Working and Discussion Paper Series
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Item Leveraging the Samoan Mental Health Policy for Policy Development in Niue(Massey University, 2019) Corcoran, Dale; Stewart-Withers, RochelleMental health is a prevalent, but often ignored area of health. Mental illness can significantly impact the mentally unwell, their families, and the wider community, yet access to proper care can be hindered by availability, ignorance, discrimination, and stigma, and result in human rights violations. This is especially true in developing countries where services may be inadequate or non-existent. Mental health policies can alleviate this situation by improving and prioritising mental health services at a national level. Based on Samoa and Niue’s similarities in terms of their mental health context and the positive analysis and evaluation of the 2006 Samoan policy, this paper concludes that the work done in Samoa is a viable choice for Niue to leverage in their future policy work. Niue would benefit from developing their mental health policy based on the precepts of South-to-South Cooperation by collaborating and sharing knowledge with their neighbour Samoa.Item Community Development through Corporate Social Responsibility in Livingston, Zambia: Are Hotels Actually Changing Business Practices?(Massey University, 2018) Chilufya, Andrew KCorporate social responsibility (CSR) presents unique prospects for both local development and valuable business returns for tourism companies. However, optimization of CSR-generated development impacts may largely depend on the willingness of companies to change their corporate practices more. This paper explores CSR practices of hotels and lodges in Livingstone, Zambia, and associated community development impacts of activities they implement in the surrounding Mukuni communities. Findings from research amongst eight hotel and lodge companies, show that where the voluntary process of change of CSR practices was accompanied by multi-stakeholder involvement, which tended to ameliorate adverse power relations, substantial community development benefits were widely captured by communities from CSR initiatives. These findings suggest that in situations where companies willingly incorporate pro-poor approaches in their business practices, multi-stakeholder involvement in CSR might be a plausible approach for ensuring equity and for augmenting the CSR community development impacts.Item Measuring, defining, and valuing change: A database on development indicators for policy-makers, activists, and researchers(Institute of Development Studies, Massey University, 2013) Prinsen, Gerard; Purcell, GiselaThe use of indicators in international development has increased exponentially since the 1990s. Composite and proxy indicators are used to measure a wide range of concepts but their shortcomings have been widely critiqued. Through a review of over 300 documents, this paper gives a brief history of the rise of “indicatorology” and then summarizes the key challenges in three categories: technical/operational, political/strategic and epistemological/conceptual. Technical challenges faced by development practitioners revolve around the over-simplification of complex issues and the conflation of the goals with indicators. Political challenges involve the inherent power of indicators and the implications they have for policy making. Epistemological challenges question how to balance scientific rigor with local knowledge in the creation and use of indicators. A database of all publications used in this research is being made accessible to development practitioners and researchers via Massey University – watch this space!Item Shallow landsliding and catchment connectivity within the Houpoto Forest, New Zealand.(Massey University, 2013) McCabe, Michelle; Fuller, Ian C; McColl, Sam TActive landslides and their contribution to catchment connectivity have been investigated within the Houpoto Forest, North Island, New Zealand. The aim was to quantify the proportion of buffered versus coupled landslides and explore how specific physical conditions influenced differences in landslide connectivity. Landsliding and land use changes between 2007 and 2010 were identified and mapped from aerial photography, and the preliminary analyses and interpretations of these data are presented here. The data indicate that forest harvesting made some slopes more susceptible to failure, and consequently many landslides were triggered during subsequent heavy rainfall events. Failures were particularly widespread during two high magnitude (> 200 mm/day) rainfall events, as recorded in 2010 imagery. Connectivity was analysed by quantifying the relative areal extents of coupled and buffered landslides identified in the different images. Approximately 10 % of the landslides were identified as being coupled to the local stream network, and thus directly contributing to the sediment budget. Following liberation of landslides during high-magnitude events, low-magnitude events are thought to be capable of transferring more of this sediment to the channel. Subsequent re-planting of the slopes appears to have helped recovery by increasing the thresholds for failure, thus reducing the number of landslides during subsequent high-magnitude rainfall events. Associated with this is a reduction in slope-channel connectivity. These preliminary results highlight how site specific preconditioning, preparatory and triggering factors contribute to landslide distribution and connectivity, in addition to how efficient re-afforestation improves the rate of slope recovery.Item Aid, education and adventure: Thai women’s participation in a development scholarship scheme.