Aid and Poverty

SUMMARY The volume of aid received by the less developed countries, with some exceptions, is small in relation to the existing scale of poverty in those countries. Aid makes a significant but incremental contribution to available national resources. What aid can or cannot do for the poor has to be viewed and assessed within the context of overall national policies and priorities towards poverty elimination. In that context, it can be said that aid has made a smaller impact on poverty than one would expect. The reasons for this are varied and complex, and point to shortcomings in both donor and recipient policies. The aid experience, however, is by no means wholly negative. Particular forms of aid can make a positive contribution to a reduction in poverty, where national policies are directed towards the same objectives. More important for the future, perhaps, are the lessons that can be learnt from the aid experience about the do's and don'ts of aid policy. SOMMAIRE L'aide et la pauvreté Le volume de l'aide reçu par les pays moins développés, avec quelques exceptions, est petit en rapport avec la pauvreté dans ces pays. L'aide contribue substantiellement mais d'une manière incrémentale aux resources nationales disponibles de ces pays. Le potentiel de l'aide doit être évalué dans le contexte globale des politiques nationales et des priorités envers l'élimination de la pauvreté. Dans ce contexte, on peut dire que l'influence de l'aide sur la pauvreté a été plus petite de ce qu'on aurait prévu. Les raisons pour ceci sont diverses et complexes, et soulignent des défauts dans les politiques des donneurs, aussi bien que dans celles des pays recevants. Cependant, l'expérience de l'aide n'est d'aucune manière entièrement négative. Certaines formes d'aide peuvent réduire la pauvreté, lá où les politiques nationales sont formulées dans le même but. Plus important pour l'avenir, peut?être, sont les leçons de l'expérience de l'aide en ce qui concerne ce qu'on peut faire, et ce qu'on ne devrait pas faire en matière de politique de l'aide. RESUMEN Ayuda y Pobreza Con algunas excepciones, el volumen de la ayuda recibida por los países menos desarrollados es pequeño en relación a la escala de pobreza existente en esos países. La ayuda implica una contribución significativa y adicional a los recursos nacionales existentes. Lo que la ayuda puede y no puede hacer en favor de los pobres, debe considerarse y evaluarse en el contexto del conjunto de las políticas y prioridades nacionales de erradicación de la pobreza. En este contexto puede decirse que el impacto de la ayuda sobre la pobreza, es menor del que podría esperarse. Las razones son variadas y complejas y se refieren a deficiencias en las políticas de donantes y receptores. No obstante, la experiencia en ayuda está lejos de ser totalmente negativa. Determinadas formas de ayuda pueden realizar una contribución positiva en la reducción de la pobreza, en los casos en que las políticas nacionales están dirigidas a los mismos objetivos. Probablemente lo más importante para el futuro, son las lecciones que la experiencia en ayuda proporciona acerca de lo que debería y no debería involucrar la política de ayuda

The Aid paradigm for poverty reduction: Does it make sense?

YesWhilst thinking on economic policy for development has undergone many shifts with the perceived weak results of earlier adjustment reforms a new donor consensus has emerged based around the central themes of economic growth, good governance and social development. This paper examines the logic behind this new Aid paradigm and discusses the empirical evidence to support it. A nuanced story is revealed with country circumstances playing a critical role and particular interventions varying in impact across countries. For example, growth does not always lead to gains for the poor that match the national average; public expenditure needs to be targeted to achieve social development but effective targeting is difficult; governance reform may be critical but there is no simple governance blueprint and the corruption-growth association need not always be negative

Health-industry linkages for local health: reframing policies for African health system strengthening

