Local and Regional Economic Development

This report, titled "Examining Funding Systems for Local Economic Development in Tanzania: A
Key Component of Economic Structural Transformation", investigates the funding mechanisms
that support Local Economic Development (LED) initiatives across seven regions in Tanzania:
Kilimanjaro, Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, Kigoma, Iringa, Dodoma, and Mtwara. LED is recognized as
a strategic approach to enhancing local economic capacities through decentralized governance,
enabling local authorities to tailor initiatives to their communities' specific needs. However,
the success of LED largely hinges on effective funding systems (how financial resources are
mobilized, allocated, and managed). This study explores the main sources of funding,
the effectiveness of allocation mechanisms, and the financial management practices that
influence the outcomes of LED projects.

The WRCF's aquaculture intervention in Ghana stands as a powerful testament to the potential for well-designed development projects to create meaningful change. By leveraging a quasi-experimental design and reporting on key statistical and practical metrics, the project has provided irrefutable evidence of its success. The analysis demonstrates a rare and compelling synergy between a high degree of statistical confidence and the presence of exceptionally large, real-world effects on the livelihoods of its beneficiaries. The project's positive impact is clear, and the lessons learned—particularly the critical importance of robust evaluation and the need for financially sustainable implementing organizations—provide a valuable roadmap for future interventions in the development sector.

The paper  identifies a major disconnect between the ambitious scope of DMTDPs and the reality of insufficient, unpredictable financial resources. This fiscal centralization creates a profound obstacle to implementation, leading to "overengineered but under-implemented" plans. The M&E process itself suffers from a systemic accountability deficit, characterized by a lack of clear indicators, weak data collection, and a failure to publicly discuss progress reports. Furthermore, the technocratic language of the plans and the four-year political planning cycle often exclude the very citizens they intend to serve, leading to a system that is "elite-driven in practice" rather than genuinely participatory.

Pembangunan infrastruktur merupakan indikator kemajuan sebuah negara. Jalan tol yang membentang, gedung pencakar langit yang menjulang, serta kawasan industri yang tumbuh pesat sering dianggap sebagai simbol pertumbuhan ekonomi. Namun, di balik gegap gempita pembangunan ini, ada satu persoalan krusial yang sering terabaikan: limbah air. Pembangunan infrastruktur, terutama di sektor industri, perumahan, dan transportasi, kerap menghasilkan limbah cair yang mengancam kualitas lingkungan. Limbah air dari proyek konstruksi maupun kawasan industri yang tidak dikelola dengan baik dapat mencemari sungai, danau, bahkan air tanah yang menjadi sumber utama kebutuhan air masyarakat.

The textile industry is a significant sector of the Polish economy and is characterized by a strong potential. Its development can be ensured by activities in the areas of finance, technical infrastructure, environmental protection, and demographic conditions. The development of the textile sector is significantly affected by factors such as quality of commune and poviat roads, length of the sewerage network, expenditure on environmental protection, expenditures on innovative activity and on research and development, and costs related to employment and population of working age. The aim of this paper is to determine the attractiveness level of individual Polish regions for the development of the textile sector in relation to five microclimates, which somehow define the most important determinants of the development of this sector of the economy. In order to achieve this aim, the following research methods are used: presentation of statistical data and statistical methods of research...

The rigorous evaluation of development interventions hinges on the ability to establish a credible counterfactual—what would have happened in the absence of the intervention. This fundamental challenge necessitates the strategic use of either control groups or comparison groups, each suited to different contexts and evaluation designs.
Control groups, formed through random assignment in Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs), represent the gold standard for causal inference. Their strength lies in their ability to balance both observed and unobserved confounding variables, thereby providing the highest level of confidence in attributing observed changes directly to the intervention. However, the ethical implications of denying potentially beneficial services, coupled with significant practical and logistical constraints, often limit the feasibility of RCTs, particularly for large-scale national programs or in situations where interventions are not amenable to individual-level randomization.
In contexts where RCTs are not feasible, comparison groups become indispensable. These groups are utilized within quasi-experimental designs, which, while lacking random assignment, employ sophisticated statistical methods to construct a plausible counterfactual. Methods such as Propensity Score Matching (PSM), Difference-in-Differences (DiD), Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD), and Instrumental Variables (IV) are designed to mitigate selection bias and control for confounding factors, albeit under stronger and often untestable assumptions. The credibility of findings from quasi-experimental evaluations relies heavily on the meticulous selection of comparable groups, comprehensive data collection, and the rigorous application of these statistical techniques to account for pre-existing differences.
The case studies from Ghana and other African countries across agriculture, livelihoods, health, education, and water and sanitation sectors illustrate the practical application and adaptive nature of these evaluation designs. They demonstrate that:
• Rigorous evaluation can identify not only whether an intervention works, but also how it works and which specific modalities are most effective, as seen in Ghana's Farmer Support Activity.
• Complex, large-scale national programs, such as Ghana's LEAP, can be robustly evaluated using sophisticated quasi-experimental methods like PSM and DiD, providing crucial insights into both program impacts and implementation challenges (e.g., the effect of irregular payments).
• Even in the absence of full randomization, strategic design choices, such as purposive selection of comparison groups and elements of blinding, can strengthen the causal claims of quasi-experimental studies, as exemplified by the Ethiopia WASH and Trachoma evaluation.
• Impact evaluations are critical for accountability, revealing when interventions are ineffective (e.g., Ghana's improved cookstoves) and preventing the misallocation of scarce resources.
• The increasing institutionalization of impact evaluation in Africa, despite capacity and resource constraints, signifies a growing demand for evidence-based policymaking, fostering greater accountability and optimizing development outcomes.

