Development Policy Review最新文献

Motivation

This article argues that the NGO sector should prioritize translation as an anti-racist practice because failing to tackle colonial language hierarchies replicates historic power structures. Aligned with the locally led approach to development, the article responds to calls for more research into the role of translation in shaping development outcomes, and answers direct appeals from NGO practitioners for translation glossaries in different languages to improve communication between development actors.

Purpose

We introduce a new participatory method for co-producing translations of terms that community members deem important for their visions of “development” and social change. We contend that participatory translation fosters an anti-racist approach to knowledge production by centring communities in the construction of meaning, which may encompass language and concepts outside the international development lexicon.

Approach and methods

The study was based on the principles of community-based participatory research, and an Advisory Board of community members was instrumental in its design. The draft of the glossary was produced in two three-day participatory workshops in Lilongwe and Zomba, Malawi. These were attended by 36 people representing potential user groups of the glossary.

Findings

The workshop participants created 385 translations of development terms, including 70 translations that are not listed in the Oxford Chichewa–English Dictionary. They also engaged in critically reflective discussions that challenged dominant discourses of development. We argue that participatory translation is a tool to transcend the language barrier in a way that simultaneously subverts conventional power hierarchies and offers access to different ways of understanding the world.

Policy implications

NGOs in different linguistic and geographical contexts could adopt participatory translation activities in the early stages of forming relationships with communities and local partners to build trust and common understanding. In line with an anti-racist approach, this would help to combat systemic linguistic exclusion, which exacerbates other forms of disadvantage.

Motivation

School feeding programmes employ more than 4 million people globally and have the potential to contribute to the realization of multiple Sustainable Development Goals, including decent work and reducing inequalities. However, the working conditions and experiences of workers in these programmes have received little attention from academics and policy-makers alike. Consequently, it is currently unclear what the impacts of the employment generated are and whether this employment reduces or perpetuates inequalities.

Purpose

This article examines the extent to which school feeding programmes can generate beneficial employment by examining the experiences of cooks in the world's largest school lunch programme, India's Midday Meal Scheme. The article focuses on five key areas: who is employed; their pay; their workload; their access to social protection; and the effects of privatization.

Approach and methods

To examine these five areas, data from three sources are combined: primary data collected in Rajasthan; state-level secondary data; and the analysis of national-level documents.

Findings

The findings show that national policy creates a system in which cooks in the Midday Meal Scheme are underpaid, undervalued, and overworked. These working conditions are underpinned by a series of assumptions and narratives which are all too common in perceptions of care work: that the work is unskilled, not time consuming, and motivated by altruism. The state's lack of regard for these workers is evident in the growing privatization of the scheme.

Policy implications

Overall, the findings show that policy on school feeding programmes, including those in India, needs to ensure that those working in the scheme are treated as employees and receive sufficient pay and benefits. Providing decent work in these programmes has the potential to not only reduce poverty and inequalities but also to improve the implementation of school feeding programmes.

Motivation

China does not participate in the development co-operation reporting mechanism of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) development co-operation reporting mechanism, nor does it voluntarily publish overseas development finance data. Despite recent quantitative research on China's foreign aid to other sectors, such as health, no precedent exists for quantifying China's international education co-operation (IEC).

Purpose

This article will use AidData's Chinese Official Finance Dataset (AidData 2.0) to estimate the IEC using the OECD's internationally standardized definitions of development finance and frameworks for classifying IEC projects.

Approach and methods

We thoroughly examined all types of IEC projects, including official finance projects other than those that meet the definition of official development assistance (ODA). In our comparative analysis of educational aid between China and traditional donors, we focused on ODA-like projects and examined the number of projects and funding amounts to determine China's IEC priorities.

Findings

The result shows that, between 2000 and 2017, China's IEC commitments totalled 1,524 education-related international projects, representing 12% of the total international finance project portfolio, most of which are in Africa. Compared to the OECD framework, China prioritized higher education (n = 784, 51%) and education facilities and training (n = 244, 16%). An estimate of cumulative funding between 2000 to 2017 showed that China was the 10th largest donor of education aid to African countries, behind France, the World Bank, Germany, the United States, the EU, the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, and the Netherlands.

Policy implications

The findings of this study help our understanding of China's IEC finance. With China's involvement in education development aid growing in recent years and donors looking for solutions to developing countries' debt crises, this will allow for more effective collaboration, co-ordination, and resource mobilization for both donor and recipient countries.

Motivations

Participatory governance is commonly implemented as an ad hoc programme to empower the citizen. In limited cases, such as Indonesia, it is institutionalized into the state bureaucracy and implemented nationwide. However, implemented by a New Developmentalist regime that is nationalistic and centralistic in its governance approach, the effectiveness of participatory institutions for overcoming issues of poverty and marginality is under question.

