R4D Afghanistan

NGOs and Humanitarian Reform: A Multi-Agency Project

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:35:00 GMT

Miscellaneous 2008 22 pp. This presentation introduces the UN-led humanitarian reform programme, and gives an overview of the NGOs and humanitarian reform project which seeks to engage NGOs in the overall process.

NGOs and Humanitarian Reform: Mapping Study Inception Report

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:03:00 GMT

Miscellaneous 2008 10 pp. This inception report is one of the outputs for the Mapping Study on humanitarian reform. It outlines the methodological approach to be used in the five case studies in Afghanistan, DRC, Ethiopia, Sudan and Zimbabwe and the key questions to be addressed. It is important to adopt a common approach in the case studies in order to ensure comparability across them.

NGOs and Humanitarian Reform Mapping Study: Afghanistan Report

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 09:16:00 GMT

Miscellaneous A. Donini 2009 41 pp. This report highlights key challenges and dilemmas that the humanitarian community in general, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in particular, are facing in Afghanistan today. The report concludes with two overarching recommendations. The first is that in order to enhance the perception of neutrality, independence and impartiality of their humanitarian activities, particularly in those areas of the country where working with legitimate local authorities is no longer possible, NGOs should establish a Humanitarian Consortium that would distinguish itself from other actors on the ground by a recognizable symbol (e.g. pink vehicles or a particular logo) and by a set of principled, clear and transparent operational guidelines. The second relates to the urgent need to launch a communications strategy aimed at the general public and all belligerents to explain the principles, objectives and modus operandi of consortium agencies. This should include efforts to ensure that the vernacular media provide a balanced presentation of humanitarian activities, a campaign to sensitise decision-makers at the sub-national level (provincial councils, governors, leading mullahs), including efforts directed at influencing the leadership of the insurgency on humanitarian access and the rights of civilians caught up in conflict.

Reforming the process of humanitarian response: involving NGOs in the debate

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:00:00 GMT

The United Nations has been leading a process of reforming the way that humanitarian aid is delivered, aimed at improving the efficiency and reach of humanitarian response for beneficiary populations. With a growing awareness of the need to better involve NGOs particularly national and local NGOs in the various aspects of reform, DFID-funded research is helping to engage NGOs in the reform process.

Review of the engagement of NGOs with the humanitarian reform process: Synthesis report

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:10:00 GMT

Miscellaneous 2009 52 pp. This report analyses the current state of global humanitarian reform efforts from an NGO perspective by synthesising a series of mapping studies carried out between November 2008 and February 2009 that looked at humanitarian reform in five different countries: Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Lessons from other contexts are also brought in to strengthen the analysis and provide an overview of humanitarian reform.

Many of the findings of the mapping studies are not new to those who have been following the UN-led humanitarian reform. They do, however, provide field-based evidence to support previously expressed views and emphasise the areas where improvements must be made. This report is intended both to provide a constructive, evidence-based critique of the state of reform and to set out clear recommendations and ways forward in finding solutions to the weaknesses and challenges inherent in the humanitarian community. Many of these challenges existed well before the reforms, and they still confront us today.

The research was commissioned by a consortium formed by six NGOs ActionAid, CAFOD, CARE, International Rescue Committee, Oxfam and Save the Children together with the International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) as part of the three-year NGOs and Humanitarian Reform Project, funded by DfID. The project aims to strengthen local, national and international humanitarian NGO voices in influencing policy debates and field processes related to the humanitarian reform and to propose solutions so that humanitarian response can better meet the needs of affected populations. This report represents a baseline for the project.

NGOs and Humanitarian Reform Project

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:44:00 GMT

Current The overall goal of the project is to increase the effectiveness of humanitarian response, by improving the way that NGOs are able to engage in pooled-funding mechanisms at the county level. NGOs, together with the UN and the Red Cross, constitute of 3 pillars of an international humanitarian response. However, the engagement of NGOs in coordination and financing reforms has faced multiple challenges and obstacles.

Improve NGO participation in coordination mechanism in 4 countries.
Improve NGO access to reformed humanitarian funding in 4 countries.
Improved participation of crisis affected people in needs assessments in 4 countries.
Good practice and lessons learnt are effectively disseminated.
Field generated knowledge impacts global policy formulation.

The recent Synthesis Report Review of the engagement of NGOs with the humanitarian reform process comprising the first phase of the project was recently presented at the Ditchley conference. The report analyses the current state of global humanitarian reform efforts from an NGO perspective by synthesizing a series of mapping studies carried out in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, DRC and Sudan between November 2008 and February 2009.

The project is now in phase 2. Humanitarian Reform Officers (HROs) have been appointed in each of the focus countries. (Sudan has been dropped from the list after international NGOs were expelled earlier this year), There are also 5 secondary countries, Haiti, Indonesia, Palestine, Mozambique and Pakistan.

WEMC Annual Report. 1 July 2008 30 June 2009

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:05:00 GMT

Miscellaneous WEMC 2009 WEMC Secretariat, Southeast Asia Research Centre (SEARC), Hong Kong, China, 85 pp.

With regard to progress on intended outputs the research capacity of 228 individuals has been enhanced; 13 English-language and 10 other language publications printed/in press; the published and widely distributed research framework has been positively received; comparative analysis has commenced. WEMC research products are being used in over 100 institutions; an integrated action research methodology dialectically combining research, capacity building and communication of findings has strengthened women as rights claimants; findings and analyses have enabled evidence based communication with diverse audiences from the grassroots to international policy makers.

Impact of the research programme
Significant progress has been made towards WEMC's purpose to help build 'a sustained growing critical mass of civil society expertise engaged in policy debates for long-term changes in policies and practices that promote women's empowerment in Muslim contexts.' By June 2009, some 10 WEMC specific (or sets of) research-derived recommendations had been accepted and implemented in Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran, and China as well as for migrant women workers in Hong Kong and Indonesia. This year, four new sets of/specific recommendations were accepted by government authorities. Previously accepted recommendations started being implemented. Importantly, research findings are being requested by policy-makers and forums.

Enhanced analytical and communication skills enabled women to successfully negotiate expanded rights, demand expanded/better service delivery and accountability from meso-level government duty bearers (China, Indonesia, migrant workers, Pakistan). WEMC has transformed the approaches of government extension workers (Indonesia and Pakistan) and service providers (Iran). At the RPC level, in August 2008, key WEMC concepts and research results were communicated to UN ESCAP policy-makers at a WEMC-focused forum (Where's the power in women's empowerment?) and followed up by invited inputs to the UN Beijing+15 review process.

Research confirms WEMC's hypothesis that the greatest obstacles to women's empowerment operate at the meso level and that, somewhat counter-intuitively, women's priority expressed need is to have their own spaces for collective strategising, rather than improved linkages with government institutions. If cultural considerations, including interpretations of Islam and 'Muslim' women, are critical factors that keep women immobilized and disempowered, women's own counter-strategies of empowerment are diverse. Women's demands for different sets of rights derive legitimacy from constitutional rights and a re-orientation of cultural concepts as well as religious interpretations.

Enhanced capacity provides women a new/stronger voice in formal and non-formal forums, impacting developmental and governance processes. Women are questioning the dominant discourse culturally justifying women's disempowerment, reorienting religious instruction forums as well as secular arenas; women have started to speak out on empowerment on local radio, television and at public events, including in dialogues with officials.

WEMC has seeded multiplication. To date, at least 20 new initiatives directly catalysed, facilitated or inspired by WEMC transformative new knowledge processes, have emerged supported by reliable, non-DFID resources. Shaped by the research process and informed by findings, these vital meso-level discursive spaces for women's collective sharing and analyses of experiences are enabling indigenous strategies for women's empowerment to be forged, implemented and replicated. WEMC-catalysed collective spaces include five women's self-help groups in Indonesia, eight new Pakistani organisations, a young women lawyers' group and a young people's media group in Iran. In China, 'safe spaces' have developed in the form of a 'health centre', a handicraft initiative created within an academic institution (Gansu Academy of Social Sciences) and around traditional religious spaces. Among Afghan refugees and returnees, research led to a self-help teachers' group. An exciting WEMC-inspired international initiative is the 'Institute for Women's Empowerment', established and registered by several RPC members to:
a. Document and make visible women's empowerment initiatives in different communities and countries
b. Develop women's strategies for empowerment at multiple levels c. Communicate lessons on women's strategies for empowerment for replication and upscaling
d. Build the capacity of civil society groups in multiple countries to advance womens empowerment

IWE is collaborating with the international coordination office of Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML) in the programme 'Women reclaiming and re-defining culture: asserting rights over body, self and public places.'

TARGETS Annual Report 2006-2007

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 14:04:00 GMT

Miscellaneous 2007 24 pp. This report covers the period June 2006 to May 2007. Information on research themes, outputs and knowledge dissemination is provided. Annexes give the Logical Framework, Communications Strategy, Products and Publications, and Risk Assessment Matrix

Working Paper No 51. The Dissipation of Political Capital among Afghanistan's Hazaras: 2001-2009.

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 15:06:00 GMT

Miscellaneous Niamatullah Ibrahimi 2009 Working Paper No. 51 (series 2), London, UK; Crisis States Research Centre, 23 pp. This paper examines the historical background and political processes behind the formation of Hizb-e Wahdat-e Islami Afghanistan (The Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan). It lays out the evolving political agendas and strategies of the party during the years of civil war, Taliban rule and the post-2001 political process. The author concludes that by 2009 the party was so fragmented and divided that the political weight it carried in Afghanistan bore little resemblance to what it had first enjoyed.

(TARGETS) Team for Applied Research to Generate Effective Tools and Strategies for Communicable Disease Control - Annual Report, June 2008-May 2009

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:16:00 GMT

Miscellaneous 2009 43 pp.

This report describes the progress made towards the following outputs: knowledge generation, knowledge dissemination, and knowledge influencing policy and practices.

Work undertaken by members of TARGETS has: significantly contributed to shaping the Kenya National Implementation Framework for Insecticide Treated Nets; contributed to the establishment of a task force to produce evidence for WHO to consider the strategy of seasonal intermittent preventative treatment (IPT) for malaria in children in west Africa; led to the development of a web-based support tool for policy maker decisions on IPTi (intermittent preventative treatment in infants) implementation; led to the introduction of a new strategy for patient-centred TB treatment in Tanzania; described the epidemiology of TB in areas of high HIV prevalence in Zambia; demonstrated that the new heptavalent vaccine is safe & effective.

Understanding the Afghan Warlords

Wed, 06 May 2009 01:00:00 GMT

A major pillar of the DFID-funded Crisis States Research Centres work on state-building is that undertaken by Antonio Giustozzi on the conflict in Afghanistan

Stakeholder analysis at the research-policy interface: Enhancing equity in health systems research in six low and middle income countries.

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:24:00 GMT

Miscellaneous Syed, S. B.; Hyder, A. A.; Bloom, G.; Peters, D. H. 2007 1 pp. Poster presented at the Global Forum for Health Research, Beijing, China, 29 October2 November 2007.

Working Paper No. 43. Who governs Kabul? Explaining urban politics in a post-war capital city.

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:31:00 GMT

Miscellaneous D. Esser 2009 Working Paper No. 43 (series 2), London, UK; Crisis States Research Centre, 30 pp. Amid intensifying international interconnectedness and simultaneous assertions that cities are positioned to supersede national governance, capital cities constitute collision points between political control and exclusion, wealth and poverty, as well as tradition and modernity. The ever-growing importance of cities as centres of political and economic power and as resources in developing countries is also increasingly prompting contenders to concentrate both peaceful and violent political campaigns in spaces of urban primacy. However, ensuing city-centred struggles are not only about resources and access to power but also take issue with the meanings and functions of the nation as a whole.

It is argued that the result of such multi-layered conflicts in capital cities produce a kind of 'over-determination' of political deliberation, putting additional weight on already ambitious urban development and governance agendas. This is especially true in post-war capital cities, where resulting 'sovereign conflicts' at the fault lines of local, national and international institutions shape political and economic agendas in and for post-war capital cities. Supercharged with donor monies and reconstruction machineries, these cities once again become highly politicised arenas characterised by discrepancies in political as well as economic leverage among different stakeholders. Defying official language, they are governed neither exclusively locally nor jointly by local and national entities, but in fact via ad hoc axes of governance that revolve around shared short-term incentives and interests of national and international actors.

Comparing recent politics and policies with historical data, this paper shows that in post-war Kabul it is the national-international axis that has the greatest influence over the formulation of policies geared toward alterations of existing institutions within the urban realm, excluding local interests and priorities. This constitutes a stark change compared to politics in Kabul prior to the Russian occupation and before, when the main fault lines of urban conflict ran between rivalling tribal and ethnic interests. Conversely, policymaking after 2001 has been even more concentrated 'above the heads' of the city's residents. This neglect of de facto equitable urban development serves to reinvigorate existing trigger factors of violent conflict in the urban realm, such as restricted public access to local policymaking and the urban land market, high rates of youth unemployment and poor urban services.

Preventing 'over-determined' cities from inciting renewed large-scale violence therefore necessitates context-specific analyses of urban histories and their particular interfaces with the political economies of state creation and consolidation. Moreover, it requires candid assessments of opportunities as well as limitations of constructive political engagement at the city level as a decisive arena for brokering peace in developing countries.

Development in the 'raw': What livelihood trajectories and poverty outcomes tell us about welfare regimes and resilience in Afghanistan

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:25:00 GMT

Current This study examines livelihood trajectories and poverty outcomes among rural Afghan households, examining change from a 2002-2003 panel set of household data. It frames the analysis of livelihood change within Gough and Wood's (2004, 2006) welfare regimes, a reconceptualisation of Esping-Andersen's welfare state regimes (1990), which recognizes that in many developing country contexts the institutional landscape includes not just the state, market and household but also communities and international actors. In these contexts where the state is weak and the market has little formal regulation, there is increased risk and uncertainty. Thus, for households the search for security is paramount and they have to seek it through non-state institutions, often through the community and its members and through the household, all of which have their own dimensions of hierarchy and inequality. This study examines how households in rural Afghanistan have formed their livelihoods over the period from 2002-2003 to 2008-09 and what evidence there is of resilience and agency and of constraints imposed by the various institutional contexts in which the households function, generating understanding of what changes have occurred, for whom, how and why. 1. To build from a panel set of household data describing rural livelihoods in 2002-03 to rigorously examine processes of livelihood transformations and their poverty outcomes in rural Afghanistan, across varying social, political and economic contexts defined by varying degrees of formality and informality. This is a methodological innovation in a reconstruction/conflict context like Afghanistan where longitudinal research, particularly based on in depth study of processes of change, is practically nonexistent.

2. To examine the relevance and refine the application of the welfare regimes typology to rural Afghanistan, and to test and develop the Faustian bargain concept / i.e. discounting future rights and opportunities in favour of present security - to deepen understanding and explanation of livelihood trajectories of different households across different regional locations.

3. To apply the understanding developed through in depth study of livelihood transformations within the framework of welfare regimes, risk and trade offs to make evidence-based locally relevant policy recommendations regarding how to support existing forms of resilience and make access to new and existing mechanisms supporting rural livelihood security more equitable.

Latest edition of the New Agriculturist focuses on potato as alternative staple, and global use of water.

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 01:00:00 GMT

The New Agriculturist edition 2008-05 reports on interesting initiatives to promote potato as an alternative staple in an economic climate where food prices continue to affect the poor, and highlights concerns over global use of water.

Pathways of Women's Empowerment

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 13:47:00 GMT

Current

Pathways of Womens Empowerment is an international research and communications programme established in 2006 which links academics with activists and practitioners to find out what works to enhance womens empowerment. The aim is to make these pathways of change visible and to build on them to inspire a radical shift in policy and practice. By involving policy actors and practitioners directly in the research and learning, they hope the work will be in itself a catalyst for change.

