This child well-being mega-map in LMICs shows evidence synthesis studies – systematic reviews and evidence and gap maps (EGMs) – that include studies on the effectiveness of interventions to improve child well-being in LMICs published in English. The mega-map provides a visual and interactive display of completed and on-going studies structured around a framework: a matrix of interventions and outcomes primarily based on the strategic plan of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF, 2018). This includes seven intervention categories; early child development, health and nutrition, education, social work and welfare, social protection, environmental health including water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and governance.Of the 333 included studies, there is substantial evidence in traditional areas: health and nutrition (234) is the most commonly studied intervention, followed by early child development (194). Education (83) and social protection (62) are fairly well-represented. However, there is limited evidence synthesis in non-traditional areas: social work & welfare (44), environmental health including WASH (41) and governance (12). The most commonly studied outcomes are health (259) and healthy development (215). Very few studies measured economic impact (42) and risk factor reduction (55) of these interventions.Whilst the evidence base is relatively large, it is unevenly distributed across intervention categories. There is a need for more studies which are explicitly focused on programmes for vulnerable children. There are limited systematic reviews focusing on gender and equity issues in child well-being. Very few studies were identified assessing programme cost of the interventions. It would be useful for global and country partners to work together to achieve consensus on priority areas for evidence synthesis. They should also adopt a coordinated approach to undertaking and updating maps and reviews across priority areas. Read more...
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The Global Partnership for Education’s (GPE) Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) thematic funding supports global and regional initiatives that use knowledge exchange, evidence and innovation to help developing countries solve critical educational challenges. A GPE discussion paper,Improving teaching and learning. A knowledge and innovation exchange (KIX) discussion paper was published in July 2019. The purpose of this paper is to describe the current landscape in improving teaching and learning and spark discussion and debate around potential areas for GPE/KIX investment. The "describes the challenges facing developing country to improve learning levels and reviews existing efforts to address those challenges through global goods. It identifies remaining knowledge and innovation gaps and offers a set of areas in which GPE could invest.
"focus on teachers and their work,and on three important sets of challenges that affect them: 1.The quality of support to teacher development. This includes weak content and pedagogical knowledge and classroom skills (including instructional practices) among teachers, often because of low quality of pre-and in-service teacher training. This is related to inadequate standards and accreditation for teachers and a lack of ongoing support and coaching from head teachers and other administrative leaders. 2.Teaching methods and learning materials.This includes a lack of textbooks and other learning materials;language issues, particularly around mother-tongue teaching; and teaching that is not aligned with children’s current level of understanding. 3.Systems for recruiting, managing and engaging teachers.This includes attracting and retaining the most qualified individuals to the teaching profession, deploying teachers to areas of the country with the greatest need, reducing unauthorized teacher absences and maximizing instructional time, and engaging teachers in policy dialogue and reform. The GPE paper reviews several global and regional initiatives currently underway from UNESCO, GPE and other organizations that aim to improve the quality of teaching. A notable item in that list is the Breadth of Learning Opportunities initiative led by the Brookings Institution and Education International that includes physical health and emotional/social well-being. The paper concludes by identifying five areas for investment. These include "sharing what works" to (a) improve data on teachers and teaching, enhance teacher recruitment, selection & retention, (c) improving accountability, incentives & rewards, (d) scaling up high quality teaching in early childhood and primary grades (e) enabling school and system level factors that support teaching (f) aligning budgets, planning and workforce changes to increase the number of teachers and transparency. Read more.... A special issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health in July 2019 contains several cost-benefit estimates of investing in health, education, productivity and safety in low & middle income countries. "The papers in this supplement present an important milestone in addressing this challenge, helping the international development field to move forward by focusing on the question of investing at scale for a few key components of the adolescent health agenda that are especially relevant for low- and middle-income contexts. All the empirical papers assess the effectiveness of implementing a specific set of interventions nationally at scale for their prioritized outcome of interest—health, education, productivity, safety—for a sustained period through 2030. The analyses confirm that the resulting benefits in all cases are substantial, both for the adolescents and for the economic and social progress of their nations. Four of the five empirical papers also model the costs of these interventions, and three papers further extend their analysis to calculate benefit-to-cost ratios (BCRs) of such investments. The BCRs range from 5.8 to 12.6, indicating a compelling case for national and global decision-makers to prioritize investing in adolescents." ....
