Browsing by Author "Odendaal, Willem"

Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Addressing the tensions and complexities involved in commissioning and undertaking implementation research in low- and middle-income countries
    (BMJ, 2018) Doherty, Tanya; Lewin, Simon; Kinney, Mary; Sanders, David; Mathews, Cathy; Daviaud, Emmanuelle; Goga, Ameena; Bhana, Arvin; Besada, Donela; Vanleeuw, Lieve; Loveday, Marian; Odendaal, Willem; Leon, Natalie
    Rapid scale-up of new policies and guidelines, in the context of weak health systems in low/middle-income countries (LMIC), has led to greater interest and funding for implementation research. Implementation research in LMICs is often commissioned by institutions from high-income countries but increasingly undertaken by LMIC-based research institutions. Commissioned implementation research to evaluate large-scale, donor-funded health interventions in LMICs may hold tensions with respect to the interests of the researchers, the commissioning agency, implementers and the country government. We propose key questions that could help researchers navigate and minimise the potential conflicts of commissioned implementation research in an LMIC setting.
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    Comparing a paper based monitoring and evaluation system to a mHealth system to support the national community health worker programme, South Africa: an evaluation
    (BioMed Central, 2014) Neupane, Sunisha; Odendaal, Willem; Friedman, Irwin; Jassat, Waasila; Schneider, Helen; Doherty, Tanya
    BACKGROUND: In an attempt to address a complex disease burden, including improving progress towards MDGs 4 and 5, South Africa recently introduced a re-engineered Primary Health Care (PHC) strategy, which has led to the development of a national community health worker (CHW) programme. The present study explored the development of a cell phone-based and paper-based monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system to support the work of the CHWs. METHODS: One sub-district in the North West province was identified for the evaluation. One outreach team comprising ten CHWs maintained both the paper forms and mHealth system to record household data on community-based services. A comparative analysis was done to calculate the correspondence between the paper and phone records. A focus group discussion was conducted with the CHWs. Clinical referrals, data accuracy and supervised visits were compared and analysed for the paper and phone systems. RESULTS: Compared to the mHealth system where data accuracy was assured, 40% of the CHWs showed a consistently high level (>90% correspondence) of data transfer accuracy on paper. Overall, there was an improvement over time, and by the fifth month, all CHWs achieved a correspondence of 90% or above between phone and paper data. The most common error that occurred was summing the total number of visits and/or activities across the five household activity indicators. Few supervised home visits were recorded in either system and there was no evidence of the team leader following up on the automatic notifications received on their cell phones. CONCLUSIONS: The evaluation emphasizes the need for regular supervision for both systems and rigorous and ongoing assessments of data quality for the paper system. Formalization of a mHealth M&E system for PHC outreach teams delivering community based services could offer greater accuracy of M&E and enhance supervision systems for CHWs.
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    Elite land grabbing in Namibian communal areas and its impact on subsistence farmers’ livelihoods
    (PLAAS, University of the Western Cape, 2011) Odendaal, Willem
    This brief examines some emerging trends and dynamics in changing power relations in rural Namibian communities due to emerging new elites and the threats to subsistence farmers’ access to communal land and natural resources.
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    Elite land grabbing in Namibian communal areas and its impact on subsistence farmers’ livelihoods
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2011) Odendaal, Willem
    Large scale land acquisitions by foreign investors in Africa for agricultural purposes continue to capture attention worldwide. In recent years Namibia has received some proposals from multi-national agricultural corporations to develop large scale irrigation projects, mainly in Namibia’s water rich north-eastern regions However, to date none of these proposed large scale projects have materialised. In 2010 two proposed large scale agricultural projects in the northeastern communal areas of Namibia did not come to fruition. Plans to develop a 10 000ha commercial crop production farm within the Bwabwata National Park were dropped after an environmental assessment showed that it was not feasible for the developer, Demeter, to continue with the project.
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    Livelihoods after land reform
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2010) Werner, Wolfgang; Odendaal, Willem
    In 1990, Namibia emerged from colonial rule with a skewed distribution of agricultural land and high levels of poverty. The new government led by SWAPO Party initiated a process to address the land question within the first few months of Independence. A National Conference on Land Reform and the Land Question in 1991 was the foundation on which the Namibian government developed its land reform programme. The Ministry of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation started in 1990 to acquire freehold farmland for subdivision and allocation to previously disadvantaged Namibians. This component of redistributive land reform was complemented by the Affirmative Action Loan Scheme (AALS) established in 1992. The AALS provided subsidised loans to previously disadvantaged Namibians to acquire large-scale commercial farms under freehold title.
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    Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia country report (2010)
    (Land, Environment and Development Project, Legal Assistance Centre, 2010) Werner, Wolfgang; Odendaal, Willem
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    Livelihoods after land reform: Namibia country report (2010) Section B
    (Land, Environment and Development Project, Legal Assistance Centre, 2010) Werner, Wolfgang; Odendaal, Willem
    The first AALS farmers in Hardap obtained their land in 1992, and the most recent in 2003. In Omaheke, the first AALS farmer obtained his farm in 1992 and the most recent, a woman, in 2000. Thus in both regions the oldest AALS beneficiaries have been farming as such for 17 years. All 10 AALS farming households interviewed in Hardap Region were male-headed. Eight of the household heads were married with a civil marriage certificate, one was widowed and one was single. One farm was registered in a wife’s name while her husband waited for his AALS loan to be approved. All the others farms were registered in the names of the household heads. The AALS farm sizes ranged from 3500 ha to 20000 ha.
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    Livelihoods after land reform: The impacts of land reform on livelihoods in Namibia: Section B
    (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies, University of the Western Cape, 2010) Werner, Wolfgang; Odendaal, Willem
    The first AALS farmers in Hardap obtained their land in 1992, and the most recent in 2003. In Omaheke, the first AALS farmer obtained his farm in 1992 and the most recent, a woman, in 2000. Thus in both regions the oldest AALS beneficiaries have been farming as such for 17 years. All 10 AALS farming households interviewed in Hardap Region were male-headed. Eight of the household heads were married with a civil marriage certificate, one was widowed and one was single. One farm was registered in a wife’s name while her husband waited for his AALS loan to be approved. All the others farms were registered in the names of the household heads. The AALS farm sizes ranged from 3 500 ha to 20 000 ha. In Omaheke, three male and two female household heads made up the AALS interview sample. The average age of the Hardap household heads was 52 years, with a median of 50. Twenty per cent were over 60 years of age. The average age of the Omaheke household heads was also 52, the youngest being 48 and the oldest 57. In Hardap, five farmers stated that they had received tertiary education, while the lowest standard of formal education attained was Standard 5 (Grade 7 under the new system).