Misplaced Pages

#195804

64-409: The MYP was established in 1963. Up to 1967, The Young Pioneers, The Green Shirts, were mainly concerned with rural development work and political indoctrination . MYP instructors were placed in every Secondary School where they provided basic military training to pupils. They were also responsible for identifying potential candidates who would then be dispatched to MYP bases for more training during

128-453: A case-by-case basis and may lead to unreasonably harsh penalties for crimes. Within the field of healthcare, quality of life is often regarded in terms of how a certain ailment affects a patient on an individual level. This may be a debilitating weakness that is not life-threatening; life-threatening illness that is not terminal; terminal illness; the predictable, natural decline in the health of an elder; an unforeseen mental/physical decline of

192-451: A critical 'organization gap' identified during the late 1960s, reflecting on the disjunction between national organizations and rural communities led to a great focus on community participation in rural development agendas. Oftentimes this was achieved through political decentralization policies in developing countries , particularly popular among African countries, or policies that shift the power of socio-politico-economic decision-making and

256-548: A given city or nation. Two widely known measures of livability are the Economist Intelligence Unit 's Where-to-be-born Index and Mercer's Quality of Living Reports . These two measures calculate the livability of countries and cities around the world, respectively, through a combination of subjective life-satisfaction surveys and objective determinants of quality of life such as divorce rates, safety, and infrastructure. Such measures relate more broadly to

320-600: A given society. The HDI is used by the United Nations Development Programme in their Human Development Report . However, since 2010, The Human Development Report introduced an Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index (IHDI). While the original HDI remains useful, it stated that "the IHDI is the actual level of human development (accounting for inequality ), while the original HDI can be viewed as an index of 'potential' human development (or

384-463: A guide for the use of subjective well-being metrics in 2013. In the U.S., cities and communities are using a GNH metric at a grassroots level. The Social Progress Index measures the extent to which countries provide for the social and environmental needs of their citizens. Fifty-two indicators in the areas of basic human needs, foundations of wellbeing, and opportunity show the relative performance of nations. The index uses outcome measures when there

448-589: A harder time accessing markets, which tend to be concentrated in population centers. Rural communities also face disadvantages in terms of legal and social protections, with women and marginalized communities frequently having a harder time accessing land, education and other support systems that help with economic development. Several policies have been tested in both developing and developed economies, including rural electrification and access to other technologies such as internet, gender parity , and improved access to credit and income. In academic studies, rural poverty

512-521: A large variety of rural development approaches used globally. Rural poverty refers to situations where people living in non-urban regions are in a state or condition of lacking the financial resources and essentials for living. It takes account of factors of rural society , rural economy , and political systems that give rise to the marginalization and economic disadvantage found there. Rural areas, because of their small, spread-out populations, typically have less well maintained infrastructure and

576-807: A loved one; or chronic, end-stage disease processes. Researchers at the University of Toronto's Quality of Life Research Unit define quality of life as "The degree to which a person enjoys the important possibilities of his or her life" (UofT). Their Quality of Life Model is based on the categories "being", "belonging", and "becoming"; respectively who one is, how one is connected to one's environment, and whether one achieves one's personal goals, hopes, and aspirations. Experience sampling studies show substantial between-person variability in within-person associations between somatic symptoms and quality of life. Hecht and Shiel measure quality of life as "the patient's ability to enjoy normal life activities" since life quality

640-437: A national or international scale, but rather attempt to improve the quality of life for individuals or communities. One example would be sponsorship programs that provide material aid for specific individuals. Although many organizations of this type may still talk about fighting poverty, the methods are significantly different. Improving quality of life involves action not only by NGOs but also by governments . Global health has

704-503: A particular society. The different ways that quality of life is defined by institutions, therefore, shape how these organizations work for its improvement as a whole. Organisations such as the World Bank , for example, declare a goal of "working for a world free of poverty", with poverty defined as a lack of basic human needs, such as food, water, shelter, freedom, access to education, healthcare, or employment. In other words, poverty

SECTION 10

#1732776089196

768-488: A range of disciplines and scales, and recent work on subjective well-being (SWB) surveys and the psychology of happiness have spurred renewed interest. Perhaps the most commonly used international measure of development is the Human Development Index (HDI), which combines measures of life expectancy, education, and standard of living, in an attempt to quantify the options available to individuals within

832-595: A result, European and North American nations do not dominate this measure. The 2012 list is instead topped by Costa Rica , Vietnam and Colombia . In 2010, Gallup researchers trying to find the world's happiest countries found Denmark to be at the top of the list. For the period 2014–2016, Norway surpasses Denmark to be at the top of the list. A 2010 study by two Princeton University professors looked at 1,000 randomly selected U.S. residents over an extended period. It concludes that their life evaluations – that is, their considered evaluations of their life against

