scholarly journals North-South collaboration: On the making of a Center for Comparative Education and Policy Studies at Addis Ababa University

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 36-52
Author(s):  
Alebachew Kemisso Haybano ◽  
Aimee Haley ◽  
Sverker Lindblad ◽  
Gun-Britt Wärvik
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Comparative Education ◽  
Addis Ababa ◽  
Doctoral Program ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
Access And Quality ◽  
And Gender

The Ethiopian educational system has made promising advancements since the turn of the century. Despite this progress, education continues to grapple with a myriad of challenges, including differences in educational access and quality, insecure living conditions, and gender inequalities. Research can offer knowledge for tackling these challenges, but often it is knowledge from the global North that dominates, despite its questionable relevance to the global South. Therefore, this study analyses the evolvement of a Center for Comparative Education and Policy Studies, situated in an Ethiopian higher education context and supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), and how the Center has contributed to developing knowledge that is relevant to local contexts. An important outcome of the Center was the development of a doctoral program in International and Comparative Education and the knowledge produced in the doctoral theses that emerged. Our inquiry concerns how Southern theory contributes to an increased understanding of the development of the Center and the relevance of the doctoral theses. The findings underscore the importance of expanding Southern knowledge in education and the need for further reflection on the geopolitics of knowledge in research capacity development cooperation.  

Improving African health research capacity

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (6) ◽  
pp. 670-671 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey V. Lazarus ◽  
Samantha A. Wallace ◽  
Jerker Liljestrand
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Research Training ◽  
Critical Mass ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Training Programme ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Research Issues

The issue of strengthening local research capacity in Africa is again high on the health and development agenda. The latest initiative comes from the Wellcome Trust. But when it comes to capacity development, one of the chief obstacles that health sectors in the region must confront is the migration of health professionals to countries that offer more lucrative opportunities, like those in western Europe. To combat this ‘‘brain drain’’, already back in 1984, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) created a training programme in which healthcare professionals from Africa conducted the bulk of their research in their own countries. However, the model was only partly successful. Several years ago, we assessed the preconditions for the renewal of Sida support for research and research training activities in the region. Based on our work to develop a critical mass of beneficial research capacity in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, this article suggests several recommendations to both donors and governments that have broad application for general health research issues in the region.

Gender equality, norms and practices: Post-script to special issue on new actors, old donors and gender equality norms in international development cooperation

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 208-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Barnett
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Development Organizations ◽  
Or Practice ◽  
General Movement ◽  
And Gender ◽  
International Development Cooperation

The contributions raise several important issues regarding the norm of gender equality in development organizations, and I want to raise the following points for further consideration. Does it matter if we treat gender equality as a norm or practice? The articles suggest that there is general movement toward the norm, but what it means to do gender equality is quite fractured. Who decides what gender equality means? Why do organizations feel the need to adopt this norm? Organizations have different motives, and these motives are probably important for understanding whether these norms have any impact. Impact refers to effects, and there are various kinds of effects raised by the articles, though focused mainly on the norm’s institutionalization rather than its impact.

scholarly journals ANÁLISIS DE LA GESTIÓN DE PROYECTOS DE DESARROLLO CON UN MODELO DE POLÍTICAS PÚBLICAS. EL CASO DEL PROYECTO DESARROLLO SOCIAL INTEGRADO Y SOSTENIBLE (PRODESIS) EN CHIAPAS

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (13) ◽  
pp. 210
Author(s):  
Manuel Ignacio Martínez Espinoza
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
International Development ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Public Management ◽  
Development Project ◽  
The State ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
Public Intervention ◽  
International Development Cooperation

Los estudios de políticas públicas son una herramienta analítica provechosa para la gestión pública pues permiten examinar el diseño, proceso y resultados de una intervención pública evaluando el contexto en el que ésta se implementa. No obstante, las evaluaciones sobre los proyectos de la cooperación internacional al desarrollo prácticamente han ignorado los estudios de las políticas públicas. Es así que este trabajo expone una propuesta de modelo de análisis de la gestión de los proyectos de cooperación al desarrollo basada en el campo de las políticas públicas. Dicha propuesta se aplica en el análisis de la gestión pública de un proyecto de cooperación al desarrollo implementado en el estado de Chiapas: el Proyecto Desarrollo Social Integrado y Sostenible (Prodesis).   ABSTRACTPublic policy studies are a useful analytic tool for public management since they make it possible to examine the design, process and results of a public intervention, evaluating the context in which it is being implemented. Nevertheless, the assessment of international development cooperation projects has practically ignored these studies. This work thus presents a model for analyzing the management of development cooperation projects based on the field of public policies. This proposal is used to analyze public management of a cooperation development project implemented in the State of Chiapas: the Integrated and Sustainable Social Development Project called Prodesis.

