R4D Nigeria

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.

Mapping the Likelihood of Introduction and Spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Virus H5N1 in Africa, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria using Multicriteria Decision Modelling

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:22:00 GMT

Miscellaneous K. B. Stevens, S. Costard, R. Métras, and D. U. Pfeiffer 2009 Working Paper No. 20, 32 pp. The objective of this study was to describe the spatial variation in the likelihood of (i) introduction and (ii) spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (HPAIV) subtype H5N1 on a continental scale in Africa. This report describes the methods used to produce likelihood maps illustrating the likelihood of introduction and subsequent spread of HPAIV H5N1 at both the continental and country level (Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Ghana; targeted countries of the DfID project), and highlights limitations associated with the maps.

Analyses of the Poultry Value Chain and Its Linkages and Interactions with HPAI Risk Factors in Nigeria

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:12:00 GMT

Miscellaneous J. Akinwumi, Iheanacho Okike, B. Bett, T. F. Randolph, and K. M. Rich 2009 HPAI Research Brief No. 16, 2009. 6 pp. Key findings in this briefing are:-

HPAI disease-transmission pathways are linked to the economic incentives that chain actors face.
Disease transmission risk is strongly related to commercial practices and trade in poultry and poultry products.
Consumer influences are insufficient to change governance and commercial practice.
Chain actors face economic incentives to conceal information that is essential for effective HPAI control.
Sustainable HPAI control will require improved private sectordriven coordination mechanisms that target deficient biosecurity practices in the value chain.

Economywide Impact of Avian Flu in Nigeria - A Dynamic CGE Model Analysis

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 14:05:00 GMT

Miscellaneous Xinshen Diao, V. Alpuerto, and M. Nwafor 2009 HPAI Research Brief No. 15, 2009. 8 pp. This brief focuses on the economy-wide impact of the HPAI outbreak in Nigeria. The primary goal is to assess the economy-wide potential impact of an avian flu outbreak in Nigeria, which can provide helpful information for designing a pro-poor HPAI risk-reduction strategy. Towards this, a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and a social accounting matrix (SAM) were used to assess the economy-wide impact of HPAI outbreaks in Nigeria.

Investigating the Potential Impact of HPAI on Livelihoods in Nigeria

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:14:00 GMT

Miscellaneous B. Okpukpara, D. Asare-Marfo, E. Birol and Devesh Roy 2009 HPAI Research Brief No. 10, 2009. 6 pp. This brief uses nationally representative Nigeria Living Standards Survey data (NLSS 2003-2004) and econometric models to assess the livelihood impacts of HPAI by (i) investigating factors that affect participation in small-scale poultry production and profiling those households most likely to be poultry producers and those most likely to keep larger flocks, and (ii) assessing the potential impact of HPAI supply and demand shocks on various livelihood outcomes.

Overview of Qualitative Risk Assessments for the Introduction and Spread of HPAI H5N1 Virus

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:58:00 GMT

Miscellaneous R. Métras, S. Costard and D. Pfeiffer 2009 HPAI Research Brief No. 8, 2009. 7 pp. This Briefing gives an overview of risk assessments conducted in Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Indonesia between October 2008 and June 2009.

Pro-Poor HPAI Risk Reduction Strategies: Synthesis of Country Background Papers

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:41:00 GMT

Miscellaneous M. M. Tiongco 2009 HPAI Research Brief No. 6, 2009. 14 pp. This brief is a synopsis of five country background papers that provided an inventory of information about the importance of the poultry sector in the economy and for rural livelihoods, the structure of the poultry sector and the associated level of biosecurity, and the threats and incidences of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), along with prevention and control measures that were implemented and the institutional response capacity. The countries investigated were Ethiopia, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Newsletter 7, Religions and Development Research Programme

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Miscellaneous 2009 Newsletter 7, Religions and Development Research Programme, University of Birmingham, UK, 3 pp. September 2009 News on events and publications from the RaD programme is presented.

Decline in the prevalence of HIV and sexually transmitted diseases among female sex workers in Cotonou, Benin, 1993-1999.

