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Lakwo, Alfred. "Microfinance, rural livelihoods, and women's empowerment in Uganda." Leiden : African Studies Centre, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1887/11945.
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Robson, Elsbeth. "Gender, space and empowerment in rural Hausaland, northern Nigeria." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2002. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:e40bc658-dff2-4876-a845-090a2552457a.
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Reducing gender inequalities by enabling women's empowerment is a major focus of the literature and practices of gender and development. The work of this thesis contributes to debates about female empowerment, especially for peasant women in peripheral capitalist economies. The central themes of enquiry are power relations of gender and space in the socio-economic processes in which peasant households and their members are embedded. The focus of investigation is the extent to which commodity exchange outside the household reinforces, or reduces, women's position of power/disempowerment. The central question taken for analysis is whether income earning via trading empowers women, thus reducing their subordination. This hypothesis is widely accepted. Many NGOs (non-governmental organisations) and other development institutions base efforts around the notion that income earning is liberating for women. This hypothesis is investigated for rural Hausa women in Northern Nigeria who are secluded within their homes by the religio-cultural practice of purdah, but who engage in trade, often through the agency of children. The major empirical part of the study develops and applies an original framework for analysis of empowerment that identifies and maps gender divisions of labour and space in the spheres of production, reproduction and circulation in which rural Hausa men and women are embedded. The overall conclusion reached is that gender divisions of work, both inside and outside rural Hausa households, and especially in trade, reflect and sustain the subordination of women and their inferior position relative to men, especially through the control of space. The notion of income earning as universally empowering for women does not hold because rural Hausa women engaged in the market are not significantly empowered by their income earning because of the complex realities of patriarchy whereby women have weak bargaining powers.
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Dolezal, Claudia. "Questioning empowerment in community-based tourism in rural Bali." Thesis, University of Brighton, 2015. https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/14e3dc07-4d2f-4ab0-8a61-9dba6470cf49.
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The term 'empowerment' is used with greater frequency in tourism for development, particularly in the context of community-based tourism (CBT), which is often referred to as a tool to 'empower' communities in the initiation, implementation and management of tourism. Still, critical and empirically grounded research on empowerment remains limited, particularly as emerging from social relationships in CBT. These are in many cases regarded as disempowering for community members, such as the tourism encounter and community relationships in cases where they lead to conflicts and jealousy, rather than collaboration. This research analyses these social relationships prevalent in CBT to take them as a potential starting point for social empowerment. Its aim is to locate social spaces of empowerment in CBT by unravelling power relations between the actors involved at local level. In these social spaces of empowerment, the basis of empowerment is generative power, defined as collective power with and power within, based on self-respect, to achieve power to generate positive change and to overcome power over (i.e. dominating power). The fieldwork was conducted in three rural villages in Bali, which engage in CBT and are supported by a local NGO that aims at empowering communities. The methodology draws upon ethnographic traditions alongside semi-structured interviews and participant observations. Symbolic interactionism provides the methodological position, regarding meaning as constructed through interaction. A reflexive chapter discusses the intersubjectivities between the researcher and participants and links the methodology with the intellectual argument and the findings of the study. Empirical evidence reveals that empowerment opportunities are unequal in the studied villages, with obstacles such as language, a lack in skills and caste hindering villagers' empowerment. The village tourism committees (VTCs), a local and trained elite, take control over the space of CBT and the tourism encounter, by employing notions of 'authenticity' to sell the CBT product. Although CBT creates hope for change and empowerment for community members, it currently remains empowering for a few, while others generally experience tokenistic pseudo-participation and a silent involvement. At the same time, this study reveals first signs of empowerment based on power with and power within, generated in the tourism encounter and through villagers' social ties, which are visualised in a 'CBT power diagram'.
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Parveen, Shahnaj. "Empowerment of rural women in Bangladesh a household level analysis." Weikersheim Margraf, 2005. http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?id=2681912&prov=M&dok_var=1&dok_ext=htm.
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Choudhury, Gias Uddin Ahmed. "Impact of Microcredit Program on Women's Empowerment in Rural Bangladesh." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-80192.
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Background – This study is an attempt to explore the relationship between microcredit and the socio-economic empowerment of women in rural Bangladesh. Microcredit is simply the extension of a small amount of collateral-free institutional loans to jointly liable poor group members to generate employment and income enhancing activities. As it is too difficult for poor members to get loan from the formal credit institutions, Grameen Bank (GB) or other Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) provide small loans to vulnerable groups of the society by which they are expected to empower over his counterparts. Research questions – RQ1: How does micro-credit affect different indicators of women empowerment in the rural areas of Bangladesh? RQ2– Is the impact different from the male counterparts in the sample households? Purpose – This study is an effort to find the impact of microcredit on a number of indicators of women’s empowerment in the rural areas in Bangladesh. Methodology – Quantitative Regression Techniques such as Ordinary Least Square (OLS) and Instrumental Variable (IV) method have been applied to get the relationship between microcredit and women empowerment. Conclusion – Applying nationally representative cross-section survey data, Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) 2015, this thesis is intended to find the causal linkage between microcredit and women empowerment’s with different dimensions of women’s decisions are taken as empowerment indicators: production, resources, income, leadership, savings and time. The analysis has been conducted at the household level. The study assumes that women empowerment is endogenous. After controlling for endogeneity in the estimation by using an instrumental variable (IV) ‘distance to the market’ this study finds a significant relationship between microcredit and different dimensions of women’s empowerment. Participation in the microcredit program is found to be significant in explaining some of the outcome indicators of empowerment for the sampled households.
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de, Fraguier Niels, and Jannik Halfwassen. "Youth empowerment as an educational incentive in Ethiopian rural areas." Thesis, Malmö universitet, Fakulteten för kultur och samhälle (KS), 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-23903.
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With a tremendous demographic boom and the high importance of the youth population, Ethiopia is currently dealing with critical challenges to ensure sustainable development within the country. The recent appointment of Abiy Ahmed as prime minister has brought new hope for Ethiopian liberalisation and the improvement of former political systems. Positively impacting the non-governmental sector, concrete measures taken by the federal government are still lacking whereas time is running on the youth generation. Quality education and enrolment rates in schools remain low which has high consequences on the participation of youths in the labour market. Lacking basic skills, youth are not provided with opportunities and trust that are essential for favouring their self-development. Conducted in parts of Ethiopia’s rural areas, this research aims to understand, discuss and elaborate on different youth empowerment methods for educational incentives to contribute to the overall improvement of youth conditions. In collaboration with local and international stakeholders working on policy and field level in the country, this research provides the reader with a clear understanding of the Ethiopian youth sector situation and the need for improvement in order to ensure meaningful youth participation and empowerment towards inclusive sustainable change. The role of the government has been discussed in extent in order to provide the reader with concrete recommendations for policy-making and other issues related to skills-mismatching, access to resources, training, and data, as well as cross-collaboration between youth and other stakeholders to increase awareness about challenges faced. The study concludes with giving clear guidance on youth empowerment in Ethiopia and future research on the overall topic.
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Ahalt, Cyrus. "The effects of community radio on women's empowerment in rural Liberia." Connect to Electronic Thesis (CONTENTdm), 2010. http://worldcat.org/oclc/644674190/viewonline.
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Bell, Stephen Andrew. "Exploring empowerment in rural Uganda : young people, sexual health and NGOs." Thesis, Royal Holloway, University of London, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.502475.
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Bordon, Arcelia MartiÌnez. "Education as a route for young women's empowerment in rural Mexico." Thesis, University of York, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.415179.
