Zunia.org

A Different Kind of Diversity: The Changing Face of Engineering Education

Wed, 22 May 2013 08:15:16 -0500

In the U.S. and abroad, calls abound for attracting students to engineering in high school, for providing incentives to students to complete their engineering degrees, and for increasing funding for engineering programs. Why? The argument is simple: we face unprecedented global challenges and opportunities, from the need for clean water and clean energy to fighting cyber terrorism. These challenges demand new ideas, and one obvious approach is simply to increase volume. After all:

More engineers = More innovation

In some sense, this equation is hard to dispute. But it misses an equally powerful (not to mention morally necessary) possibility:

More diverse engineers = More innovation

In other words, responding to the economic, social, and environmental challenges of the coming century will take more than increased number of engineers. It will require a more diverse population of engineers.

David Goldberg and Mark Somerville, The Huffington Post: The Blog,08/24/2012

Logframer

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:34:28 -0500

Logframer 1.0 is a free project management application for projects based on the logical framework method. Logframer was designed with NGO projects for development and humanitarian assistance in mind, but can also be used for other kinds of projects in other sectors. The basic idea behind Logframer is to provide aid actors such as NGOs, non-profit organisations, donor agencies and so on with a simple, versatile and free tool that makes designing projects an easier task (and more fun). Logframer allows you to better integrate all information needed for a well-designed project, and helps you to improve the quality of your project proposals.

USING FUZZY SET QUALITATIVE COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS, FSQCA [CASE STUDY]

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:31:11 -0500

"Fuzzy-set analysis works from the assumption that the life isnt black and white. Things can be more black, or more white, but rarely are they all one or the other. Certain questions, such as whether you are male or female are simple enough, but others such as are you happy with the governments economic policy? tend to result in a more mixed answer, with a respondent being perhaps more than less in favour of the policy, but not completely happy or completely unhappy with it. Fuzzy-set analysis provides a way to capture this grey data.........

"Let us say that the study conducts a qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) of twenty-one earthquakes (the cases). QCA is useful for phenomena that have complex explanations that depend on a combination of causes, which are best studied in conjunction with, rather than isolation of, each other. Since humanitarian responses depend on a great many things including the level of development of the country, an effective supply chain, funding, to name but a few, this methodology can be deemed appropriate for this study. A literature review is undertaken, and this identifies nine different variables that are thought to affect the success of a humanitarian response. The use of fuzzy-set data should allow greater accuracy in the analysis of these nine variables, as it does not require rounding-off the data for simplicitys sake. Fuzzy set allows the greyness to be included in the analysis."

Impact Ready: The Blog

Monitoring & Evaluation Solutions

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:25:57 -0500

AfricanPot.org provides this introduction to monitoring and evaluation solutions. Many links are provided to the reader to encourage more reading on specific topics.

A thought about quantitative evidence

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:19:50 -0500

Evaluation professionals seem to emphasize quantitative evidence over qualitative. It is more important to get evidence that contributes to the kind of understanding that will lead to decisions that improve the situation, than to get evidence that satisfies the aesthetics of evaluation professionals.

Trillions of Dollars in Oil, Gas and Mining Revenue Still Shrouded in Secrecy

Wed, 22 May 2013 06:40:59 -0500

Secrecy still prevails in how natural resources are managed, and this conspires against economic development. The lives of over a billion citizens could be transformed if their governments managed their oil, gas and minerals in a more open, accountable manner. This emerges from the Resource Governance Index, which my organization, Revenue Watch Institute, released recently.

The Index measures the transparency and accountability in the oil, gas and mining sector of 58 countries. Together these nations produce 85 percent of the world's oil, 90 percent of diamonds and 80 percent of copper, generating trillions of dollars annually. The in-depth analysis finds that over 80 percent of the countries fail to meet satisfactory standards in how their natural resources are governed. In these nations, opacity, corruption and weak processes keep citizens from fully benefiting from their countries' resource wealth, revealing a significant 'governance deficit.'

There is hope, however. Some countries prove it is possible to lift the veil of secrecy and meet higher standards of transparency and accountability. Eleven out of the 58 countries received satisfactory scores overall, including emerging economies in Latin America. By shedding light on reforming states as well as lessons and solutions, we can reject the tired notion of the deterministic 'resource curse.'

Can an 'open' government site be open if it is poorly designed?

Wed, 22 May 2013 06:34:45 -0500

For some technically orientated people design can be an afterthought. Their focus is on making a system or machine work as it should, able to take in data and spit out information correctly and quickly.

For these people, design is a 'nice to have' added towards the end of the process, with sites and systems made 'pretty' to appease the communications and marketing people, but is otherwise non-functional.

I've participated in many IT-led 'design' processes, where the focus was on how entities within the system should interact with each other, and the testing focused on 'user-acceptance' - which basically is designed to answer the question 'do the system's features work as intended?'.

In these processes there was little or no consideration regarding the visual appeal of the solution, whether the terminology was understandable to the audience, the search results expected or the navigation logical for non-experts and non-programmers. At best there was some commitment to making the site accessible - however this often meant 'bare bones' lists of text on a white background, rather than using alternative methods to provide a pleasurable experience for all users.

Of course it is essential that websites and system respond quickly and as intended. However if users don't find them appealing, intelligible or intuitive, they will use them unwillingly, if at all.

Facebook used to mobilize capital for road to connect Indian States

Wed, 22 May 2013 06:29:51 -0500

The story of construction of a 100-km road that would link Manipur with Nagaland and Assam. The untiring efforts of a family and the worldwide reach of social networking paved a rocky road to pitch the basic needs of food, education and livelihood in Manipurs Tousem subdivision in Tamenglong district. Armstrong Pame and his family raised funds through a Facebook group, which has now crossed the 7,000-member mark.

The Facebook group and the website of the project, http://thegreatindianroad.in/, list the progress, amounts contributed and the names of the contributors.

Armstrong Pame, a 2005 graduate from St Stephens College in Delhi and the sub-divisional magistrate of Tamenglong, his home district, and the first IAS officer from the Zeme tribe, has, of his own volition, begun the construction of a 100-km road that would link Manipur with Nagaland and Assam. Incidentally, the Centre had sanctioned Rs 101 crore in 1982 for the construction of this road, but for some unknown reason the project never took off.

