Power, Structure, Gender Relations and Community-Based Conservation: The Cawswe Study of the Sariska Region, Rajasthan, India

Most current community development projects have a built in gender component. Despite the WID, WED and GAD schools of thought there is still however a long way to go in order to effectively implement these principles in conservation projects. Merely getting women a place on the policy-making agenda is not enough, especially if it comes at the cost of promoting a simplistic and often wildly inaccurate picture of gender-environment relations. This article analyses the repercussions of community-based conservation on women in terms of use, access, and control of natural resources. The area chosen is the Sariska region of Rajasthan, India. The article analyses also the role of women inside the Gram Sabbha, which is the village institution used at community level for the management of natural resources. A distinction is made between the different groups of women. The issue of women’s empowerment and its importance in community-based conservation will also be discussed

The JAMU System in Indonesia: Linking Small-Scale Enterprises, Traditional Knowledge and Social Empowerment Among Women in Indonesia

Medicinal plants have been used extensively in numerous countries, Indonesia included, in the domain of traditional medicine and of natural product industry. Few studies have focused on the commercial aspects of medicinal plants in local communities and on its potential impact on gender development in urban and peri-urban areas. This article aims to analyze the impact of women enterprises active in the traditional herbal sector (jamu) in Indonesia in terms of household revenues and social status. The paper emphasizes how, despite the important socio-economic results of small-scale enterprises in the jamu sector in the city of Jogjakarta, some challenges of the potential of this commercial activity on local women still remain

Abuse of Lower Castes in South India: The Institution of Devadasi

The ‘devadasi’ system has been the object of several studies and is quite controversial. Some authors, particularly in the past associated the ‘devadasi’ with power and prestige, other, more lately, with degradation and prostitution. This article firstly explores the origin of ‘devadasi’ practice and its evolution over time as well as its religious and ritual meaning, while attempting to identify the main factors explaining the signification of the ‘devadasi’ system in the past. Secondly it analyses the social status and economic condition of ‘devadasis’ and draws a global view of the reasons why young girls are still today consecrated in rural areas. Our argument is that the sanctions provided by social custom and apparently by religion are strictly combined with economic and social pressures. The social control and hegemonic masculinity of upper caste men is asserted and maintained through defilement and appropriation of lower caste and ‘dalit’ women’s sexuality. The symbolic meaning of the devadasis relies upon the gendering and sexualising of caste relations of domination and subordination. In this logic, this article examines the intersections between gender, caste and violence

Gender Empowerment and Equality in Rural India: Are Women’s Community-Based Enterprises the Way Forward?

Despite the renewed commitment of the international community to provide economic opportunities for poor women, most observers suggest that the majority of the past and current experience of community enterprise programmes for women has failed to make any significant impact on women’s incomes and social empowerment. Based on ethnographic research methods, this paper presents a feminist analysis of a singular women’s community enterprise promoted by local NGOs in the state of Tamil Nadu in India, usually known as GMCL (Gram Mooligai Company Limited). GMCL has been promoted by local NGOs in the state of Tamil Nadu and is an example of community women enterprise. Its main purpose is to assess the impact of GMCL on enhancing economical and social empowerment of women in order to better understand the potential of this particular type of initiative in promoting capacity building and local development. The findings show the need to see community enterprise programmes in a much more holistic light than is conventionally understood. Major outcomes of this research include giving voice and visibility to poor women, identifying their preferences and decision-making needs to poverty reduction and finally, developing culturally-sensitive policy recommendations that consider the multiple dimensions of empowerment

Enhancing innovation between scientific and indigenous knowledge: pioneer NGOs in India

Abstract Background Until recently, little attention has been paid to local innovation capacity as well as management practices and institutions developed by communities and other local actors based on their traditional knowledge. This paper doesn't focus on the results of scientific research into innovation systems, but rather on how local communities, in a network of supportive partnerships, draw knowledge for others, combine it with their own knowledge and then innovate in their local practices. Innovation, as discussed in this article, is the capacity of local stakeholders to play an active role in innovative knowledge creation in order to enhance local health practices and further environmental conservation. In this article, the innovative processes through which this capacity is created and reinforced will be defined as a process of "ethnomedicine capacity". Methods The field study undertaken by the first author took place in India, in the State of Tamil Nadu, over a period of four months in 2007. The data was collected through individual interviews and focus groups and was complemented by participant observations. Results The research highlights the innovation capacity related to ethnomedical knowledge. As seen, the integration of local and scientific knowledge is crucial to ensure the practices anchor themselves in daily practices. The networks created are clearly instrumental to enhancing the innovation capacity that allows the creation, dissemination and utilization of 'traditional' knowledge. However, these networks have evolved in very different forms and have become entities that can fit into global networks. The ways in which the social capital is enhanced at the village and network levels are thus important to understand how traditional knowledge can be used as an instrument for development and innovation. Conclusion The case study analyzed highlights examples of innovation systems in a developmental context. They demonstrate that networks comprised of several actors from different levels can synergistically forge linkages between local knowledge and formal sciences and generate positive and negative impacts. The positive impact is the revitalization of perceived traditions while the negative impacts pertain to the transformation of these traditions into health commodities controlled by new elites, due to unequal power relations

The rise of the social economy in Haiti: constructing solidarity or survival strategies in a country in crysis?

