National Capacity Building Research Articles

Including Diverse Stakeholder Voices in Youth Character Program Evaluation

Although experts agree that diverse stakeholder inclusion enhances quality and equity in evaluation designs and implementation, diverse voices are often omitted. Particularly antithetical to principles of youth character development, evaluations for these programs should strive to include voices from various social, economic, community, and demographic perspectives. One innovative national evaluation capacity building initiative, the Partnerships for Advancing Character Program Evaluation (PACE) project, paired practitioners from youth programs in community-based organizations with evaluation professionals to enhance stakeholders’ roles in evaluation. PACE promoted stakeholder identification and inclusion through group exercises, partnership work, and coaching sessions. Using a mixed methods design with interviews, retrospective pretest–posttest surveys, and observational data, triangulated data addressed diverse stakeholders in the evaluation process, diverse perspectives on program performance, and connecting diverse input to evaluation design. Postprogram findings indicate that participants included more varied and diverse stakeholder perspectives in all the three areas. Implications for programs and evaluations are discussed.

SHORT COMMUNICATION: ADDRESSING VULNERABILITY OF AGRICULTURE SECTOR TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN PAKISTAN

Agriculture sector, being the dominant user of fresh water (70%) is highly vulnerable to climate change in Pakistan. Increase in frequency of floods and drought, rising temperatures and changes in rainfall pattern across the country during the recent years are clear indicators of changing climate. Climate change has serious repercussions for national food security as farmers have limited knowledge and technologies for mitigating the adverse effects of climate change on crop productivity. This situation is expected to decrease yield of major food crops. There exists dire need to make an intensive analysis of situation to identify existing knowledge and technology gaps and suggest doable measures for multiple stake holders like policy makers, scientists and farmers accordingly. This review paper covers the impact of climate change on agriculture and presents strategies to adapt to climate change. Strategies at policy/government level include increased funds for research, improvement of national capacity building (training of trainers) and development of a localized smart early warning system for climate change related events. Key research areas being identified to address vulnerability include development of innovative water use efficient technologies, zone specific agronomic research, applied root research, organic farming to increase soil resilience and research on ground water recharge and quality using simulation models. Farmers shall be sensitized about the issue of climate change through education and every effort shall be made to make proper use of existing farm resources and technologies to live with the changing climate so that national food security is not compromised.

International survey of the utilisation in treatment centers for survivors of torture

Introduction: Literature about treatment of survivors of torture tends to focus on counseling and primary medical care. There are fewer published articles about the utilization of physiotherapy at treatment centers for survivors of torture and other forms of trauma.
 Methods: Lists were compiled of about 169 treatment centers receiving funding from the United National Voluntary Fund, 150 from the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims, and another 40 treatment centers in the United States through the National Capacity Building Project. A survey about utilization of physiotherapy at treatment centers for survivors was created which included questions about the utilization of physiotherapy, treatment modalities provided by physiotherapists, other professionals working at the centers, perceived barriers to providing physiotherapy and interest in collaboration as a global physiotherapy community. Surveys were emailed to centers in French, Spanish and/or English.
 Results: 87 responses were received, for a response rate of 43% (87 of 200 emails sent). Approximately 30% of centers report that their clients have no access to physiotherapy, with one third of the centers having physiotherapy on staff (in contrast with 85% of survey respondents having psychotherapy/counseling on staff, 73% having social work on staff and 55% primary medicine). About one third of responding torture treatment programs reported being able to refer to physiotherapists outside of their centers. Therapeutic exercise, manual therapy, massage, and group activities and exercises were the most commonly reported treatment modalities provided by physiotherapists. Lack of funds or resources and shortage of physiotherapy personnel were perceived as being the biggest challenges limiting clients’ access to physiotherapy. Twenty-nine of the respondents (33%) were physiotherapists, and of these, 90% reported being interested in collaborative activities with other physiotherapists working with survivor of torture.

Implementation of Context Specific Diagnostics, Strategies and Resources for PMTCT Scale-up Programming in Conflict Affected Communities in Jos, Nigeria

The 2013 WHO HIV guidelines provided effective antiretroviral regimens to reduce perinatal transmission to below 2%. The option-B approach of providing antiretroviral drugs was adopted by Nigeria, which contributed 32% of global gaps in Preventing Mother to child transmission (PMTCT). In Plateau State, which had 7.7% HIV prevalence, incessant ethnoreligious conflict created challenges impacting on HIV service delivery and access to treatment centers. PMTCT diagnostics conducted by the lead HIV implementing Partner (IP), revealed that several communities in Jos, Plateau State, lacked HIV treatment centers, but were also unable to access existing centers because of conflict related partitioning of Jos, calling for specialized strategies and collaboration to scale-up to affected communities. To bridge existing challenges related to distrust amongst communities, the intervention strategy identified six community oriented resource persons (CORPs), of same ethnoreligious dispensation as people in affected communities, who also possessed HIV programing competencies, to lead the intervention. The project methodology included engagement of community gatekeepers and Plateau HIV stakeholders, who generated context specific strategies to enter these communities and scale-up HIV/PMTCT. The lead CORPs included a female public health/HIV physician, another clinician who owned a community hospital, a HIV laboratory personnel, a HIV trained Data officer, a religious cleric/youth leader and a female expert patient cum member of Federation of Muslim women association of Nigeria (FOMWAN). Collaborating with various stakeholders, they birthed a community faith based organization they called Muslim Health Initiative of Nigeria (MUHIN). This served as platform for community engagement to scale-up HIV/PMTCT services. The Lead HIV Partner supported, engaged and funded MUHIN to provide context specific scale-up to address existing gaps. MUHIN identified, assessed, upgraded and activated twenty-eight community clinics for HIV/PMTCT service deliver, building on existing Maternal, child and New-born health (MNCH) structures. They provided HIV trainings, MNCH materials, national data-capture tools and capacity building to the identified facilities, staff and CORPs. They stratified according to facility capacity, and linked them using the Hub-and-spoke model, to provide HIV testing, PMTCT and Antiretroviral therapy (ART) services. In order to bridge existing human resource for health gaps existing at the clinics, community health workers and HIV positive women who had successfully completed PMTCT programs were engaged and trained according to task shifting and task sharing (TSTS) guidelines, in preparation for HIV/PMTCT activation using HCT as entry. We conclude that detailed diagnostics, planning and utilization of context-specific strategies including TSTS are critical for successful project outcomes.

Paths of the urban regeneration process in Central and Eastern Europe after EU enlargement - Poland and Bulgaria as comparative case studies

The enlargement of the EU towards Central-Eastern Europe in the years 2004 and 2007 and the related EU funds provided new opportunities and created new challenges to both big metropolitan cities and smaller settlements. One of the particularly important challenges was to define appropriate national and local policies for the urban regeneration of neglected areas, which were abundant in this part of Europe. The objective of the paper is to analyze and evaluate actions taken in Bulgaria and Poland at the national and local level in the field of urban regeneration after the countries? accession to the EU. The paper compares the general national and local planning approaches and capacity building for urban regeneration in the context of regulative and procedural issues. The local case studies represent two types of urban areas under regeneration: the metropolitan core cities Pozna? and Sofia and medium-sized non-core towns of Pi?a and Gabrovo. The results are in the form of a concurrent evaluation of both the achievements and negative effects resulting from the national and local processes in the envisaged and the recently implemented activities with regard to the regeneration of deprived urban neighborhoods and areas.

OVERVIEW ON THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVOLUTION OF EARTH OBSERVATION RESEARCH AND APPLICATIONS PROGRAMMES FOR AGRICULTURE AND ENVIRONMENT DURING THE LAST THREE DECADES IN ROMANIA

Abstract. Following the fall of communism in 1989, the R&D sector started a modernization process. By establishing in 1995 a structure dedicated to the space activities – Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) – the Government recognized the importance of this innovative strategic domain. The National Space Strategy defined by means of the RTD policy, with effects on both academia and industry, had three objectives since the 90’s: Participation to international space missions and programmes, Development of specific national projects and Capacity building at national level. In time, the experience acquired in the implementation of CIS, LCCS and LPIS/IACS projects offered the possibility to establish new certitudes for the evolution of the domain. The main development directions had been oriented towards the implementation of dedicated applications to answer problematics concerning smart agriculture, traceability, better agro-environmental practices and the relation with other scientific domains (e.g. cultural heritage). The partnership between a strong Governmental R&D structure – ROSA – and the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest (USAMVB) demonstrates the capacity to find solutions for promoting space EO technologies and adapt the higher education curricula in synergy with the development of the ambitious European space programme evolution.

How accurate is the diagnosis of rheumatic fever in Egypt? Data from the national rheumatic heart disease prevention and control program (2006-2018).

Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) as a chronic sequela of repeated episodes of acute rheumatic fever (ARF), remains a cause of cardiac morbidity in Egypt although it is given full attention through a national RHD prevention and control program. The present report reviews our experience with subjects presenting with ARF or its sequelae in a single RHD centre and describes the disease pattern over the last decade. A cross-sectional study was conducted in El-Mahalla RHD centre between 2006 and 2018. A total of 17014 individual were enrolled and evaluated. Diagnosis ARF was based on the 2015 revised Jones criteria and RHD was ruled in by echocardiography. The majority of the screened subjects were female (63.2%), in the age group 5–15 years (64.6%), rural residents (61.2%), had primary education (43.0%), and of low socioeconomic standard (50.2%). The total percentage of cases presenting with ARF sequelae was 29.3% [carditis/RHD (10.8%), rheumatic arthritis (Rh.A) (14.9%), and Sydenham’s chorea (0.05%)]. Noticeably, 72% were free of any cardiac insult, of which 37.7% were victims of misdiagnoses made elsewhere by untrained practitioners who prescribed for them long term injectable long-acting penicillin [Benzathine Penicillin G (BPG)] without need. About 54% of the study cohort reported the occurrence of recurrent attacks of tonsillitis of which 65.2% underwent tonsillectomy. Among those who experienced tonsillectomy and/or received BPG in the past, 14.5% and 22.3% respectively had eventually developed RHD. Screening of family members of some RHD cases who needed cardiac surgery revealed 20.7% with undiagnosed ARF sequalae [RHD (56.0%) and Rh.A (52.2%)]. Upon the follow-up of RHD cases, 1.2% had improved, 98.4% were stable and 0.4% had their heart condition deteriorated. Misdiagnosis of ARF or its sequelae and poor compliance with BPG use may affect efforts being exerted to curtail the disease. Updating national guidelines, capacity building, and reliance on appropriate investigations should be emphasized. Since the genetic basis of RHD is literally confirmed, a family history of RHD warrants screening of all family members for early detection of the disease.

Solidarity in the wake of COVID-19: reimagining the International Health Regulations

Amid frenzied national responses to COVID-19, the world could soon reach a critical juncture to revisit and strengthen the International Health Regulations (IHR), the multilateral instrument that governs how 196 states and WHO collectively address the global spread of disease.1, 2 In many countries, IHR obligations that are vital to an effective pandemic response remain unfulfilled, and the instrument has been largely side-lined in the COVID-19 pandemic, the largest global health crisis in a century. It is time to reimagine the IHR as an instrument that will compel global solidarity and national action against the threat of emerging and re-emerging pathogens. We call on state parties to reform the IHR to improve supervision, international assistance, dispute resolution, and overall textual clarity.

Penal welfarism ‘gone global’? Comparing international criminal justice to The Culture of Control

With the consolidation of a cosmopolitan field of international criminal justice, penality has ‘gone global’. In spite of the abundance of doctrinal legal analysis, human rights studies, and transitional justice studies, there are few analytic attempts to engage with the working assumptions, cultural commitments, and dominant mentalities that give shape to international criminal justice as a penal field. Based on ethnographic observations, interviews with key actors, and critical reading of international criminal justice scholarship, this article compares the cosmopolitan penality of international criminal justice to that of late modern, domestic, penality. Using David Garland’s The Culture of Control as an analytic yardstick, it argues that international criminal justice both resembles and departs from ‘the national’. For example, whilst the cosmopolitan penality relies upon retributive justifications, it makes no appeal to harsh penal sanctions; nor is it concerned with the rehabilitation of prisoners. Rather, it is an expressive and humanitarian form of justice where the victim takes central stage – as the embodiment of a suffering humanity. Moreover, there is a remarkable faith in the transformative effects of international criminal justice, resembling a form of penal welfarism ‘gone global’. As national capacity building and penal development has become intrinsic to the project of international criminal justice, the article shows how the global dimension of the power to punish is based on a moralization of politics.

Persistent Pollution in the Bay of Bengal: An Emerging Issue for Regional Ocean Governance

The Bay of Bengal is an area of 2.2 million square kilometres of the northern eastern part of Indian Ocean and underneath a part of the great Indo-Australian Plate. It is one of the world's 64 largest marine ecosystems with varied biological diversity consisting of inter alia – coral reefs, estuaries, fish spawning and nursery areas. It produces 6 million tons of fish corresponding to nearly 4% of the total global catch. More than 20% of the world’s population live in South Asia and it is the most densely populated region in the world. Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are five coastal states which are dependent on the Bay of Bengal for their livelihood. The Ganges, the Brahmaputra and the Meghna River system is one of the most dynamic river systems in the world, which carries lots of sediments and pollutants from the upper catchments. These are ultimately deposited in the Bay of Bengal and mixed with water and soil. Due to climate change, salinity intrusion, rapid population growth and urbanisation in recent decades, there has been a dramatic change in water pollution levels in the runoff of river systems leading to the Bay of Bengal. Accusing economic development, South Asian nations are inert to implement national and international legal instruments to prevent, reduce and control of marine pollution. According to SDG 14.1, countries must prevent and significantly reduce marine pollution of all kinds, including marine debris and litter by 2025. Therefore, national capacity building and regional binding and non-binding legal framework are essential to reduce trans-boundary marine pollution of the Bay of Bengal.

COVID 19 and Nepal: Identification of Critical Public Health Measures

The COVID-19 pandemic is unfolding at an unprecedented pace. The unprecedented threat provides an opportunity to emerge with robust health systems. Nepal has implemented several containment measures such as Rapid Response Team formulation; testing; isolation; quarantine; contact tracing;surveillance, establishment of COVID-19 Crisis Management Centre and designation of dedicated hospitals to gear up for the pandemic. The national public health emergency management mechanisms need further strengthening with the proactive engagement of relevant ministries; we need a strong, real-time national surveillance system and capacity building of a critical mass of health care workers; there is a need to further assess infection prevention and control capacity; expand the network of virus diagnostic laboratories in the private sector with adequate surge capacity;implement participatory community engagement interventions and plan for a phased lockdown exit strategy enabling sustainable suppression of transmission at low-level and enabling in resuming some parts of economic and social life.

Implementing the Balanced Scorecard in Public Organization: An Experience in Communication Affairs Bureau Dire Dawa Administration, Ethiopia

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC), first created by Kaplan and Norton in 1992, has been developed over the last 28 years, gaining attention all over the world. In Ethiopia context ministry of civil service in 2010.The introduction of Civil Service Reform program (CSRP), as part of the 14 national capacity building programs, was in response to weaknesses in the organizational structure and the public service delivery and to simulate the overall development effort of the country. That the emergence of the Public Sector Capacity Building Program (PSCBP). It has laid the foundation for different capacity building programs with the objective of improving the scale, responsiveness and efficiency of public service delivery and promoting good governance both at a federal, regional and local level. (Rashed Ul Hasan, 2017, Mesfin, 2009 and MoFED, 2012) Government Communication Affairs Bureau is one of the public service institutions in the Dire Dawa city that implemented the BSC with the notion of improving its overall organizational performance. The point of this study is to analyze the key impact of successes and failure factors of the execution processes of Balance Scorecard: - for improvement of strategic planning & performance measurement in Dire Dawa Administration Communication Affairs Bureau.The study used a qualitative research method. The data for this study was obtained through questionnaires that were distributed to 84 management members and non-management employees of the bureau in which only 82 were fully completed and returned. The sample was selected based on stratified random sampling the questionnaire was distributed to the staff members on the stratified based on their department. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS and Microsoft Excel.The result of this study will be providing valuable inputs and directions have been maintained with regard to the bureau vision, mission, and strategy; while other activities. The study may also use as a point of reference for others who want to conduct further study on the same issue. Keywords: Balance Scorecard, Performance Measurement, Evaluation DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/10-5-01 Publication date: May 31 st 2020

The Impact of Balanced Scorecard (BSC) on Performance of Public Organization: The Case of Dire Dawa City Government Communication Affairs Bureau

