<p>Although the access to adequate safe drinking water is taken for granted in developed countries and urban settlements in some developing countries at the end of 2002 it was estimated that globally, some 1.1 billion people still rely on unsafe drinking water sources particularly in the developing regions of India and Africa. Malawi is one of the developing countries located in the arid-semiarid Sub-Saharan African region with only 62% of its people having access to safe drinking water. Boreholes and dug wells equipped with hand pumps is the technology that has assisted the country to increase the proportion of people having access to safe drinking water.</p><p>The underlying objectives of the study were to critically characterise the existing rural water facilities management systems, and to assess the status of the water facilities that were provided to rural communities by different organisations and individuals. The aim is to form an information base upon which rural water development efforts will be advanced and to expose points of intervention for sustainable rural water supply.</p><p>A survey was conducted in two traditional authorities of Kapeni and Lundu in Blantyre rural district where 94 water users were interviewed in their households. Physical inspection survey of the water facilities in the area under study was done. Focus group discussions and informal key informants’ interviews were also done.</p><p>A majority (54%) of the respondents indicated that they participated in various stages of their water supply project. The actual responsibility for the management of all water points which were visited lies with a representative group of local community known as water points committee (WPC). 97% of the water facilities that were surveyed had WPCs of which 67% received training in management, operation and maintenance (O&M) of the water facilities. There are two types of hand pumps that were found in the area, Malda and Afridev. 83% of the water facilities were still in order. The downtimes of the water facilities ranged from 1 to 360 days depending on the kind of fault.</p><p>The traditional leaders, Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs) from government and mission clinics, water facility providers and the local communities themselves are the key players at community level. The trust that the communities have in their local leadership, the approach used in provision of the water facilities, the benefits that accrued to the local communities, and the length of time the WPCs serve the communities are the major factors that influence the communities’ participation in O&M activities. Inadequate number of qualified area technicians, theft of hand pump parts and high prices of some spare parts are some of the problems that impede effective O&M of the water facilities. To improve management, O&M of the water supply systems in the area communities have additional number of the water points, and training and refresher courses for WPCs and caretakers as some of their immediate needs. The common technical problems are hand pump related in water facilities equipped with Afridev hand pump and well drying for Malda hand pump equipped water facilities. The WPCs that are not active are those whose water facilities have been out of order for a long time. Recommendations are made regarding; planning phase, construction and operation phase, and government regulation.</p>

Studies of human relationships in anthropology, religion, community studies and psychology have determined that willingness to sacrifice plays an important role in reinforcing and strengthening social bonds. It is remarkable that given the increasing prominence of the relationship marketing paradigm, marketers have spent little time investigating willingness to sacrifice as a potential variable of interest. This dissertation extends relationship marketing theory by defining, developing and testing the willingness to sacrifice construct in the context of brand communities. It not only establishes a role for willingness to sacrifice in the nomological network of relationship marketing, but also develops a typology of sacrifices members make in brand communities. Results from two experiments and a field study of two brand communities suggest there are significant relationships between willingness to sacrifice and established constructs in relationship marketing research, such as identification, satisfaction with peers, and norms of reciprocity. Moreover, these findings indicate that willingness to sacrifice is positively associated with beneficial marketing outcomes such as word of mouth, purchase intentions and brand community longevity. By integrating literature from personal psychology, sociology anthropology–all of which discuss sacrifice in terms of how it can benefit and strengthen relationships– this research challenges the conventional marketing assumption that sacrifice is merely “the price one pays.” Taken together, these studies enrich our understanding of willingness to sacrifice in a marketing context, and more specifically, identify a process through which it contributes to brand community success and related marketing outcomes. / Thesis (Ph.D, Management) -- Queen's University, 2014-04-09 10:41:22.156

