AN ANALYSIS OF THE USE OF COUNTERPART FUNDS IN MOZAMBIQUE

Summary While there is increasing consensus on how counterpart funds can be managed more effectively, there remain many procedural and managerial difficulties to overcome. Using recent experience with counterpart funds in Mozambique as a case study, this paper discusses issues of: i) efficiency of conversion of counterpart funds into budgetary resources, ii) how further insight into the procedures used by public and private corporations to defer counterpart payment might provide additional insight into the financial health of the enterprise sector, iii) the relation between deferred payment of counterpart and credit creation in the economy and iv) the appearance of differing perceptions between donors and the recipient government regarding reporting, accounting and uses of counterpart funds. Résumé Une analyse de l'exploitation des fonds de contrepartie à Mozambique Si le consensus augmente sur les moyens de rendre plus efficace la gestion des fonds de contrepartie, de nombreuses difficultés subsistent néanmoins au niveau des procédures et de la gestion. Prenant comme étude de cas l'expérience récemment dérivée d'un projet de financement en contrepartie à Mozambique, le présent article s'adresse aux questions suivantes: i) le niveau d'efficacité dans la conversion des fonds de contrepartie en ressources budgétaires; ii) dans quelle mesure est?ce qu'une connaissance plus approfondie des procédures employées par les compagnies commerciales publiques et privées pour différer le paiement des fonds de contrepartie offrirait une appréciation supplémentaire de la santé financière du secteur de l'économie de marché; iii) les éventuels rapports entre le paiement différé des fonds de contrepartie et la création du crédit dans les économies; et iv) l'apparition de perceptions divergentes entre les gouvernements donateurs et donataires en ce qui concerne l'élaboration des comptes?rendus, la comptabilité, et l'allocation des fonds de contrepartie. Resumen Análisis del uso de los fondos de contrapartida en Mozambique Si bien existe un consenso creciente en la forma de manejar los fondos de contrapartida más efectivamente, todavía quedan muchas dificultades de procedimiento y manejo por superar. Usando experiencias recientes con fondos de contrapartida en Mozambique como caso de estudio, este artículo analiza cuestiones de: i) eficiencia en la conversión de fondos de contrapartida en recursos presupuestarios; ii) de qué manera una percepción más profunda de los procedimientos usados por corporaciones públicas y privadas para diferir pagos de contrapartida podrían proveer revelaciones adicionales sobre la salud financiera en el sector empresario; iii) la relación entre pagos de contrapartida diferidos y la creación de crédito en la economía, y; iv) la aparición de diversas percepciones entre los donantes y el gobierno beneficiario en lo que se refiere a informes, contabilización y uso de fondos de contrapartida

Structural Adjustment and Policy Dialogue

SUMMARY This article first looks at the relationship between ‘dialogue’ and ‘conditionality’, the origin of policies about which dialogue is conducted, and the experience of it as practised by donor agencies. It then contrasts the long experience of India with current efforts to re?direct policies in sub?Saharan Africa. Finally, it evaluates six influences on policy dialogue: the coincidence of effective aid and effective dialogue; the risks of excessive leverage during crisis; recipient capacity for policy analysis; the frankness of donors about past errors and about international conditions affecting poor countries; donor coordination; and the economic context of dialogue. SOMMAIRE L'adjustement structurel et le dialogue de politique Cet article examine d'abord la relation entre le ‘dialogue’ et la ‘conditionalité’, l'origine des politiques sur lesquelles le dialogue se conduit, et la pratique des agences donneurs. Ensuite l'article contraste la longue pratique de l'Inde, aux afforts actuels d'une révision des politiques en Afrique sub?saharienne. Pour conclure l'article évalue six facteurs du dialogue effectif; les risques d'un trop grand recours aux forces de levier dans des situations de crise; la capacité du récipient d'analyser des politiques; la franchise des donneurs à propos des fautes comises dans le passé et à propos des conditions internationales touchant les pays pauvres; la coordination entre les donneurs: et le contexte économique du dialogue. RESUMEN Ajuste estructural y diálogo sobre políticas Este artículo examina, en primer lugar, la relación entre ‘diálogo’ y ‘condicionalidad’, el origen de las políticas que orientan el diálogo y la experiencia sobre éste en los términos practicados por las agencias donantes. A continuación, contrasta la larga experiencia de India con los esfuerzos actuales para reorientar políticas en el subsahara africano. Finalmente, evalúa seis elementos que influyen en el diálogo sobre políticas: los riesgos de excesiva flexibilidad en períodos de crisis, capacidad del receptor para analizar políticas, la franqueza de los donantes sobre los errores cometidos y las condiciones internacionales que afectan a los países pobres, coordinación entre donantes y, el contexto económico del diálogo

Mapping the Future: Policy Applications of Climate Vulnerability Mapping in West Africa

We describe the development of climate vulnerability maps for three Sahelian countries – Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger – and for coastal West Africa, with a focus on the way the maps were designed to meet decision-making needs and their ultimate influence and use in policy contexts. The paper provides a review of the literature on indicators and maps in the science-policy interface. We then assess the credibility, salience, and legitimacy of the maps as tools for decision-making. Results suggest that vulnerability maps are a useful boundary object for generating discussions among stakeholders with different objectives and technical backgrounds, and that they can provide useful input for targeting development assistance. We conclude with a discussion of the power of maps to capture policy maker attention, and how this increases the onus on map developers to communicate clearly uncertainties and limitations. The assessment of policy uptake in this paper is admittedly subjective; the article includes a discussion of ways to conduct more objective and rigorous assessments of policy impact so as to better evaluate the value and use of vulnerability mapping in decision-making processes

Livelihoods, conflict and aid programming: Is the evidence base good enough?

In conflict-affected situations, aid-funded livelihood interventions are often tasked with a dual imperative: to generate material welfare benefits and to contribute to peacebuilding outcomes. There may be some logic to such a transformative agenda, but does the reality square with the rhetoric? Through a review of the effectiveness of a range of livelihood promotion interventions—from job creation to microfinance—this paper finds that high quality empirical evidence is hard to come by in conflict-affected situations. Many evaluations appear to conflate outputs with impacts and numerous studies fail to include adequate information on their methodologies and datasets, making it difficult to appraise the reliability of their conclusions. Given the primary purpose of this literature—to provide policy guidance on effective ways to promote livelihoods— this silence is particularly concerning. As such, there is a strong case to be made for a restrained and nuanced handling of such interventions in conflict-affected settings.Department for International Development - PO511

Assessing the impact of microfinance programming on children: an evaluation from post-tsunami Aceh

This paper presents an evaluation of the long‐term impact of microfinance programmes on Acehnese children during the post‐tsunami recovery. The study, conducted from June to August 2010, examined the impact of microfinance programming six years after the tsunami. The sample consisted of 185 microfinance participants, with a comparison group of 192 individuals who did not participate in microfinance programmes. All respondents were parents, interviewed through a structured survey. The study used four child protection indicators—diet, health, childcare and education—in contrast to traditional repayment rate indicators. The primary results were insignificant with respect to all four child protection indicators, suggesting that, with respect to these indicators, there was no long‐term difference between the impact of microfinance on beneficiaries' children and non‐beneficiaries' children. These findings signify a need for microfinance actors to move beyond traditional indicators of economic success to evaluate the social changes microfinance programmes are presumed to effect

Religion and HIV in Tanzania: Influence of Religious Beliefs on HIV stigma, Disclosure, and Treatment Attitudes.

Religion shapes everyday beliefs and activities, but few studies have examined its associations with attitudes about HIV. This exploratory study in Tanzania probed associations between religious beliefs and HIV stigma, disclosure, and attitudes toward antiretroviral (ARV) treatment. A self-administered survey was distributed to a convenience sample of parishioners (n = 438) attending Catholic, Lutheran, and Pentecostal churches in both urban and rural areas. The survey included questions about religious beliefs, opinions about HIV, and knowledge and attitudes about ARVs. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to assess how religion was associated with perceptions about HIV, HIV treatment, and people living with HIV/AIDS. Results indicate that shame-related HIV stigma is strongly associated with religious beliefs such as the belief that HIV is a punishment from God (p < 0.01) or that people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) have not followed the Word of God (p < 0.001). Most participants (84.2%) said that they would disclose their HIV status to their pastor or congregation if they became infected. Although the majority of respondents (80.8%) believed that prayer could cure HIV, almost all (93.7%) said that they would begin ARV treatment if they became HIV-infected. The multivariate analysis found that respondents' hypothetical willingness to begin ARV treatme was not significantly associated with the belief that prayer could cure HIV or with other religious factors. Refusal of ARV treatment was instead correlated with lack of secondary schooling and lack of knowledge about ARVs. The decision to start ARVs hinged primarily on education-level and knowledge about ARVs rather than on religious factors. Research results highlight the influence of religious beliefs on HIV-related stigma and willingness to disclose, and should help to inform HIV-education outreach for religious groups

Impact of an in-built monitoring system on family planning performance in rural Bangladesh

