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Recent research by SLRC called on development agencies to 'build the capacity of the aid industry to develop capacity.' But how can agencies do this in practice? In this post, Rob Ricigliano suggests three actions that development agencies can take to address this question.
SLRC worked to mainstream gender throughout the first phase of its research. In this post, Dyan Mazurana reflects on what went well, what didn't, and what the Consortium has learned from the experience.
Lisa Denney explains why the aid industry needs to rethink capacity building.
Read the blog on From Poverty to Power.
Rachel Slater reflects on what she's learned from the SLRC survey.
Read the blog on the Overseas Development Institute's website.
View images from SLRC's first phase of research on Flickr.
Read Rachel Slater, Paul Harvey and Richard Mallett's reflections on SLRC's research on the Overseas Development Institute's comment site.
In Jaffna, Sri Lanka, sanitation workers employed by the state all belong to one caste: the Parayar. Here, Aftab Lall argues that the institutionalisation of Parayar workers as low-status government officials legitimates the discrimination they face, and ignores its origins.
Aftab Lall, Research Assistant at the Centre for Poverty Analysis, Sri Lanka
Women in one village in the Jaffna district of northern Sri Lanka have been rolling beedi with their bare hands for over fifty years in a gendered survival economy. This is no accident.
CEPA Junior Researcher Prashanthi Jayasekara
In Ilam district, Eastern Nepal, researcher Georgina Sturge followed a team of a SLRC enumerators who were finding respondents for the second round of the SLRC panel survey. Earlier in the year they came close to not being able to reach the field in Nepal at all due to political protests. Now the challenge was to find the same respondent as in the first round in 2012. Was this crazily unrealistic given the significant constraints and issues we were like to face in fragile and conflict-affected states?
SLRC Research Officer Georgina Sturge
Give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime. But what happens when he is unable to practice what he was taught?
SLRC Researcher, Richard Mallett, and SLRC Sierra Leone research lead, Lisa Denney
Despite the MDG targets to achieve universal primary education and eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2015, according to Afghanistan's most recent census only 23% of Afghan adolescent girls spend their teenage years in school, as compared to 42% of their male counterparts. Most rural families in particular still do not believe it is necessary for girls to get an education; these girls are to marry young. Thus, change must start from within.
AREU Senior Research Assistant Shukria Azmadmanesh
The limited operationalization of capacity support helps account for why the Ebola virus was so hard to control in Sierra Leone.
SLRC Researcher, Richard Mallett
The international community has treated Ebola largely as a medical emergency, requiring a technical response. This is undoubtedly true in part, but it overlooks the political dimensions of the problem which will continue to resonate long after we have 'gotten to zero'.
SLRC Sierra Leone research lead, Lisa Denney
A 2012 report by UNHCR on the effects of IDPs on host families and host
communities called for stronger commitment from the humanitarian
community to assisting IDPs in hosting arrangements. But identifying who
these people are in DRC is itself a practical challenge.
SLRC DRC PhD Researcher, Gloria Nguya
The 2015 OECD report on States of Fragility proposes a new way of
measuring and classifying fragility that is really exciting and
ground-breaking, but it's less exciting once it gets to the policy
prescriptions. We seem to move from a bold new attempt to re-classify
and re-think fragility to some pretty standard orthodoxies on what to do
about it...
Paul Harvey, SLRC Director
This Sunday will mark International Women's Day across the world.
Many will celebrate the progress that has been made towards eliminating
gender inequality around the world. However, for women living in
conflict there is still a long way to go.
Maryam Mohsin, SLRC Research Uptake Manager
Last Wednesday, we were lucky enough to be invited along to the launch of the Institute of Development Studies' Ebola: Lessons for Development papers. The event got us thinking about what the Ebola crisis tells us about our conventional ways of doing state-building and what it exposes as the limits of the existing orthodoxy...
SLRC Researcher, Richard Mallett and SLRC CEO, Paul Harvey
The Ugandan government, buoyed by aid dollars and NGO activity, is
trying to make the livelihoods of northern Ugandans better. Every year
millions are poured into schemes like vocational training, microfinance
and enterprise support with the intention of helping young people get
into the labour market and make a decent living. But are their efforts falling short?
SLRC Researcher, Richard Mallett
Action on pay and working conditions in conflict-affected situations is needed, and this should be connected to the long history of working people fighting to combat exploitation through collective action.
Sometimes we forget that the state is not a
thing, but a set of institutions made up of people. People can shape how the
state functions and can trigger changes in the way it provides services
and makes itself accountable to the population.
SLRC DRC PhD Student, Aembe Bwimana
In the run up to International Migrants Day, SLRC has teamed up with Al Jazeera to bring together academics and journalists to tell a story about what migrants face when they embark on this risky journey.
Most economic activity in developing countries is informal in nature. But the mistake people make is thinking that it is therefore untaxed and open to all (a kind of ultimate free market). This simply isn't the case.
Making judgements about whether the continued use of traditional health providers in Sierra Leone is right or wrong misses the point. The fact is it happens. Dealing with long-term health problems first means understanding how local health systems actually work and why people continue to use the providers they do.
We have known about the impacts of the seasons on health and agriculture for decades. It therefore seems remarkable that this fundamental issue still does not feature as a core pillar of health and nutrition programming.
Mira Philips, Centre for Poverty Analysis
If development practitioners aim to improve people's lives – either by providing improved healthcare or ensuring access to justice – they need to engage with the multiple providers of these services that people actually use, rather than just one part of the system.
SLRC Sierra Leone research programme lead, Lisa Denney
Understanding the role that women play in the local economy and the challenges they face in post war Sri Lanka, is very much linked to the role that women play in society – and the way in which their roles are perceived and valued.
SLRC Research Uptake Director, Priyanthi Fernando
The idea of 'post-war' immediately conjures up the situation in the North and the East where the overt fighting was most severe, and where the war devastated the infrastructure, displaced communities and destroyed a way of life and living. But at the same time, I don't think we should be confining our label of 'post-war' to the north and east. It's my contention that ALL of Sri Lanka is in a post-war situation; the war has affected all of us – in the north and in the south – Tamils and Sinhalese, and all of our institutions and our governance systems, and even our own individual ways of thinking and behaving. It has polarized communities..
Read the full blog: Women in the local economy in post war Sri Lanka
What are we talking about when we talk about capacity? The answer should be straightforward, given that ideas of "capacity" and "capacity building" frame the way many of us think about – and do – development. But often the response is fuzzy and unclear...
SLRC/ODI Researcher, Richard Mallett
When most people talk about capacity, they actually mean either "stuff" – resources and equipment – or hard skills in some technical discipline. This is the obvious starting point: without proper medical facilities or trained staff, how can a local health clinic do its job? Which is probably why so many capacity building programs try to fill deficits by giving stuff and providing technical training. But often the real problems confronting service providers have nothing to do with what's available in a tangible or technical sense – this might be a symptom, but it's not the root of the problem. So what do we then do in terms of thinking about capacity?
Read the full blog : Beyond Stuff: Capacity as a Relational Concept
The Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium has started to publish baseline survey reports for Uganda, Nepal and Pakistan, with more in the pipeline. These are attempts to catalogue people's attitudes and perceptions
of livelihoods support, access to basic services and economic opportunities, and governance.
Alyoscia D'Onofrio, IRC's Senior Director for Governance & Rights programming
Maybe it's the multi-disciplinary, multi-agency, multi-country, multi-method, multi-year research programme focused on how people survive and recover from conflict that I find so compelling and full of potential.
Or maybe I'm just attracted to yellow and black logos.
Either way, the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium has started to publish baseline survey reports for Uganda, Nepal and Pakistan, with more in the pipeline. These are attempts to catalogue people's attitudes and perceptions around three basic but incredibly important themes.
These are a baseline because the researchers will be going back to track changes two to three years later. This makes for an even more valuable resource as we'll go from having a snapshot of people's opinions to being able to view trends over time...
Read the full blog: What's yellow, black and tantalising?
What we are doing to convince people of the importance of gender in development isn't working. We need to go beyond 'target women' approaches and bring back a focus on empowerment - and we really shouldn't be afraid to be political.
Rebecca Holmes, ODI researcher, and Rachel Slater, SLRC Research Director
When progress is slow and difficult, we often talk about how we are able to move two steps forward but then tend to slide one step back. When we were invited to write this opinion piece, we started to wonder whether, if we are really going to get gender taken seriously in fragile and conflict-affected situations, we might need to go back a bit in order to make progress – back to the concepts of the early 'women in development' approaches which were radical, politicised, heavily activist and feminist in nature...
Read the full blog: One step backwards two steps forward? Unlocking gender equality in fragile and conflict-affected situations
Read the working paper: Gender-responsive budgeting in fragile and conflict-affected states - a review
How resilient will the New Deal prove to be in the face of renewed conflict in South Sudan?
The tragic resumption of conflict in South Sudan has highlighted a concern with the current state-building focus of so much international engagement in fragile and conflict-affected places. As embodied by the New Deal for Engagement in Fragile States, the current emphasis of international support is very much on country ownership with 'state-building as the central objective'. There is much to commend this process, rooted as it is in fragile states starting to assert their sovereignty and ownership of their own development through the G7+ forum. It's also an understandable reaction to international engagement that in fragile states has too long ignored national systems and capacities and too quickly substituted for the state.
But there's a danger that the pendulum has swung too far back the other way. The New Deal works well in contexts where the fragile state and its donors have good relationships and when things are going well. What's less clear is how resilient it is in the face of renewed conflict, as we are currently seeing in South Sudan. If the New Deal approach, and the shift in international modes of engagement that lies behind it, isn't well adapted to cope with places where conflict resumes or never really stops, then this presents a major problem because fragile states are, well, fragile and so prone to relapse into conflict and violence. There's a risk that the emphasis on working through national systems implies an 'all your eggs in one basket' approach to supporting post-conflict recovery. International actors may need to think more about how to maintain a critical distance from particular regimes, how to maintain the capacity for independent humanitarian action when needed and how to engage the state and non-state actors at multiple and particularly local levels – not just the national level. As Pantuliano argues, international engagement has, 'too often followed textbook prescriptions and overlooked the political and social realities of the country, treating it instead as a technical exercise in state building.'
There is potential to look at events in South Sudan and ask whether the aid transition after Sudan's Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) got the balance and timing right in moving away from international actors financed through humanitarian windows to new funding streams and different actors. As Wendy Fenton argued back in 2008, there was a need for a better mix of aid instruments, accessible to NGOs and focused on immediate service delivery and longer-term state building.
When the immediate humanitarian situation (hopefully) starts to improve it will be important to ask whether the post-CPA investments in state building have proved at all resilient in the face of the current conflict, how local-level governance institutions have responded to conflict and what has happened to peoples' views about the legitimacy and role of the state. These are questions which we'll be looking to explore in the SLRC South Sudan research programme.
Many Nepalese believe that electricity blackouts are akin to a tax on their livelihoods. So how should the state respond?
I've been in Nepal since January helping out with the implementation of a household survey. Throughout February and March, we asked people in two districts - Jhapa, in the south-east of the country on the Indian border, and Tibetan-bordering Sindhupalchok to the north - about their livelihoods, the various taxes they pay, and their relationships with state governance. As part of this research, we've also been carrying out a number of more in-depth qualitative interviews.
When asked about the kinds of taxes that most affect their livelihoods on a day-to-day basis, one of the things that struck me about people's responses was the frequency with which electricity bills were mentioned. At first, I couldn't quite understand why this was coming up so much: that's not a tax, I thought, it's simply a payment made in exchange for a service. In my mind, I began to discount these responses, passing them off as information that missed the points we were trying to get at.
My assumptions were misplaced.
Click here to keep reading and share your views.
The invisibility of
women's fishing related activities at the household, community and
decision making levels leads to their exclusion from the institutional
and technical support in a post-war context.
Is it possible to deliver basic services effectively and efficiently,
and at the same time enhance state legitimacy in fragile states?
SLRC Research Director, Rachel Slater
I should admit to being highly sceptical of 'win-win' situations. I'm reminded of the agricultural economist, Michael Lipton, telling me very early in my career: 'Rachel, I have never in my entire career seen a single case of two birds being killed with one stone.' And I work predominantly in the social protection sector where, albeit slowly, we are learning that if you heap too many objectives on to a simple instrument like cash transfers or school feeding, you risk not achieving any of them satisfactorily.
I have similar concerns about the common mantra that we hear in development agencies about fragile states: deliver basic services, especially health, education, water and sanitation, and (hey presto!) enhance the relationship between citizens and the state. Is it possible to deliver basic services effectively and efficiently, and at the same time enhance state legitimacy? I'm not sure. We know that some programme design and implementation choices that focus on, for example, building state legitimacy, lead to sub-optimal outcomes for the development of human capital and, therefore, for the reduction of poverty . Put more simply, trade-offs are everywhere. So what more did I learn about this at the WDR 2004 10th Anniversary Conference in Washington D.C. last week? And what continues to niggle and remains unresolved?
One lesson was some food for thought about the role of the private sector in delivering services in fragile and conflict-affected countries. Richard Batley stressed the need to recognise that the private sector is often the main service provider in many fragile countries and, rather than replacing a government-provided service that has collapsed during conflict, the private sector has always been the main provider in some places – the Kivus in eastern DRC are a good
example. Paul Collier suggested that governments should take overall responsibility for the delivery of services but not the function itself. Derek Brinkerhoff, Egbert Sondorp and Jacob Shapiro focused more on how to manage resources and funds to deliver services and provided some important insights about the kinds of changes needed in the roles and approaches of development agencies and governments, especially around resourcing, leadership and
My second lesson was that we must not be too simplistic in the way we portray thinking by donor agencies about the service delivery – such as my own caricatured description of the common mantra of development agencies on services and state-building above! We too often set up a straw man to knock it down (we oversimplify donors' positions and then we prove the actual situation is more complex). For example, Alan Whaites stressed that the OECD's message about service delivery and statebuilding has somehow been distilled to focus on the actual delivery bit, when, in actual fact, the OECD posited that meeting people's expectations in relation to service delivery (not just delivering services) was a mechanism that might increase state legitimacy. And we need to heed Jacob Shapiro's experience in Pakistan where he found that, while the delivery of services following floods in 2010 didn't lead directly to increased state legitimacy, it did increase participation in elections in targeted areas.
And the unresolved issues? Well, I'm left with a concern that the current approach to building (state) institutions and delivering services in post-conflict situations pushes for a transition from humanitarian assistance to building state capacity far too quickly. This is problematic because of the lack of absorptive capacity and access to remote areas –Egbert Sondorp described how large health infrastructure projects in South Sudan were only able to build hospitals just outside Juba and failed to expand health infrastructure much further than that.
But I have a deeper concern – one that emerges from the last week's discussions about the roles of state and non-state providers, the extent to which there are trade-offs between enhancing state legitimacy and delivering services, and what sorts of transitions are required post-conflict. My concern is whether, in the current push to move rapidly to state delivery of services following a conflict, and to build the capacity of state at speed (rather than have non-state provision) we are investing in services in conflict-affected situations that are not even vaguely conflict-proof.
Conflict and violence rarely come to a full stop right after a peace agreement, and many countries slide back into conflict or remain fragile, but how far does our programming insure against that? Rebecca Winthrop pointed out that in the education sector, too much attention is paid to who is delivering services, and far too little to whether children's education is able to continue, uninterrupted and without disruption, during conflicts.
Ultimately, I came away from the WDR 2004 anniversary meeting wondering about South Sudan, and how much of the millions of dollars of investment in building services there has survived the violence of December 2013 and remains intact? Rather than prioritising state-building objectives in relation to services, should we not focus more on ensuring that our programming is conflict sensitive and will be sustained even in the face of further violence?
Persistent constraints in resources, skills and knowledge, and lack of political engagement are undermining Sierra Leone's capability to prevent malnutrition. The images published by New Internationalist capture the story.
By Richard Mallett and Lisa Denney
Over a decade since the civil war officially ended in Sierra Leone, malnutrition still remains a serious problem in Sierra Leone, with the country ranked among the five states with the highest global hunger index score in 2009. As Sierra Leone has moved away from the post-conflict moment and becomes less fragile, nutrition policy has also shifted from a focus on treatment to prevention.
We have just published a report which suggests that persistent constraints in resources, skills and knowledge, and lack of political engagement are undermining the state's capability to prevent malnutrition.
The main recommendations are to:
A photo story by SLRC about malnutrition in Sierra Leone was recently profiled in the New Internationalist
Images courtesy of Richard Mallett.
Capacity building is stuck in a rut and tackling malnutrition in Sierra Leone requires different approaches
It finds that attempts to build capacity are still very much stuck in a short-term training mode. As one interviewee lamented, 'Training, training, training, training, training – how much training does one person need?!' The big hope for an approach to tackle the causes of malnutrition (not just treatment) are investments in mother-to-mother support groups and farmer field schools. These are supported through cascade training (training one group of people who then train others) and some provision of resources. These aren't working very well at the local level with a big problem of Chinese whispers – once the training has percolated down to the local level very little of the content remains. Capacity support focuses on resources and skills and knowledge at the individual and organisation levels. Other forms of support that target different kinds of capacity and focus on the system and political processes are frequently overlooked.
The recommendations are to:
So we're firmly in the territory of much recent governance research arguing for more of a focus on brokering and facilitating change. The problem, if we're to have any chance of getting donors to act on these recommendations, is twofold. Firstly, the findings on the failings of existing approaches are pretty well known – we're in 'no shit Sherlock' territory here. The repetition continues, though, because development agencies are yet to really take this on board. But secondly, there are lots of reasons why donors find it really hard to switch to the more flexible, politically and context savvy local level engagements that keep being recommended to them. There's a tension between PDIA (Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation) type approaches and the increased emphasis on local ownership and ensuring governments are in the driving seat in aid effectiveness debates. On the one hand, donors are being told to be 'more political' but on the other, they're being told to butt out of politics. So we're recommending things that are obvious but difficult.
My presentation ended with JUST TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT in big friendly capitals and an adaptation of a questionable Einstein quote – 'Development is (sometimes) doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results'. But to be really helpful to donors we probably need to start saying more about what the 'something different' looks like. I certainly don't have the magic bullet for how to nail the 'so what?' of recent governance research, and our Sierra Leone research programme is at an early stage – we hope to engage with some of the 'so what?' questions more thoroughly in our ongoing research this year.
I did have one possibly helpful thought in relation to nutrition, which was that nutrition could learn from the Community-Led Total Sanitation movement (CLTS). We are, after all, talking about not dissimilar problems – how to facilitate and encourage behavioural change at the community level to tackle a public health problem. And it's a problem where there are huge and under-explored links between poor sanitation and nutrition. So maybe there's scope for nutrition to adopt CLTS type approaches and for supporting more joined up action to tackle sanitation and nutrition challenges within communities (and probably much already going on in this area – we're conscious of being new to the sector and risking teaching grandmothers to suck eggs).
It's been five years since the Sri Lankan military declared victory over the LTTE. Many people displaced by the war have been able to return home, access basic services and restart their lives and livelihoods. However, many remain displaced and are in urgent need of personal security, safe housing, and access to basic services.
We have just published a paper looking at how the politics of the Sri Lankan state underpins the resettlement of people displaced during the last stages of the war, particularly focusing on the state's approach to post-war development, security, and international relations.
The paper started to take shape after we visited the North in the warm month of July 2012 and met with those who had been displaced and resettled, as well as officials from the government administration, representatives of (I)NGOs and religious organisations. We wanted to find out about the government's post-war resettlement process, which had been underway since the end of the war in 2009. Three years later, there were a significant number of people who continued to live in displacement - such was the situation for the people of Mullikulam in North West Sri Lanka. When we spoke to them they told us that the greatest threat to their lives at present were the elephants that roamed about in close proximity to their camp. They would light small fires at night to keep them at bay. Exposure to the unrelenting sun; heavy rain; swarms of flies; and of course the elephants - were just some of the conditions the people of Mullikulam were willing to put up with until they can return to their homeland, which had been appropriated by the Sri Lankan Navy.
The people of Mullikulam were living in extremely poor conditions. Living spaces were demarcated by tiny stretches of earth that had been cleared of undergrowth. Some had loosely strung tarpaulin sheet roofs, while others trusted the dense foliage for shelter. Their belongings (a few suitcases and bags) doubled up as furniture. Yet their destitute living conditions stood in stark contrast to their energy, assertiveness and the optimism with which they shared their story with us, as well as their hopes of going back home.
In 2007, with the fighting taking place exclusively in the North, the people of Mullikulam were evicted from their homes by the Sri Lankan armed forces for security reasons and they were told they would be allowed to return in a few days' time. Having no other option, they left with a few belongings expecting to return in a few days and carry on with livelihoods activities, mainly farming and fishing. After five years of continual displacement, many decided to try and move back, but were prevented from doing so by the Navy. There have been a number of allegations suggesting that Navy personnel have in fact moved into people's homes. The decision by the Mullikulam people to live in the jungle on the outskirts of the Naval base was in protest to a perceived injustice. They also hoped the protest would grab the attention of anybody willing to listen and help them get their land and livelihoods back. Our conversation was cut short by a visit from the Bishop of Mannar, accompanied by two politicians - one from the government and another from the opposition, and a man with a large video camera. An entourage of government security personnel and members from the Red Cross tailed them. We were told that the Bishop was in dialogue with local political and military actors attempting to broker a deal for the people of Mullikulam.
I remember getting increasingly anxious. We knew of the sensitivities around issues of displacement and the evictions that have taken place due to the establishment of high security zones (HSZs) all over the North of Sri Lanka, both during and after the war. We were also well aware of the omnipresence of the military, often in plain clothing- keeping a close eye on visitors. My colleague, familiar with government actors, managed to extract us from further interrogation (what are you doing here? how did you hear about these people? etc.). Our interviews and conversations with civil servants in the northern administration revealed a strong control over information around the resettlement process. We were told that information on the resettlement process could only be shared after getting approval from the Presidential Task Force (PTF).
What is the PTF? When was it set up? Why was it set up? What role do such government organisations play in the resettlement process? How do these organisations and actors facilitate and mediate issues of displacement and resettlement? Looking into these questions can provide us with some insight into how things have been functioning on the ground since the end of the war, and what more needs to be done to ensure people can return home.
We also wanted to know how broader political, economic and social trends in Sri Lanka influence the destiny of people in similar circumstances: why they remain displaced from their land; why high security zones continue to function after the withdrawal of the emergency and how local, national and international actors shape the post-war landscape and the lives and livelihoods of people affected by violent conflict. Since the time of research and writing the paper, the context in the North has changed in some aspects, yet remains the same in others. We met the people of Mullikulam a month into them living in the forest on the outskirts of the navy base. Since then, some have been resettled in another settlement, and have been given access to some of their land to practice their traditional livelihoods, however, many continue to voice their wish to return to their original lands.
Over the coming months the SLRC team in Sri Lanka will be looking into how those who have been resettled, as well as those who continue to be displaced, access basic services and social protection, and re-build their livelihoods.
The descent of South Sudan from relative stability to virtual chaos has happened with breathtaking speed over the past week. While tensions within the ruling political party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), had certainly been brewing for months, it remains remarkably unclear exactly what happened on December 15 to set this crisis in motion.
Did SPLM Deputy Chairman and former Vice President Riek Machar try to stage a coup? Did Machar conspire with former first lady Rebecca Garang and a group of resentful former cabinet ministers and governors to unleash rebellion within the SPLA (the national army) and overthrow President Salva Kiir? Did an escalated dispute involving presidential guards present Kiir with an opportunity to lay mutiny charges at the feet of his opponents, thereby taking down his opposition and avenging recent challenges to his leadership? Are these political leaders literally and figuratively rallying their "tribal" troops and inciting violence along ethnic lines in service of their own designs on power?
Those questions and more have been extensively debated elsewhere, but the answers remain murky. Less clear still is how this will all play out, and whether the situation will get worse before it gets better. Despite the return of an uneasy calm to Juba, and government declarations of normalcy and control, the situation has already "mutated into something that threatens the whole country". Violence has spread to multiple states, including the oil-rich northern states such as Unity, and ever-restive Jonglei in the east.
As we write in a forthcoming—and suddenly even more timely—conflict analysis of ongoing tensions in Jonglei for the SLRC South Sudan project, "[n]ational political dynamics have also shaped conflict at the local level. The struggle between Dinka and Nuer elite for political and economic dominance is regularly highlighted as a major potential flashpoint of larger national conflict, and Jonglei is widely expected to be a major source of violence if such a conflict were to erupt."
That conflict has now certainly erupted, and Jonglei is indeed a battleground. General Peter Gadet, a rebel leader turned (and un-turned, and re-turned…) SPLA commander, has reportedly defected again with a contingent of SPLA soldiers, and has taken Bor town, the capital of Jonglei. Approximately 14,000 civilians have sought shelter at the UNMISS base in Bor, and tens of thousands more have been displaced from the town. An attack yesterday (December 19) on the UNMISS base in Akobo county, which neighbors SLRC study sites in northern Jonglei, resulted in the deaths of two Indian UN peacekeepers and at least 11 civilians. Sporadic fighting has been reported all over the state, including Akobo, Gumuruk, Likuangole, Pibor town, Pochalla and Waat.
Perhaps the most unsettling question of all is not where the crisis came from, but whether anyone is actually in charge. The government and media continue to attribute skirmishes across the country to "rebels" and "forces loyal to Machar," but there is little evidence that it is an organized or cohesive movement. It is unclear whether Gadet and Machar have even spoken to one another, much less that they have put aside their historical animosities and gone into cahoots. Most of the fighting appears to be between factions of SPLA troops—though the attack on UNMISS in Akobo has been blamed on "Nuer youths" (approx. 2,000 of them)—and all of it is currently taking place in remote reaches of the country where communication can only occur by satellite phone (and the remarkably efficient rumor mill).
The arm of the state in South Sudan has never been long, and its authority over even nominally loyal troops in the field is now uncertain. Under such circumstances, the "rebel movement" framing is even more questionable. Unity and coordination among disparate groups under leaders with a variety of grudges against the government and one another is possible, but seems improbable. A simpler and more plausible explanation is that the fighting factions on the ground are answering to a variety of national or local actors, or no one at all.
In the meantime, framing these developments as an organized rebellion with Machar at its head, with an arrest warrant out for him and 13 other leaders of the SPLM opposition in prison already, may actually be pushing the former VP to fulfill the role of rebel leader in order to shore up his negotiating position. The international community is pinning its hopes on dialogue, with a delegation of ministers from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda now in Juba, but it is unclear that even sincere negotiations between Kiir and Machar—not yet a given, by any means—could actually result in a cessation of hostilities between actors on the ground.
Further worrying is the relative silence thus far from other groups not known for staying out of the fray. That includes Murle rebel leader David Yau Yau, who is allegedly responsible for numerous attacks and hundreds of deaths in Jonglei over the past several years. As Luka Biong Deng, a prominent South Sudanese academic and an SLRC advisor, pointed out, it also includes the Sudanese government in Khartoum, whose own economy and stability are dependent upon the continuing flow of oil from the fields in Unity and elsewhere in South Sudan, and who may therefore be unlikely to sit idle while violent developments in those areas threaten such a vital source of income for both countries.
As the forthcoming SLRC conflict analysis highlights, political loyalties in South Sudan are never set in stone, nor are they simply "tribal," despite the ease with which that explanation fits into popular narratives about conflict in Africa. Allegiances may be complex, conflicting, and ultimately dependent on whatever seems to offer the best chance for survival at any given moment. The survival of individuals and families has never been assured in areas like Jonglei, where the lack of security, services, and infrastructure created a situation of immense vulnerability long before the current crisis. But it has perhaps never been as precarious as it is today.
The NSP study is one of several similar pieces of high-quality research into similar Community Driven Development/Recovery (CDD/R) programmes in conflict-affected places over the last few years. It is not an outlier – the others tell a similar, underwhelming story. A report by Dr Elisabeth King published earlier this year looking at all CDD impact evaluations in conflict-affected contexts found the following:
This doesn't mean CDD goes in the bin, but it also doesn't mean we should plough on with the same model regardless. One option is to adapt the programme (the NSP paper gives ideas on adaptations) and test those adaptations to try and find a model that does deliver some of the impact claimed for CDD. Another option is to lower our expectations for what the CDD approach can deliver – if we build a paper aeroplane, we should not be disappointed that it doesn't fly us to the moon. Instead we should judge it on whether it can get to the other side of the room. For CDD this might mean re-focusing it as a mechanism for delivering stuff – clinic buildings, school buildings etc. – rather than as a mechanism for bringing about societal and governmental change. We could then test if against other ways of delivering stuff – through the government or NGOs for example.
But to focus on CDD's failings here, is to miss the point. The knowledge we now have is great news for CDD and for the communities that will benefit from it in the future. If those working on CDD can learn from the research and improve their programmes then it's entirely possible that future impact evaluations of CDD will have much more positive findings.
In conflict-affected locations around the world (including Somalia where I work) donors are spending huge sums of money on local-level interventions that are intended to increase social capital, improve community cohesion, peacefully resolve disputes, reduce armed violence, strengthen local governance and so on. These are invariably complex, subtle problems that are not easily solved with the blunt instrument of cash. And there is very little high quality evidence for much of it. CDD has blazed a trail here – it has shown that it is possible to be rigorous about evaluating impact of some of the most difficult programmes in some of the most challenging places. It is now up to those funding and implementing other programmes with related goals to subject themselves to the same rigour and scrutiny as that from which CDD is benefiting.
This is a guest post by Ivan Parks. Ivan is Director of the Somalia Stability Fund – a local governance and peacebuilding programme in Somalia. For more info:
Bishnu Upreti, SLRC Nepal Programme Leader
Why has the new constitution still not been formalised? The first Constituent Assembly in April 2008 national election failed to produce the new constitution and the country fell into a protracted and bloody armed crisis. Though an Interim Constitution was drafted and accompanied by promises of implementing the provisions of the Comprehensive Peace Accord (CPA), the CA elected members failed to formalise and implement the new constitution due to differing personal and political agendas, particularly those of the United Communist Party of Nepal (UCPNM), Nepali Congress Party, Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) and regional parties from Terai-Madesh. The main sticking points of the interim constitution were with regards to inherent and divisive contradictory demands, including whether Nepal should have one province in Terai-Madesh or more, whether multiple ethnic identities should be formally recognised or whether there should be a single ethnic identity, and finally whether Nepal should have a presidential or West ministerial governing system. 5 years later, nothing has changed and Nepal is now facing the second CA election.
Though the government and political parties have publicly pledged to conduct the CA election on 19 November fairly, we can see mounting tensions between the United Communist Party of Nepal (UCPN-M) and its radical faction, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M). To put it bluntly, the CPN-M resents the UCPN-M for abandoning their wartime agenda due to public pressure and failing to implement the CPA provisions. The CPN-M has since been obstructing the election, forming and leading a 33-party alliance aimed to create fear and confusion amongst candidates and the electorate. Added to this is the fact that armed groups further south in Terai have regrouped, accompanying their own political demands with violence, which has resulted in one election candidate being shot dead. The line between politics and crime is no clearer now than it was 5 years ago.
In response to the threat of disruption and escalating violence, the government have mobilised an unprecedented two thirds of the army to the most "sensitive districts", aka places where the CPN-M and armed groups are highly active, such as Rolpa, Bardiya and Ilam, where we have been conducting our survey, and Terai. Though many argue this may actually be adding fuel to the warring faction's fire. One thing is for sure; fear and tension is mounting and is likely to worsen as polling day approaches and violent confrontations between parties intensify.
Though the election is gathering momentum and the Election Commission (EC) has been working hard to register voters, the political parties have made wild (8 to 10 percent economic growth – India and China would be envious) and unclear promises (housing for 500,000 homeless people) which lack any detail about implementation, and most worryingly, details about how the New Constitution will be finalised and implemented are completely absent. Many parties are yet to even finalise their candidate nomination list. This disorganisation is underlined by the fact that the EC has stated that a total of 332 candidates on the PR candidate list have been asked to clarify their candidacy, age and which political party they are aligned to.
Stuck in the middle of this chaotic and complex picture are of course the Nepali people, who on the one hand are fully aware of the importance of voting to ensure representatives are elected to write the constitution, but on the other hand, face voting under the threat of violence from the radical CPN-M alliance and armed groups.
If the CA elections are conducted in a free and fair environment, and parties shift their focus towards the task at hand (finalising a new constitution), the future of Nepal could potentially be built on a foundation of stability, and we may finally see economic prosperity in Nepal. However, ensuring the security of voters, candidates, ballots and those involved in conducting the election, is already proving to be a challenge. In this context, it is important for all stakeholders involved to ensure the elections are owned by people, and are free and fair.
The view that informal economies are detrimental
must be reassessed in the face of examples which show the importance of
such jobs in economically-challenged conflict affected situations.
Ruth Canagarajah, Researcher at US-Sri Lanka Fulbright Commission.
When we think of conflict and its impact on employment and livelihoods, we tend to talk about the inevitable loss of job security and employment opportunities. Conflict impairs the functions and legitimacy of state institutions and creates an environment where transparency and accountability are non-existent. On the one hand, this climate creates a permissive setting for shadowy, unregulated activities, which can be exploited and manipulated, both by perpetrators of civil unrest, as well as victims. On the other hand, this climate is being utilised in less insidious ways; one of which is the increase in informal employment opportunities, allowing people to better secure their livelihoods in conflict affected situations.
When the state can't ensure access to basic livelihoods and provisions, the informal sector will often step in and harness local resources, skills, and networks. Yet there is limited analysis on how informal employment works in conflict-affected countries, and especially in areas affected by militarization, movement restrictions, and displacement.
It would be too simplistic to think of informal and formal economic activities as unambiguous given the complex, mixed-mode labor arrangements between both sectors. So what does the informal sector actually look like? It is usually characterized by individual or household enterprises that are unregistered entities, thereby avoiding regulation and license requirements. The general belief is that these types of unregulated, untaxed jobs are a widespread phenomenon in countries affected by conflict, and the bigger the informal sector, the more it signals underlying problems of governance and security. This sector acts as a "coping economy", i.e. an economy in which people diversify their livelihood strategies in order to survive, and it typically offers irregular income and doesn't provide the legal benefits or the labor rights protection you would normally find in the formal employment sector. In a context where private sector investment is seen as a risky business, and can actually agitate conflict, informal employment can work as a positive means for providing job opportunities. Due to the general lack of regulation and low growth in formal enterprises, unofficial job creation initiatives flourish and tend to utilize social networks and the communities' financial capital.
When a business closes down due to inadequate resources and destroyed infrastructure, laid-off workers may feel it's too risky to jump straight back into formal employment. In this situation, home-based work and self-employment offer more autonomy and less vulnerability. In conflict situations, "informality" becomes an adaptive or coping strategy to secure livelihoods and survive. If we take Sri Lanka as an example, the official end of the 25 year civil war in 2009 saw the informal sector boom. The closing of the A9 road meant that the north of Sri Lanka was virtually inaccessible, which forced businesses in areas once considered to be economic hubs to relocate. Faced with an economic embargo for nearly three decades, northern Sri Lankans resorted to finding informal jobs as both coping and adaptive strategies. Renuka, now a 30-year old self-employed shop owner and house cleaner, once worked for a prawn manufacturing company. In 2000, her father, the family's main breadwinner, suffered from severe injuries caused by shelling during the conflict and passed away. Soon after, Renuka lost her job in the prawn company. Whilst searching for work she made use of her religious community ties to advertise her availability for housework, which she has continued to do for the last 13 years, whilst running a small shop attached to her house. Renuka is now hoping to increase her self-employment activities.
As we can see, some people who have lost their jobs in the formal sector have adopted informal employment as a permanent means for survival, whereas others are utilizing it as a temporary coping mechanism. The same can be seen in the fishing sector in the north of Sri Lanka. Years of conflict, displacement and isolation from markets, along with the seasonality of fishing, forced many families to seek out informal employment opportunities and they have continued this coping strategy post conflict. Amongst vulnerable fish workers, there is evidence of a small trend to supplement fishing activities with masonry, construction work, paddy farming, and by setting up small shops when times are exceptionally tough. Since conflict affects the long-term strategies of big businesses and investment, the post-war period continues to see a reliance on informal employment.
A question that has yet to be addressed is: should there be incentives to pull a country out of its conflict economy and set up a more formal economic order to promote growth? Or is the informal sector a boon that post-conflict job creation plans can utilise? On the one hand, the informal sector can depress GDP growth, because it decreases tax revenues and public spending. The jobs in themselves are also known to offer less in terms of social security and are largely ignored by government agencies. On the other hand, the sector's impact on livelihoods could be significant during the early phases of transition in conflict-affected situations. It may even make the post-conflict economy more stable and efficient than one that's solely dependent on the formal sector.
This "coping economy" in conflict situations demonstrates a pragmatic judgement made by people who, in the face of little alternatives, rely on themselves and their social networks to find a means of securing their livelihoods, as opposed to putting themselves at the mercy of often malfunctioning formal and state-run employment schemes. The view that these "shadow economies" are detrimental must be reassessed in light of examples that show the necessity for such jobs in economically-challenged conflict affected situations, not only for the survival of a household but also to support the transition towards community stability.
*This blog is the first of two installments; the first, above, provides a theoretical and broad look at informal employment in war environments; the second will analyze how specific sectors, such as fishing and agriculture play a role in the trend.
This is a guest post by Ruth Canagarajah, a Fulbright fellow in northern Sri Lanka who is researching the intersection of natural resources, livelihoods, and post-war challenges.
Informal taxation plays an important role in people's everyday struggle to secure their livelihoods. We need to look at what people have to pay to get by if we really want to open up opportunities to create resilient livelihoods in conflict affected situations.
When people think about projects aimed at supporting livelihoods, the focus tends to be on trying to increase people's incomes or productive capacities. Aid agencies distribute seeds, provide loans to small businesses and try to stimulate value chains. Largely ignored in attempts to support livelihoods is the expenditure side of the equation – what people have to spend in order to keep their children in school, get treatment when they are sick, buy and sell produce, travel to and from towns, and establish and maintain businesses. One way we're hoping to correct this imbalance is by starting some joint work with the International Centre for Tax and Development on the relationships between taxation and livelihoods in conflict-affected situations. There's a newly published working paper and initial empirical research being planned for later in the year.
It's fair to say that the growing development literature on taxation has not paid much attention either to the informal sector or to places affected by fragility and conflict. And when the informal sector is discussed, it's often only in terms of how revenue authorities might be better able to tax informal economic activity – to bring the informal sector into the fold and regulate it. There's often an assumption either that those working in the informal sector should be paying tax but are not or that they should be tax exempt for reasons of social equity and thus don't deserve greater attention from those focussed on tax issues. But is this true?
While many individuals and households might not be paying official and codified taxes registered by national governments and central tax authorities, it does not follow that their livelihoods are going 'untaxed'. Often they are paying a large number of formal and informal payments in the form of taxes, fees, licenses and bribes in order to keep their children in school, get health care and trade and produce goods. If we are interested in the relationship between taxation and livelihoods, then we should be considering the full range of payments that people have to make to get by and get out of poverty. We propose, therefore, a broader concept of taxation – one which captures both its formal and informal dimensions, and which might be defined as follows: 'all payments that are made as the result of the exercise of political power or armed force (as opposed to market exchange)'.
From the point of view of an individual or a household, whether payments are formal or informal, legal or illegal makes little difference in terms of their impact on livelihoods. At a basic level, any form of taxation has an immediate negative effect on a household's economy. When people have to pay fees to run a market stall or taxes when they trade livestock, then this reduces household income. Taxes incurred at markets or payments demanded when crossing administrative boundaries can reduce the profitability of producing goods for market, engaging in petty trade or starting small businesses. Further still, requirements to provide in-kind labour contributions to 'community' initiatives (such as road repair) can reduce the time available to engage in other productive activities, earn income through casual labour or migrate for work.
Good evidence on these issues is hard to come by. But the limited research that does exist suggests this is far from a trivial matter. In a previous SLRC blog, Katherine Haver told us how, in eastern DRC, for every 20-litre bottle of palm oil produced and sold at market, the state takes 7 litres (as well as $0.12) while the military takes a further 7 litres (plus $0.25). And then there's another $10 per year to access the trees, plus a tax on the machine to extract the oil. A recent series of protection surveys by Oxfam similarly finds that 'in many areas [of eastern DRC], extortion and illegal taxation mean that impoverished communities are viewed as a major commodity of war'. A study from last year on the livestock trade in Darfur found that the formal taxation burden had almost doubled between 2002 and 2011, and that traders now have to pay for armed guards to accompany their herds and numerous checkpoint fees to ensure safe passage.
To the extent that taxes enable governments to deliver services, ensure security and create a regulatory environment for business, taxes can have positive impacts on livelihoods. Being able to access basic services such as health and education, transport goods along roads that are maintained and make a living in a secure environment are all critical components to livelihoods. A focus on taxation may open up opportunities to create more resilient livelihoods by advocating for changes to how people are taxed.
A better understanding of how taxation works at the local level may also provide a contribution to debates around state-building in fragile and conflict-affected situations. These have often been framed around the idea that if the state can be supported to do more for its citizens in terms of delivering basic services and ensuring greater security and justice, then state-building outcomes will follow. Relatively neglected in debates about what creates legitimacy and so strengthens states are questions about how state actors could become less predatory and extractive. A focus on how people are currently taxed and whether this could be shifted to be less negative and better linked to provision of services could contribute to state-building debates.
Together with our colleagues at ICTD, we think this is an under-researched area, and our working paper makes the predictable point that evidence on the relationships between taxation and livelihoods in countries affected by conflict is thin. So, in looking at the intersection of taxes and livelihoods, our planned empirical research will be focusing on four key themes:
1) The full extent of formal and informal taxation incurred by individuals, households and small businesses. For example, as an overall proportion of household income or of business costs.
2) The positive material impacts of formal and informal taxation. That is, where paying taxes results in a benefit, whether it be formal and legal (such as receiving health care) or informal and unofficial (for instance, getting onto a food aid list).
3) The relationship between taxation and livelihood choices and behaviours. How does the extent and nature of taxation affect what people do in order to make a living? For example, do people in eastern DRC give up palm oil production because it's too heavily taxed to be worthwhile?
4) The relationship between taxation and governance. Does the way people are taxed (formally and informally, corruptly and legally) affect their views of the legitimacy of the state? Here we will be exploring the potential transformative, socio-political effects of taxation.
We'd be keen to hear from other people working on these issues, anyone planning or already doing research asking similar questions, and examples from other contexts of how taxation – broadly defined to cover both its formal and informal dimensions – impacts on people's ability to make a living both during and after war and violent conflict.
"With these elections, Pakistan has taken an important step towards democracy, but to transform the country in more fundamental ways will require more than (recycled) electoral promises. What Pakistan needs is a bold plan of action, and whether Sharif and his party can deliver on it remains the ultimate question."
"The WDR 2013 has created space for discussion of employment issues in fragile and conflict-affected situations. But we now need to build on the momentum around the current 'good jobs' agenda by taking questions of politics, governance and state-society relations seriously, and working out what they might mean for people's access to employment and markets."
Steve Commins, SLRC Researcher, Pakistan Team
As a member of the core team responsible for the 2004 World Development Report (WDR) – Making Services Work for Poor People – and a consultant to the team that produced WDR 2007 – Development and the Next Generation – I appreciate the scale of the task faced by a WDR team working in a tight timeframe.
In reading the overview to WDR 2013 – Jobs – one thing I particularly appreciated was the way in which this Report, somewhat unusually, built upon a number of themes from previous WDRs, including gender, conflict, youth and urbanization. And, in my view, the connections with previous themes deepened the analysis and added more depth and nuance to the document.
What is missing from the WDR 2013?
Having said that, one area that the report could have usefully explored further, and to which the Bank and other donors should really give more attention, is the political economy of jobs and livelihoods policies. The World Bank and DFID have, amongst others, increasingly focused their discussions and activities on good governance, ambitiously attempting to strengthen mechanisms for social accountability. But the connections between politics and access to good jobs and employment have long been overlooked in the governance and accountability literature (my SLRC colleague, Rich Mallett, argues a similar point here).
This is a problem. As with basic services, clientelism – a method of political distribution and exchange that is conditional on the behaviours, identities and allegiances of individuals and communities – may involve governments designing policies that are structured in ways to benefit specific political allies or favoured religious and ethnic groups. This divide, rather than a clear 'rich' versus 'poor' or 'middle class' versus 'lower class', may be an important analytical issue for donors and government reformers in relation to access to employment and livelihood opportunities.
The WDR 2004 introduced the 'accountability triangle' to explore the links between governments, service users and providers, and sought to highlight the political nature of service delivery. But, in retrospect, this element of basic services probably required even more emphasis and analysis, as many of the obstacles to service access and delivery that have been studied over the past decade are the result of politics – not some technical failure. Importantly, and as hinted at above, these issues are not confined to the arena of service delivery. If we look, for example, at public works programmes, a good case for examination might be NREGA – India's pioneering National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The initiative was recently praised by a senior UN official as 'exceptional', but in practice it suffers from problems of corruption and capture, notably linked to the caste and clientelist politics on a state by state or district by district basis in India.
Access to jobs is not a technical issue, but rather goes to the heart of state-society relations
For the policies outlined in the WDR 2013 on jobs, and for alternatives to those policies as well, greater attention needs to be paid not only to the way in which political relations shape jobs policies, but also to the relationship between citizens and the state. We often hear donors and governments talk of the need to enhance citizen engagement in political processes, but making sure this happens in reality is not easy.
Research suggests that for citizen voice to be effective it requires significant engagement and support, as well as channels through which voice can be exercised. Yet, while there are many examples of how states and civic organizations have sought to establish more consistent and institutionalised channels for civic engagement – such as public hearings and consultations, village development committees and participatory district planning councils – it is important to recognize that these are not neutral spaces. Governance and accountability research has shown us how control of the terms of engagement, participation and inclusion is a key issue that must be considered when trying to link citizens to their government institutions. Channels designed to increase citizen voice both reflect, and are infused with, the dynamics of state-society relations – something which may become more problematic in fragile and conflict-affected situations where being overt in voice can be a risky undertaking, with citizens becoming reluctant to 'speak up' out of fear.
Relating these points back to the question of jobs and employment, we are confronted with a fundamental question:
If civic engagement is about power relations – among citizens, between citizens and the state and other powerful actors, and between different layers of the state – where and how do livelihood activities and priorities, as well as the political dynamics of markets, affect these relationships?
The WDR 2013 has created space for discussion of these issues, but we now need to build on the momentum around the 'good jobs' agenda by taking the 'governance of livelihoods' seriously.
An earlier version of this blog was posted on Public World.
Sony KC, SLRC Nepal Researcher
Ageing is inevitable. Life becomes a challenge as we grow old, particularly from an economic perspective if you're in Nepal, something I was reminded of after a recent research trip to Liwang, Rolpa. In Nepal, being elderly without sufficient savings or anyone to look after you is a common occurrence. During the course of the decade long armed conflict led by Maoist insurgents between 1996 and 2006, which claimed around 13,000 lives and displaced over 200,000 people, Nepal's elders were physically unable or reluctant to leave their homes, despite some living in areas heavily affected by the conflict. Many lost their children or saw their sons migrate out of Nepal.
This context, combined with changing perceptions amongst younger generations about their role and responsibilities in the traditional family set-up, seems to have resulted in a breakdown of traditional forms of social solidarity, and has left the elderly largely neglected.
In attempt to address this issue the government of Nepal has created an inclusive social pension in 1995, the Old Age Allowance, which every elderly Nepali has the right to obtain. Thousands of elderly are now entitled to the benefits every month. However, geographical remoteness, high travel costs and poor implementation, due to weak local capacity to implement this reform, means that this right has yet to be realised. A proper mechanism for implementation is needed to address the practical shortcomings of this important and commendable initiative.
On Sept 25 2012, I went to Liwang, Rolpa, often remembered due to the insurgency, to conduct a survey on livelihoods, basic services and social protection for the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium. Rolpa is spectacular, but its landscape is difficult to traverse, even for the fit and able. Imagine imposing high hilltops and cliffs with treacherous sharp drops. The sheer difficulty in reaching those we were hoping to interview made me wonder how the elderly residing there managed to get to the district headquarters to collect their allowance.
Whilst staying in Liwang, I spoke to many elders who told me about the pension scheme, how they spent the money and the difficulties involved in obtaining it. Many were forced to rely on relatives to help them undergo the journey, when and if they were well enough to travel. Those living relatively close to the pension distribution headquarters had easier access, but for those living further away the journey was often out of the question. Even after having completed the journey, some arrived to find they were unable to get what they were entitled to thanks to an inadequate flow of funds from the central budget, resulting in a waste of time, effort and money. Because of this, many of those interviewed showed no interest in collecting their money, stating that the cost and uncertainty involved was too high.
Interestingly, those who were receiving the benefits, despite the difficulties, were content that the state was doing something to support them and saw this as a sign of respect. As one senior citizen said, "We are happy, not because we get Rs 500, but because the state has dignified us at this age."
The most positive impact the state pension seems to have made so far is the dignity it ascribes to the elderly and its attempt to be inclusive, as there is no ethnicity or caste barrier. The major hurdle seems to be the disproportionate cost and effort that goes into accessing the pension scheme, which is deemed largely unreliable. Fixed collection dates and adequate funding allocation were the two main recommendations suggested by the elderly interviewed. As an 80 year old elderly man affirmed, "What is Rs 500 when we have to walk for hours and come back empty-handed after being told that the money has not arrived?"
The provision of this allowance is an important and widely appreciated first step towards offering security to those elderly people without an income and living alone or in rural areas, but more work needs to be done to overcome issues around accessibility and the mechanisms needed to deliver the pensions so elderly people in the remotest areas are not excluded. This could be achieved through creating a reliable means of acquiring the allowance, ensuring regularity in payment, as well as monitoring and assessing the impact of the provision. SLRC's partners in Nepal, NCCR, will be conducting a survey looking at the Old Age Allowance at the end of 2013 in Bardiya district to assess the effectiveness of the scheme.
We laud the state for the thought given to our nation's respected elderly, but adding effectiveness to it will make that thought count for more.
"The case of job creation is symptomatic of a broader issue: that, perhaps because of the absence of high quality impact data, largely unjustified assumptions shape policy and programming choices in conflict-affected situations."
Richard Mallett, SLRC Research Officer
Read more: http://inec.usip.org/blog/2013/mar/10/supply-and-demand-power-and-data-case-more-restrained-handling-job-creation-program
"Difficult and risky contexts should not be an excuse for inaction or inadequate action when it comes to securing livelihoods"
I'm just back from a short trip to DRC which included a few days in Bukavu with our DRC research partner ISDR and meetings with people working for international agencies. One of the things that I was asking about was what different actors were doing to support livelihoods in eastern DRC. It's a familiar and pretty thin list. There's some food aid, although less than I expected with 350,000 beneficiaries in 2012 from a population of 4.6 million and half of those accounted by school feeding. There's a fair amount of seeds and tool distributions and now seed fairs and vouchers. After that you have to start scratching around for further examples – a bit of micro-finance, surprisingly few market chain focussed interventions, a little bit of agricultural extension advice, some support to small livestock (chickens, goats and surprisingly guinea pigs) and not much else that I came across. Now that summary comes with a hefty caveat that I was only in town for a few days, didn't talk to everyone and make no claims at all to being comprehensive (do let me know what I've missed in the comments section). But it's a list that's depressingly consistent with the findings from 'Missing the Point' from a review for ECHO of their funding for livelihoods programmes and work for WFP evaluating their approach to livelihoods programming.
There are, I think, three basic problems with much aid intended to support livelihoods in fragile and conflict affected places. They are:
The first problem is that any livelihoods programming is often relatively small-scale and covering a tiny proportion of the population in need (whether through food insecurity, poverty or displacement). When asked why this is, aid agency staff generally cite the difficulties of scaling up given ongoing insecurity and conflict. But in eastern DRC there are large-scale aid programmes supporting health care, IRC has been implementing a large-scale community driven development programme (Tuungaane) for several years and UNICEF coordinates a large-scale non-food item response to displacement. So the security constraints don't seem insurmountable – if you can get drugs to clinics and kitchen sets to displaced people then assistance to help people make a living shouldn't be impossible. The lack of scale also seems wrapped up in the idea that support to livelihoods is 'developmental' and that donors are reluctant to fund longer-term approaches in a situation where humanitarian funding streams and approaches remain dominant. That's depressingly true but hasn't stopped longer-term approaches in other sectors such as health and again seems an insufficient and bad reason for inaction. Maybe the new enthusiasm for resilience will help to reinvigorate the old need for better ways of linking relief and development and help donors and agencies see the need for both short and long-term approaches to helping people make a living.
The second problem is one that I've labelled the 'one cabbage problem' ever since seeing too many community vegetable gardens in southern Africa in the early 2000s. What I mean by it is that too often, if you dig into the detail of expected benefits from a programme aimed at supporting livelihoods then the net impact on the income of an individual household is likely to be tiny. There are myriad examples of this – 'community' projects where each individual household can expect little in return for high investments in time and effort, cash and food for work projects where participation is rationed so any one household can only get a few days pay and food aid where traditions of sharing mean rations are spread thinly between many more households than the intended target.
And the final problem is back to where I started – the depressingly short list of interventions that are being tried to support livelihoods. We still haven't got much beyond seeds and tools. It would be exciting to see more attention to markets and value chains, to livestock, to petty trading and casual labour, to urban livelihoods and rural to urban links, to remittances and financial inclusion and to land rights but there isn't much sign of it. And there's not much sign of the humanitarian system learning from best practice in support to livelihoods elsewhere. For an example of scale and ambition there's the Chars Livelihoods Programme in Bangladesh.
None of which is meant to imply that supporting livelihoods is straightforward in places where conflict and violence are still pervasive. There's an obvious objection that investments in livelihoods are likely to be reversed when the recipient is robbed or has to flee his / her village for the 3rd time in 3 years. And the risk that livelihoods investments can themselves put people at risk of violence. So supporting livelihoods needs to be sensitive to how conflict affects peoples' choices and linked much more strongly to protection. But the fact that it's difficult and risky should not be an excuse for inaction or inadequate action. So here's hoping that when I'm next in Bukavu I hear about a 12 year programme aiming to support the livelihoods of over a million people in a significant way.
Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium,
Overseas Development Institute,
203 Blackfriars Road,
London SE1 8NH
Telephone number: +44 (0)20 7922 0300
Fax: +44 (0)20 7922 0399
Email: email@example.com


text:
I purchased 4 apps via Rock that are all from Intelliborn -- tLert, MyWi 4.0, Intelliscreen, and Intellidial.
With the recent switch from Rock to Cydia, I tried to download the recent updates for these four programs from Cydia (instead of Rock where I normally got them).
Initially, I started getting a "size mismatch" error and it wouldn't download the programs.
Now, it seems to start to "run", but nothing downloads.
I'm getting an error when it tries to download the latest info for the apt.modmyi.com repo - I'm assuming this is being caused by an overwhelming # of people downloading updates. I had the problem last night and still having it this morning.
This was always another benefit of having Rock AND Cydia - was an alternate repo to download files. Does Intelliborn still have a repo to get their latest updates?
I have support e-mails into Rock and Cydia, but thought I'd post here to see if anyone else is having this issue.

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This recipe I got from Aussie masterchef and it turned out amazingly moist and fluffy. The buttercream on top was also a good compliment.
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Nature's Variety grain-free wet recipes are made with cage-free poultry, grass-fed meats or wild-caught fish plus real vegetables and fruits. Cuts of meat in savory gravy and delicious loaf textures are protein-packed and a simple way to add variety mealtime.
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This was a Christmas gift & when delivered, all the info on the gift was all over the box except for the color.Read More
Better by far than more expensive blendersRead More
This is my first stand mixer and I'm very pleased with it. Since I am an occasional baker/cook, I didn't want to spend several hundreds of dollars on a mixer, so I decided to purchase this Hamlton Beach mixer and I'm really glad I did. It does everything (and more) that I need it to do. I would definitely recommend this mixer.Read More
Love the mixer and it looks great.Read More
I love it. Everyday I look for something new to cook so I can use it. I have wanted it for 30 years. Finally!!!! Yea. I am so happy.Read More
After a year this is still working like a charm. I think it might be better than kitchenaid in my humble opinion.Read More
Works great! Pretty red color.Read More
This mixer is my first stand mixer. I use it for baking and it really is easy to use and easy to clean up.Read More
So far used for cookies and bread. It's great for bread dough, though at speed 6 it does vibrate. No worries about sturdiness, though, and it does a great job. Now we can have our favorite Sesame Semolina bread any time we want - and even better that the "Artisan" bakers.Read More
Absolutely wonderful product. Thank you. Would recommend to anyone. Price was excellent.Read More
We used the mixer for the first time last night, and I was impressed with the weight, ease of use, and quality. It compares well with a more expensive stand mixer I have used in the past. Very happy with this purchase.Read More
So far so good...A good sturdy machine with metal hooks!(WHOOOpeee)Read More
Bought this for my husband who loves to bake, cook & grill. He always wanted a mixer but the ones we saw at the retail stores were expensive until I found this one online. What sold me on this was the low price and good reviews. I also like how the head tilts at an angle opposed to it lifting up, it makes taking the bowl out easier. Also, the color wasn't a big deal. It actually gave our kitchen a pop of color.Read More
I have wanted a stand-up mixer for years and years. I compared on several sights and came to the conclusion that you're just paying for the name of the other one. This Hamilton Beach is all metal, including the attachments. It's incredibly well made and just beautiful on my countertop. I've already used it to whip cream and coconut oil for a homemade moisturizer. It did incredible with both and I'm looking forward to making some cookies this weekend. I can tell that I'm going to get years of use of out it. I haven't used the dough hook but was not concerned with the other complaints about it not being able to process dough too well as we don't eat or make bread. It's just perfect for our home and I LOVE the color!!!!!!Read More
Love this mixer! Not disappointed at all! Got it for a great price! It works beautifully! Would highly recommend buying it. And, it's a gorgeous shade of red!!!Read More
Good product and works as advertised. I use it in general for cakes, etc. Would recommend to others.Read More
I looked at a lot of stand mixers, and couldn't decide because of price of the look of the mixer, or whether I really needed one that took accessories. I finally found this one, and the price was great. Red wasn't my first color of choice, but it was all there was, so I took it. The body seems a bit thin on the bottom, but I don't think that'll affect the performance in any way. The included pouring/spatter shied was a selling point, along with the universal rotation of the beater. That saves a lot of scraping.Read More
Hamilton Beach Red 4 Quart All-Metal Stand Mixer
Today $189.00


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World War I: American Legacy
From Wikipedia
US intervention in the war, as well as the Wilson administration itself, became deeply unpopular. This was reflected in the U.S. Senate's rejection of the Versailles Treaty and membership in the League of Nations. In the interwar era, a consensus arose that US intervention had been a mistake, and the Congress passed laws in an attempt to preserve U.S. neutrality in any future conflict. Polls taken in 1937 and the opening months of World War II established that nearly 60% regarded intervention in WWI as a mistake, with only 28% opposing that view. But, in the period between the fall of France and the attack on Pearl Harbor, public opinion changed dramatically and, for the first time, a narrow plurality rejected the idea that the war had been a mistake.


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To welcome the lovely new readers we've been getting, I decided to update y'all on my busy, busy summer. As many of you might remember, I previously complained that my life was over…twice. Of course, it wasn't true and I got through my junior year just fine. Looking back, though, it was definitely one of the hardest years ever. I had to constantly struggle with the crushing possibility that I simply wasn't good enough to become a writer. When I finally got The Call from my agent, it alleviated a lot of my self-doubt. Unfortunately, the subsequent rejection of my first novel by publishers didn't help. I quickly shook off my disappointment and dove into book #2, which is currently with my agent and waiting to be submitted next week. Did you hear that, guys? Next week! I could be in negotiations for a book deal within days. Scary and exciting thought.
Anyway, I'm definitely not as busy as I was during the school year, but I have managed to take on quite a load this summer. I don't know if I'll manage to accomplish everything. I am, however, the type of person who likes to set goals, so I'm going to aim high. Looking back at my New Year's Resolutions for this year (already halfway through, gasp!), I missed getting a 4.0 last semester by one A-. But I did keep up my relationship with my siblings, land an agent, blog weekly, and maintain my French. Hitting the gym weekly, though? Well…
Now, I'm going to list the goals I've set for this summer and you guys will have to keep me accountable!
Summer 2013 To-Do List
- Finish majority of Romance Languages thesis. For my honors thesis, I am doing a phonetic comparison of Spanish, French, and Catalan vowels. So far, I have been getting familiar with their vowel systems. I just finished designing the speaking task with which I will use to record subjects. After that, I will begin acoustic analysis. I would like to finish collecting all the data by fall.
- Get a good start on International Studies thesis. For my other thesis, I plan to study the representation of women during the Chinese Cultural Revolution through the medium of art. This is a period of history that fascinates me, and I'm always drawn to gender studies. I will spend the summer doing preliminary research (i.e. reading tons of books). By the end of it, I hope to have a clearer grasp of my topic.
- Polish and submit Fulbright Application. I am planning to take a year off from school after I graduate to do the Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship program. I'm applying to Morocco because I wanted to do something different after France, continue to practice my French, and learn a new language. Morocco is perfect because its Islamic/North African culture is amazing, many Moroccans speak French, and the majority use Darija, or Moroccan Arabic.
- Teach myself Arabic. To make my Fulbright application more competitive and to gain some basic survival skills in preparation for Morocco, I'm teaching myself Arabic. This will certainly be no easy feat, but I have a hoard of textbooks on the way to help. Of course, I'm not expecting to become fluent in a matter of months. Ideally, I'd like to have first-year proficiency by the end of the summer. I'm super excited because I love learning new languages. Arabic will be my fifth foreign language.
- Prepare to take the LSAT. Oh trust me, this came as a shock to me too. I'd always loved law and wanted to go to law school in high school. Quickly though, I realized I didn't want to work in a law firm or in criminal/civil law. In college, I mostly forgot about law. Then, I started considering it again because an international law degree could open many opportunities either in the foreign service, the UN, or the OECD. Now, I'm planning to apply to law school next year and attend as soon as I return from Morocco.
- Get a book deal. Granted, this one isn't really a to-do because there's nothing I can do at this point. Except pray. A lot.
So if you run into me this summer, most likely I will look like this:
Don't worry, though. I won't be mad at you — I'll just be working on my thesis in my head.
What are your plans for the summer? Are you someone who likes to makes goals?


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Without nightclubs, parties would never have evolved from their early quarters in parents' basements, where last call was signaled by reminders to clean retainers before bed. Celebrate progressive revelry with today's Groupon: for $49, you get an A-list nightclub crawl from Party Tours Las Vegas, valid for Thursday, Friday, or Saturday nights (a $99 value).
Hosts and hostesses from Party Tours Las Vegas sweep guests into four exclusive evening sanctums throughout the evening, shepherding groups past clubs' usual moats of perilous lines and hefty cover charges. Club crawlers need only worry about their drinks at the club, their moves on the dance floor, and their adherence to a dress code that discourages 30-gallon trash-bag bodysuits. At 9:30 p.m., the evening commences in The Deuce Lounge at the Aria, where bartenders spiritedly shake and stir two-for-one cocktails. An hour later, eyes wash their pupils in the technicolor wave from Haze Nightclub's 20-foot wall of lights.
From there, the group jumps on the party bus for a mobile, open bar of champagne, wine coolers, premixed shots, and domestic beer. The party parks just outside of LAX Nightclub at the Luxor, where hip-hop rhythms and 1920s-inspired ambiance infiltrate the depths of the desert pyramid that has three sides but five hearts. Then at 1:15 a.m., before the final club stop, the group cruises The Strip for a mini tour that culminates at the famous Las Vegas sign. While at the sin city landmark, travelers can pose for pictures to be posted on and shared from the gallery page. On Thursdays, Tryst's 100-foot, three-tiered waterfall douses club denizens, while on Friday or Saturday the boutique nightclub of Surrender or the nearly 1,100-square-foot dance floor of XS prolong the weekend with songs that make no mention of Monday or guests' commitment to a team of Alaskan huskies expecting to be mushed.
Party Tours Las Vegas
It's one thing to see Las Vegas as a tourist, and quite another to see it as an insider. That's the idea behind Party Tours Las Vegas, a company founded by Vegas natives determined to give visitors memorable VIP experiences at some of Sin City's hottest clubs. They'll also take you past places you literally can't see anywhere else in the world, from the Eiffel Tower at Paris Las Vegas to the Great Sphinx at the Luxor. Affianced persons bid farewell to singledom with bachelor and bachelorette party packages, and various nightclub tours and crawls ensure revelers take in famous sights on a new fleet of party buses while sipping complimentary cocktails.


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Pointe Aux Barques Pillow Cover - (In CMU Maroon)
Perfect for the beach, boat or hammock.This Central Michigan University Maroon 16" x 16" pillow cover is 100% spun polyester poplin fabric. Individually cut and sewn by hand. A single sided "Pointe Aux Barques" print with white back. Finished with a concealed zipper. Does not include pillow insert. In CMU Maroon nautical flags spelling out Ponte Aux Barques with CMU Gold lettering.


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How to use Google Maps without internet
Do you think that you cannot use Google Maps without a hi-speed internet connection? Sorry to say but you are totally wrong. If you are going to a new city and have doubts about internet connectivity there then, Google Maps is there to help you even without internet. There are some steps to be taken to make the App work without internet. Let's explore these prerequisites one by one.
STEP 1 – Login to Google Accounts In your device.
STEP 2 – After completely logging into your account download the Maps App by Google by searching as ' Maps' on play store or in your browser. If you already have this app pre-installed in your device then update your app to the latest release to have this feature.
STEP 3 – After you're done with the installation or updating of your app, launch the app and choose "Your Places" form the menu.
STEP 4 – Select the area of your choice by zoom in or zoom out the map. After you're done with the selection of area, Save it and name it as required or as the place name.
STEP 5 – In this way you can save the completely download the entire map of a city in your pocket and access it offline whenever and wherever you need it.


text: Williams Handmade Shop Online – shop our range of beautiful handmade leather goods Williams Handmade Leather Workshops – find out about our fun and engaging leather workshop Williams Handmade Shop Online – order your personalised bespoke leather goods ABOUT SEARCH ARCHIVE GIFT IDEAS LEATHER COURSES LEATHER WORKSHOPS NEWS SHOP CART CHECKOUT CONTACT 8oz Hunter Flask with cups £62.00 Bircher £220.00 Broxchurch £350.00 Broxwood £230.00 Broxwood Clutch Bag £55.00 Croft Clutch Bag £60.00 Dewchurch Music Bar Case £450.00 Dinmore £245.00 NEWS Leather Courses Leather Workshops Product Search Shop Facebook Rating 5.0 Williams Handmade 5.0 × Karen Sheers 2015-05-26T12:33:05+0000 I have three of Sarah's bags and a number of her other creations. All are of the best quality. I will be looking to expand my collection in the near future. Emma Joanne Norman 2015-01-31T21:39:02+0000 I love my new purchase from your opening evening, you are a very talented lady and good luck. Sophie Davies 2014-12-30T20:14:00+0000 I have a fuchsia dewchurch bag for work and it's my favourite purchase of recent years! I love it...... xx Margaret Adams 2014-12-30T10:08:53+0000 I received one of your clutch bags as a birthday gift, it is beautifully crafted and simply elegant in contemporary colours - I absolutely love it. Grace Williams 2014-12-18T10:22:02+0000 Katie Mumford 2014-12-14T20:08:04+0000 Carol Williams 2014-12-14T19:59:38+0000 Can't wait until you have opened xx Chris Kemp 2014-12-14T17:54:35+0000 powered by Facebook


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Travel News - Ken Forster
Father Ken Forster, OMI, will be leading the next Oblate Mission
travel trip to Kenya in September 2009. Join Father Ken as he visits the
parish, schools and community he helped build for almost a decade; experience
the Water Project and all it has brought to Kionyo; meet the street children to
whom our Oblates minister; and pray with those studying to become Oblate priests
and brothers in Karen, near Nairobi. Top it off with a safari and it will
be a most memorable mission trip to Kenya. Space is limited.
Also in the works for 2010: we hope to travel to
Peru - second home to many young Canadian Oblates in the 50s and 60s - and also
to Guatemala, one of the newer places our Canadian Oblates have missioned.
Details are still being worked out on Peru and Guatemala. For information,
please contact Neysa Finnie (604-736-3972) or firstname.lastname@example.com.
Return to previous page


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One bouquet trend has certainly taken off: collecting your own pieces and working with an accomplished designer to have your bouquet professionally made. It is one of the easiest ways to design your own bouquet. Send pieces that you collect from family, friends or heading out and shopping yourself. Many brides, including Miranda Lambert, have each of their guests bring a brooch to their bridal shower and then send their collection to us at The Ritzy Rose. This is a great way to do the fun part and leave the hard part to the professionals.
This listing is for a brooch bouquet that will be made by yours truly (The Ritzy Rose), using pieces that you provide. Once you order the listing, you will begin communicating with the Jen (that's me)... the designer. I'll use my years of experience to guide you through the process of collecting your brooches (how many you'll need, what to look for, etc). You will work directly with me to customize the size, shape and other details. If there are any details that you haven't quite worked out yet, that's totally ok! I'm reachable by email or phone and my job is to guide you through each and every step of the process.
If you have some special pieces but not enough for your bouquet, that's not a problem. Many brides provide some of the pieces and enhance their collect with vintage and modern jewels from our vast collection. Send us a message for pricing info for this option.
Interested in getting brooch bouquets made for your bridesmaids? Bridal party pricing is available upon request.
Ready to commit to a bouquet, but not pay for it all now? No problem! Head to the deposit page and get started now.
If you are ready to choose The Ritzy Rose for your bouquet but not ready to pay for the entire balance at this time, feel free to place a deposit. Once a deposit is made you will secure your place with The Ritzy Rose. You will then be contacted by the head designer, Jen (that's me!) and the process will begin. The deposit will be applied towards your total, and the balance of the bouquet is due before shipping. For how much your bouquet will cost based on the size and other factors, please browse the section of custom bouquets. If you still have questions, please email The Ritzy Rose.
Not sure which bouquet is right for you? Click to contact The Ritzy Rose for help.
A modern flag handcrafted to announce your arrival! This small triangular "Here Comes The Bride" pennant flag can be made in hundreds of color combinations just for you. One of our most popular styles.
For your reference, the first image shows this sign with Black ink and Light Pink ribbon (colors vary from screen to screen).
"Here Come the Grooms!" We are proud to cater to gay and lesbian weddings, and offer this sign as a unique accessory for your wedding ceremony.
Your little one couldn't be more excited that Mommy and Daddy are making it official. Let them tell the world with this "Daddy, Here Comes Mommy" pennant flag!
International buyers: We try to ship in a small a box as possible to cut shipping costs to you and reduce wastage in packaging. You will receive the complete paper flag with ribbon and the wooden dowel, and you will insert the dowel into the flag when you receive it.


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I am going to be making a cupcake cake for my friends son bday and he LOVES monster trucks.. I was wondering if anyone knew how I could make monster trucks for the top and the crushed cars etc. I have been searching online for moulds or something like that but have come up with nothing.
Or any other decorating ideas are more than welcome
1 reply
i just made a monster jam arena in my pics. I just used some of my son's cars and 2 of the b-day boys monster trucks on top of the cake.