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC), first created by Kaplan and Norton in 1992, has been developed over the last 27 years, gaining attention all over the world. In Ethiopia context ministry of civil service in 2010.The introduction of Civil Service Reform program (CSRP), as part of the 14 national capacity building programs, was in response to weaknesses in the organizational structure and the public service delivery and to simulate the overall development effort of the country. That the emergence of the Public Sector Capacity Building Program (PSCBP). It has laid the foundation for different capacity building programs with the objective of improving the scale, responsiveness and efficiency of public service delivery and promoting good governance both at a federal, regional and local level. (Rashed Ul Hasan, 2017, Mesfin, 2009 and MoFED, 2012) Government Communication Affairs Bureau is one of the public service institutions in Dire Dawa city that implemented BSC with the notion of improving its overall organizational performance. The point of this study is to analyze the key impact of successes and failure factors of the execution processes of Balance Scorecard: - for improvement of strategic planning & performance measurement in Dire Dawa Administration Communication Affairs Bureau.The study used a qualitative research method. The data for this study was obtained through questionnaires that were distributed to 84 management members and non-management employees of the bureau in which only 82 were fully completed and returned. The sample was selected based on stratified random sampling the questionnaire was distributed to the staff members on the stratified based on their department. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS and Microsoft Excel.The result of this study will be providing valuable inputs and directions have been maintained with regard to the bureau vision, mission, and strategy; while other activities. The study may also use as a point of reference for others who want to conduct further study on the same issue. Keyword: Balance Scorecard, Performance Measurement, Evaluation DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/10-4-03 Publication date: April 30 th 2020

The Responsibility to Protect and Infrastructure in Myanmar

The responsibility to protect norm has been associated with prevention activities such as national capacity building. There has also been recognition that social and economic development may have a relationship to this principle. Physical and social infrastructure is said to contribute to development and may be delivered by private actors, including via partnerships between the state and foreign investors, donors and institutions. However, the role that private investors play in relation to responsibility to protect activities remains unclear. This article explores the relationship between private actors, infrastructure and the responsibility to protect in the context of Myanmar. It argues that considering these topics together presents opportunities and risks, since infrastructure might help to prevent atrocities, but can also — as in Myanmar — contribute to their commission. Careful planning and consultation are crucial when funding and managing infrastructure projects, supported by laws, guidelines, and the concepts of responsibility and prevention.

Financial cost analysis of a strategy to improve the quality of administrative vaccination data in Uganda

BackgroundHigh-quality vaccination data are critical to planning, implementation and evaluation of immunization programs. However, sub-optimal administrative vaccination data quality in low- and middle-income countries persist for heterogeneous reasons, though most relate to organizational factors and human behavior. The nationwide Data Improvement Team (DIT) strategy in Uganda aimed to strengthen human resource capacity to generate quality administrative vaccination data at the health facility. MethodsA financial cost analysis of the Uganda DIT strategy (2014–2016) was conducted from the program funder perspective. Activity-based micro-costing from funder financial and program monitoring records was used to estimate total and unit costs by program area (in 2016 US dollars). Hypothetical scenarios were developed to illustrate potential approaches to reducing costs. ResultsOver 25 months the DIT strategy was implemented in all 116 operational districts and 3443 (89%) health facilities in Uganda at a total financial cost of US $575 275. Training and deployment of DITs accounted for the highest proportion of expenditure across program areas (69%). Transport, per diems, lodging, and honoraria for DIT members and national supervisors were the main cost drivers of the strategy. Deployment of 557 DIT members cost US $839 per DIT member, US $4 030 per district, and US $136 per health facility. The estimated opportunity cost of government staff time wasn’t a major cost driver (2.5%) of total cost. ConclusionThe results provide the first estimates of the magnitude and drivers of cost to implement a national workforce capacity building strategy to improve administrative vaccination data quality in a low- or middle-income country. Financial costs are a critical input to combine with future outcome data to describe the cost of strategies relative to performance outcomes. The operational costs of the strategy were modest (0.5–1.6%) relative to the estimated operational costs of Uganda’s national immunization program.

Rapid Response Teams' Initiative: Critical Role and Impact on National and Eastern Mediterranean Regional Emergency Management Capacity Building.

Rapid response teams (RRTs) are essential to contain the harmful effects of emergency situations and to coordinate actions in the fragile environment of the Eastern Mediterranean region (EMR). The Global Health Development and the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET) implemented RRTs to fill the human resources gap and to enable the member states to build their capacity in rapid assessment and response to public health events to reduce human suffering. To build the capacity of the member states in the field of rapid response and to build a strong team of rapid response specialists at the regional level, EMPHNET implemented this initiative at two levels. The first was a basic regional RRT course (July 2012). It was an introductory course for the selected candidates to provide insight and to enhance the knowledge and skills needed to be part of an RRT. The training included 32 participants from nine EMR countries. The course was designed to allow the facilitators and selection committee to select 15 to 20 potential candidates for the advanced RRT course. The second was the advanced RRT course (September 2010 to October 2012) for training the trainers and preparing the RRTs for deployment. A series of RRT training workshops were held, with more than 650 health staff from 12 countries trained. In all workshops that were conducted during 2016-2017, the trainees showed significant improvement in their knowledge and skills.

