Services for the Rural Elderly

This paper examines the interaction between social policy and community characteristics as they relate to the development of formal long-term care services for the rural elderly. A model for the conversion of policy opportunity into actual services for the rural elderly is presented. This model suggests that while social policy in rural areas is a constant, selected community level characteristics contribute to or impede service development.     

税费改革后农村基层组织运行机制探析

解放后我国农村基层组织经过了多次改革,特别是税费制度改革后出现了一系列新问题。对此,通过深化农村体制改革,打破城乡分割的二元财政体制,建立精简高效以服务社区和经济建设为目标的农村基层组织,以便解决经费来源困难、组织软散无力等问题。     

Jobs in the Bush: Global Industries and Inclusive Rural Development

How do rural communities manage the challenge of local governance and community capacity‐building, given the policy choices of central government (both state and national) in favour of global resource‐development industries? Central government policy choices expose rural communities to the vagaries of the global economy, even as the Australian government's stated intent vis‐à‐vis rural Australia is the exact opposite: to encourage locally driven economic and community sustainability. Rural development policy in Australia often has the effect of denying the very outcomes it hopes to achieve. On the one hand, government policies encourage rural communities to be independent, to build ‘social capital’, and to add value to their local produce; on the other hand, macroeconomic policies change the contexts within which these communities function, creating a tension which is difficult to reconcile. In the case of the Western District of Victoria, an established agricultural and pastoral region, the cycles of economic activity have been disrupted in recent years by new and exciting global industries whose trajectories sit largely outside local control. This paper questions whether governments have a systemic view of the impact of these competing demands on rural communities, and calls for a more informed, whole‐of‐government policy‐making for the development of Australia's rural regions.     

科学发展观视野中的社区精神文明建设——兼析天津市社区精神文明建设“五个一”创建活动

科学发展观虽然是基于中国未来的整体发展而言,但它同样适应于中国的城乡社区发展,同样是指导中国城乡社区发展的科学发展观。社区精神文明建设是社区建设的基本内容。天津市在社区精神文明建设方面居于全国领先的地位,积累了大量有益的经验和方法,值得研究和推广。     

The economic effects of common agricultural policy on Mediterranean montado/dehesa ecosystem

The decoupling of CAP payments leads production decisions and resources allocation to be more dependent on market prices and competitive advantages. The objective of this paper is to assess the effects of CAP trends on the montado/dehesa traditional ecosystem of Mediterranean regions in terms of farm income, land, labour and capital. A positive mathematical supply model disaggregated by the montado agro-forestry production systems of the Alentejo region in southern Portugal is developed. The results show that decoupling payments of CAP have negative economic effects on agricultural activities and resource use. Agricultural income increases with single farm payments but the foreseen increases in prices do not compensate the loss of the Agenda 2000 area payments in terms of competitiveness. These results reinforce the need to promote alternative agricultural and non-agricultural activities and policies in Mediterranean rural European areas and regions.     

农村社区建设的参数分析

农村社区建设应坚持科学发展观,按照"生产发展、生活宽裕、乡风文明、村容整洁、管理民主"的社会主义新农村建设目标要求,建设人与自然和谐相处的村民"宜居社区"和"精神家园"。社区建设涵盖经济收入指数、人居环境指数、居民幸福指数、社区参与指数、平安康乐指数、福利保障指数、社区归属感等参数。     

京郊农村养老服务的困境与出路

在人口老龄化加速发展的背景下,北京郊区农村的养老服务面临着家庭养老服务和机构养老服务的双重困境。在目前的经济社会发展水平下,大力发展居家养老是解决这一困境的有效出路。     

社区组织参与灾后农村社区发展的实践性探索——以重灾区Z村为例

灾后农村社区的发展受限于村民们参与度。社区组织能够迅速整合社区内部资源,壮大社区发展主体,提升社区资本存量,有效激发村民参与积极性,进而推动社区的发展。然而,社区组织能否参与灾后农村社区发展,需要多层面制度空间的生成。     

Community care for adults with severe mental disorders in rural China: A case study

In China, family care is the dominant form of care for people with mental disorders. Since 2004, the government has been developing a community‐care model that places more responsibility on community organisations and the local governments at the provincial, municipal and county levels for the provision of formal care. As a large number of people with severe mental disorders live in rural China, this case study was conducted in a rural county in order to examine the development of community care. It was found that, although family care remains dominant, families’ need for formal care is increasing. Community services have improved, but their development is constrained by several contextual and micro factors. In this study, it is argued that the community‐care model introduces a process of reconfiguration of the relative responsibility for care among the family, social organisations and the government, but progress depends on further administrative and fiscal reforms.     

Rural Movements in Europe: Scandinavia and the Accession States

This paper explores the national rural/village movements now established in some 16 European countries, with special focus on those in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. The aim of the paper is to raise awareness by providing information on the significance of rural social movements, rather than to attempt a detailed analysis. Starting in the 1970s in some Scandinavian and Western European countries, as a local community response to rural decline, the village movements have built into major national forces, and have recently expanded into the EU accession states in Central and Eastern Europe. They were established to address issues of rural decline, agricultural change, migration, centralization and EU accession. They are now also organizing themselves at EU level, to provide a voice for rural communities in Europe. This is a notable example of a structured approach to mobilizing rural communities to become stronger agents of local development and to participate in rural policy‐making at local, regional, national and EU levels. The paper draws on information gained in a recently completed initial investigation of the national village movements in Estonia, Finland, Slovakia and Denmark, together with information from Sweden. The information is based on that gathered from a wide range of interviews and the minimal documentation available from the movements themselves. The experiences of the movements in enabling local structural development, capacity‐building, empowerment and action are documented, as is their work to develop strategic planning and advocacy. The paper identifies the motivating forces, structural and process models, activities and outcomes of the different movements. It takes account of the effects of differing national contexts, and identifies some key elements of experience and learning.     

农村社区志愿服务发展的SWOT分析

近些年,社区志愿服务在国家民政部门的主导下取得了长足进展,农村社区志愿服务也逐渐丰富发展起来。当前农村社区志愿服务存在着农民参与意识不强,参与度低,"行政化"色彩浓厚,社会化水平低,制度体系不健全,服务水平偏低等问题。为了更好地促进农村社区志愿服务,应该坚持以人为本的原则不动摇,切实加强对农村社区志愿服务活动的指导和扶持,构建农村社区志愿者服务网络体系,建立健全农村社区志愿者队伍建设的制度体系,积极探索农村社工指导下的社区志愿服务模式。     

The global healthy ageing agenda: The impact of education,gender, childhood conditions and social engagement in rural South Africa

This paper examines factors associated with the likelihood of healthy ageing and the propensity to utilise health care resources for a rural community in South Africa and the associated policy implications. Our results suggest education exerts a positive influence, and its marginal impact is more prominent for females than males. Further, we show that better childhood health is associated with increased likelihood of ageing well. We also demonstrate an inverse relationship between health care utilisation and healthy ageing. The results presented here suggest that strategic policy investments across life courses in education and child-health fosters not only broader development goals but also enhances healthy ageing trajectories and improve the health and wellbeing of individuals across life stages. This study contributes to informing on the UN’s healthy ageing global strategic agenda in the context of a poor rural region.     

Tracing wealth,cooperation and trust: A comparison of two great plains communities

This research examines the relationships between wealth, cooperation, and trust. Utilizing implications from the social capital literature and democratic theory, we found that trust directly affects patterns of socio-economic interactions, especially shopping. We also found that commuting was widespread and it created a rural sprawl deficit that affected trust. Specifically, the results indicated that trust of others in the community (generalized to a certain degree) tended to encourage people to shop more in town, thus contributing to the development of the community, even when controlling for commuting. Findings from this study suggest that further community level research will yield more specifics about how trust (and social capital) works to increase wealth in a community.     

Social assistance in a shrinking Canadian welfare state

Social assistance, variously known as "welfare" or "the dole", stands at the very base of the modern welfare state and must remain when all other societal, community and family supports have vanished. This paper examines social assistance in Canada, primarily through the Canada Assistance Plan (CAP), the key legislation operative in the area of divided jurisdiction between the central and provincial governments. It considers how CAP has fared in the midst of a substantial weakening of the country's total social support system over the past 15 years, attempts to explain the programme's relatively protected position, and speculates briefly on the future of social assistance.     

