Structural Shifts
Asynchronous Session
A Framework for the Implementation of Select Sustainable Development Programmes in Lesotho: Implementation Framework for a Climate Change Project View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Leonia Ramataboe
This research seeks to craft a framework for the implementation of the selected sustainable development programmes in Lesotho in the three Government Ministries: Ministry of Social Development (Child Grant Programme), Ministry of Energy and Meteorology (Development of Cornerstone Public Policies and Institutional Capacities to accelerate Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) Progress” normally called Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL) project), and Ministry of Forestry, Range and Soil Conservation (Reducing Vulnerability from Climate Change in the Foothills, Lowlands and the Lower Senqu River Basin Project (RVCC). The study’s main objective is to develop a framework of a model for the implementation of the selected sustainable development programmes in Lesotho. The research employs a cross-sectional qualitative method whereby a case study was conducted in the three Government ministries implementing the above cited programmes to solicit the views from the officials on the development of a framework for the implementation of the sustainable development programmes. Semi-structured Interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data as well as secondary data from books, articles, UN documents, Government legislation, regulations and policies. The recommendations from the empirical findings were aligned with policy and legal frameworks, good governance, financial framework, integrated approaches, capacity building, coordination and collaboration of ministries, stakeholders’ engagement and skillful professionals. As part of contributing to the body of knowledge, this study proposed two models; one dwells on the research objectives (Conceptual Model) and another on 5 phases for managing sustainable development programmes (Programme Management Model).
Housing a Narrative: An Assessment of Narrative Enquiry as a Tool to Uncover the Imaginations of Home and Belonging amongst the Foreign Construction Workers in Trondheim, Norway View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Gunika Rishi
How do people on the move—with the ambivalence of being here and there, form belonging experiences? Trondheim, the largest city in the Trøndelag region of Norway, has seen rapid urban and industrial growth. This has resulted in an increase in developmental projects, which in turn has created a demand for labor. We focus on the construction industry in Trondheim where labour requirements are temporary and contract-based and has therefore been dependent on foreign workers due to their flexibility, reduced costs, and mass availability. These foreign workers from central and eastern European countries, especially Poland and Lithuania, come to Trondheim with temporary contracts to work in secondary positions. Once hired, their housing and period of stay in Trondheim are largely undocumented, quantitatively, and qualitatively. In this paper, we adopt an interdisciplinary approach to analyse how the use of narrative enquiry, as a tool to explore the experiences of foreign workers, ultimately revealed that housing cannot only be viewed as a physical structure but needs to be understood as a complex concept that is an evolving sum of non-physical experiences, goals, and social capital of the labour migrants. The paper interweaves narratives shared by participants that reflect an ongoing, recurring, and unending transition that requires them to constantly acquire new skills and knowledge, and renegotiate their perception of self and their sense of belonging. Ultimately the paper aims to contribute to the ethnographic practise of narratives and its use to reveal interactional dynamics amongst minority communities for researchers working towards social inclusion.
Attaining Functional Solidarity: Visioning an Inclusive Nation View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Josefina Ochoa
As societies and people become complicated, values have been lacking particularly loving the Creator and His creation and this inevitably result in chaos, conflicts and underdevelopment. The affect of solidarity seems to be lacking and needs reflections among leaders who should be visionary as they perform their functions. Mindfulness is such quality and awareness of something, a mental state achieved by focusing on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. Social change theory posits processes of change in a culture’s past and present that would be possible thru reflections and visioning. This could be achieved in being mindful of the history, eventualities and the course of action undertaken by national leaders. This study explores the vision statements of leaders as well as their ways of attaining the vision. It assumed barriers to vision and solidarity attainment and social processes that are dispensed. It is qualitative in design, post positivist in paradigm and it employed one-on-one interview to select organizational leaders. The study puts in attributes for changes, such as magnitude of change, time span, direction, rate of change, and restructuring society as underlying themes to inclusive nation building. Implications for social psychology such as cooperation and leadership are forwarded.
The Participation of Forcibly Displaced Youth with Disabilities in the Humanitarian Development Nexus View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sherin Alshaikhahmed
The shift to and connection between short-term humanitarian aid and long-term development assistance has been a matter of focus for some time. In the context of displacement, academics and practitioners argue for the need for all concerned parties including host communities and donors to search for new approaches that support sustainable solutions for all displaced and host communities alike (Zetter, 2014). This call for new approaches comes as the international community has recognized that humanitarian assistance which does not address the core root causes of poverty is inadequate in long-term crises. As a result, the humanitarian-development nexus has received huge uptake in research, policy, and practice since the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in 2016 (Sande, 2020). However, despite the increasing efforts to link humanitarian and development agendas to address the needs, rights, and inequalities faced by the most vulnerable groups in humanitarian and development programmes; youth with disabilities are excluded from participating in these efforts which affect their life choices and aspirations. It is still vague how youth with disabilities participate in humanitarian programming in long-term displacement (Pearce, 2014; Skeels and Sandvik-Nylund, 2012). Youth with disabilities are often neglected by humanitarian and development actors. They are excluded from participating in peer activities that could enhance the progression of their social and protection networks against violence, harm, and abuse (Pearce, 2014). Policy frameworks, such as UNCRPD, provide unique guidance to disability inclusion, nevertheless, there is a sufficient research gap on youth with disabilities' role in humanitarian development actions.
From Independence to Independence: The Korean Peninsula in 1945-1948 View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jungho Sun
The Korean War has never come to an official ending, since the ceasefire agreement in 1953 was only a pause button, not the end button, and a number of attempts to finally and formally end the Korean War in the 21st century failed. While existing literature focuses on the motivations and policy changes of the United States and the Soviet Union in the Korean peninsula which caused the Korean War, this paper argues that two Korea's domestic politics placed the war in the Korean peninsula but nowhere else. Furthermore, domestic politics in the two Koreas before the war was shaped mainly by intervention from the United States and the Soviet Union in 1945-1948, marked by the establishment of United States military government and Soviet Civil Administration. In this paper, I argue that not only direct intervention by sending troops to the Korean peninsula was crucial, but also indirect intervention such as intervention in public ideology. Through intervention, the narrative of solidarity as a single-nation state collapsed and turned into conflictual two Koreas in three years. In other words, the year 1945 was independence for Korea, but 1948 was also independence, not for Korea, but for two Koreas.
