Technology

Seed fairs were being promoted in Zimbabwe as an alternative seed distribution approach to sustain local input markets. Using data from ICRISAT monitoring surveys of 2005–06 and records maintained by non-governmental organisations, this article reveals that seed fairs were more cost effective in distributing local seed compared to direct distribution of imported seed. The article found that, in order to supply one household with a seed pack, it will cost an agency US$5.18 through seed fair compared to US$8.22 through direct seed distribution. Vouchers redeemable in retail shops are proposed as an incentive for local shops to stock and distribute agricultural inputs.

The full article is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09614524.2012.696580

Traditional approaches to protecting children are insufficient to meet the complex issues they now face, and inter-sectoral, child-centred strategies are needed. Addressing this, the International Institute for Child Rights and Development (IICRD) developed the Circle of Rights (COR), a participatory action research approach to involve children in ‘bottom-up’ protection work. This paper describes COR in Thailand through the Child Protection Partnership (CPP), a project focused on ICT child protection.

The Indian healthcare sector provides ripe ground for development as access to high-quality and timely medical diagnosis remains unrequited among its vast rural populace. With an acute shortage of doctors in rural areas, medical diagnostic software has been created as a surrogate, propelling non-physician workers to step in. For diagnostic software to function effectively, it is paramount to identify the user.

In 2008, a German-funded interdisciplinary research project in Khorezm province, Uzbekistan, initiated a participatory approach to innovation development and diffusion with local stakeholders. Selected agricultural innovations, developed by the project and identified as ‘plausible promises’, have since then been tested and modified accordingly by teams of researchers, local farmers and water users.

This article questions the notion that the use of digital technologies guarantees better policy development for the sustainable management of natural resources, particularly in multicultural contexts. It is argued that input of digital technologies could positively or negatively affect the geopolitical projects and development strategies pursued by indigenous peoples.

An international project called PADS promoted participatory learning and action research with inland valley rainfed rice farmers in West Africa. All countries received the same training, similar funding, and the same leadership. Although the staff in Ghana were conscientious and gave much training to the farmer beneficiaries, the Mali staff explicitly encouraged farmers to experiment. Farmers in Mali responded to this favourable attitude by experimenting more than those in Ghana, and in qualitatively more interesting ways.

This article evaluates poverty transition using self-assessment in a quasi-experimental framework. Data are drawn from a survey conducted in 2006 of 400 women who were the beneficiaries of a poverty-alleviation programme which involved longer-term interventions towards building the strength of government departments, participating organisations, and beneficiaries. During the survey, when the project was approaching its conclusion, about 50 per cent of these farmers were still in the programme.

A growing concern about the limited impact of agricultural research and development on natural-resources management (NRM) and livelihoods in the highlands of East and Central Africa led to the establishment in 1995 of the African Highlands Initiative, with a mandate to develop methodologies for integrated NRM and institutionalise them in partner organisations. Emerging lessons show that a combination of innovative approaches is necessary for enhanced uptake of NRM practices.

Can agricultural research help to enlist smallholders and their resources for global food security? The Convergence of Sciences (CoS) research programme in Benin and Ghana (2002–2006) tested the impact of technology development, using a pathway for impact which featured ‘technographies’, diagnostic studies, and farmer-experimenter groups to ensure appropriateness. Within the existing small windows of opportunity only marginal improvements proved possible.

Development research has been through many stages over the past few decades and during this time has experienced fluctuating appreciation by development practice. There is an increasing gap between different ways of doing development research. For some, the purpose of development research is primarily to influence policies, and in order to do this development research has to reframe its whole approach, language, and methodology.