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:42:00 GMT

Miscellaneous Alary, M.; Mukenge-Tshibaka, L.; Bernier, F.; Geraldo, N.; Lowndes, C.M.; Meda, H.; Gnintoungbé, C.A.B.; Anagonou, S.; Joly, J.R. 2002 AIDS (2002), vol. 16 no. 3, pp. 463-470 Background: Within an ongoing HIV/STD prevention project aimed at female sex workers (FSW) in Cotonou, Benin, we evaluated time trends in HIV and STD prevalences from 1993 to 1999. Design: Three serial cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 1993 (n=374), 1995-1996 (n=365), and 1998-1999 (n=591). A questionnaire was administered to the FSW and they were screened for HIV, syphilis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Chlamydia trachomatis. Results: The mean percentage of condom use with clients in the week preceding the interview increased from 62.2% in 1993 to 80.7% in 1998-1999 (P=0.0001). The prevalence of all infections decreased significantly (all P<0.02; chi-square for trend) over time: HIV from 53.3% in 1993 to 40.6% in 1998-1999; syphilis from 8.9 to 1.5%; gonorrhoea from 43.2 to 20.5%; and chlamydia from 9.4 to 5.1%. However, the mean age of FSW decreased from 31.0 to 28.4 years between 1993 and 1998-1999. Moreover, the country of origin of these women changed dramatically over time: the proportion of Ghanaian women decreased from 66.3% in 1993 to 21.6% in 1998-1999 when the predominant group became Nigerian (38.0%). When controlling for age and country of origin, HIV prevalence was stable over time (P=0.71), whereas the downward trend remained significant for syphilis and gonorrhoea (both P<0.001), and was present but not significant for chlamydia (P=0.13). Conclusion: These data suggest that the time trends in HIV and STD prevalences are partly due to the changing sex work milieu, but that the intervention also had an impact. Prevention programmes aimed at FSW should be highly prioritized.

Votes and violence in Nigeria

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:19:00 GMT

Miscellaneous K. Loudon 2009 CSAE Economics Department, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. iiG Briefing Paper 06, 3 pp. Results from a nationwide field experiment during the 2007 elections in Nigeria reveal that a range of dirty tactics, some illegal, were used by both government and opposition politicians. The tactics used differed depending on the situation of the politicians. Using violence to intimidate voters was the strategy used by the opposition politicians. Incumbent politicians tended to use vote buying and fraud. This Briefing reports on strategies developed by ActionAid International Nigeria (AAIN) to counteract the use of violence to intimidate voters.

Agriculture on-air

Thu, 21 May 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Recorded by Africans for Africans, the DFID-funded AGFAX monthly radio service, now in its 15th year, provides the latest information on agricultural and rural development to agricultural broadcasters and, through them, to millions of listeners across Africa

DFID Supports World Malaria Day 2009

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:00:00 GMT

DFID is supporting a range of research projects alongside programmes to scale up interventions already known to be effective in the control of malaria

Better Science Reporting - Training for West African Journalists

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:00:00 GMT

A DFID-funded training course for West African Journalists held at IITA in Ibadan, Nigeria earlier this month seems to be already bearing fruit according to course evaluations

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).

The intra-household allocation of resources: cross-cultural tests, methodological innovations and policy implications

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:55:00 GMT

Current Gender matters for the incidence of poverty, ignorance and disease. In developing countries, boys tend to be favoured in the intra-household distribution of nutrients and in access to schooling and health care, women earn less than men and, when time engaged in home production activities is included, women work longer hours than men. An accurate understanding of how resources get allocated within the household has implications for the design of policy. Consider by way of example a policy concern with food security. In Sri Lanka food stamps are given to the main female of the household because of policy-makers' concern that the main male may sell the stamps and squander the cash on alcohol. At the same time, such a conflict of interests may undo policy-makers' good intentions: if the male head of the household has sufficient sway over his wife, he will get hold of (at least some of) the food stamps whether they were initially given to him or not. Economic models of intra-household decisions attempt to understand patterns of resource allocation among members of a household. There are a large number of such theories, but a paucity of data that can discriminate between these models principally because most data is available at the already aggregated level of the household. Yet, for the design of policy, differences between models matter enormously. For the sake of development policy, an important empirical challenge to be taken up by the research community is thus a rigorous testing of the household models that differ in their predictions of the effects of a given policy.

Our aim is to use three elements (experiments, socio-economics surveys and in-depth interviews) to answer the following questions:
1. Are the assumptions and key predictions of the most influential economic models of the household valid?
2. To what extent is the allocation of resources within households governed by norms of fairness?
3. Are such norms conducive to equality and/or efficiency within the household?
4. How are norms for allocation related to the cultural and economic context, particularly patterns of conjugality? As experiments become more common in development studies we also seek to build research capacity in the area and to explore the following methodological issue.
5. To what extent are experimental results (i) relevant to real-world behaviour; (ii) the useful basis for policy innovation?
In terms of output, the objectives are to produce a group of scholarly articles that answer the questions above and to publish them in international journals. Secondly, to disseminate more widely (i.e. into the policy community) the results of the research and thirdly, where appropriate, to influence the design of development policies in the light of the research results.

