By Susan Onyango
Originally posted here.
Africa’s population is expected to double from 1.26 billion today to over two and half billion by 2050, little more than 30 years from now. At the same time, land degradation, loss of biodiversity and the effects of climate change pose increasing challenges to the continent’s agriculture sector, particularly smallholder farmers. If left unchecked, these challenges will threaten the food security of millions of people, particularly in the drylands. Affected countries will require national policies and farmer practices that safeguard food production, as well as frameworks for mutual cooperation across the agricultural and environmental sectors, if they are to ensure the sustainability and resilience required to feed their people.
In an effort to address these multiple challenges, more than 80 government and development sector experts met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 5 July 2017, to launch the Integrated Approach Programme on Fostering Sustainability and Resilience for Food Security in sub-Saharan Africa. Financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the 5-year, USD 116 million programme is designed to promote sustainability and resilience among small holder farmers through the sustainable management of natural resources – land, water, soils and genetic resources – that are crucial for food and nutrition security. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is the lead agency with the Programme Coordination Unit hosted by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) at their headquarters in Nairobi. Bioversity International, UN Environment, UNDP, FAO, World Bank, UNIDO, AGRA and Conservation International are all involved.
Smallholder farmers, who are responsible for most of the region’s food production, will benefit from practices and policies that will ensure the long-term sustainability and resilience of their production systems. Efforts to ensure post-programme sustainability include a particular focus on gender issues at every level of the programme to address policy and culturally-related barriers to gender equity and women’s empowerment in most of the participating countries. The Programme targets almost three million households in 12 countries and will improve the management of 10 million hectares of land.
“With an explicit focus on smallholder agriculture in the drylands, we have collectively established a framework to underpin the long-term sustainability and resilience of production systems,” said Dr. Mohamed Bakarr, Lead Environment Specialist at the GEF. “The program framework, which is defined by three main components – platforms for multi-stakeholder engagement, acting to scale-up innovations, and systems monitoring and assessment – is informed by sound science and policy, including a theory of change.”
The Programme includes the increased involvement of the private sector in developing viable value chains for food crops. At the same time, a regional hub that will support, synthesize and promote learning across the network of countries will improve access to knowledge from scientific institutions and help inform policy options and investment opportunities for managing ecosystem services in smallholder agriculture.
Margarita Astralaga, Director of IFAD’s Environment and Climate Division reiterated the importance of linking food production with ecosystems to protect the environment and to ensure that smallholder farmers reach markets.
“A key ingredient to the Food Security Integrated Approach Programme is the learning across the twelve country projects as well as its three components on institutional frameworks and policy, scaling-up integrated approaches, and on measuring collective impacts,” she noted.
To ensure effective implementation of the project, participants called for system-wide stakeholder engagement – from the field to the government – and the mapping of existing and previous projects to enable south-south learning. They also emphasized the need for technical support on improving stakeholder engagement, capacity development, strengthening institutions, monitoring systems, combining research and technology, scaling technologies, and communicating among stakeholders in participating countries and globally.
“The process has been very engaging, giving us insight for those who haven’t started on implementation (and) alignment with regional programmes, especially indicators and information on national and regional goals,” said Shamiso Nandi Najira of Malawi’s Ministry of Environment. “We look forward to working with the implementation agencies. Learning from others on what they are doing in their countries has been a good eye opener.”
“Taking resilient food security to scale means supporting innovation among millions of farmers over millions of hectares,” said Fergus Sinclair of the World Agroforestry Centre. “We have to go beyond simply promoting best bets, to supporting farmers as they experiment with new options in their own contexts, and then foster the sharing of that learning about what works where and for whom.”
The Food Security Integrated Approach Programme is aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals and the three Rio Conventions on biological diversity (CBD), to combat desertification (UNCCD) and on climate change (UNFCCC). It will be implemented in 12 countries including Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Swaziland, Tanzania and Uganda.
Other Integrated Approach Programmes of the GEF are on Green Commodities Supply Chains and Sustainable Cities.