En la última decena, muchos actores en la cooperación para el desarrollo y numerosos agentes locales han resucitado el debate acerca de la utilidad y de la contribución específica de la economía social para el desarrollo. Esa economía se encuentra cada vez más en el programa tanto de los países industriales como de los en vía de desarrollo, en ese contexto de crisis económica y de ajuste estructural. Este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar la economía social en Haití. Esa sociedad está caracterizada por la marginalización de sectores sociales, un desempleo masivo y la emergencia cada vez más importante del sector informal. Además este artículo se propone también examinar la teoría y la práctica de la economía social haitiana y su aporte al desarrollo. Los principales desafíos de la economía social y los obstáculos a la cooperación internacional en Haití están estudiados aquí. Over the past decade, many actors in development cooperation and a good number of local players have revived the debate on the usefulness and the specific contribution of the social economy in development. The social economy is increasingly on the agenda in both the industrialized and development countries, especially following the series of economic crises and the implementation of economic reforms and structural adjustment programs (SAP). In this context, this article aims to understand this type of economy in Haiti. This country is characterized by marginalization of social sectors, strong presence of unemployment and an increasing emergence of the informal sector. More in particular, the article aims to review the discourse and practice of the social economy in Haiti and to consider son role in the process of development. The main challenges that the social economy has to face in Haiti, as well as the role of the international cooperation will be analyzed

Decentralizing Governance of Natural Resources in India: Lessons from the Case Study of Thanagazi Block, Alwar, Rajasthan, India - Comment

Numerous countries have undergone decentralisation reforms in the management of natural resources. However, the policies implemented are often not applied in ways compatible with the democratic potential with which decentralisation is conceived. The paper analyses the issue of decentralisation in resource management, in Thanagazi block, Alwar District, Rajasthan. In this paper I present a case of community initiated decentralisation carried out through village organisations. The aim is to contrast it with the state initiated decentralisation system carried out through the local administrative unit, the Gram Panchayat. Some conclusive remarks will be made on the importance of promoting more inclusive and democratic institutions which take into account the local needs and priorities regarding the management of natural resources and development interventions

The rise of the social economy in Haiti: constructing solidarity or survival strategies in a country in crysis?

En la última decena, muchos actores en la cooperación para el desarrollo y numerosos agentes locales han resucitado el debate acerca de la utilidad y de la contribución específica de la economía social para el desarrollo. Esa economía se encuentra cada vez más en el programa tanto de los países industriales como de los en vía de desarrollo, en ese contexto de crisis económica y de ajuste estructural. Este artículo tiene como objetivo analizar la economía social en Haití. Esa sociedad está caracterizada por la marginalización de sectores sociales, un desempleo masivo y la emergencia cada vez más importante del sector informal. Además este artículo se propone también examinar la teoría y la práctica de la economía social haitiana y su aporte al desarrollo. Los principales desafíos de la economía social y los obstáculos a la cooperación internacional en Haití están estudiados aquí. Over the past decade, many actors in development cooperation and a good number of local players have revived the debate on the usefulness and the specific contribution of the social economy in development. The social economy is increasingly on the agenda in both the industrialized and development countries, especially following the series of economic crises and the implementation of economic reforms and structural adjustment programs (SAP). In this context, this article aims to understand this type of economy in Haiti. This country is characterized by marginalization of social sectors, strong presence of unemployment and an increasing emergence of the informal sector. More in particular, the article aims to review the discourse and practice of the social economy in Haiti and to consider son role in the process of development. The main challenges that the social economy has to face in Haiti, as well as the role of the international cooperation will be analyzed

COMMUNITY ENTREPRENEURSHIP AMONG LOWER CASTES IN INDIA: A GRASSROOTS CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS POVERTY ALLEVIATION AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT UNDER CONDITIONS OF ADVERSITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL UNCERTAINTY

Numerous projects have been implemented with the aim of promoting the development of local enterprises as a means to improve the conditions of rural communities. Their failure points to the difficulty of adapting the concept of "entrepreneurship" to different cultural settings and to the diversity of community needs. Whereas the community is typically treated in the literature as an exogenous part of the environment for entrepreneurship, an emerging point of view is to treat the entrepreneur and the enterprise as embedded in a network of relationships, usually local. The objective of this paper is to investigate the conditions that enable community entrepreneurial activities to alleviate poverty and promote local development. The paper analyzes Gram Mooligai Limited (GMCL), a community-based enterprise in India active in the herbal sector, which delivered interesting results in relation to the paper's focus. Findings from this case study highlight the importance of seeing entrepreneurial activity and enterprise development programs in a much more holistic way than they are conventionally understood.Community-based enterprise, development, empowerment, India