This brief describes the impact of IDRC's Acacia Initiative in Mozambique, where the programme has successfully influenced national ICT policy. The programme initiated two pilot projects to establish telecentres, and worked through key 'ICT champions' to achieve policy change
Can people remain healthy in a world that is sick? Many ecological disasters can be directly traced to careless exploitation of the environment, with human beings as first perpetrator and then victim. Our health closely mirrors the health of our surroundings: this is the basis of the Ecohealth approach. It recognizes the links between humans and their biophysical, social, and economic environments, and that these links are reflected in the population's state of health. This is a new area of research, requiring input from scientists, community and interest groups, and decision-makers. This book describes this new approach, providing lessons and recommendations from various IDRC-supported research activities. It demonstrates how decision-makers, in particular, can use the ecohealth approach to formulate policies and solutions that are both immediately visible and sustainable over the long term
This brief based on a case study attempts to explore the linkage between research and policy formation. Looking at some of the achievements of the Tanzania Essential Health Interventions Project (TEHIP), it makes the case that research can contribute to make the health system more cost-effective and help allocate resources according to local needs. The project supported collection of data and developed key tools for planning and organisational changes. Focusing on health systems, health-seeking behaviour and health outcomes, research findings were able to indicate new directions and support the decision making process
This book reviews recent experiences in strengthening local institutions, governmental and non-governmental alike, in six countries on five continents. It examines various aspects of the tensions between international initiatives to save lives or to reconstruct the fabric of societies, and the parallel and sometimes competing international commitment to "capacitation" - to building longer term skills locally. The last chapter reviews the case studies and attempts to draw out the learning in terms of conceptual, operational, political and motivational issues