Humanitarian medical aid to third world countries requires extensive planning and coordination. Much of the needed aid received by these populations is from medical mission teams originating in industrialized countries. These groups supply medical treatment and aid to underserved populations, usually during brief trips to the country of need. Pharmaceutical and medical supply acquisition is necessary for these missions, but requires careful selection. Lack of knowledge regarding the needs of the population to be visited may lead to poor choices. Knowledge of the limited resources available in third world countries may lead to the misconception that any drug offered is better than no treatment. This attitude can lead to poor donation practices that may result in greater hardships for the country one is trying to assist. The purpose of this project was to develop a protocol, derived from experience and review of current research that can be used for acquisition of pharmaceuticals and medical supplies. This resource describes steps and considerations necessary when choosing medicinal supplies, including a list of large pharmaceutical outlets that warehouse drugs for this purpose.

Poverty is one of the most urgent problems on the international stage today. Although many strategies have been used to fight the escalation of poverty, each plan seems to ultimately fail. Micro-credit, an innovative and progressive idea, can be utilized as a successful and sustainable tool that works to empower people, by providing a means of improving one’s own economic situation. This research seeks to show that micro-credit is a useful way in which poverty can be alleviated in the developing world by fixing the root of the problem. Both Bolivia and Morocco are used as case studies to show that micro-credit is neither region nor context specific, and that ultimately this is the best tool to fight poverty in the developing world. Additionally, this research sheds light on the idea that supporting micro-credit institutions is ultimately in the best interest for all involved in the international community.

The hard fought freedom that many colonies underwent to free themselves from their colonial powers came with many unprecedented consequences. For example, financial institutions, such as The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund offered loans to ameliorate developing nations' incapacitating economic situations. However, acceptances of such loans were accompanied with major costs associated with structural adjustment programs (SAPs ). Adoption of these programs entailed liberalizing trade policies, privatization, and increasing exports. Implementation of the program proved to be detrimental to many developing nations. Research for four developing nations, (Mexico, Zimbabwe, Senegal, and Jamaica) showed that structural adjustment programs failed to substantially benefit their economies. The enforcement of SAPs typically led a country to be in worse financial straits than from the one they began with. Common calamities experienced by the states were widespread poverty and high levels of unemployment. Faced with this grueling reality, many citizens were forced to migrate. However, due to a lack of adequate education (education programs were cut in all nations), many migrants fell prey to human traffickers. The data studied suggests that the implementation of SAPs creates desperation in the citizenry that is so profound that many are willing to risk their lives to exit their home county.

A new flying wing design has been developed at the Unmanned Systems Lab (USL) at Virginia Tech to serve delivery and remote sensing applications in the developing world. The fully autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), named EcoSoar, was designed with the goal of creating a business opportunity for local entrepreneurs in low-resource communities. The system was developed in such a way that local fabrication, operation, and maintenance of the aircraft are all possible. In order to present a competitive financial model for sustained drone services, EcoSoar is made with reliable low-cost materials and electronics. This paper lays out the rapid prototyping and flight experiment efforts that went into polishing the design, test results from an EcoSoar centered drone workshop in Kasungu, Malawi, and finally a range optimization study with flight test validation. / Master of Science / A new humanitarian drone has been developed at the Unmanned Systems Lab (USL) at Virginia Tech. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), named EcoSoar, was designed with the goal of creating a business opportunity for local entrepreneurs in low-resource communities. In order to be a viable solution in the developing world EcoSoar utilizes customizable 3D-printed parts and wings made from cheap materials like posterboard and packing tape. In addition, tools for building the drone have been developed in such a way that anyone can learn to construct and operate EcoSoar regardless of experience. This paper lays out the engineering efforts that went into the design, lessons learned from an EcoSoar-centered workshop in Kasungu, Malawi, and finally offers an upgraded design.

No / Jagdish Bhagwati's proposal for a 'brains tax' to be levied on the incomes of the diaspora from developing countries residing in the developed countries and the proceeds to be remitted to the countries of origin of the diaspora is well known. In recent years the voluntary contributions or remittances from the diaspora to their countries of origin have often been higher than the aid monies given to these countries. It is now increasingly recognised that the diaspora may have an active role to play in the development process of their countries of origin. They are not only a source of funds; they are also a rich source of skills and know-how. This paper analyses the potential of the diaspora as agents of change in their countries of origin and argues that the social rate of return to a unit of diaspora investments may be higher than that for a unit of foreign direct investment from non-diaspora sources.