The opening of the 100-km Peoples Road in February has earned Armstrong Pame the sobriquet The Harbinger of Change in Manipur.

Russia Retracts Commitment with Transparency, Leaves Open Government Partnership

Wed, 22 May 2013 06:22:57 -0500

"Inevitably, there will be questions about what we are each prepared to sign up to," said British Prime Minister David Cameron in January 13, in his letter to fellow G8 leaders. Four months later, Russia has made clear it clear what it wasn't willing to sing onto: the Open Government Partnership (OGP). The most recent update on Russia is that the Kremlin will be pursuing "open government" on its own terms.

Russia has withdrawn the letter of intent that it submitted on April 2012 in Brazil, at the first annual meeting of the Open Government Partnership.

If the dominant binary of the 21st century is between open and closed, Russia looks more interested in opting toward more controllable, technocratic options that involve discretionary data releases instead of an independent judiciary or freedom of assembly or the press.

SEA Change webinar recording online Monitoring and evaluation Q&A session with the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)

Wed, 22 May 2013 02:36:04 -0500

This closed webinar session titled "Monitoring and evaluation Q&A session with the Sustainable Development Policy Institute" was developed in collaboration with the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), Islamabad Pakistan, and took place on 16 May 2013.

This webinar was a closed session, because we developed and used it to see how SEA Change could make use of webinars as training tool for M&E practitioners, going beyond the current topical presentation and Q&A-format. Upon request we developed a special monitoring and evaluation session in which 15 specific M&E questions were further looked at and discussed:

Why do we need Monitoring & Evaluation?
What are the fundamentals of Monitoring & Evaluation?
What are the main points to focus on during Monitoring & Evaluation?
Which skills do we need to be a good M&E professional?
What are modern ways/methods of Monitoring & Evaluation?
Which types of questions do we need to ask in a survey while Monitoring & Evaluating?
What is the most useful M&E technique for humanitarian projects?
What is the most useful M&E technique for research projects?
What are the fundamentals of Monitoring & Evaluation in ICT Projects?
What is the role of ICT in Monitoring & Evaluation?
How to design a logical and systematic monitoring and evaluation system?
How to gather (question continues)
and analyze (question continues)
qualitative and quantitative information, and (question continues)
communicate M&E evidence effectively?

In the webinar recording we try to give an answer to those questions, though equally satisfying alternative answers surely exist. Click here to access the webinar recording: http://www.seachangecop.org/node/1972

The webinar presentation slides also provide an overview of resources related to all of the above questions and their answers. The presentation slides can be accessed through the following link: http://www.seachangecop.org/node/1973

USAID Video: Water Matters

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:13:09 -0500

Nearly 800 million people lack dependable access to clean water and 2.5 billion lack access to improved sanitation, putting billions at risk of disease. Across the globe, USAID is thinking creatively, empowering women, supporting community-led innovations, and creating sustainable lasting change. Because USAID knows that water matters.

IFC invests $50 million to Help Expand Access to Finance to SMEs in Peru

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:35:02 -0500

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today announced a $50 million investment, which will help Banco Interamericano de Finanzas (BanBif) double the number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) it serves in Peru by 2017.

EBRD and UniCredit will provide loans and leasing finance to Serbian SME's

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:31:20 -0500

The EBRD is strengthening the private sector in Serbia by providing loans and leasing finance to small and medium-sized enterprises through local subsidiaries of UniCredit. The Bank will extend a loan of 30 million loan to UniCredit Bank Serbia for on-lending to private SMEs and up to 15 million to UniCredit Leasing Serbia d.o.o. especially to strengthen equipment leasing.

Union Bank partners GIZ to assist SME development in Sri Lanka

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:17:56 -0500

Director / Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank, Anil Amarasuriya stated, as we work towards our vision of becoming the preferred Bank for SMEs in the country, implementing and adopting programmes that complement our SME nexus is our primary focus. This partnership with GIZ to support small and medium businesses will help to further strengthen our position in the SME banking sphere.

Evidence on Demand Topic Guide: Agriculture and Growth

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:12:08 -0500

The Evidence on Demand team is excited to announce the release of its first ever Topic Guide. Entitled Agriculture and Growth, it marks the start of a series of Topic Guides designed to support the professional development of DFID advisers and other development professionals.*

Agriculture and pro-poor growth

The purpose of this Guide is to stimulate thinking about pro-poor growthin which agriculture is expected to play a major role. Agriculture and Growth outlines the supporting evidence for growth based on small-farm agriculturea sector that has the potential to accelerate poverty reduction whilst stimulating non-farm economic activity. The main issues and arguments are illustrated through a variety of case studies from: Thailand; Ethiopia; Rwanda; and Kenya.

High profile author

Agriculture and Growth was written for Evidence on Demand by Emeritus Professor Frank Ellis. Professor Ellisof the University of East Angliahas spent 40 years researching, writing and teaching on rural development, agricultural policy, livelihoods and social protection.

Free download

To download your free copy of Agriculture and Growth, click here >>>, then click on the PDF icon.

*The second Topic Guideon climate change adaptationis due to published early next month.

Innovations for Citizen Engagement in Fragile States

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:01:31 -0500

This presentation by Soren Gigler (on May 08, 2013) provides an overview about several cases showing how innovations in ICTs can be leveraged to improve the delivery of public services to poor communities. Under which conditions can technologies be transformational in fragile states? What are the opportunities and critical challenges in particular in the context of fragile states? The presentation was part of the session on Using Innovative Approaches for Enhancing Citizen Engagement in Fragile States on May 1, 2013 during the World Bank Group Fragility Forum 2013

ELLA BRIEF: Focus Cities Programme: Multi-stakeholder Participation in City Governance

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:49:46 -0500

Cities are challenged by a variety of environmental problems, most of which are associated with failures in the way urban growth is planned and managed. The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) set up the Focus Cities Research Initiative to address these urban management challenges. It was unusual in that it supported both research and action, and used multi-stakeholder teams to employ action-research and work in partnership with local government and civil society to identify solutions to environmental problems affecting urban dwellers, to implement them and to monitor the results. This brief focuses on the three Latin American Focus Cities (FC) initiatives: Lima, Peru; Cochabamba, Bolivia; and Moreno, Argentina.

Small enterprise impact investing - Exploring the Missing Middle beyond microfinance

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:39:40 -0500

This Symbiotics publication written by the CEO Roland Dominic looks at specific needs of SMEs (mostly MSEs actually) and the various vehicles to fund them (MFIs upscaling, banks downscaling and SME funds).

GSDRC Helpdesk Research Report: Conflict and development in Sudan: Key research institutions

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:29:51 -0500

There are a limited number of UK-based research institutes that include a focus on conflict and development in Sudan. Experts indicate that the Rift Valley Institute (RVI) is the main organisation involved in Sudanese research. Other research institutes that incorporate Sudan or South Sudan in their programming include: the Royal African Society; the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House); ODI; Justice Africa; and the Institute of Development Studies.

Some of the more prominent and widely cited research on Sudanese issues comes from organisations outside of the UK. Therefore, this report also identifies relevant non-UK research bodies such as the Sudd Institute in Juba and the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) in Bergen, Norway.

FrontlineSMS and Oro Verde: Market Price information via SMS in Colombia

Tue, 21 May 2013 10:27:11 -0500

The Oro Verde Program, a social enterprise committed to supporting mining communities in Colombia shares a case study on the impact market prices via SMS have had on ensuring miners have access to current Gold prices.This pilot has demonstrated the potential of SMS in improving the way market prices are communicated to miners; both interms of efficiency, and the utility of the information shared. This case study details how the Oro VerdeProgram set their Price SMS service up, and shares the key learning from the experience.

Harnessing All Resources To End Poverty

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:24:40 -0500

The world has changed dramatically since 2000 when the Millennium Development Goals were agreed. The goal to halve extreme poverty was realised ahead of schedule and there is growing consensus that the end of poverty is achievable within a generation. Developing countries now have access to a larger and more diverse range of resources than ever before and, as the world sets priorities through the post-2015 framework, we need to consider how different resource flows public and private, national and international can support the financing of these goals.

This working paper aims to kick-start this debate, to ask how international resource flows can support ending poverty. We present an analysis of flows to different countries, their characteristics, distribution and some of the problems with the data. Comparisons are made with the location of extreme poverty and we project trends in domestic resources and demographics to 2030. The analysis raises a number of important issues:

- Developing countries can broadly be divided into two groups: those with growing domestic (state) resources, and those that will face continued domestic resource constraints (these countries are primarily in sub-Saharan Africa and many are fragile states)

- International aid will continue to play a critical role in ending poverty but in different ways in different contexts

- There is significant potential to yield substantial additional resources for ending poverty through harnessing remittances and FDI (especially natural resource FDI)and curbing outflows of illicit finance.

The Power of Social Networks to Drive Mobile Money Adoption

Tue, 21 May 2013 06:34:46 -0500

This study identifies and explores the key drivers of mobile money (MM) adoption by comparing data from three African countries. It uses innovative analytics and data mining techniques. It processes findings from a data set of 7 billion transactions performed by more than 10 million mobile phone users over 7 months.

The study reveals two key variables that indicate a higher propensity to adopt MM. The first variable is the social network and social interactions of the mobile user. Individuals with five MM connections are over 3.5 times more likely to adopt MM than individuals with only one MM connection. The second key variable is the users telecom usage profile. Adopters tend to call twice as much as non adopters, send twice as many SMS, rely more on electronic recharges than scratch cards for airtime credit, and use more data than non adopters.

Civil Society and Civic Engagement in the Arab States Region

Tue, 21 May 2013 06:28:46 -0500

The peoples movement that spread across North Africa and other parts of the Arab world in 2011 expressed a growing demand for government accountability, especially by the younger generation. It resulted in political transitions or reforms in half a dozen countries, affecting the lives of over 100 million people. In spite of significant gains, many countries still face pressing problems - civil unrest, rising unemployment, weak institutional capacities and challenges in ensuring fair elections and constitutional processes. All these underline the important need for cooperative and transparent state - citizen relations to achieve a viable and peaceful transition.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) launched a new strategy for working in these countries, one that is geared towards engaging a diversity of stakeholders, from the Government to community-based organizations. Civil society organizations (CSOs) are crucial partners for UNDP in the Arab States region in bringing about concrete, sustainable and nationally-owned change at all levels of society.

FrontlineSMS and Oro Verde: Market Price information via SMS in Colombia

Tue, 21 May 2013 06:22:48 -0500

The Oro Verde Program is a social enterprise committed to supporting mining communities in Colombia; helping support use of sustainable mining techniques and access to fair prices. The Oro Verde Program has been using FrontlineSMS software for sending and receiving text messages, in order to provide an accessible market price information system to the communities they support. This service has been piloted to show its potential to improve the way that market prices are communicated to miners; both in terms of efficiency, and the utility of the information shared. This case study details how the Oro Verde Program set their Price SMS service up, and shares the key learning from the experience.

Immersion, Service, and Civic Engagement in South Africa

Tue, 21 May 2013 06:20:59 -0500

The purpose of this paper is to explore the ways in which study abroad, immersion, and service can be combined in a way that is most beneficial for the students and the local communities where the students visit. To examine this issue, I focus on a few specific questions: What is the purpose of a study abroad experience? What is cultural immersion and is it an important goal for study abroad programs? What are the advantages and disadvantages of establishing a 'community service' project as part of a study abroad experience? As will become clear, even if there is agreement on the purposes and goals of study abroad, cultural immersion, and service learning, it is imperative that students, teachers, and administrators think critically about how to implement such programs if we are to provide meaningful study abroad and community service opportunities to our students.

Lowering barriers to adoption isnt just one approach its critical to real scale

Tue, 21 May 2013 06:15:48 -0500

Critics of ICT for development (although this post applies at least as well to ICT in any field, including business) are keen to see technologies moving beyond endless pilots to rolling out at real scale.

Organizations have to shift from whatever technology or communications channel was in use before, to that plus SMS, or maybe just SMS. This is complex enough, requiring users to think through what is different about SMS than their previous solution there may be privacy and data integrity concerns, there may be budgeting differences, staffing may need to change. We spend a lot of time talking with users and clients about these issues. Examples of actions that may arise from this type of change would be a new data protection policy, staff being issued additional phones for use just for work, or monitoring of a control group to ensure that use of SMS is not skewing data collection.

We need to design systems that deliver what different people need at their own level. Adoption of technology will be easier if it uses appropriately accessible hardware, affordable or cost-effective and easy to maintain; if the interface is simple to use and easy to pick up; and if control and use of the platform rests at the level of the problem it seeks to solve.

Civic Engagement of Youth in the Middle East and North Africa

Tue, 21 May 2013 06:10:41 -0500

In the wake of the Arab Awakening, Mercy Corps and other agencies are grappling with the question: How can the recent surge of self-assertion and of political activism by Arab youth be harnessed to promote more participatory governance and equitable development within the region? To help answer this question, Mercy Corps recently undertook research into what works to promote youth civic engagement in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and what benefits can be expected for the youth who participate, and their broader societies. The study provides strong evidence on what changes to Arab youth's political voice, social capital, propensity towards political violence, and employability are likely to result from increasing their levels of civic engagement.

The results show that few of these changes are automatic. Rather youth civic engagement initiatives must make deliberate efforts to influence them. To address youth marginalization, programs must reach youth from rural areas, young women, and at-risk youth whose voices are the most underrepresented in public debates and decisions. To strengthen young peoples social and civic values, programs need to support sustained involvement of youth in civic groups and actions, as one-off participation has little effect. And for civic engagement programs to impact young peoples economic opportunities, they must include deliberate activities geared towards preparing youth for the job market.

AFP, China Daily Coverage of AidData/CGD Study of Chinese Development Finance to Africa

Tue, 21 May 2013 04:25:29 -0500

Over the last several weeks, there has been a fair amount of media coverage related to AidData's publication of a new database of Chinese development finance to Africa (available at china.aiddata.org) and a new working paper from AidData and CGD staff and faculty affiliates. Some media outlets have characterized our findings more accurately than others. Agence France-Presse (AFP) ran an article article entitled China Ranks Second to US in Money to Africa and did a reasonably good job of ensuring that readers understood the distinction between "official finance" and "official development assistance". However, other media outlets were not quite so careful and conflated our estimates of official finance with "aid". Other news agencies slurred the crucial distinction between official commitments and the actual provision of resources.

Lest there be any confusion, our CGD working paper indicates that we were only able to classify roughly $13 billion in development finance activities that seemed to fall in line with the OECD's definition of "official development assistance" (ODA) commitments. On an average annual basis, that is roughly $1.1 billion per year, which is significantly less ODA than the US commits to Africa each year. However, we also track (a) flows from the Chinese government to Africa that fall closely in line with the OECD's "other official flows" (OOF) definition, and (b) official flows from China to Africa for which we have insufficient information to make an ODA or OOF designation "Vague Official". If you sum all ODA-like, OOF-like, and Vague Official commitments from the Chinese government to Africa over the twelve year study period, you arrive at an estimate of $75.4 billion in reported official finance commitments.

To its credit, China Daily made an admirable attempt to explain these categorical distinctions to their readers. They were also correct to note that the publication of our database does not represent an attempt to reveal government secrets. AidData has a strong track record of working with governments and inter-governmental organizations to help make their development finance data more accessible and actionable. Our objective is simply to generate more granular and comprehensive Chinese development finance data using systematic, transparent, and replicable methods. We are motivated by the conviction that open data will improve our collective understanding of the distribution and impact of Chinese development finance.

Why Open Data Matters: G-8 and African Nations Increase Open Data for Food Security

Tue, 21 May 2013 04:17:01 -0500

Jimmy Wambua, a social justice worker and young entrepreneur in Nairobi, Kenya, saw a problem. In a country where smallholder farmers grow the food that feeds the Kenyan people, crop yields were not reaching their full potential and growers were not getting a fair price. Decisions about what crops to plant and when were made on speculation and instinct, and farmers sold their crops based on prices offered by middlemen and traders. A solution seemed evident: increase access and sharing of information that already exists and is public, but is not in-use by the farmers. Jimmy joined the M-Farm organization that set up a text-message based mobile phone application for farmers to gain a better price by accessing market price for their crops- rather than relying on the word of the buyer- and provide a platform for farmers to sell their goods online. USAID contributed to the work of M-Farm- not through a grant or loan or other financial capital- but with information capital. With the release of an open data set from the Famine Early Warning System (FEWSNet) M-Farm now has access to ten years of historic data about market prices of crops, which show trends in crop price fluctuation, and enables better decision making on which crops to plant to yield the highest income.

M-Farms story was just one of dozens that took the stage April 29 & 30 at the G-8 International Open Agriculture Data Conference and showcased innovative organizations that use open data to support global food security. Dr. Howard-Yana Shapiro of Mars Global shared progress on mapping the genomes of over 100 crops that are vital to food security, but are overlooked because they are not commercially viable. Palantir Technologies and Grameen Foundation displayed their open data app that they developed at USAIDs Hack for Hunger,which uses community knowledge worker-collected data and Palantir analytics to build a crop-specific food security early warning system for farmers in Uganda.

Electronic governance, premise for implementation of electronic democracy

Tue, 21 May 2013 04:12:09 -0500

Living in a rapidly changing society, where information travels with great speed and its upgrade is essential, we decided to approach certain aspects of e-democracy, as a dynamic way of citizen participation, using new Information and Communications Technologies. The theme chosen for this research, Electronic governance, premise for implementation of electronic democracy, is a part of Electronic Administration field and identifies the meanings of implementing e-government and e-democracy, the necessity and effects of putting them into practice and the conditions to be fulfilled for the development of electronic services and fostering citizen participation in their use.

E-governance as well as e-democracy has a clear contribution in making social progress, thanks to capitalize the most important irreversible resource, the time for achievement of the main administrative operations. The overall objective of the research aims to establish the relationship between governance and electronic democracy. From this perspective, this paper will contain: analyzing the importance of both e-governance and e-democracy, risks and benefits for each one, clarifying the need and implications underlying the implementation of electronic systems and explain the conditions to be met by citizens in order to benefit from these services. To achieve the objectives set, will be dominant the analyzing method of the social phenomena in their evolution. They will also combine harmoniously with practical examples in various member states of the European Union.

Mobiles for Social & Behaviour Change in India

Tue, 21 May 2013 04:06:07 -0500

The consultation paper (draft) presents the key areas of emphasis in the growing mobile for development space in India. The purpose is to understand the scope and magnitude of the expanding mobile domain as it is lately linked essentially to advance development and governance objectives and seen as the most democratic technology medium to offer scope to deliver service needs anytime, anywhere. The Paper content has been derived from existing research and field inputs. The paper is intended to assist consultation (Mobiles for Social and Behavior Change) stakeholders to get an overview of issues, scope and relevance in mobile thrust to support development efforts of the government and private players including bilateral agencies and civil society bodies.

A review of 13 practices for this paper indicates the most common sectors for focus are education, health, socio-economic development, and disaster management well within the central focus of MDGs. There is evidence that stakeholders are interested and expressed keenness in using mobiles as service and solution providers, yet there remain vital challenges towards sustaining the pilots and scaling them. The pilot initiatives have highlighted two essential points. One, mobiles have emerged as effective mechanism to derive project impacts in information dissemination, project monitoring / tracking, training of frontline workers and interpersonal communication practices. Second, mobile projects calls for inclusive agenda among stakeholders in multi-stakeholder partnership mode.

Civic Engagement in the Digital Age

Tue, 21 May 2013 03:35:34 -0500

Social networking sites have grown more important in recent years as a venue for political involvement, learning, and debate. Overall, 39% of all American adults took part in some sort of political activity on a social networking site during the 2012 campaign.

This means that more Americans are now politically active on social networking sites (SNS) than used them at all as recently as the 2008 election campaign. At that point, 26% of the population used a social networking site of any kind.

The growth in several specific behaviors between 2008 and 2012 illustrates the increasing importance of SNS as places where citizens can connect with political causes and issues:

In 2012, 17% of all adults posted links to political stories or articles on social networking sites, and 19% posted other types of political content. That is a six-fold increase from the 3% of adults who posted political stories or links on these sites in 2008.

In 2012, 12% of all adults followed or friended a political candidate or other political figure on a social networking site, and 12% belonged to a group on a social networking site involved in advancing a political or social issue. That is a four-fold increase from the 3% of adults who took part in these behaviors in 2008.

A website that help Indians save electricity bill

Tue, 21 May 2013 03:24:24 -0500

Abhishek Jain has come a long way since he left a high-profile job in Deloitte to help Indians save electricity at home. His online initiative, bijlibachao.com, not only helps analyse electricity bills but also calculates how a consumer can save money by choosing the right colour for a room and correctly placing appliances.

An electricity bill is a confusing entity. If the bill is Rs. 2,000 - 3,000, lets go pay it, but how it gets to Rs. 2,000 - 3,000 no one knows, and one just goes and pays the bill. The whole idea is to help them understand why the amount has gone up and help reduce it, said 31-year-old Jain, an alumnus of Indian Institute of Technology and founder of the website.

Appliances such as refrigerators can save electricity if appropriately placed in the house, according to him. It is a well-known fact that refrigerators release heat, but if it is not given ample place, it will not cool properly, affecting its efficiency. Stuffing it with warm food uses up a lot of electricity, risking its efficiency. Such tips are on the website for viewers to read.

Latest ACP-EU updates: donors conference for Mali, EU Council on Agriculture and Fisheries, and Brussels Briefing

Tue, 21 May 2013 03:17:06 -0500

The international donors conference for Mali, the conclusions of the last EU Council on Agriculture and Fisheries, and the last Brussels Briefing "Linking food, geography and people" - these are the main topics of the last CTA Brussels newsletter. Discover it here: http://bit.ly/13HnmwB

Nepal: Country Partnership Strategy 2010-2012 Final Review Validation

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:51:45 -0500

This report validates the findings of the country partnership strategy (CPS) final review, assess the quality of the self-evaluation and identify lessons and recommendations to improve the design and implementation of the upcoming CPS, as well as the quality and accountability of future self-evaluations.

Code for America

Mon, 20 May 2013 18:19:01 -0500

Code for America seeks to help governments in the United States to work better for everyone utilizing the people and the power of the web. Through its Fellowship, Accelerator, and Brigade, it seeks to build a network of cities, citizens, community groups, and startups, all equally committed to reimagining government for the 21st century.

Code for America is a non-profit, and a new kind of organization. Its team is made up of web geeks, city experts, and technology industry leaders. Its staff is building a network of civic leaders and organizations who believe there is a better way of doing things and want to make a difference.

While currently Code for America does not seem to work with developing countries, it might be an interesting model to follow in those developing countries with comparable communities of experts.

Good Things Grown in Scaled Packages: Africa's Agricultural Challenge in Historical Context

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:26:39 -0500

"In recent years agriculture has experienced a renaissance of attention among economists and policymakers, especially those focused on sub-Saharan Africa. This heightened attention has been driven partly by research insights, partly by policy initiatives, and partly by a recognition that governments and major international development institutions had been neglecting the issue for many years. It has also been motivated by emerging trends in particular countries like Malawi, which implemented an ambitious small-holder subsidy program starting in 2005 and subsequently registered its first two consecutive years with average cereal yields above two tons per hectare in 2009 and 2010, according to recent Word Bank data.

"One indicator of the renaissance is a sizeable increase in official development assistance (ODA) directed towards agriculture. ODA for agriculture was consistently in the range of $4 billion to $5 billion for the decade before 2006. Since then, it has experienced a significant jump, reaching more than $8 billion in 2010. Concurrently average African cereal yields per hectare experienced a slight uptick, rising above 1.3 tons per hectare for the first time in 2009, after oscillating in the range of 0.9-1.2 t/ha for more than thirty years since 1975. It remains to be seen whether these yield increases reflect the beginnings of structural change.

"Africas average yields still remain much lower than those in any other region. Although Africas total factor productivity in agriculture is estimated to have increased in recent decades its food production per capita remains essentially unchanged since 1960. Continued stagnation implies fast-growing costs in terms of lives affected, as the regions population is slated to surpass one billion people by 2017 and approach two billion by 2050, according to the U.N. population divisions medium projections. A number of recent papers have underscored the major role of agriculture in reducing poverty and accelerating economic growth, so the stagnant trends have important macroeconomic implications. Esther Duflo and colleagues have also investigated questions related to farmer choices around the key input of fertilizer, motivated significantly by arguments surrounding the role of subsidies."

John McArthur, The Brookings Institution, May 2013

Mastering the SME banking risk management frontier by Mandeep Vohra, Head of SME Banking Risk Africa, Middle East and Pakistan at Standard Chartered Bank

Mon, 20 May 2013 13:01:28 -0500

Mandeep Vohra from Standard Chartered Bank outlines the various risk management approaches for banking SMEs and the need to have a distinct team of SME Risk specialist.This presentation was given during a conference jointly organized by The Arab Monetary Fund and IFC on Building a High Performance Small Medium Enterprise Business in the Arab World on 7-8 May 2013 in Dubai, UAE.

Equal access participatory monitoring and evaluation toolkit

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:33:43 -0500

This toolkit aims to help communication for development (C4D) organisations to demonstrate the impacts and outcomes of their initiatives, listen to their listeners, continuously learn, and feed this learning back into the organisation and its practices. It is a key outcome of the Assessing Communication for Social Change (AC4SC) project, which was a successful collaboration between Equal Access Nepal, Equal Access International, Queensland University of Technology and the University of Adelaide, Australia.

The toolkit is guided by the principles of the Communication for Social Change approach to C4D and participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E). It is based on recent ideas about effective evaluation and evaluation capacity development and learnings from the AC4SC project. This toolkit aims to help C4D organisations to become learning organisations that regularly critically reflect on their work.

Either the whole toolkit, or individual modules can be used. The toolkit encourages you to include as many people and stakeholders in your monitoring and evaluation work as possible. Its methods are largely qualitative, because through qualitative approaches you often learn something new and unexpected and gather rich insights into the subtle processes involved in social change. However, it encourages you to use a range of methods, including those that provide useful quantitative data.

Mobile phones unleash farmers in Uganda

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:30:01 -0500

A powerful new mobile platform combining agriculture information and financial services specifically designed for smallholder farmers is going live in Uganda, helping farmers plow even more value from each acre. Based on AgriLife, a cloud-based platform, the platform will be accessible via mobile phone and provide two key, interconnected services: data collection and analysis about farmers production capability and history. It will also be an integration point for financial institutions, mobile network operators, produce buyers, and their agents to more efficiently provide much-needed services to distant, rural farmers.

The data analysis will drive the growth of services and products that benefit smallholder farmers based on a better understanding of their production capability. The more high-quality, comprehensive data that can be collected, the more valuable an asset it becomes, as service providers can better understand farmers needs and tailor their offerings - like crop insurance, input payments, and savings accounts.

Overcoming Constraints to SME Development in MENA Countries and Enhancing Access to Finance

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:55:00 -0500

The role of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector cannot be over emphasized in terms of its contribution to GDP and employment generation, particularly in emerging economies. Studies indicate that formal SMEs contribute up to 45 percent of employment and up to 33 percent of GDP in developing economies (IFC: Scaling-Up SME Access to Financial Services in the Developing World 2010). These numbers are significantly higher when taking into account the estimated contributions of SMEs operating in the informal sector.

Author: Qamar Saleem, Senior SME Banking Specialist MENA, IFC

iHub Researchs Uchaguzi Monitoring & Evaluation Brief

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:53:03 -0500

During Kenyas 2013 General Election, Uchaguzi Kenya 2013, a joint initiative between SODNET, Ushahidi, CRECO, and Hivos (with support from CIDA), was used to help increase transparency and accountability through active citizen participation in the electoral cycle. Uchaguzi was coordinated through an ICT platform, which enabled Kenyans to keep an eye on the vote and provided avenues through which they could report, with any technology available to them, any incidences significant to the election.

Concurrent with the Uchaguzi deployment, iHub Research assessed how well Uchaguzi achieved its mission. The research will identify the strengths and weaknesses in the deployment and aims to create a toolkit of lessons learned that can be used by future ICT Election Watch deployments.

This brief is the first of 2 reports and is a first look at the Uchaguzi KE 2013 process. In June 2013, iHub Research will be publishing an in-depth report detailing the successes and challenges of the platform, especially around the key areas of technology, partnerships, publicity and outreach, and personnel.

Citizen Election reporting in Kenya was a breakthrough in online-offline collaboration

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:49:23 -0500

The Kenyan elections were more than a month ago, but a debate continues in the crisis mapping community about whether the various technologies deployed to track and respond to outbreaks of violence were a confused and possibly dangerous mess, or a successful contribution to what was ultimately a peaceful (if disputed) process.

DO WE REALLY NEED ALL OF THOSE PROJECTS??? Do we really need 3 maps, 7 phone numbers, and several web-forms? Is that really such a crazy bad idea to have one coordinated number/web-form that could then have in the back-end multiple responders and organizations working together? Anahi Ayala

The criticism goes on to describe this duplication as irresponsible and dangerous, especially supposing that the submitted information has no real response mechanism. While its true that having multiple public numbers for submitting information about one election is not ideal, I believe that behind the scenes was a much more encouraging process that has only just begun.

The Umpteenth Blog on using SMS Feedback in ProjectsNow with Support!

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:35:13 -0500

With shiny apps hogging the mobile spotlight these days, one could be forgiven for forgetting about SMS (Short Message Service or text messaging). When equipping a project to receive and respond to complaints, its important to remember that all modes of communication contain tradeoffs that exclude different types of people depending on the type of message they have. Face to face prevents true anonymity. Mail is slow. Phone calls can become expensive. And just to prove that the nice folks at Frontline didnt seek to brainwash the class, SMS is no magic bullet either! It cant be used directly by those unable to read or write and its difficult for the elderly and disabled to type on a phone.

SMS feedback has unique aspects which make it worthy of inclusion into any grievance redress mechanism and I encourage you to consider adding it to your project. And in case youre worried about the technical details, the set-up isnt hard. You probably dont need a consultant. Youll need to buy the right hardware, sure, but DRP can help with that. The really hard part is using that feedback to effectively resolve complaints, drive decisions and improve results. Fortunately, were happy to help with that too.

IFC SME Banking Conference 2013: Building a high performance SME business in the MENA region

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:35:03 -0500

The topic of this 2013 conference, Building a high performing SME business, is of critical importance for the MENA region. SMEs need access to banking services to create jobs and support economic growth, but only 20 percent of them have access to credit, and the SME funding gap in the region is estimated at $160 billion. Banks and policy makers in the region are aware of these opportunities and are developing new strategies to support SMEs. The AMF and the IFC are working together to support these important efforts.The conference gathered around 250 bankers and international SME experts from more than 20 countries to share experiences on best practice SME banking.

Paper - Overcoming constraints for SME development in MENA countries and increasing access to finance

_________________________

Session 1: CEO Perspectives - Making SME Banking a Strategic Priority
With rapidly eroding growth opportunities in retail and corporate banking, Banks are increasingly looking for avenues to build a competitive and sustainable SME business. This session will discuss CEO strategy to scale up SME Banking operations.

Moderator: Aftab Ahmed, Director, IFC EMENA Financial Markets
Raheel Ahmed, Regional Head of Consumer Banking, Standard Chartered Bank
Atif Bajwa, CEO, Al Falah Bank, Pakistan
Fadel El Halaissi, Delegate General Manager, BMCE Bank, Morocco
Bernd van Linder, Managing Director and CEO, Saudi Hollandi Bank

_________________________

Session 2: Opportunities and Changing Landscape in SME Banking in MENA
With a funding gap for MENA SME estimated at USD 170 billion, Financial Institutions in the regions are launching new SME banking initiatives. This session will focus on the business case for sustainable SME banking in MENA, latest innovations and global best practices in SME banking, and the importance of financial infrastructure to increase outreach.

Moderator: James Gohary, Regional Manager, Financial Markets and
Private Equity Funds-MENA, IFC
Mutsa Chironga, Associate Principal, McKinsey & Company
Hafid Oubrik, Financial Sector Specialist, Arab Monetary Fund
Matthew Gamser, Head, SME Finance Forum, IFC

_________________________

Session 3: Regional Initiatives and Role of Regulators in SME Banking Development
The MENA region is witnessing various regional initiatives to improve SMEs access to finance. In addition, regulators are playing an important role to improve the enabling environment for SME banking. This session will discuss best practice policies to promote SME banking.

Moderator: Yisr Barnieh, Arab Monetary Fund, Chief of Financial Markets Division
AbdulKarim AlArhabi, Secretary General, SMEs Facility, Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development
May Abulnaga, Head, Regulations Department, Central Bank of Egypt
Ashraf Khan, Executive Director, State Bank of Pakistan
Badr El Din Ibrahim, Director, Central Bank of Sudan

_________________________

Session 4: Mastering the SME Banking Risk Management Frontier
SME Banking is often viewed as a high risk market segment. However, SME Banking business can yield attractive returns, one of the best, on risk adjusted return basis. This session will discuss the ways banks must adopt differentiated risk management techniques, innovate approaches of assessing the credit risk involved, and use technology and analytics to dynamically manage portfolio risks.

Moderator: Cameron Evans, Principal Risk Management Specialist, IFC
Lawrence Antioch, Managing Director-Group Risk, DBS Bank Singapore
Mandeep Vohra, Head of SME Risk, Middle East, Pakistan and Africa, Standard Chartered Bank
Oscar Madeddu, Principal Financial Specialist, IFC

_________________________

Session 5: Maximizing SME revenues - through Strategic Customer Management
Profitably serving the SME sector requires not just a deep understanding of the best segments to serve, but also of the financial needs and revenue drivers for each customer segment. This session will provide insights on how banks have radically increased revenues through developing customized propositions at targeted segments.

Moderator: Xavier Reille, Manager, Financial Sector Advisory Services, IFC MENA
Andrew McCartney, Global Product Specialist, IFC MENA
Christian Wessels, Partner, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants
Turgut Boz, SME Banking Assistant General Manager, TEB Turkey

_________________________

Session 6: Women in Business - Leveraging Segment Opportunities
Despite being an emerging & profitable business segment, most banks do not have a differentiated value proposition for serving Women in Business. This session will discuss how to use market research to develop a segment strategy and develop an attractive value proposition for women entrepreneurs.

Moderator: Qamar Saleem, Senior SME Banking Specialist, IFC MENA
Larke Riemer, Director, Womens Markets, Westpac Bank, Australia
Tania Moussallem, Head of Strategic Development, BLC, Lebanon
Hanan Saab, Founder and Managing Director, Pharmamed, Lebanon
Patience Marime-Ball, Principal Investment Officer, IFC, Washington DC

_________________________

Session 7: Making a difference with SME Islamic Banking
Islamic banking has enjoyed a double digit growth over the past 10 years providing new opportunities for SME finance. This session will address the opportunities and challenges of serving SME customers with Islamic banking products.

Moderator: Kaiser Naseem, Program Manager, IFC MENA
Ashar M. Nazim, Islamic Financial Services, Ernst & Young Bahrain
Tariq Hameed, Senior Vice President, Capitas Group
Neil Miller, Global Head of Islamic Finance, Linklaters
Mubashar Khokhar, Management Consultants Islamic Advisory, Israa Capital

_________________________

Session 8: Integrating Alternative Channels into SME Banking Value Proposition
Cost to serve SMEs, which are in most circumstances widely dispersed, nonhomogeneous in nature and offering smaller revenue wallet, poses a significant challenge to banks. This session will discuss how to leverage new delivery channels to lower operating costs, build internal efficiencies and maintain customer satisfaction levels.

