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.     

“She Finally Smiles … for Real”: Reducing Depressive Symptoms and Bolstering Resilience Through a Camp Intervention for LGBTQ Youth

ABSTRACT

While summer camps are a recognized evidence-based strategy for building social and emotional skills among youth (U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2009), no known studies have evaluated the effects of camp programming for LGBTQ youth in the United States. This pilot study evaluates a novel program (Brave Trails) for LGBTQ youth ages 12 to 20, using a pre-post camper survey (N = 56) and a post-camp parent survey (N = 54). Results show campers experienced increases in identity affirmation and hope and a reduction in depressive symptoms. Regression analyses found changes in identity affirmation predicted reductions in depressive symptoms and increases in resilience. Additionally, campers’ experience of key camp programming features predicted changes in depressive symptoms. Findings from the parent survey were consistent with camper survey results. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

On Cultural Identity of Youth in Modem China

当代中国青年的文化认同问题,可以从历史的、社会的、心理的等多维视野和知识学架构来把握。青年事实性文化认同中的差异和矛盾以及建构性认同中的关系性特征是当前青年文化的重要议题,当代中国的青年文化认同是多层次、多维度的,并不存在各种青年群体共有的、贯穿诸领域的实质性认同。     

进入国际发展议程前沿的“青年”——概念、多元政策议题与优先关注目标

以往数十年,伴随当代青年发展问题的逐渐凸显和日益复杂化,国际发展议程中有关青年的政策议题和优先关注目标也处于流变之中。青年问题在国际主流发展界逐渐由边缘走向中心,而今已占据了重要的一席之地。作为在国际发展中执牛耳的政府间国际组织,联合国在倡导和推动涉及青年的国际发展战略、政策议程和干预举措上发挥了举足轻重的作用。自20世纪80年代中叶以来,国际社会有关青年发展的政策目标、议题和优先关注目标在不断拓展,这既反映了青年人及其问题的多元化和复杂化．也折射了国际决策界对这些问题认识和理解的日益深化。     

未成年人犯罪对青少年价值观的诘问

分析认识青少年人生观、价值观扭曲的现实,是做好青少年思想道德教育工作的必要前提。运用了全国未成年犯调查资料,对未成年犯和中学生的价值观进行了比较。结果显示：不良的媒介偏好、偶像崇拜、闲暇意愿以及不正确的成功取向、交友倾向等方面的比例均是未成年犯明显高于中学生。研究认为应积极应对大众传媒不良信息对青少年的深层渗透,重视同伴教育在青少年价值观形成中的作用和道德实践。     

Theme and Variations——Based on the Structural Analysis of the Evolution of China＇s Youth Values in 20 Years

社会结构的变迁,必然导致人的文化价值观念结构的变迁。初创于20世纪90年代中国社会主义市场经济,带来中国社会结构的巨大变动,同时也是青年价值观变化最快、最深刻的时段。该文聚焦于“后一代”青年特性融入社会结构变迁这一背景,分析其时代特性以及社会结构的嵌入性。近20年来,青年在接受社会文化和价值观影响的同时,也在不断地挑战主流文化及其价值观,创造其新的文化和价值观。因此,主导价值观被青年所认同与接受的同时,也将更多吸纳青年价值观中具有活性的成分．从而使社会主流意识因为得到青年文化的反哺而走向年轻。     

伊拉克战争与公众参与中国中东外交政策制定

伊拉克战争为公众参与中国中东外交政策制定提供了机会,参与群体前所未有地扩大,参与途径全面拓展,不同意见的表达开始涌现,公众主动对外交建言献策,开始有意施加民意压力。更为重要的是,公众意见开始成为外交部门对外传播国家主张的背景支撑和参考因素。公众因素开始成为中国制定中东外交决策时需要考虑的重要参数之一,但其影响力有限,更多是参考和制约作用,其影响正处于发展之中。     

Strategies for fostering basic psychological needs support in high quality youth leadership programs

Youth leadership programming has become an increasingly common context to foster basic psychological needs and promote youth development. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore strategies involved in fostering youth needs support within six leadership programs. Two leaders and 30 youth participated in semi-structured interviews to better understand the strategies used to foster needs support. Findings revealed that leaders were able to foster a sense of relatedness among youth through building trusting adult-youth relationships and nurturing an inclusive environment. Maximizing choice and negotiating youth voice helped to foster youth’s autonomy. Finally, creating a task-oriented climate and providing intentional opportunities for skill-building helped to foster youth’s competence. Findings suggest that training for leaders is critical in understanding what, and how strategies should be employed to help foster youth needs support in leadership programming. Limitations and future directions are outlined.     

网络时代青年参与社会治理:价值、困境与对策

在互联网对社会的渗透日益深入且全面的今天,青年通过网络参与社会治理已经成为时代趋势。在新冠肺炎疫情的防控治理过程中,青年借助网络工具自发组织起来,积极参与社会治理,实现了从以前在官方组织引导下通过传统途径参与到主动运用互联网平台自发组织参与的创新。当前,青年在参与社会治理的过程中,还存在着专项管理缺失、社会信任度不高、发展性供给保障不足等问题。伴随网络时代的进一步发展,为了更好地发挥青年在社会治理中的作用,激发青年参与社会治理的积极性,需要从完善专项管理、转变观念态度、增强资源供给三个方面寻求破困之道,从而助力社会治理模式创新,提升国家治理效能。     

Lapses,infidelities, and creative adaptations: Lessons from evaluation of a participatory market development approach in the Andes

Participatory approaches are frequently recommended for international development programs, but few have been evaluated. From 2007 to 2010 the Andean Change Alliance evaluated an agricultural research and development approach known as the “Participatory Market Chain Approach” (PMCA). Based on a study of four cases, this paper examines the fidelity of implementation, the factors that influenced implementation and results, and the PMCA change model. We identify three types of deviation from the intervention protocol (lapses, creative adaptations, and true infidelities) and five groups of variables that influenced PMCA implementation and results (attributes of the macro context, the market chain, the key actors, rules in use, and the capacity development strategy). There was insufficient information to test the validity of the PMCA change model, but results were greatest where the PMCA was implemented with highest fidelity. Our analysis suggests that the single most critical component of the PMCA is engagement of market agents – not just farmers – throughout the exercise. We present four lessons for planning and evaluating participatory approaches related to the use of action and change models, the importance of monitoring implementation fidelity, the limits of baseline survey data for outcome evaluation, and the importance of capacity development for implementers.