The programme investigates what enables women, individually and collectively, to empower themselves, how they can sustain these changes, and how development agencies' policies support or hinder this process in order to make such changes visible and to build on them to inspire a radical shift in policy and practice. The key areas of focus are:

Locating empowerment in women's everyday lives, applying a range of methodological and analytical strategies to gain a better understanding of how positive change happens in women's lives.
Tracing policy processes that seek to promote women's empowerment in order to understand the enabling conditions, strategies and tactics for achieving policy change.
Understanding strategies for change, seeking to reveal the factors for success and asking what works and what is specific to particular contexts, and what more generic lessons can be drawn.

Research strategy implemented for systematic identification of pathways of women's empowerment in four thematic areas.

Four centres of regional excellence in applied research strengthened CEGENSA, NEIM, SRC/AUC and BRAC University with capacity to implement and support policy research on womens empowerment within their regions.

Associated global institutions UNIFEM, DFID and other donors, IDS strengthened in their capacity to make use of innovative and critical research.

Communications strategy achieved, having influenced key stakeholders to take RPC research findings into account in policy practice.

Consortium governance and management system achieved horizontal working practices and power sharing.

The Mid Term Review of 2009 found that most of the outputs have either been achieved or are in the pipeline and nearing completion. Some of the real successes highlighted include:

Knowledge outputs of extremely high academic quality, the consistency of the quality is remarkable for a consortium comprising such diverse locations, the outputs are diverse in form, content and style.
A significant number of policy-advocacy and public education oriented communications materials have also been produced and used in the form of pod casts, photo exhibitions, films and videos.
Capacity of the research partners enhanced. There is some variation, in relation to the increased capacity of individual and teams compared to improved institutional capacity.
Communications is not an "end of pipe" activity but a central part of the programme.
Some stunning examples of creative communications work across all hubs: Stories for Change (Bangladesh), a pilot TV drama on mythical stories of Nigerian women, the Changing Times, Changing Lives photography course and exhibition (Bangladesh), work with Ghanaian Foundation for Female Photojournalists.
The programme created a transparent, democratic, egalitarian and effective system of managing the multiple partnerships and relationships within its structure.

Crisis States Research Centre - Phase 2

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 09:59:00 GMT

Current Continuation of Phase 1 To examine and provide an understanding of processes of war, state collapse and reconstruction in fragile states, and to assess the long-term impact of international interventions in these processes. Ultimately, to advance understanding of the processes of state collapse that are at the heart of problems of insecurity and poverty. To examine and provide an understanding of processes of war, state collapse and reconstruction in fragile states and to assess the long-term impact of international interventions in these processes. Through rigorous comparative analysis of a carefully selected set of states and of cities, and sustained analysis of 'global and regional axes of conflict', to identify the symptoms of state collapse, why some fragile states collapse while others do not, and the ways that war affects future possibilities of state building. It is planned to distil the lessons learned from past experiences of state reconstruction to inform current policy thinking and planning.

Women's Empowerment in Muslim Contexts (WEMC)

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Current

The Research Programme Consortium on 'Women's empowerment in Muslim contexts: gender, poverty and democratisation from the inside out' (WEMC) was formed to address this knowledge gap - that is, 'how to achieve women's empowerment', especially in the face of disempowering forces, old and new.

WEMC defines women's empowerment as an increase in their capacity to make autonomous decisions to challenge or transform power relations that impede gender equality. It contends that conventional development interventions ignore power structures standing between women and the state.

The aim of the WEMC research programme is to understand women's indigenous strategies for empowerment in ways that could transform unfavourable power relations. New knowledge from the RPCs should be effectively communicated to key policy makers and development practitioners. The research objectives are to document, analyse and multiply women's empowerment strategies; to make visible, validate and strengthen women's agency, and to build analytical capacity and strategic alliances.

The RPC's new knowledge is communicated effectively and persuasively, through diverse means and products, to key policy makers, implementers, decision- makers, development practitioners, and other agents of change.

The capacity of civil society groups and networks is developed in ways that enhance their critical analyses of changing environments, as well as their growing engagement for women-centred transformations in policy and practice.

The RPC's ground-breaking, high-quality and coherent new knowledge transforms understanding of women's empowerment in Muslim contexts, with particular relevance for the MDGs and the Beijing Platform for Action.

Since its inception, the programme has been successful in generating a "growing critical mass of civil society expertise engaged in policy debates for long-term changes in policies and practices that promote women's empowerment in Muslim contexts". In fact the achievements far exceed the initial 'targets' set. These can be seen in the successful implementation and integrated outcomes of the research, communication and capacity building thrusts of the programme.

The publication of the seminal WEMC framework (2008) has certainly added a new and valuable dimension to the notion and understanding of empowerment as a "relational, qualitative phenomenon shaped by contesting forces, not a quantity to have in incremental amounts". Often times in current development discourses, the term 'empowerment' has been appropriated by funders and development agencies which seek to 'measure' a dynamic process almost impossible to quantify. By problematising empowerment in diverse Muslim contexts, in its multi-layered, multi-lingual and multi-dimensional forms, the research thrust has highlighted the non-linear resistances of women to disempowering forces as well as their individual, collective and institutionalised mobilisations to empower themselves and their communities. About 50 papers and/or policy reports in both English and local languages have been produced, not including a variety of multi-media products - a number way above the set targets. Many of the research findings have been presented and very well received in conferences and workshops and in different media forms to a wide variety of audiences. Indeed this knowledge and movement building project has been made possible by the dynamic synergies of the partners who are mainly scholar activists or committed women activists with vast community and research experiences.

The communications work has been interesting and exciting. A coherent communications strategy was developed during the inception phase to ensure that the communication of research findings was fully embedded into the overall research programme. There has been continued discussion and consultation and the strategy continuously updated. The strategy has ensured that the communications activities are planned with key audiences and messages identified.

