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New Book: Food Fortification in Canada: Experiences and Issues in Controlling Micronutrient Malnutrition
2001-01-08
For almost 50 years, the health of Canadians has been enhanced through the addition of micronutrients to staple foods. Deficiencies in vitamins and minerals have been drastically curtailed through food fortification and enrichment. This book examines the history of micronutrient addition in Canada, discusses the rationale for food fortification, looks at the regulatory and policy processes, and addresses some of the future challenges and opportunities. It presents invaluable wisdom of use to any new or existing program of food fortification or, for that matter, any country that is considering fortification as a means of controlling and preventing micronutrient malnutrition in its population. 
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Creating Opportunities for Informed Decisions: The Role of IDRC
2001-01-04
Development is about choices for social and economic progress. Communities and societies in the countries of the South must be able to build their future themselves and make their own decisions about development. Their choices must be made on the basis of the most appropriate and up to date knowledge. As a minimum, this requires the ability to carry out analysis, to review options critically, and to write and speak about them publicly.
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 Survival of the Poorest: Urban Migration and Food Security in Namibia
2000-12-22
Urban food security in Namibia may be more dependent on informal ties to rural relatives than other survival strategies such as urban agriculture. According to Bruce Frayne, a 1999 recipient of the AGROPOLIS award, the experiences of migrants to Windhoek, the capital city, show that the urban poor rely on rural relatives to eat and survive. His findings could have implications for the development of food security policies in Namibia and other countries.
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Empowerment as a Starting Point for Development
2000-12-21
The current emphasis on empowering local communities to achieve development goals is a necessary but incomplete approach to empowerment, claims Jane Parpart of Dalhousie University. She says the utility of empowerment as a means for social transformation has been undermined by its emphasis on local issues to the exclusion of other important factors.
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IDRC Books Presents: Critical Choices: The United Nations, Networks, and the Future of Global Governance: What Do Networks Do?
2000-12-19
We begin this chapter with a short primer on the most basic attributes of global public-policy (GPP) networks (a detailed theoretical analysis would go far beyond the scope of this report; see the bibliography for additional references). We then turn to a discussion, drawing on our case studies, of what we see as the six most important functions of GPP networks and how individual networks have or have not succeeded in executing those functions.
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 Asháninka@the Peruvian Amazon
2000-12-15
In an open grass hut on the edge of the Peruvian Andes and the Amazon jungle, an unlikely sight heralds a revolution: a computer on a rough plank table, displaying Internet web pages. Owned by a village of indigenous Asháninka, the computer is connected to the Internet by high-powered radio. The tiny community is remote — yet in touch with the world. Perhaps more importantly to the villagers, it's also networked with other Asháninka communities nearby.
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Globalization in a World of Bad Governance
2000-12-14
When we in the rich democracies watch another atrocity unfold, or tolerate another unnecessary famine or environmental ruin, we conspire in misrule on a global scale. Which is all to say that the world needs new ways of governing. We know this, because the old ways are failing — in wars of grievance and greed, in the backward course of de-development in poor countries, in the altered chemistry of the climate itself.
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IDRC Books Presents: Critical Choices: The United Nations, Networks, and the Future of Global Governance: A Changing External Environment
2000-12-12
What are the challenges to which global public-policy (GPP) networks respond? What are the forces that drive their development? What underlying changes in the international system make GPP networks such a potentially useful tool to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of global governance? This chapter lays out the framework for our examination of GPP networks by analyzing the two momentous developments that today propel continuous change in the environment of our global public institutions: political and economic liberalization and technological change.
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Online Exhibit on Ending Iodine Deficiency
2000-12-11
End Iodine Deficiency Forever is an exhibit that highlights the tremendous global success in eliminating iodine deficiency through universal salt iodization over the past decade, with the involvement of the salt industry, governments, development agencies, and civil society organizations around the world.
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 Performance Contracting: An Alternative Route to Promoting Energy Efficiency in the South?
2000-12-08
Energy-efficient technologies can help developing countries achieve economic growth and improve living standards while contributing to greenhouse gas reduction targets, but their wide adoption is being blocked by a variety of market barriers. Fortunately, some of the obstacles could be overcome through performance contracting agreements between energy service companies (ESCOs) and their clients.
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Protest Has Its Place But Development Demands Knowledge
2000-12-07
The October 2000 meeting of the G-20 in Montreal, as well as recent meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Prague, have once again inspired high-minded protest and the stupidest of vandalism. Once again, the protesters and the vandals miss the point.
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IDRC Books Presents: Critical Choices: The United Nations, Networks, and the Future of Global Governance: Introduction
2000-12-05
At the beginning of the 21st century, globalization has become the term of choice to describe the changing external environment in which all of us, individuals and institutions, now live and work. Yet, so far at least, governments and international organizations have fallen short in their efforts to develop mechanisms to allow their citizens to take full advantage of the opportunities that globalization offers.
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New Book: Forging Links for Health Research
2000-12-04
In Forging Links for Health Research, a team of international experts records the important lessons of the past decade and suggest what must be done in the research arena to ensure a healthy future for all. It follows up on the landmark publication Health Research: Essential Link to Equity in Development (Oxford University Press, 1990) and is unique in its combination of evocative human stories and expert insight from international health researchers.
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 From Nunavut to Swaziland: The Nunavut Youth Abroad Program
2000-12-01
It's seldom that Nunavut youth and rhinos share the same sentence — and probably more seldom that they share the same country. But it happened this summer. Six 18- and 19-year-olds from across Nunavut, Canada's newest territory, worked in Swaziland for 42 days, in a leadership development program called Nunavut Youth Abroad.
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Drinking (Water) With Your Enemy
2000-11-30
If there is political will for peace, water will not be a hindrance. If you want reasons to fight, water will give you ample opportunities. (Uri Shamir, Israeli hydrologist)
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IDRC Books Presents: Critical Choices: The United Nations, Networks, and the Future of Global Governance: Executive Summary
2000-11-28
Profound and continuing change in our global environment — social, political, and economic — today demands commensurate changes in our institutions of global governance, not least in the institution that lies at the core of the international system, the United Nations. The organization faces a series of critical choices in responding to these fundamental challenges. Creative new arrangements are needed urgently to allow governments, other organizations, both public and private, and individuals around the world to work together to address pressing global problems as they arise.
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 Tackling Rural Poverty in Viet Nam
2000-11-24
The house has a straw roof and the floor is dirt. There are openings for windows, but they have neither panes nor shutters. In the rainy season, the people sleeping beneath them have no protection from the elements. They also have no electricity, no safe drinking water, and a steady diet of rice. This is the face of poverty in Viet Nam.
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Art and Meaning in the Sepik
2000-11-21
The Sepik River valley, located on the north east side of Papua New Guinea, is one of the most prolific art producing centres in the region. Since its introduction to the rest of the world, the area's art has been highly prized for its intricate carving and its sheer visual power. Yet, much of the meaning behind the work is being quickly lost as younger generations lose touch with their traditions.
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 Preventing Gully Erosion in Nigeria
2000-11-17
South-eastern Nigeria is a densely-forested region with a kind of a rolling, hilly terrain. But this lush, green land could soon become largely unsuitable for cultivation and dangerous for humans. The culprit is 'gully erosion'. Gully erosion takes place when wear-and-tear on the surface land causes rainwater to accumulate in one area, causing loss of vegetation cover, localized erosion, and the formation of gullies. But this phenomenon can be prevented through a combination of better engineering and changes in human behaviour, says Dr Frank Simpson, one of the members of a Nigerian/Canadian research team funded by IDRC.
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 EEPSEA Case Study:
Watershed Management: Paying for Conservation in the Philippines
2000-11-16
One of the goals of environmental economics is to facilitate the proper pricing of natural resources to promote their sustainable use. Thanks to the joint efforts of several institutions under the leadership of the Deputy Director of the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia — Herminia Francisco of the University of the Philippines, Los Banos — this approach is being successfully implemented in one of the Philippines' most important nature conservation areas.
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What's New at Cities Feeding People?
2000-11-14
Check out this website for information about new publications and upcoming events related to IDRC's Cities Feeding People program initiative.
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 EEPSEA Case Study:
Integrated Pest Management in Indonesia: The Cost of Chemicals
2000-11-13
Excessive use of pesticides in Indonesia during the 1970s and 1980s created many serious environmental problems. These included pesticide poisoning, the contamination of agricultural products, the destruction of beneficial natural parasites and pest predators, and the development of pesticide resistance in pests. In response, the Indonesian government has actively pursued a strategy of integrated pest management since 1989.
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 Restoring Degraded Soils in India using Urban Wastes
2000-11-10
Canadian and Indian researchers are combining fly ash from electricity generating plants, municipal sewage sludge, and — in some cases — the water hyacinth plant to produce a potent soil replacement for Indian communities. Each of these, on its own, is an environmental menace. Together, they could hold huge benefits for worn-out soil.
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Nepal Conducts Consultation on National ICT Policy
2000-11-07
The Government of Nepal recently opened the floor to the public to debate the country's proposed national Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policy and Strategy. Led by the National Planning Commission, a public consultative process addressed the use of ICTs specific to the Nepalese context.
