bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Process of Change through Interlevel Dynamics in a Large-Group Intervention for a Religious Organization
Authors: Coghlan David
Published: March 2006

In recent years, large-group interventions have been growing in prominence in the theory and practice of organizational development. These interventions, which have different titles and structures, have been defined in terms of a process in which, by bringing a whole system into a room, a large system attempts to create a shared sense of direction and a commitment to that direction. The generic purposes of a large-group intervention are to enable those who have a stake in the system to discuss shared desires and intentions, take responsibility for their own plans, and implement a shared vision. This article looks at a large-group intervention among Catholic sisters in an organizational development context and applies the construct of organizational levels and the Lewin-Schein change process model with a view to contributing to further reflection on the dynamics of large-group interventions.
The Effect of Gender and Organizational Level on How Survivors Appraise and Cope with Organizational Downsizing
Authors: Armstrong-Stassen Marjorie
Published: March 2006

This study examined the influence of gender and organizational level on how survivors appraise, cope with, and emotionally react to organizational downsizing involving across-the-board workforce reductions. Study participants included female clerical employees, male and female technicians, and male first-level supervisors employed at a facility of a major corporation in the telecommunications industry. When male and female technicians were compared, the only significant difference was for perceived injustice, with the female technicians perceiving greater procedural and distributive injustice. There were significant differences across organizational levels for procedural injustice, sense of powerlessness, positive thinking, direct action, and help-seeking coping. The findings indicate that intervention strategies designed to help survivors adjust to organizational downsizing should be tailored to meet the diverse needs of different groups of survivors.
Coping with the Stress Associated with Forced Relocation in the Golan Heights, Israel
Authors: Lev-Wiesel Rachel
Published: March 2006

Living under the threat of possible relocation places exceptional demands on the residents of the Golan Heights (Israel). These may become stressors due to lack of adequate resources. This research sought to develop a multivariable paradigm to determine the contribution of personal resources in explaining stress. Personal resources were divided into three types: affective (potency and psychological sense of community), cognitive (political orientation and education), and instrumental (family status and gender). A random sample of 680 men and women participated. Stress was examined by a psychological equilibrium scale and state anxiety questionnaire. Path analysis and analysis of variance showed that potency had a greater impact on stress than did education or psychological sense of community. Anxiety was found to have an intervening role between demands and stress. This study contributes to further understanding the relationship among demands, resources, and stress in a population that lives under the shadow of relocation.
Integrative Capacity and the Evaluation of Leadership
Authors: Pratch Leslie , Jacobowitz Jordan
Published: March 2006

The relationship between integrative capacity and evaluations of leadership effectiveness was examined in a 9-month program for developing business leaders. Integrative capacity was conceptualized as a central dimension of the structural psychological characteristic, active coping, and differentiated from the cognitive construct, integrative complexity. Self-report, semiprojective, and projective measures of integrative capacity obtained at the beginning of the program were correlated with peer and faculty ratings of leadership at the end of the program. Significant correlations ranged from .27 (p < .05) to .52 (p < .001). Intelligence and integrative capacity contributed separately to leadership. The findings support the value of examining variables related to personality structure and the use of projective techniques to assess candidates for positions of business leadership.
Reengineering in Practice
Authors: Jaffe Dennis T. , Scott Cynthia D.
Published: March 2006

Reengineering has attained tremendous popularity for what it promises, but experience shows that its real returns are far lower than expected. This article explores the process of reengineering and suggests that one reason for this lack of results is the traditional technocratic assumptions and practices that underlie the actual practice of reengineering. Based on a field study of a dozen large reengineering engagements, the article suggests that several flawed assumptions about reengineering practice get in the way of producing the desired results. For example, lack of leadership engagement, limited participation, and low commitment to learning all sow the seeds for ultimate lack of results. The article proposes a broader set of assumptions about the process of large-scale change and offers a road map of key processes to guide redesign efforts that engage leadership and employee commitment, motivate employees to change, and set the climate for learning and renewal.
Implementing Business Process Reengineering
Authors: Beugré Constant D.
Published: March 2006

This article argues that many business process reengineering projects fail because they do not consider justice issues. Drawing on the literature on organizational justice and business process reengineering, the article outlines a theoretical framework integrating these two concepts. It contends that to improve the success of business process reengineering projects, managers should consider justice issues at four levels: distributive, procedural, interactional, and systemic.
Employee Attitudes toward Organizational Socialization in the People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, and Singapore
Authors: Taormina Robert J.
Published: March 2006

