Despite global commitments progress in universalizing PPE has been slow and uneven. Research has found that more than half of all pre-primary aged children in conflict and emergency-affected countries have no access to quality PPE. Plan International’s LEARNPlus project is focusing on adopting an evidence-based, gender-responsive accelerated PPE model to meet the needs of children in underserved communities. Focusing on adapting, testing, and scaling an accelerated school readiness (ASR) program in Tanzania, Laos, Cambodia. Running since 2021, it is funded by the Global Partnership for Education Knowledge and Innovations Exchange (GPE-KIX) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Testing the viability of contextualized, accelerated and enhanced PPE models as alternative, interim, cost-effective programs to support the expansion of PPE for children with limited access who are about to enter Grade 1. The project is using research to build evident to share with Ministries of Education to advocate for scale-up and policy adaption in a sustainable manner.

The project is using a Summer Pre-Primary (SPP) model originally developed for disadvantaged Turkish and Syrian refugee children. It was contextualized for Laos and further adapting for piloting in Cambodia and Tanzania, the adapted SPP model has been building research, undertaken Gender and Inclusion Assessments as well as Implementation Research. The results have helped inform the project stakeholders further refine the adapted SPP models. Following roll-out of the program, an impact study was done, using a strict Random Control Trial (RCT) to assess program quality, as well as a costing study to determine cost-effectiveness. The findings and recommendations of these studies have been used to develop policy documents, advocacy briefs, case studies, etc. The evidence generated through research is leading to advocacy with key national stakeholders on adopting and scaling the model to unserved areas and continue to make progress toward achieving SDG 4.2.

Although the African continent has long been an integral part of the global economy, industrialization and manufacturing south of the Sahara are due to experience a veritable boom in the 21st century. Governments across sub-Saharan Africa have initiated major reforms to position themselves as competitive investment destinations. Although most analysts agree that private-sector investments play a crucial role in driving economic growth, investment promotion efforts in Africa give rise to controversial debates. Do they foster sustainable development, or do they merely accelerate a modern-day scramble for the continent’s valuable resources, deepening the global inequality crisis? To allow for systematic empirical investigations, this study presents the results of a cross-sectional comparative analysis of investment promotion regimes in 46 African countries. It introduces a novel classification scheme that plots investment incentives and conditionalities in a two-dimensional matrix and serves to categorize national-level investment laws with respect to the investor benefits each country provides and the investor performance requirements they mandate in return. The paper concludes with a demonstration of the suitability of this matrix as an analytical tool to evaluate and compare the drivers and impacts of private-sector investment activities across sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.

Temporary Foreign Agricultural Workers (TFAWs), sources of labour in Canada’s agricultural sector, experience complex vulnerabilities due to structural inequalities within the agricultural streams of Canada’s TFWP. The multiple, diverse, and intersecting social identities of TFAWs may compound to exacerbate or lessen vulnerabilities, including gender-based violence (GBV). Through a scoping review, this research contributes to the GBV conceptual and practical knowledge in Canada’s agricultural TFWP in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia. Our search strategy returned 1,273 grey and academic articles, 128 of which were selected for full-text review. Of those, 62 sources met our criteria for data extraction and were reviewed using a Gender-Transformative Change and a Systems Thinking framework to examine how structures and institutions create and exacerbate inequalities between TFAWs while influencing the formation of systems’ structures which either promote or negate GBV. Despite recognition that the TFWP is highly racialized and gendered, much of the literature on TFAWs in Canada is gender-blind and there is limited discussion on GBV within the program. Existing discussion regarding gender in relation to the TFWP is limited to the gender binary and does not address 2SLGBTQI+ individuals, communities, or their experiences. Structural inequalities and power imbalances make TFAW workers vulnerable. They are disincentivized and have limited opportunity to report grievances including substandard living and working conditions, workplace injuries or health-related concerns, discrimination, violence, and abuse. Beyond the workplace, the TFWP also impacts the social relationships of workers, including family dynamics in the home country and social networks within the hosting communities in Canada. Their temporary condition and other social dimensions create a feeling of not belonging in Canada. TFWP national and transnational policies retain structural vulnerabilities and conditions. Existing support mechanisms for TFAWs are hindered by a patchwork legal approach, complaint-driven regulatory regime, limited enforcement practices, and barriers to accessing permanent residency.

Cette communication vise à montrer comment et pourquoi les déconnexions, contradictions, entre le plan stratégique du développement d’Haïti (ci-après PSDH : 2010-2030) et la stratégie nationale d’aide sociale (ci-après SNAS : 2012) contribueraient à la faible mise en œuvre des droits sociaux en Haïti. Dans un contexte post-séisme, les résultats mitigés des différents programmes de la stratégie nationale, nonobstant certaines avancées et leur inspiration des programmes des pays de l’Amérique du sud, s’expliqueraient en raison du fait que certains programmes ont été mis sous silence notamment celui des personnes handicapées et celui de la santé. De plus, cette communication permet de démontrer pourquoi et comment cette stratégie, souffrant d’un déficit d’innovation, s’inscrirait dans des programmes à très court terme rendant la situation sociale plus décevante où l’assistanat devient monnaie courante.

Parallèlement, cette communication vise, dans une perspective institutionnaliste, à analyser l’agentivité des gouvernements succédés, des discours et enjeux à travers des outils d’élaboration et d’institutionnalisation de la stratégie et des pratiques pertinentes. Si l’on s’accorde que les gouvernements qui se sont succédé, pour la plupart, souffrant d’une carence de légitimité et de capacité en raison de son inertie vis-à-vis des droits sociaux (obstacle culturels) et que l’économie haïtienne reste jusqu’ici failli, dépendante par rapport aux dynamiques internationaux (obstacles structurels), alors cette communication permet de comprendre pourquoi et comment les facteurs externes/internes contraignent ou contribuent à la mise en œuvre de la stratégie nationale.

Nous priorisons la triangulation car elle nous permet de faire ressortir toute la multidimensionnalité du phénomène, ainsi qu'à mettre en évidence et à compenser la faiblesse de chaque perspective, méthode et source. Elle est également importante en raison des différentes facettes du phénomène tels que, fragilité de l’État, dépendance de l’économie, vulnérabilité, pour une vue plus riche.

Cette communication s’inscrit dans le cadre de ma recherche doctorale.