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“Making Elections is like Preparing Funge:If you don’t do it Right it goes Puiti-Puiti!” Review of Norwegian Support to Development Workshop’s Programme for Civic and Electoral Education among State and Civil Society Actors
Full text linkThis report is the end review of Development Workshop’s Programme for Civic and Electoral Education in Angola, 2005-8 (PECE 1, Programa de Educação Cívica e Eleitoral). Its precursor, the “peace building programme”, has since 1999 been built around the partnership with several nation-wide church organisations and with ADRA, and two ministries.
The programme’s goals – “to contribute to the consolidation of the ongoing peace process and secure successful elections” – are sought to be accomplished through carrying out civic education sessions in churches, schools and in villages and bairros (urban neighbourhoods); through maintaining a presence in mass-media (Radio Ecclesia) and conferences; through development of “mini-libraries”; and through strengthening of civil society’s partnership with government with regard to civic education.
The reviewers’ overall assessment of the programme is that it has provided highly relevant outputs to people who have received its communications, and its organisation appears to be efficient in its delivery of civic education services compared to its available financial and human resources. Its societal impact is restricted due to limited outreach, so it is recommended that impact can be enhanced by sharpening the messages conveyed, prioritising target groups and review the communication methods
Administering Uganda's 2006 Multiparty Elections: The Role of the Electoral Commission
Full text linkOn 23 February, 2006, Ugandan voters could for the first time since 1980 choose a party of their choice rather than select individual candidates within the Nation Resistance Movement (NRM) system. This paper focuses on the role of the Uganda Electoral Commission in administering the 2006 presidential and parliamentary elections. Following international established standards for election monitoring, we asses the administration of the elections through the pre-election, election and post-election stages of the 2006 elections. We also compare the conduct of the 2006 elections to the 2001 elections. Finally, based on observations and key informant interviews, we analyse the perceptions of stakeholders in the electoral process. We find that the current Uganda Electoral Commission improved election management compared to previous elections, but also experienced considerable shortcomings linked to inadequate voter education, significant incumbency advantages and breaches of electoral rules and regulations
Rich Meets Poor - an International Fairness Experiment
Full text linkWhy do people in rich countries not transfer more of their income to people in the world’s poorest countries? To study this question and the relative importance of needs, entitlements, and nationality in people’s social preferences, we conducted a real effort fairness experiment where people in two of the world’s richest countries, Norway and Germany, interacted directly with people in Uganda and Tanzania, two of the world’s poorest countries. In this experiment, the participants were given the opportunity to transfer money to poor persons with whom they were matched. The study provides four main findings. First, entitlement considerations are crucial in explaining the distributive behavior of rich people in the experiment; second, needs considerations matter a lot for some participants; third, the participants acted as moral cosmopolitans; and finally, the participants’ choices are consistent with a self-serving bias in their social preferences
Keep on talking! Review of the Nansen dialogue network in the western Balkans
Full text linkThe review considered whether NDN activities have contributed to improved ethnic relations and to sustainable peace and reconciliation in the Western Balkans by promoting inter-ethnic dialogue. The review found that NDN has clearly contributed to better ethnic relations by influencing the attitudes and actions of strategic individuals at the community level, but also at the institutional level by offering opportunities for interethnic cooperation beyond the space for dialogue. The review found it harder to draw definite conclusions about overall contributions towards sustainable peace as NDN activities are subject to the volatility of the larger political environment, over which NDN has very little influence and has few resources to deal with. It should be borne in mind that the entire aid effort in the Western Balkans has not succeeded conclusively in changing opinion on the ground and any potential or actual NDN impact would have to be seen against this general state of affairs. By concentrating on local interventions, however, NDN has succeeded in gaining trust in specific communities and the review recommends continuing this type of activities in the future, drawing on the joint advantage of inside knowledge and long-term engagement
Decentralisation and Gender Coordination and Cooperation on Maternal Health Issues in Selected District Councils in Tanzania
Full text linkThis empirical study looks at coordination and cooperation within five district councils in Tanzania with a special focus on efforts to reduce maternal mortality. In what ways do district councils cooperate with local communities, civil society organisations and the private sector to improve maternal health? How well do the different departments within the district councils coordinate their work? What is the relationship between district staff and elected councillors and to what degree is maternal health on the political agenda? The project’s aim has been to identify good practices in relation to these questions and to facilitate learning between districts with relatively low maternal mortality rates (MMR) and districts with relatively high MMR. The project was organised by the Prime Minister’s Office for Regional and Local Authorities (PMO-RALG). The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Dar es Salaam co-founded the project
Kjønns- og likestillingsrettet utviklingssamarbeid. Kartlegging av kompetansemiljø i Norge
Full text linkDenne rapporten ble skrevet vinteren 2006/2007 som innspill til NORAD/UDs kartlegging av nasjonal kompetanse på kjønn og likestillingsspørsmål i utviklings-sammenheng.