Attitudes of Chinese employees toward organizational socialization were compared in the People's Republic of China (PRC) (n = 300), Hong Kong (n = 197), and Singapore (n = 363). Employees evaluated four facets of their own socialization: (a) training received, (b) understanding of their jobs and company policies, (c) coworker support, and (d) future prospects with the organization. Scores on each factor were submitted to a multivariate analysis of variance. Results revealed that Hong Kong and Singapore employees evaluated training more highly than did PRC employees, and Hong Kong employees reported greater understanding of their jobs and company goals than did either Singapore or PRC employees. There were no significant differences among the nations on perceptions of coworker support, but all three differed on perceptions of future career prospects. Results are discussed in terms of an interaction of Western business culture and Confucian values. Implications for management are considered.
Need for Supervision
Authors: de Vries Reinout E. , Roe Robert A. , Taillieu Tharsi C. B.
Published: March 2006

This article argues that the need for supervision among subordinates is a concept that can help to differentiate between circumstances in which leaders do and do not affect subordinate behavior. Need for supervision is defined as a contextual need, the salience of which depends on situational factors. A theoretical model is presented in which need for supervision depends on situational factors known from situational leadership theories and moderates the relationship between leadership styles and outcome variables. Two studies of insurance agents provide evidence for the reliability and construct validity of a scale designed to measure need for supervision. Moderated regression analysis shows that need for supervision moderates the relationship between task-oriented leadership and work stress, but not between task-oriented leadership and job satisfaction. A robust relationship between human-oriented leadership and job satisfaction is found, not affected by the need for supervision. Need for supervision seems to be a fruitful concept that deserves further research.
The freshness of web search engine databases
Authors: Lewandowski Dirk , Wahlig Henry , Meyer-Bautor Gunnar
Published: March 2006

This study measures the frequency with which search engines update their indices. Therefore, 38 websites that are updated on a daily basis were analysed within a time-span of six weeks. The analysed search engines were Google, Yahoo and MSN. We find that Google performs best overall with the most pages updated on a daily basis, but only MSN is able to update all pages within a time-span of less than 20 days. Both other engines have outliers that are older. In terms of indexing patterns, we find different approaches at the different engines. While MSN shows clear update patterns, Google shows some outliers and the update process of the Yahoo index seems to be quite chaotic. Implications are that the quality of different search engine indices varies and more than one engine should be used when searching for current content.
Review Article: Reviewing the impact of virtual teams in the information age
Authors: Gillam Catherine , Oppenheim Charles
Published: March 2006

This paper provides an overview of virtual teams in the information age, focussing on the definition of virtual teams, their salient characteristics, the communication issues they face (including information overload, geographic and social distance), the technical issues involved (linking this to theories of media use), the issues raised by cultural diversity in the teams (including identity, trust and conflict) and managerial implications. Suggestions are made on how to address the issues raised and omissions from previous research are highlighted.
Cultivation of Grass-Roots Democracy
Authors: Gui Yong , Cheng Joseph Y. S. , Ma Weihong
Published: March 2006

Direct elections of residents committees in Shanghai cannot be claimed as an important experiment in political democracy. At best they are a legitimate organizational personnel reshuffle, and a successful one. The significance of exercising democratic rights is conspicuously absent. The Party organization and its agencies guided and controlled the entire electoral process, and there was general apathy among the residents. Some residents attempted to exercise their rights in the elections, but they were a minority and could not generate meaningful demonstration effects. Direct elections of residents committees did not involve competition between political programs and political proposals, and there was a lack of appeals, debates, confrontations, and compromises concerning the interests of the residents. In the building of grass-roots democracy in China’s cities, owners committees may have better potential.
Environmental planning and management of the peri-urban interface: perspectives on an emerging field
Authors: Allen Adriana
Published: March 2006

Although there is no consensus on the definition of the peri-urban interface, there is growing recognition among development professionals and institutions that rural and urban features tend increasingly to co-exist within cities and beyond their limits. There is also recognition that the urban–rural dichotomy that is deeply ingrained in planning systems is inadequate for dealing with processes of environmental and developmental change in the peri-urban context. This paper argues that environmental planning and management of the peri-urban interface cannot simply be based on the extrapolation of planning approaches and tools applied in rural and urban areas. Instead, it needs to be based on the construction of an approach that responds to the specific environment, social, economic and institutional aspects of the peri-urban interface. The paper also outlines approaches to environmental planning and management in the peri-urban interface, examining its specificity in terms of both the challenges faced and possible approaches for implementation.
Changing rural–urban linkages in Mali, Nigeria and Tanzania
Authors: Bah Mahmoud , CissÈ Salmana , Diyamett Bitrina , Diallo Gouro , Lerise Fred , Okali David , Okpara Enoch , Olawoye Janice , Tacoli Cecilia
Published: March 2006

