Month: April 2022

How to Determine the Excellence of Development Models

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Development practitioners use various interventions or models to provide services to beneficiaries. For example, the ultra-poor graduation model is used to help people come out of extreme poverty.

There are numerous models used by development practitioners and each one is different from the other. All these models have different goals and are designed for a specific target group. For example, a reintegration model is used for returnees and victims of human trafficking to help them get into society and find work suitable for their skills and experiences.

These models are evaluated by development practitioners using some salient features. Some general characteristics are discussed below:

Photo: A woman rearing cattle in rural Bangladesh

Appropriate targeting of beneficiaries

Appropriate targeting is a prerequisite of a service delivery model. There should be a specific participant selection process. The model should clearly define the target group and how they will be identified. There should be a verification process to ensure that the right people are selected following the prescribed method.

Segmentation within the target groups

An appropriate model must have the mechanism to segment its target groups based on vulnerability and need analysis. Each segment can be separated by its different vulnerabilities and needs. It is important to segment the target groups to address individual needs with appropriate solutions. For example, some people may require training and capacity development support; others may require a loan. Someone may require coaching and counselling for livelihood restoration.

Options for beneficiaries

Best models offer multiple solutions to address a problem. For example, people who are in extreme poverty can be targeted for economic development, and they will get the chance to make their own choices. The role of the service provider is to support the participant with the necessary information, analysis, and guidance to help the individual make the best choice. For example, you can offer different economic activities based on the individual’s profile analysis, like farming, small business, or job opportunities for the people in poverty. Even within this category, there might be multiple options, like cattle rearing, poultry, crop cultivations, etc., under the farming category.

Time-bound

All interventions include follow-up mechanisms. When a participant chooses an intervention, they enrol in it and enter the pathway of progression. All models have a specific set of sequenced and time-bound interventions. Through these activities, participants achieve their desired goals, including orientation, training, support, managing a loan, coaching, follow-up, etc.

Activities to address clients’ need

When participants find useful activities to address their needs, publicizing these service models is no longer necessary. If the model has relevant activities to address a participant’s needs, they will express a strong willingness to enrol in the model. However, it is very important to consider during the design phase whether the proposed activities are realistic to address the needs of the targeted participants.

Measurable indicators are a must

To make sure the proposed model is efficient and effective, it should have measuring indicators, which help both the participants and professionals understand the model’s status at any phase. These should include both economic and social indicators, for example, income source, an increase of income or asset value, savings, freedom in decision-making, child education, etc.

Well-defined exit strategy

Each model must have a well-defined exit strategy. When the time-bound interventions come to an end, participants should know ways to continue their development and sustain their progress.

Research work and data-driven analysis are essential for measuring the success and limitations of a model. Without the research evidence, the model cannot be validated, and therefore it would be unwise to recommend it to others as a solution. If the target group finds it helpful and many people can overcome their vulnerabilities successfully utilizing the limited resources through the proposed model, we can claim the model to be efficient. If the proposed model can bring the desired changes in the lives of its participants, then only can we say it is an effective solution.

 

Tausif Ahmed Qurashi is Programme Manager, BRAC Migration Programme. Write to him at tausif.qurashi@brac.net or qurashitausif@gmail.com

Photo by Balaram Mahalder, published under the licence CC BY-SA 3.0

A Simple Step to Achieve Big Goals: Peer Learning

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A group of villagers in discussion
Photo: Zehad Al Mehedi

Advancements in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the 21st century have turned people’s dreams into reality by paving the way for new possibilities. Nations worldwide are fortifying the foundations of their economies to capitalize on this opportunity. Similarly, Bangladesh aspires to actualize the dream of “Digital Bangladesh” by leveraging the vast potential of ICT to align with Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Yet, attaining sustainable development would be impossible if we do not ensure equal participation of men and women in promoting development. As a result, we strive for gender equality in all stages of sustainable development.

Effective education and training are the most significant factors for generating skilled people. To do so, researchers are constantly scrutinizing diverse areas for offering affordable and high-quality education that meets the demands of the time. Some of them give credence to “Peer Learning,” which, according to them, can aid students in learning more effectively in both conventional and online settings. The peer learning technique, or learning from peers, has already yielded positive outcomes in online training. Therefore, there is a substantial chance that the peer learning technique will assist the government in fulfilling the goal of digital Bangladesh.

Bangladesh has immense potential for online freelancing since it has many educated but unemployed youth. According to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), the adult literacy rate for Bangladesh had progressed to 75.6% until last year, where male adults stood at 78.2%, whereas females at 73%. However, males are more literate than females at divisional and national levels. At 6.8%, the unemployment rate for women is twice that of males.

