Trends and challenges of mathematic education in Mozambique (1975-2016)

Mathematics has always been a difficult issue, especially in the African countries. Mozambique is not an exception. This country had been colonized by Portugal until 1975. When the independence was obtained, a socialist regime was adopted (1977). The learning of mathematics entered the struggle against colonial and imperialistic ideas. Its best ally was Paulus Gerdes, one of the most relevant ethnomatematicians of the world, who carried out an intense promotion of this approach to mathematics in Mozambican school system. Albeit the great international impact of Gerdes’ ideas, Mozambique never implemented his methodology. When, at the end of the 80s, the country changed from socialism to liberalism, voting a democratic Constitution in 1990, its school system was aligned to the measures of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB). The most recent ones are represented by the Millennium Development Goals. Despite the various reforms of Mozambican school system, the results of Mozambican children in mathematics are among the worst in Africa. The reasons of such a failure are here explained, through a historical approach based on national documents. The most recent experiences of school reform carried out by international agencies together with national institutions are stressed. The negative results obtained by the Mozambican learners as to mathematics are due to several reasons: 1) a lack of consideration of the Mozambican cultural substrate; 2) an improper massification of the school system, where the quality of instruction has been neglected; 3) the specific choice to marginalize mathematics education.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Le développement économique régional, la politique et les disparités régionales des grands territoires : le cas du Canada et de la Chine

Résumé Depuis le début des années 1990, la recherche sur le développement régional a pris une importance considérable dans les disciplines de l’économie et de la géographie dans la plupart des pays. De nombreuses études ont été consacrées à ce sujet et l’on constate une approche analytique de plus en plus sophistiquée. Que les économies pauvres ont tendance à converger vers les pays riches, ou bien à diverger au fil du temps est une question qui a attiré l'attention des décideurs et des universitaires depuis quelques décennies. Convergence ou de divergence économique est un sujet d'intérêt et de débat, non seulement pour valider ou non les deux modèles principaux de croissance qui sont considérés comme concurrent (l’approche néo-classique et celle des approches de croissance endogène), mais aussi pour ses implications pour les publiques politiques. En se basant sur une analyse des politiques de développement régional et des analyses statistiques de la convergence et des disparités régionales, les objectifs de cette thèse sont de tenter de fournir une explication des différents processus et des modèles de développement économique régional poursuivis dans le cas de territoires immenses en utilisant le Canada et la Chine comme études de cas, d'entreprendre une analyse des différents facteurs et des forces motrices qui sous-tendent le développement régional dans ces deux pays, et d'explorer à la fois les réussites et les échecs apparents dans les politiques de développement régional en comparant et contrastant les expériences de développement régional et les modèles de ces deux pays. A fin d'atteindre cet objectif, la recherche utilise une approche multi-scalaire et des méthodes de mesure multidimensionnelle dans le cadre des analyses sur les disparités « régionales » entre les macro régions (sous-ensembles de provinces) des deux pays, des provinces et des régions urbaines sélectionnées, dans le but ultime d’identifier des problèmes existants en termes de développement régional et de pouvoir proposer des solutions. Les étapes principales de la recherche sont : 1. La cueillette des données statistiques pour le Canada et la Chine (incluant les provinces de Québec et de Xinjiang) pour une gamme d’indicateurs (voir ci-dessous). 2. D’entreprendre une analyse de chaque dimension dans les deux juridictions: Population (p.ex. composition, structure, changement); Ressources (p. ex. utilisation, exploitation de l’énergie); Environnement (p.ex. la pollution); et le Développement socioéconomique (p.ex. le développement et la transformation des secteurs clé, et les modèles de développement rural et urbain), et les disparités changeantes par rapport à ces dimensions. 3. La définition d’une typologie de différents types de région en fonction de leurs trajectoires de développement, ce qui servira pour critiquer l’hypothèse centre-périphérie. 4. Le choix d’une région métropolitaine dans chaque juridiction (province). 5. D’entreprendre une analyse temporelle des événements clé (politiques, investissements) dans chaque région et les facteurs impliqués dans chaque événement, en utilisant l’information documentaire générale et des agences institutionnelles impliqués actuellement et dans un passée récent. Cette étude a tenté d'expliquer les schémas et les processus des deux économies, ainsi que la présentation d'études de cas qui illustrent et examinent les différences dans les deux économies à partir de l’échelle nationale jusqu’au niveau régional et provincial et aussi pour certaines zones urbaines. Cette étude a essayé de répondre aux questions de recherche comme: Est-il vrai que les pays avec des plus grandes territoires sont associés avec des plus grandes disparités interrégionales? Quel est le résultat des comparaisons entre pays développés et pays en développement? Quels sont les facteurs les plus importants dans le développement économique de vastes territoires dans les pays développés et pays en développement? Quel est le mécanisme de convergence et de divergence dans les pays développés et, respectivement, les pays en développement? Dans l'introduction à la thèse, le cadre général de l'étude est présenté, suivie dans le chapitre 1 d'une discussion sur les théories et les concepts utilisés dans la littérature théorique principale qui est pertinent à l'étude. Le chapitre 2 décrit la méthodologie de recherche. Le chapitre 3 présente une vue d'ensemble des politiques de développement économique régional et les programmes du Canada et de la Chine dans des périodes différentes à différentes échelles. Au chapitre 4, la convergence des deux pays à l'échelle nationale et la convergence provinciale pour chaque pays sont examinés en utilisant différentes méthodes de mesure telles que les méthodes traditionnelles, la convergence bêta et la convergence sigma. Dans le chapitre le plus complexe, le chapitre 5, les analyses comparatives sont présentées à l'aide de données statistiques, à partir des analyses des cas régionaux et provinciaux retenus des deux pays. Au chapitre 6, ces dispositions sont complétées par une analyse des régions urbaines choisies, qui permet également des aperçus sur les régions les plus périphériques. Dans la recherche proposée pour cette thèse, la politique, la population, le revenu, l'emploi, la composition industrielle, l'investissement, le commerce et le facteur de la migration sont également pris en compte comme facteurs importants de l'analyse régionale compte tenu de la superficie du territoire des deux pays et les différences de population entre eux. Cette thèse a évalué dans quelle mesure les politiques gouvernementales ont réussi à induire la convergence régionale ou ont encore ont creusé davantage les disparités régionales, ce qui implique nécessairement une évaluation de la durabilité des patrons et des programmes de développement régional. Cette étude a également mis l'accent sur les disparités régionales et la politique de développement régional, les comparaisons entre pays, pour mesurer la convergence entre les pays et entre les régions, y compris l'analyse spatiale, d'identifier les facteurs les plus actifs tels que la population, les ressources, la politique, l'urbanisation, les migrations, l'ouverture économique et leurs différents rôles dans le développement économique de ces grands territoires (au Canada et Chine). Les résultats empiriques et les processus de convergence et de divergence offrent un cadre intéressant pour l'examen de la trajectoire de développement régionales et les disparités régionales dans les deux économies. L'approche adoptée a révélé les différentes mosaïques complexes du développement régional dans les deux pays. Les résultats de cette étude ont démontré que la disparité en termes de revenu régional est une réalité dans chaque zone géographique, et que les causes sont nombreuses et complexes. Les deux économies ont certains parallèles dans la mise en œuvre des politiques de développement économique régional, mais il existe des différences importantes aussi et elles se sont développées à différentes vitesses. Les deux économies se sont développées depuis la Seconde Guerre mondiale, mais la Chine a connu une croissance rapide que le Canada comme témoignent de nombreux indicateurs depuis 1980. Cependant, la Chine est maintenant confrontée à un certain nombre de problèmes économiques et sociaux, y compris les disparités régionales marquées, un fossé toujours croissant entre les revenus ruraux et urbains, une population vieillissante, le chômage, la pauvreté et la dégradation rapide de l'environnement avec toujours plus de demandes en énergie. Le développement économique régional en Chine est plus déséquilibré. Le Canada accuse un degré de disparités régionales et provinciales moins important que la Chine. Dans les cas provinciaux, il existe d'importantes différences et de disparités dans la structure économique et spatiale du Québec et du Xinjiang. Les disparités infra provinciales sont plus grandes que celles à l’échelle des provinces et des grandes régions (des sous-ensembles de provinces). Les mécanismes de convergence et de divergence dans les deux pays sont différents. Les résultats empiriques et les processus de convergence et de divergence offrent un cadre intéressant pour l'examen de la trajectoire de développement régionale et les disparités régionales dans les deux économies. Cette étude démontre également que l'urbanisation (les métropoles et les villes) s’avère être le facteur le plus actif et contribue à l'économie régionale dans ces grands territoires. L'ouverture a joué un rôle important dans les économies des deux pays. La migration est un facteur majeur dans la stimulation de l'économie des deux pays mais de façons différentes. Les résultats empiriques démontrent que les disparités régionales ne peuvent pas être évitées et elles existent presque partout. Il n'y a pas une formule universelle et de politiques spécifiques sont de mise pour chaque région. Mais il semble possible pour les décideurs politiques nationaux et régionaux d’essayer de maintenir l'écart à une échelle raisonnable pour éviter l'instabilité sociale.Abstract Whether poor economies tend to converge towards rich ones or else to diverge over time is an issue that has attracted the attention of policy-makers and academics alike for some decades. Economic convergence or divergence is a topic of con¬siderable interest and debate, not only for validating or otherwise the two leading and competing growth models (the neoclassical and the endogenous growth approaches) but also for its policy-oriented implications. The conflicting predictions of the two alternative theoretical frameworks (endogenous versus exogenous development approaches) have given rise to an explosion of empirical studies especially since 2000. Significant progress has been made in dynamic modeling under the neoclassical model and endogenous growth models. The new economic geography approach, which emerged in the early 1990s, has gained much attraction for its arguments on centralizing and decentralizing forces in geographic economic space, which could lead to convergence or divergence of regional incomes. A similar set of issues and questions have been posed in relation to patterns of convergence or divergence between different regions of a given country. Based on an analysis of regional development policies and statistical analyses of convergence and regional disparities, the research objectives of this thesis are to attempt to provide an explanation of the different processes and patterns of regional economic development in large territories (countries) using Canada and China as examples, to undertake an analysis of the different factors and driving forces underlying regional development in both countries, and to explore both the apparent successes and failures in regional development policy through comparing and contrasting the regional development experiences and models of these two countries. In order to achieve this objective, the research uses a multiscalar approach and multivariate measurement methods in the course of investigating regional disparities across both countries’ macro regions (sub-sets of provinces), provinces and selected city regions. The overall approach has involved: 1. Gathering statistical data for Canada and China (including provinces as well as the selected provinces of Xinjiang and Quebec) for a range of variables (see below). 2. Undertaking an analysis of each selected dimension in the two jurisdictions: Population (e.g. composition, structure, change); Resources (e.g. energy resources); Environment (e.g. pollution); and Socio-Economic Development (e.g. development and change for key economic sectors, and rural and urban development patterns), and changing disparities on these dimensions. 