Official Project Research Articles

The Impact of Work-Based Learning on Graduate’s Job Performance: Insights from School-in-Factory (SiF) Project

The School-in-Factory (SiF)is a pilot project for implementingdual technical and vocational education and training in Thailand by using a Work-based Learning approach with the combination of learning and working in the real process of work through the collaboration between the private company and educational institute. This study aims to evaluate the output and outcome of the SiF project by analyzing the program completion rate and the impact of the SiF project on the graduates' job performance in the labour market. The study employed both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative data is collected from official project records. The qualitative data is collected by using an open-ended.Itis found that 85%of the learners from the year 2017-2020successfully completed the SiF program (100 out of 117 learners). The impact of the SiF program has mostly contributed to the development ofsubject-oriented competence, that is technical knowledge and skills of the learners. The graduates reported that the SiF program has a positive impact on their performance where knowledge of the work process, ability to adapt to the workplace, and valuable work experience gained during training are the most valued impact. Moreover, from the perspective of the employers, the employees who graduated from the SiF program have shown their competencies in technical proficiency and job professional behaviour, constructive communication and expression, teamwork, job-related problem-solving skills. The results of the study stressed the importance of work-based learning where training at the company and learning attheclassroom are combined, like the SiF program, to support learnercompetency development. The SiF program has shown a strong collaboration with the private company partner in implementing work-based learning in Thailand. Further studies should be conducted to find out the financial benefits of the project.

공공기관의 지대추구에 관한 연구

Public Institutions usually are provided public grants supporting commissioned official projects, and/or, are secured monopolistic incomes by law. This comparative advantageous position allows them to act as not only rent-seeker but subagent(namely, agent of government). Using qualitative analysis with 3 public institutions cases, this article identified moral hazard of public institutions exerting rent seeking activities in appropriating governmental grants, taking advantage of some legal blanks in accounting of public institutions. Result revealed vivid phenomena of rent seeking by public institutions. They receive governmental grants before implementing their projects. The time gap between their receiving grants and implementing it lead them to earn some interest incomes, which they appropriate to their benefit against legal restrictions. Benefit of principal(government) tend to be neglected. Instead, benefit of agents(public institution) were more valued, showing the typical principal-agent problem. Though public institutions can be regarded as part of ‘government’ in broad sense, this study revealed they do act as active rent seekers. By recognizing their rent-seeking role, more effective reforms can be imagined. It can include abolishing, redistributing, and elastic distributing of grants, according to previous achievements. The measures seems to be far better than just present ‘give-and-strong control’.

Design-Driven Innovation in Urban Context—Exploring the Sustainable Development of City Design Weeks

As the imperative of sustainable development of cities has gained heightened attention within the global creative and cultural industries in the last decade, among all the relevant trials and practices, city design weeks are becoming a notable method offering diverse possibilities for the innovative approaches the cities could apply to their development. Therefore, the objective of the research is to understand how city design weeks facilitate urban sustainable development and how design-driven innovation is implemented in such a context. Employing a qualitative methodology, the study conducts a case study across 30 global design weeks, selected through a cross-validated process with the World Design Weeks global network and UNESCO City of Design network. Grounded in the design-driven innovation perspective, valid data from 2017 to 2022 is gathered in response to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) primarily through extensive interviews, official project reports, and media communication materials. The data are further cross-analysed by adapting the Creative Cities Index into 10 indicators suitable for the context of design weeks. Among the research findings, three types of design-driven models emerge for the innovation practice of city design weeks: metropolitan integrative transformation and innovation, inclusive cultural diversity communion and innovation, and cluster incorporation and collaborative innovation. In this way, the study provides both the practical significance in terms of supporting the design week organisation by implementing suitable approaches to drive the city’s sustainable development and the theoretical significance in extending the possible adaptation of a design-driven innovation model for the urban development context. Furthermore, the limitation of this qualitative study opens avenues for future quantitative impact analyses on individual design weeks, providing applicable evaluation methods to iteratively inspect and refine the models over time, which complement the limitations of the current qualitative research.

Una historia trans sexenal de dispendio de recursos sociales: El Tren Interurbano México-Toluca

The general objective of this paper is to make an ex-post evaluation of the Mexico-Toluca Interurban Train project (TIMT) more than nine years after the beginning of its construction stage. The present study is based on the cost-benefit analysis approach, through which some analysis scenarios have been built and whose results are contrasted with the official project evaluations. The present research has focused on the analysis of the TIMT as a microcosm of the scarce efficiency of public investment in Mexico, resulting in a waste of social resources. According to the results of the study, the combination of delays and cost overruns (186% in nominal terms, 114% in real terms, and 90% in dollars) has configured a project (across two Federal Government Administrations) with negative social profitability, with losses valued at more than 550 million dollars, placing it in the most problematic quartile of train projects in the world.

Can smart city planning enhance the sustainable transition of the E.U. capitals? A project and strategy-based smart, sustainable performance analysis in the programming period 2014-2020

Abstract Cities across the globe perceive their opportunities for digital transition pathways. This paper presents a project and strategy-based assessment of smart city ambitions in the light of sustainable urban development pathways in the European Union capitals considering the programming period 2014-2020. The purpose of the research is to understand better the smart city trends in Europe and identify any correlation between smart city and sustainability ambitions through the European capitals. The basis of the research was the official project result platforms of European funds with priorities related to smart cities. The collected best practices of transnational smart city projects provide statistics from the previous programming period and draw attention to the developing trends of smart city functions and the activity level of European capitals in the digital transition. Results show that between 2014 and 2020 nearly half of the capitals owned a specific smart city strategic document. Evaluating the smart urban performance of the capitals, it can be stated that most smart solutions were implemented related to mobility and environment in the previous period. Furthermore, it was also considered whether smart city projects could facilitate the shift toward sustainability. Based on the assessment of their planning strategies, a complex image of the European capitals has been revealed in their smart city development concepts; their strategic-level planning can be understood better, which is essential for policymaking in the era of digitalisation, identifying synergies with sustainable urban development ambitions, and monitoring the reached targets at the city level.

Cooperative Rule: Community Development in Britain’s Late Empire. By Aaron Windel

In this impressive first monograph, Aaron Windel makes the case for seeing agricultural cooperatives as a political technology central to British colonial rule and its ends in Asia and Africa. He casts colonial cooperative societies as tools of political control and economic integration, but ones that were in many cases appropriated and subverted by the colonized. Writing with verve, clarity, and care, Windel makes this argument by drawing together diverse contexts from the British colonies, to Britain itself, and the Deep South of the USA. He demonstrates that the cooperative institutional form made possible not only the further encroachment of the global market forces on colonial agricultural economies, but also the rise of anti-colonial organizations such as the Kenya African National Union and the Uganda National Congress in the late colonial period. This engaging argument unfolds across five substantive chapters, which cover a timeframe that begins in the late nineteenth century and ends in the 1960s. Chapter 1 details the emergence of colonial cooperativism as a much-hyped official project of Indian character reformation amid the crisis of colonial capitalism on the anti-colonial frontlines in Punjab. It also traces the transfer of cooperatives and their legislation to colonial Malaya, Zanzibar, Tanganyika, and Kenya, focusing on the role of cooperative evangelist-expert Claude Strickland. Chapter 2 is concerned with the contribution missionaries made to folding cooperatives into inter-war community development in the British Empire, as part of the ‘social gospel’ influenced by US rural sociology.

How to Improve Quality of Crowdsourced Cadastral Surveys

The potential for introducing voluntary citizen participation, combined with mobile services, for cadastral data collection for a systematic first registration has been thoroughly investigated and even implemented in some official projects. This data collection procedure can technically be ac-complished safely, but results have shown that many participants have difficulty in identifying the land parcels (location, shape and size) on the base-map (orthophoto, air-photo, etc.) correctly. Either they have to ask the assistance of a private professional, or there is a high risk that a number of errors may appear in the submitted crowdsourced data. This paper investigates how to improve the quality of such crowdsourced cadastral data, by adding to the base-map any available and relevant geospatial and descriptive information that may help the participants to correctly identify their land parcel. In particular, the research investigates and suggests (a) which types of available geospatial information should be added to the base-map and by whom (professionals or a group of trained volunteers), and (b) the necessary quality controls that must be made in the compilation of the advanced crowdsourced base-map—a case study follows to assess the suggested proposal. In addition, this paper provides an updated version of the crowdsourced methodology for cadastral surveys as modelled by the authors in an earlier stage of their research. This updated version briefly includes all quality controls needed to ensure the quality of a modern cadastre that the authors will further investigate in a subsequent stage.

Radiant scars: fallout, trauma, ghosts, and (re)worlding in Fukushima

ABSTRACT The triple-disasters on and after 3.11 triggered devastation of a messy, intimate, personal kind that confounds centrally organized, large-scale renewal. In time, a whole substrate of human suffering became effectively ignored and interred by the armada of cranes, backhoes, dump trucks, and bulldozers that descended on Japan’s battered coastline to restore ‘normalcy’. Japan’s focus on economic rather than emotional reconstruction—not atypical for any industrialized state—was in many ways very much in character for a country shaped by sociocultural logics of massive-scale development/public works (known as doboku). Nevertheless, Tōhoku’s recovery obscures the poorly-sutured wounds of hard-hit communities. This article considers the contours of radiance in post-3.11 Japan through a comparison of the bottom-up, impromptu ‘worlding’ processes that sustain recovering Fukushima communities and the top-down apparatuses of efficiency and rationalization mobilized in the post-tsunami reconstruction. The latter included a massive ‘decontamination’ (josen) effort that comprised by far the largest radiation response effort in history, though highly uneven and likewise misleading. Through ethnographic research, the article juxtaposes the official project and rhetoric of renewal with geographies of trauma, anxiety, and endurance in communities to interpret the complex aftermath of the disasters.

The First RE100 University in Japan-Responsible Consumption and Production of Energy

Proactive use of renewable energy is required to create a sustainable energy society, which is related to the various goals of the SDGs such as SDG7 on energy, SDG13 on climate action and SDG12 on responsible consumption and production. Addressing the energy issue as a university is significant in two ways. First, universities can influence other entities, such as businesses, local governments etc. Second, universities have a mission to educate students who can transform society into a sustainable one. In a press release of 2014, I announced the intention of making CUC the first 100% renewable energy university in Japan, which was a voluntary action. After becoming the president in 2017, this became an official project of the university, enabling investment in the necessary facilities. From the experience of having achieved our goal, I will explain the factors leading to our success and the lessons applicable to other universities.Keyword: SDGs, responsible university, zero carbon campus, renewable energy, heart-ware

Introduction to the Project for Strengthening the ASEAN Regional Capacity on Disaster Health Management (ARCH Project).

Southeast Asia is the second biggest region in the world in terms of the total number of natural disasters since 1900. Therefore, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) initiated regional challenges toward strengthening regional collaboration for disaster prevention and response since the earthquake of Sumatra in Indonesia occurred in 2004. Moreover, ASEAN Leaders signed "the ASEAN Declaration on One ASEAN, One Response" in 2016. Under these circumstances, ASEAN decided to implement the Project for Strengthening the ASEAN Regional Capacity on Disaster Health Management (ARCH Project). The objective of the ARCH Project is to strengthen coordination on disaster health management (DHM) for rapid and effective response to disasters occurring in the ASEAN region and to enhance the capacity of each ASEAN Member State (AMS) on DHM. This article aims to overview the outline and its strategy, and review the progress of the project. ARCH Project is an ASEAN official project supported by Japan's official development assistance. Five outputs were launched for: (1) coordination platform on DHM; (2) framework of regional collaboration practices; (3) tools for effective regional collaboration; (4) enhancement of academic network on DHM; and (5) capacity development activities for each AMS. The Project was reviewed in terms of accomplishment and evaluation criteria. Regional Coordination Committee on DHM was established as a coordination platform to: Oversee the implementation of the ARCH Project for the Output 1; Regional Collaboration Drill was developed and conducted for the Output 2; The standard operating procedure for coordination of emergency medical teams (EMTs) in ASEAN was developed for the Output 3; Various presentations on ARCH were made in academic conferences for the Output 4; and Several training programs and educational curricula were developed for the Output 5. The Project has accomplished its Project Purpose and satisfied all the indicators set. ARCH Project has high Relevance, Impact, Sustainability, and Effectiveness, while some improvements in Efficiency are needed. ARCH Project is the first-ever successful regional cooperation mechanism and standardization of DHM in ASEAN, one of the most disaster-prone regions. It also contributes to the capacity building of AMS. The ARCH Project has a remarkable impact on the resilience and flexible medical response to disasters, although continuous efforts of stakeholders to make this initiative sustainable are necessary.