Moderator: Margarete Biallas, Global Product Leader, Retail Payment Institutions & Innovation, IFC
Scott Stefanski, Maana Mobile
Teresita Tan, President, BPI Globe BankKO, Philippines
Rohit Arora, Chief Executive Officer, Biz2Credit
Milkah Chebii, Head of Retail Banking Channels & Operations, Kenya Commercial Bank

_________________________

Session 9: Using SME Advisory Services as a Competitive Advantage
Leading SME banks have developed successful SME advisory programs to differentiate their value proposition and better manage risks. This session explores experiences of banks that have implemented such strategies, the challenges faced and the benefits reaped of this differentiated approach.

Moderator: Sylvia Zulu, Manager, Sustainable Business Advisory, IFC MENA
Michel Botzung, Principal Operations Officer, IFC
Steven A. Tambunting, Vice President and Board Director, Planters Bank, Philippines
Regina Bundang, General Manager, Regalo Service & Redwood Internet, Philippines
Saad N. Mouasher, Senior Deputy CEO, Jordan Ahli Bank, Jordan

Market for feature phone apps is low-tech goldmine

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:29:07 -0500

In the West, you might deploy a bus tracking app on your smartphone to inform you when that errant bus will arrive. But in India the mobile infrastructure is less developed. Even if it were available, many people don't have smartphones to take advantage of such apps. Feature phones, which perhaps boast basic forms of GPS, camera, MP3 player and some kind of internet access, as well as the ability to run simple apps, have become increasingly popular in the developing world. They occupy the middle ground between basic phones that simply make, and receive calls and text messages, and smartphones.

Research firm Gartner estimates worldwide feature phone sales totalled 264.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, easily outstripping smartphone sales of 207.7 million. Such massive markets, because of the nature and sophistication of the target devices, would appear in theory to be quick and easy to exploit. There are a couple of tough issues for those offering apps and other services through feature phones. The first is getting people to realise they exist. Then companies need to work out how to actually get them onto the phone.

In South Africa, Organizers Combine Old and New Media to Take on Corruption

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:26:20 -0500

According to Transparency Internationals Corruption Perception Index 2012, South Africa received a score of 4.4 out of 10, with 10 being the least corrupt and 0 the most. The Corruption Watch team, many of whom are former journalists, has been keen to leverage their contacts in traditional media outlets as well. With limited budgets, this outreach is more challenging for the NGO, yet necessary in order to reach the South African public. The team has worked with local television, radio, and print news on exposes on corruption as well as general coverage. In 2013, for example, they negotiated the inclusion of their 19-page anniversary report in Johannesburgs The City Press, which is the company's third-largest newspaper with an average of 2.5 million readers per day.

The publicity and awareness campaigns of Corruption Watch have been particularly effective in shining a light on corruption due to their multifaceted media approach. As an NGO with limited resources, their team has leveraged social media as an inexpensive and effective means of communicating with the next generation. The team itself publishes its own material to the site, about 30 new articles each month, including new media visuals like infographics and other creative media representations of corruption in South Africa, their progress, and their greatest challenges.

The No More Tjo-Tjo campaign, challenged the pervasiveness of the solicitation of traffic bribes. By issuing Know Your Rights cards to motorists, by tracking data on traffic police corruption, and by outlining a plan of action for the Johannesburg police, Corruption Watch dove into this prevalent issue in South African society in early 2012, and in just 8 months, they exposed thatone in four motorists were solicited for a bribe in 2010 alone. These efforts, coupled with an expansive media outreach campaign, garnered an impressive amount of press coverage, forcing city officials to respond.

ELLA BRIEF: Community Participation in IFI-Funded Development Projects: Latin Americas Experience

Mon, 20 May 2013 11:12:58 -0500

Major development projects involving infrastructure or extractive industries - both in Latin America and other regions - tend to be financed, either partially or totally, by international financial institutions (IFIs). Given that these types of large-scale projects could have adverse effects on local communities livelihoods, cultural heritage and environment, IFIs have established mechanisms to guarantee that the projects they fund meet international environmental and social standards. Though not perfect, such mechanisms do at least allow organised citizens to access project information and to demand concrete ways to get engaged in project decision making. Using a successful case from Mexico, this Brief reflects on the role of informed citizen participation as a crucial factor facilitating accountability within development projects with international funding.

DESIGNING EVALUATIONS:

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:16:54 -0500

This publication supersedes PEMD-10.1.4, Designing Evaluations, May 1, 1991. GAO assists congressional decision makers in their deliberations by furnishing them with analytical information on issues and options. Many diverse methodologies are needed to develop sound and timely answers to the questions the Congress asks. To provide GAO evaluators with basic information about the more commonly used methodologies, GAOs policy guidance includes documents such as methodology transfer papers and technical guides.

This methodology transfer paper addresses the logic of program evaluation designs. It introduces key issues in planning evaluation studies of federal programs to best meet decision makers needs while accounting for the constraints evaluators face. It describes different types of evaluations for answering varied questions about program performance, the process of designing evaluation studies, and key issues to consider toward ensuring overall study quality.

To improve federal program effectiveness, accountability and service delivery, the Congress enacted the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA), establishing a statutory framework for performance management and accountability, including the requirement that federal agencies set goals and report annually on progress towards those goals and program evaluation findings. In response to this and related management reforms, federal agencies have increased their attention to conducting program evaluations. The GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 raised the visibility of performance information by requiring quarterly reviews of progress towards agency and governmentwide priority goals. Designing Evaluations is a guide to successfully completing evaluation design tasks. It should help GAO evaluatorsand others interested in assessing federal programs and policiesplan useful evaluations and become educated consumers of evaluations.

Designing Evaluations is one of a series of papers whose purpose is to provide guides to various aspects of audit and evaluation methodology and indicate where more detailed information is available. It is based on GAO studies and policy documents and program evaluation literature. To ensure the guides competence and usefulness, drafts were reviewed by selected GAO, federal and state agency evaluators, and evaluation authors and practitioners from professional consulting firms. This paper updates a 1991 version issued by GAOs prior Program Evaluation and Methodology Division. It supersedes that earlier version and incorporates changes in federal program evaluation and performance measurement since GPRA was implemented.