http://www.gsdrc.org Academic and policy-relevant publications on governance and international development. en-uk Copyright © 2010 Governance and Social Development Resource Centre Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:00:13 GMT Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:00:13 GMT http://www.gsdrc.org/rss/open george@gsdrc.org george@gsdrc.org http://www.gsdrc.org/images/logos/logo_gsdrc.gif http://www.gsdrc.org 205 90 GSDRC logo Mark Davies et al What can be learned from DFID-supported social protection and social transfer programmes? This review of 24 programmes in 16 countries across Africa, Asia and Europe finds that outcomes and impacts vary greatly relative to the unique conditions applied in specific contexts. A set of generalised findings can be identified, but these are not prescriptive policy options, and should be examined further in specific contexts. The effectiveness of social transfers is largely dependent on their level and regularity. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3833&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3833&source=rss Africa Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT Stephen Devereux and Rachel Cipryk How successfully is social protection being delivered in Africa? What challenges remain in the extension of social protection? This study explores how social protection strategies are being implemented by African governments, with support from bilateral and multilateral donors and international and local NGOs. The social protection debate in Africa now needs to move beyond social transfers to focus on social justice, including the mobilisation of civil society to claim entitlements and rights from the state. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3829&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3829&source=rss Africa Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT Anna McCord How effective has South Africa been in reducing poverty and promoting employment through public works programmes (PWPs)? This study explores the contribution of PWPs to social protection in South Africa by examining the Gundo Lashu programme in Limpopo and the Zibambele programme in KwaZulu Natal. It argues that, for reasons of both design and scale, PWPs alone cannot adequately address the social protection gap facing the working-age unemployed. PWPs should be targeted to the poorest and linked to other development initiatives, such as microfinance. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3821&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3821&source=rss Africa Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT Michael Noble, Phakama Ntshongwana and Rebecca Surender In the media and the political arena, there is concern that social grants discourage the unemployed from seeking work and foster a culture of dependency. Is such concern justified in South Africa? This study examines people's views about paid work, social grants, and their relationship. Its findings refute theories of dependency among South Africans living in households that receive grants, and also suggest ways of helping the unemployed to find work. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3819&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3819&source=rss Africa Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT Bet Caeyers and Stefan Dercon Is the targeting carried out by community-based transfer programmes influenced by beneficiaries' political and social connections? This paper investigates how targeted transfers are allocated in Ethiopia under a highly bureaucratised and decentralised administrative system. It finds strong evidence of favouritism and the influence of political connections; families in need without connections to local political elites are significantly less likely to receive food aid transfers. This illustrates the importance of political economy in the delivery of even basic aid. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3818&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3818&source=rss Africa Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT George W. Kivumbi and Francis Kintu Are safety nets such as waivers and exemptions effective in tackling inequalities created by user-payment for health services? This article reports on exemption schemes in two districts of Uganda. It shows that poor and marginalised groups lack fair access to health care and not much has been done to address this. These safety nets will only be effective if they: are backed by national health financing policy; reconcile competing revenue demands of local government; and are strictly enforced and supervised by local and central governments. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3817&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3817&source=rss Africa Tue, 01 Jan 2002 00:00:00 GMT Stefan Dercon et al. How do indigenous insurance institutions help people cope with the cost of funerals? Could these institutions be scaled up? This article analyses evidence from rural Tanzania and Ethiopia. It finds that these institutions are widespread and inclusive and may be well-placed to broaden insurance provision and other development activities. However, concerns about political capture (based on past experience) seem to make them reluctant to engage with NGOs and government agencies. Cautious experimentation is therefore needed in attempts to expand their activities, and strictly voluntary schemes are the only realistic way forward. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3813&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3813&source=rss Africa Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT John De Coninck and Emily Drani In spite of continued growth, millions of Ugandans remain in long-term, extreme poverty. They are also likely to continue being by-passed by the opportunities that economic growth offers, mostly to the 'active poor'. Recognising this, government and other development actors are turning their attention to policy initiatives geared towards social protection. Taking a view of social protection as a transformative intervention that extends to the causes of extreme poverty, this paper posits that social protection initiatives borrow much from elsewhere, neglecting the local cultural context, and failing to build on existing indigenous protection mechanisms that could be strengthened. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3799&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3799&source=rss Africa Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT Andries du Toit and David Neves What systems of informal social protection exist amongst poor and marginalised African households in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, and in the rural Eastern Cape? This paper considers the dynamics of informal social protection in post-apartheid migrant networks. It argues that in poor and marginalised households in South Africa, the indirect impacts of social grants cannot be adequately understood by focusing on individual or household decision making. Elaborate and extensive networks of reciprocal exchange link rural and urban households, allowing costs and resources, opportunities and shocks to be shared and redistributed. However, these networks’ entrenched power relations may reinforce the exclusion and vulnerability of some individuals. Additional formal social protection is therefore needed. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3798&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3798&source=rss Africa Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT Manuela De Allegri et al. Can community health insurance (CHI) increase access to care and offer financial protection for poor people excluded from formal insurance? What problems are there in implementing CHI? This literature review reveals major difficulties faced by CHI in sub-Saharan Africa: lack of a clear legislative and regulatory framework; low enrolment rates; insufficient risk management; weak managerial capacity; and high overhead costs. Required policy interventions include commitment to adequate legislation and measures to expand equitable enrolment. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3796&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3796&source=rss Africa Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT Bert Ingelaere Are the Gacaca courts in Rwanda delivering reconciliation? This article, based on extensive field research, argues that the modern incarnation of this traditional form of justice is short-circuiting reconciliation by enforcing values and processes that run counter to established societal practices. In reality, the Gacaca courts are becoming more the tools of entrenched elites to manipulate society than a viable means of establishing truth and administering justice. As currently operating, this legal mechanism is delivering neither justice nor reconciliation and deserves closer scrutiny and greater scepticism from donors. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3794&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3794&source=rss Africa Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT GebreMichael Kibreab Habtom and Pieter Ruys In the absence of formal safety nets, can Eritrea's traditional system of voluntary mutual aid community associations ('Mahber') be extended to cover unexpected health costs and other related costs? This study examines the role of kinship networks and Mahber, and assesses the potential of Mahber-based health insurance schemes for the informal sector and rural poor. It finds that where the state no longer provides free public health services and access to private insurance is denied, Mahber-based health insurance is a viable way of providing modern health services. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3792&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3792&source=rss Africa Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT Rachel Sabates-Wheeler, Stephen Devereux and Bruce Guenther How do social protection and agricultural policies interact? What are the synergies or conflicts between them? This study examines the situation in poor communities in Africa and explores how social and agricultural policies can complement each other. Social protection can promote food security and agricultural production directly. However, the mix of policies and instruments needed to achieve both 'livelihood protection' and 'livelihood promotion' must be determined by levels of economic activity, infrastructure and market development. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3790&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3790&source=rss Africa Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT Derick W. Brinkerhoff with Peter J. Morgan What has been learned about capacity and capacity development (CD), and their relationship to achieving sustainable results? What are the implications for analysis and practice? This introductory article to a symposium on capacity and CD highlights: the benefits of viewing capacity and CD through systems lenses; the salience of politics; and the need for new approaches to the practice of CD. Outsiders may be able to assist in developing capacity, but sustained capacity results when endogenous actor-led processes stimulate the creation and strengthening of five core capabilities. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3788&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3788&source=rss Africa Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT Frances Stewart Why do group inequalities often persist over the long term, and how can they be addressed? Group membership matters because well-being is affected both by individual circumstances and how well the group is doing. Strong complementarities among (1) capabilities and (2) capitals explain persistent group inequality. Multiple deprivations in capabilities and assets prevent catch-up without special interventions. Addressing HIs therefore requires governments to go beyond eliminating current, formal discrimination: the weak asset and capabilities base arising from past discrimination must also be tackled. As social and cultural capital inequalities cannot be eliminated by policy, strong affirmative action in other areas such as education and employment is justified. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3784&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3784&source=rss Africa Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT Salomé van Jaarsveld and Shauna Mottiar How can the African Union’s mediation and conflict prevention mechanisms be strengthened? This seminar report assesses the evolving African peace and security architecture and presents five key recommendations for its future development. It argues that the AU’s partnerships should be strengthened, mediation work institutionalised, early warning systems established, lesson-learning institutionalised and that civil society should become more involved in mediation processes. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3783&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3783&source=rss Africa Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT Sally Healy The Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is the regional organisation of seven East African countries, aiming to achieve regional peace, prosperity and integration. When member states fuel military action even while participating in peace talks, however, what can IGAD achieve? This paper assesses IGAD’s development and contribution to two major peace processes, in Sudan and Somalia. Despite a significant influence on the outcomes, IGAD is undermined by weak institutional systems and an entrenched political culture of military aggression across the region. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3781&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3781&source=rss Africa Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT Cedric de Coning and Paul Romita Peacekeeping and peacebuilding operations are tasked with increasingly complex and ambitious mandates, demanding integration and system-wide coherence, and resulting in the development of many sophisticated monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems. What are the critical challenges for M&E practitioners, and how can they strengthen research and practice? Peace operation M&E is promoting a culture of collaboration and knowledge sharing in governments, research institutions, and regional and international organisations. However, much more could be achieved with a common vocabulary and approach, and a higher profile for M&E. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3777&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3777&source=rss Africa Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT Antonia Potter While there has been a growing literature on conflict resolution and mediation, there are few studies that specifically examine the experience of individual mediators. This concluding book chapter examines the 'art' of mediation in armed conflict. Drawing on the experience of high-level mediators in Iraq, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Cyprus and Aceh, it argues that the character and actions of mediators are critical variables in determining the outcome of peace negotiations. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3775&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3775&source=rss Africa Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT Paul D. Williams How has the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the African Union (AU) helped promote peace, security and stability on the African continent? This article provides an overview of the origin of the PSC, and discusses elements of its design and mandate. Does the PSC have the resources and credibility to influence the continent’s governments? Without significant additional funding and manpower from the AU, the PSC cannot cope with the huge security problems facing Africa. http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3774&source=rss http://www.gsdrc.org/go/display&type=Document&id=3774&source=rss Africa Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT