R4D Liberia

Social accountability in situations of conflict and fragility

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 05:42 GMT

Document Type: Briefing
Creator: Schouten, C.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Schouten, C. Social accountability in situations of conflict and fragility. U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, CMI, Bergen, Norway (2011) 4 pp. [U4 Brief, December 2011, No 19]

Summary: Donor support to social accountability in fragile and conflict-affected states is a relatively new phenomenon. It has emerged with the lessons that top-down anti-corruption approaches have often failed and different approaches are needed to improve state accountability to its people. With increasing support to fragile and conflict-affected states, donors should focus their efforts to: identify and support local accountability measures; strengthen partnerships across sectors, as well as demographic and geographic divides; and support collaborative governance and capacity building to strengthen the social contract between state and society in the wake of crisis.

Strategic Planning in Fragile and Conflict Contexts.

Thu, 28 Jul 2011 05:07 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous
Creator: Jacquand, M.

Production Year: 2011

Citation: Center on International Cooperation, New York, USA, 36 pp.

Summary:

The primary audience for this research paper is the strategic planner in fragile and conflict-affected states (FCAS), understood broadly as any actor involved in either the formulation of national priorities to mitigate or recover from conflict, or the design of international strategies to support such priorities. The paper explores the tensions and tradeoffs incurred throughout the planning process on a range of engagement principles, including national ownership, prioritization, and sequencing. It aims to serve two purposes: i) provide a broad concept of key elements of planning and ii) identify key recommendations for engagement as well as policy and capacity gaps in the international community’s support of strategic planning processes

The first section of the paper offers general considerations related to i) the tradeoffs and tensions inherent to strategic planning processes in FCAS, and ii) the challenges and opportunities that planners face, as a means to set the context and rationale for the guidance and recommendations presented throughout the paper. The second and third sections discuss the prerequisites for and the actual steps of the strategic planning process, with a focus on current practice and its range of tradeoffs and tensions, including challenges in formulating results for greater accountability and issues related, inter alia, to ownership, prioritization, and funding. The conclusion presents a summary of findings, along with key policy recommendations drawn from the analysis and the case studies, as well as suggested areas where further research could strengthen the international community’s capacities to support strategic planning processes.

Lessons Learned in Implementing Quality “Real Life” Field Effectiveness Studies in Remote Areas (ASAQ in Liberia).

Thu, 03 Feb 2011 10:56 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous
Creator: Mazinda, C.

Production Year: 2009

Citation: Presentation from DNDi’s 2nd Stakeholders’ Meeting & 3rd African Meeting, Nairobi, Kenya, 23 June 2009.

Summary: This document is a short account of a speech by the laboratory supervisor from a trial in Liberia of the new antimalarial drug combination ASAQ (artesunate + amodiaquine). It was found that good-quality research studies could be implemented in remote areas provided some main requirements were met; these can be summarized under the headings of technical capacity building (training and equipment) and establishment of institutional memory. Information on how this was done in the study under discussion is provided. It was also concluded that locally appropriate normal values for test results are needed.

The artesunate-amodiaquine fixed-dose combination field monitoring program: Objectives, methods, and first results from Liberia and Senegal.

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 10:38 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous
Creator: Bompart, F.

Production Year: 2010

Citation: Presentation from ‘Pharmacovigilance of new antimalarials in the field: challenges and opportunities’. Symposium from American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 58th Annual Meeting, Washington, DC, USA, 20 November 2009.

Summary: This presentation describes the monitoring of the safety and efficacy of the new fixed-dose antimalarial formulation ASAQ (artesunate + amodiaquine): rationale, potential safety risks to be quantified, missing information, clinical trials, and monitoring after implementatation of treatment. Objectives are: in the short term to design innovative says of collecting good data on ASAQ; in the medium term to contribute to the design of risk management plans for future new antimalarials; and in the longer term: to contribute to strengthening of pharmacovigilance systems in Africa.

TDR News No. 82, March 2009

Tue, 21 Dec 2010 10:17 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous

Production Year: 2009

Citation: World Health Organization, Geneva. 36 pp.