This paper compares and contrasts changing rural–urban linkages drawing on research in six case study areas in Mali, Nigeria and Tanzania. The aim of the research was to gain a better understanding of the ways in which the livelihoods of rural and urban households rely on both rural-based and urban-based resources, and on exchanges between urban and rural areas. The paper describes changes in farming systems under the impact of urban expansion, with special attention to access to land and other natural resources such as water, and also access to markets and the role of traders, especially small-scale operators. It also examines how changing rural and urban contexts, as well as wider national and regional contexts, affect patterns of income diversification and mobility, especially the differential impacts with regard to women and men and to young and older people. Finally, it analyzes the role of the case studies’ urban centres in the economic and social development of their surrounding regions.
From everyday hazards to disasters: the accumulation of risk in urban areas
Authors: Bull-Kamanga L , Diagne K , Lavell A , Leon E , Lerise F , MacGregor H , Maskrey A , Meshack M , Pelling M , Reid H , Satterthwaite D , Songsore J , Westgate K , Yitambe A
Published: March 2006

Many disasters take place in urban areas, affecting millions of people each year through loss of life, serious injury and loss of assets and livelihoods. Poorer groups are generally most affected. The impact of these disasters and their contribution to poverty are underestimated, as is the extent to which rapidly growing and poorly managed urban development increases the risks. But urban specialists do not see disasters and disaster prevention as being within their remit. At the same time, few national and international disaster agencies have worked with urban governments and community organizations to identify and act on the urban processes that cause the accumulation of disaster risk in and around urban areas. This paper summarizes the discussions from a workshop funded by UNDP on the links between disasters and urban development in Africa, highlighting the underestimation of the number and scale of urban disasters, and the lack of attention to the role of urban governance. It notes the difficulties in getting action in Africa, since the region’s problems are still perceived as “rural” by disaster and development specialists, even though two-fifths of its population live in urban areas. It emphasizes the need for an understanding of risk that encompasses events ranging from disasters to everyday hazards and which understands the linkages between them – in particular, how identifying and acting on risks from “small” disasters can reduce risks from larger ones. It also stresses the importance of integrating such an understanding into poverty reduction strategies.
Opportunities for managing solid waste flows in the periurban interface of Bamako and Ouagadougou
Authors: Eaton Derek , Hilhorst Thea
Published: March 2006

This paper examines the links between solid urban waste management and peri-urban agriculture in Bamako and Ouagadougou. Staple crop farmers in the vicinity of both cities value urban waste as a source of organic matter and are prepared to pay for it. Cultivation on degraded soils has even been revived in some cases thanks to this readily available resource. However, uncertain land tenure means that farmers have little incentive to ensure the safe disposal of dangerous elements in solid waste. Current plans would eliminate this recycling practice and promote largescale composting, but the cost for farmers will be too high, leaving them with an incentive to make their own illicit arrangements for acquiring waste material. Furthermore, small enterprises and associations that have come to play a complementary and innovative role in waste management would be forced out. The key challenges for policy are to build on economic and institutional reality and to regard urban waste not as a dangerous nuisance but as a source of nutrients for agriculture. Opportunities exist to deliver waste that has been sorted, though not composted, to peri-urban farmers.
Collapsing under the weight of success: an NGO in Jakarta
Authors: Jellinek Lea
Published: March 2006

This paper describes the changes that an NGO in Jakarta underwent as it grew larger, better funded and more closely linked to local government, while also becoming less accountable to and supportive of low-income groups. This NGO grew from being a small microbank working with women in one neighbourhood to managing wide ranging “good governance” programmes in five city districts, covering more than 100,000 people. Part of the reason for this change was more donor funding available for governance projects. Beginning as a small grassroots project driven by needs and capacities of local women, it became a large, complex, top-down, technically oriented bureaucracy guided by government and large international donors. The early focus on grassroots communications and networking changed to an emphasis on formal office meetings and official ceremonial events. Yet the NGO’s new directions are judged by many government officials and donors to be a success.
In search of the urban–rural frontline in postwar Mozambique and Angola
Authors: Jenkins Paul
Published: March 2006

