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21. The Ecuador Situation: The Relationship between the Government and the Media

Author:
Camilla Lanusse
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University
Abstract:
Long-standing tensions between the government of Ecuador and the private press culiminated in February with a Supreme Court decision, international outrage, and a presidential pardon. Arguing that the media have long acted as a powerful private interest in Ecuador, President Correa in recent months filed and won several lawsuits for criminal defamation against news media and individual reporters, and proposed legislation affecting coverage of political campaigns. The controversy surrounding these events contributed to the debate over freedom of expression and the press in Ecuador, as well as Independence of the judicial system.
Topic:
Development, Government, Media, and Judiciary
Political Geography:
Central America and Ecuador

22. Understanding the Links Between Sexual and Reproductive Health Status and Poverty Reduction

Author:
Nata Duvvury and Philip Oxhorn
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University
Abstract:
The interrelationship between poverty and sexual and reproductive health status (SRHS) is widely noted in academic, policy and programmatic discourses, though none establishes causality. The primary emphasis in these discourses is that poor SRHS is an outcome of poverty, and thus can be addressed through poverty reduction programmes. The purpose of this brief is to understand what factors contribute to the interrelationship between SRHS and poverty, with a specific focus on understanding how SRHS impacts household poverty. Future studies may then focus specifically on these factors in order to address issues of causality. This brief is based on desk research involving two sources of data: 1) a review of global literature and 2) three country case studies. The global literature review examined literature documenting the nature, extent and strength of the interrelationship between poverty and SRHS. The literature search was conducted using keywords from different disciplinary perspectives demography, economics, development, women’s studies, sociology, human rights and public health. Key databases such as JSTOR, PubMed, MEDLINE and Elsevier Science Direct were consulted, as well as the specific library databases at National University of Ireland, Galway and McGill University. Researchers at McGill compiled an annotated bibliography of literature on India. The three country case studies were undertaken in Brazil, Ghana and Lebanon. Consultants in each country undertook an extensive search of academic, policy and programmatic literature including journal publications, research reports, policy briefs, and non-governmental organization (NGO) reports. The literature search in each country followed the same method as the global literature review, including identifying keywords from different disciplines and exploring different databases. In addition, the consultants searched grey literature through contacting various NGOs and research institutions. They also obtained statistical information from governmental and institutional databases. All country case studies explored three key questions: 1) Is there literature that demonstrates the impact of poor SRHS on poverty? 2) What factors have been highlighted in the literature as influencing the relationship between SRHS and poverty? 3) Are there trade-offs involved for women between education, fertility, status and work participation? and 4) Do programmes by civil society organizations, such as micro-credit or income-generating programmes, promote sexual and reproductive health?
Topic:
Development, Education, Poverty, Health Care Policy, and Reproductive Health
Political Geography:
Africa, Middle East, Brazil, South America, Lebanon, and Ghana

23. Stimulating Sustainable Economic Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa with Legal Systems Enabling Women Entrepreneurs’ Creativity

Author:
Isabelle Deschamps
Publication Date:
01-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University
Abstract:
This brief addresses the problem of gendered poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa and argues that multifaceted context-sensitive business law reform is necessary for tackling issues underlying the problem. It takes the reform initiatives led by the Organisation pour l’harmonisation du droit des affaires en Afrique (OHADA) as a case study and draws on interviews carried out by the author with women entrepreneurs, OHADA agents, lawyers and journalists in Benin and Cameroon in 2010, 2011 and 2012. The brief argues that business law modernization in Africa should not be only or predominantly aimed at attracting foreign investors and ensuring a secure legal climate for multinational corporations. Rather, African business law reform should also attend to the informal sector and aim to make states’ legal systems friendlier to micro, small and medium businesses (MSM), in particular ones operated by women. Concomitantly, Canada’s international development assistance policies should aim at promoting, through commercial law reform, entrepreneurial skills and creativity among principals of MSMs. Strategies and recommendations for reaching policy goals should be rooted in local needs and frames of reference. They should target and be accessible to those running MSMs in the region. This brief notes CIDA’s successes in this area, and shows how current programs can be adjusted to prioritize the achievement of policy goals and the development of strategies in cooperation with female-run MSMs, financiers, jurists and organisations like the OHADA operating in sub-Saharan Africa.
Topic:
Development, Women, Entrepreneurship, and Economic growth
Political Geography:
Africa

24. Lebanon: An Overview Context, Evolving Demographics for Women, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Poverty and Women, Gender and Rights

Author:
Jocelyn DeJong and Sonya Meyerson-Knox
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University
Abstract:
Lebanon, a small middle-income country located on the eastern Mediterranean, is typical of many developing nations as it is undergoing demographic and epidemiological transitions with limited resources at hand, and yet unique due to its diverse population and long history of conflict. The conditions of Lebanese women are also fairly unique: A gender analysis Lebanon’s development indicators reveals that Lebanese women experience relatively high levels of health and education, but are lacking a commensurate presence in the public sphere. According to a Lebanese NGO, a “key problem is that gains in health and education have not translated into women’s economic empowerment, advancement in politics, or full equality under the law” (CRTD-A, 2006, p. 8).
Topic:
Development, Gender Issues, Human Rights, Women, Sexual Health, and Reproductive Health
Political Geography:
Middle East and Lebanon

25. A Case Study from Ghana: Understanding the Links between Sexual and Reproductive Health, Gender Equality and Poverty Reduction

Author:
Akosua K. Darkwah
Publication Date:
01-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Institute for the Study of International Development, McGill University
Abstract:
Ghana is an interesting case study for this project for two reasons. First, it has an anomalous reproductive health profile. The country has the lowest Total Fertility Rate (TFR) in West Africa and one of the lowest in the sub-region. As at 2008, the TFR for the country was 4.0, for urban areas it was 3.1 and for the Greater Accra area, the most urbanized part of the country, it was 2.5 (GDHS 2008). This is a quite rapid decline from a TFR of 6.4 children per woman as at 1988. Even more interesting is the fact that the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate (CPR) stood at a low 24% in 2008. Some scholars such as Grey and Blanc (2002) argue that abortion rates help explain the gap between the CPR one should expect given the low TFR and what actually pertains as measured by the GDHS. Abortion in Ghana, however, inspite of a liberal law, accounts for between 13% (Sedgh 2010) and 25% (Baiden 2009) of maternal mortality cases in the country. In other words, in Ghana if the assertions of Grey and Blanc (2002) are valid, a low TFR has been achieved at the peril of women’s lives, quite contrary to what one would expect if reproductive health concerns were addressed systematically in the country. Second, the country exhibits quite some discord between its policies and its practices. Over the years, Ghana has been influenced and positively impacted by the global regimes in first Family Planning and later Reproductive Health. It joined the UN system of Population Censuses in 1960 and was an African Pioneer in the development of official Population Policy. It has an illustrious son, Fred Sai who is well known in international circles for his work on Reproductive Health. Fred Sai was the president of the International Planned Parenthood Association during the International Conference on Population Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994 at which the conceptual shift from a narrow emphasis on family planning to the much broader notion of Reproductive Health was made. As president of such a key institution, he was instrumental in the processes that led to this effort and worked tirelessly to ensure that the Ghanaian State in its policies and practices reflected the conceptual shifts from Population Control to Reproductive Health. Two years after ICPD, the Ghanaian Reproductive Health Service Policy and Standards were developed and revised in 2003 to incorporate sexual health and gender based violence.
Topic:
Development, Gender Issues, Poverty, and Reproductive Health
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana