Documents Costa Rica 8 results

"Background: Between 1992 and 2010 in the Costa Rican Caribbean, a social movement coalition called Foro Emaús sought to change people's view on problems of high pesticide use in banana production.Objective: To understand the formation and membership of Foro Emaús, its success period, and its decline.Methods: Semi-structured interviews of 28 key actors; a questionnaire survey among school personnel (n = 475) in Siquirres, Matina, and Talamanca counties; and secondary data from newspapers, leaflets, and movement documents were used.Results: Foro Emaús developed activism around pesticide issues and put pressure on governmental agencies and banana companies and shaped people's perception of pesticide risks. The success of the Foro Emaús movement led to the reinforcement of a counteracting social movement (Solidarismo) by conservative sectors of the Catholic Church and the banana companies. We found that the participation of unions in Foro Emaús is an early example of social movement unionism.Conclusions: Scientific pesticide risk analysis is not the only force that shapes emerging societal perceptions of pesticide risk. Social movements influence the priority given to particular risks and can be crucial in putting health and environmental risk issues on the political and research agenda."

"Several low- and middle-income countries are interested in extending their existing health insurance for specific groups to eventually cover their entire populations. For those countries interested in such an extension, it is important to understand the factors that affect the transition from incomplete to universal coverage. This paper analyses the experience of eight countries in the implementation of social health insurance. It highlights the importance of the socioeconomic and political context, particularly in relation to the level of income, structure of the economy, distribution of the population, ability to administer and level of solidarity within the country, but also stresses the important stewardship role government can play in facilitating the transition to universal coverage via social health insurance."

"Data on fatal occupational injuries (FOIs) for Latin America are controversial. Costa Rican national rates are inconsistent with estimates extrapolated from other countries. We reviewed the files for all possible FOIs in Costa Rica for 2005-2006 at the National Insurance Institute and at the Center of Forensic Sciences by formality/informality of work, sex, age, economic activity, occupation, and cause of death. The national mortality rate was estimated at 9.5/100,000 person-years (342 deaths). The informal/formal rate ratio was 1.06.Men's rates were over 10 times higher than women's and increased with age. The highest rates were found for transport, storage, and communication (32.1/100,000 person-years), and, by occupation, for messengers and delivery men (91.4). Leading causes of death were traffic injuries and gunshots. Recalculated rates are probably underestimates. Data limitations include the absence of systematic identification and registration among informal sector workers and other groups such as children and farm workers."

"In this paper we aim to advance the discussion on HRM's quest to create value around social responsibility and environmental sustainability. We explore the perceptions reported by Human Resource managers in three Ibero-American countries (Spain, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica). We focus on the hospitality sector, one of particular relevancy for these countries and with significant sustainability challenges. Relying on in-depth interviews in twenty-eight organizations and a mixed-methods approach, we examine HR managers' underlying notions around social and environmental issues, stakeholder collaboration, HRM practices, roles and internal organization. Analysis of the interviews suggests varying views on those dimensions, as well as identifies Active and Advanced firms, the latter showing more commitment to sustainability (as part of the organizational culture), usage of HRM practices and engagement with multiple stakeholders. From this empirical exploration and relying on current sustainability developments, we contribute to the literature by outlining an externally-oriented model (centred on corporate priorities, communities' flourishing and ecosystems' resilience) aiming to advance HRM's engagement with sustainability-driven agendas."