This paper describes urbanization processes in three intermediate urban centres, two in Mozambique and one in Angola. Both countries have suffered major social strife, and the rural livelihood base that existed before and after Independence has been severely affected. The lack of national and local infrastructure, combined with limited market opportunities and competition from cheap agricultural imports, undermine attempts to revitalize the rural economy through commercial agriculture. The growth in population size of the three urban centres is largely the result of the need for rural residents to combine non-agricultural activities, mainly in the urban informal sector, with subsistence farming for their survival, rather then the product of demand for labour in urban-based industry and services. Whilst local solutions to the centres’ environmental problems are absolutely necessary, they need to be linked to realistic interventions at the global level concerning development opportunities and to a better integration of rural and urban development programmes.
Globalization and metropolitan expansion: residential strategies and livelihoods in Caracas and its periphery
Authors: Lacabana Miguel , Cariola Cecilia
Published: March 2006

This paper describes how the twin processes of globalization and impoverishment affect different groups in Venezuela’s capital, Caracas. These processes are closely intertwined with the territorial expansion of the city and its growth from the Caracas Metropolitan Area into the larger Caracas Metropolitan Region. The result is territorial segregation, with wealthier groups residing in centrally located and “gated” spaces whilst the impoverished middle-and lowincome groups are pushed to the periphery, where they compete for space and where different values and social identities are a potential source of conflict.
Youth participation in El Alto, Bolivia
Authors: Merkle Caspar
Published: March 2006

This paper explores a paradox in the participation of disadvantaged youth in El Alto, Bolivia, in local processes and activities: although they are highly organized and active in social and cultural groups, they fail to involve themselves in the local political system. These young people, most of them the children of indigenous Aymara migrants from rural areas, are marginalized within mainstream society (as exemplified by more affluent nearby La Paz), not only by their poverty but also by their cultural identity. They actively organize themselves in a wide range of groups, some of them focused on the arts, some recreational, and some in response to particular issues and campaigns. Many of these groups and activities are characterized by a critical stance, an articulation of young people’s discontent with “the system”. However, despite their legal right to vote and to be elected from the age of 18, they avoid involvement in the political process and the local neighbourhood organizations through which change, in theory, can be effected. This paper identifies the many constraints that contribute to this lack of involvement – including the corruption of local officials, the low level of political education and awareness, and the various regulations that make prosperity a prerequisite for real participation.
Decentralized wastewater management in peri-urban areas in low-income countries
Authors: Parkinson Jonathan , Tayler Kevin
Published: March 2006

In peri-urban areas in low-income countries, conventional centralized approaches to wastewater management have generally failed to address the needs of communities for the collection and disposal of domestic wastewater and faecal sludges from on-site sanitation. There are opportunities for implementing wastewater management systems based on a decentralized approach that may offer opportunities for wastewater re-use and resource recovery as well as improvements in local environmental health conditions. Decentralized approaches may also offer increased opportunities for local stakeholder participation in planning and decision-making, and the paper emphasizes the importance of building the capacity of local organizations in all aspects of decentralized wastewater management. Using examples of functioning systems, the paper discusses the operational sustainability of decentralized technologies for wastewater management in peri-urban areas and their associated management requirements. The paper concludes that a concerted capacity-building effort is required to overcome the constraints that hinder the implementation and sustainability of decentralized wastewater systems, and proposes a framework for achieving this goal.
Farmers’ markets in Tamil Nadu: increasing options for rural producers, improving access for urban consumers
Authors: Rengasamy S , Devavaram J , Marirajan T , Ramavel N , Rajadurai K , Karunanidhi M , Prasad N Rajendra , Erskine A
Published: March 2006

This paper describes the organization of farmers’ markets that the state government initiated in most of the towns and cities in Tamil Nadu, South India in 1999. Drawing on research conducted in three districts, it examines these markets’ impact on the most vulnerable stakeholder groups: on the production side, small and marginal farmers, with special attention to farming women; among traders, vegetable headload vendors; and on the consumption side, the residents of low-income neighbourhoods. With the increasing popularity of farmers’ markets in other Indian states and in many other parts of the world, important lessons can be learnt from this experience, especially with regard to some important unintended or unanticipated benefits and costs, to the mechanisms for setting up such markets and to some additional measures which could have broadened and deepened the benefits for the poorest groups.
Guadalajara’s water crisis and the fate of Lake Chapala: a reflection of poor water management in Mexico
Authors: von Bertrab Etienne
Published: March 2006

