Community-driven Development Research Articles

QuakeML: status of the XML-based seismological data exchange format

QuakeML is an XML-based data exchange standard for seismology that is in its fourth year of active community-driven development. Its development was motivated by the need to consolidate existing data formats for applications in statistical seismology, as well as setting a cutting-edge, community-agreed standard to foster interoperability of distributed infrastructures. The current release (version 1.2) is based on a public Request for Comments process and accounts for suggestions and comments provided by a broad international user community. QuakeML is designed as an umbrella schema under which several sub-packages are collected. The present scope of QuakeML 1.2 covers a basic description of seismic events including picks, arrivals, amplitudes, magnitudes, origins, focal mechanisms, and moment tensors. Work on additional packages (macroseismic information, ground motion, seismic inventory, and resource metadata) has been started, but is at an early stage. Several applications based on the QuakeML data model have been created so far. Among these are earthquake catalog web services at the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), GNS Science, and the Southern California Earthquake Data Center (SCEDC), and QuakePy, an open-source Python-based seismicity analysis toolkit. Furthermore, QuakeML is being used in the SeisComP3 system from GFZ Potsdam, and in the Collaboratory for the Study of Earthquake Predictability (CSEP) testing center installations, developed by Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC). QuakeML is still under active and dynamic development. Further contributions from the community are crucial to its success and are highly welcome.

Securitising Participation in the Philippines: KALAHI and Community-driven Development

Participatory approaches to development have been implemented increasingly. One form is the World Bank's community-driven development (CDD) programme. Participation has, also, become increasingly securitised since 2001. One instance of these trends was the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan (KALAHI) project in the Philippines. This paper examines the implementation of CDD and the problems of its securitisation, using the Philippines as a case study. A composite conceptual framework is advanced that draws upon the international analyses of development. Adapting the concepts of securitisation and de-politicisation, it argues that a new hegemonic-development framework has appeared: the Securitised-Washington consensus. The analysis assesses these trends through the examples of KALAHI and Philippine politics and economics. It suggests that securitised CDD projects result in token efforts at political reform and poverty alleviation that often are contradicted by counter-trends towards development decline and militarisation. Unless these deep-rooted problems are confronted, localised participation is likely to remain ineffectual.

Service delivery on the cheap? Community-based workers in development interventions

Within current neo-liberal approaches to development, models of community-driven development assume that community-based workers (CBWs) are key actors in improved and accessible service delivery. We argue that use of CBWs is under-theorised and seems to be based largely on untested assumptions about community participation and responsibility. Drawing on case studies on potable-water management and home-based care for HIV/AIDS patients in Tanzania and South Africa, the article explores issues of accountability, professionalism, and personal motivations in systems involving CBWs. It argues that many assumptions in relation to the effectiveness of CBW programmes require re-visiting.

Between Ex-Combatization and Opportunities for Peace: The Double-Edged Qualities of Motorcycle-Taxi Driving in Urban Postwar Sierra Leone

Commercial motorcycle-taxi driving in urban postwar Sierra Leone has been praised as an example of successful selfreintegration, invented and organized by ex-combatants themselves, and as a new form of social capital, providing starting points for community-driven development. This article, however, draws attention to the double-edgedness of bike riding’s consequences and potentials. At the individual level, bike riding indeed offers a livelihood, or at least a survival strategy, but it simultaneously leads into the social dead end of ex-combatization—of being socially marked as an ex-combatant. At the collective or structural level, bike riders’ associations may offer local capacities for the promotion of peaceful development—or for the mobilization of excombatized riders by political actors seeking to intimidate the electorate. The busy movements of more than 2000 motorcycle-taxi drivers 1 are one

Nipype: A Flexible, Lightweight and Extensible Neuroimaging Data Processing Framework in Python