Purposes

Drawing from case studies on the implementation of the New Village Law in Indonesia, this article critically examines how the Participatory Village Governance policy has been designed and implemented by the New Developmentalist regime to address issues of poverty and marginality.

Methods

This article is based on a field monitoring study of the implementation of the Village Law at the village level, and supplemented by qualitative interviews at the village, district, and national levels with the implementing agencies of the participatory institutions and the broader community.

Finding

The research findings show that the new policy of Participatory Village Governance has a narrow focus on the village economy and infrastructure to serve the interests of the New Developmentalist regime of Joko Widodo rather than the interests of the people of the village. The centralistic approach in the implementation of the new policy has also overlooked the issues of poverty and marginality, dampening the true potentials of the participatory approach.

Policy implication

The participatory approach in development and governance has huge potential, including the addressing of poverty and marginality issues. However, a centralistic approach in design and implementation, removing the political dimension of participatory approach, can jeopardize the possible outcomes. It is advised that participatory governance must be equipped with its very fundamental components, namely, political empowerment.

Motivation

In recent years, research has shown that informal workers and businesses in low-income countries are increasingly taxed by the state. While rarely a significant revenue source, informal sector taxation in highly informalized economies affects a large proportion of the working population. Under such circumstances the question of whether taxing informal economic activity either improves or undermines state–society relations are still debated, particularly in the case of fragile states whose tax systems tend to be characterized by a high degree of coercion towards poor actors.

Purpose

Previous research has tended to focus on tax evasion and how to increase tax compliance in the informal economy. In this article, we aim to explore how informal sector actors in Bamako, Mali, interact with local tax collectors in various ways with varying levels of agency. On this basis, we develop a broader analytical framework for understanding local government–taxpayer relations.

Approach and methods

In a case study of Mali, a fragile state with violent conflict and a highly informalized economy, we made use of qualitative research methods with semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with different actors in the informal economy.

Findings

We find four main modes of interaction: (1) “tax evasion,” where individuals evade or minimize their tax obligations; (2) “tax bargaining,” where groups with limited political resources negotiate with local authorities; (3) “forced taxation,” where disadvantaged groups pay taxes without tangible returns or a voice in protest; and (4) “harsh sanctions” faced by those unable to pay or evade taxes. Informal sector actors show a different capacity for collective action impacting their agency vis-à-vis state authorities.

Policy implications

The informal sector needs to be unpacked in fragile states, focusing on understanding existing fiscal pressures on different informal actors and their various strategies for navigating tax systems. Tax administrations should promote dialogue and trust-building measures and avoid strategies that exacerbate social division and undermine state–society relations.

Motivation

Vulnerability to poverty derives from adverse shocks and adaptive capacity. To alleviate poverty, policy-makers must understand sources of vulnerability, household coping strategies, and the effectiveness of current insurance. Vietnam is an important case due to the many hazards that rural households face and the inadequacy of social safety nets.

Purpose

This article investigates the role of adverse shocks on vulnerability, coping strategies, and recovery of households in rural Vietnam.

Approach and methods

Using a unique panel data set from Vietnam Access to Resources Household Surveys (VARHSs) during 2008–2016, I first estimate and deconstruct sources of vulnerability. To examine household behaviour when coping with adverse shocks, I use a multivariate probit model; to investigate whether coping strategies help households recover from shocks, I use a multinominal probit model. Finally, I evaluate the effectiveness of existing risk-management mechanisms.

Findings

The average rural household in Vietnam experiences a 72% decrease in utility due to shocks. Idiosyncratic shocks contribute 32% of the loss. Rural households are highly dependent on informal coping, such as reducing food consumption, withdrawing savings, taking children out of school or selling capital assets. Household savings allow the wealthiest households to recover; but for low-income households, consumption has to be cut, which depletes human capital development and prevents recovery.

Policy implications

Rural Vietnamese need more public support to cope with and recover from shocks. Because idiosyncratic shocks hit households hard, public support should focus on alleviating their impacts. Expanding health insurance to all rural households should be a priority.

Households suffer less in areas with higher levels of economic development, so economic growth is a defence against shocks. More roads and links to towns and more irrigation would help.

Motivation

Addressing stunting in early childhood can have lasting effects on an individual's health, productivity, and well-being in adulthood. By understanding the relationship between maternal healthcare policies and stunting, policy-makers can design interventions that contribute to a healthier and more productive society.

Purpose

This study investigated the effect of providing free healthcare to pregnant mothers on child stunting.

Approach and method

The article uses doubly robust difference-in-difference estimator, drawing on Ghana Demographic and Health Survey.

