Intervening in Value Chains: Lessons from Zambia's Task Force on Acceleration of Cassava Utilisation

Abstract

Smallholder farmers operate in vertical supply chains. Therefore, an understanding of key opportunities and constraints up through the value chain becomes necessary for sustaining smallholder growth. Yet market analysis is of little value unless key private and public sector stakeholders agree to implement necessary reforms. This paper advocates an approach which marries together value chain analysis with a stakeholder task force to ensure that analysis of opportunities and constraints gets translated into actions that will facilitate commercial growth. Using Zambia's cassava task force as an example, the paper describes the value chain task force method and identifies elements critical to its effective implementation.     

“Go Back to the Land!” Negotiating Space,Framing Governmentality in Lambwe Valley,Kenya 1954–75

In 1954, the Lambwe Land Trust sought to address colonial concern to contain and control tsetse fly and thus the transmission of human trypanosomiasis (sleeping sickness) in Lambwe Valley, Western Kenya. The Valley needed less tsetse, more people; less bush and more farmed land. Reflecting the confidence of the 1950s to control land, nature, and people, the Lambwe Valley Settlement Scheme (LVSS) was established. While other schemes in Kenya grew out of a tense period of land disputes or mega-economic development, this scheme was much more modest, ensuring that good science and good government would defeat the fly. This article elaborates on both. The first narrative examines the scientific background on trypanosomiasis and tsetse control in this region. The second focuses on the people: African settlers, colonial and African bureaucrats, representing district, provincial, and national governments, engaged in day-to-day planning. Arguments and debates ensued regarding land rights and management, involving local African council and state representatives with their constituents within the context of the settlement scheme. The archival records demonstrated the evolution of a civil society in this remote section of Western Kenya, in spite of an increasingly dominating Nairobi-based government. The records exposed local voices and local visions as ordinary people negotiated their lives in the shadow of big science, big government, and big politics.     

Coping with Conway v. Rimmer [1968] AC 910: How Civil Servants Control Access to Justice

The article, based on a review of files in the National Archives, examines the role of civil servants in claims for the suppression of state documents at trial on grounds of public interest immunity (PII). Government lawyers solicited responses from other ministries to the landmark Lords decision in Conway v. Rimmer and coordinated the civil service campaign against this unwelcome judicial intrusion into their professional domain. The decision was seen as a threat to confidentiality and the secret cultivation of administrative expertise. Academic debate on the evolution of the PII doctrine has centred on the allocation of responsibility between an overly deferential judiciary and ministerial concern to avoid political embarrassment. The role of civil servants may have been more coherent and ideologically motivated than previously appreciated. As the courts increasingly challenge government claims for suppression of material at trial, the article highlights the historical factors determining the executive's innate instinct for secrecy.     

The Impact of Homeless Prevention on Residential Instability: Evidence From the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program

ABSTRACT

Millions of individuals and families in the United States do not have access to stable housing. Recent policies in the United States and the rest of the developed world emphasize programs intended to prevent homelessness through temporary financial assistance. This article explores the impact of the largest homelessness prevention program in U.S. history, the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP), on residential instability, using a national sample of families with children enrolled in school. The identification strategy exploits variations on the location of HPRP providers. Using data on the ratio of K–12 students experiencing homelessness in school districts, we find that HPRP is associated with reductions in the percentage of homeless students for districts closer to an HPRP provider. However, the impacts of HPRP fade out when program benefits end, bringing into question whether homeless prevention can help families achieve self-sufficiency in the long run.     

Analysis and discrimination of architectural paint samples via a population study

This study involved the comparative analysis and discrimination of 964 architectural paint samples collected in the United States and Canada. The samples were evaluated to determine the extent to which randomly collected architectural finishes can be discriminated following standard operating protocols for paint analysis. The study also provides a basis for assessing the significance of a result in which a pair or group are undifferentiated. The techniques utilized were stereomicroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with both backscatter electron imaging (BSI) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). To assess the layer characteristics (e.g., number, color, sequence, thickness), stereomicroscopy was used with FTIR and/or SEM as needed. The use of visual and microscopic evaluations in concert with FTIR resulted in 42 undifferentiated pairs, a discrimination of 99.99%. Adding SEM and Py-GC/MS analysis resulted in further discrimination of 31 pairs, resulting in eleven undiscriminated pairs of samples. At the conclusion of the study, samples that remained undifferentiated proved to originate from the same source. Therefore, no random pairs were indistinguishable at the conclusion of all examinations.     

Analysis and discrimination of electrical tapes: Part I. Adhesives

This study involved the comparative analysis and discrimination of 90 electrical tape adhesives. The objectives included the evaluation of the ability of individual techniques to discriminate samples and the assessment of the ability of the techniques combined to distinguish samples. The techniques utilized were stereomicroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS), and scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). Stereomicroscopy, to assess adhesive colors of black, clear/colorless, and clear adhesives with brown tint, resulted in a discrimination of 53%. FTIR analysis yielded eight distinct groups with a discrimination of 67%. Py-GC/MS analysis resulted in 16 groups with a discrimination of 83%. These analyses confirmed and further subdivided the FTIR groups. SEM/EDS resulted in five separate groups at 17% discrimination, increasing the overall discrimination to above 85%.     

HUNTER‐GATHERER COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE

This article describes the development of a practice group based on a hunter‐gatherer model, with the mission of providing high quality collaborative divorce services, with an emphasis on protecting children and divorcing partners, and expanding access to middle‐ and lower‐income families. The practice group professional disciplines include law, mental health divorce coaching, co‐parent coaching, financial analysis, and case administration. These professionals have collectively associated their individual practices to address challenges facing their collaborative practices. With common purpose, the practice group builds skills, generates client base, nurtures trust, and lays a common knowledge base. Collaborative divorce teams formed from its members serve divorcing families with efficient, cost‐conscious, interest‐based negotiation processes that protect children and help parties productively move on with their lives.     

Intoxication Levels of Bar Patrons at an Organized Pub Crawl in a College Campus Community

This field study examined whether participants of a traditional, end-of-semester pub crawl in a college campus community had higher levels of intoxication than non-participating bar patrons on the same night as the event. A total of 693 bar patrons participated in the study. Anonymous interview and breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) data were collected from pedestrians in a bar district at the end point of the pub crawl route between 10:00 p.m. and 3:00 a.m. on the night of the event during three different semesters (November, 2007, May, 2008, and May, 2009). A multivariate model adjusting for participant demographics and drinking variables showed that participation in the pub crawl was associated with a 70% reduced risk of being highly intoxicated (i.e., BrAC ≥ 0.08 g/210 L). The lower intoxication levels among pub crawl participants may have implications for harm reduction practices at high-risk drinking events. These implications are discussed.