This dissertation focuses on the lived, material realities of rural women, men, girls, and boys struggling to make a living in the context of changing national development priorities and changing environmental conditions in Southern Province, Zambia. Over the last 20 years, Gwembe Tonga migrants living in the frontier farming area of Kulaale have witnessed significant declines in non-cultivated “bush” resources due to the conversion of forest and grassland to agricultural uses. This dissertation seeks to understand how women, men, boys, and girls differently experience these declines according to local gender- and age-based divisions of subsistence labor. Drawing on a variety of theoretical lenses—including Feminist Geography, Feminist Political Ecology, African Feminisms, the Anthropology of Childhood, and the Anthropology of the State—and utilizing a unique blend of qualitative/ethnographic and quantitative/geospatial research methods, this study finds that the “extractive workloads” (the average annual distance traveled for the collection of key bush resources) associated with women, men, girls, and boys are both unequal and contrary to recent speculations about the distinctive vulnerability of adult women to environmental change. The unequal labor burdens associated with the extraction of bush resources in this changing frontier landscape are but one of several missing “links” that this dissertation identifies within current theorizing about the gendered dimensions of environmental change. Other “links” include the social organization and religious life of Gwembe Tonga migrants, the demographic structure of Kulaale homesteads (their organization on the landscape and their demographic composition), the interplay between agency and vulnerability in children’s daily lives, and the role of the state in shaping Kulaale residents’ perceptions of and interactions with the surrounding environment. This story of Gwembe Tonga migrants’ gendered and aged experiences of environmental change unfolds in the context of competing national economic strategies—frontier development wildlife conservation. This dissertation concludes that women, men, girls, and boys are all physically and economically vulnerable to the changes associated with frontier development, conservation policy, and environmental change, with social, political, and economic factors prompting them to experience vulnerability in aged and gendered ways.

Lady Health Workers (LHWs) are community health workers who work under the Pakistani government’s National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Health Care, and provide basic medication, contraceptives, and nutrition and prenatal advice to expectant mothers. LHWs are a pivotal bridge between mothers, especially those who live in traditional households, and medical practitioners and policymakers. Several studies indicate that LHWs have been instrumental in decreasing maternal and infant mortality rates, lowering the incidence of tuberculosis in urban and rural populations, and treating depression among patients. In addition, they conduct vaccination campaigns including the WHO-supervised polio campaign. Since 2007 tensions have emerged between LHWs and the government regarding pay and working conditions. The LHWs have staged sit-ins, demonstrations as well as a march to the capital to highlight their plight and demand better working conditions from the government. This has resulted in disruptions in vaccination and awareness campaigns. Reports suggest that a higher morale amongst workers translates to higher productivity and more effective work results. Thus, understanding the issues affecting LHWs is essential to a more productive health care work force. By analyzing the dynamics underpinning the relationship between LHWs, the Pakistani government, and the community, policymakers can obtain a better understanding of how the intersecting influences of gender, culture and spaces impact the implementation of health care policies. This analysis could also shed light on the issue of worker retention in the medical field. Drawing from a series of semi-structured interviews conducted over a four-month period in the Pakistani city of Karachi, I analyse how LHWs view their work in relation to gender, agency, self-worth and human security in an urban setting. In addition, I locate the workers’ experiences within neocolonial and postcolonial systems. Findings indicate that while LHWs are extremely devoted to their work, a lack of security, compounded by irregular pay and gender discrimination, has contributed to low morale. The masculine and hierarchal systems LHWs operate within have contributed to the workers’ struggle to be recognised professionally. In addition, international development organisations’ agendas and government policies have had unintended and often negative consequences on LHWs’ morale and experiences. / Thesis (Master, Global Development Studies) -- Queen's University, 2013-07-03 16:28:46.91

This thesis addresses the puzzle of why changes in relative donor contributions to the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) did not reflect shifts in their relative economic capabilities. It addresses the grand debates about how power transitions shape a US-led hegemonic international system by exploring one specific international organisation. Drawing primarily on archives, elite interviews, and participant observation, I examine sixteen rounds of IDA replenishment negotiations from 1960 to 2010. There are three puzzles a close empirical analysis throws up. The first is why the hegemon maintained its burden shares regardless of rise or fall in economic status; I call this ‘Hegemonic Lag’. The second is why ascending powers were slow to assume greater burden-shares despite economic ascents; I call this ‘Challenger Inertia.’ The third puzzle is why significant burden-shifting occurred on a much greater scale than shifts in relative economic weight; I call this ‘Accelerated Burden-Shifting.’ Two conventional explanations – donors’ relative ‘ability-to-pay’ and their ‘country-specific interests’ – offer a first-cut analysis of donors’ ability and willingness to contribute. However, they fail to uncover how bipolar geopolitics and World Bank governance shaped IDA burden-sharing dynamics. This thesis tests whether the hegemon will maintain its shares even if its relative economic capacity wanes, if its bipolar rival poses a more intense external threat. Equally it tests whether a hegemon and/or waning powers with a desire to expand total IDA resources will cede voting rights to ascending powers in exchange for financial support to IDA. Finally, the research examines whether a hegemon violating the ‘fairness’ principle by shirking obligations but pursuing undue influence will face secondary states willing to take ‘exit/voice’ measures to restore an implicit contribution-to-influence equity line; and whether such countermeasures would be postponed if secondary states are structurally dependent upon the hegemon and/or lack viable outside options. In-depth case studies are used to test these hypotheses. Overall the thesis reveals that the US maintained or cut its burden share as the Soviet threat waxed and waned; and that as the Soviet Union collapsed the US abandoned both its leadership for IDA expansion to counter the Soviet threat and its self-restraint in controlling the World Bank, provoking the fairness concern among secondary states – the most potent factor in explaining IDA burden-sharing dynamics in the post-Cold War era.

This thesis explores the relationship between education and employment, particularly as it affects the socio-economic mobility of people from poor and marginalized communities in Nepal. I carry out a multi-sited, inter-generational analysis to investigate the aspirations, expectations, and experiences of young people. Based on ethnographic and participatory fieldwork in a village and a school in the outskirts of Lalitpur in 2012, this research grows organically to provide a detailed review of current schooling practices and their employment as well as wider implications in Nepal. Theoretically, this thesis investigates the experiences of the marginalized in terms of the relevance, level, and quality of their education. I examine the role of education as a socializing institution as well as its characteristics as a social and a positional good. I assess the outcomes of their education through internal measures (such as exam scores and pass rates) but also extend the analysis to include external ones (such as job opportunities and life trajectories). I focus on the deterministic life-stages model of transition to challenge the expectation that children go to school, acquire skills, obtain jobs, and become 'adults'. People have historically placed high hopes on education, but the potential for socio-economic mobility for the poor and marginalized are limited by the failures of the school system, sustained challenges to higher education access, limited relevance of education to employment opportunities, and continued prominence of social and cultural capital to secure jobs. Yet, their educational engagement has provided some benefits even as their expectations for gainful employment have not been met. Schooling has become an integral part of childhood, but foreign migration is emerging as a prominent alternative avenue for the aspirant youth. Further, the distinctions between children and adults are also blurred as students balance their transitions between school, work, and home to succeed within the system.

Doctor of Philosophy / Security Studies Interdepartmental Program / Emizet F. Kisangani / Attacks against nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in high-risk conflict zones have increased exponentially over the last two decades. However, the few existing empirical studies on NGO insecurity have tended to focus on external factors influencing attacks, with little attention paid to the actions of aid workers themselves. To fill this gap, this dissertation theorizes that aid workers may have contributed to their own insecurity by engaging in greater political action. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used to assess the impact of political activity by NGOs on the insecurity of aid workers. The quantitative analyses test the theory at two levels. The first is a large-N country-level analysis of 117 nations from 1999 to 2015 using panel corrected standard errors. The second is a subnational-level statistical analysis of four case studies: Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Colombia from 2000 to 2014. Both the country- and provincial- level analyses show that the magnitude of aid tends to be a significant determinant of aid worker security. The qualitative methods of “structured-focused comparison” and “process tracing” are used to analyze the four cases. Results show that aid workers are most likely to be victims of politically-motivated attacks while in-transit. Consistent with the quantitative findings, it is speculated that if workers are engaged in a large-scale project over an extended period of time, attackers will be able to monitor their daily activities and routines closely, making it easier to orchestrate a successful ambush. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that political statements made by NGOs—regardless of their sectors of activity—have increased insecurity for the broader aid community. These results dispel the myth that humanitarian activity has historically been independent, impartial, and neutral. Several NGOs have relied on this false assumption for security, believing that adherence to core principles has contributed to “humanitarian space.” The results also dispel the popular NGO assumption that targeted attacks are not official tactics of organized militants, but rather the result of criminality or mistaken identity. In fact, the overwhelming majority of aid workers attacked in high-risk conflict zones have been targeted by political actors.

Recent literature in various practical fields calls for a 'relational approach' to social justice, as a theoretical alternative that transcends limitations with liberal contractarianism to offer more penetrating analysis of social justice. I critically engage literature from radical intellectual-political traditions such as Marxism, feminism, and critical race theory to propose what can - and can't - form the basis of a cogent relational critique of liberalism and an alternative positive account. I hone this through dialogue with Rawlsian 'justice as fairness', as well as more recent developments such as relational egalitarianism. The most distinguishing feature of a relational approach is ontological: its social-theoretic account of injustice comprises supra-individual phenomena - relations, social groups, structure, historical causality - as opposed to individual locations hosting portions of a distribuend. Moreover, I define an intermediate position in the ideal vs non-ideal theory debate, arguing that a persuasive relational approach would 'start from injustice'; it would identify the primary desideratum incumbent on social justice theory as being that it enhances understanding of real injustice and thereby informs counteraction. One upshot is a closer relationship between political philosophy and social theory; in turn this reflects how a relational approach to social justice can enjoy symbiosis with the broader 'relational turn' in humanities and social sciences. The argument is furthered through exemplificatory reference to the empirical context of Brazil's post-redemocratisation experimentation with participatory democracy in the social assistance sector, as an aspect of the country's putative 'new social contract'.

The European Union (EU) has long strived to act collectively in the face of international challenges such as poverty, hunger and state fragility beyond its borders. While the EU member states and institutions seek coherent responses to these challenges, they also have partly competing agendas. Yet there has been increasing agreement on collective action. To understand this agreement, this thesis asks how policy professionals contribute to the advocacy of policy norms for collective action between the EU institutions and the member states. The research analyses policy processes in EU development cooperation since the early 2000s. In development cooperation the EU's effectiveness has been particularly contested because of the combination of competing ideas about the EU's role and about how to achieve effective and sustainable development. The research finds that, while formal decisions about collective action remain in the hands of member states, transnational networks of policy professionals in the EU institutions, member state bureaucracies and civil society contribute to shaping the terms of debate regarding the EU's role in effective development cooperation. These network interactions, which form around institutional decision-making centres, transcend the organisational boundaries of member state bureaucracies, EU institutions and civil society organisations. These findings fill a gap in our understanding of how EU norms governing collective external action are advocated as existing research has tended to focus on how institutional structure facilitate state coordination. By concentrating on the cases of Germany and the United Kingdom and their engagement with the EU institutions, the research revises existing, dominant views on norm advocacy in EU external action: It links the previously little related concepts of norm advocacy and discursive networks to analyse the agency and scope of policy professionals in the advocacy of EU policy norms; and it provides new empirical insights into the role of these policy professionals for collective action between the EU institutions and the member states in development cooperation.

In the developing countries of Africa, development endeavors are hindered by larger and still increasing numbers of children who are susceptible and deprived of parents due to HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases and violent conflicts (UNICEF, 2005). Children growing up without adequate adult care and facing economic and psychosocial hardship may miss out the opportunity to attend school and some of them may develop long lasting psychosocial disorders and problem behaviors that continue into adulthood, compromising the security of next generations (Foster, Levine & Williamson, 2005; Thurman et al., 2008). Recent studies in developing countries showed that family-oriented community interventions can help improve the emotional wellbeing of children with problem behaviors and increase school enrollment and retention as well as academic performances in school (Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003; Grossman & Bulle, 2006; Huggings & Randell, 2007) This study uses secondary analysis of data from baseline and after-eighteen-months follow-up surveys of an operational study 'assessing the psychosocial benefits of a community-based mentoring program for orphans and vulnerable children' in the Southern Province of Rwanda. The purpose of this study was to extend current research to assess the effect of a community-based mentoring program on problem behaviors, depressive symptoms, and school attendance among children (6-12) and adolescents (13-18) living in youth-headed households in Rwanda The results highlight that problem behaviors and depressive symptoms in adolescents and children living in YHH are challenging not only for young caregivers but also for community adults willing to support them. The findings further demonstrate that despite their vulnerabilities, the school attendance is high and still increasing in school age children but many adolescents living in YHH are missing out the benefits of schooling. There is evidence that the mentoring program have positively improved depressive symptoms of adolescents living in YHH. However, there is no evidence of the program effect on problem behaviors or school attendance in either children or adolescents. Family-oriented interventions appear to be more appropriate to reduce and prevent serious psychosocial problems in both caregivers and other children and adolescents at high risk / acase@tulane.edu

Among the multitude of interventions to address the worst forms of child labor (WFCL), one of the responses to the presence of WFCL has been the institution of child labor monitoring (CLM). While systems to systematically monitor children with respect to their exposure and risks have been implemented, the degree of their efficacy and ultimately their effect on the targeted populations begs academic scrutiny. This dissertation seeks to provide an empirical view of the community-level dynamics that emerge in response to a community-based CLM program and their effects, in turn, on the CLM itself. An embedded multiple case study methodology, surveying longitudinally at two points in time using a mix of purposive and probability sampling techniques, was employed for this study. Two communities, Ahokwa in the Western Region, and Dwease in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, were selected as cases. The study finds that between the two points of observation - before and after the introduction of CLM - a profound reduction of WFCL is observed in Dwease, whereas much less reduction was observed in Ahokwa. A point-by-point analysis within and between the two villages reveals that individual, social and institutional factors worked together to transform behavior in Dwease. The principal change catalysts in Dwease were (a) a heightened awareness of child work hazards and a deepened parental investment in child education working at the individual level, coupled with (b) new norms created by the town’s opinion leaders and the emergence of peer accountability at the social level, and (c) monitoring carried out by the Community Data Collection (CDC) and enforcement carried out by the Community Child Protection Committee (CCPC) - the two new institutions constituting CLM at the community-level. The underlying social dynamic proved to be decisive: a tipping point was crossed in Dwease whereby progressive opinion leaders in the community, who, once sensitized to recognize the pejorative effects of CL/WFCL, created new social norms and spurred a critical mass of community members to rid their community of CL/WFCL. This study shows that with sufficient local ownership, and if properly instituted, the tandem operation of child protection committees and child labor monitoring enables a community to effectively detect, police and mitigate the practice of child labor and WFCL. / acase@tulane.edu

acase@tulane.edu