Development Policy Review最新文献

Motivation

The climate crisis threatens the livelihoods and welfare of farmers in the global south. Increasing variability of weather makes it ever more important to get forecasts to farmers and help them make best use of this information. Participatory Integrated Climate Services for Agriculture (PICSA) is an approach that gives farmers better weather forecasts and, in lockstep with agricultural extension workers, supports farmers in interpreting forecasts to make appropriate decisions for their own farms. It has been implemented across more than 20 countries of the global south, including Malawi.

Reviews and evaluations of PICSA have been positive, although it has not previously been rigorously evaluated using impact evaluation techniques.

Purpose

We estimate the impacts of PICSA training and meetings on lead farmers in Malawi, taking farmers in four districts where PICSA operated, and farmers in four other districts where the programme was not present.

Methods

We compare outcomes in farming practice, yields obtained, livelihood decisions and food security between lead farmers who participated in PICSA and those who did not. Because selection into the programme was not random, we use propensity score matching and regression adjustment to correct for potential selection bias.

Findings

PICSA lead farmers used seasonal forecasts to plan farm decisions, change crop activities, increase maize yields, and improve their food security. Differences between them and the control group were, in most cases, significant.

Our results confirm the potential of PICSA to help farmers adapt to climate change.

Policy

In similar contexts, the PICSA approach could effectively support smallholders to make informed agricultural decisions, in participatory discussions, based on climate and weather information.

For Malawi, the evidence suggests the programme or something similar should be continued.

Motivation

The adoption of yield-enhancing agricultural inputs can improve rural livelihoods. Lack of savings is widely believed to be one of the main barriers to the adoption of agricultural technology in sub-Saharan Africa. That may be changing, as the spread of mobile phones in many African countries has facilitated access to new financial technologies, such as mobile money and mobile banking.

Purpose

How does access to mobile banking affect the adoption of yield-enhancing inputs in Côte d'Ivoire? In particular, how does mobile banking affect the uptake of inorganic fertilizers and phytosanitary products to protect crops against weeds, pests, and diseases?

Approach and methods

Drawing on data from the Harmonized Survey on Household Living Conditions (Enquête Harmonisée sur les Conditions de Vie des Ménages, EHCVM 2018–2019) for Côte d'Ivoire, we use regression analysis to estimate the factors affecting adoption.

The decision to have a mobile bank account may be endogenous, so we use instrumental variables to address potential bias.

Findings

Having a mobile bank account is associated with a 14% greater likelihood of investing in modern agricultural inputs. The impact is particularly high for investments in chemical or inorganic fertilizers, where having a mobile account makes adoption 30% more likely.

Policy implications

Many governments in sub-Saharan Africa rely heavily on costly subsidies to encourage the adoption of improved farm technologies. Access to mobile banking offers a cheaper way to promote the adoption of technology.

The potential of mobile banking to serve as an effective savings tool and transform the lives of smallholder farmers will depend on government policy. While the government of Côte d'Ivoire has made greater efforts than its neighbours to increase the availability of mobile banking technology, much remains to be done.

Motivation

The level of financial inclusion has increased markedly in Namibia in recent years. Currently, 78% of the population is considered to be financially included. More importantly, this increase has largely derived from vulnerable groups, including low-income earners living in rural areas. Although there has been an increase in the rate of financial literacy, there is no formal empirical analysis showing the extent to which improved access to formal financial services is associated with financial literacy.

Purpose

This article deepens the empirical analysis of financial literacy by simultaneously considering their effects on savings, bank account ownership, and access to credit and insurance in Namibia. We further disaggregated the analysis to consider heterogeneity between men and women, as well as between rural and urban populations.

Approach and methods

We used data from the Namibia Financial Inclusion Survey of 2017 and the instrumental variable probit model to minimize the bias from possible endogeneity caused by potential measurement error, unobserved variable bias, or reverse causality.

Findings

The study showed that financial literacy significantly increases the likelihood of people using formal financial products. Failure to adequately control for the associated bias would lead to substantial overestimation of the impact of financial literacy. Estimates from the disaggregated analysis showed that the impact of financial literacy differs significantly between rural and urban populations, as well as between men and women. The effects are higher for males than for females and for rural than urban sub-samples.

Policy implications

The positive effect of financial literacy on formal financial products suggests that policy options that promote financial literacy are crucial for improving access to formal financial products, particularly for men and the rural population. These policies could include the introduction of financial literacy programmes in schools in order to enhance personal financial knowledge and participation in the formal financial sector. Emphasis should be placed on the raising of awareness, especially among disadvantaged communities, as to the benefits of owning and operating different financial products and on the inclusion of financial literacy programmes on public television.

Motivation

When collecting evidence from the field, the quality of the data determines the reliability of the analysis. When data are collected in the field by enumerators, the latter's performance needs to be monitored to avoid errant behaviour that could compromise data quality.

Purpose

We show how paradata on the process of data collection itself can improve enumerator performance, using a household survey in India as a case study.

Approach and methods

We conducted action research to improve data quality in the India Working Study conducted in early 2020 in Karnataka and Rajasthan. We designed indicators (flags) from the paradata to mark potential deviant enumerator behaviour in the early stages of the survey. Flagged enumerators were contacted by supervisors who provided constructive feedback. We then measured the performance of the flagged enumerators over the remainder of the survey.