UK Parliament visits IITA

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Collaboration between the UK and IITA will bring about a faster resolution of hunger and poverty in Africa according to the UK All Parliament Group for Nigeria

Improved treatment for sleeping sickness

Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:00:00 GMT

A new combination of drugs has been successfully trailed by the DFID-funded Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative as a treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa

Supporting science journalism in Africa and the Middle East

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:00:00 GMT

A dozen new teams of science journalists from different countries across Africa and the Middle East trained through the DFID-funded SjCOOP Programme are collaborating on science related stories

Changing Lives: Making Research Real

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:00:00 GMT

Changing Lives, a collaborative project between DFID Research and InterPress Service (IPS), a press agency that covers the global South, uncovers a hotbed of the kind of exciting stories that the media are itching to tell

Research Into Use: African Innovation Challenge Fund

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 01:00:00 GMT

The second Research Into Use (RIU) call for proposals is for the African Innovation Challenge Fund

New Champions of Participation resource pack released

Wed, 14 May 2008 01:00:00 GMT

An international project to share learning among Champions of Participation in local government across 15 countries results in the release of a resource pack.

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

Implementation of Cocoa Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in West Africa

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 16:26:00 GMT

Completed Cocoa across the region is produced almost exclusively on small family-owned farms that also produce food crops in addition to cocoa. Yields on average range from 300 to 500 kg per ha which is significantly below potential yield. Pests (including diseases) are classified by producers in all the countries as their major production constraints. The most significant of these are cocoa black pod disease (Phytophthora spp.) and mirids. Research in Cameroon has shown that if left untreated, losses as high as 90% commonly occur due to P. megakarya. In a strategic alliance with Sustainable Tree Crops Programme (STCP), the project will aim to improve the livelihoods of cocoa farmers in West Africa through support of the development of participatory extension approaches for addressing the major production constraints, black pod and mirids. Local and researcher knowledge will be developed and shared through farmer participatory experimentation. The approach will place the farmer and his/her contextual environment at the centre of technology dissemination and adoption processes. The attention will focus on increasing productivity, lowering dependence on costly agro-chemicals, and improving the quality of cocoa. The aim of the STCP farmer training component is to train at least 7500 farmers over two years in pilot project areas in the Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Nigeria and thus contribute directly to DFIDs aims to improve poor farmers' livelihoods. A key strategic element for the STCP will be the monitoring and evaluation of research and development interventions. Among the assessment measures will be benefit-cost accounting and economic surplus approaches. The long-term strategic objective is to institutionalise farmer participatory training into farmer organisations and possibly national extension services. It is expected that farmer associations will democratically accept the costs of implementing participatory extension approaches based on sound economic evaluation of the benefits and costs. Promotion of strategies to reduce the impact of pests and stabilise productivity of tree crops important to livelihood security of poor people in forest agriculture systems. The project goal was achieved through interaction with the regional Sustainable Tree Crops Programme as well as with national research institutions. All outputs were achieved. Farmer participatory learning curriculum for cocoa IPM in West Africa developed.

Farmers trained and involved in participatory technology development.

New IPM knowledge from previous research effectively evaluated by farmers and disseminated. 1: Farmer participatory learning curriculum for cocoa IPM in West Africa developed.
1.1 A wide range of participatory exercises was compiled and validated with master trainers and farmers during curriculum development workshops and in pilot farmer field schools. Many of these were written up in straightforward protocols and included in the Discovery Learning about Cocoa manual, which was agreed to become the base curriculum for the STCP master trainers. From there local adaptation and expansion of the curriculum has taken place, which have been documented in workshop reports.
1.2 Modelling work - Several modules of the finished model have been developed including a shade module that will allow the user to explore how the intensity of the shade (3 levels) and gappiness (2 levels) affect three primary pests of West African cocoa; mirids and two black pod species. The gappiness aspect of shade allows the mirid population model to be compartmentalised for an improved description of population dynamics and management. Shade intensity affects both mirids and black pod but most importantly the latter. This module will allow the user to simulate shade management and to assess the costs and benefits that shade manipulation may have for farmers. Climate-based vegetative flushing models have been developed which are relevant to the population dynamics of pest populations based on historical weather data. The most important inhibitory factors to vegetative flushing are drought and low temperatures. The flush model interacts with flower setting and cherelle wilts in the age-structured pod model that interacts with the flush model when large numbers of rapidly growing pods (90 days to 120 days old) inhibit the size of climate-induced flushes. The model simulates the start of ,normal, floration as occurring at a fixed time after a leaf-hardening period following a new vegetative flush. It is expected that, by including these phenological aspects, different varietal responses to climatic and phenological cues will improve the value of the model.
1.3 The project developed IPM technical bulletins for the major cocoa pests in the region, to be translated into French and handed out to farmer trainers as information leaflets. The project also contributed to exercise protocols and advisory documents, especially on rational pesticide use and testing biocontrol agents. Through workshop participation and facilitation, further documentation of participatory training processes and methods were realised and made available to trainers within STCP. All these guidelines will be bundled into the STCP manual (in English and French) 'Learning about sustainable cocoa production: a guide for participatory farmer training' which will be disseminated through internet and as hard copies in March 2005. The manual will have three sections: (1) technical bulletins, (2) discovery learning exercises, and (3) field guides.