Although the access to adequate safe drinking water is taken for granted in developed countries and urban settlements in some developing countries at the end of 2002 it was estimated that globally, some 1.1 billion people still rely on unsafe drinking water sources particularly in the developing regions of India and Africa. Malawi is one of the developing countries located in the arid-semiarid Sub-Saharan African region with only 62% of its people having access to safe drinking water. Boreholes and dug wells equipped with hand pumps is the technology that has assisted the country to increase the proportion of people having access to safe drinking water. The underlying objectives of the study were to critically characterise the existing rural water facilities management systems, and to assess the status of the water facilities that were provided to rural communities by different organisations and individuals. The aim is to form an information base upon which rural water development efforts will be advanced and to expose points of intervention for sustainable rural water supply. A survey was conducted in two traditional authorities of Kapeni and Lundu in Blantyre rural district where 94 water users were interviewed in their households. Physical inspection survey of the water facilities in the area under study was done. Focus group discussions and informal key informants’ interviews were also done. A majority (54%) of the respondents indicated that they participated in various stages of their water supply project. The actual responsibility for the management of all water points which were visited lies with a representative group of local community known as water points committee (WPC). 97% of the water facilities that were surveyed had WPCs of which 67% received training in management, operation and maintenance (O&amp;M) of the water facilities. There are two types of hand pumps that were found in the area, Malda and Afridev. 83% of the water facilities were still in order. The downtimes of the water facilities ranged from 1 to 360 days depending on the kind of fault. The traditional leaders, Health Surveillance Assistants (HSAs) from government and mission clinics, water facility providers and the local communities themselves are the key players at community level. The trust that the communities have in their local leadership, the approach used in provision of the water facilities, the benefits that accrued to the local communities, and the length of time the WPCs serve the communities are the major factors that influence the communities’ participation in O&amp;M activities. Inadequate number of qualified area technicians, theft of hand pump parts and high prices of some spare parts are some of the problems that impede effective O&amp;M of the water facilities. To improve management, O&amp;M of the water supply systems in the area communities have additional number of the water points, and training and refresher courses for WPCs and caretakers as some of their immediate needs. The common technical problems are hand pump related in water facilities equipped with Afridev hand pump and well drying for Malda hand pump equipped water facilities. The WPCs that are not active are those whose water facilities have been out of order for a long time. Recommendations are made regarding; planning phase, construction and operation phase, and government regulation.

L’irrégularité des pluies, l’évaporation considérable de l’eau de surface et des points d’eau traditionnels, entrainent une insuffisance de l’eau au Burkina Faso notamment en milieu rural. Cela contraint l’État et les partenaires à la mise en place des points d’eau modernes. Elle ne tient pas compte des positions, des valeurs culturelles qui légitiment la gestion traditionnelle de l’eau. La nouvelle gestion de l’eau renvoie à une problématique du rapport à l’eau et relève d’une modification sociale. Cette modification provient des pratiques, de leur évolution par rapport au système social mais aussi des processus intervenant sur les pratiques elles-mêmes. Les individus font l’apprentissage de la nouvelle gestion de l’eau, se positionnent selon le contexte en fonction de leurs appartenances dans le rapport à l’eau, des modes de solidarités comme moyen d’action communautaire par rapport aux oppositions sociales. C’est dans cette perspective que la thèse analyse à partir de la gestion de l’eau, les tensions et les recompositions sociales dans cinq villages autour du bassin versant du Nakambé. / The erratic rainfall, evaporation of considerable surface water and traditional water sources, cause a shortage of water in Burkina Faso, particularly in rural areas. This forced the state and partners to the development of modern water. It does not take into account the positions, cultural values that legitimize the traditional management of water. The new water management refers to a problematic relationship with water and is a social change. This change results from practices, their evolution from the social system but also the processes involved in the practices themselves. People are learning about the new water management, positioning themselves as the context in terms of their membership in relation to water, modes of solidarity as a means of Community action in relation to social opposition. It is against this background of the thesis analyzes from the water management, tensions and social blending in five villages around the catchment Nakambé.

