Development Policy Review最新文献

Motivation

India has seen severe economic and social impacts from COVID-19, with the most vulnerable people having suffered most. Mumbai's response has been multi-faceted, drawing on numerous actors such as local and state government, but also businesses and citizens. Disaster management is increasingly necessary and Mumbai's policy response during wave two of COVID-19 provides relevant lessons.

Purpose

We explain Mumbai's policy response to wave two of COVID-19, termed the Mumbai model, applying a systems-thinking approach.

Methods and approach

We adopt a systems-thinking approach, applying a framework developed in Duvendack and Sonne (2021) to analyse a case study based on secondary data and information on the policy response to COVID-19 in Mumbai.

Findings

The Mumbai model emerged as a pragmatic policy response. Key actors changed between waves one and two, from a broad set of actors to a narrower set focused on the unfolding healthcare crisis. This resulted in a reconfiguration of networks and partnerships. Decentralized decision-making further changed the structure of the networks to a hub-and-spoke model. Communication and feedback loops shifted from primarily top-down to two-way information flows to support decision-making and resource allocation driven by data. This was enabled by clear leadership and political support.

Policy implications

To tackle a crisis of this magnitude, having diverse actors collaborating effectively through networks that enable knowledge and information flows is crucial. Governments can use the systems approach for crisis management in large cities which require swift action and efficient flow of information to assess a situation and to prioritize response efforts. Further research is required to better understand how governments can build capacity and policy structures to enable systemic approaches to crisis management in varied contexts.

Motivation

International donors commit around USD 2 billion every year to Pacific Island Countries (PICs). While the donors intend to help develop the Pacific, few of the projects they fund involve any more local involvement in their selection and planning beyond consultation with selected, often elite, or small groups of locals. It is even rarer to find projects that are localized or locally-led.

Purpose

We ask whether it is possible to do more to localize donor-funded development in the Pacific. We ask if co-design between foreign and local specialists can localize development, by giving locals more agency, and by prioritizing indigenous knowledge.

Specifically, we review the Pacific eLearning Programme (PeP), funded by New Zealand and implemented in the Cook Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The programme works with Ministries of Education to design science content that reflects the country context for some ten or so schools in each nation. Co-design includes use of indigenous dialogue [talanoa / tok stori / storian] to share, debate and learn between foreign and local specialists, and between specialists across the four countries.

Methods and approach

Evidence was gathered from pre- and post-programme surveys. Further data was collected from comments written by the local co-designers.

Findings

We found that kinship formed between locals and foreigners, based on mutual respect for the knowledge each group brought. This process empowered locals, valued their expertize and knowledge, and reduced dependency by prioritizing indigenous and local knowledge. Localization led to mutually beneficial outcomes.

Policy implications

Creation and implementation of policies that mandate localization through recruitment, use of indigenous methodologies, co-design and recognition of local skills, knowledge and culture will help create trust with development partners, empower locals, exchange skills and knowledge between locals and foreigners, and reduce dependency.

Motivation

Despite an increased focus on inclusive development, we know little about the extent to which development aid reaches politically excluded groups or how this varies across different donors.

Purpose

Addressing this knowledge gap, we develop and test a framework arguing that (1) areas where politically excluded groups live are less likely to receive development aid, and (2) there are differences between donor countries and organizations in how they instrumentally address inclusive development.

Methods and approach

Using a geographically disaggregated panel dataset of aid projects covering sub-Saharan African countries from 1996 to 2013, we combine sub-national data on the location of aid by donor and type, and data on politically excluded ethnic groups.

Findings

For World Bank aid projects, we do not find evidence that areas with excluded groups are generally prioritized. However, when disaggregating by sector, we find that aid projects related to health and water access are significantly more likely to be allocated to areas with excluded groups. Furthermore, we see little indication that Chinese aid is targeted towards areas of political exclusion. Conversely, aid allocations made by donor countries whose development strategies emphasize inclusive and needs-based approaches are more likely to be established in areas with politically excluded groups.

