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Kila Wakati ni Wakati wa Chai: Mapping the Regional Commodity Chain of Tea in the Village of Sagara
Get PDFTracing the commodity chain of tea from leaf to cup is a complex process that involves many actors at the production, distribution, processing and consumption levels. This study focuses on the regional tea commodity chain in the village of Sagara in the West Usambara Mountains of Tanzania in order to help explain the change in livelihood of tea as a cash crop. Semi-structured interviews with tea farmers were used to gain perspective on the nuances of the regional tea commodity chain at the production level. Several external actors, including Tanzania Smallholder Tea Development Agency (TSHTDA) and the Tea Research Institute of Tanzania (TRIT) were analyzed in addition to a regional tea-processing factory, Herkulu Estates Ltd., to capture the interactions among local actors and examine how the tea industry functions in Sagara village. It was found that the production of tea in Sagara among smallholder farmers has decreased due to the lack of market access for green leaf product. The closure of the Mponde Tea Factory, coupled with the low capacity of the only other regional factory, Herkulu Estates Ltd., leaves farmers with limited markets for tea crop. Assistance from external organizations, like NGOs and government agencies, does not directly address these market failures, but rather helps farmers expand tea production by providing inputs like fertilizers and herbicides, and providing access to new seedlings from tea nurseries. In the regional tea industry, this assistance does not align with farmers’ current needs because there are no opportunities for these inputs to become lucrative
University Expectations and Preparations at the Upper-Secondary School Level: A Case Study at the Experimental High School of Hanoi and Hanoi University
Get PDFThe Vietnamese education system has shifted drastically in recent history. From the influence of the French colonial period, to Ho Chi Minh’s literacy campaigns, to recent changes in the higher education system, Vietnam’s development has largely impacted students and educators. Even as the education system begins to modernize, many of the original Confucian values still dominate the field. With this dynamic in mind, this project aims to discover students’ expectations and preparations for university. By conducting a case study at the Experimental High School of Hanoi, I was able to hold class discussions about university plans with nearly 400 students and conduct interviews with eight students and one teacher. This enabled me to learn the type of work the students and the school value when researching, preparing, studying, and applying to university, but also the student’s thoughts, feelings, and expectations for university. Additionally, two focus groups with current university students allowed me to obtain both a retrospective and prospective point of view on the university process.
From these data, I was able to examine how factors such as parental influence, stress over choosing a future job, and immense focus on the university entrance examination drive students’ university process. Students, especially students who plan on studying abroad, must put ample time and effort into attending university. Overall, they aim to gain strong academic growth in areas about which they are passionate, applicable job skills that will make them strong candidates after graduation, and also important life skills
The Challenge of Adverse Selection to Domestic Seafood Markets in Vietnam: Assessing Consumer Demand and Supply-Side Policy Options
Get PDFThe Vietnamese seafood industry has grown rapidly over the past few decades, largely rallying behind huge foreign demand. Institutions surrounding the production and processing of seafood for export have supported efforts to implement reliable regulations and eco-label certifications in line with demand for safe, environmentally friendly, and otherwise high quality products. No comparable efforts exist in the domestic market. Adverse selection is identified as the core problem with the lack of higher end goods on the domestic market, resulting from asymmetric information between producers and consumers, as well as moral hazard between actors in the supply chain. This study finds that consumers would be willing to pay a premium for credence attributes, or qualities which have values determined by consumer trust in information provided at point-of-purchase, for seafood products, but that they do not trust supermarkets enough to support such a higher end market. It is projected that in the coming years, as a middle class of concerned consumers eating more seafood enter the market, that there will be even bigger discrepancies between what is available relative to demand. It is suggested that in order to overcome adverse selection in the domestic seafood market, policy be implemented that provides additional support to farmer and fisher groups and that more stringently enforces standards that do exist for private and semi-private agents in the value chain. Overcoming the information asymmetries in the domestic market has not only the potential to improve market function and consumer wellbeing, but also to support medium-scale producers and beneficiaries of ecological public goods
Monitoring and Evaluation for Humanitarian & Emergency Aid M&E Framework for SHIFA’A Program – SAMS Foundation
No full textAs Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) is evolving into an essential component of sustainable development projects, the humanitarian sector is also becoming aware of the need for M&E. The following course-linked paper provides an overview of the characteristics of humanitarian relief interventions and discusses the increasing importance and challenges of M&E in the humanitarian sector. This overview serves as the backdrop to the development of an M&E framework for SHIFA’A, a health sector relief effort based in Syria which is being conducted by the Syrian American Medical Society Foundation (SAMS). The development of this framework is informed through secondary and primary (SAMS communications and internal documents) data sources
An exploration of a culture of inclusivity and community development within a special education learning environment.
