Development in Practice
Volume 25, Issue 2, 2015
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/cdip20/current

Implementing national food policies to promote local family agriculture: Belo Horizonte’s story
DOI:10.1080/09614524.2015.1002454
Melody Mendonça* & Cecilia Rocha
pages 160-173
Received: 18 Sep 2013
Accepted: 20 Feb 2014
Published online: 12 Mar 2015
Abstract
Policies in Brazil promoting family agriculture such as the Food Acquisition Programme (PAA) and the 30% minimum procurement law for the National School Meals Programme have had varying success across the country. To understand why these policies work effectively only in some areas, the implementation processes must be clarified. This exploratory, ethnographic study identifies the causal mechanisms involved in implementing PAA and the 30% law in the city of Belo Horizonte. The findings reveal that although beneficial, large supply volumes and transportation costs are challenges faced by farmers in the implementation process.

Do early cash transfers in a food crisis enhance resilience? Evidence from Niger
DOI:10.1080/09614524.2015.1001320
Emmanuel Tumusiime*
pages 174-187
Received: 20 Jul 2013
Accepted: 23 Apr 2014
Published online: 12 Mar 2015
Abstract
This article examines how households in the Tillabery region, in Niger, responded given early cash intervention, and its impact on household food access and ability to cope and recover from a food crisis. Food-access indicators are linked to the early cash-transfer programme and household social and demographic characteristics, and the relationships examined using descriptive and econometric methods. Although results indicate that the early cash-transfer programme had a positive impact on food access and reducing vulnerability, they also suggest, contrary to expectations, that the intervention was limited in contributing longer lasting impact on households’ food security status.

Identification and analysis of smallholder producers’ constraints: applications to Tanzania and Uganda
Open access
DOI:10.1080/09614524.2015.1007924
Derek Baker*, Jo Cadilhon & Washington Ochola
pages 204-220
Received: 29 Jul 2013
Accepted: 7 Mar 2014
Published online: 12 Mar 2015
Abstract
This article puts forward a method for the analysis of constraints faced by developing countries’ smallholder producers. It is consistent with theories of constraints, efficient in terms of cost and researchers’ time, and accessible to a non-technical audience. A hybrid of workshop discussion and individual data collection, it also draws on data and analyses available in most developing countries. The article presents an application to smallholder livestock systems in Tanzania and Uganda, reporting results and analysis relating constraints to households’ characteristics and conditions, and their stated goals. While limitations are identified, it is proposed for application in other development fields.

Toward purposeful individual capacity strengthening: alternative considerations for Western NGOs
DOI:10.1080/09614524.2015.1006583
Vincent M. Mugisha*
pages 247-258
Received: 1 May 2013
Accepted: 26 Mar 2014
Published online: 12 Mar 2015
Abstract
The international donor community continues to emphasise country-led development strategies designed to equitably engage public and civil society agents in managing development assistance. Similarly donors who fund Western NGOs to implement development programmes on their behalf in recipient countries are increasingly pushing for cost-effective programme implementation that actively engages local actors. This article proposes an alternative theoretically grounded model for individual capacity strengthening to responsive and mission-driven Western NGOs that claim to be committed to ideals of capacity strengthening and indigenisation of programme leadership.

Rethinking dependency and development between international and indigenous non-governmental organisations
DOI:10.1080/09614524.2015.1008999
Shawn Smith*
pages 259-269
Received: 1 Aug 2013
Accepted: 7 Jul 2014
Published online: 12 Mar 2015
Abstract
This article presents a case study detailing how the Netherlands-based international NGO Terre Des Hommes (TDH) works with and impacts the indigenous Tanzanian NGO Umoja wa Maendeleo ya Bukwaya (UMABU) and the Bukwaya region that UMABU serves. The article illustrates how indigenous agency and autonomy are actualised within relationships where indigenous over-reliance and dependency are connected to Western aid organisations. The paper proposes that dependent relationships between Southern and Northern NGO partners can be negotiated by indigenous leaders in order to disseminate resources for development in indigenous communities to a greater extent than previously imagined by Western donor agencies.