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Building capacity for development and food security in Malawi. Mid-term review fo the Bunda College Capacity Building Programme (BCDP)
Full text linkThis report presents the findings of a mid-term review Phase III of the Bunda College Capacity Building Programme (BCDP) in Malawi. The efforts during the previous phases are bearing fruit. Bunda College of Agriculture has matured as an institution and acquired a new degree of self-confidence. While institutional stability and functionality have improved concerns persist about sustainability in the absence of donor funding. Major strides have been made in improving the infrastructure. A new research and consultancy policy has been adopted. Through consultancies knowledge and technological skills are conveyed to a wider constituency. Consultancies are also a source of revenue for the College and provide supplementary income for academic staff, which serves as a retention mechanism. The ambition of Bunda College to transform itself from a constituent college of University of Malawi to a fully-fledged university through a merger of three existing institutions of higher learning in the Lilongwe area has not materialised. The College has also failed to establish an endowment fund which is worth revisiting. Bunda Farm was ‘commercialised’ in May 2005 as a limited liability company. It was previously a financial drain on the College and appeared to be on a recovery path. The Farm does not have title deed to the land, which is leased on a yearly basis from Unima as the formal custodian. Hence, land cannot be used as collateral and the government is unwilling to provide a guarantee, and credit institutions are, therefore, reluctant to extend loans. This predicament hampers the farm’s profitability and the prospects of Bunda College earning a sizable income. It is urgent that a solution be found to the under-capitalisation of Bunda Farm Ltd. Bunda has no systematic maintenance plan; repairs and maintenance measures are taken largely on an ad hoc basis as and when money is available. A comprehensive maintenance plan for all assets is urgently needed. Future priorities otherwise include library support; information and communication technology (especially improved Internet access for students); and collaboration with sister institutions in the region and beyond
Statistical evidence on social and economic exclusion in Nepal
Full text linkThe discourse on social exclusion in Nepal is very ideological, with some authors considering basically all Nepalis as socially excluded except for male Bahuns of hill origin. This is obviously not very useful for targeted economic and social interventions, and the present report attempts to provide statistical evidence on what population groups are de facto excluded along a number of economic and social dimensions. There are noticeable disparities in educational achievement, measured in terms of literacy and mean years of schooling. The hill Bahun/Chhetri group is ahead in terms of primary education, while the Tarai groups have less education, in particular the Dalits, amongst whom the Musahars have virtually no schooling. When it comes to health services, however, the Tarai communities have shorter travel distances to the health posts and better access to safe drinking water. In terms of the nutritional level of children under five, the mountain/hill Janajati groups are relatively well off, followed by the hill Bahun/Chettri group. For child mortality the hill Bahun/Chhetris have the lowest rate, while surprisingly the relatively wealthy Tarai middle castes have the highest. When it comes to economic variables, we focus on land as this is still the backbone of the rural economies. The traditional Tharu and Yadav landlords of the Tarai have the largest landholdings, while they are matched by the hill Bahun/Chhetri group in terms of land value. Most Tarai Dalits have no land, and in particular the Musahars are all landless. Landlessness combined with poor education have traditionally forced the Tarai Dalits to be farm laborers, where due to a poor bargaining position they accept very low agricultural wages. There has been some increase in the agricultural wage, but more so outside agriculture where in particular wages and salaries have increased for the hill Bahuns
Haydom Lutheran Hospital - Final project review
Full text linkHaydom Lutheran Hospital (HLH) is a first level referral hospital located in Mbulu district, Manyara region in Tanzania. HLH was established by the Norwegian Lutheran Mission in 1955 and is owned by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania (ELCT).
HLH has over many years received substantial financial support from the Norwegian government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NORAD. The support is presently channelled through the Royal Norwegian Embassy (RNE) in Dar es Salaam. In 2008, the RNE funded 70% of the hospital’s budget. Most of the RNE funds are administered through a Block Grant.
This report is the final project review of the Block Grant for the period 2006-2009. Emphasis is placed on developments since the mid-term review, which was conducted in late 2007
Promoting defence management and security sector reform in Southern Africa. An assessment of SADSEM's achievements, impacts and future challenges
Full text linkSADSEM – the Southern African Defence and Security Management Network – was launched in 2000 as an attempt to enhance democratic governance and the effectiveness of defence and security functions in Southern Africa. The network partners in 10 SADC countries and activities in all 15 – has made major efforts to advance and support improved security sector governance in the region. This report is an output of an independent assessment commissioned by SADSEM through the University of the Witwatersrand.
The report concludes that SADSEM is a pioneering and innovative initiative with an impressive record of activities and outputs. The gradual establishment of SADSEM over the past ten years is testimony to individual leaders seizing an historical window of opportunity, and being astute and careful in nurturing interpersonal, organisational and political possibilities.
SADSEM’s main achievements in its training programmes are its success in building in-country capacity to deliver training courses, and in its pioneering efforts to open space for debates on national and regional security policies by bringing security institutions together, and by bringing security institutions together with civilians. More than 3500 people have benefitted directly from specialised courses offered by SADSEM. Furthermore, the launch of diploma and masters courses in security studies and security sector governance in several SADC countries will produce a steady stream of postgraduate students and security-literate officials in the years to come
Kalandula e os CACS. Voz activa ou prestação de contas
Full text linkEste relatório pretende apresentar algumas das conclusões do primeiro trabalho de campo no projecto de pesquisa do CMI-CEIC-ADRA sobre os Conselhos de Auscultação e Concertação Social (CACS) em Angola.[1] A pesquisa teve lugar durante duas semanas no Município de Kalandula, província de Malanje, em Novembro de 2008. Discute as conclusões à luz de declarações de política e experiências internacionais com instituições similares. A pesquisa sobre os CACS em Kalandula faz parte de um projecto de pesquisa mais amplo envolvendo a colaboração entre o Centro de Estudos e Investigação Científica (CEIC), a ADRA e o Chr. Michelsen Institute. As conclusões e reflexões contidas neste documento constituem apenas resultados preliminares e pretendem estimular o debate em seminários e pesquisas em curso para experiências comparativas em outras províncias.
