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The Honor Frost Foundation sponsored a session, 'Maritime Archaeology, Capacity Building and Training in the Developing World' at the Sixth International Congress on Underwater Archaeology (IKUWA VI) held in Freemantle, Australia, in November 2016, dedicated to capacity development in the context of maritime archaeology. The papers presented in this special issue of this journal represent an attempt to understand different approaches to capacity building and development within the sphere of maritime cultural heritage. This paper, by way of an introduction to the subject, and this special issue, aims to explore the nature of capacity building and development in relation to maritime cultural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underdevelopment and poverty are causes for concern, towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in the Global South. In most developing countries donor-funded projects through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) accompany governments' quest to achieve development through poverty reduction initiatives. However, the sustainability of these donor-funded projects in developing minority communities remains questionable. As such, this research evaluates the sustainability of donor-funded projects in developing remote-minority Tonga communities of Zimbabwe in pursuit of the SDGs. The research adopted a descriptive survey design triangulating quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques. Ten percent (805) of the total households (8053) in four wards of Binga District (Siabuwa Ward 23, Pashu Ward 19, Kabuba Ward 17, and Kani Ward 24) were selected to participate in this study. Findings indicated that there are various projects (food aid, water and sanitation, monetary aid, and climate change resilience) undertaken by NGOs in Binga District. There was a slight change in household socio-economic development since the operation of NGOs in the district and challenges were witnessed after donor-assistance withdrawal. This resulted in the stagnancy or collapse of some projects which affected the development of the Tonga minority community. There is an inadequate understanding of the livelihoods of the poor in Binga District due to a lack of adequate needs assessments, hence the need for participatory grassroots development approaches. Lack of development in Binga District, despite the various donor-funded projects operating in the area, is an indicator that the projects are insufficient and ineffective to deal with underdevelopment in this district. The paper recommends a shift in approaches used by both NGOs and the government to ensure sustainability in donor-funded projects to develop minority communities and help the government in its efforts to attain Vision 2030 and the SDGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether economic development is impeded by binding national emission standards to control climate change. We develop a simple model to highlight the potential role of environmental policy for successful clean development in the presence of aggregate demand spillovers in line with the paper by Murphy, Shleifer and Vishny (1989). We consider emissions standards but also discuss the potential of a tax-subsidy scheme and international monetary transfers to achieve (or not) clean development. In theory, clean development depends on both the microeconomic conditions related to technology choice and the macroeconomic conditions related to satisfaction of aggregate demand effects. The model builds on two main assumptions: the presence of fixed costs which give rise to increasing returns to scale in production, and clean technology. We also discuss practical employment of these environmental policies by three middle income countries which experienced declining emissions to GDP ratios as their GDP increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption is an endemic societal problem with profound implications in the development of nations. In combating this issue, cross-national evidence supporting the effectiveness of the rule of law seems at odds with poorly realized outcomes from reforms inspired in the academic literature. This paper provides an explanation for such contradiction. By building a computational approach, we develop three methodological novelties into the empirical study of corruption: (1) modeling government expenditure as a more adequate intervention variable than traditional indicators, (2) generating large within-country variation by means of bottom-up simulations (instead of cross-national data pooling), and (2) accounting for all possible interactions between covariates through a spillover network. Our estimates suggest that, the least developed a country is, the more difficult it is to find the right combination of policies that lead to reductions in corruption. We characterize this difficulty through a rugged landscape that governments navigate when changing the total budget size and the relative expenditure towards the rule of law. Importantly our method helps identifying the—country-specific—policy issues that complement the rule of law in the fight against corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bioethicists and philosophers dominate the on-going debate on human enhancement. They have debated the definition of human enhancement as well as the potential impacts of human enhancement technologies (such as pharmaceutical enhancements or pre-natal selection). These discussions have percolated, through bioethics bodies and bioethics recommendations, policy makers and have eventually been translated into policy. While some suggestions have been based largely in Western liberal democracies, others have deliberated the geopolitical consequences of human enhancement technologies. This paper argues that the present debate currently lacks perspectives from developing countries. It begins by introducing the current debate on human enhancement and recognizes Allen Buchanan's well-raised concerns on how these technologies may potentially cause new injustices for low- and middle-income countries ('developing countries'). It then provides