Department For International Development Research Articles

SECURITY FOR ALL, DEVELOPMENT FOR SOME? THE INCORPORATION OF SECURITY IN UK'S DEVELOPMENT POLICY

AbstractThis paper builds on existing research on the merging of development and security following 9/11. Whilst much of the current literature focuses on the development policy of the US, this paper examines the UK. Investigating arguments that the UK's coordination of security and development policy is concerned with security at home rather than in the developing world, the policy discourse of UK's Department for International Development (DfID), Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Ministry of Defence is examined through its major policy documents for the period from the late 1990s to 2011. Two levels of analysis are used: a content analysis and a discourse analysis. In addition, this research draws on interviews with key informants within the DfID. This paper argues that since 9/11 and the War on Terror, the UK has increasingly coordinated its foreign policy, development and security actors. As a result, the DfID has given progressively greater attention to issues of national security in its policy. This action is justified through a series of claims of common interest between actors across government and between the interests of developing countries and the UK. This merging of interests opens up space for development to be focused on ensuring UK's national security. Whilst drawing on a paradigm of broader security, this instead reverses the principal of human security where national security is now a development problem. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Strengthening Rural Decentralisation: A Study on the Role of International Organisations

The term ‘decentralisation’ has generally been used to refer to a variety of institutional reforms. It has sometimes been considered as a change in the organisational framework in which political, social and economic decisions are made and implemented. It is also understood as a mechanism to transfer responsibility and authority. In recent years, decentralisation has received singular attention all over the world. It has been considered as one of the most important elements in development strategy. It is a global and regional phenomenon, and most countries have attempted to implement it as a tool for development, as a political philosophy, and as a mechanism for sharing responsibility at different levels.Since 1980s, developing countries have increasingly adopted decentralised form of governance. Decentralisation means the transfer of authority and responsibility from central to intermediate and local governments. Although the democratic decentralisation in terms of Panchayati Raj Institutions (village councils) was a post-Independence phenomenon, there has been a legacy and tradition of village panchayats since time immemorial in India. The 73rd and 74th Amendment Act, 1993 of the Constitution of India has made the Panchayat an institution of self-government. As per the constitution, Panchayats shall prepare plan for economic development and social justice at their level. The District Planning Committee shall integrate the plan so prepared with the plans prepared by the local bodies at district level. The success and failure of the Panchayats would depend on planning and implementation. It also depends on maximum people’s participation at every stage of planning process, from proposal to implementation. People’s participation in local-level development has been exercised through the formulation of the Panchayat-level development plan, project coordination at intermediate and district levels of the Panchayats.The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in West Bengal are very strong bodies, which function as real institutions of self-governance. In West Bengal, the planning process of grass-root level has some stages from proposal to implementation. After introduction of 3-tier Panchayat system in 1978, the Government of West Bengal brought about need-based reforms in the system from time to time from the very beginning. Encouraged by the State Government’s strong commitment to rural decentralisation, Department for International Development (DFID), Government of UK came forward to support the ongoing rural decentralisation initiatives and upscale the bottom-up planning process. In the present study, an attempt has been made to understand the role of DFID for strengthening decentralisation in rural Bengal.

Measuring Difficult-to-Measure Concepts in Clinical Social Work Practice Operationalizing Psychosocial Well-Being Among War-Affected Women: A Case Study in Northern Uganda

This article addresses the question of how to define, operationalize, and measure psychological and social well-being. Well-being is a concept central to successful outcomes in clinical social work practice, and its promotion is a goal of the profession, yet it is rarely taken into account when we develop evidence-based practices. The complexity of the construct has led to it being described in the literature as “unmeasurable” (Corlazzoli and White in Measuring the un-measurable: solutions to measurement challenges in fragile and conflict-affected environments. Department for International Development (DFID), London, 2013). This article describes and discusses a participatory study of 649 conflict-affected women in a post-conflict region of Northern Uganda that used grounded theory to define and operationalize this concept from the standpoint of women program participants for the purpose of future monitoring and evaluation. The results indicated that poor and often marginalized conflict-affected women were able to envision, articulate, and describe their future well-being, with implications for other populations experiencing severe adversity. The study resulted in the development of a practical method to evaluate the effectiveness of future programs from the standpoint of program participants.

Prevalence of porcine cysticercosis in the Lake Kyoga Basin, Uganda.

