Villages Project Research Articles

Epidemiology and prevention of animal bite and human rabies in a rural community-One health experiment

ObjectiveTo estimate the incidence of human rabies and animal bite/exposure; to describe the post exposure prophylaxis received by animal bite/exposure cases; to assess the safety and immunogenicity of rabies vaccine (purified chick embryo cell vaccine) administered as pre-exposure vaccination for school children and risk groups by intradermal route in the rural community and to demonstrate a decrease in the incidence of human rabies and animal bite/exposures through implementation of one health experiment. MethodsThis prospective interventional study was conducted over a period of 2 years (December 2009-November 2011) in a rural area near Bangalore, Karnataka, South India and consisted of six villages (project villages), three villages were identified as study villages with active interventions (Implementation of rabies awareness activities, post exposure prophylaxis, pre-exposure intradermal rabies vaccine) and three villages as control villages without any active interventions. ResultsA majority of the animal bite cases were category III exposures and all of them had received rabies immunoglobulin and anti-rabies vaccine as per WHO recommendation. A majority received 3 to 5 doses of vaccine. Three hundred and sixty eight subjects had received pre-exposure intradermal rabies vaccination thrice on days 0, 7 and 28 d. ConclusionsNo human rabies case was reported during the study period and there was 30% decrease in animal bite/exposure cases in study villages after the one health experiment project was implemented. Pre-exposure vaccination was safe and immunogenic.

The Companion Village Project: An Extension Education Tool for Improving Crop Production

The Companion Village Project: An Extension Education Tool for Improving Crop Production

The Shock of the Real: The Neoliberal Neurosis in the Life and Times of Jeffrey Sachs

ThispaperdrawsonSlavojŽižek'scritiqueofideologyinseekingtoaccountfor the persistence and transformability of the neoliberal project. Against understandings of as a utopian representation projected onto an external reality, I argue that neoliberal ideology operates as a social fantasy, which structures reality itself against the traumatic Real of Capital. The evolution of the neoliberal project should be understood, not as the meticulous manipulation of social reality, but as a series of increasingly desperate attempts to hold the very fabric of reality together. Reconceptualizing neoliberalization as a form of obsessional neurosis can help to explain the relentless persistence of zombie neoliberalism and its paradoxical trajectory towards increasingly intensive forms of social engineering. This argument is developed through a critical engagement with the work of the economist Jeffrey Sachs. From shock therapy to the Millennium Villages Project, Sachs's trajectory embodies the characteristics of the neoliberal neurosis. The paper aims to undermine the apparently monolithic power of neoliberalism, by challenging dominant critical representations of the neoliberal project in terms of a hyper-rational governmentality. It also aims to subvert the attempts by Jeffrey Sachs and other neoliberals to reposition themselves as opponents of the Washington Consensus, and as spokesmen of the Occupy movement. The chosen method of attack is more satirical than polemical. Neurotic neoliberals such as Sachs have successfully appropriated ethical objections to in the name of global- ization with a human face. In the present conjuncture, an immanent critique that reveals the internal incoherence of neoliberal ideology, and the hapless floundering of its proponents, is perhaps more effective than a repetition of familiar forms of moral condemnation. An alternative subtitle for this paper might therefore be Towards a satirical materialism.

Model villages in the neoliberal era: the Millennium Development Goals and the colonization of everyday life

What explains the recent re-emergence of ‘model village’-style social experiments, and what does this tell us about the contradictions of neoliberal development? This paper focuses on two experiments of this kind – the Millennium Villages Project in sub-Saharan Africa and the Rural Cities Project in southern Mexico – both of which aim to achieve the Millennium Development Goals through an integrated set of interventions at the village level. Drawing on Henri Lefebvre's work on the colonization of everyday life, I argue that the Millennium Development Goals function in these cases to facilitate and legitimate the production of social reality based on a naturalised vision of market society. These utopian projects embody the paradoxical character of neoliberalization, demonstrating the necessarily social production of the supposedly natural order on which neoliberalism is discursively premised, while reproducing the strategies of social engineering that the neoliberal project is rhetorically oriented against.

The Adopted Village Project and Farm Income of Beneficiary Households in Kaduna State, Nigeria

About three years into the Adopted Village Project introduced by National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services (NAERLS) in 2009, this study assessed the extent to which the project has improved the farm income and livelihood status of beneficiaries in the study area. Data were collected by interview schedule using a structured questionnaire, which was analysed using descriptive and Z-test statistics. The result shows that, about 89% of the project beneficiaries had between 1 - 8 extension contacts in 2011 cropping season, while non-beneficiaries had no contact with extension agents during the period. The study also revealed that the average income per hectare generated and the average value of assets owned by beneficiaries from the 2011 farming are statistically significant. This implies that the project intervention has significant impact on the income generating capacity of the beneficiaries of the project as well as on acquisition of assets. The study recommended that the NAERLS should intensify its efforts in the pilot villages and scale out its adopted village projects to other parts of the State. Also, policy makers, local government authorities and rural development experts should adopt this model in their programme planning and poverty alleviation initiatives.

