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21. A Framework for Assessing Implementation of Economic Inclusion Programmes in Uganda

Author:
Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE)
Publication Date:
08-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE)
Abstract:
Reducing inequality and inclusive growth are at the top of the global development agenda. The theme of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030”. SDG 8 specifi cally addresses inclusive and sustainable growth. The eradication of poverty and attaining middle income status remains Uganda’s main national development goal as laid out in the National Development Plan (NDP III) 2020/21 – 2024/25. Whereas Uganda experienced sustained economic growth during the pre-Covid-19 period, there were indications that poverty was not reducing, and that inequality was increasing. The Covid-19 pandemic and prolonged lock down exacerbated the situation with almost 3% of the people falling into poverty and compounding inequality. As the world and the country builds back, there is need for specifi c focus of those excluded from economic opportunities. Economic Empowerment Programmes (EIPs) are increasingly being used the world over as vehicles for achieving inclusive economic growth. EIPs have been described as ‘a bundle of coordinated multidimensional interventions that support individuals, households and communities in increasing incomes and assets. For Uganda, implementation of the EIP has been aff ected by poor design and implementation as well as corruption that have rendered the EIPs ineff ective. At the same time, performance evaluations of the EIPs undertaken have had limited infl uence on the design of subsequent programmes. In many cases same interventions have been repackaged under diff erent names and touted as new programmes. There is no doubt that improving the plight of the poor and other categories of people excluded from economic opportunities will require eff ective implementation of EIPs. This Framework for Assessing Implementation of EIPs in Uganda is part of eff orts to improve implementation of the EIP. It is motivated by the inadequacy of existing frameworks to cause change in the design and execution of EIPs in Uganda. The framework is rooted in social accountability and builds on previous works of the Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) on governance and public expenditure analysis and monitoring. The theory of change for this EIP framework is assess, disseminate, advocate. By assessing the designs and implementation of EIPs and disseminating the fi ndings of the assessment to implementers and benefi ciaries and using the fi ndings for advocacy, then the design and implementation of EIPs will improve and with it the likelihood of achieving programme outcomes and ultimately impact. The framework has six assessment areas namely programme design, effi cacy, quality of M&E, effi ciency, compliance, and risk management. It is guided by the following principles: social accountability, participation, empowerment for engagement, learning and optimisation.
Topic:
Development, Economy, Policy Implementation, and Inclusion
Political Geography:
Uganda and Africa

22. Lives at Risk: A study of girls dropping out of school in Juba, Rumbek and Pibor Counties, South Sudan

Author:
Lillian Rutandaro, Christine Lundambuyu Minalula, Rogers Otuta, and Manenji Mangundu
Publication Date:
11-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This study was undertaken by Oxfam in three South Sudanese counties as part of the SIDA-funded project 'Building Resilience through Gender and Conflict-Sensitive Approaches to Education, Skills Development, and Sustainable Livelihoods'. Its purpose was to shed light on why so many girls drop out of school. The research revealed that women and girls often lack decision-making power over their lives. Early or forced marriage, the abduction of girls, perceptions that education delays marriage – and that educated girls risk not finding husbands – all contribute to dropout rates. Additional challenges include a lack of adequate hygiene and sanitation facilities in schools, the distances learners need to travel, insecurity caused by communal violence, floods, food insecurity, and a heavy household work burden. The Government of South Sudan has in place laws and policies to address these issues, but they remain largely on paper and enforcement mechanisms are weak. The report analyses each of these factors in turn and presents recommendations for how the SIDA project can begin to address them in its future programming.
Topic:
Development, Education, Food, Conflict, Resilience, and Gender
Political Geography:
Africa and South Sudan

23. Decolonize! What does it mean?

Author:
Sara Duvisac
Publication Date:
12-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This document introduces the key concepts of decolonial theory that inform many current calls to decolonize. It provides examples from Latin America, Africa, and North America of how activists have envisioned or realized decolonial futures. These movements led by Indigenous Peoples, people of color, women, and queer people articulate and define the possibilities of decolonial futures. Since decolonial theory suggests multiple futures and not one single solution, this document does not address what decolonizing particular systems, such as international development, should look like. Rather, the document aims to introduce the reader to the tools of analysis that decolonial theory offers, give examples of decolonial theory in practice, and discuss some potential shortfalls of the decolonial framework.
Topic:
Political Theory, Colonialism, Decolonization, and Diversity
Political Geography:
Africa, Latin America, and North America

24. Monitoring the Inclusiveness of Ghana’s Planting for Food and Jobs Program in the Bosome Freho and Saboba Districts

Author:
William Quarmine
Publication Date:
05-2022
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Ghana Center for Democratic Development
Abstract:
In line with CDD-Ghana’s Promoting Fiscal Justice for Socio-Economic Transformation (PFJSET) project objectives, a pilot study was conducted in August 2018 to assess the implementation of the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs (PFJ) program. The primary focus of the assessment centered on the extent to which the PFJ program implementation includes vulnerable farmers in the distribution of program resources. Two study sites in the Bosome Freho and Saboba districts in the Ashanti and Northern regions respectively were selected for the study. Data for this study was derived from key informant interviews of program implementers, and from selected beneficiary and non-beneficiary farmers using a semi-structured questionnaire. The findings from this study were validated through two district level workshops – one in each of the sampled districts as well as other engagements with key stakeholders, such as officials of the PFJ Secretariat at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), some development partners and civil society groups. This report incorporates new information, clarification and inputs made during these validation meetings.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Food Security, Inclusion, and Farmers
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

