KM & Social Challenges

Many governmental and nongovernmental public health agencies are pursuing and, in some cases, scaling up programs that integrate family planning (FP) and HIV services. In response to calls from public-health decision makers for guidance on FP/HIV integration, the World Health Organization, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Family Health International developed Strategic Considerations for Strengthening the Linkages between Family Planning and HIV/AIDS Policies, Programs, and Services.

This booklet tells the story of a project that has had a profound influence on the management of four large forest areas in Guinea. The Landscape Management for Improved Livelihoods (LAMIL) project has also done much to improve the welfare of local people. Indeed, the two - better forest management and improved livelihoods - are inextricably linked.

The World Agroforestry Centre, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and their partners in the LAMIL project have developed a system of co-management, involving local communities and government agencies, which is generating considerable interest in Guinea and throughout the region.

Not long ago, these forests were managed by government agencies. Local people were forbidden from using them. As a result, the forests were widely abused, and the authorities were able to do little to stem the tide of illegal logging, poaching and land

The Generic Drylands Mainstreaming Guidelines have been developed by the UNDP-DDC in close collaboration with the UNEP and UNDP/Global Environment Facility (GEF) Global Support Unit. This document provides broad generic steps for mainstreaming environment and drylands issues into national development frameworks, as well lessons drawn from various countries on environment and drylands mainstreaming.

In 2008 the number of African women who died from pregnancy and child birth was much higher than the number of casualties from all the major conflicts in Africa combined. Maternal mortality continues to be the major cause of death among women of reproductive age (15-49) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Most of these women die from complications that can often be effectively treated in a health system that has adequate skilled personnel, a functioning referral system and can respond to obstetric emergencies when they occur.

Policy-makers are experimenting with billion’s of people’s lives on a daily basis without informed consent, and without rigorous evidence that what they do works, has no substantive adverse effects, and could not be achieved more efficiently through other means. In this context, carefully designed and implemented evaluations have the potential to save lives and improve people’s welfare. However, to date evaluations have tended to be selected based on the availability of data, the interest of researchers and donors, and the availability of funds rather than on their potential contribution to broader development strategies. For this reason, the institutionalization of quality evaluation is necessary in order to turn it into an optimal tool for policy-making. This report looks at the experiences of institutionalizing government evaluation efforts and considers the lessons learnt for countries starting down that road.

© UNFPA, WEDO14 October 2009: The UN Population Fund (UNFPA), together with the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), has launched a resource kit on climate change connections, focusing on gender and population and advocating that women are uniquely positioned as innovators, educators, caretakers, leaders and agents of change to address the risks of a changing climate.

The resource kit provides policy guidance, finance and adaptation plans, advocacy tools and best practices related to increasing educational opportunities for girls, economic opportunities for women, and access to reproductive health and family planning, recognizing their role in reducing vulnerability to climate change. Women, population and climate change are the focus of the UNFPA's flagship report, State of World Population, to be released on 18 November 2009. UNFPA Resource Kit: Climate Change Connections - Gender and Population https://www.unfpa.org/public/site/global/lang/en/pid/4028

This publication from GTZ can be used as an instrument for the application of concepts, approaches and methods for transforming unequal gender relations. Each topic is introduced by a short outline of the issue, followed by subsequent steps of action. A project example illustrates the application of the method in a selected sociocultural context.

From the introduction:

Authors: Boon H; Ruiter RA; James S; Van Den Borne B; Williams E; Reddy P
Institution: Health Promotion Research and Development Unit, Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa
Source: Journal of Cross-cultural Gerontology 8 Oct 2009; doi 10.1007/s10823-009-9101-2. [Epub ahead of print]

ABSTRACT

By : Clive Mutunga and Karen Hardee

This paper reviews 41 National Adaptation Programmes of Action (NAPAs) submitted by Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and identifies the range of interventions included in countries’ priority adaptation actions. The review found near-universal recognition among the NAPAs of the importance of population considerations as a central pillar in climate change adaptation.

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

Produced by: International HIV/AIDS Alliance (2008)

This toolkit is a result of team work between sexual and reproductive health practitioners working with young people in Zambia, Malawi Zimbabwe and Uganda. It is written for anyone who wants to facilitate participatory learning activities with young people to equip them with knowledge, positive attitudes and skills to grow up and enjoy sexual and reproductive health and well- being.

