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This paper analyses how disability and psychosocial vulnerabilities shape wellbeing in Ugandan households. Digital inclusion can reduce wellbeing inequalities and partially buffer the negative effects of psychosocial vulnerabilities, though these benefits vary across minoritised subgroups.

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Promoting wellbeing has become central to rethinking development and social justice, particularly in contexts marked by persistent inequality, exclusion and limited social protection. Using nationally representative data from Uganda, this paper contributes to these debates by employing inequality indices and hierarchical regressions to examine how disability and social inclusion shape wellbeing in households.

Findings show that households containing a person with a disability experience substantially higher wellbeing inequality, potentially reflecting exposure to disability-related stigma and isolation. Psychosocial vulnerabilities, proxied by perceived discrimination and feeling unsafe, are strongly associated with lower wellbeing, particularly for women and caregivers, highlighting the role of favourable social environments in promoting wellbeing.

The paper also considers digital inclusion (proxied by access to mobile communication technologies) as a socially embedded input into health and wellbeing systems, shaping exposure to social and psychosocial vulnerabilities where formal systems of care and protection remain constrained. Regular mobile phone access is associated with higher average wellbeing and partially attenuates vulnerability-related wellbeing penalties. However, these benefits are uneven and considerably weaker among households facing intersecting disadvantages, highlighting the limits of informal and technology-mediated resources without robust public provision.

By centring wellbeing and psychosocial vulnerability, the paper contributes to debates on social justice, public health, and development by foregrounding dimensions of inequality often overlooked in policy design. It argues that reimagining development requires greater attention to the distribution of wellbeing within households and the everyday conditions shaping people’s capacity to live well (favourable social environments), rather than relying solely on aggregate economic/income-based factors.

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This article stresses the state-society interaction as a major determinant of development patterns. It advances a typology of state–society engagement in village communities and develops a theory of interactive development as part of an emerging development paradigm.

Paper long abstract

Despite having similar beginning conditions, why and how does the same development campaign produce different results in various settings? This article stresses the state-society interaction as a major determinant of development patterns, in contrast to earlier scholarship, which has typically focused on either top-down state intervention or bottom-up public participation. I propose a typology of state-society engagement in local communities as well as a theory of interactive development. The interaction of two factors—state mobilization and social embeddedness—determines how the state and societal development efforts are combined and balanced. Interactive development occurs when both factors are strong. By enabling mutual communication and cooperation dynamics between the state and society in decision-making and policy implementation, interactive development differs from other patterns of development, such as predatory, null, and community-driven development. Through an examination of the Targeted Poverty Alleviation Program (2014-2020), I analyze different pairings of mobilization and embeddedness to see how they affect development patterns in China. Interviews and participant observation in East China villages support the argument that the success of a development campaign in a local community is contingent on achieving the ideal balance between state intervention and community embeddedness in integrating concerted efforts into development projects. This study adds to the literature on the intersection of development studies and state-society relations and draws attention to substantial “interactive” practice in state-led development projects.

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Using Meghalaya’s SCEP reforms, this paper shows how centering wellbeing and decentralised governance enables frontline agency, cross-sector integration, and community co-production, offering an adaptive, equity-driven alternative to conventional development and social justice paradigms.

Paper long abstract

It has now been accepted in development discourse and practice that decentralized leadership and distribution of decision-making power across multiple levels of governance promotes ownership of development interventions amongst communities, adaptive problem solving and collaborative governance. This diffusion creates the structural and psychological spaces for grassroots agency, the capacity of individuals and communities to act intentionally, solve problems, and shape their own development trajectories.

This paper uses the case of state of Meghalaya, India, to explore how centering wellbeing and transforming bureaucratic systems into responsive, learning organisations, reconfigures development and social justice. Meghalaya’s flagship programme on maternal and child health, State Capability Enhancement Project (SCEP), introduced a mode of governance that redistributes decision-making power to local Medical Officers and community health workers to enable wellbeing-oriented reforms that transcended sectoral silos by integrating preventive, enabling, and curative pillars with social protection, nutrition, gender equity, and community capability. These reforms also position frontline actors as co-producers of knowledge and agents of innovation rather than passive implementers of central directives.

