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Julie Abrams, President, Microfinance Analytics, has been a consultant to the microfinance industry for 15 years. She has authored or co-authored 16 publications on microfinance topics including international financial institution funding, foreign investment, MFI debt default, foreign exchange risk, an e-course on financial risk management, capital structure, profitability, financial performance, and MFI appraisals. Julie has been on the review panel and jury for CGAP's Financial Transparency Awards. She currently serves as an advisor for Research and Analysis to the International Association of Microfinance Investors (IAMFI) and is a member of the Calvert Foundation's External International Investment Committee, including reviews of MicroPlace and all syndicated lending. She began working in microfinance in 1985 with Women's World Banking. Julie was a fellow at the Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies, where she earned an MBA from the Wharton School and an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and holds a BA in Economics from Oberlin College.

The rapid growth of foreign private lending to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the past several years has led to a surprising reversal of roles between government-owned development agencies and private lenders. Development institutions [International Financial Institutions (IFIs)] are concentrating their loans in the strongest MFIs, leaving private lenders to look for opportunities among smaller, riskier borrowers. Development institutions are “crowding” private lenders out of the best MFIs.

The microfinance industry (MFI) has crossed the threshold into a period of tremendous growth. This growth was significantly accelerated by media attention to the industry during the United Nations Year of Microcredit in 2005 and the awarding of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize to Grameen Bank founder Mohammed Yunus, as well as the interest of high-profile donors and investors, including eBay founder Pierre Omidyar and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Despite the promise for international development, despite the proven track record of exceptional loan repayment rates, and despite the development of competitive markets in countries like Bolivia, Peru and Bangladesh or the global expansion of microfinance access to tens of millions of new clients, little research has explored the impact this expansion has had on global poverty and economic and social development, in general.

This paper aims to contribute to the special issue theme by exploring the perceptions of anti‐consumption and resistant practices of adolescents by their peer group in the context of high school prom attendance.

This paper employs a mixed methods approach involving 12 in‐depth interviews with those who had attended a high school prom in the last three years and open questions on a survey to adolescents.

Four main perceptions of non‐attendance were identified: non‐choice, risk aversion, passive disengagement and intentional disengagement. Perceptions of anti‐consumption and resistance will have social implications for the non‐attendee/s but the extent to which non‐attendance is viewed negatively will also be moderated by existing social status of the non‐attendee/s.

Possible causes for avoiding consumption have been previously considered, however, as yet unexplored are how those who do not consume are perceived by their peers and how this manifests itself in relation to group affiliation, attendees' perception of “self” and social norms.

The purpose of this paper is to disclose the author’s personal experiences regarding the war on drugs, specifically detailing cannabis encounters.

This work is autobiographical, with notes of science-based fact.

Cannabis could be the gateway to the end of the war on drugs.

The hope for this publication is to explain some of the author’s hope is that by sharing the author’s personal story, people will rally behind the cause of cannabis legalisation and legitimisation; resources are included at the bottom of the document.

It is the author’s story, so hopefully it is original.

Climate change is recognised as a severe threat to human and planetary wellbeing. Many children and young people around the world have chosen resistance as their form of resilience in the face of the climate and biodiversity crises that threaten their current and future wellbeing. Their activism has widened the discourse pertaining to the climate emergency from a narrow focus on technical and scientific sources, bringing the discussion into broader public consciousness. In Aotearoa (New Zealand), the context for youth climate activism also reflects commitments to Māori, the Indigenous people, and to Pacific Peoples, given the ongoing impacts of histories of colonisation. This chapter draws from a range of focus group interviews with young Aotearoa (New Zealand) high school climate activists, and Māori and Pacific children and young people ranging in age from 10 into their 20s. Data were gathered during a recent small-scale project to develop a wellbeing guide which accompanies a climate change education programme for schools. It identifies the collective, collaborative leadership exhibited by these young people of diverse backgrounds, as well as their sophisticated analysis and advocacy for urgent remedies to address the climate crisis. It is argued that, instead of focussing on the blinkered continuation of restrictive assessment-driven pedagogies, teachers need to meet the moment of the current convergence of inter-related crises which include, along with the climate emergency, biodiversity loss, pandemic related exacerbation of socio-economic inequities, global conflict, and the unsustainable agenda of current global neoliberal economics. This can be done by supporting children and young people with knowledge and skills for climate action as they seek hope through active participation in endeavours to reshape their potential futures.

