Monitoring and evaluation in Malawi
When Ian Wilson and Carlos Barahona of the Statistical Services Centre at the University of Reading were asked to review an evaluation of the effectiveness of an aid package in Malawi, they expected a simple enough task. But few things in the developing world are simple. Where aid for the poorest is concerned, is evidence collected and analysed with enough rigour to enable well‐informed decisions to be made?
Evaluation and Program Planning
The inclusion of stakeholders in participatory evaluation in highly diverse, culturally complex settings remains a challenge, given issues of inequity, power, voice, capacity and skill. These challenges are well documented, but there is a relative absence of papers devoted to addressing them based on examples and evidence. In this paper, we report our review of 51 empirical studies of participatory evaluations conducted in the international domain, focusing on the methods of inclusion used in the evaluations. Our findings address “the who” (which stakeholders are included and which excluded), “the why” (rationales for participation) and “the how” (by what means and in what manner) of inclusion. We were struck by the scale of some development programs, geographically and in terms of the number of diverse program sponsors and stakeholders, and how this necessitated highly creative, innovative participatory techniques to ensure that anyone (and in some cases everyone) could have a voice in the process, regardless of location, language ability, privilege, power, gender, age or culture.
Silica in Soils1
Publisher Summary Silica in free and combined forms is a dominant component of the solid material of many soils, and dissolved silica is commonly a major solute of soil solutions. Breakdown of primary silicates, translocation of silica in solution, and deposition of secondary silica-containing substances are involved in the development of soils. Ions essential for the growth of plants are released to the soil solution as silicates weather, and these ions may be held against leaching at exchange sites on other silicates. Silica is absorbed in appreciable quantities by some plants and is returned to the surface of the soil as the plants decay. The nature and transformations of silica and silicates in soil are, thus, fundamental to an understanding of many aspects of soil and plant sciences.