R4D Brazil

Water and Food Challenge Programme

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:37:00 GMT

Current

In developing countries, water for agriculture consumes 70 90% of water use. To meet the needs of a growing population, more food must be produced using less water. The CPWF has taken on this challenge from a research perspective. The initiative brings together research scientists, development specialists, and river basin communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America to create and disseminate international public goods (IPGs) that improve the productivity of water in river basins in ways that are pro-poor, gender equitable and environmentally sustainable.

The Challenge Program is working towards achieving:

Food security for all at household level
Poverty alleviation through increased sustainable livelihoods in rural and peri-urban areas
Improved health through better nutrition, lower agriculturerelated pollution and reduced water-related diseases
Environmental security through improved water quality as well as maintenance of water-related ecosystems and biodiversity.

To fund a research programme, extension and capacity building programme that will increase the productivity of water used for agriculture.

The CPWF Research Strategy concentrates its attention on five thematic areas, each one led by a specialist from a different CGIAR center.

System level:

Crop water productivity improvement
This theme takes the view that water productivity can be improved through technological and managerial innovation at the farm level. Hence it seeks plant-breeding solutions for agriculture located in areas affected by drought and saline soils. It studies integrated natural resources management and crop production at field, farm and agro-ecosystem levels. This theme promotes policies and institutions facilitating the adoption of crop water productivity improvements.

Water and people in catchments
This theme focuses attention at the catchment level. It is concerned with water, poverty and risk in upper catchments. It seeks innovations in improved water management and aims to enable people to benefit from the improved management of land and water resources.

Aquatic ecosystems and fisheries
Aquatic environments are a key source of nutrition for many of the world's poor often, they are the sole source of protein for these communities. Research under this theme investigates environmental water requirements; to value ecosystem goods and services; and to seek innovative ways in which to improve the productivity of aquatic ecosystems through policies, institutions, and governance.

Basin level:

Integrated basin water management systems
Increasingly, integrated water resources management (IWRM) is viewed as a promising strategy for managing water resources. This theme identifies appropriate technologies and management practices designed to enable IWRM. It seeks innovative institutional arrangements and decision-support tools and information that can help with the establishment of this managerial strategy.

Global level:

Global and national water and food systems
This theme examines water, its management and use at the broadest of possible scales. Hence, globalization, trade, macroeconomic and sectoral policies have an important bearing on water, how it is used, and its productivity. This theme concerns itself with the kinds of investments and financing for agricultural water development and water supply that may improve water productivity or, indeed, hinder it. This theme area also recognizes that at international levels, the management of water resources is complex and therefore seeks to understand how best to formulate appropriate policy and institutions to deal with this complexity. The theme also considers changes in the global water cycle.

The CPWF's Second International Forum on Water and Food, IFWF2, with a theme of Partnerships for Change, Science for Development was held in Addis Ababa from 9-14 November 2008. More than 240 people participated with representation from each of the CPWF projects.

Development Research Centre for the Future State (Research Scheme R8490) Annual Report 1 July 2008 30 June 2009

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:40:00 GMT

Miscellaneous Institute of Development Studies 2009 73 pp.

Progress on the 3 programmes is reported:

1.Public Action and Private Investment
Progress has been steady. Key activities/achievements have included the PAPI 2009 cross cutting workshop attended by representatives of all the major projects. This workshop was also attended by Max Everest Phillips (DfID) and representatives from the Africa Power and Politics RPC and the Institutions for Pro Poor Growth RPC. Closer ties with these RPCs which carry out research in similar themes have been highlighted as having great potential to deepen the research and analysis and vastly improve quality through knowledge sharing activities.

The field research on the 'China's investment in Africa' project was completed and work has now entered a new phase. This project has received a lot of attention from the academic and policy making community. Jing Gu the lead researcher has been highly active in presenting her work and publications are being finalised. Additional funding for this project was recently obtained for the work to continue.

There has been good progress in the Egypt project with a number of publications in the final stages of writing or publication. The projects in Indonesia and Brazil have now been completed with outputs coming from both. The work on particularistic property rights regimes in China is nearing completion. There has been fair progress in the Vietnam project; research partners have been formally identified. With regret the research in Pakistan cannot be completed.

A new project due for completion in March 2010 will attempt to bring some of the key findings of the programme into two publications to answer the core question.

2.Collective Action around Service Delivery (Social Accountability)
Despite good performance as reported in last year's report Modes of Service Delivery in Brazil, India and Mexico (BIM) has experienced some setbacks. It has been formally agreed that Mexico can no longer form part of the project as no researcher of suitable ability could be identified who would be willing to finish the work. There have been some problems with writing up from some of the India researchers, many of whom are younger academics in their early careers. This has led to some delays. Brazil continues to perform well. Despite these setbacks there have been some major achievements especially in the communication of research findings at conferences.

3.State Capacity, Financing the State and Informal Local Governance
Comprising three key research themes (State Capacity, Financing the State and Informal Local Governance), programme three has progressed well over the last year.

There have been some major movements in the taxation work, mainly in communication efforts. The multi country study into the resource curse in Andean countries started and is now nearing completion.

Work into Informal Local Governance institutions has progressed adequately and there is possibility of funding one further stage of work. The multi-country study into donor proliferation in Africa was completed and a research proposal submitted to other funders for follow up work.

Diagnostic Detection of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Antibodies in Urine: a Brazilian Study

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:34:00 GMT

Miscellaneous Oelemann, W.M.R.; Lowndes,C.M.; Costa, G.C.V. da; Morgado, M.G.; Castello-Branco, L.R.R.; Grinsztejn, B.; Alary, M.; Bastos, F.I. 2002 Journal of Clinical Microbiology (2002), Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 881-885 [DOI:10.1128/JCM.40.3.881-885.2002] We evaluated, for the first time in Latin America, the performance of a commercial enzyme immunoassay (EIA) (Calypte Biomedical Corporation, Berkeley, Calif.) that detects human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-specific antibodies in urine, in comparison to standard serological assays (two commercial EIAs and a commercial Western blot [WB] assay). Paired serum and urine specimens were collected from two different groups of Brazilian patients: 225 drug users with unknown HIV status who attended drug treatment centers in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and 135 subjects with known HIV status. Patients showing positive results in the serum EIAs and/or in the urine EIA were serologically confirmed by WB assay. For the 135 individuals with known HIV status, the urine EIA showed 100% sensitivity (74 positive samples) and 95.1% specificity (58 of 61 negative specimens). For the 225 drug users, the test showed 100% sensitivity (2 positive samples) and 98.7% specificity (220 of 223 negative samples) compared to WB-confirmed serological EIA results. Thus, in a total of 360 samples, the urine EIA correctly identified all 76 HIV-positive samples and 278 of 284 negative samples (100% sensitivity and 97.9% specificity). Detailed analysis of the urine EIA results indicates that an increase of the recommended cutoff value might raise the specificity of the assay without affecting its sensitivity. Our results suggest that the HIV-1 urine EIA is a good screening test suitable for developing countries like Brazil. However, like all other HIV screening tests on the market, it is not specific enough to be used as a one-step test and therefore requires confirmation.

Democratizing Brazil's Indigenous Health System

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Researchers from the DFID-funded Development Research Centre on Citizenship, Participation and Accountability have helped to reform Brazil's indigenous health system

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

Latin America Hub

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:24:00 GMT

Miscellaneous 2009 In Portugese The Latin America Hub of the Pathways of Women's Empowerment Research Programme Consortium (RPC) is based at the Núcleo de Estudos Interdisciplinares Sobre a Mulher (NEIM), located at the Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. The hub's research aims to investigate and analyse, on the one hand, women's organising around empowerment issues, building constituencies for gender justice, changing narratives of sexuality, and how broader changes within the region have contributed to these struggles, and, on the other, how all of these struggles and processes have resonated in the different women's individual pathways towards empowerment.

Their website hosts further information on the specific research projects, and links to related websites and to resources relevant to women's empowerment.

New TB regimens: What Countries Want. The Value Proposition of Existing and New First-Line Regimens for Drug-Susceptible Tuberculosis.

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:04:00 GMT

Miscellaneous TB Alliance 2009 TB Alliance, New York, USA, 20 pp.

The design and adoption of new tuberculosis (TB) regimens requires a close understanding of the opinions of those who approve, prescribe and receive TB treatments: what they like and dislike about current regimens and what they would value, tolerate or reject with regard to a new, shorter regimen. To assess these opinions regarding first-line regimens for drug-susceptible TB, interviews were conducted with 211 stakeholders in Brazil, China, India, Kenya and South Africa - five countries with high TB burdens - and with 11 global stakeholders.

Based on these interviews, efficacy, safety and side effects of current regimens were generally judged to be acceptable. A treatment frequency of five to seven days a week was common for current regimens and preferred for new regimens, with some exceptions in China and India. Avoiding interaction with antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) was a significant priority for African and global stakeholders, as was the availability of fixed-dose combinations (FDCs) in all but China and the Indian public sector.

Two international Phase III trials are currently testing whether the substitution of a fluoroquinolone into first-line TB regimens will allow these treatments to be shortened to four months. In the current study, with the exception of some stakeholders in China, the potential for a shorter (four- or two-month) regimen was positively received. Many stakeholders noted that a shorter regimen would increase the likelihood of adherence and listed several acceptable trade-offs, including increased drug costs. Shorter regimens including moxifloxacin would be welcomed for the same reasons, although there are concerns about whether primary fluoroquinolone resistance already exists and whether fluoroquinolone use for first-line treatment would lead to the loss of the fluoroquinolones as a viable option for second-line treatment.

Before adopting a new regimen to replace an existing one, stakeholders said they would require or prefer data including results from trials in their own countries (for Brazil, China, India and South Africa), cost and real-world effectiveness data, and efficacy data for various subgroups, including patients co-infected with HIV and TB.

The findings of this study are consistent with the target product profile used by the TB Alliance and with the organization's clinical trials strategy as currently implemented. Stakeholder feedback can guide the development of new TB drugs, but the diversity of opinions underlines the challenges ahead and the need for continued exchange of data and information.

New TB Regimens: What Countries Want

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 01:00:00 GMT

A new report from the TB Alliance based on interviews with over 200 key stakeholders explores

Hybrid Activism: Paths of Globalisation in the Brazilian Environmental Movement. IDS Working Paper No. 332.

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 12:29:00 GMT

Miscellaneous A. Alonso 2009 Institute of Development Studies, Brighton, UK, ISBN: 978 1 85864 776 2, 51 pp. Focusing on two case studies of environmental activism in Brazil, this paper argues against theories that consider local and global activism as two separate realms. Instead, it is argued here that transnational activists circulate across the two spaces. In the global spaces, they build alliances with foreign groups, and in the local ones, they deal with the national state, other organised groups and ordinary communities living inside environmental areas they aim to protect. Activists live in both spheres and as they move, they carry with them local and global meanings, knowledge and forms of action and organising, mixing them through the continuous action of two mechanisms: adaptation and emulation. In this way, activists biographies their lived experience, their meanings and strategies intermingle with both spaces in one single trajectory of activism. Discussing the existing literature on transnational social movements, I will argue that they forge hybrid identities in the sense of being at the same time local and global.

When is Law a Force for Progressive Social Change? Comparisons across Rural Brazil and the Philippines. Final Report, R7983.

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 16:29:00 GMT

Miscellaneous P. P. Houtzager, J. Franco 2005 44 pp. The goal of this study was to identify when the rural poor are able to use state law, through the judicial system, as an instrument for progressive social change that is, change that expands their opportunities for security, wealth, and voice. The study sought to (i) identify factors that enhance the legal capabilities of the rural poor and (ii) the conditions under which rural poor are able to use the legal system to claim constitutionally guaranteed rights or institutionalise interpretations of legal rules favourable to their interests that is, to make law. The project therefore explored a set of issues that are central to access to justice and other judicial sector reforms, as well as to achieving human development more generally. The study paid particular attention to efforts by different segments of the poor to use law to gain access to land ownership and to challenge violations of civil liberties, including the right to organise. The study included two years of fieldwork in eight rural municipalities of Brazil and the Philippines.

The role of non-timber forest products in poverty reduction

Thu, 25 Jun 2009 01:00:00 GMT

The latest issue of id21 insights examines whether sustainable production and commercialisation of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are the way forward for successful conservation and rural development in tropical forested areas

id21 insights 77. Are NTFPs a way out of poverty?

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:44:00 GMT

Miscellaneous id21 2009 id21 insights 77, IDS, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, 8 pp.

Harvesting, using and trading non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are some of the livelihood strategies adopted by people with access to forest resources. Over the past 20 years, governments, conservation and development agencies and non-government organisations have encouraged the marketing and sale of NTFPs as a way of boosting income for poor people in tropical areas and encouraging forest conservation. Is this a way forward for successful conservation and rural development?

This forestry issue of id21 insights looks at some examples of the successful exploitation of NTFPs, and the lessons learned from NTFP markets around the world. It includes articles that focus on:

the benefits of harvesting wildlife products, such as bushmeat, in Equatorial Guinea
the need for local processing, with a case study of rubber tappers in Brazil
the challenges facing walnut farmers in rural Kyrgyzstan
the potential for increased harvesting of sal seeds in India
how the Frutíferas project is providing information for remote Amazonian communities
the importance of governing market chains for NTFPs, with a case study of market chains for rubber in Indonesia
analysis of the factors that contribute to the successful commercialisation of NTFPs

(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.

Effective Health Care Research Consortium. RPC no.7. Annual Report for Year 4: April 2008 to March 2009

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:57:00 GMT

Miscellaneous 2009 Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK, 53 pp.

The Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group has completed 4 new and 5 updated reviews in the period; with a further 9 new reviews produced by partners published with other Collaborative Review Groups. Two innovative reviews that needed new methods were completed. One took Chinese literature to analyse the ingredients of Chinese Herbal Preparations to prevent liver damage, as part of a programme of work to explore this issue. In collaboration with partners from Shandong University, a mapping study that documents the range of options to expand health insurance coverage was completed. A review on malaria diagnostic tests was also initiated.

RPC partner capacity grows from strength to strength:

In India, the RPC partner opened the South East Asian Cochrane Centre, with a comprehensive programme of author support, and ICMR funding;
In Nigeria, the RPC partner set up a trial facility and participated in an RCT of antimalarial treatment with EDCTP money; he also obtained a grant of 3 million Canadian dollars to set up a demographic surveillance system;
In South Africa, the partner established a unit in evidence-based nutrition, and continued to run the excellent Reviewers for Africa Programme; a part time statistician on the RPC has been appointed; in addition, the Wellcome Trust has funded a trial on incentives to improve TB adherence.
In Brazil, a new partner started a Cochrane editorial base in Sexually Transmitted Diseases;
In China, the RPC partner took on several systematic reviews and research commissioned by the Ministry of Health;
In Philippines, the team have developed a research proposal for a pilot intervention study using mobile phones as prompts for TB patients. All partners in the Philippines being commissioned to prepare policy documents using evidence informed approaches in maternal and child health, TB, HIV, family core health services packages, and avian influenza preparedness programme.

Progress is reported on access and use of evidence-informed approaches by stakeholders:

Cochrane Library site licence for India: Government of India pay for free access for the whole country, and download data show this has reached 66,000 in 2008.
China summaries and commentary: summaries of Cochrane Reviews with commentaries published in the Chinese Journal of Evidence Based Medicine, specifically to help increase access to reliable evidence for public health policy makers in China.
DFID Permanent Secretary: Nemat Shafik (Minouche): RPC director presented systematic reviews for health on 3 July.

Using Art for Social Change

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:00:00 GMT

The Pathways of Women's Empowerment Research Programme is putting the arts at the centre of their research and communications work.

Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 01:00:00 GMT

A special edition of id21 Highlights focuses on the need for convergence between disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation policies.

Tropical forests in poverty alleviation: from household data to global-comparative analysis

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:53:00 GMT

Current Forests are important to the rural livelihoods of poor people in developing countries. But due to the paucity of quality data on rural household economies in the tropics and sub-tropics, we know very little about just how important forests are, for what specific purposes they primarily serve, and for how many people forests are vital assets. This impedes the design of effective strategies for forest-based poverty alleviation. This project aims to fill these serious empirical gaps by using a uniform methodology to gather high-quality primary household data in about 25 sites with tropics-wide coverage. The global data bank (5-6000 households) with complete annualized income information and other economic and non-economic data will be used for a global-comparative analysis of forest-poverty linkages in rural household economies. Our goal is to analyse the general importance of various forest types in different aspects of rural livelihoods, identify major causes of geographical variation, and point to tangible options for interventions that actively enhance forest-based poverty alleviation. Specifically, we will test for hypotheses related to the alleged pro-poor role of market integration and of collective forest mangement at the local level. The data will also enable tests of broader microeconomic hypotheses regarding the role of natural resources in rural livelihoods, e.g. to what extent natural resources serve as seasonal gap-fillers, as safety nets in response to shocks, and as means of accumulating assets that eventually can lift people out of poverty. The project is integrated into the Poverty and Environment Network (PEN), coordinated by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). PEN is an ongoing collaborative research effort between CIFOR, a network of PhD students, and external experts from ten universities including the University of East Anglia. PEN data collection is already advanced; we thus seek financial support over a three-year period mainly to establish a global data bank, to undertake the global-comparative data analysis, and to carry out synthesis & dissemination work. Research results will be communicated through a variety of media to the main intended beneficiaries that include academia, donors, multilaterals, and policy makers at different levels. The primary project objective is:
I. To undertake a comprehensive global-comparative analysis of the role of forests and environmental income in preventing and reducing rural poverty, built on a centrally coordinated pan-tropical data bank with high-quality primary household and village data collected though PEN (research outputs);
The secondary project objectives are:
II. To elaborate recommendations for tangible forest-poverty interventions, and feed them into national and global policy processes (policy impacts);
III. To enhance the ability of project partners in using best-practice methods for conducting income-accounting rural household surveys, and to suggest improved research methodologies for future studies of environmental incomes and rural livelihoods (capacity building and methodological innovation).

Do taxes help make better governments?

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Are there connections between how states obtain money and the quality of their governance? If governments are not dependent on taxes for their finance, new research suggests they are less accountable and responsive to their citizens and taxpayers

Spotlight on Chronic Diseases

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 01:00:00 GMT

SciDev.Net has published a set of articles about the need to prioritise the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases affecting millions in developing countries

Innovative partnership delivers a new treatment for malaria

Tue, 06 May 2008 01:00:00 GMT

An innovative new product based on a combination of artesunate (AS) and mefloquine (MQ), developed by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) for the treatment of malaria, has been registered for use in Brazil

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.

Citizenship DRC Participatory Video Project

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:00:00 GMT

Encouraging early results from the Citizenship DRC Participatory Video Project suggest videos are providing new ways for research participants to articulate their views, and promote debate with stakeholders

Centre for the Future State - Phase 2

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:26:00 GMT

Current The primary purpose of the Development Research Centre for the Future State is to harness the ideas and the research skills of applied social science researchers, in both developing and developed countries, to assist in finding ways of achieving the Millennium Development Goals by increasing the accountability and effectiveness of public authority in the South. The secondary purpose is to contribute to enhancing the capacity of researchers to perform this role by (a) helping to upgrade research and communication skills, especially for younger researchers from developing countries, and (b) strengthening an institutional framework that permits and encourages researchers from South and North to work together to share resources and collectively to define and implement applied research programmes. To harness the ideas and the research skills of applied social science researchers, in both developing and developed countries, to assist policymakers and citizens to find ways of increasing the accountability and effectiveness of public authority in the South. Policy-relevant research. This is the core activity, and constitutes the intellectual and organisational framework around which the other activities will be organised.

Dissemination and policy-influencing activities. The project has a very good record in this field and has begun to invest more heavily in these activities, in particular in the activities of the Synthesis Task Force.

Capacity Building. The approach and plans are that the major investments in this area will be on increasing the capacity of younger Southern researchers to undertake high quality policy-relevant research, and to communicate their findings to various audiences.

Water management in drought-affected North East Brazil

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 01:00:00 GMT

Enabling long-term sustainable use of land and water, through management by local communities

Law and social change

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Current DFID initiatives to develop a rights-based approach to development and to enhance citizen safety, security and access to justice, are based on the idea that law can be a force for progressive social change.

Many legal experts agree, but point out that law can also (and often does) limit the possibilities for change, and can both empower and disempower differently situated social groups. These legal scholars suggest that law - legal rules and the judicial and administrative institutions that adjudicate and enforce them - can enhance the ability of ordinary people to realise basic rights, resolve conflict, and protect themselves from predatory behaviour when they use law collectively from below.

The principal objective of this research is to contribute to the realisation of basic rights and citizen security. It will produce comparative data on how the poor perceive and use law in rural areas, and develop a new conceptual framework that makes explicit the causal mechanisms through which different factors influence when the poor use law to make rights-based claims, resolve disputes, and challenge violations of civil liberties.

The research investigates how the landless rural poor and small holding peasants in two regions of Brazil and the Philippines respectively have sought to use land and agrarian reform legislation and constitutional guarantees of civil liberties.

The research takes a comparative historical approach and covers a twenty-year period (1980-2000) during which these areas of law alternatively served as a force for progressive change and, more frequently, as an obstacle to such change.

It will trace, over time, the changing relationship between segments of rural poor to local judicial institutions, local administrative offices of National Institute of Agrarian Reform Colonisation (INCRA) in Brazil and the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in the Philippines, and the local political system.

It pays particular attention to the effect the Movement of the Landless (MST) in Brazil and the Partnership for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development Services (PARRD) in the Philippines have had on the ability of rural poor to make rights-based claims.

The project has four specific objectives:

* Identify how the rural poor in Brazil and the Philippines have perceived and used formal legal rules and judicial and administrative agencies (ie: state law) to secure access to land, resolve land conflict, and challenge violations of civil liberties.

* Identify which factors contributed to their ability to use state law effectively.

* Based on the research findings, develop a conceptual framework to help guide interventions in the areas of rights and access to justice that is applicable to diverse national settings and that specifies clear causal mechanisms.

* Contribute to our understanding of the role legal rules and judicial institutions play in agrarian reform processes. The project investigates how the poor perceive and use law in rural areas of Brazil and the Philippines to make rights-based claims, resolve disputes, and challenge violations of civil liberties. The project investigates how the poor perceive and use law in rural areas in Brazil and the Philippines to make rights-based claims, resolve disputes, and challenge violations of civil liberties. It is a comparative historical study of relationship of the landless rural poor and peasant farmers to local judicial institutions, administrative agencies that enforce land law, and the local political sphere, that seeks to identify the factors that influence when rural poor use law and succeed in making it a force for progressive social change. Its goal is to inform DFID concerns with the realisation of citizen rights and security, by developing a conceptual framework that explicates the causal mechanisms through which different factors influence when the poor use law.

Politiking for the Poor: Senior Leaders' Political Management of Pro-Poor Initiatives in an era of Centrists

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Completed Examination of the political management of more recent pro-poor initiatives by three senior politicians in India, Brazil and Uganda.

Enabling urban poor livelihoods policy making: understanding the role of energy services.

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Awaiting Confirmation of Completion Despite efforts at rural development to improve poor peoples' livelihoods, urbanisation in the South continues unabated. It has been estimated that half of the world's absolute poor would be living in towns and cities by 2000 and this will have risen to almost two-thirds by 2025 (UNDP, 1999). Rural poor people migrate to urban areas in search of perceived better livelihood opportunities, where they join other poor people with similar goals. This migration can be as part of a coping (temporary) strategy in response to a specific short-term shock, such as drought, or an adaptive long-term strategy of permanent relocation. Urban livelihoods are complex; contexts are shifting and uncertain. As a consequence, household members employ multi-faceted and varied strategies, often living on credit and earning income through a variety of means, primarily in the informal sector. Evidence would suggest that the outcomes of poor urban households livelihood strategies do not meet the most basic of needs, increasing the vulnerability of those already marginalised. It is tempting to assume that the urban poor compared to the rural poor benefit from increased access to modern forms of energy (kerosene, LPG, and electricity), contributing to better chances for moving out of poverty by reducing household energy budgets or increasing income (informal sector and small businesses become more profitable or new business opportunities are created). However, there is little evidence to support this assumption. Rapid urbanisation is associated with a rise in energy demand which puts stress on the environment through housing construction, transportation, economic activities and the generation of heat and electricity. However, urban areas do offer potential for introducing sustainable energy use. The application of new energy efficient technologies is potentially more easily accelerated since the environment created by the agglomeration of social networks makes people, both in households and business, more acceptable to awareness raising campaigns. There are potentials for economies of scale due to the higher population densities reducing delivery costs, including those for energy services. Education opportunities are more readily available than in rural areas and people can learn about the opportunities renewable energy sources offer for their own use or as a business opportunity. Against this background, it can be asked what roles can improved energy services (access and quality) play in improving the outcomes of urban poor peoples' livelihood strategies? Does increased income lead to better well-being (affordable energy services which give less indoor air pollution, better cooked food, more boiled water)? To provide a clear understanding, based on micro-level gender disaggregated data, of the issues around urban energy supply and use for poor people's livelihood strategies. Inception Report

Best Practices Paper: Energy Services for the Poor

Data Collection Methodology Report

3 Country Reports which explore the urban livelihoods and energy nexus

3 National Workshops

3 National Workshop Reports

3 Dissemination Strategy Reports

Synthesis Paper

Briefing note

International Practitioners Workshop

International Practitioners Workshop Report

ENERGIA News

Final Report

Sustainable use of ground water in the semi-arid ribbon valleys of north-east Brazil

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Current The Brazilian Northeast is a semi-arid area beset by drought, unequal land distribution and rural poverty, which all help contribute towards an overall mass migration away from the region. Typical annual rainfalls in this region are around 400 mm, with 80% of this precipitation falling during the wet season between December and May. However, severe droughts in the inland semi-arid areas are common, especially during the El Niño years, limiting the extent of agricultural activity and compounding rural poverty. Since 1985 water resource conditions of the region have deteriorated, adversely affecting rural livelihoods. The state of Pernambuco has a population of 7.6 million with a climate ranging from tropical at the coastline to semi-arid (Sertão) in the interior. In common with many of the Northeast states, Pernambuco is one of the poorest in Brazil with a contribution to the overall national GDP of 2.7%. Rural productivity in the region in the last fifty years has centred on logging of local forests for charcoal production. This activity has led to severe deforestation, which in turn has had a negative effect on the local micro-climate leading to desertification, increased run-off during precipitation and, consequently, decreased recharge of the local alluvial aquifers. Since logging of the forests is no longer permitted in this region (although poor enforcement has resulted in continued reduction in tree cover), agriculture has now become the main source of income for the rural poor. Corn and vegetables are the main crops, and much of this is grown for subsistence. However, the unpredictable rainfall levels are insufficient to sustain rain-fed agriculture, especially during drought periods. In this area, irrigation is the only option available to sustain crop production and to guarantee a reasonable yield. Furthermore, irrigation allows for more intensive crop production and thus offers the opportunity for farmers to enhance their incomes through sales of produce. Due to the high evaporation rates in the region, and the presence of mainly ephemeral streams, irrigation water in rural areas is often derived from groundwater supplies in the shallow alluvial aquifers. However, sustainable use of these resources has not been achieved. Over-exploitation has lead to salinisation of soils and to exhaustion/depletion of groundwater resources, particularly during periods of drought, and this is an important livelihoods issue for small farmers. Although considerable efforts to promote efficient irrigation that involve the active participation of farmers are ongoing, there is a clear lack of understanding of resource management, of which irrigation efficiency is only one component. The research problem is thus the inadequate and unsustainable use of groundwater in the shallow alluvial aquifers, while the purpose of the research is the establishment of conditions that allow for the long-term sustainable use of this resource. Sustainable use of the resource in the long term will lead to more secure and sustainable livelihoods, thereby reducing the poverty levels for the rural poor. To achieve this farmers, or those representing the farmers, require targetted, realistic and understandable advice. Develop and disseminate clearly understandable culturally appropriate guidelines for sustainable groundwater resource management primarily targetted at subsistence farmers and farmers' groups. Clear understanding of livelihood framework for small farmers in the study areas (men and women), and the role of irrigation water in this.

Guidelines for sustainable resource management for irrigation schemes at farmer level.

A framework for farmer participation and education.

An operational strategy for integrated communications between farmers, researchers, managers and extension workers.

Guidance on convenient and cost-effective data collection strategies, involving individual farmers and farmer groups for the assessment of irrigation performance, water conservation and salinity control.

Stronger by association - understanding how small forestry enterprise associations can work for the poor

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Current Association lies at the heart of attempts by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to capture the benefits of globalisation. Collective action allows them to fight scale disadvantages and political marginalisation. SMEs based on forest resources can generate sustainable livelihoods in many rural areas where few other alternatives exist. DFID-funded inception research in six countries has demonstrated the magnitude of this contribution to economic opportunity, yet the potential of SMEs is often unrealised because of the challenges they face.

The objective of this project is to improve understanding of how SME associations can work for the poor. It will examine the many types of association existing at the forest-agriculture interface with an explicit focus on gender concerns. Types of association will include those formed to secure resource access or investment, enhance efficiency, improve market penetration or overcome political marginalisation. Research will be undertaken on the full range of associations in three countries, and on specific associations in three more countries where further insights add value. Four key characteristics of association will be investigated: (i) cohesion - what aspirations drive association and to what extent do they foster sustainable development? (ii) resilience - what architecture maximises benefits over time? (iii) equity - what processes ensure a just distribution of costs and benefits? (iv) support - what enabling environment is necessary for associations to deliver to their potential? To improve the understanding of how SME associations work for the poor by examining the many types of association existing at the forest/agriculture interface, with an explicit focus on gender concerns. Preparatory phase - preliminary planning workshop the identification of and engagement with the multiple different types of SME association, in particular countries leading to the development of a typology of the different types of association and their participation.

Diagnostic phase - the participatory development of indicators to describe the health or functionality of SME associations followed by an assessment of the contributory factors to that functionality using semi-structured interviews and group exercises.

Synthesis phase - a results-discussion workshop involving distillation and subsequent report-writing of conclusions concerning the different forms of association, perspectives on functionality under different circumstances, and an analysis of the causal factors which make SME associations work for the poor.

Influence phase - a series of actions within each of the six countries and internationally to mould and use outputs that make the most of policy space, created for the findings and of opportunities to improve the ways of working of SME practitioners.

