Browsing by Subject "International development"

Now showing 1 - 14 of 14

Open Access
Adoption of Conservation Agriculture in Malawi
(2008-12-05T16:40:03Z) Williams, Joseph
There is need in Malawi to increase agricultural yields to feed the growing population. Concurrently, conventional agriculture techniques practiced by subsistence farmers steady depletes soil fertility thereby reducing the potential yield on the arable land. The practice of conservation agriculture may be a solution for rural farmers to improve the long-term soil health as well as increase yields and buffer potential losses due to drought, problems with the fertilizer import market and farmer health. The non-governmental organization Total Land Care, LLC, with support from the United States Agency for International Development, manages the Chia Lagoon Project in the Nkhotakota and Ntchisi districts of Malawi. One part of this project teaches conservation agriculture and has had extraordinarily successful results—project managers have documented high yields, farmer involvement and requests from other farmers to be part of this project component. This Masters Project involved a survey of conservation agriculture farmers in the Chia Lagoon Project to address the question of what indicators project managers should address in future conservation agriculture projects. The survey included questions on demographic information, agricultural practices and results, interaction with the Chia Lagoon Project, family and social relationships, and future agricultural plans. The results found farmers required less labor in terms of time and greater profitability by practicing conservation agriculture. In fact, 82% of farmers indicated they would continue to practice conservation agriculture after the project has ended. A statistical classification model (CART) estimated leading indicators of adopting conservation agriculture after the project had ended, which was found to be the frequency of visits from agricultural extension agents. The implications of these results are project managers should ensure adequate extension agent interaction for farmers in the conservation agriculture program. This practice will produce greater yields for farmers and require less time and work intensity than conventional agriculture. The time savings from these practices is particularly welcome to farmers with HIV or malaria. Conservation agriculture should be officially adopted by the Malawian government as the form of agriculture taught by extension agents. Private industry and non-governmental organizations should work in cooperation with the government to spread this technology efficiently throughout the country.
Open Access
Artificial Intelligence for added value in the creation, implementation, and evaluation of national export strategies
(2022-04-22) Rodríguez, Eugenia
A National Export Strategy (NES) is an action plan that sets priorities, allocates resources, and specifies actions to strengthen an economy’s international trade capabilities, seeking to enhance its economic growth and development. In recent times there was an increase in the number of national initiative documents concerning strategic trade and development, with many developing countries facing challenges to ensure their trade dynamics effectively and efficiently contribute to their long-term sustainable development. In this context, technology can be a helpful tool in the NES process. Based on a literature review, use cases, and expert interviews, this report aims to inform the International Trade Centre (ITC) of key ways in which artificial intelligence (AI) can add value to the creation, implementation, and evaluation of a NES. It also identifies important considerations, challenges, and limitations regarding AI adoption in the NES process, and provides conclusions and high-level recommendations.
Open Access
Assessing the Evaluation Methods of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Latin American Compact Projects
(2020-11-20) Norman, Savannah
International development agencies have, for decades, worked to remedy global development challenges. One of these agencies is the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). This study explores the MCC’s Latin American programming via its evaluations. It specifically assesses the technical soundness of the MCC’s Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador evaluations, as well what the findings and soundness of evaluations mean for future projects in the region. Through document analysis, this study found that the average evaluation was technically sound, as it employed consistent, appropriate, and objective metrics. However, evaluation structure varied according to author and proprietor agency. External evaluations did not directly contradict the findings of MCC-sponsored evaluations. Evaluations were not inclusive to the intended recipients of MCC programming, beneficiary groups. Interviews with the authors of evaluations confirmed these findings. The implications of findings include the importance of culturally competent, inclusive, and multi-faceted development processes that assimilate learning from prior programming. Findings are applicable to development and evaluation processes in Latin America.