BackgroundTaenia solium is a zoonotic helminth with the potential to cause life threatening epilepsy in people through the aberrant larval infection of the brain called Neurocysticercosis (NCC). The pig is the intermediate host for T. solium where the larval form, cysticercus cellulosae, normally develops after the pig eats eggs of the parasite. Humans are the definitive host where the adult tapeworm develops and are infected through the consumption of poorly cooked, infected meat. T. solium has been acknowledged by the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UK Department for International Development (DFID) as being a neglected zoonotic disease, and was recently included in the WHO roadmap for control of neglected tropical diseases. This neglect encompasses a lack of epidemiological data and a lack of validated, effective control strategies being adopted. Understanding the epidemiology of this parasite in the intermediate host is the first step towards designing suitable intervention strategies for the improvement of public health. This study was undertaken to provide an accurate and up-to-date estimate for the prevalence of porcine cysticercosis in the Lake Kyoga basin.ResultsSera from 378 pigs were analysed with the HP10 Antigen Enzyme Linked Immunosorbant Assay (ELISA) and the prevalence was found to be 25.7% (95% confidence interval 21.0% to 30.0%). Previous sero- surveillance in this region, using the B158/B60 Ag Elisa had indicated a prevalence of 8.6% in 2005 indicating a dramatic increase in prevalence (J. Parasitol Res, Article ID 375493, 2009) within a 6 year period.ConclusionThis increasing prevalence in the disease indicates to us that there is currently no effective control of this parasite and that in this region of Uganda at least; cysticercosis remains a neglected zoonotic disease.

Experiences of two paramedics deployed to the Phillipines in response to Typhoon Haiyan

This article describes the experiences of two paramedics from the UK International Emergency Trauma Register (UKIETR) who deployed as part of the UK-Med response to Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Each had a key role in the deployed teams, both targeting distinct but differing health needs following the Typhoon. Tim Byrom was a member of the first team activated on 13 November 2013. He formed part of a surgical, anaesthetic and rehabilitation team that assisted the Australian Medical Assistance Team (AUSMAT) at their field hospital in Tacloban. Peta Watts was in the second team, deployed two weeks after the Typhoon following invitation to continue assessments and health provision on outlying islands. Her experience involved being part of a unique and effective collaboration between the Department for International Development (DfID), UK-Med, and the British Military in the delivery of an integrated humanitarian aid package.

Results measurement and evaluability: a comparative analysis

We compare the procedures and structures for supporting results measurement and evaluation between the Norwegian aid administration, the World Bank, Danida and Department for International Development. We find an important systematic difference in how agencies embed results measurement into their projects and programmes between the partner-led and the agency-led approach. There are clear limitations to the former in results documentation and major challenges in making it work to that end. The findings suggest that the main proponent of the partner-led system, Norway, should undertake revise procedures in order to be able to document results. Finally, we discuss the importance of leadership in ensuring results measurement systems work effectively.

Preparing for HIV Prevention Trials: From Training to Service Delivery-lessons Learned with Long Acting Reversible Contraception (LARC) in Zambia

Background: Zambia has a high burden of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. The provision of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC) specifically intra-uterine devices (IUDs) and Jadelle implants is critical to prevent unplanned pregnancy and perinatal transmission in HIV+women and is also necessary to prevent pregnancy in HIV- prevention trial participants. The UK Department for International Development has funded a program to avert an estimated 13900 new HIV infections through integrated PMTCT with LARC and HIV couples-focused HIV testing. Methods: LARC training for providers began with a 3-day didactic training followed by supervised IUD and Jadelle insertion and removal practicums. Those showing proficiency in all 4 categories were considered fully certified. Practicums were conducted at government clinics in Copperbelt Lusaka and Southern Province. Results: From June 2013 to March 2014 ZEHRP trained 199 LARC providers from 45clinics. 91% were certified in Jadelle insertions 70% in Jadelle removals 55% in IUD insertions 46% in IUD removals and 43% were fully certified. The main obstacles to completion of practicums were not being assigned to the family planning department when one of the few trainers was available and coordinating these times with availability of interested LARC clients. A Training-of-Trainers was held for the fully certified nurses who were high performers meetings were held with clinic in-charges to coordinate trainee schedules and satisfied clients were recruited to give personal testimonials. Conclusions: IUD and implants are rarely used in Africa primarily because lack of supply leads to lack of demand. This model illustrates an effective way to harness successful LARC trainees as trainers and work with clinic administrators and satisfied clients to coordinate practicum training and demand creation. Repeating this cycle leads to a snowball effect of progressive and simultaneous increase in supply and demand resulting in PMTCT and trial-ready clients with LARC.

