Reflecting on gender equality in Muslim contexts in Oxfam GB

Gender inequality, faith and development are intrinsically linked, and the impact of religious beliefs and practices on gender inequality is an issue that cannot be ignored in development work. This article summarises the key discussions and findings of two workshops, held by Oxfam GB, on the challenges of working on gender equality issues in Muslim contexts. It explores some of the strategies Oxfam staff have used in their programmes, and highlights the challenges Oxfam will need to address as it develops this area of work further.     

A meta-evaluation, or quality assessment, of the evaluations in this issue, based on the African Evaluation Guidelines: 2002

Fourteen evaluations of UNICEF and UNAIDS HIV/AIDS programmes underwent a quality control process called ‘meta-evaluation’, which is an evaluation of the quality of the evaluation. This process of evaluating an evaluation is considered professional good practice by African Evaluation Associations and Networks, as well as the American, Canadian, German, Korean, Swiss and other national professional associations of evaluators. The quality control criteria used were the African Evaluation Guidelines—a list of 30 quality-enhancing standards that can be used as a checklist by evaluators to ensure that evaluation studies are performed well. These quality control criteria can also be applied retrospectively as a quality control method, to assess completed evaluation studies. The results of this quality control review process, for the 14 papers in this issue of Evaluation and Program Planning, are presented and discussed. An indication of a possible area of weakness in HIV/AIDS programme evaluation emerges from this analysis.     

The ‘Indian Queen’ of the four continents: tracing the ‘undifferentiated Indian’ through Europe’s encounters with Muslims,anti-Blackness,and conquest of the ‘New World’

ABSTRACT

This article places Columbus’s travels to the New World within a much older history of eight centuries of Muslim/Moor presence on the Iberian Peninsula. It argues that the Orientalist logics underlining the creation of the ‘New World Indian’ have a long history interpellated through figures of the Moors and other Africans whom Europeans knew for centuries before they encountered the Indigenous peoples of the ‘New World.’ This article argues for the need to bring together seemingly discrepant figures, spatialities, and temporalities in order to re/examine what we know and have yet to learn about entanglements of colonialism, capitalism, race, caste, gender, sexuality, and other social formations. Such a reading of the figure not only brings to fore unexamined relationalities but also demands that we think critically and concretely about questions of our complicity in upholding different systems of violence.     

Developmental Social Policy,Social Welfare Services and the Non‐profit Sector in South Africa

The potential and challenge of constructing a democratic developmental welfare state through synergistic state‐civil society relations is the focus of this article. The author argues that while South Africa's pluralist approach, involving a leading role for the state in partnership with voluntary organizations, is a viable policy option to address the country's developmental challenges, anomalies between policy proclamations and actual practice raises questions about the efficacy of the partnership model and the gendered nature of welfare provision. Key governance issues and challenges, namely financial policies and institutional capability, underlie current failures in the delivery of welfare and care services, resulting in the non‐realization of these constitutionally guaranteed social rights. Further public action is needed to remedy the situation. Non‐profit organizations can advocate for policy reforms and challenge the instrumental nature of state‐civil relations and the abrogation of state responsibility for welfare services in contemporary South Africa.     

Assessing behavior in children aged 12–24 months using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire

Behavioral and emotional problems in infants and toddlers are common, often persist and put children at risk of later mental health problems. Reliable, efficient, and sensitive tools are needed to identify young children who may benefit from further assessment and support. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), offers a brief, convenient means of screening for early problems, however, it lacks psychometric validation in infants. The aim of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of the SDQ in children aged 12–24 months. Ninety-three participants, with children aged 12–24 months, completed the SDQ and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) online. Concurrent validity of the SDQ was assessed through comparison with the CBCL. The results demonstrated that key subscales of the SDQ and CBCL were significantly correlated (r range= −.19 to –.57). Key SDQ subscales showed moderate reliability (Cronbach's alpha range = .38–.79, mean inter-item correlation range = .06–.43). The SDQ shows promising reliability and validity as a measure for rating the behavior of 12–24-months-old children, particularly for externalizing symptoms. Further research is needed to assess its predictive utility.     

Assessing adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the university setting

Objective: To address the increasing demand for assessments of Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the primary author developed a protocol for Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at Stanford University's Vaden Student Health Center to improve the efficiency of such evaluations. Participants: As part of quality assurance, we reviewed the charts of Stanford students who sought assessment for ADHD before the protocol was implemented (September 2011–June 2013) and after the protocol was established (October 2013–August 2014). An IRB exemption was obtained. Methods: The protocol includes questionnaires that solicit detailed clinical information from a variety of sources prior to the student's initial visit. Results: A peer chart review of 35 randomly selected charts showed that students completing the protocol are receiving a more thorough assessment. Conclusion: The new Stanford ADHD protocol, designed to improve clinic efficiency, also increases the availability of relevant clinical information.     

Three-stage group screening with errors in observations

This paper examines the performance of three-stage group screening in terms of the expected number of runs and the expected number of incorrect decisions. A few tables are given at the end to provide the reader with a guideline in choosing a proper screening strategy.     

Multivariate analysis for the two-period repeated measures crossover design with application to clinical trials

Multivariate analysis techniques are applied to the two-period repeated measures crossover design. The approach considered in this paper has the advantage over the univariate analysis approach proposed recently by Wallenstein and Fisher (1977) that the former does not require any specific structure on the variance-covariance matrix of the repeated measures factor. (It should be noted that sums and differences of observations over periods are used for all tests. Therefore, there are two matrices under consideration, one for sums and one for differences.) Tests of significance are derived using the Wilks? criterion, and the procedure is illustrated with a numerical example from the area of clinical trials.     

A restricted subset selection procedure for Weibull populations

Consider k(k ≥ 2) two-parameter Weibull populations. We want to select a subset of the populations not exceeding m in size such that the subset contains at least ? of the t best populations. We have proposed a procedure which uses either the maximum likelihood estimators or ‘simplified’ linear estimators of the parameters. The estimators are based on type II censored data. The ranking of the populations is done by comparing their reliabilities at a certain fixed time. In selected cases the constants for the procedure are tabulated using Monte Carlo methods.     

Unbiased estimation in type II censored samples prom two-truncation parameter family

We consider a type II censored sample data from a two-truncation parameter density and obtain the UMVU estimator for an U-estimable parametric function. An explicit expression for the estimator is derived and some interesting special cases are developed. The shortest length confidence interval for the density is also obtained.