Fostering Social Development Through Civic and Political Engagement: How Confidence in Institutions and Agency Matter

Traditional approaches in social development have neglected the role of politics, civic engagement, and processes of democratization. This paper empirically tests the extent to which civic engagement and political action are shaped by confidence in state and non-state institutions and political and personal agency. The results underscore the importance of enabling social development through inclusive governance and democratization

Effects of Assets on Attitudes and Behaviors: Advance Test of a Social Policy Proposal

Raising asset limits and creating individual development accounts have been proposed in welfare reform. In part the rationale for these proposals is that assets have positive effects on attitudes and behaviors, including long-term planning, greater work effort, and improved social connectedness. The Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), between 1968 and 1972, included a wide range of attitude and behavioral measures. In this study, data from the PSID are analyzed to test for the following: a) the effect of assets on attitudes and behaviors; b) the effect of attitudes and behaviors on assets; c) the effect of income on attitudes and behaviors; and d) the effect of attitudes and behaviors on income. A path analytic model is estimated using LISREL. Results indicate modest effects of some assets that are (a) consistently positive as predicted, and (b) overall as strong as the effects of income. Results support the proposition that assets have a positive effect on expectations and confidence about the future; influence people to make specific plans with regard to work and family; induce more prudent and protective personal behaviors; and lead to more social connectedness with relatives, neighbors, and organizations. These results suggest that policy demonstrations are desirable

Social, economic, and resource predictors of variability in household air pollution from cookstove emissions

We examine if social and economic factors, fuelwood availability, market and media access are associated with owning a modified stove and variation in household emissions from biomass combustion, a significant environmental and health concern in rural India. We analyze cross-sectional household socio-economic data, and PM(2.5) and particulate surface area concentration in household emissions from cookstoves (n = 100). This data set combines household social and economic variables with particle emissions indexes associated with the household stove. The data are from the Foundation for Ecological Society, India, from a field study of household emissions. In our analysis, we find that less access to ready and free fuelwood and higher wealth are associated with owning a replacement/modified stove. We also find that additional kitchen ventilation is associated with a 12% reduction in particulate emissions concentration (p<0.05), after we account for the type of stove used. We did not find a significant association between replacement/modified stove on household emissions when controlling for additional ventilation. Higher wealth and education are associated with having additional ventilation. Social caste, market and media access did not have any effect on the presence of replacement or modified stoves or additional ventilation. While the data available to us does not allow an examination of direct health outcomes from emissions variations, adverse environmental and health impacts of toxic household emissions are well established elsewhere in the literature. The value of this study is in its further examination of the role of social and economic factors and available fuelwood from commons in type of stove use, and additional ventilation, and their effect on household emissions. These associations are important since the two direct routes to improving household air quality among the poor are stove type and better ventilation

Adoption and sustained use of cleaner cooking fuels in rural India: a case control study protocol to understand household, network, and organizational drivers

Background: Implementing efficient stoves and clean fuels in low and middle-income countries are critical for improving health of poor women and children and improve the environment. Cleaner biomass stoves, however, perform poorly against the World Health Organization’s indoor air quality guidelines. This has shifted the focus to systematic dissemination and implementation of cleaner cooking systems such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) among poor communities. Even when there is some uptake of LPG by poor communities, its sustained use has been low. Concurrent use of LPG with traditional biomass cookstoves compromises reductions in household air pollution and limits health and environmental dividends. Therefore understanding key drivers of adoption and sustained implementation of clean fuels among the poor is critical. There is a significant gap, however, in the research to understand determinants and sustained exclusive use of clean fuels in rural poor communities. Methods/design Using a case control study design, this study will explore the impact of affordability, accessibility, and awareness on adoption and sustained use of LPG among rural poor communities of India. The study uses a multistage random sampling to collect primary data from 510 households. Case group or LPG adopters constitute 255 households while control group or non-LPG adopters constitute the remaining 255 households. The study will deploy sophisticated stove use monitoring sensors in each of the stoves in 100 case group households to monitor stove use and stacking behavior (using clean and traditional systems of cooking) of participants for 12 months. Moreover, this will be the first study to explore the impact of personal social networks striated by gender on LPG adoption. This study is guided by the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance) implementation science evaluation framework. Discussion Lessons from this study will feed into a larger discussion on developing a pro-poor strategy to foster uptake and sustained use of cleaner cooking systems such as LPG. Understanding the determinants of adoption and sustained use of cleaner cooking systems through the RE-AIM framework will expand our insights on implementation of cleaner cooking systems among poor communities and will advance implementation science in the clean cooking sector. A thorough study of such implementation strategies is crucial to realize multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals on global health, climate change, and energy security

Sample Characteristics of Social, Economic, and Emissions Variables.

<p>Sample Characteristics of Social, Economic, and Emissions Variables.</p

Predictors of household particle emissions^a.

a<p>OLS regression b coefficient (robust standard error).</p>*<p><i>p</i><0.05;</p>**<p><i>p</i><0.01;</p>†<p>Trended toward significance at <i>p</i><0.10.</p

Predicted Probability of Having a Clean Stove by Livestock Wealth and Access to Fuelwood from Commons (A) and by Years of Education and Access to Fuelwood from Commons (B).

<p>Predicted Probability of Having a Clean Stove by Livestock Wealth and Access to Fuelwood from Commons (A) and by Years of Education and Access to Fuelwood from Commons (B).</p

Adjusted odds ratios for household and village-level variables’ association with having replacement/modified stoves and additional ventilation^a.

a<p><i>NOTE</i>: CI  =  Confidence Interval; ^bn.s. denotes a non-significant association that was removed from the model in the stepwise selection process.</p>*<p><i>p</i><0.05;</p>**<p><i>p</i><0.01;</p>***<p><i>p</i><0.001.</p