A scoping review of the research on school health and development programs in low resource countries was published in Issue #5, 2016 of Health Education Research. "We included 30 studies meeting specific criteria: (i) studies mainly targeted school going children or adolescents; (ii) admissible designs were randomized controlled trials, controlled before-after studies or interrupted time series; (iii) studies included at least one measure of impact and (iv) were primary studies or systematic reviews. We found that school-based interventions can be classified in two main categories: those targeting individual determinants of health such as knowledge, skills and health behaviors and those targeting environmental determinants such as the social and physical environment at the school, family and community level. Findings suggest that a comprehensive approach addressing both individual and environmental determinants can induce long-term behavior change and significantly improve health and educational outcomes. We highlight the need for further study of the long-term impact of school-based interventions on health outcomes in developing countries." ISHN has been collecting a number of similar reviews that examine different applications of the "School Health & Nutrition" programs/approach to this context. Our recent ISHN report to Members-Subscribers includes similar conclusions to those reached in this review; that there are several "multi-intervention programs" addressing issues such as water-sanitation-hygiene (WASH), school feeding and the prevention of infectious diseases that produce changes both to the conditions in schools as well as student health & behaviours. Read more >> (This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN)
Research Priorities for Adolescent Health in Low Resource Countries: A Consultation with Experts8/19/2016 The results of a Delphi consultation with 142 experts (out of 450) is reported in the July 2016 issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health. " These experts were invited to propose research questions related to descriptive epidemiology, interventions (discovery, development/testing, and delivery/implementation), and health policy/systems; and (3) asked the experts to prioritize the research questions based on five criteria: clarity, answerability, importance or impact, implementation, and equity. Overall, the types of the top 10 research questions in each of the eight health areas included descriptive epidemiology (26%), interventions: discovery (11%), development/testing (25%), delivery (33%), and policy, health and social systems (5%). Across health areas, the top questions highlighted integration of health services, vulnerable populations, and different health platforms (such as primary care, schools, families/parents, and interactive media). The top-ranked question for adolescent health: policy, health and social systems related to platforms to reach the most vulnerable adolescents. Priority topics/questions were identified in these eight areas: Communicable diseases prevention and management, Injuries and violence, Mental health, Noncommunicable diseases management, Nutrition, Physical activity, Substance use, Adolescent health: policy, health and social systems. Read More >>
(This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN) A research review in the July 2016 issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health reports that "youth lacked knowledge about sexually transmitted infections STIs and services. In addition, youth experienced barriers related to service availability and a lack of integration of services. The most reported barriers were related to acceptability of services. Youth reported avoiding services or having confidentiality concerns based on provider demographics and some behaviors. Finally, experiences of shame and stigma were common barriers to seeking care.Improving uptake may require efforts to address clinic systems and provider attitudes, including confidentiality issues. Moreover, addressing barriers to STI services may require addressing cultural norms related to adolescent sexuality. Read more>>
(This item is among the 5-10 highlights posted for ISHN members each week from the ISHN Member information service. Click on the web link to join this service and to support ISHN) The UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 global development goals that will replace the previous Millennium Development Goals that concluded in 2015 at its meeting in New York. The news clippings this week capture some of that activity. The items we identified this week include the summit web site, several different access points, and more. Education is one of the 17 goals and was highlighted as being central to the success of all of the goals by the UN Secretary General in one news release. Another important news release came from several UN agencies, with a call for better integration between health and education. ISHN and its partners in our global dialogue, ASCD and Education International are very pleased to see this call. There are several other news release, statements and world leaders available from the items we identified this week. Read more >> (An item from the ISHN Member information service)
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #7, 2015 of The Lancet Global Health, written by the Assistant Director of PAHO, the regional office for WHO in the Americas agrees witb the assertion made in the May 2015 issue of that Journal. (ISHN highlighted that earlier article in our weekly report for May 25-31, 2015. We have reposted that item into this blog here) The earlier article " reports on an interdisciplinary analytical review of the SDG process, in which experts in different SDG areas identified potential interactions through a series of interdisciplinary workshops. This process generated a framework that reveals potential conflicts and synergies between goals, and how their interactions might be governed. We noted that this call for integrated system-based responses underlines the need for the global dialogue that ASCD, Education International and ISHN have stimulated in regards to integrating health and social programs within the education systems. The PAHO article notes that "Greater synergies between health and other sectors could be achieved by framing the SDGs in such a way that their attainment requires policy coherence and shared solutions across multiple sectors; that is a Health-in-All-Policies approach" In essence, the educator led dialogue on school health promotion might be summarized with this slogan; a Health in All Policies approach will require that Health is in (actively, with personnel and funding) in all sectors (HiAS). Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in May 2015 Issue of The Lancet Global Health underlines the need and huge challenges in aligning the work on the 17 SD Goals recently adopted by the UN. The article also underlines the need for the global dialogue that ASCD, Education International and ISHN have stimulated in regards to integrating health and social programs within the education systems. The article " reports on an interdisciplinary analytical review of the SDG process, in which experts in different SDG areas identified potential interactions through a series of interdisciplinary workshops. This process generated a framework that reveals potential conflicts and synergies between goals, and how their interactions might be governed. The 17 SDGs are represented in three concentric layers. In the inner layer we find the people-centred goals that aim to deliver individual and collective wellbeing. The wellbeing goals are supported by second-level goals that relate to the production, distribution, and delivery of goods and services including food, energy, clean water, and waste and sanitation services in cities and human settlements (ISHN suggests that equitable and inclusive education systems is better placed here). We call these infrastructure goals to deliver the wellbeing goals and provide a platform for delivering the wellbeing goals. The figure's outer layer contains three natural environment goals; natural resources and public goods in land, ocean, and air, including biodiversity and climate change.In our framework, the middle layer, infrastructure goals, represent a domain for global development goal setting with particularly strong effects on inner-level and outer-level goals. A crucial lack of potential synergies at the level of infrastructure goals is compounded by governance issues at this level. Here decisions are typically taken by powerful elites and technical experts. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in July 2015 Issue of Frontiers in Public Health: Child Health & Human Development describes how such school meal programs can positively affect student friendships and reduce bullying. "The aim of the current paper is to investigate whether attendance at BCs and ASCs has an impact on children’s friendship quality and experiences of peer victimization. BC attendees, ASC attendees, and non-attendees completed the Friendship Qualities Scale and the Multidimensional Peer Victimization Scale (MPVS) at two time points. Time-1 data were collected 2 months after the introduction of school clubs. Time-2 data were then collected on the same measures again 6 months later. Results of the analyses of Time-1 data showed no significant differences between groups on any of the measures at Time-1. However, at Time-2, BC attendees showed improved levels of friendship quality compared to the other two groups. Moreover, analysis of the MPVS data at Time-2 showed that children who attended BC or ASC experienced a decline in victimization across time. The current findings suggest that BC attendance facilitates the quality of children’s relationships with their best friend over time. Additionally, attendance at a breakfast or ASC was associated with a reduction in victimization over time. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #2, 2015 of Journal of Development Effectiveness examines the uphill struggle of aid effectiveness caused by the proliferation and fragmentation of aid projects. The authors suggest that " Aid fragmentation is one of the hindrances to aid effectiveness. As a main contributing factor, proliferated aids from the donor side have been pointed out. In this regard, we first examine the main factors for the donors’ proliferation and its links with the recipients’ fragmentation, which have been asked in several studies, but are revisited again with a comprehensive up-to-date data set. We also examine whether a recipient country is indeed going to get worse off through fragmented aid or, more directly, by proliferated aid. The main findings are (1) donors tend to proliferate their aid disbursement as their aid budget increases; (2) the recipients’ fragmentation is mainly due to the donors’ proliferation, and this has been prevalent since the early stage of aid history; (3) non-monotonicity is shown between aid fragmentation and growth, given that economies of scale is dominant in the incipient stage of a recipient country’s growth, but turns out to affect negatively in the long run; (4) therefore, the donors’ proliferation will eventually harm the recipients’ growth. Read more>>
(From the ISHN Member information service) In our extensive monitoring of the research, we find that the now-popular "ecological approach" is more often actually applied in the "analysis" stage, identifying the complex, multiple and multi-level influences on behaviour and practice, rather than being actually used in the "action" stage, where the approach is used to organize and deliver a planned variety of interventions to affect the multiple influences. We are pleased to read the article in the August 2014 issue of International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity, which reports on a superb application of the ecological approach in 15 elementary schools in Mexico. The authors report that "Thirty-two distinct intervention strategies were implemented in one setting (i.e., school) to engage four different target-groups (students, parents, school representatives, government) across two domains (Nutrition and Physical Activity). Overall, 47.5% of the strategies targeted the school infrastructure and/or personnel; 37.5% of strategies targeted a key political actor, the Public Education Secretariat while fewer strategies targeted parents (12.5%) and children (3%). More strategies were implemented in the Nutrition domain (69%) than Physical Activity (31%). The most frequently used SCT construct within both intervention domains was Reciprocal Determinism (e.g., where changes to the environment influence changes in behavior and these behavioral changes influence further changes to the environment); no significant differences were observed in the use of SCT constructs across domains. Findings provide insight into a promising combination of strategies and theoretical constructs that can be used to implement a school-based obesity prevention program. Strategies emphasized school-level infrastructure/personnel change and strong political engagement." The complete text of the article is available. A full report on the project is also available here.
A detailed description of the impact of intervention during its two year implementation is provided here. (Note: the results after two years are modest, with small changes in eating habits and some types of physical activity reported. In our view, this reflects the reality that complex, multi-intervention programs need several years in order to be embedded in the school culture as well as to interact with the local neighbourhood and parents/families. Larger, community, media and societal influences are also important. The study did not report any changes to obesity levels. This is consistent with other studies, not only of school programs, that obesity is a problem that is far more challenging than what can be affected by a single setting within the community. For schools, we should adjust our expectations of the impact of even well-delivered multiple interventions such that students are truly supported by healthy factors while in school and that they graduate with the knowledge, skills, selected attitudes, beliefs and intentions that can be reasonably expected. If an entire society is obsengenic, then we should recognize the limits of the school's influence. The authors capture our above assessment of current efforts to implement ecological approaches as follows: " The premise underlying ecological programming is that a multilevel program is likely to be more effective than an individually focused program because it affords the opportunity to encounter the same behavioral prompts (e.g., to be more physically active) from a variety of sources (parents, teachers, coaches) in a variety of settings (home, school, community) [13]-[16]. Therefore, an intervention program that contains diverse strategies to engage several different stakeholders across a range of settings might address the health behavior in a more comprehensive way and thus yield better results than a simpler program (i.e., fewer targets, less settings). Despite its intuitive appeal and an increase in the use of ecological principles for programming to prevent childhood obesity in developed countries [17], optimal (i.e., effective, easy to implement at low cost) combinations of intervention activities to promote healthy lifestyles have yet to be identified. In addition to determining optimal combinations of intervention activities, health promotion practitioners striving to integrate ecological principles into their programs must also strive to develop programs that are theoretically informed. Challenges to theoretical integration include practitioner difficulties in operationalizing and assessing theoretical constructs [18]. The purpose of this study was to assess the integration of ecological principles and theoretical constructs in a school-based obesity prevention program that