bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tackling poverty in Nairobi's informal settlements: developing an institutional strategy
Authors: Alder Graham
Published: August 2005

This paper describes the institutional framework that is needed to greatly increase the scale and effectiveness of government and aid agency initiatives to reduce poverty in Nairobi. The introduction outlines the scale of informal settlements within Nairobi (which now house more than half the city's population) and section II describes the economic and political conditions which allowed these settlements to grow but also to receive so little attention from governments and international agencies. Section III describes the development of an institutional strategy through which the agencies of government and international donors can work together and with the inhabitants of the informal settlements to address urban poverty, including improving housing conditions and basic service provision. Section IV summarizes the findings of the inventory of informal settlements on which this paper's recommendations are based and how it was undertaken.
Street hydrant project in Chittagong low-income settlement
Authors: Hasna Mahbuba Kaneez
Published: August 2005

This paper discusses the activities of a small group of professionals wishing to explore issues around community involvement in water and sanitation provision in Chittagong. The paper describes the use of participatory tools and methods to increase community participation in the action research project.
Participative budgeting in Belo Horizonte: democratization and citizenship
Authors: Bretas Paulo Roberto Paix”o
Published: August 2005

This paper describes how a government elected to power in Belo Horizonte in 1993 introduced a participative budget. This not only meant a much greater involvement by citizens and community organizations in determining priorities but also a more transparent and accountable form of government. The paper describes also how this innovation changed the priorities in public spending.
Modular cities: beyond the rural-urban divide
Authors: Friedmann John
Published: August 2005

This paper describes how town-centred, self-governing ‘agropolitan’ districts could be developed in high density rural or peri-urban areas to raise living standards and increase employment opportunities there. They should also preserve the integrity of households and village communities and thus reduce the scale of migration to cities and the social costs that most such migrants face in cities.
Comparative Research Programme on Poverty
Authors:   International Social Science Council/Conseil International des Sciences Sociales
Published: August 2005

This profile of CROPwas written by Else ÿyen from the University of Bergen, Norway. She is also in charge of the CROP Programme and Vice-President of the International Social Science Council. For more information on CROP, write to CROPSecretariat, Fosswinckelsgt. 7, N-5007 Bergen, Norway; tel: (47) 55589739, fax: (47)-55589745 or visit the CROPpage on the World Wide Web at http://www.uib.no./svf/helsos/crop/welcome.html
From violence to justice and security in cities
Authors: Vanderschueren Franz
Published: August 2005

This paper describes the growth in crime, especially violent crime, in cities around the world. It also describes the underlying causes or contributory factors to this growth and the responses of citizens and governments -most of which are largely ineffective. The final section describes new approaches which centre on more effective partnerships between communities, municipal authorities, the police and the judicial system, and on special programmes for young people who are unemployed and excluded from many aspects of society.
Intra-urban health differentials in London - urban health indicators and policy implications
Authors: Landon Megan
Published: August 2005

The paper describes health differentials between small areas within three boroughs (local government areas) in London - including the incidence of TB, asthma and respiratory diseases - and their associations with deprivation, unemployment and poor housing conditions. It also discusses the value of measuring such intra-urban health differentials for policy- making and illustrates how addressing social inequalities and economic disadvantages may be among the most effective interventions to improve health.
Community based collaboration for environmental justice: south-east Halifax environmental reawakening
Authors: Wing Steve , Grant Gary , Green Merle , Stewart Chris
Published: August 2005

The paper describes environmental racism and its underlying causes and then presents a case study of environmental racism in the United States where a toxic dump and large hog production factories are systematically sited in poorer areas. These are also areas with an above average proportion of African Americans and American Indians. The paper also describes a programme of environmental awakening in one area to fight environmental racism and to support isolated, rural and semi-rural communities in their efforts to recover environmental values. This programme includes community workshops; environmental health consultations; a quantitative analysis of environmental justice; seminars to raise awareness of environmental health; and festivals and other means of promoting greater awareness of the main environmental issues.
The struggle for income (and shelter): a photoessay of a Mexican migrant family
Authors: Jarman Janet
Published: August 2005

This photo-essay illustrates the way in which a low-income household's struggle for shelter is conditioned by their search for an adequate income. It centres on the life of one Mexican family from Matamoros. First, it describes and illustrates the life of the mother and her eight children in August 1996, when the husband and the eldest son are in the United States working as migrant farm labourers. The mother and three of the children sort garbage at the city's municipal dump and the family lives in a home they have constructed nearby. The paper then describes how the mother and the children travelled to Florida to work with her husband and eldest son, where all but the youngest could work picking strawberries, and describes and illustrates their life there.
Urban equity and urban health: using existing data to understand inequalities in health and environment in Accra, Ghana and São Paulo, Brazil
Authors: Stephens Carolyn , Akerman Marco , Avle Sebastian , Maia Paulo Borlina , Campanario Paulo , Doe Ben , Tetteh Doris
Published: August 2005

This paper describes the methods used to study inequalities in health status and environmental conditions between different groups in the cities of São Paulo and Accra. The studies used existing data, drawn from different sources, and involved staff from different government agencies (from city authorities and higher levels), academics and NGOs in determining how best to use it. The paper also provides a summary of the main findings, including a discussion not only of inequalities in health between the best quality and worst quality zones in each city but also on how health risks differ by age group. The paper begins by considering why information on such inequalities is so important for policy makers and why so little data on this are available in most cities in the South.
The nature of rental housing in Kenya
Authors: Mwangi Isaac Karanja
Published: August 2005

Both the urban population and the number of towns in Kenya have increased enormously over the last 35 years. (However, housing production has remained far below the targets in the five-year national development plans and even further below actual demand for housing. Most of the urban population, especially low-income households, cannot afford to buy or build their own homes and, as a result, most of the housing in towns is rental housing. The rental housing sector is a complex one involving many actors. Tenants' rights are poorly respected, especially in the informal settlements that provide most of the accommodation to low-income renters. Housing and environmental standards in these settlements are extremely low. Through three case studies, this paper explores some of the issues involved and puts forward proposals for a new policy on rental housing.
El Salvador: a case of urban renovation and rehabilitation of mesones
Authors: de López Elizabeth Murcia , Castillo Luis
Published: August 2005

This paper examines the rehabilitation of mesones in San Salvador following the 1986 earthquake, these buildings being particularly vulnerable to earthquake damage as a result of lack of maintenance. Mesones are old colonial style houses, originally built for rich households, which now provide one room per family rental accommodation for those with low incomes. In 1986, GTZ were looking to initiate a housing programme in collaboration with the government of El Salvador and, following the earthquake, the government responded positively with a proposal for an urban renewal programme. This paper describes how development institutions work with local agencies to address the need for housing improvements and how, in the absence of any interest on the part of previous owners, a shift has occurred away from rental accommodation towards home ownership. Section I describes the mesones , the socio-cultural conditions of the residents and the characteristics of the physical infrastructure. Section II considers the earthquake's impact on this type of low-cost housing. Section III discusses the conceptual and methodological frameworks of the Programme for Integrated Urban Renewal (PIUR). Section IV looks at its implementation in a specific neighbourhood. Finally, Section V evaluates the achievements and limitations of the project with Section VI containing the conclusions. It is important to point out that the rehabilitation of the mesones took place within a wider programme and that this paper restricts its focus by concentrating on this specific component.
Growing up in cities: a report on research under way
Authors: Chawla Louise
Published: August 2005

This paper describes the research under way in many cities to help understand how well urban communities function for adolescents from low-income families and how best to work with them in planning and implementing improvements.
Taking advantage of rural assets as a coping strategy for the urban poor: the case of ruralurban interrelations in Botswana
Authors: Krüger Fred
Published: August 2005

This paper describes the importance of rural-urban links for many of the inhabitants of Botswana's cities. This is described in more detail for Old Naledi, a low-cost, self help settlement in Botswana's capital, Gaborone. A third of all households there own cattle, half retain land in the village from which they come and the proportion of households with such rural assets does not decline with people's length of stay in the city. These rural assets are valued both in monetary and social terms and serve as a valuable safety net for households with low incomes and uncertain livelihood prospects within the city.
Street children in Egypt: from the home to the street to inappropriate corrective institutions
Authors: Bibars Iman
Published: August 2005

This paper draws on interviews with children on the street, in corrective institutions and in low-income households to describe the pressures that eject them from homes, and the abuse and exploitation they have suffered at the hands of the police, the corrective institutions and, often, their own families. It also describes the inappropriate laws and public attitudes that underlie such problems.
A shelter of their own: informal settlement expansion in Greater Cairo and government responses
Authors: El-Batran Manal , Arandel Christian
Published: August 2005

This paper describes why there has been a rapid growth of informal settlements in Cairo when there was an oversupply of formal housing, and why most new informal settlements develop on scarce agricultural land while large stretches of desert nearby remain mostly undeveloped. The paper also reviews the changes in the Egyptian government's housing and land policies over the last 40 years, including attempts to upgrade informal settlement and to combine upgrading with the development of settlements for middle-income households.
Households, gender and rural-urban migration: reflections on linkages and considerations for policy
Authors: Chant Sylvia
Published: August 2005

