ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2005

In association with Development Policy and Practice and the International Development Centre at the Open University

Milton Keynes, UK
7th-9th September 2005

Connecting people and places: challenges and opportunities for develop

FUTURE POLICIES FROM PRESENT IDEAS
ABSTRACT ON PAPERS TO BE PRESENTED AT THE RESEARCH STUDENTS PROJECTS PARALLEL SESSIONS

These sessions have been organised by Joseph Assan, Liverpool University.

Session A: 7th September, 14.00 – 15.30
Session B: 7th September, 16.00 – 17.30
Session C: 8th September, 9.00 – 10.30
Session D: 8th September, 13.30 – 15.00

The increasing complexity of the global phenomenon and recent discourse in development has reiterated the continual need for efficacious development policies. It is therefore imperative to break the fallow grounds in development studies research and to transform the nature of development policy by evolving new spheres that would ensure the connection of people and places to the appropriate policies. The use of rigorous empirical findings could form the basis of development theory and direct new paths for policy. It is in the light of these issues that the Research Students Study Group of the DSA is organising the parallel sessions on research students’ projects to elicit future policy strategies from present ideas and findings.

Session A: The section discusses economic issues at the national level and how government policies influence the private sector as well as the subsequent limitations which impinge on resource management within existing fragile development strategies. Case studies from China, Iran, Zimbabwe and Ghana show the critical need for appropriate pragmatic policies which would facilitate the anticipated public private partnerships perceived as the ultimate driving force required by developing economies.

Session B: This section focuses on contemporary development issues in Sub Saharan Africa, particularly southern part of Africa. The region is known to be the home of a multiple problems. Research findings on high mortality associated with the raging high prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the region and its devastating implication on the economies of small and poor countries like Malawi are presented in this section. Empirical findings discussed in this section indicate that policy strategies are an instrumental guide for the implementation of development programmes on livelihoods, health and food security. The discussions not only provide further insight into the problem but also offer a magnanimous hope for the future.

Session C: Crossing the boundaries of poverty has become an unrealistic dream for many households in the developing world. Studies in India as presented by research students in this session suggest that whereas there is limited social mobility within and between existing income groups within countries, there is cataclysmic evidence of lowering quality of care, particularly in the area of reproductive care and an increasing number of individuals unable to afford the cost of primary health care. The irony is that whilst transnational corporations are thriving in these countries there are no social responsibility policies to complement development. The need to revise national development strategies in order to incorporate local regional needs is underscored in this session.

Session D: The current wave of disasters caused by flooding and the devastation which accompanies flooding has awakened the world and exposed the lack of policy awareness and action. A case study from Bangladesh portrays this fact and projects the need for flood action plan analysis in vulnerable regions. The health impact of polluted water on communities located close to industries and mining sites as shown by the case of the Copper industries in Zambia is clearly presented in this session. The finding on the study shows that such occurrences serve as slow poisons to the inhabitants in the vicinity. The discussion in session shows that water related disasters obviously wipe away the livelihoods of the poor and the absence of social support systems often show the extreme vulnerability of the aged.

Poster Presenters

Ms. Cheng Chen ‘Institution Behind the Risks – China Experience in Public-Private Partnership Infrastructure Projects’

Mr. Hossein Mirzaei ‘Business Cycles in Oil Exporting Countries: The Iranian Experience’

Ms. Victoria Chisala ‘Breaking the Cycle of Dependency: The case of Zimbabwe’

Mr. John Atibila ‘Bottom Up Community Driven Policies for Integrated Catchments Management in Ghana’

Mr. Martin Prowse ‘The Geographical Distribution of Smallholder Burley Tobacco and Hybrid Maize Production in Malawi’

Mr. Arnold Jeke ‘The Impact of HIV/AIDS on Mortality Pattern in Malawi’

Mr. Rob Couch ‘Street Level Bureaucrats and the Implementation of Environmental Health Policy – Johannesburg, South Africa’

Ms. Meenakshi Gutham ‘Quality of Care for Reproductive Tract Infections by Rural Private Providers in North India’

Mr. Abdullah Al-Thabt ‘Evaluating Impact of the National Development Strategies in Saudi Arabia on the Regional Development Planning’

Ms. Sue Lawrence ‘British American Tobacco in Turkey and Indonesia ‘

Ms. Divya Vaid ’Class Mobility of Women and Men in India’

Mr. Shohail Choudhury ‘Discourse Globalisation and Policy Shift In Developing Countries:
Analysis of the Flood Action Plan (1990-95) of Bangladesh’

Ms. Emmeline Skinner ‘Livelihood Strategies in Old Age: Older People and Urban Poverty in Bolivia’

Ms. Jennifer Holden ‘Myth and Reality: Heavy Metals from Irrigation Water to the Dinner Table’