#ByeTaboo: Expanding Access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Education*

This article examines the design and implementation of the sexual and reproductive health online platform #ChauTabú (#ByeTaboo) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from a practice perspective. Based on my experiences, I discuss the design process and the implementation challenges; reflect on what digital spaces can offer as education platforms, and how #ChauTabú relates to a rights-based approach to inclusive and feminist sexual and reproductive health

Budget oversight and accountability in Nigeria: what incentivises digital and non-digital citizens to engage?

Opening up the budgets of economies such as Nigeria’s continues to be a challenge, and most citizens remain in the dark on how the budget is formulated and executed. One obstacle is citizens’ lack of access to information on budgeted projects within their communities; while a budget containing lots of technical jargon means that most Nigerians are unable to understand the budget and are, therefore, limited in their ability to monitor its progress. As a pioneer in the field of social advocacy combined with technology, BudgIT, a social advocacy organisation in Nigeria, aims to simplify the topic of public spending for citizens with the aim of increasing transparency and accountability in government. This practice paper reports on practitioner research conducted by BudgIT, and documents a reflective conversation on the implications of its findings for future efforts to improve accountability in Nigeria. It aims to discover if access to information leads to empowerment, as well as demands for accountability; and whether demands for accountability necessarily lead to the greater responsiveness of public institutions.DFIDUSAIDSidaOmidyar Networ

Innovations to engage youth in accountability work in Liberia

In Liberia’s post-conflict context, there is a new generation of young people coming of age who did not experience the conflict. The Accountability Lab, a civil society organisation that works with youth in Liberia around transparency and accountability, considers this an opportunity to engage with young people in new ways and support them to become actors in a process of building positive accountability dynamics. This practitioner research looks at the Lab's efforts to engage in an adaptive learning process, and its methods to improve Liberia’s accountability ecosystem. The Lab was able to gain insights into how to improve their efforts within the local Liberian context. This included: what strategies to use to reach citizens outside the capital, Monrovia; how and with whom to expand their networks and partnerships to create local hubs in the interior; and how to engage their local staff in research processes. The research also produced insights about Liberia’s accountability landscape, suggesting that efforts to build governance have so far focused on institution-building, creating laws and institutions that do not always match local norms and culture. In response to this, the Lab developed a people-centred strategy proposing a new approach aimed at training champions and creating networks that can positively change behaviours to embed accountability and transparency in local culture. The paper ends with a reflective conversation with Accountability Lab’s Executive Director and Research Adviser. They discuss what the research revealed about the accountability landscape in Liberia, their work with youths, and innovative tools such as an accountability incubator, the use of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in fragile settings, and balancing long-term processes to build trust with more immediate accountability needs.DFIDUSAIDSidaOmidyar Networ

La comunidad internacional y Haití: una historia de desamor. El rol de la cooperación internacional 1990-2010

The article analyzes the actions of international cooperation, bi and multilateral, received by Haiti since the 1990s, and how this defines the (im)possibilities of sustainable development, considering the upsurge of South-South cooperation since 2004. Given that conditions show that North-South cooperation hasn’t been able to achieve its goals, an analysis of the available funds and its allocation will be made, based on author’s elaboration data regarding sectorial allocation of funds for the 1990-2004 period. The conclusions will consider the lessons learned from the studied period, which gain new meaning in the context of the post-earthquake reconstruction.CITE AS:Herbst, N. (2013). La comunidad internacional y Haití: una historia de desamor. El rol de la cooperación internacional 1990-2010. Iberoamerican Journal of Development Studies, 2 (1): 24-45El artículo analiza la cooperación internacional, tanto bilateral como multilateral, recibida por Haití desde la década de 1990 en adelante, y como ésta definió las (im)posibilidades de desarrollo sostenible, incorporando la aparición de la cooperación Sur-Sur a partir de 2004. Al corroborar un escenario en el cual la cooperación Norte-Sur no ha logrado resultados exitosos a partir de sus esfuerzos, se analizará más allá de los montos disponibles, a qué sectores fueron asignados y si dicha planificación respondió a un análisis sensible de la situación, presentando datos de elaboración propia acerca de la distribución sectorial de la AOD para el período 1990-2004. En las conclusiones se tomarán las lecciones de la cooperación internacional de la etapa post-dictadura, revalorizados para el contexto de reconstrucción post-terremoto.CITAR COMO:Herbst, N. (2013). La comunidad internacional y Haití: una historia de desamor. El rol de la cooperación internacional 1990-2010. Iberoamerican Journal of Development Studies, 2 (1): 24-4

Avances y desafíos de la cooperación Sur-Sur: el caso haitiano

El propósito de esta tesis consiste en analizar la cooperación internacional dirigida hacia Haití a partir de 1990, haciendo hincapié en el auge y reconfiguración de la Cooperación Sur-Sur (CSS) para el caso la cual se intensifica a partir de 2004. Dada la identificación de esta dinámica de cooperación el trabajo ahonda sobre la CSS, sus actores principales, la modalidad que eligen para ejercerla y las motivaciones detrás de la misma. Para realizar esta tarea se consideraran diferentes tipos de ayuda como la asistencia oficial al desarrollo, la cooperación técnica para el desarrollo y la inversión extranjera directa, así como la influencia de las remesas y la deuda externa. A partir de esto se observó el impacto de las acciones de la comunidad internacional en las posibilidades de desarrollo sostenible haitianas, y se extrajeron lecciones de la experiencia de los últimos 20 años