Also see:
GEF Integrated Approach Pilot: Fostering Sustainability and Resilience for Food Security in Sub-Saharan Africa
IFAD Director presenting the Integrated Approach Pilot (IAP)
Showing posts with label development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label development. Show all posts
GEF-funded programme on resilient food security targets smallholder farmers in 12 African countries
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
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South-South Cooperation and Capacity Building Sub-Regional M&E and Knowledge Management Workshop Manzini, 2017
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
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By Tiffany Minjauw
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| ©Tiffany Minjauw |
The International Fund for Agricultural Development's (IFAD) East and Southern Africa Division (ESA) , the IFAD funded Smallholder Market-led Project (SMLP), and the Microfinance Unit (MFU) in Swaziland jointly organised and facilitated a sub-regional monitoring and evaluation (M&E) workshop for ongoing IFAD funded projects in Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and Swaziland.
The workshop brought together staff (mainly M&E officers and Knowledge Management officers) from the Project Implementation Units. The objective of this workshop was to strengthen the planning, monitoring, evaluation and knowledge management functions of IFAD operations in the five countries by strengthening the technical understanding of the key concepts and by sharing experiences (good practices and challenges).
Held in Manzini from the 17-19 May 2017, the workshop provided theoretical and conceptual guidance, emphasizing real country level good practices. Clarifications were provided on the different monitoring and assessment mechanisms in place for different sources of funding, namely the Adaptation for Smallholder Agriculture Programme (ASAP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
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| ©Tiffany Minjauw |
The interactive nature of the workshop generated rich discussions and insights into methods to overcome challenges and achieve effective monitoring and evaluation.
By the end of the workshop, the 30 participants had a better understanding of the use of the Log Frame, of the measurement of outputs and impacts, and of the principles of the Results and Impact Management System (RIMS) and how to link it to the project M&E system.
"This is the first time that we have had specific training on M&E and K&M. Consultants provide support during implementation missions but it is never as in-depth as what we experienced here" - Rural Livelihoods and Economic Enhancement Programme (RLEEP) in Malawi.
"We like that IFAD, unlike many international organisations, is paying great attention to M&E. We hope that more workshops like this one will be organised periodically in the future" - Smallholder Agriculture Development Project (SADP) in Lesotho.
Jabu Matsebula
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| ©IFAD -Lindiwe planting in the rows made by the ripper |
Using mechanized conservation agriculture, a farmer can complete land preparation, fertilizing and planting all in one operation and in a fraction of the time it takes with conventional ploughing. This method uses the principles of minimum soil tillage, or “Climate Smart” agriculture practices, advocated by Ministry of Agriculture Principal Secretary, Dr Robert Thwala.
A 4x4 John Deer 5503 supplied by Swazi Trac in Matsapha rigged with a 5-tooth rippertyne was unveiled during the first demonstration. The designated field was just over a hectare, where Lindiwe Magagula (a local farmer) intended to grow legumes.
When the tractor starts, the ripper opens five trenches that are almost 25-30 centimetres deep and 45 centimetres apart. The ripper leaves rows of grass between the trenches. Norman Mavuso, a sustainable Agriculture Coordinator, showed Lindiwe how to mix the herbicide and using a sprayer on her back, how to spray the grass with a special Springbok herbicide to dry the grass so that it forms a mulch cover between the rows of plants.
The reduced tillage equipment makes it possible for the tractor to open planting lines, apply fertilizer, seed and cover in one pass. The fertilizer dispenser is able to place fertilizer on one side of the trench and the seed on the other, eliminating the danger of the seed being scorched.
The tractor drawn no-till equipment is so time efficient that it is possible to plant a maximum of sixteen fields instead of four, assuming that it spends two hours at work.
“Last year we conducted a rapid perception survey to understand public attitudes towards CA. We found that even though people see and appreciate the benefits that come with the CA practice, they are discouraged by the heavy manual labor involved. The information was valuable as it convinced us to explore ways of reducing the manual labour through mechanization,” said Mavuso. This observation was confirmed by Lindiwe, who joked that her children run away when it is time to engage in hoeing to dig the planting holes.
CA was introduced in Swaziland as a poverty alleviation initiative after trials in Zimbabwe and Kenya showed minimum tillage greatly improved productivity at much lower costs. Over the years however it has gained the reputation as a practice for poor people.
“We have now realized that to succeed in promoting universal CA, we must recognize that farmers are at different levels of development sophistication. Therefore it is important to deploy not one, but a range of tools so that everyone can find a tool that they can use according to their level of development”, explained Mavuso.
Universal implementation of CA is expected to greatly improve national yields, especially for the priority national staple food – maize, by addressing two destructive practices.
