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\"Across the world, cities and regions have wasted trillions of dollars on blindly copying the Silicon Valley model of growth creation. We have lived with this system for decades, and the result is clear: a small number of regions and cities at the top of the high-tech industry but many more fighting a losing battle to retain economic dynamism. But, as this books details, there are other models for innovation-based growth that don't rely on a flourishing high-tech industry. It argues that the purveyors of the dominant ideas on innovation have a feeble understanding of the big picture on global production and innovation. They conflate innovation with invention and suffer from techno-fetishism. In their devotion to start-ups, they refuse to admit that the real obstacle to growth for most cities is the overwhelming power of the real hubs, which siphon up vast amounts of talent and money. Communities waste time, money, and energy pursuing this road to nowhere. Instead Breznitz proposes that communities focus on where they fit within the four stages in the global production process. Success lies in understanding the changed structure of the global system of production and then using those insights to enable communities to recognize their own advantages, which in turn allows to them to foster surprising forms of specialized innovation. All localities have certain advantages relative to at least one stage of the global production process, and the trick is in recognizing it\"-- Provided by publisher.

Monitoring the qualitative status of freshwaters is an important goal of the international community, as stated in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDGs) indicator 6.3.2 on good ambient water quality. Monitoring data are, however, lacking in many countries, allegedly because of capacity challenges of less-developed countries. So far, however, the relationship between human development and capacity challenges for water quality monitoring have not been analysed systematically. This hinders the implementation of fine-tuned capacity development programmes for water quality monitoring. Against this background, this study takes a global perspective in analysing the link between human development and the capacity challenges countries face in their national water quality monitoring programmes. The analysis is based on the latest data on the human development index and an international online survey amongst experts from science and practice. Results provide evidence of a negative relationship between human development and the capacity challenges to meet SDG 6.3.2 monitoring requirements. This negative relationship increases along the course of the monitoring process, from defining the enabling environment, choosing parameters for the collection of field data, to the analytics and analysis of five commonly used parameters (DO, EC, pH, TP and TN). Our assessment can be used to help practitioners improve technical capacity development activities and to identify and target investment in capacity development for monitoring.

Orienting societies towards sustainability requires comprehensive learning of how to think, act and live within a safe and just space for humanity. Approaching sustainability as a core paradigm of quality education in the twenty-first century, Education for Sustainable Development necessitates an integrated view on learning. For educational organizations, Whole Institution Approaches (WIAs) to sustainability emphasize that all learning is embedded within its socio-physical contexts. Although the core objective—to “walk the talk” on sustainability—is theoretically well established, questions remain regarding its specific conceptualizations. Based on a systematic qualitative analysis of 104 international documents from scientific and grey literature, this article offers a conceptual synthesis of the core elements of WIAs to sustainability in education. Based on the literature analysis, WIAs are described as continuous and participative organizational learning processes aimed at institutional coherence on sustainability, consistently linking the formal and informal (hidden) curricula. While specific pathways are necessary for diverse organizations, the article synthesizes a joint framework. Key characteristics of WIAs are clustered within five core principles (coherence, continuous learning, participation, responsibility, long-term commitment), seven highly integrated areas of action (governance, curriculum, campus, community, research, communication, capacity building), the underlying organizational culture, and critical conditions for successful implementation. As becomes clear from the synthesis, following a WIA means to collaboratively switch the default mode of all rules-in-use to sustainability. The concept of WIAs may thus both be approached as an instrument for consistent organizational development in light of (un-)sustainability and as a keystone of integrated high-quality sustainability learning.

In the midst of massification, targeted funding has been used in various countries to address inefficiencies in teaching and learning. In South Africa, arguments have been made for significant investments to be made and the University Capacity Development Grant (UCDG) in particular is being used as a driver for improved outputs. Prior to its implementation in 2018, the UCDG comprised the Research Development Grant and the Teaching Development Grant. The Teaching Development Grant was intended to address low retention and throughput rates and ZAR5.5 billion was spent to this end over a 12-year period. The analysis presented here of all Teaching Development Grant budget plans and progress reports from 2007 to 2015 shows that the undifferentiated implementation of the Teaching Development Grant within a differentiated sector limited its potential for system-wide gains. Institutions without adequate resources tended to divert Teaching Development Grant funds to attend to backlogs rather than to address teaching and learning practices and such universities lost much of their allocation through the withholding of unspent funds. This blanket practice addressed the symptoms of underspending but not the structural, cultural and agential mechanisms that led to such under-expenditure. Uneven access to the limited teaching development expertise also impacted on the use of the grant. This call for a context-based approach to funding has been identified as a key success factor in grant interventions in both African and European universities. We recommend a sector-wide response in the form of a national body or plan for the benefit of all universities and investment in financial management enhancement. Significance: * The study contributes to a better understanding of how government funding interventions can achieve intended goals. The study calls for a more contextualised approach to funding and to greater collaboration across the sector to maximise limited capacity.