Gjennomgangen viser at det er personer med kompetanse på kjønn og likestillingsspørsmål i utviklingssammenheng ved alle universitetene. Forsknings-spesialisering på kjønn og likestilling i utviklingsforskning er imidlertid svakt institusjonelt forankret, noe som kommer til uttrykk ved at forskningsmiljøene på feltet er små og at det ikke er egne stillingshjemler knyttet til dette spesialfeltet. Dette fører til svakere akademiske satsing på metodisk og teoretisk utvikling av kunnskapsfeltet kjønn og utvikling. Hovedmålsetningen med rapporten er å gjøre det lettere å søke etter forskningsmiljø og forskere med kompetanse på kjønn og utvikling. Hovedvekten er lagt på informasjon om forskningsprogram og forskningsmiljøer for kjønn og utvikling etter 2000. Presentasjonen av frivillige organisasjoner er mindre detaljert
Social Funds in Angola. Channels, Amounts and Impact
Full text linkPrivate companies are spending significant resources on social projects in Angola, for the benefit of poor, for general development purposes and for positioning purposes. This study gives a background to and overview of the various “social funds” in Angola and explores the rationale for this spending, the channels and methods used and the amounts spent. It also raises the question whether this social spending adds to the problems of deinstitutionalisation, clientelism and lack of coordination of development efforts in Angola
Return in Dignity, Return to What? Review of the Voluntary Return Programme to Afghanistan
Full text linkThis report was commissioned by the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration, Utlendingsdirektoratet (UDI), to assess the programme for voluntary return to Afghanistan. The programme is open to Afghan nationals whose asylum applications in Norway are pending or have been rejected, or Afghans who have been granted the right to stay in Norway but wish to return to Afghanistan. The report focuses on the return programme established in 2006 by the Norwegian government in cooperation with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and Norwegian NGOs. The programme includes information and counselling in Norway, as well as cash payments and reintegration assistance upon return to Afghanistan
Evaluation: Norwegian Student and Academics' International Assistance Fund's (SAIH) Cooperation with the Bolivian Unidades Academicas Campesinas (Peasant Academic Units UACs)
Full text linkResponding to the Terms of Reference determined by SAIH for this study the main questions asked in this evaluation are: 1. To what degree has the cooperation with SAIH strengthened the UACs as higher educations institutions with particular focus on indigenous peoples? How do the UACs relate to SAIH Strategy for Education for Development 2008-2012? What role do the UACs play in the new political context of Bolivia?
On the basis of field research and a series of interviews carried out in May 2008, the evaluation concludes positively in response to the first two of these questions. The evaluation concludes that the cooperation with SAIH has strengthened the UACs as higher education institutions with particular focus on indigenous peoples. It concludes that the UACs are evidently working in line with SAIH’s strategy for “education for development”. The evaluation describes in detail the basis of these qualitative judgements. Whilst returning positive answers to these questions the evaluation does, however, underline that a range of improvements need to be made by the UACs in order to ensure their sustainability and to develop and expand their significance as “actors for change”. The evaluation concludes that as a result of poor foresight and cooperation, coupled with the confusing and divided political reality of Bolivian politics, the UACs do not currently play an important role in the new political context of Bolivia. Work needs to be done to better cooperate and profile the particular inter-cultural and bilingual education offered by the UACs in a range of appropriate areas for local development
Crime, Poverty and Police Corruption in Developing Countries
Full text linkCrime and the fear of being hit by crime and small-scale violence are key economic and social problems in most developing countries, not least felt strongly by the poor. Extensive corruption in the police, experienced or perceived, contributes seriously to the problem. A key question raised in the paper is: How is police corruption linked to the wider processes of development – including crime, violence and poverty? The paper examines (i) how and why corruption may arise in the daily routines of the police and whether it may have impacts on crime rates; (ii) empirical indications of whether the police may be more corrupt than other groups of public officials; (iii) how and why police corruption may vary across countries; and (iv) the wider impacts of police corruption on developmen