This study examines the spatial distribution of socioeconomic conditions in Colombia, using Moran's Index as a tool for spatial autocorrelation analysis. Key indicators related to education, health, infrastructure, access to basic services, employment, and housing conditions are addressed, allowing the identification of inequalities and structural barriers. The research reveals patterns of positive autocorrelation in several socioeconomic dimensions, suggesting a concentration of poverty and underdevelopment in certain geographic areas of the country. The results show that municipalities with more unfavorable conditions tend to cluster spatially, particularly in the northern, northwestern, western, eastern, and southern regions of the country, while the central areas exhibit better conditions. Permutation analyses are employed to validate the statistical significance of the findings, and LISA cluster maps highlight the regions with the highest concentration of poverty and social vulnerability. This work contributes to the literature on inequality and regional development in emerging economies, demonstrating that public policies should prioritize intervention in territories that exhibit significant spatial clustering of poverty. The methodology and findings provide a foundation for future studies on spatial correlation and economic planning in both local and international contexts.

The provision of infrastructure and related services in developing Asia via public–private partnership (PPP) increased rapidly during the late 1990s. Theoretical arguments support the potential economic benefits of PPPs, but empirical evidence is thin. This paper develops a framework identifying channels through which economic gains can be derived from PPP arrangement. The framework helps derive an empirically tractable specification that examines how PPPs affect the aggregate economy. Empirical results suggest that increasing the ratio of PPP investment to GDP improves access to and quality of infrastructure services, and economic growth will potentially be higher. But this optimism is conditional, especially on the region’s efforts to further upgrade its technical and institutional capacity to handle complex PPP contracts.

Cooperatives have become significant contributors to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals No. 1: No Poverty. Transitioning associations to cooperatives is crucial for promoting sustainable economic development, empowering communities, and enhancing collective well-being. This research assessed the readiness of Small-Scale Fisheries (SSF) communities in the Global South to form a cooperative. This research employed an exploratory research approach in six coastal Barangays of Batad, situated in the 5th District of Iloilo Province. The findings indicated that respondents have a slight level of awareness with regard to the advantages and economic advantages associated with becoming part of a cooperative. On the other hand, there was a clear difference in members’ perceptions of the benefits and financial returns that comes with belonging to a cooperative. According to the study, females are more likely to support the association’s move towards a cooperative structure, especially younger individuals. The main issue highlighted was the lack of skilled officers and inadequate resources and training for association members. A lecture on Cooperative Awareness and capability trainings on financial management, bookkeeping, and credit management should be organized in order to increase associations readiness to be a cooperative.

The native peoples of the State of Mexico, especially the Mazahua community, present a high degree of marginality and food vulnerability, causing their inhabitants to be classified within the poor and extremely poor population. The objective of the research is to propose a food vulnerability index for the Mazahua community of the State of Mexico through the induction-deduction method, contrasting the existing literature with a semi-structured exploratory interview to identify the main factors that affect the native peoples. The study population was selected taking into account the number of inhabitants and poverty levels. The sources of information, in addition to documentary sources, were key informants and visits to Mazahua families that facilitated information about the different variables: natural, economic, social, cultural component, degree of adaptability and resilience for the creation and better understanding of the food vulnerability index in the communities under study.

Crowd humanitarian fund, otherwise termed as mutual fund, has overwhelmingly been discussed by many scholars and researchers in western countries. There is obscurity in existing literature in Islamic countries with respect to the interconnectedness between various Islamic financial concepts within the Islamic legal framework and the conceptualization of crowd humanitarian funds. The primary objective of this paper is to address this obscurity by investigating the perspectives of middle- and high-skilled workers among members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) with respect to the crowd humanitarian fund. Hence, the central research question (CRQ) was formulated as follows: How do the middle and high-skilled workers perceive the generation of crowd-humanitarian funds for the purpose of helping the less privileged citizens in Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries? The qualitative method was used as the methodology of the study. In order to collect data for the study, an open-ended interview was employed, and a total of 22 participants were interviewed. Three major themes were generated from the interview, namely: An overview of crowd humanitarian funds, categories of less privileged people in OIC countries, and the use of humanitarian funds for poverty reduction. The findings indicated that the traditional method of collecting funds from crowds is to assist with any humanitarian issue is still applicable in many Muslim countries. In addition, the unity in contributing to the humanitarian fund from the crowd, that is, common practice in Muslims’ culture is what Western society terms as crowdfunding. It is further revealed that there are different categories of people, such as the poor, the needy, and people with low incomes, who can benefit from crowdfunding, especially by using it for investment purposes. In addition, crowdfunding is considered an essential monetary relief to less fortunate individuals or communities in order to have a sustainable life. It can also be used for provision of social amenities such as food, shelters, clothes, hospitals, schools, and job opportunities.