Development in Practice
Volume 24, Issue 8, 2014
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cdip20/current

Best practice for rural food security projects in Southern Africa?
Terry Leahy* & Monika Goforth
DOI:10.1080/09614524.2014.969196
pages 933-947
Abstract
It has been widely believed that commercialisation is the solution to food insecurity in rural Africa. Project designs have attempted to set up agricultural cooperatives and encourage entrepreneurial farmers. Yet the problems revealed in the 1950s are still widespread. In a counter-perspective, some have argued for the relevance of subsistence and low-input agriculture. This article examines three NGO projects in South and South-eastern Africa which prioritise food security through household subsistence, using low-input technologies, along with an encouragement to produce a surplus for cash. We look at what these projects share and why their strategies work.

A training approach for community maternal health volunteers that builds sustainable capacity
Cathy Green*, Miniratu Soyoola, Mary Surridge & Dynes Kaluba
DOI:10.1080/09614524.2014.957165
pages 948-959
Abstract
This article examines a training approach for community health volunteers which increased access to maternal health services in rural communities in Zambia. The effectiveness of the training approach was evaluated in an operations research component. Skilled birth attendance rates increased by 63% from baseline over a two-year period in the intervention districts, out-performing increases recorded in control sites at statistically significant levels. As a low-cost, high-impact intervention which shows good sustainability potential, the approach is suitable for national level scale-up and for adaptation for use in other countries in support of maternal and new-born health goals.

Coordinating post-disaster humanitarian response: lessons from the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, India
Peer Ghulam Nabi*
DOI:10.1080/09614524.2014.964187
pages 975-988
Abstract
This article is based on a field study carried out in Indian-administered Kashmir after the 2005 earthquake. In this analysis of how non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs) engage and coordinate with one another and with other disaster response agencies during post-disaster relief and rehabilitation operations, it can be concluded that NGDO coordination was ineffective. The research points out that, even though there is coordination among the international and national NGDOs, local NGDOs are seldom engaged in the overall coordination processes. The paper advocates developing coordination among the humanitarian agencies as a pre-disaster initiative for a more effective collaborative humanitarian disaster response.