In this report, the High-Level Expert Committee argues in favour of innovative financing for agriculture, food security and nutrition to achieve food security and nutrition objectives. Although they are progressing, budgets for food security, including agriculture and nutrition components, in low income countries are severely constrained. Proposed mechanisms for funding include: national taxes, such as a tax on financial transactions; voluntary contributions from consumers, firms and employees and food- and nutrition-correlated industries; allocation of funds generated by the carbon emissions allowances auctions in the European Union Emissions Trading System; and migrants’ remittances, which already represent considerable financial flows from industrialised to developing countries. To maximise their contribution to food security objectives, these innovative financing mechanisms should, as much as possible, be targeted at food production and supply, as well as family farming with the specific intention to make agriculture work for nutrition.
Poverty and health
In countries where the majority of undernourished people are smallholder farmers, there has been interest in agricultural interventions to improve nutritional outcomes. Addressing gender inequality, however, is a key mechanism by which agriculture can improve nutrition, since women often play a crucial role in farming, food processing and child care, but have limited decision-making and control over agricultural resources. This study examines the approaches by which gender equity in agrarian, resource-poor settings can be improved using a case study in Malawi. A quasi-experimental design with qualitative methods was used to examine the effects of a participatory intervention on gender relations. Thirty married couple households in 19 villages with children under the age of 5 years were interviewed before and then after the intervention. An additional 7 interviews were conducted with key informants, and participant observation was carried out before, during the intervention and afterwards in the communities. The interviews were recorded and transcribed, and analysed qualitatively for key themes, concepts and contradictions. Several barriers were identified that undermine the quality of child care practices, many linked to gender constructions and norms. The dominant concepts of masculinity created shame and embarrassment if men deviated from these norms, by cooking or caring for their children. The study provided evidence that participatory education supported new masculinities through public performances that encouraged men to take on these new roles. Invoking men’s family responsibilities, encouraging new social norms alongside providing new information about different healthy recipes were all pathways by which men developed new ‘emergent’ masculinities in which they were more involved in cooking and child care. The transformational approach, intergenerational and intra-gendered events, a focus on agriculture and food security, alongside involving male leaders were some of the reasons that respondents named for changed gender norms. Participatory education that explicitly addresses hegemonic masculinities related to child nutrition, such as women’s roles in child care, can begin to change dominant gender norms. Involving male leaders, participatory methods and integrating agriculture and food security concerns with nutrition appear to be key components in the context of agrarian communities.
This paper argues that poverty and social analysis should inform the monitoring and evaluation frameworks of policies and programmes in order to demonstrate the distributional impact of initiatives. Indicators need to be identified and progress should be monitored in a disaggregated way – that is, not just how much more trade, income or employment was generated as a result of an initiative, but also for whom the initiative generated trade, income or employment. Policymakers should design policies or programmes in a way that caters to differentiated needs. For example, they should ensure that trade-related infrastructure (e.g. roads, telecommunications and electrification) reaches and benefits typically poorer trading groups, such as female traders, informal traders and those in remote rural areas. They should also support complementary policies that help tackle identified binding constraints to trade and which enhance people’s abilities to engage with and benefit from trade (e.g. access to land, access to credit and financial services, access to business education and marketing support). They should support mitigating measures that manage the adverse impacts that may stem from trade policy changes and consider activities that cushion or manage these impacts, such as vocational training to enable laid-off workers to diversify their income streams and shift into sectors with export potential.
Increasing urbanization will be one of the defining features of the 21st century. This produces particular environmental challenges, but also creates opportunities for urban development that can contribute to broader goals of improving the quality of life for urban residents while achieving greater levels of global sustainability. Focusing on the City Development Strategy (CDS), the report draws on two main sets to determine the effectiveness of using the CDS to integrate environmental issues into city planning processes. Firstly, it draws on an analysis of documentation from 15 cities in Africa, Asia and Latin America that have engaged in the process of developing a City Development Strategy under the auspices of Cities Alliance. Secondly, it incorporates insights from in-depth Learning and Leadership Groups conducted with three additional cities (Metro Manila [Philippines] [specifically Makati City and Quezon City], Kampala [Uganda] and Accra [Ghana]) that have engaged in this process. The report does not present the results of these workshops directly, but rather uses the insights from these to contribute to a broader understanding of the potential for the incorporation of environmental concerns in urban planning and management, the barriers to this, and the opportunities to overcome these. This report is intended primarily to encourage and support urban decision-makers to integrate environmental concerns more centrally in their planning and management activities.
