104,033 research outputs found

    Mobile Agents for Mobile Tourists: A User Evaluation of Gulliver's Genie

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    How mobile computing applications and services may be best designed, implemented and deployed remains the subject of much research. One alternative approach to developing software for mobile users that is receiving increasing attention from the research community is that of one based on intelligent agents. Recent advances in mobile computing technology have made such an approach feasible. We present an overview of the design and implementation of an archetypical mobile computing application, namely that of an electronic tourist guide. This guide is unique in that it comprises a suite of intelligent agents that conform to the strong intentional stance. However, the focus of this paper is primarily concerned with the results of detailed user evaluations conducted on this system. Within the literature, comprehensive evaluations of mobile context-sensitive systems are sparse and therefore, this paper seeks, in part, to address this deficiency

    Gender in Water and Sanitation

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    The report highlights the experiences of mainstreaming gender at various levels in the water and sanitation sector. It begins with a discussion on gender responses to policy and its requirement for analysis and clear policy objectives to guide operations. The report touches on experiences of mainstreaming gender within sector operations, beginning with the importance of mainstreaming in the workplace, and describes how gender can be addressed within service delivery in urban water, in sanitation, in small towns and rural water operations. The report also addresses gender responses to monitoring and evaluation processes, examines responses to gender issues within accountability and voice initiatives, assesses gender responses within hygiene and behavior change programs, and examines the linkages between water, sanitation and HIV/AIDS

    Climate Justice and Women's Rights: A Guide to Supporting Grassroots Women's Action

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    This Guide emerged from a "Summit on Women and Climate" in Bali, Indonesia, and aims to increase timely and appropriate funding for worldwide climate action initiatives led by women and their communities. The Guide is not a comprehensive resource on climate change or women's rights. Instead, it addresses an urgent need within the funding community and offers concrete, practical guidance that: Orients grantmakers to the importance of funding at the intersection of climate justice and women's rights.Draws lessons from specific examples of funding for women's climate change initiatives.Provides guidance on how funders can collaborate to direct timely and appropriate funding to women and their communities.Advocates for bringing women's voices into climate change policy discussions.Highlights the strong impact that small (less than 10,000)tomediumsized(10,000) to medium-sized (10,000-$50,000) grants can make in women-organized efforts to address climate change at the community level, across geographic boundaries and in global climate policy. Grassroots women's climate activism is becoming increasingly critical to women's collective and individual rights, freedom and survival

    On the Fast Track to Ending the AIDS Epidemic: Report of the Secretary-General

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    The global commitment to ending the AIDS epidemic, as set forth in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, represents an unparalleled opportunity to end one of the most devastating modern-day health challenges and also to build on the momentum of the AIDS response in order to accelerate results across the sustainable development agenda.Even when confronted with the vast scale of the global AIDS epidemic, the response to HIV has never lost sight of the value and experience of each individual affected, their hopes and frustrations and their right to health and well-being. I have had the privilege of spending time with people engaged in the AIDS response, including people living with HIV. I have learned about their difficulties in getting access to the antiretroviral medicines that keep them alive and about the fear and stigma they live with each day. Many have also expressed their unwavering belief that we can end this epidemic. Their stories of courage and hope embody the resolve of all those involved in the AIDS response. Today, we can appreciate the remarkable progress we have made together, but also how far we have to go to ensure that no one is left behind.The AIDS response has delivered more than results. It has delivered the aspiration and the practical foundation, including the medical advancements, interventions and partnerships, to end the epidemic by 2030. All that truly remains, the missing link that will determine whether fast-track targets will be met or missed, is the political commitment to implement our proven tools adequately and equitably

    Challenging El Salvador's rural health care strategy

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    Can a supply-driven network of under-skilled rural health promoters make a difference in rural health care? There are few, if any, signs that the current rural health strategy in El Salvador is working, whether the health promoters are government employees or non-governmental organization (NGO) workers. The authors arrived at this conclusion after conducting interviews and analyzing primary and secondary data. The village-based health promoters lack incentives and supervision, and ultimately have little to offer to local communities. NGO workers are more successful than government workers, but neither group performs satisfactorily. Even the rural poor use private services quite intensively, despite the high cost of the services and of getting access to them. Moreover, people seem to seek the services they need. They select self-treatment in 50 percent of illness episodes, with about the same success rate as when they use health providers. Other options should be considered, as results can be improved without increasing costs.Health Systems Development&Reform,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Early Child and Children's Health,Public Health Promotion,Housing&Human Habitats,Regional Rural Development,Health Systems Development&Reform,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Housing&Human Habitats

    Working in decentralised service systems: challenges and choices for the Australian aid program

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    The report examined Australia’s support for service systems in decentralised contexts - the evaluation focussed on the health, education and infrastructure (water, sanitation and roads) sectors. Foreword Public services have been decentralised in most countries where Australia provides aid. This means Australia, like other donors, must be willing and able to engage effectively with developing country governments at all levels to improve service delivery. To ensure sustainable improvements, this engagement should carefully coordinate support for governance reforms with assistance to strengthen or expand service delivery systems. As the World Bank has observed, done well, decentralisation can result in more efficient and effective services for communities. However, done poorly, or where the context is inappropriate, decentralisation may have negative effects. This evaluation builds on the Office of Development Effectiveness’s 2009 evaluation of Australian aid for service delivery. It answers important questions about whether Australian aid has appropriately considered the role of subnational authorities, including specific issues identified in 2009. It assesses how well Australian aid has addressed the challenges of decentralisation, with a focus on the major sectors of education, health and infrastructure. This evaluation utilised a clear methodology, applied it consistently, and draws together a range of evidence to provide a balanced account of Australian aid performance. It concludes that Australian aid is beginning to respond to the challenges of supporting service delivery in decentralised contexts, but notes that results are mixed and there is room for further improvement. The evaluation suggests Australia needs to improve its country-level analysis, program planning and design to better address decentralisation. In particular, there is a need to carefully assess short-term service delivery needs against long-term structures and incentives for governments to achieve sustainable service delivery and meet sovereign responsibilities. Australia needs to get the right balance of engagement with different levels of government, and appropriately address both supply and demand aspects of service delivery, especially to improve equity.   &nbsp

    Maternal deaths in Pakistan : intersection of gender, class and social exclusion.