Summary: The cover story in this issue reports on the Bamako 2008 Global Ministerial Forum on Research for Health. Also featured are capacity building for health research in Liberia and Uganda, and other updates on research, meetings and publications from TDR.

The Missing Link - Fostering Positive Citizen-State Relations in Post-Conflict Environments [Policy Brief].

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 08:00 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous
Creator: World Bank

Production Year: 2008

Citation: Brief for Policymakers, Communication for Governance and Accountability Program, 6 pp.

Summary: The 'Missing Link' (World Bank 2008) relates the value of public sphere processes to the challenges of post-conflict environments. Demonstrating the shortcomings of current assistance approaches with evidence from the field, it makes a case for much needed change in current donor policy and practice. A public sphere analysis is conducted of case studies from Timor-Leste, Liberia and Burundi and recommendations on how to address the specific challenges observed are made. This brief outlines the publication's contents and highlights the key challenges and policy recommendations.

The Missing Link: Fostering Positive Citizen-State Relations in Post-Conflict Environments.

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:36 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous
Creator: H. von Kaltenborn-Stachau

Production Year: 2008

Citation: World Bank, Washington, D.C.; 124 pp.

Summary: The paper introduces the principles, mechanisms and processes that connect citizens with each other and with state institutions. The Missing Link relates the value of public sphere processes to the challenges of post-conflict environments. Demonstrating the shortcomings of current assistance approaches with evidence from the field, it makes a strong and convincing case for much needed change in current donor policy and practice. A public sphere analysis is conducted of case studies from Timor-Leste, Liberia and Burundi and recommendations on how to address the specific challenges observed are made.

Capital Cities in Civil Wars: The Locational Dimension of Sovereign Authority.

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 03:34 GMT

Document Type: Miscellaneous
Creator: M. Landau-Wells

Production Year: 2008

Citation: Occasional Paper No. 6, London, UK; Crisis States Research Centre, 26 pp.

Summary: Civil wars are a feature of the modern political landscape and significant attention has been given to the increase in this type of conflict in recent years. This discussion centres on those civil wars that are primarily political in nature - conflicts that concern the supreme executive power in a given state. Although civil wars can have obvious winners and losers militarily, the judgment of international actors can often be decisive. The purpose of this paper is to examine the way in which international actors decide who holds the sovereign authority of a state during civil wars and what is needed to 'win' such wars in the eyes of the international community. Existing theories stress effective control over territory or the political interests of the recognising states. However, my hypothesis is that states observe a rule of recognition that equates control of the capital city with possession of a state's sovereign authority. I examine four civil wars (Chad, Somalia, Zaire/Democratic Republic of Congo, and Liberia) in order to test these three theories and in all four cases control of the capital city is shown to be necessary for recognition by other governments. Effective control and political expediency demonstrate less explanatory power. The second part of the paper investigates the possible reasons why capital cities should be so significant in civil wars and considers the arguments for the special circumstances of the African state and for the economic significance of capital cities. However, it is the symbolic value of capital cities and, more importantly, the long-standing perspective in military history that views capitals as political and territorial proxies for states, that explain the recognition pattern in civil wars. The conclusion argues that the merits of this practice of recognition should be debated, as should the 'de-certification' of capital cities as a way of changing the incentive structure of some civil wars.

Towards Responsive Schools Supporting Better Schooling for Disadvantaged Children: case studies from Save the Children

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:00 GMT

Document Type: Research Paper
Creator: Molteno, M.; Ogadhoh, K.; Cain, E.; Crumpton, B.

Production Year: 2000

Citation: Educational Paper No. 38, DFID, London, UK, 270 pp.

Summary: This publication brings together case studies from the experience of Save the Children in nine countries, four in Africa, three in Asia, and one each in the Middle East and Latin America. It is a contribution to debates on how to improve the quality of primary education in countries where resources are limited, and where problems of schooling link with issues of poverty and social or political disadvantage.

Towards Responsive Schools Supporting Better Schooling for Disadvantaged Children

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:00 GMT

Project Status: Completed