Outcome Mapping

{Excerpt} Development is about people—it is about how they relate to one another and their environment, and how they learn in doing so. Outcome mapping puts people and learning first and accepts unexpected change as a source of innovation. It shifts the focus from changes in state, viz. reduced poverty, to changes in behaviors, relationships, actions, and activities. Development agencies must show that their activities make significant and lasting contributions to the welfare of intended beneficiaries. But they may well be trying to measure results that are beyond their reach: the impacts they cite as evidence are often the result of a confluence of events for which they cannot realistically get full credit. Outcome mapping exposes myths about measuring impacts and helps to answer such questions. A project or program that uses the framework and vocabulary of outcome mapping does not claim the achievement of development impacts, nor does it belittle the importance of changes in state. Rather, it focuses on its contributions to outcomes (that may in turn enhance the possibility of development impacts—the relationship is not inevitably a direct one of cause and effect.) More positively, because outcome mapping limits its concerns to those results that fall strictly within a project or program’s sphere of influence, development agencies can become more specific about the actors they target, the changes they expect to see, and the strategies they employ

Dry season feeds and feeding: a threat to sustainable ruminant animal production in Nigeria

Review of dry season feeds and feeding as a threat to sustainable production of ruminant animal production in Nigeria. The concept of dry season nutrition and challenges posed on ruminant production such as reduction in general performance of animal, increased susceptibility to diseases, reduction in palatability and acceptability of available forage, reduction in digestibility of forage consumed, migration of flock and herd’s men, overcrowding of available graze land, sales of animals at loss and increased cost of production were critically dealt with. strategies such as Forage conservation, utilization of crop residue, agro industrial by products, cultivated fodder crops, culling and sales of unproductive animals in the flock, utilization of browse plants, uses of concentrate feed, integration of ruminant production with crop production, improved pasture yield through fertilizer/manure application and supplementation of poor forages with nutrient supplements as means of ameliorating the adverse effects of dry season feed and feedings. Conclusively dry season feeds and feeding pose a great threat to ruminant animal production and for the sustainable production of ruminant animal products (wool, milk, meat, meat, hide and skin) and by-products (blood meal, bone meal and manure) efforts should be geared towards adoption of strategy recommend in the paper.Keywords: Ruminant animal, production, sustainable, dry season, feeds and feedin

Does mobile phone ownership matter? Insights on engagement in Health and e-government interventions from Southern Africa

The proliferation of mobile phones across the world has contributed to the rise of mHealth interventions as a complementary means for improving health outcomes in areas where health facilities are limited. However, community members who do not own or have access to mobile devices feel excluded from such interventions. In this paper, we seek to understand and explore engagement strategies that support the inclusion of non-mobile phone owners in Health interventions. We conducted a review of mHealth and community engagement literature to gauge the strategies different studies have employed to engage non-mobile phone owners and users. We further reflected on two Southern African case studies from health and citizen engagement sectors to gain insights on ways non-mobile phone owners may feel included in Health interventions. Through a process of thematic analysis, we have identified three areas that mHealth implementers could draw from when designing more inclusive Health interventions. These strategies include the need for sensitising communities, using multi-stakeholder and multi-sectoral collaboration, and embracing a braided approach to communication technologies. We hope that this paper will inform mHealth project implementers on different strategies they can use to include community members, regardless of whether they own mobile phones or not

Appropriateness of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) Toward Rural and Agricultural Transformation of Nigeria

The importance and relevance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) towards rural and agricultural development of nations of the world (including Nigeria) is discussed here. There is abundance of evidence laying credence to the usefulness, application and effectiveness of ICTs to development of many advanced and developing countries of the world. As an integral component of Science and Technology (S & T), ICTs has become a veritable instrument to combat underdevelopment, poverty, illiteracy, ignorance and stagnation. Some examples of countries where ICTs are widely applied are cited. Some evidences of significant stride made in Nigeria toward ICTs adoption and application are presented. This paper pleads for the creation of enabling environment for adequate application and adoption of ICTs and S & T by underdeveloped countries and developing countries including Nigeria. The paper highlights some considerable opportunities that could be exploited for realization of pro-poor growth. It emphasizes and illustrates some contradictions associated with S & T application and adoption, especially in the less developed countries (LDCs). It concludes its thesis by stressing the obvious that every nation has potential for growth and development and Nigeria is no exception, and recommended positive steps for ICTs application.Key words: Information, Communication, Technologies, Transformation,Rural, Nigeri

The Defunct Rivers State ‘School to Land’ Scheme: A Dream Deferred. Can the Objectives of the Songhai Farming Scheme in Rivers State be Achieved?

Ensuring food security and self-reliance through farming made many countries to embark on farming schemes such as the Gezira in Sudan, Alto Beni in Bolivia, Nyakashaka of Uganda, farming settlements of Eastern and Western Nigeria and the ―School to Land‖ scheme. The initial euphoria that welcomed these schemes was later dampened because they didn‘t fulfil their objectives. Presently the Songhai Farms, Benin Republic is a success story and the Rivers State government sent some youths to learn the art of farming there. Will the objectives of the Songhai Farms succeed in Rivers State? This is the bottomline of this paper

Challenges in using geographic information systems (GIS) to understand and control malaria in Indonesia

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease of global concern with 1.5 to 2.7 million people dying each year and many more suffering from it. In Indonesia, malaria is a major public health issue with around six million clinical cases and 700 deaths each year. Malaria is most prevalent in the developing countries of the world. Aid agencies have provided financial and technical assistance to malaria-prone countries in an effort to battle the disease. Over the past decade, the focus of some of this assistance has been in the provision of geographic information systems (GIS) hardware, software and training. In theory, GIS can be a very effective tool in combating malaria, however, in practice there have been a host of challenges to its successful use. This review is based, in part, on the literature but also on our experience working with the Indonesian Ministry of Health. The review identifies three broad problem areas. The first of these relates to data concerns. Without adequate data, GIS is not very useful. Specific problem areas include: accurate data on the disease and how it is reported; basic environmental data on vegetation, land uses, topography, rainfall, etc.; and demographic data on the movement of people. The second problem area involves technology – specifically computer hardware, GIS software and training. The third problem area concerns methods – assuming the previous data and technological problems have been resolved – how can GIS be used to improve our understanding of malaria? One of the main methodological tools is spatial statistical analysis, however, this is a newly developing field, is not easy to understand and suffers from the fact that there is no agreement on standard methods of analysis. The paper concludes with a discussion of strategies that can be used to overcome some of these problems. One of these strategies involves using ArcView GIS software in combination with ArcExplorer (a public domain program that can read ArcView files) to deal with the problem of needing multiple copies of GIS software. Another strategy involves the development of a self-paced training package that can be used to train individual

The challenges of aid dependency and economic reform: Africa and the Pacific

Abstract Jim Adams delivered the 2013 Harold Mitchell Development Policy Lecture on November 14, 2013. The Harold Mitchell Development Policy Lecture Series, of which this is the second, has been created to provide a new forum at which the most pressing development issues can be addressed by the best minds and most influential practitioners of our time. The 2012 Harold Mitchell Development Policy Lecture was delivered by Emilia Pires and is available as Devpolicy Discussion Paper 26. Jim Adams retired in 2012 after 37 years at the World Bank. His last assignment was as the Vice President for East Asia and the Pacific from 2007 – 2012, where he worked on and travelled extensively in the Pacific island region. He spent almost half of his career working on Africa, leading the Bank’s program as the Regional Director in Kenya in the late 1980s and as Country Director in Tanzania and Uganda from 1995-2002. From 2002 to 2007 he served as the head of operational policy in the Bank, overseeing a program directed at making the Bank more responsive to its clients’ needs. In his lecture Jim focuses on how effective economic reform emerged in Africa and related institutional and capacity issues. Drawing on this and his Pacific experience, he puts forward a number of proposals that could be taken up by governments and aid donors in the Pacific to accelerate economic reform and support the emergence of improved government institutions and policy making capacity. &nbsp

Urban agriculture and food security in the city of Lubumbashi (DRC).

The aim of this study is to find out whether or not urban farming is a response to food insecurity in the post-Gécamines era at the household level. This period is characterized by acute economic crisis at a time of rapid population growth and increasing urban poverty. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews, in-depth questions, observation and informal conversation, as well as primary and secondary sources. One hundred Lubumbashi farming households were selected and interviewed between November 2004 and March 2005. The data was analyzed within a sustainable livelihood approach based on the alternative theories of development, and using SPSS and thematic content analysis. Because of its potential in food supply and income generation, the focus on urban agriculture gives in-depth insights about categories of people involved, types of food crops grown and livestock kept, relations within the household members, and so on. The key findings of the study are that urban agriculture is more of a survival-entrepreneurial strategy than a survival or an entrepreneurial strategy for the majority of farming households. Less than a quarter of the selected farmers were able to move out of food insecurity and poverty. However, the majority of farmers were food secure for a short period of time (three to four months, particularly at the harvest period). The study also shows that though the living conditions of the majority of farmers (75%) declined despite the practice of food production, these conditions might have worsened without it. iii Poverty, competition for land and rapid population growth constitute the factors that threaten the expansion of agricultural activities within and around the city. The sustainability of urban agriculture is linked to its capacity to cope with and recover from stresses and shocks as well as its adaptability to the dynamism of the city, and the nature of support received from state and non-state institutions. However, food production and income generation remain the central functions of urban agriculture in Lubumbashi. Keywords: urban agriculture, food security, urban livelihood strategy, sustainable livelihoods approach, sustainability, entrepreneurial urban agriculture, survival urban agriculture, alternative theories of development, household economy, parallel economy