Browsing by Author "Admay, Catherine"

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Open Access
Advancing Peacebuilding Through Promoting Human Rights and Inclusive Governance. North and East Syria as a Case Study
(2024-05-01) Alhajj, Imad
Human rights violations, corruption, and weak rule of law are major conflict-driven factors threatening peace and the possibility of democratic governance in the North and East Syria (NES) region, mainly caused by the combined effects of weak political, legal, and technical institutions capacity and accountability mechanisms of the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration in NES region, and exacerbated by instability and insecurity, economic woes, and a climate-conflict nexus impact. A big part of the problem is the knowledge gap between theory and practice. As a result, the international community is missing the opportunity to advance peace and democratic governance. This study seeks to address these problems in the post-conflict and fragile environment. The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration in NES region as a case study. Particularly, this study asks what programming, lessons learned, and best practices are suggested by the experiences of local Syrian non-governmental organizations (LNGOs) and civil society to protect human rights and promote inclusive governance in the NES region. How can donors and major international NGOs better connect with and empower the work of the local Syrian NGOs and civil society efforts to advance peacebuilding in the NES region's fragile environment? The introduction provides a concise overview of the link between inclusive governance, human rights, and peacebuilding, as well as the research question and the client. The Problem section provides an overview of Autonomous Administration in the NES region, which faces multifaceted governance and human rights challenges due to political, legal, technical, environmental, and social problems that cause a fragile environment and relapse into violent conflict in the NES region. The methodology section is based on utilizing mixed methodology, literature review, and survey of local Syrian NGOs and civil society in the NES region, as well as conducting qualitative and quantitative methods analysis of primary data with heavy reliance on qualitative analysis. In the Search for Solution section, the study argues that human rights and inclusive governance are fundamental for peacebuilding, and international-led peacebuilding faces cultural and structural challenges and provides ‘alternative approaches’ to address the lack of ‘Political Will’ in peacebuilding and combating corruption. The survey results and discussion section provide a platform for the local Syrian voices on issues of human rights and inclusive governance priorities and strategies to address partnership challenges, lack of long-term perspective, and undemocratic practices of the International NGOs and donors that are problematic to advancing inclusive, context-sensitive approach to support peacebuilding in the NES region. The conclusion and recommendations section suggests an inclusive, holistic strategy that would bring all actors together to establish a clear path toward achieving an overarching strategic vision of preventing relapse of conflict, democratic governance, and building sustainable peace.
Open Access
Analyzing the Connections Among Water Access, Sanitation, Malaria and Diarrhea Outcomes in Rural Central Uganda
(2016-04-22) Hu, Michael
Access to safe water and sanitation around the world has increased significantly in the past few decades. The United Nations claims that 91% of the world’s population has access to safe water, exceeding the Millennium Development Goal for water access. Yet, some evidence in the literature suggests that safe water and sanitation access is overestimated, as the common indicator used to estimate safe water is infrastructural. The usage of water, behaviors surrounding water acquisition and storage, and possible contamination along the source to point-of-use continuum is poorly understood. This cross-sectional epidemiological study used a combination of surveying, mapping and bacteriological water testing to identify some of the possible factors in water contamination, and relationships with malaria and diarrhea burden, in a parish in Central Uganda. Secondary goals included assessing the burden of malaria and diarrhea in the parish, and assessing the use of mapping and water testing as field research tools. The survey included questions on water acquisition and usage behavior, sanitary conditions, knowledge of diarrhea, and malaria and diarrhea burden. In this parish, 126 households across 9 villages were randomly chosen to be surveyed, mapped and water tested. All water sources in the parish were additionally mapped and water tested. Across all water sources, including piped water, the water quality at the household point-of-use level was drastically worse than quality measured at the source. In fact, among all water sources, piped water recipients showed the highest average bacterial loads, despite the clean quality of the source itself. Possible factors in lowering or raising contamination, as displayed by regression results, include the frequency of obtaining water and distance from the water source respectively. The malaria and diarrhea case sample size proved smaller than expected, and challenges remain in using mapping and water testing in the field. These results support the theories that the amount of people with access to safe water is overestimated, and that contamination exists along the source to point-of-use continuum. More research is needed to investigate the exact points of contamination in the spectrum and possible contaminating factors.
