25 research outputs found
Empty rituals? A qualitative study of usersâ experience of monitoring & evaluation systems in HIV interventions in western India
In global health initiatives, particularly in the context of private philanthropy and its âbusiness mindedâ approach, detailed programme data plays an increasing role in informing assessments, improvements, evaluations, and ultimately continuation or discontinuation of funds for individual programmes. The HIV/AIDS literature predominantly treats monitoring as unproblematic. However, the social science of audit and indicators emphasises the constitutive power of indicators, noting that their effects at a grassroots level are often at odds with the goals specified in policy. This paper investigates users' experiences of Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) systems in the context of HIV interventions in western India. Six focus groups (totalling 51 participants) were held with employees of 6 different NGOs working for government or philanthropy-funded HIV interventions for sex workers in western India. Ten donor employees were interviewed. Thematic analysis was conducted. NGO employees described a major gap between what they considered their âreal workâ and the indicators used to monitor it. They could explain the official purposes of M&E systems in terms of programme improvement and financial accountability. More cynically, they valued M&E experience on their CVs and the rhetorical role of data in demonstrating their achievements. They believed that inappropriate and unethical means were being used to meet targets, including incentives and coercion, and criticised indicators for being misleading and inflexible. Donor employees valued the role of M&E in programme improvement, financial accountability, and professionalising NGO-donor relationships. However, they were suspicious that NGOs might be falsifying data, criticised the insensitivity of indicators, and complained that data were under-used. For its users, M& E appears an âempty ritualâ, enacted because donors require it, but not put to local use. In this context, monitoring is constituted as an instrument of performance management rather than as a means of rational programme improvement
Exoplanet Diversity in the Era of Space-based Direct Imaging Missions
This whitepaper discusses the diversity of exoplanets that could be detected
by future observations, so that comparative exoplanetology can be performed in
the upcoming era of large space-based flagship missions. The primary focus will
be on characterizing Earth-like worlds around Sun-like stars. However, we will
also be able to characterize companion planets in the system simultaneously.
This will not only provide a contextual picture with regards to our Solar
system, but also presents a unique opportunity to observe size dependent
planetary atmospheres at different orbital distances. We propose a preliminary
scheme based on chemical behavior of gases and condensates in a planet's
atmosphere that classifies them with respect to planetary radius and incident
stellar flux.Comment: A white paper submitted to the National Academy of Sciences Exoplanet
Science Strateg
Cold and Ultracold Rydberg Atoms in Strong Magnetic Fields
Cold Rydberg atoms exposed to strong magnetic fields possess unique
properties which open the pathway for an intriguing many-body dynamics taking
place in Rydberg gases consisting of either matter or anti-matter systems. We
review both the foundations and recent developments of the field in the cold
and ultracold regime where trapping and cooling of Rydberg atoms have become
possible. Exotic states of moving Rydberg atoms such as giant dipole states are
discussed in detail, including their formation mechanisms in a strongly
magnetized cold plasma. Inhomogeneous field configurations influence the
electronic structure of Rydberg atoms, and we describe the utility of
corresponding effects for achieving tightly trapped ultracold Rydberg atoms. We
review recent work on large, extended cold Rydberg gases in magnetic fields and
their formation in strongly magnetized ultracold plasmas through collisional
recombination. Implications of these results for current antihydrogen
production experiments are pointed out, and techniques for trapping and cooling
of such atoms are investigated.Comment: 46 pages, 38 figures, to appear in Physics Report