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Gram, L. Z. "Women's empowerment in a complex public health intervention in rural Nepal." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2018. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10043724/.
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This thesis presents a study of women’s empowerment in Nepal, a low-income country in South Asia with significant gender inequities across multiple dimensions. The thesis took place in the context of a cluster randomized controlled trial called the Low Birth Weight, South Asia Trial (LBW-SAT), which compared the impact of participatory women’s groups either alone or in combination with food or cash transfers on low birth weight. The thesis sought to understand the impacts of participatory women’s groups on women’s empowerment, as well as the role of agency in enabling or obstructing women’s use of cash transfers. First, a scale for measuring women’s agency freedom Deci and Ryan’s Self-Determination Theory [1] was validated and adapted for use in the local context. Second, the adapted tool was applied to evaluate the impact of LBW-SAT on women’s agency freedom. The results showed little evidence for an impact on women’s empowerment across a range of measures, except an improvement in women’s agency in group participation (p < 0.01). Third, a grounded theory study was conducted on women’s financial agency in the household. The results showed that daughters-in-law had severely restricted access to cash, while their mothers-in-law were recipients of household income and managers of savings, loans and expenditures. Fourth, results from the same grounded theory study showed that LBW-SAT trial staff put considerable pressure on beneficiary families to avoid non-recommended uses of their cash transfers. Thus, while daughters-in-law were often allowed to spend the cash transfer on food by their family members, daughters-in-law may have feared angering LBW-SAT staff if they spent the cash transfer on non-food items. Future researchers and policy-makers need to better integrate economic and gender considerations into health programming to achieve empowerment objectives.
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Sandberg, Vicki Ranes. "Relationships between curricular structure and empowerment of rural middle level teachers /." free to MU campus, to others for purchase, 2001. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/mo/fullcit?p3036853.
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Wong, Chau Ying. "Participation and empowerment : an ethnography of Miao women in rural China /." View Abstract or Full-Text, 2003. http://library.ust.hk/cgi/db/thesis.pl?SOSC%202003%20WONG.
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Thesis (M. Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-134). Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.
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Gibbon, Marion. "Meetings with meaning : health dynamics in rural Nepal." Thesis, London South Bank University, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.298023.
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This thesis investigates the understanding of health needs of women in rural Nepal using a participatory action research (PAR) framework. This framework was evaluated using a multiple case study design. The cases were women's groups being observed and researched by the researcher. The thesis is concerned with developing and evaluating the PAR methodology and is thus second order research i.e. it considers the process of researching research and the issue of multiple perspectives is an important feature. The justification of the use of a PAR framework is to be found in the forms of research that takes place 'with' people. The distinction between PAR methods and other qualitative methods is a philosophical one (Tolley and Bentley, 1996) between the roles played by the researcher and researched. The researcher "outsider" and participants "informants" are partners, sharing and learning together. The work is divided into two stages. The first is to determine the usefulness of the PAR framework in helping participants make assessments of their health needs, analyse their situation, develop strategies for solving problems themselves, and implement their own action plans. The second is to reflect on the research process itself, which allows for generation and testing of the methodology. This thesis has enhanced the contribution to the literature in this field. A development of the PAR framework emerged called the Health Analysis and Action Cycle (HAAC), via evaluating the PAR framework. The HAAC was found to be useful in allowing women's groups to assess their health needs, plan and take action to improve their health situation. For example, five of the six groups considered the importance of diarrhoea and developed strategies to reduce the incidence of diarrhoea in their communities. The sixth group's work centred on reducing the incidence of respiratory illness in their community. All the groups were able to assess, plan and implement projects to improve their environmental and hence health situation. The research stimulated collective action and empowerment of women participating in the research as it was the first time women had worked together to identify issues of diarrhoeal disease and respiratory illness and introduced preventative measures within their community. The HAAC approach, an additional innovation in this field, has relevance to the current theory and practice debate within the development sector. The model developed has possible implications for t~e concept of developing 'partnership' within the health and development sector and the development of emergent evaluation through developmental decision science.
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Mohajer, Nicole. "Adolescent empowerment programmes in two vulnerable populations: a cross-cultural study in rural Australia and rural India." Thesis, Curtin University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/2061.
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Poor adolescents who are not attending school are a low priority in the minds and budgets of the people of the world. They are understudied, highly at risk for poor health outcomes and are less likely to be able to access health services, health promotion activities and other programmes designed to improve the well-being of the poor and needy. This thesis reports on a cross-cultural qualitative study with two populations: Aboriginal Australian adolescents who were poor attendees at school and rural North Indian adolescents who were school dropouts (or never enrolled). Both populations were further disadvantaged by belonging to socially disadvantaged and oppressed communities. The aim of the research was to identify the role of empowerment in improving the health and well-being of disadvantaged populations who are socially marginalised using the empowerment pedagogy of Freire.The settings for the research were rural areas with high levels of youth illiteracy, unemployment, substance abuse and ill-health. The Indian site was in the state of Uttar Pradesh, and was conducted in three districts of the state in sites that covered a wide range of social, religious and economic backgrounds. Most of the participants were from the lowest socio-economic strata of society and had left school because of poverty, inaccessibility of school or family pressure. The Australian site was deidentified at the request of the participants and included two Aboriginal-controlled communities and a large rural town with a high population of Aboriginal residents. Participants were poor attendees at school because of social disruption, poor academic performance, perceived discrimination or disinterest.Using an empowerment model developed during the literature search, elements of the empowerment process were tested in sequential focus group discussions and indepth interviews with out-of-school adolescents in both countries using a standard questionnaire developed in consultation with participants in the first pilot project. Data was analysed for each site and merged and compared across sites in each country and between each country until there were clear themes that emerged. The findings identified the identified needs of participants, the usefulness of the empowerment process and positive and negative features of the methodological approaches of empowerment; particularly peer education and the development of awareness through problem posing or critical discussion of photos and pictures.Despite the challenges involved in engaging ‘disempowered’ or ‘oppressed’ populations, this research provided an insight into the feasibility of empowerment programmes for health promotion and social change with vulnerable adolescents. Furthermore the study offered an opportunity to document the ‘generalisability’ of empowerment materials, methods and strategies to adolescents in diverse cultural and social situations.The findings support the promotion of empowerment methods as a means of health promotion and identification of the needs of vulnerable adolescents. In addition it highlighted the importance of making a commitment to also address the social determinants of health (education, sanitation, social justice and infrastructure) in communities and to involve parents and authority figures in the empowerment process. The special role that culture, traditions, families and the desire to learn play in the lives of vulnerable adolescents was revealed through the in-depth interviews and focus group discussions that were the mainstay of the research method. Recommendations for health promotion on a variety of levels are given, along with a proposal for a model of empowerment and suggestions for further research.
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Litho, Patricia K. "Information and communication technologies and the "empowerment" of women in rural Uganda." Thesis, University of East London, 2007. http://roar.uel.ac.uk/3399/.
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Within development and feminist discourse, ICTs are increasingly presented as a solution to Africa's problems of poverty, conflict, corruption and gender inequality issues amongst other problems. However this study questions these promised benefits, specifically the extent to which ICTs can actually lead to women's empowerment as often claimed by development and feminist discourse. Empowerment is considered a problematic concept because the concept itself is not clearly defined nor are parameters by which to identify and measure empowerment specified within development/empowerment projects. I argue for a need to go beyond the usual focus on project outcomes but identify and question the underlying contradictions in women's empowerment and relational issues of power at both the individual and institutional level. This thesis uses an African feminist perspective as the overarching approach to challenge dominant discourses to recognise 'voices of others' in the construction of knowledge and move away from the hegemonic approaches that are mostly informed by Western perspectives. The argument here is that experiences are context specific and there is a need to recognize the socio-cultural, political and economic diversity that exists when implementing empowerment projects because these elements influence the way individuals respond to a situation. By taking diversity into consideration, this study endeavours to avoid reproducing stereotype images about rural women in Africa and their experiences of technologies, because women have different identities and experiences. It is important to note that women are not merely recipients of technology but also play a role in reshaping the direction of technologies. A predominantly qualitative approach, supplemented by a limited amount of quantitative approach was employed to examine a case study of an ICT for women's economic empowerment project in Uganda. Using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, observation and a review of documents, this study established that the way women experience technological change is influenced by the context in which the ICT is introduced. The findings revealed that women's exposure to ICTs may result in some changes and redefine how they view themselves and relate with those around them but these changes are not always synonymous with empowerment. The study found that the adoption of ICTs is affected by a number of factors that may favour or hinder women's empowerment. Interaction with ICTs sometimes produced negative impacts rather than the promised benefits. It could also be argued that these challenges could just be experienced at the beginning of women's relationship with ICTs but as people get more acquainted with the technologies they could negotiate ways out of oppressive circumstance by further changing behaviour. Findings from the empirical work imply that empowerment is a circular process and not a linear hierarchical process as Longwe (1991) seems to suggest. It was found for instance that sometimes women had a high level of awareness and participated in political processes but their welfare and access situation was still wanting. In other cases women had political power and control over resources but still seemed unaware of their rights or did nothing to change the oppressive situations they lived in. This study therefore contributes to feminist scholarship by providing insights into the unique experiences of women living in rural Uganda in relation to ICTs and its potential for women's empowerment.
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Padilla, Herrera Andrea Michelle. "Rural Women's Empowerment Through the Bono de Desarrollo Humano in Loja, Ecuador." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1585909837570404.
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Peters, Christina Ruth. "Marriage markets and female empowerment in rural Bangladesh: Evidence from three experiments." Connect to online resource, 2008. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:3315787.
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Laizu, Zebunnessa. "Role of information and communication technology (ICT): Women's empowerment in rural Bangladesh." Thesis, Laizu, Zebunnessa (2014) Role of information and communication technology (ICT): Women's empowerment in rural Bangladesh. PhD thesis, Murdoch University, 2014. https://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/id/eprint/28171/.
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Rural women in Bangladesh have limited access to resources and public spheres (e.g., educational, health, law and human rights institutions, and many public services) due to socio-cultural restrictions. Women also suffer severe discrimination, thought to be due to lack of access to information. Information and communication technologies (ICT) can reach rural women and have the potential to address knowledge and information needs. The aim of this research was to examine the situation of rural women in Bangladesh in using ICT provided by Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), and investigated whether empowerment was enabled or enhanced through ICT intervention.
Since empowerment is a complex phenomenon to measure a model – Women’s Empowerment Measurement through ICT (WEM-ICT) – was developed to take into consideration the socio-cultural norms and context of rural Bangladesh. Using a structured questionnaire based on the model, data was collected from both beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries in two villages where different ICT projects have been introduced. A second data set was collected two years later using the same instrument for longitudinal as well as new participants.
This research explored the impact of ICT intervention in women’s lives in the micro (individual or domestic), meso (village or community) and macro (global, national or regional) environments through an investigation of material, cognitive, perceptual, relational and technological dimensions. Since it is important to make women aware of the benefit of their empowerment through information and knowledge sharing, this research focused on the information gap and suggested possible ways to reduce the gap at the implementation level.
The results indicated that the context of the villages, culture, awareness, maturity and engagement affected the empowerment process. ICT intervention impacted positively on many empowerment factors in both villages but other factors did not change due to cultural and traditional aspects of rural Bangladesh. This thesis concludes that consideration of the socio-cultural context at the policy level of ICT intervention for women’s empowerment is a key element for the success of an ICT intervention.
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Cauble, Elizabeth Marie 1973. "Promising Empowerment: How Tostan Engages Communities in Participatory Development in Rural Senegal." Thesis, University of Oregon, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1794/9978.
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xi, 105 p. : map. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number.This thesis explores the empowerment effects of informal education programs run by the highly acclaimed non-governmental organization (NGO) Tostan in Senegal, West Africa. My interviews with 25 women in six rural communities in Senegal reveal that participants in Tostan training programs experience multiple forms and degrees of empowerment. The respondents in this study report sometimes feeling empowered in terms of education, access to resources, individualization and participation. In light of the literature on empowerment, my respondents remain only partially empowered, constrained by existing sociopolitical relations and economic dependency. My research also considers whether there are structural limits to empowerment when an outside NGO comes into a community for a relatively short time to promote change better produced indigenously.
Committee in Charge: Dr. Dennis Galvan, Chair; Dr. Stephen Wooten; Dr. Anne Williams
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Groves, Amanda. "Exploring social class and the rural/urban dichotomy : a critical approach to rural community college student empowerment through composition /." View online, 2009. http://repository.eiu.edu/theses/docs/32211131565115.pdf.
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Mamburu, David Nyadzani. "The evaluarion of the impact of a community empowerment programme on rural communities." Pretoria : [s.n.], 2000. http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-03122007-133235.
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Basnet, Sita Ram. "Income generating programmes and the socio-economic empowerment of rural women in Nepal." Thesis, University of Reading, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.499358.
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The "disempowered" position of women is considerable policy concern in Nepal. Various development efforts are underway, that are focused on "the empowerment of women". One approach to empowering rural women adopted by a large number of development agencies, mainly since the 1990s, is through Income Generating Programmes (IGPs). The findings indicate that, through their participation in IGPs, women became involved in various social, economic and political activities that extended their influence on household and community affairs and increased their access to and control over their personal and household income. The study also shows that women's awareness of their rights and capacities has increased, and that there has been an increase in their level of social mobility and public participation. The issue of women's empowerment is a complex one and the study concludes that the IGPs should give due consideration to the social structural and contextual factors that shape the local situation, as there are difference among women in the areas studied such as wealth, caste/ethnicity and educational status.
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Cunningham, K. "Maternal empowerment, childcare practices, and child nutrition in rural Nepal : examining the pathways." Thesis, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (University of London), 2014. http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/1917784/.
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Tackling persistent child undernutrition in South Asia will require a deeper understanding of structural determinants, including maternal resources and childcare practices. This study aimed to: (1) synthesise the evidence linking women’s empowerment and child nutritional status in South Asia; (2) investigate associations of women’s empowerment in agriculture and child nutrition in rural Nepal; (3) determine whether these associations differ by dimension of empowerment or nutritional indicator; and (4) explore whether child feeding and WASH facilities and practices mediate these associations. Our review of prior empirical studies on women’s empowerment and child anthropometry in South Asia showed a general association, but heterogeneous and inconsistent findings. Thus, additional research and harmonisation of how women’s empowerment is defined and measured are needed. Using a cross-sectional dataset, we constructed the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index’s (WEAI) 5 Domains of Empowerment (5DE) sub-index to investigate the association between maternal empowerment and child LAZ, WAZ, and WLZ in rural Nepal. The aggregate 5DE was positively associated with LAZ and WAZ. Three component indicators had positive associations: leisure time satisfaction (LAZ), production autonomy (LAZ), and access to credit (LAZ/WAZ). We then used causal mediation techniques to test whether two childcare practices - feeding and WASH practices - mediated these associations. Both feeding and WASH facilities and practices were independtly positively associated with child LAZ; neither feeding nor WASH facilities and practices mediated the credit or production autonomy pathways but an indirect pathway from maternal satisfaction with leisure time to child LAZ was found for WASH facilities and practices. This is the first South Asian study to investigate multiple domains of empowerment and assess pathways from care resources via childcare practices to child nutrition. Findings suggest that particular dimensions of empowerment may influence child nutrition more than others in particular contexts. Addressing child undernutrition in Nepal requires interventions to promote optimal feeding and WASH behaviours but also to address women’s disempowerment.
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Ibraimova, Asel. "Legal and institutional framework for empowerment of rural communities in the Kyrgyz Republic." Wien Zürich; Berlin Münster Lit, 2009. http://d-nb.info/991552083/04.
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Mamphweli, Ntshengedzeni Sampson. "Implementation of a 150kva biomass gasifier system for community economic empowerment in South Africa." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/262.
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There is growing interest in research and development activities on biomass gasification technologies as an alternative to fossil fuels technologies. However not much has been done in terms of technology transfer, particularly in under-developed and developing countries such as South Africa. This is mainly because of the lack of resources such as funding. Most parts of the under-developed and developing countries fall within rural areas and semi-urban centers, which are endowed with biomass resources. South Africa has a number of sawmill operators who generate tons of biomass waste during processing of timber; the large proportion of this is burned in furnaces as a means for waste management while a very small proportion is collected and used by people in rural areas for cooking their food. The majority of people in rural areas of South Africa are either unemployed or cannot afford the current energy services. The main aim of this research was to establish the viability of electricity generation for community economic development through biomass gasification, specifically using the locally designed System Johansson Biomass Gasifier™ (SJBG), and to establish the efficiency of the gasifier and associated components with a view of developing strategies to enhance it. The study established the technical and economic feasibility of using the SJBG to generate low-cost electricity for community empowerment. The study also developed strategies to improve the particle collection efficiency of the cyclone. In addition to this, a low-cost gas and temperature monitoring system capable of monitoring gas and temperature at various points of the gasifier was developed. The system was built from three Non- Dispersive Infrared gas sensors, one Palladium/Nickel gas sensor and four type K thermocouples. The study also investigated the impact of fuel compartment condensates on gasifier conversion efficiency. This is an area that has not yet been well researched since much has been done on energy recovery using combined heat and power applications that do not utilize the energy in condensates because these are produced in the gasifier and drained with chemical energy stored in them. The study established that the condensates do not have a significant impact on efficiency.
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Webb, Chequita Y. "Political empowerment of black women in the rural south: a case study of three black women mayor in rural Georgia." DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center, 1997. http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/111.
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The three mayors and the respective cities studied in this paper were Mayor Emma Gresham Keysville, GA; Mayor Justine Brown Oliver, GA and Mayor Carrie Kent Walthourville, GA. The intent of this paper was to show that the three black women mayors chose to run for mayor because they felt that through their political position they could improve the lives of the citizens of their respective cities, especially the socioeconomic status of blacks in their cities and improve the cities in the important areas of: education, employment, housing and health care. The further intent of this paper was to address the apparent neglect of scholarship regarding black female mayors in rural Southern cities by performing a case study of the black women mayors in rural Georgia. None of the black women mayors studied in this paper were successful in improving the education or housing in their cities nor the socioeconomic status of blacks and somewhat successful in improving health care. This study addresses the neglect by scholars regarding black female rural Southern municipal politics. Further study is warranted to understand the impact of black women mayors in the rural South.
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Pretorius, Lizél. "A community-based disability programme for rural areas / Lizél Pretorius." Thesis, North-West University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/4276.
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This study was conducted in the Heuningvlei community in the Kgalagadi District
Municipality in the Northern Cape Province. This study was part of the "Tshwaragano
Project" with the general aim of empowering the disadvantaged communities in rural
areas. The aim of this research was to develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a community-based disability programme for poverty stricken families in rural areas of the Northern Cape Province. To achieve this aim, the following objectives needed to be attained:
w> To study the interrelation between health, poverty and disability? This
objective was achieved by means of a critical review and analysis of the
relevant literature. It can therefore be concluded that the interrelation between
health, poverty and disability is significant. Poverty makes people more
vulnerable to disability and disability can lead to isolation, lack of support and
lack of resources. Many people still remain ill-fed, ill-housed, under-educated and defenceless to preventable diseases. To establish what the bio-psychosocial needs of the Heuningvlei community with regard to a community-based disability programme are?
The researcher also established a profile on the community members with disabilities in the Heuningvlei community. The study showed that the highest prevalence of disabilities involves physical disabilities, with hearing, blindness
and mental impairments also represented. The causes of disabilities are mostly illness related causes, substance abuse and natural causes. All three aspects which could, on the whole be prevented through general health awareness and a healthier lifestyle. It was also palpable that crucial disability management- and support services lack in this rural area. Partnership working between government organizations and Non Government Organizations (NGO's) seems a foreign affair and the community members with disabilities and their families an elapsed entity. To design and implement a community-based disability programme for rural areas. This programme was presented successfulfy over a stretch of five group sessions to ten community members with the aim to improve their knowledge regarding disability matters. They also received skills to start their own food garden. By means of this programme the members of the group also enhanced their social functioning and showed great interest in disability awareness and management.
To evaluate the effectiveness of this community-based disability programme in empowering community members with disabilities, their
care-takers and the wider community to manage disability related
matters in a poverty stricken area. The evaluation by utilizing a focus group
with the identified key role players in the community. The results obtained
through this evaluation indicated that the programme had brought a significant
change in the lives of the members. It can therefore be concluded that the
programme was very successful and effective in the sense that members felt that there was a transition in their lives. In summary it can be stated that proof has emerged from this research that a
scientifically founded, well-planned community-based disability programme can
undoubtedly be applied to improve the social functioning of poverty stricken rural
families.Thesis (Ph.D. (Social Work))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2010.
28
Sajda, Nathalie. "From ”OTOP” to ”OSOP” : Empowering the slum through rural development." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Institutionen för livsvetenskaper, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-3689.
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Urbanization is nourishing the urban poverty. Half of the World’s population is urban citizens and the number is increasing. Solutions to challenges can come from new ideas as well as previous tools. This study investigates the feasibility of applying a rural development program, One Tambon One Product (OTOP), and developed into a slum development strategy. By choosing the Klong Toey slum in central Bangkok, Thailand, the study contextualizes the demographic characteristics, values and realities into a theoretically applied study. The focal aim of the study is to increase the understanding of a bottom-up approach of socio-economical development. By formalizing the informal occupations and by highlighting alternative incomes for slum dwellers to integrate in participatory decision making and influence their own path of development increase the socio-economical conditions. The study identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the OTOP project and systematically follow these variables into slum settings. Based on theoretical framework of participatory development and empowerment, the study discusses local contexts and Thai cultural characteristics followed by modifications of the original ideas from OTOP into a so called One Slum One Product (OSOP) project.Urbanisering föder urban fattigdom. Hälften av världens befolkning är stadsbor och antalet ökar. Lösningar på utmaningarna kan komma från nya idéer likaväl som tidigare verktyg. Denna studie undersöker möjligheterna att tillämpa ett landsbygdsutvecklingsprogram, One Tambon One Product (OTOP), till en slumutvecklingsstrategi. Genom att välja Klong Toey- slummen i centrala Bangkok, Thailand, har studien kontextualiseras de demografiska karaktäristikerna, värderingar och verkligheter till en teoretiskt applicerad studie. Studiens tyngdpunkt är att öka förståelsen av en så kallas bottom-up inställning av socioekonomisk utveckling. Genom att formalisera de informella yrkena och belysa alternativa inkomstkällor för sluminvånare samt att integrera dem i det demokratiska beslutsfattandet ökar man socioekonomiska villkor.Studien identifierar OTOP:s styrkor och svagheter och följer systematiskt dessa variabler i slummiljö. Utifrån de teoretiska ramverken för deltagande utveckling och empowerment diskuterar studien den lokala kontexten, thailändska kulturella drag och modifieringen av OTOP idén till en så kallad One Slum One Product (OSOP) projekt.
29
Hossen, Mohammad Anwar. "Water policy and governance for the empowerment of river basin communities in rural Bangladesh." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/50432.
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Agricultural communities in the Ganges Dependent Area of Bangladesh are facing extreme hardships due to current water management practices, environmental degradation, and agricultural modernization programs that benefit the elite but disadvantage the majority. India is a major contributor to these problems because of its diversion of large amounts of water from the Ganges River before it reaches Bangladesh. The governance systems within both Bangladesh and India are best understood as ecocracies, that is, highly centralized and bureaucratic systems in which resources are controlled by elite groups following neoliberal development goals. This style of governance has marginalized the majority of farming households who now find themselves unable to make their voices heard. The hardships they are now facing are severe enough to be classified as human rights violations.
In this study I describe the effects of regional hydropolitics on water management, focusing on three large engineering projects, the Farakka Barrage built by India on the Ganges River, and the Ganges-Kobodak Gorai River Restoration Projects in Bangladesh. I also describe the traditional livelihood strategies and local ecological knowledge of farming households in the community of Chapra, Kushtia District, Bangladesh, and the rapid displacement of traditional practices by a commoditized system created through government intervention. I gathered information about local knowledge and farming practices during a year of fieldwork in 2011-12, through focus group discussions, in-depth case studies of four farming households and a survey in which 259 households participated. In addition to this primary data, I collected extensive secondary documents from the government of Bangladesh pertaining to water management, agricultural modernization and institutional structures.
My field data reveals that the right to water of the vast majority of Chapra farming households, as defined by United Nations Conventions and international customary law, is being systematically violated and that this violation in turn has led to multiple human rights violations in the areas of employment, food, education, health care and housing. I conclude with recommendations for how these problems could be solved through application of human rights principles and greater community inclusion in governance processes at international, national, and local levels.Graduate Studies, College of (Okanagan)
Graduate
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Mbetu, Ramson M. "Rural development in practice : the process approach, capacity building and empowerment, experience from Zimbabwe." Thesis, Coventry University, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.363109.
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Strobel, Michaela. "Mediaded. : A study on Community Video as a tool for Empowerment in rural India." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för mediestudier, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-104617.
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This thesis explores the potential of community video for rural development work in India. It addresses the topic via a process-oriented approach, looking into the individual steps from the creation of a video until its dissemination. Considering it as a form of storytelling, it goes beyond research projects which are finite and only focus on the final product. Storytelling in urban settings has been studied with an emphasis on the individual. Development work however goes beyond the individual, aiming for a broader influence. Thus, community video was studied in the context of developmental organizations which create films along with groups. As far as empowerment as a necessary basis for development is concerned, the study analyzes whether community video fosters or even creates the feeling of empowerment. In order to do justice to both- the medium community video and the storytelling process of it, the aspects of empowerment were examined through narrative analysis of videos and ethnographic field research combined with interviews and discussions. The connections which were discovered between narrative elements and empowerment were discussed with production teams and audiences. These discussions revealed that the communities were well aware of the power of community video and saw it as a tool for increasing knowledge within their own groups. This knowledge encompasses informational content as well as experience-sharing. It came to the fore that especially sharing has an empowering nature. The communities also see it as a mouthpiece to make the world aware of their issues and at the same time show society that they are capable of much more than what stereotypes suggest. The empowering effects of community video go beyond a simple feeling of empowerment and furthermore enable the communities to take action for their own progress. The field observations showed that with the help of organizations, the triggers for empowerment within the individual storytelling stages, from creation to dissemination, can be enhanced. Interviews with the heading organizations indicated that a balance has to be found between teaching techniques and contextual influence. This means that models for effective community video use can be useful but at the same time, the immense creative potential of the communities has be preserved. The very experience of creating something is the core of empowerment in community videos for rural Indian communities.
32
Gunasekera, Arosha Indika. "Achieving rural development in Sri Lanka through a systematic model : microfinance and women's empowerment." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2014. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.708366.
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Sugathan, Manju. "Community development and empowerment of women in rural India through a recycle textile cooperative." Thesis, University of Leeds, 2015. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/10646/.
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In the village of Vellanchery, Tamil Nadu state, India, the main source of income is through the weaving of traditional silk saris. This activity is completed by the males of the families. This is a domestic process carried out on handlooms using a warp of approximately twenty-one metres; from which, three six metre sari lengths are produced. This leaves close to three metres of remnant silk yarns on the warp beam. Past efforts to make use of these remnant yarns have been aimed at the production of fashion accessories, including items such as: bangles and necklaces, which crucially are of low value and only sold in the local market. As such, the production of these items from remnant yarns provide minimal economic empowerment of the women in the village, which is very much needed. The thesis investigates the development of a process of recycling hand spun knitting yarn using 30% of these silk remnants collected from handlooms blended with 70% scoured lamb’s wool. Alluring and unique yarn colours, that are non-repeatable, and have excellent handle and knit-ability can be produced. Notably, non-repeatable yarn colours make this product unsuitable for the mainstream fashion market, however bespoke designs are extremely desirable for craft hand knitters. The idea is to use hand spinning, which is a therapeutic craft, whereby the wheels employed could be housed in one building to enable women to form a cooperative system. The aim of the project is to create a framework for a sustainable cooperative model combining the socio-economic and political aspects for setting up a women’s cooperative, including the technology for production and a marketing strategy.
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Furat, Mina. "Rural Development And Women." Phd thesis, METU, 2013. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12615576/index.pdf.
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This Dissertation analyzes the conditions, problems and potential of rural women&rsquos empowerment through a sample of rural women&rsquo
s organizations (two women&rsquo
s cooperative, seven rural development cooperative and one village women associaton) with interpreting DAWN iniative and GAD approach with a socialist feminist perspective. In this study, it is stated that the agricultural sector policies and rural development policy were constructed in relation with the conditions of underdevelopment and thus, in relation with the agreements with IMF, WTO and IPARD Programme of EU which enforced the decreasing of agricultural sector subsidies. It is notable that these policies are formulated with an aim of increasing the influence and significance of capitalist relations in agricultural sector and rural areas without taking precautions for the survival of small sized farming households in rural areas. Despite these general influences of underdevelopment to Turkish Agricultural Sector and patriarchal gender assumptions, these women&rsquo
s organizations could be successful to some extent empowering their members with the recognized dimensions of empowerment such as
psychological, economical, social, organizational and political. All these dimensions are interrelated with each other. In this study, it was observed that while economic empowerment and psychological empowerment is the base of all other dimensions of empowerment, social empowerment and organizational empowerment are the most dynamic processes of empowerment and political empowerment is hardest dimension or outcome to achieve.
35
Brinkman, Elliot Easton. "Measuring Community Capacity Across Urban and Rural Landscapes in Southwestern Illinois." OpenSIUC, 2010. https://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/theses/315.
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Water quality is a substantial issue in rural and urban areas in the Midwestern United States. Water resources, such as streams, are often impaired by pollution. This can pose a threat to the natural ecosystem and the health of those that live within it. In the Lower Kaskaskia River region, Illinois communities are faced with impaired water resources. In order to effectively manage for healthy waterways, communities must have skills and resources to address threats to water quality. This study assessed capacity for effective watershed management in four communities within the Lower Kaskaskia River region. Each community exists within a subwatershed of the Lower Kaskaskia River Watershed. A stratified, random sample of 3,609 residents living within the four watersheds was taken to gather data on several community capacity indicators for each watershed community. A questionnaire was distributed to individuals living within the study area to measure dimensions of community capacity and familiarity with water conservation practices. With data from the questionnaire, it was possible to measure collective action, community empowerment, and shared vision for each of the communities within the study area. Exploratory factor analysis yielded outcomes that differed from theoretical literature on the topic. A stepwise regression analysis illustrated the importance of community empowerment in explaining the greatest amount of variability (39%) in community capacity. Once reliable measures of community capacity were established, it was possible to examine them across urban and rural areas. A multivariate analysis showed no significant difference between urban and rural community type in regards to levels of community empowerment, collective action, shared vision, and community capacity. Measurements of community capacity were not significantly different at á = 0.05 across urban and rural communities; however, practical differences between urban and rural communities were identified. Understanding practical differences in community capacity between different community types will assist in the development of outreach and education techniques that are relevant for both urban and rural communities that exist within the study area. Outreach and education strategies will allow for the implementation of effective natural resource management within the study communities, while informing citizens and leaders on watershed conservation practices that can be implemented at the individual and community levels.
36
Karlsson, Alexander, and Nellie Marand. "Todo el País, Uruguay in transformation : ICT transforming rural Uruguay." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för medier och journalistik (MJ), 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-56981.
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Purpose: The purpose of our research was to study the role and impact that ‘information and communication technologies’ and the MEC centers might have on the Uruguayan society. We want to examine how MEC and ICT usage could affect daily lives of marginalized people in Uruguay. We want to explore how it might benefit individuals living in small communities by evaluating indicators of positive impact of how ICT usage could strengthen capitals and increase freedom. Furthermore, our aim is to understand how digital literacy and the access to ICT’s can be related to democracy, and try to understand if greater individual empowerment also could enhance democracy. Method: For a period of eight weeks, from March 3rd to 28th of April 2014, we were in Montevideo and vicinity to gather material that we later have analyzed qualitatively. The material is based on observations in the field, interviews with various stakeholders, manuals and national policy documents concerning MEC, as well answers we received from an online survey. Main conclusions:We have found that the MEC centers and ICT, combined with education, could be an important tool to facilitate the inclusion of marginalized groups in the Uruguayan society. Our findings indicate that the MEC centers in Uruguay could contribute to the decentralization of the country and have a positive impact on gender- and generation equality. The result suggests that the centers could have a positive impact on democracy in Uruguay by teaching participants how to use e-governmental services as well as encouraging them to participate in online governmental websites. Furthermore, we found that MEC lets the local communities be in charge of their own development, which indicate that the sustainability of the project is increased as well as the positive development outcome. Through the MEC centers we found that both the freedom and the social capital of the participants were positively affected.
37
Irenaeus, Ellen. "Empowerment of women- a strategic tool in rural development : Case study at the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women, Madhya Pradesh, India." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Kulturgeografiska institutionen, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-158829.
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Burney, Jennifer, Halimatou Alaofè, Rosamond Naylor, and Douglas Taren. "Impact of a rural solar electrification project on the level and structure of women’s empowerment." IOP PUBLISHING LTD, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/625821.
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Although development organizations agree that reliable access to energy and energy services-one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals-is likely to have profound and perhaps disproportionate impacts on women, few studies have directly empirically estimated the impact of energy access on women's empowerment. This is a result of both a relative dearth of energy access evaluations in general and a lack of clarity on how to quantify gender impacts of development projects. Here we present an evaluation of the impacts of the Solar Market Garden-a distributed photovoltaic irrigation project-on the level and structure of women's empowerment in Benin, West Africa. We use a quasi-experimental design (matched-pair villages) to estimate changes in empowerment for project beneficiaries after one year of Solar Market Garden production relative to non-beneficiaries in both treatment and comparison villages (n=771). To create an empowerment metric, we constructed a set of general questions based on existing theories of empowerment, and then used latent variable analysis to understand the underlying structure of empowerment locally. We repeated this analysis at follow-up to understand whether the structure of empowerment had changed over time, and then measured changes in both the levels and likelihood of empowerment over time. We show that the Solar Market Garden significantly positively impacted women's empowerment, particularly through the domain of economic independence. In addition to providing rigorous evidence for the impact of a rural renewable energy project on women's empowerment, our work lays out a methodology that can be used in the future to benchmark the gender impacts of energy projects.
39
Ansell, Nicola. "South African secondary schools : places of empowerment for rural girls? Cases from Lesotho and Zimbabwe." Thesis, Keele University, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.287968.
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Alao, Abiodun. "How telecentres contribute to women empowerment in rural communities: case of Western Cape, South Africa." Doctoral thesis, Faculty of Commerce, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/30439.
Full textAbstract:
Background – This study investigates how telecentres contribute to the empowerment of women in the rural communities of selected regions of the Western Cape, South Africa. Women face the problem of ICT access due to a host of socio-economic factors. Rural women lack computer skills, and there is a need for more women to be computer literate to eliminate poverty challenges and improve their economic standards. Telecentres are ICT initiatives established in disadvantaged communities for people to have access to the digital world. The aim of telecentres is to enhance information access, promote the use of ICTs for community development, provide information services to communities and provide computer skills training of individuals in communities. However, most telecentres do not focus on how women specifically can benefit from using their services provided at the telecentre. Women who have access to information gain knowledge through ICTs and may share their knowledge, concerns, best practices and experiences, gain a greater understanding of their current situation and solve issues that were previously beyond their capability and enhance their livelihood. Purpose of the research – Telecentres are ICT community development initiatives with no focus on gender aspects. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate how telecentres contribute to the empowerment of women in rural communities, and to provide adequate information for improving women’s livelihood. Problem statement – The scenario of men leaving their wives behind and migrating to urban centres to seek employment explains why the number of female-headed rural households varies between 50% and 80%. These women are left behind are known to be the least likely to reap the gains of ICTs in subSaharan Africa, due to the limited access to telecentres in the rural areas. Furthermore, there is limited literature on how the use of telecentres is linked to women empowerment, or the impact of ICTs on rural women's economic well-being. An attempt at addressing these problems is made here. This study has analysed the contribution of telecentres to the empowerment of women and development in the identified problems/knowledge gaps. Design/methodology/approach – The research study intends to address the question: How telecentres contribute to women empowerment in the rural communities. To address this question the research adopted a qualitative method to present the view of women respondents of the telecentre which was utilised for the data collection. The study used the following data collection techniques: Semistructured in-depth interviews, participatory observation, and focus group discussions. The study is explanatory, and the research philosophy of the study is interpretative; this is to understand the phenomenon in a given context. The study used three theories such as the Domestication Theory, Individual Difference Theory, and Dimensions of Empowerment Theory as a theoretical lens. The case study method is used to conduct an in-depth investigation of the research. Findings –. The key findings of this study signify that few women incorporated the telecentre use in their daily lives. However, socio-cultural and contextual factors hindered women from effectively using telecentres. The use of the telecentre affected the process of empowerment in women through the computer skills training offered at the telecentre which facilitated the use of the technology artefact. Originality/contributions – The study makes practical contributions for the government and Nongovernment organisations to use telecentres for enhancing other socio-economic development programmes, as well as a theoretical contribution through the creation of a conceptual model. Furthermore, the telecentre was consciously explained in this study to accommodate programmes that may contribute to women’s capabilities and digital gap.