scholarly journals Potential impact of eradicating malaria on gender inequality within agricultural households in sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 114
Author(s):  
Derek W. Willis ◽  
Nick Hamon
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Women Farmers ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
Malaria Burden ◽  
Agricultural Households ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Relationship

The international development community has shown an increased interest in the links between malaria and gender inequality over the past two decades. Working towards the ambitious goal of eradicating malaria by 2040, suppressing the malaria burden could accelerate progress in reducing gender inequality within agricultural households in sub-Saharan Africa. Although numerous studies have examined narrow aspects of the relationship between malaria and gender inequality, little progress has been made in understanding how eliminating malaria could affect gender inequality within agricultural households. This Open Letter focuses on the amount of time women farmers dedicate to caregiving for malaria cases among children in agricultural households, and how reducing time spent on this activity could reduce gender inequalities and impact agricultural productivity. We argue that a research agenda is needed to inform a multi-disciplinary approach to gain this understanding. We conclude by discussing the means through which a reduction in gender inequalities in agricultural households could impact the effectiveness of vector control interventions.

scholarly journals Una aproximación desde el paradigma de la sostenibilidad de la vida a los proyectos de electrificación rural en el marco de la cooperación internacional

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Alonso Saavedra
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Energy Supply ◽  
Energy Resource ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Gender Perspective ◽  
The North ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

ABSTRACTCross-University Master Degree in Human RightsCross-Culture and DevelopmentUniversidad Pablo de OlavideUniversidad Internacional de AndalucíaAuthor: CRISTINA ALONSO SAAVEDRCounselor: YAYO HERRERO LÓPEZAbstract: in the current investigation work, we will analyse the right to the energy supply, as a leading good to other improvements in decent housing, education, health, etc. We will also observe how is the impact of the supply in the different aspects of daily life in the communities and specially in their women. The case study will be developed into the frame of the international development cooperation, taking several projects of rural electrification in the South coordinated by develompent NGOs from the North. The analysis will make a panoramic and historical revision of the evolution of the international develompent cooperation and the different approaches from a gender perspective. Later on we will deepen the concept of Energy and the evolution of its consumption along the Human History, being specially aware of not skipping the fact that the use of women bodies as an energy resource is essential to mantain the current economical system. We are in the need of a different paradigma that questions the basis of Capitalism and Patriarchy, because here is where the hegemonic concepts are hold. Thus, we will propose an analysis framework with an Ecofeminist approach to obtain sustainability and we will use it to analyse the projects of rural electrification.The critical Human Rights theory defines the rights as fighting processes that pursue an egalitarian access to material and immaterial goods. Taking this into account, the energy supply is understood as a material good that will lead to the obtention of other material and immaterial goods. Thus, the technology implemented in the communities for the energy supply will go together with a fighting process to get an egalitarian access, along with processes of social transformation. So, the technology installed must mean a real emancipation tool for the community and especially for women. This emancipation will depend on the process rather than on the transference as a simple technological aim. This is why the development NGOs that work for the defense of the rights in this communities suppling them energy must go beyond a simpe technified approach. That means the need of focusing in the process, letting the community participate and reviewing the models of participation from a gender perspective. The goal must then be the satisfaction of the basic needs of the population and especially the real needs of women, because they have been hidden under gender roles. Besides, the implementation of technology cannot forget aspects as environmental, social and gender justice for the effective and real achievement of the desired sustainability.

Building research capacity and capabilities in Fiji: are we there yet?