We were able to benchmark specific groups of enumerators facing similar field conditions, namely location and gender of respondents. This allowed us to compare enumerators to a subset of their peers, rather than the entire set of enumerators.

Findings

Our feedback improved enumerator behaviour in the field: flagged enumerators subsequently spent more time on a core module of the questionnaire.

Policy implications

In any survey, two objectives compete: completing a fixed number of interviews per day to reduce costs versus enumerators spending enough time with each respondent to collect meaningful data. To strike a balance between these competing demands, we recommend tracking three paradata indicators: count of completed interviews; average time per completed interview; and ratio of completed to initiated interviews.

We recommend using paradata to improve the quality of data when surveying, thereby reducing standard errors for estimates based on the data and leading to more reliable analysis.

Motivation

Gender is a central concept and a buzzword in the development aid discourse. Like many buzzwords, its meaning is malleable. If aid efforts really are to “leave no one behind,” as the Sustainable Development Goals proclaim, we must critically interrogate how the discursive articulation of buzzwords such as gender can both make visible and hide from view vulnerabilities that should be salient for aid programming. In this article, we focus on the extent to which the mobilization of “gender” by Norwegian development aid non-governmental organizations' is able to bring vulnerabilities related to sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression (SOGIE) to the fore.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine a corpus of Norwegian NGO development aid policy and planning documents to analyse whether and how gender is articulated differently across different types of documents, and what this means in terms of which gendered vulnerabilities become visible.

Approach and methods

We draw on methods from corpus-assisted discourse studies (CADS) to examine a purpose-built corpus of 88 files pulled from framework funding applications submitted by four Norwegian aid NGOs to the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). We analyse the results drawing on Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory to examine how conceptual translation between policy and programme-level documents opens up space for the concept to be assigned changing meanings.

Findings

While the NGOs at policy level articulate a broad notion of gendered vulnerabilities that include recognition of SOGIE vulnerabilities, this is not translated into practical programme plans. At the programme plan level, gender is articulated as a subject field overwhelmingly concerned with women and firmly attached to a traditional binary sex-gender construct.

Policy implications

Although SOGIE gendered vulnerabilities are increasingly acknowledged in NGO articulations of their priorities and values, this is not reflected in actual programme plans. We argue that this can lead to a misplaced expectation that these concerns are being addressed in the NGOs' activities, obscuring the neglect of SOGIE vulnerabilities in many development aid gender programmes.

Motivation

As a leading programme aimed at promoting “connectivity” and “exchanges of people,” BRI is providing a new avenue to expand China's presence and influence in Latin America and contribute to its rise at the systemic (global) level. Research shows that China's BRI in Latin America is not merely an economic initiative, but offers a combination of economic, political, and strategic objectives and consequences.

Purpose

The purpose of the research is to examine China's BRI in Latin America from geopolitical perspectives, as well as its motivations, focuses, and consequences. It contributes to the scholarly discussion by analysing China's BRI in the greater picture of China's rise at the systemic (global) level and examining it through a political economy lens.

Approach and methods

The research examines China's BRI in Latin America with a special focus on large-scale infrastructure projects that may have geopolitical implications and transform the built landscape in the region. The research is based on a critical review of the literature, and especially the Chinese academic literature, government documents, and corporate documents provided by some Chinese companies involved in large-scale BRI projects.

Findings

The research finds that BRI helps China increase its economic and political co-operation with the states of Latin America. China is increasingly capable of reaping not only economic but also geopolitical benefits from BRI by intensifying economic and, by extension, political relations with Latin America.

Policy implications

China's BRI in Latin America looks to obtain not merely economic, but also political and strategic benefits from China's “soft” power. Chinese policy-makers should be aware that China's “soft power” and interest could be strengthened if BRI could be implemented in accordance with the principles of advancing democratization, “good governance,” and environmental protection.

Motivation

Policy-makers dealing with conflicting development goals and constrained budgets must comprehend the relative cost effectiveness of agricultural and rural development initiatives.

Purpose

We assess the impact of alternative interventions on development outcomes—economic growth, job creation, poverty reduction, and diet quality—to inform decision-making and resource allocation in Tanzania's agriculture. We analyse trade-offs among development objectives and explore budget reallocation to enhance the efficiency of public spending.

Approach and methods

We used a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model linked top-down with microsimulation modules to simulate the impact of public investment options.

Findings

No single option emerges as the most effective across all development objectives. Investments in improved inputs and extension for horticulture and cash crops stand out for diet quality and employment creation. Livestock services show consistently high rankings across multiple objectives. Investments to boost cereals and root crops promote growth and reduce poverty but do little to increase employment and diet quality.

Budget reallocation towards more cost-effective interventions can significantly enhance the development effectiveness of Tanzania's agricultural expenditures and would substantially increase cumulative gross domestic product growth between 2019 and 2028.

Policy implications

Policy-makers can use the findings to design and prioritize agricultural interventions that better align with broader development objectives. Tanzania can achieve higher benefits and contribute to overall development goals by reallocating resources towards more cost-effective expenditure options.