Building coalitions, creating change: An agenda for gender transformative research in agricultural development

The CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems (AAS) has developed its Gender Research in Development Strategy centered on a transformative approach. Translating this strategy into actual research and development practice poses a considerable challenge, as not much (documented) experience exists in the agricultural sector to draw on, and significant innovation is required. A process of transformative change requires reflecting on multiple facets and dimensions simultaneously. This working paper is a collation of think pieces, structured around broad the mes and topics, reflecting on what works (and what does not) in the application of gender transformative approaches in agriculture and other sectors, and seeking to stimulate a discussion on the way forward for CGIAR Research Programs (CRPs) and other programs to build organizational capacities and partnerships

A user-centred evaluation of a mobile phone-based interactive voice response system to support infectious disease surveillance and access to healthcare for sick children in Ghana: users’ experiences, challenges and opportunities for large-scale application. Part of a concept and pilot study for mobile phone-based Electronic Health Information and Surveillance System (eHISS) for Africa

Brinkel J. A user-centred evaluation of a mobile phone-based interactive voice response system to support infectious disease surveillance and access to healthcare for sick children in Ghana: users’ experiences, challenges and opportunities for large-scale application. Part of a concept and pilot study for mobile phone-based Electronic Health Information and Surveillance System (eHISS) for Africa. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld; 2020.Digital Health offers tremendous potential to change the face of health systems in all countries. Although the application of digital technologies in the health sector has become central to global health thinking, various implementation barriers still exist. One of the most significant is the process of user acceptance and adoption of new interventions, which still remains a neglected research area in sub-Saharan Africa. The synopsis is a synthesis of the findings of a three-year research study embedded within a larger research consortium that developed and piloted a mobile phone-based Electronic Health Information and Surveillance System for sub-Saharan Africa (eHISS) in Ghana. The system aimed to support sick children to assess the disease severity, to advice appropriate treatment and to collect data on the occurrence of symptom clusters. The thesis evaluated the usability and acceptance among users of the mobile health (mHealth) system (caregivers of children) by soliciting their views on their experiences while using the system. The doctoral thesis followed a human-centred design (HCD) circle and consisted of the following research activities; (i) the assessment of the state of research, (ii) the innovative field test of a prototype of the eHISS system and an assessment of users’ needs to drive the design, (iii) the evaluation of the clinical decision algorithm as backbone of the electronic system and (iv) the evaluation of experiences with the system after a six-month pilot phase of the system. A manuscript was developed from each research activity for publication, thus making a total of four papers that form the empirical basis of this thesis. Results showed that users are generally open to mHealth and interested in new technologies, and comprehensive knowledge on critical factors favouring and disfavouring the integration of the system in the daily life of participants, and suggestions on how the system could be improved has been gained. The thesis thus confirmed and highlighted the key role of user experiences in the design process of new mHealth approaches, and provided insights on how to develop and evaluate mobile health approaches from the user perspective. Based on the results of the user evaluation, two possible directions for the future of eHISS have been developed. We further conclude that programs and initiatives must be guided by robust strategies to overcome existing barriers for implementation. Like all digital health interventions, the presented eHISS system is not a silver bullet and has significant limitations, but taking the requirements discussed in the thesis into consideration we believe that systems developed based on the eHISS experiences in future can make a real impact on health service delivery and disease response

Operational guidelines for assessing the impact of agricultural research on livelihoods. Good practices from CIMMYT

Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

User-driven design of decision support systems for polycentric environmental resources management

Open and decentralized technologies such as the Internet provide increasing opportunities to create knowledge and deliver computer-based decision support for multiple types of users across scales. However, environmental decision support systems/tools (henceforth EDSS) are often strongly science-driven and assuming single types of decision makers, and hence poorly suited for more decentralized and polycentric decision making contexts. In such contexts, EDSS need to be tailored to meet diverse user requirements to ensure that it provides useful (relevant), usable (intuitive), and exchangeable (institutionally unobstructed) information for decision support for different types of actors. To address these issues, we present a participatory framework for designing EDSS that emphasizes a more complete understanding of the decision making structures and iterative design of the user interface. We illustrate the application of the framework through a case study within the context of water-stressed upstream/downstream communities in Lima, Peru

Outdoor recreation and agritourism experiences: a contribution to tourism sustainability and development

