Development of a Sustainable Management System for Rural Road Networks in Developing Countries

Rural roads play a crucial role in the economic and social development of societies, linking rural communities to education, health services and markets. During the last decade, considerable efforts have been made to evaluate the benefits of rural road investment in developing countries. Although outputs of these studies have led to a global rethinking of traditional road appraisal methods, limited attempts have been made to integrate these findings to the rural road management process. For the sustainable management of rural roads, social, institutional, technical, economic and environmental aspects should be considered under a long term perspective. The current practice in developing countries is that only some of these key sustainable aspects are being considered in the management process. In addition, rural roads maintenance management is commonly performed under a short term basis, not considering the life cycle costs and benefits in the economic analysis and project prioritization. Available management tools and studies have essentially focused their efforts on improving technical and economic aspects of low-volume roads. Whereas, the common practice observed in face of limited resources and lack of technical skills is that decisions are made under a political short term perspective. This research is directed at the development of an applied and practical system for the sustainable management of rural road networks in developing countries. The approach considers the development of all components required by the proposed management system and their integration into a practical and easy-to-use computer tool. To achieve this goal a sustainable framework for rural roads management was first developed, where system components and modules were defined. A network level condition evaluation methodology was selected and validated. Long term condition performance models were calibrated from the probabilistic analysis of field data. Optimal maintenance standards were developed under a cost-effectiveness approach. A long term prioritization procedure was developed to account for sustainable aspects of rural roads in the management process. A computer tool was finally developed to integrate the system components and display them in a friendly interface for potential users. The tool was programed in Visual Basic, considering Microsoft Excel interface. The computer tool considers the four system components: Input Data, System Modules, Network Analysis Interface and Output Data. System Modules include Condition Performance Module, Network Maintenance Module and Long Term Prioritization Module. For each of the system components and modules a separate worksheet has been included in the computer tool. The tool is centered on the Network Analysis Interface, which interacts with the other three system components. The user enters network data in the Input Data interface and may adjust information in System Modules considered if the network under study has differences to predefined conditions of. Adjustments to System Modules can be performed by the user, however it is advised that prior calibration is required for the successful analysis of the network. The management system was applied and validated in two rural road networks in developing countries located in Chile and Paraguay. Sensitivity analysis was carried out to assess the impacts of input parameters in the performance of developed system. As a result of the research an adaptable and adoptable sustainable management system for rural networks was developed to assist local road agencies in developing countries.1 yea

Designing Open and Distance Learning for Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa: A toolkit for educators and planners

Everyone remembers a good teacher. Good teachers are the key to educational expansion and improvement. In many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is an urgent need to expand the number of primary and secondary teachers. In all African countries, there is an equally important need to improve the quality of teaching. To achieve this, it is clear that new approaches to teacher education are essential. Existing institutions of teacher education will continue to play an important role, but, alone, they will not meet the goals of Education for All (EFA) by 2015. It is fortunate that, just as the twin needs to improve the quantity and quality of teachers become imperative, so new forms of education and training are becoming available. The world is witnessing a revolution in information and communication technologies (ICTs), which can offer training and support of a type and at a cost hitherto impossible to consider, and thus, must be fully explored given the scale and urgency of demand. In doing so, however, it will be necessary to build on existing and well-tested strategies, including the best models of open and distance learning. This toolkit is the third in a series of recent publications by the Africa Region Human Development Department of the World Bank to share knowledge and experience on how distance education and ICTs can support education in Sub-Saharan Africa. It emphasizes the rigorous process by which new forms of distance-education programs for teacher education can be planned and implemented. The best models of established programs are considered along with the potential for incorporating, as the means become available, new modes of communication. Most forms of teacher education, particularly those concerned with qualification upgrading and ongoing professional development, will have to be based in schools. The authors demonstrate how school-based programs, appropriately resourced and supported, have the potential not only to raise significantly the number and quality of teachers, but also to improve classroom practice and school organization, generally. The guidance and advice, which is drawn from many years of experience in design and implementation, and embraces a range of case studies from across the region, will be of considerable value to those preparing new policies and programs of teacher education and to those seeking to improve existing programs

Building capacity in climate change policy analysis and negotiation: methods and technologies

Capacity building is often cited as the reason “we cannot just pour money into developing countries” and why so many development projects fail because their design does not address local conditions. It is therefore a key technical and political concept in international development. Some of the poorest countries in the world are also some of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Their vulnerability is in part due to a lack of capacity to plan and anticipate the effects of climate change on crops, water resources, urban electricity demand etc. What capacities do these countries lack to deal with climate change? How will they cope? What steps can they take to reduce their vulnerability? This innovative and high-profile research project was part of a larger project (called C3D) and conducted with non-governmental organisations in Senegal, South Africa and Sri Lanka. The research involved several participatory workshops and a questionnaire to all three research centres

