Perspectives of National Coordinators and Partners on the Work of the Global Trachoma Mapping Project.

PURPOSE: Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect people living in the poorest regions of the world and their debilitating effects perpetuate the poverty cycle. Understanding the distribution of NTDs is crucial for effective intervention delivery. In 2012, the Global Trachoma Mapping Project (GTMP) was initiated to map >1800 suspected trachoma endemic districts by March 2015. This research was carried out to better understand the implementation experience and identify lessons which might inform the GTMP and similar initiatives. METHODS: Using grounded theory methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with key informants from six countries with 63% of the global mapping backlog (Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Solomon Islands, and Yemen). Interviews were transcribed, coded, and findings separated into categories. RESULTS: Three themes were identified during the research; planning and operations, technical implementation, and governance. The project was felt to be most successful in countries where the Ministry of Health was actively engaged in setting standards, ensuring capacity building for government staff, and guiding the training, data collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. Standardized tools, training platforms, and the use of electronic data capture increased confidence in the reliability of the survey data, informed quality improvement efforts within survey implementation, and the immediate release of results empowered end-user decision-makers. Regional collaboration between endemic countries bolstered program manager competence and confidence, while reinforcing partnerships essential to the success of the GTMP. CONCLUSIONS: We depict how innovative characteristics of the GTMP, and lessons learned from its implementation, can strengthen similar initiatives to map disease prevalence and risk factors

Reluctant Donors? The Europeanization of International Development Policies in the New Members

The EU played an instrumental role re-starting the international development policies in Central and Eastern European member states, but questions remain about how far this policy area has been Europeanized since accession. Focusing on the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, the paper investigates why the new donors have been reluctant to adopt the EU’s development acquis more fully. The paper traces the process of the EU’s development policy rulemaking and subsequent national rule implementation to understand the socialization opportunities these processes offer. The conclusions reveal thrre reasons why socialization has been weak: (1) perceptions among the new member states on the development acquis’ procedural legitimacy; (2) low domestic resonance with the development acquis; and (3) inconsistencies in the activities of norm entrepreneurs. The paper contributes to our understanding of development policy in the EU, in particular how decision making takes place within the Council and its Working Groups post enlargement

Monitoring human right to water in rural areas: a Nicaraguan case study

Much effort has gone into the recognition of the hu man right to water. Without doubt, this milestone influences governance and decision making processes at different scales. Now it is essential to shift discussion from legal and conceptual framework to p ractice. Taking this idea into account, the article proposes a methodology for monitoring the implement ation of the right. The work takes the legal and conceptual framework of the right, agreed by intern ational consensus, as a starting point. Moreover, l essons learnt from other indicators and indexes constructi on are considered. It is based on a water & sanitat ion rural services case study carried out in Nicaragua and pa rticularly in Jinotega and Matagalpa -rural departm ents from the north-central region-. The different categ ories of the right to water were included in survey s and structured interviews design that were conducted in rural households and water comities, respectively. Ingeniería sin Fronteras-ApD, an Spanish NGDO, prom oted the study in cooperation with local organizati ons -La Cuculmeca and Coalición de Organizaciones por e l Derecho al Agua (CODA)-. Results show how the inclusion of right to water dimensions gives pertin ent insights both as regards knowledge about the re al situation of rural communities as for improving gov ernance in rural water supply.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

An analysis about publications in non-governmental development organizations

Treball final de Grau en Finances i Comptabilitat. Codi: FC1049. Curs acadèmic 2015-2016The disclosure of activity-related information is of great importance in today’s highly exigent and unconfident environment. Furthermore, it is evident that there is a need for both relevant and high-quality information. It has become clear that this information is essential for both the making a solid base as well as the ability to create accurate valuation about projects at the Third sector. Studies that have been performed on the disclosure publications information that has been Spanish Non-Governmental development organizations show that a high percentage of the analysed companies are not reporting essential information about their actions and projects or which is their social impact , additionally we can clearly see that the reported information are pre-dominantly non-social information. The results that we have obtained with this study have shown is that the NGDO have barely a clear valuation about their activity and despite have no a direct relationship with the people support. In order to understand the necessity of analysing and evaluate social impact and in general the NGDO projects, is a must knowing about the environment of them and understand why cannot be treated as the other two sector in almost any subject. Furthermore, the variables related to the poorness of these information also give us a clue about third sector needs an updated

Developing Moral Sensitivity Throgh Protest Scenarios in International NGDOs' Communication

This paper studies advertising campaigns of NGDOs by applying the innovative concepts of protest communication scenarios and moral sensitivity. Its main purpose is to advance current understanding on how two conceptually different communication scenarios -donor and protest- impact the social engagement of the public. The interdisciplinary methodology combines a discursive and psychological perspective with an empirical survey study designed with the support of cultural discourse analysis (Hall, 1997). The findings demonstrate that using communication models based on the need for collective help for poverty in terms of an unjust situation -what we call a protest communication model- increases moral sensitivity and, therefore, social action. These results are of interest for planning and assessing the organizational communication of NGDOs designed from their educational and social action liabilities. This research shows that utilizing these criteria increases the efficacy of their communication in awareness raising and social engagement without being detrimental to funding amounts