Lessons from Nigeria for improved thinking and working politically in the extractives sector

Despite the wealth that comes from being the biggest oil producer in Africa, Nigeria has some of the worst development indicators in the world. From 2011 to mid‐2016, the DFID‐funded Facility for Oil Sector Transparency and Reform (FOSTER) programme's unique design aimed to reduce incentives for the capture of oil revenue by elites and international oil companies, restoring the potential of those revenues to accelerate economic and social development. This article asks what lessons FOSTER's successes and failures offer for improved “thinking and working politically” (TWP). It examines the outcomes from five “clusters” of interventions: three viewed by the FOSTER team as successes and two as failures. The article identifies factors for successful TWP‐based programming, including the need for local ownership rooted in staff with a combination of technical expertise, a deep knowledge of the local political context and excellent networking abilities. The research used a qualitative and inductive approach. Field research was undertaken with 44 semi‐structured qualitative interviews during one month of fieldwork in Abuja and Lagos. The research also included reviews of FOSTER's internal documentation and evaluation frameworks, as well as analysis of newspaper articles and grey literature on the oil sector in Nigeria. The project offers important lessons for politically informed programming about how interventions were implemented (process), what was actually done (content) and how the project responded to changes in context that created or blocked opportunities for reform (responsiveness). The article identifies factors for successful TWP‐based programming, including the need for local ownership rooted in staff with a combination of technical expertise, a deep knowledge of the local political context and excellent networking abilities. The findings have important implications for programme design. They demonstrate the value of built‐in flexibility that allows staff to choose and switch the partners they work with and the channels they work through. They also show that a key aspect of TWP‐based programming is implicit acceptance that some failure may be unavoidable, since this permits staff to balance risk against opportunities. Finally, a better understanding of FOSTER's failures reveals the challenges of a TWP‐based approach and the trade‐offs it demands.     

An Ecological Model for Quantitative Risk Assessment for Schistosomiasis: The Case of a Patchy Environment in the Coastal Tropical Area of Northeastern Brazil

We developed a stochastic model for quantitative risk assessment for the Schistosoma mansoni (SM) parasite, which causes an endemic disease of public concern. The model provides answers in a useful format for public health decisions, uses data and expert opinion, and can be applied to any landscape where the snail Biomphalaria glabrata is the main intermediate host (South and Central America, the Caribbean, and Africa). It incorporates several realistic and case‐specific features: stage‐structured parasite populations, periodic praziquantel (PZQ) drug treatment for humans, density dependence, extreme events (prolonged rainfall), site‐specific sanitation quality, environmental stochasticity, monthly rainfall variation, uncertainty in parameters, and spatial dynamics. We parameterize the model through a real‐world application in the district of Porto de Galinhas (PG), one of the main touristic destinations in Brazil, where previous studies identified four parasite populations within the metapopulation. The results provide a good approximation of the dynamics of the system and are in agreement with our field observations, i.e., the lack of basic infrastructure (sanitation level and health programs) makes PG a suitable habitat for the persistence and growth of a parasite metapopulation. We quantify the risk of SM metapopulation explosion and quasi‐extinction and the time to metapopulation explosion and quasi‐extinction. We evaluate the sensitivity of the results under varying scenarios of future periodic PZQ treatment (based on the Brazilian Ministry of Health's plan) and sanitation quality. We conclude that the plan might be useful to slow SM metapopulation growth but not to control it. Additional investments in better sanitation are necessary.     

The Culture of High-Risk Alcohol Use Among Club and Intramural Athletes

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the drinking patterns of club and intramural college athletes and compare their alcohol consumption, perceived norms around the excessive use of alcohol, experience of negative consequences, and employment of protective strategies with those of campus varsity athletes. Participants: A total of 442 undergraduate students attending a private, suburban institution in the Northeast participated in the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment-II Web survey in spring 2011. Thirty-five students identified themselves as varsity athletes, 76 identified as club sport athletes, and 196 students identified themselves as intramural athletes. Methods: Survey responses were analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The Pearson's correlation coefficient and test for independence were applied to identify significant relationships between athlete status and identified variables related to alcohol use. Results: Results indicated that there were significant correlations between athlete status and all variables, to varying degrees. Conclusions: These findings have implications for campus health promotion professionals and athletics program coordinators seeking to address high-risk alcohol use among college athletes.     

The Eating Disorders NOS Diagnostic Profile Among College Women

Abstract

The authors examined a proposed profile of eating-related behaviors, associated features, developmental issues, and help-seeking behavior among college women, using an eating disorder response program. The most common symptom scenario was a pattern of regular binge eating, together with daily exercise and occasional purging. The most common associated features were distressing or dysfunctional overconcern about body image and self-esteem, usually with day-to-day stress and intermittent depression. The women who fit this pattern also presented developmental issues of perfectionism, conflictual relationships with parents, and struggles for independence; and they tended to be ambivalent about seeking services. Implications for practice, including the need to develop a framework for eating disorder responses on campus that includes preventive programs and developmental interventions to target emerging and moderate concerns are discussed; limitations and the preliminary nature of the findings are explicated.     

Do hostile sexual beliefs affect men's perceptions of sexual-interest messages?

This study tested the distorted cognitions component of Hall and Hirschman's (1991) quadripartite model of sexual aggression. Men (N = 107) with and without hostile sexual beliefs viewed erotic slides with a female partner who provided one of four patterns of feedback: clear disinterest, token disinterest, compliant interest, and clear interest. Hostile men reported fewer differences between women, were unresponsive to their partner's perceived embarrassment, and reported a consistent positive mood regardless of her feedback. Conversely, nonhostile men were more responsive to feedback, mirrored the partner's embarrassment, and experienced a less positive mood when she communicated clear disinterest in the erotica. These findings support the distorted cognitions component of the quadripartite model of sexual aggression. The authors also discuss the strengths and limitations of this study's methodology.     

PERSUADED UNDER PRESSURE: EVIDENCE FROM THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE

We exploit a natural experiment within each National Football League game, finding the first evidence in professional sports that referees succumb to the pressures of satisfying team personnel in the vicinity of possible violations. Using generalized additive models for binomial outcomes, we show that these sideline‐based differences in penalty rates, which are observed on common but influential penalties including pass interference and holding, peak near the centralized location of players and coaches on the sideline. With sizable interests in referee decisions, coaches and players often try to manipulate referee behavior with verbal and nonverbal communications; such actions appear to be persuasive. (JEL ZO, H3)     

Child Obesity and the Interaction of Family and Neighborhood Socioeconomic Context

Population Research and Policy Review - The literature on neighborhoods and child obesity links contextual conditions to risk, assuming that if place matters, it matters in a similar way for...     

“Yes,I Can”: Testing an Intervention to Increase Middle School Students’ College and Career Self‐Efficacy

Middle school is the appropriate time for students to begin exploring careers and improving self‐efficacy; however, empirically supported career and college readiness interventions for U.S. middle school students are limited. Examining the effect of an intervention that combined a virtual experience and a local college visit on middle school students (99 girls, 74 boys), the authors found that participating students had higher levels of college and career self‐efficacy than did nonparticipating students. The study shows that a workshop of the online Florida CHOICES program coupled with a campus visit increased middle school student career and college self‐efficacy. Future research should include longitudinal studies and use of diverse populations to improve generalizability of study results.