No / This paper attempts to explain the factors that determine the geographical allocation of foreign aid. Its novelty is that it develops a rigorous theoretical model and conducts the corresponding empirical investigations based on a large panel dataset. We run regressions for different major donors (United States, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and multilateral organizations). with the explicit objective of establishing whether the United States, in light of its geopolitical hegemony, behaves differently from others. We find that all the donors respond to recipient need in their allocation of aid, but that the United States puts less emphasis on this than the other donors with the exception of Japan. We also find that the United States puts more emphasis on donor¿recipient linkages than do the other donors suggesting that the United States attaches greater importance to issues of donor interest, for example, geopolitical, commercial, and other links with specific recipients.

Yes / This study aims to provide a better understanding of oversight the audit profession in Egypt, including its motivations, objectives and its working approach. Further, it reaches a better understanding of the Egyptian Big 4 partners’ perceptions of the new Audit Oversight Board (AOB). Previous studies have frequently examined the audit oversight system in developed countries (US and UK in particular), but little is known on how the system works on developing countries. We believe that facing different problems and challenges demands that audit regulators in developing countries follow different approaches in order to improve the quality of their audit markets. Lack of skilled auditors, lack of transparency and public accountability, and a high level of corruption are the main problems facing the audit profession in Egypt (Awadallah, 2006, Wahdan et. al., 2005: a). Our findings suggest that establishing an audit oversight board in Egypt has been motivated by the need to attract foreign investments and follow the global trend of auditing in developed countries. A number of legal changes are needed in order to improve the AOB’s efficiency.

Yes / An ability to act upon an entrepreneurial opportunity has been noted to be a major driver of new venture success. However, scholarly knowledge is limited on how and when entrepreneurs’ alertness to entrepreneurial opportunities drives new venture success. The current study addresses this gap in the entrepreneurship literature by arguing that variations in new venture performance are a function of levels of entrepreneurial alertness and networking capabilities. Using primary data gathered from 203 new ventures operating in a sub-Saharan African economy, Ghana, the study finds that increases in the levels of entrepreneurial alertness are related to increases in new venture performance. Additionally, the study finds that, under conditions of increased use of social and business networking capabilities, the potency of entrepreneurial alertness as a driver of new venture success is amplified. Theoretical, managerial and policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Yes / Purpose: The chief objective of the study is to understand that how different demographic variables and repeated availing of service from the same doctor or same hospital shapes the overall perception of healthcare service quality and satisfaction among inpatients admitted in private hospitals in an emerging economy. Methodology: A self-administered, cross-sectional survey of inpatients using a questionnaire translated into Hindi and Gujarati. The data was collected from 702 inpatient from 18 private clinics located in three selected cities from Western India. Findings The results indicate that experience with hospital administration, doctors, nursing staff, physical environment, hospital pharmacy and physical environment is significant predictor of inpatient satisfaction. Physical environment was found to be significantly associated with satisfaction only among female inpatient. It was also found that repeat availing of services either from the same hospital or doctor does not increases patient satisfaction. The feasibility, reliability and validity of the instrument that measures major technical and non-technical dimensions of quality of healthcare services were established in the context of a developing country. Originality/Value: The study makes important contribution by empirically investigating the inpatient assessment of healthcare service quality based upon their demographic information and repeated availing of services to understand how repeat visit shapes the service quality perception.

Yes / This paper considers recent field evidence to analyse what online public services citizens need, explores potential citizen subsidy of these specific services and investigates where resources should be invested in terms of media accessibility. We explore these from a citizen-centric affordability perspective within three ‘exemplar’ developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank and United Nations in particular promote initiatives under the ‘Information and Communication Technologies for Development’ (ICT4D) to stress the relevance of e-Government as a way to ensure development and reduce poverty. We adopt a ‘Contingency Value’ method to conceptually outline reported citizens willingness to pay for digital public services. Hence, our focus is mainly upon an empirical investigation through extensive fieldwork in the context of sub-Sahara Africa. A substantive survey was conducted in the respective cities of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Lagos (Nigeria) and Johannesburg (South Africa). The sample of citizens was drawn from each respective Chamber of Commerce database for Ethiopia and South Africa, and for Nigeria a purchased database of businesses, based on stratified random sampling. These were randomly identified from both sectors ensuring all locations were covered with a total sample size of 1,297 respondents. It was found, in particular, that citizens were willing to pay to be able to access digital public services and that amounts of fees they were willing to pay varied depending on what services they wish to access and what devices they use (PCs or mobile phones). / European Investment Bank under the EIB-Universities Research Action Programme