Policy implications

We argue that these results indicate diverse underlying political motivations behind the provision of development aid by various donors. These motivations become evident when examining aid allocation by sector and type of donor.

Motivation

Anecdotal evidence suggests that local non-farm opportunities slow down rural–urban migration. However, there is hardly any empirical evidence on the relation between household non-farm income and migration. Understanding this relation is essential for rural development strategies, sustainable urban development, and policies that influence domestic migrations.

Purpose

We examine whether households' decision to send a member to urban areas for employment depends on the extent of their non-farm income and, in turn, on local non-farm opportunities. We also study how this impact is dependent on household income, education of the household head, and land holdings.

Methods and approach

Households' decision to migrate or to choose non-farm employment is endogenous, likely to be influenced by unobserved characteristics. We construct local measures of non-farm opportunities at the Union (lowest administrative) level using Economic Census data. Local opportunities are exogenous to household decisions and are used to instrument household-level non-farm income.

Findings

Regression results using instrumental variables show that a greater share of non-farm income reduces the probability that members of the household will migrate to other districts. This effect is most pronounced for semi-rural areas such as municipalities. We find similar results when we use areas with small and medium enterprise (SME) clusters to instrument household-level non-farm income. We also observe substantial heterogeneity of impact: a higher share of non-farm income deters migration more for income-rich, land-poor and educated households.

Policy implications

Our results suggest that creating non-farm opportunities curbs migration to urban areas. Developing rural growth centres, secondary towns, may reduce migration to larger cities and reduce poverty.

Motivation

In European policy debate, conflict, economic crisis, lack of development, population growth, and climate change are often seen as the root causes of migration from Africa. To deter irregular migration to Europe, aid has thus been directed towards these perceived causes. This seems, however, not to deter irregular migration.

Purpose

We explore the discrepancy between the official discourse of root causes and insights from research on migration decisions; and how discourse and evidence relate to aid. We ask what kind of policy change is needed if aid is possibly used to influence irregular migration. We focus on the motivations and drivers of migration and how development co-operation may influence these.

Methods and approach

Considering African migration to Europe, we examine the official European discourse on root causes of irregular migration, highlight recent developments in the academic understanding of migration aspirations and drivers, and investigate various attempts to analyse the impact of foreign aid on assumed “root causes” and migration.

Findings

Migration is influenced by drivers that differ according to the specific context in which potential migrants decide to migrate or not. Aid to influence migration must be thoroughly adapted to the circumstances of potential migrants. Addressing so-called root causes may be irrelevant to many potential migrants and will require long-term change to have any impact. It may even increase migration in the short term. Foreign aid that adopts a blueprint regardless of context is unlikely to deter irregular migration in the short or medium term.

Policy implications

If irregular African migration to Europe is to be deterred through development co-operation, European policy-makers and development practitioners need to elaborate and differentiate between aid-supported activities through careful understanding of the migration dynamics specific to individual localities and societies.

Motivation

Pacific aid research has largely focused on national issues and social justice, rather than spatial justice and the development of remote outer islands. In particular, the perspectives of remote outer island populations on aid have not previously been assessed.

Purpose

This study explores the experiences and views of the population of a remote Pacific outer island, Mauke in the Cook Islands, on the foreign aid they receive. By listening to and learning from local people living with aid on a remote outer island, this article seeks to address spatially insensitive Pacific aid research and policy. Based on these insights, the article derives policy implications for aid and development actors working on Mauke and other remote outer islands in the Pacific.

Methods and approach

Employing a mixed-methods approach, this article draws on field research conducted on Mauke, involving in-depth semi-structured interviews and a quantitative survey.

Findings

The people of Mauke are divided about whether the island should receive more or less aid. Those calling for more aid tend to be younger; they stress the need for infrastructure development. Those advocating for less aid tend to be older; they argue that aid has harmed Mauke by decreasing endogenous initiatives and creating social tensions, both of which reduce social cohesion among the remote island population.

Policy implications

Rather than investing in “community-based/−led development”—doing development with the community, aid to remote Pacific outer islands should focus more on “community development”—with the aim of enhancing social cohesion among peripheral islands. Donors, governments, and development partners must carefully reflect on the degree to which their interventions may harm social cohesion and the endogenous development potential of remote outer island populations. These implications matter given the persistence of uncritical (mis)representations and (mis)conceptions of remote Pacific outer island populations as harmonious and mutually supportive.

Motivation

In rural sub-Saharan Africa, patriarchal social norms and customs often lead to unequal resource access, decision-making power, and intra-household power relations between women and men co-heads of smallholder farm households. Household methodologies are gender-transformative approaches that aim to achieve gender equality and empower women by improving intra-household gender relations. Evidence of the impact of such approaches on women's empowerment is still scarce.

Purpose

We assess the effects of a programme that introduces participatory intra-household decision-making to challenge gender relations within households on women's empowerment. The programme was delivered to monogamous couples who head smallholder coffee-farming households in rural south-west Tanzania.

Methods and approach

We combine (quasi-)experimental quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the programme's impact on women's empowerment and how that impact fits with women's valued domains of empowerment and individual pathways to empowerment.

Findings

Awareness-raising couple seminars, the programme's least intensive intervention, increased women's access to livestock. Intensive coaching in participatory decision-making increased women's control over household coffee income—a priority for women. Couple seminars increased women's highly valued involvement in strategic farm decisions—intensive coaching increased it further. Access to personal income, however, valued by women for independent decision-making for their households' wellbeing, did not change.

Policy implications

Gender-transformative approaches that challenge domestic gender relations can increase women's access to household income and resources, and increase their participation in farming decisions. Such approaches need to be complemented by interventions to increase women's human capital, knowledge of enterprises, and personal resources. Catering for women's diverse pathways towards empowerment may increase their effectiveness. Challenging deep gender norms requires long-term engagement and trust between change agents and communities.

Motivation

Appropriately taxing the richest is a priority for African governments, which need tax revenues to invest and pay for public services. In Uganda, the revenue authority launched a unit in 2015 to monitor the tax affairs of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) and very important persons (VIPs), 393 individuals in all. The unit combined persuasion, assistance, and enforcement.

Purpose

To establish the extent to which the unit was able to improve tax compliance by the rich.

Methods and approach

In collaboration with the Uganda Revenue Authority, this study builds on taxpayer-level data on tax filing and payment. The analysis employs a standard difference-in-difference framework, exploiting the timing of the launch of the unit (September 2015). It also makes use of the existence of the target group of 393 wealthy individuals and a group of another 1,731 potentially wealthy individuals who have been identified but never included in the unit's operations owing to limited resources. We match the groups using a propensity score algorithm.

Findings

The unit has been only partially successful. While the unit increased the probability of filing a return, especially by VIPs, taxpayers declared less on different measures, with no impacts on tax liability. On tax payments, only a small and significant positive impact was found, again due to complex offsetting responses across tax categories. This study also measures the spillover effect on companies controlled by the richest—again documenting complex compensating reactions and no meaningful impacts on tax take. Lastly, while deterrence is more effective for HNWIs, taxpayer assistance and public shaming are more relevant for VIPs.

Policy implications

This case shows that the rich can be identified and their tax monitored. It also shows the limits of what can be achieved. The Uganda unit lacked staff; it needed twice as many people to monitor the tax of wealthy persons adequately. Moreover, it was hamstrung by the difficulties of sharing data between different departments of the Tax Authority, among government agencies, and between government and key agents such as banks. Ultimately, the unit did not have the staff and data to challenge the tax avoidance schemes deployed by wealthy people and the companies they own.