Community Empowerment by Dr. SBM Prasanna, Dr. K Puttaraju, Dr.MS Mahadevaswamy (books under 200 pages TXT) 📕

There is need for a better and more widespread understanding that the number of children desired by any couple depends on a large and complexly interrelated number of socio-economic and cultural factors, and that any policy action seeking to control population must seriously take all these variables into account.

Health and Education:

Human health in its broadest sense of physical, mental and spiritual wellbeing is to a great extent dependent on the access of the citizen to a healthy environment. For a healthy, productive and fulfilling life every individual should have the physical and economic access to a balanced diet, safe drinking water, clean air, sanitation, environmental hygiene, primary health care and education. Access to safe drinking water and a healthy environment should be a fundamental right of every citizen.

Citizens of developing countries continue to be vulnerable to a double burden of diseases. Traditional diseases such as malaria and cholera, caused by unsafe drinking water and lack of environmental hygiene, have not yet been controlled. In addition, people are now falling prey to modern diseases such as cancer and AIDS, and stress-related disorders. Many of the widespread ailments among the poor in developing countries are occupation-related, and are contracted in the course of work done to fulfil the consumption demands of the affluent, both within the country and outside.

Notable progress towards the eradication or elimination of various major infectious diseases has been made. For example, the annual incidence of polio has fallen from an estimated 350,000 cases in 1988 (the start of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative), to an estimated maximum of 20,000 in 1999. The number of polio-infected countries fell from 125 to 30 over that period; the remaining infected countries are concentrated in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent — particularly in areas with low routine immunization coverage, poor sanitation or where conflict is prevalent.

The strong relationship between health and the state of the environment in developing countries is becoming increasingly evident. This calls for greater emphasis on preventive and social medicine, and on research in both occupational health and epidemiology. Because of the close link, there needs to be greater integration between the ministries of Health and Environment, and effective coordination and cooperation between them. Basic health and educational facilities in developing countries need to be strengthened. The role of public health services must give preventive health care equal emphasis as curative health care. People should be empowered through education and awareness to participate in managing preventive health care related to environmental sanitation and hygiene.

The paramount importance of education in effecting social change is recognized. Mainstream education must now be realigned to promote awareness, attitudes, concerns and skills that will lead to sustainable development.

Basic education which promotes functional literacy, livelihood skills, understanding of the immediate environment and values of responsible citizenship is a precondition for sustainable development. Such education must be available to every child as a fundamental right, without discrimination on the basis of economic class, geographical location or cultural identity.

Adequate resources and support for education for sustainable development are essential. An understanding must be promoted among key decision makers of the potential of education to promote sustainability, reduce poverty, train people for sustainable livelihoods and catalyze necessary public support for sustainable development initiatives.

Finance and trade:

Classical economists consistently identified three sources and components of national wealth: land, labor, and capital. By contrast, Western economists of the 20th century preferred to focus on capital, understood to be human-made physical capital only—the stock of structures and equipment used for production.

Thus expenses aimed at adding to this stock were the only expenses categorized as investment. Most other expenses, such as those for education or for environmental protection, were considered to constitute consumption and treated as deductions from potential capital accumulation.

A better understanding of the need for sustainable development first led to attempts to “green” national accounts that is, to account for changes in natural capital in calculations of gross domestic product and gross national product—then to the development of statistical methods to account for changes in a country’s human capital.

Although valuation methods for natural and human capital are still imperfect, they allow experts to explore some critical development issues. These include the changing composition of a country’s national wealth and operational indicators of sustainable or unsustainable development.

Environmental and social clauses which are implicitly or explicitly part of international agreements must not be used selectively to erect trade barriers against developing countries. Developing countries will suffer a major trade disadvantage if the efforts to put in place globally acceptable Process and Production Methods (PPMs) are successful. Instead, existing disparities between the trade regimes and multilateral environmental agreements, such as those between Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) regime and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), should be thoroughly addressed. Mechanisms to resolve such conflicts between multilateral agreements should be set up.

Science and Technology:

Science and technology are considered amongst the most effective means to enhance growth and socio-economic development of nations. Technological development has a profound and long-term impact on income distribution, economic growth, employment, trade, environment, industrial structure and defence and security matters. The acquisition and use of science and technology (S&T) are critical for the achievement and sustenance of food security, as well as the promotion of public health and environmental quality.

The importance of science and technology to modern societies, and the role of a technologically educated population in promoting social and economic development, has long been recognised. At the same time, ‘modernisation’, if not properly managed, can exacerbate risk and its unequal social and geographical distribution can also widen disparities in personal incomes and well-being.

Technology transfer must be informed by an understanding of its implications in the social, economic and environmental contexts of the receiving societies. Technologies must be usable by and beneficial to local people. Where possible, existing local technologies must be upgraded and adapted to make them more efficient and useful. Such local adaptations should also lead to the up gradation of local technical skills.

