A review of enabling factors in support intervention programmes for early school leavers: What are the implications for Sub-Saharan Africa?

One of the major problems facing education systems in Sub-Saharan Africa is the phenomenon of young people who leave school before completion. Research has shown that this phenomenon disadvantages young people and exposes them to various forms of social exclusion. Accordingly, there have been increasing calls for the scaling up of support intervention programmes for young people who leave school early. This paper analyses literature on support intervention programmes for early school leavers (ESLs) to identify enabling factors that can be promoted in future or in current less effective interventions. The review revealed that programmes that address the multiple disadvantages and needs of young people through flexible, holistic and intensive support approaches tend to be more attractive and beneficial to the participants. The findings from this review are crucial to policy makers and teachers working in support intervention programmes for ESLs.     

Development and piloting of a mother and child intervention to promote resilience in young children of HIV-infected mothers in South Africa

This paper describes the process of developing a parallel intervention for HIV-positive mothers and their young children (6–10 years) with a view to strengthening the relationship between them. Strong mother–child relationships can contribute to enhanced psychological resilience in children. The intervention was developed through action research, involving a situation analysis based on focus group discussions; intervention planning, piloting the intervention and a formative evaluation of the intervention. Participants supplied feedback regarding the value of the intervention in mother–child relationships. The findings obtained from the formative evaluation were used to refine the intervention. Two parallel programmes for mothers and children (15 sessions each) were followed by 10 joint sessions. The intervention for mothers focused on maternal mental health and the strengthening of their capacity to protect and care for their young children. The intervention for children addressed the development of their self-esteem, interpersonal relationships and survival skills. The formative evaluation provided evidence of good participation, support and group cohesion. Qualitative feedback indicated that the activities stimulated mother–child interaction. A similar intervention can easily be applied elsewhere using the detailed manual. The insights gained and lessons learnt related to mother and child interaction within an HIV-context that emerged from this research, can be valuable in other settings, both in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.     

Exploring gender approach to climate change and agroecology: Women farmer's search for agency in India

Employing the frame of gender and political ecology, this paper analyses the synergies of indigenous knowledge, agroecological farming and local conservation as a sustainable mitigation and adaptation strategy for climate change in Tehri Garhwal in the state of Uttarakhand, India. The study is based on field research conducted between 2017 and 2018 exploring how women's roles in regenerative agriculture provide them with agency. the nature of which has not been explored. While there is a need to mainstream such practices to sustain the commons and women's empowerment through structural, institutional and financial support, it is crucial to analyze the scope of this empowerment. This paper highlights the predicament of women farmers as their ability to exercise agency in the agricultural space does not necessarily translate into overall empowerment or a transformation of existing gender- and caste- based hierarchical power relations in society, as the latter will require interventions along multiple fronts.     

Family Support as a Gang Reduction Measure

Recent public concern about youth gangs in Britain has prompted a narrow, almost stereotypical, range of US‐derived policy responses. This paper argues that family support is an unexplored but potentially effective gang reduction tool, but in order to overcome persistent concerns regarding misidentification, stigmatic labelling and policy misdirection, programmes must not only be ‘good science’ but also be non‐punitive, acceptable to families and context‐sensitive. Beginning with a discussion of the grounds for intervention, the paper identifies likely barriers from the point of view of the parents of gang members, and from these, derives necessary standards for effective support. The paper describes some promising (‘public health oriented’) and unpromising (‘criminal justice oriented’) programmes, and argues for more ‘gang‐sensitive’ family support and a related research agenda.     

Development and piloting of a mother and child intervention to promote resilience in young children of HIV-infected mothers in South Africa

This paper describes the process of developing a parallel intervention for HIV-positive mothers and their young children (6-10 years) with a view to strengthening the relationship between them. Strong mother-child relationships can contribute to enhanced psychological resilience in children. The intervention was developed through action research, involving a situation analysis based on focus group discussions; intervention planning, piloting the intervention and a formative evaluation of the intervention. Participants supplied feedback regarding the value of the intervention in mother-child relationships. The findings obtained from the formative evaluation were used to refine the intervention. Two parallel programmes for mothers and children (15 sessions each) were followed by 10 joint sessions. The intervention for mothers focused on maternal mental health and the strengthening of their capacity to protect and care for their young children. The intervention for children addressed the development of their self-esteem, interpersonal relationships and survival skills. The formative evaluation provided evidence of good participation, support and group cohesion. Qualitative feedback indicated that the activities stimulated mother-child interaction. A similar intervention can easily be applied elsewhere using the detailed manual. The insights gained and lessons learnt related to mother and child interaction within an HIV-context that emerged from this research, can be valuable in other settings, both in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere.     

DEVELOPMENT OF PRACTICE

In this paper it is described how the work of the Balay Rehabilitation Centre in the Philippines has changed over time as the political and human rights conditions of the country's affected areas have changed. Balay's psychosocial rehabilitation programmes address the needs of individuals and communities and offer support and healing. Originally Balay focused on individual and family-level psychological and social intervention in accordance with clinical diagnoses; however, as the political and human rights situation of the Philippines changed and large numbers of people became victims of trauma and displacement the intervention strategies changed. Balay became increasingly interested in assisting communities to become empowered to participate in their own healing and the frameworks of community research and participatory action research (PAR) are now being explored by Balay as valid methods of integrating research with rehabilitation activities on the community level.     

Evaluating the effectiveness of ergonomics application

The effectiveness of ergonomics application is achieved in the course of this research by reviewing ergonomics literature, Internet searches and case studies of a number of work related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD's) and other ergonomic related workplace incidence rate. The results of ergonomic intervention control measures such as engineering controls, administrative controls and personnel protective equipment were also studied. The findings in this paper may help to development model for analysing and solving ergonomic problems in the workplace. It concludes on the need for management to support ergonomics intervention programme for effective cost saving, litigation avoidance and better productivity.     

Sudanese and Somali Refugees in Canada: Social Support Needs and Preferences

The aim of the study was to identify the unique support needs and preferences of African refugees in Canada. In‐depth interviews were conducted with Sudanese and Somali refugees (n=68) living in two cities in central and western Canada. Refugees were interviewed individually to identify their support needs, current sources of support, available support programmes, barriers to access to support resources, and preferred support interventions. These refugees reported major support needs, depleted social networks, and barriers to accessing services and supports. They identified distinct preferences for support from peers from the same country of origin and professionals. Participants wanted group‐level support supplemented by one‐to‐one support. Transportation, child care, meals, and peers matched by language and gender were recommended to enhance accessibility to support programmes. These findings can inform the design of support intervention research and enhance the relevance and supportiveness of services and programmes for recent refugees.     

Who Benefits from Production Outcomes? Gendered Production Relations among Climate‐Smart Agriculture Technology Users in Rural Ethiopia

The use of agricultural technologies is generally expected to increase production and household incomes. Gendered disparities in making use of agricultural outcomes could result in inequitable agricultural development. However, too little is known about whether the use of agricultural technologies improves gendered production relations, particularly in the Global South. This study investigates the question of gender‐equitable production relations by drawing on empirical data from women and men smallholders involved in conservation agriculture and small‐scale irrigation schemes in three study areas in Ethiopia. Findings show that the use of agricultural technologies does not improve unequal gendered production relations; rather, gender norms that exist within patriarchal social structures continue to influence production relations in at least three ways. First, societal norms restrict women from asserting their self‐interest in gendered bargaining. Second, there is a customary law in all the study areas that allows men (but not women) to inherit land—thus providing men with better bargaining and decision‐making positions over production outcomes, as they bring land to the marriage. Third, the restricted access of women to rural institutional services further contributes to unequal gendered production relations, as these services support men more than women in the use of agricultural technologies for enhanced production.     

Pets and protein:: placing domestic livestock on hobby-farms in England and Wales

The place of animals in human geography is currently the subject of considerable discussion, focusing on the spatial variation of human–animal relations, and on the ways in which categories such as ‘human’, ‘animal’, ‘wild’ and ‘domestic’ are produced. In this paper I begin to consider some of the ethical dimensions of human–animal relations in livestock farming, using the notion of ‘situated morality’ (Lynn, Ethics Place Environ. 1 (1998b) 223–242) to examine hobby-farming as a particular set of social and agricultural practices in which farm animals are encountered as simultaneously ‘friends’ and sources of food. The paper considers how the socially constructed categories of ‘livestock’ and ‘pet’ become blurred in this marginal form of agricultural production. The paper draws on evidence from field research with hobby-farmers in England and Wales, and on textual material, to demonstrate the ethical ambiguity of human–animal relations on hobby-farms. The paper shows how such relations are associated with specific discourses, practices and places, and demonstrates the importance of spatiality and embodiment in understanding situated moralities.     