Open Access
Assessing the Evaluation Methods of the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s Latin American Compact Projects
(2020-11-20) Norman, Savannah
Por décadas, agencias de desarrollo internacional se han esforzado para remediar los desafíos globales del desarrollo. Una de estas agencias es el Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). Este trabajo explora la programación del Millennium Challenge Coporation a través de sus evaluaciones. Específicamente, este trabajo evalúa la solidez técnica de las evaluaciones de los proyectos hondureñas, nicaragüenses, y salvadoreños del MCC, y también lo que los hallazgos y la solidez de estas evaluaciones significan para futuros proyectos en la región. A través de un análisis de documentos, este trabajo encontró que la evaluación promedia fue sólida técnicamente, como uso métricas consistentes, apropiadas, y objetivas. Sin embargo, la estructura de las evaluaciones varió según el autor y la agencia propietaria. Evaluaciones externas no directamente contradijeron los hallazgos de las evaluaciones financiadas por el MCC. Las evaluaciones no fueron inclusivas a los destinatarios originarios de la programación del MCC, los grupos beneficiarios. Entrevistas con los autores de las evaluaciones confirmaron estas conclusiones. Las implicaciones de estos hallazgos incluyen la importancia de procesos de desarrollo que son culturalmente competentes, inclusivos, multifacéticos, y que asimilan el aprendizaje de proyectos ya-completados. Los hallazgos de este trabajo se aplican al proceso de desarrollo y evaluación de Latinoamérica.
Open Access
Climate Change Adaptation Strategies for the State of Oaxaca, Mexico
(2012-04-20) Muñoz, Sofia
Policy Question: What policy strategies should the government of the state of Oaxaca implement to adapt to climate change? The Mexican government and the international community have identified climate change as one of the most difficult challenges of the century. This is especially true for developing countries and their poor populations, since climate change impacts will be a constant threat to achieve international and national development goals. Although climate change mitigation strategies are essential to reduce these impacts in the future, the historic and present emissions level will have impact in the short, medium, and long term. Therefore, adaptation strategies are critical to overcome these impacts and to be able to achieve development. The World Bank in Mexico, through the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Environmental Unit, is working with the Mexican federal and state governments to develop climate change adaptation plans. Together with the World Bank, the government of the state of Oaxaca is creating a climate change adaptation plan that will be an instrument to face the challenges that climate change will have in the state. As part of that project, this policy paper provides a broad perspective of climate change impacts for the state of Oaxaca, with a specific focus on problems for urban areas. It provides recommendations on different adaptation measures that should be included in the state’s adaptation plan, all of which can be applied for the state’s urban areas. The first part of this policy paper includes an analysis of the different problems that the state of Oaxaca will have as a consequence of climate change. After defining the problem, the following section presents a set of criteria which where considered in defining the alternatives. The analysis section focuses on weighing the alternatives against the criteria, which sets the ground for the final recommendations. Problem Definition Oaxaca is one of the poorest states in Mexico. It lacks economic opportunities and education and human development remains behind compared to the rest of the country. People’s strong dependence on agriculture increases the possible threat of climate change on their livelihoods, but the lack of economic resources and investments in other sectors make it a state that has been left behind. Urban areas in the state are growing. Population growth is a main cause, but the disorganized growth increases the challenges in urban areas. There is a lack of planning and future vision of the needs for organized and sustainable urban systems. The impacts of climate change in these areas, especially those lying in the coasts, are likely to be significant and in many cases devastating. Poor infrastructure in transportation and communications increases the threats of extreme weather events and climate related disasters. Likewise, the significant impacts on water availability, accessibility, and quality will have important impacts on health, economic activities, and social welfare. One of the main challenges is the complexity of actors and stakeholders involved in the issue. While everyone will assume the consequences of climate change, the implementation of adaptation strategies is highly dependent on government policies, actions, and cooperation. International organizations have played, and will increasingly play, an important role in the application of these plans and on helping the governments lead toward climate change actions. The private sector, on the other hand, is key to encourage economic growth and support through investments, but its participation has been poor, especially in the state of Oaxaca. Alternatives The alternatives analyzed in this paper are divided in two groups: building adaptive capacity and delivering adaptation actions. The first group is based on generating the necessary information and conditions that will support climate change adaptation. These alternatives include increasing knowledge on the impacts of climate change, promoting education and understanding of the impacts, achieve economic development, encourage economic diversification, encourage multilevel governance and cooperation across actors, and promote insurance and financial mechanisms. The second group of alternatives is focused on reducing the vulnerability of the damages caused by climate change: investing in physical infrastructure, such as transportation or water, and improving urban planning. Recommendations The paper shows the