Range Of Activities Research Articles

How evidence, implementation, policy, and politics come together within evidence systems: Lessons from South Africa

SummaryMotivationAlthough the field of evidence‐informed policy‐making has grown significantly in the last 20 years, little is written about how it manifests within government policy, and whether it makes a meaningful difference to development outcomes. This article seeks to fill that gap.PurposeThrough reflection and analysis of shifts in the wider evidence ecosystem, and developments in South Africa specifically, the article describes how in South Africa the political and policy spheres come together with changes in production and use of evidence to increase the potential to improve the lives of millions of people.Methods and approachThis article is based on structured reflection and analysis of 20 years of contributions to the evidence ecosystem in low‐, lower‐middle, and upper‐middle income countries (L&MICs), in particular in Africa. It includes analysis of documentation of initiatives, policies, and practices relating to the production and use of evidence, with a focus on South Africa.FindingsThere are clear shifts within evidence‐informed decision‐making (EIDM) systems over time in the production of evidence and in the implementation of evidence approaches. The varied experiences documented in South Africa and across L&MICs highlight valuable lessons for others. In South Africa the policies underpinning evidence use, and the political context in which evidence‐informed decision‐making takes place, combine to contribute to increasing use of evidence in the country. Reflecting on the system developments across Africa and further afield reveals how one country's system is both influenced by these wider contexts and has potential to influence the wider system with clear policy implications.Policy implicationsRoutine use of evidence in decision‐making requires new practices to become standard across not only policy systems, but also evidence systems. Changes are needed across a range of actors, organizations, and institutions. There are lessons to be learnt from varied experiences including those in L&MICs, to inform advances towards the institutionalization of evidence use in policy. This case study highlights the importance of synergistic developments in both evidence production and use, of genuine partnerships at all levels, and of the policies and frameworks that underpin change.

Military Efforts to Liberate Karabakh

Diplomacy plays an invaluable role during war to bring belligerents on favorable terms. It helps statesmen to open channels of communications with a range of actors e.g., allies, foe and neutral states to prevent them from becoming a party. Armenia illegally occupied twenty percent of Azerbaijan’s sovereign territory. It used track I diplomacy for delaying tactics, blatantly refused to withdraw occupation forces despite United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. Yet, Baku did not lose faith in the multilateral approach. It anticipated and endeavored to resolve the Karabakh conflict in the light of policy based on war avoidance. This paper using qualitative research method highlights and analyses available literature on President Ilham Aliyev’s role in achieving Azerbaijan’s national objective during the war and in the post-war era. After coming to power President Ilham Aliyev decided to regain military strength and introduced a military modernization process. In pursuit to achieve this objective presidential office paid special attention to acquire dual use medium-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), long-endurance Hermes-900 surveillance drones, and Heron; loitering munitions such as SkyStriker, Harop and Orbiter 1K, and Bayraktar TB2 unmanned combat aerial vehicles. Beside military modernization, President of zerbaijan was active at diplomatic front to prevent Armenian allies from entering war against Azerbaijan. Combination of politico-military efforts paved the way to force the enemy to withdraw occupation forces. Conversely, lost pride and glory was returned to the masses of Azerbaijan. The second task authors believe performed by President Ilham is to highlight enemy war crimes. In conclusion, victory in 44 Days war was ensured because leadership and the masses were on the same page

Vanishing Opinions in Latané Model of Opinion Formation.

In this paper, the results of computer simulations based on the Nowak-Szamrej-Latané model with multiple (from two to five) opinions available in the system are presented. We introduce the noise discrimination level (which says how small the clusters of agents could be considered negligible) as a quite useful quantity that allows qualitative characterization of the system. We show that depending on the introduced noise discrimination level, the range of actors' interactions (controlled indirectly by an exponent in the distance scaling function, the larger the exponent, the more influential the nearest neighbors are) and the information noise level (modeled as social temperature, which increases results in the increase in randomness in taking the opinion by the agents), the ultimate number of the opinions (measured as the number of clusters of actors sharing the same opinion in clusters greater than the noise discrimination level) may be smaller than the number of opinions available in the system. These are observed in small and large information noise limits but result in either unanimity, or polarization, or randomization of opinions.

Governing caterpillar fungus: Participatory conservation as state-making, territorialization, and dispossession in Dolpo, Nepal

Protected areas account for nearly a quarter of the total area of Nepal and over eighty percent of its Himalayan region. National parks—which are governed by top-down policies enforced through militarized infrastructures—have become a crucial avenue and site for the Nepali state to expand its authority and territorialize its peripheral spaces. But such state-forming effects of the park are obscured by the stated goals of biodiversity conservation which are often implemented through participatory conservation policies that claim to promote local participation and development. Through a case study of Shey Phoksundo National Park and the contested governance of caterpillar fungus in Dolpo, Northwest Nepal, this paper examines the role of participatory conservation in state-making, territorialization, and the dispossession of Indigenous peoples in the Himalayan borderlands. After a brief background on the relationship between Dolpopa and the Nepali state, I introduce state-making, territorialization, and dispossession as corollary processes that define the experiences of conservation for Dolpopa. I conceptualize state-making and territorialization as intertwined state efforts and strategies to systematize local spatial practices and reorder socio-natural relations in ways that justify state authority and establish state territory in Dolpopa spaces. I approach dispossession as an ongoing, relational process of domination and removal, particularly of Dolpopa's ability to access and govern their collective land including caterpillar fungus. In so doing, I neither reify the state as a monolith nor assume dispossession to be totalizing. Rather, I show how “the state” is constituted in moments by a range of actors, institutions, and processes; as well as how Dolpopa contest dispossession by asserting their claims to collective land both within and beyond state structures.

Understanding the information landscape in agricultural communities in rural Bangladesh

AbstractKnowledge sharing in rural agricultural communities is vital to the success of farmers and sustaining high yields. A range of actors in the knowledge landscape participate in knowledge sharing, and with this, a variety of complexities are introduced. In this paper, we report on a set of field visits, interviews and focus groups in various settings to understand this complex nature of the knowledge landscape. Our study was set within multiple locations within 20 miles North‐East of Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh. Our findings highlight the high level of interconnectedness of different actors in the agricultural communities and the complexities involved in establishing trust of information. We report on the importance of fostering successful relationships within the communities and the growing strains of climate change.

Implementing two national responsibilities of the revised UNICEF/WHO Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative: A two-country case study.

The 2018 implementation guidance for the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) recommends institutionalising the ten Steps through nine national responsibilities for universal coverage and sustainability. As countries adapt BFHI programmes to this paradigm shift away from traditional designation programmes, documenting and sharing policy and programme experience are critical and currently sparse. This qualitative case study included desk reviews of published and grey literature on BFHI programming, national plans and policy documents specific to the selected national responsibilities for universal coverage and key informant (KI) interviews across a range of actors. In the Kyrgyz Republic, the case study explored responsibility 5, development and implementation of incentives and/or sanctions, and responsibility 6 in Malawi, providing technical assistance (TA). In both countries, the three sustainability responsibilities (national monitoring [7] communication and advocacy [8] and financing [9]) as they relate to the universal coverage of the targeted responsibilities were also explored. Thirty-eight respondents in the Kyrgyz Republic described approaches that were used in the health system, including BFHI designation plaques, performance-based financing and financial sanctions. However, currently, there are no formal incentives and sanctions. In Malawi, TA was utilised for national planning and to introduce quality improvement processes. Forty-seven respondents mostly described provisions of TA in building and strengthening the capacity of providers. More programmatic evidence to demonstrate which types of incentives or sanctions can be effective and sustained and more documentation of how TA is provided across multiple aspects of implementation are needed as countries institutionalise BFHI.

The entrepreneurial role of waste companies in transforming waste streams to value streams: Lessons from a Danish Municipal waste company.

The circular economy (CE) gives rise to paradigm shifts in the understanding, practice and regulation of waste, challenging a waste sector built for the linear waste paradigm of waste streams rather than value streams. We examine how a waste management company developed value streams, caught between increasing competition for waste types with high market value, and rigid regulation limiting the development of new streams. This cross-pressure necessitates new knowledge and practices to not only transform waste streams into value streams, but also to prioritize the inner circles prescribed by the CE paradigm. There is a potential for increasing reuse of products that have been collected as waste or handed in at municipal recycling stations. However, if the product value is not sufficient to be attractive for the existing market, then the value must be added, and a market must be created. There is a great deal still to learn about what it takes to create value out of waste products and what the role of municipal waste companies is in that process. Our findings indicate that unlocking the potential of waste (in this case, old bricks and waste electrical and electronic equipment) has been far from straightforward. Value must be created through several activities, requiring collaboration between a range of actors as well as new knowledge and business competencies. This contribution aims to open discussion on what it takes for waste management companies to navigate the new complexities in the transition from waste to resource management.

State Higher Education Funding during COVID-19: Exploring State-Level Characteristics Influencing Financing Decisions

Building on research examining state financing for higher education, our qualitative comparative case study investigates state policymakers’ decisions for funding public higher education during the COVID-19 crisis in California and Texas. These states were purposively selected based on the size of their postsecondary sector, state partisanship, and higher education funding responses during the pandemic. Moreover, these states represent two of the largest public postsecondary enrollments nationally and serve a racially and ethnically diverse student population. Guiding our study is the Hearn and Ness (2018) framework investigating the ecology of state higher education policymaking, which offers four contextual categories that influence state policy decisions: socioeconomic context, organizational and policy context, politico-institutional context, and external context. This framework suggests underlying factors influencing the state funding process, while also providing an opportunity to expand on this theory through the unique COVID-19 context. We used deductive and inductive techniques to analyze 28 interviews with a range of actors, including state elected officials, state government staff, and higher education officials. We also examined 69 documents (state budgets, news articles, and state executive orders) to triangulate and verify our interview data. Two areas served as key events that ultimately influenced higher education funding decisions in California and Texas: (1) the preference of certain higher education institutions and (2) the availability and application of federal dollars. Furthermore, the organizational and policy context and the politico-institutional context, as defined by the Hearn and Ness framework, provided additional state-level factors that resulted in distinct responses. This study offers practical and theoretical contributions to higher education policy and practice, including highlighting the decision-making and prioritization processes of state policymakers when facing an unprecedented pandemic and crisis, and discussing common and unique factors influencing higher education policymaking in two different state contexts.

The Global South and global human rights: international responsibility for the right to development

Human rights are typically understood as governing the behaviour of states towards the people within their borders. In this article, I argue that this domestic formulation of human rights is not universal, but came about through political bargaining and contestation. From at least the early twentieth century, a range of actors from the Global South developed an understanding of individual and collective rights that emphasised international responsibility, especially of wealthy, powerful states towards people in poorer, weaker states. I show that this foundational understanding served as an important basis for the how the Global South engaged with economic and social rights within the United Nations before, during and after the adoption of the Universal Bill of Rights. It eventually manifested in the campaign for the human right to development. Through an exploration of the drafting history of the Declaration on the Right to Development, I show how international responsibility was kept out of the declaration by the Western states that stood to be held responsible. Examining this alternative understanding of human rights recovers a forgotten contribution of the Global South, while shedding light on obstacles to contemporary political projects like the campaign for international slavery reparations.

Personal beliefs and social norms regarding the sexual exploitation of girls in age-disparate transactional sexual relationships in Brazil: a mixed-methods study

BackgroundIn the global debate around transactional sex little attention has concentrated on Brazil, despite ranking fourth globally in absolute number of girls married or co-habiting by the age of 15 years, and evidence showing that these unions often begin as age-disparate transactional sex (ADTS). This article contributes to filling this gap by exploring the personal beliefs and social norms related to ADTS in urban (favela) communities of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil between adult men (> 18 years) and girls and adolescents (G/A) (< 18 years) with a minimum 5-year age disparity. The primary objective of this study was to identify the social norms that promote and prevent ADTS, and the dynamics between individual beliefs and social norms, to provide contextualized recommendations to prevent ADTS in this setting.MethodsAn exploratory, sequential, mixed-methods design was used, starting with a qualitative phase that included semi-structured, in-depth interviews and focus groups, and a subsequent quantitative phase comprising of a community survey. The items for the quantitative questionnaires were developed based on the qualitative results. ResultsMixed methods results indicate that in these communities ADTS is normalised and not considered exploitative. We identified three themes related to the reasons ADTS occurs: girls’ responsibility, male desires and benefits of ADTS. Men’s role in ADTS was largely minimised because of a general acceptance of a notion of masculinity characterised by hypersexuality and lack of impulse control. Individual beliefs, however, did not tend to align with these social norms. ConclusionsIn this study, personal beliefs and social norms often did not align, suggesting that initiatives working to change personal or attitudes regarding ADTS may not lead to meaningful change in ADTS behaviours, and social norms interventions may be more effective. Our findings reinforce the need to develop programs tailored to local understandings of ADTS, targeting not only girls but also a wide range of actors. Interventions could also consider the structural factors acting in local and global contexts that promote or prevent ADTS.

‘She’s Like Family’: transnational Filipino families, voluntary kin and the circulation of care

ABSTRACT Increased mobility has affected transnational families’ organization and provision of care. Focusing on the experiences of Filipino nurses in Norway, this article emphasizes how support structures in the Philippines and Norway affect the provision of care within transnational families. By applying the care circulation framework, this article sheds light on the complexity of transnational caregiving and draws attention to how the provision of care is a multidirectional process that relies on a range of actors. It looks at migrants not only as providers of care but simultaneously as receivers of care. The literature on transnational families has helped broaden the definition of the family to include inter- and intra-generational relationships beyond the nuclear family, including a growing recognition of the role of kin-like relationships. This article supports this broader definition of family and highlights the importance of kin-like relationships. Considering the increased impact of ‘migration regimes’ on the experiences of migrants, attention is paid to the challenges created by distance and by national policies and to their effects on the way care is provided within transnational families.

Towards a new model of global health justice: the case of COVID-19 vaccines

This paper questions an exclusively state-centred framing of global health justice and proposes a multilateral alternative. Using the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to illustrate, we bring to light a broad...

The ‘Three RS’ in Malaysia’s Struggle for Constitutional Democracy

Race, religion and royalty (the Three ‘Rs’) have been salient aspects of Malaysia’s constitutional struggle. These elements have defined the country’s constitutional settlements during the pre-independence constitution-making process, generated constitutional crises and continued to figure into day-to-day governance and constitutional practice. There have been instances where operation of and compromises around the Three Rs have facilitated constitution-building. Yet, more often than not, as this article illustrates, the constellation of these three forces have challenged the building and sustaining of a constitutional democracy. Since the historic political change in May 2018 in particular, the Three Rs have become even more significant in shaping the critical junctures in Malaysia’s constitutional journey. To illuminate a more comprehensive understanding of the role of race, religion and royalty in Malaysia’s struggle for constitutional democracy, this article explains how these elements have defined (and continued to define) controversies relating to the distribution of political power and the protection of fundamental rights. Fundamentally, these aspects implicate checks and balances and constraints on political power. This article also demonstrates the ways in which the struggle for constitutional democracy implicates a range of actors and interests: aside from individual citizens, there are the monarchy, the elected government, the courts and group (ethnic) interests. This article then draws on institutional and political explanations in accounting for Malaysia’s constitutional struggle. In particular, aside from changing political fundamentals, it argues that the Constitution provides the opportunity structure and institutional resources for the Three Rs to shape Malaysia's struggle for constitutional democracy.

Disrupting power through reflexivity: new possibilities for researchers and teachers working with Dalits in Nepal

ABSTRACT Sociologists of education have shown that schooling tends to favour the most powerful groups and that even well-intentioned researchers can run the risk of perpetuating some of the very power structures we seek to critique. In this paper we explore how a male, Brahmin researcher from Nepal (the highest caste group in Nepalese society) attempted to disrupt power in researching the educational experiences of the lowest caste group – the Dalits – in one public school in Nepal. Drawing on ethnographic data generated in the field, alongside feminist theorising about reflexivity and power in research, we illuminate daily events in the life of a government school in Nepal that worked to reproduce power, including interactions that were witnessed between a range of actors in the field. We consider how the researcher’s reflexivity enabled him to recognise power and attempt to disrupt it. We argue that the focus on the “how” of research – with power at the forefront of our thinking – can lead to seeing things in the field in new ways, with the potential to influence future research and teaching in the Nepalese context in order to work towards justice for Dalit students.

What is the value of a Tibetan prayer wheel?

With Buddhism’s integration into the global market economy, the trade in Buddhist commodities is booming. I ask how the value of such goods is measured, communicated, and contested by the diverse range of actors who buy and sell them. The analytical framework draws on recent conceptual developments in the fields of religion and of technology to develop Jens Beckert’s typology of value. While Beckert draws on Durkheim’s sociology of religion to differentiate between physical and symbolic values, I take the example of a powerful Buddhist technology, the Tibetan prayer wheel, to demonstrate the entanglement of materiality and belief in the different types of value ascribed to religious goods.

The knowledge politics of capacity building for climate change at the UNFCCC

ABSTRACT Capacity building for climate change is widely acknowledged to be a central means of implementation, and yet within the UNFCCC regime it is a messy and ambiguous concept which eludes attempts to clearly define its underlying goals, processes, actors and outcomes. In this paper, we use documents from the UNFCCC to examine the implicit logic(s) underlying the ambiguity of capacity building in the regime through a knowledge politics lens. Our study finds that there are two distinct narratives guiding capacity building in the regime: The first narrative focuses on building techno-managerial capacities utilizing standardized data to address climate change through short-term and project-based processes. The second narrative attempts to open up capacity building to plural forms of knowledge, meaningfully engaging a diverse range of actors including Indigenous Peoples, gender-specific constituencies and communities, and using transdisciplinary and holistic approaches. Our research suggests that while the former narrative is largely centralized, institutionalized and well-supported by the UNFCCC, the latter is disparate and frequently lacks necessary financial, technical, and institutional resources. Despite this, some recent developments point toward the possibilities of widening the scope of capacity building. We argue that to realize the potential of capacity building as a concept that can enable transformative and emancipatory action in the era of climate change, we must look for pathways to promote the second narrative that gives meaningful space for marginalized actors to participate in, direct, and benefit from the capacity building agenda. Key policy insights Capacity building, a widely acknowledged core means of implementation within the UNFCCC, remains ambiguous and messy on the surface but is underlined by two distinct narratives The first narrative is guided by techno-managerial and standardized data-driven goals and is well-supported and systematized within the UNFCCC The second narrative focuses on inclusive and diverse capacity building supported by transdisciplinary and holistic approaches, but remains disparate and under-funded in the UNFCCC More support and access to resources for the second narrative are required if we are to widen and deepen capacity building for climate action

