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• (Journal Article) Developing agro-pastoral entrepreneurship: bundling blended finance and technology

  01.06.2019
  Development of agro-pastoral and pastoral entrepreneurship in arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL) of East Africa is constrained by lack of access to financial services, limited technology, and low capacity to engage in high value crop production. This is exacerbated by high risks associated with providing these services to pastoralist communities in ASAL areas in Kenya. The communities’ preference for ethical financial products and services has exacerbated this exclusion. This article presents a new intervention area that addresses these challenges. It argues that bundling ethical financial services with agricultural technology and capacity building positively affects entrepreneurship and income generation among pastoral communities that are transitioning into crop production. This article is based on the Islamic Relief Kenya (IRK) project implementation experience and participatory action and quantitative research conducted with randomly selected members of 180 Alpha Group Savings and Loans Associations (AGSLAs).

• (Journal Article) Sustainability and long-term impact of community-managed water supply in rural Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia

  01.01.2022
  How can Community Managed Water Supply (CMWS) become more sustainable? Recent studies in several countries indicate that the sustainability of many CMWS is poor. As a result, their long term impact on village lives is limited. This paper presents the findings of research on the sustainability and long-term impact of a group of CMWS created by the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (RWSSP) in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia. This project adopted a Community-Based Approach to maximize the sustainability and long-term impact of its CMWS. The research assessed the sustainability of these CMWS a decade after their completion. It used six measures to assess sustainability and examined four long-term impacts. The results are compared with studies from other countries. The influence of Community-Based Approach (CBA) on the results is discussed. Recommendations are made for changes in policies and strategies to improve the sustainability and long term impact of future CMWS in Central Asia and elsewhere.

• (Journal Article) Measuring progress towards sanitation and hygiene targets: a critical review of monitoring methodologies and technologies

  01.01.2022
  The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target for access to safe sanitation and hygiene represents a marked improvement over the target used during the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) period. The SDG target attempts to: explicitly address hygiene; eliminate inequalities within populations; evaluate sanitation services beyond the household; account for the accessibility, safety, acceptability, and affordability of service delivery; and improve the sustainability of services (WHO/UNICEF, 2015). However, the proposed indicators for monitoring progress in sanitation and hygiene still rely primarily on infrequent household surveys and census data. This paper provides a critical review of the sanitation and hygiene target and explores the potential gaps between the expanded understanding of access, the proposed monitoring strategies, and the desired impacts. A variety of innovative methodologies and technologies are reviewed, with specific attention given to their suitability for measuring and monitoring progress towards the sanitation and hygiene target.

• (Journal Article) Digital credit scoring for affordable housing finance: Syntellect and Reall in urban India

  01.09.2021
  A promising field of housing finance innovation is digital approaches to assessing the creditworthiness of low-income borrowers, based on the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence to ‘alternative’ customer data. These reduce the risk of lending to underserved customers, many of whom work in the informal sector and lack formal credit histories. This article introduces and explores the emerging application of digital credit scoring technologies to affordable housing in India, through the practitioner lens of Syntellect – a Mumbai-based fintech firm – and their investor Reall, an innovator in climate-smart affordable housing. Syntellect has developed proprietary software called RightProfile – a unique customer profiler that caters to the unbanked, new to banking, and new to credit segment with a focus on informal micro-entrepreneurs. The article shares Syntellect and Reall’s experience to date, situating these within broader affordable housing trends and reflecting on the transferability of RightProfile outside India.

• (Journal Article) Assessing the measurement methods of post-harvest food loss and waste: opportunities and challenges

  01.12.2022
  Understanding the magnitude of food loss and waste (FLW), and where in the value chain it occurs, can provide policy perspectives for targeting innovations and business opportunities to reduce FLW. Since the seminal 2011 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report on global FLW and the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3 (By 2030, halve per capita global food waste), there has been a surge of research efforts quantifying FLW in recent years. However, there is disagreement over how best to measure FLW. Without reliable data, it will be challenging to derive policy and action that target FLW hotspots. In this synthesis, we review the available tools for measuring FLW, their advantages and disadvantages, and comprehensively assess their ranking in terms of accuracy, cost, and meaningfulness. The methods for quantifying FLW may vary according to the stages and types of a food supply chain, for which different resources and technical capabilities are required. Therefore, a strong call to standardize FLW quantification methodologies is imperative in order to harmonize measurement tools and methods.

