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The Institute for Global Health and Development

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://eresearch.qmu.ac.uk/handle/20.500.12289/9

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End date: 2019Has files: Yes

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 412
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    Livelihood resilience and adaptive capacity: A critical conceptual review
    (AOSIS, 2012-10-16) Nyamwanza, Admire
    The concepts resilience and adaptive capacity have gained currency in ecology, climate change, disaster risk reduction and related development discourse; yet there has been almost an absence of clarity in the understanding, substance, definition as well as applicability of these concepts in livelihoods theory and practice – where they can potentially contribute far-reaching insights vis-à-vis long-term response to livelihoods adversity in different communities. Drawing upon literature from several disciplines utilising these concepts, this article traces the roots and evolvement of the resilience and adaptive capacity concepts and suggests indicators and pillar processes towards their integration into livelihoods thinking. This article therefore mainly contributes towards the conceptualisation and understanding of a focused ‘resilience and adaptive capacity’ construct in livelihoods analysis.
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    Bridging Policy and Practice for Livelihood Resilience in Rural Africa: Lessons from the Mid-Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe
    (Rural Development Institute (RDI), Brandon University, 2015-02-27) Nyamwanza, Admire
    Building and enhancing livelihood resilience in most rural African communities is becoming a complex policy issue since the principal characteristics of most of these communities in contemporary times have become their increasingly differentiated nature and high socio-economic and environmental uncertainty due to multiple and reinforcing stresses and shocks. A major problem has been the glaring gulf between national policies and realities on the ground with a uniform approach being taken in the interpretation and implementation of general development and livelihoods policies on the ground in most countries. Yet the standard one-size fits-all policy approach is not possible as situations have become increasingly dynamic and conditions continue to differ from community to community. Utilising examples from the mid Zambezi Valley area of Mbire district in Zimbabwe, this paper argues that national policy frameworks should allow ample room for innovation, experimentation and knowledge exchange in local livelihoods. In the same vein, policies and policymakers should exhibit a profound appreciation of the complexity of contemporary, dynamically vulnerable environments and livelihoods therein through increased local stakeholder participation in policy interpretation and implementation as well as in reconceptualising 'sustainability' and viewing it through local lenses.
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    Sustainability: a missing dimension in climate change adaptation discourse in Africa?
    (Taylor and Francis Group, 2018-04-25) Bhatasara, Sandra; Nyamwanza, Admire
    The climate change adaptation field has evolved considerably in recent years. Important contributions have been made, with scholars developing methods for assessing vulnerability in different countries and communities, documenting broad strategies for adaptation and identifying opportunities for and barriers to adaptation as well as ways to enhance adaptive capacity. Issues of sustainability are, however, not readily argued and embraced. Predominantly, our analysis exposes that current adaptation discourse, particularly in Africa, offers a narrow conceptualisation of sustainability. The paper argues for a clear framework of sustainability in adaptation discourse which encompasses awareness to contextual aspects in responding to climate variability and change as well as resilience aspects. The paper also calls for an expansion of the knowledge base around the concept of ‘climate-smart agriculture’ towards effectively incorporating sustainability aspects in climate change adaptation discourse.
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    Local institutional adaptation for sustainable water management under increasing climatic variability and change: A case in the mid-Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe
    (Emerald, 2018-04-01) Nyamwanza, Admire
    Purpose The study aims to explore institutional adaptation for sustainable water resources management at the local level in the context of increasing climate-related challenges in Zimbabwe using the case of a semi-arid area in the mid-Zambezi Valley, north of the country. Design/methodology/approach Inspired by the critical institutionalism approach, the study uses qualitative methods (i.e. key informant interviews, semi-structured interviews, community workshops and documentary review) to understand the role of different formal and informal water-related institutions vis-à-vis responding to climate-related challenges in the case study area, and how the identified institutions can improve their efforts in the context of national water and environmental policy and regulation frameworks. Thematic analysis was used for data analysis. Findings The study found that climatic challenges in the case study area, as in most of rural Africa, have raised the stakes in local water management with respect to regulating access to and balancing competing interests in, and demands for, water. It ultimately argues for the embracing of complexity thinking and flexibility in local water management as well as clear coordination of institutions across scales in the face of increasing climate-related challenges. Originality/value The study adds to case studies and evidence-based analyses focused on institutional alternatives for climate adaptation vis-à-vis water resources management in water-stressed rural African communities.
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    Climate information services, integrated knowledge systems and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
    (BMC, 2018-10-25) Machingura, Fortunate; Nyamwanza, Admire; Hulme, David; Stuart, Elizabeth
    This commentary explores the role of climate information services in supporting the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. At the centre of the commentary is a discussion of how integrated knowledge systems are critical in the formulation of high quality climate information services towards the successful achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The paper drives home two major points. Firstly, that a climate service built on integrated knowledge systems will be better positioned to match user needs in terms of skill, scale and lead time. Secondly, that integrating diverse knowledge systems for effective climate information services in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development will present an auspicious platform for ‘leaving no one behind’ in contributing ideas towards the achievement of the targets outlined under the 17 SDGs, contributing to the inclusive approach at the centre of Agenda 2030. The commentary also advances the idea that climate information services built upon integrated knowledge systems present opportunities for more adequately addressing the needs of the global poor, including informing agricultural decision-making in rural communities to reduce malnutrition, facilitate disaster preparedness, and tackle human diseases linked to climate change - from cardiovascular deaths and respiratory illnesses, to altered transmission of infectious diseases.
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    Harnessing diverse knowledge and belief systems to adapt to climate change in semi-arid rural Africa
    (Elsevier, 2019-05-14) Spear, Dian; Selato, Janet C.; Mosime, Bonolo; Nyamwanza, Admire
    Farmers in semi-arid regions have historically coped using long established practices such as place-based climate forecasting using observations. However, this is becoming less reliable with climatic changes. Meteorological forecasting based on numerical prediction provides an alternative that is also now widely available to enable adaptation. However, this climate information has constraints including uncertainty and a broad spatial and temporal scale. The use of these two sources of forecast information is also affected by farmer perceptions of its advantages and disadvantages as well as beliefs and social norms. This study uses the case of Bobirwa subdistrict in Botswana to investigate the role of traditional norms and religious beliefs in the use of place-based and national meteorological forecast information to inform adaptation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 82 farmers from 8 different communities. We found that whilst some farmers use national meteorological information, others use place-based forecast information only and some combine the two. We also found that certain religious beliefs and traditional norms prevent the use of national meteorological forecast information by some farmers. An integrated climate information system that is credible and accessible to farmers from different belief systems will provide opportunity for farmers to use this climate information to adapt better to climate variability and change.
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    Balance de la Estrategia de Acompañamiento Pedagógico en Áreas Rurales de Perú en la Lógica del Presupuesto de Resultados
    (2015-12-17) Sempé, Lucas
    La presente investigación analiza la estrategia nacional llamada “Acompañamiento pedagógico” promovida por el Ministerio de Educación del Perú desde el año 2008, centrada en escuelas multi-grado rurales con lengua castellana y bilingues. La investigación se centra en los logros de aprendizaje de sus estudiantes así como evaluar y recomendar mejoras en su implementación. El primer objetivo fue determiner si existe diferencia significativa entre escuelas que han recibido acompañamiento pedagógico y aquellas que no han recibido en las pruebas nacionales tomadas a alumnus de segundo grado de primaria en comprensión lectora y matemáticas. Para ello se realizaron diversos tests de análisis de varianzas mixtas. Los hallazgos demuestran que han habido interacciones estadísticamente significativas entre recibir acompañamiento pedagógico por 3 años, lo cual indica que la estrategia es efectiva a fin de mejorar los aprendizajes de los estudiantes. La segunda meta de la investigación fue analizar la estrategia de acuerdo a la lógica subyacente en la política nacional de presupuesto por resultados en la que se enmarca la estrategia. Se realizó una revision y análisis documental, centrándose en el diseño lógico, focalización, organización y gasto público. Se encontraron inconsistencias en el diseño, problema de cobertura y la ausencia de estándares claros de organización.
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    Diseño de un sistema de seguimiento de egresados y una estrategia para la implementación de dicho sistema
    (Mejoramiento de la Calidad de la Educación Superior PROCALIDAD, 2018-01-02) Mori Valenzuela, Jorge; Sempé, Lucas; Colquehuanca Achulli, Raymundo; Guerrero Ortiz, Luis; Andrade Pacora, Patricia; Gargurevich Valdéz, José; Silva Martínez, José
    El documento caracteriza y describe el proceso del Seguimiento a Egresados en Instituciones de Educación Superior - IES, y sus vínculos con los mecanismos de toma de decisiones que favorezcan a los egresados en su inserción y trayectoria laboral, así como con los procesos institucionales de diseño curricular y de formación académica de la IES. La consultoría fue realizado por el consorcio conformado entre ENACCION y la Universidad Marcelino Champagnat.
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    Multidisciplinary interventions for reducing the avoidable displacement from home of frail older people: a systematic review
    (BMJ Publishing Group, 2019-11-02) Sempé, Lucas; Billings, Jenny; Lloyd-Sherlock, Peter
    Objectives To synthesise existing literature on interventions addressing a new concept of avoidable displacement from home for older people with multimorbidity or frailty. The review focused on home-based interventions by any type of multidisciplinary team aimed at reducing avoidable displacement from home to hospital settings. A second objective was to characterise these interventions to inform policy. Design A systematic search of the main bibliographic databases was conducted to identify studies relating to interventions addressing avoidable displacement from home for older people. Studies focusing on one specific condition or interventions without multidisciplinary teams were excluded. A narrative synthesis of data was conducted, and themes were identified by using an adapted thematic framework analysis approach. Results The search strategy was performed using the following electronic databases: the American National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health (PubMed), Scopus, Cochrane Library (Central and CDRS), CINAHL, Social Care Online, Web of Science as well as the database of the Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature. The database search was done in September 2018 and completed in October 2018. Overall 3927 articles were identified and 364 were retained for full text screening. Fifteen studies were included in the narrative review. Four themes were identified and discussed: (1) types of interventions, (2) composition of teams, (3) intervention effectiveness and (4) types of outcomes. Within intervention types, three categories of care types were identified; transitional care, case-management services and hospital at home. Each individual article was assessed in terms of risk of bias following Cochrane Collaboration guidelines. Conclusions The review identified some potential interventions and relevant topics to be addressed in order to develop effective and sustainable interventions to reduce the avoidable displacement from home of older people. However the review was not able to identify robust impact evidence, either in terms of quantity or quality from the studies presented. As such, the available evidence is not sufficiently robust to inform policy or interventions for reducing avoidable displacement from home. This finding reflects the complexity of these interventions and a lack of systematic data collection.
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