Bring in private players to make aid more effective

Peter Davis

Guardian UK 2011/09/05

The question of aid effectiveness has moved to the centre of development debates. If donors want to make their aid more effective, then they need to engage strategically with the private sector.

Handing anti poverty back to the poor

3ieimpact 2011/07/25

The paper addresses the trend in anti-poverty policy of making poor people responsible for their own development. The paper however argues that this strategy reflects a poor assessment of whether the poor are capable or ready to take on this role. This point is illustrated by two examples: a cross country household survey to assess natural entrepreneurship amongst the poor and a randomized social experiment aimed to involve poor rural parents in improving the way their children are taught in public schools.

Protecting Community Rights Over Traditional Knowledge

IIED 2011/05/27

Since January 2005, this action-research project has focused on developing alternative tools to protect traditional knowledge that are rooted in local customary laws rather than based on existing Intellectual Property standards. Existing IPRs (eg. patents, copyrights) are largely unsuitable for protecting rights over traditional knowledge because they provide commercial incentives, whereas traditional innovations are driven primarily by subsistence needs. Survival from nature requires continual access to new knowledge and innovations – i.e. collective rather than exclusive rights.

Reducing Children’s Food Insecurity through Primary Education for Rural Mothers: The case of Mozambique

Francesco Burchi and Pasquale De Muro

Food and Agricultural Organization 2010

Food insecurity and poverty in low-income countries are at the heart of the current work of the international community. The 1st Millennium Development Goal gives priority to halve by 2015 the proportion of people suffering from poverty and hunger. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has the mandate to monitor progress towards achievement of this goal.

Keywords: education and capacity building, poverty, income, development, goals, agriculture, monitor, priority, community, Mozambique, Africa

EDUCATION FOR RURAL PEOPLE

David Acker and Lavinia Gasperini

Food and Agricultural Organization 2009

This publication was developed to assist policy-makers dealing with rural poverty, food insecurity and education challenges confronting rural people. It seeks to address the correlation between education, empowerment and food security, mainly through a number of 'good practice' case studies from all over the world. It is about strengthening their capacity to achieve food security.

Keywords: education, and, capacity building, policy, empowerment, rural, community, people

Adoption of ICT* Enabled Information Systems for Agricultural Development and Rural Viability

E. Gelb, A. Maru, J. Brodgen, E. Dodsworth, R. Samii and V. Pesce

ICT Adoption Workshop at the IAALD-AFITA-WCCA Conference 2008 2008

Attaining sustainable agricultural development is a worldwide strategic concern. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have a potential to contribute to achieving significant economic, social and environmental benefits.

Keywords: education, and, capacity building, sustainable agriculture, ICT, communication

Impact of Farmer Field Schools on Agricultural Productivity and Poverty in East Africa

Kristin Davis, Ephraim Nkonya, Edward Kato, Daniel Ayalew Mekonnen, Martins Odendo, Richard Miiro and Jackson Nkuba

IFPRI 2010/07

Farmer field schools (FFSs) are a popular education and extension approach worldwide. Such schools use experiential learning and a group approach to facilitate farmers in making decisions, solving problems, and learning new techniques. However, there is limited or conflicting evidence as to their effect on productivity and poverty, especially in East Africa. This study is unique in that it uses a longitudinal impact evaluation (difference in difference approach) with quasi-experimental methods (propensity score matching and covariate matching) together with qualitative approaches to provide rigorous evidence to policymakers and other stakeholders on an FFS project in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The study provides evidence on participation in FFSs and on the effects of FFSs on various outcomes.

Reproduced with permission from the International Food Policy Research Institute.

Keywords: education, and, capacity building, Uganda, research, Tanzania, Kenya, Africa

Knowledge and Innovation for Agricultural Development

Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere and Kristin Davis

IFPRI 2009/03/11

IFPRI Policy Brief

Keywords: education, capacity building, policy

WFP Strengthening Capacity Food Assistance and Food Policy Research 2008

Marc J. Cohen and James L. Garrett, IFPRI; Mariagrazia Rocchigiani, WFP

IFPRI and WFP 2008

This IFPRI/WFP brief is based on preliminary research results.