• (Journal Article) Can a citizen-science approach to collecting data assist the management of intermittent water supply in low-income and data-scarce settings?

  01.10.2022
  Intermittent water supplies (IWS) can be both a public health threat and an expensive challenge to address for households, requiring reliance on either costly water storage solutions or alternative water supplies. Despite the fact that IWS are present all over the world, there remains a persistent lack of data on the operation and failures of urban water supply infrastructure in low-income countries. Local government and water utilities tend to be blamed for the poor management of the water supply, and yet there is no established method for reporting or measuring the continuity, reliability, or hours of supply of pipe water delivery. This makes it difficult for water utilities to estimate real economic losses or the investment needed to improve the water supply. Lack of evidence and data on the behaviour of IWS also impedes the development of tailored water management policies, leading to inefficient decision-making from the top down. This paper therefore proposes a method to address the knowledge and data gap on IWS in low-income settings, using citizen science coupled with mobile phone technology to collect data on IWS in a bottom-up approach. The approach was trialled in Kathmandu, Nepal and has since been adopted by the local water supply company.

• (Journal Article) Learning, acting, and learning (LAL) research on schools' menstrual hygiene management (MHM): Pakistan

  01.01.2015
  UNICEF Pakistan adopted a conceptual framework for global qualitative research to advance their ongoing exploratory research work on menstrual hygiene management (MHM) in 2013-14. The findings of qualitative research informed the design of certain interventions in schools to improve MHM. These interventions were implemented as action research so that the benefits of these interventions can be studied. Qualitative research gave an in-depth understanding of girls' needs and their preferences to address MHM-related issues. Data analysis of qualitative research helped a team of sanitation practitioners and social scientists in understanding different factors influencing MHM in girls' schools. A few simple and focused interventions were hence designed and implemented. Six weeks after the implementation of hard and soft activities on the ground the results were studied. Results showed significant improvement in MHM conditions in girls' schools. Girls and teachers welcomed the initiatives and there were indicators for future sustainability. Areas of improvement were also noted by UNICEF before taking these interventions to scale. This research was documented as ‘learning, acting, and learning’ (LAL: literally meaning ‘Red’ in the local language, Urdu) research.

• (Journal Article) Value chain financing: evidence from Zambia on smallholder access to finance for mechanization

  01.03.2017
  Smallholder farmers in Zambia comprise 85 per cent of the farmers’ population. Such farmers are regarded as not creditworthy and furthermore their agricultural productivity could be improved. The aim of this paper is to present recent evidence on value chain financing (VCF) as a framework to increase access to agricultural finance for Zambian smallholder farmers. Such financing will act as an enabler to mechanize and, in turn, might improve productivity. Qualitative data collection techniques were followed to provide the results as presented in three illustrative case studies. Each case study highlights the benefits of financing, using the value chain framework, but also emphasizes certain challenges and risks associated with the approach. The Zambian case is not perfect, but provides recent evidence of how various roleplayers in Zambia’s agricultural sector have applied the VCF framework to coordinate the actions of various chain actors, and by doing so allow smallholders access to finance within the local and country-specific context. Although two of the three VCF programmes have been discontinued, they still provide useful learning points: for instance, commercial banks should assign more resources to manage the VCF products; and the risk should be shared between all the VCF participants.

