Publications

Although there are no statistical data showing the relationship between child marriage and the rate of divorce, there are indications that child marriage contributes to divorce rates in Indonesia. Research on child marriage conducted by PLAN International (2015) in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia found that the objection of young people to child marriage was considered to cause disharmony, conflicts and domestic violence in marital relations, and sometimes divorce. Studies on divorces in the context
of child marriage in Indonesia are few and the study presented in this report is an attempt to fill this research gap.

Agricultural innovation systems are complex, multi-layered, and can be difficult to define and analyse. In this paper, we provide examples of ‘systems analysis’: describing the context, what was done, and how the outcomes informed broader research and development activities. The five cases describe analyses of: i) agricultural systems in North-West Vietnam; ii) household food security in Central Vietnam; iii) agricultural innovation systems in Central Africa; iv) wheat commodity systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, and v) the national agricultural research system in Papua New Guinea.

The purpose of this project was to give comments on the medical device miLOOP for cataract surgery and inform about the most used techniques for cataract surgery in LMICs

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest global burden of disease and the lowest number of health workers per population. In a resource-constrained environment like this, a focus on primary healthcare (PHC) is most likely to impact on the health of the population and to be cost-effective. Medical generalists have the competences needed in the multidisciplinary team to build a strong PHC system. However, in many African countries, PHC is the weakest part of the healthcare system, which often focuses on a limited number of priority conditions that are addressed through fragmented vertical programmes offered by health workers with limited training, skills and support.

Agricultural innovation systems (AIS) approaches contribute to achieving impact at scale: this is still a statement which is questioned and not yet a widely accepted fact. Any claims supporting it are based on circumstantial evidence at best. This chapter discusses why this is the case, examining how AIS approaches primarily create a relevant context perspective in support of learning and partnership processes, rather than leading to targeted strategies for achieving impact at scale.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death among infectious diseases and is responsible for 1.8million deaths each year. Over 4 million incident cases of TB worldwide fail to be diagnosed or linked into TB services every year and people with undetected TB have a high mortality and perpetuate disease transmission. Identifying and treating these individuals is crucial.

Theories of change (ToCs) are increasingly used to articulate pathways for interventions and to support learning. This responds to the recognition of the complexity of agricultural development. Through two examples, this paper examines how ToCs have enabled practitioners to navigate towards impact in settings characterized by a multiplicity of views from different actors on issues of joint concern.

In order to stimulate policymakers and practitioners to recognise farmer innovation in agricultural research and development (ARD), partners in the Prolinnova network have been developing and using various methods and tools for advocacy and lobbying. One of these is the Farmer Innovation Fair.

The objective of this report is to compare regional and national seed laws in Africa, and analyse the extent to which they support (or undermine) farmers’ participation in seed systems. The paper pays particular attention to how or whether these laws recognize farmers as conservers and breeders of crop varieties, and as potential multipliers and providers of seed, through a range of potential means, from traditional exchanges at local levels to commercial sales at a national or even regional scale. Ultimately, we identified and analysed combinations of national policies, legislation, regulations and executive decrees regulating the seed sector in 35 African countries.

This is a Keynote speech transcript given by our expert Maryse Kok at the Community Health Workers Symposium in Kampala.

This working paper is aimed at impact investors, and presents key pointers or core guidance that have been drawn from international standards, principles and case studies, that follow. It provides solid and evidence-based examples of how investors can work with smallholders and promote better land governance and livelihoods. International guidelines provide the bottom line, and case studies provide examples of projects, business models and investment funds that are implementing and/or financing alternative and innovative land related business models with smallholders and local communities.

Review of the inclusion of Sida SRHR strategy and policies in the portfolio of global African and Asian activities.

This study analyses what is actually happening at the national and subnational levels in terms of climate change and its impacts on particular crops; what experiences countries have had to date with regard to accessing, using and sharing benefits derived from genetic resources for climate change adaptation; and what kinds of ABS policy initiatives or reforms could help those countries to make better use of genetic diversity for climate change adaptation in the future.This information is critical for identifying potential future interventions at a regional or sub-regional level, and making farmer-managed seed systems more climate resilient.

This manual is an initiative of the Stop TB partnership, funded by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, and written by the Centre for Applied Spatial Epidemiology (CASE) of KIT Royal Tropical Institute.

This Methods Note has been developed in partnership with and for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It is the product of close collaboration between The Equality Institute (EQI), the foundation Gender Equality Team, and program staff of the foundation, building off research and analysis conducted by the Gender Team of the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) of the Netherlands.

It has been projected that the population of young people in Nigeria will exceed 57 million by the year 2025, a large proportion of which are adolescents. Adolescents constitute an important proportion of the population of Nigeria, they have delicate stages that presents with challenges especially that of sexual and reproductive health due to the developmental changes. It is important that they experience safe and pleasurable sexual life, the absence of which may expose them to reproductive health challenges. Presently, about one quarter of Nigerian adolescents are sexually active with age of sexual debut ranging from 10 to 15 years.

The outbreak of Ebola in West Africa gave a global alarm: viruses are oblivious to national borders; victims can be infected worldwide. The world population was alarmed, “emerging infectious diseases” should be controlled.

Situation analysis of the context of SRHR in Guatemala, with a special focus on the impact of the global gag rule the organizations working on SRHR, to identify opportunities for the Swedish embassy to work on SRHR (strategies, areas, partners).

The challenge for African countries is to strike a balance between protecting the interests of breeders, to maintain the incentive function of plant breeders’ rights in the commercial market, while providing sufficient leeway to smallholder farmers that depend on informal sources for their seed security and survival. An equally pressing challenge is to establish a PVP (plant variety protection) system that is acceptable to the key stakeholders (notably farmers and breeders), as this is very likely a prerequisite for successful implementation. ISSD Africa aims to actively contribute to this endeavour by answering the action learning question: How can room be created for ‘informal’ seed systems in a UPOV 1991 informed plant variety protection system?