Twenty reasons why local knowledge will remain relevant to development

Local knowledge has continued to gain popularity among development practitioners in the last four decades. However, the future of local knowledge seems hazy to some academics and researchers, perhaps due to the methodological challenges in operationalising local knowledge in development research. Rather than appropriate its full potential for sustainable (global) progress, renditions on the relevance of local knowledge in development research agenda have largely become rhetoric. Nonetheless, this viewpoint outlines 20 pertinent reasons in support of the relevance of local knowledge and why it has a future in development theory and practice.     

Harvested rainwater: quality,adequacy, and proximity in Ghanaian rural communities

This article presents a study that aimed to assess the accessibility, use, and quality of harvested rainwater in three rural communities in Ghana where the government of Ghana and local and international development organisations have sponsored domestic rainwater harvesting. The results showed that rainwater storage facilities were within the recommended distance of 1000m from each house. The amount of rainwater per person per day was below the recommended amount. The majority of the respondents therefore depended on other sources of water. Though the physico-chemical quality of rainwater met the WHO guideline limit for drinking water, the bacteriological quality did not. The majority of common water-associated infections experienced prior to the project have not been experienced after the project.     

When development breeds contempt: case examples of community-driven health systems initiatives

This article discusses case examples of community-led initiatives triggered by the introduction of an external development programme in Senegal and Mali. These are community initiatives that learn from projects initiated and funded by an external donor organisation, and transform interventions to better meet their own needs. The circumstances leading to the demand for, and successful establishment of, health infrastructure are examined to understand the triggers. These breakthroughs demonstrate unintended benefits of development, and the need to leverage donor-led initiatives. Therefore, community involvement, participation, and empowerment are key in establishing local ownership in development projects.     

Social construction of capabilities and intersectional complexities in a Tamil village

India is an ethnographic museum, well-known for its national motto of “unity in diversity”. It is a country of diverse hierarchies where the social reality is intersected by the varied grades of caste and class, among others. Against this backdrop, this article conceptualises the intersections of primordial identities. The concept of intersection underscores how diverse social positions interact in a Tamil village in India. As intersectionality is “the mutually constitutive relations among social identities” (Shields 2008), the interactions of caste, class, and gender in education are conceptualised to understand the formation of capabilities.     

Public Sector Reform

Reform is never far from the centre of public administration practice and scholarship. In this article Doug McTaggart, the chairman of the Queensland Public Service Commission, and Janine O'Flynn, from the University of Melbourne, explore the challenges of reform and the state of play. McTaggart, who was a commissioner on the Queensland Commission of Audit, sets out the case that business as usual will no longer suffice given the range of challenges faced by governments. He sets out to explain how we ended up in our current state and what needs to happen to repair it, drawing on deep experience in the practice of reform. O'Flynn positions reform as one of the central questions in public administration and management and makes the case for rethinking reform conceptually to drive change in practice. In doing so she points to our weaknesses in determining whether reform fails or succeeds and makes the case that, until we rethink reform, business as usual might be all we end up with. McTaggart and O'Flynn bring together the expertise of practice and academia to bring new insights in this persistent challenge of public administration, and raise a series of questions for debate.     

Innovation in the Public Sector

Why does the public sector innovate, how should the public sector innovate, and, even more basically, should the public sector innovate? These are some of the questions that these contributions explore and to which they provide some salutary answers. Martin Stewart‐Weeks, an independent consultant working at the intersection of government, innovation, and technology, draws some lessons from his direct experience and advisory work about how the public sector catches the innovation ‘bug’ and turns it into in‐ spired action. From infection to inspiration to implementation, the public sector needs to lower its defences and put itself ‘in harm's way’ to engage with innovators and new ideas. Tim Kastelle, one of Australia's leading innovation scholars and practitioners, sets out some practical ways that the public sector can extend and entrench its innovation practice. These include managing innovation as a process, shifting the risk equation, and experimenting.     

对提升公众安全感的思考

群众对社会治安的满意率是由公众安全感决定的。而由于目前我国公安机关在刑事立案方面存在的一些不准确因素,使刑事立案率并不能真正反映出公众安全感的高低。因此,公安机关应立足当前,认清形势,查找不足,创新工作思路,不断巩固和提升公众对社会治安的满意率。     

论我国政府社会管理公平价值取向的现实依据

我国政府致力于社会管理，应以公平作为核心价值取向，其现实依据在于：公平是人类世代追求的价值理想和人类社会发展的客观趋势、是社会主义的本质要求、是社会主义现代化建设的现实需要、是政府应当承担的社会职责。     

法治模式中“合作社”的文化动员

合作社是在建立在群体自觉的基础上农民权利的实现方式,也是农民实行自治、利益表达的组织性资源。合作社是一种超血缘、传统、亲缘的"地缘"组织,在中国当下半熟人社会的条件下,只有可能从乡村的文化动员中让农民合作起来,从传统的政治动员式参与过渡到主体认同的自愿式参与。强调法治模式中的制度约束与创造,用现代权利理念来保障农民利益的需求,以文化动员唤醒农民的主体认同,建立起农民在现代市场经济条件下生活的自觉。