This paper highlights the interrelatedness of gender and household organization in a central aspect of developmental change: rural-urban migration. It demonstrates the significance of intra-household dynamics for understanding the gender selectivity of population movement and shows in turn how this contributes to household diversity among low-income groups in both rural and urban areas. It also shows that although most women have little choice in determining decisions over their own or others' migration (or household arrangements), the “feminization” of household headship which so often results from demographic mobility is not necessarily negative for women. The paper concludes that governments and agencies could do more for gender equality by acknowledging the potentially transformative role of interventions aimed not only at, but inside, households, and by adopting more flexible positions towards household diversity.
Health and peri-urban natural resource production
Authors: Birley Martin H. , Lock Karen
Published: August 2005

There is a growing interest in expanding crop, livestock and other forms of natural resource production in periurban areas. In part this is to capitalize on the availability of urban wastes for recycling and to improve the management of such wastes but also because of the economic potential of such production for increasing livelihoods and for better meeting urban demands. This paper examines the health problems facing the enterprises and inhabitants of peri-urban areas, including the risks posed by malaria, heavy metals, the re-use of solid and liquid wastes, agro-chemicals, biomass fuels and food contamination. It also emphasizes how both research and assessment procedures are required to ensure that natural resource production in peri-urban areas also safeguards human health.
Sustainability is not enough
Authors: Marcuse Peter
Published: August 2005

This paper critically reviews the concept of sustainability, especially as it has come to be applied outside of environmental goals. It suggests “sustainability” should not be considered as a goal for a housing or urban programme – many bad programmes are sustainable – but as a constraint whose absence may limit the usefulness of a good programme. It also discusses how the promotion of “sustainability” may simply encourage the sustaining of the unjust status quo and how the attempt to suggest that everyone has common interests in “sustainable urban development” masks very real conflicts of interest.
Human interference and environmental instability: addressing the environmental consequences of rapid urban growth in Bamenda, Cameroon
Authors: AchoChi
Published: August 2005

This paper describes the impacts of unplanned urban expansion and land surface change in the city of Bamenda in Cameroon, the underlying causes and the ecological and social implications. This expansion has placed great stress on forest, land and water ecosystems. Much of the city's rapid growth in population has been accommodated in informal settlements on steep slopes and flood plains, with little attempt being made to limit the risk of landslides, rapid erosion and flash floods. The paper ends with recommendations for protecting the remaining forest, for managing water resources and drainage systems and for ensuring that housing and other urban needs are met without jeopardizing the supporting ecosystems.
The management of urban services in the city of Buenos Aires
Authors: Pírez Pedro
Published: August 2005

This paper reviews the changes in the management of urban services in Buenos Aires over the last 100 years and discusses their implications for the quality of service provision in recent decades and for the future. It identifies three distinct stages. The first, decentralized private management, was evident in the late nineteenth century when provision for infrastructure and services was of a quality comparable to cities in Europe at that time. But, over time, municipal regulation and control of private enterprises became instruments in the partisan struggle for power. A crisis in service provision and an increasingly interventionist government led to the second stage, centralized public sector management, but this created a growing gap between local users and federally controlled utilities. When this coincided with economic decline, it led to poorer quality services and increasing numbers of unserved inhabitants. The third stage, introduced in 1989, was the centralized private management model but this failed to address a weakness of the earlier models, namely the lack of political influence and representation for users. In addition, the companies responsible for service provision assumed no responsibility for those people who were unable to afford the prices they charged.
The Payatas Environmental Development Programme: microenterprise promotion and involvement in solid waste management in Quezon City
Authors:   Vincentian Missionaries
Published: August 2005

This paper describes the development of a federation of scavengers who live close to a major solid waste dump in Quezon City, and the role of the Vincentian Missionaries Foundation and other NGOs that have supported it. A long-term environmental development programme has been initiated which builds on the existing activities of scavenger households and which is also integrated with housing, health and other social initiatives. A successful savings and credit programme has been started that funds micro-enterprises and social needs, including a housing programme. The Federation has also increased the scavengers' capacity to negotiate with local authorities and other government agencies. The paper ends by reflecting on the lessons learnt and their relevance for other communities.
Sanitation is the key to healthy cities - a profile of Sulabh International
Authors: Pathak Bindeshwar
Published: August 2005

Sulabh International is an Indian NGO which developed a cheap and effective sanitary toilet - a two-pit, pourflush, water-seal system - that does not need sewers or expensive treatment plants. Sulabh toilets are now used by more than a million households in India and in over 3,000 community toilets. This profile of Sulabh International by its founder describes how this sanitation programme first began and how it has spread and diversified. The profile also describes Sulabh’s other work, including training and education for “ scavengers” who previously emptied latrines, the model village and rural sanitation programmes, research and the integrated health care model.
Rural-urban dichotomy and convergence: emerging realities in Bangladesh
Authors: Afsar Rita
Published: August 2005

This paper describes the main causes and consequences of rural-urban migration in Bangladesh and explores their implications for poverty alleviation and spatial distribution policies. Amongst the main factors affecting people’s mobility are the impact of structural adjustment and privatization on the country’s economy and the related changes in the structure of employment. The manufacturing and service sectors have rapidly expanded in rural areas, and in urban areas there is substantial relocation within the tertiary sector and significant change in the gender composition of the manufacturing sector. Migration has become more complex, diversified and multi-dimensional in nature. Gaps between rural and urban areas with respect to service provision are also narrowing, as both rural and urban poor households face insufficient access to them. While recognizing the importance of migration and other processes in rural-urban interactions, policy makers and planners must address the issues of urban management, resource transfer from rich to poor, diversification of employment opportunities for the poor, and strong measures for the provision of social services for the poor in both rural and urban areas.
Is environmental health really a part of economic development - or only an afterthought?
Authors: Listorti James A.
Published: August 2005

This paper highlights the lack of consideration given to health and the absence of health professionals in decisionmaking processes in most development projects. This is illustrated by an analysis of World Bank infrastructure projects. Yet, as the paper explains, improved infrastructure may be able to relieve up to 44 per cent of the disease burden in low and middle- income countries and do so at a fraction of the cost of investments in health care. Thus, it might be possible to extract as many (or more) health improvements for a lower cost through investments outside the health sector. The paper also gives examples of the economic benefits that arise from the inclusion of health factors in policy and these can help justify investments that could otherwise be considered too costly.
Cities, sewers and poverty: India's politics of sanitation
Authors: Chaplin Susan E.
Published: August 2005

This paper discusses the political circumstances which help explain why the insanitary living conditions of such a large section of India’s urban population have been ignored, and contrasts these with the circumstances which explain successful sanitary reform in Britain in the second half of the 19th century. In India, there is little middle class pressure for sanitary reform, in part because of the ability of the middle classes to monopolize what basic urban services the state provides, in part because modern medicine and civil engineering have lowered the health risks that they might face from the sanitation-related diseases that lower income groups suffer. In addition, the ‘threat from below’ including organized trade union pressure was more influential in mid 19th century Britain than in India today. The paper ends by reflecting on what factors might change this.
Engineers and urban malaria: part of the solution, or part of the problem?
Authors: Kolsky Pete
Published: August 2005

This paper describes the very serious health and other problems caused by different kinds of mosquito in urban areas of India, and how addressing diseases such as malaria, yellow fever and dengue fever requires controlling their breeding sites. It then describes how engineers rarely consider their role in mosquito control and how a series of workshops for engineers made clear this role especially in the management of construction sites which often serve as major breeding areas.
A dream of green and water: community based formulation of a Local Agenda 21 in peri-urban Lima
Authors: Hordijk Michaela
Published: August 2005

This paper describes how an integrated environmental plan was developed by the inhabitants of informal settlements on the edge of Lima, Peru – and how this formed the basis both for local action and for negotiating support from external agencies. It discusses the measures taken to ensure real community participation and to avoid the imposition of professionally-driven “solutions”. It describes the different internal and external groups that were involved and considers the limitations of most international donor funding for such Local Agenda 21s because such funding is too “project cycle” oriented and too concerned with “outputs” that have to be identified at the outset to be able to support such participatory processes.
Negotiating for land: the construction and demolition of Ruo Emoh's show house in Cape Town in August 1999
Authors:   People's Dialogue on Land and Shelter
Published: August 2005

This paper tells the story of how a small savings group formed by low-income women in Cape Town invaded a land site and built a house over the period of a weekend to demonstrate that they could build their own homes better and more cheaply than any government programme. It tells of their long negotiation for land on which to build, the various promises from government agencies that were broken and, finally, of the weekend invasion and construction. It also tells the story of the confrontation, first with the police and then with the local government, and how then the house had to be dismantled.
Producing, providing, trading: manufacturing industry and sustainable cities
Authors: Robins Nick , Kumar Ritu
Published: August 2005

