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Search Results
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WebpageNo relevant topicsEnhancing Private Sector Engagement on Climate Change Adaptation - David Wei
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Research in ActionEconomics Social Policy EvaluationRevitalizing skills training and education for youth
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WebpageNo relevant topicsReport on annual expenses for travel, hospitality and conferences 2017-2018
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StoryHealthEbola expert says building up health systems is best defenceGlobal collaboration is the key to stop infectious diseases.
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PerspectivesNatural Resources Environment HealthEffective climate action: why biodiversity matters
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BooksDevelopment Information and Communication Governance EducationShadow Libraries: Access to Knowledge in Global Higher EducationPublication Date
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IDRC awardeesNo relevant topics
ICT innovation needs solid relationships
ICT innovation needs solid relationships
“It looks obvious,” says 2017 IDRC Research Award Recipient Victor Oteku, “but the importance of personal connections is very strong in establishing partnerships for technological innovation in Kenya.” Working in IDRC’s Regional Office for Sub-Saharan Africa, Oteku’s research sought to uncover socio-political and economic factors that shape partnerships for technological innovation in Kenya.
Oteku chose the information and communication technology sector for his study because of its high value to innovation and its contributions to growth in other sectors. The Kenyan government is also focusing on scientific and technological innovation in its long-term development plan, he says.
“Partnerships are mutual and synergetic collaborations geared toward a common goal,” says Oteku. The online survey he conducted showed that economic factors had the biggest influence on partnerships. Interviews and focus group discussions, however, “suggested that socio-cultural factors had a stronger influence.” Personal relationships, in particular, can determine success or failure. He concluded that all those involved need to work toward formal but open and flexible partnerships.
While a research awardee, Oteku also helped develop a proposal in support of the multi-funder Science Granting Councils Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa. These councils are central to funding and catalyzing research and innovation.
Personally, “I nurtured the values of tolerance, cooperation, and hard work just by observing my colleagues do their jobs,” says Oteku. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to have been here.”
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IDRC awardeesNo relevant topics
A first e-library in remote Nepali schools
A first e-library in remote Nepali schools
For 2017 IDRC Research Award Recipient Sujaya Neupane, carrying out fieldwork in Nepal was literally coming home. Neupane spent time in the remote western villages of Thapagaun and Jhimpa — his childhood home — to find ways of improving science education by using digital learning tools.
The quality of education is vastly different in Nepal’s rural and urban areas, he explains, leading to poor educational outcomes in rural schools. But with the advent of inexpensive technology and free multimedia resources, science teaching materials can be accessed at low cost, he says. His goal was to determine how sustainable digital libraries could be set up in rural schools.
“One can’t hope to educate young people today without computers,” says Neupane. “I used a Raspberry-pi computer board as a server with embedded open-source learning tools, including those provided by Khan Academy and Wikipedia. Tablets were used to access these materials wirelessly from the server,” he explains. The Raspberry Pi is a low-cost credit card-sized single board computer designed specifically to promote education.
A team of teachers-cum-researchers in two secondary schools worked with Neupane to establish a protocol for using the digital learning materials.
Establishing an e-library in Jhimpa has opened up sources of knowledge to students who never had access to a library before, says Neupane. He and the on-site research team are now exploring how to evaluate the impact on students’ learning when the project ends in mid-2018.
Of his IDRC experience, Neupane says “being able to go back and live in my village and conduct research in schools there jointly with the teachers was the most memorable,” says Neupane. “Through this experience I am determined to work to develop an education system in rural Nepal as a volunteer and independent researcher.”
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IDRC awardeesNo relevant topics
Southern leaders look to downstream benefits
Southern leaders look to downstream benefits
What makes a good leader? Are the desired qualities the same the world over and in every field? Those questions were at the heart of Emma Fieldhouse’s research as a 2017 IDRC Research Award Recipient. “There is a lack of clarity on how conceptions of leaders might differ across regions,” says Fieldhouse. “The perspective of Southern leaders is noticeably absent.”
Fieldhouse focused on four leadership development programs for young researchers in the Global South to learn about how they conceptualize leadership, how they integrate gender and equity considerations, and how they define and evaluate the successes of their programs. Program participants described what good leadership in their contexts meant to them, and the challenges they faced in getting there.
For programs and participants, becoming a leader wasn’t seen as an end in itself, but as a means of achieving downstream positive effects on institutions and communities. For example, Emma found that women taking part in one program faced great challenges in being accepted as leaders in their communities, “yet they were so determined to persevere and succeed so they could make life better for others.”
Fieldhouse learned that emerging leaders in the South overwhelmingly believe that interpersonal skills are the most essential leadership elements, even in the realm of research. That includes collaboration, building trust, empathy, and nurturing other leaders. “Knowing this is important in order to assess success, because if we get this wrong, we could be evaluating things that don’t really matter, or we could be further marginalizing perspectives and experiences that should matter,” she says.
