Nilima Srivastava

Bio: Nilima Srivastava is an academic researcher from Philippine Institute for Development Studies. The author has contributed to research in topics: Women's empowerment & Collective action. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 2 publications receiving 4 citations.

Women’s Collectives and Collective Action for Food and Energy Security: Reflections from a Community of Practice (CoP) Perspective:

Abstract: In feminist political ecological discourses, women are seen as potential initiators and actors in collective action. Gendered differential practices in sustaining certain forms of collective action...

Engaging Communities of Practice for Risk Communication in the Hawkesbury Water Recycling Scheme

Abstract: Participation by the community of people likely to be involved in, or affected by, project activities has long been recognised as important, particularly regarding questions of assessing risks and potential impacts. While the term 'community' is often used in broad rhetorical terms this has tried to be overcome through recourse to the notion of 'stakeholders', and more recently towards defining communities in terms of their networks of activities and practices. This has led to a growing interest from broad ranging domains of inquiry for 'communities of practice' as an appropriate unit of analysis. This paper presents reflections on work in progress where communities of practice involved in the Hawkesbury Water Recycling Scheme are being engaged in a practical study focusing on risk communication and management. Differences in risks perceived by different communities of practice are represented by simple feedback diagrams that incorporate actions and information strategies to inform and manage the risks perceived. A discussion is presented in terms of first, second and third person perspectives on this application as action research.

Technowomen: Women’s Autonomy and Its Impact on Environmental Quality

Abstract: The role of women in economic development and the global environment is vital for progressing them towards the United Nations sustainable development goal (SDG-5) that emphasized the need to empower women in every walk of life. The study examines women’s autonomy in the sustainable development agenda under China’s open innovation system from 1975 to 2019. The study employed an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model, vector autoregressive (VAR) Granger causality, and innovation accounting matrix to estimate parameters. The existing data are summarized and collated in the context of China to explain as a correlational study. The results show that women’s autonomy moderated with technology spills over to decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and substantiate the hump-shaped relationship between them. The increased spending on research and development (R&D) activities, patent publications, and renewable energy consumption empowers women to be equipped with the latest sustainable technologies to improve environmental quality. The pollution haven hypothesis verifies a given country, where trade liberalization policies tend to increase polluting industries to set up their plants that engaged in dirty production that exacerbate GHG emissions. The causality estimates confirmed that technological innovations and renewable energy consumption leads to women’s autonomy. In contrast, females’ share in the labor force participation rate leads to an increase in renewable energy consumption. Thus, it is evident that there is a positive role of women in the country’s sustainable development.

Climate Change, Social Work, and the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels: A Scoping Review

Abstract: Climate change is a crisis in our midst. This scoping review examines practices to transition away from fossil fuels in the social work literature, to inform social work engagement in climate mitigation and in support of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and 13 (Climate Action). We searched peer-reviewed and grey literature, applying the inclusion criteria: (1) published on or since 1 January 2005; (2) social work literature; (3) examines at least one topic related to the transition away from fossil fuels; and (4) describes, examines, or evaluates a specific form of practice for the transition away from fossil fuels that occurred or is occurring. Fifty-eight items met the inclusion criteria, containing 79 practices. The most frequent practice types were “organizing or advocacy” and “energy at home”. Common targets of change were individuals/households and private industry. The most organizing against private industry was led by Indigenous or Tribal nations. More social work engagement in the transition away from fossil fuels is needed, including engagement that embraces an ecosocial approach. Local organizing, advocacy, and program development are an area of strength and an intervention scale at which social workers can influence multi-prong efforts to transition away from fossil fuels. New social work policy analysis and advocacy at global, national, and state levels is also recommended.

Barefoot technicians and grassroots CEOs : how india’s self-employed women’s association (SEWA) is unleashing technology to spark innovation and enterprise among the rural poor

Abstract: The World Bank Group has two main goals. The first is to end extreme poverty by 2030, and the second is to boost shared prosperity. This means guaranteeing that everyone reaps the benefits of economic growth, especially the bottom 40 percent of any society. And if we don’t include that bottom part of the pyramid, if we don’t include women and young people in that economic growth, we are not building stability into these societies. This book tells how a long-respected Indian women’s empowerment organization (the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India and a pioneering social development fund (the Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF)) partnered together to deliver an original initiative that jointly teaches business principles and technological savvy to poor, sometimes illiterate women. The initiative is the Community Learning Business Resource Center (CLBRC), launched through the JSDF–SEWA Economic Empowerment Project for Women. This book describes other examples of the use of technology such as community radio stations, geographic information systems (GIS) to record land use data, membership management and job portal systems, and much more that the CLBRCs have inspired and that SEWA women have put into practice. The chapters also offer a glimpse into the day-to-day operations of these community-run enterprises. This JSDF-SEWA project offers a wonderful example of the concept of transformational engagement that is, it sets in motion the home-grown engines of innovation and income generation, unleashing entrepreneurship which reaches and transforms society’s most marginalized. In this way, the activities of SEWA help contribute to poverty reduction.