The benefits of local production of pharmaceuticals in Africa for local access to medicines and to effective treatment remain contested. There is scepticism among health systems experts internationally that production of pharmaceuticals in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) can provide competitive prices, quality and reliability of supply. Meanwhile low-income African populations continue to suffer poor access to a broad range of medicines, despite major international funding efforts. A current wave of pharmaceutical industry investment in SSA is associated with active African government promotion of pharmaceuticals as a key sector in industrialization strategies. We present evidence from interviews in 2013–15 and 2017 in East Africa that health system actors perceive these investments in local production as an opportunity to improve access to medicines and supplies. We then identify key policies that can ensure that local health systems benefit from the investments. We argue for a ‘local health’ policy perspective, framed by concepts of proximity and positionality, which works with local priorities and distinct policy time scales and identifies scope for incentive alignment to generate mutually beneficial health–industry linkages and strengthening of both sectors. We argue that this local health perspective represents a distinctive shift in policy framing: it is not necessarily in conflict with ‘global health’ frameworks but poses a challenge to some of its underlying assumptions

Dopamine Induced Neurodegeneration in a PINK1 Model of Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disease characterised by progressive loss of dopaminergic neurons, leading to dopamine depletion in the striatum. Mutations in the PINK1 gene cause an autosomal recessive form of Parkinson's disease. Loss of PINK1 function causes mitochondrial dysfunction, increased reactive oxygen species production and calcium dysregulation, which increases susceptibility to neuronal death in Parkinson's disease. The basis of neuronal vulnerability to dopamine in Parkinson's disease is not well understood

Legal Pluralism in Theory and Practice

Legal pluralism has vast policy and governance implications. In developing countries, for instance, non-state justice systems often handle most disputes and retain substantial autonomy and authority. Legal pluralism's importance, however, is rarely recognized and dramatically under theorized. This article advances scholarly understanding of legal pluralism both theoretically and empirically. It proposes a new typological framework for conceptualizing legal pluralism through four distinct archetypes – combative, competitive, cooperative, and complementary – to help clarify the range of relationships between state and non-state actors. It posits five main strategies used by domestic and international actors in attempts to influence the relationship between state and non-state justice systems: bridging, harmonization, incorporation, subsidization, and repression. As post-conflict situations are fluid and can feature a wide range of relationships between state and non-state actors, they are particularly instructive for showing how legal pluralism archetypes can be shifted over time. Case studies from Timor-Leste and Afghanistan highlight that selecting an appropriate policy is vital for achieving sustainable positive outcomes. Strategies that rely on large scale spending or even the use of substantial military force in isolation are unlikely to be successful. The most promising approaches are culturally intelligible and constructively engage non-state justice networks of authority and legitimacy to collectively advance the judicial state-building process. While the case studies focus on post-conflict states, the theory presented can help understand and improve efforts to promote the rule of law as well as good governance and development more broadly in all legally pluralist settings

New live screening of plant-nematode interactions in the rhizosphere

Abstract Free living nematodes (FLN) are microscopic worms found in all soils. While many FLN species are beneficial to crops, some species cause significant damage by feeding on roots and vectoring viruses. With the planned legislative removal of traditionally used chemical treatments, identification of new ways to manage FLN populations has become a high priority. For this, more powerful screening systems are required to rapidly assess threats to crops and identify treatments efficiently. Here, we have developed new live assays for testing nematode responses to treatment by combining transparent soil microcosms, a new light sheet imaging technique termed Biospeckle Selective Plane Illumination Microscopy (BSPIM) for fast nematode detection, and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy for high resolution imaging. We show that BSPIM increased signal to noise ratios by up to 60 fold and allowed the automatic detection of FLN in transparent soil samples of 1.5 mL. Growing plant root systems were rapidly scanned for nematode abundance and activity, and FLN feeding behaviour and responses to chemical compounds observed in soil-like conditions. This approach could be used for direct monitoring of FLN activity either to develop new compounds that target economically damaging herbivorous nematodes or ensuring that beneficial species are not negatively impacted

Unbiased estimators of mean, variance and sensitivity level for quantitative characteristics in finite population sampling

Percent relative efficiency, Randomized response, Sample size allocation, Simple random sampling with replacement,