International Development Programs Research Articles

FINANCIAL AUTONOMY OF LITHUANIAN UNIVERSITIES

The analysis of legislative support of higher education of Lithuania was carried out. It was found out that the right to higher education in Lithuania is guaranteed by the Constitution of Lithuania. It was revealed that higher education is based on the principles of academic freedom and autonomy, openness and responsibility to society, competition between higher education institutions and students in accordance with the Law on Higher Education and Research 2009. As a result of higher education reform, elements of performance-based funding in the form of performance agreements between universities and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport were introduced. The indicators of measuring the results for such agreements were determined. They are: accessibility and usefulness of education; quality of research (art and education); internationalization of research and education, integrity of research and education. The sources of funding for higher education in Lithuania have been identified. They include: state budget financial resources for study and research, for maintenance and administration of university, funds of state investment in the infrastructure program, tuition fees, income received from international research and development programs and from orders of legal entities. The main features of the voucher system in higher education of Lithuania were revealed. In particular, the government sets a standardized study price is the cost of a voucher; students have the right to choose study programs and to raise funds for the selected higher education institution; a voucher given for a university student is valid for two years; vouchers can be provided to private universities; the government has allocated funds for six main areas: social sciences, humanities, physical sciences, biomedical sciences, art studies and technological sciences. The indicators of financial autonomy of Lithuanian universities were analysed.

Bringing Gender In? EU Foreign and Security Policy after Brexit

In this article, we identify Brexit as a critical juncture, wherein the EU has had the opportunity to reflect on and reinforce its identity, as a promoter of gender issues within the security domain. It draws on this identity from a foundational myth of the EU as gender equality polity, resulting in the creation of a socio-legal order and sustained discourse on gender inclusivity in all policy areas. Existing scholarship has drawn attention to the EU’s particular success in gender equality promotion in the areas of social inclusion at member state level, including in the UK. But, is the EU’s reach comprehensive beyond this policy sphere? We examine the ways in which gender is manifested in the area of foreign policy, an area where the UK has consistently shown some leadership on the integration of gender perspectives in its foreign policy through its international development programmes and the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. It is therefore timely to consider what impact Brexit has on EU policies, practices and the promotion of gender equality in this policy domain. Using a critical feminist lens, this article looks at the evolution of gender equality as a dimension of EU foreign and security policy in the context of EU–UK relations, and the divergences, opportunities and constraints that are crystallised by the Brexit process.

Notes from the Pier No. 1(3)

Based on the two previous notes, this paper argues that if China’s national as well as international development programs are actually a configuration of inter-connectivity, then the Shanghai Communique (February, 1972) can be taken as a midway station between the Russia Aid Programs (1950s), the Bandung Declaration (1956) and the Pan American Highway and BRI-OBOR could be taken as a continental inter-connectivity. From there on, an Arctic OBOR would result in a super inter-hemispheric OBOR, thus bringing human civilizations to move from “#1.0” to “#2.0” and on to their “#3.0 Paradigm shift”. In addition to big nations such as China, EU, Russia, and the US playing their leading roles, many other nations along the road would be able to participate in the process and share its rewards.

Paradoxes and partnerships: a study of knowledge exploration and exploitation in international development programmes

PurposeThis paper aims to look at how organisational partnerships balance knowledge exploration and exploitation in contexts that are rife with paradoxes. It draws on paradox theory to examine the partnership’s response to the explore-exploit relationship.Design/methodology/approachA multiple interpretive case study was used to examine international partnerships in three African countries. These partnerships were between international (Northern-based) non-governmental organisations and local African non-governmental organisations.FindingsThe research finds that within the partnership, knowledge exploration and exploitation exist as a duality rather than a dualism. This is supported by the acceptance and confrontation of paradoxes of performing and belonging. However, macro-level paradoxes of organising linked to power, culture and epistemologies inhibit further effective confrontation of the explore-exploit paradox.Practical implicationsThe findings can help managers working in international development organisations to understand how learning is enabled and constrained in partnership-based programmes.Originality/valueThe study provides a novel contribution to knowledge management by applying the paradox perspective to the explore-exploit relationship. This paper extends previous work by drawing on the levels and repertoires present in the paradox perspective to understand how knowledge exploration and exploitation can be mutually reinforcing and can exist as a duality.

The global change impacts on forest natural resources in Central Rif Mountains in northern Morocco: extensive exploration and planning perspective

The global changes including social, environment and economic transformation constitute a major handicap to the sustainable development of the Moroccan Central Rif mountains area. The accelerated degradation of the forest resources in this area demonstrates that there is a dynamic interaction between the biosphere and community groups. These ever-changing interactions between the need to live and the limited of natural environment skills, give rise to environments that have been developed, built or, in general, altered or degraded. The available statistical data, cartography, field surveys and visits have shown a regression of forest superficies in the profits of the new types of illegal farming, despite the national and international development programs had established since the 1960s. Keywords: Global change; Forest; Central Rif Mountains; Planning. http://dx.doi.org/10.17127/got/2019.17.004 Data de submissao: 2019-01-31 Data de aprovacao: 2019-05-28 Data de publicacao: 2019-06-30

Building resilience from the ground up.

Building resilience from the ground up.

Rivers and roads: A political ecology of displacement, development, and chronic liminality in Zambia's Gwembe Valley

The construction of Kariba Dam in 1958 ignited a legacy of livelihood insecurity and chronic liminality that reverberated through subsequent generations. A community under one chief was split into two marginal resettlement sites more than 200 km apart. Sixty years after the dam's construction, and following a series of cyclical shifts between access to and alienation from international development programming, the World Bank has returned to initiate the new Bottom Road, which at last reconnects these two communities. It has also released funds for a new irrigation development and support program. Research presented here suggests that, while the Bottom Road is spurring economic growth, it is also delivering capitalized outsiders, eager to claim land and water resources from long‐resident Gwembe Tonga farmers. Analysis of two commercial agriculture/irrigation schemes, at the road's southern and northern terminuses, reveals that new infrastructure often leads to rapid natural resource alienation and livelihood upheaval. Integrating the lens of chronic liminality with the hydrosocial cycle, we situate these projects within a broader regional history of land and water privatization and reveal how water‐linked development interventions produce vulnerabilities for particular segments of the local population.

Using a theory of change for evaluation: has the FAIMER international faculty development program improved the field of health professions education?

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Program theories have not been extensively used in evaluating faculty development programs in medical education. Ample evidence shows that a well-formulated program theory plays a pivotal role in program implementation and evaluation. Program theory links activities and expected outcomes using a logical process showing how they lead to long-term goals. It also develops appropriate metrics or indicators for assessing if those outcomes and activities really occurred. In this study, FAIMER's theory of change was adopted as a framework for evaluation. Survey data from FAIMER Fellows was used to assess the effectiveness of FAIMER's faculty development program in meeting the goal of improving health professions education. We used structural equation modeling to examine the association among outcomes mapped out in our theory of change and their association with improving field of health professions education. The study results indicated that FAIMER's faculty development program appeared to have positively influenced advancement of multiple facets of health professions education as envisaged in our theory of change. Using a theoretical framework for evaluating a program helped us identify the specific areas of outcomes that need to be strengthened for program improvement as well as provided us with a data-driven evaluation framework to measure program progress.

The West African Ebola emergency and reconstruction; lessons from Public Health England.

West African governments, the WHO and wider international community were caught unprepared for the world's largest Ebola outbreak of 2014-16. This was an unprecedented challenge to local services and international agencies, since the emergency required high-tech molecular diagnostic services operated by specialist staff and a coordinated emergency response in addition to humanitarian support, which was not available at the beginning of the outbreak. Public Health England (PHE), as a new national public health agency was well placed to provide support for these needs. After the outbreak, PHE supported reconstruction to ensure diagnostic and emergency planning capability remained in place in the immediate aftermath of the outbreak and build necessary public health infrastructure for the future. The article describes the role PHE played as a national public health agency supporting reconstruction and long-term development through the UK Government (Department for International Development) programme called 'Resilient Zero'. Public Health England (PHE), UK Government's Department for International Development, WHO, US Centers for Communicable Diseases (CDC), China Centre for Communicable Diseases (China CDC). The need for reliable, sustainable, in country molecular diagnostics, together with a programme to strengthen in country Emergency Planning, Preparedness and Response (EPRR). Providing high tech molecular capability in a resource-poor West African country with variable provision of basic diagnostic equipment, intermittent power supply, ineffective supply chains and maintaining training capacity for emergency planning in the long term. Emergency planning models from the West needed to be adapted for the countries' context. Short term aid projects as a model did not suite this development requirement. PHE had strong local and international political support to reconstruct three Government regional laboratories and deploy molecular technology. Significant learning by PHE as a national public health agency and sharing this will be of benefit to other national public health agencies. UK staff reported increased levels of satisfaction and experience relevant to public health practice. The Sierra Leonean Government and officials requested long-term levels of commitment. It is important for agencies such as PHE to constantly learn, develop long-term institutional partnerships and play a bigger role with other similar agencies internationally. How best to support sustainable high-tech molecular technology in West Africa and modules for emergency planning relevant to the context; evidence for long term versus short-term support for highly complex diagnostic capabilities; relevance to maintaining individual country public health infrastructure to ensuring global health security; benefits of overseas work for employee of a national agency.

Thermal-hydraulics and neutronic code coupling for RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD4.0

The design and analysis of energy systems requires robust and reliable computer codes that produce realistic results. The governing equations and closure models must represent the physical behaviors of the energy systems. Nuclear power plants, as the quintessential example of complex energy systems, must be modeled with such high-fidelity and accurate nuclear system codes in which thermal-hydraulics, neutronics and fuel performance models must be coupled for in order to produce high-fidelity predictions. Most commonly, the interplay between the various subsystems of a nuclear power plant (nuclear fuel, fluids, neutronics, control rods, power conversion, etc.) is modeled through a combination of different codes that are externally coupled.The objective of this paper is to present work that couples the RELAP/SCDAP SIM/MOD4.0 code with the NESTLE neutronic code within the 3DKIN package, thus providing the latter with updated neutron kinetic capabilites. The version of the RELAP/SCDAPSIM/MOD4.0 code used in this work has been developed by Innovate System Software (ISS) and is the latest in the series of such code versions developed as part of the international SCDAP Development and Training Program (SDTP) for best-estimate analysis to model reactor transients including severe accident phenomena. The new feature of 3DKIN enhances the simulation of the Nuclear Power Plants (NPP) response under accidental and operational scenarios in which high reliability of neutronic feedback is needed.The RELAP/SCDAPSIM code is described and the improvements implemented in it are presented, including nodal kinetics library as well the coupling method that is applied. Finally, a BWR transient with unexpected injection of subcooled water as specified in an OECD Benchmark has been simulated in order to assess the reliability of the package and the performance of the coupling. Results are compared to those of the other OECD benchmark participants. The comparison of fuel temperature, effective multiplication factor (keff) and power distribution results display good agreement with values within the range of those of other participants.

On-site Observational Learning in Faculty Development: Impact of an International Program on Clinical Teaching in Medicine.

Local faculty development programs may not suffice for physicians to learn about global standards in clinical teaching. This report describes the evaluation of a 1-week international faculty development program in Canada, incorporating on-site observations of clinical teaching with guided reflection, for Japanese clinical teachers. Participants' perceptions of learning processes and outcomes are described. Twenty-nine Japanese clinical teachers from 9 different teaching hospitals located in the Gifu province participated in this program from 2014 to 2017. The program evaluation consisted of end-of-program reflection reports and semistructured interviews conducted 3 months after the visit, which were thematically analyzed. Three themes related to learning processes emerged: the benefits of observing clinical teaching in a familiar specialty but unfamiliar context; the value of reflection in linking previous experiences with observations; and the role of group interaction and verbalization in creating a sense of community. Three additional themes related to learning outcomes emerged: enhanced knowledge about teaching, with a renewed emphasis on the value of learner respect and trust; increased confidence in teaching competence; and a sense of frustration related to difficulty in changing the status quo. An international faculty development program incorporating on-site observational learning in hospital settings with guided reflections can be effective in learning about clinical teaching; follow-up activities in the home country are also recommended. The key elements of this program, including international experiences, on-site observational learning, and guided reflections, should be considered more frequently in faculty development programs in medicine.