Using suites of free refurbished computers may cost over four times more than buying and using ‘state of the art’ learning technologies

The lack of adequately skilled and qualified teachers in developing nations, and the impact this has on the educational experiences of children within those nations constitutes an educational crisis comparable to the challenges global medicine faces with malaria or AIDS. The educational challenges, like many other aspects of development, are often most severe in rural areas (Mulkeen, 2005). It has been argued that such a challenge requires a new open-learning architecture for teacher professional development, situated in the context of the teachers daily practice, supported by the teachers peers, and accessing the full potential of new ICTs (Leach & Moon, 2006). There is substantial activity and expenditure to provide ‘computers’ for schools in the global south, but this tends to conform to a pattern identified here as ‘thinking as usual’ about ICT; a pattern often framed by assumptions about the costs of various forms of ICT. However, little is really known about what constitutes ‘appropriate’ ICT for education in poor rural communities (InfoDev 2005); even less about ICT as a vehicle for teacher professional development in such contexts. This paper applies a model of ‘total costs of ownership’ to a ‘freely donated’ ICT suite, and finds that the costs may well be much higher than alternative, more educationally empowering forms of ICT. Demonstrating that ‘common-sense’ assumptions about appropriate ICTs may not be correct, this paper seeks to clear the ground for establishing a framework for identifying appropriate ICTs for rural teacher and community development in the global south

Learning the lessons from the developed world: e-banking security in Nigeria

In the past decade banks invested heavily in internet technology so as to engage in e-business and e-commerce activities. However, this development exposed banks to threats, such as online fraud. Consequently, there was a need to adopt security measures and controls to mitigate such threats. Banks in developed countries have developed a level of ‘best practice’ to reduce such online threats. The objective of this study was to explore the extent to which banks in the developing world were benefitting from the experiences of banks in the developed world in terms of how they address online security threats. Case studies of two Nigerian Banks were undertaken using interviews and short questionnaire. The findings show respondents perceived the level of threats to e-banking in Nigeria to be low. When adopting e-banking security controls, the case study banks placed more emphasis on the technical dimension than the human dimension. Senior management commitment is a significant barrier to adopting best practice, which is highlighted in limited financial resources being provided for new investment in training or customer education. The study concludes that senior managers need to change their perceptions and priorities towards IT security to reduce the vulnerability of their e-banking services

Current state of e-services in Saudi Arabia: the case of intermediaries in facilitating government services in Madinah city

The government of Madinah has launched ‘Khdamatec’ electronic Offices (e-Offices) concept under their national electronic Government (e-Government) modernisation agenda to facilitate service delivery to citizens and seamless interaction to communicate their needs. By offering e-Offices around the government departments, Madinah government hopes to increase accessibility of e-Government services and make steps forward to electronic age, encourage Medina' citizens to participate and use e-Services and bridging digital divide. However, the empirical findings illustrate that the adoption and diffusion of the e-Office concept and e-Government in the wider context at a lethargic pace. This paper highlights some of the challenges faced by the Madinah city in implementing the e-Office concept and e-Government

Issues and challenges: cloud computing e-Government in developing countries

Cloud computing has become essential for IT resources that can be delivered as a service over the Internet. Many e-government services that are used worldwide provide communities with relatively complex applications and services. Governments are still facing many challenges in their implementation of e-government services in general, including Saudi Arabia, such as poor IT infrastructure, lack of finance, and insufficient data security. This research paper investigates the challenges of e-government cloud service models in developing countries. This paper finds that governments in developing countries are influenced by how the top management deals with the attention to the adoption of cloud computing. Further, organisational readiness levels of technologies, such as IT infrastructure, internet availability and social trust of the adoption of new technology as cloud computing, still present limitations for e-government cloud services adoption. Based on the findings of the critical review, this paper identifies the issues and challenges affecting the adoption of cloud computing in e- government such as IT infrastructure, internet availability, and trust adopted new technologies thereby highlighting benefits of cloud computing-based e-government services. Furthermore, we propose recommendations for developing IT systems focused on trust when adopting cloud computing in e-government services (CCEGov)

Understanding best practices in control engineering education using the concept of TPACK

This study aimed to design an integrated pedagogical approach to advance introductory Process Control Engineering Education through the application of the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework, and evaluating its impact on student learning. The research is initially being undertaken at Nottingham Trent University, UK but we will next adapt it to a case study in Libya. This paper aims to strengthen the teaching of introductory Process Control by using appropriate approach es in universities to improve the learning outcomes for students. From this work a new schematic for teaching Process Control ha s be en developed and, moreover, a thoughtful best practice in introducing Process Control in engineering education can be developed