2: Farmers trained and involved in participatory technology development.
2.1 Through active participation and facilitation of workshops as well as email contact, the STCP knowledge transfer specialist was supported in the first phase of initiating farmer participatory training activities in awareness raising, planning and curriculum development workshops, as well as over the course of the project in advising on initiation of participatory research activities as well as feeding information on impact assessment, self-financing field schools, simplified statistics, etc. The project also made a start working on documenting farmer innovations and experiences within the STCP context and with various other stakeholders through participatory video production, so that these experiences can be disseminated more widely than only to farmers participating in field schools.
2.2 Farmer field research activities were supported in Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana, on issues of interest to both the farmer and scientist communities. This collaboration

Religions and Development Research Programme Consortium (RaD)

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 09:14:00 GMT

Current Research will be based in comparative analysis of world faiths (especially Christianity, Islam and Hinduism, but also Buddhism, Sikhism and traditional belief systems) across Africa and Asia, with a focus on Nigeria, Tanzania, India and Pakistan. Select additional cases will enrich the research's international comparative dimensions. Engagement with international agencies, governments and non-governmental users, especially faith groups, at international, national and local levels, will drive the research, provide audiences for the findings and create opportunities for outputs to ease dialogue and collaboration.

Director: Professor Carole Rakodi Through interdisciplinary research, the RPC will develop the shared concepts and analytical tools currently lacked, in order to improve understanding of relationships between faiths and development. It will enable positive dialogue between development partners to facilitate achievement of development goals, especially the MDGs. Interconnected projects will generate new knowledge on·relationships between
* religious values and beliefs and development concepts and practices, including perceptions of well-being and attitudes to corruption;
*faiths, governance and development, for example in Poverty Reduction Strategy processes, post-conflict development and movements for social change;
*the involvement of religious organisations in development activities and the delivery of services such as education and health care;
*religious transnationalism and development

Power and Politics in Africa

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 11:16:00 GMT

Current There is growing recognition that in low-income Africa the way power is exercised needs to change if widespread poverty reduction is to be achieved. This is supported by a well established general analysis of African states. But existing knowledge is of limited practical use. It does not tell us which types of hybrid formal-informal power structures may be capable of providing "good enough governance" and which are irremediably anti-developmental. This knowledge is essential because developmental states have invariably emerged out of neopatrimonial ones, and within contemporary Africa there is significant variation in outcomes across places, times and institutional spheres. We hypothesise that there is scope for reforms that work "with the grain" of the prevailing (often corrupt) practices to mitigate their most negative consequences and harness unexpected strengths. We propose a systematic study of this issue, based on intensive case studies and linked survey work in a range of African countries. This is proposed as part of an integrated programme, combining 1) research, 2) research training, 3) organisational capacity strengthening, and 4) policy influence and policy development. The research will be carried out in a way that helps to create constituencies for the needed changes in thinking and practice

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.

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.

Inequality, Human Security and Ethnicity Research Centre DRC (CRISE)

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Current The purpose of the Centre is to investigate relationships between ethnicity, inequality and conflict, with the aim of identifying economic, political, social and cultural policies which promote stable and inclusive multi-ethnic societies.

It is crucial to shed light on these issues, since in many countries conflicts linked to ethnicity have become major elements in impoverishment, undermining human security and sustainable development. Ethnicity - often seen in terms of racial, religious or tribal belonging - is of pervasive and growing significance, particularly in the context of declining authoritarian rule and increasing democratisation. Yet it has been relatively neglected in development research.