• (Journal Article) Microcredit: from hope to scepticism to modest hope

  01.03.2015
  After its introduction in the late 1980s and its fast expansion thereafter modern microfinance, and specifically microcredit, raised the hope that it could combine access to (semi-) formal credit for the poor with financial sustainability of the new microfinance institutions, and that it would contribute to increased micro-entrepreneurial activity, consumer welfare, and the empowerment of women. More recently scepticism about the operation of microfinance institutions and their impact has arisen. Based on the literature, we discuss the possibility of combining outreach to the poor with financial sustainability, microfinance crises, and the findings of recent impact studies. Our conclusion is that microfinance is not a panacea for development, but that it is a tool poor households can use in their fight for survival.

• (Journal Article) Adolescent schoolgirls' experiences of menstrual cups and pads in rural western Kenya: a qualitative study

  01.01.2015
  Poor menstrual hygiene management (MHM) among schoolgirls in low income countries affects girls' dignity, self-esteem, and schooling. Hygienic, effective, and sustainable menstrual products are required. A randomized controlled feasibility study was conducted among 14-16-year-old girls, in 30 primary schools in rural western Kenya, to examine acceptability, use, and safety of menstrual cups or sanitary pads. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted to evaluate girls' perceptions and experiences six months after product introduction. Narratives from 10 girls' and 6 parents’ FGDs were analysed thematically. Comparison, fear, and confidence were emergent themes. Initial use of cups was slow. Once comfortable, girls using cups or pads reported being free of embarrassing leakage, odour, and dislodged items compared with girls using traditional materials. School absenteeism and impaired concentration were only reported by girls using traditional materials. Girls using cups preferred them to pads. Advantages of cups and pads over traditional items provide optimism for MHM programmes

• (Journal Article) Preserving food without creating plastic pollution: A primer on progress in developed and low- to middle-income countries

  01.12.2022
  The role of single-use plastics in the preservation and packaging of food has expanded dramatically and it is estimated that up to 88 per cent of plastic pollution on the world’s coastlines is derived directly from food packaging. The issues of plastic pollution and food preservation have become heavily entwined. Having recognized the problem, both developed and developing countries have responded by implementing control measures of varying severity and effectiveness. The article presents a primer on the progress being made and the innovations underway to address the problems. We highlight a number of organizations addressing plastic pollution and food waste within low- to middle-income countries (LMICs) and developed countries and classify them into five areas: mapping, collection, prevention, recycling, and alliances-led business models. The article demonstrates that any intervention on preventing food loss, minimizing plastic packaging (that is non-biodegradable, non-compostable, and non-recyclable), and reducing plastic pollution must be systemic, engaging multi-disciplinary sectors, and must include large-scale awareness and advocacy. Government incentives are required for a) research and development for finding new solutions to disrupt the nexus between plastic packaging and food waste, and b) supporting existing innovations/solutions developed by businesses, some of which are highlighted in the paper. This support is important to inspire, promote, and scale up business solutions and innovations that have the best chance to succeed.

• (Journal Article) COVID-19 impact study: assessing the consequences of the pandemic on economic output in developing countries for targeted sectors

  01.06.2021
  This paper presents a model for how the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on economic output in developing countries can be assessed with a new approach. Existing models lack sectoral granularity in developing countries, which can, however, be obtained through input-output modelling by changing the social accounting matrix to simulate a COVID-19 economy. Results have been estimated for 65 sectors and 141 regions which correspond to the Global Trade Analysis Project’s data. The analyses showed that the average impact in Africa and Asia on industry output is −2.6 per cent and −2.9 per cent, respectively. It is estimated that tourism and services are the most heavily impacted sectors, between −15 per cent and −19 per cent for hospitality, recreation, and other service activities, and between −4 per cent and −7 per cent for transport services. The model is a first attempt at estimating impact at this level of granularity per country and sector, which by triangulation with empirical data can be used to make substantiated management or policy decisions.