The toolkit's intended audience includes peer educators, outreach workers, school teachers and community workers. It covers themes on community mobilisation, gender and sexuality, prevention, reproductive health, stigma and discrimination. The educational approach to behavioural change used in the toolkit is based on the belief that people actively learn through participatory problem solving activities related to their own lives.

Specifically the tool aims to assist facilitators to:

The human consequences of the current global financial crisis for the developing world are presumed to be severe, yet few studies have quantified such impact. Using Demographic and Health surveys from 30 countries as well as IMF growth shortfall projections, Jed Friedman and Norbert Schady estimate that 30,000 to 50,000 more infant deaths will occur in Sub-Saharan Africa this year. Most of these additional deaths are likely to be poorer children born to women in rural areas with lower education levels, and are overwhelmingly female. If the crisis continues to worsen the number of deaths may grow much larger, especially of girls. Policies that protect the income of poor households and that maintain critical health services during times of economic contraction should be considered. Interventions targeted at female infants and young girls may be particularly beneficial. Policy Research Working Paper 5023

Drylands cover 41 percent of the earth’s terrestrial surface. The urgency of and international response to climate change have given a new place to drylands in terms both of their vulnerability to predicted climate change impacts and their potential contribution to climate change mitigation. This book aims to apply the new scientific insights on complex dryland systems to practical options for development. A new dryland paradigm is built on the resources and capacities of dryland peoples, on new and emergent economic opportunities, on inward investment, and on the best support that dryland science can offer.

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

Livestock in general, and smallstock in particular (including sheep, goats and poultry) have an important role to play in enhancing the livelihoods of the poor.

In poor households, these animals are often kept under scavenging conditions with little or no attention paid to supplementing feed inputs, or to disease control and housing. At the same time, these animals provide products for cash sale when a need arises, and provide the household with much needed protein.

1. Share: Managing waters across boundaries

This publication provides an overview of the world’s shared water resources and insights for managing these resources. Using case studies from around the world, it describes the benefits to be gained from cooperation and the challenges of constructing legal frameworks, institutions, management processes and financing and partnership strategies to govern transboundary waters equitably and sustainably.

2. Assess : Integrated Wetland Assessment Toolkit

What is the legal and policy framework governing the provision of rights to migrant children in South Africa? What institutional capacity exists for responding to the needs of children who are affected by migration? What level of access to services do child migrants enjoy and what are the barriers to effective access? These questions frame this paper which gives an overview of the situation of children affected by migration into South Africa. It focuses on cross-border migrants who migrate alone, with adult caregivers or who remain behind when their caregivers migrate.

For more than two decades, governments and development agencies around the world have focused on reducing poverty. There have been advances, but progress has been uneven and nearly a quarter of the world's population still suffers from extreme "income poverty." Income poverty,however, is only part of the picture. A multi-faceted account of poverty and human welfare incorporates elements that go beyond income to capture the characteristics of poverty as experienced by the poor themselves.

Key policy advice from World Development Report 2010 and Making Development Climate Resilient: A World Bank Strategy for
Sub-Saharan Africa - Act Now, Act Together, Act Differently

"Over the past ten years, Sub-Saharan Africa has made a great deal of progress in terms of economic growth. In fact, Africa has the potential to emerge as an exciting new center of growth in the evolving global economy. However, to continue on an accelerated growth path, the region needs to tackle climate variability and climate change, which now pose a daunting risk to growth, development, and poverty reduction. Climate is hardly a new factor in the region's history, but with global warming, Africa's vulnerability is deepening, making it the most exposed region in the world to the impacts of climate change. The hard-won progress of recent years could be reversed with extreme weather, crop failures, and outbreaks of hunger and disease."

Getting started! : running a junior farmer field and life school, Empowering orphans and vulnerable children living in a world with HIV and AIDS

WIEGERS, Esther HILL, Catherine COLBERT,Patricia 2007

Country focus: Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Climate change presents humanity with its largest challenge in recorded history. Its predicted eff ects over the coming decades include extreme weather events, droughts, fl ooding, rising sea levels that could affect countries such as Nigeria and Mozambique, retreating glaciers (although not in Africa, but with global impact), changes in habitats and increased spread of life-threatening diseases such as malaria.

Little concrete analysis has been published on the relationship between climate change and conflict, however, and even less on the potential role that population growth plays in intensifying that pressure.