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>During 1982–1992, the Maternal and Child Health Family Planning (MCH-FP) Extension Project (Rural) of International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B), in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) of the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), implemented a series of interventions in Sirajganj Sadar sub-district of Sirajganj district. These interventions were aimed at improving the planning mechanisms and for reviewing the problem-solving processes to build an effective monitoring system of the interventions at the local level of the overall system of the MOHFW, GoB.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The interventions included development and testing of innovative solutions in service-delivery, provision of door-step injectables, and strengthening of the management information system (MIS). The impact of an in-built monitoring system on the overall performance was assessed during the period from June 1995 to December 1996, after the withdrawal of the interventions in 1992.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results of the assessment showed that Family Welfare Assistants (FWAs) increased household-visits within the last two months, and there was a higher use of service-delivery points even after the withdrawal of the interventions. The results of the cluster surveys, conducted in 1996, showed that the selected indicators of health and family-planning services were higher than those reported by the Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) 1996–1997. During June 1995-December, 1996, the contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR) increased by 13 percentage points (i.e. from 40% to 53%). Compared to the national CPR (49%), this increase was statistically significant (p < 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The in-built monitoring systems, including effective MIS, accompanied by rapid assessments and review of performance by the programme managers, have potentials to improve family planning performance in low-performing areas.</p

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke among South Korean adults: a cross-sectional study of the 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Studies have identified that environmental tobacco smoke exposure is associated with sociodemographic factors such as age, sex, and socioeconomic status, but few studies have been conducted in South Korea. In this study, the authors investigated the extent of environmental tobacco smoke exposure and factors related in a nationally representative sample of Korean adults.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The data of 7,801 adults aged 19 years and over collected during the 2005 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed. Information on smoking habits and exposure to environmental tobacco smoke was obtained by self-reports using a standardized questionnaire. Risks of environmental tobacco smoke exposure conferred by sociodemographic variables and behavioral risk factors were evaluated using logistic regression methods.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall, 36.1% of nonsmokers (defined as those not currently smoking) and 50.1% of current smokers were found to be exposed to environmental tobacco smoke either at work or at home. Among the nonsmokers, women were more likely to be exposed to environmental tobacco smoke at home (OR = 5.22, 95%CI, 4.08-6.67). Furthermore, an inverse relationship was found between education level and the risk of environmental tobacco smoke exposure at home (OR = 1.73, 95%CI, 1.38-2.17 for those with a high school education; OR = 2.30, 95%CI, 1.68-3.16 for those with a middle school education; and OR = 2.58, 95%CI, 1.85-3.59 for those with less than an elementary school education vs. those with a college education or more). In addition, those with office, sales service, or manual labor jobs were found to be at significantly higher risk of environmental tobacco smoke exposure at work than those with professional, administrative, or managerial jobs. Also, the risk of environmental tobacco smoke exposure in the workplace was significantly higher for alcohol drinkers than non-drinkers (OR = 1.23, 95%CI, 1.07-1.47). After adjusting for age, sex and education, it was found that those exposed to environmental tobacco smoke at home were more likely to have been admitted to hospital during the previous year (OR 1.29, 95%CI, 1.002-1.66).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this study of Korean adults, exposure to environmental tobacco smoke at home or work was found to be affected by sex, age, marital status, educational level, and type of occupation. Accordingly, these factors should be given appropriate consideration by those developing policies or interventions designed to control exposure to environmental tobacco smoke.</p

Influencing resilience: The role of policy entrepreneurs in mainstreaming climate adaptation

One way to make development pathways more resilient in the face of a changing climate has been through mainstreaming adaptation into government policies, planning and sectoral decision‐making. To date, many of the transferable lessons have taken the form of technical approaches such as risk assessments and toolkits. This article instead draws on evidence from South Asia to emphasise some of the more tacit and informal approaches used to influence adaptation policy. Despite their apparent significance in policy processes, such tactics are often neither planned for nor well reported in resilience‐building projects and programme documents. Using evidence to populate a typology of influencing strategies, this article looks particularly at the role of policy entrepreneurs who navigate the political complexity of both formal and informal governance systems to promote successful adaptation mainstreaming. It concludes with recommendations for adaptation and resilience programming that can more effectively harness the breadth of influencing strategies

Legal Empowerment and Horizontal Inequalities after Conflict

This article explores whether legal empowerment can address horizontal inequalities in post-conflict settings, and, if so, how. It argues that legal empowerment has modest potential to reduce these inequalities. Nevertheless, there are risks that legal empowerment might contribute to a strengthening of group identities, reduction of social cohesion, and, in the worst case, triggering of conflict. It looks at how two legal empowerment programmes in Liberia navigated the tensions between equity and peace