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Factors Behind Sustainability Of Activities In The Post-Project Period In Matengo Highlands In Tanzania, Christopher Mahonge Jan 2015

Factors Behind Sustainability Of Activities In The Post-Project Period In Matengo Highlands In Tanzania, Christopher Mahonge

Journal of Environmental Sustainability

Continuity of project activities by the beneficiary communities after project expiry has been a concern globally. While various efforts have been made by project implementers during the project tenure to ensure post-project sustainability, this challenge has still been persistent. However, evidence exists of situation whereby post-project era has witnessed continued implementation of activities which were established during the project duration. The question comes as to which factors are behind such observed positive scenario? The answer to this question can enhance our understanding on variables that can be used to increase sustainability of development initiative after the planned project tenure. The …


Can Peers Improve Agricultural Revenue?, Tisorn Songsermsawas, Kathy Baylis, Ashwini Chhatre, Hope Michelson Jan 2015

Can Peers Improve Agricultural Revenue?, Tisorn Songsermsawas, Kathy Baylis, Ashwini Chhatre, Hope Michelson

Kathy Baylis

Crop revenues vary greatly among farmers and the source of that variation is not fully understood. Using a household survey from India, we estimate peer effects on cash crop revenue. Results show that 60% of farmers' revenue can be explained by peers. Peer effects in input expenditure and land allocation cannot fully explain the variation in revenue, implying peers may also associate with management, negotiation and marketing strategies. Although caste-based networks are important, their effect is substantially smaller than that of self-reported peers. Peer effects are strongest for agricultural peers and in the cultivation of a new crop.


Food Sovereignty As Decolonization: Some Contributions From Indigenous Movements To Food System And Development Politics, Sam Grey, Raj Patel Dec 2014

Food Sovereignty As Decolonization: Some Contributions From Indigenous Movements To Food System And Development Politics, Sam Grey, Raj Patel

Sam Grey

The popularity of ‘food sovereignty’ to cover a range of positions, interventions, and struggles within the food system is testament, above all, to the term’s adaptability. Food sovereignty is centrally, though not exclusively, about groups of people making their own decisions about the food system—it is a way of talking about a theoretically-informed food systems practice. Since people are different, we should expect decisions about food sovereignty to be different in different contexts, albeit consonant with a core set of principles (including women’s rights, a shared opposition to genetically modified crops, and a demand for agriculture to be removed from …


The Political Economy Of Export Restrictions: The Case Of Vietnam And India, Kathy Baylis, Murray E. Fulton, Travis Reynolds Dec 2014

The Political Economy Of Export Restrictions: The Case Of Vietnam And India, Kathy Baylis, Murray E. Fulton, Travis Reynolds

Kathy Baylis

No abstract provided.


How Effective Are Biodiversity Conservation Payments In Mexico?, Sebastien Costedoat, Esteve Corbera, Driss Ezzine De Blas, Jordi Honey-Roses, Kathy Baylis, Miguel Angel Catillo-Santiago Dec 2014

How Effective Are Biodiversity Conservation Payments In Mexico?, Sebastien Costedoat, Esteve Corbera, Driss Ezzine De Blas, Jordi Honey-Roses, Kathy Baylis, Miguel Angel Catillo-Santiago

Kathy Baylis

We assess the additional forest cover protected by 13 communities located in the Lacandon rainforest, Mexico, as a result of the economic incentives received through the country's national program of payments for biodiversity conservation. We use spatially explicit data at the intra-community level to define a credible counterfactual of conservation outcomes. We use covariate-matching specifications associated with spatially explicit variables and difference-in-difference estimators to determine the treatment effect. We estimate that the additional conservation represents between 12 and 14.7 percent of forest area enrolled in the program in comparison to control areas. Despite this high degree of additionality, we also …


Friends Or Traders? Do Social Networks Explain The Use Of Market Mechanisms By Farmers In India?, Tisorn Songsermsawas, Kathy Baylis, Ashwini Chhatre, Hope Michelson, Satya Prasanna Dec 2014

Friends Or Traders? Do Social Networks Explain The Use Of Market Mechanisms By Farmers In India?, Tisorn Songsermsawas, Kathy Baylis, Ashwini Chhatre, Hope Michelson, Satya Prasanna

Kathy Baylis

A farmer's long-term relationship with a trader can improve access to market information, but removes the farmer's option to sell to other traders in any specific year. Social networks could ace either as substitutes to traders, helping disseminate market information and fostering economies of scale, or as complements, where farmers help build relationships between their trader and their peers. Using a household survey from India, we investigate whether and how social networks are associated with a farmer's choice to enter into a long-term relationship with a trader. We find that peers directly affect this choice. Further, we find that network …


Mainstreaming Impact Evaluation In Nature Conservation, Kathy Baylis, Jordi Honey-Roses, Jan Boerner, Esteve Corbera, Driss Ezzine-De-Blas, Paul Ferraro, Renaud Lapeyre, Martin Persson, Alex Pfaff, Sven Wunder Dec 2014

Mainstreaming Impact Evaluation In Nature Conservation, Kathy Baylis, Jordi Honey-Roses, Jan Boerner, Esteve Corbera, Driss Ezzine-De-Blas, Paul Ferraro, Renaud Lapeyre, Martin Persson, Alex Pfaff, Sven Wunder

Kathy Baylis

An important part of conservation practice is the empirical evaluation of program and policy impacts. Understanding why conservation programs succeed or fail is essential for designing cost-effective initiatives and for improving the livelihoods of natural resource users. The evidence we seek can be generated with modern impact evaluation designs. Such designs measure causal effects of specific interventions by comparing outcomes with the interventions to outcomes in credible counterfactual scenarios. Good designs also identify the conditions under which the causal effect arises. Despite a critical need for empirical evidence, conservation science has been slow to adopt these impact evaluation designs. We …


Evaluating Heterogeneous Conservation Effects Of Forest Protection In Indonesia, Payal Shah, Kathy Baylis Dec 2014

Evaluating Heterogeneous Conservation Effects Of Forest Protection In Indonesia, Payal Shah, Kathy Baylis

Kathy Baylis

Establishing legal protection for forest areas is the most common policy used to limit forest loss. This article evaluates the effectiveness of Indonesian forest protected areas introduced between 2000 and 2012. Specifically, we explore how the effectiveness of these parks varies over space. Protected areas have mixed success in preserving forest, and it is important for conservationists to understand where they work and where they do not. Observed differences in the estimated treatment effect of protection may be driven by several factors. Indonesia is particularly diverse, with the landscape, forest and forest threats varying greatly from region to region, and …


Do Peer Effects Influence The Household Bargain? Evidence From Children's Food Consumption In India, Eeshani Kandpal, Kathy Baylis Dec 2014

Do Peer Effects Influence The Household Bargain? Evidence From Children's Food Consumption In India, Eeshani Kandpal, Kathy Baylis

Kathy Baylis

This paper uses primary data on women's social networks to estimate causal peer effects in the household bargain. Using an extension of a spatial weighting technique that relies of friends-of-friends to identify peer effects, we examine how a woman's friend's participation in an education program affects her physical mobility, access to outside employment, and probability of working outside the household, as well as her children's food consumption. Results show that peer effects have a significant impact on all proxies of female bargaining power. We decompose the overall peer effects into those on participants and non-participants, and focus on the effects …