Sustainable Livelihoods and Rural Development looks at the role of social institutions and the politics of policy, as well as issues of identity, gender and generation. The relationships between sustainability and livelihoods are examined, and livelihoods analysis situated within a wider political economy of environmental and agrarian change.

A positive agenda for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 All 193 member nations of the United Nations agreed in September 2015 to adopt a set of seventeen "Sustainable Development Goals," to be achieved by 2030. Each of the goals—in such areas as education and health care —is laudable in and of itself, and governments and organizations are working hard on them. But so far there is no overall, positive agenda of what new things need to be done to ensure the goals are achieved across all nations. In a search of fresh approaches to the longstanding problems targeted by the Sustainable Development Goals, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Global Economy and Development program at Brookings mounted a collaborative research effort to advance implementation of Agenda 2030. This edited volume is the product of that effort. The book approaches the UN's goals through three broad lenses. The first considers new approaches to capturing value. Examples include Nigeria's first green bonds, practical methods to expand women's economic opportunities, benchmarking to reflect business contributions to achieving the goals, new incentives for investment in infrastructure, and educational systems that promote cross-sector problem solving. The second lens entails new approaches to targeting places, including oceans, rural areas, fast-growing developing cities, and the interlocking challenge of data systems, including geospatial information generated by satellites. The third lens focuses on updating governance, broadly defined. Issues include how civil society can align with the SDG challenge; how an advanced economy like Canada can approach the goals at home and abroad; what needs to be done to foster new approaches for managing the global commons; and how can multilateral institutions for health and development finance evolve.

Originally published in French as Le territoire européen: des racines aux enjeux globaux, this book reflects the enormous changes that Europe has seen in the past half century. In a period of immense upheaval, the continent has experienced increased integration, largely through the development of the European Union, heightened urbanization and a changing rural landscape, while economic and commercial activities have impressed their stamp on the whole scene. In this book, Jacques Robert deploys the experience amassed throughout his 35 years’ experience as adviser to European institutions in the field of territorial and regional development. The chapter on cities explains the emergence of the European urban hierarchy and the driving forces and inertia behind its evolution, while a following chapter looks at the changing role of rural areas. This material provides a historic overview of relevant policies and a discussion of future challenges. The third chapter discusses evolving paradigms of regional economic development and their impact on European regions. Next, there is a chapter on the historical roots and current processes within territorial integration. The book concludes with an examination of Europe’s place in the world at large, focussing particularly on globalization effects, climate change and new energy paradigms, which will present real challenges for decades to come. The book is unique in its combination of in-depth analysis of the evolution of European territorial policies and paradigms, but also in its geographically comprehensive approach integrating the experience of both Western and Eastern Europe. It will be of interest to academics and professionals within territorial development and spatial planning.

Individuals experience a variety of different events throughout their life-course - birth, marriage, change of employment, school graduation, etc. - which sometimes occur in rapid succession, and whose timing and definition may seem unclear. Now that survey questionnaires are able to record individual trajectories in greater depth, changes of status can no longer be viewed simply as separate events, but involve a transition process of variable duration. The observation, modelling and interpretation of these fuzzy thresholds between two situations constitute a dynamic field of research in the social sciences. The authors of this manual have pooled their experience of event-history data collection to address the questions of "focus", i.e. finding the right observation distance to grasp the complexity of life histories, and of time, i.e. choosing the right timescale of detailed information collection. After analysing the links between quantitative and qualitative data, addressing the distinction between facts and perceptions, and deconstructing analysis data categories, they offer a number of conceptual and methodological solutions. This study extends beyond the scope of specific examples to develop a major empirical approach in a still largely unexplored area. This book targets a much broader audience than the community of demographers alone. It concerns everyone in the field of social sciences who, at one moment or another, is required to organize data collection in the field, either for research or practical purposes. The Groupe de réflexion sur l'approche biographique (GRAB) brings together researchers and academics from a range of institutions (INED, IRD, CNRS, etc.) working in a variety of disciplines: demography, geography, sociology, economics, etc. It is building on the experience acquired through 25 event-history surveys conducted to date in France, Africa and Latin America.

The contributors to Affective Trajectories examine the mutual and highly complex entwinements between religion and affect in urban Africa in the early twenty-first century. Drawing on ethnographic research throughout the continent and in African diasporic communities abroad, they trace the myriad ways religious ideas, practices, and materialities interact with affect to configure life in urban spaces. Whether examining the affective force of the built urban environment or how religious practices contribute to new forms of attachment, identification, and place-making, they illustrate the force of affect as it is shaped by temporality and spatiality in the religious lives of individuals and communities. Among other topics, they explore Masowe Apostolic Christianity in relation to experiences of displacement in Harare, Zimbabwe; Muslim identity, belonging, and the global ummah in Ghana; crime, emotions, and conversion to neo-Pentecostalism in Cape Town; and spiritual cleansing in a Congolese branch of a Japanese religious movement. In so doing, the contributors demonstrate how the social and material living conditions of African cities generate diverse affective forms of religious experiences in ways that foster both localized and transnational paths of emotional knowledge. Contributors. Astrid Bochow, Marian Burchardt, Rafael Cazarin, Hansjörg Dilger, Alessandro Gusman, Murtala Ibrahim, Peter Lambertz, Isabelle L. Lange, Isabel Mukonyora, Benedikt Pontzen, Hanspeter Reihling, Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon

The well-being of rural communities affects the well-being of those who reside in towns and cities because of rural-urban connections through food, drinking water, infectious disease, extreme environmental events, recreation, and for many, retirement residence. In rural areas themselves, women play a critical role in the health of their families and communities, yet women’s health is often marginalized or ignored. There have been limited studies to date about rural women and health in Canada. Filling an important gap in scholarship, this collection identifies priority issues that must be addressed to ensure these women’s well-being and offers innovative theoretical and methodological ideas for improvement. Rural Women’s Health integrates perspectives from rural practitioners, residents, and scholars in a variety of fields, including nursing, sociology, anthropology, and geography, to tackle issues relevant to diverse settings across the country. As such, it presents a national perspective on the nature of women’s health while respecting internal and regional diversity, as well as viewpoints from international scholarship.

This book synthesizes the conceptual and applied aspects of rural livelihoods as a discipline, and collates the analytical frameworks and approaches that have been designed, applied, and discussed over the last five decades. These include the sustainable livelihoods approach with its vulnerability-asset construct, collective governance of common pool resources, livelihood trajectories and poverty dynamics, rights-based approach and social justice, graduation approach for the ultra-poor, and the resilience framework to address complex risks. The book is divided into three parts, namely: introduction to rural livelihoods; synthesis of the present state of knowledge; and strengthening the knowledge action pathway. At the end of each chapter, a set of class exercises is provided to bring about a deeper understanding of these approaches and their application in real-life situations. The expected outputs from penning this textbook are threefold. Firstly, it assimilates the rural livelihood works of eminent academicians under one cover. Secondly, it positions itself as a one-stop destination for educators by translating these concepts into a ready-to-teach applied format. Thirdly, it functions as a ready reckoner for young professionals by providing a step-by-step approach to apply these learnings in real-life situations. The purpose of this book is to provide a solid foundation to the teaching and learning of rural livelihoods in academia, bridge the gap between the science, policy, and practice of rural livelihoods, and finally shape a pool of better informed and equipped professionals in development. Special thanks to Himanshu Rohira for his contributions and assistance.

It is commonly acknowledged that the risk of social exclusion has increased over the last few decades and that young people in particular are one of the most vulnerable groups, especially if they have not yet achieved a stable so cial position. In this context a stable position is interpreted as having obtained a stable position within the labour market. Across Europe it has also become commonly acknowledged that policies have to do 'something' for young people as they represent the future of present societies. In fact, among politi cians and policy administrators there is a broadly shared myth that it is e nough doing 'anything' for young people. The thematic network 'Misleading Trajectories' which is documented in the following chapters was concerned with examining these myths and highlighting the traps of social exclusion that are inherent in policies focusing on youth transitions (school, vocational trai ning, careers advice, social security, labour market programmes). The net work was funded by the European Commission under the 4th Framework Programme for Research, Technology and Demonstration, under the strand "Targeted Socio-Economic Research" from 1998 to 2001. It involved teams from eight countries, which were Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. The network began from the observation that many policies on the local, regional, national and European level that are intended to 'lead' young adults' towards gainful employment, adult status and social integration, are in fact 'misleading'.

Offers an in-depth ethnography of paradigm shifts in the lifestyles and values of youth in post-growth Japan. Urban Migrants in Rural Japan provides a fresh perspective on theoretical notions of rurality and emerging modes of working and living in post-growth Japan. By exploring narratives and trajectories of individuals who relocate from urban to rural areas and seek new modes of working and living, this multisited ethnography reveals the changing role of rurality, from postwar notions of a stagnant backwater to contemporary sites of experimentation. The individual cases presented in the book vividly illustrate changing lifestyles and perceptions of work. What emerges from Urban Migrants in Rural Japan is the emotionally fraught quest of many individuals for a personally fulfilling lifestyle and the conflicting neoliberal constraints many settlers face. In fact, flexibility often coincides with precarity and self-exploitation. Susanne Klien shows how mobility serves as a strategic mechanism for neophytes in rural Japan who hedge their bets; gain time; and seek assurance, inspiration, and courage to do (or further postpone doing) what they ultimately feel makes sense to them. “This book is a valuable contribution to knowledge about diversifying rural Japan and evokes reflection about the future of post-growth Japan. Klien’s study benefits from assiduous and long-term field research and insightful analysis. She excels at locating the specifics of the study in theoretical observations and concepts, thereby setting the work into a larger consideration of Japan’s paradigm shifts in lifestyle and values.” — Nancy Rosenberger, author of Gambling with Virtue: Japanese Women and the Search for Self in a Changing Nation