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Jahan, Hosna. "Money for Nothing, Re-thinking Women's Empowerment and the Accomplishments of Microfinance in Rural Bangladesh." Thesis, Department of Political Economy, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/8991.
Full textAbstract:
Microfinance Institutions often claim that microfinance is useful not only in alleviating poverty but also as a development tool which empowers women. The impacts of microfinance on empowerment have been studied by many, some of whom have reviewed empowerment not only by looking at repayment, but also by examining the women’s well-being. However, other studies suggest that the various dimensions of well-being (such as mobility, political participation and health awareness) are not a direct result of access to credit or income but rather an indirect result of community development programs that are usually run by the microfinance institutions alongside their credit providing facilities. Thus, many studies suggest, while microfinance may be a useful tool to alleviate women out of poverty but empowerment is an issue that needs to be addressed differently. Empowerment, in this view, requires incorporating women’s agency. However, in traditional societies like Bangladesh, the present character of women’s agency is one of the causes of their disempowerment. The existing social structure and the century-long gender disparities distort the view of what women really value. Thus, I argue that empowerment cannot be achieved only via exercising agency, but it needs to question the existing power relations and social structures. On this reasoning empowerment requires critical agency. By examining Bangladeshi women’s identity, social structure and agency this thesis inspects how social structures, existing power relations and agency play out in the context of empowerment. I argue that the microfinance institutions need to challenge the existing social structures and power relations rather than build on them. Moreover, the idea of critical agency needs to be incorporated in their community development programs to play an effective role in women’s empowerment and development. Looking at microfinance institutions in this broader context shows more clearly the limited role they play in the process of women’s empowerment.
42
Saleemi, Sundus [Verfasser]. "Empowerment of Girls and Women in Rural Pakistan : Migration, Decision-making and Consciousness / Sundus Saleemi." Bonn : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Bonn, 2020. http://d-nb.info/1224270304/34.
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Nwanesi, Peter Karubi. "Development, Micro-credit and Women's Empowerment: A Case Study of Market and Rural Women in Southern Nigeria." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Sociology and Anthropology, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/958.
Full textAbstract:
This study investigates women's economic empowerment in relation to micro'credit schemes in southern Nigeria. The study also evaluates the benefits and limitations of micro'credit as a resourceful means of enhancing women's economic activities in the labour market and eliminating poverty among market and rural women. Micro'credit schemes and institutions which provide soft loans to women have become a critical tool in development programmes aiming to empower them. The Nigerian government (both at Federal and State levels) has pursued this development trend since 1985 and today, it is estimated that an increasing number of Nigerian women participate in these schemes. Besides, it is widely accepted among development practitioners that micro'credit schemes not only contribute to poverty reduction but also empower the have'nots. My research design has drawn on gender analytical frameworks such as the 1980 Harvard Analytical Framework, Kabeer's 1998 Women's Empowerment Assessment, and Mayoux' 2001 micro'credit empowerment paradigm. This study employed as its methodology, ethnographic field research. This includes semi'structured interviews and participant observation. In addition, data was obtained from state databases, archives and development websites. Throughout, both qualitative and quantitative methods and analysis were used. This study found that women in southern Nigeria are extensively engaged in economic activities. It also established that micro'credit provides finance to enhance market and rural women's participation in production and trade. The study further ascertains that women have some control over their loans. However, increased economic activities may have also increased participants' financial responsibilities and household decision'making is still a prerogative of male head of the family. In addition, this study found that older married women in this region enjoy a comparatively high degree of personal mobility, but restrictions on travel in terms of distance and time are very common for younger married women. These restrictions are sanctioned by customs, household obligations, and social infrastructures. While problems with the transportation network have enhanced the middlemen's domination of economic activities in this region they increased women's dependence on their services. All this renders empowerment for women more difficult to achieve although it makes a practical contribution to their everyday lives.
44
Zhang, Huiyi. "Economic Development and Women Empowerment in China: Is There a Regional Pattern?" Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för samhällsstudier (SS), 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-38458.
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The rapid economic development in China has successfully drawn a worldwide attention and benefit its population, with a average 8 percentage GDP growth rate every year and 500 million people out of poverty. While a large number of people are seeking for the reason why economic achievement in China has been so dramatic and unprecedented, less people show solicitude for Chinese women`s condition and empowerment. Women as a worldwide vulnerable group, their well-being need to be taken into consideration during the process of developing economy. In China, female population accounts for 48.47 percentage (633.2 million) of entire population. Under the big picture of economic prosperity, the author found that Chinese people`s living condition has advanced largely, the popularization of basic education and medical service has benefit the vast majority people, meanwhile, people can be more involved in political process to express their opinions. However, women are benefited disproportionately but still less empowered than men are. Moreover, since China is a geographically large country, the economic development has shown some regional characteristic, that means, in southeastern China, due to the convenient traffic condition, such as harbors, economic development process is faster than in northwestern China, where traffic and natural conditions are both weak. Would that cause a unequal empowered situation between women from different economic developed regions? Women has been paid less attention through the history of China, let alone different conditions of women in different regions. In this thesis, the author will describe women`s different empowered situation in rural and urban regions of China, via a capability approach viewpoint, and discussion of whether there is a regional pattern will be based on (Dis) Empowerment model.
45
Wakoko, Florence. "Microfinance and women's empowerment in Uganda a socioeconomic approach /." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2003. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1064325172.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2003.Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains xiv, 196 p.; also contains graphics (some col.). Includes abstract and vita. Advisor: Linda M. Labao, Dept. of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology. Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-196).
46
Ajulu, Deborah. "Holistic empowerment for rural development from a biblical perspective, with special reference to sub-Saharan Africa." Thesis, University of Reading, 1997. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.362053.
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Gumbi, Themba Aaron Philemon. "An assessment of the extent of empowerment through community participation : a Kwazulu-Natal rural development comparison." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/52097.
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Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2001.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to assess the extent of the relevance and success of the empowerment model in facilitating and promoting rural development in South Africa. The assumption was that through active participation communities are able to gain control over their lives and are empowered to promote development successfully. In undertaking this study, the researcher initially reviewed literature on rural development, and thereafter presented and discussed various development methodologies used for realising community development, participation and empowerment. Three case studies selected for an indepth study were distinguishable as follows: the first case that could be regarded as "finished and unsuccessful", the second one that could be classified as "finished and successful", and the third one that could be labelled as "new and ongoing" with respect to rural development projects in the respective communities. A comparative analysis of the three case studies was undertaken with the purpose of establishing the "success" and "failure" in the projects designed to enhance community development and participation. The study shows quite clearly that development projects do not operate in a vacuum but are components of national, social and economic development policies, strategies and programmes for which governments often bear some degree of final responsibility. The success of development projects depends to a large extent on a number of issues, of which community participation and empowerment are the most important. Unless the community actively identifies itself with the project or at the least is involved from day one, in the decisionmaking process of the proposed project, it will be very difficult, if not impossible to achieve the project's developmental objectives. On the basis of the empirical findings, it was revealed that the prerequisites for a successful community development project depend on: a) the encouragement of active involvement, community participation and empowerment of communities for the purpose of enabling them to meet their needs, problems and aspirations; b) the completion in full of the cycle of the development methodology; c) the identification and handling of obstacles in the development cycle as the project unfolds to successful completion; d) the promotion of a facilitative role with regard to capacity building and skills transfer by development personnel; and e) the development of capacity for communities to take control over events influencing their lives (e.g. knowledge, skills, information, networks and support structures to mention a few). In conclusion, it is stressed that the development of people as individuals and as collective groups was central to community development. In doing so, a shift which placed heavy emphasis on resource management and service delivery to capacity building and skills transfer has to take place in order to promote development and social change, making communities progressively minded, desirous of improving their living conditions and capable of doing so through adopting a co-operative way of life for promoting group interests of the community as a whole. From the lessons learned in this study it was shown that the process of rural development can be promoted in a successful manner through the empowerment model which stresses community involvement and participation.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie navorsingsprojek was om vas te stel wat die omvang van toepaslikheid en sukses van die bemagtigingsmodel is, in die fasilitering en bevordering van plattelandse ontwikkeling in Suid-Afrika. Die veronderstelling was dat deur aktiewe deelname gemeenskappe in staat sal wees om beheer oor hulle lewe te verkry, en bemagtig sal wees om ontwikkeling suksesvol te promoveer. Met die aanvang van die navorsing, het die navorser eerstens relevante literatuur oor die plattelandse ontwikkeling nagegaan en daarna is verskeie ontwikkelingsmetodes (nasionaal en internasionaal), wat gebruik word vir die realisering van gemeenskapsontwikkeling, betrokkenheid en bemagtiging, aangebied en bespreek. Die drie gevallestudies wat gekies is vir die indiepte ondersoek, word as volg onderskei: die eerste geval kan beskou word as "voltooid en onsuksesvol", die tweede een kan geklassifiseer word as "voltooid en suksesvol", en die derde een kan beskou word as "nuut en in proses" met verwysing na plattelandse ontwikkelingsprojekte in onderskeie gemeenskappe. 'n Vergelykende analise van bogenoemde gevallestudies is onderneem met die doelom die sukses en mislukking van projekte wat ontwerp is om die gemeenskapsontwikkeling en deelname vas te stel. Dit is gevind dat ontwikkelingsprojekte nie in 'n lugleegte geskied nie, maar komponente is van nasionale, sosiale en ekonomiese ontwikkelingsbeleid, strategiee en programme waarvoor die regering meestal 'n mate van finale verantwoordelikheid dra. Die sukses van ontwikkelingsprojekte hang tot 'n groot mate af van 'n aantal kwessies, waarvan gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid en bemagtiging waarskynlik die belangrikste is, tensy die gemeenskap aktief identifiseer met die projek, of ten minste betrokke is van die begin af in die besluitnemingsproses van die betrokke projek, sal dit baie moeilik indien nie onmoontlik, wees om die projek se ontwikkelingstellings te bereik. Die literatuuroorsig het getoon dat die gebruik van ingevoerde westerse norme, standaarde, ontwerpe, regulasies, ens. In die fasilitering van gemeenskapsontwikkeling, in die besonder in plattelandse gebiede, dikwels tot gevolg het dat die projek vervreemding by die plaaslike omgewing veroorsaak. Vir die sukses van die fasiliteringsproses, was vasgestel dat klem op die aanmoediging van, betrokkenheid en deelname by die gebruikers van 'n gevestigde fasiliteit, bekwaamheid oordra en die onderskraging van die projekte inisieer. Op grond van die empiriese bevindings is vasgestel dat vereistes vir 'n suksesvolle gemeenskapsontwikkelingsprojek afhang van: a) die aanmoediging van aktiewe betrokkenheid, gemeenskapsdeelname en bemagtiging van gemeenskappe ten einde hulle in staat te stelom hul behoeftes, probleme en aspirasies te volvoer; b) die voltooiing van die siklus van die ontwikelingsmetodologie; c) die identifisering en hantering van slaggate in die ontwikkelingsiklus soos die projek ontvou tot die suksesvolle voltooiing daarvan; d) die promovering van 'n raadgewende rol ten opsigte van die kapsiteit uitbouing en bemagtigingsoorplasing by die ontwikkelingspersoneel; en e) die ontwikkeling van kapasiteit vir gemeenskappe om beheer uit te oefen oor gebeure wat hul lewens beinvloed (bv. kennis, bemagtiging, inligtingnetwerke en ondersteuningstrukture, om maar 'n paar te noem). Ten slotte is beklemtoon dat sentraal tot gemeenskapsontwikkeling, die ontwikkeling van mense as individue en as kollektiewe groepe is. Daardeur vind 'n groot klemverskuiwing plaas vanaf hulpbronbestuur en dienslewering tot kapasiteituitbouing en bemagtigingsoorplasing. Dit moet plaasvind ten einde ontwikkeling en sosiale verandering te promoveer en gemeenskappe in 'n vooruitstrewende gesindheid te plaas, begeerte na verbeterde lewensomstandighede, en die vaardigheid om dit te doen deur aanvaarding van 'n gemeenskaplike lewenswyse, vir bevordering van die groepsbelange van die gemeenskap as 'n geheel. Wat uit hierdie studie geleer is, bevestig dat deur die bemagtigingsmodel wat gemeenskapsbetrokkenheid en deelname beklemtoon, landelike ontwikkeling wel ontwikkeling suksesvol kan promoveer.
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Lee, Renee Gravios. "Uneasy Tensions in Health Care Delivery in a Rural Appalachian Coal Mining Community: Envisioning Alternative Solutions." Diss., Virginia Tech, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/30555.
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Research consistently supports that some segments of society are at considerably higher risk for illness and death than the national average. While the existence and extent of poor health outcomes for these "vulnerable populations" are well documented, less research attempts to explain why such inequities persist and how they might be resolved. Thus, many vulnerable individuals fail to get adequate health care.
How can health care delivery be improved to better serve those consumers most at risk of poor health? Addressing this issue requires an in-depth understanding of the unique health and social needs of vulnerable consumers and how these needs are being met (or not met) by the health care industry. Based on field research using a variety of methods, this study examined health care delivery to one at-risk population, women in a rural Appalachian coal mining community, with the ultimate goal of envisioning service design and distribution strategies that might better serve disadvantaged populations.
Consistent with the change-oriented goal of this research, a feminist approach guided this study. Women's everyday experiences in managing their health needs were explored through an analysis of their health care stories. Health care providers were also interviewed in order to explore both sides of the service encounter dyad. The voices of the women and the providers reveal uneasy tensions in health care delivery and illuminate why the current system does not meet the actual health care needs of the women or their community. A variety of solutions are offered to improve health care delivery.Ph. D.
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Groth, Sofia, and Matilda Söderström. "Self-help facilitation for people living with disabilities: a tool for empowerment? A qualitative study in the context of rural Zambia." Thesis, Högskolan i Gävle, Avdelningen för socialt arbete och psykologi, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-16846.
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This report is the result of a field study conducted in the southern part of Zambia, funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). The aim of this qualitative study was to explore how self-help facilitation provided by the organisation Response Network can contribute to the empowerment of people living with disabilities in the context of rural Zambia. We interviewed four people working for the organisation as well as the principal responsible of youth with disabilities in a rural high school. We also conducted two focus group interviews with two disability support groups in a rural village. The results of this study were analysed using empowerment theory and systems theory. Our findings showed that self-determination, education and participation were contributing to the empowerment of people with disabilities. Level of attitudes, understanding and motivation were shown to be important factors which impact the empowerment of people with disabilities.
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Ngomane, Thandi Susan. "Land as an economic empowerment tool: access, control and ownership of land by rural women in the Mpumalanga Province,South Africa." Thesis, University of Limpopo, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10386/1614.
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