Journal of Advocacy, Research and Education

104-109

Authors: Elmond Bandauko

This paper provides a review on the role played by civil society organisations (CSOs) in urban planning advocacy in Zimbabwe. To demonstrate this, the article draws on the cases of the residents, associations and other CSOs from Zimbabwe’s major cities and towns namely Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru and Mutare. CSOs such as Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA), Harare Residents Trust (HRT), Gweru Residents Association, Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association, Mutare Resident and Ratepayers Association (MURA) and Zimbabwe Homeless People’s Federation and Dialogue on Shelter (ZHPFDS) are instrumental in championing the interests of the urban poor, so that their concerns are represented in the urban development discourse. CSOs are also critical in bringing good urban governance and social justice in cities. Other Civil Society Organisations such as ZHPFDS specialise solely on advocacy for housing land and, within their ambit, work towards ensuring that the housing poor and homeless have a roof over their head. This is an emphasis on the ‘hard infrastructure’ provision. On the other hand, there are CSOs concerned almost purely on the ‘soft infrastructure’ like public awareness campaigns on making city authorities account for their service provision and other related urban governance issues. These groups, like Harare Residents Trust (HRT) often use threat to organise protests and campaigns against bureaucratic injustices and making the resident empowered in informational terms. The paper suggests mutuality and close linkage between CSOs in development and CSOs in the advanced agendas for social justice towards urban sustainability and meaningful governance. Such an approach can be replicated within Zimbabwe, and ultimately across Africa and beyond.

121-127

Authors: Pavel N. Biriukov

The article deals with the enlargement of the European Communities (hereinafter EC). Author outlines key questions of the accession of Spain to the EC. Main attention is paid to the characteristics of the conditions of the accession of Spain to the EC. The article explores the role of public authorities of Spain in the implementation of EC documents in Spain. Author investigates the doctrine of relationship between EC norms and Spanish national law.

135-145

Authors: Jacob Owusu Sarfo, Josephine Cudjoe, Alexander Fosu, Melanie C. Schlatter

One hundred participants, comprising of 50 individuals with Type 2 diabetes (DM2) and 50 control group members were matched on both age and education. Using a battery of behavioural measures, data collection was done at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. The results showed that, depression, anxiety, negative health beliefs, cognitive failures, interpersonal sensitivity, hostility and number of complications / clinical manifestations predicted health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among the overall sample. In addition, depression and negative health beliefs predicted HRQOL among individuals with DM2, while cognitive failures predicted HRQOL among HCG. Findings have implications for clinical management and future studies.

156-165

Authors: Evgeniya V. Vidishcheva, Dmitriy S. Ageenko

This article features an analysis of the world experience and of the characteristics of transport servicing of large-scale world soccer tournaments, conducted with a view to identifying potential bottlenecks in transport infrastructure, determining the necessary amount and types of transport vehicles engaged in transporting World Cup visitors and participants, proposing recommendations on transport servicing, and helping to take timely measures to make relevant adjustments as part of staging a portion of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in the city of Sochi. The experience of staging the Sochi Winter Olympics will help use the city’s existing transport infrastructure as effectively as possible. Among some of the most crucial conditions for the success of staging a large-scale event are the availability of sufficient territorial space for the unimpeded and safe movement of large masses of people around the stadium and the stadium’s proximity to the key elements of transport infrastructure, as well as to hotels and the heart of the city’s social and commercial life. What complicates the transport planning of major soccer events is the tough-to-predict nature of transport traffic due to the movement of both the national teams and the fans and the highly uneven volumes of passenger and freight traffic during the event. This provides a rationale for instituting additional requirements for the traffic capacity of transport infrastructure, its reliability, safety, and efficiency on the whole.