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(Book) Poor People's Energy Outlook 2016
What do poor people in the developing world identify as their most pressing energy needs – electric lighting, modern cookstoves, power for health clinics? Drawing on in-depth consultations with selected energy-poor communities in Bangladesh, Kenya and Togo, the PPEO 2016 shines a light on the energy...
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(Book) Perspectives énergétiques des populations pauvres 2016
Si on donnait la parole aux populations pauvres des pays en développement, quels besoins en matière d’énergie identifieraient-elles comme les plus urgents ? L’éclairage électrique ? Des fourneaux de cuisine propres et modernes ? De l’électricité pour les cliniques médicales ? En s’appuyant sur une c...
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(Book) Permettre aux populations pauvres d’accéder à l’énergie
Pour atteindre l’accès universel à l’énergie d’ici 2030, les approches «traditionnelles» devront évoluer en termes de politiques, de financement et de mise en oeuvre. La série Perspectives énergétiques des populations pauvres de Practical Action s’est concentrée sur ce que l’accès à l’énergie signif...
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(Book) Technology and the Future of Work
Through a year-long project supported by the Rockefeller Foundation, Practical Action and WIEGO have explored the disruptive impact of technologies on informal workers, examining the technologies themselves and the influence of cities, work, and systems. This policy briefing presents evidence of the...
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(Book) Poor People's Energy Outlook 2017
Energy access sits at the heart of sustainable development, enabling progress in health, education and women’s empowerment, among other things. Recognizing this, the global community committed to a dedicated energy access goal in the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. To achieve this, investmen...
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(Book) Donner plus de sens à l’atténuation du changement climatique
Le système énergétique mondial est le facteur le plus important du changement climatique. Ainsi, réduire la consommation énergétique ainsi que les émissions de gaz à effet de serre a une importance primordiale dans le monde pour éviter des changements climatiques catastrophiques. Toutefois, améliore...
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(Book) Poor People's Energy Outlook 2018
Energy access for all has been enshrined in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG7) and the Paris Agreement on climate change and there is now widespread acceptance of the great wellbeing and development benefits energy access unlocks. Nevertheless, a lack of understanding about the best...
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(Journal Article) Educating sanitation professionals: moving from STEM to specialist training in higher education in Malawi
01.09.2022
Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires effective changes in multiple sectors including education, economics, and health. Malawi faces challenges in attaining the SDGs in general, and specifically in the sanitation sector. This paper aims to describe the existing landscape within public universities in Malawi to build a framework for training a cadre of locally trained experts. This is achieved by reviewing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) degree programmes and assessing the extent of inclusion of sanitation education. The historical compartmentalization of academic programmes has resulted in few programmes to build on. Deliberate investment is needed to build from the current STEM higher education landscape to an effective framework for training sanitation experts, especially female experts. For low-income countries such as Malawi, a cadre of ~17,600 locally trained sanitation experts may be needed, for which the current higher education landscape is not sufficient. Using the Centre of Excellence in Water and Sanitation at Mzuzu University in Malawi as a case study, this paper provides a model of sanitation education in low-income countries that: 1) provides an effective complementary contribution to delivering sanitation education; 2) links to overall SDGs, national policy, university goals, and localized needs; and 3) engages students, faculty, and communities in local research. -
(Journal Article) Mission drift between the balance of social mission vs. financial performance of microfinance institutions
01.09.2022
Recently, many researchers have highlighted the imbalance between the financial and social missions of microfinance institutions (MFIs), which is considered to be the main objective of the research. Hence, the objectives of the current study were to identify the roots of mission drift and the reasons for high interest rates. In addition, the article was focused on the examination of the most efficient products of the sector. The research paper is conceptualized and based on primary data collection through field work, which has been analyzed using SPSS software. Secondary data has been collected mainly from peer-reviewed articles. As an improvement strategy, representatives of the sector should plan strategic campaigns to solve the situation. According to the results, though the strict regulations of the sector lead to stability in the market, changes regarding micro-savings or microinsurance regulation should be developed for future enhancement of MFIs in Armenia and in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region. -
(Journal Article) Lessons for African microfinance providers and regulators in the aftermath of COVID-19
01.09.2022
This paper is concerned with microfinance in Africa post Covid-19, a crisis from which the continent is still recovering while new crises such as climate change challenges emerge. The resilience of the microfinance sector to crises must not only address operational weaknesses revealed by the pandemic, but also exploit the post-crisis potential to build resilience in areas such as digitalization and smallholder agriculture. New rules and regulations should target microfinance providers (MFPs) and enable them to quickly comply with new rules and those normally in force. This paper calls for the inclusion of all forms of MFPs, allowing for customized applications of policies and regulations. Moreover, measures for regulators include re-defining post-COVID-19 target groups, enhancing liquidity and MFP risk-based management, ensuring sustainability and best practices, activating prompt monitoring of the sector, and ensuring a consultative and coordinated culture. Measures for MFPs include increased micro-saving, avoiding subsidies, unlocking the full potential of smallholder farmers, a strong movement towards inclusive digital finance, product development, and partial movement towards crises-resistant, non-interest types of lending in countries with Muslim minorities. -
(Journal Article) Assessing climate impacts on gender and socially inclusive WASH: lessons from a research-practice project
01.09.2022
This paper describes a research-practice project that produced guidance materials for, and built knowledge on, assessing climate impacts on gender and socially inclusive water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services. Lessons about the relevance of gender and social inclusion for WASH climate resilience, and recommendations for programming and policy are provided. This paper outlines how a team of researchers and practitioners developed participatory community-based activities for assessing climate impacts on inclusive WASH in Indonesia and Timor-Leste. The team found differences in the type and magnitude of impacts that different people experience, burdens of responding to impacts, capacity to prepare for and respond to impacts, and influence on WASH decision-making. WASH programming and policy-making should seek to leverage tacit knowledge of local stakeholders and consult diverse people to inform climate interventions that provide equitable benefits. Partnerships between civil society organizations and research organizations can generate valuable and innovative learnings for WASH practice and policy. -
(Journal Article) Community institutions in water governance for sustainable livelihoods
01.01.2022
Successful community institutions in the global South, which are contributing to livelihoods’ improvement while conserving water and other natural resources, can sustainably build the resilience that policy makers at different tiers are seeking. This article assesses different models of community institutions in Nepal in governing water resources from various lenses, based on Ostrom’s and others’ design principles, including bricolage. Illustrated by three empirical cases, it analyses key features of community institutions in integrated water governance, their contributions to health, nutrition, food security, and environmental conservation, and ways for empowering these institutions as viable and sustainable solutions to address various livelihood challenges. However, inequalities along gender, caste, and ethnicity lines persist. We argue that the recently established local governments under the federal system in Nepal provide new opportunities for gender and social inclusion. -
(Journal Article) Formal microsaving: A PRISMA-compliant systematic review of its exogenous determinants
01.09.2022
This paper reviews the determinants of formal microsaving (FMS), while also X-raying literature-documented conceptual sub-elements/sub-constructs of formal microsaving development (FMSD). This is with the intention to sensitize stakeholders as to what works for FMS and what doesn’t. The paper also offers an overview of the state of research in this academic sub-domain, with suggestions/guides for related future research agenda. Analysis of 301 articles was undertaken using PRISMA. The paper’s analysis affirms that the identified determinants were varied, using only a limited set of empirical methodologies. The geographical focus of most of the relevant studies were on Asia/Africa, with other regions largely ignored. The paper presents a novel review of the determinants of FMS. Also, the identified deconstructed sub-elements of FMSD could further sensitize researchers of its hitherto unknown multidimensional nature. Consequently, this could enhance the expansion of relevant empirical/theoretical knowledge with the additional possibility of initiating/influencing relevant global policy regeneration towards microsaving development. -
(Book) Making Market Systems Work for the Poor
‘The M4P approach recognizes that the lives of the poor are inextricably linked to the functioning of the systems around them. Too often, poorly functioning market systems -- uncompetitive and unresponsive to producer, worker and consumer needs -- have a disproportionately negative impact upon the p...
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(Journal Article) Editorial: A ‘Just Transition’–a meaningful movement or rhetoric that has been co-opted for other purposes?