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 EEPSEA Case Study:
Forests for the Future: Creating Awareness in Malaysia
2000-11-06
For environmental economists, putting a value on the services provided by forests is by now standard practice. To government officials and the general public, though, it is still a rather new idea. In Malaysia, Mohd. Shahwahid Haji Othman — a member of the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia — is working to spread the message.
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 Assessing Tobacco Control Strategies in Turkey
2000-11-03
Smoking is a serious public health problem in Turkey. Among males over 15 years old, the incidence can rise as high as 65 % in some regions. And conservative estimates place the annual number of smoking related deaths at over 70,000. With funding from Research for International Tobacco Control, a team of Turkish investigators has conducted two surveys on behaviours and attitudes toward smoking. The team is also examining people's reactions to anti-smoking legislation.
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 New Partnership between IDRC and the Inter-American Development Bank
2000-11-01
On September 18, 2000, the President of IDRC, Maureen O'Neil, signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Enrique V. Iglesias, President of the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington D.C. Under this agreement, both organizations will work together to foster economic and social development of Latin America and the Caribbean.
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IDRC Transfers MINISIS Software to Private Sector
2000-10-31
In March of 1999, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) concluded that it could no longer afford to devote resources to software development and distribution. It was decided that the Centre should test the feasibility of divesting itself of MINISIS — a versatile software package of information management tools developed in the 1970s to store, manage, and retrieve information. Following a year-long process of assessing the marketplace and identifying potential purchasers, MINISIS Inc. becomes the proud owner of MINISIS.
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New Book: Research for Development in the Middle East and North Africa
2000-10-30
With a population of more than 250 million and a notable strategic position between the North and the South, the Arab region constitutes a distinct region of the developing world. This book explores the current challenges and opportunities of research for development in the Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Experts from the region and development professionals from around the world provide a detailed portrait of the research environment and explore the relationship between science and policy. They also present and discuss new research initiatives in the areas of social and economic development, natural resource management, and information and communication technologies.
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 EEPSEA Case Study:
Soil Salinity in Sri Lanka: Too Much Salt in the Rice Bowl
2000-10-26
In Sri Lanka, as in many other countries, salinization is a major environmental problem, causing crop yields to drop and land to become unfarmable. A recent study funded by the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia has, however, helped facilitate a realistic approach to the management of this problem. The study team has encouraged farmer participation in drainage work and other environmental improvement projects.
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 Investigating Mercury Contamination in Lake Victoria
2000-10-20
Mercury contamination may pose a threat to African children, pregnant women, and other 'high-risk' groups who eat Nile perch from Lake Victoria — the world's largest freshwater fishery. Linda Campbell, a Ph.D student at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, has shown that levels of organic mercury found in Nile tilapia and mukene are generally benign. However, mercury levels in large Nile perch, weighing more than 5-10 kilograms, usually exceed 200 nanograms per gram — a limit set by the World Health Organization to protect frequent fish eaters, children under age 15, and the developing fetus.
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 EEPSEA Case Study:
Livestock Waste in the Philippines: Cleaning the Sty
2000-10-19
Backyard hog and poultry production is an important source of livelihood in the Philippines. However, increases in hog production have created a host of environmental problems. In response, a research team funded by the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA) has helped to sow the seeds for a farmer-centred approach to pig-waste clean up.
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News Release: For 30 Years, Canadians Have Believed in Science for Humanity
2000-10-17
To mark its 30th anniversary, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) invites the public and the media to an exhibition to discover an aspect of Canadian aid that is all too often unknown: research to support development. This exhibition will be held on October 18th, 2000, from 10:00 am until 2:00 pm, on the 14th floor of IDRC, 250 Albert Street, Ottawa. Experts will be on hand to answer any questions.
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Argan Project Leader Meets with King of Morocco
2000-10-16
A research project that has helped launch argan oil women's cooperatives in Morocco was showcased during the recent Moroccan Youth Forum in August 2000. The project, which is funded by IDRC and other donors, is led by Professor Zoubida Charrouf of the Faculté des sciences at the Université Mohammed V of Rabat, and Professor Faiçal Benchekroun of the Institut agronomique et vétérinaire Hassan II.
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 Improving Highland Farming in Africa
2000-10-13
Half of the population of East and Central Africa lives on just 23 % of the land — the fertile yet crowded highlands. Millions of African farmers eke out a living by tilling the soil, sometimes on steep slopes. But their productivity is dwindling due to high and growing human pressure. Soil fertility, crop yields, water supplies, forest cover, and biodiversity are all decreasing, while crop pests and diseases are on the rise. Finding solutions to these problems is the mandate of the African Highlands Ecoregional Program, a major initiative of IDRC and other donors.
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New Book: The Lab, the Temple, and the Market
2000-10-11
What do faith, science, and the world of international development have to offer one another? Current international development discourse is starting to look at how religion affects globalization, peacebuilding, and the environment, for example. But how do the roles, approaches, and world views of science, religion, and international development intersect? And how does this intersection express itself in different cultures? The Lab, the Temple, and the Market: Reflections at the Intersection of Science, Religion, and Development tackles these complex questions in four separate essays. The authors — each a scientist as well as a person of faith — show how religious belief and personal faith can be deeply motivational and strikingly fruitful in scientific pursuits.
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October 2000 CBNRM Newsletter
2000-10-10
IDRC's Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) program initiative has published a new edition of NRM Research Links, an online newsletter that features information on new resources, publications, research reports, projects, and upcoming events.
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 MISTICA: Expanding the Internet's Capacity for Development
2000-10-06
A community that is part collaborative, part cooperative, part think tank, part utopian experiment — and all virtual. That's a rough description of the MISTICA project. Funded by IDRC and Fondation Charles Léopold Mayer, the initiative has two main goals. One is to use Internet technology to nurture a network of Latin American and Caribbean academics and social activists to help make them more effective. The other is to experiment with different ways of making this work, technically and socially.
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'On the Ground Research': The Impact of Large-scale Mining on Local Communities
2000-10-05
MiningWatch Canada and the Canadian Consortium for International Social Development have prepared a report that makes visible some of the negative social, environmental, health, and economic effects caused by large-scale mining activities around the world. The report, based on the 'On the Ground Research' workshop, a participatory forum funded by IDRC and other donors, documents the devastation that unregulated mining by Canadian mining interests has brought on people's lives, the lives of their communities, and the land itself.
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 Investigating the Impact of Tourism in Kenya
2000-09-29
Prolific wildlife and white-sand beaches bring about 780,000 foreign visitors to Kenya annually. Tourism generates an estimated US$500 million per year in hard currency earnings, making this sector the country's single largest source of foreign exchange. But the people living in and around the tourist areas receive few economic benefits from the industry, according to an IDRC-funded multi-disciplinary study on the costs and benefits of tourism to Kenya.
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Defining and Assessing the Impact of Information on Development
2000-09-28
A new monograph published by the International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID) builds on the results of a landmark research program to measure the impact of information on decision-making. The research was launched by IDRC in 1992, then transferred to FID in 1997.
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 Assessing Different Approaches to Forest Management in Viet Nam
2000-09-22
A groundbreaking study in northern Viet Nam has combined high-tech computer analysis with grassroots consultation to assess different ways of managing the region's forests. The research, which was funded by the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia, found that a management approach based at the household level outranks other approaches in terms of the environmental and socio-economic benefits.
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Strengthening Participatory Research Approaches in Ethiopia: A Conversation with Abra Adamo
2000-09-21
From May 1999 until May 2000, Abra Adamo worked with the Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization on the Participatory Research for Improved Agro-Ecosystem Management (PRIAM) project, a multi-country initiative launched by CIAT and the Rockefeller Foundation. Her role was to document the participatory research experiences of communities and national research institutions at one or more PRIAM project sites in Ethiopia. Her findings offer lessons for research institutions and donor agencies involved in 'community-based participatory research'. IDRC Reports Online recently spoke with Abra Adamo about her research:
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Ignoring The Labels: An Analysis of Pesticide Use in China
2000-09-20
China, like many developing countries, has seen a dramatic increase in the use of pesticides and other agricultural chemicals over the last twenty years. To obtain a clearer understanding of the consequences of pesticide use, a team of researchers from the Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy recently undertook an in-depth analysis of the way these chemicals are used in rice production. They found that pesticides were being grossly over-used, resulting in a marked negative impact on farmers' health and their economic well being. The researchers concluded that changes in agricultural training and alternative methods of pest management are needed.
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IDRC Doctoral Research Awards
2000-09-19
As a result of a competition held in May 2000, ten students have been recommended for the IDRC Doctoral Research Awards. A list of the successful candidates is available on the Centre's Training and Awards web site at http://web.idrc.ca/awards/eylist.html.
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 AQUAtox© 2000: The International School Network on Water Toxicity
2000-09-15
Under the AQUAtox© 2000 project, students from more than 90 schools in Canada, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe have learned how to use simple and inexpensive water quality tests to detect chemical and microbial pollution in water samples taken from their local environment. Developed and validated by WaterTox — an international network of water quality laboratories — the AQUAtox© water quality bioassays make use of readily available materials and supplies, such as onion bulbs, lettuce seeds, and fresh water organisms.
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Seeing Through The Smoke: Choosing The Best Options For Pollution Clean-Up In The Philippines
2000-09-13
Pollution from power stations is a growing problem in many developing nations. The Philippines is no exception and many people in the country are voicing concerns about the effects on people's health. However, a recent study has shown that, when economic costs and benefits are weighed up, there are ways to reduce pollution that make sense for society as a whole.
