Introducing a gender-sensitive approach to pre-trial assessment and probation: Evaluation of an innovation in Kenya

This paper evaluates a pioneering project to introduce a gender-sensitive approach to working with women completing probation and community service orders in Kenya. The intervention consisted of context-specific research with women throughout Kenya, leading to adaptations to existing probation tools, followed by pilot implementation of a gender-sensitive approach. The evaluation explores the relevance, effectiveness and sustainability of the intervention and presents opinions of implementing probation officers and sector experts. Findings suggest that the project genuinely broke new ground in terms of research on gender-sensitivity and quality of pre-trial reporting for women. Close adherence to the UN Bangkok Rules means the model and lessons are applicable both domestically and globally

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

Assessment of solar shading strategies in low-income tropical housing: the case of Uganda

Developing countries in tropical and subtropical areas will be the worst hit by climate change. Very little research has been done to assess the impact of climate change on thermal comfort in low-income housing in these regions. The effects of solar shading strategies and solar absorptance properties of walls and roofs on thermal comfort in Ugandan low-income housing are studied in this paper. Various shading strategies including curtains, roof and window overhangs, veranda and trees as well as effects of painting on solar heat gain and thermal comfort are modelled using EnergyPlus software. An adaptive approach for naturally ventilated buildings defined by the European Committee for Standardization standard BS EN 15251:2007 is used to assess the conditions. According to the results, solar shading is less effective in meeting thermal comfort requirements and it should be used in conjunction with other strategies to achieve desirable results. White painting, in contrast, significantly improved the conditions and significantly reduced the risk of overheating. Solar shading proved to be effective during the hottest periods of the year, reducing the risk of extreme overheating by up to 52%

Safeguarding gains in the Sexual and Reproductive Health and AIDS Response amidst COVID-19: The Role of African Civil Society

We outline the role of African Civil Society in safeguarding gains registered to date in the sexual and reproductive health and HIV response. We make a case why civil society organizations (CSOs) must vigilantly be engaged in the COVID-19 response in Africa. Lockdown disruptions, and rerouting of health funds to the pandemic, have impeded access to essential Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH), and social protection services. Compounded by pre-existing inequalities faced by vulnerable populations, poor SRH outcomes amid COVID-19 calls for CSOs' intensified demand on accountability of Governments. CSOs also rapidly close community-health facility gaps and provide safety-nets to mitigate the COVID-19 gendered impact

Will REDD+ safeguards mitigate corruption? Qualitative evidence from Southeast Asia

High levels of faith and finance are being invested in REDD+ as a promising global climate change mitigation policy. Since its inception in 2007, corruption has been viewed as a potential impediment to the achievement of REDD+ goals, partly motivating ‘safeguards’ rolled out as part of national REDD+ readiness activities. We compare corruption mitigation measures adopted as part of REDD+ safeguards, drawing on qualitative case evidence from three Southeast Asian countries that have recently piloted the scheme: Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. We find that while REDD+ safeguards adopt a conventional principal-agent approach to tackling corruption in the schemes, our case evidence confirms our theoretical expectation that REDD+ corruption risks are perceived to arise not only from principal-agent type problems: they are also linked to embedded pro-corruption social norms. This implies that REDD+ safeguards are likely to be at best partially effective against corruption, and at worst will not mitigate corruption at all

A screening tool to prioritize public health risk associated with accidental or deliberate release of chemicals into the atmosphere

The Chemical Events Working Group of the Global Health Security Initiative has developed a flexible screening tool for chemicals that present a risk when accidentally or deliberately released into the atmosphere. The tool is generic, semi-quantitative, independent of site, situation and scenario, encompasses all chemical hazards (toxicity, flammability and reactivity), and can be easily and quickly implemented by non-subject matter experts using freely available, authoritative information. Public health practitioners and planners can use the screening tool to assist them in directing their activities in each of the five stages of the disaster management cycle

Debt Relief Effectiveness and Institution Building

The history of debt relief is now particularly long, the associated costs are soaring and the outcomes are at least uncertain. This paper reviews and provides new evidence on the effects of recent debt relief programs on different macroeconomic indicators in developing countries, focusing on the Highly Indebted Poor Countries. Besides, the relationship between debt relief and institutional change is investigated to assess whether donors are moving towards and ex-post governance conditionality. Results show that debt relief is only weakly associated with subsequent improvements in economic performance but it is correlated with increasing domestic debt in HIPCs, undermining the positive achievements in reducing external debt service. Finally, there is evidence that donors are moving towards a more sensible allocation of debt forgiveness, rewarding countries with better policies and institutions

Idioms of accumulation: corporate accumulation by dispossession in urban Zimbabwe

​David Harvey’s accumulation by dispossession has inspired a wide range of studies in different places. But it has hardly registered in the area of urban land grabbing in Africa and the role of local capital in these processes. Using archival data, field observations and insights from key informant interviews in Harare, this paper examines how the 1990s neo-liberalism and post 1999 Zimbabwe crisis created new opportunities for accumulation of wealth through irregular and fraudulent transfer of public urban land into private hands including those of reputable corporate institutions. It speaks to the literature on contemporary land grabbing and raises questions and new insights for comparative understanding of the transformative role and nature of the state, postcolonial African cities, anti-capitalist struggles, the status and meaning of planning in different settings

Disaster resilience: What it is and how it can engender a meaningful change in development policy

Disasters pose a growing threat to sustainable development. Disaster risk management efforts have largely failed to arrest the underlying drivers of growing risk globally: uncontrolled urbanization and proliferation of assets in hazardous areas. Resilience provides an opportunity to confront the social-ecological foundations of risk and development; yet it has been vaguely conceptualized, without offering a concrete approach to operationalization. We propose a conceptualization of disaster resilience centred on wellbeing: ‘The ability of a system, community or society to pursue its social, ecological and economic development objectives, while managing its disaster risk over time in a mutually reinforcing way.’ We present a conceptual framework for understanding the interconnections between disasters and development, and outline how it is being operationalized in practice