Nowadays revitalisation is treated as a process implemented in areas of a different character, the aim of which is to eliminate barriers that prevent or slow down their broadly understood economic  invigoration. It is directed towards comprehensive problem solving. Revitalisation is one of the most important tasks for local policy and is perceived as area modelling (including urbanising areas). In various regions of Europe, this process has been taking place for over three decades, while in Poland it is a relatively new one. In our country revitalization has been accelerated, among others, owing to availability of co-financing, provided by greater access to dedicated EU funds as well as to legal and administrative regulations. Actions supporting revitalisation process with the use of proven instruments are also increasingly undertaken in the countries that want to join the EU structures and/or enter the path of modelling their own economies, adapting them to contemporary socio-econo...

Introduction: Sierra Leone was in the process of strengthening tracing of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) contact with training of contact tracers, continuous mentoring and monitoring, supervision and continuous support. This was through various national and international organizations. This study aimed at identifying the challenges of contact tracers with a view of improving contact tracing activities in Tonkolili District, Sierra Leone. Methods: In-depth interview was conducted among contact tracers who were actively involved in contact tracing within the 4 weeks preceding the interview. In-depth interview guide was used to interview the contact tracers. Questions were asked about the state of EVD outbreak, challenges of contact tracing, ways to improving contact tracers activities and ways to ensure community participation and follow up action. Results: A total of 12 Contact tracers were interviewed. Most of the contact tracers saw the lifting of ban by the Government on movement as a delay to stopping the outbreak. Some of them were being threatened by their communities and insulted. Some communities with EVD cases felt it was no longer in Sierra Leone and that the contact tracers were the ones infecting the people with Ebola. More than 80% of the participants indicated that retraining of contact tracers and re-orientation of community members would help in putting a stop to the outbreak. Conclusion: All participants indicated interest in improving their activities and performance. They suggested that more social mobilization is needed to ensure the cooperation of their communities.

As the FIFA World Cup 2026™ approaches, the excitement extends beyond host cities to smaller communities like Port Alberni, British Columbia, which is bidding to serve as a Team Base Camp (TBC). This article explores how Port Alberni's involvement could yield widespread benefits—economically, socially, and culturally—for stakeholders ranging from FIFA to the local community. By providing a secure and serene training environment paired with a quality hotel, Port Alberni offers a compelling option for a participating nation. The piece highlights the potential impact on FIFA's tournament legacy, Canada's international image, British Columbia’s regional development, Vancouver Island’s tourism industry, the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District’s infrastructure, and Port Alberni's long-term civic pride and visibility. Through this lens, the article illustrates how even a small city can "win big" on the world stage.

According to the Federal Information Fund for Social and Hygienic Monitoring FCFHE of Rospotrebnadzor air pollution in urbanized cities of Central Russia was studied. The most toxic anthropogenic pollutants and regions with the highest excesses of the maximum one-time and daily average maximum permissible concentrations of anthropogenic pollutants in the urban environment were identified. To assess the impact of technogenic air pollution on the medical and demographic processes of large urban areas in the GIS environment in the studied territories of Central Russia, we studied the dynamics of the general mortality of the population from malignant neoplasms of various organs, as well as the dynamics of mortality from leukemia. Studies have shown that a number of medical demographic processes directly correlate with atmospheric pollution by anthropogenic pollutants.

with domain experts, and survey-based methods with stakeholders. Results: To date systematic literature reviews and workshops have been conducted in three key areas: surveillance, including threat analysis, scenario development, tools and systems; communication, involving stakeholder mapping, and relevant EU and global initiatives; and governance, encompassing policy and legal frameworks, ethics and human rights. Initial results have highlighted opportunities for building capacity in key sectors, through training with serious gaming, virtual reality, and simulation. Further opportunities have been identified in the emerging field of digital epidemiology, through the use of big data for real-time surveillance, and enhanced methods of visualization and decision support. An expert workshop will be held in September to prioritise high-potential innovative solutions for capacity strengthening, efficient use of resources and better integration. Conclusion: The project goal is identify and describe demonstration concepts and future research and development to strengthen capacity building for pandemic risk management. The project's valuable multisectoral approach has facilitated the gathering of future requirements across surveillance, communication, and governance, and these ideas will provide for an informed discussion at the upcoming IMED 2016 conference in Vienna.

Since Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) was first identified in 1976 in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and despite the numerous outbreaks recorded to date, rarely has an epidemic origin been identified. Indeed, among the twenty-one most documented EVD outbreaks in Africa, an index case has been identified four times, and hypothesized in only two other instances. The initial steps of emergence and spread of a virus are critical in the development of a potential outbreak and need to be thoroughly dissected and understood in order to improve on preventative strategies. In the current West African outbreak of EVD, a unique index case has been identified, pinpointing the geographical origin of the epidemic in Guinea. Herein, we provide an accounting of events that serve as the footprint of EVD emergence in Sierra Leone and a road map for risk mitigation fueled by lessons learned.

India is home to some of the world's most passionately religious communities and cultures, making it one of the most religiously diverse countries. It boasts a distinctive ancient culture rich in craftmanship and art, vital to our heritage. Indian heritage provides valuable insights and examples of the nation's various indigenous crafts, paintings, and artworks. The present study draws inspiration from the sculptural designs of the Ramappa temple, located in Mulugu distrct, Telangana. The temple was constructed in 1213 CE during the reign of the Kakatiya dynasty, under the patronage of Recherla Rudra, a general of King Ganapati Deva. To gather sculptural designs of the temple, designs were physically collected. Many monumental and architectural designs have been lost to time, rendered inconspicuous by the ravages of history. They have been redrawn to honour their legacy and breathe new life into these masterpieces for the present study, highlighting their cultural importance and ensuring their stories endure. There are various categories of motifs available in the temple, like human figures, animal, floral designs. Ten specific motifs were selected from the collected motifs and digitized using CorelDRAW 2025 software. From the developed digital catalogue, motifs suitable for dupattas were selected and colour combinations were created using photoshop software. Finally dupattas were hand painted to enhance their uniqueness. The hand painted dupattas were well received by consumers.

Sigrun Elsa Smaradottir Lilja Magnusdottir Birgir Orn Smarason Gunnar Þorðarson Birgit Johannessen Elisabet Kemp Stefansdottir Birgitte Jacobsen Unn Laksa Hronn Olina Jorundsdottir Svein O. Solberg Rolvur Djurhuus Sofie Erbs-Maibing Bryndis Bjornsdottir Ragnhildur Gunnarsdottir Kjartan Hoydal Guðmundur Oli Hreggviðsson Guðmundur Bjarki Ingvarsson Amalie Jessen Horður G. Kristinsson Daði Mar Kristofersson Nette Levermann Nuka Moller Lund Josephine Nymand Olafur Reykdal Janus Vang Helge Paulsen Sveinn Margeirsson Business Development

Indonesia sebagai negara yang banyak mengalami berbagai masalah industri seperti lokasi industri yang berada di tengah pemukiman, menggeser lahan pertanian, pencemaran lingkungan, dan pemutusan hubungan kerja, menyebabkan keberadaan industri harus dikaji kembali jangan sampai masalah tersebut terus berlanjut, sehingga bukan keuntungan yang diperoleh melainkan kerugian bagi negara, pengusaha dan masyarakat. Karena itu, penanganan yang serius dari berbagai pihak perlu dilakukan terutama dari pemerintah sendiri seperti amdal yang jelas, pengawasan yang terus dilakukan, dan lokasi tidak mengganggu lahan pertanian yang produktif, terutama lokasi di pinggiran kota. Di samping itu, perlu juga meningkatkan dan melindungi industri rakyat dalam bentuk industri kecil dan kerajinan sebagai warisan budaya bangsa, agar jangan sampai diakui menjadi milik bangsa lain. Begitupula produk industri diprioritaskan untuk memenuhi kehidupan masyarakat banyak sebelum dilakukan ekspor, sehingga tidak semata-mata keuntungan yang dicari melainkan keuntungan dan kebutuhan masyarakat.

Sustainable local development has become a strategic dimension in the debate on the future of Europe and the Western Balkans region. Facing global challenges such as climate change, migration, demographic transition, and the need for a just digital transformation, it is essential to reconceptualize development at the local level. In this context, the European Union's Cohesion Policy, along with its instruments for non-member countries, presents a significant opportunity to empower local governance and build a more inclusive and equitable development model.

Obecnie Polska jest coraz bardziej popularnym kierunkiem do studiowania dla młodzieży z całego świata, ale również dla doktorantów czy naukowców, którzy szukają miejsca do prowadzenia pracy badawczej w międzynarodowym otoczeniu. W kraju nad Wisłą w roku akademickim 2021/2022 studiowało 89,4 tys. zagranicznych studentów. To o 5,6% więcej niż w roku poprzednim. Dla porównania: w roku 2011/2012 studentów z zagranicy było zaledwie 24,2 tys. Tendencja wzrostowa jest zauważalna nie tylko w statystykach, ale przede wszystkim w salach wykładowych i na korytarzach polskich uczelni, a także na ulicach polskich miast akademickich takich jak Warszawa, Kraków, Poznań, Wrocław, Lublin czy Gdańsk. To trend, który będziemy rozwijać, albowiem wymiana międzynarodowa wzmacnia potencjał polskiej nauki i szkolnictwa wyższego. Warto zadać sobie pytanie: dlaczego właśnie Polska? Busolą, która wskazuje destynację, jest nie tylko wysoki poziom kształcenia, jakość prowadzonych badań czy dostęp do nowoczesnych technologii, ale także historia i kultura. Jako Narodowa Agencja Wymiany Akademickiej konstruujemy ofertę programów i stypendiów, które wspierają internacjonalizację nauki poprzez mobilność studentów i naukowców. W ten sposób budujemy wizerunek kraju otwartego, nowoczesnego, sprzyjającego nauce i prowadzeniu pracy badawczej. Jedną z naszych flagowych propozycji jest program Welcome to Poland. Cieszymy się, że dzięki temu przedsięwzięciu razem ze środowiskiem akademickim pozwalamy obcokrajowcom nie tylko rozwijać się naukowo na polskich uczelniach, ale także poznać piękno i możliwości oferowane przez nasz kraj.

This study aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Delphi SWOT tool in formulating a bio-economy strategy for an isolated region. The analysis will highlight the management and planning aspects that are essential for assessing the internal and external circumstances of the region. A total of 16 experts were selected to participate in the Delphi method, which was used to investigate the current state of the bio-economy in the agricultural sector of a small isolated region in Greece. Following the convergence of the experts' opinions, a SWOT analysis and a set of policy recommendations for the formulation of a bioeconomy strategy were derived. The formulation of a bioeconomy strategy in an isolated region reveals a promising landscape full of opportunities, but also full of challenges. The region has a number of intrinsic advantages that can be used to advance the bioeconomy. The focus on an isolated region limits the applicability of the findings to other regions with different socioeconomic contexts. In addition, the Delphi method relies on expert opinion, which is inherently subjective. The bioeconomy concept has the potential to address the challenges faced by a small, mountainous, rural region whose economy has historically been based on energy production from lignite. To facilitate a sustainable transition, it is essential to harness the region's human capital, promote sustainable agricultural practices, develop innovative products and processes, and establish new value chains that can stimulate economic growth.

The study aimed to assess the implementation of decentralized public health reform delivery and its impact on local service performance. It explored behavioral factors influencing participants’ visits to decentralized healthcare facilities (DHFs) for ANC visits, identified delays in choosing DHFs for childbirth, examined risks for non-utilization of DHFs for PNC, and modeled the spatial accessibility of DHFs to households in Gida Ayana Woreda, western Ethiopia. Qualitative data were gathered through IDI with 29 randomly selected informants and FGD with eight groups of purposively selected community users. Quantitative data on DHF utilization were collected from 459 randomly selected eligible women. A total of 459 households and seven DHFs were geo-referenced. Tools like Epidata version 3.1, SPSS version 24.0, GIS version 10.3, and QGIS version 3.6 were used, while qualitative data were analyzed for themes using a decentralization framework and OpenCode 4.02.

The findings showed mixed results on decentralization. Achievements included improved autonomy in personnel management, healthcare revenue use, local resource mobilization, and service board governance. However, decentralization failed to address local community needs in service programming and planning. Barriers included limited capacity for planning and implementing performance monitoring tools. Chi-square and multinomial logistic regression analyses revealed that ANC visits to DHFs were influenced by complex factors, including predisposing, enabling, perceived pregnancy needs, and external environmental factors.

Este estudio busca aportar al conocimiento de la relación entre economía y política a través de la utilización de una base de datos de 6.589 proyectos financiados a través de presupuestos participativos en 47 municipalidades de Chile entre 2001 y 2017. Mediante un análisis de regresión multivariada se cuantifica la importancia del componente económico (desarrollo económico local) en las experiencias de los presupuestos participativos en Chile y se busca estudiar los determinantes de esta incorporación, interpretando lo anterior como un tipo de relación entre economía y política en que el mecanismo de presupuestos participativos representa lo político, y los proyectos de desarrollo económico local, lo económico. Los resultados destacan la centralidad de la existencia de población indígena en la comuna: en la medida en que una comuna que realiza presupuestos participativos tiene una mayor cantidad de habitantes que se autodeclaran indígenas, mayor es el monto del presupuesto participa...

a. Jumlah Penduduk Kota Sibolga dengan luas wilayah 10,77 km 2 didiami penduduk sebanyak 96,249 jiwa, terdiri dari 48,600 jiwa laki-laki dan 47,649 jiwa perempuan, Penduduk ini tersebar di 4 empat) kecamatan yaitu Kecamatan Sibolga Utara, Kecamatan Sibolga Kota, Kecamatan Sibolga Selatan, dan Kecamatan Sibolga Sambas. Dari table 1 terlihat bahwa jumlah penduduk terbesar terdapat di Kecamatan Sibolga Selatan yaitu 33,698 jiwa (35%), sedangkan Kecamatan Sibolga Kota memiliki jumlah penduduk terkecil yaitu 16,894 Jiwa (17,60%).