Thesis (M.DEV.) --University of Limpopo, 2013 / Recent changes in Modimolle Local Municipality have placed new external pressures and challenges on project managers change their ways of managing community projects in their sphere of operation. The above challenges had necessitated the researcher to investigate the challenges faced by managers in managing community projects in Modimolle Local Municipality of Limpopo Province. The management of community projects in Modimolle Local Municipality is fraught with challenges such as financial resources, lack of focus on economic development, improvement of livelihood, community participation, sustainability, delegation and also not adhering to Public Financial Management Act and Municipal Financial Management Act. To understand the total context of the challenges faced by managers in managing community projects, an in-depth study of this problem was done by means of relevant literature review, empirical study and variety of other suitable research techniques. Data was collected by means of questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, from project managers who had an experience of community work in the area of the study. The studies have revealed that the management of community projects is not determined by one factor. It emerged that there are various factors that prohibit managers to manage community projects in their sphere of operation, hence the recommendations for improvement stated in chapter five.

Conciliar desenvolvimento local com a conservação da maior floresta tropical do mundo é um desafio emergente. Uma das estratégias que tem sido estimuladas em prol desse objetivo é a promoção de cadeias comerciais de produtos florestais não madeireiros. A castanha-do-brasil (Bertholletia excelsa Bonpl.) é uma das espécies mais importantes do contexto amazônico, considerada uma espécie chave para a contribuição com a conservação da floresta e dos meios de vida associados à ela. O presente estudo teve por objetivo investigar se o extrativismo de base comunitária e tradicional da castanha em Almeirim - município situado na região da calha norte paraense - representa de fato uma atividade chave para garantir a conservação da floresta aliada ao desenvolvimento local. Para isso, foram definidas questões norteadoras a serem focadas no desenvolvimento da pesquisa: (I) A organização social das comunidades extrativistas, bem como o desenvolvimento e amadurecimento de instituições coletivas atuantes no gerenciamento da produção e comercialização da castanha promovem melhorias nas diferentes dimensões dos meios de vida comunitários?; (II) Existe sustentabilidade ecológica na produção de castanha oriunda dos castanhais de Almeirim? O que a dinâmica populacional dos castanhais explorados de Almeirim pode nos dizer sobre o futuro das populações de castanheiras na Amazônia? Foi verificado que de fato diferentes níveis de organização social dos sistemas socio-ecológicos aonde se constituem as atividades extrativas da castanha em Almeirim contribuem de modo distinto e significativo para a manutenção e melhoria dos capitais humano, social, físico, financeiro e natural dos meios de vida das comunidades da região de estudo. Também verificou-se que a coleta de sementes de castanha-do-brasil, realizada há pelo menos um século na região, não representa uma ameaça à manutenção das populações de Bertholletia excelsa, uma vez que essa parece atingir alto nível de estabilidade e resistência à remoção de suas sementes. Pode-se considerar, portanto, que o extrativismo de castanha-do-brasil no município de Almerim é uma estratégia de alta relevância para a manutenção sociocultural das comunidades estudadas, bem como melhoria de seus meios de vida e que não provoca prejuízos a dinâmica das populações de castanheiras. / Harmonizing local development with the world largest rain forest conservation is an emerging challenge. One of the strategies that has been stimulated for this goal is the promotion of non-timber forest products commercial chains. Brazil Nut is one of the most important product in this Amazon context, considered a cornerstone specie for the contribution of the forest and the local living ways associated. This study aimed to investigate if Brazil Nut\'s extractivist communities and traditional way of extractivism in Almeirim - municipality located north channel of Amazon river in Pará state - represent in fact a key activity to guarantee forest conservation allied to the local development. In this regard, directional questions have been defined to be focus in the development of research: (I) Does social organization of the extractive communities, as well as the development and maturing of collective institutions that act in the production and commercialization management of Brazil Nut, promote better conditions of the different community livelihoods? (II) Is there ecological sustainability of the Brazil Nut\'s extraction in the Almeirim\'s Brazil Nut\'s stands? What does population dynamics of the explored Brazil Nut\'s stands in Almeirim can tell us about the future of Brazil Nut\'s stands in Amazonia? It has been verificated that the different levels of social organization in the social ecological systems where the Brazil Nut\'s extraction activities in Almeirim contributes distinctly and significantly to the maintenance and upgrade of human, social, physical, financial and natural community assets of livelihoods in the study area. It was also verified that Brazil nut seed collection, which has been carried out for at least a century in the region, does not represent a threat to the maintenance of the populations of Bertholletia excelsa, since the specie seems to reach a high level of stability and resistance to seed removal. It can be considered, therefore, that Brazil nut extractivism in the municipality of Almeirim is a highly relevant strategy for the socio-cultural maintenance of the communities studied, as well as the improvement of their livelihoods and that does not cause damages to the dynamics of Brazil nut populations.

