-based' response. The research also highlights the importance of church buildings as places of sanctuary and of the 'cultural sectarianism' which continues to pervade the culture of west central Scotland. Chapter Eight represents an attempt to return to informed practice, highlighting how some of the key concepts and findings within the research are informing the developing strategy and practice of the Church of Scotland's Priority Areas Committee

The Music Sound

A guide for music: compositions, events, forms, genres, groups, history, industry, instruments, language, live music, musicians, songs, musicology, techniques, terminology , theory, music video. Music is a human activity which involves structured and audible sounds, which is used for artistic or aesthetic, entertainment, or ceremonial purposes. The traditional or classical European aspects of music often listed are those elements given primacy in European-influenced classical music: melody, harmony, rhythm, tone color/timbre, and form. A more comprehensive list is given by stating the aspects of sound: pitch, timbre, loudness, and duration. Common terms used to discuss particular pieces include melody, which is a succession of notes heard as some sort of unit; chord, which is a simultaneity of notes heard as some sort of unit; chord progression, which is a succession of chords (simultaneity succession); harmony, which is the relationship between two or more pitches; counterpoint, which is the simultaneity and organization of different melodies; and rhythm, which is the organization of the durational aspects of music