Using geospatial technology to strengthen data systems in developing countries: the case of agricultural statistics in India

Despite significant progress in the development of quantitative geography techniques and methods and a general recognition of the need to improve the quality of geographic data, few studies have exploited the potential of geospatial tools to augment the quality of available data methods in developing countries. This paper uses data from an extensive deployment of geospatial technology in India to compare crop areas estimated using geospatial technology to crop areas estimated by conventional methods and assess the differences between the methods. The results presented here show that crop area estimates based on geospatial technology generally exceed the estimates obtained using conventional methods. This suggests that conventional methods are unable to respond quickly to changes in cropping patterns and therefore do not accurately record the area under high-value cash crops. This finding has wider implications for commercializing agriculture and the delivery of farm credit and insurance services in developing countries. Significant data errors found in the conventional methods could affect critical policy interventions such as planning for food security. Some research and policy implications are discussed

Job Creation Through Building the Field of Impact Sourcing

Provides an overview of the field of impact sourcing - using business process outsourcing to create sustainable jobs for the lowest-income populations. Offers case studies, examines models, outlines challenges, and presents an action agenda

Adopting Incremental Innovation Approaches in the Digitalization of Village Government Services

Although much research has established the importance of digitalization in public services, in practice, village governments responsible for village community services often obscure public perceptions about the potential impact on digital-based public services. This study aims to provide a more detailed picture of the incremental innovation approach in  the implementation of public services, especially the adoption of digital technology in  the delivery of village government service. This research is  a case study research that uses a qualitative research design. study results underline the importance of the incremental innovation approach. Digitalization impacts public perceptions about transparency, speed, and accountability; willingness to accept changes, especially changes in the use of mobile phones (mobile phones) as needed; and  resultant   social impact. Thus, study results are an invaluable input into the decision-making process related to public services.

Strengthening the role of corporate social responsibility in the dimensions of sustainable village economic development

Implementing green growth and digitalization programs as sustainable village economic development dimensions encounter challenges related to human resources, institutional design, and trade-offs between economic growth, environmental sustainability, and corporate social responsibility. This study aims to analyze the role of the green economy and digitalization for sustainable village economic development with corporate social responsibility as a moderating variable. This research is quantitative descriptive research conducted in the province of Bali. Research data using primary sources were collected using a questionnaire with a Likert scale. Respondents in this study were the community and village officials who carried out activities using technical assistance in government activities and agriculture and plantations. The research sample amounted to 98 people using purposive sampling. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The research results explain the importance of maintaining sustainable economic growth in the agricultural and plantation sectors in the Province of Bali with good cropping patterns. Green growth and digitalization significantly impact sustainable growth in the economic and financial sectors. Corporate social responsibility can moderate the influence of green growth and digitalization on sustainable village economic development. A green economy ensures that villages can realize economic growth that can reduce poverty and ensure social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and resource efficiency. The digital village program will increase the knowledge and competence of rural communities to use technology in developing their businesses, welfare, and local rural business capabilities. Mainly to improve production, marketing, reputation, and finances to compete with regional and national businesspeople

Healthcare in Honduras

Healthcare does not exist in a vacuum. It is influenced by the geography of the area where it is provided, the infrastructure available, the politics that impact its funding, and many other factors. The Honduran Health System is no different. This paper will review the healthcare in Honduras and the challenges to its effectiveness. The first area that will be addressed is the geography of Honduras and how this geography has affected the ability of its citizens to access the services provided by the Health System. The second area to be covered will be the infrastructure and training that is available to healthcare providers in Honduras. The third area to be covered will be the history of the country and how it has contributed to the current political situation. Finally, we will focus on the instability and corruption of the Honduran government and the negative impact it has had on the Health System. After presenting the issues that plague the Honduran Health System, possible solutions will be explored and their relative merits will be evaluated. These solutions will consider the options for access to healthcare services based upon the geography and infrastructure of the urban, rural, and remote regions of the country

Role of Information Technology in Policy Implementation of Maternal Health Benefits in India