Findings

Free healthcare to mothers reduced stunting in the treatment regions by 12.3%. Evidence suggests the reform may have influenced children under the age of five through antenatal and delivery care attendance during pregnancy. Assistance during antenatal care and childbirth by health professionals improved significantly.

Policy implications

Maternal health investment yields great health benefits for children from in utero to their fifth birthday. Maternal fee exemptions should be continued to maintain and further improve stunting reduction in children. Government should prioritize improving access to quality maternal healthcare services, including antenatal and skilled birth attendance and emergency obstetric care.

Motivation

The article aims to examine how Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) shaped efforts of civil society organizations to address gender equality through organizational and programmatic change. FIAP and other feminist policies have direct implications as to how organizations design and administer their work to address gender inequality and on how funding agencies and foundations administer and support this work.

Research Question

What are the opportunities and limitations to FIAP's implementation based on the experiences of civil society organizations' efforts to address gender inequality?

Approach and methods

Data collection for this article took place between 2019 and 2021, beginning two years after the launch of FIAP. This research adopted a mixed-methods grounded theory approach, where the collected data shaped the conceptual framework. An online survey, interviews, participatory workshops, and media analysis were included in the data collection. Staff from civil society organizations and the University of Ottawa supported the research design process. A response rate of 50% was achieved with a total of 42 respondents out of 83 organizations responding to the survey. A total of 15 interviews were conducted with gender equality specialists based in Canadian international organizations.

Findings

Analysis from data collected in 2019 with gender specialists and civil society organization (CSO) staff, as well as analysis of media coverage of challenges faced by feminist organizations in 2020 and 2021 revealed that the potential for CSO investment through staff support (financial, training and government guidance) could only be partially realized within the “unfeminist” structural landscape in which development programmes oversee the administration of under-represented groups.

Policy implications

This study demonstrates the limitations around building stronger linkages between policy formation and implementation processes, and also the opportunities. The authors argue that strengthening engagement with feminist networks globally could align policy priorities with those identified by grassroots movements, while influencing how funding agencies value feminist practice in CSOs.

Motivation

To enhance tax education and increase citizen participation in combatting tax evasion, monetary incentives may be used. In December (2021), the state government of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil launched the Receita Certa project. It aims to encourage new taxpayer habits, by refunding part of the tax collected by retailers on consumption back to citizens, contingent on its performance exceeding inflation rates. Taxpayers add their tax identification to receipts and request redemption every three months.

Purpose

We analyse the impact of the Receita Certa project on the behaviour of consumers as taxpayers.

Methods

We evaluate the impacts of Receita Certa using difference-in-differences. The response variables are the monthly number and value of electronic receipts issued to beneficiaries. The treatment group consists of citizens eligible for the refund in its introduction month, while the remainder constitute the control group. The database includes receipts issued to 3.4 million taxpayers who added their tax identification to the receipt — spanning 11 months before and 18 months after the initiative, began resulting in 46.7 million records.

Findings

The Receita Certa proved ineffective, as it led to fewer tax documents issued. Distributing resources widely to many users does not seem the best solution, both in cost and results. Distribution goes first and foremost to people on higher incomes since they got larger prizes: the smaller prizes of people on lower incomes were often not claimed. The programme made tax more regressive. The programme was also costly.

Policy implications

States that have a large tax gap need to improve their control systems. Initiatives like the Receita Certa that return resources widely to taxpayers to reduce tax evasion are widespread. Given the results shown, Receita Certa needs rethinking.

Motivation

Previous studies on the effectiveness of capacity building training, drawn from the experience of traditional donors, have been limited in their understanding the impact of the diversity of trainees and the diversity of training on the effectiveness of training. This is particularly problematic given the increasing prevalence of such training and the emergence of new donors with different approaches.

Purpose

This article investigates the effectiveness of capacity-building training across different participants and different training types, through the case of an emerging donor, the Republic of Korea (Korea). Korea is distinctive and under-researched as a country relatively late to join the OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC), with several policies explicitly locating capacity-building training as a diplomatic strategy. Korea has made repeated efforts to diversify participants and types of training to gain a comparative advantage in international development and co-operation.

Methods and Approach

The study constructs a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) to analyse the effectiveness of training across layers of individual diversity (gender, rank, level of national income and extent of democracy) and group diversity (types of trainings). It draws on survey responses from 789 government officials in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Findings

Training effectiveness differs for diverse participants and training types. Effectiveness tends to decrease as job rank and national income rise, while it increases with the level of democracy. Training that fosters diverse interactions and experiences, such as multi-country training and invitational training, tends to be more effective than other types.

Policy Implications

Our results suggest implementing more collaborative and customized training to suit the heterogeneous needs of diverse participants. The results emphasize the need to develop and operate various training types that promote diverse interactions and experiences among participants.