Open Access
Delaying Child Marriage in the World’s Most Afflicted Country: Evaluating Whether or Not Ethiopia’s ‘Berhane Hewan’ Intervention Program Could Be Replicated with Success in Niger
(2020-11-25) Chulack, Anna
Niger has the highest child marriage prevalence rate in the world, with 76% of girls married by 18, and 28% of girls married by 15. Although Niger’s government has made stated, policy, and legal commitments to eliminate the practice, and non-profit organisations are researching and conducting work to fight against child marriage in Niger, there continues to be a lack of significant improvement on this issue. By comparison, Ethiopia has seen a substantial reduction in its child marriage prevalence rate in recent decades due to the success of various intervention programs – notably, the Berhane Hewan program in the rural Amhara region. Indeed, UNICEF reported in 2018 that the percentage of girls married by 18 in Ethiopia dropped substantially, from 47% to 25%, over the last decade (Clark, 2019). In the search for an impactful, sustainable, and cost-effective intervention program that could be implemented in Niger, we can look to Berhane Hewan as a potential example. This study uses open-ended qualitative interviews, both over the phone and over email, of nine research and program experts on child marriage to ascertain the extent to which Berhane Hewan might feasibly be replicated with success in Niger. While recognising that intervention programs must be tailored to the particular nature of child marriage in different local contexts, this paper finds that the various programmatic arms employed by the Berhane Hewan program are likely to be strategically successful in reducing, or delaying, child marriage in Niger. This is because, among other contextual similarities to Ethiopia, child marriage in Niger is driven strongly by a lack of access to education, as well as by traditional gender norms and patriarchal values. For example, to the latter point, married women possess little household decision-making power in both countries, and unmarried girls are likely to have even less self-agency: in Niger, only 3.5% of married women are the principal decisionmaker of their own health, and in Ethiopia during the Berhane Hewan program, this measure stood at only 14.6% (Niger DHS, 2012 & Ethiopia DHS, 2005). Despite these similarities, however, Niger experiences funding and military conflict challenges that are likely to mean that, in the short-term, only certain arms of the program will be cost-effective, and certain areas may not be able to sustain the program. In addition, the current legislative landscape may prove a barrier to sustainable, long-term change. Accordingly, key recommendations are delineated into short-, medium-, and long-term goals. In the short-term: (1) work with local community leaders and government officials to tailor the design and implementation of the various version(s) of the Berhane Hewan program; and (2) show proof of concept, by implementing two condensed studies of the Berhane Hewan program at small-scale. In the medium-term: (3) improve access to education in rural areas of Niger. In the long-term: (4) include additional arms of the program and scale the program to the national level; and (5) mobilise legal partners, local community leaders, and government officials to help assess the obstacles impeding attempts to increase the legal minimum age of marriage to 18 for girls.
Open Access
Drug Development for Neglected Tropical Diseases: DNDi and the Product Development Partnership (PDP) Model
(2016-04-25) Tuttle, Julia
Abstract Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), including leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, sleeping sickness, dengue fever, and schistosomiasis to name a few, are endemic in 149 countries and impact 1.4 billion people- often the most vulnerable groups in the poorest countries (WHO 2016). Unfortunately, many of these diseases have no vaccines to prevent them, nonexistent or incredibly problematic treatments, and limited resources dedicated to monitoring, controlling, and improving the situation of those who are infected. These diseases may impact millions of people, but the affected population is too poor to exert economic sway and attract investment under the current medical research and development system, and a long-standing market failure has left their needs unmet. However, since the turn of the century, the growing humanitarian concern for NTDs has prompted exploration into innovative partnership and financing mechanisms for developing health technologies for these diseases. Product development partnerships (PDPs), such as the Drugs for Neglected Disease Initiative (DNDi), have emerged to coordinate new collaborations between private industry, academia, and the public sector. Furthermore, the political landscape around NTDs is changing as exemplified by the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) is endorsing demonstration projects to experiment with "delinkage" principles that aim to separate the innovation market from the price of products and increase affordability and access. These novel approaches to drug development are important case studies in understanding how to best address the market failure around diseases of poverty and offer insight as to what strategies effectively advance the development of innovative health technologies. The lessons learned from the activities of DNDi and other PDPs shed light on how to align the goals of global health with political and economic realities.
