Search

Begin New Search Topic Development

4511. An Assessment of the Imapct of Microfinance Services in Uganda

Author:
Carolyn Barnes and Gayle Morris
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA)
Abstract:
Using three microfinance institutions (FINCA , FOCCAS, PRIDE) in Uganda, this paper focuses on the impact of microfiance program participation and profiles the clients who participate in these programs. The research covers clients and a non-client comparison group in rural Mbale district, the capital city of Kampala, and Masaka town and its periphery. The two-staged survey was conducted in late 1997 and repeated during the same months in 1999. The assessment conclude s that microfinance program participation has the following positive characteristics on client microenterprises: addition of new products and services, improved or expanded enterprise sites and markets, reduced costs of inventory purchases, and increases in sales volume. Household-level impacts include: began new enterprise, increased amount spent on durable assets and agricultural inputs, increased amount of cultivated agricultural land, and increased amount of household income from crops. The findings also suggest that microfinance programs help client households reduce their financial vulnerability through diversification of income sources and accumulation of assets.
Topic:
Development, Emerging Markets, and Third World
Political Geography:
Uganda, Kampala, and Masaka

4512. A Polanyi Perspective on Post-Communist Corrruption

Author:
Jens Chr.1 Andvig
Publication Date:
08-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The paper seeks to explain the present high levels of corruption in the post-communist countries, i.e. the centrally planned economies where the communist party lost power as the outcome of a specific historical process where both the character of the former economic system as well as that policy shock itself played key roles. Among the possible explanatory factors the study focuses on the effects of production decline and the 'monetarisation' of the economy which started before the policy shock.
Topic:
Development, Economics, and Government

4513. Evaluation of Fadcanic's teacher training program in Nicaragua's Southern autonomous region of the Atlantic Coast

Author:
Axel Borchgrevink and Anníbal Ramírez Rodrígues
Publication Date:
06-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
Since 1997, FADCANIC has been implementing a training program for unqualified teachers working in primary schools of Nicaragua's Southern autonomous region of the Atlantic Coast. SAIH, the Norwegian NGO that has been funding this program, has commissioned the present evaluation. It concludes that the program has had a significant impact in terms of improving education in the region through addressing one of the most urgent needs of the educational sector, namely teacher qualifications. However, the evaluation also points out a number of other limitations for the sector, including lack of resources for materials, physical infrastructure and reasonable teacher salaries, as well as general social problems of the region. It recommends that the program is continued, and that even greater emphasis is put upon creating a teacher education appropriate to the multilingual and -cultural reality.
Topic:
Development, Education, and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Norway, Central America, and Nicaragua

4514. Defusing a Ticking Bomb? Disentangling International Organisations

Author:
Indra Øverland
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
This article examines how various organisations divide and coordinate their conflict prevention and development aid in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of southern Georgia, and how that coordination might be improved. There have been numerous early warnings of impending violent conflict and calls for conflict prevention in Samtskhe-Javakheti. Counter-claims have, however, been asserted that the region's problem is in fact not one of potential violent ethnic conflict, but rather one of poverty and peripherality, and that exaggerated, uncoordinated early warning might in fact inflate conflicts that were not initially acute. At one point it seemed that the Samtskhe-Javakheti case would provide an example of uncoordinated and one-sided focus on conflict prevention and early warning on the part of international organisations, and its potentially detrimental consequences. An overview of the activities of the organisations, however, shows the contrary. A critical, sensitive and deconstructive perspective is already incorporated into their approach, and their activities are well coordinated. More formalised institutions are nonetheless needed to ensure the inclusion of large multilateral actors such as the World Bank and Council of Europe in the process, and consistent coordination in other regions too.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Development, and International Organization
Political Geography:
Europe, Eastern Europe, and Georgia

