PARTNERSHIPS IN HIGHLANDS OF RWANDA UNDER INTEGRATED AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH FOR DEVELOPMENT (IAR4D) ARRANGEMENTS

The Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) concept was proposed to respond to the failures of Agriculture Research and Development (ARD) systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. The key element of implementation and success of IAR4D was action sites called agricultural Innovation Platform (IPs) and their counterfactual sites. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is used to explain social relationships and partnerships. This study explored the patterns of agricultural partnerships among stakeholders in the highlands of Rwanda under IAR4D. Data were collected in action sites that included Mudende, Gataraga, Remera and Rwerere; and in their counterpart counterfactual sites that comprised of Bigogwe, Nyange and Gacaca. Results showed that in action sites, stakeholders were linked to different and diversified partners. Furthermore, many stakeholders were connected to several partners through agricultural partnerships, hence creating complex social networks with high density and degree of distribution. In the counterfactual sites, however, stakeholders were exclusively linked to the same kind of partners, and one stakeholder was connected to one partner through probably non-agricultural partnerships. These facts demonstrated that IAR4D created dense interfaces, significantly improved the networking system, and delivered technologies and innovations.Le concept de Recherche Agricole Int\ue9gr\ue9e pour le D\ue9veloppement (IAR4D) a \ue9t\ue9 propos\ue9 comme solution aux \ue9checs des syst\ue8mes Recherches Agricoles et D\ue9veloppement (ARD) en Afrique Sub-Saharienne. L\u2019\ue9l\ue9ment principal de la r\ue9ussite et du succ\ue8s d\u2019IAR4D \ue9tait l\u2019\ue9tablissement des sites d\u2019action appel\ue9s Plateformes Agricoles d\u2019innovation (IPs) ainsi que leurs sites t\ue9moins. L\u2019analyse du R\ue9seau Sociale (SNA) est utilis\ue9e pour expliquer les rapports et les relations sociaux des acteurs et des partenaires. La pr\ue9sente \ue9tude avait pour objectif d\u2019explorer les structures des relations socio-agricoles parmi les acteurs et les partenaires dans les hautes altitudes du Rwanda soumises \ue0 l\u2019IAR4D. Les donn\ue9es ont \ue9t\ue9 r\ue9colt\ue9es dans les sites d\u2019action comprenant\ua0: Mudende, Gataraga, Remera et Rwerere ainsi que dans leurs contreparties sites t\ue9moins incluant Bigogwe, Nyange et Gacaca. Les r\ue9sultats ont montr\ue9 que dans les sites d\u2019action, les acteurs \ue9taient associ\ue9s aux partenaires de natures diff\ue9rentes et un acteur \ue9tait li\ue9 \ue0 plusieurs partenaires a la fois. Dans les sites t\ue9moins par contre, les acteurs \ue9taient li\ue9s aux partenaires de m\ueames natures que ceux-ci et un acteur \ue9tait rarement li\ue9 \ue0 plus de deux partenaires. Ces faits ont montr\ue9 que l\u2019IAR4D a cr\ue9e un r\ue9seau socio-agricole tr\ue8s dense et sophistiqu\ue9 et ainsi a consid\ue9rablement am\ue9lior\ue9 le r\ue9seau socio-agricole. Par cons\ue9quent, l\u2019IAR4D peut \ueatre recommand\ue9 pour le transfert the technologies and des innovations agricoles

Inclusive education for Internally Displaced Children in Kenya::Children perceptions of their learning and development needs in post-conflict schooling

Abstract The Kenyan society has been characterised by tribal-political-instigated violence since the declaration of multiparty democracy in 1991. The 2007/8 post-election violence (PEV) particularly saw the scattering of families where some children lost months or years of schooling; others were permanently excluded from education, while the participation and achievement of those arriving in school were characterised by complex needs and experiences. This paper aims to analyse literature and report on findings from creative activities with 16 conflict-affected children (9–12 years) regarding their experiences and understandings of inclusive education during their post-conflict school-life. I conducted an intrinsic case study with aspects of ethnography in a post-conflict community primary school in Kenya whose majority (71%) pupil population was attributed to internal displacement following the 2007/8 PEV. Children perceived inclusive education in regard to their own learning and development needs as involving access and acceptance in the new school community, social-emotional development, ‘peer-keeping’ and community-consciousness. Whilst valuing their teachers’ pursuit for inclusion-sensitive practices, children’s understanding of their own circumstances resulted in group-made strategies like ‘peer-keeping’ and peer-constructed rules of interaction, helping them negotiate systemic constrains and distortion of values. This study underscores the fundamental role of children in social integration in post-conflict circumstances