No full textAbstract
Special education is a growing field within traditional schooling and many alternative education programs have come into existence to serve students impacted by developmental trauma. An exploration of a culture of inclusivity and community development within a special education learning environment is a project that raises the voices of three professional educators and caregivers for some of Vermont’s most unique and resilient learners at The New School of Montpelier. This unique school serves people with different abilities, and more specifically, young people who have experienced complex developmental trauma during their formative and most vulnerable years of life. Their programs offer a therapeutic learning environment to gain coping skills, life skills, social competencies, and to develop healthy relationships.
This paper is divided into three main parts. The first part examines some of the background and insights that I gleaned as a trainer practitioner in the field during my practicum incorporating some of the conceptual frameworks learned in Training Design for Experiential Learning and Training for Social Action. The second part explores the power of listening and question posing to uncover pathways for inclusivity within the community that I lived and worked in. This was the practical application of Strategic Questioning learned in Training for Social Action applied through three in-depth interviews. The third part is an analysis of the research and interviews with much of each participant’s responses organized by theme but documented in their own words. All research, in-depth interviews, and analysis are approached from a trainer practitioner lens
Incorporating Experiential Theory into Virtual Strategic Planning Processes
Get PDFExperiential learning theories, such as David Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle (2015) contribute to more than just learning environments. In this Training Course Linked Capstone I facilitated a six-week strategic planning workshop for the Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group (DIAG) of AFS-USA, an intercultural youth exchange organization. Kolb’s cycle acted as framework for the workshop. The DIAG operates as a virtual team, with members across the United States, therefore I designed the workshop for implementation via the internet and telephone conversation. I consulted research on virtual team structure and participatory practices in strategic planning in order to design a program which solicited participant input while respecting participants’ availability.
Some challenges, particularly participant engagement, proved difficult to overcome. And on occasion activities had to be modified or combined in order to better suit the team’s needs. As I became more flexible with the design, participant engagement increased. At the same time, the nature of the workshop environment, predominantly the internet, provided opportunities to incorporate “net-native” concepts that allowed participants to access and engage with the workshop in their own ways and at their own pace, when possible. In the end the DIAG was able to strengthen connections with fellow team members and develop several concepts for future projects and mission statement language. We are now considering expanding the advisory group in order to be able to implement many of the projects developed through this workshop
La construcción de una identidad propia por parte de las mujeres piqueteras de Claypole, como protagonistas, dentro del Frente de Organizaciones en Lucha (FOL) / Mujeres Piqueteras of Claypole Constructing their own Identity as Protagonists within the Frente de Organizaciones en Lucha (FOL)
No full textIn the late 1990s in Argentina, the model of neoliberalism transformed political and economic policies, aggravated free trade and promoted the privatization of companies and free enterprise. A direct consequence was job instability, with masses amounts of unemployment prevailing, and no action nor response pursued by the state. As a result, the unemployed workers “desocupdos” came together and introduced new repertoires of action: the picketing “piquetes” and the temporary blockage of roads “corte de rutas”. The movement’s first appearance was in the Cutral-Có y Plaza Huincul in the Province of Neuquén (1996-97), extended to Salta and Jujuy (1997) and then arrived to the neighborhoods in Buenos Aires (1997).
