International Development Sector Research Articles

Complexities of Implementation: Oxfam Australia's Experience in Piloting Blockchain

This paper describes one of Oxfam’s pilot projects exploring blockchain technology, focusing on the non-technological, institutional challenges faced by the organisation. There is an emerging literature on blockchain for social good, however, this predominantly focuses on the use cases and issues relating to applying the technology in international development projects. A gap in the literature exists regarding the non-technological aspects of blockchain projects both within the sector and more broadly. Addressing this gap is critically important as many of the promises of blockchain technology will only eventuate in their fullest when whole ecosystems are using the technology. To get there requires a transition period and it is this transition period that holds the key to success for organisations exploring the technology. This paper goes some way to addressing this gap. It does so by describing a specific case study and unpacking some of the organisational challenges associated with implementing a blockchain-based project in the international development and humanitarian sector. This has important implications for the sector as blockchain technology becomes ever more present as a tool capable of reducing inequality and addressing power imbalances. The Oxfam case study described in this paper highlights the difficulty many not-for-profits are having engaging with the technology. The lessons are drawn from a specific use case of a current pilot project using blockchain technology in a cash transfer preparedness project in a small island developing state. Although important and insightful, this paper does not focus on the specifics of the application of the technology but rather discusses the myriad non-technological challenges faced from Oxfam Australia’s perspective. These are categorised into three main areas: awareness and understanding of the technology, capacity constraints of in-house support services in providing relevant support for a nascent technology, and issues related to engaging in non-traditional partnerships. The paper concludes by recommending further areas of research and suggestions to develop practical tools and guidance to help the international development and humanitarian sector navigate this emerging technology.

The Gender Equality and Basic Education in Ethiopia

Education has been pointed out as a tool for democracy, multiculturalism and diversity by the international development sector. This article has posed the problem formulation investigating how the Ethiopian Education policy and legal framework address and shape inequalities in the education system and primarily those related to gender. Currently, girls’ education has also received great attention because, in the words of the United Nations, education is not only a right but a passport to human development. Evidence has been mounting on the pivotal role that educating a girl or a woman plays in improving health, social, and economic outcomes, not only for herself but her children, family, and community. However, girls and women constitute a majority of those who remain deprived of education as evidenced by the low level of their education and the prevailing obstacles to their access to education at all levels. Despite Ethiopia has brought some economic progress over the last decade, it remains one of the poorest countries in the world in terms of several economic parameters. In fact, the Ethiopian government acknowledges that promoting gender equality for Ethiopia where women constitute approximately half of the populace is not only in the best interest of the society at large, but also fundamentally that of ensuring the human and democratic rights of women. Keywords: Education, Girl, Gender, Equality and Ethiopia DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-16-05 Publication date :June 30 th 2019

Do results-based management frameworks frustrate or facilitate effective development practice? Irish international development sector experiences

ABSTRACTUtilising a case study methodological approach to analyse the Irish practitioner experience, this article examines if the introduction of results-based frameworks (RBFs) have led to greater impact and accountability to beneficiaries. The findings point to evidence of early resistance to RBFs based upon concerns regarding resources, inflexibility in programming, and the perceived focus on accountability to donors over beneficiaries. However, findings also point to opportunities that could facilitate more effective development in practice. Indications suggest RBFs may facilitate a greater understanding of complexity, increased focus on outcomes and impact through a systematic use of baseline measurements, and improved adaptive programming.

Parent-offspring conflict unlikely to explain 'child marriage' in northwestern Tanzania.

Approximately 40% of women in sub-Saharan Africa marry before their eighteenth birthday1. Within the international development sector, this phenomenon is referred to as 'child marriage', widely equated to forced marriage, and recognized as damaging to multiple dimensions of female well-being1,2. An escalating global campaign to end early marriage typically assumes that its high prevalence is driven by a conflict of interests between parents and daughters, with parents coercing daughters to marry early for the parents' economic benefit3. However, a parent-offspring conflict model of early marriage has not been explicitly tested. Here we present a study of marriage transitions in rural Tanzania, where marriage before or just after 18 years of age is normative. Consistent with parental coercion, we find that bridewealth transfers are highest for younger brides. However, autonomy in partner choice is very common at all ages, relationships between age at marriage and female well-being are largely equivocal, and women who marry early achieve relatively higher reproductive success. We conclude that, in contexts in which adolescents have autonomy in marriage choices and in which marriage promotes economic and social security, early marriage may be better understood as serving the strategic interests of both parents and daughters.

