Transnational peace building: bringing salt and light to Colombia and the USA

In 2003, Lutheran World Relief (LWR), an international relief and development NGO, began a peace-building initiative in Colombia. It facilitated the formation of a partnership between peace-sanctuary churches in Colombia and six communities of faith in the US Midwest, co-ordinated by LWR staff. This partnership, called ‘Sal y Luz’ (Salt and Light), has the goal of education and advocacy both in Colombia and in the USA. Sal y Luz represents a powerful example of transnational solidarity for peace. There are also implications and lessons of this case study for the broader field of NGO peace-building work. The Sal y Luz model of peace building brings benefits in terms of NGO accountability and effectiveness. The key innovation of the model is the means by which LWR effectively helped its US constituency to understand and become involved in peace-building work.     

刑事诉讼法学研究的回顾与反思

由于研究方法和研究视角的限制,中国刑事诉讼法学研究正面临前所未有的挑战。要走出学术困境,迎来法学研究的繁荣,刑事诉讼法学研究者应当在对传统的法学方法加以完善的基础上,引入社会科学的研究方法,从经验事实中提炼出有生命力的法学理论。为此,应当从中国问题出发,提炼出一些对中国问题具有理论解释力的概念和范畴;应当放弃那种动辄赞美西方法制、批判中国法制的研究态度,从中国移植西方法制的经验和教训中找到一些规律性的东西;应当从中国自生自发的司法改革中发现制度形成和生长的规律,从而发现那些真正有生命力的制度,并提出中国的法学理论;应当纠正那种过于重视引进西方证据概念和证据理论的倾向,从中国的司法哲学、法律史和法律实践中发现证据规则,形成自己的证据理论。     

Effective evaluation of projects on violence against women and girls

What makes evaluations useful for interventions on violence against women and girls (VAWG)? This article reports on a qualitative comparative analysis of 39 evaluations, and shows that it takes a combination of elements to produce good evaluation effects. It identifies eight configurations of conditions which have generated effective evaluations. Key elements were the evaluation context, the evaluators’ sensitivity to gender and to the participants’ rights and security, and consultation with persons considered to be the ultimate “beneficiaries” of the intervention. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches could lead to effective evaluation. The article concludes with recommendations for evaluation users.     

A new way of measuring behavioural compliance for prevention programme interventions using KAP Score

KAP Score is an evaluation tool developed to enable aid and donor organisations to monitor and evaluate the outcome of interventions, particularly those where the link between programme activities and outcomes constitutes an “unknown”. This article articulates KAP Score and demonstrates how it has been applied to two separate interventions related to risk avoidance (human trafficking) and demand reduction (wildlife consumption) to generate quantitative evidence for assessing how they contributed to increasing compliance. The examples presented demonstrate how KAP Score attributed the effectiveness of these interventions to a proxy indicator that can measure incremental behavioural compliance.     

大学英语教学中实施合作学习法初探

上世纪70年代源于美国的合作学习法在中国方兴未艾。合作学习不仅能提高学生的学业成绩,而且能提高学生的学习兴趣,培养学生正确的合作精神和竞争意识,达到智力和非智力因素的和谐发展。合作学习法成功的背后是科学的理论支撑和大量的经验总结。传统的大学英语课堂枯燥、乏味,学生容易失去学习兴趣,而在实施合作学习方法后,学生的参与性和自信心倍增,听、说、读、写、译各方面都有明显提高,不失为一种值得广泛推广的教学和学习策略。     

Intersectionality – A challenge for development research and practice?

“Intersectionality” as a concept is increasingly finding its way into development work. In order to develop an understanding of the concept, this article shows how intersectionality can be used as a conceptual framework to analyse identity-based development claims. The article builds on qualitative research with people living in the countryside in northwest Pakistan to develop an intersectional methodology to engage with development claims. It uses a three-step analytical model to identify subject positions from which different people negotiate “eligibility for development'' and ‘‘responsibility to develop”. The paper shows how frequently used categorisations such as gender and class should be complicated by development practitioners and worked with in a more nuanced way.     

Participatory system dynamics modelling for dairy value chain development in Nicaragua

The use of system dynamics tools can add valuable insights when identifying and evaluating priorities for pro-poor value chain upgrading. However, to better understand the complex systems in agricultural value chains and to develop useful models, a participatory modelling process is important. This article highlights the group model building process of the dairy value chain in Matiguás, Nicaragua, one of a few examples of participatory model building in developing countries. The results confirm several benefits with participatory system dynamics modelling, including team learning, a greater understanding of the value of modelling, and a tool for decision-making and priority setting.     

Does women’s empowerment increase accessibility to healthcare among women facing domestic violence?

This article aims to understand whether women’s empowerment increases access to healthcare among women facing domestic violence within the Indian context. It reports on a multi-centre cross-sectional study covering 18 states of India, with 14,405 women respondents through a systematic multi-stage sampling strategy. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Despite substantive possession of the existing attributes of empowerment, women fail to receive necessary healthcare services. This reflects a situation of biased policy processes and institutional frameworks, which are a manifestation of existing patriarchal norms and which result in the piecemeal processes of entitlements.     

Building indicators to address community sustainability: learning from the Mixteca region,Mexico

This article reports on an indicator model to assess sustainability at the community level that was developed by an interdisciplinary work group. We applied this model in a case study of the Mixteca region in Oaxaca, Mexico, and provided a tool guide to measure the effectiveness of community-based actions. Two innovative aspects are presented: an iterative process with the community to develop a locally appropriate set of indicators drawn from the literature, and a baseline diagnostic assessment of the community’s performance on these indicators. This assessment may serve as a basis for future research and community-driven projects.     

国际私法中法律选择方法的价值探究

法律选择方法①中的价值观,表现为对形式正义和实质正义的不同追求。传统方法追求法律选择中的形式正义,现代理论则主张以法律适用的结果和利益来决定法律选择,即追求法律选择中的实质正义。法律应当是两大价值的综合,即法律旨在创设一种正义的社会秩序,那么当代②法律选择追求的应是两者的融和与平衡。最密切联系原则依托于连接因素,又使法官的自由裁量权得以发挥,为两种价值观的平衡实现提供了可能。而最终价值的真正实现,还必须对最密切联系原则的成熟形态进行不断地探索。