Modernization and Devolution: Delivering Services for Older People in Rural Areas of England and Wales

The modernization of public services, with its emphasis on managerialism, choice, co‐production and outcome focused service delivery, has been implemented to a certain extent in both England and Wales. Indeed, the welfare states in both countries share a great deal, particularly in relation to policy objectives and the expectations of citizens. Devolution has chiefly meant that the instruments used to deliver policy have separated, although it remains unclear whether this amounts to formal divergence. What is also unclear is to what extent have the experiences of those living within the policy environment in both countries separated or diverged? This article addresses this question using qualitative data composed of interviews with policy actors in six rural areas of England and Wales. By focusing on the discourses of people involved in modernizing and providing services for older people in rural areas, we bring out the impact of modernization for older people. What we show is that modernization engages both service users and the wider population who may one day become service users. But the emphasis on these groups unfolds in different ways in England and Wales. In England, where there has been a commitment to a customer citizen, policy at the local level has emphasized re‐enablement, community development and individual responsibility. In Wales, where modernization has focused on collaboration and citizenship, local policies have focused on service users, and on engagement with the voluntary sector. In effect, the policy environment provides a different context for the experience of ageing in both countries.     

提高农村基层党组织影响力，构建和谐社会主义新农村

农村基层党组织的影响力是党的整体影响力的重要组成部分。其影响力强弱,直接关系党在农村的执政基础和执政地位。党的十一届三中全会以来,伴随农村经济、政治体制改革的不断深化和发展,农村基层党组织的影响力在一些地方出现了弱化的趋势。建设社会主义新农村,构建社会主义和谐社会,巩固党在农村的领导核心地位,必须不断地提高农村基层党组织的影响力。     

Bottom Up and Top Down? Community Development in Post‐Soviet Armenia: The Social Fund Model

The main objective of this article is to discuss the effectiveness of bottom‐up, community‐driven approaches in promoting community participation and building local capacity within the post‐Soviet social, institutional and political context of Armenia. In exploring this issue, the article examines the nature of local participation and social relations in rural communities in Armenia and the impact of the World Bank‐supported Armenia Social Investment Fund (ASIF) project on the existing forms of local social organization. One of the objectives of the ASIF project was to promote the participation of local communities in their own economic and social development. The research finds that the project did not change the existing patterns of local social organization and had no significant impact on the nature of participation in the beneficiary communities. Bottom‐up, capacity‐building interventions that mainly focus on changing patterns of interpersonal social relations may not be effective in fostering sustainable civic institutions without changes in the nature of a country's governance.     

中国的刘易斯转折点是否到来——理论辨析与国际经验

各国农业劳动力占总劳动力的比重随着各国人均GDP增长呈现先加速下降而后减速下降的趋势,分界点就是刘易斯转折点。跨国平行数据的回归结果表明,刘易斯转折点在人均GDP为3,000—4,000美元（购买力平价2000年国际美元）之间出现。中国的人均GDP超越了这一水平,但农业劳动力比重远高于该经济发展水平下的世界平均水平,这很可能意味着中国的农业劳动力转移仍有较大潜力。     

浅析社区社会工作的专业化

社区是社会的基本组成部分。社区社会工作是一种以社区为服务领域的宏观社会工作,研究社区社会工作的专业化对社会工作专业化的发展以及社区、社会的发展有重要的意义。文章在回顾了我国社区社会工作发展历程的基础上就我国社区发展所面临的形势及问题做出了分析,从社会工作专业化的发展以及对社区建设和发展两个层面浅析专业化发展的必要性,并对实现社区社会工作专业化提出了大力发展社区社会工作职业教育、完善岗位设置及薪酬体系,提高职业声望、完善社会工作职业资格认证制度、提升社区福利性服务的地位、重视农村社区社会工作发展、走适合我国发展的社区社会工作专业化道路等建议。     

我国农村社区卫生服务的现状与对策

农村社区卫生服务是我国卫生事业改革的重要课题,也是建设社会主义新农村的重要内容。经过近些年的努力,我国农村社区卫生服务取得了较大成绩,但仍然存在硬软件、资金、管理及服务内容不到位等方面的问题,基于当前现状,应着力从服务理念、政府主导功能、多元化资金渠道、信息化建设以及服务评估制度等方面加以完善。