Social Capital and Community Resilience

Despite the ubiquity of disaster and the increasing toll in human lives and financial costs, much research and policy remain focused on physical infrastructure–centered approaches to such events. Governmental organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security, United States Federal Emergency Management Agency, United States Agency for International Development, and United Kingdom’s Department for International Development continue to spend heavily on hardening levees, raising existing homes, and repairing damaged facilities despite evidence that social, not physical, infrastructure drives resilience. This article highlights the critical role of social capital and networks in disaster survival and recovery and lays out recent literature and evidence on the topic. We look at definitions of social capital, measurement and proxies, types of social capital, and mechanisms and application. The article concludes with concrete policy recommendations for disaster managers, government decision makers, and nongovernmental organizations for increasing resilience to catastrophe through strengthening social infrastructure at the community level.

The Economic and Noneconomic Benefits of Tertiary Education in Low-income Contexts

After many years of relative neglect, development agencies and national governments across the developing world are now considering renewing their financial commitment to tertiary education. As a result, questions about the ways that tertiary education can impact society have returned to the discourse. This article summarizes the findings of a recent rigorous review on the topic commissioned by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The review highlights a number of important social functions of the university, many of which have not been sufficiently emphasized in debates around public funding for tertiary education.

Cost-effectiveness of the Health X Project for tuberculosis control in China.

Between 2002 and 2008, China's National Tuberculosis Control Programme created the Health X Project, financed in part by a World Bank loan, with additional funding from the UK Department for International Development. To assess the cost-effectiveness of the Project and its impact from a financial point of view on tuberculosis (TB) control in China. A decision-analytic model was used to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of the Project. Sensitivity analysis was used to assess the impact of different scenarios and assumptions on results. The primary outcome of the study was cost per disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) saved and incremental DALYs saved. In comparison with alternative scenario 1, the Project detected 1.6 million additional cases, 44 000 deaths were prevented and a total of 18.4 million DALYs saved. The Project strategies cost approximately Chinese yuan (CNY) 953 per DALY saved (vs. CNY1140 in the control areas), and saved an estimated CNY17.5 billion in comparison with the unchanged alternative scenario (scenario 1) or CNY10.8 billion with the control scenario (scenario 2). The Project strategies were affordable and of comparable cost-effectiveness to those of other developing countries. The results also provide strong support for the existing policy of scaling up DOTS in China.

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Enhancing Food Security Through Innovation Platforms: Experiences from Research into Use Project in Rwanda

Maize is an important food security crop in Rwanda and the East African region, however the maize value chain is not well developed and the productivity is still low partly because of low technology uptake by the smallholder farmers. Since 2006, the Department for International Development (DFID) supported the “Research Into Use” (RIU) programme in Rwanda to enhance the uptake of agricultural technologies using innovation platforms (IPs). Maize was one of the target crops for intensification particularly in Nyagatare District for which an IP was established. The purpose of the innovation platforms was to faciliate interaction of the key actors in the value chain including farmers, cooperatives, inputs suppliers, processors, traders, credits providers, local leaders, research and extension to establish mutual relationships for value chain development. This study assessed processes of establishing IPs and requirements for their effective operations and sustainability. Data were collected using focus group discussions, observations and interviews. SPSS and SNA softwares were used to analyze data. Through actor interactions in IPs, farmers` problems were prioritized by research; relationships were established between research institutions, NGOs, processors and finance institutions for value addition of maize thereby creating a pull effect for increased production and income. Increased production, productivity and incomes are core to food security. The IP was a mechanism for developing value chains that provided incentives and means for access to and adoption of technologies for increasing productivity of maize. Hower, functional IPs requires facilitation and capacity building of the actors to interact in a mutually beneficial manner.&#x0D; JEL Classification Code: 031&#x0D;