Si l’on se réfère aux recherches en cours, la gestion des périmètres forestiers de la côté Est de Madagascar connaît de nos jours une évolution notable tout en différant néanmoins d’un endroit à un autre. Dans le cas de la région faisant l’objet de notre étude (Alaotra-Mangoro), elle se limite à un mode d’organisation et de gestion ancestral où les autorités traditionnelles, les anciens (Ray aman-dreny) et les communautés sont les maîtres d’œuvre. Cette gestion traditionnelle consiste en un droit d’exploitation des ressources naturelles pour les besoins de la communauté. À Madagascar, l’impératif de conservation de la biodiversité focalise l’attention de la communauté internationale. De nouveaux territoires se créent avec l’extension des aires protégées ; toutefois, les pratiques des ONGs de conservation, appuyées par les bailleurs de fonds, excluent « massivement » les collectivités territoriales et les populations locales des processus de décision. Mais en parallèle, de nouveaux projets de conservation voient le jour, avec pour objectif principale mise en place d’une gestion communautaire de la forêt par le biais de Communautés de Base (COBA). Nous défendons l’idée selon laquelle une application « adroite » des us et coutumes locales en leur sein permettra à la population de tirer un profit supérieur de l’exploitation rationnelle des ressources locales. / According to ongoing research, the management of forest areas on Madagascar's east side is currently undergoing a significant evolution, though it differs from one place to another. In the case of the study region (Alaotra-Mangoro), it is limited to an ancestral mode of organization and management where the traditional authorities, the elders (Ray aman-dreny) and the communities are the prime contractors. This traditional management consists of a right to exploit natural resources for the needs of the community. In Madagascar, the imperative of biodiversity conservation is the focus of international attention. New territories are being created with the extension of protected areas; however, the practices of conservation NGOs, supported by donors, mainly exclude local communities and local populations from decision-making processes. But at the same time, new conservation projects are being launched, with the main objective of setting up community-based forest management through the intermediary of the Basic Communities (COBA). We support the idea that a "skillful" integration of local customs within conservation projects will enable the population to derive greater benefit from the rational exploitation of local resources.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:20:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 4121173 bytes, checksum: c5e277cca7fe43f9d318dec50b11d02c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-09-29 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This work makes an analysis of the process of the social preparation of the Jardim Botânico Community Bank and of its social currency called the orquídea (orchid) in the community of São Rafael, a poor neighborhood in João Pessoa, Brazil, and of how the mechanisms of social community administration of this initiative of support and fomentation of local development are built. The community development banks belong to the field of solidarity finance as collective forms of organization of mutual aid which aim at guaranteeing access to credit and stimulating development in impoverished communities through the organization of the local economy generating new socio-economic interaction and building a new reality. We shall approach the institutional arrangement created by the community, the social management, the activities carried out, and the instruments utilized for promoting development in the community. It is a question of a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory case study through which we try to make a contribution to the understanding of the community development banks in the country. / O presente trabalho analisa o processo de construção social em curso da experiência do Banco Comunitário Jardim Botânico e da Moeda Social Orquídea, na Comunidade São Rafael em João Pessoa/PB, e como são constituídos os mecanismos de gestão social comunitária desta iniciativa de apoio e fomento ao desenvolvimento local. Os bancos comunitários de desenvolvimento estão compreendidos no campo das finanças solidárias, enquanto formas de organização coletivas de apoio mútuo que visam garantir o acesso ao crédito e estimular o desenvolvimento em comunidades empobrecidas através da organização da economia local, gerando novas interações socioeconômicas e a construção de uma nova realidade. Abordaremos o arranjo institucional construído pela comunidade, a gestão social, as ações realizadas, os instrumentos utilizados para a promoção do desenvolvimento na comunidade. Trata-se de um estudo de caso, com característica qualitativa, descritiva e exploratória, através do qual procuramos contribuir para a compreensão das experiências de bancos comunitários de desenvolvimento no país.

