Browsing by Author "Carney, Diana"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4

Approaches to Sustainable Livelihoods for the Rural Poor
(1999) Carney, Diana
"So-called 'livelihoods approaches' work with people, supporting them to build upon their own strengths and realise their potential, while at the same time acknowledging the effects of policies and institutions, external shocks and trends. The aim is to do away with pre-conceptions about what exactly rural people are seeking and how they are most likely to achieve their goals, and to develop an accurate and dynamic picture of them in their environment. This provides the basis for identifying the constraints to livelihood development and poverty reduction. Such constraints can lie at local level or in the broader economic and policy environment. They may relate to the agricultural sector - long the focus of donor activity in rural areas - or they may be more to do with social conditions, health, education or rural infrastructure. "In their recognition of the complexity of rural life, the new approaches open up a fresh agenda for external support. Whether or not this support can be accurately targeted to reduce poverty depends upon a number of factors, not least the flexibility of development agencies and their partners. These organisations usually operate and allocate resources along sectoral lines; the new approaches stress the need to cross these lines and to be more flexible about the way in which money is spent."
Competitive Agricultural Technology Funds in Developing Countries
(1999) Gill, Gerald J.; Carney, Diana
"Dissatisfaction with traditional mechanisms of funding agricultural research and dissemination (AR&D) in developing countries has led to the introduction of competitive agricultural technology funds (CATFs) in an increasing number of them. This model is now favoured by many donors, despite the fact that available information on its modalities and performance has been fragmentary. This paper reviews experience with ten such funds in very different national and institutional settings."
Formal Farmers' Organisations in the Agricultural Technology System: Current Roles and Future Challenges
(1996) Carney, Diana
"Farmers organisations (FOs) need to be relatively sophisticated and well-funded to become involved in agricultural technology development and transfer. This is because of the complexity of understanding members technological needs and of building productive partnerships with other technology suppliers. Only small-scale initiatives are likely to be possible for organisations which have limited capacity. Such initiatives usually rely on leaders existing knowledge of or access to improved technologies. Organisations with relatively homogenous membership and with close links to the market (which helps both to set quality standards and to generate money for the organisation itself) are generally better able to get involved in technology than their larger, more political counterparts. The attitude of the public and private technology suppliers is also likely to be a critical factor in determining whether farmers organisations will be successful in their technology-related activities, as is the support of donors and/or NGOs on the capacity-building and financial sides."
Management and Supply in Agriculture and Natural Resources: Is Decentralization the Answer?
(1995) Carney, Diana
"Questions concerning the role and performance of ldc governments have accumulated rapidly over the last decade, arising from domestic fiscal crises, internationally sponsored economic reform programmes and both internal and external pressures towards good government. In parallel, the environmental threats posed by rapidly-growing demand for food mean that new, more effective ways of allocating and managing resources and the inputs which enable users to harness their full productive potential must be found. Decentralisation, bringing government closer to people, is one much-proffered solution to both sets of problems. This paper examines the arguments for and against decentralisation in the context of natural resource management. It demonstrates that the merits of decentralisation and the challenges which may be posed to it vary from one resource to another and even for different activities relating to the same resource. It also makes it clear that decentralisation alone is unlikely to solve the problems of natural resource management. Nonetheless decentralisation can certainly make a contribution as the structural component of a broader package of reform aimed at increasing demand-pull from and accountability to rural people."