Foreign aid, grassroots activism, and the strength of applied community studies in aid-receiving countries: the case of community psychology

Abstract

A B S T R A C TWhat influences the strength of community psychology as an academic and professional field in countries receiving foreign aid? What impact does aid itself have? While capacity development is a major focus for donor countries and other international development agencies, there has been no empirical study of the relationship of aid to the strength of applied social research training in recipient countries. We coded the strength of community psychology in 67 aidreceiving nations and analyzed the factors predicting it, including nonviolent activism and development aid. As hypothesized according to dependency theory, aid is negatively correlated to the strength of community psychology in each country, and significantly explains the variance of the strength of the discipline over and above the influence of GDP per capita, income inequality, educational infrastructure, civil liberties, and nonviolent activism. We also find that the less aid received, the more strongly nonviolent activism predicts the strength of community psychology. Based on the case study literature, our findings support the observation that aid is managed in ways that exclude locally trained researchers and practitioners. We hypothesize how this might occur and offer suggestions for further qualitative research.La ayuda exterior, el activismo de base y el valor de los estudios comunitarios aplicados en los países receptores de ayuda: el caso de la psicología comunitaria R E S U M E N ¿Qué influye en la fuerza de la psicología comunitaria como campo académico y profesional en los países que reciben ayuda extranjera? ¿Qué repercusión tiene esta ayuda en sí misma? Si bien el desarrollo de capacidades es un elemento esencial para los países donantes y otras agencias internacionales de desarrollo, no ha habido un estudio empírico sobre la relación de la ayuda con la fuerza de la formación en investigación social aplicada en los países receptores. Codificamos la fortaleza de la psicología comunitaria en 67 países receptores de ayuda y analizamos los factores que la predicen, incluido el activismo no violento y la ayuda al desarrollo. Como hipótesis y según la teoría de la dependencia, la ayuda se correlaciona negativamente con la fortaleza de la psicología comunitaria en cada país y explica significativamente la variación de la fortaleza de la disciplina más allá de la influencia del PIB per cápita, la desigualdad de ingresos, la infraestructura educativa, las libertades civiles y el activismo no violento. También encontramos que cuanto menos ayuda se recibe, mejor predice el activismo no violento más extremo la fuerza de la psicología comunitaria. De acuerdo con la literatura de estudio de casos, nuestros hallazgos respaldan la observación de que esta ayuda se gestiona de manera que excluye a investigadores y profesionales formados localmente. Proponemos una hipótesis sobre cómo puede ocurrir esto y ofrecemos sugerencias para futuras investigaciones cualitativas. Palabras clave: Ayuda al desarrollo Psicología comunitaria Capital humano Desa...

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“…National Happiness is also based on a single representative survey question about overall life satisfaction. Grassroots Activism was less predictive of well-being than we expected based on prior research using the same measure significantly and robustly predicting countries' strength of community development and related professional resources (Hanitio and Perkins, 2017;Lyew et al, 2021). The limits of the non-violent activism measure have mainly to do with its skew favoring United States cases, which is why we statistically adjusted it to reduce the effect of outliers.…”

“…If political rights and civil liberties are the dominant predictors of national wellbeing, it is vital that those freedoms be established where they currently are not and protected everywhere. Based on our prior analyses in the GDACS project, a significant and surprisingly under-researched challenge is the fact that, globally, applied psychological and other research and professional human resources are weakest precisely where they are most needed (Hanitio and Perkins, 2017;Lyew et al, 2021;Ozgurer and Perkins, 2021). Programs and policies to effectively address social justice, citizenship, well-being, inequality, human rights, and other development challenges must be based on locally sourced, valid and reliable information and applications.…”

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The impact of Foreign aid on Improving the Performance of Workers in North African Countries - a comparative study

“…A. Lyew (2021) emphasized in his study entitled [Foreign Aid, Grassroots Activism, and the Strength of Applied Community Studies in Aid-Receiving Countries: The Case of Community Psychology], what affects the power of community psychology in countries who craves foreign aid? Where the development capacity is a major focus of donor countries and other international development agencies.…”

Geospatial analysis of the global growth of community psychology: Geographic proximity and socioeconomic and political indicators

“…Given that emphasis on disadvantage-as well as our increasingly globalized world and the fact that community psychology has spread to over 40 countries (Perkins, 2009)-it is especially important for psychologists and students in low-and moderate-income countries (LMICs) to be aware of what community psychology offers to help them address oppressive conditions and develop strengths in those countries. Evidence shows, however, that community psychology has failed to take root in most LMICs, especially in Africa, most of Asia, and the smallest and poorest countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (Hanitio & Perkins, 2017), which may be due in part to unintended consequences of foreign aid to those countries (Lyew et al, 2021). Therefore, identifying and examining both the global dispersion and "deserts" of community psychology should be a priority.This study is an attempt to understand the geospatial patterns of the development of community psychology across the world.…”