was successful in creating a supportive environment for healthy behaviors." The conclusion to the paper notes that "The aim of this paper was to assess the integration of ecological principles and theoretical constructs involved in a successful school-based obesity prevention program in Mexico City. We sought to unpack the intervention program along intervention domains in order to develop a map of the successful intervention program. If we compare our ecological map with recommendations in the literature [15],[17],[20], we can ascertain that this intervention program was a genuine ecological effort within a single setting since it delivered a diversity of intervention strategies involving multiple targets (POL, ORG, INT, IND), across both intervention domains. The ecological mapping showed that several different targets (PE teachers, school teachers, food vendors, parents, children and the school environment) were engaged, and that these efforts are consistent with those recommended to promote behavior change and to prevent obesity in children [7],[9],[23],[37]-[39]. Overall, our findings are consistent with existing evidence that policy intervention strategies can impact different ecological levels of influence [42]. This may be especially the case for hierarchical institutions such as school systems, where decisions are made at more than one level." The reflections offered by the researchers are also interesting. "To our knowledge, this is the first research to document the integration of ecological principles and theoretical constructs in a school-based obesity prevention program in Mexico. The deconstruction of a successful intervention program that has documented environmental and student behavior improvements provides novel information for the implementation of multifactorial interventions in school-based health promotion programs. Although there may be a variety of successful combinations of ecological strategies and theoretical constructs, our findings provide one version that can be used as a starting point to develop even more effective combinations. Within the school setting, this ecological combination of strategies emphasizes school and political targets. Moreover, the strategies in both the Nutrition and Physical Activity domains are most commonly underpinned by the theoretical construct of Reciprocal Determinism. In a context where the school environment is considered “obesogenic” and there is compelling evidence that this environment can shape children's eating and PA patterns, the current findings provide valuable insight about the types of strategies that can be leveraged to optimal effects. It is expected that these findings will be especially meaningful to inform obesity prevention programs in Mexico and in low-middle income countries where childhood obesity is an emerging problem." Read more>> The report notes that "Vaccines and immunization have created a healthier world. Progress is being made towards polio eradication. Measles and neonatal tetanus deaths are on the decline and new vaccines are being
introduced into the national programmes of low -and middle-income countries with associated reductions in morbidity and mortality. Still, national governments, development partners and international agencies must invest more to meet the Decade of Vaccines’ goals of disease eradication or elimination and to reduce mortality and morbidity from vaccine-preventable diseases. However, the report also notes that :
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #3, 2013 of Rural & remote Health reports on the effective use of a national school health assessment tool in Niger. "Award schemes and self-evaluation systems have been developed the HPS concept in European and Asian countries. However, the implementation of HPS in African countries has been minimal. This study evaluated the impact of a self-evaluation system on school health in Niger. A school health assessment guide was distributed to 1999 primary schools in the NigerTahoua region to raise awareness and solve problems related to school health and hygiene. The number of schools that planned or implemented health-related activities, and the budget and implementation status of their activities was compared over 3 years (before, soon after, and 1 year after distribution). Focus group discussions (FGDs) were also conducted targeting Conseillers Pédagogiques (CPs), who supervise primary schools and teachers, primary school principals and members of Comité de Gestion des Etablissement Scolaire (COGES), which is a type of school steering committee. The number of schools planning at least one activity increased from 47% to 79% soon after distribution of the guide.The number of schools implementing activities increased from 44% to 65% one year after distribution. Health-related budget per school also increased and increases were maintained 1 year after the intervention. Most FGD participants expressed a positive impression of the program and noted the usefulness of the guide. However, some respondents reported difficulties, especially in relation to budget. Conclusion: The introduction of a health activity guide for self-assessment was effective in increasing health-related activities in primary schools in Niger, where a simple monitoring system should be introduced to establish the HPS concept. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) A book review in Issue #2, 2013 of the Journal of Children and Poverty alerts us to an -in-depth analysis of development statistics in sub-Saharan Africa. The book chronicles how pressure from donor countries and international agencies has caused government officials in those countries to cobble together and mis-use several sources of data to draw inaccurate pictures of progress in these countries. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) A systematic review of over 700 studies of programs to reduce adolescent child bearing in low and middle income countries, published in issue #4, 2013 of Studies in Family Planning, reports that "A total of 737 studies published between 2000 and 2011 were reviewed; 19 were identified as meeting eligibility criteria. Studies were included that: evaluated program effects on adolescents and young people, either as the primary target population or as a subset of a broader target group; evaluated an intervention intended to reduce adolescent fertility or generate improvements on a related outcome; and reported childbearing-related outcomes. Evidence indicates that a variety of interventions may be successful at reducing fertility, including school-based programs, health counseling, and cash transfers. An overview of evaluation efforts to date is provided, and potential best practices are highlighted." Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #6, 2013 of the American Journal of Tropical Diseases & Hygiene describes the contributions of non-governmental organizations to WHO targets for control of soil-transmitted helminthiases. The authors note that Soil-transmitted helminthiases (STH) may affect up to 1 billion children globally. They estimate that "In 2010, NGOs delivered 65.4 million STH treatments, which is an estimated 25.1% of the total delivered. Of these treatments, 23.3 million (35.6%) were not reported to the WHO; 22.3 million (95.7%) were from countries that had not submitted STH treatment reports to the WHO. Read more>>
(From USAID) At USAID, we recognize that – for the first time in history – a world without extreme poverty is possible. This is an ambitious challenge: to lift more than 1 billion people out of extreme poverty. But we have built a solid foundation. USAID and the international community have improved economic opportunity, health, food security, education, equality, stability, and accountable governance for millions of people. In fact, nearly 700 million people have moved above the $1.25 per day poverty line since 1990. If we continue on this trajectory, we could reach zero by 2030. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) A systematic review of school and community-based mental health programs in low and middle countries was reported in the September 2013 o=issue of BMC Public Health. The reviewers report that of the 22 studies selected for the review "With regard to the school-based interventions, the quality of evidence from the 14 studies is moderate to strong. Findings indicate that there is reasonably robust evidence that programmes implemented across diverse LMICs can have significant positive effects on students’ emotional and behavioural wellbeing, including reduced depression and anxiety and improved coping skills. Promising interventions include the Resourceful Adolescent Program (RAP-A), delivered by teachers in Mauritius. This study is an example of an evidence-based intervention adapted from a HIC. Another promising intervention is the teacher led peer-group support intervention for AIDs orphaned children. This study suggests the potential of peer support mental health promotion interventions in optimizing adjustment and decreasing the psychological distress associated with AIDS orphanhood. Such interventions may have great potential in addressing the increased risk of depression, peer relationship problems, post-traumatic stress and conduct problems. There is also some encouraging evidence that interventions which combine lifeskills with reproductive and sexual health education and physical health and fitness can have a significant positive effect on pupils’ risk-taking and prosocial behaviour. These findings are consistent with the substantive evidence from multiple reviews of school-based interventions in HICs which report the greater effectiveness of multi-component interventions (i.e. interventions that adopt a social competence approach and develop supportive environments), when compared with interventions that focus on specific problem behaviours". Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) An article in the September 2013 Issue of Public Health Nutrition documents the value of a low-cost snack provided in a school-feeding programs in Kenyan school children. The study compared three types of snacks and found that "The Meat and Plain Githeri (i.e. githeri + oil) groups showed the greatest declines in the probability of a morbidity outcome (PMO) for total and severe illnesses, malaria, poor appetite, reduced activity, fever and chills. The Meat group showed significantly greater declines in PMO for gastroenteritis (mainly diarrhoea) and typhoid compared with the Control group, for jaundice compared with the Plain Githeri group, and for skin infection compared with the Milk group. The Milk group showed the greatest decline in PMO for upper respiratory infection. For nearly all morbidity outcomes the Control group had the highest PMO and the least decline over time." Read more>>