3. Defining a typology of different types of region based on development trajectories that are used as the basis for questioning the core-periphery hypothesis. 4. Selecting a metropolitan region in each jurisdiction. 5. Undertaking a temporal analysis of major events (policies, investment,) and the factors involved in these events in each chosen region, using statistical and documentary evidence. This study has tried to explain the patterns and processes of both economies as well as presenting case studies which illustrate and examine the differences in both economies from the national to regional and provincial scales and for some urban areas. This study has focused on trying to answer research questions such as: Is it true that large territorial countries have larger interregional disparities? What are the results of comparisons between developed and developing countries? What are the most influential indicators (in a statistical sense) in the economic development of large territories in developed and developing countries? What are the mechanisms of convergence and divergence in large territories in developed and developing countries? This thesis has assessed whether government policies have succeeded in inducing regional convergence or have further widened regional disparities, thus necessarily involving an evaluation of the sustainability of patterns and programmes of regional development. This study also focused on regional disparity and regional development policy, and cross-country comparisons, for measuring convergence between countries and across regions including spatial analysis, and identified the most active factors such as population, resources, policy, urbanization, migration, openness and their different roles in the economic development of large territories (in Canada and China). The empirical results and the process of convergence and divergence offered an interesting framework for examining the regional development trajectory and regional disparities in both economies. In the introduction to the thesis, the general framework of the study is presented, followed in Chapter 1 by a discussion of the theories and concepts used in the principal theoretical literature relevant to the study. Chapter 2 outlines the research methodology. Chapter 3 presents an overall perspective of the regional economic development policies and programmes of Canada and China in different periods at different scales. In Chapter 4, cross-country convergence between Canada and China at the national scale and within country provincial convergence for each country is examined using different measurement methods such as traditional methods, and beta convergence and sigma convergence analyses. In the most complex chapter, Chapter 5, comparative analyses are presented using statistical data, moving from analyses of the two countries to analyses of the broad regions and the provincial cases retained. In Chapter 6, this is complemented by an analysis of selected urban regions which also provides some insights on the more peripheral rural regions. In this thesis, policy, population, income, employment, industrial composition, investment, trade and migration factors are also considered important factors of regional analysis given the territorial size of the two countries and the population differences between them. The approach adopted revealed the different complex mosaics of regional development in both countries. The results of this study demonstrated that disparity in regional income is a reality in every geographically large area, the causes of which are numerous and complex. Both economies have some parallels in the implementation of regional economic development policies, but there are important differences as well and they have been implemented at different speeds. Both economies have developed since the Second World War but China has grown faster than Canada on many indicators since 1980. However, China is now faced with a number of economic and social problems, including pronounced regional disparities, an increasing rural-urban income gap, an aging population, unemployment, poverty and rapid environmental degradation with ever-increasing energy demands. Regional economic development in China is more unbalanced. Canada has a lesser degree of regional and provincial disparity than China. At the provincial level, there are significant differences and disparities in the economic and spatial structure of Quebec and Xinjiang. Sub-provincial disparity is larger than provincial and broad regional (sub-sets of provinces) disparities. The mechanisms of convergence and divergence in both countries are different. The empirical results and the process of convergence and divergence offered an interesting framework for examining the regional development trajectory and regional disparity in both economies. This study also shows that urbanization (metropolitan and cities) was found to be the most active factor contributing to the regional economy in large territories. Openness has played a significant role in the economies of both countries. Migration is a major factor in boosting the economy in both countries but in different ways. The empirical results show that regional disparity cannot be avoided in either economy. There is not a specific universal formula and policy for every country and region. Regional disparities represent a development challenge in a large territory (or country). The persistence of large regional disparities may pose a threat to a country’s territorial integrity and affect its political unity. But it appears possible for national and regional policy makers to try to keep the disparity at a reasonable scale to avoid social instability

Examining Business Perceptions of a Pollutant Release and Transfer Register in China: A Case Study in Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area

Pollutant Release and Transfer Registers (PRTRs) have been adopted in developed countries since 1970s to help stimulate public participation, facilitate environmental regulation and promote industrial transformation, but have not been widely established in developing countries. In China, environmental pollution is increasing rapidly and has reached severe levels as a result of economic development in the absence of effective environmental regulation and adequate public pressure. During the current exploratory period for establishing a PRTR, China needs support and knowledge when it concerns PRTR schemes and the mechanisms of improving business behaviour. Aiming to examine the Chinese context and facilitate the implementation of PRTR, the author took a three months’ field research with survey, interviews and symposiums in Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA) for the research. With how the business perceive a PRTR in China and how implementation need to be adjusted as the main research questions, the thesis author took a corporate angle and identified the main strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) for companies to implement a PRTR scheme in China. Based on this, the thesis author also suggests a governmental action model, formed of setting the platform, making preparation and providing incentives for businesses, to facilitate the implementation of PRTRs in China, which has the potential to inform policy makers and to be transferred into other parts of China

An Economic History of China

An Economic History of China by Chou Chin-sheng: Subjective idealism, whether Chinese or European, boils down to spiritualism. Pre-Marxist materialism boils down to the reduction of man to a thing, as it fails to recognize that not only does the natural environment (sunspots, China as a continental rather than a seacoast-dominated geographic entity) act on man, but that man reacts on his environment too. The same is true of the school of social or economic materialism founded by Marx. At best, materialism provides the objective element in history; the spiritual element must remain history\u27s motive force. In earliest times the material forces predominated in man\u27s history, but the trend has been for the immaterial forces to grow in strength with time until now they can (as in the accomplishments of modern science) reshape the material forces themselves. Only the historical viewpoint of Sun Yat-sen\u27s People\u27s Livelihood adequately synthesizes the strong points of spiritualism and both varieties of materialism, making them inseparable facets of itself, the center of human history. It sees human progress as a spiritual process, but one inextricably linked to continuous improvement in material production.https://cedar.wwu.edu/easpress/1019/thumbnail.jp

Analysis of bank efficiency of Chinese commercial banks and the effects of institutional changes on bank efficiency.

This study contributes to the well-established efficiency literature with respect to transition economies and developing counties. Although bank efficiency has been a popular research area in both developed countries and less developed nations, it has been scarce in China mainly due to the lack of data. This study is considered as the first study that comprehensively investigates bank performance using multiple methodologies of financial ratio analysis and stochastic frontier analysis for the period of 1995-2005. The effects of a variety of governance changes have also been differentiated in order to providing policy recommendations for the on-going banking reform. Meanwhile, this study has addressed a number of methodological issues and has developed a more comprehensive stochastic distance function model by combining advantages of existing models, approaches, methods and procedures. Having experienced fundamental banking reforms for more than a quarter of century, the Chinese banking System has stridden towards a modem banking System with significant improvements in profitability, capitalization, and assets quality. Despite of these observed improvements, the banking system is still associated with relatively low profitability and capitalization, poor asset quality, and less liquidity, when benchmarking to 7 selected international renowned banks. One of the most impressive progresses has been the significant decrease in both outstanding NPLs balance and NPL ratio. However, it has noticed that the threat of NPLs problem to the economy as a whole remains unsolved. This study has rationalized economic foundations for the banking reform in China being the principal-agent theory and the budgetary constraint theory. The performance of Chinese banks has been improved and the estimated effîciency level is consistently at 75% in terms of technical efficiency, cost efficiency and profit efficiency. Employing the method of Berger et al. (2005), this study has jointly analyzed the static, selection and dynamic effects of governance changes. Joint-stock ownership has resulted in outstanding performance, while state ownership has been associated with low technical efficiency and profit efficiency but high cost efficiency. Foreign banks are more profit efficient but less cost and technical efficient (static effects). Foreign investors have rationally made their investment decisions by selecting more cost and technical efficient domestic banks, while less profitable domestic banks have been chosen for going public in line with government intension of reforming the unprofitable SOCBs (selection effects). Attracting foreign strategic investors and encouraging banks going public are two major partial privatization strategies, which have been generally proved as effective reform measures. The former tends to have positive impacts on technical efficiency and cost efficiency, while significant short-term gains in profit efficiency have faded in the long-term. The expected profit advantage of foreign ownership seems to take an even longer time to be realized. Going public strategy has resulted in performance improvement in the long-term after short-term losses (dynamic effects). We can not form a conclusion on whether the reform has succeeded, while what we can conclude is the reform is on the track with right direction. It is important to construct good corporate governance, but it is more important to ensure the good governance functioning. If those deep-rooted problems, such as government intervention and NPL problem, can not be dealt with properly in the near future, the chance of success is very small. Thus, our policy recommendations include consolidating up-to-date reform achievements, improving bank's managerial and operational skills, and reducing state's share in banks to lessen government interventions. Estimated efficiency is found to be sensitive to the differences in the definitions of outputs and inputs, especially in the presence of high level of NPLs. The income-based model is superior to the earning assets-based model in the estimation of technical efficiency. Similarly, profit efficiency appears to be more appropriate performance measures over cost efficiency. However, we suggest the use of multiple models and measures to reveal more valuable information. Moreover, in estimating cost function and alternative profit function, market average input prices are found to be more appropriate than banks' specific input prices

Tourism in contemporary cities. Proceedings of the International Tourism Studies Association Conference: University of Greenwich, London, UK 17–19 August 2016 Conference Proceedings

The 6th International Tourism Studies Association (ITSA) Biennial conference was held at the University of Greenwich, London, England from 17‐19 August 2016. This was the first time that the conference had been held in Europe and it provided a unique opportunity to meet, hear from and network with tourism scholars and professionals from across Europe, Asia, Australasia, and North and South America. ITSA has a mission to encourage interaction and cooperation between developing and developed countries and the conference was successful in attracting 130 delegates from 29 countries. The main theme of the conference was 'Tourism in Contemporary Cities' with four conference sub‐themes of ‘Tourism Cities and Urban Tourism’, ‘The Chinese Market for European Tourism’, ‘River, Cruise and Maritime Tourism’, and ‘Heritage Tourism in Cities’, The subthemes were chosen to reflect the unique location of the conference on the UNESCO Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site, and London which is Europe’s most visited tourist destination. The conference also presented ‘Dark Tourism and Cities’ and ‘Tourism and Communist Heritage’ as special sessions

Proceedings of Abstracts 10th International Conference on Air Quality Science and Application

This 10th International Conference in Air Quality - Science and Application is being held in the elegant and vibrant city of Milan, Italy. Our local hosts are ARIANET and ARPA Lombardia both of whom play a leading role in assessing and managing air pollution in the area. The meeting builds upon the series that began at the University of Hertfordshire, UK in July 1996. Subsequent meetings have been held at the Technical University of Madrid, Spain (1999), Loutraki, Greece (2001), Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic (2003), Valencia, Spain (2005), Cyprus (2007), Istanbul, Turkey (2009) Athens, Greece (2012) and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany (2014). Over the last two decades controls to limit air pollution have increased but the problem of poor air quality persists in all cities of the world. Consequently, the issue of the quality of air that we breathe remains at the forefront of societal concerns and continues to demand the attention of scientists and policy makers to reduce health impacts and to achieve sustainable development. Although urbanisation is growing in terms of population, transport, energy consumption and utilities, science has shown that impact from air pollution in cities is not restricted to local scales but depends on contributions from regional and global scales including interactions with climate change. Despite improvements in technology, users still demand robust management and assessment tools to formulate effective control policies and strategies for reducing the health impact of air pollution. The topics of papers presented at the conference reflect the diversity of scales, processes and interactions affecting air pollution and its impact on health and the environment. As usual, the conference is stimulating cross-fertilisation of ideas and cooperation between the different air pollution science and user communities. In particular, there is greater involvement of city, regional and global air pollution, climate change, users and health communities at the meeting. This international conference brings together scientists, users and policy makers from across the globe to discuss the latest scientific advances in our understanding of air pollution and its impacts on our health and environment. In addition to the scientific advances, the conference will also seek to highlight applications and developments in management strategies and assessment tools for policy and decision makers. This volume presents a collection of abstracts of papers presented at the Conference. The main themes covered in the Conference include: Air quality and impact on regional to global scales Development/application/evaluation of air quality and related models Environmental and health impact resulting from air pollution Measurement of air pollutants and process studies Source apportionment and emission models/inventories Urban meteorology Special session: Air quality impacts of the increasing use of biomass fuels Special session: Air quality management for policy support and decisions Special session: Air pollution meteorology from local to global scales Special session: Climate change and human health Special Session: Modelling and measuring non-exhaust emissions from traffic Special session: Transport related air pollution - PM and its impact on cities and across EuropeFinal Published versio

Infrastructure Design, Signalling and Security in Railway

Railway transportation has become one of the main technological advances of our society. Since the first railway used to carry coal from a mine in Shropshire (England, 1600), a lot of efforts have been made to improve this transportation concept. One of its milestones was the invention and development of the steam locomotive, but commercial rail travels became practical two hundred years later. From these first attempts, railway infrastructures, signalling and security have evolved and become more complex than those performed in its earlier stages. This book will provide readers a comprehensive technical guide, covering these topics and presenting a brief overview of selected railway systems in the world. The objective of the book is to serve as a valuable reference for students, educators, scientists, faculty members, researchers, and engineers

Sustainable competitive advantage in maternal and child healthcare institutions: A resource-based approach

The Chinese government has always attached great importance to protect the rights of women and children, and made consistent efforts to promote their all-round and health development. The country’s efforts in maternal and child health (MCH) have made significant improvements to the safety of mothers and infants, meeting their diversified health care demands and increasing fairness in medical treatment. While China’s medical reform progresses, the fall in birth rate and the growing diversified and multi-level health care service demands of people call for the survival and development of MCH institutions, especially MCH institution at the prefecture level facing more changes and challenges. Thus, MCH institutions need to explore new ways to improve their competitiveness and meet the challenges brought by these new changes. This research integrates qualitative and quantitative research methods by using scientific methods such as the Delphi Method and the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Through three rounds of expert consultation, we completed the construction of an evaluation index model of the competitive advantage of MCH institutions, and selected 10 MCH institutions to verify the applicability of the model. According to the sensitivity analysis results of the Super Decision software, the model was found to have good stability. From the evaluation model, it can be seen that human resources have the greatest weight. In practice, it is also found that people are the most controllable core resource, and the one with most potential. Therefore, by focusing on people as the core for MCH success, we have discussed the ways for MCH institutions to acquire and maintain competitive advantages from the three dimensions of discipline leader cultivation, scientific research ability improvement, and construction of a flexible hospital culture.O governo chinês sempre atribuiu grande importância à proteção dos direitos das mulheres e das crianças, desenvolvendo esforços consistentes para promover o seu desenvolvimento saudável. Nesse sentido, os esforços do país ao nível da saúde materno-infantil (SMI) trouxeram melhorias significativas para a segurança das mães e dos seus bebés, atendendo às suas necessidades específicas de cuidados de saúde e aumentando a equidade no tratamento médico. À medida que a reforma médica da China avança, a queda na taxa de natalidade e a crescente procura de serviços de saúde diversificados a vários níveis requerem a sobrevivência e o desenvolvimento das organizações de SMI, especialmente a nível municipal, que enfrentam mais mudanças e desafios. Assim, as organizações de SMI necessitam de explorar novas formas de melhorar a sua competitividade e enfrentar os desafios trazidos por essas novas mudanças. O presente estudo integra métodos de investigação qualitativa e quantitativa, nomeadamente o método Delphi e o Analytic Hierarchy Process. Por meio de três rondas de consulta a especialistas, foi possível desenvolver um índice de avaliação da vantagem competitiva das organizações de SMI, tendo sido selecionadas 10 instituições de SMI para verificar a aplicabilidade prática do sistema de avaliação. De acordo com os resultados da análise de sensibilidade realizada com recurso ao software Super Decisions, o modelo apresentou uma boa coerência interna e estabilidade no cálculo das performances parciais. Através do modelo de avaliação criado, percebe-se que os recursos humanos têm maior peso nas avaliações feitas. Também se descobriu que as pessoas constituem o recurso central mais controlável e aquele com maior potencial de desenvolvimento. Como tal, ao focarmo-nos nas pessoas como o elemento primário para o sucesso das organizações de SMI, discutimos diferentes formas para que estas organizações possam adquirir e manter vantagens competitivas sustentáveis, nomeadamente a partir da liderança, da melhoria da capacidade de investigação científica e de uma cultura hospitalar flexível