In some cases, farmers opt to follow the tractor and drop seed as it ploughs. This method is not only inefficient, but the seed is planted too deep into the soil, resulting in limited or no germination or delayed germination.
A second problem practice is wrong application of fertilizer. Reliance on rain has scared farmers to adopt cautious approaches to limit their losses in the case it does not rain for a long time. Fertilizer is the most expensive input. As a result, farmers wait until it rains before risking their fertilizer – a very destructive practice. “Farmers now commonly plant seed without fertilizer, and wait for it to grow. They return when the seedling has grown a few centimetres and apply a side dressing with fertilizer. This is a total waste because fertilizer is a combination of three components: Phosphorus, Potassium and Nitrogen. The roots require all three nutrients to develop and feed the plant. Since the roots grow downwards, the fertilizer is wasted because it does not benefit the roots. Some nitrogen is absorbed by the plant, yet potassium and phosphorus could be the most expensive items that are totally wasted.
Instead, spreading mulch to provide soil cover is a CA practice that creates compost, thereby replacing nutrients plants constantly remove from the soil. It also preserves moisture.
For now, the project is confined to Siphofaneni and Sithobela rural development areas (RDAs). When demand increases, the project plans to scale-up implementation nationally.
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| ©IFAD |
Upholding local knowledge and a partnership approach to building resilience
Thursday, May 22, 2014
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| Shenggen Fan, Director General of IFPRI |
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All three keynote speakers
commended Ethiopia for its strong national leadership that has successfully
committed to build a resilient agricultural system by dedicating 15% of the GDP
to agriculture to obtain their collective vision to become a middle-income
economy that is green and climate resilient. Ethiopia was able to survive the
2011, Horn of Africa crisis, which was the worst drought in 60 years. This was
because of its commitment to raising the productivity of smallholder farmers,
strengthening agricultural marketing systems and bringing more land under
irrigation, ensuring to reduce land degradation and adopt soil and water
conservation measures. Ethiopia was able to mitigate the impact of the drought
on the rural poor through Ethiopia’s Productive Safety Net Programme. Ethiopia
is amongst various countries that have made a serious commitment to build food
and nutrition resilience and building on research based policies and these
ongoing successes, Shenggen Fan, Director General of IFPRI, stressed that it is
possible to end hunger by 2025, and the resilience approach “can help us tackle
issues that run across the entire agriculture, food, nutrition and
environmental system.”
On the side lines of the
conference, the IFAD President also met with research centres that are a part
of the Consortium Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIARs) to
discuss ongoing partnership to increase food productivity in developing
countries through the application of research-based technologies. The CGIAR
centres expressed their growing relation with international organization such
as IFAD, to ensure that research based policies and solutions/programmes to
develop sustainable agricultural systems that are climate sensitive and develop
food and nutrition security, are up scaled and implemented to create impacts to
improve the livelihoods of the rural poor.
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| Kanayo F Nwanze, the IFAD President, with high level representatives from research centres forming the Consortium Group on International Agricultural Research at the ILRI campus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
By Stella Rwabita
A rise from rags to riches-literally- this is the Republic of Korea's story. Being one of the poorest countries in Asia almost 60 years ago, Korea has made amazing rapid transformation in its economic and development growth making it a pillar and beacon of hope in the Asian region and the world at large.
With its Ministry of Foreign affairs announcing an earmark ofmore than 1-billion U.S. dollars for foreign aid next year,Korea plans to spend around 930-million dollars on direct bilateral aid in 2015, and about 280-million dollars in indirect aid through international organizations; 11 percent of portion targeted on agriculture and fisheries systems, reports Arirang News.
IFAD's launch of the Asian Learning series with Korea sharing its experiences frames importance for continued knowledge sharing and partnership in investing and reducing rural poverty. I must admit being awestruck at the incredible leap Korea has taken in reinventing itself despite the poverty it was drenched in years ago. Mr. Mordasini, Vice-President of IFAD ,rightly expressed this in saying:
"Korea's transformation from a post-war conflict stage to OECD membership in two generations is remarkable."
Listening to the discussions, a couple of things stood out and seemed to resonate in the minds of all present:
How did Korea get there? What did it do differently? What can be learned and applied that would fit the context of different countries dealing with more or less the same problems that the Republic of Korea has dealt with?
The Korean delegation humble in their response, reminded us that they are interested in teaching and learning from others. It took hard work, rising up again when they failed, and consistency in engaging communities to pull off the rapid transformation they have experienced. The delegation shared that the Korean government recognized early enough that it had to encourage and motivate its people in order to move forward.
Agricultural cooperatives for example were set up as early as the 1960s and the government set up a savings campaign arming households with a way of saving their earnings. Rural development Administration offices were established; and this was an extension in transfer of technologies to rural farmers through selection from various villages; thus building a cooperative and communal spirit.
Investments were made in the public sector not only with physical infrastructure, but by providing education for allwhich increased the literacy rate, enabling farmers in the rural communities to be empowered and innovative in competing for government support for their projects.
The Korean delegation admitted that access to rural finance was a challenge because of the land reform. In crossing that slippery bridge, Korea notes that overcoming that challenge brought about the green revolution and increase in production in a short period of time. The Korean government began a market expansion process and remained consistent in recognizing the rural markets.
It is interesting that Korea's progress ties in with key elements of IFAD's post 2015 MDG goals as expressed by Acting Associate Vice-President of IFAD's Strategy and Knowledge Department, Gary Howe.
Greetings from Berkeley. 6
weeks have gone already. Very intensive and productive time. My
graduate seminar has absorbed quite a bit of energy but has been extremely
rewarding. Competent and motivated students, rich discussions, great learning, for me as well. Also interesting to explore linkages with the
curriculums of other UC Berkeley courses that deal with international development. The
duration of my course was extended to cover more topics. I gave additional talks at the Master of Development Practice, the course
of Sustainable Development in Latin America and the course of Political Economy of Hunger.
I also received an invitation to talk at the course of Global Poverty and
Practice. All this triggered by the tam tam made by the students. Only problem is that
additional courses mean additional students… Many leave the
talks eager to have follow-up conversations. Several of them
inquire about internship opportunities. All this takes time. Tomorrow I am asked to speak before 100
students who want to know how UN agencies work and I know that it will not be
easy to manage expectations.
Few professors approached me
enquiring why my graduate seminar seems so popular. One told me: "I am really jealous". The answer is simple:
students, graduate students in particular, want to connect to real life
endeavors and to what development agencies are doing. They want
to know both success stories and the difficulties and failures that we
experience. (In this regard last week’s FailFaire came at the most appropriate
time. Well done). They want to know what are the enabling conditions
that can generate results and impact and where they can make the difference. This is great!
The preliminary conclusions I would draw are the following: i) there is an unmet demand in
academies for practical experience; ii) IFAD can contribute to meet this demand by sharing its experience; iii) there are young talents out there who are willing to make the difference and deserve an
opportunity to show what they can do.
Perhaps we can discuss during a lunchtime seminar upon my return to
Rome if and how this experience can be institutionalized. In the meantime, please let me know if anyone is interested to offer
internship opportunities.
Dear all, this is a promo, for which I receive no
commissions... The widening of income inequality is a global issue affecting
both rich and poor countries that has several connections with what we do,
right? Now Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labour under the Clinton’s
administration and now Professor here at Berkeley just came out with a great
movie: Inequality for All. It explains how during the last 30 years the
middle class has shrunken and inequalities have widened. It talks mainly about
US but there are clear connections with what is happening in several other
countries. Internal reasons (fiscal
policies, cutting down the tax rate on the highest incomes) and external
reasons (globalization, pushing down costs) are clearly shown. Not only the
causes are clearly explain, but the social and political consequences too.
There are already tangible signs that we are shifting from democracies to
plutocracies, where the political consensus is built thanks to economic resources
and where elected representatives report to the sponsors of their electoral
campaigns rather than to the voters. Nothing new
to the majority of us I guess. But extremely well packaged, with the
right mix of data, analysis, interviews with a touch of humour. Atsuko wrote
me: “I watched the movie, it was truly fantastic, I loved it, the sensitivity
of the man, the interesting comparative stats, the fact that wages of the
middle class have not increased and what have been the coping strategies, that
we need to continue to strive for social change. It was great, thank you so
much for pointing it out for me”. What else to say? This is not Occupy Wall Street. These are not the views of a
radical NGO. This is Robert Reich. As soon as it reaches Europe, hopefully
soon, don’t miss it! In the meantime you can see the trailer at: http://inequalityforall.com/
I must admit that I did not expect so many queries and questions
to my first post. The two
most FAQs were: “What are you going to do? “ and “What did you do to get
there?”. Regarding the first question (the second will be dealt with the next
post) I have a learning agenda composed of teaching (“the most effective form
of learning”), attending selected courses (held by Alain de Janvry, Olivier de
Schutter, Miguel Altieri) and working on my own research related to
agriculture, nutrition and health.
