Browsing by Subject "International development"
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Item Agricultural Development Assessments and Strategies in Post Conflict Settings: An Empirical Case Study of Eight Southern Iraqi Provinces(2012-02-14) Hafer, James C.The purpose of this study was to synthesize emergent agricultural development reports related to post-conflict needs assessments in eight southern Iraqi provinces. This study is an empirical case study of Post Conflict Agricultural Development Assessments and Strategies in Eight Southern Iraqi Provinces. The objective is a systems approach using qualitative and quantitative methods to improve Iraqi agricultural practice, extension and training, community development, security, and policies for governance. The design called for a case study and a description of pre-deployment activities of a military-based civilian assessment team, initial organization and adjustments, and techniques for internal and external communication. Particular attention was given to agricultural specialties, crosscutting constructs, and data collection and analysis protocols in eight provinces in Iraq. Three objectives were identified to achieve the purpose of this study. The first objective was to identify emergent agricultural development themes from each of the eight Iraqi provinces. The second objective was to identify emergent agricultural development trends from each of the eight Iraqi provinces. A third objective was to provide relevant case documentation to assist in future agricultural development/post conflict development efforts. It was found that Iraqi agricultural production lags due to many factors, including counter productive government policies that undermine productivity, distort local economies, and confound security issues and competition via subsidized credit and agricultural inputs. Outdated technology and undertrained producers lacking knowledge of production related areas such as plant and animal genetics, fertilizers, irrigation and drainage systems and farm equipment. Inadequate and unstable electricity availability and provision, degradation of irrigation-infrastructure and management systems, a complete lack of or insufficient access to credit and private capital as well as inadequate market development and network infrastructure have all taken their toll on evolution and improvement of agricultural growth in southern Iraq. It may be that the largest threat to the future of Iraq is not violence, but the diminishing hope of young people caused by their inability to obtain vocational based skills training and the lack of jobs that match such skills. A pervasive lack of job opportunities or perceived lack of job availability may encourage continued civil unrest and possibly continue the insurgency. In order to address this issue, an aggressive youth development focus can make a positive impact in the current society. A majority of youth without useful skills are forced to abandon the farm and move to cities or to pursue other means of earning income in rural areas.Item Does international aid to education improve education outcomes?(2015-08) Carvalho, Shelby Frances; Weaver, Catherine; Lincove, Jane ABetween 2000 and 2012, nearly US$161 billion in international aid was allocated to the education sector. As the deadline for the Millennium Development Goals quickly approaches, debate about the effectiveness of international donors and aid in general continues across sectors. With 58 million children still out of school and persistent gender disparities across all levels of schooling, education is no exception to this scrutiny. The central question in this report seeks to understand if international aid to the education is positively related to education outcomes in low and low-middle income countries. I provide a summary of progress in education in developing countries over the last two decades and a description of trends in international aid to the education sector. In an empirical analysis of 135 countries between 1990 and 2010, I find that aid to primary education is positively related to primary school enrollment for boys and girls. Using the findings from the analysis, I offer policy recommendations to improve international donor effectiveness in the education sector. Through this report, I hope to contribute to the conversation related to education and international aid in post-2015 Sustainable Development Goal agendas and strategies.Item Establishing autonomy from parent NGOs : a case study of a São Paulo local development program(2015-05) Casstevens, Katie Marie; Wilson, Robert Hines; Springer, David W.The following report addresses the ability of community-based programs supported by international development aid organizations to sustain development activities even after the termination of funding and programmatic support from their parent organizations. The report specifically explores how these programs may revise their objectives, operations, and community partnerships to increase the likelihood that projects and activities may be sustained long-term and create a larger impact. The researcher study utilized a participatory research approach to examine and evaluated the sustainability challenges of a small community development program in São Paulo, Brazil called the PDA Sampa Sul. Funded by World Vision child sponsorship donations, the program pursues child protection, active citizenship, and education projects to address social vulnerability and empower community members to create lasting change.Item Faith in finance : the role of zakat in international development(2014-05) Minor, Allison Dale; Wilkins, Karin Gwinn, 1962-; Weaver, Catherine, 1971-In this thesis, I examine contemporary manifestations of the Islamic practice of zakat and its relationship with mainstream international development. Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam; it requires all Muslims who possess above a certain level of wealth to pay roughly 2.5 percent of their disposable income to eight beneficiary groups defined in the Qur’an. Over the past several decades – and especially in the past 15 years – zakat has become an increasingly institutionalized, transnational practice managing billions of dollars of aid every year. Contemporary zakat institutions have also placed an increasingly strong emphasis on poverty alleviation that has brought their activities in closer contact with those of mainstream international development organizations. Despite the important role that zakat institutions play in social welfare and the significance of zakat practice across the Muslim world, there has been little scholarly analysis of contemporary zakat practice, particularly regarding its relationship with international development. This thesis seeks to initiate a dialogue around the relationship between contemporary zakat institutions and mainstream international development organizations, particularly the potential for coordination or conflict between them. Such a dialogue must be based on a strong understanding of zakat as a complex, dynamic, and diverse practice. To establish this foundation, I begin with an analysis of contemporary shifts in interpretations and manifestations of zakat. Following this analysis, I conduct a closer examination of the structure, activities, beneficiary groups, and discourse of contemporary zakat institutions through case studies of the West Bank and Lebanese Zakat Funds. Finally, I compare the goals, methods, and activities of zakat institutions and mainstream international development organizations like the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Bank. This allows me to examine the potential for different forms of coordination between zakat institutions and mainstream development and discuss challenges to such coordination. I conclude with recommendations on key strategies for enhancing coordination that will be in the interest of both zakat institutions and mainstream development organizations, and ultimately enhance the effectiveness of the aid they deliver.Item Learning displacement: self-building, educational infrastructure, and the politics of development in Brazilian informal settlements(2015-08) Stiphany, Kristine Marie; Moore, Steven A., 1945-; Ward, Peter M.; Oden, Michael; Dooling, Sarah E.; Lara, Fernando L.; Wegmann, JacobIn the wake of mid-twentieth century mass urbanization and the inequitable access to education that ensued, people in consolidated informal settlements in São Paulo, Brazil united to self-build educational institutions and programs in their communities. Initially constructed to address severe gaps in educational access, the social and physical networks that advanced an educational agenda evolved to address a range of power and equity issues. While some charge that any form of self-building exploits the city’s most vulnerable, or that self-building operates at a scale too insignificant to impart significant outcomes, proponents assert that self-building in its contemporary form of autogestão (self-development) has galvanized communities through substantial spillover effects. Critically examining these positions, this dissertation analyzes how the social and technical dynamics of self-building have shaped education in three informal settlements and how self-directed efforts of communities to fill gaps in the educational infrastructure might inform current planning and development practice. In a context shaped by the political fluctuations characteristic of Brazil’s emerging democracy over the past twenty-five years, the cases reflect the unevenness wrought by São Paulo’s high levels of urban development and displacement, and contradictions between improved housing conditions and new challenges within informal settlements – from environmental degradation to organized crime. This study draws on data from ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2008-2014 among residents of informal settlements, community advocates, architects, planners, educators, and policy makers in São Paulo. These investigations reveal how the efficacy of self-building draws from its displacement by citizens from housing to an educational focus. The cases offer key insights into how the translation of self-building into new cultural domains of learning and action has begun to compensate for underdeveloped educational infrastructures provided by the state. These social and technical displacements challenge the centralized logic of planning and development with new forms of infrastructure that increase access to education, expand citizen participation, and contribute to broader urban networks. In the cases of successful displacement, actors have moved beyond the rote adoption of self-help’s in-situ development approach, and suggest how a situated lens might better account for the social contingency, experimentation, and transdisciplinary and inter-generational collaborations that characterize the ongoing planning efforts that communities employ to realize their aspirations.Item Machina ex deos. Successes and challenges of implementing mobile computing technologies for development. The experience of nine Indian village health projects using a project-issued mobile application(2016-05) Schwartz, Ariel, Ph. D.; Weaver, Catherine, 