Communications activities have taken placed at the micro level with women in the research sites; at the meso level to influence local policy and decision makers and at the national and international level. The range of media used from academic articles to film and radio has been impressive. There are clear indications that the new knowledge has been communicated effectively and persuasively. Now with less than two years left, the programme needs to focus on identifying and communicating the key research findings.

The programme has made great progress in meeting the specific capacity building output. The programme has been very successful at enhancing many skills. However there are a number of the more analytical skills such as drawing out research findings and distilling key messages where there is still a need for more work. The programme has spent a considerable amount of effort on building capacity at the organisational level and the results have been impressive. The programme has recognised that it is not enough to just build the capacity at the individual and organisational levels but that there is a need to address issues in respect to the political, social and the regulatory context that the individual and organisations work. WEMC had identified this need and has decided to focus on "building alliances to strengthen institutions".

Future Health Systems: Making Health Systems Work for the poor RPC

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Current The RPC's main purpose is to generate knowledge that shapes health systems to benefit the world's poor. The intent is to translate today's unprecedented political and financial commitments to meet health needs of the poor into sustainable improvements in health and reductions in poverty.

The consortium will address fundamental questions about the design of future health systems, and work closely with actors who are leading the transformation of health systems in their new realities. We cannot simply transfer organisational arrangements from rich to poor countries, or pursue strategies of the post-colonial period. The RPC will bring policy-makers from influential countries together with leading public health and development research institutions to understand and test:

1. Options for health financing that account for patterns of poverty and vulnerability and new approaches to social protection;
2. Innovative strategies to improve access to competent public or private health services where relationships between providers, government, civil society and users are changing rapidly;
3. New ways to link research to policy processes at local, national and global levels to benefit the poor.

The RPC will undertake strategic research and disseminate the results widely and create a consortium with a long-term capacity to support health system development. The Consortium has demonstrated that across developing countries, health markets play an important but neglected role in the lives of the poor. Understanding and intervening in these markets, in part by engaging all relevant stakeholders, identifying local innovation, using incentives, and developing informal and formal institutions can lead to significant health systems changes.

A cross-disciplinary and multi-country consortium has been developed that is based on egalitarian principles and emphasises high quality research and its application. Junior researchers from Southern partners have gained mentorship and experience in conducting research and communicating findings, and have won several competitive scholarships and awards for their presentations and publications. Some of the ways in which the Future Health Systems consortium has influenced health systems include:

In Nigeria and Bangladesh, scoping studies found large informal markets and provider organizations that are the main source of outpatient care for the poor. This evidence was used to support significant innovative interventions and new partnerships (with public, private, beneficiary, and research organizations) to improve service delivery by informal providers in both countries. Early results in Bangladesh show increased coverage of safe deliveries linked to incentives, but also that there is a need for supportive institutions to back up training and public education when trying to improve the quality and coverage of child health services.

The consortiums collaborative approach and its research on poverty and health priorities in Uganda led to major funding from the Gates Foundation to support transformational reform of the Makerere University College of Health Sciences (Medicine, Public Health, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences) to organise its efforts in a cross-disciplinary way and focusing on demonstrating its role in society and improving health outcomes.

In China, research demonstrated the feasibility of linking rural health insurance and health safety schemes for the poor, which is now being implemented throughout rural China and with support from a new China-World Bank-DFID partnership on a rural health reform project.

In Afghanistan, partners have supported the development of nation-wide assessment of health services used for promoting the health of the poor and implementing service contracts with NGOs and government in a difficult environment. The consortiums research on assessing barriers to maternal health services led to more effective policy solutions, including demand-side interventions. The demonstration of improved coverage and quality of health services, and falling infant and child mortality, has helped strengthen management, policy-making (e.g. user fees policy determined by partners research), accountability, and new institutions in a post-conflict state, and established linkages for South-South learning between Afghanistan and India.

In India, research on health services, health conditions, and expenditures, and collaboration with local and State-level government has highlighted problems with disparities in maternal and child health services, chronic diseases, nutrition, and health related poverty, leading to the development and implementation of new approaches for planning and accountability.

Pen-side diagnostics for the detection of antibodies against a marked rinderpest virus (RPV) vaccine to allow differentiation of vaccinated from infected animals

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Completed At present it is impossible to differentiate animals which have been vaccinated from those which are infected with rinderpest virus. This poses major problems in interpreting serum surveillance data, and prevents the use of ring vaccination to contain outbreaks of rinderpest. This project is to develop simple, rapid serological tests which can be carried out in the field, to differentiate vaccinated from infected animals. The development of these assays will assist greatly in the current Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP). The eradication of rinderpest will improve the livelihoods of poor people through helping to provide a sustainable, enhanced supply of animal products with an increased market value. To develop simple, rapid, serological tests which can be carried out in the field to differentiate vaccinated from infected animals. Without the use of marker vaccines, it is not possible to differentiate animals that have been vaccinated with the Plowright rinderpest vaccine from those that have been infected with, and recovered from, rinderpest virus. A similar case exists for the conventional PPR vaccine currently in use. This poses major problems in interpreting serum surveillance data and prevents the use of ring vaccination to contain outbreaks of rinderpest. This project developed a means for carrying out simple and rapid serological tests, which are suitable for field use, to differentiate vaccinated from infected animals when used in conjunction with the marked rinderpest vaccine developed under a previous DFID project (R7048). A chimeric PPR marker vaccine was produced by means of Commonwealth Foundation funded PhD projects. Prototype devices for the detection of rinderpest, PPR, influenza HA and GFP antibodies are now available and have been evaluated in small-scale laboratory trials. These tests will be of value to future control programmes for these diseases. Production of recombinant non-infectious rinderpest and PPR virus antigens.