two arguments calling for further research into human enhancement from the perspective of developing countries. First, this paper will argue that the current frames with which enhancement technologies are viewed are inherently neoliberal and require change. The second argument shows how the potential impacts of human enhancement technologies in developing countries have not been fully realized by analyzing how human enhancement technologies will impact Thailand, a developing country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the determinants of stated individual support towards environmental action. The analysis is realized by means of an original Partial Least Squares Path model of Environmental Awareness-Social Capital-Action and it is based on survey data provided in the fifth wave of the World Values Survey (2005–2009) regarding 34.612 individuals from 42 different countries. Besides the global estimates obtained on the whole set of countries, the paper proposes a subsample analysis for developed and developing countries, as well as country analyses for four major economies: China, India, Germany and the United States. We find that environmental awareness and trust in not-for-profit organizations are important determinants of individual action in support of environmentally friendly policies. In general, trust in science and technology does not crowd-out individual support towards the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid urban growth in mid-sized cities of developing nations has induced conflict between development and the environment, often leading to urban sprawl. However, studies focusing on the assessment of urban sprawl in mid-sized cities are comparatively rare. Therefore, this paper assesses the spatio-temporal urban sprawl characteristics of three typical mid-sized Indian cities, such as Patna Urban Agglomeration (UA), Ranchi UA, and Srinagar UA, from 1991 to 2018 using Landsat images. The population density, landscape metrics, and urban expansion index were employed to detect and assess urban sprawl characteristics. A multivariable integrated urban sprawl index was computed using Z-score to examine the intensity of urban sprawl. The results revealed robust evidence of the built-up growth in all three cities. The rise in built-up was observed due to the conversion of fallow and agriculture land covers in Patna UA and Ranchi UA, while water body and fallow land covers in Srinagar UA. Despite an increase in the total population and built-up, population density declined in all three cities. The analysis using landscape metrics exhibited continuous outward expansion with an increase in shape irregularity of built-up patches. The urban expansion index indicated the prevalence of edge expansion typology of urban sprawl. Patna UA exhibited the highest intensity of urban sprawl as per the multivariable integrated urban sprawl index. The obtained results will benefit the urban planners and officials to promote urban sustenance by preparing relevant strategies under the Smart City Mission. This study demonstrated an effective utilization of scientific approaches to assess urban sprawl characteristics in mid-sized cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A concern when conducting stated preference valuation studies in rural developing or very low income contexts is the use of monetary willingness to pay (WTP) estimates. In circumstances where cash incomes are extremely low, a significant proportion of the population are not engaged in waged labour and the exchange of goods or services is augmented through barter or work exchange, the role of money is likely to be different from that within an urban developed setting. As such, ability to pay using money may be impaired and downwardly biased when compared with other mediums of exchange. In recognition of this several studies have used hypothetical labour contributions as payment vehicles and a common finding is that households are more often willing to contribute labour than they are money. In this paper we present the results of a split sample DCE using money and labour contributions as payment vehicles for improved drinking water quality in Kandal Province, Cambodia. We find little differences between the payment vehicles in terms of attribute non-attendance, marginal utilities of attributes or derived welfare values. We argue that this provides support for the use of WTP in rural developing areas where there are functioning labour markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change adaptation is one of the many development challenges impacting livelihoods in developing countries. Scenario approaches are useful in adaptation planning by putting together projected climate change and socioeconomic trends with broader development needs when identifying associated priorities-and using them to develop appropriate strategies, plans and initiatives. To date, explorative scenario approaches have been largely adopted in adaptation planning. In this paper, we determine the benefits of using normative scenario approaches. They include a process known as 'backcasting,' which is particularly useful for areas where adaptation planning and actions are strongly intertwined with development planning, and considerable efforts are needed to improve the well-being of the people living in those areas. We show the relevance of backcasting by presenting three case study applications in the following developing countries: Ghana, Honduras and Tajikistan. The results of these case studies indicate that backcasting has specific relevance for adaptation planning, including capacity building and awareness raising to contextualize information on climate impacts with stakeholders' development needs. Our results also indicate that the developed scenarios provided benefits in promoting horizontal and vertical integration, thus bringing together diverse sectorial and sub-national priorities-adaptation options can thereby be aligned with these needs. Finally, use of the scenarios advances countries' participation in national and multi-country adaptation projects by targeting actions that provide multiple benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since their adoption in 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with their ambition to be universal and indivisible, have become a dominant framework to discuss development matters, especially on the international stage. This work aims at bringing information on whether or not the SDGs provide a good mapping of development priorities as expressed by countries. We develop a new analysis of the SDG framework (within the 2030 Agenda) by systematically mapping the national development priorities displayed by 121 countries in their long-term development documents. We thus categorize each priority under its related SDG(s) and create a typology of documents, along with a visualization tool—which displays how SDGs are prioritized across countries. We show that only a few priorities do not fit in—notably some related to defence and population growth. Moreover, some SDGs are largely more prioritized, and there are many documents in which not all SDGs appear. The tool and database might inform many development-related questions—here enabling us to discuss the relevance and targeted universality of the 2030 Agenda in light of its connections with national development priorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The port-city interface, as a spatial-functional concept, and its relations have been reproduced many times in developed and developing countries. However, there are few studies on such relations in West Asia while urbanization and shipping in this region are considered ancient concepts. The present study investigates the port-city relations in Bandar-Abbas County after the establishment and exploitation of Shahid Rajaee container port to bridge the gap in the study of port-city relations in West Asia, with distinct national–international political contexts. Also, it aims to methodologically analyze the interface as a multi-layered space where the city and the port geographically meet, and different urban, port, and related industrial uses cooperate, conflict, and give character to the port-city. In other words, the present study seeks to understand how the development of containerization of the port and the subsequent required spatial changes in recent decades have influenced the formation of port-city relations in Bandar-Abbas County. To this end, the social, spatial-functional, economic, and governance components are investigated and analyzed, using the qualitative approach of constructivist grounded theory. The extracted category clusters indicate that the city and the port have experienced four temporal-spatial stages in their relations during this period. Although in Bandar-Abbas County, no large-scale displacement of uses is observed, introducing new port and industrial uses to the outskirts of the city under factors such as macro-policies and the economy, has created a lot of competition, in addition to increasing spatial-functional conflict in the port-city interface. In general, despite a great social cohesion in port-city relations, these relations have developed separately in spatial, functional, economic, and governance areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International students are conceived as essential contributors to the development of their countries of origin after they finished their studies abroad. Political decision-makers of the countries of origin therefore take measures that students will eventually return to their home countries and bring back their gained knowledge and consequently contribute to development back home. However, is a return always the best way to contribute to development in the country of origin or can international graduates contribute equally from abroad or through their high mobility between different countries? This article aims to address this question on the basis of an intensive three years mixed-methods-based investigation in six countries – Germany as country of study and Colombia, Georgia, Ghana, Indonesia and Israel/Palestinian territories as countries of origin. We investigated a specific German scholarship program, which gives scholarships to international students from the Global South to study in Germany. Although a return to the country of origin is a precondition for the scholarship, our study indicates that not only return migration, but also remains and circular migration can create beneficial circumstances that former students practice diverse development-related functions and therefore contribute to the development in their country of origin in a specific way. Here, it is important to recognize that scholarship programs do not only offer the opportunity to fund studying abroad, but they can be also designed for the needs of scholars during, before and after their studies, which would also benefit their developmental contributions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remittances have become a chief source of family income in developing countries. As such, these revenue streams have the potential to impact recipients' political behavior. Empirical studies investigating this proposition, however, have yielded seemingly contradictory findings. We develop a theoretical framework that highlights the importance of national development context in understanding the distinct cross-national political behavior patterns between remittance recipients and non-recipients. Leveraging the variations in development levels across 24 Latin American countries, we evaluate propositions derived from this contention that the political implications of remittances depend in part on the development context into which they flow. We find evidence for a posited inverse relationship between development levels and the extent to which receipt of remittances induces political participation. We argue these divergent patterns emerge from the asymmetrical effect remittances have on the economic perceptions and cross-border ties of recipients living in distinct development contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on the determinants of financial development have been silent on the role of religion. Growing evidence in the literature about how financial development positively affects economic growth and development highlights a greater interest in understanding the determinants of financial development. Despite the growing interest in this direction, less focus has been given to the role of religion in financial development. Using data from the World Values Survey, this study explores the relationship between finance and religion. In this study, finance is modelled through different measures of financial development and religion is represented by the intensity of religiosity. Results showed that on average there is a significant negative relationship. Subsequent analysis showed that as countries become financially developed, this negative relationship becomes insignificant. The quantile regression technique was employed to capture the nature of the relationship at different levels. The analysis showed that as countries become financially developed, the negative relationship becomes insignificant to financial development. These results account for some of the differences in the level of financial development between developed and developing countries where the latter tend to be more religious than the former. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a panel data set of OECD and non-OECD countries spanning from 1980 to 2016, we investigate the effects of decentralization on income inequality. Unlike prior literature, we examine the effects of fiscal, administrative, and political decentralization on inequality both individually and in interaction. Moreover, we test for a moderating effect of economic development using the Human Development Index. We find that decentralization reduces income inequality, but the effect diminishes and eventually reverses as economic development increases, suggesting that there exists a threshold at which the equality gains of decentralization are realized. We also find that the threshold of development at which greater decentralization no longer reduces inequality is lower for non-OECD countries than for OECD countries. In addition, the results suggest that the marginal effect of a given dimension of decentralization on income inequality depends on the level of decentralization in other dimensions. These findings imply that the overall decentralization mix is important for income inequality, and both a country's current stage in development and underlying institutional framework should be considered when determining the decentralization mix, especially if reducing income inequality is a main objective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Could the adoption of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) be the means to higher growth and productivity in developing countries? An alarming slump of global productivity growth rates, especially after the global financial crisis, underlines the relevance of this question which does not find a clear answer in the literature. What we do is to estimate the impact of ICT on total factor productivity using capacity and usage-based approaches. Latest panel data of 76 developing countries from 1991 to 2014 is entering our regression models. The results of the different approaches, which allow for unobserved country effects and non-linear relationships, are not optimistic: ICT is only a minor engine of TFP growth. Countries with relatively high ICT investment may be able to increase their TFP growth rates by between 0.1 and 0.3% annually relative to those with modest investment rates. That is, the digital gap matters, but reducing the digital gap alone is not enough to markedly increase growth rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every year billions of dollars are spent on development aid and training around the world. Little attention is paid, however, to the sustainability of the various interventions. Some studies suggest that technology usage can serve as an effective post-learning intervention to enhance the transfer of learning. Currently, there is a limited body of research examining how best to follow up after an educational professional development program in Africa. This qualitative exploratory study sought to address the gap in education development policy by examining three schools in Ghana, West Africa. This study helps increase our understanding of how technology can promote learning transfer in marginalized communities. It also provides suggestions for trainers and practitioners and offers a tentative model of learning transfer. Findings indicate that the use of group texting via WhatsApp helped training participants implement new knowledge in their schools. Participants reported that the mobile technology intervention assisted peer learning, increased participants' motivation, reminded them of the training content and allowed them to network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes the integration of a module on nanotechnology, ethics, and policy into a required second-year social science course at a technological university. It investigates not simply the effectiveness of student learning about the technical aspects of nanotechnology but about how issues explored in an interdisciplinary social science course might influence student opinions about the potential of nanotechnology to benefit the developing world. The authors find a correlation between student opinions about the risks and benefits of nanotechnology for the developing world with their judgment of whether nanotechnology fits comparative, historical models for development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have explored the relationship between economy-level crime rates or individual-level crime and economic growth. However, few studies have examined the relationship between economic growth and crime against firms. Using data for about 12,000 firms in 27 developing countries this study finds that economic growth is negatively associated with crime. This relationship is stronger for small and medium firms than large firms. The study also explores several economy-wide factors and their influence on the growth-crime relationship for small and medium enterprises. The results are robust to various sensitivity checks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]