JICA Research Institute Repository / リポジトリ
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Individualized Self-learning Program to Improve Primary Education: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment in Bangladesh
Get PDFThis paper reports on the results from a field experiment that tests the effectiveness of the globally popular Kumon learning method in improving the cognitive and non-cognitive abilities of disadvantaged pupils in Bangladesh. Using a randomized control trial design, we study the impact of this individualized self-learning approach among third and fourth graders studying at BRAC non-formal primary schools. The results show that students of both grades in the treatment schools record substantial and significant improvement in their cognitive abilities as measured by two different mathematics tests (Kumon diagnostic test score per minute and proficiency test score) after a period of 8 months, compared to students in the control schools. In terms of non-cognitive abilities, the results give some evidence of positive and significant impacts, particularly on the self-confidence of the pupils. Interestingly, this intervention also had a positive and significant impact on the ability of teachers’ to assess their students’ performance. Overall our results suggest the wider applicability of a properly designed non-formal education program in solving the learning crisis in developing countries.research repor
The Discourse of Japanese Development Assistance and the Scaling-up of Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) in Ghana
Get PDFThe paper explores Japan’s contribution to the provision of primary healthcare in Ghana through the Community-based Health Planning and Service (CHPS) strategy. The discussion trawls the policy regarding the development of the CHPS and highlights the specific role of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in the ‘Scaling up’ of the CHPS project in the Upper West Region (UWR) of Ghana. It is suggested in this analysis that through the application of Facilitative Supervision (FSV), a supportive approach to supervision, JICA aimed to review and fine-tune the administrative capacity of the relevant health administrators of the UWR with the primary objective to improve and enhance healthcare delivery in the region. The study proposes that in tune with Michel Foucault’s concept of ‘administrative control’ and ‘noso-politics’ the FSV initiative further essentialised the role of the state in healthcare delivery in the region.research repor
Harnessing the Data Revolution to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals : Enabling Frogs to Leap
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What Motivates Japan’s International Volunteers? Categorizing Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs)
Get PDFThe literature on international volunteer motivation has highlighted mainly Western cases, while almost ignoring Asian volunteers. Through an analysis of the motivations of Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs), this study aims to identify who they are and to contribute to our understanding of individual behavior in relation to international volunteering. This is the first quantitative study of their motivation, and we surveyed them using a series of questionnaires. We obtained 1507 responses from the volunteers, and a cluster analysis of the revealed motives categorized them into six types, labeled as: (I) curious; (II) business-minded; (III) development assistance; (IV) quest for oneself; (V) change-oriented; and (VI) altruist. The results show that each of these groups tend to have a different set of motives, and these can be characterized according to their socio-demographic and behavioral information. The results confirm that JOCVs have the same altruistic and egoistic motivations that have been observed in the Western studies. From a practical perspective, our six clusters of volunteers match the three purposes of the JOCV program, and show that, to a certain extent, the program has been successful in recruiting young Japanese people. Moreover, the classifications will be helpful when the JOCV Secretariat managers wish to target specific types of volunteers for special recruiting and training.research repor
Toward an Accounting of the Values of Ethiopian Forests as Natural Capital
Get PDFEthiopia has experienced a long-term problem with deforestation. Despite the broad implications of such deforestation, or more generally of forests, on human life and economic activities, the accounting of a diverse range of forest values in Ethiopia is still in its infancy. This study aims to set a scope for such a comprehensive accounting of forest values in Ethiopia. Along with an overview of both quantitative and qualitative studies on forest values in Ethiopia, we conduct our own tentative estimation of Ethiopian forest values. Unlike the previous attempts at Ethiopian forest accounting, which are built on a direct extension of the SNA (System of National Accounts) framework, our estimation is based on a welfare-economic framework to evaluate changes in the value of forests as natural capital.research repor
Training-Infrastructure-Finance (TIF) Strategy for Industrial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa
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for Industrial Development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
Facilitated by JICA Research Instituteboo
A Note on Estimating China’s Foreign Aid Using New Data: 2015 Preliminary Figures
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Empowerment through Enhancing Agency:Bridging Practice and Theory through Crystallizing Wisdom of a Third-Country Expert
Get PDFThis paper tries to identify factors and understand dynamics on enhancing agency (will and ability to pursuit for personal or social goals), commonly understood also as empowerment. Specifically, the question asked is if the ‘black boxes’ existing in current theoretical explanations in the field of empowerment and agency development can be opened up by connecting practice and research, with clarifying context specific factors. For this purpose, the author first reviews the literature relating to empowerment and agency development to reach a common understanding and to identify the discrepancies between the two schools, as well as to extract a theoretical model of agency development. Second, the paper identifies two dimensions and three factors for analyzing a case study to understand what is unclear from theory can be understood in reality. These are the initial context for developing the project, the actual development of an agency development project, and possible mechanisms of agency development for community members. Subsequently, a case study of the development of a training program called MMO (Metodologia de Motivacion y Organizacion) in Nicaragua is reported on, and the processes of its inspiration, development, execution and diffusion are documented in detail. Finally, the possible dynamics of each process of agency development, which are black boxes of the reviewed theories, are to be extracted through analyzing the case. The author also clarifies context specific factors which may have influenced the agency development process as described in the case study. The major findings are as follows: first, the context specific factors that influence the whole process of agency development of people (both community members as well as support members), such as the upbringing and experiences of the key person and the socio-cultural and economic features of Nicaragua are identified; second, the process of agency development experienced by the aid providers/supporters (core facilitators and village level facilitators), which can be explained by self-determination theory as well as by explanatory frameworks related to social communication such as concientizacion (a Brazilian consciousness-raising methodologies and movement) and storytelling, is outlined; and, finally, the plausible mechanisms of agency development perhaps experienced by the community members is explained. This final outcome is divided into four categories relating to discussions on agency development, to promote the understanding of what is actually done on the ground beyond theoretical explanations. In other words, what is actually done in practice to foster the four types of power in relation to agency: “power from within,” “power with,” “power to” and “power over.”research repor
Can School-Based Management Generate CommunityWide Impacts in Less Developed Countries? Evidence from Randomized Experiments in Burkina Faso
Get PDFWhile impacts of school-based management (SBM), i.e., decentralization of levels of authority to the school level, in less developed countries have been examined in a number of recent academic studies, the results have been mixed. To bridge a gap in the existing literature, at least partially, this paper evaluates the impact of an SBM program in Burkina Faso, in which targeted schools were rolled out randomly over two years. A novelty of this study is that we examine the program’s impacts on community-wide outcomes captured by the level of trust in others by student’s parents, and their participation in rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs). We hypothesize that parents involved in SBM are more likely to participating in ROSCAs through collaboration with other community members in SBM because they foster trust in others, a necessary precondition for development of informal financial arrangements. Using a unique data set collected exclusively for this study we find that, in particular, relatively poor parents involved in SBM were more likely to participate in ROSCAs than other poor parents. These findings contain two important implications: first, our findings are consistent with the view that social capital, strengthened by SBM, plays a critical complementary role in correcting financial market failures in low income economies (Hayami 2009); and, second, impact evaluation of SBM focusing only on student performance may undervalue its overall effects on the whole community, ignoring important spillover effects of SBM.research repor