(Institute of Development Studies, Massey University, 2012) Wild, Kirsty; Scheyvens, ReginaDevelopment scholarships – endowments that provide individuals from so-called ‘developing’ nations with opportunities to undertake tertiary training abroad – are an historically important, yet increasingly contested, form of educational aid. However, meaningful debates about the value of this type of aid are limited by a lack of research about the impact that it has. The experience of female development scholars is a particularly neglected area of research. This article provides a qualitative exploration of the experiences of twelve Thai women who have completed a postgraduate degree through a scholarship scheme funded by the New Zealand Agency for International Development (NZAID). This research highlights a number of benefits associated with these schemes, including greater emotional autonomy, increased cross-cultural knowledge, new professional networks, new work skills, and improved English-language competency. Negative outcomes identified include career disruption, new unwanted work responsibilities, and dissatisfaction with aspects of life in their country of origin.Item Quantifying slope-channel coupling in an active gully and fan complex at Tarndale, Waipaoa catchment, New Zealand(2010-11-18T20:34:46Z) Fuller, Ian C; Dean, Josh F; Phillips, Emma; Massey, Chris; Marden, MikeTwo RIEGL LMS‐Z420i scanner surveys (November 2007 and November 2008) of the Tarndale Gully complex and its associated fan were used to generate a digital elevation model (DEM) of difference in order to quantify gully‐fan‐channel connectivity. The Te Weraroa Stream, into which the first order Tarndale system feeds, is buffered from sediment generated by the gully complex by a fan. Sediment yields and the role of the fan in buffering Te Weraroa Stream are inferred from the TLS of the entire complex. DEM analysis suggests that c.25% of material derived from the gully is buffered from the stream by being stored in the fan. This figure was applied to fan behaviour since December 2004, mapped on nine successive occasions using detailed GPS surveys to get a longer‐term picture of sediment supply within the system and appraise a qualitative assessment of connectivity constructed on the basis of fan behaviour alone.Item Quantification of channel planform change on the lower Rangitikei River, New Zealand, 1949-2007: response to management?(2010-09-06T21:16:59Z) Richardson, Jane M.; Fuller, Ian CThe Rangitikei River, a large gravel‐bed wandering river located in the North Island of New Zealand, has outstanding scenic characteristics, recreational, fisheries and wildlife habitat features. Recently concerns have been raised over the potential negative impact that perceived channel changes in the latter part of the 20th century may be having on the Rangitikei River recreational fishery. This study describes and quantifies the large‐scale morphological changes that have occurred in selected reaches of the lower Rangitikei River between 1949 and 2007. This research utilised historical aerial photography and analysis in ArcGIS® to quantify channel planform change in three reaches, encompassing ~18 km of the lower Rangitikei River. This showed that the lower Rangitikei was transformed from a multi‐channelled planform to a predominantly single‐thread wandering planform, with an associated reduction in morphological complexity and active channel width of up to 74%, between 1949 and 2007. Bank protection measures instigated under the Rangitikei River Scheme have primarily driven these changes. Gravel extraction has also contributed by enhancing channel‐floodplain disconnection and exacerbating sediment deficits. The findings of this study have implications for future management of the Rangitikei. Previous lower Rangitikei River management schemes have taken a reach‐based engineering approach with a focus on bank erosion protection and flood mitigation. This study has confirmed the lower river has responded geomorphologically to these goals of river control. However questions as to the economic and ecological sustainability of this management style may encourage river managers to consider the benefits of promoting a self‐adjusting fluvial system within a catchment‐framed management approach.Item Imagining 'environment' in sustainable development(2010-07-20T04:26:13Z) Farrelly, Trisia AngelaThe paper presents an argument for a broader and more complex definition of environment than that currently offered in sustainable development discourse and practice. Sustainable development is rooted in dominant western rational and instrumental scientific representations of human-environment relationships. As such, it has been criticised as misrepresentative and meaningless for many of those for whom it is intended. Recent contributions by social scientists have emphasized the need to move beyond the narrow construction of the human-environment dichotomy found in western scientific rhetoric. These emerging ‘new ecologies’ advocate a re-imagining of human-environment relationships as holistic, connective, and relational, and as a product of direct perception and active engagement in the world. The Boumā National Heritage Park, Fiji, a community-based ecotourism initiative is presented as a case study to identify discrepancies between indigenous perceptions of the environment and those of formally educated western development practitioners, as well as the potential for ongoing convergence.Item A preliminary Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) study of magnetite surface microtextures from the Wahianoa moraines, Mt Ruapehu, New Zealand.(2010-05-11T21:08:23Z) Mandolla, Stephanie; Brook, Martin SScanning electron microscope (SEM) of quartz micro‐textures has routinely been used to identify the depositional environment of sediments in areas of former ice‐sheet glaciation. On volcanic mountains, where the geomorphic origin of ridge deposits is often poorly understood, quartz is much less abundant, so SEM analysis has not been used as a depositional discriminator. Preliminary research on surface micro‐textures of abundant magnetite grains from the Wahianoa moraines, south‐eastern Mt Ruapehu, suggests that SEM of magnetite may be useful in determining the process‐origin of deposits. We describe micro‐textures and surface characteristics of samples of magnetite, and our study shows that many of the micro‐textures visible on quartz, thought to be diagnostic of glacial transport, are present on magnetite too. However, evaluating whether SEM analysis of magnetite is an applicable technique will require a better understanding of the microtextures occurring on known glacial, fluvioglacial and aeolian deposits on volcanic mountains.