The manufacturing process involves a vertical integration of various enterprises, which participate at different stages of the final product production. Modern trends in the globalized economy also call for the integration of small and large businesses (including multinational companies) in order to maximize the individual satisfaction of each customer. This goal is pursued both in the Industry 4.0 paradigm, focused on the development of information technologies capable of tracking individual demand and the necessary resources (material, information, financial, human, etc.) to satisfy this demand, and in the Industry 5.0 concept, based on the development of research and innovation in order to ensure a sustainable, resilient and human-centred economy. In the context of EU cohesion policy and regional development, the European Commission is promoting strategies that support the development of clusters-business groups that bring together different companies in value chains that operate in several countries of the European Union. As the Republic of Moldova is a candidate for membership in the European Union, for Moldovan enterprises, cooperation and integration into value chains are a necessity to ensure their proper functioning and a way to increase their sustainability. At the same time, the success of European integration is also determined by the strengthening of the entrepreneurial potential and competitiveness of Moldovan businesses, which depend on their ability to cooperate at various levels (formal and informal) with entrepreneurs from the local community. Moldova is part of the Danube Region, which increases its connectivity and potential for economic cooperation with its neighbouring countries in the Danube Basin. This macro-region provides easy access to global markets and demonstrates sustainable economic growth. In particular, the mobility-transport-automotive ecosystem stands out in terms of employment and gross value-added creation. The analysis of trade flows reveals several value chains that could be particularly relevant for further cooperation between the EU and Moldova in the Danube Region cooperation framework.

New America is committed to renewing American politics, prosperity, and purpose in the Digital Age. We generate big ideas, bridge the gap between technology and policy, and curate broad public conversation. We combine the best of a policy research institute, technology laboratory, public forum, media platform, and a venture capital fund for ideas. We are a distinctive community of thinkers, writers, researchers, technologists, and community activists who believe deeply in the possibility of American renewal. Find out more at newamerica.org/our-story.

Introduction and Purpose The Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014 reauthorized the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) with twin goals: promoting economic self-sufficiency among lowincome families and supporting the growth, development, and school readiness of young children through age 13. The CCDBG Act, as amended in 2014, encourages state administrators to place greater emphasis on quality, partly through the implementation and evaluation of specific quality improvement activities and an increased minimum quality set-aside (Office of Child Care 2014). Outside of the quality set-aside, the bulk of CCDF funds are spent on direct funding for child care subsidies. We hypothesize that some child care subsidy policies serve as levers for supporting or encouraging lowincome families’ access to higher-quality child care by increasing effective payment rates, increasing stability of payments, or directly incentivizing quality through tiered reimbursement.

En el estudio se examinan la institucionalidad y el financiamiento regional relacionados con las políticas de desarrollo productivo en Chile. En cuanto a la institucionalidad, la capacidad de los gobiernos regionales es aún reducida, como lo muestra el hecho de que el número de funcionarios de dichos gobiernos dedicados al desarrollo productivo representaba en 2021 solo el 7% del total de funcionarios del gobierno nacional adscritos a las direcciones regionales de los cuatro principales organismos públicos dedicados a la formulación e implementación de políticas de desarrollo productivo. En cuanto al financiamiento, se observa que solo el 10% de los recursos del Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Regional (FNDR) ejecutados entre 2017 y 2019 se destinaron al desarrollo productivo. A su vez, se observa que la gran mayoría de los proyectos de desarrollo productivo financiados con el FNDR son implementados por organismos del gobierno nacional, lo que evidencia la aún escasa capacidad de implementación de proyectos de las instituciones propiamente regionales. El estudio resalta la necesidad de fortalecer las instituciones ejecutoras del nivel regional como parte de una estrategia efectiva de descentralización.

En las últimas décadas, el desarrollo de los países se ha medido cada vez más en relación con el incremento del bienestar, entendido como la autorrealización o la felicidad de la población. Según este enfoque de desarrollo como bienestar, el desarrollo económico se refiere al incremento de la contribución al bienestar de aspectos económicos como los ingresos monetarios, el trabajo, el consumo y la adquisición de bienes duraderos, el acceso a servicios básicos y la contribución a la seguridad social. En este estudio se presenta un índice de desarrollo económico regional para las regiones de Chile, elaborado según un enfoque de bienestar, para el período comprendido entre 2013 y 2017. Se observa que los determinantes del desarrollo económico dependen de las preferencias de los habitantes de cada región, y que las variables más importantes son el incremento de los ingresos monetarios y el acceso a Internet. También se incluyen los cálculos en el software estadístico Stata para la elaboración, el cálculo y la actualización del índice para períodos futuros, utilizando la información disponible en las Encuestas de Caracterización Socioeconómica Nacional.

El desarrollo económico local es un proceso que ha recibido creciente atención en las últimas décadas. En Chile, el tema se ha posicionado en el centro del debate institucional a raíz de las innovaciones introducidas en la Ley Orgánica Constitucional sobre Gobierno y Administración Regional, en la que se señala que corresponde a los gobiernos regionales promover y apoyar la implementación de oficinas comunales de fomento productivo e innovación para la competitividad. Para conocer el rol de las municipalidades en la promoción del desarrollo económico local, en los últimos cinco años la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) realizó investigaciones en la materia, lo que ha permitido identificar y analizar aspectos críticos de ese rol. Estas investigaciones y la implementación de un convenio de colaboración entre la Subsecretaría de Desarrollo Regional y Administrativo (SUBDERE) y la CEPAL sirven de base para la formulación de una propuesta de plan de fortalecimiento de las oficinas comunales de desarrollo productivo, que abarca aspectos centrales de las actividades realizadas por las municipalidades, como la modalidad de organización, la coordinación multinivel, la dotación de personal, la formación profesional y el apoyo a la gestión.

