Development Policy Review最新文献

Motivation

A decade has passed since the outbreak of the so-called Arab Spring, which led to regime changes in several Arab countries. However, these public protests demonstrated their ineffectiveness in bringing about political and economic improvements, nor did they facilitate a peaceful transition to democracy in Arab countries.

Purpose

This article attempts to discuss the obstacles to democratic transformation in Arab countries and the methods that should be followed to achieve democratic transformation, along with showing the international community's response to the Arab Spring.

Approach and methods

This article relies on a descriptive, methodological, and analytical approach to the obstacles to democratic transformation in Arab countries by analysing the events and results of the Arab Spring.

Findings

The democratic transformation in Arab countries does not require as much concerted effort to protect the right to peaceful assembly as it does to safeguard other rights from violations resulting from certain practices. This is primarily due to significant differences between ideological, intellectual, and political groups within society. Furthermore, democratic transformation in Arab countries necessitates the collective efforts of the international community, particularly Western nations such as the United States, employing a credible and transparent approach free from political or economic interests. These external factors are crucial when it comes to either facilitating or hindering the democratic transition and the implementation of democratic reforms.

Policy implications

The Arab Spring showed that peaceful democratic transitions and the conditions for the continuation or replacement of authoritarian regimes require the approval and support of some countries that are devoid of political or economic interests, as they are external factors that can influence and hinder the democratic transition or ensure democratic reforms. This is especially true because public protests are no longer simply a sign of resistance to the regime but rather are rather a potential advance warning of rebellion and the overthrow of said regimes.

Motivation

Foresight methods are increasingly recognized as essential for decision-making in complex environments, particularly within development and research settings. As foresight methods continue to gain prominence for decision-making, their application in these settings grows. Funders and policy-makers can benefit from the experience of transformative foresight practitioners and researchers who are skilled in designing novel ways to envision alternative and diverse development futures.

Purpose

The Seeds of Good Anthropocenes (SoGA) initiative has experimented with transformative foresight since its inception in 2016.

We position SoGA within the framework of Minkkinen et al. (2019); we present its transformative capacity through participatory visioning; and we explore how foresight methods can shape strategic development options.

Approach and methods

We draw lessons from how SoGA, used extensively in various contexts around the world, has introduced experimental transformative foresight to deal with diversity and complexity. We describe the transformative foresight processes in detail.

Findings

SoGA exemplifies how transformative foresight can support policy and change initiatives by providing participants, planners, and decision-makers with opportunities to reinforce the collaborative and transformative objectives of their policy and convening practices. Such engagement not only deepens the strategic impact of policies, it also encourages a more inclusive and participatory approach to policy development, aligning with broader goals for sustainable and impactful change.

Motivation

Strategic foresight is gaining traction for anticipating changes in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world—one which will require different mindsets and approaches. Yet international development co-operation practitioners have been slow to adopt foresight.

Purpose

What promises and pitfalls should development practitioners consider in order to integrate strategic foresight into their work?

Methods and approach

We review the literature on strategic foresight applied to development. We draw on reflections from the articles included in this special issue. We incorporate the International Development Research Centre's experiences and early insights on the use of foresight for development.

Findings

Strategic foresight provides tools to anticipate long-term and potentially disruptive change. To apply the approach effectively, organizations need to understand the debates about foresight. But no one size fits all: organizations must identify where and how foresight can best be used; be clear on its purpose, use, and end-users; be sensitive to how foresight intersects with broader calls for decolonizing development and the future; and should adapt methods to different sociocultural contexts.

Connecting foresight practitioners and international development actors to explore potential synergies between these two worlds offers opportunities to innovate.

Policy implications

Traditional, short-term strategic planning, and reactive responses to emerging crises, are increasingly ill-suited to a VUCA world. To be fit for the future, international development actors must consider adding proactive longer-term anticipatory planning—that accommodates more systematic understanding and appreciation of plausible futures—to reactive responses.

Motivation

Foresight is increasingly being institutionalized and used in science, technology and innovation (STI) policy processes around the world. Foresight is a toolbox to help decision-makers generate intelligence about future scientific and technological advances and to frame long-term STI policy goals and rationales. Foresight can be used to inform policy to steer research and innovation (R&I) towards attaining sustainable development goals. Yet, foresight is not institutionalized and used in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) at a time when many governments are formulating new STI policies and some of their science granting councils (SGCs) are setting R&I priorities.

Purpose

This exploratory study is about challenges and opportunities of institutionalizing STI foresight in SSA. It identifies ways of institutionalizing and using STI foresight.

Methods and approach

A literature review, bibliometric analysis, interviews, an online survey, and focus group discussions were conducted to identify challenges to, and lessons for, institutionalizing STI foresight in SSA. The literature identified good practices for institutionalizing STI foresight in selected developed countries, to draw lessons for SSA.

Findings

While academic research on STI foresight and related topics is increasing, there is very limited foresight practice in STI policy processes in SSA. This is mainly owing to low awareness of STI foresight, weak technical capacity, and generally a lack of foresight culture in STI policy-making in the region.

Policy implications

Building capacity within governments and establishing a community of practice in STI foresight may help improve the quality and effectiveness of STI policy in SSA. It may enable institutions such as science granting councils (SGCs) to make informed funding decisions, targeting scarce resources at priority research and innovation. Overall, building STI foresight literacy and skills, as well as establishing designated offices for STI foresight, supported by the knowledge to select and adapt foresight tools, will result in improved STI policy-making in SSA.

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.