Search results for:

• (Journal Article) Notes and News

  01.12.1994
  

• (Journal Article) Village Savings and Loans Associations — sustainable and cost-effective rural finance

  01.03.2006
  MFIs and banks find it difficult to cover the costs of providing rural financial services – especially in Africa. In its large-scale Village Savings and Loans Associations (VS&LA) programmes in Africa, CARE is tackling these difficulties by encouraging the formation of village loan funds entirely composed of members' savings, keeping the time-bound savings and lending methodology very simple and limiting external involvement to a one-year training and follow-up period. This article describes how the methodology works in principle and practice and describes evaluation results from the CARE VS&L programme in Zimbabwe, where very high rates of inflation pose a challenge to any microfinance programmes. Finally the need for management information systems and better record keeping are identified as issues that need further development.

• (Journal Article) Handwashing for menstrual hygiene management among primary schoolgirls in rural western Kenya

  01.10.2015
  Good hand hygiene contributes to the health and educational attainment of schoolchildren. Poor menstrual hygiene management (MHM) is recognized to impact on girls’ health, education, wellbeing and dignity, particularly in low-income countries. Identifying practical, affordable, and comfortable menstrual products to improve girls’ MHM is needed. One potential cost-effective product is the menstrual cup; however, provision of this insertable MHM product, in schools in low-income countries with challenging water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) conditions, increases the need for assurance of good hand hygiene. This paper uses data from a randomized controlled feasibility study evaluating the acceptability, use and safety of menstrual hygiene products provided to schoolgirls in rural western Kenya. Here, we explore girls’ handwashing practices in school when using menstrual cups, sanitary pads or traditional items, examining the availability of WASH and the reported frequency of handwashing. Data generated from interviews with adults, girls’ private surveys, narratives from focus group discussions, and observational WASH surveys are explored. Reported presence of WASH was higher than that observed during random spot-checks. Overall, 10 per cent of girls never washed before, and 7 per cent never washed after, emptying or changing their menstrual item at school. Girls in cup schools were twice as likely to wash prior to emptying, compared with girls using other items. Handwashing among girls using traditional items was low, despite the same hand hygiene training across groups and a comparable WASH presence. Data highlight the need for sustained mechanisms to support schoolgirls’ handwashing practices for MHM.

• (Journal Article) Environmental sanitation for the control of cholera in Lisungwi Refugee Camp, Malawi

  01.04.1994
  By thinking ahead and planning for the inevitable cholera cases, the spread of the disease in this refugee camp has been limited, and victims have received the treatment they need.

• (Journal Article) Healthier values: realistic approaches to improving drinking-water quality

  01.07.1997
  Guidelines have been established, and there are models for surveillance programmes in the South. But there is a long way to go before everyone is convinced that only regular monitoring and control will ensure that the quality of water is maintained.

• (Journal Article) Report: Waterlines 30th anniversary celebration event

  01.01.2012
  

• (Journal Article) Supervising and regulating micro-finance institutions—the Bolivian experience

  01.09.1996
  This article begins with an overview of regulation of the Bolivian financial system, describes the types of financial intermediaries active in it and the existing supply of credit, and offers an overall assessment of the potential demand for financial services. The final section describes the creation of a new financial intermediary, the Private Financial Fund, which specializes in micro-credit, and provides a description of the regulations which are designed to allow these PFFs to cover a greater number of MSEs than are currently served by the formal financial sector.

• (Journal Article) Indicators for sanitation — yardsticks for cleanliness?

  01.01.1995
  Full latrine coverage and exclusive latrine use have been promoted widely as the best indicators for sanitation. But for many rural populations, latrines are either non-existent, or not in use. One project is building on grassroots research to develop simple, effective indicators to prepare the ground for step-by-step improvements in excreta disposal.

• (Journal Article) Diary

  01.01.1988
  

• (Journal Article) Building on tradition — Zimbabwe's shallow wells

  01.01.1997
  Good for your health, and a status symbol, the shallow well has long been a Zimbabwean family favourite. What's its attraction?

