Patterns Of Social Change Pdf

[Nhyiraba Valentin]

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Most social changes take place at the community level before indirectly affecting individuals. Although the contextual effect is far-reaching, few studies have investigated the important questions of: how do community-level developments affect drinking and smoking, and how do they change the existing gender and income patterns of drinking and smoking, particularly in transition economies? In this study, I used a Chinese panel dataset between 1991 and 2011 to reveal the moderating effects of community developments. Through multilevel growth curve modeling that controls for age, period, and cohort effects, as well as individual- and community-level covariates, I found that community-level economic development and social development are negatively associated with drinking and smoking. Moreover, economic and social developments also moderate the important influences of income and gender: women start to drink more in communities with higher economic development; the traditionally positive association between income and smoking/drinking is also reversed, i.e. the rich start to smoke and drink less in communities with higher social development. This study concludes that the rapid changes in communal social and economic structures have created new health disparities based on the gender and socioeconomic hierarchy.

Social environment is a major determinant of health and disease patterns in any community. The 19th century revolution in public health had as its cornerstone the improvement of social and physical environment. The favorable social development has since that time significantly contributed to the decrease of traditional health hazards in developed countries. New public health problems, chronic diseases have emerged in these countries. In some of these nations a new trend has started that may be called the second revolution in public health, i.e. the reduction of chronic diseases. However, the major part of the world's population still suffers from the traditional illnesses that should and could have been set aside by the 19th century revolution. Obviously, the social environment has not been altered sufficiently in these areas to have the desired impact on the health status. The observations from the Eastern European countries stress the need for a purposeful avoidance of deprivation in the social and physical environment as prerequisites for the prevention and control of diseases. Generally, low socio-economic status has been found to relate to an increased risk in many diseases. Usually there is a definite time lag between changes in social trends and disease patterns which causes difficulties for research in this area. The same fact generates problems for the planning and implementation of interventions to prevent the socially affected diseases. Changes in disease patterns are not only determined by altered social trends, but disease patterns can also influence social tendencies in several ways. Studying the interaction of social and health trends quantitatively and experimentally has yielded results which are hard to interpret. Therefore, observational and 'soft' methods are employed here to describe the relationship of social and health trends more aptly.

Climate change is deeply intertwined with global patterns of inequality. The poorest and most vulnerable people bear the brunt of climate change impacts yet contribute the least to the crisis. As the impacts of climate change mount, millions of vulnerable people face disproportionate challenges in terms of extreme events, health effects, food, water, and livelihood security, migration and forced displacement, loss of cultural identity, and other related risks.

Certain social groups are particularly vulnerable to crises, for example, female-headed households, children, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minorities, landless tenants, migrant workers, displaced persons, sexual and gender minorities, older people, and other socially marginalized groups. The root causes of their vulnerability lie in a combination of their geographical locations; their financial, socio-economic, cultural, and gender status; and their access to resources, services, decision-making power, and justice.

The World Bank is committed to promoting socially equitable responses to global crises. As we adapt to a changing climate in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that we listen to, and learn from, people and communities. That is why a truly inclusive approach can often begin at the community level. Green recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and transitioning to low-carbon, climate resilient development requires considering action on climate change in an immediate and broad social context and recognizing the urgency of present needs, while plotting an ambitious course to decarbonization. The World Bank supports achievement of these objectives through three key areas of activity:

Channeling resources and decision-making power to support locally-led climate action: Supporting devolved climate finance and community and local development approaches and that empower communities to drive a climate agenda in support of their development goals; promoting greater transparency and accountability on climate finance; aligning and linking locally led climate action to national climate change priorities and strategies; supporting work to strengthen M&E of resilience and adaptation.

Facilitating processes needed to support key transitions: Engaging communities and citizens in climate decision-making and enhancing social learning as a form of regulatory feedback (e.g., citizen engagement, national climate dialogues, and improved governance); building awareness and political will amongst governments and partners on the need to understand and address the social dimensions of climate change and green growth.

Through these areas of action, the World Bank fosters strong collaboration across different practice areas to bring together and empower poor communities and marginalized social groups to reduce risks to future crises; and to bridge the gap between the local, subnational, and national levels for effective climate change support.

The World Bank has recognized the need to support locally led climate action and work with communities as equal partners so that we are building on their experience and expertise in managing risk and adapting to climate change and to transitions. In other sectors, the World Bank has invested in community and local development (CLD) operations that emphasize citizen control over investment development planning and decision making and implementation. For decades, CLD has effectively supported basic service delivery, livelihoods, social services, poverty reduction, and other community priorities at a large scale. Over $30 billion has been invested in CLD programs over the past decade. This same mechanism is now being harnessed and adapted to deliver effective, local climate resilience support at the necessary scale and its core principles of citizen control and social inclusion are being integrated into innovative approaches to decentralized climate finance.

In Kenya, the World Bank is working with the national and county governments to channel climate finance and decision-making to people at the local level to design solutions that meet their specific needs. Through the Financing Locally Led Climate Action program (FLLoCA), county governments are supported to work in partnership with communities to assess climate risks and identify socially inclusive solutions that are tailored to local needs and priorities. The FLLoCA Program in Kenya provides the first national-scale model of devolved climate finance that can be replicated in other countries.

In Bangladesh, the Nuton Jibon project considers extreme weather events in its design with communities who undertake participatory risk analyses, which then informs the locations and design of community centers, rural roads, tube wells, and other works.

CLD programs are also responding to the impact of COVID-19, including cash transfers for vulnerable groups and block grants to communities to reach vulnerable households with food and medical supplies. Lessons from previous pandemics, including the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak, highlight the importance of social responses to crisis management and recovery to complement medical efforts. In the case of COVID-19, partnerships between communities, healthcare systems, local governments, and the private sector have played a critical role in slowing the spread, mitigating impacts, and supporting local recovery.

The World Bank also hosts the Climate Investment Funds, which is particularly relevant to the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation plus (REDD+) agenda. Given their close relationships with and dependence on forested lands and resources, Indigenous Peoples are key stakeholders in CIF and REDD+. Specific initiatives in this sphere include: a Dedicated Grant Mechanism (DGM) for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities under the Forest Investment Program (FIP) in multiple countries; a capacity building program oriented partly toward Forest-Dependent Indigenous Peoples by the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF); support for enhanced participation of Indigenous peoples in benefit sharing of carbon emission reduction programs through the Enhancing Access to Benefits while Lowering Emissions (EnABLE) multi-donor trust fund; and analytical, strategic planning, and operational activities in the context of the FCPF and the BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes (ISFL).

While this work is still unfolding, it includes such activities as: mapping out the political economy of carbon-related sectors and identifying ways to engage stakeholders in sector reform; ensuring that projects are designed so that local communities can benefit equitably and meaningfully from green growth investments; undertaking gender and vulnerability analysis to identify gaps and ensuring the participation of women and underrepresented groups in decision making on green recovery programs; promoting transparency, access to information and citizen engagement on climate risk and green growth in order to create coalitions of support or public demand to reduce climate impacts; and, supporting local or national dialogues for just transition and green recovery decision making.

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