Current neuroimaging software offer users an incredible opportunity to analyze their data in different ways, with different underlying assumptions. Several sophisticated software packages (e.g., AFNI, BrainVoyager, FSL, FreeSurfer, Nipy, R, SPM) are used to process and analyze large and often diverse (highly multi-dimensional) data. However, this heterogeneous collection of specialized applications creates several issues that hinder replicable, efficient, and optimal use of neuroimaging analysis approaches: (1) No uniform access to neuroimaging analysis software and usage information; (2) No framework for comparative algorithm development and dissemination; (3) Personnel turnover in laboratories often limits methodological continuity and training new personnel takes time; (4) Neuroimaging software packages do not address computational efficiency; and (5) Methods sections in journal articles are inadequate for reproducing results. To address these issues, we present Nipype (Neuroimaging in Python: Pipelines and Interfaces; http://nipy.org/nipype), an open-source, community-developed, software package, and scriptable library. Nipype solves the issues by providing Interfaces to existing neuroimaging software with uniform usage semantics and by facilitating interaction between these packages using Workflows. Nipype provides an environment that encourages interactive exploration of algorithms, eases the design of Workflows within and between packages, allows rapid comparative development of algorithms and reduces the learning curve necessary to use different packages. Nipype supports both local and remote execution on multi-core machines and clusters, without additional scripting. Nipype is Berkeley Software Distribution licensed, allowing anyone unrestricted usage. An open, community-driven development philosophy allows the software to quickly adapt and address the varied needs of the evolving neuroimaging community, especially in the context of increasing demand for reproducible research.

Interventions to promote social cohesion in sub-Saharan Africa

This article presents a synthetic review of impact evaluations examining the effectiveness of community-driven development (CDD) and curriculum interventions in improving social cohesion in sub-Saharan Africa. The review found weakly positive impacts of CDD and curriculum interventions on social cohesion outcomes, although only two findings were replicated across studies: one positive and one negative. Causal chain analysis of data on implementation and contextual factors relating to the CDD interventions found that broad and substantive participation was often lacking, suggesting the interventions have often not been carried out in accordance with the theory of CDD.

Do community-driven development projects enhance social capital? Evidence from the Philippines

We explore the social capital impacts of a community-driven development project in the Philippines in which communities competed for block grants for infrastructure investment. The analysis uses a unique panel data set of about 2100 households, aggregated at the village-level, collected in 66 treatment and 69 comparison communities. We provide both difference-in-differences and propensity score matching estimates. We find that the project increased participation in village assemblies and the frequency with which local officials meet with residents and had a negative impact on collective action. There is also more limited evidence of a positive impact of the project on bridging (i.e., generalized) trust and of a negative impact on group membership.

The use of robustness analysis for planning actions in a poor Brazilian community

This paper reports on the use of Robustness Analysis for planning actions in a poor Brazilian community. The focus is on food and agricultural production and the project is based on a participatory approach incorporating both community-driven development and sustainability in food production. A comparison is made with other soft Operations Research (OR) methodologies and first actions and results are reported.

Taking the Rules of the Game Seriously: Mainstreaming Justice in Development the World Bank’s Justice for the Poor Program

This paper explains the ideas and approaches that underpin the World Bank's Justice for the Poor (J4P) program. J4P is an approach to legal empowerment that focuses on mainstreaming sociolegal concerns into development processes, in sectors ranging from community-driven development and mining technical assistance to labor-rights advocacy and classic judicial reform. It has developed out of a perspective that legal and regulatory frameworks and related justice concerns cannot be conceived of in terms of a 'sector' or a specific set of institutions, but are integral to all development processes. Further, while there is broad agreement that justice reform and building an equitable justice sector is central to good governance and sustainable development, there is limited understanding of how equitable justice systems emerge and how such processes can be facilitated by external actors. J4P addresses these knowledge gaps with intensive research aimed at understanding the ways in which development processes shape and are shaped by local context, and in particular, how the poor engage with and/or are excluded from the multiple rule systems ('legal pluralism') governing their everyday lives. Through three case studies of the program's work, this paper illustrates how understanding the various roles of law in society provides an innovative means of analyzing and responding to particular development problems. The cases also demonstrate the principles that underpin J4P: development is inherently conflict-ridden; institutional reform should be seen as an iterative and thus 'interim' process; building local research capacity is critical to establishing an empirically based and context-driven reform process; integrating diverse sources of empirical evidence is needed to deeply engage in local contexts; and rule systems are ubiquitous in all areas of development, not just the 'legal sector.'