This paper describes the innovations required from companies, local authorities and national governments to make manufacturing industry contribute to sustainable development in cities. It argues that the urban dimension has often been overlooked in discussions on industry and sustainable development, with most attention focusing on the roles of the individual firm and/or national policy in achieving change. The paper then presents a series of examples to demonstrate how industry will need to become responsible not only for the social and environmental performance of its own production activities but also for the sourcing of raw material inputs “upstream” and for the emissions and wastes that its products generate “downstream”.
Quality of life and gender: a methodology for urban research
Authors: Fadda Giulietta , Jirón Paola
Published: August 2005

This paper discusses how to undertake research on quality of life from a gender perspective. It begins by discussing how the concept of quality of life (which is concerned with people's sense of well-being) differs from environmental quality and how both can be measured. It then discusses the methodological basis for undertaking research on quality of life with a particular emphasis on seeking a clear understanding of differences in the perceptions of women and men. It ends with a description of how a questionnaire was developed to look in more detail at these differences in two low-income settlements in Santiago, and how group discussions and other measures helped to develop this questionnaire.
The Evolution of the Role of Nurses: The History of Nurse Practitioners in Pediatric Oncology
Authors: Wilson Karla
Published: August 2005

The role of nursing has been around since the beginning of time as demonstrated historically by caretakers who have attempted to relieve the suffering of children and of the sick within their community. In the late 1940s, the field of pediatric oncology nursing began emerging, and by the early 1970s, there were 2 pediatric nurse practitioner programs specific for pediatric oncology. The practice strategies for this role include not only directing and providing patient care to children with oncologic diseases but also negotiating the healthcare delivery system, monitoring and ensuring the quality of health care practice, offering family-centered care, and demonstrating cultural competency. In essence, the nurse practitioner role is multifaceted, requiring independent and interdependent decision making and direct accountability for clinical judgment in managing the care of children with cancer and their families.
Meeting the Maasai
Authors: Nicholson Nigel
Published: August 2005

This article reflects on implications of a brief ethnographic field trip to visit a remote Maasai clan in Northern Kenya. The author, approaching the inquiry from an interest in evolutionary psychology and the study of family business, conducted in-depth interviews with a range of elders, warriors, women, and children, asking questions relating to the intersection of kinship, culture, and organization. The reflections take the form of eight messages for management. These relate to such themes as the relationship between social harmony and the clarity and simplicity of social structure, collectivist values and stewardship models of leadership, the role of mythical beliefs in sustaining cultural integrity, the fragility of strong cultures to certain kinds of change, and the ethical challenges and dilemmas posed by some of the factors that help to sustain them. The article concludes by emphasizing the degree to which one can choose how to configure business cultures to generate outcomes that one regards as desirable and ethical.
Success Factor Research
Authors: Kieser Alfred , Nicolai Alexander T.
Published: August 2005

Success factor studies seem to offer a way out of the rigor verses relevance dilemma: Researchers, in their attempts to identify factors that are causes of performance and can be manipulated by managers, apply sophisticated analyses in rigorous ways. As it turns out, however, the findings of performance analyses usually contradict each other, and practitioners are unable to follow and to evaluate the discussions between the researchers that are published in scientific journals. Thus, rather than a correspondence, as implied by performance studies, a trade-off between rigor and relevance is the overall outcome of this kind of research. On the basis of sociological concepts, the authors show that this effect is a consequence of the inner dynamics of science as a social system. This means that the potential of performance research to create actionable knowledge is limited.
What Evaluation Could Do to Support Foundations: A Framework with Nine Component Parts
Authors: Chelimsky Eleanor
Published: August 2005

Grant-giving foundations are being created these days in record numbers, and there is fairly widespread agreement that evaluation can be a powerful tool for helping them achieve and justify their aims. However, if one looks across foundations at the current status of both their visions for evaluation and their capacity to evaluate, it seems that in many cases evaluative development is only in its initial stages. This article presents a particular vision for evaluation in the form of a framework based on the perceived needs of grant-giving foundations. It goes without saying that the framework can be modified, or another framework substituted for it, but a premise for this article is that there needs to be some explicit vision for evaluation if capacity requirements are to be properly inferred and supported. The framework used here was derived from the experience of a number of diverse organizations. Because the vision for evaluation is thus broad-based, and because the capacity and administrative requirements that stem from it are generic, the analysis given here may prove useful to a variety of audiences. That is, it may be useful not only to those charged with setting up evaluation functions in new foundations, and those working within established foundations that have just embarked upon the evaluative adventure, but also to those working to create or improve evaluation offices in other types of organizations.
Reconstructing Program Theories: Methods Available and Problems to be Solved
Authors: Leeuw Frans L.
Published: August 2005

