Looma Lesson Planner

Looma Lesson Planner is a web application that allows its users, experienced educators, to select, organize, and present existing classroom materials and educational content in the format of a custom-made lesson plan. Looma, an all-in-one computer developed by non-profit organization VillageTech Solutions, is designed for school teachers in rural Nepal, India. It provides them with basic access to textbooks, activities, and digital media that may be relevant in meeting Nepal\u27s curriculum requirements. However, Looma did not initially include a simple interface for teachers to connect many different forms of content together into cohesive, custom lesson plans. Our application presents and organizes Looma\u27s existing content in an accessible, user-friendly manner, and allows the teacher to create reusable lesson plans from this content. The application utilizes HTML5, CSS3, PHP, MongoDB, and JavaScript to create a simple, user-friendly, WYSIWYG design. The application\u27s goal is to remove a key technical barrier that Looma currently poses on teachers, and to create a seamless classroom experience for the teachers and their students. Going forward, we plan on working with VillageTech Solutions to integrate our application with Looma\u27s operating system. Once we have completed this task, VillageTech Solutions will use Looma and our web application to conduct user testing with teachers in Nepal. We are also finalizing both a technical guide and a user manual for VillageTech Solutions that will outline our code structure and illustrate how to use the web application, respectively

Teacher’s Professional and Administration Development in Nepal: A Managerial Perspective

Managers and professionals of this competitive and demanding century have a job to do. While on the one hand the job is considerably different from that of their predecessors on the other hand it is basically the same. ‘How can I become a better professional?’ When an individual excels in a technical role, the organization honors him by putting him into a role which demands more managerial work and less technical work. However, this article is highlighted the teacher’s professional and administration development from managerial perspective. Keywords: Managers, Teacher, development, Administrative and perspectiv

Service user and caregiver involvement in mental health system strengthening in low- and middle-income countries: a cross-country qualitative study

The aims of this paper are to: (i) explore the experiences of involvement of mental health service users, their caregivers, mental health centre heads and policy makers in mental health system strengthening in three low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) (Ethiopia, Nepal and Nigeria); (ii) analyse the potential benefits and barriers of such involvement; and (iii) identify strategies required to achieve greater service user and caregiver participation. A cross-country qualitative study was conducted, interviewing 83 stakeholders of mental health services. Our analysis showed that service user and caregiver involvement in the health system strengthening process was an alien concept for most participants. They reported very limited access to direct participation. Stigma and poverty were described as the main barriers for involvement. Several strategies were identified by participants to overcome existing hurdles to facilitate service user and caregiver involvement in the mental health system strengthening process, such as support to access treatment, mental health promotion and empowerment of service users. This study suggests that capacity building for service users, and strengthening of user groups would equip them to contribute meaningfully to policy development from informed perspectives. Involvement of service users and their caregivers in mental health decision-making is still in its infancy in LMICs. Effective strategies are required to overcome existing barriers, for example making funding more widely available for Ph.D. studies in participatory research with service users and caregivers to develop, implement and evaluate approaches to involvement that are locally and culturally acceptable in LMICs

IFAD Rural Finance Policy

Two thirds of the Fund?s current projects have a rural finance component; about 21% of the Fund?s resources are dedicated to rural finance.2 Most of IFAD?s target group are small producers engaged in agric ultural and non-agricultural activities in areas of widely varying potential. Direct access to financial services affects the small producers? productivity, asset formation, income and food security. This policy paper is designed to provide an overall framework for the Fund?s work in rural finance. On that basis, operational guidelines and regional strategies will be prepared in due course for the use of staff, consultants and partner institutions, with scope both for innovations and for consolidation of successful existing practices. --

Challenges, Opportunities and Options for the Development of Rural Financial Institutions

Why does IFAD need rural finance guidelines? With its exclusive emphasis on rural poverty alleviation, IFAD enjoys a competitive advantage over other development agencies, and should strengthen its role by providing support for the development of rural finance as an important instrument. The goal of IFAD?s support for rural finance is the sustainable improvement of the livelihood of the rural poor. This paper offers guiding principles to IFAD?s staff and partner institutions to stimulate innovation and deepen impact by providing options for the effective development of sustainable financial services of increasing outreach to the rural poor. Once adopted, it will serve as a basis for the elaboration of more specific technical papers as well as strategy papers within IFAD?s regional divisions. --

India's Health Initiative: Financing Issues and Options

In response to the challenge of sustaining the health gains achieved in the better-performing states and ensuring that the lagging states catch up with the rest of the country, the Indian government has launched the National Rural Health Mission. A central goal of the effort is to increase public spending on health from the current 1.1 percent of GDP to roughly 2–3 percent of GDP within the next five years. In this paper, we examine the current status of health financing in India, as well as alternatives for realizing maximal health gains for the incremental expenditures.health financing, public spending, India, cost-effectiveness

Resource management for Sustainable Development of Island Economies

What is the role of resource management in sustaining competitiveness for island economies such as the Republic of the Philippines and Hawaii? We review the history of thought on sustainable resource management and sustainable development and then turn to the threats to sustainability from the resource curse and the parallel curse of paradise. We show how the resource curse undermines the pursuit of sustainability and describe innovations in governance that can transform the curse into a blessing.Resource curse, sustainable development, Dutch disease

Hygiene and Sanitation Software: An Overview of Approaches

A review of the state of the art in methods and techniques for sanitation and hygiene behaviour change, and other non-hardware aspects of sanitation programming. Includes introductory text and detailed entries on more than 20 approaches and techniques, with key references, summary information on effectiveness and implementation and an assessment of when different approaches should be used