Small Island, Big Talk: A Study of the Republic of the Marshall Islands' Capacity to Respond to Social Change Issues
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The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) is a Small Island State (SIS) with 29 atolls and five islands, it is a geographically and logistically isolated region of the world that lacks infrastructure and social service delivery. The negative impacts of social change related to urbanization and loss of tradition are of concern. This thesis is an exploratory study, utilizing a capacity development framework, of the RMI’s ability to respond to social change issues. The objectives are; to characterize the current social change issues, to identify the current capacity of the government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to respond to social change issues, and to prioritize the gaps in government and NGO programming to address social change issues. Through qualitative methods the results identified that government and NGOs have an understanding of the root cause of social change issues, but lack capacity at the enabling environment and individual levels.