An evaluability assessment of a West Africa based Non-Governmental Organization's (NGO) progressive evaluation strategy

While program evaluations are increasingly valued by international organizations to inform practices and public policies, actual evaluation use (EU) in such contexts is inconsistent. Moreover, empirical literature on EU in the context of humanitarian Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) is very limited. The current article focuses on the evaluability assessment (EA) of a West-Africa based humanitarian NGO's progressive evaluation strategy. Since 2007, the NGO has established an evaluation strategy to inform its maternal and child health care user-fee exemption intervention. Using Wholey's (2004) framework, the current EA enabled us to clarify with the NGO's evaluation partners the intent of their evaluation strategy and to design its program logic model. The EA ascertained the plausibility of the evaluation strategy's objectives, the accessibility of relevant data, and the utility for intended users of evaluating both the evaluation strategy and the conditions that foster EU. Hence, key evaluability conditions for an EU study were assured. This article provides an example of EA procedures when such guidance is scant in the literature. It also offers an opportunity to analyze critically the use of EAs in the context of a humanitarian NGO's collaboration with evaluators and political actors.     

Assessment of physical workload in boiler operations

The use of boiler wood-fired is fairly common equipment utilized in steam generation for energy production in small industries. The boiler activities are considered dangerous and heavy, mainly due to risks of explosions and the lack of mechanization of the process. This study assessed the burden of physical labor that operators of boilers are subjected during the workday. Assessment of these conditions was carried out through quantitative and qualitative measurements. A heart rate monitor, a wet-bulb globe thermometer (WBGT), a tape-measure and a digital infrared camera were the instruments used to collect the quantitative data. The Nordic Questionnaire and the Painful Areas Diagram were used to relate the health problems of the boiler operator with activity. With study, was concluded that the boiler activity may cause pains in the body of intensity different, muscle fatigue and diseases due to excessive weight and the exposure to heat. The research contributed to improve the boiler operator's workplace and working conditions.     

Evaluation of thermal overload in boiler operators

The Brazilians educational institutions need a large energy demand for the operation of laundries, restaurants and accommodation of students. Much of that energy comes from steam generated in boilers with wood fuel. The laboral activity in boiler may present problems for the operator's health due to exposure to excessive heat, and its operation has a high degree of risk. This paper describes an analysis made the conditions of thermal environment in the operation of a B category boiler, located at a Higher Education Institution, located in the Zona da Mata Mineira The equipments used to collect data were Meter WBGT of the Heat Index; Meter of Wet Bulb Index and Globe Thermometer (WBGT); Politeste Instruments, an anemometer and an Infrared Thermometer. By the application of questionnaires, the second phase consisted of collecting data on environmental factors (temperature natural environment, globe temperature, relative humidity and air velocity). The study concluded that during the period evaluated, the activity had thermal overload.     

‘I do like the subtle touch’: interactions between people with learning difficulties and their personal assistants

Disabled people have often been denied choice and control in their lives. Although direct payments promise to deliver autonomy for disabled people, much depends on the way direct payments employers and personal assistants handle their interactions. These matters are particularly important for people with learning difficulties, who have routinely been restricted and controlled by their support staff. This paper presents an analysis, based on video material, of interactions between people with learning difficulties and personal assistants. The paper examines how difficult tasks, such as giving advice, can be accomplished in ways that people with learning difficulties find acceptable. Successful interactions are built on sensitivity to the wishes of the person, on a moment by moment basis. It is important that both parties coordinate their body language, humour and timing to demonstrate a close and friendly relationship, which is both professional and on the terms of the direct payments employer.     

Using ordinal variables to measure multidimensional poverty in Egypt and Jordan

This paper examines the empirical relevance of recent methodological refinements to the “counting approach” to multidimensional poverty measurement. It provides an empirical illustration based on data available in the Demographic and Health Surveys of Egypt and Jordan. The paper relies on the general framework proposed by Silber and Yalonetzky (2013) to compare multidimensional poverty measures, such as the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and others that are sensitive to the distribution of deprivation counts among individuals. It thus computes the measures introduced by Chakravarty and D’Ambrosio, 2006 and Rippin (2010) as well as indices based on the extension of the Aaberge and Peluso (2012), suggested by Silber and Yalonetzky (2013). It appears that it is useful to consider several multidimensional poverty measures when analyzing national poverty trends and when making a distinction between urban and rural areas.     

Mostly the mother: Concentration of adverse employment effects on mothers of children with autism

Creating comprehensive and effective social welfare and anti-poverty policy is an ever-elusive task. A key component of such policies and their related programs is the encouragement and protection of parents’ employment. However, such efforts become more complicated when families are faced with additional challenges such as difficulties, which may arise when parenting a child with a disability. Although both paid employment and parenting are widely understood as far from gender-neutral activities, how adverse employment effects become concentrated on mothers is less well understood. This article examines circumstances under which negative employment effects become concentrated on mothers of children with autism. The results of the analysis suggest focusing policy on addressing short term threats to the continued success of established careers and on workplace reentry could help counter factors which tend to result in having mothers’ careers disproportionately affected as a result of having a child with a disability.     

Eight Motivational Forces and Voluntary Turnover: A Theoretical Synthesis with Implications for Research

In this study, we synthesize, from the attitude and turnover literatures, a framework of eight (8) distinctive motives, or “Forces”. We then illustrate how the “8 Forces” framework can be utilized by turnover researchers as clarification of reported reasons for turnover, as causal mediators of turnover predictors, and as factors related to the type of turnover decision process. Finally, we discuss further implications of this framework.     

The Fairness of Decision Rules

Prior work on resource allocation has generally considered only a small number of allocation rules, usually reflecting equity or equality. We use a scenario study to examine the effect of eight different allocation rules (past performance, future performance, rank, random draw, chance meetings, business need, personal need, and political reasons) on recipient reactions to the gain or loss of three different kinds of resources in an organizational setting. We find evidence that allocations based on past performance and random draw rules lead to the highest fairness perceptions and the lowest expectations that the decisions made will lead to intragroup conflict. However, fairness judgments are also influenced by a variety of other factors, such as the type of resource being allocated and whether the recipient is advantaged or disadvantaged relative to others in the workgroup (what we term the “egocentric interaction”). We discuss how our results might influence managers’ allocation decisions.