Land access and participatory territorial development lessons and policy implications from South Africa and Brazil

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Current The research will examine how sectoral policies for land access and agrarian development can be integrated into a dynamic and holistic approach to sustainable development with a territorial focus. It will undertake comparative and analytical policy studies, drawing on existing work and data, and supporting participatory, empirical case studies in two districts in South Africa and up to three in north-eastern Brazil, focussing on land access and agrarian development, and poverty and livelihood impacts in the context of wider development policy and planning. The project will assess the implications for public policy in local and national government and for donors in both focus countries, identifying and disseminating the policy and practical lessons for the countries concerned, and the wider southern African and Latin American regions, and considering the global relevance.

The case studies have been prioritised by local partners in consultation with government, and will examine the scope to link improved land access by the poor to efforts to develop dynamic, socially inclusive local economies and improve the quality and accountability of public policies and planning processes, by adopting a territorial development focus, including the scope for civil society and private sector partnerships with government to enhance regional competitiveness. The research will involve an exploration of the conceptual significance of the idea of territorial development as applied in Latin America (and also in parts of Europe) for developing countries, and its transferability in practice to southern Africa. The South African case studies will therefore also consider the context of changing racial and urban-rural patterns of social and economic geography, and the institutional configuration of local government in South Africa, where the nature, scope and development/poverty impacts of land reform are key policy issues. The research will examine how sectional policies for land access and agrarian development can be integrated into a dynamic and holistic approach to sustainable development with territorial focus. The project will assess the implications for public policy in local and national government and for donors in both focus countries, identifying and disseminating the policy and practical lessons for the countries concerned, and the wider southern African and Latin American regions, and considering the global relevance. Assessment of livelihood and territorial impacts, opportunities and constraints of different programmes for land access and post-settlement support, involving research support to territorial/area-based initiatives to strengthen cross-sectoral co-ordination and state/civil society/private sector partnerships for inclusive economic development in at least four vulnerable, semi-arid areas of South Africa and Brazil (two areas per country).

Assessment of the role of social capital and the potential of social mobilisation in realising benefits of improved land access and contributing to sustainable territorial development in collaboration with the state and other participants in specific territories in each country.

Exploration of the applicability of the idea of territorial development as applied in Latin America and Europe, to a wider range of developing countries, in particular to South Africa.

Better understanding of the policy and institutional conditions under which sectoral policies and programmes for land access and reform can lead to sustainable opportunities for the poor and the implications for policy on land access and territorial development at state/provincial and national level in each country.

Identification and initial dissemination of the policy lessons nationally, in, and between the two countries with integration of the findings and policy recommendations into DFID programming and partnerships in the wider regions and consideration of the global relevance.

To provide a practical focus for capacity building for local universities engaged in the research, extending competencies and policy engagement, with exposure to wider debates and potential for longer-term collaboration.

Moved to Act

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 01:00:00 GMT

What can we learn from HIV social movement communication? An informal discussion co-hosted by Panos London and Healthlink Worldwide

Improving Access for All

Wed, 04 Jan 2006 01:00:00 GMT

A project to investigate mobility barriers has enhanced the mobility of disabled people in developing countries...

R4D Brazil

Water and Food Challenge Programme

Development Research Centre for the Future State (Research Scheme R8490) Annual Report 1 July 2008  30 June 2009

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Democratizing Brazil's Indigenous Health System

TARGETS Annual Report 2006-2007

Latin America Hub

New TB regimens: What Countries Want. The Value Proposition of Existing and New First-Line Regimens for Drug-Susceptible Tuberculosis.

New TB Regimens: What Countries Want

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When is Law a Force for Progressive Social Change? Comparisons across Rural Brazil and the Philippines. Final Report, R7983.

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id21 insights 77. Are NTFPs a way out of poverty?

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Effective Health Care Research Consortium. RPC no.7. Annual Report for Year 4: April 2008 to March 2009

Using Art for Social Change

Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation

Tropical forests in poverty alleviation: from household data to global-comparative analysis

Do taxes help make better governments?

Spotlight on Chronic Diseases

Innovative partnership delivers a new treatment for malaria

Pathways of Women's Empowerment

Citizenship DRC Participatory Video Project

Centre for the Future State - Phase 2

Water management in drought-affected North East Brazil

Law and social change

Politiking for the Poor: Senior Leaders' Political Management of Pro-Poor Initiatives in an era of Centrists

Enabling urban poor livelihoods policy making: understanding the role of energy services.

Sustainable use of ground water in the semi-arid ribbon valleys of north-east Brazil

Stronger by association - understanding how small forestry enterprise associations can work for the poor

Land access and participatory territorial development lessons and policy implications from South Africa and Brazil

Moved to Act

Improving Access for All

Development Research Centre for the Future State (Research Scheme R8490) Annual Report 1 July 2008 30 June 2009