Stakeholder Perceptions on Graduation in Ethiopia and Rwanda

The Food Security Programme in Ethiopia and the Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme in Rwanda deliver a combination of consumption support (cash or food transfers, Public Works employment) and livelihood support (asset packages, microfinance) with the objective of ‘graduating’ rural households out of food insecurity and poverty into self?reliant livelihoods. This article presents perspectives on graduation of influential stakeholders in Ethiopia and Rwanda, and draws conclusions from these case studies for global graduation debates. Our qualitative research reveals a diversity of opinions about the complexity of factors that enable or constrain sustainable graduation. These relate partly to programme design, but also to implementation issues and the different national and subnational economic, political and agroecological contexts within which programmes operate. The alignment of graduation with broader development goals makes investment in these programmes attractive to donors as well as governments, but risks introducing excessive political pressure to demonstrate ‘success’

Social Protection and Humanitarian Response: What is the Scope for Integration?

Given the rise in humanitarian emergencies triggered by climate-related risks and conflict, often in contexts of chronic poverty and vulnerability, the international community is calling for the better integration of short-term humanitarian assistance and longer-term development interventions. In this context, social protection is increasingly portrayed as a policy tool that can address chronic, as well as acute needs by delivering assistance in response to shocks through established, scalable systems. This paper lays out the key arguments for more integration between the humanitarian and social protection sectors, while discussing the potential tensions emerging from conflicting mandates and institutional structures. Whether or not more integration will provide more efficient and effective responses to crises depends on the type of shocks and the crisis context, as well as the capacity and coverage of the social protection programme to deliver to additional caseloads. Based on a review of the existing evidence, the paper concludes that important gaps need to be filled with regard to the technicalities of linking short- and longer-term interventions in humanitarian contexts, particularly in relation to mobile populations and refugees, and understanding better the political economy factors that facilitate bridging the humanitarian–development divide.Irish Ai

Where Next for Social Protection?

The rapid ascendancy of social protection up the development policy agenda raises questions about whether its current prominence will be sustained, or whether it will turn out to be just another development fad. What trajectory will social protection follow, which actors will drive it forward and what will be the main issues and challenges? This article reports on a small foresight study designed to address the question: ‘Where next for social protection?’ A scenario-building exercise revealed that there is no single linear pathway for social protection, but multiple highly context-specific trajectories subject to change as political ideologies and institutional capacities shift. A ‘wind-tunnelling’ exercise highlighted the importance of a country’s political regime as a fundamental determinant of which social protection policies will be adopted. Better understanding of political processes is needed to protect gains made in social protection against possible reversals when the political climate shifts against pro-poor redistributive policies

Cash 'plus' - Integrated Nutrition and Social Cash Transfer (IN-SCT) Pilot in Ethiopia: perceptions and feedback from clients and service providers

The Integrated Nutrition Social Cash Transfer (IN-SCT) pilot project is embedded within phase 4 of Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme phase 4 (PSNP4), and is being implemented in four PSNP woredas, two in Oromia region and two in SNNPR. Since 2005, PSNP has delivered support to millions of rural households throughout rural Ethiopia, in the form of temporary employment (Public Works), unconditional cash transfers (Direct Support), and asset transfers. Several evaluations have confirmed that the PSNP has improved household food security and protected productive assets against distress sales. However, impacts on nutrition have been limited. Several innovations have been introduced on PSNP4 to enhance programme outcomes, specifically in terms of child nutrition. Most significantly: (1) Permanent Direct Support (PDS) clients now receive payments all year instead of only 6 months per year; (2) pregnant and lactating women (PLW) and caregivers of malnourished children are moved from Public Works (PW) to Temporary Direct Support (TDS); (3) co-responsibilities have been introduced for TDS and PDS clients, particularly to strengthen linkages between PSNP with health care and other social services. The IN-SCT pilot aims to support increased uptake of social services by PSNP households; improved knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) of DS households in terms of nutrition, hygiene, health, education and child protection; the implementation of nutrition-sensitive components of PSNP4; and cross-sectoral collaboration between a range of stakeholders at regional, woreda and local levels.RF/16013 Centre for Social Protection, IDS, UK and REBRET Business and Consultancy, Ethiopi

Physical Properties of Substrates as a Driver for Hermetia illucens (L.) (Diptera: Stratiomyidae) Larvae Growth

The growth and nutritional profile of the black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) is usually investigated and compared when the larvae feed on substrates that differ in the chemical composition as well as physical properties. This study compares BSFL growth on substrates that differ primarily in physical properties. This was achieved by using various fibres in the substrates. In the first experiment, two substrates with 20% or 14% chicken feed were mixed with three fibres (cellulose, lignocellulose, or straw). In the second experiment, the growth of BSFL was compared with a 17% chicken feed substrate that additionally contained straw with different particle sizes. We show that the substrate texture properties values did not influence the BSFL growth, but the bulk density of the fibre component did. The substrate mixed with cellulose led to higher larvae growth over time in comparison to substrates with higher bulk density fibres. BSFL grown on the substrate mixed with cellulose reached their maximum weight in 6 days instead of 7. Neither the fibres nor the nutrient level changed the crude protein content of BSFL and the values ranged between 33.5% and 38.3%, but an interaction between the fibre and nutrient level was observed. The size of straw particles in the substrates influenced the BSFL growth and led to a 26.78% difference in Ca concentration, a 12.04% difference in Mg concentration, and a 35.34% difference in P concentration. Our findings indicate that the BSFL-rearing substrates can be optimised by changing the fibre component or its particle size. This can improve the survival rate, reduce the cultivation time needed to reach the maximum weight, and alter the chemical composition of BSFL.German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF)Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation)Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu BerlinPeer Reviewe

Climate Change & Food Security Vulnerability Assessment. Toolkit for assessing community-level potential for adaptation to climate change

This CCAFS Working Paper presents a participatory methodology that has been designed to provide organizations with the tools to understand the interrelations between climate impacts, food systems and livelihood strategies at the local level, while taking into consideration traditional /indigenous knowledge of the participating community. The toolkit developed applies a multidimensional view of the vulnerability of livelihood strategies to climate change, with a focus on differentiated access and entitlements to livelihood resources and food for different groups within a locality or community (often determined according to gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic class). It includes step by step instructions on how to implement participatory tools that were adapted to answer the following questions: Why are people vulnerable? How are they vulnerable to climate change? What consequences does this have for their food security? Implementing this methodology will provide an initial understanding of the local context and vulnerability profiles, which, combined and triangulated with other sources of information (meteorological data, socio-economic indicators etc.), feeds into the process of identifying adaptation measures

Non-Communicable Disease and Development: Future Pathways

From a biomedical perspective, non-communicable disease (NCD) is not a new problem, particularly in the global North. However, awareness of the increasing burden from these conditions in low- and middle-income countries (L&MICs) has only recently emerged in the arena of development policy and practice (Beaglehole et al. 2011). In September 2011, the United Nations convened a summit on NCD, only the second such meeting ever to address a disease matter. However, despite a declaration reiterating the importance of NCD, few concrete actions emerged. The focus of the meeting was only on the conditions included in the World Health Organization’s (WHO) core definition of NCD, diseases which share a defined set of individual-level risk factors and collectively constitute a substantial proportion of the disease burden: cardiovascular disease (CVD), chronic respiratory diseases, certain cancers and diabetes. Yet notwithstanding the Secretary-General’s call to bring NCD into the broader global health and development agenda, alongside growing concern about the financial and social implications of premature deaths and morbidity from these conditions, the impression persists in some quarters that NCD is not a ‘development problem’. Since some of the personal risk factors for these diseases are linked to lifestyle (in the case of the WHO core conditions, factors such as tobacco and alcohol use, physical inactivity and unhealthy diets), there is a tendency to retain a narrow medical and individual-level focus in conceptualising the problem and responses.UK Department for International Developmen

Assessing climate change vulnerability and its effects on food security: Testing a new toolkit in Tanzania

The working paper presents a new toolkit for the implementation of a participatory vulnerability assessment (PVA) in rural localities, by introducing the methodology, as well as the findings, from a pilot study in Sokoine (Zepisa, Hombolo Ward) in Tanzania. It is based on a participatory methodological approach and follows a multidimensional conceptualisation of social vulnerability to climate change. The methodology is designed to equip project implementers who have limited resources to assess the occurrence and consequences of climate impacts on local livelihood strategies and food systems. It will assist them in understanding local views on how climate change may affect them, what kind of coping strategies are already in place and how their adaptive capacity can be enhanced through measures that are tailored to the profiles of different local groups

Ecosystems-based adaptation: Are we being conned? Evidence from Mexico

This paper scrutinises claims made about the promise and efficacy of ecosystems-based adaptation (EBA), through an exploration of EBA-relevant interventions in two fieldsites in Mexico. Our data starts to fill important gaps in current global debates about EBA. We find evidence of the important contribution of interventions relevant to EBA objectives at a small scale and under very specific conditions. However, the viability of similar interventions is substantially reduced, and arguably rendered null, as an incentive for conservation in a more populous fieldsites. Furthermore, evidence suggests that other adaptation options risked being overlooked if the context were viewed solely through the lens of EBA. We conclude that EBA needs to: a) engage with and address the trade-offs which characterised earlier attempts to integrate conservation and development, and; b) acknowledge the implications for its objectives of a globally predominant, neoliberal political economy