The Dalit I Define: Social Media and Individualized Activism in Subaltern Spheres

This paper discusses an explorative study of emerging Dalit activism in online realms. It is the aim of this study to provide empirical content to debates that link the advance of social media to shifts in citizenship and the manifestation of democracy. It seeks to unravel the complexity and hybrid appearance of online activism in practice by focussing on underexplored subaltern spheres. After some contextualizing reflections concerning literature on Dalit media and online political participation, it assesses attempts of prominent Dalit bloggers to employ social media in their battle for justice, representation and socio-economic mobility. Contributing to current debates on collective (and connective) action and ‘new’ or personalized politics – especially since Web 2.0 – the article stresses the importance of embracing a broad conceptualization of online political practice and the need to explore such practice as part of contemporary projects of self. It is argued that, in order to explore the dynamics of personalized politics within marginalized communities, one needs to assess the way in which the intertwinement of these individual projects of self and the collective emancipatory project appear in online social networking strategies of digital activists. As such, the analysis adds to the understanding of every day activism at grassroots level in the age of the Internet. Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol7/iss4/3

How social learning influences further collaboration: experiences from an international collaborative water project

Social learning in collaborative settings can play an important role in reducing water management problems. In this paper we analyze the nature and effects of these learning processes in an international collaborative setting. We assert that social interactions contribute to substantive and relational learning, which involves changes in the motivations, cognitions and resources of individual actors. In addition, interactions may contribute to social learning, which is the case when actors develop collective outcomes on which further collaboration can be based. We use these theoretical insights to examine a water project in which Dutch and Romanian actors collaborate. Their interactions changed their individual motivations, cognitions, and resources and led to collective outcomes. Some of the learning processes were constructive, others were not. Because the unconstructive learning by external actors was decisive, the collaboration did not establish a basis for further collaboration. The case study demonstrates that a single project can include multiple and diverse social learning processes, which may have a positive or negative effect on further collaboration. Whose learning has most impact closely relates to how resources are distributed across actors, and hence the context of a learning process. Thus, whether learning forms a basis for further collaboration depends not only on ‘how much’ actors learn but in particular on ‘who learns what.

Implementing climate change adaptation through mainstreaming at the local level:A comparative case study of two municipalities in the Netherlands

Governments face increasing urgency to adapt to climate change. However, there is a persistent gap between needed and implemented adaptation. The implementation of adaptation often takes place at the local level, making municipalities crucial actors, particularly regarding mainstreaming adaptation into various sectors. While mainstreaming has the potential to bring many benefits, it does not necessarily result in the implementation of adaptation. Its contribution to the adaptation process over time and the resulting implementation at the local level remain poorly understood, exacerbating the adaptation implementation gap. To advance the understanding of mainstreaming for implementation, we synthesize the emerging debates on adaptation mainstreaming with the literature on environmental policy integration and offer a framework towards a nuanced conceptualization of mainstreaming. Our results from a case study of two Dutch municipalities show that managerial actions precede the acceleration of implementation in the built environment and point to a learning curve. Furthermore, mainstreaming focuses on the water sector, built environment and green infrastructure, with little attention paid to the intersection of heat stress and drought with other sectors, while differences in the implementation of adaptation in the two cases hint at the influence of the local context. We conclude that there is no blueprint to implement adaptation, and while local preferences determine the sectors where integration and implementation occur, consideration of long-term future climate change is lacking in both cities’ mainstreaming of adaptation implementation. Our framework allowed identifying the potential and pitfalls of mainstreaming adaptation towards implementation at the local level.</p

Dutch-funded international water projects: are they effective and why (not)?

The Dutch water sector is actively involved in a wide variety of international projects that involve a transfer of Dutch knowledge.The government financially supports some of these projects with the aim to (1) contribute to solving water-related problems, and (2) create economic opportunities for the Dutch water sector.This research evaluates to what extent Dutch-funded projects actually contribute to the achievement of these objectives.Moreover, it tries to explain what factors distinguishes an effective from a less effective project. For this, we developed an evaluation framework, which we applied to three Dutch-funded flood risk projects that were implemented in Romania

Integrating Traditional Healers into the Health Care System:Challenges and Opportunities in Rural Northern Ghana

Traditional medicine is widespread in Ghana, with 80% of Ghanaians relying on its methods for primary health care. This paper argues that integrating traditional and biomedical health systems expands the reach and improves outcomes of community health care. Moving beyond literature, it stresses the importance of trust-relationships between healers and biomedical staff. Insights are based on qualitative research conducted in Ghana’s Northern Region (2013–2014). Five challenges to integration emerged out of the data: a lack of understanding of traditional medicine, discrimination, high turnover of biomedical staff, declining interest in healing as a profession, and equipment scarcity. Besides challenges, opportunities for integration exist, including the extensive infrastructure of traditional medicine, openness to collaboration, and grassroots initiatives. Contemplating challenges and opportunities this paper provides recommendations for integration, including: identify/select healers, promote best practices, institute appropriate forms of appreciation/recognition of healers, provide aid and equipment, use communication campaigns to promote integration and steer attitudinal change towards healers among biomedical staff. Most crucial, we argue successful implementation of these recommendations depends on a concerted investment in relationships between healers and biomedical staff