Suchergebnisse

AbstractThis paper examines issues in the delivery of veterinary services to the poor in Kenya. Utilising a simplified livelihood approach, the study found that livestock most often functioned as a means of gaining social approbation rather than a risk mitigation strategy. In regard to the delivery of veterinary services, three key parameters were evaluated: access, acceptability and affordability. The assessment revealed that access to veterinary services rather than affordability is the primary constraint. However, few herders and farmers were spending close to the estimated 'ideal' on livestock drugs. Knowledge regarding livestock health was poor, further contributing to the overall low uptake of veterinary goods and services. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

AbstractThe authors illustrate how notions of poverty are constructed around specific 'memes', or replicating units of cultural information, around which concepts and ideas develop and change. Three 'memes' characterising definitions of poverty over the previous years were identified: 'basic needs', 'multidimensional' and 'deprivation'. The analysis illustrated the semantic space in which each term was utilised and to the extent it changed and modified over time by different actors. The results revealed how 'memes' compete with one another across the discourse. Within this competition, older concepts are almost never fully abandoned, but rather repackaged and reutilised. Thus, new definitions of poverty are less innovative than portrayed in the wider literature. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Poverty is often presented as an evolving concept linked to dominant development paradigms. However, changes in the meaning of specific topics comprising definitions of poverty have been largely overlooked. Therefore, the authors adopted a synchronic approach to evaluate changes contained within 159 definitions of poverty offered over a 30-year period from 1970s to 2000s. Component terms were investigated for their stability in meaning, through the application of De Saussure's concepts of signifier and signified. The results illustrate that terms often did not share the same signifier and, therefore, were accorded different meanings. In this manner, the authors argue that poverty is a highly contested concept

AbstractInformation Communication Technologies (ICTs) have the ability to rapidly connect the poor to both wider communities and larger knowledge sets. However, while the use of ICTs in development has increased dramatically in recent years, there is a dearth of evidence regarding the impact and uptake of programmes. Therefore, the following article describes the development of El Promotor, a multi‐media, interactive programme for poor farmers on the Bolivian Altiplano. The study further examined the relationship between new and existing knowledge regarding animal health and production among 85 farmers in 13 communities, who utilised the programme. The authors found that the uptake of new knowledge was highly dependent upon the specific topic involved i.e. disease causation, symptoms, treatment and prevention. Not surprisingly, the level of challenge to existing beliefs also impacted learning levels. Nonetheless, by utilising visual referents, which supported customary knowledge, improvements in farmer understanding of disease causation, diagnosis, treatment were noted after use of the programme. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The article describes the development of El Promotor, a multi-media, interactive programme for poor farmers on the Bolivian Altiplano. The study further examined the relationship between new and existing knowledge regarding animal health and production among 85 farmers in 13 communities, who utilised the programme. The authors found that the uptake of new knowledge was highly dependent upon the specific topic involved i.e. disease causation, symptoms, treatment and prevention. Not surprisingly, the level of challenge to existing beliefs also impacted learning levels. (InWent/GIGA)

AbstractThe paper examines perceptions of poverty among poor livestock keepers in Kenya. The study utilized discourse analysis techniques to evaluate community values towards the poor. The results demonstrated that most study participants viewed poverty as a process rather than a permanent state. The findings also highlighted the differences between the rich and the poor in terms of capabilities. When the results were compared with a wealth ranking exercise, two types of bias were noted. First, wealth‐ranking exercises may not be targeting those who are the most needy. Second, projects and programmes may be viewed as assisting those who are responsible for their own poverty. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The dairy sector is a significant source of anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The increasingly robust emission inventories allow researchers to consider mitigation. However, there is a gap in knowledge regarding the extent to which mitigation research has been implemented as policy. The authors undertook a systematic a review of national-level dairy policy of 23 countries broadly following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocols. The aim of the study was to identify international trends in dairy sector GHG emission reduction policy. Sampled countries included the 12 countries with the highest quantity of dairy sector enteric methane emission and 11 Annex I countries with the largest number of dairy cattle per capita. A total of 34 documents were collated containing 62 policies across five themes. Themes included: nutrition, manure, health, breeding and management. Thirty-one policies were identified for both the high emission nations and Annex I nations with the largest number of dairy cattle per capita. Nutrition based interventions account for 36% (n=11) of all policies identified for high emitting nations. Manure based interventions account for 48% (n=15) of all policies identified for Annex I nations with the largest number of dairy cattle per capita. Across the sample, policymakers favoured manure management strategies (n=24), particularly anaerobic digestion which accounted for 21% (n=13) of all identified policies. Nutrition based mitigation strategies were also preferred (n=17). Policies aimed at reducing sector size were largely ignored (n=4). The results indicate that significant mitigation is unlikely as manure emissions are only a small portion of total dairy sector emissions. The study concludes that policymakers are selecting the less politically sensitive mitigation strategies at the cost of emission reduction.

AbstractWithin the literature, many authors have argued that the rapid growth of the field of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) has resulted in an emphasis on the applications rather than on theory. However, it is clear that it is not theories, rather the integration of theory and practice, that is often lacking. To address this gap, the authors begin by exploring some of the popular theoretical approaches to ICT4D with a view to identifying those theories relevant to shared impacts: development, delivery and communication. To unify practice and theory, we offer a framework to directly assess the impact of ICT4D on development. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.