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101. Community Protection Structures: Influencing for Local-Level Change in Conflict Settings in the DRC

Author:
Sarah Barakat and Melanie Kesmaecker-Wissing
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Using learning from protection programming in Colombia, Oxfam has been implementing its community protection programme in the DRC since 2006. It aims to help individuals prevent, and respond to, violence and abuse, while also holding duty-bearers to account for the protection of civilian populations. The programme uses a community-based approach that involves building Community Protection Structures (CPSs). Supported by Oxfam and partners, these are designed to identify the main threats faced by communities and find the best way of addressing them, while engaging with local authorities. The programme seeks to address power imbalances, between men and women and also between rights holders and duty-bearers. Its core premise is that communication among community members, and between them and local authorities, is key in order to find pragmatic ways to uphold people’s rights while also holding authorities to account. This communication must be informed by a shared understanding of human rights.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Civil Rights, Community, and Protected People
Political Geography:
Democratic Republic of Congo

102. ‘Disaster is Nature Telling Us how to Live Resiliently’: Indigenous Disaster Risk Reduction, Organizing, and Spirituality in Tierradentro, Colombia

Author:
Riccardo Vitale
Publication Date:
08-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Seeking to gain knowledge about resilience, this case study considered a 2007-09 Red Cross preparedness project funded by the Disaster Preparedness European Community Humanitarian Office (DIPECHO). The project was implemented around the Nevado del Huila volcano in Colombia, in a largely rural area with a predominantly indigenous population. The findings and analysis point to the importance of listening to and learning from the community, including its traditional and indigenous resilience practices, as well as the iterative nature of resilient development. The field research also yielded interesting material about perceptions and practices of resilience in Nasa indigenous communities.
Topic:
Climate Change, Disaster Relief, Sustainability, Humanitarian Crisis, Community, and Empowerment
Political Geography:
Colombia and South America

103. Learning from Hindsight: Synthesis Report on Oxfam Resilience Research

Author:
Tara R. Gingerich and Riccardo Vitale
Publication Date:
08-2017
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
What can we learn about resilience by examining completed resilience, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation projects? Oxfam conducted three such case studies in Bolivia, Colombia, and Fiji, looking at the conditions required for successful resilient development as well as issues around timing and duration. This synthesis report presents a summary of the three projects and distills the findings that were common to our analysis of them as well as a related climate change adaptation project in Vanuatu.
Topic:
Climate Change, Indigenous, Resilience, and Community
Political Geography:
Colombia, South America, Bolivia, Fiji, and Oceania

104. Efficacy of top-down approaches to post-conflict social coexistence and community building: Experiences from Zimbabwe

Author:
Manase Kudzai Chiweshe
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
African Journal on Conflict Resolution
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
This paper provides an assessment of the work done by the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration (ONHRI) in post-2008 Zimbabwe. ONHRI was employed by the Zimbabwean government (precisely as Government of National Unity) to ensure national healing and integration. The efficacy of top-down approaches to social cohesion in post-conflict contexts is questioned. The paper outlines how political expediency, mistrust and polarisation debilitated the work of ONHRI. There was little consultation done in creating ONHRI, especially with communities affected by political violence. Academics, civil society, smaller political parties and private entities were left out of the process of creating social cohesion mechanisms. For the Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), the Organ was a concession on their part to the demands of the MDC and this led to problems in implementing its mandate. What transpired became a political cat and mouse game in which actors at the national level frustrated the process of uncovering the truth and the promotion of healing. ONHRI’s work has to be understood within a context of political competition in the Government of National Unity (GNU) in which self-interest overtook the mandate of the Organ. The paper therefore argues that Zimbabwe lost an opportunity to entrench grassroots social cohesion and healing processes.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Treaties and Agreements, Transitional Justice, Social Cohesion, and Community
Political Geography:
Africa and Zimbabwe

105. On Love and Metamorphosis

Author:
Meg Murphy
Publication Date:
04-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Andrea Ortiz went down to the Charles River on the afternoon that she—victoriously—submitted her senior thesis. There she was, a girl born in Mexico City, an immigrant raised in Miami, a bright light, the first in her family line to get to Harvard. Yet she felt a wave of sadness, and that, she reasoned, made no sense. So she sat by the river to think until it came to her: this was yearning. “You never accomplish anything alone. I was feeling the absence of the people who were most influential in getting me to this point,” she said later. “I wished they could be here too.” Her grandmother is one of those people. She is a woman who created her own philosophy and humanities class in Mexico City for people, like herself at the time, without access to a college education. Later in rural Comitán de Dominguez, where Ortiz spent childhood summers, her grandmother mail-ordered hundreds of books. The family home became an informal library for rural housewives.
Topic:
Poverty, Social Services, Community, and Housing
Political Geography:
United States and North America

106. The Church and the Romanians Religious Beliefs in the Early Modern Time: Perceptions, Convictions and Representations of the Foreign Travellers

Author:
Carmen Alexandrache
Publication Date:
07-2016
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Hiperboreea
Institution:
Balkan History Association
Abstract:
he mentions of the foreign travellers about the Orthodox Church in the Romanian reflect the aspects which especially interested in the organization of the Church, in the relation with political power, in the hierarchies of Church and in their social role, in the political community attitudes towards religion, in the religious ritual and practices associated its.
Topic:
Religion, History, and Community
Political Geography:
Balkans and Romania

107. Balancing Development and Community Livelihoods: A Framework for Land Acquisition and Resettlement in Uganda

Author:
Max A. Anyuru, Russell Rhoads, Onesmus Muyenyi, Joseph Ekwenyu, and Tom Balemesa
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE)
Abstract:
Land acquisition for development projects by government, private investors and land speculators is a critical source of tensions and conflicts in many parts of Uganda. Following the discovery of commercially viable oil reserves in 2006, Uganda turned attention to extractives and oil development as a matter of national priority. Evidence of this assertion can be found in the recent 2016-17 national budget allocations, where the portion for oil development is substantial. Development of petroleum and mining sectors requires substantial capital investments, often relying on foreign-based capitalization and multinational firms to construct facilities and operate them. Several foreign companies have drilled exploratory wells in Uganda, in which estimated reserves are at 6.5 billion oil barrels. The government of Uganda has issued production licenses to several foreign oil companies. All these activities have triggered land acquisition by Government for purposes of infrastructure development: - in the form of roads,dams and power grids, refineries and pipelines. Land acquisition is also triggered by private investment and the development of auxiliary services. Secondly, infrastructual developments have a “multiplier effect” since they generate businesses and services, and increase inflationary pressures on services and the land market. As expected, land speculation is also on the rise.
Topic:
Development, Land, Community, and Livelihoods
Political Geography:
Uganda and Africa

108. Ethnic inequality and community activities in Indonesia

Author:
Christophe Muller
Publication Date:
12-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
United Nations University
Abstract:
For the first time in Indonesia, we jointly analyse several economic statistics and ethnic diversity indicators at national and local levels. Nationally, we find very high levels of economic inequality, measured from household asset values or consumption expenditure. In contrast, the levels of ethnic diversity, while non-negligible, are much lower, whether they reflect fractionalization, polarization, or ethnic inequality based on individual living standards. All ethnic inequality indicators surged after the Asian economic crisis. Ethnic inequality based on education is much lower and decreasing. In panel data models, individual participation in community activities is found to be much determined by local patterns of ethnic diversity. Different dimensions of ethnic diversity generate distinct effects. Ethnic polarization stimulates participation in strategic activities. Instead, ethnic fragmentation and ethnic inequality depress most local activities. Finally, we provide tentative explanations of local ethnic inequality in regressions that show a mixed pattern of socioeconomic influences.
Topic:
Inequality, Ethnicity, Diversity, and Community
Political Geography:
Indonesia and Southeast Asia

109. Trash Talk: Turning Waste into Work in Jordan’s Za’atari Refugee Camp

Author:
Soman Moodley
Publication Date:
08-2016
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Syrian refugees have the capacity to provide key support for service delivery and the expertise to contribute to the expansion of new productive economic sectors. This paper highlights an innovative approach to solid waste management and income generation, and aims to promote further dialogue on the role that Syrians can play in the Jordanian economy.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Refugee Crisis, Displacement, Humanitarian Crisis, Community, and Empowerment
Political Geography:
Middle East, Syria, and Jordan

110. Community, Not Confinement

Publication Date:
10-2015
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) affirms the rights of all people to live in their communities. Yet between 2007 and 2013, EU member states invested millions of euros of EU structural funds into institutions that confine and segregate people living with disabilities. Now, although the 2014–2020 round of structural funds requires member states to introduce domestic deinstitutionalization measues, the danger remains that EU investments in institutions will continue. The European Commission has a responsibility to ensure the rights of Europeans with disabilities and the proper direction of EU investments. Community, Not Confinement examines EU law and policy governing the use of structural funds, and EU and state responsibilities to human rights obligations under international and EU law. This report also recommends several steps the commission should take, including providing clear guidance to member states that projects selected for the use of structural funds must comply with the CRPD; verifying that such programming aligns with the CRPD and supports independent living; and funding civil society to monitor member states’ investments and inform the commission of findings.
Topic:
Human Rights, International Law, United Nations, Law, Disability, Community, Political Rights, and Legal Sector
Political Geography:
Europe