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IDRC awardeesNo relevant topics
Refugee women face daunting healthcare needs
Refugee women face daunting healthcare needs
Ruth Nara’s work as a 2017 IDRC Research Award Recipient “reinforced my passion for improving the health of the most vulnerable populations, including displaced women and children,” she says. “I am more than encouraged to continue contributing to reducing the systemic inequalities that affect access to health.”
During field studies in Kampala and the Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Nara sought to understand the reproductive health needs of Congolese refugees in Uganda, including maternal health and delivery care, contraception, and abortion and post-abortion care.
She found that maternal healthcare was inadequate: human resources were insufficient, facilities were poor, and medications were not always available. Women faced long waits to get care, sometimes resorting to offering bribes for services. Many faced discrimination when accessing services, and language barriers compounded these problems.
Nara believes that her research findings will ultimately contribute to policies and programs to improve reproductive health rights and services for conflict-affected populations in Uganda. The fieldwork, she says, “reminded me that I was in the right place and I should continue to be in this space.”
Equally important, it brought home “that the women I spoke with in this study are people, just like you and me. They’re not just numbers, they’re not just subjects, but they’re living, breathing people who have their human potential and deserve support and respect of their human rights.”
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IDRC awardeesNo relevant topics
Climate change could be a boon for urban residents
Climate change could be a boon for urban residents
Trung NguyenResearch Awards2017Climate change is a crucial issue in Trung Huu Nguyen’s home country of Vietnam, particularly its coastal cities. But, says the 2017 IDRC Research Award Recipient, most of the research on climate change perceptions focuses on rural farmers and overlooks urban residents.
“Perceptions of climate change are important because they influence behaviours and response, and contribute to informed policy decisions,” says Nguyen. Working in the coastal cities of Hoi An and Nha Trang, he found that residents not only recognized impacts of climate change such as extreme heat and flooding, but had adapted in various ways, including diversifying their income-generation activities.
As Nguyen’s earlier experiences and education focused on rural communities and livelihoods, his fieldwork allowed him to gain better insight into the impacts of climate change on urban residents who depend on tourism. For them, it could mean a better and longer business season, he says.
To enable residents to adapt to future changes, he concluded that greater efforts should be made to inform them of predicted impacts and incorporate their concerns into urban and climate policies.
Working at IDRC was Nguyen’s “first professional experience abroad,” which allowed him to develop professional networks and hone his analytical skills, including in gender analysis. “It was an excellent opportunity to enhance my knowledge and skills for research on climate change impacts and adaptation strategies to reduce climate risk,” he says.
Nguyen also credits the research award with broadening his view of research for development. “Before IDRC, I worked mainly for development programs and projects insofar as they contributed to the goals of the projects, rather than global perspectives,” he says. At IDRC, he learned that programs can contribute to broader development goals.
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IDRC awardeesNo relevant topics
A warm welcome for refugees in Canada’s rural communities
A warm welcome for refugees in Canada’s rural communities
Stacey HaugenResearch Awards2017Working in IDRC’s Governance and Justice Program, 2017 Research Award Recipient Stacey Haugen determined that sponsors and Syrian refugees in rural Canada face the same challenges and reap the same benefits in all provinces.
“I hypothesized that this resettlement and integration could be mutually beneficial for both refugees and rural Canada,” she says. Immersing herself in communities in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, Haugen asked rural community sponsors, resettled refugees, immigration experts, and service providers about their experiences.
“This is the first study that has collected the experiences of refugees and sponsors across multiple provinces,” she says.
Of those experiences, she found that refugees enjoyed the warm welcome and social connections available in rural communities, the safety of small communities, and affordable living costs. Their hosts enjoyed the greater cultural diversity and the opportunity to contribute in a concrete way to solving an international crisis.
Limited services in these communities and lack of transportation to access the services were challenging. But, notes Haugen, some of the women were learning to drive as a result, “something they would never have been allowed to do in Syria.”
“Collecting the experiences of those involved is very important,” she says, “because it gives refugees and community members a voice and provides valuable feedback to the government and service providers.”
Haugen concludes that rural communities are underused for resettlement and “present an opportunity we can’t afford to ignore.”
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IDRC awardeesNo relevant topics
Relationships drive collaboration in South Asia
Relationships drive collaboration in South Asia
Natalia YangResearch Awards2017What motivates researchers and funders to collaborate with different partners? “Although collaborations in research have been around for a while, there’s still a lack of understanding about what drives researchers to collaborate,” says Natalia Yang, 2017 IDRC Research Award Recipient.
She set out to discover those motivations among think tanks in South Asia. This region “provides a unique context because most countries within the region share similar challenges,” she says.
Yang found that the drive to collaborate depended on the role partners played in the organization. For example, researchers focused on what they were able to offer and gain from the collaboration — enhanced skills and access to new knowledge, for example, and stronger networks.
Principal investigators, coordinators, and funders were more concerned with how the collaboration contributed to obtaining and sharing knowledge, such as building a regional or international dialogue. Funders also saw collaboration as a way to attract other funders to a cause they believed in.
Overall, she says, she learned that “behind any research there is a human element that needs to be recognized and supported. Understanding collaboration in research is also about revealing the relationships at work behind anything we do.”
Yang values the experience she gained in research, including learning that “it’s better not to overthink the steps I have to do as a researcher. Often, the best thing to do is to just act and have the flexibility to adjust and adapt to new circumstances and research issues that did not come to light before.”
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IDRC awardeesNo relevant topics
A deep dive into the ethics of vaccine trials
A deep dive into the ethics of vaccine trials
Machteld van den BergResearch Awards2017“By working within the Foundations for Innovation program and the Advisory Committee for Research Ethics, I had the unique opportunity to bridge the two areas,” says 2017 IDRC Research Award Recipient Matchteld van den Berg. Those two areas are also the focus of van den Berg’s graduate studies, exploring the ethics around vaccine access, informed consent, and individual autonomy.
In recent years there has been an accelerated push to develop a malaria vaccine, she says. But questions surface around justice and the vulnerability of the research participants and intended benefactors.
During fieldwork in Tanzania, she spoke with the caretakers of children who had been enrolled in a clinical vaccine trial to improve her understanding of their experiences. “Mothers may not have access to healthcare,” she says, “so consenting to a vaccine trial, regardless of the risks or conditions, may be the only feasible method to access medical care.” What’s more, the financial incentives to participate may be such that they override other considerations.
“Gaining insight into the realities participants inhabit is essential for conducting ethical research in a just and fair manner,” she concludes. “I think we sometimes forget the relatedness we have with one another and the importance of making those connections. Through this we can best learn from one another to design research studies that are respectful and effective, building trust and relationships along the way.”
For van den Berg, the research “refined my sense of the importance of global collaboration on key issues in development. This has impacted the direction I would like to take my research and, ultimately, the career path I follow,” she says.
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IDRC awardeesNo relevant topics
Entrepreneurship draws Southeast Asia’s youth
Entrepreneurship draws Southeast Asia’s youth
Jonathan De LucaResearch Awards2017“The top priority for youth in Myanmar and Vietnam isn’t a high salary,” says Jonathan de Luca, 2017 IDRC Research Award Recipient. “It’s adequate health, being able to spend time with family, and to develop and use skills.”
This finding suggests that policymakers and business leaders don’t understand the needs of young
women and men, he says. “Interviews with policymakers and business leaders show that they believe that providing better paying work is sufficient.”
De Luca’s research focused on youth livelihoods in medium-sized cities of the Greater Mekong sub-region. “Dawei in Myanmar and Quy Nhon in Vietnam are experiencing rapid economic development as a result of export-oriented industrialization and manufacturing,” he says. Despite the steady jobs this industrialization creates, he found that young people are much more interested in self-employment because of the freedom and autonomy it affords them.
De Luca confesses that “I really had no idea how everything would come together until a month into the analysis phase where I took a step back and thought “Ah-hah! This actually is telling a really interesting story!”
“I can’t forget that my research exists only because there were young people in Vietnam and Myanmar who wanted to talk to me about the issues that affect them and tell me about their aspirations and hopes for life and work in the future,” he says. “I not only owe it to them for helping me to complete my research, but I also owe it to them to have my work contribute to some change in this world.”
“So even though my year at IDRC is over, I’m going to take this research with me and try and help it to influence something in some way.”
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IDRC awardeesNo relevant topics
Peru needs a holistic nutrition strategy
Peru needs a holistic nutrition strategy
Is it possible to tackle obesity and undernourishment simultaneously? That’s the question 2017 Research Award Recipient Carly Hayes set out to answer. Peru, she says, “suffers from a double burden of malnutrition: over 59% of the adult population are overweight or obese, while many children in rural areas are stunted or suffer from anemia.”
Peru has carried out a concerted program to reduce stunting in children under five, says Hayes, but efforts to address obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases such as diabetes have been piecemeal and lack overall policy coherence. A debate is underway as to whether the policies that solved one problem could be retrofitted to address another.
Hayes concluded that retooling existing nutrition policies is a viable option, but “these policies shouldn’t take the place of a more holistic nutrition strategy that seeks to create a healthier food environment.”
Hayes’ says the research and fieldwork in Lima, the Department of Cusco, and the town of Ollantaytambo in the high Andes “gave me the chance both to deepen my knowledge of non-communicable disease prevention and to strengthen my skills in logistics and planning, monitoring and evaluation, and communications.”
“I feel that I grew a lot as a researcher, as a professional, and on a personal level throughout my year as a research awardee.”
However, Hayes considers that one of the most valuable opportunities “was the chance to interact with a cohort of awardees who bring a wide variety of experience, knowledge, and skills to the program. Learning from this remarkable group has allowed me to expand my knowledge of 10 international development issues, instead of just one!”
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Research in ActionEconomics Environment GenderClimate change, mobility, and women’s economic empowerment in Pakistan
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Research in ActionHealth GovernanceHealing and resilience in situations of conflict and displacement
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StoryGovernance Social Policy GenderkNOw Fear: Making rural public spaces safer for women and girlsSexual violence against women and girls in rural India remains a largely unaddressed, hidden issue.
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