Through in-depth comparative country studies, the Centre investigates why ethnic divisions become entrenched in some societies, but are of less significance in others, analyzing the political and economic circumstances which lead people to use ethnicity to achieve their objectives, and exploring the role of unequal access to economic and political resources in provoking ethnic mobilization. It will investigate why some multicultural societies achieve inclusive stable political and economic systems, while elsewhere ethnic divisions lead to violence and forced migration, undermining development and causing abysmal poverty. To investigate relationships between ethnicity, inequality and conflict, with the aim of identifying economic, political, social and cultural policies which promote stable and inclusive multi-ethnic societies.

Below is a list of policy documents which draw on and use the concept of Horizontal Inequalities.

UNDP Crisis Prevention and Recovery Report 2008: Post-Conflict Economic Recovery - Enabling Local Ingenuity. The report says that "successful post-conflict recovery requires not only sustained economic growth, but also a pattern of growth that is likely to reduce the risk of conflict recurrence. As such, growth must be accompanied by employment expansion and must address horizontal inequalities where these are severe."

DFID White Paper 2006 - Preventing Violent Conflict acknowledges that social exclusion and ethnic discrimination are major causes of conflict.

2006 GTZ Germany - Conflict Prevention and Peace Building Elements of PSD/SED Programmes explores how their programmes can reduce the risk of conflict in cooperating countries. Reduction in horizontal inequalities is mentioned several times.

2005 Human Development Report - International Cooperation at a Crossroads: Aid, trade and security in an unequal world explicitly mentions horizontal inequalities as a cause of conflict and a major challenge of conflict-prone countries.

2005 World Bank - Toward Conflict-Sensitive Poverty Reduction Strategy: Lessons from a retrospective analysis (Report No. 32587) mentions horizontal inequalities as cause of conflict and notes they must be taken into account.

2004 Afghanistan Human Development Report Security with a Human Face: Challenges and Responsibilities warns that "horizontal inequalities could renew deep-rooted conflicts."

The upcoming Nepal national human development report will rely heavily on CRISE work on horizontal inequalities.

Other evidence of impact:

During the launch of the CRISE book on Horizontal Inequalities and Conflict: Understanding Group Violence in Multiethnic Countries (Palgrave) DFID Permanent Secretary Minouche Shafik described how CRISE research led to a fundamental change in DFID's aid programmes in Nepal. Video/audio of the launch can be accessed here.

Three CRISE working papers have been included in a CD-Rom of Essential Reading on Conflict, compiled by the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre, which will be distributed to development practitioners working on conflict around the world.

Evaluation and promotion of crop protection practices for clean seed yam production systems in Central Nigeria

Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Completed Production of yams has been important to the survival and welfare of many generations of poor people in the tropics and continues to be very important for ensuring sustainable food security and income generation. The crop brings flexibility to the annual cycle of food availability through the multiplicity of species and cultivars, broad agroecological adaptation, diverse maturity periods, as well as options for storage and utilisation. The yam tuber remains dormant during most of the unfavourable agroclimatic period between one harvest and the next planting season. This relatively long tuber dormancy ensures longer shelf life of the fresh tuber than in other root and tuber crops. Thus yams contribute to food supply during the period preceding the wet season when food is usually scarce. The tubers are also often dried for even longer storage and later milled into flour for reconstituting into stiff dough that is eaten with soup. The growth pattern of the yam plant guarantees tolerance to drought conditions during the field establishment and early growth phase. The combination of dormancy and early drought tolerance allows flexibility in planting and harvesting periods as well as use of labour. Yams are usually propagated through the planting of pieces of tuber. This results in the carry-over and perpetuation of tuber-borne pests and diseases between seasons. These pests and diseases are major constraints to yam production and good-quality, clean planting material is expensive and scarce. To increase awareness of yam pest and disease constraints, and to evaluate and promote environmentally sound and economically beneficial crop protection practices for "clean" seed yam production in Kogi and Ekiti states of Nigeria. The planned outputs of the project have largely been achieved, although more analysis of the livelihood data is still required. The findings from the livelihood studies will also need to be presented to the farmers involved, for their views and interpretation. The project has confirmed that in the study areas yam production is a major contributor to sustaining the livelihoods of the people. However productivity, and hence farm income, could be improved if the supply of good quality seed yams could be increased. The project also showed that there are relatively simple systems available to the growers for producing their own good quality seed yams, but these are regarded as risky activities by the growers and require financial investment by the growers at times of the season when currently most do not have access to such funds. Provision of credit for small-scale farmers has been an issue for many years in Nigeria, and sustainable large-scale solutions have been elusive (eg: the collapse in the 1990s of the state sponsored 'Peoples Bank' modelled on the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh). Commercial banks have little interest in the provision of credit for small-scale farmers, given the risks and the relatively high transaction costs. Thus, while a targetted and sustainable micro-finance credit scheme would provide growers with funds at the appropriate time to allow them to start growing their own seed yams and increase their yam production and productivity, a means of sustainable provision is required. Some NGOs in Nigeria do have long experience of such provision, and it would be possible to adapt the livelihoods approach to become a rights-based business plan which could become the basis of a partnership between NGO and farmer. The farmers would then become local suppliers of planting material and thereby eliminate the high costs of transportation from distant sites. By specialising in seed yam production it is more likely that they will be able to produce quality material, and these benefits should make seed yams more affordable. Improved understanding of current practices and economics of the seed and ware yam production systems and of farmers' perceptions and knowledge of the pest and disease constraints on yam production and the measures employed to control them in Kogi and Ekiti States of Nigeria.