Prof. Lynn Huntsinger, Chair of the Division of Society and
Environment, within the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and
Management (ESPM) who invited me as Visiting Scholar requested me to teach an
interactive reading seminar for graduate students based on real-life
experience. Let me share with you the
course description and some of the replies I received from the
students/participants who have enrolled (18 at the moment). This will give you
a sense of their experience and expectations from the course. Do you think I will be able to meet them? I will keep you posted. Ciao
_____________________________
Course Description: ESPM 290 SEM 006 Fa13
Topic: Implementing and assessing internationally funded
development projects: theory and application
The interactive reading seminar will meet for 2-hours once
per week for six weeks (from 23 September to 28 October). The purpose is to
help graduate students bridge the gap between development theory and its
application by sharing the challenges that arise from: i) the implementation of
projects and programs supported by an international financing institution like
IFAD; and ii) the assessment of their impact. Hence, students will be exposed
to specific projects supported by IFAD that have been completed and evaluated.
Since the mandate of IFAD is to focus on fighting rural poverty, the seminar
will cover a range of topics regarding: i) sectoral/sub-sectoral domains such
as rural development, natural resource management, and micro-finance; ii)
vulnerable social groups such as indigenous people, marginal farmers, women and
youth; and iii) key development processes such as targeting, empowerment,
participatory planning and monitoring and evaluation. Finally, the seminar will
be an opportunity to exchange views on some of the fundamental questions of
development and international cooperation (why, how and for whom), its current
situation and future perspectives, with reference to the work of different
authors like Amartya Sen, Edgar Morin, Dave Snowden and Serge Latouche.
_____________________________________________________
Dear participants, greetings from Rome!
Let me first thank you for having selected this course.
I have prepared few questions listed below so that I can
know a bit more about you before the beginning of the course and, above all, do
my best to address as much as possible your interests and expectations.
1. Your
academic experience: what have you studied so far?
2. Your
work experience: in particular, have you got already any field experience? (you
can send me your CV if you want)
3. Your
contribution to the course: Is there anything you have worked, or are working
on, that you want to share during the course?
4. Your
plans: what is your next academic target and how this course fits with it?
5. Your
expectations regarding the course: are there any specific topics you would like
to be covered?
Finally, let me stress the point that the main purpose of
this seminar if to bridge your studies with some real-life experience. Hence, I
don’t plan to engage in any formal teaching but I can promise that I will share
with you whatever I find thought provoking. I also promise that I will be
available for follow-up discussions over coffee if needed. I very much look
forward to interacting with you.
Kindest regards
Mattia Prayer Galletti
Senior Evaluation Officer
Independent Office of Evaluation
Tel. +39 06 5459 2294
Skype: mattia.ifad
www.ifad.org
"I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw
that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy."
— Rabindranath Tagore
__________________________
Here are two replies:
Hello Mattia,
I'll answer your questions in order.
1) What have I studied?
I am a first-year doctoral student in Environmental Science, Policy, and
Management here at Berkeley (I'm Lynn Huntsinger's advisee), so have no
experience here yet. I am currently enrolled in "Political Ecology"
and in "Sociology of Forests and Wildlands," as well as a required
seminar for my cohort. Prior to
Berkeley, I have a self-taught M.A. in Environmental Studies with a
concentration in Social Ecology. My coursework for the program had four foci:
climate change; energy security (both global and specific to the U.S., mostly
focusing on peak oil); alternative food movements (agroecology, organics,
etc.); and green urban design and planning.
My undergraduate work mostly focused on conservation biology. During my undergraduate
years I spent six months in Namibia, four in Ecuador, and two in British
Columbia working on and studying conservation issues.
2) My work experience is quite varied, and also atypical of
a doctoral student. Rather than trying to explain, I'm attaching a CV. Not
listed there is a recent temporary field research technician position at Oregon
State University setting up research sites for a long-term forestry study.