01.09.2022
The phrase ‘Just Transition’ has roots in the 1990s American trade union movement, arising from the concern for workers’ welfare with a transition out of fossil fuels; a transition that could leave workers jobless and without transferrable skills despite years of undertaking potentially hazardous work. The term was coined by one of the movement’s leaders, Tony Mazzocchi, who fought for the guarantee that workers would not have to pay for clean air and water with their jobs, their living standards or their future (quoted in Nguyen, 2022). By 1997, the Just Transition Alliance was formed and continues today, with a key objective to shift toward ‘a sustainable economy that does not compromise people and our environment, one that is driven by those at the frontline and on the fencelines of unsustainable production’ (Just Transition Alliance, n.d.). -
(Journal Article) Greater Rural Opportunities for Women (GROW): A multifaceted approach to poverty alleviation at scale
01.06.2022
How did the Greater Rural Opportunities for Women (GROW) project reach over 23,000 smallholder farmers in northern Ghana and achieve impact? This case study describes the project’s multifaceted approach to poverty reduction, which combined adaptive management and a comprehensive communications strategy to work toward poverty alleviation at scale. With an initial focus primarily on improved nutrition and food security, the project evolved to include a greater emphasis on women’s economic empowerment and leadership. Group formation was an important strategy for providing services at scale, including increased access to market linkages, agronomic information and practices, and financial services. -
(Book) The Sphere Handbook
The Sphere Handbook presents a principled approach to quality and accountability in humanitarian response. It is a practical translation of Sphere’s core belief that all people affected by disaster or conflict have a right to life with dignity and the right to receive humanitarian assistance. The...
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(Journal Article) Social support and new venture initiation with resilience as a mediating factor
01.09.2022
The study empirically examined the link between social support and new venture initiation with resilience as a mediating factor. The study sought to determine the sources of social support influencing new venture initiation; the extent to which resilience influences new venture initiation; and whether resilience mediates the sources of social support influence on new venture initiation. These objectives were evaluated from a gender-based view. The study utilized the multi-group partial least square approach in testing the data collected from 327 trainees from the youth skill acquisition and entrepreneurship programme, designed for rural nascent entrepreneurs, organized by the Delta State Ministry of Youth Development. In line with the objectives, the study found that support from family and friends, but not significant other, influenced new venture initiation for men. While support from family, friends, and significant other influenced that of women. Resilience significantly influenced new venture initiation for men and women. Resilience mediated all the social support sources influence on new venture initiation for men and women. -
(Journal Article) Mobile money: a gateway to achieving financial inclusion in Ghana
01.06.2022
While emerging studies on mobile financial inclusion have focused on the factors driving the adoption of mobile money, little evidence exists on how the service is facilitating the use of formal financial services. Using the World Bank Findex data, we estimate the effect of mobile money adoption on the use of formal accounts, savings, and credit in Ghana. The results of the recursive bivariate probit analysis showed a significant symbiotic relationship between mobile money adoption and the probability of operating a formal account. Mobile money adoption has a positive effect on savings and access to credit but does not affect the avenues to savings and obtaining credit respectively. Mobile money users save in their wallet and obtain microcredit through the mobile money platform but not through formal channels. These findings reinforce the hypothesis that mobile money is the surest financial tool for achieving universal financial inclusion in developing countries. -
(Journal Article) Are burial or disposal with garbage safe forms of child faeces disposal? An expert consultation
01.07.2015
The importance of safe handling and disposal of child faeces given its potential role in disease transmission are increasingly recognized. Household surveys demonstrate that the burying of child faeces (‘dig-and-bury’) is common in several countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South-east Asia. Disposal with garbage is widely practised in middle- and high-income countries and is becoming increasingly common in urban areas of low-income countries. The safety of these two approaches is difficult to assess given the limited evidence available and we therefore sought the opinion of experts in the field of sanitation to support advocacy around the topic. We report the findings of an anonymous expert (Delphi) consultation on the safety of these two child faeces disposal methods. There was almost unanimous agreement these should be considered neither safe nor improved. A range of arguments was provided to support this position, including proximity of solid waste and burial sites to the home and children’s play areas and that neither practice would be acceptable for adults. The consultation also highlighted gaps in the current evidence base that should be addressed to gain a fuller insight into the risks involved in these two forms of sanitation with a view to providing both programmatic and normative guidance. In particular further work is needed to assess the potential for exposure to faecal matter in solid waste in low- and middle-income countries and to elucidate the predominant practices of child faeces burial including proximity to the home or infant play areas as well as depth of burial.