896-463: A scholar at Makerere University in Uganda, notes of CSOs: The CSOs’ inability to effectively mobilize for and represent the local community’s interests is linked to the disabling regulatory environment with cumbersome and elaborate procedures for registration and restrictions on what constitutes allowable advocacy activities; their desire to complement the work of government rather than questioning it;

960-514: A sharp drop in responsiveness to citizen's needs between 1966 and 1986. As a result of these administrations, several constraints were placed on local governments that prevented effective development initiatives: every single employee in local governments had to be appointed by the president, all local budgets and bylaws had to be approved by the Minister of Local Government, and this Minister could dissolve any local government council. Because of

1024-525: A stated scale of one to ten – rise steadily with income. On the other hand, their reported quality of emotional daily experiences (their reported experiences of joy , affection , stress , sadness , or anger ) levels off after a certain income level (approximately $ 75,000 per year in 2010); income above $ 75,000 does not lead to more experiences of happiness nor to further relief of unhappiness or stress. Below this income level, respondents reported decreasing happiness and increasing sadness and stress, implying

1088-558: A wider perspective has created more focus on a broad range of development goals rather than merely creating incentive for agricultural or resource-based businesses. Education, entrepreneurship , physical infrastructure, and social infrastructure all play an important role in developing rural regions. Rural development is also characterized by its emphasis on locally produced economic development strategies. In contrast to urban regions, which have many similarities, rural areas are highly distinctive from one another. For this reason there are

1152-402: A yearly study on digital well-being across 121 countries created by Surfshark . It indexes each country according to five pillars that impact a population's digital quality of life: internet affordability, internet quality, electronic infrastructure, electronic security, and electronic government. The term quality of life is also used by politicians and economists to measure the livability of

1216-472: Is a continuing difficulty for the international community, as it invests in rural development. According to the International Fund for Agricultural Development , 70 percent of the people in extreme poverty are in rural areas, most of whom are smallholders or agricultural workers whose livelihoods are heavily dependent on agriculture. These food systems are vulnerable to extreme weather, which

1280-485: Is defined as a low quality of life. Using this definition, the World Bank works towards improving quality of life through the stated goal of lowering poverty and helping people afford a better quality of life. Other organizations, however, may also work towards improved global quality of life using a slightly different definition and substantially different methods. Many NGOs do not focus at all on reducing poverty on

1344-435: Is expected to affect agricultural systems the world over more as climate change increases . Rural development actions are intended to further the social and economic development of rural communities. Rural development programs were historically top-down approaches from local or regional authorities, regional development agencies , NGOs , national governments or international development organizations. However,

SECTION 20

#1732776089196

1408-407: Is often discussed in conjunction with spatial inequality , which in this context refers to the inequality between urban and rural areas. Both rural poverty and spatial inequality are global phenomena, but like poverty in general, there are higher rates of rural poverty in developing countries than in developed countries . Eradicating rural poverty through effective policies and economic growth

1472-575: Is strongly related to wellbeing without suffering from sickness and treatment. There are multiple assessments available that measure Health-Related Quality of Life, e.g., AQoL-8D , EQ5D – Euroqol , 15D , SF-36 , SF-6D , HUI . Quality of life has been deemed an important concept in the field of international development because it allows development to be analyzed on a measure that is generally accepted as more comprehensive than standard of living. Within development theory , however, there are varying ideas concerning what constitutes desirable change for

1536-417: Is subjective and difficult to measure, other measures are generally given priority. It has also been shown that happiness, as much as it can be measured, does not necessarily increase correspondingly with the comfort that results from increasing income. As a result, standard of living should not be taken to be a measure of happiness. Also, sometimes considered related is the concept of human security , though

1600-720: Is sufficient data available or the closest possible proxies. Day-Reconstruction Method was another way of measuring happiness, in which researchers asked their subjects to recall various things they did on the previous day and describe their mood during each activity. Being simple and approachable, this method required memory and the experiments have confirmed that the answers that people give are similar to those who repeatedly recalled each subject. The method eventually declined as it called for more effort and thoughtful responses, which often included interpretations and outcomes that do not occur to people who are asked to record every action in their daily lives. The Digital Quality of Life Index -

1664-452: Is the subjective state of mind. By using that mentality, citizens of a developing country appreciate more since they are content with the basic necessities of health care, education and child protection. According to ecological economist Robert Costanza : While Quality of Life (QOL) has long been an explicit or implicit policy goal, adequate definition and measurement have been elusive. Diverse "objective" and "subjective" indicators across