Insurgency and Small Wars: Estimation of Unobserved Coalition Structures

Insurgency and guerrilla warfare impose enormous socio‐economic costs and often persist for decades. The opacity of such forms of conflict is an obstacle to effective international humanitarian intervention and development programs. To shed light on the internal organization of otherwise unknown insurgent groups, this paper proposes two methodologies for the detection of unobserved coalitions of militants in conflict areas. These approaches are based on daily geocoded incident‐level data on insurgent attacks. We provide applications to the Afghan conflict during the 2004–2009 period and to Pakistan during the 2008–2011 period, identifying systematically different coalition structures. Applications to global terrorism data and identification of new groups or shifting coalitions are discussed.

Indian View of Globalization: an Analysis of the Bioethical Ideas of Vandana Shiva

The article analyzes the views of Vandana Shiva, an Indian researcher, philosopher and prominent social and political figure, who is critical of the modern processes of globalization. Shiva insists that for countries of the Third World, globalization is unfair and contrasts it with alter-globalism. In its analysis of the situation, it relies on a bioethical tradition associated with the name of Van Potter, and widely uses the views of the classics of Indian social and political thought. For Shiva, bioethics is the science of survival, which expresses the interests of the masses and allows one to resist the intervention of global Western capitalism and its immediate agents — transnational corporations. In her scientific works, she shows what forms this intervention takes during history and very critically evaluates international development programs for India and other developing countries. Shiva focuses on the problems of using moist tropical forests, modernizing agriculture, the use of biotechnology. From her point of view, the development programs that are imposed on India by international organizations do not benefit it. They neglect local cultural traditions of using natural resources — forest, land, water, seeds, which, on the contrary, are an example of the developed ecological thinking of the peoples of the Third World. As before, the capitalist West continues to impose India on its economic, technical and cultural backwardness, while at the same time plundering its natural resources and causing irreparable damage to its biodiversity. Recently, this robbery took sophisticated forms related to the use of patents and the sale of genetically modified seeds. Shiva calls them biopiracy. Participating in the fight against this phenomenon, she created the Navdanya Foundation, which became an organizational, educational and resource center for resisting the biopiracy of transnational corporations.

Can ICT-enabled real-time data contribute to adaptive management in development programming?

ABSTRACTThis article aims to explore whether ICT-enabled real-time data (RTD) systems can help to improve the operationalisation of adaptive management of international development programmes. Using a qualitative multi-method approach consisting of 48 semi-structured key expert interviews and four exploratory case studies, we found that RTD can successfully inform rapid tactical adaptive management in development programmes but is, on its own, of only limited use for most strategic adaptive management. The research identified multiple contextual barriers to the use of RTD for adaptive management. These barriers need to be addressed to realise the full potential of real-time adaptive management of programmes.

Moving on from logical frameworks to find the ‘missing middle’ in international development programmes

ABSTRACT Theory-driven approaches to evaluation are increasingly employed in international development programmes to assess how programmes achieve outcomes – planned and unplanned. While the logical framework has long been used in international development, several leading international organisations are turning to theory-of-change (TOC) and realist approaches. For development practitioners, the nomenclature and process of constructing programme theory can seem daunting and the added value unclear. Using a real-world case study, this paper aims to demystify the terminology behind three theory-driven approaches (i.e. the logical framework, TOC and realist approaches) and address questions of why and how theory-driven evaluation can be incorporated into practice to provide a more informed and nuanced understanding of how programmes ‘work’. Using a nutrition case study, we highlight the key differences and commonalities between each approach and illustrate the process of constructing programme theory for each approach. A combination of the TOC and realist approaches is then explored to identify the added benefit to a combined approach in constructing programme theory. The combination of approaches provides a deeper knowledge of context and mechanisms required for change. Five guiding principles are identified to facilitate in the application of this combined approach.