Transformative leadership for women’s rights in Africa: Learning from Oxfam’s work

abstractThis article charts the journey of over fifteen years of Oxfam’s programming in support of more transformative leadership for African women’s rights. We reflect on lessons learnt from this collective experience and examine the principles, characteristics and strategies emerging from our programming that demonstrate the greatest transformative potential for overcoming women’s exclusion from systems and structures of power and leadership on the African continent.We reflect on some of the tensions in the international development sector between support for individual women’s leadership and feminist movement building and on how these tensions have contributed to narrow definitions of - and funding for - leadership and empowerment programmes.We draw deeply on the critical thinking of transformative feminist leadership activists such as Srilatha Batliwala to help redefine what is meant by – and needed from – leadership in our changing world. We share concrete examples of Oxfam’s experience of partnerships with African women’s rights organisations, networks and movements – often in mainstream development sectors – to trial and mature more transformative leadership in practice. Finally, we use emerging evidence from this work to make arguments for the support and investments required for more feminist – more effective – approaches and strategies for promoting African women’s leadership and power - in Oxfam and elsewhere.

The Influence of Social Capital on Knowledge Management Maturity of Nonprofit Organizations – Predictive Modelling Based on a Multilevel Analysis

Nonprofit, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are important development actors that operate in ecosystems of multi and cross-sector stakeholders in order to reach the most vulnerable social groups of people. Having this in mind, our goal was to explore to what extent their social capital influences their knowledge in order to propose a model that could optimize their knowledge management maturity through social resources embedded into their structure. Therefore, we focused on NGOs from the European Union and the Western Balkans operating in the international development and cooperation sector. We first conducted a survey among 215 NGOs and then cross-checked the received data through desk research and in-depth interviews. We utilized collected structured data and devised a binary classification model capable of discriminating high level from the low level of knowledge management maturity in NGOs, and multi-class classification model for estimating the actual category of knowledge management maturity which can simulate the real connection among social capital and existing knowledge management maturity. Our findings provide valuable data to the NGO management, regardless of where the NGO comes from, of the number of employees it has, and the number of projects it runs. The mathematical models based on neural networks used in this paper show with high accuracy what the knowledge management maturity level (for each output) is in case there exists prior information about social capital (inputs).

Restricted Funding: Restricting Development?

This paper examines, from a management accounting perspective, the efficacy of the dominant ‘restricted’ funding structure in the international development NGO sector in terms of overall sector effectiveness, and whether it is the most appropriate means of funding NGOs. The objective is to encourage theoretical debate around the tensions highlighted between external accountability for funding and overall value-for-money delivered by individual development NGOs and the wider international development sector. From unique access to three internationally recognised major NGOs, our case studies reveal management accounting as broadly homogenous, with some nuanced distinctions both within and between the cases; but the scope of management accounting emerges as relatively limited. This is despite the NGOs utilising complex accounting software, employing qualified accounting staff, and having a large annual income. Using the broad principles of systems theory to frame our approach, this paper suggests that due to the ‘restricted’ nature of funding awarded to NGOs by institutional donors, accounting is dominated by external accountability reporting to the detriment of management accounting. These relatively novel data on management accounting practices at international development NGOs help illustrate how, potentially, NGOs are missing opportunities to utilise, or even improve, value-for-money in terms of how various program themes, geographic areas or time periods are delivering better or worse discernible impact for the money spent.

Neoliberal Threats to Local Governance in South Sudan

This piece examines how neoliberal projects in the international development sector are effecting community and local governance in South Sudan. Neoliberal policies, when applied to development at the community level, often removes the national government as a key stakeholder at the decision-making table, or at the very least minimizes its role and responsibilities. The literature on neoliberalism within international development in South Sudan is severely lacking, which is problematic given the significant amount of money being invested in the country by private companies, NGOs, the United Nations and donor countries. The increasing dependency on international stakeholders for social and economic development, as well as the creation of governance institutions, is presenting a neoliberal threat to the stake of South Sudan’s communities in their country’s governance at the local level. I discuss two key examples in South Sudan: the World Bank Local Service Delivery Project and the Girls Education South Sudan (GESS) program. I end by discussing the implications of leaving this phenomenon unaddressed in research and policy.

Theory-based systematic reviews

ABSTRACTIt has been common to say that studies should address not just the question of what works, but also how, where, for whom and at what cost? A unifying framework for such an approach is the theory of change. This paper lays out an approach for using such a theory-based approach to systematic reviews, discussing issues which arise in mixed-methods causal chain analysis. I illustrate the funnel of attrition which is a heuristic device to understand why effect sizes are lower at the higher reaches of the causal chain, including why participation is less than usually expected. Examples are given from the international development sector.

Research methodology for the development of a framework for managing post-disaster housing reconstruction

Following the increasing occurrence of large-scale disasters, several permanent housing reconstruction programmes have been initiated particularly in developing countries. However, stakeholders within the international development and humanitarian sector have identified permanent housing intervention as ineffective and one of the least successful sectoral intervention particularly in terms of implementation. As a result, stakeholders have increasingly demand for evidence-based studies that will provide insights and guidance to policy makers and practitioners on the measures that could be applied in achieving effective implementation of permanent housing reconstruction programmes. The paper presents the methodical framework including the epistemological foundation and selection of research methodology for which a PhD research that focus on developing a framework for effective management of permanent housing reconstruction programmes was conducted. The article seeks to enhance research methodology knowledge base especially within the disaster resilience - (re)construction management - field that would yield research output to enhance policy-making and practice on the management of housing reconstruction programmes.

Embedding Systems Thinking into EWB Project Planning and Development: Assessing the Utility of a Group Model Building Approach

Amongst growing sociotechnical efforts, engineering students and professionals both in the international development sector and industry are challenged to approach projects more holistically to achieve project goals. Engineering service learning organizations must similarly adapt their technological projects to consider varying cultural and economic structures, ensuring more resilient social progress within development efforts. In practice, systems thinking approaches can be utilized to model the social, economic, political, and technological implications that influence the sustainability of an engineering project. This research assesses the utility of integrating systems thinking into Engineers Without Borders (EWB) project planning and development, thereby improving project impact and more effectively engaging members. At a workshop held at an EWB-USA 2016 Regional Conference, the authors presented a planning and evaluation framework that applies group model building with system dynamics to foster systems thinking through factor diagramming and analysis. To assess the added value of the framework for EWB project planning and development, extensive participant feedback was gathered and evaluated during the workshop and through an optional post-workshop survey. Supported by thoughtful observations and feedback provided by the EWB members, the model building workshop appeared to help participants reveal and consider project complexities by both visually and quantitatively identifying key non-technical and technical factors that influence project sustainability. Therefore, system dynamics applied in a group model building workshop offers a powerful supplement to traditional EWB project planning and assessment activities, providing a systems-based tool for EWB teams and partner communities to build capacity and create lasting change.

INTRAC’s Experience of Working with International NGOs on Aid Withdrawal and Exit Strategies from 2011 to 2016

In recent years, the international development sector has been affected by major new dynamics in the global political economy, with significant shifts in the aid policies of many donor agencies and changes in funding patterns for recipient countries. This article offers insights into what researchers at INTRAC—a not-for-profit organisation which provides capacity building support to different types of civil society organisation around the world—have learned about the interests, priorities and strategies of international NGOs (INGOs) in relation to aid withdrawal and exit processes based on its experiences of promoting debate and supporting organisations over several years. We identify gaps in the evidence base, including the experience of partners, and changes needed in the policy and practice of INGOs to ensure that responsible exit planning becomes the norm rather than an exception.

Challenges in Preparing Veterinarians for Global Animal Health: Understanding the Public Sector.

Understanding of global systems is essential for veterinarians seeking to work in realms outside of their national domain. In the global system, emphasis remains on the public sector, and the current curricular emphasis in developed countries is on private clinical practice for the domestic employment market. There is a resulting lack of competency at graduation for effective engagement internationally. The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) has created standards for public sector operations in animal health, which must be functional to allow for sustainable development. This public sector, known as the Veterinary Services, or VS, serves to control public good diseases, and once effectively built and fully operational, allows for the evolution of a functional private sector, focused on private good diseases. Until the VS is fully functional, support of private good services is non-sustainable and any efforts delivered are not long lasting. As new graduates opt for careers working in the international development sector, it is essential that they understand the OIE guidelines to help support continuing improvement. Developing global veterinarians by inserting content into the veterinary curriculum on how public systems can operate effectively could markedly increase the potential of our professional contributions globally, and particularly in the areas most in need.

Institutionalizing Inequality: Calculative Practices and Regimes of Inequality in International Development

This paper focuses on the institutionalization of inequality in relations between donors and NGOs in the international development sector. We argue that these relations operate within a neoliberal and competitive marketplace, which are necessarily unequal. Specifically, we focus on the apparently mundane practice of impact assessment, and consider how this is fundamental to understanding the performative enactment of institutional inequality. For our analysis we draw upon Miller and Rose’s work on governmentality and calculative practices. We develop our argument with reference to a case study of a donor driven impact assessment initiative being conducted in India. Specifically, we consider an impact assessment initiative that the donor has piloted with one of the NGOs they fund that seeks to improve the livelihoods of Indian farmers. We will argue that institutional inequality can be understood in the way the market as a social institution becomes enacted into mundane calculative practices. Calculative practices produce different kinds of knowledge and in so doing becomes a way in which subjects position themselves, or become positioned, as unequal.

De-Colonizing the Boundary-Object

What role does language play in disciplining subjects in the international development sector? Previous critiques of international development organizations have focused on the role of knowledge tools, such as reports, in reproducing dichotomies between developed and under-developed subjects. In this paper, I de-colonize NGO reporting through a reappraisal of the boundary-object concept. I utilize Ngugi’s (1986) problematization of language and translation to demonstrate how the boundary-object is experienced differentially across stakeholder groups and caste/class structures. Using findings garnered from a multi-sited ethnography of an international NGO in India, I examine the prominence of English language in NGO reports over indigenous languages. This paper therefore contributes to contemporary understandings of neo-colonial power relations as sustained by the English language within India.

A Case for the Advancement of Utilisation of Realist Evaluation in International Development: An Oxfam Focused Illustration

Grounded in scientific realist philosophy and expounded by Pawson and Tilley (1997), realist evaluation is founded on the assertion that community development programs seek to address real problems, and not social constructs. It is therefore a realistic approach to evaluation that informs policy and decision makers of the effectiveness of programs, examining the program's specific mechanisms, contexts and outcomes. Pawson and Tilley (1997) place people at the centre of the realist approach to evaluation, emphasising that the effectiveness of programs is dependent on the respondents’ willingness to engage, as well as the existence of an environment that enables them to participate. This paper seeks to reinforce the significance of realist evaluation in international development programs, illustrating its value in informing programs that are effective and responsive, and employing contextually appropriate mechanisms that enhance communities’ benefits. Realist philosophy asserts that, ‘entities exist independently of being perceived, or independently of our theories about them’ (Phillips, 1987, p. 205). It is this reality, outside of our knowledge and experiences, that we seek to define, as best we can and never absolutely, through scientific approaches and social inquiry (Ball, MUller & Nelson, 2014). It is within this framework that realist evaluation exists. As championed by Pawson and Tilley (2004), realist evaluation is theory based and seeks to answer the question, ‘what works for whom in what circumstances and in what respects, and how’ (p. 2). Pawson and Tilley (1994) note that unlike experimental research which focuses primarily on addressing what works using a successionist approach1, realistic evaluation takes a generative approach and examines underlying causal linkages to changes observed (p. 291). Examining mechanisms, contexts and outcomes, realistic evaluation presents a methodological approach that amplifies the role of people in bringing about change. For Pawson and Tilley (1994), ‘programmes ‘work, if subjects choose to make them work and are placed in the right conditions to enable them to do so’ (p. 294). This is useful to Oxfam Australia's (2014) focus on ‘a just world without poverty, where people influence decisions that affect their lives, enjoy their rights, and assume their responsibilities—a world in which everyone is valued, and everyone is treated equally’ (p. 6). Inspired by the Australasian Evaluation Society's (2016) priority to influence and promote evaluation practice, this article seeks to contribute to the discourse on realist evaluation in an endeavour to advance its application in evaluation practice within the international development sector.

Reflecting on the challenges of applied theatre in Kenya

ABSTRACTIn this article the authors draw on their own experience and research in applied theatre in Kenya in order to reflect on challenges currently facing practitioners working in the country. In order to outline the range of challenges faced by practitioners, issues related to the wider landscapes of government and politics in Kenya are explored, alongside challenges inherent in the international development sector’s use of applied theatre and Theatre for Development in Kenya, and the struggle that many theatre practitioners face in terms of the legitimacy of theatre in Kenyan society.

Managing an Integrated Project - Experiences from the Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition project

Over the last number of decades there has been a tendency within the international development sector to privilege the management of projects in a siloed manner. This translates to projects managed in a narrow way according to pre-defined parameters of say the education or health sectors. As a project manager you are held accountable for delivering education or health outputs. A shift in donor funding to focus on development projects that are considered easy to administer partly explains this siloed approach to project management within the development sector. However, there is a gradual kick back against the siloed project management approach. Instead we are seeing a return to an integrated managerial approach.An integrated managerial approach involves bringing together various technical specialists to work on common objectives in a coordinated and collaborative manner. A growing number of development actors such as Concern Worldwide are embracing this ‘new approach’. For Concern Worldwide integrated projects are interventions which address multiple needs through coordination across a variety of sectors and with the participation of all relevant stakeholders to achieve common goals. Integrated projects are about sector projects working together with the same target group in the same area in a coordinated manner. This paper reflects on Concern’s experience and evidence to date with integration drawing on the agency’s work in Zambia. The Realigning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition project in Zambia highlights the practical challenges and lessons of managing an integrated project.

PMD Pro Forward: Making the World Better one Project at a Time

This paper looks at the results and benefits of the first five years of the “Guide to the PMD Pro” and its accompanying certification. The “Guide to the PMD Pro” is a project management standard designed to cross cultural boundaries and provide sound project management practices to those working within the humanitarian and international development sectors. It examines its origins and the story of the international development sector partnering with the private sector and the project management community to develop a contextualized body of knowledge, which promotes good practice, but remains sensitive to cultural variations. The paper goes on to analyze the reasons behind PMD Pro's rapid growth and assesses what impact it is having in seventy plus countries and cultures around the world. The impacts described include an increasingly common language across the development sector to describe projects and increased efficiency and effectiveness in project delivery. In one study, 95% of responding field leaders agreed that the investment in project management training for their team has paid off and 86% of trained project managers made changes to their practice as a result of the training. In the words of one trainee, “It is the reason why some kids in Zambia have clean water, why some clinics were built on time and why a poor farmer in Eastern Zambian harvested. Never has a process improvement training and a catalogue of tools aided our work in the manner PMD Pro has.”

What Religion Affords Grassroots NGOs: Frames, Networks, Modes of Action

The international relief and development sector has swelled in the last two decades thanks to American grassroots NGOs: groups that rely on volunteer labor and individual contributions, often on budgets of less than $25,000 a year. Most of these organizations reject the label of “faith‐based organization,” yet they find the symbolic and material resources of religion indispensable. Religion affords these NGOs three kinds of resources to meet their distinct organizational needs. First, it provides frames, or ways of thinking and speaking about relief and development work that imbue it with legitimacy. Next, religion offers networks that provide money, volunteers, and entrée into aid‐receiving communities. Finally, religion affords familiar modes of action that link the NGO, supporters, and local aid recipients. I support these claims with LDA topic modeling (a computerized method of text analysis), content analysis of websites, and in‐depth interviews with 43 informants.