This paper describes the water crisis faced by the city of Guadalajara with the drying up of its main source of water, Lake Chapala. This drying up of Mexico’s largest lake will cause far-reaching economic and ecological consequences for the extended region. The paper also examines the underlying causes, which are centred on the inadequate and unsustainable management of the Lerma- Chapala river basin (that extends over five states). It looks at the innovative, although as yet insufficient, institutional response towards integrated sustainable water management in Mexico, which centres on a shift from centralized water management at the federal level to a multi-stakeholder and participative system based in river basins, and reflects on the current challenges posed.
The Millennium Development Goals and urban poverty reduction: great expectations and nonsense statistics
Authors: Satterthwaite David
Published: March 2006

This paper outlines the importance of the Millennium Development Goals for urban populations, and some reasons for concern regarding their implementation. It argues that the institutional structures and processes of international donors and national governments can be incompatible with the effective achievement of poverty reduction. It also explains that the relevance of the Millennium Development Goals for urban populations has been neglected by many authors and is obscured by inaccurate statistics. These goals set much store on specific targets for reducing income-based poverty and the proportion of people lacking provision for water and sanitation; but the statistics currently used to assess the number of poor urban dwellers and the level of their provision are inaccurate and based on inappropriate criteria. These statistics need to be revised to reflect the incomes that people actually need to avoid income poverty in urban areas, and the kinds of improvements in water and sanitation that really deliver better health.
Poverty and wealth at the rural–urban interface: an actor-centred perspective from northern Tanzania
Authors: Baker Jonathan , Wallevik Hege
Published: March 2006

This paper describes the town of Mbulu, a district headquarters, and its interaction with its surrounds, especially with three villages selected for study. Despite Mbulu’s small size (around 6,400 inhabitants), it performs a number of vital central place functions, reinforced by decentralization reforms that are transferring more funding, authority and decision-making to district governments, and serves the varied needs of a large and dispersed rural population. Drawing on interviews with households from each of the three study villages, the paper describes people’s perceptions of the advantages and disadvantages of their village life, and the close links they have with the town. The paper discusses the striking socioeconomic differences among households within Mbulu and the villages and, through case studies, emphasizes the diverse reasons for this, and the role of both rural and urban components in the accumulation of wealth and the avoidance of poverty. The paper also highlights the importance of the local cultural context to social norms and behaviour, and in particular to the involuntary out-migration of young village women to town.
Alternate water supply arrangements in peri-urban localities: awami(people’s) tanks in Orangi township, Karachi
Authors: Ahmed Noman , Sohail Muhammad
Published: March 2006

This paper describes the serious water shortages that have been a feature of life in Karachi in recent years, and how community-managed public tanks (awami tanks) have been used in Orangi, Karachi’s largest informal settlement, to cope with the situation. These tanks are an example of a water supply service developed as a cooperative arrangement between informally developed community organizations and public sector agencies. The paper explores the partnerships between service providers, recipients of the service and other related stakeholders.
Are the debates on water privatization missing the point? Experiences from Africa, Asia and Latin America
Authors: Budds Jessica , McGranahan Gordon
Published: March 2006

This paper has two principal aims: first, to unravel some of the arguments mobilized in the controversial privatization debate, and second, to review the scale and nature of private sector provision of water and sanitation in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Despite being vigorously promoted in the policy arena and having been implemented in several countries in the South in the 1990s, privatization has achieved neither the scale nor benefits anticipated. In particular, the paper is pessimistic about the role that privatization can play in achieving the Millennium Development Goals of halving the number of people without access to water and sanitation by 2015. This is not because of some inherent contradiction between private profits and the public good, but because neither publicly nor privately operated utilities are well suited to serving the majority of low-income households with inadequate water and sanitation, and because many of the barriers to service provision in poor settlements can persist whether water and sanitation utilities are publicly or privately operated. This is not to say that well-governed localities should not choose to involve private companies in water and sanitation provision, but it does imply that there is no justification for international agencies and agreements to actively promote greater private sector participation on the grounds that it can significantly reduce deficiencies in water and sanitation services in the South.
Participatory budgeting: a significant contribution to participatory democracy
Authors: Cabannes Yves
Published: March 2006

This paper describes participatory budgeting in Brazil and elsewhere as a significant area of innovation in democracy and local development. It draws on the experience of 25 municipalities in Latin America and Europe, selected based on the diversity of their participatory budgeting experience and their degree of innovation. The paper provides a systematic analysis of the range of experience that can be included in participatory budgeting – in terms of the level of funds being considered, the extent of control and mode of involvement of local citizens, the relationship with local government, the degree of institutionalization and the sustainability of the process – and it considers the questions that are raised by this diverse set of possibilities.
Establishing the role of communities in governance: the experience of the Homeless People’s Federation Philippines
Authors: Yu Sandra , Karaos Anna Marie
Published: March 2006

This paper describes the achievements of the Homeless People’s Federation Philippines (HPFP), a network of community-based savings groups that works towards securing land tenure, upgrading settlements and improving the economic status of its members. The groups use savings not only as a strategy for financing their investments but also as a social mechanism to mobilize communities, promote learning and the development of support systems, and open up the potential for new kinds of partnership with local government. By 2003, this community-driven initiative had 39,000 members nationwide, in groups that, increasingly, have been able to engage proactively with government to address their land and shelter needs.
Power to the people? Local governance and politics in Vietnam
Authors: Mattner Mark
Published: March 2006

This paper discusses recent moves towards participatory local governance in Vietnam. In addition to outlining the reasons for their introduction and the extent of their implementation, the paper also considers the overall political significance of this process. It argues that the introduction of participatory local governance in Vietnam represents a deeply political process, and can be seen as a response by central government to challenges to its authority at the local level. The long-term political impact of this response cannot be predicted with any certainty.
Housing mobilization in Calcutta – empowerment for the masses or awareness for the few?
Authors: Mageli Eldrid
Published: March 2006

This paper describes the evolution of the Calcutta NGO Unnayan and the two related movements which it initiated and supported, Chhinnamul and the National Campaign for Housing Rights (NCHR). Unnayan was concerned with the situation of the poor in Calcutta, and was very active in housing issues. Chhinnamul Sramajibi Adhikar Samity (Chhinnamul for short) was a local movement intended to mobilize the squatter population and involve them directly in political activism. NCHR was a nationwide campaign that sought to link housing activists throughout India and lobby for the legal housing rights of the poor. The paper describes Unnayan’s successes, both in stimulating a national debate on housing issues and in creating a platform for popular protest. It also explains the organizational challenges faced by this small NGO, and the conflicts which led to its funding being cut after 20 years. In particular, it highlights the frustrations of poor citizens, whose immediate material needs loomed larger than the longer-term gains envisioned by the organization.
Housing poverty and the role of urban governance in Korea
Authors: Ha Seong-Kyu
Published: March 2006

This paper describes how South Korea’s rapid economic growth failed to produce solutions to housing problems in urban areas. In 2000, nearly onequarter of all households lived in accommodation that did not meet minimum standards in terms of floor space and basic facilities. Many households live in single rooms in illegal or sub-standard lodgings, or in houses built of vinyl and thin wooden boards; most such accommodation lacks basic facilities. Very few housing options are available to low-income households in Seoul. This, combined with democratization and the increasing gap in housing conditions between the rich and the poor, has contributed to an increasingly vocal civil society, making the governance of settlements a major political issue over the last decade. The ineffectiveness of past and current government policies suggests the need for a conceptual change in government’s approach to improving housing conditions for lower-income groups. In the Korean context, since the late 1990s, the enabling approach has begun to be seen as more important than other approaches, in part because it conforms with, but also requires, democratic participation.
Strengthening accountability for urban services
Authors: Cavill S , Sohail M
Published: March 2006

This article explores participatory governance in the context of participatory mechanisms of accountability for urban services. In the past few years, accountability has become a buzzword internationally and, as is the case with many such terms, there is confusion as to what exactly is meant. The people and organizations promoting accountability view it as critical to solving problems with urban services in an increasingly fragmented context of service provision. This article seeks to explore the growing interest in accountability and to assess the potential of participatory governance in improving the provision of urban services. Other objectives are to:

• consider contemporary innovations in the way urban services are delivered – the context of accountability;

• define accountability using the existing literature and present current models for accountability;

• discuss how the concept of participatory governance can be operationalized in the context of urban services;

• present initial findings from case studies undertaken in South Africa, Bangladesh, South Korea and the UK; these case studies are used to illustrate different functions of accountability; and

• examine the potential of accountability arrangements demonstrated in these case studies to improve the quality of local services and the responsiveness of service providers.
A market-based housing improvement system for low-income families – the Housing Incentive System (SIV) in Ecuador
Authors: Frank Daphne
Published: March 2006

This paper describes a successful housing finance programme in Ecuador through which low-income families can receive technical and financial support to improve their housing. Eligible families, who make their own contribution in the form of savings, are awarded a subsidy that can be supplemented by loans at the usual local interest rate. A state agency facilitates the programme, which is implemented through small construction firms working within the programme on a market basis. In the first four years of the programme, 25,000 families received these subsidies, and almost US$ 69 million was invested. The programme has demonstrated the potential for successful cooperation between the private building sector, financial institutions and government. International funding for the programme will end in 2005 and, despite its success, its future is uncertain.
Incorporating crime in household surveys: a research note
Authors: Garrett James , Ahmed Akhter
Published: March 2006