Los convenios de colaboración son una de las modalidades que adopta la gobernanza multinivel en Chile, principalmente entre el nivel local (municipal) y el nacional, y han sido mencionados como una de las principales herramientas en el análisis de la gobernanza multinivel de la política de desarrollo productivo del país. Existe una gran diversidad en las características que asumen los convenios de colaboración multinivel, lo que hace posible pensar que pueden adaptarse a las diferentes necesidades y requerimientos del complejo proceso de desarrollo económico local en cada contexto particular. El análisis de los convenios se convierte, a su vez, en un potente insumo para pensar en la profundización de la coordinación multinivel en un contexto en el que se hace cada vez más necesaria la flexibilidad de la política y la adaptación a los irregulares cambios que se producen en cada territorio, ocasionados por elementos como la migración, el cambio climático, la aceleración del cambio tecnológico y la creciente interconexión global de las redes de producción y consumo.

Este estudio busca aportar al conocimiento de la relación entre economía y política a través de la utilización de una base de datos de 6.589 proyectos financiados a través de presupuestos participativos en 47 municipalidades de Chile entre 2001 y 2017. Mediante un análisis de regresión multivariada se cuantifica la importancia del componente económico (desarrollo económico local) en las experiencias de los presupuestos participativos en Chile y se busca estudiar los determinantes de esta incorporación, interpretando lo anterior como un tipo de relación entre economía y política en que el mecanismo de presupuestos participativos representa lo político, y los proyectos de desarrollo económico local, lo económico. Los resultados destacan la centralidad de la existencia de población indígena en la comuna: en la medida en que una comuna que realiza presupuestos participativos tiene una mayor cantidad de habitantes que se autodeclaran indígenas, mayor es el monto del presupuesto participativo destinado a actividades productivas. Los resultados reflejan la posibilidad de que la democracia participativa-deliberativa no esté en contradicción con el financiamiento de proyectos de desarrollo económico-productivo. Esto se logra si existe un espacio intermedio, caracterizado por organizaciones socioproductivas que, en gran medida, representan las empresas de la economía social y solidaria.

Utilizando la información contenida en las cuentas públicas del 20% de las municipalidades del país, se estudia la evolución en la ejecución de las políticas de desarrollo económico local para un conjunto de 48 municipalidades, entre los años 2007 y 2015. Los resultados indican que la importancia relativa de las políticas de empleo y capital humano se han reducido, las de emprendimiento se han mantenido, y las de fortalecimiento institucional y sistema productivo comunal se han incrementado. En esto, el rol de los programas y convenios entre las municipalidades y los organismos del gobierno central parecen haber jugado un rol clave.

Presently, there is no single, coherent theory on the causality between cities and economic growth, only a fragmented set of theories. Current patterns and trends for the relationship between cities and economic growth, however, suggest that a full understanding of contemporary processes will not be achieved by relying on the tools of one discipline alone, or by focusing on a single level of analysis. The aim of this literature review is to examine the leading contemporary theories on the relationship between cities and economic growth. The relationship can work in several ways by focusing on: the impact of economic growth on cities, the impact of cities on economic growth, and cities as an intermediate link to economic growth. Most theories however focus on the impact cities have on economic growth. One conclusion is that economic activities and economic diversification occur before cities are formed; without them, cities are not needed and hence cannot promote economic growth. The...

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui : (1) Profil responden pemilik Kerajinan Kain Tenun Ikat Ende, (2) pengaruh inovasi terhadap kinerja penjualan pada usaha kecil Kerajinan Tenun Ikat Ende. Jenis penelitian ini adalah penelitian kuantitatif. Populasi pada penelitian ini adalah para pemilik usaha kecil Kerajinan Tenun Ikat Ende. Jumlah sampel yang diambil sebanyak 20 responden. Cara pengambilan sampel ini menggunakan teknik purposhe sampling. Uji instrument yang digunakan adalah uji validitas dan uji reliabilitas. Teknik analisis menggunakan regresi linear sederhana dan uji t digunakan untuk menguji hipotesis penelitian. Hasil penelitian menunjukan bahwa (1). Keseluruhan profil responden pada usaha kecil Kerajinan Kain Tenun Ikat Ende adalah Perempuan. Kemudian mayoritas lama perusahaan berjalan selama 5-10 tahun, (2). hasil pengujian regresi linear sederhana dapat dibentuk persamaan regresi dan memperoleh Koefesien regresi sebesar 0,122 menyatakan bahwa setiap penambahan satu...

Poverty rate is still found to be around two times higher in rural areas. However, excesive urbanization, has increased the number of slums in urban areas. Thus, informal economic sectors and poverty will probably become more urbanized in the future. The main purpose of this article is to study the profiles, causes and livelihood strategies of urban poor households in small islands city. Mixed methods of survey, field observation and focus group discussions including in-depth interview by using questionnaire instruments were used to obtain data from 200 selected households. Findings suggest that the profiles of urban poor households have been identified in terms of social demographic, household economic expenditure and urban poverty rate and living standard indicators. Then, the significant causes of urban poverty have been examined as internal and external factors. Internal factors are cultural and structural-including the number of family members, women-headed household and poverty status. External factors are geographical poverty traps, including distance to city center, sanitation status and misused of government policy on rice for the poor program. Livelihood strategies of urban poor households are occupational multiplicity to reduce risks and uncertainty.