Attempts to clarify the relationship between adaptation and development by analyzing 135 projects, policies, and other initiatives from the developing world that have been labeled by implementers or researchers as "adaptation to climate change." Confusion about the relationship between adaptation and development has meant that funding mechanisms may create redundancies or leave gaps in the landscape of critical adaptation and development activities.

Drawing on Internet resources, Weathering the Storm attempts to clarify this relationship by analyzing 135 projects, policies, and other initiatives from the developing world that have been labeled by implementers or researchers as "adaptation to climate change."

In January 2005, USAID/Madagascar requested the Health Communication Partnership (HCP) to assist the Government of Madagascar, specifically its National AIDS Control Committee (SE/CNLS), to develop a behavior change communication strategy targeting HIV prevention among youth and young adults. The Ankoay, or Eagle, approach was launched in April 2005 through the National Scouting Federation which unites six scouting organizations. The Ankoay program was assessed by the SE/CNLS after one year of implementation and was judged a national “best practice” in HIV prevention among youth.

The Social and Behavior Change Communication (SBCC) Capacity Assessment Tool was developed for use in workshop and meeting venues in which an organization and a facilitiator work to determine an organization's competencies to carry out
SBCC programming in three areas:

• Planning and design,

• Program implementation, and
• Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and research

A facilitator administers the tool to members of an organization and provides the scoring along with feedback, which serves as a baseline and identifies the gaps in the organization that require strengthening. The same tool can be administered at a later point to provide data that shows improvements in specific competencies and where additional work still remains.

AIDS and climate change (CC) are two of the most important "long wave" global issues of the recent past, the present and the future. They share similarities, interactions, and present possibilities for a more united response. Yet these links have received little analysis. This paper seeks to address that gap. It first focuses on scientific issues, identifying major, minor, and speculative pathways by which AIDS and CC are likely to interact. These interactions are, here, called the HIV and Climate Change Complex (HACC).

Scholars have recently become increasingly interested in the role religion plays in the responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we present the Malawi Religion Project (MRP), which provides data to examine the relationship between religion and HIV/AIDS through surveys and in-depth interviews with denominational leaders, congregational leaders and congregation members in three districts of rural Malawi. In the paper, we outline existing perspectives on the religion-HIV/AIDS link describe the MRP s design, implementation and subsequent data; provide initial evidence for a series of general research hypotheses; and describe how these data can be used both to extend explorations of these relationships further and as a model for gathering similar data in other contexts.

This policy brief looks at the factors constraining the productivity of smallholder farmers to achieve food security for poor households and communities, as a contribution to poverty eradication in southern Africa. The brief examines the characteristics of the region in terms of poverty, the state of food security in the region, and current factors that limit smallholder farmers’ capacity to produce more food in a sustainable way. It also identifies key policy areas for attention and makes recommendations to address policy gaps.

Information Provided by the Southern Africa Trust Website

Aquaculture has been recognized as an important component of rural development, aimed at improving food supply and generating more income for poor farming households. Ponds add value to farming activities: water from ponds can serve
domestic and livestock water supplies as well as irrigation for crops. Raising fish is an obvious use for a farm pond; it adds value to the water and provides improved nutrition for farm families. Smallholder farms ponds can be viable and sustainable
enterprises with appropriate targeted assistance. Planned and implemented interventions can facilitate assistance that makes farmers self-reliant rather than dependent on the public sector, NGOs and donors. The benefits can be:

• organised and better informed farmers

The aim of this report is to compile a synthesis of experiences that can provide insight into the multiple opportunities rainwater harvesting can have when addressing human well-being, while continuing to sustain a range of ecosystem services. This synthesis of linkages between ecosystem services, human well-being and rainwater harvesting interventions examines 29 cases from diverse economic and environmental settings.

Water supply of the right quality and quantity is essential for productive ecosystems and human well-being. The increasing demand on water resources for development whilst maintaining healthy ecosystems puts water resources under pressure.

Factors associated with attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women: A comparative analysis of 17 sub-Saharan countries.

Background: Violence against women, especially by intimate partners, is a serious public health problem that is associated with physical, reproductive and mental health consequences. Even though most societies proscribe violence against women, the reality is that violations against women's rights are often sanctioned under the garb of cultural practices and norms, or through misinterpretation of religious tenets.