Objetivos: O propósito deste estudo passa por perceber de que maneira os conceitos de “Recreação Outdoor” e “Agroturismo”, bem como as “Experiências” e os “Produtos” que lhes são inerentes, podem ser relacionados e posteriormente qual o estado da oferta deste tipo de produtos, na Região do Algarve. Tal finalidade originou as seguintes questões: 1) Qual a relação entre o agroturismo e a recreação outdoor; 2) Qual o potencial da oferta de um product mix de experiências de associadas ao agroturismo e à recreação outdoor, no barlavento algarvio. A fim de alcançar estes objetivos e responder às questões de pesquisa, o estudo é conduzido, subdividindo-se em duas etapas. Inicialmente é realizada uma revisão sistemática da literatura com vista a identificar uma diversidade de contribuições de outros autores, sobre o agroturismo e sobre a recreação outdoor, e a estabelecer possíveis relações ambas as experiências isoladas, e como product mix tanto para os consumidores, como para os gestores ou para a sociedade. Uma vez identificados os procedimentos mais utilizados na extração e análise de uma grande quantidade de dados, as temáticas que estavam presentes na investigação de cada um dos tópicos principais (“agroturismo” e “recreação outdoor”), e a relação que ambos os tópicos tinham com os objetivos de desenvolvimento sustentável, deu-se início a uma nova etapa. O segundo estágio deste estudo consiste assim na exploração da oferta deste tipo de experiências no barlavento algarvio. Tal estudo, deve-se às necessidades da região e as estratégias definidas pelas entidades locais, para minimizar diversos problemas. Desta forma, pretende-se explorar a oferta existente as perspetivas de desenvolvimento deste tipo de experiências no território em estudo. Metodologia: Um primeiro estudo de revisão sistemática da literatura baseado em investigações anteriores, tais como as de Martins et al. (2021); Concari et al. (2020) e Pickering et al. (2014) é conduzido, com o objetivo de identificar publicações científicas que exploram os conceitos de agroturismo e recreação outdoor e prover semelhanças em relação aos impactos que este tipo de experiências pode trazer quer para praticantes, gestores ou até para a sociedade em geral. Para isso, são analisadas revistas científicas segundo um conjunto de critérios de inclusão e exclusão (descritos mais à frente nesta investigação). Sendo alguns dos critérios de inclusão a) artigos revistos por pares; b) publicados entre 2016 e 2022; c) que se referem aos termos “outdoor recreation” e/ou “agritourism” e “consumer” ou os seus derivados (ver termos de pesquisa definidos) no título, resumo ou palavras-chave; e alguns dos critérios de exclusão: a) artigos que não estão redigidos na língua portuguesa, espanhola ou inglesa, a pesquisa é efetuada em quatro bases de dados distintas. Após definidas as perguntas de pesquisa, é formulado o protocolo de revisão, com base no relatório do protocolo dos Items preferidos para revisões sistemáticas e meta-análises (PRISMA) para seleção de publicações académicas (Moher et al., 2009. Dando-se assim inicio à condução da pesquisa de literatura, onde os artigos passam por processo de análise extenso de inclusão, rejeição e seleção. Seguidamente e após a recolha de informações-chave de cada um dos artigos incluídos, é realizado, no último estágio, a análise de conteúdo, assim como a apresentação dos resultados, discussão e conclusão. A partir dos resultados obtidos na revisão sistemática da literatura, e da relação que ambas as experiências mostraram ter com o desenvolvimento sustentável, procedeu-se à 2º fase da investigação. Onde, foi analisada a oferta de experiências associadas à recreação Outdoor e ao Agroturismo. Primeiramente, através do levantamento de todas as empresas de animação turística (EAT) que possuíam uma oferta de atividades de turismo ou ar livre e/ou atividades de turismo cultural, e dos empreendimentos de turismo Rural (TER) pertencentes ao barlavento algarvio, registadas na plataforma SIGTUR (Sistema de informação geográfica do Turismo de Portugal). Numa segunda fase, para conhecer melhor o estado da oferta, e após seleção de uma amostra pertinente, foi realizada uma análise qualitativa de conteúdo aos websites dos TER. Os resultados obtidos são então expostos, discutidos e novas implicações académicas e práticas são apresentadas. Resultados: No primeiro estudo, referente à revisão sistemática da literatura, os 179 artigos incluídos na síntese foram analisados e permitiram não só, recolher dados sobre as datas, locais, métodos, características, disciplinas e tipos de amostras utilizadas pelos autores dos artigos selecionados, mas também categorizar os mesmos por tipo de impactos que a prática/oferta de atividades associadas à recreação outdoor ou ao agroturismo traria para o turismo, os participantes e o ambiente. Embora os resultados obtidos, tenham revelado um número significativo de implicações práticas, foram identificadas algumas lacunas na investigação e propostas recomendações para futuros estudos. O segundo estudo, referente à análise da oferta de experiências associadas à recreação outdoor e ao agroturismo no território do barlavento algarvio, permitiu quantificar as empresas existentes na região, bem como a sua localização e posteriormente perceber de que forma utilizavam as ferramentas de marketing para comercializar os seus produtos e serviços. Possibilitando a referência a aspetos que poderiam ser melhorados e outros maximizados. Implicações da Investigação: A revisão sistemática, permitiu chegar a resultados que evidenciam os impactos que ambas as experiências turísticas podem ter nos consumidores e como este mix de produtos pode contribuir para os objetivos de sustentabilidade. O estudo destaca também implicações práticas para gestores e proprietários de ambos os produtos turísticos (por exemplo, promoção do mix de experiência e avaliação de se os participantes perceberam experiências memoráveis e autênticas). Já no segundo estudo, através da recolha de dados secundários junto da plataforma SIGTUR e da análise de conteúdo dos websites das empresas de turismo em espaço rural e de animação turística incluídas foram propostas diversas contribuições e recomendações para futuras pesquisas, nomeadamente sobre a importância das parcerias entre stakeholders e municípios em territórios com menos recursos. Originalidade: Embora diversos estudos se centrem na pesquisa de experiências da recreação outdoor ou das experiências vividas em agroturismos, pouca pesquisa tem sido feita no sentido de encontrar benefícios, na junção dos dois tipos de experiências como um product mix. Tanto o estudo 1 como o estudo 2 contribuíram assim para a investigação, embora a revisão sistemática tenha atingindo um scope maior de informação recolhida, o artigo 2, através de um estudo de caso, trouxe importantes contribuições para planeadores e stakeholders da região em estudo.Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand how the concepts of "Outdoor Recreation" and "Agrotourism", as well as the "Experiences" and the "Products" inherent to them, can be related and later what the state of the offer of this type of products, in the Algarve Region. This purpose raised the following questions: 1) What is the relationship between agrotourism and outdoor recreation; 2) What is the potential of offering a product mix of experiences associated with agrotourism and outdoor recreation in the western Algarve. To achieve these objectives and answer research questions, the study is conducted, subdividing into two stages. Initially, a systematic review of the literature is carried out with a view to identifying a diversity of contributions from other authors, on agrotourism and outdoor recreation, and to establish possible relationships between both isolated experiences, and as a product mix for both consumers, managers, and society. Once the most used procedures were identified in the extraction and analysis of a large amount of data, the themes that were present in the investigation of each of the main topics ("agritourism" and "outdoor recreation"), and the relationship that both topics had with the objectives of development, a new stage began. The second stage of this study thus consists in exploring the offer of this type of experiments in the western Algarve. This study is due to the needs of the region and the strategies defined by local authorities to minimize various problems. Thus, it is intended to explore the existing offer the prospects for developing this type of experiences in the territory under study. Methodology: A first systematic review study of the literature based on previous investigations, such as those by Martins et al. (2021); Concari et al. (2020) and Pickering et al. (2014) are conducted, with the objective of identifying scientific publications that explore the concepts of agritourism and outdoor recreation and provide similarities in relation to the impacts that this type of experiences can bring either to practitioners, managers or even to society in general. For this, scientific journals are analyzed according to a set of inclusion and exclusion criteria (described later in this investigation). Some of the inclusion criteria a) peer-reviewed articles; b) published between 2016 and 2022; c) referring to the terms "outdoor recreation" and/or "agritourism" and "consumer" or their derivatives (see defined search terms) in the title, abstract or keywords; and some of the exclusion criteria: a) articles that are not written in Portuguese, Spanish or English, the research is carried out in four different databases. After the research questions are defined, the review protocol is formulated, based on the report of the preferred Items protocol for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) for the selection of academic publications (Moher et al., 2009. Thus, the conduction of literature research is beginning, where the articles undergo an extensive analysis process of inclusion, rejection and selection. Then and after the collection of key information of each of the included articles, content analysis is carried out in the last stage, as well as the presentation of the results, discussion, and conclusion. Based on the results obtained in the systematic review of the literature, and the unexpected relationship that both experiences showed to have with sustainable development, the second phase of the investigation was carried out. Where, the offer of experiences associated with outdoor recreation and agrotourism was analyzed. First, through the survey of all tourism animation companies (EAT) that had an offer of tourism or outdoor activities and/or cultural tourism activities, and rural tourism enterprises (TER) belonging to the Algarve windward, registered on the SIGTUR platform (Geographic Information System of Tourism of Portugal). In a second phase, to better understand the state of the offer, and after selecting a relevant sample, a qualitative analysis of content was performed to the websites of the TER. The results obtained are then exposed, discussed and new academic and practical implications are presented. Findings: In the first study, referring to the systematic review of the literature, the 179 articles included in the synthesis were analyzed and allowed not only to collect data on the dates, locations, methods, characteristics, disciplines and types of samples used by the authors of the selected articles, but also categorize them by type of impacts that the practice/offer of activities associated with outdoor recreation or agrotourism would bring to tourism, participants and the environment. Although the results obtained revealed a significant number of practical implications, some gaps in research and recommendations for future studies were identified. The second study, referring to the analysis of the offer of experiences associated with outdoor recreation and agrotourism in the territory of the Western Algarve, allowed quantifying the existing companies in the region, as well as their location and later understanding how they used marketing tools to commercialize their products and services. Enabling reference to aspects that could be improved and others maximized. Implications of Research: The systematic review has shown results that highlight the impacts that both tourism experiences can have on consumers and how this product mix can contribute to sustainability objectives. The study also highlights practical implications for managers and owners of both tourism products (e.g., promoting the mix of experience and evaluating whether participants perceived memorable and authentic experiences). In the second study, through the collection of secondary data from the SIGTUR platform and the content analysis of the websites of rural tourism and tourism companies included several contributions and recommendations for future research were proposed, namely on the importance of partnerships between stakeholders and municipalities in territories with fewer resources. Originality: Although several studies focus on the research of outdoor recreation experiences or experiences lived in agrotourism, little research has been done to find benefits, in the combination of the two types of experiences as a product mix. Both study 1 and study 2 thus contributed to the investigation, although the systematic review reached a larger scope of information collected, Article 2, through a case study, brought important contributions to planners and stakeholders in the region under study