While many workers have both professional and organizational identities, which can have conflicting expectations, little is known about this specific and common form of identity conflict. The purpose of this research is to develop and test a measure of organizational and professional identity conflict (OPIC), which the authors define as a psychological conflict that individuals experience between who they feel they are supposed to be in their organization and who they feel they are supposed to be in their profession. The authors theorize that this identity conflict will lead to emotional exhaustion and psychological distress, further leading to turnover intentions.

To test the hypothesized model, the authors utilized a two-study constructive replication design (Study 1, n = 225; Study 2, n = 176) and tested the model amongst both academics and health care professionals using structural equation modeling.

The authors find that identity conflict is associated with both increased levels of emotional exhaustion and psychological distress and, consequently, increased turnover intentions.

Practically, organizations must understand and align themselves with the wider professional expectations, as well as communicate this alignment, in order to avoid OPIC and improve employee well-being.

The authors create and validate a measure to assess and show its detrimental effects on workplace outcomes.

Relatively few comparative studies have examined how perceptions across cultures might converge or diverge regarding careers in general and new venture careers in particular. Our research addresses this gap by providing a comparative study of career perceptions among undergraduate business students in three countries with different levels of experience with capitalism: Ukraine, South Korea, and the United States. Results suggest both surprising differences and interesting similarities between undergraduate students in the three countries with regard to how they perceive characteristics associated with entrepreneurial careers. Findings are discussed in the context of distinct differences and commonalities across cultures and implications for future research provided.

This paper is concerned with how employees talk about their experiences of organizational change and focuses specifically on the construction of conversion stories. These are particularly positive narratives that consider change as a turning point in which individuals depart from an old way of life pre‐change to embrace a post‐change organization. In this study, employees seek conversion into management groups and report the values and philosophies of management in their narratives, thus highlighting the benefits of change while suppressing any negative aspects. This paper draws attention to the dramatic nature of the conversion story and explores the sharp distinction between the reporting of experiences prior to and after change. We also investigate the relationship between constructing conversion stories and gaining personal and career advancement at work and suggest that beneath the positive exterior of the conversion narratives lies a theme of silence, which may be related to career advancement. Our findings suggest that such stories of silence complicate the conversion story as an example of positive organizational change and discuss implications for both the theory and practice of narrative change research.

This study explores young people's perceptions of eating disorders, the risks and consequences of developing an eating disorder, and the effectiveness of education and prevention programmes. Eating disorder prevention programmes are predominantly school‐based, target young women, and are delivered in weekly sessions for a six or eight‐week period. There is evidence that programmes can increase short‐term knowledge but less evidence for their impact on attitudes and behaviours. Focus groups were undertaken with 96 male and female participants, aged 13‐18, drawn from schools and informal youth settings in three local authority areas in Scotland. Participants demonstrated good understanding of eating disorders; insight into the complexity of reasons for developing a disorder (with a belief that celebrity culture and associated thin imagery has the largest influence) and strong empathy for those who experience eating disorders (as opposed to people who are obese). Television and magazines were cited as the main sources of information, with parents and friends identified as key sources of support rather than professionals. Participants indicated a desire to discuss eating disorders and for this to be incorporated into school health education programmes. Key features of school‐based programmes indicated by participants include single gender discussion groups and development of critical thinking towards the media. The study supports the need for multi‐agency discussion‐based education programmes, long‐term evaluation of impact, and the enhancement of peer support and parental awareness of issues surrounding eating disorders. It also highlights a number of gaps in research in this field.