While Bangladeshi men have made strides, women are still trying to assemble a name for themselves in the ICT-related freelance world. According to an article in the Daily Star, 89% of women studying Computer and Information Technology do not pursue a career in that field. In addition, only approximately 6 lakh women are registered as freelancers in Bangladesh, accounting for only 9% of all registered freelancers. If Bangladesh can raise women’s employment by just 10%, it will add up to 3.1% to the gross domestic product (GDP), resulting in an additional $11.3 billion in the economy, based on the GDP figure for 2021. In this case, online freelancing can play an influential role.

In Bangladesh, under the “Evaluation of the Women’s Skills Development for Freelancing Marketplaces (WSDFM)” initiative, 1,000 women were trained in freelancing to make the most of their prospects. The project aimed to empower these underprivileged women to use freelancing to bring positive changes in their lives and the country. Researchers from the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) evaluated this training.

Because of the nature of freelancing work, which allows freelancers to work from anywhere, women may manage household responsibilities while still earning money, resulting in reduced financial dependence on their husbands and fathers. These women want to be self-sufficient to support their families as well. According to the WSDFM study, some female trainees believe that freelancing could impact their journey of development and self-reliance.

Due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the training mode shifted to online, despite the trainees’ expectation of classroom-based learning with direct supervision of instructors. As trainees lacked preparedness to take classes online, they faced various barriers such as unavailability of the internet, lack of suitable devices, and inexperience in using technology. On top of that, some trainees found that they do not fully understand their subject matter despite three days a week, four hours of lessons, and multiple class assignments. Learning new subjects while resolving issues from prior sessions limited the scope of learning in each class, completing the syllabus in the allotted time became a challenge, and the overall teaching process was not equally effective for everyone. Some were performing very well, but many could not keep up. In brief, trainees repeatedly stumbled across online lessons, assignments, and freelancing training. Via mutual discussions, it came to the fore that these issues affect several other trainees. In their hunt for a solution, they came across the Peer Learning technique.

Peer learning is a technique of learning that encourages collaboration and teamwork to gain knowledge. Every learner is both a recipient and a donor of knowledge. All learners collaborate to identify a solution to a particular problem. Individual skills gained before or during teamwork are subsequently shared by all teammates. It is essential to mention that these trainees have never heard of the ‘peer learning’ technique. They have developed an interest in group learning and have assisted one another in problem-solving. In other words, they adopted peer learning techniques without knowing about it.

Let’s look at how these trainees have included peer learning into their learning process to see a clearer picture. Some trainees used peer learning techniques spontaneously and instinctively at first, attempting to find out and solve their challenges through informal discussions. To begin, they choose a class representative (CR) through negotiation. The instructors also encouraged the trainees in this regard. The class representative then schedules a “solution class” to solve the problems online, once a week and at a convenient time for everyone. Despite attending the online training, those facing issues with understanding freelancing-related content received assistance from relatively good trainees in this solution class. When everyone pitched in to help, activities that were tough before became more understandable.

“What is the problem in teaching others as much as I can? If we all do well together, we will all have a reputation. Our entire batch will have a good reputation. We would sit together to do similar graphics-related tasks and not waste time during class hours. Also, learn something new. Our CR used to post a link to Google Meet on our Facebook, and there we would share the problem and show it to each other. Those who had problems showed up. It felt nice. It was like a hang-out together, and the relationship between those who attended regularly developed day by day.”

According to Nasrin (pseudonym), the teaching process of the peer learning technique has benefited them to learn to freelance.

Formalized peer learning can assist learners in learning more effectively. It provides them with far more practice than traditional teaching and learning techniques in accepting responsibility for their learning and, more broadly, learning how to learn. It is not a replacement for teaching and activities developed and implemented by staff members but rather a vital addition to the repertory of teaching and learning activities that can enhance educational quality.

The experiences of trainees suggest that adopting peer learning into our educational system has the potential to improve the quality of education only if students are encouraged to engage in peer learning. Students will easily understand many complex concepts if they are introduced to peer learning. Students from underprivileged backgrounds, in particular, can benefit immensely from this. If problems are identified at each stage of the education process and remedied through peer learning, they will function equally well in digital and conventional learning and teaching processes.

Emphasizing the peer learning approach in the country’s education system can considerably improve the quality of education while making learning experiences more enjoyable. Peer learning can, as a consequence, play a significant role in implementing the SDGs and developing a digital Bangladesh.

Dipanwita Ghosh is a Research Associate and Zehad Al Mehedi is a Communications Officer at BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD). 

Time for ground-up climate policy

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The disappointment of many with COP26 is understandable. Yet again, historical carbon emitters failed to extend the requisite support to countries most impacted by climate change. The deep injustice in the matter is palpable, especially as these countries have contributed the least to the problem at hand.

Thus, countries like Bangladesh – one of the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change – are strengthening its leadership role among the countries affected, through platforms like the Climate Vulnerable Forum, consisting of 55 developing countries.

Last year’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report published the latest findings on the physical science aspect of climate change. This year, we look forward to the report on its impacts, vulnerability, and adaptation. Furthermore, this year’s COP27, to be held in Egypt in November, is expected to focus more on the questions of adaptation, resilience, loss and damage.

Thus, for many countries already impacted by climate change, this year holds some promise to redress last year’s disappointment.

Successful adaptation to climate change crucially depends on a keen awareness of the risks – and the ability to respond to the risks appropriately – to safeguard populations living in vulnerability.

This is especially true for community-led adaptation initiatives, which are becoming increasingly important. However, awareness about specific risks from climate change may vary across communities, owing to the lack of equal access to information.

BRAC Institute of Governance and Development conducted the largest study on perceived climate risks in Bangladesh, using a dataset of 33,554 nationally representative households across 64 districts, from the baseline survey for BRAC’s Strategic Partnership Agreement in 2017.

To our knowledge, this is one of the largest assessments in the world on the perceived or felt impacts of climate change and environmental variations.

Agriculture for Development: Purchase the special issue here

The study establishes whether the changes listed by IPCC, the national documents, and respondents in the survey differ from one another. Further, it assesses whether respondents from districts identified to be vulnerable to specific variations report greater such variations, compared to the variations reported by the respondents from other districts.

Findings show that a significant proportion of respondents perceived changes in some climatic variables that were identified by the IPCC. A greater proportion of respondents from vulnerable districts perceived increased risk.

However, there is a weaker perception – or awareness – of the changes happening in other areas, like riverbank erosion and regional reduction in precipitation, suggesting that these hazards are not well communicated to communities at risk.

Additionally, certain perceived changes reported by the respondents have not been included in policy reports, indicating the need for the mechanism to better incorporate people’s experiences into policy.

As climate impacts are often indistinguishable from the risks arising from localised human activities and environmental degradation, our results call for a more nuanced analysis of how risks associated with climate change interact with those arising from natural hazards and social and economic issues.

Overall, there is a strong need for ground-up, evidence-based experience to inform policy.

By generating rigorous, multidisciplinary field research on environment and climate change, we wish to understand the complex lived realities of the communities affected.

This reality was captured, perhaps most powerfully, in the work of Hugh Brammer in Bangladesh. Since 1961, he has had a deep commitment to the country, and leaves behind a rich legacy. The proceeds from his book, ‘BRAC’s innovative contributions to agricultural development in Bangladesh and elsewhere’, continue going to BRAC as scholarships to students living in disadvantaged conditions.

Through his vast contributions in soil science, agriculture, land use, and later climate change, two consistent themes emerge: first, a commitment to learning from farmers and communities; and second, a full acknowledgement of the complexities, even if they upend long-held assumptions and go against popular knowledge.

It is in this spirit that this special issue of Ag4Dev, co-edited with International Centre for Climate Change and Development (ICCCAD), includes, in addition to the study, papers on land-use, food security, and climate change in Bangladesh; the role of computer-generated predictive soil mapping; and on policy implications of arsenic poisoning.

We felt it is important to share Hugh Brammer’s work as well as his research ethos, and to project forward what it means for current challenges facing the world.

In that dialectic between doing and learning, learning and doing lies the key in identifying solutions that would work for the climate change challenge. Combining action and research means that doers have to also be our teachers. People whose lives and livelihoods are most tied to the elements, to the soil and water and the climate, can teach us best about what will work on ground.

The dynamics of interaction between climate change and underlying environmental and socio-economic trends are often not clear-cut. Through our exploration of Hugh’s research we learn to place the climate change action agenda within the underlying socio-economic realities faced by people in their everyday lives.

I invite people to read the journal and think of the challenges of bridging research and practice. How can we push for policies that accommodate the complexities of the real world, and accommodate local knowledge, especially from indigenous and farming communities?

The Environment and Climate Change research stream at the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development serves to illuminate how economic, environmental, and climate change together impact livelihood, vulnerability and migration, by applying data-driven research and rigorous impact evaluations of scalable, low-cost interventions in the field of climate change and environment.

Rohini Kamal is a Research Fellow leading the Environment and Climate Change cluster at BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University.