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    Background: A key aim of countries with high maternal mortality rates is to increase availability of competent maternal health care during pregnancy and childbirth. Yet, despite significant investment, countries with the highest burdens have not reduced their rates to the expected levels. We argue, taking Pakistan as a case study, that improving physical availability of services is necessary but not sufficient for reducing maternal mortality because gender inequities interact with caste and poverty to socially exclude certain groups of women from health services that are otherwise physically available. Methods: Using a critical ethnographic approach, two case studies of women who died during childbirth were pieced together from information gathered during the first six months of fieldwork in a village in Northern Punjab, Pakistan. Findings: Shida did not receive the necessary medical care because her heavily indebted family could not afford it. Zainab, a victim of domestic violence, did not receive any medical care because her martial family could not afford it, nor did they think she deserved it. Both women belonged to lower caste households, which are materially poor households and socially constructed as inferior. Conclusions: The stories of Shida and Zainab illustrate how a rigidly structured caste hierarchy, the gendered devaluing of females, and the reinforced lack of control that many impoverished women experience conspire to keep women from lifesaving health services that are physically available and should be at their disposal

    Costs of Inaction on Maternal Mortality: Qualitative Evidence of the Impacts of Maternal Deaths on Living Children in Tanzania.

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    Little is known about the interconnectedness of maternal deaths and impacts on children, beyond infants, or the mechanisms through which this interconnectedness is established. A study was conducted in rural Tanzania to provide qualitative insight regarding how maternal mortality affects index as well as other living children and to identify shared structural and social factors that foster high levels of maternal mortality and child vulnerabilities. Adult family members of women who died due to maternal causes (N = 45) and key stakeholders (N = 35) participated in in-depth interviews. Twelve focus group discussions were also conducted (N = 83) among community leaders in three rural regions of Tanzania. Findings highlight the widespread impact of a woman's death on her children's health, education, and economic status, and, by inference, the roles that women play within their families in rural Tanzanian communities. The full costs of failing to address preventable maternal mortality include intergenerational impacts on the nutritional status, health, and education of children, as well as the economic capacity of families. When setting priorities in a resource-poor, high maternal mortality country, such as Tanzania, the far-reaching effects that reducing maternal deaths can have on families and communities, as well as women's own lives, should be considered

    Women, WASH, and the Water for Life Decade

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    From childbirth to education to domestic responsibilities to dignity and safety, access to water and sanitation affect women and girls more than men and boys. This report details recommendations for policy and global practice that will empower women and water-related projects

    The Struggle Between Migration Control and Victim Protection: The UK Approach to Human Trafficking

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    The UK has joined with other governments in addressing trafficking in source countries. Such cooperation has focused on raising awareness among communities at risk of trafficking about the dangers that trafficking poses; supporting efforts to address the root causes of trafficking, for example, through the promotion of girls' education; and coordinating with law enforcement agencies to facilitate the prevention, deterrence and prosecution of those involved in trafficking.In November 2004, for example, the UK government and the government of Nigeria signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation to prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons. The nongovernmental organization (NGO) community in the UK is actively addressing trafficking. Both agencies that focus exclusively on trafficking and those that specialize in asylum and migration have dedicated significant time, resources and energy to understanding the problem, assisting victims and advocating for systemic reform with government both at the local and national levels to ensure an effective, holistic approach to the issue that puts the rights of victims at its center.Fundamentally, trafficking will not end, and likely will continue to increase, unless effective strategies are developed that prevent communities at risk from becoming vulnerable, that protect and assist trafficking victims so that they are safe from retaliation from their traffickers and are not at risk of re-trafficking or other abuses, and that bring the full force of the law against traffickers to send a strong message that those who engage in this crime will be fully prosecuted. Trafficking cannot be addressed through the lens of migration control.Interception efforts will only drive traffickers elsewhere and will do little to protect their victims. It is a human rights problem that deserves the full condemnation of and concerted and integrated response from the international community.Key RecommendationsPut the rights and the protection needs of trafficked persons at the center of any effort to combat trafficking.Ensure that trafficked persons have full information about, and access to, the asylum system, including consideration of whether they are at risk of re-trafficking.Develop a new protection mechanism for trafficked persons, including a three- to sixmonth reflection period and temporary or permanent residence for trafficked persons who cannot be returned to their homelands safely. Such mechanisms should not be contingent on cooperation with law enforcement authorities.Support through national funding the creation of safe house programs that can assist trafficked persons with accommodation, food, counseling services, health care and protection from traffickers. Such services should not be contingent on cooperation with law enforcement authorities.Ensure effective information sharing and integrated strategies among law enforcement, immigration and social services agencies to combat trafficking. Such efforts must be local, national, regional and international in scope to ensure their effectiveness
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