Development Policy Review最新文献

Motivation

Displacement significantly disrupts physical environments, social structures, and personal identities, profoundly impacting people's well-being. Recent studies indicate that displacement can also reshape gender dynamics, highlighting the potential of displacement to transform traditional roles and relationships.

Purpose

This study investigates the transformative impact of displacement on gender roles in the context of the Za'atari camp in Jordan. Specifically, it examines how humanitarian aid and forced displacement converge to alter gender relations and enhance women's autonomy.

Approach and Methods

The research draws on qualitative interviews with 15 women residing in the Za'atari camp. By exploring their experiences, the study aims to understand how displacement can act as a catalyst for empowerment and self-sufficiency, despite the inherent challenges faced by these women.

Findings

The study reveals that displacement increases independence and self-awareness, and improves decision-making among women, facilitating their active participation in society. Humanitarian interventions, particularly educational and vocational programmes, play a crucial role in empowering women by improving self-confidence, communication skills, and legal awareness. These initiatives also provide access to the labour market, challenging traditional gender norms.

Policy Implications

Despite the positive impacts, significant obstacles persist. Women often assume greater responsibilities as primary breadwinners, which can erode their control within personal spheres and increase vulnerabilities. Traditional norms continue to hinder complete gender parity. The findings underscore the need for comprehensive and sustainable humanitarian interventions to support and sustain positive changes in gender dynamics in displacement settings.

Motivation

National Human Rights Action Plans (NHRAPs) turn state commitments to human rights into policy. Despite their widespread implementation internationally, they remain little studied and there is limited consensus as to their effectiveness.

Purpose

This article addresses this by using a political economy model to develop a framework to evaluate the success of NHRAPs. Within this framework it is argued that capacity, political structure, and political consensus are key drivers in the design and implementation of NHRAPs. We hypothesize that a country is likely to design and effectively use an NHRAP in policy-making if at least these three requirements are met: (1) they are built on political consensus; (2) their perceived political benefits exceed their costs; and (3) governments have adequate resources to design and implement them.

Approach and methods

We evaluate this hypothesis using Chile as a case study. In 2016, Chile enacted a national law mandating NHRAPs. Since then, the country has adopted two NHRAPs: one spanning 2018–2021 and another covering 2022–2025.

Findings

None of the three stipulated requirements were met in Chile. There was deep polarization rather than consensus building; the political costs of implementing an NHRAP exceeded the benefits; and key government bodies in Chile lacked the personnel and mandate to implement NHRAPs.

Policy implications

This study advances our understanding of the nuances of designing public policies for human rights, and the complex political costs associated with them. Unless political actors are committed to investing political capital and resources, it is unlikely that these plans will succeed. Our political economy framework can be replicated across multiple national action plans, countries, and contexts. Future studies can identify contributing conditions that can mitigate political costs, increasing the likelihood of the success of these plans.

Motivation

Improved seed adoption can increase yield, enhance food security, improve livelihoods, and reduce poverty. Although many governments in the global South use seed subsidies to achieve these outcomes, the success and efficiency of input subsidies is subject to debate.

Most smallholders in Nepal lack information and finance to access improved technologies, including improved seeds. To address this, Nepal's universal seed subsidy programme (SSP) began in 2012. SSP offers participants up to 50% off the price of rice seed from improved varieties.

Purpose

We evaluate the impact of SSP on farmer participants five years after its inception. Until now, the programme had not been evaluated.

Approach and Methods

We compare rice-growing households receiving subsidized seeds (treatment group) with those that do not (control group). We match the two groups using propensity scoring. We compare rice yield per hectare for the two groups, looking at aggregate and heterogeneous treatment effects. Primary data come from a 2019 survey of 157 treated and 173 control farm households in the Terai lowlands.

Findings

We find no evidence of SSP impact on rice yield in the aggregate. One potential explanation is that the programme tended to promote seed of a long-standing open-pollinated variety (OPV), rather than newer, higher-yielding OPVs and hybrids. Examination of heterogenous impacts, however, shows higher yields among treated households who were either on low incomes or remote from agro-dealers and agricultural extension offices.

Policy implications

Given the lack of impact on yields of SSP, sustaining the programme in the same form is neither advisable nor justified. We suggest targeting households on low incomes and in remote areas; subsidizing only the more recent high-yielding varieties; and considering cost-effective approaches to administer the programme, such as seed vouchers. To improve last-mile seed delivery, SSP needs to engage more with private seed providers and be more transparent in its operations. Results from this study may have broader implications for other long-standing agricultural subsidies in Nepal and other developing countries with universal subsidy programmes.

Motivation

Since 2017, more than a million forcibly displaced Rohingya refugees from Myanmar have been heavily reliant on humanitarian assistance in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. The donors and humanitarian stakeholders involved, often drawing on OECD recommendations, are calling for a triple nexus design linking humanitarian, development, and peace pillars to increase effectiveness.

Purpose

To further understanding of the issues involved and to provide recommendations for the implementation of a triple-nexus programme, the article explores the main challenges relating to triple-nexus implementation in Bangladesh.

Approach and Methods

Thematic analysis is conducted on 25 qualitative key informant interviews with selected government officials and international and national NGOs involved in the Rohingya humanitarian response in Cox's Bazar.

Findings

The study identifies five main challenges to triple-nexus implementation, foregrounding the OECD guiding principles: (1) the “peace” component remains unaddressed and undefined; (2) the capacity of local organizations is undermined in the Rohingya response due to the dominance of international organizations; (3) the shrinkage of overall funding leads to ambiguities in multi-year funding commitments and modalities; (4) there is a co-ordination gap between the three nexus pillars; and (5) the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) is reluctant to design long-term refugee policies for Rohingyas.

Policy Implications

The study suggests that adopting the triple nexus in the Rohingya response requires stronger political commitment on the part of the GoB and goal-oriented national policy in accordance with OECD principles. The inclusion of a “peace” element is indispensable to enable the balance between humanitarian and development components, but requires a clearly defined conflict context to be entwined with the nexus programming. The findings also contribute to reappraising the impediments to operationalizing the nexus programme and refurbishing policy discussions in other major cases in forced migration, IDP, or refugee crises globally.

Motivation

As a leading European funding programme aimed at enhancing the cohesion of cross-border regions and countries, Interreg plays a significant role in fostering regional development. Sustainability, as one of the programme's central themes, covers a large portion of the objective focus, aiming for sustainable development. Although the guidelines contain implications for social sustainability, the programme demonstrates that the concept is poorly understood, which can be seen in project implementation.

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to investigate the conceptual framework and development of the discourse on social sustainability in the context of tourism and cohesion strategy, specifically within the Interreg programme. Thus, this article examines the social sustainability discourse within Interreg Europe's implications for cross-border tourism development.

Approach and methods

The study is concerned with the construction of the social sustainability discourse within cohesion policy in the broader European region. In particular, this study seeks to answer the question “how does Interreg structure the discourse on social sustainability in relation to tourism?” Our research is based on a critical review of the literature, followed by a discourse analysis of the core documents of Interreg Europe 2021–2027: the Programme Manual and the Cooperation Programme document.

Findings

In conclusion, three key themes emerge from the discourse on social sustainability in tourism: (1) Interreg's recognition of tourism-dependent regions; (2) a dominant presence of the economic and environmental pillars of sustainability; and (3) an ambiguous characterization of the social pillar and its objectives. As a result, we confirm the significance of social sustainability and clear policy formulation for the development of sustainable tourism.

Policy implications

This article warns against imprecise project objectives and the use of overly simplified and ambiguous terminology, while emphasizing the importance of social sustainability in the context of sustainable tourism development.

Motivation

Men farmers typically achieve higher productivity than women farmers, a gender gap that reflects women's disadvantages in farming. Sri Lanka seems an exception, because women farmers achieve higher land productivity (gross value of output per hectare) than men farmers. That said, despite women's productivity advantage, men earn higher agricultural incomes.

Purpose

We investigate the factors contributing to the unconditional agricultural productivity advantage of women farmers and the gender gap in agricultural earnings in favour of men in Sri Lanka.

Approach and methods

Using data from the nationally representative 2016 Sri Lanka Household Income and Expenditure Survey, we employ Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition to analyse factors behind the gender disparities in agricultural productivity and earnings.

Findings

The leading factor contributing to higher female land productivity is the smaller plot size cultivated by women, reflecting an inverse relation between cultivated area and yield. The next most important factor is the gendered pattern of crop mix: women tend to cultivate high-value export crops such as tea, while men are more likely to grow paddy — a less productive crop. When plot size and crop mix are controlled, men farmers achieve a conditional productivity advantage over women farmers. For crop earnings, men have both unconditional and conditional advantages, mainly due to their greater access to land and other inputs. While women's small plots have high yields, their size limits women's farm incomes.

Policy implications

Policies to improve women's lagging access to land, inputs and other agricultural resources — often due to inherent gender bias — are needed to close the gender gap in agricultural income. Government policies favouring import-competing commodities such as paddy, mainly through fertilizer subsidies, tend to benefit disproportionately men who are more likely to engage in paddy farming. Reallocating public spending on agriculture could enhance both efficiency and gender equality.

Motivation

People with disabilities are among the most disadvantaged and dispossessed people on earth, especially in the global South, where they have limited or no access to basic amenities of life and income-earning opportunities. Moreover, in developing societies where poverty is widespread and disability is often regarded as a liability and, at times, stigmatized, people with disabilities often live in starkly inadequate conditions.

This article is based on doctoral research which, among other things, investigated the pilot experiment by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh. This developing, tradition-bound country is looking to share theoretical understanding of aspects that contribute to dispossessions and the quagmire of deprivations into which people with disabilities are trapped, and alongside this present the potential or otherwise of microfinance in economic and social empowerment of people with disabilities who are “economically active.”

Purpose

The article, which is based on qualitative research and depicts in an objective manner the lived experiences of people with disabilities in a developing country setting, offers useful lessons in social and economic empowerment of people with disabilities in such societies.

Methods and Approach

Underpinned by the theory of intersectionality, this research used an innovative and customized qualitative case study method that is crucial in reaching out, interacting with, and gathering information and articulating issues that are relevant for policy development.

Findings

There are two important findings. First, that reaching out to and gathering information from and articulating the lived experiences and empowerment imperatives of people with disabilities, as well as the innovation and customization of existing tools and techniques of qualitative research, are key; and second, while microfinance did help a few people with disabilities who are in poverty and have been deemed “economically active,” the empowerment of people with disabilities requires a more holistic approach.

Policy Implications

The findings of this research indicate the importance of qualitative research to understand the lived experiences of people with disabilities in their own environment and formulate