Chromatographic strip tests, suitable for use in the field, for the detection and differentiation of antibodies to rinderpest virus and to a ,marked, rinderpest vaccine.

Chromatographic strip tests, suitable for use in the field, for the differential sero-diagnosis of rinderpest and PPR.

Chromatographic strip tests, suitable for use in the field, for the detection and differentiation of antibodies to PPRV and to a ,marked, PPRV vaccine.

Full evaluation of current prototype ,marked, rinderpest and PPR virus vaccines. Production of recombinant non-infectious rinderpest and PPR antigens: Recombinant expression systems for the production of rinderpest and PPR virus H and N proteins have been developed and suitable amounts of protein expressed for production of some preliminary test devices.

Chromatiographic strip tests to identify rinderpest vaccinated animals: Binding of the expressed proteins to both latex particles and nitrocellulose membranes was optimised. In addition binding of the GFP and influenza HA proteins, used in the marker vaccine, was optimised. Prototype devices for the detection of rinderpest antibodies and antibodies to GFP were developed and evaluated in small laboratory scale trials.

Chromatiographic strip tests to differentiate rinderpest and PPR antibodies: The variable carboxy-terminal regions of the N proteins of RPV and PPRV, which are known to be highly antigenic in the host species, were expressed in bacterial and baculovirus recombinants and make the development of virus-specific antibody tests possible. Initial results using these products ELISA assays have proved very encouraging.

Chromatiographic strip tests to identify PPR vaccinated animals: Binding of the expressed PPR proteins to both latex particles and nitrocellulose membranes was optimised as above. The current PPR prototype vaccine is a chimeric vaccine consisting of the rinderpest vaccine with the F and H surface glycoproteins derived from PPR. The tests developed for differentiating the two viruses will be suitable for this purpose.

Full field evaluation of the marked rinderpest and PPR vaccines: Field trials of the devices have not been possible due to fact that rinderpest has almost been eradicated and the remaining foci are in areas of extreme civil unrest, in Somalia and the neighbouring areas of Kenya. No further devices will be produced until a window of opportunity arises where a field trial may be carried out. This becomes increasingly difficult due to the success of the current Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP). Most countries have ceased vaccination and are well on the OIE Pathway to Eradication. Permission is still awaited to test the marked vaccine in larger numbers of cattle in Kenya and until this is given the devices cannot be fully evaluated. The head of the Muguga Laboratory says that permission to carry out experiments with GMO material at the Muguga Laboratory should be possible, and will be carried out alongside further testing of the marked rinderpest and PPR vaccines with funding from the EU PACE programme.

The contribution of NGOs to Peace Building in Complex Political Emergencies

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Completed In recent years aid agencies have devoted increasing resources to humanitarian work related to complex political emergencies (CPEs). This project involves the development of a conceptual framework to understand the role of NGOs in peacebuilding, detailed empirical studies of NGO interventions in three countries and the production of policy-relevant outputs.

Afghanistan: Research in Alternative Livelihoods Fund (RALF)

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Current

Afghanistan has been the world's major supplier of illicit opium for a decade. The production and processing of narcotic drugs grossly distorts the economy and jeopardizes the security and stability of the region as well as the development of Afghanistan. The Islamic State of Afghanistan adopted a National Drug Control Strategy (NDCS) for 2003-2008 with objectives of reducing poppy cultivation by 70% in five years and complete elimination in ten years.

However the livelihoods of a significant number of rural Afghans currently depend on growing opium poppy. If both the development and counter-narcotics objectives of the Government are to be achieved, sustainable alternative livelihoods must be identified for those who are currently engaged in illicit drug production.

The United Kingdom is the G8 lead nation on counter-narcotics. A 'UK Plan to Support Implementation of the Afghan National Drug Control Strategy', with objectives and implementation plans that parallel the NDCS, has been formally adopted. DFID contributes to this overall objective by focusing, inter alia, on supporting the development of sustainable livelihoods for poor Afghans. Without such support, there would be a substantial increase in poverty resulting from the elimination of the opium economy. A sustainable reduction in poverty depends on building the enabling environment and institutional base from which licit livelihoods can develop.

More than 20 years of conflict and neglect has left Afghanistan's system for research and extension devastated. The capacity and facilities currently available in Afghanistan are inadequate to respond to the challenge of finding viable alternatives to an entrenched economy based on an illicit crop. RALF helps to address this capacity gap by involving research institutions outside Afghanistan, NGOs with Afghanistan-experience as well as the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) and Afghan universities. The programme aims to contribute to MAIL capacity building by involvement in project selection, project implementation, in monitoring activities at the field level, communication/dissemination activities and in programme review.

RALF is a 4-year applied research programme and there are 11 projects being implemented by ICARDA and over 20 national and international partners in 17 provinces of Afghanistan including Helmand.

The purpose of RALF is to develop and promote innovative alternative livelihood options for rural Afghans currently or previously economically dependent on opium poppy cultivation.

Expected outputs of the project are:
- A competitive mechanism for funding innovative applied research projects tailored to the programme purpose.
- Recommended technologies and support services, tested and available for implementation.
- Improved capacity for applied research and extension in government, Afghan universities and NGO partners.