This article investigates the nature of youth perceptions and their influence on youth's intentions of engaging in agripreneurship. The study findings reveal that the youth held positive economic perceptions of the agricultural sector. Along with the provision of secondary school agricultural education and a significant amount of financial support, these perceptions positively influenced their intentions to participate in agripreneurship. The findings affirm the need for improving awareness of the economic opportunities available in the agricultural sector. The study recommends that programmes that aim to encourage agripreneurship target both the socio-economic and cognitive limitations of youths.

Land-use planning, although a mechanism for development, can also generate insecurity during its implementation. This article argues that tenure security and land-use planning should not be implemented in isolation from each other. It posits that land-use planning - rather than restricting the security of people's tenure - has the potential to serve as a means of securing tenure. The article explores tenure (in)security elements in land-use planning as a crucial challenge in the urban town of Gelan Sidama Awash, Ethiopia. Using data collected through stakeholders' interviews, it uncovers their tenure security challenges, and outlines a set of measures for enhancing tenure security through land-use planning.

Citizen science has been gaining momentum in the United States and Europe, where citizens are literate and often interested in science. However, in developing countries, which have a dire need for environmental data, such programs are slow to emerge, despite the large and untapped human resources in close proximity to areas of high biodiversity and poorly known floras and faunas. Thus, we propose that the parataxonomist and paraecologist approach, which originates from citizen-based science, is well suited to rural areas in developing countries. Being a paraecologist or a parataxonomist is a vocation and entails full-time employment underpinned by extensive training, whereas citizen science involves the temporary engagement of volunteers. Both approaches have their merits depending on the context and objectives of the research. We examined 4 ongoing paraecologist or parataxonomist programs in Costa Rica, India, Papua New Guinea, and southern Africa and compared their origins, long-term objectives, implementation strategies, activities, key challenges, achievements, and implications for resident communities. The programs supported ongoing research on biodiversity assessment, monitoring, and management, and participants engaged in non-academic capacity development in these fields. The programs in Southern Africa related to specific projects, whereas the programs in Costa Rica, India, and Papua New Guinea were designed for the long term, provided sufficient funding was available. The main focus of the paraecologists' and parataxonomists' activities ranged from collection and processing of specimens (Costa Rica and Papua New Guinea) or of socioeconomic and natural science data (India and Southern Africa) to communication between scientists and residents (India and Southern Africa). As members of both the local land user and research communities, paraecologists and parataxonomists can greatly improve the flow of biodiversity information to all users, from local stakeholders to international academia. La ciencia ciudadana ha estado ganando ímpetu en Estados Unidos y en Europa, en donde los ciudadanos son alfabetizados y con un continuo interés por la ciencia. Sin embargo, en los países en desarrollo - que tienen una urgente necesidad de información ambiental - dichos programas emergen lentamente, a pesar de los grandes recursos humanos sin utilizar en las proximidades de las áreas de biodiversidad alta y con flora y fauna poco conocidas. Por esto, proponemos que la estrategia de los parataxónomos y los paraecólogos, que cual surge a partir de la ciencia basada en la ciudadanía, es muy adecuada para las áreas rurales de los países en desarrollow. Ser un parataxónomo o un paraecólogo es una vocación que conlleva una ocupación de tiempo completo apoyada por un entrenamiento extensivo, mientras que la ciencia ciudadana involucra la participación de voluntarios. Ambas estrategias tienen sus méritos dependiendo del contexto y de los objetivos de la investigación. Examinamos cuatro programas actuales de paraecológos y parataxónomos en Costa Rica, India, Papúa Nueva Guinea y en el sur de África, y comparamos sus orígenes, objetivos a largo plazo, estrategias de implementación, actividades, retos clave, logros e implicaciones para las comunidades residentes. Los programas apoyaron a la investigación continua sobre la evaluación, el monitoreo y el manejo de la biodiversidad y los participantes se involucraron en el desarrollo de capacidades no-académicas dentro de estos campos. Los programas en el sur de África se relacionaron con proyectos específicos, mientras que los programas en Costa Rica, India y Papúa Nueva Guinea fueron diseñados para el largo plazo, siempre y cuando se tuviera suficiente financiamiento disponible. El enfoque principal de las actividades de los paraecólogos y los parataxónomos varió desde la recolección y el procesamiento de especímenes (Costa Rica y Papúa Nueva Guinea) o de datos socioeconómicos y de ciencias naturales (India y sur de África) hasta la comunicación entre los científicos y los residentes (India y sur de África). Como miembros de la comunidad de usuarios locales del suelo y de la comunidad científica, los paraecólogos y los parataxónomos pueden mejorar enormemente el flujo de información sobre la biodiversidad para todos los usuarios, desde accionistas locales hasta académicos internacionales.