Allelic Gene Structure Variations in Anopheles gambiae Mosquitoes

Allelic gene structure variations and alternative splicing are responsible for transcript structure variations. More than 75% of human genes have structural isoforms of transcripts, but to date few studies have been conducted to verify the alternative splicing systematically.The present study used expressed sequence tags (ESTs) and EST tagged SNP patterns to examine the transcript structure variations resulting from allelic gene structure variations in the major human malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae. About 80% of 236,004 available A. gambiae ESTs were successfully aligned to A. gambiae reference genomes. More than 2,340 transcript structure variation events were detected. Because the current A. gambiae annotation is incomplete, we re-annotated the A. gambiae genome with an A. gambiae-specific gene model so that the effect of variations on gene coding could be better evaluated. A total of 15,962 genes were predicted. Among them, 3,873 were novel genes and 12,089 were previously identified genes. The gene completion rate improved from 60% to 84%. Based on EST support, 82.5% of gene structures were predicted correctly. In light of the new annotation, we found that approximately 78% of transcript structure variations were located within the coding sequence (CDS) regions, and >65% of variations in the CDS regions have the same open-reading-frame. The association between transcript structure isoforms and SNPs indicated that more than 28% of transcript structure variation events were contributed by different gene alleles in A. gambiae.We successfully expanded the A. gambiae genome annotation. We predicted and analyzed transcript structure variations in A. gambiae and found that allelic gene structure variation plays a major role in transcript diversity in this important human malaria vector

Lake Kivu Pilot Learning Site socio-economic baseline study

The Lake Kivu Learning Site (LKPLS) was established as a pilot site over three countries: Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda. The LKPLS has been set to test the following hypotheses (Bekunda, et al., 2005): (i) Strong producer organizations have increased bargaining power and ability to collectively market produce and thus increase returns (income) to land and labor. (ii) Investments to sustain and maintain the natural resource base are more sustainable when they are linked to market-oriented production or when there are financial incentives for conserving natural resources and biodiversity. (iii) Increased livelihood options linked to markets including joint management for buffer zone inhabitants will decrease pressure on conservation areas and biodiversity and increase returns to land and labor. (iv) Investment in partnership arrangements that integrate research and development expertise and perspectives will achieve greater impact through scaling out islands of success. (v) Innovative information organization and sharing systems will enhance uptake of technologies and improve decision making. (vi) Strengthened local governance through improved community facilitation improves ability to influence development policy and advocate for support to local marketing and natural resource management initiatives. This study was conducted with the objective of establishing the baseline conditions of the socio-economic characteristics of the selected study sites. The baseline conditions will be used to test the stated hypotheses. This report is part of a larger study establishing the baseline conditions in the LKPLS

Partnerships in highlands of Rwanda under integrated agricultural research for development (IAR4D) arrangements

The Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D) concept was proposed to respond to the failures of Agriculture Research and Development (ARD) systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. The key element of implementation and success of IAR4D was action sites called agricultural Innovation Platform (IPs) and their counterfactual sites. Social Network Analysis (SNA) is used to explain social relationships and partnerships. This study explored the patterns of agricultural partnerships among stakeholders in the highlands of Rwanda under IAR4D. Data were collected in action sites that included Mudende, Gataraga, Remera and Rwerere; and in their counterpart counterfactual sites that comprised of Bigogwe, Nyange and Gacaca. Results showed that in action sites, stakeholders were linked to different and diversified partners. Furthermore, many stakeholders were connected to several partners through agricultural partnerships, hence creating complex social networks with high density and degree of distribution. In the counterfactual sites, however, stakeholders were exclusively linked to the same kind of partners, and one stakeholder was connected to one partner through probably non-agricultural partnerships. These facts demonstrated that IAR4D created dense interfaces, significantly improved the networking system, and delivered technologies and innovations

Assessing the downstream socioeconomic impacts of agroforestry in Kenya

Agroforestry is widely purported to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, rehabilitate degraded landscapes, and enhance the provisioning of ecosystem services. Yet, evidence supporting these longer-term impacts is limited. Using a quasi-experimental impact evaluation design informed by a theory-based and mixed methods framework, we investigated selected intermediate and final outcomes of a nine-year effort led by Vi Agroforestry, a Swedish non-governmental organization (NGO), to promote agroforestry in large sections of Bungoma and Kakamega counties in western Kenya. We compared households belonging to 432 pre-existing farmer groups operating in 60 program villages and 61 matched comparison villages. To address potential self-selection bias, we used program targeting as an instrument for program participation, combined with the difference-in-differences approach to control for time-invariant differences between our treatment and comparison groups. We complemented the above with semi-structured interviews with a sub-sample of 40 purposively selected program participants. Despite evidence of variable program exposure and agroforestry uptake, we found modest, yet statistically significant, effects of Vi Agroforestry’s program on intermediate outcomes, such as agroforestry product income, fuelwood access, and milk yields among dairy farmers. We also found that this program modestly increased asset holdings, particularly among households represented by female program participants