Monitoring and Evaluation: Civil Society Organisations’ Competitive Edge in Effective Poverty Alleviation

The role of Civil Society Organisations as preferred partners in development is strongly emerging across the globe. Among many reasons, one is reasonably good governance. The social sector has shown the acumen to learn and apply corporate management practices and international standards fast enough to start leading the competition. Notwithstanding the fact that a large part of development funding under soft loans and grants is channeled to the government, the CSOs receive a significant share directly and indirectly to implement development projects in communities. It has opened tremendous opportunities for CSOs to experiment and evolve new approaches in project management, community organisation, service delivery, product development, resource mobilisation and financial management. What makes the civil society organisations different from the public sector organisations? Fundamentally two things; these are non-governmental and nonprofit. However, the real difference is in the way civil society organisations are managed. It includes leadership, commitment, professionalism, systems and practices, thrust of work and most of all performance.

Monitoring and Evaluation: Civil Society Organisations’ Competitive Edge in Effective Poverty Alleviation

The role of Civil Society Organisations as preferred partners in development is strongly emerging across the globe. Among many reasons, one is reasonably good governance. The social sector has shown the acumen to learn and apply corporate management practices and international standards fast enough to start leading the competition. Notwithstanding the fact that a large part of development funding under soft loans and grants is channeled to the government, the CSOs receive a significant share directly and indirectly to implement development projects in communities. It has opened tremendous opportunities for CSOs to experiment and evolve new approaches in project management, community organisation, service delivery, product development, resource mobilisation and financial management. What makes the civil society organisations different from the public sector organisations? Fundamentally two things; these are non-governmental and nonprofit. However, the real difference is in the way civil society organisations are managed. It includes leadership, commitment, professionalism, systems and practices, thrust of work and most of all performance

Effect of hybrid immunity on the neutralizing antibody response to emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants including in people living with HIV.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This work focused on the effect of SARS-CoV-2 variants and co-infection with HIV on the neutralizing antibody response elicited by SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination. The first study described the effect of HIV status and suppression on antibody neutralization capacity against the Delta variant elicited by previous infection, the Janssen adeno vectored Ad26.CoV2.S vaccine, or hybrid immunity from infection followed by Ad26.CoV2.S vaccination. It was determined that while neutralizing immunity elicited by infection decreased in people living with HIV (PLWH) and particularly in those with unsuppressed HIV viremia, this effect was counteracted with hybrid immunity from infection and Ad26.CoV2.S vaccination, where with hybrid immunity neutralization levels increased and differences between PLWH and HIV negative individuals became non-significant. With the emergence of the Omicron variant, we investigated whether Omicron infection boosts cross-neutralizing antibody levels against other variants. It was determined that this cross-protection does occur but is considerably stronger in people with hybrid immunity consisting of Pfizer BNT162b2 mRNA or the Ad26.CoV2.S vaccination followed by breakthrough infection, implying that hybrid immunity from Omicron variant infection and vaccination may prevent infection with other, more pathogenic variants. Lastly, we demonstrated the escape of the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants from Omicron BA.1 subvariant elicited immunity. It was found that BA.4 and BA.5 showed substantial escape from BA.1 elicited immunity in the absence of vaccination, but the escape was more moderate in individuals with hybrid immunity from BA.1 infection combined with vaccination. Overall, these studies show the capacity of hybrid immunity, consisting of vaccination and infection, to reduce the negative effects of HIV viremia and emerging variants on the ability of the pre-existing immunity to neutralize SARS-CoV-2

Women’s Development Towards Inclusive Growth: A Study of Selected South Asian Women

Economic growth incorporating women\u27s participation opens many economic opportunities for women which not only upgrade women\u27s status in society but also make growth more inclusive. Improved condition and position of women in society play an important role in developing women along with enhancing their economic role. Besides explaining the significant role of women in an economy. This paper also throws some light on the need for good governance to enhance their economic role. In this context to evaluate the effect of the development of women on inclusive growth panel data models named the Fixed-Effect and Random-Effect Models have been used. Moreover, the models of White, Rogers, and Driscoll-Kraay estimators are also applied for robustness considering the three selected South Asian countries for the period between 2000-2021. The study finds that developing women play an influential role in inclusive growth and this relationship becomes more significant in the presence of good governance. Thus, it has been recommended that there should be a special focus on government policies towards women’s education, health, and political representation to make economic growth more inclusive by enhancing their economic role through their development