Where can teens find health information? A survey of web portals designed for teen health information seekers

The Web is an important source for health information for most teens with access to the Web (Gray et al, 2005a; Kaiser, 2001). While teens are likely to turn to the Web for health information, research has indicated that their skills in locating, evaluating and using health information are weak (Hansen et al, 2003; Skinner et al, 2003, Gray et al, 2005b). This behaviour suggests that the targeted approach to finding health information that is offered by web portals would be useful to teens. A web portal is the entry point for information on the Web. It is the front end, and often the filter, that users must pass through in order to link to actual content. Unlike general search engines such as Google, content that is linked to a portal has usually been pre-selected and even created by the organization that hosts the portal, assuring some level of quality control. The underlying architecture of the portal is structured and thus offers an organized approach to exploring a specific health topic. This paper reports on an environmental scan of the Web, the purpose of which was to identify and describe portals to general health information, in English and French, designed specifically for teens. It answers two key questions. First of all, what portals exist? And secondly, what are their characteristics? The portals were analyzed through the lens of four attributes: Usability, interactivity, reliability and findability. Usability is a term that incorporates concepts of navigation, layout and design, clarity of concept and purpose, underlying architecture, in-site assistance and, for web content with text, readability. Interactivity relates to the type of interactions and level of engagement required by the user to access health information on a portal. Interaction can come in the form of a game, a quiz, a creative experience, or a communication tool such as an instant messaging board, a forum or blog. Reliability reflects the traditional values of accuracy, currency, credibility and bias, and in the web-based world, durabililty. Findability is simply the ease with which a portal can be discovered by a searcher using the search engine that is most commonly associated with the Web by young people - Google - and using terms related to teen health. Findability is an important consideration since the majority of teens begin their search for health information using search engines (CIBER, 2008; Hansen et al, 2003). The content linked to by the portals was not evaluated, nor was the portals’ efficacy as a health intervention. Teens looking for health information on the Web in English have a wide range of choices available but French-language portals are much rarer and harder to find. A majority of the portals found and reviewed originated from hospitals, associations specializing in a particular disease, and governmental agencies, suggesting that portals for teens on health related topics are generally reliable. However, only a handful of the portals reviewed were easy to find, suggesting that valuable resources for teens remain buried in the Web