2006 Awards
Integrating Knowledge and Policy for the Management of Natural Resources
William Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy and Human Development, Kennedy School of Government
2006-07 award of $25,000
This project applied an innovation framework developed by the principal investigator’s work the US National Academy of Science to sustainable livestock development research projects in Africa and Asia. The focus of these projects ranged from pastoral systems to poverty and ecosystems services mapping to market access by the poor to fodder and natural resource management to livestock parasite drug resistance. We found that these projects closed gaps between knowledge and action by combining different kinds of knowledge, learning, and boundary spanning approaches; by providing all partners with the same opportunities; and by building the capacity of all partners to innovate and communicate.
Final progress report - submitted 090428
Publications:
Kristjanson, Patti, Robin S. Reid, Nancy Dickson, William C. Clark, Dannie Romney, Ranjitha Puskur, Susan MacMillan and Delia Grace. 2009. Linking international agricultural research knowledge with action for sustainable development. Proceedings of the National Academies of Science. 9(13):5047-5052.
Kristjanson, Patti, Robin Reid, Nancy Dickson, William Clark, Prasad Vishnubhotla, Dannie Romney, Peter Bezkorowajnyj, Mohammed Said, Dickson Kaelo, Ogeli Makui, David Nkedianye, Julius Nyangaga, Paul Okwi, Ranjitha Puskur, Shirley Tarawali, Susan MacMillan, Delia Grace, Tom Randolph, Hippolyte Affognon. 2008. Linking International Agricultural Research Knowledge with Action for Sustainable Poverty Alleviation: What Works?CID Working Paper173. Joint Center for International Development and International Livestock Research Institute Working Paper, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University and Nairobi, Kenya: International Livestock Research Institute.
Evaluating the Impact of Rural Water Interventions
Michael Kramer, Gates Professor of Developing Societies, Economics Department
2006-07 award of $25,000
This project provides a rigorous evaluation of the health and welfare impacts resulting from increased water quantityat the household level (achieved through daily water delivery from improved water sources) in areas where household water consumption is constrained by long distances to sources and non-availability of household connections to municipal water supply systems. This method is directly comparable to an intervention in the same region improving drinking water quality.
Thirty-five protected springs were selected in rural western Kenya. Preliminary data were collected for these sites and the households that currently obtain drinking water from these springs. A pilot project, underway at one spring, is testing a method through which treatment households receive free daily water deliveries and large storage tanks, which ensure that water is easily accessible for use within their compounds and alleviates their costs associated with water collection. Water delivered is from protected springs and thus meets international standards for “improved†supplies. Both the treatment and the control groups receive regular supplies of the chlorine-based point-of-use water treatment product, WaterGuard, to ensure that water quality is high and consistent across households. In addition, the project provides free soap and basic hygiene information to a subset of households in the treatment and comparison groups to examine whether soap provision is an effective means of improving health behavior without costly behavior change exhortations.
To measure the impacts of increased water quantity on child health, we collect diarrhea incidence data by visiting both the treatment and comparison households on a bi-weekly basis, in addition to anthropometric measurements every three months. We are also piloting alternative means of measuring water use through meter readings and household log books. This pilot project will continue for approximately three months and, if successful, will be implemented at the thirty-five selected springs for a full year.
Final progress report - submitted 070901