The outcome of RALF will be licit alternatives to opium production that are practicable in the socio-economic environment of Afghanistan, and that are accessible to rural people. The beneficiaries will be the, predominantly poor, farming population and casual workers who currently depend, or have been dependent in the past, on the illicit activity of growing poppy for their livelihood.

RALF operates through the mechanism of a competitive research fund (CRF) managed by ICARDA to mobilize innovative ideas for the development and promotion of alternative livelihoods opportunities in Afghanistan. Projects are proposed and implemented by 'mini-consortia' comprising a partnership that includes an international or non-Afghan research institution and an Afghan-based partner with experience in the area that fieldwork is to be carried out. This combination is intended to maximize synergy between international research practice and knowledge of the local Afghan context.

Projects are also intended to include a significant element of capacity building for Afghan Government, Afghan universities and the Afghan staff of the NGO collaborators.

OUTPUT 1: Establish a Competitive Research Funding Mechanism:
A Competitive Research Funding (CRF) mechanism is in place for funding innovative applied research projects tailored to the Programme purpose. The experience gained through the CRF mechanism is being transferred to MAIL and Ministry of Counter Narcotics through thematic workshops and development of new research proposals under the Counter Narcotics Trust Fund. Major activities include:

RALF Website: http://www.icarda.cgiar.org/RALFweb/RALF.htm

Establishment of RALF Steering Committee: A Steering Committee which includes DFID-Afghanistan Livelihoods Programme, ICARDA and the senior management at MAIL was established on July 14, 2005. The Steering Committee has an oversight and advisory function and participates in key monitoring functions.
Creation of RALF E-Database: An Electronic Database has been established. It is up and running. The records of all Project Agreements, Progress Reports, Financial Reports as well historical records of Project Proposals are now residing on the E-Database. The E-Database is accessible to MAIL, Ministry of Counter-Narcotics, DFID and would be accessible to donors upon request.
Monitoring and Evaluation of Projects: An active field monitoring and evaluation of the projects has been in place since April, 2005. The progress has been monitored against the project logframes and milestones. All selected projects include separate project logframes and workplans which are intended to facilitate monitoring of progress towards the project and RALF objectives.

OUTPUT 2: Recommended Technologies and Support Services, Tested and Available for Implementation.
International- Afghan 'Partnerships'
Proposals were requested from 'mini-consortia' including an international research institution and an Afghan partner. 21 proposals were received in response to the 1st RFP and 20 Concept Notes were received in response to 2nd RFP. Eleven Projects in all were approved for funding.

Progress in Achieving Output
Research is progressing, and there are early indications, that the projects funded by RALF are yielding results that will translate into new technologies/practicable recommendations that can be used to improve incomes or food security, or provide employment and replace poppy cultivation, if adopted after a scale-up phase. A few tangible examples are:

The establishment of 94 "Self-Help Groups", including 34 Women SHG's, as a sustainable source of micro-credit in Badakhshan, as part of a pilot financial scheme.
Production, processing and marketing of saffron in Herat, and establishment of men and women saffron producers associations.
New forage/fodder crops and increased rural income from dairy products in Baghlan
New oilseed crops in the northern provinces
Introduction of the concept of Conservation Agriculture in wheat-based cropping systems and potential increases in crop yields.
Adoption of poly-tunnels and drip irrigation for out-of-season production of vegetable crops in Helmand and Kandahar.
Commercial production of mint and value added products, establishment of men and women's associations as micro-agro-enterprise in Kabul, Kunduz, Nangarhar and Helmand.
Enabling of women in setting-up micro agro-enterprise (nursery production, sericulture, canning and food processing, saffron, mint and dairy products) in Ghor, Herat and other regions.

OUTPUT 3: Improved Capacity for Applied Research and Extension in Government, Afghan Universities and NGO Partners

Capacity Building at MAIL: Provincial research and extension officials have been working in close collaboration with Project partners in several provinces. MAIL officials are receiving training in Sustainable Livelihoods Analysis, Gender and Poverty Analysis and Participatory Research

Water demand management in areas of ground water over-exploitation

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Current Groundwater is the principal source of both irrigation and domestic water supplies in many arid and semi-arid countries. However, many of these countries are already consuming more water than is available from renewable resources. In some areas, over-abstraction is leading to saline intrusion and deteriorating water quality. Demand management of groundwater use is required if the aquifers are not to be over-exploited. A variety of measures can be applied to achieve sustainability but their introduction can have very negative impacts on the livelihoods of some sections of the community.

In the irrigation sector, technical solutions (e.g. reducing losses in existing systems; promoting modern irrigation systems), regulating water use (e.g. water quotas; crop restrictions; land-use changes) or introducing market influences (e.g. water tariffs; water markets) can be considered. In the domestic/municipal water supply sector corresponding technical, allocative and market influences may also be introduced. The poor (vulnerable farming families and domestic consumers) are nearly always adversely affected by the introduction of water demand management measures with poverty increasing as a result. Some groups who are unable to afford the technical solutions for water conservation, are often negatively affected by water quotas and crop restrictions and are unable to meet the cost of water tariffs. The livelihoods of landless and tenant farmer families may become further impoverished by the impact that the introduction of demand management measures has on the actions of their landlords. Strategies are required to ensure that the poor are protected, ones which provide an enabling environment in which the vulnerable can escape from poverty and a climate in which their aspirations can flourish and be met. Identification of the most appropriate demand management strategies for ground water abstraction, where aquifiers are being over-exploited, ensuring sustainable livelihoods of the vulnerable and poor are safeguarded. Poverty reduction strategies for areas where groundwater is being over-exploited. Identification and evaluation, using participatory approaches, of demand management options:
*Technical
*Allocative and market based
*Impact on target beneficiaries

Supporting measures required when introducing water demand management options above:
*Extension services & training
*Water licences/rights
*Institutional changes
*Legal measures and regulation
*Education
*Support in diversifying to less water demanding activities
*Sustainable livelihood options
*Others

Strategies for reducing over-exploitation of groundwater, addressing:
*Needs of vulnerable groups and poor (incorporating sustainable livelihoods approach and poverty reduction strategies)
*Sustainability of water use (quantity and quality issues)
*Income generation and economic growth.

Dissemination of research results and encouragement of uptake
*Preparation plan for dissemination of research

*Workshops and Seminars
**Prepare, arrange for and facilitate workshops and seminars
**Incorporate views and findings

*Advisory guidelines on identification of:
**Target groups (poor and vulnerable)
**Livelihood approaches to poverty reduction in areas where groundwater is being over-exploited.

*Dissemination of research findings using DFID ICT recommendations.

*Follow up and advice given on project identification or reparation. Outputs from research activities

Output R1. Identification and evaluation of demand management options:

Technical
Allocative and market based
Impact on target beneficiaries

Output R2. Supporting measures required when introducing water demand management options:

Extension services & training
Water licences/rights
Institutional changes
Legal measures and regulation
Education & information dissemination
Support in diversifying to less water demanding activities
Sustainable livelihood options

Output R3. Strategies for reducing over-exploitation of groundwater, addressing:

Outputs from R1 & R2 above
Needs of vulnerable groups & poor (incorporating sustainable livelihoods approach and poverty reduction strategies)
Sustainability of water use
Income generation and economic growth

The results and findings have met the outputs and purpose of the research project.

The Strategy Formulation Document (February 2006) was presented and discussed at the Workshop in New Delhi before being finalised. The Consultants consider that, after further testing of the methodology, this document could be developed and edited for wider circulation as a Guideline on Water Resources Strategy Formulation.

Outputs related to dissemination of research results and encouragement of uptake:

Project website updated (http://www.bv-gwdm.com), June 2006
ICID Research Day, HR Wallingford, "DFID Research Project R8332", 15 March 2004 (Presentation)
Water Middle East, 2nd International Conference for Water Technology, Bahrain "Sectoral water allocations and the role of water demand management", 14 September 2004 David Stacey (published paper and presentation)
3rd International Arab Water Conference, Beirut, Lebanon, " Water demand management - Options and Impact", 28 September 2004, David Stacey (Presentation)
Workshop, "Water demand management in areas of groundwater over-exploitation - Case Studies" (20 November 2004), Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, organised by the Consultants
International Symposium - Water for Development Worldwide, 7-11 September 2005, Istanbul Turkey, "Meeting the demand for water - Theory and Practice", David B. Stacey (published paper and presentation; also reported in "Dams and hydropower" October 2005)
Water 21, IWA, October 2005, "Sustainable strategies in arid and semi-arid regions", David Stacey et al (article in Professional Journal)
Workshop, "Water demand management in areas of groundwater over-exploitation - Strategy formulation" (17 November 2005), UNICEF Offices, New Delhi, India, organised by the Consultants
XIIth International Rainwater Catchment Systems Conference, 15 - 18 November 2005, New Delhi, India, "Integrated water resources strategies", David B. Stacey, Elizabeth Mann and John Petrie

The world needs 18 million new teachers

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 01:00:00 GMT

The world needs eighteen million primary school teachers over the next ten years, reports the September 2007 issue of ID21's insights education

R4D Afghanistan

NGOs and Humanitarian Reform: A Multi-Agency Project

NGOs and Humanitarian Reform: Mapping Study Inception Report

NGOs and Humanitarian Reform Mapping Study: Afghanistan Report

Reforming the process of humanitarian response: involving NGOs in the debate

Review of the engagement of NGOs with the humanitarian reform process: Synthesis report

NGOs and Humanitarian Reform Project

WEMC Annual Report. 1 July 2008  30 June 2009

TARGETS Annual Report 2006-2007

Working Paper No 51. The Dissipation of Political Capital among Afghanistan's Hazaras: 2001-2009.

(TARGETS) Team for Applied Research to Generate Effective Tools and Strategies for Communicable Disease Control - Annual Report, June 2008-May 2009

Understanding the Afghan Warlords

Stakeholder analysis at the research-policy interface: Enhancing equity in health systems research in six low and middle income countries.

Working Paper No. 43. Who governs Kabul? Explaining urban politics in a post-war capital city.

Development in the 'raw': What livelihood trajectories and poverty outcomes tell us about welfare regimes and resilience in Afghanistan

Latest edition of the New Agriculturist focuses on potato as alternative staple, and global use of water.

Pathways of Women's Empowerment

Crisis States Research Centre - Phase 2

Women's Empowerment in Muslim Contexts (WEMC)

Future Health Systems: Making Health Systems Work for the poor RPC

Pen-side diagnostics for the detection of antibodies against a marked rinderpest virus (RPV) vaccine to allow differentiation of vaccinated from infected animals

The contribution of NGOs to Peace Building in Complex Political Emergencies

Afghanistan: Research in Alternative Livelihoods Fund (RALF)

Water demand management in areas of ground water over-exploitation

The world needs 18 million new teachers

WEMC Annual Report. 1 July 2008 30 June 2009