Greater capacity needs to be built in science and technology through improved collaboration among research institutions, the private sector, NGOs and government. Collaborations and partnerships between and among scientists, government and all stakeholders, on scientific research and development and its widespread application need to be improved.

Local innovations and capacity building for developing and managing locally relevant and appropriate technologies must be encouraged and supported. Integrating highly-sophisticated modern technology with traditional practices sometimes produces the most culturally-suited and acceptable solutions, which also makes them more viable. This trend should be encouraged.

Empowerment of women

Women play a particularly important role in home life, caring for children and the elderly, cooking and cleaning, contributing to household income, and, in many instances, managing household resources. Women are also significant actors in civic activities that lead to improvements in community conditions such as water, sanitation, garbage removal and other essential services. Meeting women’s needs, therefore, is crucial to improving family health and wellbeing. Longitudinal research of Rio De Janeiro (1969-2004) found an inverse relationship between number of children and socio-economic status. The higher the degree of choice and educational attainment for women, the lower their birth rates, and the higher the well-being of their children. Although the research did not test for the direction of causality (whether more educated and affluent women choose smaller families or the choice to have fewer children leads to greater affluence), it did find that smaller families can provide better nutrition, care and educational opportunities to their children.

In many cultures, Women are at greater risk of gender-based violence (GBV) owing to the break-down in cultural mores that govern relations between the sexes and the lower likelihood that neighbor would intervene. Domestic violence, rape and sexual assault, forced trafficking, and verbal threats are the most common forms of GBV, and usually leave women feeling guilty and fearful. Owing to the private nature of GBV, it is difficult to research, yet new studies are shedding light on its dynamics.

Women are under-represented as advocates, professionals and elected and appointed municipal officials. Even in Indian contexts, where women often have economic power through market activities, women rarely have political power. Thus, women’s voices need to be hear d, particularly in the context of health systems and urban planning (see premises 3 and 4 below). The overall legal framework concerning women’s rights in domestic relations is also vitally important, and is given further attention.

An important part of empowering women in matters pertaining to population is to explicitly recognize and respect their rights over their bodies and their reproductive behaviour. The empowerment of women and girls must be supported by actions to improve their access to basic and higher education, training and capacity building. The emphasis should be on gender mainstreaming.

Managing natural resources, pollution and climate change

The environmental impact of human beings has grown in scale, become more rapid, and changed in character. Whereas we once transformed locales or regions, today we can be said to be transforming the Earth on a global scale. Changes which once took decades or centuries are now taking place over the course of a few years. And whereas we once changed the Earth in relatively small ways (for example by clearing a field of forest cover), we are now able to substantially alter the flows of elements and energy that constitute the planet's basic life-support systems.

Through burning fossil fuels and industrial processes, we are releasing many pollutants into the atmosphere. Some of these reduce air quality, whilst others are most probably causing a change in the Earth's climate. Other wastes from the consumption of natural resources can pollute soil and water environments as well.

By 2030, the world will need at least 50% more food, 45% more energy and 30% more water (High Level Panel on Global Sustainability, 2012). Almost one quarter (23%) of the substantial increase in crop production achieved over the past four decades was due to the expansion of arable land. Agriculture accounts for about 70% of water withdrawals, while water extraction from rivers and lakes has doubled since 1960 (Turral et al., 2011). Only 13% of global energy comes, at present, from renewable sources, but the imperative of emissions reduction means that renewable energy must increase, with consequences for both land and water resources.

As highlighted by the Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Global Sustainability, our challenge is ‘to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality and make growth inclusive, and production and consumption more sustainable, while combating climate change and respecting other planetary boundaries’ (High Level Panel on Global Sustainability, 2012).

It is important to note that it is the poor and powerless who are most vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change (whether from biophysical events such as droughts and cyclones – or from the unintended consequences of mitigation policies that can negatively impact the poor, such as bio fuels). The protection of their assets (whether land and land-based natural resources in rural areas or housing in urban areas) is a critical element.

Human security, terrorism, violence and conflict

Links between development, peace and human security are complex, dynamic and permanently changing; however they are based on general permanent mechanisms. These have developed throughout history and are therefore present in the actual situation and interactions of the world society.

Over the past decade the threat of inter-state conflict has reached historically low levels, suggesting that this is an era of unprecedented peace and security. But this is only a partial picture. Security issues are very high on the development agenda, particularly civil conflict, terrorism, trans-national criminal networks, and some forms of social violence (e.g.urban gangs).

To face this complexity it is necessary to develop a multidisciplinary approach that outlines present results, and based on historical experience, permits some future perspectives of development. Following Significant lessons for development practice include the need to recognise:

The importance of understanding context and the