• (Journal Article) Roads for water: the unused potential

  01.04.2014
  Roads are generally perceived as infrastructure to deliver transport services, but they are more than that. They are major interventions in the hydrology of areas where they are constructed - concentrating runoff and altering subsurface flows. At present, water-related damage constitutes a major cost factor in road maintenance. Using ongoing research from Ethiopia, this article argues to reverse this and turn water from a foe into a friend and integrate water harvesting with road development. Optimized road designs are required - better planning of alignments, making use of road drainage, road surfaces, and river crossings, but also capturing freshly opened springs and systematically including developing storage and enhanced recharge facilities in road-building programmes. Equally important are inclusive planning processes that are sensitive to the multi-functionality of roads but also to the potentially uneven distribution of benefits and the diverse livelihood impacts. There is a need for closer integration of watershed and road-building programmes. With 5.5 million kilometres of roads in sub-Saharan Africa alone, and road building continuing to be one of the largest public investments, the potential of roads for water harvesting is great.

• (Journal Article) Field perspectives on the economic impacts of COVID-19 on women with disabilities in Bangladesh and Nepal

  01.06.2021
  COVID-19 has surfaced many of the inequities to which people with disabilities have always been vulnerable. Moreover, women with disabilities face even greater risks than their male counterparts. The current article highlights the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on women with disabilities in Bangladesh and Nepal from the vantage point of two organizations working directly with women with disabilities in these countries. What is clear is that governments need to take further steps to address this crisis while also implementing programmes and services that promote economic security for women with disabilities and their families. The work done by organizations of women with disabilities is critical for documenting the daily impacts of the pandemic and helping to mitigate its negative effects.

• (Journal Article) Providing municipal faecal sludge management services: lessons from Bangladesh

  01.07.2020
  Faecal sludge management (FSM) is a rising priority in the WASH sector, and governments and development agencies are increasing their investments in faecal sludge treatment plants (FSTPs). In Bangladesh there are plans to build 100 FSTPs in secondary municipalities. However, lessons from past experiences are not widely understood or considered. This article aims to fill that gap, shedding light on the drivers of success and challenges in the provision of municipal FSM services, analysing the cases of older FSTPs in four secondary towns in Bangladesh. Only one of these plants was fully operational, one was not operating, and two were partially operational. A challenge identified was that the faecal sludge treatment plants were not part of an integral and well-thought-out plan considering the whole sanitation service chain. Unbalanced partnerships between stakeholders was a crucial barrier to the long-term success of FSTPs, as it hindered the empowerment of the municipal governments to take ownership of FSM service provision. The financing and technical capacities of the municipalities were another barrier, which was covered by NGOs in the most successful plant. The study suggests that future investment in FSM services in secondary towns in Bangladesh and similar contexts should 1) put municipalities in the driving seat, 2) ensure adequate financing, 3) consider the whole sanitation service chain, and 4) strengthen the capacities of the local actors to deliver FSM services.

• (Journal Article) Process learning on partnerships: building functioning research and practice organizational relationships

  01.01.2019
  Implementers and researchers are responding to increasingly strong incentives to work together closely. Donors are placing a higher value on data, rigour, and evidence of impact from development assistance projects. This is seen in policy debates emphasizing value for money, and funding contingent on results and performance. In response, implementing organizations are increasingly collaborating with researchers. Such arrangements incur costs (financial and other), but the return on investment is high. Investments in relationship building, open and frequent communications, a clear understanding of partners’ objectives and non-negotiable requirements, and a mind-set of problem solving are important priorities in setting productive implementation science partnerships. We document process learning from developing a partnership between an implementing organization, Plan International, and a research institute, the Water Institute at the University of North Carolina. We make the case that: effective partnerships have preconditions for success; building institutional respect takes time and incremental changes to business as usual; establishing a partnership early with a long start-up period is advisable; accountability and research relevancy increase through shared roles during project design and results interpretation; and research message development requires regular review meetings with increasing frequency toward the end of a project.