Assessment of community empowerment and women involvement components in national Fadama 11 project in Ogun State, Nigeria

The aim of the study was to assess the level of community and women involvement and empowerment in the implementation of the second National Fadama Development Project (Fadama II or NFDP II) in Ogun State. A sample of 240 Fadama II beneficiaries (members) was selected using a combination of purposive and random sampling methods. Data were collected by a structured interview schedule and focus group discussions. The study concluded that: the NFDP II in Obafemi-Owode LGA has successfully achieved the community empowerment and women involvement components of community-driven development (CDD) approach in its implementation. Involvement of beneficiaries and especially women in the project is high and NFDP II has impacted on the level of income of members and contributed to community development. Constraints facing the participants include cumbersome bureaucracy and long delays in releasing funds, too frequent and long meetings and insect pests attack. Recommendations made include that annual awards should be given to both the best gender sensitive and best members-empowered (community empowerment) Fadama Community Association (FCA) and Fadama User Group (FUG) in the local government area, and also that the extension agents and subject matter specialists covering the area of study should make more concerted efforts to address the problem of insect pests attack.KEYWORDS: Community driven development, women involvement, empowerment, World Bank, fadama, community empowerment, involvement, participation

Community-driven development as a driver of change: water supply and sanitation projects in rural Punjab, Pakistan

This paper examines the question: how effective is a community driven development (CDD) approach to rural water supply? Some theoretical advantages of CDD approaches include: (1) community choices are more attuned to local needs; (2) sustainable O&M is more likely; (3) social capital is built; (4) more participation yields better oversight and less corruption; and (5) communities become active partners in development, itself a worthy objective. Using quantitative and qualitative data from a water supply and sanitation project in Punjab, Pakistan, the study finds that the CDD approach, consistent with expectations, has done well in extending water supply, drainage, and sanitation coverage to the poor rural communities, and demonstrated outcomes that are only achievable through CDD—including water tariff and cultural changes. The project was also effective in promoting local participation and ownership, particularly by women's groups, and is therefore likely to have sustainable operation and maintenance (O & M). This study uncovers two dimensions of CDD in water and sanitation as means to an end: political reform, by proposing implementation strategies of decentralisation; and cultural reform, by providing an approach to break cultural barriers.

Community-Driven Development as Drivers of Change: Water Supply and Sanitation Projects in Rural Punjab, Pakistan

This paper examines the question: how effective is a community driven development (CDD) approach to rural water supply? Some theoretical advantages of CDD approaches include: 1) community choices are more attuned to local needs; 2) sustainable OM 3) social capital is built; 4) more participation yields better oversight and less corruption; and 5) communities become active partners in development, itself a worthy objective. Using quantitative and qualitative data from a water supply and sanitation project in Punjab, Pakistan, the study finds that the CDD approach, consistent with expectations, had done well in extending water supply, drainage, and sanitation coverage to the poor rural communities, and demonstrated outcomes that are only achievable through CDD – including water tariff and cultural changes. The project was also effective in promoting local participation and ownership, particularly by women’s groups, and is therefore likely to have sustainable operation and maintenance (O & M). This study uncovers two dimensions of CDD in water and sanitation as means to an end: political reform, by proposing implementation strategies of decentralisation; and cultural reform, by providing the approach to break cultural barriers.

Impact of project funding on the implementation of LEEMP development projects: a situational study

Project success depends on good planning and implementation strategy. The implementation process could make a project succeed, fail or even abandoned midstream. Information gathered from LEEMP in Imo State indicates that out of the 258 development projects embarked upon by LEEMP, only 24.4% have been completed while 75.6% are at their various completion stages after committing a lot of resources to them. Many factors have been identified as problems faced during development project implementation. They include Project Funding (X1) and Community Sensitization / Support (X2). Fifteen (15) respondents assessed the influence of these independent variables on the success level of project implementation of LEEMP development projects (Y). The students’ t- test was used to analyze the data collected which showed calculated values of 5.39 for X1 and 6.12 for X2 showing their significance on the success level of project implementation of LEEMP. The t- test was also used to analyze the effects of LEEMP and community contributions on LEEMP project delivery. The results also reflect their significance on successful project implementation. In view of these findings, the study recommends improved funding by encouraging the benefiting communities to pay their counterpart funds promptly. LEEMP should intensify community sensitization and seek their support and participation through the Community Driven Development (CDD) approach. Key words: Project, implementation, Counterpart funds, Development, community – driven approach.