The piquetero movement that emerged constituted a successful popular movement with an effort to mobilize the desocupados; it generated spaces of resistance, visibility in the public space and throughout time, new organizations came to the fore. In 2006, Frente de Organizaciones en Lucha (FOL) was formed.
In this investigation, I will focus on the piquetero movement that emerged in response to the neoliberal policies of President Carlos Menem (1989-1999). In part, I seek to recover the different narratives of women from the Frente de Organizaciones en Lucha (FOL) in Claypole by using their testimonials of personal experiences to answer the key question: how do the mujeres piqueteras of FOL construct an identity of protagonist within the social movement? And lastly, I intend to develop analyses on how patriarchy, and neoliberalism continue to normalize women as unrecognizable and inferior. By focusing o
Emergency Medical Services and Public Policy in Durban, Kwazulu-Natal
Get PDFThis project seeks to explore the realities of the emergency medical system in the Durban area, particularly relative to government policy. It contextualizes its findings within the literature on public policy. Data for the project was collected via nine in-depth interviews with various professionals working in the field of emergency medical services, as well as a survey of fourteen citizens conducted in the peri-urban township of Cato Manor. This data was analyzed using qualitative methods. While every participant had different views and a different perspective on emergency services, some recurring themes and trends became evident, allowing for conclusions to be drawn.
The government-run emergency services in the Durban area do not measure up to the standards laid out by official government policy, often responding significantly slower than the national benchmark for response times. Many private ambulance companies have stepped into the gap in the market that this discrepancy creates, and are often significantly faster than the government services. This public-private dynamic fits an established model in policy literature of hybrid governance, in which third parties provide some of the services that the state would usually provide. However, despite official regulations, even private services also often deliver low-quality care to patients, particularly the smaller, so-called “fly-by-night” companies. There are many different possibilities as to how the state could improve the system, such as devoting more resources to the government service, further enforcing regulations, or creating a unified emergency call center. Unfortunately, none of these possibilities is without problems, and many participants were skeptical of whether any intervention could improve the system
U101: Global Perspectives A Semester Course for First-Year Students
Get PDFThis capstone paper introduces a special section of the already existing, and quite successful, University 101 programs at the University of South Carolina (USC). U101: Global Perspectives is a semester-long program proposal for first-year students (freshman and transfer students), offered by the Study Abroad Office (SAO) at USC. Functioning as part of the Global Carolina initiative, the USC SAO is committed to providing students with the knowledge and cultural awareness to be responsible and successful citizens in today’s globally integrated world. With the goal of increasing the number of students studying abroad, as well as creating unique opportunities for students during their first year on campus, the SAO has created a new course. The beginning of the course will focus on various cultural identifiers (i.e. religion, literature, film, language, politics, history, and food) in the larger context. The curriculum will lead students through a deeper way of thinking about culture and will become more specific throughout the semester. During Fall Break, students will travel to Quebec City, Canada to conduct research on the cultural identifier that they have chosen. Upon returning to campus, individual research projects will be presented on campus. U101: Global Perspectives seeks to contribute to the field of programming for first-year students, with this capstone paper serving as the initial steps towards adoption by USC
Developing and Implementing a Sustainable Assessment Program for the Self-Aware College Language Tutor
Get PDFThe aim of this project was to determine whether language tutors at a community college in the U.S. state of Virginia who play an active role in the design and implementation of new assessment strategies will see an increase in awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses and whether this awareness will drive them to change and adapt their learning and tutoring for the better. The author will show that assessment can be used as an avenue for tutors to share strengths with one another through indirect observation in the form of recorded tutoring sessions, qualitative surveys, and informal interviews. The author will begin by describing the assessment strategy that he determined was most effective for evaluating a language tutor\u27s overall knowledge, skills, and performance in the context of a college tutoring center. Through anonymous observations of tutoring sessions, self-reflective surveys, and peer assessments, the author will show how tutors’ awareness of their own strengths and weaknesses was raised and how assessment strategies can be strengthened and further developed as a result of tutors’ feedback