At the International Conference on Leveraging Agriculture for Improving Nutrition and Health, held from 10 to 12 February 2011 in India, participants reached consensus that the way forward for improving agriculture, nutrition and health was to think and act multi-sectorally and inter-sectorally, and break down the silos among the three disciplines. Symptoms of the breakdown surfaced in 2007/2008, during the global food price crisis, said David Nabarro, the UN Special Representative on Food Security and Nutrition, when increased prices contributed to a rise in poverty and hunger around the world. Women's health was a central feature in most of the conference debates. Various speakers pointed out that a woman's well-being shaped the future of her children, especially her daughters, the mothers of the next generation. The future prosperity of a country often also rested on the shoulders of women, as agriculture not only created economic growth, they argued, but children who ate well often went on to earn better incomes. Experts said it was time to re-establish the links between agriculture, nutrition and health, and perhaps educate each sector about the objectives of the others.
When parents migrate, leaving their children in the origin country, transnational families are formed. Transnational family studies on children who are “left behind” indicate that children suffer psychologically from parental migration. Many of the factors identified as affecting children's responses to parental migration however are not considered in child psychology and family sociology studies. This study aimed to bridge these areas of knowledge by quantitatively investigating the association between transnational families and children's psychological well-being. It analyzed a survey conducted in three African countries in 2010–11 (Ghana N = 2760; Angola N = 2243; Nigeria N = 2168) amongst pupils of secondary schools. The study compared children in transnational families to those living with their parents in their country of origin. Children's psychological well-being was measured through the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Multiple regression analyses reveal that children in transnational families fare worse than their counterparts living with both parents but not in Ghana where living conditions mediate this relationship. Specific characteristics of transnational families and country contexts mattered: (1) changing caregivers is associated with poorer well-being in all countries; (2) which parent migrates does not make a difference in Ghana, when mothers migrate and fathers are caregivers results in poorer well-being in Nigeria, and both mother's and father's migration result in worse outcomes in Angola; (3) the kin relationship of the caregiver is not associated with poorer well-being in Ghana and Nigeria but is in Angola; (4) children with parents who migrate internationally do not show different results than children whose parents migrate nationally in Ghana and Nigeria but in Angola international parental migration is associated with poorer psychological well-being. The study showed that broader characteristics in the population rather than parental migration per se are associated with decreased levels of well-being.
Architects and urban designers have a responsibility towards the evolution of the infrastructural landscape and identity. By changing the community skyline, they impact on the community’s sense of belonging. The authors propose that globalisation is the creative hand behind an undesirable uniformity in cities around the world and questions whether it is deconstructing the unique identity of African cities and a denial of Africa roots. This is argued to be important for the social context, including equitable access to services and resources by the residents and the impact on their health and well-being since social welfare is strongly entwined with physical well-being. The authors argue for a more thoughtful urban planning as the continuation of the present, haphazard construction puts future generations at risk of inheriting a place that is not only lacking in design but also an embodied cultural identity necessary for social wellbeing.
Long, dry spells in parts of Africa have cast an uncertain cloud over crop yields for 2010 in some African countries. Food prices are lower than 2008 levels, but higher than in 2007. Abdolreza Abbassian, economist and secretary of the Intergovernmental Group on Grains at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) observed that it would take ‘two consecutive bad years’ for the 2008 food crisis to be repeated. Global cereal stocks were reported to be at comfortable levels, although reduction in producer subsidies in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries has meant smaller surpluses in these regions, affecting overall available supplies.
Within a rights-based paradigm, wheelchairs are essential in the promotion of user autonomy, dignity, freedom, inclusion and participation. This paper described a group of 94 Zimbabwean wheelchair users’ satisfaction with wheelchairs, wheelchair services and wheelchair function in a mixed method, descriptive study using the Quebec User Evaluation of Satisfaction with Assistive Technology for adults and children and Functioning Every day with a Wheelchair questionnaire. Qualitative data were collected through two focus group discussions (22 participants) and two case studies with participants purposively sampled from those who participated in the quantitative phase. More than 60% of participants were dissatisfied with the following wheelchair features: durability (79%), weight (76%), ease of adjustment (69%), effectiveness (69%), safety (67%), reliability (67%), and meeting user needs (61%). Similarly, more than 66% of participants were dissatisfied with various services aspects: professional services (69%), follow-up (67%), and service delivery (68%). Although 60% of participants agreed that the wheelchair contributed to specific functions, more than 50% of participants indicated that the features of the wheelchair did not allow in- (53%) and outdoor (53%) mobility. Findings indicate high levels of dissatisfaction with wheelchair features and services, as well as mobility. It is recommended that minimum service standards are set incorporating evidence and good practice guidelines for wheelchair services and management of wheelchair donations in Zimbabwe.
Malaria is commonly considered a disease of the poor, but there is very little evidence of a possible two-way causality in the association between malaria and poverty. This study aimed to address this gap. In the study, results show that households with a child who tested positive for malaria at the time of the survey had a wealth index that was, on average, 1.9 units lower. If malaria is indeed a cause of poverty, as the findings of this study suggest, then malaria control activities, and particularly the current efforts to eliminate/eradicate malaria, are much more than just a public health policy, but also a poverty alleviation strategy, the authors argue.