How community-driven hardware development leads to advances in instrumentation

How community-driven hardware development leads to advances in instrumentation

Social Capital and Community Participation in Post-Soviet Armenia: Implications for Policy and Practice

This article argues that the social capital framework used by development agencies in community-driven development projects in post-Soviet countries may not be adequate for analysing conditions affecting community participation. Research in Armenia shows that the availability of social capital in a community may not necessarily translate into participation. The governance environment plays a key role in affecting the nature and forms of community participation and in shaping local institutions in Armenia. The research argues against the ‘cultural’ view of institutional change, which presumes that the main barriers to participation are posed by cultural factors, such as interpersonal trust and the ‘mentality’ of post-Soviet citizens. Development interventions that focus on building social capital as a means to promote community participation may not be effective without addressing broader structural factors affecting participation.

Who is at the Wheel When Communities Drive Development? Evidence from the Philippines

Community-Driven Development (CDD) approaches have become an important part of development operations. Using data from 1,200 households in 66 communities participating in a CDD project in the Philippines, we analyze how communities select their proposals and how resources are allocated across villages. Resources flow to the poorest and more politically active villages. Controlling for poverty, more unequal villages are more likely to receive funding. This surprising result is because in more unequal villages, the elected village leader is more likely to override community preferences, and to influence inter-village competition such that project resources flow to their villages.

The Making of a (Vice-) President: Party Politics, Ethnicity, Village Loyalty and Community-Driven Development

African politics are often said to be dominated by ethnic divides, with the ensuing policies implemented by leaders being based almost exclusively on their ethnic power base. In this paper, we demonstrate that the village of origin of democratically-elected leaders matters for the attribution of development projects in the context of one of the largest Community-Driven Development (CDD) programs in Senegal. After showing that leadership matters, we consider those factors that determine who is elected president (and vice-president) of a Conseil rural, the smallest administrative unit in Senegal. We also consider the link between power in the Conseil rural and that in the Conseil de Concertation et de Gestion (CCG), an assembly coopted by the Conseil rural president that is typical of local institutions set up in the context of CDD programs, and which is responsible for the participative identification of the development projects that constitute the priorities of villagers. Using a unique dataset, we show that ethnicity plays almost no role in determining who becomes president (or vice-president) of a Conseil rural, while party politics, age, political experience, village loyalty, and educational and professional qualifications do. Our findings highlight the crucial importance, in terms of development policy, of the local political institutions that are often reinforced or created alongside CDD programs.

Opening Participatory Spaces for the Most Marginal: Learning from Collective Action in the Honduran Hillsides

Summary Community-driven development faces considerable criticism for excluding the poor. A series of participatory, qualitative, and quantitative assessments of a participatory agricultural initiative in rural Honduras shows that the project, once susceptible to elite capture, over time shifted to include the “most marginal.” Participating farmers—both men and women—demonstrated significant improvements in well-being and new-found capabilities relative to non-participants. Opening a space for the most marginal was achieved through long-term commitment by a local NGO to the principle of inclusiveness, and to research and capability development beyond the guiding methodology for establishing local agricultural research committees (CIALs).

Costing of Community Health Service Packages - The Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF) Experience

The Malawi Government designed a 12 year project as one of the policy instruments in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. The project is managed by the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF). MASAF was designed as a platform for the implementation of multi-sectoral community Driven Development (CDD) interventions in the areas of Education, Health, Water, Transport, Communication, Natural Resources, Energy, Agriculture, Irrigation and Community Services. These interventions have been placed in five Community Service Packages (CSP) such that community demands to meet local needs must be within these Service Packages in order to get funding from MASAF. Each of the Service Packages has elements that are meant to address specific Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS). The five Service Packages are health, education, water and sanitation, transport and communication and household food security1,2,3. The design of MASAF was to cost the Service Packages within the first three years so that in the subsequent nine years of implementation, the costs of the various interventions would be predetermined and thereby improve on planning and implementation of the sub projects. The costing of service packages was preceded by establishing baseline data for each of the 12 MDG indicators selected for the MASAF project as impact indicators. The objective of this costing exercise was to estimate the average costs for health service packages to estimate funding requirements to meet local authority health care needs. This paper describes the process that was followed in costing subprojects and service packages and also presents the costs of community health packages by each local authority (LA). This paper follows a previous paper4 where baseline data for health related MDGs for each LA were reported. The results of this paper could therefore be used to estimate resource requirements that could among other behavioural changes lead to the attainment of the MDG targets at LA level5.

The Impact of the Social Investment of Collective Remittances on the Relationship Between Public and Private: The Case of the "Tres Por Uno Para Migrantes"

Mexican migration to the U.S. has a history of more than 100 years. This flow is characterized by the age of its members, its massiveness and the neighborhood relationship: It is the longest migratory cycle in the history of the United and its origin can be traced back to 1848; in 2000 there were 20.6 million people of Mexican origin in the U.S. (U.S. Census Bureau 2001) and 10.8 million of them were Mexican-born (Consejo Nacional de Poblacion 2000). Even though this flow has prevailed, in the last years its characteristics have changed as a consequence of the transformations in the economic model and migratory policies applied by Mexico and the United States. As a result of the persisting and increasingly large migration flows, the role that migrants and remittances play in the Mexican economy is fundamental to the way that Mexico is shaping its policies and is affecting agency, poverty and community development in the localities of origin.For the purposes of this paper I will concentrate on Zacatecas. It is one of the states with the longest migratory tradition in Mexico, and is inscribed in what Durand calls the traditional region of Mexican migration to the United States along with Aguascalientes, Colima, Durango, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacan and San Luis Potosi (Durand 1998, 104). More than half of the flow of Mexican migrants to the U.S. belongs to this region. This long history of Zacatecan emigration and the interaction of the federal, state and municipal governments with the communities of origin and the Hometown Associations (HTAs) has led to new forms of organization and the implementation of community development projects such as the Tres por uno para migrantes (3x1, Three for One Migrant Program), which was created by Zacatecan migrants in the 1990s.The World Bank and other international development agencies have identified remittances as a potential source of income that can be used to alleviate poverty in the countries that receive them. Mexico's efforts with respect to migrants is reflected in the creation of the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (Institute for Mexicans Abroad, IME) in 2003; different policies, such as the new initiative that allowed Mexican citizens that reside abroad to vote in the federal election in 2006; and government programs, such as the 3x1, instituted at the national level in 2002, that uses remittances for developmental purposes. However, this paper argues that the power relations that come into play and the definition of remittances can affect the use that they are given as well as the final outcome. This is why it is important to analyze how migrants, the federal, state and municipal governments and the community are coming together around remittances.The 3x1 is a community-driven development program that offers a three-to-one matching for collective remittances sent by Mexican migrant clubs in the United for investment in social infrastructure and development projects in their localities of origin. It is an innovative exercise of international management of remittances and public policies oriented towards development that has attracted the attention and collaboration of international organizations such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). It was the first program of its kind in the world and has served as a model for other experiences such as that of Unidos por la Solidaridad from El Salvador. It is an example of Mexico's growing interest in harnessing remittances for development. The goals of the program are to target poverty and promote local development, as well as establishing a more solid relationship between the migrants and their communities of origin.In Mexico, the total amount of remittances received in 2005 was $20.35 billion according to the central bank (Banco de Mexico 2006), and in 2006, the total amount was $23.054 billion (Banco de Mexico 2007). Remittances have become the second largest source of foreign exchange after oil, surpassing foreign aid, tourism and foreign investment. …