This cross-sectoral approach aligns with global calls for adaptive, participatory and equity-driven systems. It centers wellbeing as key pillar involving vulnerable and under-represented sections of the population like women, minorities, poor etc. Local councils and platforms like Self Help Groups enable these groups to voice to their concerns around public utilities and infrastructure and design local solutions. These solutions are effective, work on the democratic principles of feedback and accountability, and build trust in the systems.

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Climate change intensifies existing inequalities for persons with disabilities, yet their well-being remains marginal in climate and development policy debates. The study examines how centring wellbeing in climate policy and adaptation can advance disability-inclusive development and social justice.

Paper long abstract

Climate change disproportionately affects people with disabilities, intensifying existing inequalities by disrupting access to health care, livelihoods, mobility, water, and social support systems, yet disability remains marginal in climate and development policy debates. In climate-vulnerable countries, these impacts are further compounded by poverty, weak infrastructure, and limited inclusion in decision-making, raising critical questions about whose well-being is prioritised in climate action. In Botswana, recurrent droughts, heat stress, and water scarcity intersect with structural barriers faced by persons with disabilities, challenging the country’s development gains and commitments to social justice. This study examines how centring wellbeing in climate policy and adaptation strategies is reshaping development outcomes for persons with disabilities in Botswana. The objectives are to assess the impacts of climate change on the everyday well-being of persons with disabilities; analyse the extent to which existing climate adaptation and social protection policies address disability-related needs; identify barriers and enabling factors for integrating disability-inclusive wellbeing frameworks into climate and development planning; and examine the participation of persons with disabilities in climate-related decision-making processes. The study adopts a mixed-method research design, employing the purposive sampling technique to identify persons with disabilities, key informants, and focus group discussion participants. Additionally, the study undertakes a content analysis of policy documents. Preliminary findings suggest that climate impacts significantly undermine physical, economic, and psychosocial well-being for persons with disabilities, while policy frameworks remain weakly operationalised and insufficiently inclusive. The study further finds limited participation of persons with disabilities in climate governance processes.

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This research examines the relationship between zakat practices and community building among Muslims in Birmingham, UK, and explains how ethical principles of caring for others are used to aspire the well-being of their community amid prolonged economic and cost-of-living crises.

Paper long abstract

Zakat is an obligation ordained by God unto Muslims not merely as an act of personal piety but as a means to produce and sustain a moral community grounded in an ethic of socioeconomic justice. It is presented not simply as a religious duty but as a right of those who receive it, thus not an act of charity or philanthropy, but the restitution of an amount of wealth that givers have held in trust on behalf of the rightful recipients. This research critically examines how Muslims in Birmingham, UK, navigate their lives amid prolonged economic and cost-of-living crises while holding to ethical and moral principles of care for others in aspiring the well-being of their community. In linking zakat to the idea of community building, Muslims view it as a collective rather than an individual act, a deeply moral practice embedded in the notion of the rights of recipients, guiding behaviour and actions regarding wealth and responsibilities towards fellow community members. The moral principles underlying wealth redistribution present zakat as a form of moral economy, foregrounding community in this act of solidarity. Drawing on empirical data from the lives and perspectives of Muslims in Birmingham, this research offers a novel understanding of contemporary zakat practices as a means of community building within the UK social welfare system and explores how Muslims in Birmingham negotiate ethical and moral principles in pursuing a good life individually and collectively.

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This paper examines research metrics through a framework centered on well-being and social justice in Philippine universities. The results highlight discrepancies between citation counts and community impact, suggesting the need for responsive indicators that go beyond the Global North-South divide.

Paper long abstract

A common dilemma the academic community faces is the need to promote a ‘world-class’ academic community while being accountable to the public. This paper argues against the current paradigms of academic research, and promotes well-being and social justice.

Drawing on Fraser's three-dimensional model of justice and decolonization methodologies, a framework is proposed that uses four dimensions of wellbeing: distributive justice (equitable sharing of benefits), recognitional justice (acknowledgment of epistemologies), representational justice (inclusive production of knowledge), and transformative justice (redress of structural injustices). This framework is employed to analyze specific research endeavours undertaken by the University of the Philippines, to project the conflict between traditional measures of excellence and dimensions of well-being.