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 Surveying Urban Agriculture in Jordan
2000-09-08
With funding from IDRC, Jordan's Department of Statistics has surveyed 1,350 Amman households to assess the importance of urban agriculture. The initial results suggest that an estimated 50,000 households — rich and poor — practice urban agriculture and devote as much as 15 % of their land to their garden. The Department hopes this research will influence municipal and national policies on urban farming.
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Testing Telecentres in Mozambique
2000-09-07
In sub-Saharan Africa, fewer than five telephones serve every thousand people. This statistic illustrates the monumental task facing those who would set up not just telephone, but also Internet, email, and office equipment access in Mozambique — one of the world's poorest countries. Yet at the same time it shows why public access points are seen as the main way to provide connectivity to Africans. In 1999, with funding from IDRC's Acacia Initiative, pilot telecentres were opened in two Mozambique towns to identify which services and technologies are most appropriate, and to verify their contributions to local development.
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IDRC Annual Report 1999-2000
2000-09-05
Our age is one of trouble and tension and violence. It is also one of great progress and achievement. It holds both the promise of a far better life for all men and the threat of no life at all for mankind. Which is it to be? Lester B. Pearson — 1972
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In Conversation: Gordon Smith
2000-08-31
Economic insecurity, polluted environments, the transfiguring power of global media, brooding conflicts of tribe and territory: all confound the capacity of even the most powerful state to govern alone, even on its own territory. For all the opportunities that globalization promises, it raises urgent questions of governance. Can states any longer govern? Can globalization be democratized?
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Highlighting 20 Years of IDRC's Support for China
2000-08-24
With two decades of involvement in China, IDRC has made a significant contribution to the country's development, reported a high-level Chinese delegation that visited IDRC headquarters this spring. "With the help of IDRC, we will continue to search for and find ways to improve our international collaboration," said Dr Zhan Hongqi, Deputy Director of the State Science and Technology Commission in the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology's Department of International Cooperation.
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Participatory Innovation and the Internet
2000-08-17
A Chilean participatory innovation model for tackling complex problems may help cut years off the time needed to research and implement development projects. According to Alfredo del Valle, Director of the Santiago-based Innovative Development Institute, the model was conceived as a way to design and implement social policies, and to train social development professionals. It became more efficient with the advent of an Internet website design that provides customized workspaces for participants.
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IDRC Projects on Display at EXPO 2000
2000-07-28
From June 1 to October 31, Hanover, Germany is the host of this year's world exhibition, EXPO 2000. Among its many attractions, the world exhibition is showcasing more than 450 'Projects around the World', including several that are now or were previously funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).
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A Macro View of Micronutrient Fortification Programs
2000-07-27
National-scale micronutrient fortification programs can generate significant health and development benefits. But their success depends partly on bringing key stakeholders on side and keeping them there, said participants of a working group on large-scale fortification programs. The event took place during a recent international micronutrient conference, Within Our Reach — Partnering for Effective Micronutrient Strategies, held in Ottawa.
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Mineral Policies for the Sahel that are Good for the Environment and Good for People
2000-07-26
The resumption of mining activities in most of the countries of the Sahel over the last decade prompted IDRC to carry out a study that shows the harmful effect of mineral extraction on what is already a fragile environment. Reconciling mineral exploitation with preserving the environment and the people that live in it should be uppermost in the minds of decision-makers. The countries in the Sahel region of West Africa (Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger) have abundant mineral resources: phosphates, gold, uranium, iron, manganese, zinc, copper, diamonds, coal — the list goes on. In their present predicament, the currency inflows that mining generates are an economic lifesaver, despite the threats it poses for the environment.
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Grassroots Networking in Vietnam
2000-07-25
In a makeshift classroom on the outskirts of Hanoi, a small group of information professionals is attending a two-day intensive workshop on Internet publishing. Most of them are from libraries or government departments already engaged in producing materials in print and other media, and together they represent some of the country's early efforts to put local content on the Internet.
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Tiles: a Low-Cost Building Option
2000-07-20
Africa does not know its own resources. Few people are aware that in Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire, a team of researchers has developed a space-age tile that has protected houses in Abidjan and in neighbouring Bénin for the last three years, and that will soon appear in other West African countries. Senegal has already begun to test the new material, which was designed for low-cost housing.
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Call for Proposals: Virtual Information Clearinghouse on Water in the Altiplano
2000-07-20
Research and development institutions of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru are invited to submit proposals for the creation of a virtual information centre on high-altitude water resources and wetlands (bofedales). Proposals should be submitted by August 30, 2000 to Gilles Cliche by email (gcliche@idrc.ca).
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A Question of Scale: Reassessing Environmental Research Questions
2000-07-13
One of the leading economists working in Southeast Asia is challenging researchers to reassess what questions they ask in order to develop more appropriate environmental solutions. "While much attention and discussion of environmental issues has focused on the macro and micro level — [e.g. climate stability and nutrient cycling] — not enough empirical analysis has been done in the middle ground between the two," says Tom Tomich, Principal Economist at the International Centre for Research in Agroforestry.
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Gender Sensitivity and the Acacia National Strategy for Senegal
2000-07-12
Facilitating access to, and exploitation of, information and communication technologies (ICTs) for marginalized communities, especially women and youth: this is the main objective of IDRC's Acacia Initiative, which has launched a project to ensure massive representation of women in all aspects of the program, and to incorporate gender sensitivity into the design, implementation and evaluation of projects that are part of the Initiative.
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Onion Growers of the Gandiolais Take on the World
2000-07-05
Farmers in Senegal often have problems finding outlets for their produce, particularly on the national market, where they are often the hapless victims of city merchants. Now, using the new information and communication technologies — through the regional branches of Trade Point Senegal — it will be easier for them to find local and international customers who can offer them more rewarding prices.
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Using the Internet to Help Street Children in Latin America
2000-06-29
Two non-profit organizations in Colombia and Ecuador are exploring how the Internet can help street children improve their lives. With funding from Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and the International Development Research Centre, the Fundación Renacer and the Fundación Chasquinet are equipping telecentres in four communities where street children can use the Internet. The idea is to help them exchange knowledge and experiences that will enable them to solve their problems and create opportunities for a new life.
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From the Rural Village to the Global Village
2000-06-28
Of all the projects under the umbrella of the Acacia Initiative in Senegal, the Village Land Management and Rehabilitation Project seems best to merit the label 'revolutionary'. This is not so much because of the technical resources employed, but because of its target community — rural people — and the effort to bring information and communication technologies within reach of people generally left out by traditional modernization policies.
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International Advisory Committee Selects Candidates for 2000 AGROPOLIS Awards
2000-06-22
The International Advisory Committee for the AGROPOLIS Awards program has selected 8 graduate students to receive awards this year. The AGROPOLIS programme is a component of the Global Initiative of the Support Group on Urban Agriculture (SGUA), sponsored by the FAO, the UNDP, NEDA, and IDRC. The awards support graduate level field research that focuses on how to remove constraints and enhance the potential for urban and peri-urban agriculture in developing countries.
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Linking Computers and Community Organizations in Senegal
2000-06-21
How can community organizations successfully exploit the new information and communication technologies (ICTs)? That is the issue confronting Rabia Abdelkrim Chikh, an anthropologist and researcher with Enda Ecopole in Senegal. As leader of a project that aims to demystify computers for young people in some of the most crowded neighbourhoods of Dakar and its outskirts, and make them a commonplace work tool, she has had some success.
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 Reviewing Economic Reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean
2000-06-16
Major economic reforms introduced in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last decade and a half are improving some aspects of economic performance in some areas. But further policy changes are needed to increase growth, employment, and equity in the region, according to a three-year study conducted by the United Nations' Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and local researchers in nine countries.
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Crucible Group Launches Seeding Solutions: Policy Options for Genetic Resources
2000-06-15
The contentious topic of who owns the world's genetic resources is the subject of a new book that describes the different arguments in the debate. Seeding Solutions: Policy Options for Genetic Resources summarizes key scientific and political developments over the past five years to help readers make sense of a rapidly changing field. It makes recommendations for policy on research, biodiversity, and intellectual property rights relating to genetic resources.
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Software to Manage Vital Statistics and Municipal Budgets
2000-06-14
Municipalities in Senegal will soon have the solution to a puzzle: how to manage their budgets, an area where their performance has sometimes been deficient. Using budget and vital statistics management software developed by SAFEFOD, a Senegalese NGO, local communities will have the means to efficiently keep track of their financial resources and to manage vital statistics records.
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 Investigating Adolescence and Social Change in Egypt
2000-06-09
Egypt is home to 13 million adolescents, who represent one-fifth of the total population. But many of them see limited opportunities in their country. In 1996, the Population Council and other institutions launched a project to study the situation of adolescents in the areas of education, health and reproduction, transition to work and marriage, and employment. Their work provides an important benchmark to monitor future progress on adolescent issues.
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Senegal on the Threshold of Interactive Medicine
2000-06-07
In a country where access to primary medical care is difficult for most people, telemedicine may at first blush seem a frill or a gadget. In fact, "the objective of telemedicine is to improve health care coverage in our country and the quality of care dispensed at the local community level," says Professor Mamadou Guèye, the national coordinator of a telemedicine/telehealth project in Senegal.