Conciliar desenvolvimento local com a conservação da maior floresta tropical do mundo é um desafio emergente. Uma das estratégias que tem sido estimuladas em prol desse objetivo é a promoção de cadeias comerciais de produtos florestais não madeireiros. A castanha-do-brasil (Bertholletia excelsa Bonpl.) é uma das espécies mais importantes do contexto amazônico, considerada uma espécie chave para a contribuição com a conservação da floresta e dos meios de vida associados à ela. O presente estudo teve por objetivo investigar se o extrativismo de base comunitária e tradicional da castanha em Almeirim - município situado na região da calha norte paraense - representa de fato uma atividade chave para garantir a conservação da floresta aliada ao desenvolvimento local. Para isso, foram definidas questões norteadoras a serem focadas no desenvolvimento da pesquisa: (I) A organização social das comunidades extrativistas, bem como o desenvolvimento e amadurecimento de instituições coletivas atuantes no gerenciamento da produção e comercialização da castanha promovem melhorias nas diferentes dimensões dos meios de vida comunitários?; (II) Existe sustentabilidade ecológica na produção de castanha oriunda dos castanhais de Almeirim? O que a dinâmica populacional dos castanhais explorados de Almeirim pode nos dizer sobre o futuro das populações de castanheiras na Amazônia? Foi verificado que de fato diferentes níveis de organização social dos sistemas socio-ecológicos aonde se constituem as atividades extrativas da castanha em Almeirim contribuem de modo distinto e significativo para a manutenção e melhoria dos capitais humano, social, físico, financeiro e natural dos meios de vida das comunidades da região de estudo. Também verificou-se que a coleta de sementes de castanha-do-brasil, realizada há pelo menos um século na região, não representa uma ameaça à manutenção das populações de Bertholletia excelsa, uma vez que essa parece atingir alto nível de estabilidade e resistência à remoção de suas sementes. Pode-se considerar, portanto, que o extrativismo de castanha-do-brasil no município de Almerim é uma estratégia de alta relevância para a manutenção sociocultural das comunidades estudadas, bem como melhoria de seus meios de vida e que não provoca prejuízos a dinâmica das populações de castanheiras. / Harmonizing local development with the world largest rain forest conservation is an emerging challenge. One of the strategies that has been stimulated for this goal is the promotion of non-timber forest products commercial chains. Brazil Nut is one of the most important product in this Amazon context, considered a cornerstone specie for the contribution of the forest and the local living ways associated. This study aimed to investigate if Brazil Nut\'s extractivist communities and traditional way of extractivism in Almeirim - municipality located north channel of Amazon river in Pará state - represent in fact a key activity to guarantee forest conservation allied to the local development. In this regard, directional questions have been defined to be focus in the development of research: (I) Does social organization of the extractive communities, as well as the development and maturing of collective institutions that act in the production and commercialization management of Brazil Nut, promote better conditions of the different community livelihoods? (II) Is there ecological sustainability of the Brazil Nut\'s extraction in the Almeirim\'s Brazil Nut\'s stands? What does population dynamics of the explored Brazil Nut\'s stands in Almeirim can tell us about the future of Brazil Nut\'s stands in Amazonia? It has been verificated that the different levels of social organization in the social ecological systems where the Brazil Nut\'s extraction activities in Almeirim contributes distinctly and significantly to the maintenance and upgrade of human, social, physical, financial and natural community assets of livelihoods in the study area. It was also verified that Brazil nut seed collection, which has been carried out for at least a century in the region, does not represent a threat to the maintenance of the populations of Bertholletia excelsa, since the specie seems to reach a high level of stability and resistance to seed removal. It can be considered, therefore, that Brazil nut extractivism in the municipality of Almeirim is a highly relevant strategy for the socio-cultural maintenance of the communities studied, as well as the improvement of their livelihoods and that does not cause damages to the dynamics of Brazil nut populations.

