Learning and teaching with India's green movement a review of Sunita Narain, Conflicts of interest. My journey through India's green movement, Viking, Gurgaon, 2017, 227 p

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552Obra ressenyada: Sunita NARAIN, Conflicts of interest. My journey through India's green movement. Gurgaon: Viking, 2017.A review of Sunita Narain's recent book and a discussion of the Green Movement in IndiaUna reseña del libro reciente de Sunita Narain y un análisis del movimiento verde de la Indi

Carotid intima media thickness and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in South Asian immigrants: could dysfunctional HDL be the missing link?

IntroductionSouth Asian immigrants (SAIs) in the US exhibit higher prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) and its risk factors compared with other ethnic populations. Conventional CAD risk factors do not explain the excess CAD risk; therefore there is a need to identify other markers that can predict future risk of CAD in high-risk SAIs. The objective of the current study is to assess the presence of sub-clinical CAD using common carotid artery intima-media thickness (CCA-IMT), and its association with metabolic syndrome (MS) and pro-inflammatory/dysfunctional HDL (Dys-HDL).Material and methodsA community-based study was conducted on 130 first generation SAIs aged 35-65 years. Dys-HDL was determined using the HDL inflammatory index. Analysis was completed using logistic regression and Fisher's exact test.ResultsSub-clinical CAD using CCA-IMT ≥ 0.8 mm (as a surrogate marker) was seen in 31.46%. Age and gender adjusted CCA-IMT was significantly associated with type 2 diabetes (p = 0.008), hypertension (p = 0.012), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (p < 0.001) and homocysteine (p = 0.051). Both the presence of MS and Dys-HDL was significantly correlated with CCA-IMT, even after age and gender adjustment. The odds of having Dys-HDL with CCA-IMT were 5 times (95% CI: 1.68, 10.78).ConclusionsThere is a need to explore and understand non-traditional CAD risk factors with a special focus on Dys-HDL, knowing that SAIs have low HDL levels. This information will not only help to stratify high-risk asymptomatic SAI groups, but will also be useful from a disease management point of view

Personality and Attitudes of Indian Young Female Workforce: Entrepreneurial Orientation by Education and Regions

This investigation analyzes the impact of region and educational background on entrepreneurial orientation of Indian young female trainees by using four personality descriptors i.e. need for achievement, innovation, personal control, and self-esteem around three attitude components i.e. affect, behavior, and cognition. The findings reflect the highest score of the respondents on the achievement motivation as compared to the other three personality descriptors (innovation, personal control, and self-esteem) and lowest score on the self-esteem dimension. Among attitude components, cognition has emerged as highest. Entrepreneurial orientation score of the sample as a whole is moderately high and female trainees from South India are having an edge over their counterparts from North India. Significant differences are not found between females of different educational backgrounds.entrepreneurial orientation, achievement, attitude, female, self-esteem

Ten Years Working on the Front Lines: Women for Afghan Women

This Ten-Year Report tells the story of Women for Afghan Women: our organizational journey over the past decade woven together with world events that affect women's rights in Afghanistan, the personal journeys of the women who lead the organization, and the inspirational stories of courageous women and girls whose lives have been transformed by our work

Working Paper 74 - Factors Impeding the Poverty Reduction Capacity of Micro-Credit: Some Field Observations from Malawi and Ethiopia

In most African countries women tend to account for an average 51% of the population, andmake up about 65% of the rural labour force. Thus, many rural based micro-finance programmeshave attempted to address the women specific need for micro-credit. This paper analyses theeffectiveness of micro-credit as a means to reducing poverty, with particular focus on women,and demonstrates, through the critical analysis of some country-specific examples, that the useand supply of micro-credit does not always lead to a sustainable impact on household or femalepoverty reduction. Analysis of findings are done based on field data, interviews, and observationsfrom Malawi and Ethiopia.The paper has concluded that while MFIs aim to reduce poverty and empower women there isusually no clear implementation mechanism to achieve these aims. Some of the conclusions ofthe paper are: the inadequate and insufficient participation of the female clients themselves in thedesign of the programmes affects the levels of poverty reduction; the inability of certain commonlyused indicators of success/failure of micro-credit in measuring the non-quantifiable impact ofthe programmes on the clients; there are certain undesired effects of micro-credit delivery, whichmay hinder the process of poverty reduction; MFIs target women mainly due to the fact that thelending characteristics of the rural micro-credit are best suited to female clients, rather than maleclients. Moreover, the empowerment process which is assumed to occur as a result of these loans,is impeded by the micro size of the loan, the small returns from the use of the loan, and the factthat the returns themselves are still not always the major contributor to the family income ascompared to the male income. Furthermore, the paper argues that it is a misconception that anMFI always targets the ultimate poorest of the poor, the landless, the assetless, and the destitute,because, as the paper has demonstrated that for an MFI such a client profile will not ensurereturns and increase profits, and it is precisely such a beneficiary profile that is unattractive andunlikely to become a potential client. The changing policy environment, thus, puts more pressureand competition for the scarce resources between the poorest of the poor and the “not-so-poor”.This paper has highlighted the fact that since development interventions put greater focus onpromotion of, for example, export markets and international trade, and medium scale farmers andentrepreneurs, the actual micro-credit clients are not the typical ‘hand-to-mouth’ poor.Finally the paper gives broad recommendations for further research and analysis in order tostrengthen the capabilities of micro-credit for poverty reduction. Furthermore, the analysis in thispaper also provides the way-forward in the design of future micro-credit interventions for povertyreduction as well as gender and empowerment.

Tewa, Annual Report 2013-2014

The grant making goals, as outlined in Tewa's Grant Making Strategy are:1. To support initiatives aimed at transforming the lives of women, especially the most vulnerable and marginalised, through strengthening their capacities.2. To assist and enhance decision making and leadership, to amplify women's voices and make their concerns visible.3. To strengthen movement building, so that there is a critical mass of women that can: participate, advocate, influence and strengthen politically