25. The pandemic will not stop us: The impact of COVID-19 on women’s peace activism in Colombia, the Philippines, South Sudan and Ukraine

Author:
Anne Marie Goetz
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP)
Abstract:
In Fall 2020, a rapid review of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women peace activists in Colombia, South Sudan, the Philippines and Ukraine was conducted as part of an ongoing partnership between the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders (GNWP) and the New York University Center for Global Affairs (NYU CGA).1 The review found that the crisis has delayed implementation of peace agreements, in particular their gender provisions, shifted women’s peace advocacy to online spaces, impacted the membership composition of women’s peace groups, and diverted women’s organizational energies into humanitarian action to support community resilience.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Women, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
Africa, Europe, Ukraine, Asia, Philippines, Colombia, South America, and South Sudan

26. Issue 12 of Ìrìnkèrindò

Author:
Mojúbàolú Olufúnké Okome
Publication Date:
11-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Ìrìnkèrindò: a Journal of African Migration
Abstract:
CONTENTS Editorial Perilous, Precarious, Dangerous, and Multidimensional Migrations: African and Black Migrants at the US-Mexican Border and Beyond — Jill M. Humphries ......................................... 1 Articles Beyond Trump’s Wall: Reflections from an African Migrant in a U.S.A Prison — Giscard Nkenglefac and Anne-Marie Debbané ........................................................... 5 A Perilous Journey Chasing Dreams — Hiwot Zegeye .......................….................................... 33 Historical Invisibility: Black Migrants and Mexico’s Colonial Past — Brenda Romero ........... 36 En/Gendered and Vulnerable Bodies: Migration, Human Trafficking and Cross-Border Prostitution in Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street — Olumide Olugbemi-Gabriel ..............................................................................…...... 56 Shifting Identity to a Negotiated Space: Wole Lagunju and the Translocation of Gẹ lẹ dẹ́ — Timothy Olusola Ogunfuwa ..............................................................................…...... 81 Irregular Migration and Regional Security Complex in the Sahel-Lake Chad Corridor: A Human Security Discourse — Adeyemi S. Badewa and Mulugeta F. Dinbabo ................…..... 123
Topic:
Migration, Immigration, Prisons/Penal Systems, Borders, Human Trafficking, Discourse, Black Politics, and African Americans
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, Mexico, and Chad

27. Implications of Russia’s Activities in the Middle East and North Africa Region for U.S. Strategy and Interests

Author:
Chen Kane and Miles A. Pomper
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Abstract:
Russia’s ability to project power into the region remains limited today, and the status quo seems tolerable. But there are risks to U.S. interests in the future. The United States’ military withdrawals from Afghanistan, the Gulf and Iraq have significantly affected both U.S. regional posture and perceptions of U.S. commitment. Against that backdrop, the United States confronts multiple challenges as it seeks to “do more with less” in the region. Russia’s opportunities in the region increase as U.S. involvement decreases. Moscow’s “low investment, high disruption” approach works because it leverages the self-interest of actors, stakeholders, and governments in pursuit of limited aims. The U.S. approach of “high investment, low disruption” to preserve favorable regional balances of power is more costly and affords the United States less latitude, since it is rooted in principles and values. Russia is well-positioned (along with China) to undermine U.S. interests incrementally. That is true in MENA itself and, given the impact of Russia’s activities in this region for U.S. strategic advantages, in other regions of importance to the U.S., such as Europe and Asia. Countering Moscow’s efforts now should, therefore, be an important element of a revised and more comprehensive, yet also tailored, U.S. approach to the MENA region. What is needed is an adapted approach that leverages the United States’ comparative advantages to mitigate Moscow’s influence and that includes shifting some of the current U.S. presence to a more agile and unpredictable posture. Throughout the report, regional countries are categorized into four groups reflecting their anticipated vulnerability to Russian influence-building: (1) “Russia’s friends” (Iran and Syria); (2) “Balancers critical to NATO’s power projection” (Libya and Turkey); (3) “U.S. friends requiring sustained attention” (Egypt and Iraq); and (4) “U.S. allies seeking limited engagement with Russia” (the GCC and Israel). The U.S. should tailor its efforts to: contain Russia’s influence in Iran and Syria, roll back Russia’s influence in Libya and Turkey, manage Russia’s influence — especially on the military and defense sectors —in Egypt and Iraq, and offer reassurance to the GCC and Israel in order to minimize Russian influence in those countries.
Topic:
Military Strategy, Hegemony, Conflict, and Strategic Interests
Political Geography:
Africa, Russia, Europe, Middle East, North America, and United States of America