important role that all of the alternatives play in achieving adaptation to climate change, and how all of these meet to a certain extent the main criteria: encouraging achievement of development goals, feasibility, cost-effectiveness, implementation in the near future, reducing long-term vulnerability, and scalability. Therefore, the recommendations include all of the alternatives but should be implemented in three different stages. The first stage is can be implemented within the existing policy frameworks and will have a positive impact in achieving the rest of the alternatives. These alternatives include: • Increase knowledge of the impacts of climate change at the local and state levels • Promote education and understanding of the impacts of climate change • Encourage multilevel governance and cooperation across actors in different sectors The second stage includes strategies that need more investment from public and private sources and that are necessary in order to achieve the last stage. These include: • Improve urban planning • Invest in physical infrastructure (transportation, water, and communications) • Promote insurance and financial mechanisms For these strategies to be successful, the government needs to establish the necessary conditions, which can result from the improved cooperation between the private and public sectors, as well as a multilevel governance framework. Investments in urban planning, physical infrastructure, and insurance and financial mechanisms can lead to more sustained economic development and diversification. Therefore, the last stage of alternatives includes both: • Achieve economic development • Encourage economic diversification Economic development and diversification are key strategies and play a very important role in climate change adaptation. Since both of the strategies are a consequence of education, human development, infrastructure, competitive urban spaces, and efficient governance, they should be seen as alternatives that will be developed throughout the process rather than addressing them independently in the far future. All of the alternatives are applicable in urban areas in the state of Oaxaca. Improving knowledge on the local impacts that climate change will have on Oaxaca’s cities will allow for a more accurate design of policies and instruments for climate change adaptation. Community participation through education and communication is even more important in urban contexts, where there tends to be fragmentation between social groups and where the impacts of climate change are imbalanced for different population groups. Coordination between different levels of government is highly needed in cities; urban sprawl has increased the complexity of the cities’ jurisdictional structure and the daily interaction of different actors brings more complex challenges in the urban context. Urban planning is becoming a priority for development and climate change. It should include investments in infrastructure for water service provision, transportation, and communications. Although this requires high investments and mobilization of financial resources, there are possible opportunities to access those resources. In this matter, the active participation of the World Bank plays a crucial role. The organization can invest in projects, but also act as intermediary with the private sector to attract more investments into the state. The insurance market needs further development especially in Oaxaca. Designing good insurance mechanisms can increase private sector investments and participation, encouraging economic growth and development. In this case also, international financial institutions can play a vital role in designing and implementing these mechanisms and they can help the local and state governments create an inviting environment. Finally, due to the socioeconomic conditions in Oaxaca, economic development and diversification become a central issue regarding climate change adaptation. In the case of urban areas, economic diversification becomes very important.. In the past years Oaxaca has attracted attention for its natural resources and cultural richness and has gained national and international notice. This is an important opportunity to foster entrepreneurship that promotes social welfare and environmental sustainability, to put Oaxaca as a national example. This can help achieve economic growth and development, but also increase awareness on the needs to preserve natural resources and therefore adapt to and mitigate climate change. Active participation and cooperation between the local, state, and national governments is necessary to implement every strategy. The role of the World Bank is significant and should be considered as such in the implementation process. The World Bank has an important position for advising governments on the design of policies, but also to set the stage for active private sector participation. In designing the policies, the World Bank can act as an intermediary between the different levels of government to ensure that there is cooperation and that the application of the strategies is consistent. Likewise, the World Bank’s participation designing and investing in specific projects, like transportation or water infrastructure, can promote private sector’s participation because they can be confident that the there is more likely to be clear spending and accountability for each of the projects. Development is a key issue for governments and a constant and important challenge. Climate change and its consequences will make this challenge even more complicated, especially in places where there is a lack of economic development or capacity building. Oaxaca already has several challenges regarding development, but it is also a place that is highly vulnerable to climate change. Therefore, the application of clear and well-designed adaptation measures is necessary to reduce the threats of climate change for the people, the ecosystems, and the economy. These strategies should be a priority for the government and development agencies working in the state, so as to increase people’s wellbeing and achieve local, national, and international development goals.
Open Access
Climate Change Adaptation Strategies for the State of Oaxaca, Mexico
(2012-04-19) Muñoz, Sofia
Policy Question: What policy strategies should the government of the state of Oaxaca implement to adapt to climate change? The Mexican government and the international community have identified climate change as one of the most difficult challenges of the century. This is especially true for developing countries and their poor populations, since climate change impacts will be a constant threat to achieve international and national development goals. Although climate change mitigation strategies are essential to reduce these impacts in the future, the historic and present emissions level will have impact in the short, medium, and long term. Therefore, adaptation strategies are critical to overcome these impacts and to be able to achieve development. The World Bank in Mexico, through the Latin America and Caribbean Regional Environmental Unit, is working with the Mexican federal and state governments to develop climate change adaptation plans. Together with the World Bank, the government of the state of Oaxaca is creating a climate change adaptation plan that will be an instrument to face the challenges that climate change will have in the state. As part of that project, this policy paper provides a broad perspective of climate change impacts for the state of Oaxaca, with a specific focus on problems for urban areas. It provides recommendations on different adaptation measures that should be included in the state’s adaptation plan, all of which can be applied for the state’s urban areas. The first part of this policy paper includes an analysis of the different problems that the state of Oaxaca will have as a consequence of climate change. After defining the problem, the following section presents a set of criteria which where considered in defining the alternatives. The analysis section focuses on weighing the alternatives against the criteria, which sets the ground for the final recommendations. Problem Definition Oaxaca is one of the poorest states in Mexico. It lacks economic opportunities and education and human development remains behind compared to the rest of the country. People’s strong dependence on agriculture increases the possible threat of climate change on their livelihoods, but the lack of economic resources and investments in other sectors make it a state that has been left behind. Urban areas in the state are growing. Population growth is a main cause, but the disorganized growth increases the challenges in urban areas. There is a lack of planning and future vision of the needs for organized and sustainable urban systems. The impacts of climate change in these areas, especially those lying in the coasts, are likely to be significant and in many cases devastating. Poor infrastructure in transportation and communications increases the threats of extreme weather events and climate related disasters. Likewise, the significant impacts on water availability, accessibility, and quality will have important impacts on health, economic activities, and social welfare. One of the main challenges is the complexity of actors and stakeholders involved in the issue. While everyone will assume the consequences of climate change, the implementation of adaptation strategies is highly dependent on government policies, actions, and cooperation. International organizations have played, and will increasingly play, an important role in the application of these plans and on helping the governments lead toward climate change actions. The private sector, on the other hand, is key to encourage economic growth and support through investments, but its participation has been poor, especially in the state of Oaxaca. Alternatives The alternatives analyzed in this paper are divided in two groups: building adaptive capacity and delivering adaptation actions. The first group is based on generating the necessary information and conditions that will support climate change adaptation. These alternatives include increasing knowledge on the impacts of climate change, promoting education and understanding of the impacts, achieve economic development, encourage economic diversification, encourage multilevel governance and cooperation across actors, and promote insurance and financial mechanisms. The second group of alternatives is focused on reducing the vulnerability of the damages caused by climate change: investing in physical infrastructure, such as transportation or water, and improving urban planning. Recommendations The paper shows the important role that all of the alternatives play in achieving adaptation to climate change, and how all of these meet to a certain extent the main criteria: encouraging achievement of development goals, feasibility, cost-effectiveness, implementation in the near future, reducing long-term vulnerability, and scalability. Therefore, the recommendations include all of the alternatives but should be implemented in three different stages. The first stage is can be implemented within the existing policy frameworks and will have a positive impact in achieving the rest of the alternatives. These alternatives include: • Increase knowledge of the impacts of climate change at the local and state levels • Promote education and understanding of the impacts of climate change • Encourage multilevel governance and cooperation across actors in different sectors The second stage includes strategies that need more investment from public and private sources and that are necessary in order to achieve the last stage. These include: • Improve urban planning • Invest in physical infrastructure (transportation, water, and communications) • Promote insurance and financial mechanisms For these strategies to be successful, the government needs to establish the necessary conditions, which can result from the improved cooperation between the private and public sectors, as well as a multilevel governance framework. Investments in urban planning, physical infrastructure, and insurance and financial mechanisms can lead to more sustained economic development and diversification. Therefore, the last stage of alternatives includes both: • Achieve economic development • Encourage economic diversification Economic development and diversification are key strategies and play a very important role in climate change adaptation. Since both of the strategies are a consequence of education, human development, infrastructure, competitive urban spaces, and efficient governance, they should be seen as alternatives that will be developed throughout the process rather than addressing them independently in the far future. All of the alternatives are applicable in urban areas in the state of Oaxaca. Improving knowledge on the local impacts that climate change will have on Oaxaca’s cities will allow for a more accurate design of policies and instruments for climate change adaptation. Community participation through education and communication is even more important in urban contexts, where there tends to be fragmentation between social groups and where the impacts of climate change are imbalanced for different population groups. Coordination between different levels of government is highly needed in cities; urban sprawl has increased the complexity of the cities’ jurisdictional structure and the daily interaction of different actors brings more complex challenges in the urban context. Urban planning is becoming a priority for development and climate change. It should include investments in infrastructure for water service provision, transportation, and communications. Although this requires high investments and mobilization of financial resources, there are possible opportunities to access those resources. In this matter, the active participation of the World Bank plays a crucial role. The organization can invest in projects, but also act as intermediary with the private sector to attract more investments into the state. The insurance market needs further development especially in Oaxaca. Designing good insurance mechanisms can increase private sector investments and participation, encouraging economic growth and development. In this case also, international financial institutions can play a vital role in designing and implementing these mechanisms and they can help the local and state governments create an inviting environment. Finally, due to the socioeconomic conditions in Oaxaca, economic development and diversification become a central issue regarding climate change adaptation. In the case of urban areas, economic diversification becomes very important.. In the past years Oaxaca has attracted attention for its natural resources and cultural richness and has gained national and international notice. This is an important opportunity to foster entrepreneurship that promotes social welfare and environmental sustainability, to put Oaxaca as a national example. This can help achieve economic growth and development, but also increase awareness on the needs to preserve natural resources and therefore adapt to and mitigate climate change. Active participation and cooperation between the local, state, and national governments is necessary to implement every strategy. The role of the World Bank is significant and should be considered as such in the implementation process. The World Bank has an important position for advising governments on the design of policies, but also to set the stage for active private sector participation. In designing the policies, the World Bank can act as an intermediary between the different levels of government to ensure that there is cooperation and that the application of the strategies is consistent. Likewise, the World Bank’s participation designing and investing in specific projects, like transportation or water infrastructure, can promote private sector’s participation because they can be confident that the there is more likely to be clear spending and accountability for each of the projects. Development is a key issue for governments and a constant and important challenge. Climate change and its consequences will make this challenge even more complicated, especially in places where there is a lack of economic development or capacity building. Oaxaca already has several challenges regarding development, but it is also a place that is highly vulnerable to climate change. Therefore, the application of clear and well-designed adaptation measures is necessary to reduce the threats of climate change for the people, the ecosystems, and the economy. These strategies should be a priority for the government and development agencies working in the state, so as to increase people’s well-being and achieve local, national, and international development goals.
Open Access
Cookstove Interventions in Developing Countries: Designing Tools for Effective Program Evaluation
(2011-05-02) Vergnano, Elizabeth J; Colvin, Julie
Approximately half of the world’s population depends on biomass and coal as fuel for household energy. Burning these fuels in traditional cookstoves creates detrimental social, health, and environmental impacts that can be minimized through the dissemination and adoption of improved cookstoves. The purpose of this master’s project is tri-fold:(1) to re-design content of baseline survey instrument, or partner reporting form, for continued administration by the PCIA; (2) to determine factors that influence PCIA partner effectiveness based on data collected through the 2008, 2009, and 2010 surveys; (3) to identify global-scale PCIA expansion opportunities based on national social, environmental, and health indicators. PCIA’s existing partner-level survey instrument was re-designed in 2010 to enable the PCIA to consistently track partner progress over time and analyze key factors influencing the rate of clean cookstove adoption. A partner-level statistical analysis was performed using data generated from past PCIA surveys distributed in 2008 and 2009 as well as the re-designed 2010 survey. The results from the regression model indicated that the number of improved stoves sold is correlated with the program location, the organization type that delivers the stoves and the presence of national cookstove standards. At the organizational level, stove sales were found to be positively correlated with the inclusion of a low-cost stove option, community outreach activities, stove performance testing, and a strong organizational mission directly related to the benefits of improved cookstoves. A global-scale statistical analysis was conducted using a Poisson and logistic regression model. The goal was to determine in which countries the PCIA partners are currently located and where they should be located based on environmental, health, and socioeconomic indicators. The results of this analysis found that the PCIA partners are operating in countries with higher rates of respiratory infections, solid fuel use, government expenditures on health, and population, but with lower rates of particulate matter emissions (PM 10). Using a prediction model based on the same regression of the global statistical analysis, it was found that PCIA could productively target additional resources and program efforts in Myanmar, Somalia, Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia.
Open Access
Deconstructing the Cycle: Vulnerability and Prospects for Social Mobility in Indian Urban Slums
(2015-04-22) Ragavendran, Lekha
Urban slums across the globe have become areas where those moving from rural towns are forced to settle on their intended path towards success. Oftentimes, generations of poverty and insecurity follow this hope-filled migration. This paper investigates the lives of those that call urban slums their home. It examines which factors spur intergenerational growth and which lead to stagnation or even regression. To do so, it focuses on slums in two large south Indian cities that face similar forces of globalization and economic inequality. Through a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, it finds that institutional connectedness, education, the absence of alcoholism, and housing security influence individuals’ prospects for intergenerational mobility. On the other hand, caste does not appear to have an effect upon prospects for social growth. These findings suggest specific questions that must be addressed in order to create effective policy recommendations to provide social protection for some of the country’s most vulnerable urban communities.
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
Effects of the Global Seafood Trade on Health and Nutritional Security
(2019-04-24) Dietz, David; Colson Leaning, Dustin
The global seafood trade represents the world’s largest food commodity market by value, generating massive economic flows across nations of all development levels. On top of the financial importance of this supply chain, seafood provides a broad range of nutritional benefits, from fats and proteins to key micronutrients. Building off of the dynamics of the Seafood Trade Deficit hypothesis, which asserts that developing nations export higher-value seafood than they import, this study seeks to determine whether such a value exchange extends to nutrition, and if the price of seafood is positively correlated with nutritional density. Using a six-nation, one-year comparative case-study approach, a global seafood trade database was generated. This database maps all international seafood trades by species and product type and affixes unique nutritional profiles for each good. This data demonstrates additional quantitative support of the Seafood Trade Deficit, as well as economic trade flows that suggest unique price-points of seafood depending on the development status of each nation participating. A hedonic pricing model displays strong evidence that the finfish market has a radically different relationship between price and nutrition compared to all other seafood product types. While price was positively correlated to macro-nutritional density of protein and fat in finfish, the market for other seafood products did not demonstrate the same positive correlation between price and nutritional benefit. Looking forward, we recommend expanding the database to include seafood trade across all countries within a longer time frame to increase the scope of reference and refine our findings. For more information, please contact David at ddietz92@gmail.com or Dustin at dzcolson@gmail.com.
Open Access
Imagining the Poor: The Discourse that Directs Western Intervention in Africa and its Impact on the Condition of American Poverty
(2016-04-29) Ellison, Clarence Bradford
This thesis unveils how dominant Western imaginings of Africa detrimentally impact poverty in the United States. The limitations of notable texts are presented, arguing they fail to recognize structured pressures that constrain those interpellated within Orientalist apparatuses, and states the suggestively depoliticized presence of Christian missionaries parallels secular Western governmental interventions, implicitly delegitimizing the African State. By considering the influence of representations of Africa by dominant media, university, and state ideological apparatuses the thesis illustrates how the repetition and replication of imagined narratives about the continent create an American culture of differential empathy, framing all Africans as inherently destitute and needy, and poor Americans as lazy. Although a grim examination of the current state of affairs directing Western intervention in Africa and its impact on the condition of American poverty, the thesis ultimately offers a humanistic lens as an avenue towards the creation of more equitable social science and policy.
Open Access
Investigating Best Practices of Conservation Education for the African Wildlife Foundation
(2014-04-17) Sarikas, Christine; May, Katlyn; Kleinbort, Tori
Effective conservation education has the ability to improve educational opportunities and expand environmental support in places where it is implemented. The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) was founded in 1961 to promote wildlife conservation, land and habitat protection, community empowerment, and economic development across Africa (AWF, 2012). Until recently, AWF had not ventured into the formal education realm and, while they do not currently own or operate schools of their own, the organization is working to develop conservation education curricula to help support its mission. AWF will construct new schools and improve the infrastructure of existing schools to create effective learning environments for conservation topics. This study seeks to provide AWF with expert opinions and related curricular developments to help support their efforts at improving conservation education in Sub-Saharan Africa. A review of relevant literature focusing on the successful development and implementation of conservation education curricula was conducted and analyzed. Live interviews were conducted to obtain views from conservation education experts around the world. Nineteen interviews were conducted in total. These interviews provide expert opinions on environmental education, particularly conservation, in developing nations. Additionally, these interviews highlight existing environmental and conservation education curricula that contemporary experts identify as exemplary, and they include advice and guidance from experts within the education field. Qualitative analyses of these interviews were conducted using NVivo 10 software. Recommendations to AWF were developed based on the information reviewed throughout this process. The research shows that an emphasis on teacher capacity, community involvement, local context of curriculum, long-term project goals, and local relevance must be given significant consideration during curriculum development and implementation in order to maximize the probability of success.
Open Access
Neem Tree Assessment for Socioeconomic Empowerment in Rural Burkina Faso
(2010-04-30T19:22:04Z) Mineard, Kelli
The many uses of the neem tree (Azadirachta indica) include health, pesticide, and soil amending applications, however neem is underutilized by certain Bissa communities of South-Central Burkina Faso, herein referred to as Moléntah. This research aims to address informational gaps and facilitate community development of neem tree products for diversification of economic activity and improved quality of life. My master’s project is based on work completed during the summer of 2009 in rural Burkina Faso, West Africa, where I worked in conjunction with local Moléntah community members to raise the profile of neem as a useful natural resource. The study was designed as participatory learning and action research to inform best practices for those community members interested in processing neem. The approach is based on broad-based, sustainable community development, emphasizing the interlocking nature of all sectors of life, now and in the future, as well as the importance of community participation in shaping processes according to local knowledge of assets, needs, and desires. Together we inventoried the local neem resource base, identified market pathways, and piloted seed collection and oil extraction processes. We thereby demonstrated the local feasibility of utilizing the naturalized neem tree for socioeconomic activity with income generation potential. Neem efforts were successful despite challenges, including: conflicting accounts of best practices for processing neem, seasonal constraints on neem availability and community participation, and immature markets. This work is significant on a variety of levels. Scientific inventories of neem trees and associated measurements are rare within the literature; this research provides a baseline from which future growth and usage patterns could be studied. The action learning process of piloting neem as a socioeconomic resource draws attention to constraints limiting development of neem not only in Moléntah but potentially also in other developing country or rural settings. Most importantly, this work served to introduce the value of an underutilized natural resource to four villages; transferred capacity to recognize and build the local asset base; developed project planning and natural resource management skills within Moléntah; and empowered enterprising participants to operationalize ecosystem services into productive socioeconomic potential.
Open Access
Recognize fish as food in policy discourse and development funding.
(Ambio, 2021-01-16) Nowlin, M; Bennett, A; Basurto, X; Virdin, J; Lin, X; Betances, S; Smith, M; Roady, S
The international development community is off-track from meeting targets for alleviating global malnutrition. Meanwhile, there is growing consensus across scientific disciplines that fish plays a crucial role in food and nutrition security. However, this 'fish as food' perspective has yet to translate into policy and development funding priorities. We argue that the traditional framing of fish as a natural resource emphasizes economic development and biodiversity conservation objectives, whereas situating fish within a food systems perspective can lead to innovative policies and investments that promote nutrition-sensitive and socially equitable capture fisheries and aquaculture. This paper highlights four pillars of research needs and policy directions toward this end. Ultimately, recognizing and working to enhance the role of fish in alleviating hunger and malnutrition can provide an additional long-term development incentive, beyond revenue generation and biodiversity conservation, for governments, international development organizations, and society more broadly to invest in the sustainability of capture fisheries and aquaculture.

Browsing by Subject "International development"

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