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 Improving Health Care in Tanzania: The Tanzania Essential Health Interventions Project
2000-06-02
Malaria has long been one of the biggest killers in Tanzania and the Morogoro Rural District is no exception. Yet treating and preventing malaria has not been one of the main items in the district's health budget. Using a tool developed by the Tanzania Essential Health Interventions Project, health officials analysed their budget priorities against the disease burden borne by local people. The analysis showed that malaria accounts for 30 % of the years of life lost because of deaths and debilitating illnesses. As a result, the budget for malaria prevention and treatment programs increased from 5 % of total spending in 1996 to 25 % in 1998.
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In Conversation: Edward T. Jackson and Yusuf Kassam
2000-06-01
Knowledge Shared: Participatory Evaluation in Development Cooperation presents leading-edge analysis on the theory and practice of participatory evaluation around the world. With its instructive case studies from Bangladesh, El Salvador, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, and St Vincent, this book provides a guide to a community-based approach to evaluation that is at once a learning process, a means of taking action, and a catalyst for empowerment. IDRC Reports Online recently interviewed Edward T. Jackson and Yusuf Kassam, the co-editors of Knowledge Shared, about participatory evaluation:
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Protecting Uncultivated Food Sources in South Asia
2000-05-31
Roadside greens and tubers, uncultivated plants growing between rows of domestic farm crops, aquatic plants, small fish and shellfish in local ponds and streams, and small animals such as grubs, snakes, and rodents. All of these — and more — help provide as much as 40 % of some families' diets in rural South Asia.
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 Promoting Local Economic Development on South Africa's Wild Coast
2000-05-26
Students in the Wild Coast region of South Africa are marking the days of the new millennium with a colourful calendar that also provides an up-to-date local economic database on the impoverished region. The calendars, which aim to expose Wild Coast youth to self-employment career opportunities, are one of the outcomes of a three-year action research project coordinated by CIETafrica and funded by IDRC.
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www4mail Software Project is a Finalist in the Stockholm Challenge Award
2000-05-25
The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, is a finalist in the Stockholm Challenge Award 2000 with its www4mail software project. Developed in collaboration with Bellanet and IDRC's Unganisha Project, www4mail is a software that fetches documents from the web and sends them to users via email.
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 Water Management: An Uphill Battle in the Andes
2000-05-19
"The water coming into our village is totally contaminated... And there is practically no water during the dry season," said the farmer from Mascarilla, Ecuador. This problem affects thousands of farmers in the El Angel river basin, who rely on an irrigation network developed over hundreds of years. In late 1995, researchers in the regoin established the Consorcio Carchi to manage the irrigation network.
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'Global Public Goods' and the Future of International Cooperation
2000-05-18
International aid budgets are increasingly being used for activities that benefit both North and South such as ensuring financial stability and mending the ozone hole. As a result, the amount allocated for traditional aid activities — which never seems to be enough — is even less than what is stated in official statistics, says one of the editors of Global Public Goods: International Cooperation in the 21st Century.
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Global Development Network Awards Competitions
2000-05-18
Development practitioners and researchers are encouraged to apply for the Global Development Network Awards, sponsored by the Government of Japan and World Bank to recognize and reward excellence in the fields of development research and project innovation.
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 Participatory Plant Breeding on the Hillside Farms of Nepal
2000-05-12
Researchers in Nepal are supporting the efforts of mountain farmers to regain control over their lives. With funding from IDRC, a research team from Resources Himalaya, a Kathmandu-based non-governmental organization, has been working with 45 men and women farmers from Nepal's remote Sankhuwasava District to learn how they manipulate crops to yield seeds with desirable genetic traits. The research team proposes to integrate simple technical breeding skills with local farming practices to maintain the purity of existing seed varieties.
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Presentation on Participatory Maize Improvement in Mexico
2000-05-11
IDRC's Sustainable Use of Biodiversity Program Initiative, in cooperation with the Embassy of Mexico, invites you to a noon-time presentation on: "Participatory Maize Improvement: Comparing Different Interventions to Enhance Farmers' Welfare and Maintain Genetic Diversity in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico." The presentation will be held on Friday May 26, 12-2 p.m. in the 14th Floor Auditorium of IDRC headquarters in Ottawa.
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 Parables for Our Times — Celebrating the 10th International Special Librarians Day
2000-05-10
IDRC celebrated the 10th annual International Special Librarians Day with three high-profile storytellers who probed the relationships between knowledge, wisdom, and magic. The event, entitled Tales From a Knowledge Organization, featured Roch Carrier, National Librarian of Canada; Stan Skrzeszewski of ASM Consultants; and John Hardie, Director of IDRC's Policy and Planning Group, and Chief of Staff. All three suggested that information alone can only partly answer questions — knowledge and wisdom are essential to finding complete answers.