Eradicating information poverty: An agenda for research

Information poverty remains a critical issue for societies today. The literature of information poverty is reviewed tracking its origins in library and information science and the various approaches that have been taken to tackling information poverty, including international development programmes such as the Global Libraries Initiative, working response to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the importance of access to health information and so on. The paper sets out themes that emerged in a roundtable discussion of library and information science academics in 2017. Discussion centred on: definitions of information poverty which reflect the wide variety of ways in which it is possible to be information poor; literacy and information literacy; the ways in which information can reduce poverty and disadvantage; library and information science initiatives to tackle information poverty; and information poverty in the context of social justice. The group agreed that there was a major piece of work to be done in reframing the library and information science discipline in terms of information poverty. Four key dimensions of information poverty for collaborative future research are: (1) information as an agent to eradicate poverty; (2) the causal factors resulting in information poverty; (3) creation and production activities to combat information poverty; and (4) better understanding of areas of extreme disadvantage and aspects of information need. A list of the key causal factors in creating information poverty which came out of the discussion is presented. Further research initiatives are underway for setting up a partnership/consortium that would lay the foundations for a multidisciplinary network on information poverty, sharing expertise internationally.

Comparative evaluation of the performance of an improved biomass cook stove and the traditional stoves of Iran

Abstract In international development programs on improvement of energy supply for cooking in remote regions, biomass gasifier cook stoves have a remarkable place. Fuel type and size play a key role on the performance of such stoves. The most abundant woody biomass waste in Iran is apple pruning waste (up to 1.32 Mt a year). This paper reports the result of evaluation of a top lit updraft biomass stove specifically modified to burn apple pruning waste. In addition, the improved biomass cooking stove (ICS) was technically compared with traditional cook stove (TCS) based on Water Boiling Test 4.2.3 and time to boil (TTB) instruction. Water and flame temperature variations were compared with a natural gas stove (GS), as the most common cooking device in Iran. The average TTB was 12, 13, and 20 min for the GS, ICS, and TCS, respectively. The comparison of regression equations indicated that the rate of increase in the flame and water temperature in the both ICS and GS were similar. In general, better thermal efficiency was observed in the ICS (about 35%) in comparison with the TCS (12.6%). The specific and the total fuel consumption in the ICS were 73 and 67% lower than that of the TCS, respectively.

Trade-Offs in Children’s Time Allocation: Mixed Support for Embodied Capital Models of the Demographic Transition in Tanzania

Embodied capital theory (ECT) argues that socioeconomic “modernization” leads to high-cost, high-return parental investments in education, in turn incentivizing demographic transitions to low fertility. However, few studies have directly investigated the proposed opportunity costs of schooling in contemporary developing populations undergoing socioeconomic change. We present a study of children’s time use in two communities in Mwanza, Tanzania, representing either end of a local rural-urban gradient. Consistent with ECT, town residence compared with village residence was associated with increased schooling at the expense of time allocation to children’s work. However, these patterns apply primarily to boys, for whom herding work is relatively incompatible with schooling. Girls more readily combine domestic chores with school attendance, a pattern that may account for unexpectedly high female school enrollment in this population. Furthermore, the strongest time allocation trade-offs were not between school and work but between school and leisure time, suggesting overall low opportunity costs to education. Mixed support for ECT may partially explain why fertility decline has stalled in many low-income countries despite education uptake. Finally, we advocate that international development programs consider the well-being implications of reduced leisure time accompanying education uptake, particularly for girls maintaining a “double shift” of school and domestic work.

The Actor-Based Change Framework: A Pragmatic Approach to Developing Program Theory for Interventions in Complex Systems

Despite a wide body of literature on the importance of program theory and the need to tackle complexity to improve international development programming, the use of program theory to underpin interventions aimed at facilitating change in complex systems remains a challenge for many program practitioners. The actor-based change framework offers a pragmatic approach to address these challenges, integrating concepts and frameworks drawn from complexity science and behavioral change literature to develop robust program theory for complex interventions. This article presents the conceptual framework for the approach and describes how it has been applied in practice on an evaluation of a security and justice program in Nepal. It concludes with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the approach in practice and how it can be applied more widely to improve program theory for interventions in complex systems.

New Challenges and Opportunities for Multi and Mixed Methods Research (MMMR) in the Evaluation of International Development Programs

New Challenges and Opportunities for Multi and Mixed Methods Research (MMMR) in the Evaluation of International Development Programs