This paper discusses how to incorporate questions about crime into household surveys, drawing on the authors’ experience of designing and implementing a module on crime, violence and physical insecurity in a household survey in the city of Dinajpur in Bangladesh in 2002. The paper discusses issues of design, such as determining survey objectives and the questions that follow from these, involving knowledgeable local partners, determining sample size and designing the questionnaire (and the role of consultations and focus group discussions as well as pre-testing). Then it reports on the findings which highlight the multifaceted nature of crime, the number of people affected (one in six interviewees had been a victim of crime in the 12 months preceding the interview), the role of mastaans (local strong-men) in crime, people’s lack of confidence in the police and the legal system (in part because of the lack of official action against perpetrators), and crime’s direct and indirect costs.
Using diaries to understand women’s responses to crime and violence
Authors: Meth Paula
Published: March 2006

This paper describes the use of solicited diaries in research on crime and violence in a South African community, drawing on material collected from 15 diary writers. The paper explains the broader aims of the research, describes the circumstances of the diary writers, and relates some of the stories told by these women in their diaries. The importance of triangulation is discussed and, in this particular case, illustrated through a combination of diaries and focus group interviews. The paper concludes by discussing the benefits and drawbacks associated with the use of solicited diaries.
Urban violence: a guide to the literature
Authors: Winton Ailsa
Published: March 2006

This review of literature on urban violence does not attempt to be comprehensive. Rather, its objective is to outline some of the key ideas regarding the manifestations of urban violence that have emerged from recent literature, and to explore these ideas in the context of examples from the South. The review draws on a typology that distinguishes between political, institutional, economic and social violence, and it highlights the degree to which these different categories overlap and converge in such phenomena as the drug trade, informal justice and youth gangs. It stresses the importance of macro-level structural forces and points to how various influences (including certain development models) intersect with local conditions to stimulate and shape violence.
Crime, (counter-)insurgency and the privatization of security - the case of Medellín, Colombia
Authors: Sanín Francisco Gutiérrez , Jaramillo Ana María
Published: March 2006

This paper describes and explains the very high and sustained levels of violence in Medellín, Colombia, over the last 20 years. Even within the turbulent context of Colombia, Medellín has experienced unusually severe violence, and several peace processes undertaken within the city have failed to provide more than temporary relief. The paper argues that this state of affairs has been the product of a “politicization of crime” in the city, a phenomenon that has been linked to global markets and a breakdown in the state’s provision of security. This failure of state provision created the opportunity for various insurgent and counter-insurgent forces to provide security themselves, thereby maintaining an uneasy truce with the authorities, commanding the allegiance of local communities, and establishing an urban base for their activities.
The challenges of multi-stakeholder management in the watersheds of São Paulo
Authors: Jacobi Pedro
Published: March 2006

This paper reviews the serious social, economic and environmental problems in the watersheds on whose freshwater Greater São Paulo’s enterprises and 18 million inhabitants depend. These problems include the growing concentration of illegal settlements in the watersheds and the fact that environmental legislation in the 1970s actually increased the problem. A large and growing proportion of the low-income population has come to live in the watersheds, in settlements with poor living conditions and high levels of violence. This paper describes the new measures taken during the 1990s to address watershed protection and the social and economic problems of those who live there; also, the way in which these measures are structured to bring together the efforts of the state government, the municipal authorities and civil society.
Challenges of managing a government town planning office in Nepal: a planner’s experience
Authors: Karki Tej Kumar
Published: March 2006

This paper describes the challenges of managing a town planning office in Nepal, based on the author’s own work experience. After an introduction to the Kathmandu Valley and its planning institutions, the paper explains how the town planning office operates, describes its programmes and discusses the kind of cooperation it receives from local residents, landowners, politicians and government. It focuses in particular on the socioeconomic, political and administrative challenges and constraints facing the town planning office in enforcing building bylaws, encouraging land-pooling, developing roads and protecting public land, especially in the context of the proactive stance taken by the author. The paper concludes that a less proactive approach might achieve more in moving towards greater receptiveness to the concept and objectives of urban planning.
The city as arena, hub and prey patterns of violence in Kabul and Karachi
Authors: Esser Daniel
Published: March 2006