Capital Market Determinants and Market Capitalization in Nigeria

Capital market plays a crucial role in a country’s national development and economic capacity building. However, there are economic forces that determine the success of a capital market development in every nation. This study investigates the role of these economic indicators in determining the capital market performance in Nigeria using secondary data covering a period from 1998 to 2018. These data have been sourced from the World Bank Development Indicators, International Monetary Fund and CBN Statistical Bulletin, 2018 edition. The results from the regression analysis indicate that exchange rate and inflation rate have immaterial undesirable consequence on capital market capitalization (CMC) while the interest rate exerts a weighty harmful effect on CMC. The study also provides evidence that the gross domestic product (GDP) has a substantial positive impact on CMC. The study among others suggests that the growth of the economy should be sustained in order to keep boosting the capital market. However, the economic indicators such as inflation, interest rate and exchange rate should be kept under strict control by the relevant authorities in the country.

Building national and local capacity for disaster risk management in Cameroon

PurposeA new framework to support the national and local capacity building plan for disaster risk management (DRM) in Cameroon is presented. For the past 30 years, after the general re-organisation of the civil protection department, capacity building programmes for DRM has been solely carried out for and by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and the Department of Civil Protection. The exclusion of businesses, civil society and community participation, among others, has been the main obstacle to capacity building programmes undertaken for DRM. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachBased on interviews conducted among 200 informants by means of a process of participatory monitoring and evaluation as well as a duo capacity building workshop for DRM held in August 2017 in Yaoundé, this paper evaluated existing capacity building programmes for DRM in Cameroon.FindingsFindings show that the greater portion of government representatives within the public administration lack capacity to address DRM initiatives at the local and national levels of governance. While recommending DRM programmes as a necessity for integration within civil administrative curriculum, this paper proposes six elements to address capacity building gaps for DRM in Cameroon.Originality/valueThe results demonstrate critical gaps in capacity building aimed at DRM, especially where single ministry or department monopolises DRM. The findings provide the government with a useful tool to review its national strategy for a disaster reduction policy and the drawing up of a national intervention plan.

Performance or performativity? Australia’s membership of the United Nations Human Rights Council

ABSTRACTScholarship to date has analysed the politics surrounding the United Nations Human Rights Council (the Council) and examined the Universal Periodic Review. Less has been uncovered about what states are doing as Council members. Is their human rights ‘performance’, namely their behaviour, enhanced by Council membership? Or is Council membership more about ‘performativity’ – that is, the use of language as a form of action with the intention of effecting changes in the performance of other actors? This paper introduces these questions in the context of Australia’s 2018–2020 Council membership term. The potential impacts of membership for Australia are salient given its lack of a constitutional or statutory Bill of Rights and the lack of any regional human rights mechanism in the Asia-Pacific. Australia’s bid for a seat on the Council had five pillars: gender equality, good governance, freedom of expression, rights of Indigenous peoples, and strong national human rights institutions and capacity building. The paper assesses Australia’s performance and performativity in relation to a selection of its voluntary pledges as a Council member. We reflect on the challenges inherent in holding states to their human rights obligations when international institutions struggle to require accountability, transparency and verifiability of commitments.

Challenges and Future Trends for Thai Education: Conceptual Framework into Action

The challenges and future trends in Thailand in the 21st century are considered from several factors. These include the revolution of Thailand 4.0, digital revolution, 2030 Agenda for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4) in Quality Education, ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) preparations, workforce’s need, middle-income gap, population aging, deterioration of natural resources due to unsustainable economic growth, and educational quality and management system development. The Office of Education Council proposes a development paradigm shift in the education of Thailand 4.0 toward the 21st century. The primary focus of a new 20-year plan, announced in the National Scheme of Education B.E. 2560-2579 (2017-2036) [1], provides a national capacity building framework into action, regarding educational management, educational opportunity, educational quality, instructional effectiveness, the administration of educational institutions, budget management, and educational development in the competitive era.