‘Every household will be a micro-enterprise’: a youth micro-loan scheme’s role in restructuring Nepal

ABSTRACT

Lack of secure employment mobilized many young people into Nepal’s civil war and a decade of political opposition (1996–2006). As a result, both the post-war government and foreign donors invested in policies aimed to harness the productive capacities of young people in restructuring the nation. This article explores the theme of aspiration on the national and personal level and their convergence through a micro-finance program in post-war Nepal, the Youth, Small Enterprise, and Self-Employment Fund (YSEF). The national-level aspiration to make ‘new Nepal’ hinged on young people fulfilling their personal aspirations. I consider whether post-conflict pacification measures like YSEF can foster the sense of national belonging necessary by analyzing the challenges faced in instituting this loan scheme nationally and locally along Nepal’s open border with India. Analyzing YSEF’s institution from a borderland optic reveals assumptions inherent in peacebuilding intervention and limits YSEF’s ability to wholly accommodate its recipients. I suggest that the government’s attempt to bring marginalized youth into the ‘official’ economic fold through YSEF falls short in accommodating young people’s livelihood aspirations within their lived reality. Instead young people are creating pathways beyond state dependence.     

20世纪美国残疾人就业权利的缘起、制度化与困境

在某种意义上,20世纪的美国历史也是一部残疾人的民权运动史。如果说经济大萧条初步唤醒了残疾人的就业权利意识,两次世界大战开启了美国伤残军人康复与就业援助的机制建设,第三次科技革命则加速了残疾人就业权利保障的制度化进程。从公共就业计划、残疾人社会保障保险计划、补充收入保障计划,到《1973年残疾人康复法》,再到《1990年美国残疾人法》,残疾人的就业权利经历了被漠视、依附于福利救济、向实现平等权利转变等阶段,给美国的政治、经济、社会、思想领域留下了诸多挑战和值得思考的问题。由于法律在解决社会问题上存有局限、残疾人对各种福利保障资助的依赖、根深蒂固的偏见等因素,美国残疾人争取平等权利之路仍任重而道远。     

Training and Maritime Archaeology in a University Context

This paper draws on experience gained by Bournemouth University to consider undergraduate education in maritime archaeology. At Bournemouth maritime archaeology is taught firmly in the context of a broader archaeological education. Archaeological programmes vary with the institutions within which they are taught, each programme thus having an individual character that separates it from that of other institutions and further enriches the subject through the breadth of this education. At Bournemouth the value of teaching archaeology with a high component of practical experience has been long understood. This does not mean that archaeology is taught as a purely practical subject but as one within which experience in the field is seen as a worthwhile focus. Bournemouth’s programme therefore recognises the value of field research projects as learning environments for undergraduates studying maritime archaeology. The programme is subject to a number of constraints, notably the size of the archaeological employment market, levels of pay within that market, questions of ongoing professional development after graduation, and the requirements of other employment markets into which archaeological graduates enter. This paper argues that research project-based learning, and in particular, involvement with amateur groups, provides a way to balance these constraints and supports development of both technical and transferable ‘soft’ skills.

An Inter national Perspective on Developing Skills through Geography Programmes for Employability and Life: Narratives from New Zealand and the United States

If there is a universal question that most academic geographers have been asked by students, it is “What can I do with geography?”. We argue in this paper that an important dimension of quality improvement in geography education is closing the gap between the perceived social usefulness of the subject (suggested by evidence to be relatively low) and the realities of what a subject offers as preparation for workplace roles (rated on evidence as relatively high). A potentially central part of the International Network in Learning and Teaching (INLT) Geography in Higher Education, therefore, is communicating information about skills for employment and life that are obtainable from geography-inspired instructional programmes. But behind the seemingly straightforward task of communicating a message is in fact a much more fundamental issue-getting to grips with socio-economic changes that are rewriting the nature and place of geographic learning and teaching. We suggest that positive outcomes from efforts to improve the quality of learning and teaching of geography will depend in part on strengthening and stabilising geography's image, particularly in the eyes of school and university students. We conclude that initiatives, already underway in several countries to popularise the 'skills profile' of a geography education, offer a framework for reimaging the subject.     

