Browsing by Subject "Tagebuch"

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Strengthening accoutability in public agricultural extension services : a case study from Uganda
(2019) Namyenya, Angella; Birner, Regina
A well-managed and accountable agricultural extension service can play an essential role in realizing food security and improving rural livelihoods. However, for the majority of the developing countries, establishing an accountable agricultural extension system remains a challenge. Public agricultural extension services, in particular, have been highly criticized for weak accountability of field agents to both their supervisors and their clients. Public agricultural extension systems often deploy large numbers of field agents in geographically dispersed, remote areas, which makes supervision difficult. Typically, there is also a lack of resources and of robust mechanisms to enable both the supervisors and beneficiaries to adequately follow up the activities of the field agents and provide feedback, which contributes to problems of absenteeism of field staff. Due to resource constraints, central managers also face challenges to supervise the agricultural extension managers, who are the supervisors of the field agents. Taking Uganda as a case study, this thesis explores the use of new mechanisms for addressing these long-standing challenges of creating accountability in public agricultural extension services. The thesis had three objectives: (1) To design a diary for agricultural field agents, which should facilitate planning and supervision of agricultural extension service provision; (2) to assess the potential of different versions of this diary for strengthening accountability in public extension services; and (3) to analyze the performance of agricultural extension managers. To meet the first two objectives, three versions of a diary for agricultural field agents were designed. The first version was a diary in a paper format, which was specifically designed to match the system of planning and reporting applied in Uganda’s public extension service. This version was then transformed into an electronic version of the diary (“e-diary”), which resembled an electronic questionnaire. Based on the assessment of these two diary versions, an improved e-diary was developed, which comprises a smartphone application to be used by the field agents, and a web-based system that allows extension supervisors to review the data entered by the field agents and provide them with feedback. Moreover, the system was designed in such a way that it is possible for extension supervisors to collect information from the beneficiaries for verification. For the assessment of the three different versions of the diary, a qualitative participatory research approach was applied. Data on the experience with using the diary was collected through a combination of focus group discussions and individual face-to-face interviews. The content analysis method was applied to analyse the data. The results suggest that a diary for agricultural field agents has a unique potential to strengthen accountability in public agricultural extension services. This is achieved through improving planning, reporting, monitoring and evaluation of extension activities and through reducing absenteeism as well as enabling of beneficiary feedback. The findings further indicate that, for the following reasons, an electronic version of the diary is more effective in strengthening accountability than a paper version: An e-diary can make use of the Global Positioning System (GPS), which allows extension supervisors to verify whether field agents actually conducted the activities that they indicate in the diary. Thus, an e-diary enables remote supervision, which reduces the time and costs of supervision. An e-diary also facilitates real-time reporting, which enables near real-time supervision, thereby increasing the frequency of supervision. However, the first e-diary version that resembled an electronic questionnaire had drawbacks, since it focused on data collection and had limited opportunities for feedback and interaction between the extension agents and their supervisors. However, the final e-diary version, which combines a smartphone app with a web-based system, made it possible to address this limitation. Expectedly, the assessment also revealed some limitations regarding the e-diary. Some of the users were initially apprehensive about the e-diary due to their limited experience with the use of smartphones. Consequently, the implementation of the e-diary necessitates intensive training of the users, which should not be underestimated. The results also showed that the use of the e-diary was affected by inaccessibility to electricity. Therefore, promoting the use of solar chargers or power banks in areas with poor electrification is recommended. Moreover, limited network coverage implies that the e-diary needs to be programmed in such a way that data can be entered off-line. Furthermore, the findings suggest the need to combine the implementation of the e-diary with incentives, such as awards of recognition. In view of the essential role that extension managers, as the supervisors of the field agents, play for accountability, an analysis of their performance was included as the third objective of the thesis. To meet this research objective, a quantitative research approach was applied. The main data source was the extension management system that was set up by the Ugandan Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF). This system provides data on the timeliness of the submission of work plans and reports by the extension managers, which makes it possible to calculate measurable indicators of managers’ performance based on their expected roles and responsibilities. In addition to preparing