Three-dimensional topological field theory and symplectic algebraic geometry I

We study boundary conditions and defects in a three-dimensional topological sigma-model with a complex symplectic target space X (the Rozansky-Witten model). We show that boundary conditions correspond to complex Lagrangian submanifolds in X equipped with complex fibrations. The set of boundary conditions has the structure of a 2-category; morphisms in this 2-category are interpreted physically as one-dimensional defect lines separating parts of the boundary with different boundary conditions. This 2-category is a categorification of the Z/2-graded derived category of X; it is also related to categories of matrix factorizations and a categorification of deformation quantization (quantization of symmetric monoidal categories). In the appendix we describe a deformation of the B-model and the associated category of branes by forms of arbitrary even degree.Comment: 76 pages, AMS-latex. v2: references, acknowledgments, and a discussion of grading ambiguities have been adde

Fundamental characterization, photophysics and photocatalysis of a base metal iron(II)-cobalt(III) dyad

A new base metal iron-cobalt dyad has been obtained by connection between a heteroleptic tetra-NHC iron(II) photosensitizer combining a 2,6-bis[3-(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene]pyridine with 2,6-bis(3-methyl-imidazol-2-ylidene)-4,4′-bipyridine ligand, and a cobaloxime catalyst. This novel iron(II)-cobalt(III) assembly has been extensively characterized by ground- and excited-state methods like X-ray crystallography, X-ray absorption spectroscopy, (spectro-)electrochemistry, and steady-state and time-resolved optical absorption spectroscopy, with a particular focus on the stability of the molecular assembly in solution and determination of the excited-state landscape. NMR and UV/Vis spectroscopy reveal dissociation of the dyad in acetonitrile at concentrations below 1 mM and high photostability. Transient absorption spectroscopy after excitation into the metal-to-ligand charge transfer absorption band suggests a relaxation cascade originating from hot singlet and triplet MLCT states, leading to the population of the $^{3}$MLCT state that exhibits the longest lifetime. Finally, decay into the ground state involves a $^{3}$MC state. Attachment of cobaloxime to the iron photosensitizer increases the $^{3}$MLCT lifetime at the iron centre. Together with the directing effect of the linker, this potentially makes the dyad more active in photocatalytic proton reduction experiments than the analogous two-component system, consisting of the iron photosensitizer and Co(dmgH)$_2$(py)Cl. This work thus sheds new light on the functionality of base metal dyads, which are important for more efficient and sustainable future proton reduction systems

Optimised electronic patient records to improve clinical monitoring of HIV-positive patients in rural South Africa (MONART trial): study protocol for a cluster-randomised trial

Background There is poor viral load monitoring (VLM) and inadequate management of virological failure in HIV-positive individuals on antiretroviral therapy in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. This could be contributing to increasing HIV drug resistance in the setting. This study aims to investigate the clinical and process impediments in VLM within the health system and to evaluate a quality improvement package (QIP) to address the identified gaps. The QIP comprises (i) a designated viral load champion responsible for administrative management and triaging of viral load results (ii) technological enhancement of the routine clinic-based Three Interlinked Electronic Register (TIER.Net) to facilitate daily automatic import of viral load results from the National Health Service Laboratory to TIER.Net (iii) development of a dashboard system to support VLM. Methods/design The study will evaluate the effectiveness of the QIP compared to current care for improving VLM and virological suppression using an effectiveness implementation hybrid type 3 design. This will use a cluster-randomised design with the primary healthcare clinics as the unit of randomisation with ten clinics randomised in a 1:1 ratio to either the intervention or control arm. We will enrol 150 HIV-positive individuals who had been on ART for ≥ 12 months from each of the ten clinics (750 in 5 intervention clinics vs. 750 in 5 control clinics) and follow them up for a period of 12 months. The primary outcome is the proportion of all patients who have a viral load (VL) measurement and are virally suppressed (composite outcome) after 12 months of follow up. Secondary outcomes during follow up include proportion of all patients with at least one documented VL in TIER.Net, proportion with VL ≥ 50 copies/mL, proportion with VL ≥ 1000 copies/mL (virological failure) and subsequent switch to second-line ART. Discussion We aim to provide evidence that a staff-centred quality improvement package, designated viral load monitoring champion, and augmentation of TIER.Net with a dashboard system will improve viral load monitoring and lead to improved virological suppression. Trial registration: This trial is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov on 8 Oct 2021. Identifier: NCT05071573; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05071573?term=NCT05071573&draw=2&rank=

Local Response in Health Emergencies: Key Considerations for Addressing the COVID-19 Pandemic in Informal Urban Settlements

This paper highlights the major challenges and considerations for addressing COVID-19 in informal settlements. It discusses what is known about vulnerabilities and how to support local protective action. There is heightened concern about informal urban settlements because of the combination of population density and inadequate access to water and sanitation, which makes standard advice about social distancing and washing hands implausible. There are further challenges to do with the lack of reliable data and the social, political and economic contexts in each setting that will influence vulnerability and possibilities for action. The potential health impacts of COVID-19 are immense in informal settlements, but if control measures are poorly executed these could also have severe negative impacts. Public health interventions must be balanced with social and economic interventions, especially in relation to the informal economy upon which many poor urban residents depend. Local residents, leaders and communitybased groups must be engaged and resourced to develop locally appropriate control strategies, in partnership with local governments and authorities. Historically, informal settlements and their residents have been stigmatized, blamed, and subjected to rules and regulations that are unaffordable or unfeasible to adhere to. Responses to COVID-19 should not repeat these mistakes. Priorities for enabling effective control measures include: collaborating with local residents who have unsurpassed knowledge of relevant spatial and social infrastructures, strengthening coordination with local governments, and investing in improved data for monitoring the response in informal settlements