New pathways in the evaluation of programmes for men who perpetrate violence against their female partners

Today, evaluation research in the field of intervention programmes for men who perpetrate violence against their female partners still makes a fragmentary impression. Across Europe various evaluation studies have been performed. However, the methodologies applied are too heterogeneous to allow the combination of the results in a meta-analytical way. In this paper we propose a future pathway for organising outcome evaluation studies of domestic violence perpetrator programmes in community settings, so that today’s problems in this field can be overcome. In a pragmatic framework that acknowledges the limited pre-conditions for evaluation studies in the area of domestic violence perpetrator programmes as it is today, feasible approaches for outcome evaluation are outlined, with recent developments in the field taken as starting points. The framework for organising future evaluation studies of work with perpetrators of domestic violence is presented together with a strategy to promote this framework. International networks of practitioners and researchers play a central role in this strategy through upskilling the area of practical work, preparing the ground for evaluation research and improving cooperation between practitioners and researchers. This paper is based on the results of the European funded project IMPACT (under the Daphne-III-funding programme of the European Commission).     

Evaluation of the impact of intervention programmes on education organisations: Application to a Quality Management System

This paper analyses the importance of evaluating the various components of the programmes or actions carried out by education organisations. It highlights the need to assess the impact of the intervention on the organisation and consider how changes are consolidated over time in interaction with the context. We propose an impact evaluation model and as an example have chosen the implementation of Quality Management Systems in schools. The paper analyses the results obtained in 40 schools in three regions (Spanish Autonomous Communities) with varying levels of implementation. The results show overall impact on these education centres as the teachers and management teams of the centres perceive it. This impact is more evident in some of the dimensions considered in the study than in others. The results also confirm the differences between regional contexts.     

Referent Networks Predict Just Rewards

This study introduces the referent network, the set of relations defined by knowing others reward levels, and makes initial predictions about how the structure of that network shapes perceptions of income fairness. Previous research recognizes that justice assessments are driven by social comparisons; yet there is a paucity of research on how the structure of interpersonal contacts shapes justice assessments. Using a social networks perspective, the arguments here suggest that the referent network affects social comparisons, which in turn affect justice assessments of rewards. This reasoning is also integrated with the notion that people make both local and referential comparisons when determining their just rewards. An experiment evaluates these arguments. Results show support for the argument linking network structures to justice assessments and partial support for the extension to local and referential comparisons. Supplemental analyses show how reward levels qualify the arguments. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

What does learning by listening bring to citizen engagement? Lessons from a government program

In public relations research, the concept of engagement is often theorized but seldom observed in practice. This research focuses on what public leaders learn when they undertake actions centered on learning by listening to society to implement governmental citizen engagement programs. Taking an inductive grounded approach to data analysis which draws on tools and methods of grounded theory as well as including a review of key concepts from public relations literature, a reflexive analysis of an action learning intervention involving the members of a provincial government was conducted. Results show that, when reflecting on interaction with stakeholders of the program, government members: increase their knowledge about both sides of the public organization-society relationship; become more sensitive to what listening is and implies, and, hence, more supportive of two-way communication; are challenged about the authenticity of the motivations behind their listening; become more aware of ways in which they work to build social capital; and, subsequently, increase their willingness to act together with society. This paper shows that reflection on the real implementation of engagement programs gives policy makers a better understanding of normative assumptions, and hence it instantiates public relations theories and concepts about engagement. By identifying acting-by-listening as integral to citizen engagement, it presents implications for the study and practice of public relations in public sector organizations.     

Skills and professional practices for the consolidation of the support group model to foster families

The research presented here is justified by the lack of tradition in Spain with regards to socio-educational intervention programmes based on training and group support, as well as the proven benefits of these methods in foster care. It addresses the need to go deeper into the acquisition and consolidation of the core professional competences for running socio-educational groups with foster families. After a process of participatory action-research with 39 professionals from the Child Protection System from different regions of Spain, we see an improvement in the development of the competences necessary to establish a supportive relationship with families, management and group dynamics, as well as the crystallization of attitudinal changes in professional practices. Data have been collected on the basis of methodological complementarity and a pre-test–post-test design that has identified and explained the changes in the evolution of competences and professional practices.     