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 265-271
Author(s):  
Jyotishna Mudaliar ◽  
Bridget Kool ◽  
Janice Natasha ◽  
Judith McCool
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Research Knowledge ◽  
Research Skills ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Access And Quality ◽  
The University ◽  
Local Investigator ◽  
Research Capacity Development

Introduction: A barrier to local investigator-led research in low income settings, is the limited availability of personnel with appropriate research skills or qualifications to conduct the type of research required for evidence-informed policy making to improve access and quality of health care. In response to this, Fiji National University’s College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences in Fiji, collaborated with academics based at the University of Auckland, New Zealand to deliver a series of research capacity development workshops in Fiji. Methods: Participants who attended any of the nine workshops (n=123) were contacted via email to take part in a brief survey regarding their perceptions of the effectiveness of the research capacity building workshops. Of the possible 123 participants, 80% (n=76) completed the questionnaire.  Results: Findings demonstrate that the majority of participants reported that they had gained research skills from the workshops (75%) including proposal development skills (68%) and knowledge of appropriate research methods (59%). Furthermore, 70% agreed that the workshops built their research confidence.  Since attending a workshop, 18% of respondents had successfully applied and received funding for research grants and/or fellowships.  Barriers to conduct research included workload (75%), lack of research knowledge, experience or skills (51%), and lack of institutional support (41%). Suggestions for future workshops included: more focus on data analysis, regular courses rather than ‘one offs’, and preparation of research findings (e.g. publications). Conclusion: Our findings indicate that research workshops of this nature may increase individual research capabilities but sustained, locally led initiatives, backed by institutional and supplementary technical support are essential.

Dispossession without Development

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Levien
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
Gender Inequalities ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Land Conflicts ◽  
Land Dispossession ◽  
Extended Case Method ◽  
Indian State ◽  
And Gender

Since the mid-2000s, India has been beset by widespread farmer protests against “land grabs.” Dispossession without Development argues that beneath these conflicts lay a profound transformation in the political economy of land dispossession. While the Indian state dispossessed land for public-sector industry and infrastructure for much of the 20th century, the adoption of neoliberal economic policies since the early 1990s prompted India’s state governments to become land brokers for private real estate capital—most controversially, for Special Economic Zones (SEZs). Using long-term ethnographic research, the book demonstrates the consequences of this new regime of dispossession for a village in Rajasthan. Taking us into the diverse lives of villagers dispossessed for one of North India’s largest SEZs, it shows how the SEZ destroyed their agricultural livelihoods, marginalized their labor, and excluded them from “world-class” infrastructure—but absorbed them into a dramatic real estate boom. Real estate speculation generated a class of rural neo-rentiers, but excluded many and compounded pre-existing class, caste, and gender inequalities. While the SEZ disappointed most villagers’ expectations of “development,” land speculation fractured the village and disabled collective action. The case of “Rajpura” helps to illuminate the exclusionary trajectory of capitalism that underlay land conflicts in contemporary India—and explain why the Indian state is struggling to pacify farmers with real estate payouts. Using the extended case method, Dispossession without Development advances a sociological theory of dispossession that has relevance beyond India.

scholarly journals The Role of Donor Agencies in Promoting Standardized Project Management in the Spanish Development Non-Government Organizations

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1490
Author(s):  
Agustín Moya-Colorado ◽  
Nina León-Bolaños ◽  
José L. Yagüe-Blanco
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
International Development ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Funding Mechanisms ◽  
Donor Agencies

Project management is an autonomous discipline that is applied to a huge diversity of activity sectors and that has evolved enormously over the last decades. International Development Cooperation has incorporated some of this discipline’s tools into its professional practice, but many gaps remain. This article analyzes donor agencies’ project management approaches in their funding mechanisms for projects implemented by non-governmental organizations. As case study, we look at the Spanish decentralized donor agencies (Spanish autonomous communities). The analysis uses the PM2 project management methodology of the European Commission, as comparison framework, to assess and systematize the documentation, requirements, and project management tools that non-governmental organizations need to use and fulfill as a condition to access these donors’ project funding mechanisms. The analysis shows coincidence across donors in the priority given to project management areas linked to the iron triangle (scope, cost, and time) while other areas are mainly left unattended. The analysis also identifies industry-specific elements of interest (such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals) that need to be incorporated into project management practice in this field. The use of PM2 as benchmark provides a clear vision of the project management areas that donors could address to better support their non-governmental organization-implemented projects.

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