Abstract The popularity of social networking services emphasises the importance of user communities. As the next evolutionary step, social networking will evolve towards user communities that are dynamically established according to contextual aspects such as the shared location and/or activities of people. In this vision, distributed peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies provide a respectable alternative to the centralised client-server technologies for implementing the upcoming community-centric mobile services. This thesis focuses on the development of enabling techniques and methods for a community-centric mobile service environment and on the evaluation of users’ perceptions and user acceptance of novel community-centric mobile services. The research was carried out by first examining the applicability of different P2P system architectures for implementing the management of user communities. Next, an experimental prototype of a community-centric mobile service environment was implemented. The experimental prototype was used for evaluating the performance of the community-centric mobile service environment and for conducting the user studies of novel community-centric mobile services. The evaluation was conducted in a real deployment environment with test users. The main results are the following: (1) a conceptual analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of P2P group management systems that are implemented using architecturally distinct P2P system architectures; (2) a performance evaluation of a P2P community management system, in which each community is implemented as an independent structured P2P overlay network; (3) a novel community-centric mobile service environment and its core component, a mobile middleware, which enables the use of P2P technologies and context information as part of Web-based applications running on a Web browser; (4) an evaluation of users’ perceptions and user acceptance of novel community-centric mobile services that are related to making a selection of an entertainment premise based on its music style and voting for music in a user community. / Tiivistelmä Käyttäjäyhteisöiden tärkeys on korostunut sosiaalista verkottumista edistävien palveluiden suosion kautta. Seuraavaksi sosiaalinen verkottuminen tulee laajentumaan yhteisöihin, jotka perustetaan dynaamisesti muun muassa ihmisten yhteisen sijainnin ja/tai toiminnan perusteella. Tulevaisuuden yhteisöllisten mobiilipalveluiden toteutuksessa hajautetut vertaisverkkoteknologiat tarjoavat varteenotettavan vaihtoehdon keskitetyille asiakas-palvelin -teknologioille. Tämä väitöskirjatyö keskittyy kehittämään tarvittavia tekniikoita ja menetelmiä yhteisöllisen mobiilipalveluympäristön toteuttamiseen sekä arvioimaan käyttäjien kokemuksia uusista yhteisöllisistä mobiilipalveluista. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin aluksi arkkitehtuurillisesti erilaisten vertaisverkkojärjestelmien sopivuutta käyttäjäyhteisöjen hallinnan toteutettamiseksi. Seuraavaksi tutkimuksessa toteutettiin kokeellinen prototyyppi yhteisöllisestä mobiilipalveluympäristöstä. Kokeellista prototyyppiä hyödynnettiin sekä yhteisöllisen mobiilipalveluympäristön suorituskyvyn että uusien yhteisöllisten mobiilipalveluiden käyttäjäkokemuksen arvioinnissa. Arviointi suoritettiin aidossa käyttöympäristössä testikäyttäjien avulla. Väitöskirjatyön keskisimmät tulokset ovat seuraavat: (1) käsitteellinen analyysi arkkitehtuurillisesti erilaisten vertaisverkkojärjestelmien vahvuuksista ja heikkouksista ryhmänhallintajärjestelmän toteuttamisessa; (2) sellaisen yhteisönhallintajärjestelmän arviointi, jossa jokainen yhteisö on toteutettu erillisen ja itsenäisen rakenteellisen vertaisverkon avulla; (3) uusi yhteisöllinen mobiilipalveluympäristö, jonka keskeisin osa mobiili välikerrosohjelmisto mahdollistaa vertaisverkkoteknologioiden ja kontekstitiedon käyttämisen selaimessa toimivissa Web-sovelluksissa; (4) sellaisten uusien yhteisöllisten mobiilipalveluiden käyttäjäkokemuksen arviointi, jotka liittyvät vapaa-ajan viettopaikan valitaan musiikin perusteella ja soitettavan musiikin äänestämiseen käyttäjäyhteisöissä.