The implications are crucial, cutting across boundaries of place and disciplinary domains: agricultural research achieving high citation rates while excluding small farmers; health projects prioritizing publication while excluding accessibility; development projects entrenched in epistemic stratification. By comparing with alternatives that are still evolving and by embracing research that involves participation and the co-production of knowledge, the study highlights pathways towards impactful research.

This cross-contextual analysis seeks to problematize the Global North-South dichotomy inherent in frameworks of excellence, offering, instead, context-sensitive indicators that balance global recognition and localized impact.

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Based on long-term fieldwork in a Dhaka slum, this paper demonstrates how COVID-19 exacerbated everyday precarity, eroding well-being beyond the loss of income. It argues that survival alone is not living, and that development policy must centre dignity, capability, and lived experience.

Paper long abstract

Contemporary poverty debates in Bangladesh, as in many low- and middle-income countries, remain dominated by income-based metrics and technocratic policy prescriptions that inadequately capture lived experiences of deprivation and wellbeing. The study examines how low-income residents of urban slums understand and negotiate wellbeing in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research is based on long-term qualitative fieldwork conducted in Karail, one of Dhaka’s largest urban slums, and draws on 30 in-depth interviews.

The findings show that the pandemic did not merely deepen material poverty but significantly eroded core capabilities, including securing livelihoods, bodily health, dignity, and aspirations. Participants’ narratives reveal how everyday wellbeing is shaped by uncertainty, informal labour regimes, and fragile social protections—conditions that are seen as the normalisation of insecurity. At the same time, residents articulated expectations of the state, employers, and society, invoking a morality of care, fairness, and reciprocal obligation that contrasts sharply with dominant development discourses.

By foregrounding the voices of the urban poor, the study advances the argument that well-being must be understood as relational, experiential, and politically situated, rather than as an aggregate outcome of economic indicators. The paper contributes to broader debates on reimagining development by demonstrating how centring lived experience can offer alternative paradigms for social justice, grounded in dignity, participation, and capability expansion. The study concludes by outlining implications for post-pandemic poverty policy in Bangladesh, emphasising the need for inclusive, evidence-based approaches that place wellbeing at the core of development practice.

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The mental health sector is constrained by workforce crisis, gendered care burdens, and AI-driven precarity. This qualitative research with women psychologists in India demonstrates self-compassion as a development imaginary in promoting relational resistance, unalienated care, and global wellbeing.

Paper long abstract

The intensifying burden of distress in the post-pandemic world necessitates renewed focus on mental health in realising the Sustainable Development Goals (e.g., SDG-3: Good health and Wellbeing). However, the mental health sector, particularly lower-middle-income countries like India, remains heavily constrained by chronic workforce shortages, uneven service distribution, and gendered care burdens. This disproportionately renders vulnerable the existing practitioners, who are mostly women. The mental health sector positions women as financially empowered agents of care, yet exacerbates job precarity through technological advancements like AI-chatbots that commodify and automate relational work and devalue therapists’ emotional labour.

Drawing from qualitative research on self-compassion among women psychologists in India, this study examines how practitioners negotiate boundaries between self-care and caregiving amid COVID-19 by leveraging self-compassion. It argues that wellbeing should be addressed by attending to the conditions under which care is produced. While Western epistemologies, embedded within Global North-led development frameworks conceptualise self-compassion as individual trait, participants’ narratives reveal it as relational, collective, and ethical practice, and a sustainable resource in transitioning therapy spaces, shaped by intersecting gendered and professional expectations, and socio-cultural landscapes.

Self-compassion enables consciousness-raising to reinterpret personal distress as structurally shaped, challenge reductionistic notions of wellbeing, and imagine possibilities for unalienated care. Cultivated through family support, peer reflection, supervision, and shared narratives of vulnerability, self-compassion fosters solidarity and resistance against neoliberal logic of care that obscures systemic responsibility. It paves way towards development, integrating regulatory safeguards for therapists, building inclusive, contextually-grounded and relationally sustainable mental healthcare, and reclaiming therapy from commodification.