ACTUAL INTAKE VERSES RECOMMENDED INTAKE AMONGST FEMALE ADOLESCENTS

Background: The study was conducted to determine the dietary intake patterns of young females and to compare them with recommended servings. It was a descriptive quantitative study, in which a total of 100 girls of age 18-22 years participated from the Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore. Methods: Data was collected by taking dietary recall of the previous day using a 24 recall form. A food frequency questionnaire was also handed out to determine the dietary intake patterns and in order to validate the 24 hour recall. Before giving them a four day food diary which was collected after four days, they were explained about the serving sizes of different foods. Results: Approximately 50% of the respondents met the requirements of the food groups with the exception of vegetable group as only 2 % were taking according to the standards. When the validity of 24 hour with the food diary was checked, the insignificant p values being more than 0.05 indicated that their daily consumption was similar to the 24 hour recall. Conclusions: There should be more focus on eating a well balanced diet. Half of the young female adults are meeting the recommendations of the food groups with the exception of vegetable groups. It was concluded that the individuals had wrong perceptions about portion sizes and serving sizes thus awareness programs should also focus on that. A revised tool for the implementation of the dietary guidelines was recommended

A journey of transformation : A reflective recount of the evolution of AKES,P

This paper presents an overall picture of the evolution of the Aga Khan Education Service, Pakistan (AKES,P) over a century. Reaching out to the remotest areas of Pakistan, AKES,P, has been providing quality education for over a hundred years. The first school of AKES,P, was established in 1905 in Gwadar, Balochistan. Over a century later, AKES,P, now operates 179 schools and 5 hostels in Gilgit-Baltistan, Chitral, Punjab and Sindh, mostly in rural areas. These represent very diverse schools, ranging from a rural school with less than 30 children to a large urban school with over 3000 children. AKES,P, places special emphasis on improving educational practice; leadership and management in diverse and challenging settings; child-centred teaching methods; increasing use of ICT; female education; school-based teacher development; and working in partnership with the government and communities. The paper elucidates the institution’s journey since its inception, under five major themes, which include: Institutional Development, History of Teacher Development, Evolution of Teaching and Learning Practices, Creating a Child Friendly Environment, and Community Development

Reepithelialization in noise exposed skin wound

Objective: To observe the effect of noise on reepithelialization in rat skin wound. Methodology: A Quasi experimental study was conducted in Anatomy Department of Al-Nafees Medical College Isra University Islamabad & National Institute of Health (NIH) Islamabad from June 2015 to February 2016. Thirty male sprague Dawley rats were divided into control and experimental groups by convenient sampling. Each main group comprised of 15 rats. An incision of 2 cm was made on dorsal region of all rats. Control sub groups were left to heal with routine background noise exposure, while experimental sub groups underwent a 4 hour/day intermittent noise exposure of 85-95 db, five days a week for two consecutive weeks. Five rats from each group were sacrificed on day 3, 7 and 14. Wounds were excised, fixed and processed for haematoxilin and eosin stain to see the thickness of epithelium in rat skin wounds Results: Process of reepithelialization was not as significant in noise induced group as noticed in control group (routine noise exposed) Conclusion: Noise adversely affects the skin wound healing by interfering with epidermal regeneratio

The Effect of Variable Magnetic Field on Viscous Fluid between 3-D Rotatory Vertical Squeezing Plates: A Computational Investigation

In this paper, the 3-D squeezing flow of viscous incompressible fluid between two parallel plates rotating at the same rate is investigated. The flow is observed under the influence of the varying magnetic field. The flow phenomena are modeled by utilizing the basic governing equations, i.e., equation of continuity, coupled Navier Stokes, and Magnetic Field equations. Using appropriate similarity transformations, the resultant partial differential equations are then transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations. The computational technique is developed via the Homotopy Analysis Method (HAM) to obtain the solution of transformed systems of ordinary differential equations. The influence of several engineering fluid parameters, such as squeeze Reynolds number, magnetic field strength parameter, and magnetic Reynolds number, on velocity and magnetic field components, are observed from different graphs. It has been investigated that by increasing the squeeze Reynolds number, fluid velocity in the y and z directions will be increased as well. On the magnetic field component along the y-axis, an increasing influence of squeezing Reynolds number is also noticed. Similarly, raising the magnetic Reynolds number increases the velocity along the y-axis, whereas the inverse relationship is found for magnetic field components. Furthermore, for each flow phenomenon, an error analysis is also presented.The work of U.F.-G. was supported by the government of the Basque Country for the ELKARTEK21/10 KK-2021/00014 and ELKARTEK20/78 KK-2020/00114 research programs, respectively

Mabry syndrome in a child of South Asian descent

Mabry syndrome is the triad of seizures, hyperphosphatasia, and mental disability. It usually manifests in first year of life and has an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. Besides the usual triad, other manifestations of Mabry syndrome include hypoplasia of distal phalanges, brachytelencepahly, gastrointestinal malformations and constipation, hypertelorism, short nose with a broad nasal bridge and dip, and thin upper lip with down turned corners of the mouth. More than 20 cases of Mabry syndrome have been reported in medical literature. Herein, we report the case of a six-month child with Mabry syndrome that presented with decreased neck holding, hypotonia and delayed motor milestones. The child also had a high-arched palate and hyperplastic malar eminences. Constipation was present but had a delayed onset, starting at 19 months of age. This is the first case of Mabry syndrome occurring in a child of South Asian descent