Fifty thousand women died during childbirth in India in 2013, the highest total in the world; that is, one maternal death every 10 minutes. India and Nigeria account for almost one-third of total global maternal deaths. In pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals, the government of India directed efforts to improve maternal health and was able to reduce maternal mortality rate from 437 per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 140 per 100,000 in 2015, albeit missing the target of 109. Moreover, estimates for maternal morbidity are three to four times that of the mortality rates with even more pronounced regional disparities. Universal access to free public healthcare for maternal health has been a national goal since 2005, but its quality of service and utilization rate of maternal healthcare remains an elusive dream for many of the rural women even after a decade of substantial efforts. In a stark contrast, mobile technology has become more pervasive than the most basic infrastructure across the world. There are over 7 billion mobile phones subscriptions worldwide, but only 4.5 billion people have access to basic sanitation facilities, implying more people have access to mobile phones than toilets in the world, including India. The ubiquity of mobile phones can no longer be ignored. According to the 2011 census of India, 47 percent of the rural households owned mobile phones, and mobile phone network coverage spanned over 99 percent of the rural landscape, but only 31 percent of these rural households had a toilet. This exponential growth in mobile phone ownerships and adaptation has captured the imagination of academic scholars, public administration and the private sector to push for mobile based solutions and services in almost every aspect of public, social and personal life. M-governance has gained prominence too, aimed at improving service delivery, transparency, policy monitoring, public engagement, combatting corruption and poverty, especially in the developing world, leap-frogging poor-resource and low-income constraints. Today there is a mobile app for everything and the solution to any problem is a mobile app, including maternal health. However, amidst this optimism, it is surprising that the potential of mobile phones to improve social policy awareness is yet to be fully exploited. There are initiatives toward health literacy and mobile based cash transfers but few initiatives are geared toward improving awareness of social welfare policies, informing people about eligibility, enrollment and entitlements. Here lies the uniqueness of this research. Motivated to find solutions to actual policy implementation problems in practice, this research lies at the intersection of information communication technology, maternal health benefit policies and public management. In India, low maternal health benefits policy awareness imposes an administrative burden on rural women and leads to uptake of cash and public health service benefits. This research explores if mobile phones can be used as an effective medium to increase maternal health benefit awareness; thereby increasing the claiming of benefits. Using mixed methods of research, insights are drawn from a longitudinal case study in Melghat, a tribal belt of Amravati District in Maharashtra, India; a region that suffers from high maternal morbidity and high infant mortality rate. Forty-two percent of total childbirths take place in the home despite four different maternal benefit policies promoting institutional delivery and safe motherhood. In this dissertation, customized audio messages about maternal healthcare benefit policies were designed and broadcasted to 82 pregnant tribal women and followed up with qualitative interviews to examine any improvements in claiming of the policy benefits in 2013. The research provided an in-depth view of how information was disseminated through mobiles phones, and what factors and trade-offs, beyond information, were actually considered by the households in claiming the policy benefits. This research offers four contributions. First, it provides a deeper understanding of maternal health policies, how incentives work and the impact of conditions attached to these incentives, providing a plausible explanation for why the policies remain only partially effective. Second, in an era of m-governance, it illuminates the potential and limitations of the mobile phones in policy implementation and civic engagement, through a gendered lens. Third, it yields a caution to the technological optimistic use of mobile phones. By evaluating the causal mechanism of whether and how information awareness led to greater claiming of benefits, the findings revealed that information awareness alone was insufficient to improve claims when there were structural and systemic deficiencies in the policy design and management. Fourth, it advances the theory of administrative burden, by using mobile phones to reduce learning costs and by expanding the concepts of compliance costs and psychological costs, and highlights the relative interaction and trade-offs between components of administrative burden in an international context. The research concludes that although mobile phones have the potential to trigger demand for policy benefits and public engagement, and reduce learning cost, they are not the “silver bullet” because they cannot bypass the fundamental challenges of other administrative burdens, policy design deficiencies and bureaucratic processes

Classification scheme for Illinois State publications : as applied to the documents collection at the library, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle, Chicago, Illinois

Includes index

Intersectoral Convergence and ICTs: Integrated ICT Approaches to Rural Poverty Reduction

As reforms have paved the way for India’s rapid economic expansion in recent years, particularly in the service sector, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has assumed a dominant role as the underwriter of India’s growth. Outside of the commercial applications where ICT has been most extensively applied so far, ICT also holds great potential to drive human development, narrowing gaps between the rich and the poor as well as rural and urban areas. In many development-adjacent sectors, particularly education, agriculture, and health, platforms and initiatives have already demonstrated ICT’s promise as a transformational suite of technologies which democratize information and dramatically reduce transaction costs. However, even greater progress is possible if initiatives apply an intersectoral approach which applies best practices from other sectors, highlights synergies between sectors, and identifies pitfalls stemming from hidden competition of priorities between sectors that could otherwise derail a project. Intersectoral analysis also recognizes how advances in the sectors under study contribute to growth in the broader economy. By applying an intersectoral lens, individual programs can be strengthened, new opportunities can be identified, and ICT can be more thoroughly woven into a tapestry that benefits all aspects of people’s lives. ICT-driven development has not entirely ignored intersectorality, but opportunities abound for improving these initiatives by applying a more holistic lens. In particular, the field of nutrition is most sorely in need of mainstreaming within the many different siloed development objectives that touch upon it. Data, the foundation of ICT, provides great opportunities for refining programs of all types, but also carries great risks to privacy and potentially social equality. And untapped synergies exist between the cutting-edge advances in the Education sector and educational initiatives in other sectors which have not benefited from the same intentional pedagogical design