1728-444: The broken windows theory , which asserts that relatively minor problems left unattended (such as litter, graffiti , or public urination by homeless individuals) send a subliminal message that disorder, in general, is being tolerated, and as a result, more serious crimes will end up being committed (the analogy being that a broken window left broken shows an image of general dilapidation). Wilson's theories have been used to justify

1792-471: The engaged theory , outlined in the journal of Applied Research in the Quality of Life , posits four domains in assessing quality of life: ecology, economics, politics and culture. In the domain of culture, for example, it includes the following subdomains of quality of life: Under this conception, other frequently related concepts include freedom , human rights , and happiness . However, since happiness

1856-425: The exploitation of land-intensive natural resources such as agriculture and forestry . However, changes in global production networks and increased urbanization have changed the character of rural areas. Increasingly rural tourism , niche manufacturers, and recreation have replaced resource extraction and agriculture as dominant economic drivers. The need for rural communities to approach development from

1920-937: The 'Youth Week'. This was a 'self-help' week when initially the Young Pioneers would hold parades, demonstrate their skills in various spheres of economic activity to underscore the contribution they were making to national development as well as affirm their loyalty to Dr Banda and his government. Over time the Youth Week was extended into a month-long event and other members of the Malawian society, school children and later University students, were drafted in to 'donate' their labor and sweat in various local projects, classroom construction, footpaths and bridge repairing etc. Gradually what began as freewill transformed into coercion, in order to divert international development funds earmarked for such projects. To ensure such 'slave labor'

1984-583: The 1993 elections during Operation Bwezani "Give Back" or "Return" that was conducted by the then army commander general Manken Chigawa. In this case they were returning arms that the Pioneers had refused to give up. At the height of the political transition to democracy in 1993, the Malawi Army disarmed the Young Pioneers raising fears that it would also intervene in the political process leading to democracy by trying to depose Banda. Operation Bwezani gave

Malawi Young Pioneers - Misplaced Pages Continue

2048-649: The Human Development Index, the PQLI is notable for Morris's attempt to show a "less fatalistic pessimistic picture" by focusing on three areas where global quality of life was generally improving at the time, while ignoring gross national product and other possible indicators that were not improving. The Happy Planet Index , introduced in 2006, is unique among quality of life measures in that, in addition to standard determinants of well-being, it uses each country's ecological footprint as an indicator. As

2112-448: The Malawi Army the political and social power to resist Banda's regime after 30 years. This has led some scholars to suggest that the army was serving the regime of Malawi regardless of policies of the regime since they had the power to overthrow the regime and the MYP for 30 years, but only acted after political intervention mandated it. Rural development Rural development is

2176-649: The country was then divided. Structured around the Kibbutz model of Israel , the instruction methodology in Training Bases sought to introduce self-sufficiency and industry through training of recruits in improved methods of agriculture & carpentry . Because of their development-oriented agenda, the MYP were initially supported by the nation, and international community , including the Israel Government that made available technical assistance in

2240-608: The decentralization structure, local governments receive a majority of their funds in block grants from the national government, mostly as conditional grants but with some unconditional and equalization grants administered as well. Furthermore, local governments were given the power to collect taxes from their constituents, however, this usually only accounts for less than 10 percent of the local government's budget. Some scholars express concern that decentralization efforts in Uganda may not actually be leading to an increase in participation and development. For example, despite increases over

2304-481: The difficulties in raising adequate resources from their membership; the inability to exercise internal democracy and accountability; the urban/elite orientation of most NGOs; and the donor funding that encourages a number of CSOs to emerge in order to clinch a share of the donor monies. Since independence, several rural development and extension education programs have been implemented in Nigeria . In many countries,

2368-540: The early days this enabled the MYP to discern themselves from the Youth Leaguers, The Red Shirts , arm of The Malawi Congress Party in that they kept a respectable distance from the political excesses involved. Politically, they were proponents of the 'positive side' of Kamuzuism, "the ideology that Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, as Father and Founder of the Malawi nation, was the fount of all wisdom and always knew what

2432-419: The election of representatives and leadership from centralized governments to local governments. As a result, local populations can also bring about endogenous initiatives for development . The term rural development is not limited to issues of developing countries. In fact many developed countries have very active rural development programs. Rural development aims at finding ways to improve rural lives with

2496-482: The final score. Happiness is already recognized as an important concept in global public policy. The World Happiness Report indicates that some regions have in recent years been experiencing progressive inequality of happiness. The Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) is a measure developed by sociologist M. D. Morris in the 1970s, based on basic literacy, infant mortality, and life expectancy. Although not as complex as other measures, and now essentially replaced by

2560-528: The form of Israel Army instructors. MYP graduates received scholarships from Malawi and foreign governments in Europe . Over time the MYP branched off into business, enabling MYP entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams. The Spearhead Company, an MYP business unit, was created and soon spread its influence, alongside Dr. Banda's Press Corporation Limited throughout Malawi's economy. At one time Spearhead operated their own fleet of aeroplanes, Spearhead Airlines . During

2624-762: The implementation of zero tolerance policies by many prominent American mayors , most notably Oscar Goodman in Las Vegas , Richard Riordan in Los Angeles , Rudolph Giuliani in New York City and Gavin Newsom in San Francisco . Such policies refuse to tolerate even minor crimes; proponents argue that this will improve the quality of life of local residents. However, critics of zero tolerance policies believe that such policies neglect investigation on

Malawi Young Pioneers - Misplaced Pages Continue

2688-456: The latter may be considered at a more basic level and for all people. Unlike per capita GDP or standard of living , both of which can be measured in financial terms, it is harder to make objective or long-term measurements of the quality of life experienced by nations or other groups of people. Researchers have begun in recent times to distinguish two aspects of personal well-being: Emotional well-being , in which respondents are asked about

2752-537: The maximum level of HDI) that could be achieved if there was no inequality." The World Happiness Report is a landmark survey on the state of global happiness. It ranks 156 countries by their happiness levels, reflecting growing global interest in using happiness and substantial well-being as an indicator of the quality of human development. Its growing purpose has allowed governments, communities and organizations to use appropriate data to record happiness in order to enable policies to provide better lives. The reports review

2816-502: The national and subnational government delegates rural development to agencies and support centers. Quality of life Quality of life ( QOL ) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns". Standard indicators of

2880-490: The needs of local elites above the rest of the population. As a result of this critique, many NGOs have started to include strategies in their projects that promote community participation. Many scholars argue that NGOs are an insufficient solution to a lack of development leadership as a result of decentralization policies. Human rights expert Susan Dicklitch points to the historical context of colonialism, organization-specific limitations, and regime restraints as hindrances to

2944-404: The overall financial strength of local governments is considerably weaker than that of the national government, which adversely affects their responsiveness to the needs of their citizens and success in increasing participation in community development initiatives. Finally, civil society organizations are often ineffective in practice at mobilizing for the community's interests. Dr. Umar Kakumba ,

3008-511: The pain of life's misfortunes, including disease , divorce , and being alone , is exacerbated by poverty . Gross national happiness and other subjective measures of happiness are being used by the governments of Bhutan and the United Kingdom. The World Happiness report, issued by Columbia University is a meta-analysis of happiness globally and provides an overview of countries and grassroots activists using GNH. The OECD issued

3072-909: The participation of rural people themselves, so as to meet the required needs of rural communities. The outsider may not understand the setting, culture, language and other things prevalent in the local area. As such, rural people themselves have to participate in their sustainable rural development. In developing countries like Nepal , Pakistan , India , Bangladesh , integrated development approaches are being followed up. In this context, many approaches and ideas have been developed and implemented, for instance, bottom-up approaches, PRA- Participatory Rural Appraisal , RRA- Rapid Rural Appraisal , Working With People (WWP), etc. The New Rural Reconstruction Movement in China has been actively promoting rural development through their ecological farming projects. Because decentralization policies made development problems

3136-470: The population of a city, state, or country, not to individual quality of life. Livability has a long history and tradition in urban design , and neighborhoods design standards such as LEED-ND are often used in an attempt to influence livability. Some crimes against property (e.g., graffiti and vandalism ) and some " victimless crimes " have been referred to as "quality-of-life crimes". American sociologist James Q. Wilson encapsulated this argument as

3200-444: The potential to achieve greater political presence if governments were to incorporate aspects of human security into foreign policy . Stressing individuals' basic rights to health, food, shelter, and freedom addresses prominent inter-sectoral problems negatively impacting today's society, and may lead to greater action and resources. Integration of global health concerns into foreign policy may be hampered by approaches that are shaped by

3264-438: The process of improving the quality of life and economic well-being of people living in rural areas , often relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas. Often, rural regions have experienced rural poverty , poverty greater than urban or suburban economic regions due to lack of access to economic activities, and lack of investments in key infrastructure such as education. Rural development has traditionally centered on

SECTION 50

#1732776089196

3328-430: The promises of NGOs. She notes that “NGOs are increasingly relegated to service provision and gap-filling activities as by the retreating state, but those supportive functions are not matched with increased political efficacy”. In Uganda specifically, several mid-century centrist administrations, particularly the regimes of Idi Amin (1971–1979) and Milton Obote (1981–1986), described as brutal and ineffective led to

3392-631: The provisioning of needs in developing countries and they play an increasingly large role in supporting rural development. These organizations are often criticized for taking over responsibilities that are traditionally carried out by the state, causing governments to become ineffective in handling these responsibilities over time. Within Africa, NGOs carry out the majority of sustainable building and construction through donor-funded, low-income housing projects. Furthermore, they are often faulted for being easily controlled by donor money and oriented to serve

3456-467: The quality of life include wealth , employment , the environment , physical and mental health , education , recreation and leisure time , social belonging , religious beliefs , safety , security and freedom . QOL has a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development , healthcare , politics and employment. Health related QOL (HRQOL) is an evaluation of QOL and its relationship with health. One approach, called

3520-433: The quality of their everyday emotional experiences – the frequency and intensity of their experiences of, for example, joy, stress, sadness, anger and affection – and life evaluation , in which respondents are asked to think about their life in general and evaluate it against a scale. Such and other systems and scales of measurement have been in use for some time. Research has attempted to examine

3584-415: The relationship between quality of life and productivity. There are many different methods of measuring quality of life in terms of health care, wealth, and materialistic goods. However, it is much more difficult to measure meaningful expression of one's desires. One way to do so is to evaluate the scope of how individuals have fulfilled their own ideals. Quality of life can simply mean happiness , which

3648-474: The responsibility of local governments, it also opened the door for non-governmental organizations ( NGOs ), nonprofits, and other foreign actors to become more involved in the approach to these issues. For example, the elimination of statist approaches to development caused an exponential increase in the number of NGOs active in Africa, and additionally caused them to take on increasingly important roles. Consequently, nonprofits and NGOs are also greatly involved in

3712-535: The several shortcomings of the dictatorial government in promoting the participation of citizens in local development efforts, a decentralization campaign was officially launched in Uganda in 1992, with its legislative culmination occurring in 1997 with the passing of the Local Governments Act. This act led to the transfer of power to local governments in an attempt to encourage citizen participation and further rural development. Regarding funding under

3776-689: The state of happiness in the world today and show how the science of happiness explains personal and national variations in happiness. Developed again by the United Nations and published recently along with the HDI, this report combines both objective and subjective measures to rank countries by happiness, which is deemed as the ultimate outcome of a high quality of life. It uses surveys from Gallup , real GDP per capita, healthy life expectancy, having someone to count on, perceived freedom to make life choices, freedom from corruption, and generosity to derive

3840-419: The three-month school vacations between July and October each year. Over time this responsibility disintegrated into a 'spying' role where instructors 'informed' against fellow school teachers resulting in arrests & expulsions. They came to be viewed as advocates of rural development as far as young members of society were concerned. By 1989 there were MYP training bases in each of the 24 districts into which

3904-489: The various establishments of the organization. They conducted secret surveillance whilst they worked in farms, offices and warehouses, houses, garages, shops, training bases, etc. They were more or less adequately trained militarily, heavily armed, and thoroughly indoctrinated in the fashion of Kamuzuism. In addition, they had about 45,000 supporters that were recruited and worked as domestics, students, lecturers etc... that served as informants. They were dismantled violently after

SECTION 60

#1732776089196

3968-446: The years in local councils and civil society organizations (CSOs) in rural Uganda, efforts are consistently undermined by a lacking socio-economic structure leading to high rates of illiteracy, poor agricultural techniques, market access, and transportation systems. These shortcomings are often a result of taxes and payments imposed by local authorities and administration agents that inhibit farmers' access to larger markets. Furthermore,

4032-482: Was best for the nation". They were instrumental in helping Banda consolidate his power from 1964. But after 1973's Oil Crisis, as the Malawian economy went into a tailspin the MYP cadre increasing transformed into a 'militaristic' tool of oppression. Once trained, MYP were deployed to different parts of the country to work on rural development schemes. The big season for them, each year, was the month of April—a time of harvest in Malawi. Each year Dr. Banda would inaugurate

4096-446: Was readily available the MYP transformed into an overzealous 'third security force' policing party meetings, markets, bus stations, Youth Week Programs and extracting 'tithes' that had to be handed to Dr Banda during his annual 'crop inspection tours' and political rallies as 'gifts from his people'. Malawian victory [REDACTED] Malawi Malawi Congress Party By 1992, there were an estimated 6,000 armed Young Pioneers manning

#195804