Violence in today’s cities limits the scope for effective urban governance. It also destroys opportunities for collective action conducive to political and economic development, thus jeopardizing the regional competitiveness of these cities. A myriad of causal factors have been suggested, including urbanization, ethnic diversity, social fragmentation and widespread poverty. The cases of Kabul in Afghanistan and Karachi in Pakistan illustrate these dynamics, but also demonstrate that politico-historical settings, weak legitimate institutions of control, and the fluidity between war and peace in south-central Asia are crucial to an explanation of their trajectories. Therefore, strategies to improve the stakes for effective urban governance have to focus on enhancing local accountability, fostering the transformation of institutions of public security and advancing opportunities for non-violent political participation. Nonetheless, supra-urban structures of economic scarcity, ideological strife and struggles for political leverage, in which the two cities are embedded, need to be understood, as they constrain the scope for intervention and improvement.
Olanzapine - relapse prevention following mania
Authors: Dando Simon , Tohen Mauricio
Published: March 2006

This review describes the pharmacological characteristics of olanzapine (ZYPREXA), outlines the European licensed indications and examines four peer reviewed, randomized, controlled, double blind clinical trials investigating the efficacy of olanzapine as maintenance therapy in patients with bipolar I disorder. These studies range in duration from 47 to 78 weeks and support the view that olanzapine is an effective and well-tolerated pharmacological therapy for relapse prevention in bipolar disorder. Evidence is presented that olanzapine is effective in preventing relapse following an index manic or a mixed episode with or without psychotic features and in patients with a history of rapid cycling. The safety and tolerability of the medicine is also examined, focusing on weight gain and metabolic issues.
Associations between xerostomia and health status indicators in the elderly
Authors: Matear David W , Locker D , Stephens M , Lawrence H P
Published: March 2006

Aims: This study investigated the associations between xerostomia (dry mouth) (low, moderate and high) with other categorical variables (e.g. demographic and health status indicators). This paper aims to report on the severity of xerostomia in the elderly population and investigate the relationship with other aspects of perceived health.

Method: Data were obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 225 elderly people from a large multilevel geriatric care centre. The centre consists of three levels of care: an apartment building in which residents live more or less independently, a home for the aged, and a chronic care hospital. Participants in the study were recruited when they attended the dental care facility. Data were collected by means of a personal interview conducted either at the dental care facility or the participant’s residence.

Results: The mean age was 83 years. Most were females (72%) and almost all (99%) reported one or more chronic medical conditions; 88% had physical disabilities. Xerostomia was recorded on a seven-point scale. Scores were categorised as low, medium or high and the proportions were 49.3%, 30.3% and 20.4% respectively. Bivariate analysis showed no association between dry mouth and sex, age, general health change or life satisfaction. However, when the high xerostomia group was separated out and odds ratios calculated they were 2.3 to 4.9 times more likely to experience a negative impact on health than the low group. Xerostomia did not have a significant impact on chewing capacity, morale or stress, although it contributed to the variability of the oral health-related quality of life measures. It was the only variable with a significant effect (OR 2.55) for the Oral Health Impact Profile-14 and displayed a higher odds ratio (2.76) for the Geriatric Oral Health Assessment Index. Selfreported xerostomia in the elderly population can be categorised into a severity scale. Those suffering most from xerostomia are more likely to experience a negative impact on general health.

Conclusion: The key finding in this study is that xerostomia has a significant and negative impact on the quality of life of elderly individuals, though oral function may be less affected.
Identification of glycosylated marker proteins of epithelial polarity in MDCK cells by homology driven proteomics
Authors: Füllekrug Joachim , Shevchenko Anna , Shevchenko Andrej , Simons Kai
Published: March 2006

Background

MDCK cells derived from canine kidney are an important experimental model system for investigating epithelial polarity in mammalian cells. Monoclonal antibodies against apical gp114 and basolateral p58 have served as important tools in these studies. However, the molecular identity of these membrane glycoproteins has not been known.

Results

We have identified the sialoglycoprotein gp114 as a dog homologue of the carcinoembryonic antigen-related cell adhesion molecule (CEACAM) family. Gp114 was enriched from tissue culture cells by subcellular fractionation and immunoaffinity chromatography. The identification was based on tandem mass spectrometry and homology based proteomics. In addition, the p58 basolateral marker glycoprotein was found to be the β subunit of Na+K+-ATPase.

Conclusion

Gp114 has been characterized previously regarding glycosylation dependent trafficking and lipid raft association. The identification as a member of the canine CEACAM family will enable synergy between the fields of epithelial cell biology and other research areas. Our approach exemplifies how membrane proteins can be identified from species with unsequenced genomes by homology based proteomics. This approach is applicable to any model system.