Keywords: education, capacity building, policy, wfp

Home-Grown School Feeding: A Framework To Link School Feeding With Local Agricultural Production

Francisco Espejo, Carmen Burbano, Elena Galliano

WFP May 2009

This document focuses mainly on Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) as it links to small-scale farmers. In the broadest sense, HGSF is a school feeding programme that provides food produced and purchased within a country to the extent possible. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has collaborated with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and other partners to develop an approach to HGSF. This document is a culmination of these efforts. It focuses in particular on linking school feeding programmes with local small-scale farmer production by creating an ongoing market for small landholders ("smallholders").

Keywords: education, capacity, building, school, feeding, world, food, programme, home, smallholder

Learning From Experience: Good Practices From 45 Years Of School Feeding

Marc Regnault de la Mothe, Carmen Burbano and Claudio Delicato

WFP

The UN World Food Programme has 45 years of experience in school feeding. This collection of good practices and lessons learned, Learning from Experience, has harvested existing knowledge on the topic, drawing from 134 evaluations, case studies, an ongoing consultation process and operational experience. The study makes available institutional memory as a tool for practical use in the field. This work will serve as a guide and a building block for governments, WFP and NGO partners to design and implement high-quality, feasible, sustainable and cost effective school feeding programmes.

Keywords: education, capacity, building, school, feeding, learning, experience, good, practices

Expert Consultation on Distance Learning Resources for Rural Women

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

2001

The FAO directs the efforts particularly to improve the education and learning among rural communities. A special emphasis on rural learners highlights both existing development disparities and institutional mandate. The disparities are the differences reflected in the regional situation as a persistent lag in relevant learning among rural communities, women and poor. The institutional mandate is stated in Commitments of World Food Summit Plan of Action that affirms the equality between women and men and inclusion of rural women and men as partners in organizational efforts to achieve food security. The report is the outcome of the Expert Consultation on "Distance learning resources for rural women", held in the year 2000 in Bangkok. The publication includes a synthesis of the papers presented by the country experts and resource persons who participated in the meeting.

Keywords: education, FAO, UN, rural women, distant learning, Southeast Asia

Educating Consumers to Cope with High Food Prices

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Nutrition Education and Consumer Awareness Group 2008

When food prices are very high, governments and civil society organizations seek ways to prevent deterioration in the nutritional status of the population. Long experience on every continent shows there are many reasons that nutritional risks rise when food costs more and there is no single solution for coping with the situation - each country, community and household uses a combination of strategies to help people cope. Nutrition education and communication can help people maintain nutritional well-being even though purchasing food has become more difficult. This booklet provides examples and suggestions to stimulate ideas about how people's own capacities can be strengthened so that they can feed themselves with dignity now and in the future.

Keywords: education, capacity building, FAO, UN, consumer, food price

Education for Rural People and Food Security: A Cross Country Analysis

Pasquale De Muro, Francesco Burchi

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations 2007

Food insecurity and poverty in low-income countries are at the heart of the current work of the international community. The first MDG gives priority to halve by 2015 the proportion of people suffering from poverty and hunger. FAO has the mandate to monitor progress towards achievement of this goal. The 2005 State of Food Insecurity (SOFI) report, published by FAO, shows how poverty and hunger are essentially rural phenomena, closely related to the lack of education. Given the strong correlation between poverty, hunger and education, in 2002 FAO launched the Education for Rural People (ERP) partnership programme in collaboration with UNESCO. Up to the present, about 300 partners - international organizations, national governments, academic institutions, civil society, and the media - have joined the programme. This research contributes to the policy work of the ERP partnership.

Keywords: education, capacity building, FAO, UN, rural poverty

Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger: Initiatives among school children in India

Lalita Bhattacharjee, Valeria Menza, Biplab K. Nandi

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations April 2007

"Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger" (FMFH) is an FAO global education initiative aimed at introducing young people to the issues of hunger, malnutrition, and food security. It enables and encourages children and youth to become actively involved in helping to create a world free from hunger and malnutrition. FAO, in collaboration with partners, is promoting the implementation of the FMFH initiative, including in its field programme in various countries in the Asia region. This report describes the outcome of the field implementation of the FMFH initiative by five project teams in the eastern, western and south-central regions of India.

Keywords: education, capacity building, FAO, UN, malnutrition, India, children,