Maternal mortality in Bangladesh: a Countdown to 2015 country case study

Bangladesh is one of the only nine Countdown countries that are on track to achieve the primary target of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5 by 2015. It is also the only low-income or middle-income country with two large, nationally-representative, high-quality household surveys focused on the measurement of maternal mortality and service use. We use data from the 2001 and 2010 Bangladesh Maternal Mortality Surveys to measure change in the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) and from these and six Bangladesh Demographic and Health Surveys to measure changes in factors potentially related to such change. We estimate the changes in risk of maternal death between the two surveys using Poisson regression. The MMR fell from 322 deaths per 100,000 livebirths (95% CI 253-391) in 1998-2001 to 194 deaths per 100,000 livebirths (149-238) in 2007-10, an annual rate of decrease of 5·6%. This decrease rate is slightly higher than that required (5·5%) to achieve the MDG target between 1990 and 2015. The key contribution to this decrease was a drop in mortality risk mainly due to improved access to and use of health facilities. Additionally, a number of favourable changes occurred during this period: fertility decreased and the proportion of births associated with high risk to the mother fell; income per head increased sharply and the poverty rate fell; and the education levels of women of reproductive age improved substantially. We estimate that 52% of maternal deaths that would have occurred in 2010 in view of 2001 rates were averted because of decreases in fertility and risk of maternal death. The decrease in MMR in Bangladesh seems to have been the result of factors both within and outside the health sector. This finding holds important lessons for other countries as the world discusses and decides on the post-MDG goals and strategies. For Bangladesh, this case study provides a strong rationale for the pursuit of a broader developmental agenda alongside increased and accelerated investments in improving access to and quality of public and private health-care facilities providing maternal health in Bangladesh. United States Agency for International Development, UK Department for International Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Conflict resilience among community forestry user groups: experiences in Nepal.

This paper explores the impact of violent conflict in Nepal on the functioning of community forestry user groups (CFUGs), particularly those supported by the Livelihoods and Forestry Programme, funded by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID). The key questions are: (i) what explains the resilience of CFUGs operating at the time of conflict?; (ii) what institutional arrangements and strategies allowed them to continue working under conflict conditions?; and (iii) what lessons can be drawn for donor-supported development around the world? The study contributes to other research on the everyday experiences of residents of Nepal living in a period of conflict. It suggests that CFUG resilience was the result of the institutional set up of community forestry and the employment of various tactics by the CFUGs. While the institutional design of community forestry (structure) was very important for resilience, it was the ability of the CFUGs to support and use it effectively that was the determining factor in this regard.

Improving access to finance for small- and medium-sized enterprises in the road sector: the CrossRoads Guarantee Fund in Uganda

Credit guarantee funds are a tried-and-tested instrument to improve access to finance. This paper aims to share experience from the CrossRoads Guarantee Fund in Uganda. The Fund was established in 2012 as one of the interventions under the CrossRoads Programme funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Union (EU) to build capacity and competitiveness in Uganda's roads sector. The objective of the Fund is to improve access to finance for contractors/consultants. The Fund has created significant benefits and impacts that include enabling contractors to secure bid securities and performance bonds valued at Ugandan Shillings 11.7 bn (US$4.7 m); improving relationships between financial institutions and contractors; and significant crowding-in by financial institutions. Important lessons to guide scaling up or replication of similar initiatives are emerging. First, a guarantee fund creates significant behaviour change on both the supply and demand sides of the financial services market. Second, high leverage and impact can be achieved from a modest investment. Third, fund access conditions should be stringent enough to minimize moral hazard. Fourth, fund utilization, leverage, and outreach depend on work flow. Finally, protracted procurement processes raise costs and undermine the effectiveness of a guarantee fund.

Responding to the needs of survivors of sexual violence: Do we know what works?

During the past twelve months, the issue of sexual violence in conflict and emergencies has received an unprecedented amount of attention at the highest political and institutional levels. In 2013, the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) launched a Call to Action to mobilize donors, UN agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other stakeholders on protecting women and girls in humanitarian emergencies, culminating in the high-level event “Protecting Girls and Women in Emergencies” in November 2013. As of August 2014, over forty partners (including governments, United Nations (UN) agencies and NGOs) had made commitments to the Call to Action. Furthermore, in June 2014 the “Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict”, co-chaired by the UK Foreign Secretary and Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), gathered 1,700 delegates and 129 country delegations. In his summary, the chair of the Global Summit states: “We must apply the lessons we have learned and move from condemnation to concrete action. We must all live up to the commitments we have made.”1In September 2014, the United States organized a Call to Action event in New York during the UN General Assembly with the purpose of sharing progress on commitments made in November 2013. It thus seems that efforts to raise awareness about sexual violence in conflict and emergencies and advocate for a much stronger commitment to action are well under way. But is this enough? Is there enough evidence from lessons learned to allow us to increase and improve our response?

Evaluation of Gender and Equity Issues Under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan

In the last 50 years, India has made significant progress in the field of education. Yet, there are huge challenges, especially when it comes to bridging gender and equity gaps in education. In 2001, the Government of India (GOI) had launched Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan (SSA) with the specific purpose of achieving universal elementary education (UEE). One of the main goals of SSA is to bridge gender and social gaps. Even though the SSA programme is primarily financed by the GOI, three external Development Partners (DP) also contribute funds towards SSA, namely: World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Union (EU). Being a partnership programme, a six monthly review is carried out by the GOI and DP, which is known as the Joint Review Mission (JRM). This desk review was conceptualised with the purpose of doing a thorough review of monitoring and evaluation processes of SSA JRM reports in order to understand how gender and equity goals have been tracked and addressed by the government and donor partners. More specifically, this study also explores how equity and gender have been understood within the SSA framework; whether the SSA JRM mechanism focuses on input indicators, process indicators and/or output indicators; and what are the various gender-related issues that have been flagged in SSA JRM reports and recommendations made over the years?

Learning from all? The World Bank, aid agencies and the construction of hegemony in education for development

This paper explores the nature and quality of the participation that characterises the Bank's consultations with external actors and examines the extent to which the Bank is responsive to such feedback when it comes to defining its policy preferences and strategies in the education domain. It draws on a case study of the participatory process that was organised around the definition of the last World Bank Education Strategy (WBES2020) and focuses on the participation of three European aid agencies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Department for International Development of the UK. This paper acknowledges that a significant effort was made to promote the inclusiveness and transparency of the participatory process, yet it concludes that the conditions for promoting quality participation and substantive policy change were not provided. Furthermore, the way international aid agencies produce and use knowledge limits their role and influence in the context of the Bank's consultations. Hence, by not contesting the Bank's policy ideas substantially, the agencies contribute inadvertently to reproducing the Bank's predominance in the education for development field.

Can Aid Bureaucracies Think Politically? The Administrative Challenges of Political Economy Analysis (PEA) in DFID and the World Bank

Although politics has become central to international development assistance, the use of political economy analysis (PEA) as a means for greater aid effectiveness remains an aspiring epistemic agenda. Even though virtually all aid donors have some personnel working on the development and implementation of PEA methodologies and frameworks, whether this new cognitive model for aid is compatible with pre-existing administrative factors is still an open question. We argue that for PEA to become fully institutionalised in donor agencies it needs to overcome the hurdles of administrative viability: its proponents need to reconcile it with corporate and professional incentives, as well as with the political environment in which an agency operates. We track this process empirically within two PEA leaders: the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank. Using documents and interviews from headquarters as well as three country offices ? Bangladesh, Ghana, Uganda ? we find that political economy analysis has not yet become institutionalised in programming, management or the professions, and remains an intellectual agenda very much rooted in the governance silo. We conclude by arguing that the future of PEA lies in organisational change, not any particular framework, and that this change is more likely to occur by disseminating PEA outside of the governance profession into agency management and the various sectors of development assistance.

Legitimacy, Tribridity, and Decent Work Deficits

This article outlines how features of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) tribrid configuration have led to tensions around its perceived legitimacy. I claim that the ILO's structure is the most democratic but at the same time also quite problematic for a UN agency. To support this claim, I look at relations between the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DfID) and the ILO, and DfID's recently introduced 2011 Multilateral Aid Review auditing tools. Those are demonstrated to align better with employers' interests than with the interests of the other members of the ILO configuration. The article asks how decent work can continue to be prioritised when marketised principles provide the rationale for governance. Trade unions' responses to this ‘legitimacy storm’ show that the ILO has not lost legitimacy. On the contrary, the organisation's emphasis on decent and in particular, a renewed emphasis on dignified work is more important than ever due to recession and the rolling back of social protection in global and local governance.