Keystone's tools for Impact Planning, Assessment and Learning (IPAL) help social purpose organizations to plan, monitor, evaluate and communicate their work in a way that is deeply sensitive to the complexity of social systems and change processes. IPAL focuses on the contribution organizations make to achieving sustainable developmental outcomes in complex systems. It fosters accountable learning relationships among key constituents of change processes (funders, implementers and those most affected) in which each learns to contribute optimally to incremental and sustainable impact over time.

This paper focuses on the impact of climate change on water resources and the affect it has on human society. Millions of people are at risk from the impacts of climate change associated with the socio-political dimensions of global change and demographic changes.

A model to link the climate and social sciences is developed in a policy-oriented approach to make a holistic assessment of human vulnerability to climate and other drivers of social change. The Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) uses water as a focus as it is a key factor of human and ecological well-being. Though it is not a new concept, it has been developed to encompass variations within countries and it is not limited to specific communities.

When we were looking for a suitable yardstick to measure the level of sustainability of a country a suitable instrument could not be found. Although the main existing indexes were examined we had to conclude that none of them seem to fit our needs completely. The main shortcomings are a limited definition of sustainability, a lack of transparency or high complexity and an absence of regular updates. For this reason, a new index – the Sustainable Society Index (SSI) – has been developed. The SSI integrates the most important aspects of sustainability and quality of life of a national society in a simple and transparent way.

This Operational Guidance on the Engagement of Indigenous Peoples and Other Forest Dependent Communities is intended to inform the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the United Nations Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (UN REDD Programme) activities at the global and national level.

The Guidance provides background and context on the inclusion of Indigenous Peoples in UN programmes and activities, identifies the guiding principles in order to respect and support the rights of Indigenous Peoples and other forest dependent
communities, and outlines the operational guidelines for the design and implementation of UN REDD Programme activities at the global and national scale.

The publication warns that the UN negotiations aimed at tackling climate change are based on substantial underestimates of what it will cost to adapt to its impacts. The real costs of adaptation are likely to be 2-3 times greater than estimates made by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Professor Martin Parry, a former co-chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and his co-authors look at the estimates from a range of perspectives, and conclude that:

• the current cost assessments do not include some key sectors, such as ecosystems, energy, manufacturing, retailing, and tourism

• some of the sectors included have been only partially covered in cost estimates
  

This paper explores the potential for governments to create 'green jobs' in developing countries by funding public employment activities to preserve biodiversity, restore degraded land, combat erosion, and conserve water. The paper draws on the experiences of the Working for Water programme in South Africa and the National Rural Employment Guarantee in India.

By :Maikel R. Lieuw-Kie-Song Discussion Paper, April 2009

UNDP Poverty Resources UNDP Website
Wet-Africa.org Waterway Transformation Africa Wet-Africa Website

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website

"Desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) in addition to the loss of biodiversity in ecosystems, the disappearance of animals and plants from many habitats, the climate change resulting in melting glaciers, rising sea levels, and increase of extreme events have negative impact on the availability, quantity and quality of water resources resulting in changed conditions for humanity’s sustainable access to water. The challenges and threats of water scarcity to drylands populations are real and set to increase in magnitude and scope in the coming years, with severe and widespread consequences.

This Handbook sets forth standards for the integration of gender issues from the outset of a new complex emergency or disaster, so that humanitarian services provided neither exacerbate nor inadvertently put people at risk; reach their target audience; and have maximum positive impact.

Key Findings, Emerging Issues, and Future Directions from Evaluations of Four Projects in Kenya and Tanzania
by: Florence Nyangara, Tonya R. Thurman, Paul Hutchinson, Walter Obiero
MEASURE Evaluation, Futures Group International, Washington, June 2009

This report provides a summary of key findings from evaluations of four programs, two in Kenya and two in Tanzania, supporting orphans and other vulnerable children (OVC). The aim of these evaluations was to ascertain the extent to which program interventions are effective in improving the well-being of OVC and their families, and the interventions’ cost-effectiveness in achieving key outcomes. 50 pp. 701 kB

The International Water Management Institute IWMI Website has released a Water Policy Brief addressing "Flexible Water Storage Options and Adaptation to Climate Change." Key findings in this Water Policy Brief include: water storage should be one component of a multi-pronged approach to adapting agriculture to climate change; attention must be given to the full continuum of physical water storage from ground water; and appropriate water storage for agriculture can contribute to poverty alleviation and climate change adaptation. (c) IWMI August 2009:

Information Provided by Carol Lombard, Department of Social Development Population Website