Yam crop protection systems for clean seed yam production (based upon adaptation of the minisett technique and/or procedures identified above) evaluated for economic benefit and improved crop health under on-farm conditions in the study areas.

Appropriate extension materials on yam crop protection (e.g. disease identification posters) and seed yam production systems developed and disseminated in a targetted fashion in the study areas.

Project achievements adequately assessed and documented, and where appropriate outputs disseminated more widely. A household base-line situation analysis in riverine areas of Igalaland (Kogi State) and Ekiti in 2003 re-confirmed that most yam growers were purchasing their seed yams because they believed that seed quality was important. However, the high cost of the seed on the market was a limiting factor in increased yam production. Production of their own seed yams was considered a high risk activity which most growers would not consider entering into unaided. A typical coping strategy, especially in Ekiti but also in Igalaland, was to use yam setts. Igala farmers were obtaining much of their seed yam material from areas further south on the river Niger (Illushi). Farmers in Ekwuloko obtained their seed yam from illegal planting within protected forest reserves. In both cases the transportation costs were high. Credit emerged as a key constraint for the establishment of clean seed yam production, especially in Igalaland.

On-farm trials in 2003-04 and 04-05 confirmed that planting tuber pieces of 100-150g pre-treated with a mild cocktail of a fungicide, and insecticide/nematicide and wood-ash is an effective method of producing healthier seed yams. Pre-treatment of the planting pieces with neem leaf-slurry gave very variable results (sometimes beneficial, sometimes not), while the results for a pre-planting hot water treatment were also variable and seemed to be variety-dependent. Additional experiments have therefore been established to assess the effect of hot water on seed yam sett preparation by variety. A final repeat (second) of the experiment is currently underway. Results from the farmers' fields for the 2004 season are yet to be fully analysed, but indicate substantial improvement of yield, size and quality of seed tubers using the recommended pesticide mixture, compared with farmers' normal practice.

A detailed household livelihood analysis incorporating a cost-benefit study of home seed yam production on four farms in Ekwuloko (Kogi) and four farms in Ado-Ekiti (Ekiti) in the 2004-05 season has generated much information and is currently being analysed. Early indications from the Ekwuloko case studies are that while households are involved in a diverse range of on- and off-farm income generating activities which place demands on labour, home production of seed yams can be cost-effective in some situations. However, because there are so many calls on the farm finances there is rarely sufficient funding available at the right time, nor the perceived sufficient incentives for farmers to attempt to grow their own seed yams.

A series of yam pest and disease identification sheets and posters and a project promotional calendar were developed and distributed in the 2003-04 and 2005 seasons. A simple seed yam production guide based on the project findings is currently being developed in response to an expressed need by project partners (growers and extension agents).

A wide range of stakeholders (including yam growers, extension agents and other NGOs) have been involved in the project activities through participating in planning meetings, hosting trial plots, visiting demonstration plots and attending participatory farmer field days following the harvests of farmer trials. Demonstration of the suggested method for seed yam production (resulting from the project findings) have been demonstrated to farmers at State Trade and Agricultural Fairs and at NGO field days. An end of project workshop is scheduled for 10-11th March 2004 to assess/review the project outputs and achievements with some of these stakeholders and further develop links and a network for promoting improved seed yam systems within Nigeria.

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