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INDIX General Meeting
2000-05-09
The International Network for Development Information Exchange (INDIX) is holding its 4th General Meeting, hosted by the World Bank, in Washington D.C. May 15-17, 2000. The theme is: "INDIX in the 21st Century: Working together to use knowledge effectively for international development."
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Learning from Change: Issues and Experiences in Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation
2000-05-08
Learning from Change provides an overview of the common themes and experiences in participatory approaches to monitoring and evaluation across different institutions and sectors. It is a compilation of selected case studies and discussions between practitioners, academics, donors, and policymakers in participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E). The book explores conceptual, methodological, institutional, and policy issues that need to be addressed to enrich our understanding and practice of PM&E.
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Taking Care of What We Have: Participatory Natural Resource Management on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua
2000-05-08
Together, rapid population growth, increased commercialization and exploitation of aquatic
resources, deforestation and pollution, and encroachments on communally owned resources by national and transnational private interests are placing the world's coastal regions under enormous pressure. This book provides detailed insight into the problems of the Pearl Lagoon estuary, the main basin on the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, and presents alternatives for more effective management of its natural resources. It documents a new approach to the study and future management of a complex resource system in a politically demanding environment.
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 Promoting the Internet in Rural Mongolia
2000-05-05
If wishes were Internet-ready personal computers, Mongolians would be instantly equipped to explore the Information Highway. Expectations run high in this northern Asian nation of 2.4 million people, although the World Wide Web was not even a dot on its communications scene until 1996. Today, satellite connections and wireless technology provide direct Internet access to some 4,000 account-holders. Not all areas of Mongolia are connected yet, but steps have been made to extend coverage when affordability catches up with technology.
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Linking Research to Policy: The TIPS Experience
2000-05-04
While the ivory tower and political arena are often seen as separate solitudes, public policy could be strengthened if academics and policy-makers found a way to fuse their complementary skills and approaches. "Often researchers don't think about the tangible impacts of their work, while people in government don't have the luxury to think about what the emerging issues are," said Rashad Cassim, Executive Director of South Africa's Trade and Industrial Policy Secretariat, during a recent seminar at IDRC.
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Linking Research to Policy: The TIPS Experience
2000-05-02
While the ivory tower and political arena are often seen as separate solitudes, public policy could be strengthened if academics and policy-makers found a way to fuse their complementary skills and approaches. "Often researchers don't think about the tangible impacts of their work, while people in government don't have the luxury to think about what the emerging issues are," said Rashad Cassim, Executive Director of South Africa's Trade and Industrial Policy Secretariat, during a recent seminar at IDRC.
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 Investigating Health, Biodiversity, and Natural Resource Use on the Amazon Frontier
2000-04-28
Researchers from Canada and Latin America are investigating why an apparent abundance of resources isn't generating the income nor providing the nutrients needed to promote a healthier rural population in the Western Amazon Lowlands of Peru. The three-year study, funded by IDRC's Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health program initiative, aims to improve people's health through better management of their natural resources.
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IDRC Briefing: The Mountain Sculptors: Mountain Soils Are on Loan Only
2000-04-26
The grandest of all human sculptures are, in fact, the work of the planet's poorest people. Unable to find a job or a plot of land in the valley, the most disadvantaged people of the developing world carve mountains to grow their food. Mountainside farming offers an extraordinary spectacle. A single slope can be covered with hundreds of terraces, themselves carved up into dozens of little parcels separated by walls made of earth or stone.
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 Investigating Traditional Eye Medicines in Malawi
2000-04-14
In the early 1990s, a team of researchers and eye care providers in Malawi were studying various eye problems faced by the country's population when they realized that for every person being treated by a physician, 35 were being treated by traditional healers. Their research led to a better understanding of the role of traditional healers in eye care delivery. A new project, funded by IDRC, is examining how the general population uses traditional eye medicines, the biodiversity of these products, and how traditional healers can collaborate for improved eye care in the region.
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Launch of Sustainable Development Networking Programme Web site
2000-04-12
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), in collaboration with India's Ministry of Environment and Forests, have launched the Web site of India's Sustainable Development Networking Programme. The website can be found at http://sdnp.delhi.nic.in . A mirror Web site is located at http://members.tripod.com/sdnp_india .
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New Online Database Contains Information on African Education Projects
2000-04-10
The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), in collaboration with the Bellanet International Secretariat, has published a descriptive database of 850 African education projects on the web. The PRISME database is up-to-date, bilingual (English and French), and fully searchable by region, subject area, funding institution, and keyword.
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