Urban food strategies in Central and Eastern Europe: what's specific and what's at stake?

Integrating a larger set of instruments into Rural Development Programmes implied an increasing focus on monitoring and evaluation. Against the highly diversified experience with regard to implementation of policy instruments the Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework has been set up by the EU Commission as a strategic and streamlined method of evaluating programmes’ impacts. Its indicator-based approach mainly reflects the concept of a linear, measure-based intervention logic that falls short of the true nature of RDP operation and impact capacity on rural changes. Besides the different phases of the policy process, i.e. policy design, delivery and evaluation, the regional context with its specific set of challenges and opportunities seems critical to the understanding and improvement of programme performance. In particular the role of local actors can hardly be grasped by quantitative indicators alone, but has to be addressed by assessing processes of social innovation. This shift in the evaluation focus underpins the need to take account of regional implementation specificities and processes of social innovation as decisive elements for programme performance.

Atlas of Social Innovation. 2nd Volume: A World of New Practices

The Atlas of Social Innovation series provides a comprehensive overview of the multifaceted manifestations and practices of social innovation from a global perspective. This second volume brings together leading experts of the field. In 43 articles, the atlas gives new insights into current trends of social innovation research and its connection to other schools of thought and research traditions. The conceptual underpinnings of the contributions draw upon the experiences of a variety of disciplines contributing to the rich, multi-layered nature of the phenomenon. By building up a knowledge repository for a growing community of practitioners, policy makers and researchers, the book opens up new avenues to unfold the potential of social innovation

Towards transformation of the development model in Latin America and the Caribbean: production, inclusion and sustainability

In a regional and international context of weak growth, high inflation and growing inequality, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean must focus policies on reactivating, rebuilding and transforming economic and production systems to advance towards low-carbon and high-tech economies that address climate change and reduce their historical gaps, structural heterogeneity and dualism. This document considers the complex conditions that pose significant challenges to accelerating growth, tackling high inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, maintaining transfers to the most vulnerable households, mitigating the social costs of the crisis and boosting investment. Its chapters analyse the dynamics of globalization and the policy challenges in changing the production structure and moving towards sustainable development. In addition, they consider strategies for reducing inequality and creating universal protection systems and decent jobs in a challenging world. Nine strategic sectors expected to drive a big push for sustainability are examined through the prism of green growth. The document concludes with policy recommendations for advancing towards a renewed model for inclusive and sustainable growth.Foreword .-- I. The present and future of globalization: crises, environmental emergency .-- II. Production structure and policies for sustainable development .-- III. Inequality, employment and social policy .-- IV. Sectoral considerations: drivers of sustainable development .-- V. Policies to transform the development model .-- Tables

I.i.k: Betty Lou Brown-Chappell, Friends of Betty and Her Parents, Benjamin Franklin and Clara Lucielle Brown, Book 1

Betty Lou Brown-Chappell, Friends of Betty and Her Parents, Benjamin Franklin and Clara Lucielle Brown, Book

A digital path for sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean

The rapid advance of digital technologies and their increasingly cross-cutting applications have driven global transformations that are affecting the entire economy and all of society. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic marked a turning point in terms of how widely digital solutions are used, as they became vital tools for maintaining social and productive activities under the restrictions on face-to-face activities and movement put in place during the health emergency. This more widespread adoption of digital technologies —especially of the most advanced ones linked to intensive use of data and smart solutions— is disrupting consumption, business and production models, enabling new forms of value creation with potential impacts on well-being, economic competitiveness and care for the environment. Today, digitalization is seen as a key instrument for the transition to a new, more inclusive and sustainable development model. However, the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean still face a series of structural challenges that prevent effective adoption of digital technologies. Progress towards an inclusive and sustainable digital transformation requires a number of measures and actions, which are addressed in this document

Agroecology Now!

This open access book develops a framework for advancing agroecology transformations focusing on power, politics and governance. It explores the potential of agroecology as a sustainable and socially just alternative to today’s dominant food regime. Agroecology is an ecological approach to farming that addresses climate change and biodiversity loss while contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals. Agroecology transformations represent a challenge to the power of corporations in controlling food system and a rejection of the industrial food systems that are at the root of many social and ecological ills. In this book the authors analyse the conditions that enable and disable agroecology’s potential and present six ‘domains of transformation’ where it comes into conflict with the dominant food system. They argue that food sovereignty, community-self organization and a shift to bottom-up governance are critical for the transformation to a socially just and ecologically viable food system. This book will be a valuable resource to researchers, students, policy makers and professionals across multidisciplinary areas including in the fields of food politics, international development, sustainability and resilience

REDD+ and Climate Smart Agriculture in landscapes : from national design to local implementation

Global challenges posed by an increasing food demand and climate change call for innovative mechanisms that consider both agriculture and forests. Agriculture and forests are deeply interconnected in mosaic landscapes, just as multiple pieces of the same puzzle. These pieces are handled by numerous stakeholders with different and often contrasting goals. Hence landscape management is steered by power, access to scarce resources, but also vulnerability and hazards. In this thesis I analyze the roles each stakeholder plays on these dynamics, including policy makers, agribusiness actors and subsistence farmers. I explore landscapes as interconnected tiles of a game, in which players are real stakeholders and their goals determine land use dynamics on the game board just as in reality. Sometimes agreements made in the game translate to real-life actions influencing policy and management decisions. Other times the game is just fun and eventually contributes to social learning and trust. </p

Changing Paradigms : Designing for a Sustainable Future

Changing Paradigms: designing for a sustainable future is intended for designers, design students and design educators, who want to understand why and how to integrate Sustainability into design education and practice. It consists of five parts; Part One presents why we must design for a sustainable future, Part Two describes how to design for a sustainable future, Part Three presents student design projects exemplifying sustainable design, Part Four is a glossary of 120 terms and concepts about Sustainability and design, and finally, Part Five includes three appendices: The Cumulus Kyoto Design Declaration, and guidelines on how to green both school campuses and conferences. This book has been edited by Peter Stebbing and Ursula Tischner, who have invited internationally renown experts to contribute chapters. Changing Paradigms offers a comprehensive survey of essential knowledge for designers and other creative professions to shift their focus to the new design paradigm for sustainable production, consumption, and life styles