Youth Involvement in Participatory Watershed Planning. Understanding the relationships between well-being, participatory governance, and watersheds.

The Nechako watershed is a vast landscape in north-central British Columbia that is sparsely populated, and characterized by extractive industries such forestry and mining. Due to the construction of the Kenney Dam in the upper Nechako River in the 1950s, the watershed faces unique socio-ecological challenges in balancing natural resource development, ecosystem management, and human well-being. With less than 60% of the natural flow remaining in the Nechako River, the ecosystem struggles to support the sturgeon, chinook, and sockeye salmon that were once plentiful. A major trans-national corporation owns 100% rights to the water of the Nechako river, and the people of the region struggle to regain power and influence to govern the lands that support their livelihoods. In the fall of 2015, community members in the Nechako watershed expressed a desire to better include youth in watershed planning, which resulted in this action research project. The research design was guided by the “ecohealth” approach, and employed a series of semistructured interviews to inform a strategy for meaningful youth engagement in the watershed. Individual interviews were conducted with youth as well as adults considered allies. A group interview was also conducted with youth at a local school. An inductive analysis of the interview transcripts was conducted for each group for emergent themes using initial and focused coding methods. The three groups shared similar major themes including but not limited to: 1) placebased values; 2) benefits of youth participation; 3) barriers to youth participation; 4) opportunities for youth participation; 5) youths’ awareness and concerns; 6) youths’ passions and motivations; 7) opportunities for engagement with the Nechako Watershed Portal; and 8) strategies for success. The result is a snapshot in time of the perspectives of both youth and their allies on the involvement of young people in watershed planning in the Nechako, as well as a set of recommendations to move forward with meaningful youth engagement in the watershed. Interview data revealed that youth in the Nechako are knowledgeable, concerned, and aware of regional socio-ecological issues, and eager to be part of the solution. The data also revealed that though people of all ages believe that youth participation is important, the variety and complexity of barriers facing young people may not be well understood. This lack of understanding may contribute to less beneficial opportunities for youth to engage in watershed planning, and should be a significant point of consideration for any initiatives seeking to include youth meaningfully in governance processes to enhance well-being and improve watershed management

Using psychological theory to develop and test a tool for the implementation of evidence based practice : the case of hand hygiene practice

Background: The example of evidence based practice used for this research was hand hygiene. The aim of this research was: to develop and test a theory-based diagnostic instrument to accurately and prospectively assess the barriers and levers to hand hygiene practice to inform subsequent tailoring of implementation strategies. Study One: A qualitative study was carried out with health care practitioners (n=70) and recent hospital patients (n=25) to identify barriers and levers to hand hygiene in secondary care. A thematic analysis resulted in a list of 100 barriers and levers to hand hygiene. Study Two: A two round modified Delphi survey was administered to assess the fit of barriers and levers to hand hygiene to domains of the British Psychological Society theoretical framework. Expert participants were recruited from the fields of Infection Prevention and Control (n=l1) and Health Psychology (n=10). Consensus was achieved on the fit of 99 of 100 barriers and levers to the framework. Study Three: Studies one and two informed the construction of a questionnaire-style diagnostic instrument designed to identify barriers and levers to hand hygiene. Health care practitioners (a total of 470) from four NHS hospital trusts completed questionnaires in three rounds which allowed the instrument to be refined using psychometric testing principles. The result was a 35 item instrument demonstrating good levels of reliability and validity. Study Four: The instrument was used to carry out a feasibility study to assess whether theoretically based interventions could be tailored according to assessed barriers and levers to hand hygiene and to establish the potential effectiveness of such an approach. Barriers and levers to hand hygiene were assessed with 19 junior doctors in an NHS hospital trust. It was identified that such an approach was feasible and hand hygiene audits indicated the potential effectiveness of such an approach. Conclusion: The literature suggests that implementation strategies need to be theoretically based and tailored to assessed barriers and levers to hand hygiene. This study took a step forward in addressing these findings using the example of hand hygiene

CAHW training : a facilitation manual to train community animal health workers working with the livestock vaccine value chain focused on gendered intersectional transformative approaches - Uganda

Many recognize there are multiple factors that prevent women from vaccinating their animals, most often related to gender and other intersectional issues (such as class, caste/ethnicity, disability, age, etc.). We believe that using a gendered intersectional approach to working with women livestock owners, all levels of animal health workers, and trainers will be transformative in opening up the spaces to allow for fuller participation of women in the livestock vaccine value chain. This training manual contains activities for each day of a six-day training program. The program is designed for village animal health workers and the overall objective is to enhance these workers’ capacities in using inclusive approaches in their work with community members, especially women and others from marginalized communities.Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)Global Affairs Canada (GAC

VAHW training : a facilitation manual to train village animal health workers working with the livestock vaccine value chain focused on gendered intersectional transformative approaches - Nepal

Many recognize there are multiple factors that prevent women from vaccinating their animals, most often related to gender and other intersectional issues (such as class, caste/ethnicity, disability, age, etc.). We believe that using a gendered intersectional approach to working with women livestock owners, all levels of animal health workers, and trainers will be transformative in opening up the spaces to allow for fuller participation of women in the livestock vaccine value chain. This training manual contains activities for each day of a six-day training program. The program is designed for village animal health workers and the overall objective is to enhance these workers’ capacities in using inclusive approaches in their work with community members, especially women and others from marginalized communities.Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF)Global Affairs Canada (GAC

Moderately-rapid assessment of alkaline desiccation environmental systems

A moderately-rapid assessment tool was developed to analyze the waterless desiccation compost toilet investigated in a rural Mexican setting. Over 100 social factors were identified along with the applicable technical factors that influenced the low acceptability of the toilets. A 4-point rating scale was developed to increase the ability and speed of analyzing both the social and technical data. The treatment process was an alkaline-desiccation process with mean pH values of 8.2 ± sd 1.1 and water content of 18.3% ± sd 9.9, which resulted in mean fecal coliform values of 15.0 MPN/g ± sd 31.8, drastically lower than the 1000 MPN/g United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) limit. Alkalinity, not pH, was determined to be the limiting factor in some waste samples, resulting in the need to dilute the waste with local soils. Designs were developed to reduce the unnecessarily long detention times between 0.75 to 4.4 years and improve other features, especially additive use and waste handling. Solvita® test kits were used to assess compost characteristics. Modifications, made to kit procedures to enable their use, included adjusting pH values and extending the pre-test acclimation period. With low macro-nutrient concentrations, a mean carbon/nitrogen ratio of 14.0 ± sd 6.1, and a mean volatile solids value of 15.9 ± sd 6.9 indicative of low organic matter, the finished waste had limited agricultural value, however, the treatment process did efficiently remove nitrogen in many samples and eliminate the pathogens in all of them. Mean Specific Oxygen Uptake Rate (SOUR) values of 1.4 ± sd 1.1 mg O2 / gram total solids were substantially close with the USEPA standard of 1.5. The SOUR on a volatile solids basis was not applicable. A socially and technically useful ASH/VS (inorganic/organic solids) ratio was discovered with mean concentration values of 6.8 ± sd 4.2 with most values falling within an easily explainable socially-valuable ten-point scale. The introduction of two other dry batch composting toilets created a competitive situation in the community where comparative analysis was being performed with the preferred pour-flush water toilet. If water shortages continue, the desiccation toilet’s acceptability may increase again

Mapping Change Logbook

The Mapping Change Logbook is an online mind-map of key findings and a selection of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources that enriched our research with concepts and experiments that engage the tool of critical mapping. In 4 STATIONS we have arranged 11 ENTRIES: short texts of +/- 1,600 words, written by our team, that base on inputs from the 2 workshops and our research. This booklet captures these entries. In addition, we plugged 60 DETOURS to the entries: short descriptions and links to relevant works that we highlight under 9 filters: map/image, mobilizer, workshop, scholarly, interview/podcast, field/prep note, music, video/ film, counterimaginary. The pages of these Detours in the web-logbook are only a windowsill that provides a synopsis (often a quote from descriptions by the respective authors on the sourced site) and the link to the work on the original server where it can be explored. Therefore, the Detours can only be viewed online, yet a list can be found as annex at the end of this booklet. To view the Mapping Change Logbook online visit: www.mapping-change.labor-k.org/overview