1971-; Densmore, Melissa; Heinrich, Carolyn; Lentz, Erin; Ward, PeterAs mobile computing technologies become increasingly functional and affordable, global donor and local development organizations find ways to justify and fund their use in grassroots development work. This dissertation asks two questions: (1) In resource-constrained social sector settings, what project features govern and structure use of work-issued mobile devices? And: (2) How do decision-makers adjust to maximize the benefit of newly-introduced devices while minimizing new burdens to the project and project staff? More simply, what variables under social sector projects’ control might promote successful use of information and communication technologies in development (ICTD) projects? This research represents systematic, qualitative comparison of nine extended deployments of a popular mobile health application, CommCare. Each studied project deployed devices loaded with CommCare to health workers in India as a supportive job aid and/or a data collection tool to help monitor beneficiary populations’ health status and frontline workers’ work. This dissertation examines the conditions under which these health workers were able and willing to use CommCare devices in their jobs, and whether and how they deviated from the use of those devices prescribed by their supervisors. Primary data for this study come from 62 in-depth, semi-structured interviews, extensive review of project documents, and personal observations from field study in India over six months in 2013. Employing a sociotechnical lens and a principal agent model, my data support expectations that use of CommCare devices would help align community health workers’ behavior with their supervisors’ organization and mission-related priorities. Use of the devices improved health workers’ professional competence and improved communications, data quality, and data access. These improvements facilitated project supervisors’ monitoring of health workers and beneficiaries, and funders’ monitoring of projects. Contradicting expectations, use of CommCare devices also weakened organizational oversight and control through new data challenges and increased health worker autonomy in their personal and professional lives. These dual benefits and challenges ultimately served the overall projects’ missions.Item Maternal resilience : rethinking maternal health for the post-2015 sustainable development goals agenda(2015-05) Charles, Nkechi Ukwu; Weaver, Catherine, 1971-; Lentz, ErinSeptember 2015 signals the expiration of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the upcoming special summit on the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The fifth MDG (MDG 5), in particular, aims to improve maternal health by reducing maternal mortality rates by three-fourths and to achieve universal access to reproductive health care. MDG5 has progressed the least among the eight MDGs over the past 15 years. The 45% decline in global maternal mortality rates over the past two decades will not be sufficient to achieve MDG 5. With the summit on the post-2015 SDGs fast approaching, maternal health practitioners and researchers have a unique opportunity to rethink how we look at maternal health and the barriers to achieving progress. This professional report first explores some of limits and consequences of the MDG 5 framing of maternal health, critiquing the prominent use of maternal mortality as target and indicator. Then the report reviews extant literature that challenges us to consider the underlying cultural and behavioral drivers that affect maternal health. With no clear indication of the SDGs moving towards a better operationalization of maternal health, this report concludes by introducing maternal resilience as a new concept that can help foster a course correction towards a more comprehensive ecological-based framework to improve maternal health.Item Mind the gaps : studying the absence of indigenous policies in major INGOs(2013-05) Kalmbach, Amy Booth; Weaver, Catherine, 1971-Indigenous peoples are garnering more focus on the world stage, and as such it is critical to understand their role in development. Indigenous peoples are especially impoverished, and often face institutionalized discrimination by their governments and other forces. This repression, limited access to services, and resource predation endanger indigenous peoples’ lives and livelihoods. I attempted to identify indigenous peoples’ policies in seven major development international non-governmental organizations, and after finding none upon document research and staff interviews, propose theories for why this could be the case. I compare international non-governmental organizations’ lack of policies to the presence of policies in international organizations. The difference between these two types of organizations formed the base of my theories, which were based primarily around the organizational structure and the different types of pressure and expectations that they face. I argue, though, that international non-governmental organizations should have indigenous peoples’ policies for several reasons including the improvement seen in international organizations’ treatment of indigenous peoples and the importance of accountability and transparency in the development process. The Report finishes by suggesting avenues to test the theories proposed, and plans for indigenous advocates.Item Randomized controlled trials to evaluate impact : their challenges and policy implications for medicine, education, and international development(2012-12) Kahlert, Rahel