28. Racial Formations in Africa and the Middle East: A Transregional Approach

Author:
Hisham Aïdi, Marc Lynch, Zachariah Mampilly, Diana S. Kim, Parisa Vaziri, Denis Regnier, Sean Jacobs, Wendell Marsh, Stephen J. King, Eric Hahonou, Paul A. Silverstein, Afifa Ltifi, Zeyad el Nabolsy, Bayan Abubakr, Yasmin Moll, Zachary Mondesire, Abdourahmane Seck, Amelie Le Renard, Sumayya Kassamali, Noori Lori, Nathaniel Mathews, Sabria Al-Thawr, Gokh Amin Alshaif, Deniz Duruiz, Yasmeen Abu-Laban, Efrat Yerday, Noah Salomon, and Ann McDougall
Publication Date:
09-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS)
Abstract:
In February 2020, the editors of this volume organized a POMEPS workshop that explored the origins of the disciplinary divide between the study of Africa and the Middle East, examining issues that span both regions (i.e., cross-border conflict, Islamist politics, social movements and national identity, and Gulf interventionism.) In February 2021, we convened another workshop, sponsored by POMEPS and the newly-founded Program on African Social Research (PASR, pronounced Pasiri) centered on racial formations and racialization across the two regions. Both workshops centered around the need for a genuinely transregional scholarship, one which rejects artificial divisions between ostensibly autonomous regions while also taking seriously the distinctive historical trajectories and local configurations of power which define national and subregional specificities. The workshop brought together nearly two dozen scholars from across multiple disciplines to explore the historical and contemporary politics of racial formation across Africa and the Middle East.
Topic:
Islam, Race, War, Immigration, Law, Slavery, Judaism, Colonialism, Borders, Identity, and Amazigh
Political Geography:
Africa, Sudan, Turkey, Middle East, Asia, South Africa, Yemen, Palestine, North Africa, Egypt, Madagascar, Tunisia, Oman, and Gulf Nations

29. Gender-responsive Budgeting in Tanzania

Author:
Bertha O. Koda and Lilian V Mtasingwa
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The Constitution and laws of the United Republic of Tanzania require the use of gender-responsive budgeting (GRB) to promote gender-balanced and integrated national economic plans. It is at the village level where community budget needs are identified, though women’s needs are often marginalized. Although women are best at articulating their needs, their voices are seldom raised owing to limited representation. Government budgets typically sideline the needs of small-scale female farmers for access to land, markets, credit, and extension services, especially compared with male farmers. Instead, budgets designed to address general farmers’ needs, such as markets and loans for inputs and storage for surplus harvests, are directed primarily to farmers who grow strategic crops, who are mainly men. Tanzania provides for a separate budget facility for women and youth, and although most interviewees from the grassroots and the government consider this as evidence of a gender budget, it reflects a limited knowledge of GRB. Some projects supported by nongovernmental organizations and civil society organizations reflect women’s and men’s diverse needs, a feature that government budgeting should emulate. Communities need to be empowered to challenge constraints to their participation in decision making on budgets related to their priority needs. Citizens must be involved in all phases of the budget process and cycle. Government officials and institutions must be provided with adequate GRB knowledge and skills so they can use available democratic systems and structures to empower communities to engage in GRB.
Topic:
Governance, Rule of Law, Diversity, and Gender
Political Geography:
Africa and Tanzania

30. Gender-Responsive Budgeting in Agriculture in Ethiopia

Author:
Nuru Hussen, Ermias Mengistu, and Bedaso Taye
Publication Date:
12-2021
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
The gender division of labor in Ethiopia hinders women smallholders’ efforts to improve productivity to close the gap with men’s farms. There is substantial evidence that where women have access to the same inputs and training as men, they can close that gap. The government’s national development plan identifies agriculture as the main driver of rapid and inclusive growth. The plan seeks to increase women’s participation in agriculture to 50 percent of all participants. But this can only happen with proper implementation of gender-responsive budgeting (GRB). Ethiopia has ratified a number of international conventions and agreements on women’s rights that have guided development of national laws and policies. Nonetheless, the national budgetary process is not yet gender responsive, and the country faces other challenges. Low awareness of gender issues, limited technical skill in mainstreaming gender issues and GRB, lack of adequate resources, and poor enforcement mechanisms are major constraints. A majority of women do not participate in decision-making or express their needs during public meetings because of sociocultural barriers that elevate the role of males. Women are usually not invited to meetings and discussions that concern them, under the assumption that men can convey any relevant messages. But information does not consistently get passed to women farmers owing to the erroneous perception that “women do not farm.” Women’s low levels of literacy and limited exposure to information and support by development practitioners also contribute to the problem. As a result, women are often unable to exercise their rights during program design and implementation. If agriculture is to lead inclusive development, gender and rural development policies need updating. In addition, achieving high-quality agricultural public spending will require a conducive policy environment and a budget process that promotes the participation and well-being of women and girls as well as men and boys.
Topic:
Agriculture, Development, Labor Issues, Farming, and Gender
Political Geography:
Africa and Ethiopia