Open Access
Evaluative Methods for Community Truth and Reconciliation Commissions: A Case Study of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission
(2013-04-26) Jasper, Daniel
Truth and reconciliation commissions (TRC’s) are increasingly being used as a form of restorative justice at the national level. Arising out of post-conflict societies, TRCs saw a particularly significant increase from the late 1990’s onwards. TRCs may have real utility at the local level as well. Today community-based TRCs have been implemented in at least nine states in the U.S. The Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission holds the distinguished honor of being the first of its kind in the country. What is not well understood, however, is the impact TRC’s have on the communities in which they serve. This study seeks to explore what evaluative methodology or combination of methodologies is best suited to capture a TRC’s impact, and what practices future TRC’s might employ to ensure evaluations are conducted in a systematic and sensitive manner. Understanding why evaluations of truth commissions are important may be obvious to some or something never considered by others. Regardless of one’s stance on evaluation, there are several reasons why evaluation should be considered among future truth commissions. Firstly, evaluations can help cement a community’s commitment to the truth and reconciliation process by continually confronting the public with assessments on the progress of their objectives. Secondly, evaluations allow donor agencies and non-governmental organizations to understand their contributions and give them an understanding of the lessons learned. Finally, at a broader level, public policy experts seek the best avenues to approach societal issues and, as truth commissions continue to make their way onto lists of alternatives to retributive justice mechanisms, understanding their impact is of critical importance to those who consider their use. Evaluations allow community expectations to be set at an appropriate level, and will allow policy makers to anticipate any gaps that may exist after a TRC has completed its work. Because every TRC seeks to address a different conflict, I examined this issue through the lens of one truth commission, the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission (GTRC), in order to orient the research in a specific context. In order to assess methodological strategies for evaluations of community-level TRC’s, I surveyed the existing literature on empirical research and transitional justice mechanisms, as well as, the literature surrounding the GTRC. I also conducted ten in-depth interviews with practitioners who were involved with the GTRC in order to gain first-hand insight into the best possible means by which to understand the impact of the GTRC. Interviewees consisted of three advisors, four commissioners, the GTRC Public Hearings Coordinator, the GTRC Executive Director, and the Vice Chair of the Commission Selection Panel. Through analysis of the interviews I conducted and supplementary material, I found that each methodology that I examined (quantitative, qualitative, and narrative) were applicable and desirable in the evaluations of truth commissions. Despite considerable controversy over some methodologies, in particular quantitative methods, each methodology was considered as an effective measurement of impact by a number of practitioners. In this regard, I find that there is nothing inherent in the truth commission process that excludes quantitative measurements from being an effective tool of analysis. However, I also found that overreliance on any one method could severely damage a truth commission’s assessment and that a quality evaluation of a truth commission must include elements of each methodology. The principle recommendation put forth in this paper is that community truth commissions should include an evaluative team in the structure of their commission. The imbedded evaluation team would allow researchers to witness discussions surrounding the objectives of the commission, which will help clarify what indicators can serve as a proper form of assessment. A common criticism of current evaluations is that researchers are measuring truth commissions against indicators that the commission did not seek to address. In this regard, an evaluative team that remained a separate division of the commission would allow the researchers to understand the process without compromising their independence.