descriptive statistics of such performance indicators, econometric models were estimated, using additional data from secondary sources on variables, which were hypothesized to influence the managers’ performance. The descriptive statistics of the performance indicators showed that the majority of the extension managers were not able to meet the performance requirements of MAAIF. The econometric analysis made it possible to identify factors that were associated with performance. The amount of the extension grant provided to the district and the ratio of extension workers to households were found to be key factors. The findings led to the recommendation to improve the performance of the extension managers through capacity building, especially in management, and through setting-up a strict performance monitoring system, to which the use of the e-diary could contribute. It was also recommended to increase funding to the districts and improve the ratio of extension workers to households so as to provide better working conditions and incentives to extension staff and their managers. Overall, the thesis indicates that diaries, especially electronic ones, in combination with monitoring systems for extension managers, offer a unique and largely underutilized potential to address entrenched problems of ensuring accountability in public agricultural extension services. It was also pointed out that additional accountability mechanisms will be useful to further strengthen accountability, in particular mechanisms that allow the beneficiaries of the extension service to provide direct feedback on the quality of service provision. The thesis also highlights the potential of using digital tools for strengthening both upward and downward accountability in public extension services. The findings of the thesis are likely to be relevant not only for agricultural extension services but also for other public services, such as rural health care and education, which face similar problems of managing large numbers of field agents in geographically dispersed, remote areas, where effective supervision is an inherent challenge.
The potential of smartphone apps to collect self-recorded data in agricultural households : a study on time-use in Zambia
(2019) Daum, Thomas; Birner, Regina
Mobile information and communication technologies (ICTs) have spread across the developing world and are used increasingly by smallholder farmers. While the potential of ICTs, such as smartphone applications, to provide new opportunities for agricultural development is widely acknowledged, the potential to use them as research tools has not been explored. This thesis assesses the potential of smartphone applications for the collection of data from agricultural households in developing countries. Can smartphone applications that use visual tools be used for self-recording of data by the respondents themselves where literacy levels are low? Can such smartphone applications that allow for real-time data recording increase the accuracy of the collected data? Answering these questions is important as, so far, data from agricultural households are usually collected using surveys, which are prone to recall biases. This is a problem, as researchers, policymakers and development practitioners need reliable data for their work. Poor data can lead to misguided policy recommendations and actions with adverse effects on vulnerable population groups. This can lead to agricultural development trajectories that are socially unequal and unsustainable. To assess the potential of smartphone apps to collect self-recorded data, a smartphone application called Timetracker was developed as part of this thesis. The Timetracker allows study respondents to record data in real time with the help of illustrations. Recording data in real time reduces recall bias, and using pictures ensures that participants with low literacy can use the application. In its current form, the Timetracker can be used to collect data on time-use and nutrition. Collecting reliable data on time-use and nutrition is key for various strands of research. For example, time-use data are needed to calculate labor productivity and analyze how productivity is affected by new technologies. Time-use data can also help reveal gender-based power relations and asymmetries by pointing out unpaid domestic work. Similarly, nutritional data are crucial for various academic fields and debates. For example, nutritional data are needed to explore the factors determining food and nutrition security, to study how farm diversity affects consumption diversity and to monitor food and nutrition policies and programs. This study is based on three main chapters, which reflect the main objectives of the whole thesis: 1) to explore and test whether smartphone applications can be used to collect data from rural households in developing countries focusing on time-use and nutrition data, 2) to assess the accuracy of data collected with smartphone applications vis-à-vis recall-based data collection methods, and 3) to use the data to understand the effects of agricultural mechanization on the intrahousehold allocation of time-use within smallholder farming households in Zambia. The first two chapters have a primarily methodological focus. The last chapter is an empirical study. This thesis concludes that in addition to improving the accuracy of socioeconomic data collection, smartphone applications may open new research pathways, including through the opportunities provided by real-time data collection and by combining self-recorded data with sensor-recorded data, which may open interesting transdisciplinary research pathways. This thesis suggests that there is a large and still untapped potential for using smartphone applications to collect data on complex agricultural systems in the digital age.