• (Journal Article) Problems, problems

  01.12.2004
  

• (Journal Article) Responses to adjustment – the marginalization of small enterprises in Nigeria

  01.06.1994
  The theory behind structural adjustment policies implies raised agricultural incomes in rural incomes, fewer regulatory constraints on small enterprises and greater opportunities to import and export. In this article a survey of small businesses in Nigeria reveals a less buoyant situation. Falling incomes have led to falling demand for the goods of small businesses, few businesses were able to afford imported inputs, and many domestically produced materials which were formerly available were now in short supply because they were being exported. A few enterprises have been able to occupy high-income niche markets, but the majority are facing falling demand and increased competition.

• (Journal Article) Photovoltaic water pumping - an update

  01.07.1987
  This article summarizes the current status of photovoltaic water pumping, in terms of technical performance and economic viability, based on eight years of practical experience.

• (Journal Article) Beyond building: how social norms and networks shape mason construction practices in incremental homebuilding

  01.09.2021
  How do low-income households and masons make house construction decisions? A three-country study examined social norms, networks, and information flows that influence construction practices in Kenya, India, and Peru. The study used a suite of qualitative research strategies, including desk research, site observation, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews, to examine households and informal construction service providers, and the interactions between them. The research sought to answer the following questions: 1) How do households and individuals make housing decisions? 2) What are the information flows, key influences, and social norms that steer these decisions? and 3) How can programmes leverage knowledge about norms to improve the quality of home construction? Findings covered areas of gender, disaster resilience, and construction labour – this article focuses on the latter. Ultimately the paper argues that designing impactful programmes for low-income housing markets requires understanding and incorporating these social norms, networks, and information flows.

• (Journal Article) 'Fair trade is a worthy idea but flawed in practice'

  01.09.2002
  

• (Journal Article) Webwatch

  01.01.2012
  

• (Journal Article) Rural water supply systems, an alien body for the public good: case study of Indonesia, 1990-2000

  01.01.2001
  In this article two concepts, 'alien bodies' and 'generations', are applied to discuss water supply interventions in rural communities accentuating their obvious and intrinsic consequences. The discussion is limited to simple gravity-fed systems as these are relatively complex compared to traditional rural supplies.

• (Journal Article) Books

  01.01.1985
  

• (Journal Article) Next generation access to finance: Gaining scale and reducing costs with technology and credit scoring

  01.03.2008
  A conference brought together over 350 participants - representing microfinance practitioners, technology solutions firms, telecommunications companies, regulators, donors and investors and development professionals - from more than 60 countries to hear the latest on innovations in payment systems, mobile banking and credit scoring technologies and the potential of these technologies to contribute to increased access to finance for low-income consumers and businesses. ‘Next Generation Access to Finance: Gaining Scale and Reducing Costs with Technology and Credit Scoring’, took place in Washington D.C., 17-19 September 2007, and was jointly sponsored by the International Finance Corporation (of the World Bank Group), CGAP (a global consortium of microfinance donors and resource centre) and VISA International (a payments service provider).

• (Journal Article) Exploring the complex relationships between food loss and waste, climate change, and the environment to support informed sustainable food system transformation decisions with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa

  01.12.2022
  Food loss and waste (FLW) reduction is key to transforming food systems to deliver food security, while responding to climate change and reducing other environmental impacts. Food production and postharvest systems differ with location, reflecting the diversity of agroecological and socio-economic environments and the drivers influencing them. The interactions between drivers and environments, practices and products influence food systems and their greenhouse gas emissions and other related environmental impacts. These factors also influence the level of food loss during or after harvest, or food waste at retail or consumer level. This think-piece examines the relationships between climatic change, the environment, and FLW within a broader food systems framework. We use the case study of maize in Malawi to explore these relationships. This analysis unpacks the issues and suggests an approach for supporting decision-makers in making a more informed assessment of how to reduce FLW, taking into account the complexity of food systems, their multiple drivers of change, diverse stakeholder interests/influence, and the need to operate with very incomplete knowledge.