Open Access
Pro-Poor Housing Rights for Slum Dwellers: The Case Against Evictions in Bangalore
(2014-04-25) Masses, Issel
According to the Housing and Land Rights Network, from 2002-2012, around 2,676,652 people were victims of violations on housing and land rights in India. Slum evictions demolish a dweller’s shelter, and destroy the few belongings that dwellers have been able to acquire. They force slum dwellers to settle in other areas of the city, where housing conditions are worse and prospects for better jobs diminished. Thus, consequences of evictions can severely affect the livelihood of already impoverished and vulnerable people. Not surprisingly, the principal concern of slum dwellers who lack formal housing rights, is the threat of eviction. This Master’s Project aims to contribute to the body of policy-oriented research that focuses on housing rights and the protection from eviction of slum dwellers in Bangalore. The study evaluates the political economy context and identifies shortcomings of slum policy and ‘pro-poor’ efforts in relation to the protection of slum dwellers from eviction, focusing on the ten-year period of 2002-2012. The analysis reveals a significant gap between housing policy and housing needs, as those who need security of tenure the most, are generally unable to afford the costs of affordable housing alternatives offered by the government. This vulnerable segment of the population is also highly susceptible to evictions, which further threatens the stability of their livelihood. Perversely, even policies crafted at the central and state levels to address the vulnerabilities of the poorest city dwellers are not being implemented in a comprehensive, transparent and efficient manner by the respective public institutions. Additionally, standards and regulations tend to facilitate eviction processes and provide little protection from eviction or housing alternatives for unlawful dwellers. The gap between policy and the needs of the poor is further aggravated by the dwellers’ lack of information on their rights and the limited influence that vulnerable slum dwellers have on shaping reform. NGOs and other civil society actors have been working to advocate on behalf of the poor and advance their right to housing. Nevertheless, collective action problems and limited resources keep them from increasing the impact of their efforts. The research results of this study have led to the following recommendations: 1. NGOs should build the capacity of slum leaders and any emergent CBOs to pursue housing rights and protect themselves from eviction. CBOs and slum leaders should be trained on notification processes and other related tasks that can help advance the community’s agenda. 2. NGOs should reprioritize their work, increasing investment of resources in a few specific key areas of work to maximize impact. By implementing recommendation 1, CBOs will take some responsibility away from NGOs, allowing NGOs to focus more on implementing specific and complex strategies. Some of these include: i) raising awareness nationally and globally on the vulnerability of the poorest slum dwellers, ii) seeking the courts help for the advancement of housing rights as well as safety nets around eviction, and iii) advocating at the central and state levels for the further development and actual implementation of ‘pro-poor’ policies, including schemes on night shelters, temporary housing, and property rights.
Open Access
Whose Ballots Are Rejected? Demographic Dynamics of Provisional Ballots in North Carolina from 2010-2020
(2021-01) Toscano, James Jr
Provisional ballots were designed to be democracy’s final line of defense against disenfranchisement. Through provisional voting, every person has the right to fill out a ballot. However, many of these ballots are rejected. Whose ballots are rejected? I apply a multiple linear regression model to general elections from 2010-2020 to provide the most comprehensive picture of provisional ballot rejections in North Carolina to date. My model shows that Black voters were consistently and statistically significantly more likely to have their provisional ballots rejected than white voters. This finding is alarming given the danger such disparate outcomes pose to the perceived legitimacy of U.S. elections. Additionally, the existence of such a system creates opportunities for targeted discrimination, which is especially concerning given North Carolina’s historical pursuit of blatantly anti-Black voting policies. North Carolina and other states should modify their election policies to reduce and eventually to eliminate the need for provisional ballots. In the short term, relaxation of voter registration requirements can reduce the use of provisional ballots, and targeted phone banks can reduce their rejection. However, the only way to permanently address the current unequal treatment of voters is to adopt election day voter registration, which would eliminate the need for provisional ballots.