Building community resilience during COVID‐19: Learning from rural Bangladesh

Promoting positive youth development in rural communities: Integrating social work, psychology, and education

Considering the peculiar socio-cultural background and developmental obstacles encountered by rural youth in China, the study examines the necessity of adopting an integrated strategy that brings together social work, psychology, and education to promote positive youth development. This research intends to fill the gap by explaining the impact of these factors on community engagement and youth development in China. Targeted programs were also suggested according to the needs of rural youth in China. The respondents of the study comprised 350 young people, whose age ranged from 15 to 24 years, living in different rural areas of the country. The structured questionnaire was designed to collect the data using a convenience sampling technique. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied as the analysis tool using IBM SPSS AMOS software. The results show that social work and education have a significant impact on community engagement and positive youth development. The findings also reveal that psychology positively influences community engagement. Community engagement was seen to mediate the relationships between social work, psychology, education, and positive youth development. The policymakers and practitioners can fully use the interrelationships between social work, psychology, and education to create a more comprehensive approach that considers the specific characteristics of rural youth in China. Additionally, highlighting community engagement as a mediator also explores the opportunity for bottom-up initiatives and community efforts to instigate favorable youth outcomes in the countryside.

Building rural community disaster resilience in developing countries: insights from a Chinese NGO's Safe Rural Community programme

As rural areas in developing countries are generally more vulnerable to disasters triggered by natural hazards than urban areas, it has become critical to strengthen rural community disaster resilience (CDR) to reduce the risks. Using follow-up interviews, surveys, and secondary data, this study reviewed the Safe Rural Community (SRC) programme implemented by the One Foundation, a Chinese civilian non-governmental organisation (NGO), after the 2013 Lushan earthquake in China. The study focused on five key resilience aspects: networks; infrastructure; institutions; capacity; and culture. It found that the SRC programme successfully developed five standardised, systematic, interrelated, and practical elements: localised volunteer rescue teams; adequate emergency supplies; practical disaster reduction training; community emergency plans; and regular emergency rescue drills. Third-party evaluations and a 2022 Lushan earthquake test revealed that this NGO-led, community-based, and team-oriented initiative had been effective. Consequently, the study provides some guidance for the development of effective CDR programmes in rural communities in developing countries.