The substance of interaction: design and policy implications of NGO- government projects in India

Collaboration between government and non-government organizations has been a recurrent feature of many development interventions in India. This paper is based on case studies of 11 such programs.Non-governmental organizations India., Government., India Economic development.,

Measuring empowerment in practice: structuring analysis and framing indicators

This paper presents an analytic framework that can be used to measure and monitor empowerment processes and outcomes. The measuring empowerment (ME) framework, rooted in both conceptual discourse and measurement practice, illustrates how to gather data on empowerment and structure its analysis. The framework can be used to measure empowerment at both the intervention level and the country level, as a part of poverty or governance monitoring. The paper first provides a definition of empowerment and then explains how the concept can be reduced to measurable components. Empowerment is defined as a person's capacity to make effective choices; that is, as the capacity to transform choices into desired actions and outcomes. The extent or degree to which a person is empowered is influenced by personal agency (the capacity to make purposive choice) and opportunity structure (the institutional context in which choice is made). Asset endowments are used as indicators of agency. These assets may be psychological, informational, organizational, material, social, financial, or human. Opportunity structure is measured by the presence and operation of formal and informal institutions, including the laws, regulatory frameworks, and norms governing behavior. Degrees of empowerment are measured by the existence of choice, the use of choice, and the achievement of choice. Following the conceptual discussion and the presentation of the analytic framework, this paper illustrates how the ME framework can be applied, using examples from four developmentinterventions. Each example discusses how the framework guided analysis and development of empowerment indicators. The paper also presents a draft module for measuring empowerment at the country level. The module can be used alone or be integrated into country-level poverty or governance monitoring systems that seek to add an empowerment dimension to their analysis.Decentralization,Public Health Promotion,Regional Rural Development,Health Economics&Finance,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Economics&Finance,Gender and Social Development,Community Based Rural Development,Non Governmental Organizations,Regional Rural Development

Coalitions and the organization of multiple-stakeholder action: a case study of agricultural research and extension in Rajasthan, India

Decentralization implies an increase in the number of stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of interventions. This paper draws upon the experience of a multi-stakeholder program in India which has sought to increase the contribution of rainfed agriculture to rural household's economic portfolios. The strategy has been one of enhancing government research and extension service provision through collaboration and coalition building between NGOs and government line departments. Evidence from the last four years demonstrates that coalitions are appropriate vehicles for managing interaction among multiple and diverse organizations. However, as fluid entities without permanent governance systems, coalitions require formalized support mechanisms to function effectively. The value to project designers and policy makers of this paper lies primarily in the description and analysis of the "nested" organizational support system which developed to fulfill the every day needs of the coalition in Rajasthan. Its secondary value lies in the discussion of conceptual and practical aspects of building and supporting coalitions.Agricultural extension work., Rainfed farming., India.,

Disordered clusters of Bak dimers rupture mitochondria during apoptosis

During apoptosis, Bak and Bax undergo major conformational change and form symmetric dimers that coalesce to perforate the mitochondrial outer membrane via an unknown mechanism. We have employed cysteine labelling and linkage analysis to the full length of Bak in mitochondria. This comprehensive survey showed that in each Bak dimer the N-termini are fully solvent-exposed and mobile, the core is highly structured, and the C-termini are flexible but restrained by their contact with the membrane. Dimer-dimer interactions were more labile than the BH3:groove interaction within dimers, suggesting there is no extensive protein interface between dimers. In addition, linkage in the mobile Bak N-terminus (V61C) specifically quantified association between dimers, allowing mathematical simulations of dimer arrangement. Together, our data show that Bak dimers form disordered clusters to generate lipidic pores. These findings provide a molecular explanation for the observed structural heterogeneity of the apoptotic pore

High levels of genomic aberrations in serous ovarian cancers are associated with better survival

Martin K Oehler is a member of the Australian Ovarian Cancer Study GroupGenomic instability and copy number alterations in cancer are generally associated with poor prognosis; however, recent studies have suggested that extreme levels of genomic aberrations may be beneficial for the survival outcome for patients with specific tumour types. We investigated the extent of genomic instability in predominantly high-grade serous ovarian cancers (SOC) using two independent datasets, generated in Norway (n = 74) and Australia (n = 70), respectively. Genomic instability was quantified by the Total Aberration Index (TAI), a measure of the abundance and genomic size of copy number changes in a tumour. In the Norwegian cohort, patients with TAI above the median revealed significantly prolonged overall survival (p<0.001) and progression-free survival (p<0.05). In the Australian cohort, patients with above median TAI showed prolonged overall survival (p<0.05) and moderately, but not significantly, prolonged progression-free survival. Results were confirmed by univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses with TAI as a continuous variable. Our results provide further evidence supporting an association between high level of genomic instability and prolonged survival of high-grade SOC patients, possibly as disturbed genome integrity may lead to increased sensitivity to chemotherapeutic agents.Lars O. Baumbusch, Åslaug Helland, Yun Wang, Knut Liestøl, Marci E. Schaner, Ruth Holm, Dariush Etemadmoghadam, Kathryn Alsop, Pat Brown, Australian Ovarian Cancer Study Group, Gillian Mitchell, Sian Fereday, Anna DeFazio, David D. L. Bowtell, Gunnar B. Kristensen, Ole Christian Lingjærde, Anne-Lise Børresen-Dal

COALITIONS AND THE ORGANIZATION OF MULTIPLE-STAKEHOLDER ACTION: A CASE STUDY OF AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND EXTENSION IN RAJASTHAN, INDIA

Decentralization implies an increase in the number of stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of interventions. This paper draws upon the experience of a multi-stakeholder program in India which has sought to increase the contribution of rainfed agriculture to rural household’s economic portfolios. The strategy has been one of enhancing government research and extension service provision through collaboration and coalition building between NGOs and government line departments. Evidence from the last four years demonstrates that coalitions are appropriate vehicles for managing interaction among multiple and diverse organizations. However, as fluid entities without permanent governance systems, coalitions require formalized support mechanisms to function effectively. The value to project designers and policy makers of this paper lies primarily in the description and analysis of the “nested” organizational support system which developed to fulfill the every day needs of the coalition in Rajasthan. Its secondary value lies in the discussion of conceptual and practical aspects of building and supporting coalitions

a case study of agricultural research and extension in Rajasthan, India

Decentralization implies an increase in the number of stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of interventions. This paper draws upon the experience of a multi-stakeholder program in India which has sought to increase the contribution of rainfed agriculture to rural household's economic portfolios. The strategy has been one of enhancing government research and extension service provision through collaboration and coalition building between NGOs and government line departments. Evidence from the last four years demonstrates that coalitions are appropriate vehicles for managing interaction among multiple and diverse organizations. However, as fluid entities without permanent governance systems, coalitions require formalized support mechanisms to function effectively. The value to project designers and policy makers of this paper lies primarily in the description and analysis of the nested" organizational support system which developed to fulfill the every day needs of the coalition in Rajasthan. Its secondary value lies in the discussion of conceptual and practical aspects of building and supporting coalitions.Non-PRIFPRI1EPT

design and policy implications of NGO- government projects in India

Collaboration between government and non-government organizations has been a recurrent feature of many development interventions in India. This paper is based on case studies of 11 such programs.Non-PRIFPRI1EPT

Community Level User Groups:do they perform as expected?

This paper focuses on research undertaken on just one type of local organization - community level membership based user groups. The research reported on in this paper asked the question, how well did such groups perform in three World Bank aided projects in India: the Uttar Pradesh Sodic Lands Reclamation Project, the Madhya Pradesh Forestry Project, and the Andhra Pradesh Economic Restructuring Program, Irrigation Component