Child abuse prevention: Blending research and practice

For over two decades, child abuse interventions have been plagued by poor definitions of what (or who) exactly is being treated, what constitutes ‘success’, and how services can be delivered in such a way as to minimize the harm to the child and to his/her family. Most recently, intervention/prevention programmes reflect the growing recognition that child maltreatment is the product of the interaction between the parent's abilities and resources and the child's emerging behavioural and emotional characteristics (i.e. the parent–child relationship), and place less emphasis on individual psychopathology. Accordingly, ways to strengthen this relationship offer considerably more promise than those aimed at correcting only one component (i.e. the parent) or treating only the visible symptoms of conflict. In an attempt to focus greater effort on prevention and early intervention, this paper reviews prominent risk factors that have been linked to physical abuse and neglect of children and their consequences. Major intervention targets are identified from this literature and discussed in reference to: (a) problems related to the family context; (b) child treatment needs; and (c) parent/caregiver treatment needs. The paper concludes with a discussion of promising developments in early intervention that are beginning to address problems in the early formation of the parent–child relationship (i.e. the pre-natal and infancy periods of development) and problems associated with parental competency and family support. Most notably, preventive efforts have been associated with more positive parenting knowledge, attitudes, skills, and behaviour, as well as fewer child injuries, emergency room visits, and reports to protective agencies among at-risk parents and children. Further evaluation and expansion of these programmes appears to be warranted by these data.     

Women and agricultural productivity: Reframing the Issues

Should agricultural development programmes target women in order to increase productivity? This article analyzes the challenges in distinguishing women's agricultural productivity from that of men. Most of the literature compares productivity on plots managed by women with those managed by men, ignoring the majority of agricultural households in which men and women are both involved in management and production. The empirical studies which have been carried out provide scant evidence for where the returns to projects may be highest, in terms of who to target. Yet, programmes that do not consider gendered responsibilities, resources and constraints, are unlikely to succeed, either in terms of increasing productivity or benefitting men and women smallholder farmers.     

Performative policy studies: realizing “transition management”

The paper analyses the relations between policy studies and public policy. It traces how they are constitutively entangled. Conceptually, this builds on a notion of performativity that has been developed in science studies. The performativity of policy studies is explored in a case study of the innovation journey of “transition management” as a model for governing sociotechnical change. The paper shows how practices of knowledge production and policy-making take shape in interaction with the model and how a specialized research field coevolves with political alliances and policy programs. They interact in the process of realizing transition management, both by establishing the model as collective knowledge and by materially enacting it. In this interweaving with public policy, policy studies contribute to creating the reality that they describe. The conclusions discuss “realizing” as a mode of governance.     

Sector Programme Approaches: Will They Work in Agriculture?

This article explores why sector‐wide approaches, in which donor funds support a single sector plan under government leadership, have performed less well in agriculture than in the social sectors. Many problems stem from the more limited, more contested and shrinking role of the state in the agricultural sector. It is also argued that sector programmes have worked best where the key constraints on sector development are the responsibility of a single ministry, whereas agricultural development requires co‐ordinated interventions across sectors. The sector approach may have a limited role in delivering better focused agricultural services, but fundamental policy questions need to be resolved first. This is more likely if support for reforms is channelled through central economic ministries and other bodies outside the agriculture ministry.     

Agricultural liberalization in the European union: an analysis of the implications for nature conservation

The liberalization of agricultural policy is a more realistic prospect today than ever before. Following the Uruguay Round Agriculture Agreement of 1993, European policymakers are committed, at least at the level of rhetoric, to the further progressive decoupling of agricultural support in order to increase the exposure of Europe's farmers to world markets. There are compelling reasons to believe that, by the turn of the century, policymakers will come under mounting pressure to further liberalize the CAP. The environmental implications of this policy shift are profound. According to some commentators, the rural environment stands to benefit from a double dividend: once when the reduction in prices brings about an extensification of production, and again when resources previously committed to price support are reinvested in agri-environmental schemes. This paper considers the validity of this important idea. It examines the assumptions behind the extensification effect and discusses the willingness and ability of policymakers to plough substantial sums of public money into fully decoupled agrienvironmental programmes. The paper suggests that the first round effects of a withdrawal of support may not be unambiguously good for the European countryside, while the ‘green recoupling’ of support could prove more complicated politically than is often assumed.