Nutrition planning and food policy

The development priorities of recent years may be a cause of malnutrition amongst the poorest groups. To achieve more adequate planning, elements of an interdisciplinary approach are suggested in this article. These could be characterised as identification of risk groups, analysis of consumption patterns, continued monitoring, and understanding of the effects on individual behaviour of social, cultural, educational and economic forces.     

Energy and irrigation in LDCs

Climatic conditions prevailing in most developing countries determine that much of the annual rainfall is seasonal. There are regular dry spells which last anything from a few weeks to several months and sometimes even longer. If developing countries are to achieve greater self-sufficiency in food production, then irrigation must play a vital role. But irrigation is energy intensive and some energy sources are a dwindling asset. On the other hand there is a continually rising demand for food which automatically produces a corresponding increase in energy requirements. The question this poses then is, if continuity of food production is to be assured, on what energy system should irrigation development be based? Alternatively, how can expendable sources of energy be most economically used?     

Nutrition planning is alive and well, thank you

This article is a rejoinder to an article by John Osgood Field which discussed the failure of multisectoral nutrition planning. The author argues that, although nutrition planners may have been overly optimistic in their hopes that political systems could be made responsive to the problems, significant advances have been achieved. He outlines many of the successes of nutrition planning and the importance of multisectoral work. Malnutrition is a problem that escapes all the standard programmes, and cannot be tackled through the health and agriculture sectors alone.     

Models for telecommunications strategy in the LDCs

Telecommunications administrators in the less developed countries are faced with a number of complex strategic policy issues. The author argues that current planning procedures do not provide an adequate aid to decision making. A more sophisticated approach is suggested based on corporate planning models and a prototype model is described in detail. Some sample applications of this model are presented to illustrate the value of the approach to specific problems, including the areas of tariff policy and the growth rate of rural telecommunications.     

Project evaluation techniques for investment in LDCs

The main focus of this article is to demonstrate how telecommunication benefits in a developing country can be measured quantitively so that they can be used as inputs in project analysis. It stems from a research study based on interviews with about 700 users of public telecommunications services in Senegal.     

New directions in food marketing policies in LDCs

In recent years governments in developing countries have become more involved in the marketing of basic foods within their countries, but the policies adopted and the structures and approaches used have reflected many weaknesses and omissions. The support given by academic institutions and international advisory and funding organizations to policy makers has often been too narrow, or only partially appropriate. In this article, the author reviews recent work on marketing and suggests some major priorities for attention in the immediate future, and some new directions that could and should be explored.     

PPI Partnerships vs. PPI Divorces in LDCs

In the last 15 years, a variety of public private-partnerships in infrastructure have been adopted throughout the developing and transition world. Because many of these experiences are also turning sour, it seems important to separate facts from emotions. The paper argues that the wide differences in interpretations of the facts can be explained by differences in the assessment criteria used to assess the incremental effect of reforms. It is also driven by the sectors, the regions and the actors on which the analysis tends to focus.     

Food prices and food policy analysis in LDCs

Opinions have been polarized on the role of food prices in economic development. Structuralist analysis argues that food prices are irrelevant to long-term development, but neoclassical theorists believe that food prices may be a critical factor. This article attempts to reconcile these views, reports on the differential impacts of food prices in Indonesia and discusses the role of food prices in the policy process.     

Telecommunications models: Planning for regional development in LDCs

The aim of telecommunications policy in the less developed countries should be to contribute to general development goals, but the links between economic development and telecommunications are not clearly understood. The authors suggest a dual approach to this problem. First, this involves the construction of models of demand based on the interaction between regional economic development and telecommunications use. Second, corporate models are required to explore the feasibility of particular supply strategies. The progress of practical work in these areas is described and includes the results of some specific research in Kenya.     

Government and food distribution in LDCs: The Turkish experience

Opinions differ over the extent to which governments directly intervene in the actual buying and selling of food products, and thus act as intermediaries. Although private sector intermediaries continue to be the central core of the food distribution system in developing countries, the recent trend has been toward increasing government involvement. Patterns and characteristics of food distribution systems in use differ within developing countries. In this article, these differences are related systematically to the differences in the government environment, and is specifically illustrated by the situation in Turkey. Governmental factors are analyzed to show that differing food distribution practices are the result of the prevailing environmental conditions. The author also suggests that the introduction of certain food distribution insitutions, methods and techniques in developing countries is dependent upon appropriate governmental conditions.     

Marketing supplementary food products in LDCs: A case study in Morocco

Developing country governments as well as a number of international agencies have become directly involved in the past two decades in the production and marketing of supplementary food products. This article discusses the Moroccan government's involvement in introducing a weaning food targeted for elaborates on the factors which contributed contributedm to the failure of this and other similar ventures, while drawing attention to the important low-income Moroccan children. It role that marketing plays in launching socially desirable food products in developing country environments.     

Planning for market coordination in LDCs: The role of channel participants in improving food distribution systems

Many development planners have proposed food systems reforms that underscore the importance of coordination and/or integration of traditionally fragmented distributive institutions. However, attempts at nurturing market coordination schemes have been thwarted in part, because they have not gained the endorsement of channel participants. A planning model is suggested to consider the receptivity of channel participants to various market coordination arrangements and their ability to overcome barriers to coordination. This framework can be used to introduce selective market reforms.     

National telecommunications planning in Brazil

During the past 15 years Brazil has undergone a process of rapid modernization in its telecommunications. Starting from a chaotic situation, institutional foundations were established and an ambitious development programme carried out. A fundamental piece of this programme was a planning process that proved to be flexible and adequate to handle the social and economic disparities of the country. The policies that have emerged from the planning process were implemented and provided good economic results and satisfaction to customers.     

Cultural dimensions in management and planning

The nature of management skills is such that they are culturally specific: a management technique or philosophy that is appropriate in one national culture is not necessarily appropriate in another. The paper describes the scope of (work-related) cultural differences as they were revealed by research in more than 50 countries around the world and discusses how these differences affect the validity of management techniques and philosophies in various countries within the functioning and meaning of planning.The author is with the Institute for Research on Intercultural Cooperation, the Netherlands. This paper is a shorter version of the first part of a report MAN DEV/28. Culture and Management Development, written on behalf of the UNDP/ILO Interregional Project Co-operation among Management Development Institutions and published by the International Labour Office, Management Development Branch, Training Department, Geneva 1983.     

The missing link in assistance planning

A major problem of past efforts to deal with food problems has been that both bilateral and multilateral assistance activities have been piecemeal. The focus has been on individual projects, each with limited objectives and a short time frame. There has been a broad spectrum of types of projects, ranging from specialized soil surveys for areas to be irrigated, to comprehensive rural development. It has been taken for granted that the individual projects would somehow add up to a net benefit in terms of national food supplies.     

Impact of telephone and satellite earth station installations on GDP : A model for rural areas of LDCs

Presents a method for estimating the impact on national development of installation of telecommunication facilities in rural areas of developing countries. A methodology developed by Hardy is applied to three groups of developing countries and a hypothetical rural region to estimate the impact on GDP per thin route satellite earth station installed over a ten year period. A logarithmic relationship between telephone density and impact on GDP per earth station is found, so that the impact per earth station increases with lower telephone densities. The model can be used to estimate the impact on national GDP of telephone installations and/or thin route earth stations in regions of low telephone density.