Background Research capacity development (RCD) is considered fundamental to closing the evidence–practice gap, thereby contributing to health, wealth and knowledge for practice. Numerous frameworks and models have been proposed for RCD, but there is little evidence of what works for whom and under what circumstances. There is a need to identify mechanisms by which candidate interventions or clusters of interventions might achieve RCD and contribute to societal impact, thereby proving meaningful to stakeholders. Methods A realist synthesis was used to develop programme theories for RCD. Structured database searches were conducted across seven databases to identify papers examining RCD in a health or social care context (1998–2013). In addition, citation searches for 10 key articles (citation pearls) were conducted across Google Scholar and Web of Science. Of 214 included articles, 116 reported on specific interventions or initiatives or their evaluation. The remaining 98 articles were discussion papers or explicitly sought to make a theoretical contribution. A core set of 36 RCD theoretical and conceptual papers were selected and analysed to generate mechanisms that map across macro contexts (individual, team, organisational, network). Data were extracted by means of ‘If-Then’ statements into an Excel spreadsheet. Models and frameworks were deconstructed into their original elements. Results Eight overarching programme theories were identified featuring mechanisms that were triggered across multiple contexts. Three of these fulfilled a symbolic role in signalling the importance of RCD (e.g. positive role models, signal importance, make a difference), whilst the remainder were more functional (e.g. liberate talents, release resource, exceed sum of parts, learning by doing and co-production of knowledge). Outcomes from one mechanism produced changes in context to stimulate mechanisms in other activities. The eight programme theories were validated with findings from 10 systematic reviews (2014–2017). Conclusions This realist synthesis is the starting point for constructing an RCD framework shaped by these programme theories. Future work is required to further test and refine these findings against empirical data from intervention studies.

Rapidly changing global environmental contexts require thinking differently about climate adaptation projects to achieve faster positive systemic change. Adaptation theory and practice have begun to focus on change agents, people who can help catalyse this change, but it is poorly understood why some people are better able to influence positive systemic change or how climate adaptation projects cultivate and assist them in doing so. This paper synthesises insights on good practice for intervention design and implementation from a wide range of intervention literature domains, including health, education and international development. It identifies a distilled set of individual and collective change agent characteristics and competencies, grouped into five interconnecting themes: values, learning approaches, efficacy, roles and entrepreneurial tendencies. Nine core competencies are identified as important for enabling change, clustered into three themes: being good with people, learning or mastery skills, and adaptation competencies. The review also collates insights about how best to cultivate an agent’s capacity for catalysing change, with a particular focus on the potential for enabling climate adaptation through research for development. Initial insights suggest that capacity building needs to be more than developing new technical knowledge and skills; it should also focus on developing the necessary competencies for enabling change in intervention teams and potential change agents. These insights provide the basis for testing what combinations of change agent characteristics and competencies are most effective in different contexts, improving project and program design to cultivate change agents, and achieving systemic change.

We documented the contributions of Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) trainees and graduates to global COVID-19 preparedness and response efforts. During February-July 2021, we conducted surveys designed in accordance with the World Health Organization's COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan. We quantified trainee and graduate engagement in responses and identified themes through qualitative analysis of activity descriptions. Thirty-two programs with 2,300 trainees and 7,372 graduates reported near-universal engagement across response activities, particularly those aligned with the FETP curriculum. Graduates were more frequently engaged than were trainees in pandemic response activities. Common themes in the activity descriptions were epidemiology and surveillance, leading risk communication, monitoring and assessment, managing logistics and operations, training and capacity building, and developing guidelines and protocols. We describe continued FETP contributions to the response. Findings indicate the wide-ranging utility of FETPs to strengthen countries' emergency response capacity, furthering global health security.