The Impact of Social Grants on Rural Women: Perspectives from ABET Practitioners

The most recent census information available, as well as other reports and studies reveal that out of a population of about 52 million South Africans, approximately 30 percent live on social grants. This translates to at least 15.6 million social grant recipients countrywide. This study examines how social grants have contributed to the well-being and especially livelihoods of rural people. It also examines how the grants have enabled and empowered recipients, encouraged self-reliance and created opportunities for socioeconomic growth and development towards poverty alleviation for rural recipients. Proponents of Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) tend to link issues of education and development to literacy. This study examines how social grants contribute to improvements in families’ livelihoods and the well-being of individuals who receive them. In addition, it seeks to establish whether there is a link between the provision of social grants, as a social policy model, and literacy, development and education. While the social grant is meant to bridge economic disparities by assisting the poor, this study is located at an intersection of two schools of thought about this policy – those in support of and those against it. Jeffrey Sachs’ Millennium Villages Project underpins the theoretical framework of this study as it gives hope for those critics who believe that Africa will forever be dependent on foreign aid and hand-outs. Qualitative and document analysis methods were used to collate and analyse journals and diaries kept by grant recipients in fifteen (15) rural households in the Free State over a period of two years. The main findings of the study reveal that social grants, as an economic intervention, are contributing substantively towards poverty reduction. However, the recipients feel that the social grant is a gift from government and believe that it will be forfeited, if they become self-reliant. The study concludes that more income-generating activities should be encouraged through the provision of loans or seed-funds as CARE-South Africa had done in their community development interventions to grant recipients. Social grants are only a means of survival, but community education can bring about for development – along with other adult education programmes – and is a key element in addressing sustainable development. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n13p541

Role of Community Capacity Building in Ensuring Sustainability of Food Security Project: A Case of the Millennium Villages Project in Bar Sauri, Gem- Kenya

Role of Community Capacity Building in Ensuring Sustainability of Food Security Project: A Case of the Millennium Villages Project in Bar Sauri, Gem- Kenya

Role of Community Capacity Building in Ensuring Sustainability of Food Security Project: A Case of the Millennium Villages Project in Bar Sauri, Gem- Kenya

This study explored the functional role of community capacity building in ensuring sustainability of Bar-Sauri Millennium Villages Project beyond the five years funding period. The study used descriptive survey research design, an interview schedule and questionnaires to establish the sustainability of tangible benefits of MVP. The questionnaire was administered to 380 respondents selected by simple random sampling. A response rate of 79% was obtained. Descriptive statistical techniques were used to present the findings. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 19. The findings indicate that there were trained community leaders to help villagers understand the MVP goals however, the residents of Bar-Sauri were not competent enough in sustaining the MVP if the donor funding ends. The MVP has introduced several sustainability interventions; most effective strategy being financial literacy. From the study, the following strategies for capacity building for new projects similar to MVP were found out: Training in marketing, involving the community in the conception stage of the project and in the decision making stages concerning the project, Training in farm management and post harvesting practices such as storage, diversification of agricultural activities, improvement of educational institutions in the millennium village. The study recommended that further research should be carried out in Bar-Sauri encompassing other variables not included in this study. A similar research should be conducted in other MVP sites in Africa: That is Ruhiira in Uganda, Pampaida in Nigeria, Bonsaaso in Ghana, Mwandana in Malawi. Studies that relate to the effective implementation of programs and support policies for MVPs in Kenya and Africa should be carried out. Studies should cover strategies used by successful MVPs in sustaining the project beyond the donor funded period to scale up to other local, national and international food security programs.

Mobile phones and social structures: an exploration of a closed user group in rural Ghana

BackgroundIn the Millennium Villages Project site of Bonsaaso, Ghana, the Health Team is using a mobile phone closed user group to place calls amongst one another at no cost.MethodsIn order to determine the utilization and acceptability of the closed user group amongst users, social network analysis and qualitative methods were used. Key informants were identified and interviewed. The key informants also kept prospective call journals. Billing statements and de-identified call data from the closed user group were used to generate data for analyzing the social structure revealed by the network traffic.ResultsThe majority of communication within the closed user group was personal and not for professional purposes. The members of the CUG felt that the group improved their efficiency at work.ConclusionsThe methods used present an interesting way to investigate the social structure surrounding communication via mobile phones. In addition, the benefits identified from the exploration of this closed user group make a case for supporting mobile phone closed user groups amongst professional groups.

Measuring Socio-economic Status in the Millennium Villages: The Role of Asset Index Choice

How are poverty analyses and poverty traps assessments affected by the choice among conventional methods of asset index construction? To address this question, this article uses panel data from four sites in the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) in Malawi, Tanzania, Mali and Ghana to study the relationship between eight asset indices and the sensitivity of findings related to poverty rates, poverty transitions and poverty traps to the index used. We find that although estimations of poverty rates and transitions are largely consistent across indices, evidence of poverty traps can be conditional on which asset index is used. The asset indices studied include structural income, principal components, factor analysis and a reduced set of assets reflecting the portfolio assessed in the Demographic Health Survey (DHS) data.

농촌개발사업 효과의 정량적 평가 및 공간적 연관 분석

A lot of rural development projects have been planned and implemented for revitalizing rural areas in South Korea. However, it is not easy to properly evaluate and quantitatively analyze project outcomes. For this reason only selected regions have been evaluated for rural projects by government agencies. In this study, we analyzed the purpose and the contents of the Rural Village Development Project (RVDP) and Green Tourism Village Project (GTVP) to find indicators for evaluating results of rural projects using logistic regression analysis. Outputs of this study show that RVDPs increase regional population and GTVPs positively affect the sales of agricultural products. We also estimated the spatial distribution of project effects through spatial autocorrelation analysis and local-spatial autocorrelation analysis. Results show that the Moran`s I values for the proportion of farmers with avocational jobs, product sales changes, and population growth in Jeol-La province are positive and the biggest one is population growth. Especially, key areas of agricultural product sales are widely distributed.

An impact evaluation design for the Millennium Villages Project in Northern Ghana

This article details the design of an impact evaluation of the Millennium Villages Project in Northern Ghana. The evaluation is particularly challenging because the intervention cannot be randomised; it is clustered in a group of homogeneous communities and likely to generate spill-over effects. We propose a difference-in-differences design selecting control communities based on a propensity score and collecting five rounds of yearly data. We address a number of evaluation questions in relation to testing the breaking of the poverty trap, assessing project externalities, the role of qualitative research, cost-effectiveness and project synergies, sustainability and scalability in the presence of scale economies.

Physical condition of Olyset® nets after five years of utilization in rural western Kenya

BackgroundLong-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) are a cornerstone of malaria control at present, and millions are used each day across the globe. However, there is limited information about the durability of LLINs under different conditions of utilization and there is no consensus about when a LLIN ceases to be protective due to physical deterioration. This knowledge is important for malaria control programmes to plan for procurement and replacement.MethodsA cross-sectional survey of 208 households where Olyset® nets distributed five years ago were still present was conducted in the village of Sauri, western Kenya, in the context of the Millennium Villages Project. Information on bed net utilization and maintenance was collected in each household through a structured questionnaire, and one five-year-old Olyset® net from each sampled household was randomly selected and collected for physical examination. All holes larger than 0.5 cm were measured in each net, registering their position, and a hole index was calculated following WHO guidelines. Nets were classified as in good condition, moderately damaged or badly torn based on the hole index. The analysis explored the associations between demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of households, patterns of bed net utilization and maintenance and physical condition of the nets. Additional analysis was conducted using malaria prevalence data collected in a separate survey to explore if there was any association between the condition of the net collected in a household and the presence of malaria parasites in members of that household.Results81.4% of Olyset® nets distributed five years ago were still present in the surveyed households, and 98.97% of the nets were reportedly used the previous night. Nets had an average of 34.2 holes (95% CI 30.12-38.22), and the mean hole index was 849 (95% CI 711–986), IQR 174–1,135. 15.2% of nets were still in good condition, 46.1% were moderately damaged and 38.7% were badly torn after five years of utilization. There was no association between household characteristics or patterns of bed net utilization or maintenance and physical condition of the nets. The only predictor of the physical condition of the net was the cleanliness at the time of examination. There was a difference of 17.6 percentage points in the proportion of households with at least one blood smear positive for Plasmodium falciparum between households with a net in good condition (5.3%) and those with a moderately damaged or badly torn net (22.9%), 95% CI (0.04-0.305), t=2.77 with unequal variance, p=0.009.ConclusionsOlyset® nets were used extensively in Sauri, western Kenya after five years of distribution, regardless of their physical condition. However, only 15% were found in good condition. Nets in good condition seem to be still protective after five years of utilization, while nets with more than 100 cm2 of holed surface may be associated with higher malaria parasitaemia at household level. Continued replacement of damaged nets and promotion of net maintenance and repair may be necessary to maintain the protective effectiveness of LLINs.

Using Social Networking to Understand Social Networks: Analysis of a Mobile Phone Closed User Group Used by a Ghanaian Health Team

BackgroundThe network structure of an organization influences how well or poorly an organization communicates and manages its resources. In the Millennium Villages Project site in Bonsaaso, Ghana, a mobile phone closed user group has been introduced for use by the Bonsaaso Millennium Villages Project Health Team and other key individuals. No assessment on the benefits or barriers of the use of the closed user group had been carried out.ObjectiveThe purpose of this research was to make the case for the use of social network analysis methods to be applied in health systems research—specifically related to mobile health.MethodsThis study used mobile phone voice records of, conducted interviews with, and reviewed call journals kept by a mobile phone closed user group consisting of the Bonsaaso Millennium Villages Project Health Team. Social network analysis methodology complemented by a qualitative component was used. Monthly voice data of the closed user group from Airtel Bharti Ghana were analyzed using UCINET and visual depictions of the network were created using NetDraw. Interviews and call journals kept by informants were analyzed using NVivo.ResultsThe methodology was successful in helping identify effective organizational structure. Members of the Health Management Team were the more central players in the network, rather than the Community Health Nurses (who might have been expected to be central).ConclusionsSocial network analysis methodology can be used to determine the most productive structure for an organization or team, identify gaps in communication, identify key actors with greatest influence, and more. In conclusion, this methodology can be a useful analytical tool, especially in the context of mobile health, health services, and operational and managerial research.

L'affrontement entre les objectifs de développement et l'évaluation d'impact

Résumé Deux courants ont récemment refaçonné l’aide au développement. Le mouvement en faveur des objectifs a unifié et inspiré les acteurs de l’aide avec des objectifs quantifiables ; le mouvement en faveur de l’évaluation a émis des normes pour mesurer les effets réels de l’aide. Ces deux courants semblent complémentaires, mais dans certains projets de l’aide ils se sont heurtés de manière improductive. Je passe en revue un tel affrontement, dans le projet Villages du Millénaire (MVP) mis en œuvre par les Nations Unies. L’histoire nous donne des leçons sur la façon dont les nouveaux objectifs de développement et les évaluations d’impact à venir pourraient davantage se renforcer mutuellement.

Can Big Push Interventions Take Small-Scale Farmers out of Poverty? Insights from the Sauri Millennium Village in Kenya

This paper analyzes the impact of the Millennium Village Project (MVP) in Sauri, Kenya. We found significant higher agricultural productivity, self-consumption, production margins, and total (surrogate) income, but an insignificant impact on cash income among targeted households, when compared to similar ones in neighboring villages. These outcomes are explained by a large allocation of productivity gains to self-consumption, instead of to the market. Despite showing sizeable effects of the MVP, the results call for revising of the assumptions about the relationship between agricultural productivity and cash income on which the MVP and other rural development interventions rely on.

The Village Project:: A Collaborative Effort to Improve Children’s Reading Skills and Preservice Teachers' Reading Instruction

The Village Project:: A Collaborative Effort to Improve Children’s Reading Skills and Preservice Teachers' Reading Instruction

Recovery Management and African Americans: A Report from the Field

The existence of numerous ethnic and racial disparities suggests that African Americans and other people of color are particularly ill served by the prevailing acute-care approaches to addiction treatment. This article (1) explores recovery management as an alternative framework for providing effective addiction treatment for African Americans; (2) illustrates the implementation of this approach by presenting examples from the Amistad Village Project, a culturally competent and recovery-oriented treatment program for African American men and women that was piloted and studied in New Haven, Connecticut; and (3) articulates the service recipient's perspective on the critical elements of effective substance use disorder treatment for African American individuals.

Villages project responds to criticism

Villages project responds to criticism

Poverty project opens to scrutiny

The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) a joint venture between Columbia University and the non-profit organization Millennium Promise is simultaneously applying a raft of aid interventions – from bednets for malaria control to fertilizers – to help impoverished villages to meet the United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) including reducing hunger extreme poverty and the burden of major diseases. In a paper published online in The Lancet the project claimed a significant milestone: it reported that after three years of interventions child mortality was decreasing three times faster in the project’s villages than in the host nations in general. But the analysis was criticized for underestimating improvements in child mortality and overestimating those in the Millennium Villages. As a result the paper was partially retracted and MVP’s founder Jeffrey Sachs has now created a faculty committee to oversee MVP research and increase interactions with outside researchers. Whether the MVP ultimately proves a success or failure it will still provide useful information so it is important to improve its evaluation mechanisms.