The fence ‘didn’t work’: the mundane engagements and material practices of state-led development in China’s Danjiangkou Reservoir

ABSTRACT Central China’s Danjiangkou Reservoir supplies clean water to major cities as part of the South–North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP). Fencing is presented as essential to establishing borders, controls, and authority over the water reservoir and surrounding areas that were previously settled lands. Drawing on Tania Li’s work, as well as work by geographers and anthropologists on the contested production of the state and the border through practice, we focus on the mundane engagements and material practices of a range of actors with this state-led development to illustrate how even state lines that seem natural, and are used to justify or facilitate the massive resettlement and landscape reorganization, also require ongoing construction and engagement. While fencing is presented as part of establishing pristine first class water quality, our research shows that fences have failed, been crossed and are constantly negotiated. We contend that to unravel the apparent solidity of fencing technologies, they should be understood as an interface, one that is under constant negotiation and reconfiguration and that in practice requires the work of a range of actors. In considering these engagements, we contribute to a burgeoning literature critically examining the state in China.

Competing narratives of nature-based solutions: Leveraging the power of nature or dangerous distraction?

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are increasingly proposed in international environmental governance settings to address the interlinked crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and growing inequality. Thus far, scholarly research on NbS has been largely conceptual, and empirical research from the social sciences is widely absent, as are insights into the narratives that surround them. Using the 2019 United Nations Climate Action Summit and the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 25) as a case study, we set out to analyze the range of narratives associated with proposals for (and against) NbS. We used a discourse coalition approach, drawing data from a systematic document analysis of public-facing texts from a range of actors, and expert interviews. Results reveal two central and opposing NbS narratives: 1) Leveraging the power of nature—NbS are multifunctional, powerful, and must play a critical role in addressing global challenges, especially climate change (held by NbS proponents): and 2) Dangerous distraction—NbS are being co-opted to continue with what is seen as the unsustainable, unjust, status-quo (held by NbS critics). Both narratives make use of the ambiguity of NbS, though in contrasting ways, and their respective coalitions reflect and reproduce existing fault-lines in international environmental governance. Our findings indicate that, despite its promise, ‘NbS’ is currently unable to foster inclusive participation and support transformative change.

The impact of tunnels on conflicts in the Middle East

Abstract The battlefields in the contemporary conflicts in the Middle East are multi-level conflicts. They take place in the air and on the ground, but an important and often overlooked dimension of these conflicts is found under the surface. This article recognizes the usefulness of political geography's ‘volumetric turn’ as it examines the use of tunnels in conflict, particularly in the post-2001 conflicts in the Middle East. It asks questions about who uses tunnels, for which purposes and about the impact of tunnels on conflicts. It proceeds to show how tunnels are used by a range of actors (including states, insurgents, civilians and organized crime groups) for various, often overlapping purposes (including offensive, defensive and smuggling/economic purposes). The article argues that tunnels impact on conflicts by benefiting the weaker side in asymmetrical warfare, by directly affecting states’ military strategy, by either generating or challenging political legitimacy and lastly, by becoming central to the economic survival of civilians in conflict. A greater recognition of the subterranean dimension of contemporary Middle Eastern conflicts will provide a more nuanced understanding of the duration, intensity and consequences of these wars.

The multiple faces of ‘conscientisation’: exploring links between structural inequalities, education and violence

ABSTRACT Education can instil conscientisation and stimulate action against injustice. The Batwa (‘pygmy’) people in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have been severely marginalised. In 2012–2013, violent conflict broke out in Tanganyika, pitting Batwa against dominant groups. Our qualitative interviews evoked a causal relationship between conscientisation – via non-formal human rights education – and violence. Our article dispels this idea. Yet, it demonstrates that conscientisation can circulate beyond the confines of educational activities, and be appropriated by a range of actors, including those calling for violence. We thereby advance a critical discussion of the implications of transformative peace education in conflict-affected contexts.