9,068 research outputs found

    Political economy and political risks of institutional reform in the water sector

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    It is difficult and time-consuming to get adequate information about influence groups in a society. Dinar, Balakrishnan, and Wambia develop an approach to estimating the political risk associated with implementing a set of institutional reforms in the water sector. Their approach endogenizes the actions taken by politicians, users, service providers, and other stakeholders. Their analysis provides insights into the relationships between institutional arrangements, the power structure, and policy outcomes. T,he authors develop a two-tier tool to assess the risks associated with implementing reform. The first tier is a structured analysis of the distribution of power among groups interested in the outcome of reform. The second tier is a Delphi process, based on experts'opinions. Their approach is a compromise between the two options: the first (structured analysis) is costly and time-consuming and often entails creating and using pseudo precise indices; the second (Delphi) process is an unstructured"expert opinion"way of assessing risk Their compromise approach provides a manageable framework that, after some testing, could be added to the feasibility analysis of projects undertaken in politically complicated environments. They apply the approachto the National Drainage Program Project, currently in the early stages of implementation in Pakistan. They describe risk mitigation strategies that should be followed in dealing with political risks associated with the project.Environmental Economics&Policies,Enterprise Development&Reform,Water Supply and Systems,Water Conservation,Water Resources Law,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water Conservation,Health Economics&Finance,Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Environmental Economics&Policies

    An evaluation of rural development planning in Iran after the Revolution 1979

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    PhD ThesisWith the industrial revolution and huge emigration from villages to cities in developed countries, and later on with the changing balance between the Urban and Rural residents in third world countries, because of the poverty and lack of basic services in rural areas, rural development has become a major problem in the world, especially in third world countries. Iran, as one of such countries, has been faced with this problem, and some reforms for changing the situation and providing more acceptable living conditions for the rural people have been established and implemented. After the Revolution in 1979, the Islamic Government has its roots in the poor people who supported the Revolution in different stages so the effective factors for such improvements in rural condition are included in the revolutionary Constitution and later on in the National Development Programmes. The statements in the Constitution Law and the establishment of two independent agencies, Bonyad-e-Maskan & Jahad-e-Sazandegi, to deal with rural problems, have resulted in the start of Rural Development Planning activities. The national aims developed by the policymaker for development in rural areas in this regard are to: "Create necessary social, cultural and economic conditions necessary for development, and providing necessary possibilities and physical improvements and necessary facilities for improving housing and other environmental basic public services." With this overall policy, development activity has started with the aim of improvement in the standard of life for rural areas. Up to 1997, about 1000 plans have been prepared and 370 have been implemented. This research is looking to investigate the implemented cases, to evaluate the degree of success or failure and to make conclusions and recommendations. With this aim, the research includes a literature review, in the context of development planning, specifically Rural Development Planning, and then an investigation of Iranian Constitutional Law, the National Programmes, the agencies and Iranian planning organisation to be able to make an evaluation framework and design a process for case studies and data collection, in a qualitative approach to the research. With 59 cases which had passed their first five years period of planning, 13 cases have been chosen, of which five have been studied in detail, each with an individual field study report, leading to specific and general conclusions, which are divided into two parts. Firstly from the literature review, which draws the main points to establish the desired achievements for successful development planning in rural areas. Secondly the conclusions apply to all parts of the rural development process in Iran, from policy making to implementation and with recommendations for the overall process in principle and in detail and relating to the agencies and resources involved. The main results from the case studies have identified gaps and weaknesses in the process and therefore have lead to recommendations as to how the process would be more successful. It shows that the rural development planning, as part of the national development programme, needs: i) To have more accurate regional plans in advance in order to define the main potentials in each region, and to provide guidelines appropriate to each, ii) To ensure the correct designation of the villages which are to be planned; iii) To encourage the appointed consultants to follow best practice for plan-preparation; iv) To provide the necessary administrative organisation, with the powers and resources to be able to carry out the process; and v) To improve implementation

    Rethinking connectivity as interactivity: a case study of Pakistan

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    Connectivity in developing countries has traditionally been viewed in terms of investment in transport and communications. This papers makes an effort to go beyond this traditional view and conceptualizes connectivity as networks between people and places. We split the overall national reforms agenda for connectivity into three prongs: a) transportation and related services, b) ICT, and c) social capital. We try to see the state of each of these three in case of Pakistan and then propose reforms keeping in view the current political economy milieu.Connectivity; Economic Growth; Transport; Communications; Social Capital

    Assessment and mitigation of droughts in South-West Asia: issues and prospects

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    Drought / Monitoring / Assessment / Risks / Analysis / Decision support tools / Policy / Institutions / Social aspects / Economic aspects / Water harvesting / Asia

    South African Agricultural Research and Development: A Century of Change

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    The 20th Century saw substantive shifts in the structure of agriculture and agricultural production in South Africa. Farm size grew, farm numbers eventually declined, and production increasingly emphasized higher-valued commodities, notably a range of horticultural crops. The real gross value of agricultural output grew steadily (by 3.32 percent per year) from 1910-1981, but declined thereafter (by 0.21 percent per year from 1982-2008). These long-run sectoral changes provide a context to present and assess an entirely new data series on public agricultural R&D (and related regulatory and extension) spending and associated scientist trends. South African agricultural R&D has been affected by a series of major policy changes. These are also documented and discussed here, along with the associated institutional changes regarding the conduct and funding of public agricultural R&D in South Africa. We reveal a number of disturbing trends, including an effective flat lining of the long-run growth in total agricultural R&D spending that took hold in the 1970s, an erratic path of funding per scientist, and a loss of scientific personnel in recent decades. Moreover, South Africa has lost ground relative to its competitors in international commodity markets such as the United States and Australia in terms of the intensity of investment in agricultural R&D. These developments are likely to have long-term, and detrimental, consequences for the productivity performance and competiveness of South African agriculture. They deserve serious policy attention as the 21st Century unfolds, with a firm eye to the long-run given the long lags (often many decades) that typify the relationship between agricultural R&D spending and productivity growth.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

    Determining the mental model of experts regarding the factors hindering the development of table tennis in Iran

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    Determining the mental model of experts regarding the factors hindering the development of table tennis in Iran. The purpose of this study is to determine the mental pattern of experts regarding the barriers to professional table tennis in Iran using Q methodology. The present study is applied in terms of purpose; In terms of exploratory nature; In terms of data collection, descriptive-survey, and due to application, Q methodology is a type of mixed research (quantitative-qualitative). The statistical population was veterans and elites in table tennis in Iran, from which 21 people were selected as participants through a combination of purposeful and unlikely sampling and snowball sampling. Participant sorting data were entered in SPSS software to identify the different mindsets of the participants using Q-factor analysis. Finally, the main deterrents in Iranian professional table tennis were prioritized based on nine mental patterns. These mental patterns were then discussed and interpreted. Finally, coping strategies were proposed

    Determining the mental model of experts regarding the factors hindering the development of table tennis in Iran

    Get PDF
    Determining the mental model of experts regarding the factors hindering the development of table tennis in Iran. The purpose of this study is to determine the mental pattern of experts regarding the barriers to professional table tennis in Iran using Q methodology. The present study is applied in terms of purpose; In terms of exploratory nature; In terms of data collection, descriptive-survey, and due to application, Q methodology is a type of mixed research (quantitative-qualitative). The statistical population was veterans and elites in table tennis in Iran, from which 21 people were selected as participants through a combination of purposeful and unlikely sampling and snowball sampling. Participant sorting data were entered in SPSS software to identify the different mindsets of the participants using Q-factor analysis. Finally, the main deterrents in Iranian professional table tennis were prioritized based on nine mental patterns. These mental patterns were then discussed and interpreted. Finally, coping strategies were proposed
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