3) Is there anything you want to share during the
course? My most relevant
experience for this course is the two years my wife and I spent in Ethiopia
with the Peace Corps. We were working in the environmental sector, living in an
illegal village in the middle of Bale Mountains National Park. While our
village had fairly minimal direct impact from development projects, we
certainly witnessed many other instances of development in various forms around
the country. Given how much aid and development money is spent in Ethiopia, it
might be helpful to have the viewpoint of someone who saw how it was used and
how it worked/didn't work first-hand.
4) What is your next academic goal, and how does this course
fit that goal? I am pursuing a Ph.D.
in a field with which I have very little experience. My research goal is to
examine how international (mostly) development practices affect the land use
and land management practices of nomadic pastoralists. I do not have a
geographic region selected yet due to lack of the necessary contacts, but China
and/or Mongolia currently seem promising. Following my degree I intend to advocate
for better land rights for nomads, and for a more appropriate application of
development funds/efforts so as to maintain as high degree of autonomy among
those groups as possible. For example, the forced settlement of nomads by
governments around the world is a primary concern, as are large-scale
development projects (e.g. dams, agricultural land grabs) that result in
physical displacement of nomadic groups from traditionally occupied lands.
5) My hope for this course is to gain a better understanding
of the process by which development grant applications (i.e. future projects)
are evaluated and judged. Why do some projects get funded and not others? What
attributes of the prospective project site are considered when evaluating a
grant proposal? How are effects to the local population (target and non-target)
determined and weighed? As an advocate
for an indigenous group, how would someone fight for or against a development
proposal being funded? How can the funding process be improved to better
respond to the relevant ethics, ecology, and cultural issues of a particular
project area?
Thanks for asking for input, Mattia. I'm very much looking
forward to the class.
-Tracy
-----------------------
Hello there! A pleasure to make your acquaintance. My name
is Pierce Gordon, a MS/PhD student here at Berkeley in the Energy and Resources
Group. I'm glad you asked these questions to find out a bit more about me. So,
here goes!
1. Your
academic experience: what have you studied so far?
I have undergraduate bachelor's degrees in Applied Physics
and Aerospace Engineering, through a dual-degree engineering program between
Morehouse College and the University of Michigan. I am currently in my second
year of my Master's program here at Berkeley, on a track towards a PhD.
2. Your
work experience: in particular, have you got already any field experience? (you
can send me your CV if you want)
My CV is attached.
3. Your
contribution to the course: Is there anything you have worked, or are working
on, that you want to share during the course?
To be quite honest, my experience in international
development is relatively thin. I do have a few I'd like to speak on, however:
The project which lit my fire in international assistance
you can see on my CV; it was the HelpNSBEHelpHaiti program. In the spirit of
the Haitian 2010 earthquake, a year later I orchestrated a campus-wide
fundraising initiative which raised over $2,000 for a working water pump in
Croix-Marchaterre, Haiti.
I also became a part of the Human Needs Project in my first
year of graduate study, in the hopes that it would turn into breeding ground
for dissertation research. I acted as a consultant for a small energy grid for
a developing co-op which aimed to serve many of the needs of a large stake of
Kenyan residents in Kibera, Nairobi, a well-known slum.
As someone who has built my current experience upon being a
critic of inequitable systems, and a trained scholar, I'm here to learn from
other's experiences, and can't wait to hear about the other development
opportunities that you and the other registered students have experienced.
4. Your
plans: what is your next academic target and how this course fits with it?
My next academic target is the Masters, followed by the PhD.
My research interests include human-centered design
practices for tangible technologies for the multidimensionally poor. Many
design projects instilled by NGOs, multinational corporations, governmental
institutions, Bretton Woods Institutions, and academic breeding grounds
currently use interdisciplinary methods like never before. However, many
previous forays into the fields by technological designers have created
failures which are diverse, yet related. I intend to research the processes
through which powerful entities create these technologies, the actors and
fields included, and how multiple variables in design contribute to technology
success.
I love having the opportunity to hear about current trends,
opportunities, and causes for alarm concerning the community from individuals
who make a career about the work, and what are important fields of interest to
research and become an activist for.
5. Your
expectations regarding the course: are there any specific topics you would like
to be covered?
I'd love to learn about:
The place, and relationship between disparate actors in the
development community,
the design and implementation of projects, through history,
and today (differences, similarities, etc).
personal advice for the development community about what is
actually keeping us back from solving many problems,
and the place of certain intervention technologies (ICTs,
water cleansing, sanitation, energy, cooking, lighting, health) that are
helping communities out of poverty.