(An item from ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #1, 2013 of the International Journal of Education Development uses the \\'Capability Approach\', developed by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, as well as a realist review to assess and explain the quality of teacher practices in Tanzania. The authors suggest that the apparent gap between perceptions (teachers are nor performing well enough vs the teachers don't have enough resources) The authors conclude that " By unpacking these components of teachers’ behaviours, and understanding the underlying structures, mechanisms, tendencies and counter-tendencies that produce certain empirically apprehended actions, we can start to see entry points in which measures to improve teachers’ professional performance could be seeded. First, interventions should acknowledge teachers’ causal mechanisms because these are the valued beings and doings that are central to the lives that teachers want to lead; if interventions could aid in the achievement of these functionings, they would also aid in the reduction of some ‘deficient’ behaviours that are associated with their constraint. Secondly, interventions need to account for and address dominant counter-tendencies (or constraining conversion factors) that teachers face, as this will ground strategies in context, provide pragmatic solutions, and convince teachers that these measures are worth trying. Without acknowledgement of causal mechanisms or counter-tendencies, it is highly likely that technocratic fixes that attempt to alter certain criticised practices will not be sustained, as teachers will revert to old ways. The reason being, these criticised ‘old ways’ are grounded in the valued functionings and conversion factors that consistently generate much of teachers’ behaviour." Read more>>
(An item from ISHN Member information service) Several articles in Issue #4 Supplement 2, 2012 of African Journal for Physical, Health Education, recreation & Dance describe the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and perceptions of young people in different parts of Africa. One article notes the paucity of information about STD's among students in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. Perceptions about condoms in Limpopo Province of SA was the fovus of the second article. A third article on students in that same province examined student awareness of the consequences of pregnancy. Read more>
(An item from ISHN Member information service) An article in the February 2013 Issue of PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases reviews the impact of school-based deworming programs and found that they can be effective in reducing the infection rates among those children. However, the authors caution that the overall impact of such school programs on the community may be lessened if the proportion of people in the community who are infected are adults rather than children. Really? Who would have thought that school programs do not reach adults? Really Read more>
(An item from ISHN Member information service) Scaling up (or diffusing innovations) is a major issue among others related the implementation/operation, capacity-building and systems change. The issue is discussed in an article appearing in Issue #6, 2012 of the International Journal of Education Development. The authors suggest that "Scaling-up their initiatives successfully and sustainably can be an efficient and cost effective way for NGOs to increase their impact across a range of developmental outcomes, but relatively little attention has been paid in the education sector to how best this may be done and debates appear to have stalled. One approach to scaling-up is replication, on which this paper focuses. While there is no one universally applicable path through which an educational NGO can achieve successful replication, more can be done to support choice of the best path to follow, with respect to specific NGO circumstances and the context within which it operates – and hopes to operate in future. This paper presents four known paths to replication alongside new illustrative diagrams to explore their advantages and disadvantages, and highlights the need for a fifth approach that does not appear in current literature. ‘Network replication’ is proposed as new pathway that draws on known strengths of networks and offers a learning-oriented approach to scaling-up". Read more.
(An item from ISHN Member information service) An article in Issue #6, 2012 of Policy Development Review describes a shift in thinking about monitoring and evaluation in low income countries. The article is described as "An important first step in any initiative involving M&E capacity development is the diagnosis of the systems' current status. This article presents a diagnostic checklist that captures issues of M&E policy: indicators, data collection and methodology; organisation; capacity-building; participation of nongovernmental actors; and use. It applies it to a review of the PRSP M&E arrangements of 20 aid-dependent countries in sub-Saharan Africa to demonstrate comparative strengths and weaknesses". Read More.
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