Challenges in the creation of the multilingual corpus-based lexicographic resource CombiDigiLex

The paper presents the methodological and technological challenges in the creation of the multilingual, corpus-based lexicographic resource CombiDigiLex (https://combidigilex.wixsite.com/deutsch), with three main aims. First, the application-oriented research context and grounds for the development of the multilingual lexico-grammatical information system CombiDigiLex, which is intended to provide information for the languages German, Spanish and Portuguese, for its use in the L2 production and translation process, are presented. Furthermore, the most relevant features of the mentioned resource in its current version (v.1.0.6) are presented. Finally, the methodological and technical difficulties of data gathering as well as lexicographic data displaying, that not only had to be overcome during the official project period, but which even at the time of writing this paper are still partly open fronts, are outlined.

A 2020 desk review of Power Africa

AbstractPower Africa is an ongoing development intervention looking to expand electricity access in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA). It was launched in 2013 by former US President Barack Obama and is overseen by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Power Africa operates as a public–private partnership (PPP). This report evaluates its progress from inception up to the end of 2019, relying on official project documentation and correspondence to make its findings. None of the project's stakeholders were interviewed during its preparation, imposing some limitations on findings. The appraisal is a strict desk review, conducted through the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) six criteria for project evaluation (relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability). The evaluation found the intervention's relevance to be high along the lines of theory of change, modus operandi, contextual analysis, risk analysis, and both champion and beneficiary needs. External coherence, on the other hand, raised questions. Power Africa's effectiveness emerged as adequate as per set indicators, with its efficiency proving difficult to determine given lack of access to financial statements. The intervention's impact was assessed as minimal on account of disproportionate connectivity success with solar lanterns. Potentials for injury during and after implementation were also identified. With respect to the intervention's sustainability, several issues came up as possible barriers towards its perpetuation beyond its 2030 deadline (and consequently, other goals that make up the 2030 agenda). This evaluation additionally made a few recommendations towards enhancing its effectiveness and sustainability, finally noting the sufficiency of OECD's six criteria for project evaluation for such undertakings.

INNV-02. ACCELERATING RESEARCH FOR BREAST CANCER BRAIN METASTASIS AND LEPTOMENINGEAL DISEASE THROUGH PATIENT-LED COLLABORATIONS

Abstract PATIENT-DRIVEN INITIATIVE OF THE METASTATIC BREAST CANCER (MBC) ALLIANCE The Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis (BCBM) Initiative: Marina Kaplan Project launched in June 2020 as an official project of the MBC Alliance which includes 32 nonprofits, 12 industry partners, and 30 individual patient advocates. The project has grown to include 35 members with representation from industry, research institutions, and individual patients. Nearly one-third of the group is comprised of patients living with brain metastases or LMD. DISPARITIES FOR PATIENTS LIVING WITH BCBM & LMD In the US, approximately 200,000 new cases of brain metastases are diagnosed each year.1 Approximately 10-15% of patients with MBC will develop brain metastases, and may be as high as 30-50% for certain subtypes.2 A diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) metastasis often accelerates an already incurable diagnosis. CNS metastasis are difficult to image and detect, tend to have poorer prognoses with lower overall survival, and are treated with invasive therapies which can have lasting side effects. Furthermore, most clinical trials exclude patients with CNS metastasis which further hinders research. VALUES & OBJECTIVES The overarching goal of this initiative is to accelerate the scope and breadth of evidence-based CNS metastasis research by targeting entities conducting clinical trials and collaborating with them to do the following: (1) Increase the quality and quantity of basic research; (2) increase the number of clinical trials in areas where research is lacking; (3) diversify the type of clinical trial interventions; (4) eliminate restrictive eligibility criteria in clinical trials; (5) Incorporate clinically meaningful trial endpoints. References Eichler, April F et al. The biology of brain metastases-translation to new therapies. Nat Rev. Clinical oncology vol. 8,6 (2011): 344-56. doi: 10.1038/nrclinonc.2011.58 Brosnan EM, Anders CK. Understanding patterns of brain metastasis in breast cancer and designing rational therapeutic strategies. Ann Transl Med. 2018;6(9):163. doi: 10.21037/atm.2018.04.35

How Do Environmental Concerns and Governance Performance Affect Public Environmental Participation: A Case Study of Waste Sorting in Urban China.

Environmental pollution threatens public health and has become a social concern in recent years. Despite the conditions for public participation in environmental governance have improved considerably, the level of public engagement in government projects still falls short of expectations. Therefore, this article introduced two key variables, hoping to answer the following research question that how environmental concerns and governance performance affect public environmental participation. Through principal component analysis of the data from the “Survey of Chinese Urban Residents’ Attitudes toward Environmental Protection”, the findings of this article are as follows: First, public environmental concerns have no significant impact on their environmental engagement; second, the improvement of residents’ confidence in the government performance of environmental management reduces their willingness to participate in official projects. The higher the confidence in the government’s performance, the lower the level of public engagement is. Moreover, due to the consideration of self-interest or lack of environmental awareness, those who oppose waste incineration in waste terminal disposal tend to take a non-participatory role in waste sorting programs. Therefore, we suggest that the government have more diverse shareholders in environmental protection, so it should expand public participation through education, publicity, mobilization, and incentives.

OTHR-09. Accelerating Research for Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis and Leptomeningeal Disease through Patient-led Collaborations

Abstract Patient-driven Initiative of the Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC) Alliance The Breast Cancer Brain Metastasis (BCBM) Initiative: Marina Kaplan Project launched in June 2020 as an official project of the MBC Alliance which includes 32 nonprofits, 12 industry partners, and 30 individual patient advocates. The Marina Project has grown to include 35members with representation from industry, research institutions, and individual patients. Nearly one-third of the group is comprised of patients living with brain metastases or leptomeningeal disease (LMD). Disparities for Patients Living with BCBM & LMD In the US, approximately 200,000 new cases of brain metastases are diagnosed each year[1]. Approximately 10–15% of patients with MBC will develop brain metastases, and may be as high as 30–50% for certain subtypes[2]. A diagnosis of central nervous system (CNS) metastasis often accelerates an already incurable diagnosis. CNS metastasis are difficult to image and detect, tend to have poorer prognoses with lower overall survival, and are treated with invasive therapies which can have lasting side effects. Furthermore, most clinical trials exclude patients with CNS metastasis which further hinders research. Values and Objectives The overarching goal of this initiative is to accelerate the scope and breadth of evidence-based CNS metastasis research by targeting entities conducting clinical trials and collaborating with them to do the following: (i) Increase the quality and quantity of basic research; (ii) Increase the number of clinical trials in areas where research is lacking; (iii) Diversify the type of clinical trial interventions; (iv) Eliminate restrictive eligibility criteria in clinical trials; (v) Incorporate clinically meaningful trial endpoints [1] Eichler, April F et al. The biology of brain metastases-translation to new therapies. Nature reviews. Clinical oncology vol. 8,6 (2011): 344–56. doi: 10.1038/nrclinonc.2011.58 [2] Brosnan EM, Anders CK. Understanding patterns of brain metastasis in breast cancer and designing rational therapeutic strategies. Ann Transl Med. 2018;6(9):163. doi: 10.21037/atm.2018.04.35

Scientific Advances in Diabetes: The Impact of the Innovative Medicines Initiative.

Diabetes Mellitus is one of the World Health Organization's priority diseases under research by the first and second programmes of Innovative Medicines Initiative, with the acronyms IMI1 and IMI2, respectively. Up to October of 2019, 13 projects were funded by IMI for Diabetes & Metabolic disorders, namely SUMMIT, IMIDIA, DIRECT, StemBANCC, EMIF, EBiSC, INNODIA, RHAPSODY, BEAT-DKD, LITMUS, Hypo-RESOLVE, IM2PACT, and CARDIATEAM. In general, a total of €447 249 438 was spent by IMI in the area of Diabetes. In order to prompt a better integration of achievements between the different projects, we perform a literature review and used three data sources, namely the official project's websites, the contact with the project's coordinators and co-coordinator, and the CORDIS database. From the 662 citations identified, 185 were included. The data collected were integrated into the objectives proposed for the four IMI2 program research axes: (1) target and biomarker identification, (2) innovative clinical trials paradigms, (3) innovative medicines, and (4) patient-tailored adherence programmes. The IMI funded projects identified new biomarkers, medical and research tools, determinants of inter-individual variability, relevant pathways, clinical trial designs, clinical endpoints, therapeutic targets and concepts, pharmacologic agents, large-scale production strategies, and patient-centered predictive models for diabetes and its complications. Taking into account the scientific data produced, we provided a joint vision with strategies for integrating personalized medicine into healthcare practice. The major limitations of this article were the large gap of data in the libraries on the official project websites and even the Cordis database was not complete and up to date.