Recent studies reported that the implementation of local budgeting in the context of fiscal decentralization policy had no significant contribution in increasing rural community welfare. This study therefore evaluated the local budgeting policy implemented in Indonesia through Village Fund (VF) policy as well as examining the mediating role of local community empowerment. This investigation used crossectional data from 399 respondents from villages in Indonesia. The measures used in this study involved villagers' perception about policy and implementation of village fund, the success of rural welfare and local community empowerment. PLS-SEM was used to test the hyphoteses. The result of this study evidences that perceived of VF usage measured by perceived infrastructure development and perceived basic social services, except for perceived VF usage in rural economic development, have less significant impact on rural community

Sierra Leone on the west coast of Africa has a monsoon-type climate. Reports by politically influential donors regularly state that Sierra Leone is extremely vulnerable to climate change, but the objective evidence backing these statements is often unreported. Predicting the future climate depends on modelling the West African monsoon; unfortunately, current models give conflicting results. Instead, changes in rainfall over the last four decades are examined to see if there are already significant changes. Rainfall records are extremely limited, so the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station daily data at a spatial resolution of 0.05 degrees was used. In addition to total annual rainfall, the characteristics of the early rainy season (critical for farmers), the length of the rainy season and growing season, and the frequency of extreme events were calculated. There is evidence for a significant reduction in annual rainfall in the northwest. There is only limited su...

R. TZVEOVA1, 2, T. YANEVA3, G. DIMITROV3, D. PENDICHEVA-DUHLENSKA5, S. VANDEVA4, Y. MATROZOVA4, K. NAYDENOV2, O. BELTCHEVA1, 2, A. MITKOVA1, 2, S. ZACHARIEVA4, R. TURNOVSKA-KADREVA3, G. NACHEV4, V. MITEV1, 2 AND R. KANEVA1, 2 1Molecular Medicine Center, Medical University – So a 2Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Medical University – So a 3Clinic of Cardiology, University Hospital “Aleksandrovska” – So a 4Clinical Center of Endocrinology and Gerontology, Medical University – So a 5Department of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, Dermatology and Venereology, Medical University – Pleven 6University National Specialized Hospital for Active Treatment Hospital “Sv. Ekaterina” – So a

Cartea oferă o analiză reflexivă și originală a progreselor și provocărilor Republicii Moldova în promovarea dezvoltării clusterelor. Pornind de la experiențele anterioare, autorul examinează dificultățile cu care se confruntă țara în încercarea de a stimula inovația și colaborarea, evidențiind barierele sistemice care împiedică creșterea. Prin integrarea abordării UE în dezvoltarea clusterelor, sunt subliniate oportunitățile Moldovei de a se alinia la standardele europene și de a se integra în lanțurile valorice globale. Îmbinând perspective teoretice cu reflecții subiective, cartea conturează o viziune asupra unui viitor mai sustenabil și competitiv.

One of the greatest challenges currently facing cities is the evaluation of the revitalisation process, i.e., verifying whether and to what extent it has been successful. This assessment is important as it will determine the extent to which the revitalisation needs of a place have been met. The aim of this article is to present the results of the evaluation of a post-revitalisation space made by its users and to determine the usefulness of the Maslin Multi-Dimensional Matrix (MMDM) method used. This is the first attempt, not previously reported in the literature, to use the MMDM for evaluating revitalisation. According to research, projects of an integration and environmental character and those improving security were the most appreciated and at the same time had the best revitalising effect on the Bydgoskie Przedmieście district in Toruń, Poland. The lowest ratings were given to infrastructural projects or those dedicated to narrow social groups (alternative arts). The MMDM method...

Abstract
Russia inherited the focus on extensive growth from the USSR, where the emphasis in planning was placed on new industrial capacities. The construction of new urban housing is the main priority in Russia now. The Green Urban Agenda has been implemented for a long time through the efforts of activists and remained outside the attention of the authorities. Official climate policy is mainly aimed at working with businesses and controlling carbon emissions; national projects are hardly synchronized with each other in matters of protecting natural resources.
There is an explosive interest in the creation of blue-green urban frameworks now. A local green deal begins with the planning of recreation facilities and is based on the active position of citizens opposing the development of natural areas. At the same time, there is no federal law that regulates urban green-blue networks. Green frame planning issues are practically not disclosed in the requirements for general plan elaboration.
For Kazan, a city on the Volga River 1000 kilometres to the east of Moscow, such a global task has become a logical continuation of already implemented projects for the arrangement of recreational, public and natural areas. Over the past 10 years, Kazan, interacting with activists and environmentalists and planning professionals, has successfully implemented projects from small lakes improvement to the coastal strategies.
It is necessary now to create a new mechanism for the formation of a continuous urban-ecological framework, the main task of which will be to synchronize all urban projects - from the repair of underground communications to the construction of new social and commercial objects. And also to give the highest level of priority to this urban mechanism over the existing city planning documents

