Public Service Delivery: Role of Information and Communication Technology in Improving Governance and Development Impact

The focus of this paper is on improving governance through the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the delivery of services to the poor, i.e., improving efficiency, accountability, and transparency, and reducing bribery. A number of papers recognize the potential benefits but they also point out that it has not been easy to harness this potential. This paper presents an analysis of effective case studies from developing countries where the benefits have reached a large number of poor citizens. It also identifies the critical success factors for wide-scale deployment. The paper includes cases on the use of ICTs in the management of delivery of public services in health, education, and provision of subsidized food. Cases on electronic delivery of government services, such as providing certificates and licenses to rural populations, which in turn provide entitlements to the poor for subsidized food, fertilizer, and health services are also included. ICT-enabled provision of information to enhance rural income is also covered

IFPRI Annual Report 2007-2008:

Food prices, Poverty reduction, Globalization, Food security Developing countries, Agricultural systems, trade, Markets, Natural resources, World food situation, Social protection, science and technology, Nutrition, Capacity strengthening,

STREAM Journal, Vol. 2, No. 4, pp 1-18. October-December 2003

CONTENTS: An experience with group formation in Jabarrah, West Bengal, by Amar Prasad, Virendra Singh, Binay Sahay and Gautum Dutta. Aquaculture self-help groups in rural West Bengal, by Satyendra Tripathi, Graham Haylor and William Savage in consultation with Jagdish Gangwar, Virendra Singh, Gautam Dutta and Prabhat Pathak. Lessons learned for Fulwar Toli from an exposure visit to Jabarrah Bhim Nayak and Rubu Mukherjee. Livelihood intervention by Fish Farmers Development Agency: a success story from Mayurbhanj, Orissa, by G.B. Parida. Understanding of assets-based livelihoods through participatory rural appraisal to eliminate hunger, by Binay Sahay. Poverty ranking tools in PRA: experiences of EIRFP in addressing vulnerability, by Binay Sahay

Information and communication Technology and Poverty: An Asian Perspective

The emergence of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), in particular the Internet, has generated new enthusiasms about the development prospects for poor economies. Many now think that new technologies can provide a faster route to better livelihoods and improved quality of life than the one afforded by the standard process of industrialization. The opposing view holds that the focus on ICTs will detract attention from the more fundamental task of addressing the basic problems of economic developmentICT; poverty; growth

IFPRI Annual Report 2006-2007

Biofuels, Food prices,

Report of the second STREAM regional conference. Tagaytay City, Philippines 8-10 June 2003

The Second STREAM Regional Conference was held in Tagaytay City, Philippines, from 8-10 June 2003 with the participation of 23 people from Australia, Cambodia, India, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Yunnan (China). Following a regional overview of STREAM’s themes, country partners, donors and funding, and activities, participants visited four “stations” on the themes of livelihoods, institutions, policy development, and communications, working in groups representing National Coordinators, Communications Hub Managers, and Partners. They engaged in discussions with a “station leader” and each other to learn about and comment on objectives, activities, outcomes and outputs, and to consider issues that need addressing in STREAM. (PDF has 49 pages.

A POLICY AGENDA FOR PRO POOR AGRICULTURAL GROWTH

Economic growth has been low and the incidence and numbers of poor people remain very high in some parts of the world, notably in sub Saharan Africa and some parts of South Asia. Projections for poverty reduction suggest that these regions are likely to continue to hold very large numbers of very poor rural people in the foreseeable future. Theoretical arguments and empirical evidence suggest that in poor agrarian economies both the processes of structural change within national economies and micro-economic relations within rural economies give agriculture (and particularly intensive cereal based growth) a pre-eminent and unique role in economic development and in poverty reduction. However, reliance on pro-poor agricultural growth as the main weapon against rural poverty today faces more difficult challenges than those faced in the green revolution areas in the latter part of the 20th century, due to a number of features that together increase risk and uncertainty and raise costs and/or lower returns to agricultural investment. Many of these difficulties are endogenous to today's poor rural areas, others result from broader processes of global change, but it is argued that some are the direct result of policies supporting liberalisation and withdrawal of the state. A review of the green revolutions of the 20th century suggests that state interventions in agricultural markets were widely used and important in supporting sometimes short periods of critical market and technological development in the process of rural growth. Unfortunately the benefits of such interventions have been overlooked as a result of their very evident inefficiency and high costs, without a clear understanding of their institutional benefits. Policy and research implications of this analysis are discussed.Food Security and Poverty, International Development,

STREAM Journal, Vol. 5, No. 1, pp 1-18. January-March 2006

CONTENTS: Policy development as a theme and policy briefs as a genre, by Graham Haylor and William Savage. Decriminalizing Cambodian family-scale fishers through a livelihoods approach to law reform, by Nao Thuok and Chun Sopha. Longer pond leases in Orissa, by Reshmee Guha and Rubu Mukherjee. One-stop aqua shop: a “one-window delivery” service center for aqua-farmers and fishers, by S.D. Tripathi, Rubu Mukherjee and Kuddus Ansary. Fisheries and aquaculture policy formulation process in Pakistan, by Muhammad Junaid Wattoo and Dr. Muhammad Hayat. Improving the international marine ornamental fish trade to sustain and improve the livelihoods of poor people involved in the trade, by Aniza Suspita, Michael J. Phillips and Samliok Ndobe

Rockefeller Foundation 2010 Annual Report

Contains president's letter; 2010 program highlights, including support for Africa's green revolution, sustainable and equitable transportation policy, and healthy communities; grants list; financial report; and lists of trustees and staff

Investment, subsidies, and pro-poor growth in rural India:

"This paper reviews the trends in government subsidies and investments in and for Indian agriculture; develops a conceptual framework and model to assess the impact of various subsidies and investments on agricultural growth and poverty reduction; and, presents several reform options with regard to re-prioritizing government spending and improving institutions and governance. There are three major findings. First, initial subsidies in credit, fertilizer, and irrigation have been crucial for small farmers to adopt new technologies. Small farms are often losers in the initial adoption stage of a new technology since prices of the agricultural products are typically being pushed down by greater supply of products from large farms, which adopted the new technology. But as more and more farmers have adopted HYV, continued subsidies have led to inefficiency of the overall economy. Second, agricultural research, education, and rural roads are the three most effective public spending items in promoting agricultural growth and poverty reduction during all periods. Finally, the trade-off between agricultural growth and poverty reduction is generally small among different types of investments. As for agricultural research, education, and infrastructure development, they have large growth impact and a large poverty reduction impact. Several policy lessons can be drawn. Agricultural input and output subsidies have proved to be unproductive, financially unsustainable, environmentally unfriendly in recent years, and contributed to increased inequality among rural Indian states. To sustain long-term growth in agricultural production, and therefore provide a long-term solution to poverty reduction, the government should cut subsidies of fertilizer, irrigation, power, and credit and increase investments in agricultural research and development, rural infrastructure, and education. Promoting nonfarm opportunities is also important. However, simply reallocating public resources is not the full solution. Reforming institutions can have an equal, if not larger, impact on future agricultural and rural growth and rural poverty reduction." from Authors' AbstractRural poverty, Agricultural growth, Public investments, subsidies, Pro-poor growth,