Project for the development of Oriental studies in Kazan in the early 19th century: On opening vocational schools for Oriental languages in the Kazan school district

Today Russian academic centers, including Kazan Federal University, are unique comprehensive research and education institutions that conduct research on both classical and modern subjects and implement original professional educational programs. In the history and culture of the peoples of Russia and the historical and cultural area of Volga-Urals in particular, Kazan University and its schools of sciences have played an exceptional role. The period from the late 18th to the early 20th centuries was marked by successful development of Asian and African research in Russia and Europe. A cohort of outstanding Russian orientalists, who represented many various ethnic groups of Russia, have provided globally relevant complex philological, historical, archaeological and ethnographic studies in academic and university centers of our country. Oriental studies became an important educational and scientific discipline and area of focus starting from the earliest days of the university community of Kazan. Lecturers and professors of Kazan Imperial University introduced the society to the history and culture of the peoples of both overseas East and the Eastern part of the Russian Empire, as well as expanded the understanding of the cultural legacy of both ancient and modern Asia. The article presents an analysis of the official project developed by the Board of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire and devoted to the formation of Oriental studies (including the research of Asian and African languages) in Kazan in the early 19th century.

Translating psalms for Africa today: Involving the community and transmitting through performance

Psalms, being poems, need to be translated as poems using the poetic features of the receptor language. Official translators are not always poetically sensitive, but many community members are highly skilled word-artists, keen to participate in the translation process. Further, poems are always performed before an audience, and thus translated psalms need to include performance features as part of the translation. These two aspects of translating psalms offer advantageous possibilities for those translating biblical poetry. The notion of community involvement challenges the idea of ‘authority resting with the trained translators or consultant’, but the Skopos Theory reminds us that there can be many translations of a psalm, serving different purposes. This article describes the results of an empirical study including Zulu youth (interested in poetry and music) in the translation of some praise psalms. The idea of interpreting and communicating psalms as oral performances was also tested by presenting the translations as performances before an audience. Four Zulu youth groups participated in the study, each spending five days learning the principles of translation, poetic devices (in Hebrew and isiZulu), features of local music and oral communication style. They studied, translated and presented through oral performance three praise psalms before an audience of adults and peers. The isiZulu translations were evaluated primarily using Wendland’s criteria for a literary-rhetorical translation (viz. artistry, aurality and acceptability), but attention was also given to the traditional criteria of faithfulness to the Hebrew, naturalness and clarity. Many of the translations showed creativity balanced with accuracy and gave insights into the exegesis of the psalms. They also used traditional rhythm and features of local poetry and music, and engaged the audience using aspects of performance art. The study highlighted the opportunity available to a translator of psalms to engage local oral artists to participate in the process, either in a parallel project which can feed into the official project, or as a valuable means of Scripture Engagement. Being able to experience the translation process and present psalms in a way meaningful to the local culture has many advantages which need to be explored.Contribution: Engaging the local community in a significant way is key to the success of a translation project. Beyond simply being ‘reviewers’, this methodology offers opportunity for greater involvement in the translation of poetry. Further, using oral performance to present psalms actively, engages the community, resulting in far higher acceptability, memorability and perceived relevance.

Chinese official finance and political participation in Africa

Media outlets globally have been reporting about civil protests against Chinese investments in Africa. We provide new evidence on this controversial topic and investigate the influence of Chinese official projects on political participation in 54 African countries between 2000 and 2014. Using 50 × 50 km cells as the unit of analysis, we match data on the occurrence of protests and other forms of political participation to georeferenced data on projects financed by the Chinese government. We find that cells which receive a larger number of projects are more likely to experience protests. Further, our analysis suggests that citizens’ heightened perception of China's rising influence on the domestic economy and lowered trust in the local government are two channels through which projects might motivate local protests.

Delivering output and struggling for change: Tacit activism among professional transitional justice work in Sierra Leone and Kenya

The professionalization of transitional justice (TJ) has received extensive academic attention in TJ and related international relations and peacebuilding scholarship. This article adds an element that has received hardly any attention: namely the presence of activism even among professional and usually donor-funded TJ work. I argue that noticing activism in professional contexts requires attention to the ‘everyday’, meaning to life in between, aside and beyond high politics and officially important actors, actions, processes and events. Based on field research in Sierra Leone and Kenya, I describe and discuss everyday examples of a specific form of activism, namely tacit activism that I encountered with three key interlocutors, one Sierra Leonean and two Kenyan nationals involved in professional donor-funded TJ work. Their activism was ’tacit’ in the sense that it was not part of their official project activities and my interlocutors did not advertise their extra plans and efforts to (prospective) donors. And yet, it was precisely through these tacit plans and efforts that they hoped to meet at least some of the expectations that had been raised in the context of professional TJ projects.