4515. The e-government imperative: main findings

Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
Since the advent of computers, and more recently the Internet, pressure on governments to perform better has increased, and information and communication technologies (ICTs) have provided them with the capacity to do so via e-government. E-government is here defined as “the use of ICTs, and particularly the Internet, as a tool to achieve better government”. The impact of e-government at the broadest level is simply better government – e-government is more about government than about “e”. It enables better policy outcomes, higher quality services and greater engagement with citizens. Governments and public administrations will, and should, continue to be judged against these established criteria for success.
Topic:
Development, Government, and Science and Technology

4516. Engaging Citizens Online for Better Policy-making

Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
Today, all OECD Member countries recognise new information and communication technologies (ICTs) to be powerful tools for enhancing citizen engagement in public policy-making. Despite the limited experience to date, some initial lessons for online citizen engagement in policy-making are emerging: Technology is an enabler not the solution. Integration with traditional, “offline” tools for access to information, consultation and public participation in policy-making is needed to make the most of ICTs.
Topic:
Development and Science and Technology

4517. Disability programmes in need of reform

Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Abstract:
OECD countries spend at least twice as much on disability-related programmes as they spend on unemployment. Disability benefits on average account for more than 10 percent of total social spending. In the Netherlands, Norway and Poland they reach as much as 20 percent.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Government, Human Welfare, and Non-Governmental Organization
Political Geography:
Norway, Poland, and Netherlands

4518. Contracting with NGOs for Social Services: Building Civil Society and Efficient Local Government in Russia

Author:
Raymond Struyk
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Urban Institute
Abstract:
A decade after the beginning of the transition to democracy in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union it is clear that the nonprofit sector has developed remarkably in many countries in the region. Progress is especially striking in Eastern Europe (EE); on the other hand, development has been notably limited in most countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) where liberal democracy has had little chance to take root (Anheier and Seibel 1998; Hyatt, Cooper, and Knight 1998; Kuti 1999; Nowicki 2000; Quigley 2000). Kendell,Anheier, and Potucek (2000).
Topic:
Development, Human Welfare, and Non-Governmental Organization
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Eastern Europe, and Soviet Union

4519. Participation in a Decentralized Housing Allowance Program in a Transition Economy

Author:
Tatiana Lykova, Sergei Sivaev, Raymond J. Struyk, and Ekaterina Petrova
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Urban Institute
Abstract:
When Russia's housing allowance program, the country's first means-tested program, was introduced in 1994, it was truly innovative. But there were difficulties from the start, many arising from the division of authority for setting program parameters among different levels of government and the potential for variation in the treatment of similar households in different cities. In 1996, the program's original simple basis for benefit determination was seriously impaired by the introduction of different principles for very low-income households. Moreover, local governments have exhibited a willingness to vary benefits from year-to-year, depending on political and budgetary considerations. The analysis presented here documents the impact of these variations on participation rates in a sample of Russian cities. Large inequities are obviously present in the treatment of similar households from city to city. Indeed, it is questionable whether the program as currently configured is fulfilling the social safety net function envisioned for it in the original legislation.
Topic:
Development, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

4520. Russia's Winter Woes: Tariff Setting for Local Utilities in a Transition Economy

Author:
Sergei Sivaev, Raymond J. Struyk, Valentin Andrianov, and Emin Askerov
Publication Date:
04-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Urban Institute
Abstract:
During the past two winters, breakdowns in district heating services in Russia have grabbed international headlines. In Russia these services and water and sewerage services are the responsibility of municipal governments; these governments set the tariffs for these services. This article examines the tariff-setting process during 1997–2001 for these two services with particular emphasis on the decision process for considering tariff increases. We find that little progress has been made during the transition period in developing the legal base for rational tariff-setting procedures. Overall, tariff increases have been substantially less than the rate of inflation. Statistical analysis confirms that decisionmaking is highly politicized and that in times of extreme inflation tariff increases lag even further behind inflation, with the sector being used as a kind of shock absorber to cushion the full impacts of inflation on the population. There is an obvious acute need for leadership at the national level to address these problems.
Topic:
Development, Energy Policy, and Government
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia