An economic analysis of aid fungibility : Japan's official development assistance to Indonesia : a research thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Applied Economics at Massey University

This study examines aid fungibility of Japan's official development assistance (ODA) to Indonesia for the period 1973 to 1994. Aid fungibility, often known as switching of aid money into non-development purposes, is one of the most controversial issues that impinges upon the macroeconomic effectiveness of foreign aid. In this study Japan's foreign aid to Indonesia is analysed, since Indonesia is one of the largest recipients of Japan's aid, and also since Japan is the largest aid donor to Indonesia. Using the maximum likelihood cointegration econometric procedure and the error correction mechanism (ECM), the study analyses aid fungibility for non-development current expenditure, development expenditure and domestic revenue for Indonesia. The results indicate that none of Japan's total sectoral aid, other donors' total sectoral aid, and non-sectoral aid from all donors, leaks into non-development current expenditure or reduces domestic revenue. Hence, no evidence of aid fungibility at the aggregate level is found. The study further analyses aid fungibility at the sectoral level for four major sections, i.e. social services sector, economic services sector, production sector, and other sectors. The empirical results provide no evidence that Japan's aid to the social services and production sectors is fungible. However, Japan's aid to the economic services sectors and other sectors is fungible. Furthermore, other donors' sectoral aid to all four sectors is fungible. Also, there is diversion of resources into the other sectors from other three combined sectors, i.e. social services sector, economic services sector, and production sector. This suggests that Japan's aid to the economic services sector and other donors' sectoral aid to the social services sector, economic services sector, production sector, may diverge into the other sectors. This study concludes by speculating the importance of aid sources and sectors to which aid is allocated as some of the factors that explain aid fungibility in Indonesia

Child Psychosocial Adjustment and Parenting in Families Affected by Maternal HIV/AIDS

Child adjustment and parenting were examined in 23 9-through 16-year-old youth from families affected by maternal HIV infection and 20 same-age peers whose mothers were not infected. Children whose mothers were seropositive reported significantly more externalizing problems. Infected mothers reported less age-appropriate supervision/monitoring relative to non-infected mothers. Better mother-child relationship quality and less impairment in parental supervision/monitoring of age-appropriate youth behaviors were associated with fewer externalizing difficulties among the HIV-positive group only. Similarly, only among HIV-infected mothers was refraining from engaging in inconsistent disciplinary tactics associated with lower reports of internalizing and externalizing problems. These data highlight the promise of programs targeting parenting skills to prevent or ameliorate child difficulties

Economic sanctions as a means to enforce human rights in Burma (Myanmar) : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Development Studies

Since the end of the Cold War, human rights has become a central focus of international relationships, especially the relationship between developed countries (the West) and developing countries (the Rest). Burma is one of the developing countries whose relationship with Western governments is premised on the issue of human rights. In the pursuit of human rights enforcement, the United States and the European Union employ economic sanctions against Burma. While economic sanctions are designed to encourage a transition to democratic rule and a greater respect for human rights, studies show that little attention has been paid to the effectiveness of such measurements. In this study, a literature review and field research are carried out as an effort to assess the effectiveness of economic sanctions in Burma

The role of water in transforming food systems

The United Nations Food Systems Summit aimed to chart a path toward transforming food systems toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Despite the essentiality of water for food systems, however, the Summit has not sufficiently considered the role of water for food systems transformation. This focus is even more important due to rapidly worsening climate change and its pervasive impacts on food systems that are mediated through water. To avoid that water "breaks" food systems, key food systems actors should 1) Strengthen efforts to retain water-dependent ecosystems, their functions and services; 2) Improve agricultural water management; 3) Reduce water and food losses beyond the farmgate; 4) Coordinate water with nutrition and health interventions; 5) Increase the environmental sustainability of food systems; 6) Explicitly address social inequities; and 7) Improve data quality and monitoring for water-food system linkages

Food System Transformation: Integrating a Political-Economy and Social-Ecological Approach to Regime Shifts.

Sustainably achieving the goal of global food security is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. The current food system is failing to meet the needs of people, and at the same time, is having far-reaching impacts on the environment and undermining human well-being in other important ways. It is increasingly apparent that a deep transformation in the way we produce and consume food is needed in order to ensure a more just and sustainable future. This paper uses the concept of regime shifts to understand key drivers and innovations underlying past disruptions in the food system and to explore how they may help us think about desirable future changes and how we might leverage them. We combine two perspectives on regime shifts-one derived from natural sciences and the other from social sciences-to propose an interpretation of food regimes that draws on innovation theory. We use this conceptualization to discuss three examples of innovations that we argue helped enable critical regime shifts in the global food system in the past: the Haber-Bosch process of nitrogen fixation, the rise of the supermarket, and the call for more transparency in the food system to reconnect consumers with their food. This paper concludes with an exploration of why this combination of conceptual understandings is important across the Global North/ Global South divide, and proposes a new sustainability regime where transformative change is spearheaded by a variety of social-ecological innovations

STATUS BEKERJA, STRUKTUR KELUARGA DAN KERAWANAN PANGAN RUMAH TANGGA DENGAN ANAK

AbstractHousehold food insecurity is an important issue because of its negative impact on children’s health and nutrition. This study aimed to analyze the effect of working status and family structure on food insecurity in households with children. The data used comes from the 2018 National Socio-Economic Survey. The analysis was carried out separately for poor and non-poor households using binary logistic regression. The results showed that households with heads in part-time work and those with unemployed heads were more likely to be food insecure than households with heads in full-time work in both households, whereas households with heads not in labor force were significantly more likely to be food insecure only in the poor households. In the poor households, single-male headed households were more likely to be food insecure than single-female headed households while in the non-poor households, the opposite occurred. Strengthening social safety nets, expanding employment opportunities and providing education about food insecurity needs to be done in households with children

FOOD INSECURITY and MALNUTRITION of AFRICA: A COMBINED ATTEMPT CAN REDUCE THEM

In the 21st century Africa is in the top levels of hunger and malnutrition in the world that is unharmonious with the vision of the African Union. Hunger and malnutrition is a common matter in almost all African countries and recently it is appeared to be increasing in most of the countries of the continent. Security of food and nutrition is a fundamental right of every people. But many people of Africa are deprived from this right. About one-third of African children is undersized in their growth and suffers from various physical and mental complexities. The UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 aims to end all forms of hun­ger and malnutrition globally by 2030, but Africa is off track. It is estimated that about 200 million people of Africa are undernourished. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the African food and nutrition security system in the long-term. The pandemic has thrown the continent in serious uncertainty to the implementation of the SDG 2. Food production of this continent should be increased with the proportional to the increased populations. This study tries to discuss the food and nutrition situation of Africa and provides a constructive guideline to overcome it