Houston encompassed forty-three blocks in Lower Manhattan. Its small factories and warehouses teemed with operative and unskilled workers, mostly Puerto Ricans and African Americans. Trucks crammed the narrow streets, transporting materials against a backdrop of dingy buildings. At night and on the weekend, the place became desolate and quiet, in stark contrast to the vitality of the Italian communities to the east and west, and Greenwich Village to the north. Pejoratively nicknamed "Hell's Hundred Acres," due to the high incidence of accidental fires, the district was considered by the city's power brokers to be decaying and therefore a prime location for urban renewal. By the mid-1970s all this had changed. No longer known as South Houston, SoHo had become one of the world's art centers. It was a chic neighborhood, an effervescent mix of art galleries, trendy boutiques, fancy restaurants, and manufacturing concerns. An article in a 1974 New York magazine called it the "most exciting place to live in the city." Young professionals flocked to the stylish lofts, although only artists certified by the city's Department of Cultural Affairs were entitled access to the space. Hipsters and tourists alike milled about the cobblestone streets, checking out the scene. The cast-iron buildings, once dismissed as hideous relics of the late industrial revolution, were now treated like a sacred grove. In this three-part article, I examine the impact of long-term economic and social processes underlying these dramatic changes. Part I discusses urban renewal, which was a pervasive planning focus throughout mid-twentieth-century America. Under the leadership of Robert Moses, New York by 1957 had spent two times more on renewal than the rest of American cities combined. Perhaps, then, it was to the good fortune of business owners and workers in South Houston that Moses had resigned from the Mayor's Committee on Slum Clearance in 1960. In 1962, the City Club of New York, a civic group, called for the clearance of the district in favor of low-to upper-income housing, but the study lacked the verve and punch of a Moses proposal. A second study, the Rapkin Report, funded by the Board of Estimate, disagreed and demonstrated that South Houston was of economic and social value to the city. The area was saved for the time being. But another project, an interstate expressway, threatened to bisect the place. Competing factions made their cases in the late 1960s for and against the plan. Mayor John Lindsay finally renounced the expressway in 1969. The defeat of the project meant the preservation of South Houston's manufacturing buildings. This event happened amidst the larger economic development of the deindustrialization of New York. Many smaller firms, occupying buildings of 3,600 square feet per floor or less, were closing or leaving the city in increasing numbers. Because they needed spacious and inexpensive living and working quarters, artists started to fill the vacancies. The pending expressway, the sword of Damocles for most of the longtime residents, actually benefited the artists. It minimized their rents and building prices, and deterred developers from speculating. Part II considers the housing shortage of the 1960s. Municipal departments periodically cracked down on artists living illegally in manufacturing buildings. Coalitions formed in response, labored for reform, and dissolved after specific issues were addressed and artists were able to make piecemeal progress. For example, the city established the "Artist in Residence" program in 1961 and partially sponsored the Westbeth artists' center in Greenwich Village in 1968. But a larger solution was necessary. Artists living in cooperatives-co-opers-in South Houston were, as a result of theirr previous housing situations, the most desperate but also the best organized. They amassed their political resources and cultural cachet, used deindustrialization to their advantage, and staged a public relations coup: In 1971 they convinced the City Planning Commission to legalize artist residency in SoHo. But this achievement did not end the story. Part III details the ways in which the process of gentrification, already underway, displaced many artists soon after their political victories. Many blamed wealthy non-artists and boutique owners for their displacement. But as sociologist Sharon Zukin has argued, "that is mythology, not urban history." Indeed, the popular explanation that artists are the catalysts of gentrification is impressionistic. I try to illustrate the complexity of this process by describing how it involved municipal agencies, real estate agents, landlords, developers, the media, community planning boards, historic preservationists, mortgage lenders, and others. The city revealed its support for gentrification in 1975, when it passed a law encouraging the conversion of commercial and manufacturing buildings into residential units. Little has been written to tell the story of SoHo's transformation, and so far sociologists have provided the best studies. What has been missing is the historical perspective. Urban renewal, deindustrialization, and gentrification overlapped and reinforced each other. This essay intends to show how individual and collective decisions stopped, slowed, or expedited these processes and transformed an industrial district into one of New York's most popular neighborhoods in little more than a decade. Urban renewal threatened the South Houston industrial district in 1962. One block of the area, containing thirty buildings, was the subject of a study by the City Club of New York, a prominent civic organization devoted to housing and business redevelopment. City Club president, I.D. Robbins, visited every tenant and conducted interviews, accumulating data on vacancy ratios, rent values, and employment figures. The City Club prepared the report for the City Planning Commission, the agency instrumental in determining the district's zoning. The Club was hardly reticent about its contempt for the area as was evident in the pamphlet's title, The Wastelands of New York City. Robbins labeled South Houston a "commercial slum" and concluded that it was "ripe for immediate redevelopment." His inquiry revealed an alarmingly high vacancy