Evaluation of the Work-Place Cooperative Project in Geography Degrees at the University of Leeds

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the context and objective of a Work-Place Cooperative Project (WPCP) established in the School of Geography at the University of Leeds in 1995. The project, in part a response to the changing graduate and employment market in the early 1990s, presents students with issues with a geographical dimension from business, commerce, industry and environmental research. A number of examples from the WPCP are presented.     

Educational Innovation and the Market for Geographers in Hungary

This paper examines the status of geography in higher education in Hungary. Stress is placed on reforms begun in the 1990s to launch new curricula for training professional geographers. The authors played an important role in developing this new curriculum by introducing new subjects into geography programmes, working out the scope and sequence of courses, obtaining accreditation and carrying out market research for graduates. The project was motivated by a decline in demand for geography and geography teachers in secondary schools accompanied by an increase in demand for geographers trained to work in public administration, government and business. The graduates of the new professional geographer curriculum receive a practice-oriented education designed to cultivate their spatial problem solving and applied geographical skills. In this paper the authors present the steps in the curriculum reform and suggest that it may serve as a model for reform in a number of nearby countries planning to join the EU.     

Gender representation in geography: Singapore

ABSTRACT

This paper explores key skills required by potential employers of geography graduates. Academic ability combined with a variety of transferable skills such as communication, organisation and self-motivation appeal to many of the employers questioned. Graduates can face potential difficulties expressing these key skills in standard application forms and interviews. Extracurricular activities and previous employment can provide impressive ways to display skills relevant to the job. Key skills are dynamic; graduates need to keep pace with ever changing expectations particularly with regard to information technology.     

New books

The Highest Andes. A Record of the first Ascent of Aconcagua and Tupungato in Argentina and the Exploration of the surrounding Valleys. By E. A. FitzGerald. London : Methuen and Co., 1899. Pp. 390. Price 30s. net.

In Dwarf Land and Cannibal Country. By A. B. Lloyd. London : T. Fisher Unwin, 1899. Price 21s. net.

The Redemption of Egypt. By W. Basil Worsfold, M.A. London : George Allen, 1899. Pp. 333. Price 25s. net.

Alaska and the Klondike. By Angelo Heilprin, F.R.G.S., F.G.S.A. London : C. Arthur Pearson, Limited, 1899. Pp. 315. Price 7s. 6d.

Tunisia and the Modern Barbary Pirates. By Herbert Vivian, M.A., author of Servia, The Poor Man's Paradise, etc. etc. Illustrated with Photographs and a Map. London : C. Arthur Pearson, Limited, 1899. Pp. xvi + 341. Price 15s.

In a Corner of Asia. By Hugh Clifford. ("The Over‐Seas Library.”) London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1899. Pp. 279. Price 1s. 6d.

Admiral Phillip. By Louis Becke and Walter Jeffert. ("The Builders of Greater Britain” Series.) London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1899. Pp. xx + 336. Price 5s.

Von Kap zum Nil. Eeise‐Erinnerungen aus Sü'd‐, Ost‐ und Nordafrika. With Illustrations. By Dr. Karl Dove. 2nd edition. Berlin : Allgemeiner Verein für Deutsche Litteratur, 1898. Pp. 319.

Die Republik San Marino. Eine Studie. Von Carl Amico. Augsburg : A. Himmer, 1899. Pp. 159.

Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa. By David Livingstone, M.D. With Notes by Frederick Stanley Arnot. London : John Murray, 1899. Pp. xiv + 447. Price 5s.

Cities and Sights of Spain. A Handbook for Tourists. By E. Main. London: George Bell and Sons, 1899. Pp. 214.

Hazell's Annual for 1900: a Cyclopædic Record of Men and Topics of the Day. Edited by W. Palmer, B.A. (Lond.). London : Hazell, Watson, and Viney, 1900. Pp. 702.

Statistical Year‐Booh of Canada for 1898. Issued by the Department of Agriculture. Ottawa: Government Printing Bureau, 1899. Pp. 606.

Aarbog for Dansh Kulturhistorie. Udgiven af Poul Bjerge. København : Lehmann og Stage, 1899. Pp. 192. Price 2 Kr.

Illustrated Guide for Tourists to the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and Darjeeling. 1896. Pp. 46.

Nedbøriagttagelser i Norge. Udgivet af det Norske Meteorologiske Institut. Aargang 1, ii. og iii., 1895 Juli, 1897 December. Kristiania : W. C. Fabricius og Sønner, 1899.