This paper discusses methods for reconstructing theories underlying programs and policies. It describes three approaches. One is empirical-analytical in nature and focuses on interviews, documents and argumentational analysis. The second has strategic assessment, group dynamics, and dialogue as its core. The third has cognitive and organizational psychology as its foundation. For each of the three approaches, case-illustrations are given. These approaches can help to make the process of reconstructing underlying program theories more open for scrutiny. This is important because mis-reconstruction of policy and program theories is dangerous. All three approaches have a number of weaknesses to be remedied. The paper discusses these shortcomings and presents some suggestions for overcoming the limitations are presented.
International Trends and Development Evaluation: The Need for Ideas
Authors: Picciotto Robert
Published: August 2005

A number of trends in the development arena—a renewed commitment to lifting billions of people out of poverty, the need to draw and put to use the lessons of experience, and the emergence of “evidence-based” policy making—create daunting professional challenges for evaluation. Development evaluation has long been nearly invisible within the evaluation community. But by emphasising results-based approaches to global public policy, recent UN conferences on development finance (in Monterrey, Mexico) and on environmentally and socially sustainable development (in Johannesburg, South Africa) have attracted worldwide attention and moved development evaluation to center stage. These conferences have brought to the fore the need to enhance the management of poverty reduction programs in developing countries, as well as the reciprocal obligations of developed countries to increase aid volumes, improve aid quality, and level the playing field of international trade. In this new enabling environment, development evaluation has been called upon to track the progress being made towards the UN sponsored Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to contribute to the improved design and implementation of development policies and programs at local, country, and global levels. These are challenging tasks and it is no longer acceptable that evaluators working for progress in the zones of turmoil and transition where 80% of the world’s population lives should labor in isolation. They require a mechanism for professional connectivity and mutual support. To meet this need, 60 evaluators from developing countries and development organizations met in Beijing in September 2002 to found the International Development Evaluation Association, or IDEAS. This new wing of the international evaluation architecture has been designed to support development evaluators in tackling the professional challenges of the new century.
Learning About Evaluation Through Dialogue: Lessons From an Informal Discussion Group
Authors: Christie Christina A. , Rose Mike
Published: August 2005

Dialogue and discussion are fundamental to advancing the field of evaluation. Small informal discussion groups that focus on particular issues serve to promote productive dialogue about evaluation. This paper describes the dialogue of such a group. Because it is interactive, dynamic, and applied, we assert that the group is a personification of the nature of evaluation knowledge. We further argue that this group, and the way that it has been formulated, is particularly suitable for learning about evaluation, for socializing new people into the field, and for promoting continuing education.
Beyond Use: Understanding Evaluation’s Influence on Attitudes and Actions
Authors: Henry Gary T. , Mark Melvin M.
Published: August 2005

Although use is a core construct in the field of evaluation, neither the change processes through which evaluation affects attitudes, beliefs, and actions, nor the interim outcomes that lie between the evaluation and its ultimate goal—social betterment—have been sufficiently developed. We draw a number of these change mechanisms, such as justification, persuasion, and policy diffusion, from the social science research literature, and organize them into a framework that has three levels: individual, interpersonal, and collective. We illustrate how these change processes can be linked together to form “pathways” or working hypotheses that link evaluation processes to outcomes that move us along the road toward the goal of social betterment. In addition, we join with Kirkhart (2000) in moving beyond use, to focus our thinking on evaluation influence. Influence, combined with the set of mechanisms and interim outcomes presented here, offers a better way for thinking about, communicating, and adding to the evidence base about the consequences of evaluation and the relationship of evaluation to social betterment.
Evaluative Site Visits: A Methodological Review
Authors: Lawrenz Frances , Keiser Nanette , Lavoie Bethann
Published: August 2005

Site visits are a commonly employed, but little discussed, evaluation procedure. Our purpose is to review the state of the art regarding site visits, as well as to catalyze a discussion of site visits centering on the question of whether or not existing practices constitute a set of methods or a methodology. We define evaluative site visits and review the current state of practice in site visits. We also outline the differences between methods and methodology and consider whether or not the current state of practice constitutes a methodology.
The User-Oriented Evaluator’s Role in Formulating a Program Theory: Using a Theory-Driven Approach
Authors: Christie Christina A. , Alkin Marvin C.
Published: August 2005