• (Journal Article) Towards demand-driven services? The role of feedback mechanisms in agribusiness-based advisory services for smallholder farmers

  01.09.2019
  In many developing countries, agribusinesses are highly engaged in providing services to smallholder farmers, including agricultural advisory services or extension. As private service providers depend on farmers’ choice, eliciting farmer feedback and learning from farmers’ demands seem to become more important. However, the phenomenon of agribusiness-based advisory services has received relatively little attention in the study of advisory services. Little is known on whether and how agribusinesses operationalize the idea of demand-driven service provision. This is a critical oversight as agribusinesses are increasingly present as service providers and hence shape the prevailing service landscape for smallholder farmers. Based on a study of 29 agribusinesses providing advisory services to farmers in developing countries, this paper explores the extent to which agribusinesses provide demand-driven services based on farmer feedback and how they integrate and learn from such feedback.

• (Journal Article) Integrating sanitation and climate change adaptation: lessons learned from case studies of WaterAid’s work in four countries

  01.04.2021
  The links between climate change and sanitation are frequently overlooked in the WASH sector. This paper examines experiences of WaterAid in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, India, and Madagascar where there was some consideration of the impacts of climate change on sanitation. Climate resilience was often not considered explicitly, however, with work instead framed around weather-related threats that are now increasingly frequent and severe. In these case studies, sanitation and climate integration involved adapting on-site sanitation hardware to physical impacts on infrastructure, while some social aspects of climate resilience were also considered. Integration took place primarily at the project level, while climate change consideration seemed absent from wider planning and decision-making. Aside from these case studies, most of WaterAid’s sanitation work does not seem to incorporate climate change. It is recommended that climate resilience is integrated into each stage of sanitation programming, with a more systematic consideration of its potential impacts.

• (Journal Article) How socio-demographic and mass media factors affect sanitary item usage among women in rural and urban India

  01.07.2021
  Our study’s objective is to examine the various socio-demographic and mass media factors of sanitary item usage among rural and urban women in India. We have used data from the Indian version of the Demographic and Health Survey, conducted in 2015–16 for this study, with a sample of 247,833 women in the age group of 15 to 24 years. Binary logistics regression was performed separately for urban and rural women to understand the various determinants of sanitary item usage. We found that three-quarters of women in urban areas use sanitary items compared to half of the women in rural areas. Indian women in rural areas appear to be at a considerable disadvantage compared to their urban counterparts with regard to sanitary item usage. Factors determining sanitary item usage did not vary between urban and rural areas. However, education, wealth, mass media, and toilet facility were the major factors in understanding the improvement in sanitary item usage in urban and rural areas. At the policy level, there is need to focus on (a) disseminating knowledge about menstrual hygiene management (MHM) practices and provisioning of sanitary items; and (b) providing exposure to traditional media channels to potentially reduce the social stigma associated with these issues and bring critical conversations to the forefront, especially among the socio-economically disadvantaged groups.

• (Journal Article) Practical experience testing aspects of market development for city-wide inclusive sanitation

  01.10.2020
  Achieving effective, city-wide inclusive sanitation service delivery requires coordination of diverse actors in the sanitation value chain as many factors constrain the efficiency and quality of faecal sludge management (FSM). In partnership with government, consumer, and private sector stakeholders in Bihar’s capital city, Patna, PSI India facilitated extensive market analysis, identified the market challenges, and co-developed a market-based urban FSM services ‘ecosystem’ which resulted in the safe collection, treatment, and disposal of over 7 million litres of faecal sludge from more than an estimated 1,500 households over two years, as part of bundled portable toilet cabins and FSM services. The FSM programme Praashadan, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, built trust, improved coordination, and brokered official agreements between tanker operators and government, tested a portable toilet cabin business model to subsidize operation of a faecal sludge treatment plant, and established a call centre and promotional activities to drive customers to the services of a newly formed tanker operators association. Moving forward there is a need to place the work with these market actors into a wider context of a financed, coordinated, city-wide sanitation planning to address technology, R&D, and other constraints that support better business models and allow regular quality FSM services.