O plano de pesquisa foi elaborado em colaboração com Nelson Pestana (CEIC) e Idaci Ferreira (ADRA) que baseados no mesmo padrão realizarão pesquisa sobre os CACS em Uíge e Benguela em 2009/10. O relatório final será apresentado aos fins de 2010
Overworked? The relationship between workload and health worker performance in rural Tanzania
Full text linkThe current shortage of health workers in many low-income countries poses a threat to the quality of health services. When the number of patients per health worker grows sufficiently high, there will be insufficient time to diagnose and treat all patients adequately. This paper tests the hypothesis that a high caseload reduces the level of effort per patient in the diagnostic process, using a new data set from rural Tanzania. Tanzania has a severe shortage of health workers, and previous research has pointed at high workload as a main reason for sub-standard clinical performance. We observed and evaluated the level of effort of 159 clinicians in 2,095 outpatient consultations at 126 health facilities with different levels of caseload per clinician. Surprisingly, we find no association between caseload and the level of effort per patient in the diagnostic process. In fact, clinicians appear to have ample amounts of idle time. We conclude that health workers are not overworked and that scaling up the number of health workers in this setting is unlikely to raise the quality of health services. A more promising measure for improved quality is to raise the level of formal clinical training among the clinicians, although training alone seems far from enough to raise quality to adequate levels
Aid for trade: A misdirected initiative?
Full text linkGiven that the motivation for aid is poverty reduction, I argue that Aid for Trade (AfT) measures need to demonstrate that they are effective and have a potential impact on poverty. The debate about aid for trade measures lacks a focus on the poverty dimension of trade. Trade is an indirect instrument for poverty reduction and in SADC, increasing trade has a low impact on poverty. From a donor perspective, support to sectors such as agriculture, where the poor are located, is therefore more effective than to sectors or activities in which the poor are hardly involved.
While the overall motivation for providing aid for trade is poverty reduction, I argue that such aid should only be given if there are market failures, for example in coordination and public goods. Aid for trade is particularly important for countries that already have market access but face supply constraints that restrict their utilisation of this market access (as is mainly the case for SADC countries). In this case, aid and trade might serve as complementary activities.
I present new data of AfT to SADC countries. The main finding is that so far AfT has played only a minor role for SADC countries, and its role has not changed significantly during recent years – at least not in terms of disbursement. The disbursement ratio of AfT is low (around 50 %). We do not find any robust relationship between disbursement of AfT among individual SADC countries and documented needs. There is accordingly scope for major improvement in the effectiveness of AfT
Cultural cooperation with Nepal
Full text linkThis report is a mid-term review of Norway’s support to the cultural sector in Nepal. Norwegian support has focused on the following areas: theatre production, music education, institutional capacity building, and documentation of cultural heritage. The support has been organised through two projects: i) Aarohan Theatre Group in cooperation with the Nationaltheatret (National Theatre in Oslo)/gtl Mangement/Danse- og Teatersentrum, and ii) Music Nepal in cooperation with Rikskonsertene (Concerts Norway). The two projects have been allocated around NOK 15 million for the period 2004-2009.
The report shows that the success of a given project is closely related to the background of the Nepalese institution, and to what degree the projects are in line with former activities and focus or not
Self-interest and global responsibility: Aid policies of South Korea and India in the making
Full text linkHow can we understand the emerging donors? The role of ‘emerging’ donors is currently at the heart of the international aid discourse, but so far, the knowledge of these actors in aid is inadequate. There is a need to explore what they are representing. This study investigates the aid policies of India and South Korea. Both countries represent a rather diverse group of countries that has been lumped together as ‘emerging’ donors. The better part of the existing studies on emerging donors is focusing on Chinese aid. Less attention is being devoted to other countries. Together with Japan, the increased aid ambitions of China, South Korea and India herald a growing Asian influence on the global aid architecture. What will be the effects? Will an Asian approach to development assistance emerge? The answers are yet to come, but a comparison of South Korea’s and India’s aid policies does provide some indications. Central to this is how tensions between self-interest and global responsibility are articulated, or glossed over, as some would argue, when Asian donors refer to the principle of “mutual benefit”
Kalandula and the CACS. Voice or accountability
Full text linkThis report presents some of the findings from field work carried out in October-November 2008 in Kalandula, Malanje province, on the fresh experiences with the new Concelhos de Auscultação e Concertação Social. It also discusses the findings in light of policy statements and international experiences with similar institutions. The research on the Kalandula CACS is part of a wider research project involving the collaboration between the Centro de Estudos e Investigação Científica (CEIC), ADRA and Chr. Michelsen Institute. The findings and thoughts in this document are preliminary results, and are meant to stimulate debate in workshops and ongoing research for comparative experiences in other provinces. The research design was developed with Nelson Pestana (CEIC) and Idaci Ferreira (ADRA), who will carry out research on the CACS in Uíge and Benguela respectively, based on the same research design. Final report to be released in early 2010