Program theory plays a prominent role in many evaluations, not only in theory-driven evaluations. This paper presents a case study of the process of developing and refining a program’s theory within a user-oriented evaluation. In user-oriented (or utilization-focused) evaluations, primary users can play a role in defining their own program theory. This is different, however, from the typical process by which a program theory is developed when using theory-driven evaluation framework. This case study concerns a university’s academic outreach program with three local school districts. The program’s objective is to increase the number of University of California eligible and specifically University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) admissible students from targeted local public schools. The authors helped develop and refine outreach staff’s program theory. The evaluation procedures are described and results of the theory building process presented.
How Can Multi-Site Evaluations be Participatory?
Authors: Lawrenz Frances , Huffman Douglas
Published: August 2005

Multi-site evaluations are becoming increasingly common in federal funding portfolios. Although much thought has been given to multi-site evaluation, there has been little emphasis on how it might interact with participatory evaluation. Therefore, this paper reviews several National Science Foundation educational, multi-site evaluations for the purpose of examining the extent to which these evaluations are participatory. Based on this examination, the paper proposes a model for implementing multi-site, participatory evaluation.
Making Statistics More Meaningful for Policy Research and Program Evaluation
Authors: May Henry
Published: August 2005

This article focuses on the use of statistics in policy and evaluation research and the need to present statistical information in a form that is meaningful to mixed audiences. Three guidelines for formulating and presenting meaningful statistics are outlined. Understandability ensures that knowledge of statistical methods is not required for comprehending the information presented. Interpretability ensures that statistical information can be explained using familiar, non-abstract units. Comparability ensures that the magnitudes of different estimates can be directly compared within and across studies. Examples for improving popular effect size estimates from linear and non-linear models are included, and a general approach to presenting statistical information meaningfully for consumers of policy and evaluation research is explained.
On the Impact of the Dutch Educational Supervision Act
Authors: Ehren Melanie C. M. , Leeuw Frans L. , Scheerens Jaap
Published: August 2005

This article uses a policy scientific approach to reconstruct assumptions underlying the Dutch Educational Supervision Act. We show an example of how to reconstruct and evaluate a program theory that is based on legislation of inspection. The assumptions explain how inspection leads to school improvement. Evaluation of these assumptions is used to predict the (in)effectiveness of this legislation. The article concludes by discussing the advantages and drawbacks of this kind of approach as a starting point for impact and effect studies. As the program theory of inspection includes elements common to other kinds of educational interventions and reforms, these elements can also be considered for other types of program theory.
Ethical Challenges
Authors: Morris Michael
Published: August 2005

The Ethical Challenges scenario in the June 2004 issue of the American Journal of Evaluation focused on an evaluator-client disagreement concerning the wisdom of having consumer representation on a steering committee that would help plan and oversee an evaluation in an agency providing community-based residential services to the chronically mentally ill. In her response to the commentaries on this case, Gillian Kerr encourages us to explore in greater depth the implications of using steering committees, advisory groups, and related strategies for soliciting stakeholder input in evaluation.
Effective Use and Misuse of Performance Measurement
Authors: Perrin Burt
Published: August 2005

Performance Measurement(PM) is all range. It is Widely touted as the new way of providing for a focus on the results of public programs. But in the current discussion about PM there is little recognition of previous PM attempts, which failed to live up to their billing. This article identifies fallacies in the logic of PM and provides examples of ways in which PM is routinely misused. As a result, performance measures are frequently irrelevant-or worse. Used in isolation, they invariably reward and encourage the wrong activities and result in less, rather than more, attention to outcome and quality. This article also identifies strategies for effective use of PMs. In particular, it identifies how PMs can be useful for monitoring purposes, for raising questions, and for identifying areas requiring management attention. PMs, by themselves. are not appropriate for assessing outcomes, for determining future directions or for resource allocation. They can, however, be one important component of a comprehensive evaluation strategy.
Inclusive Evaluation: Implications of Transformative Theory for Evaluation
Authors: Mertens Donna M.
Published: August 2005

Evaluators face a challenge in responding to a call for greater inclusiveness of marginalized groups. In this presentation, I examine the contribution that transformative theory can make toward meeting this challenge. Transformative scholars assume that knowledge is not neutral, but is influenced by human interests, and that all knowledge reflects the power and social relationships within society, and that an important purpose of knowledge construction is to help people improve society. I propose the use of an inclusive model of evaluation that can address the tension between what is needed accurately represent the experiences of marginalized groups research and the traditional canons of research.
Circumstantial Ethics
Authors: Mabry Linda
Published: August 2005

Codes of professional practice cannot anticipate the myriad particularities of ordinary endeavors but, to be broadly applicable, they state principles and aspirations in general terms. Of necessity, practitioners must interpret and adapt them in application, often prioritizing standards according to a situation-specific hierarchy of values. The difficulties of managing conflicts among formal standards and among professional and personal standards are illustrated in two examples from practice. For evaluators, the mediation of human judgment reveals an inevitable but troubling subjectivity, a threat to the credibility of a field in which professional disinterest is an expected tool for disentangling competing criteria.
Slipping Through the Front Door: Relevant Social Scientific Evaluation in the People of Color Century
Authors: Stanfield John H.
Published: August 2005

This is an essay about the racialized conventional wisdoms and the academic traditions that impede the ability of social scientists to adequately explain and evaluate the colorization of the life worlds around them, particularly in terms of explanations involving power, privilege, and empowerment. I conclude that it is impossible to discuss adequately the more technical issues of technique and measurement, until we grasp the epistemological and biographical problematics of social sciences and their uses. Traditional frameworks, including traditional conceptions of race, hinder our ability to evaluate culturally and socially different worlds and realities, in this case, those created and transformed by people of color. It is especially important to find alternatives in a society and globe that are becoming increasingly colorized in terms of demographics, power and authority.
Agency Versus Structure: Path Dependency and Choice in Low-Wage Labor Markets
Authors: Scully-Russ Ellen
Published: August 2005

The growing preponderance of low-wage work in America challenges the dual mission of Human Resource Development Practitioners to foster individual and organizational learning and performance. In the prevailing discourse of the learning society, individual success and mobility are available to all who assume personal responsibility and agency in the labor market. A competing discourse posits that the emerging structure of work disadvantages a growing number of workers, leading to labor market segregation and significant economic disparity. The author argues that both agency and structure interact in low-wage labor markets to create and limit opportunity for workers. The aim of this article is to locate the learning challenges faced by low-wage workers and their employers and to explore what Human Resource Development Practitioners can do to mitigate the growth of low-wage work and its individual and social consequences.
The influence of acetyl phosphate on DspA signalling in the Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803
Authors: Morrison S Shawn , Mullineaux Conrad W , Ashby Mark K
Published: August 2005

Background

The dspA (hik33) gene, coding for a putative sensory histidine kinase, is conserved in plastids (ycf26) and cyanobacteria. It has been linked with a number of different stress responses in cyanobacteria.

Results

We constructed an insertional mutant of dspA (ycf26) in Synechocystis 6803. We found little phenotypic effect during nitrogen starvation. However, when the mutation was combined with deletion of the pta gene coding for phosphotransacetylase, a more significant phenotype was observed. Under nitrogen starvation, the pta/dspA double mutant degrades its phycobilisomes less than the wild type and still has about half of its chlorophyll-protein complexes.

Conclusion

Our data indicates that acetyl-phosphate-dependent phosphorylation of response regulator(s) overlaps with DspA-dependent signalling of the degradation of chlorophyll-protein complexes (and to a lesser extent phycobilisomes) in Synechocystis 6803.
Goal-setting in rehabilitation: report of a workshop to explore professionals' perceptions of goal-setting
Authors: Playford E D , Dawson L , Limbert V , Smith M , Ward C D , Wells R
Published: August 2005

Objective: To explore the views of therapists, nurses and doctors working in a variety of rehabilitation settings on the goal-setting process.

Methods: Sixteen rehabilitation staff from three different settings attended a goal-setting workshop in which the difficulties associated with goal-setting were described with their potential solutions.

Results: Five difficulties with goal-setting were identified. (1) Formal goal-setting was felt to be an activity unusual for many of the patients although intrinsic to the activity of many professional groups. (2) Goal-setting is often insensitive to people's roles in the community. (3) Goal-setting in the hospital environment does not transfer easily to the community. (4) External factors (e.g. staff turnover) over which staff felt they had little control were important in the success of a goal-setting programme. (5) Goals tend to be formulated and owned by the team, rather than the patient.

Conclusions: Goal-setting is a very satisfactory activity for the team but to be as successful for the patient their needs must be acknowledged. People with mild disability and a short inpatient stay have different needs to those with acute onset severe permanent disability and those with chronic or progressive disability admitted from the community. Comparison of both process and outcome effects of different types of goal-setting is an area for future study.
Are we missing urethral stricture after acquired brain injury?
Authors: Rice-Oxley Margaret
Published: August 2005

Urethral stricture is well recognized as a complication of urethral catheterization. The occurrence of urethral stricture after acquired brain injury is not commonly recognized. Two cases are described.