C.; Ward, Peter M., 1951-; Treisman, Uri; Galbraith, James; Osborne, Cynthia; Roberts, BryanPolicy makers in education and international development have lately gravitated toward the randomized controlled trial (RCT)—an evaluation design that randomly assigns a sample of people or households into an intervention group and a control group in order to measure the differential effect of the intervention—as a means to determine program impact. As part of federal regulations, the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Agency for International development explicitly declared a preference for the RCT. When advocating for adopting the RCT model as the preferred evaluation tool, policy makers point to the success story of medical trials and how they revolutionized medicine from Medieval charlatanry to a modern life-saving discipline. By presenting a more nuanced account of the role of the RCT in medical history, however, this study finds that landmark RCTs were accompanied with challenges, Evidence-Based Medicine had rightful critics, and opportunistic biases in drug trials apply equally to education policy and international development. This study also examines the recent privileged role of the RCT in education and international development, concluding that its initial promise was not entirely born out when put into practice, as the national Reading First Initiative exemplifies. From a comparative perspective, the RCT movements also encountered major RCT critics, whose voices were not initially heard. These voices, however, seem to have contributed to a swing of the pendulum away from RCT primacy back towards greater methodological pluralism. A major conclusion of this study is that policy makers should exercise great caution when using RCTs as a policy evaluation tool. This conclusion is arrived at via considering RCT biases, challenges, and limited generalizability; understanding its interpretive-qualitative components; and broadening the overall methodological repertoire to better enable evaluations of macro-policy interventions.Item Small and Medium Enterprises as tools in international development(2014-05) Murphy-Pack, Hanna Marie; Weaver, Catherine, 1971-This report analyzes Small and Medium Enterprises and their use as a development tool. There is evidence to suggest that Small and Medium Enterprises can create jobs and offer wage premiums to employees. Because of these development benefits, in the last ten years, there has been a substantial industry built around supporting Small and Medium Enterprises in developing countries. The report examines the theory of change surrounding Small and Medium Enterprises and then explores the three main challenges that affect their growth and success: financing, human capital, and the enabling environment. For each challenge, the report examines how it affects Small and Medium Enterprises, solutions to the challenges, and the solutions' level of impact. Ultimately, the report offers a research agenda as well as policy recommendations for Small and Medium Enterprises in international development.Item Understanding the roles of partners in partnerships funded by the global fund(2009-05-15) Mallipeddi, Ravi KanthThe field of international development has always been intertwined with the economic thought dominant in the West. Even before its conception with the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, it carried a strong Keynesian preference for the state. The neoliberal assault on the welfare state in the 80s, followed by the partnership era that brought both the public and the private sector together to work for a common cause have been the focus of attention by development scholars and others alike. The present study focuses on a multilateral development aid agency, the Global Fund, which funds public-private partnerships in the field of health care in developing countries. Drawing on the debates surrounding the welfare state and the civil society, as well as the debates surrounding the public-privates partnerships, the present study poses three questions in relation to the Global Fund: (1) how are the diseases framed in the partnership framework, (2) what are the roles of the private sector in partnership, and (3) what are the roles of the public sector in partnerships. Based on the textual analysis of fifteen proposals approved by the Global Fund in the sixth round of funding, this dissertation tries to situate the working of the Global Fund, and the proposals it funds, within the larger debates surrounding development and partnerships. The findings of the present study are: (1) the diseases are framed largely in socio-economic terms, (2) the private (for-profit) sector is marginalized in the discussion and implementation of proposals, (3) the civil society participation is seen as essential to the success of the proposals, and (3) the state is seen as important in the discussion of the diseases, although there is a great deal of ambiguity surrounding the roles of the public sector in partnerships. It is hypothesized in the concluding chapter that the reason Global Fund is able to attract a great deal of funds and support from actors across the political spectrum could be because the organization funds programs that foreground civil society, liked by people of different political inclinations, and backgrounds the discussion of the state, the epicenter of controversies surrounding development. By being ?strategically ambiguous? about the role of the state in the development of the people, the proposals are made apolitical and appealing to people both on the left and the right.