Hewlett Foundation

Times are unspeakably ominous now.Even the act of writing a book review about any aspect of our Jewish story takes on additional resonance.I have written about all sorts of Jewish tragedies, but never felt truly threatened until now.October 7 th was a wake-up call.And then there was the horror I felt watching huge marches all around the globe, revealing half-covered faces with eyes bulging with the old Jewish hatred I had spent my life reading about.Israel's safety and Jewish safety seem in freefall.Perhaps that's why I felt anxious approaching Eva Menasse's novelistic masterwork about yet another Jewish calamity.Eva Menasse is a 55-year-old half-Jewish Austrian author and journalist who has written a lengthy novel about an imaginary town called "Darkenbloom" located on the Austrian-Hungarian border.The novel takes place during the last days of the Second World War, and in 1989, when a few of Darkenbloom's more feisty residents finally felt ready to deal with truths they had denied for decades.Menasse has said in interviews that this new novel is based on an actual event that happened in Rechnitz, Austria.So, I feel it is appropriate to start here.Austria was annexed by the Third Reich in 1938.The Rechnitz massacre of 180 Hungarian Jewish laborers took place on March 24, 1945.Local Nazi officials and Hitler Youth were given weapons to participate in the killings.18 of the Jews were forced to bury the victims and then were murdered the following day.The mass graves have never been found.Most of the perpetrators escaped justice.The local Gestapo chief who planned the massacre, Franz Podezin, disappeared in 1945.In Austria, since the Nazi war, there has been great reticence to confront the past.Historians like Wolfgang Benz and Winfred Garscha have participated in an ongoing cover-up, disputing accusations they have been asked to explain.Yet, one local historian named Walter Manoschek wrote about the massacre with rigorous honesty, admitting that this sort of event was only one of many that took place throughout the country at that time.Local villagers, for the most part, remained silent.Crucial evidence was destroyed.But Walter Manoschek continued his crusade to expose what happened to the Jews of Austria despite his colleague's reticence to do so.

Abstract Developmental evaluation is well suited for emergent strategies that are tackling problems rooted in complex systems. This chapter describes the use of developmental evaluation during the initial years of a complex philanthropic initiative focused on strengthening US democracy and its institutions—especially Congress—in a time of political polarization. Because the initiative reflected a different way of thinking about foundation strategy that was emergent and systems-focused, an innovative evaluation and learning approach was used to support ongoing decision-making and adaptation. The chapter, authored by and written from the perspective of both strategists and evaluators, describes the methods used, how the evaluation informed strategy, and reflections and lessons on the developmental evaluation experience and approach.

Prompted by the sudden shift to remote instruction in March 2020 brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers explored online resources to support their students learning from home. We report on how twelve teachers identified and creatively leveraged open educational resources (OERs) and practices to facilitate self-directed science learning. Based on interviews and logged data, we illustrate how teachers’ use of OER starkly differed from the typical uses of technology for transmitting information or increasing productivity. These experiences provide insights into ways teachers and professional developers can take advantage of OER to promote self-directed learning when in-person instruction resumes.

Disrespect and abuse during childbirth are violations of women’s human rights and an indicator of poor-quality care. Disrespect and abuse during childbirth are widespread, yet data on providers’ perspectives on the topic are limited. We examined providers’ perspectives on the frequency and drivers of disrespect and abuse during facility-based childbirth in a rural county in Kenya. We used data from a mixed-methods study in a rural county in Western Kenya with 49 maternity providers (32 clinical and 17 non-clinical) in 2016. Providers were asked structured questions on disrespect and abuse, followed by open-ended questions on why certain behaviours were exhibited (or not). Most providers reported that women were often treated with dignity and respect. However, 53% of providers reported ever observing other providers verbally abuse women and 45% reported doing so themselves. Observation of physical abuse was reported by 37% of providers while 35% reported doing so themselves. Drivers of disrespect and abuse included perceptions of women being difficult, stress and burnout, facility culture and lack of accountability, poor facility infrastructure and lack of medicines and supplies, and provider attitudes. Provider bias, training and women’s empowerment influenced how different women were treated. We conclude that disrespect and abuse are driven by difficult situations in a health system coupled with a facilitating sociocultural environment. Providers resorted to disrespect and abuse as a means of gaining compliance when they were stressed and feeling helpless. Interventions to address disrespect and abuse need to tackle the multiplicity of contributing factors. These should include empowering providers to deal with difficult situations, develop positive coping mechanisms for stress and address their biases. We also need to change the culture in facilities and strengthen the health systems to address the system-level stressors.

ABSTRACTWhen would politicians reduce or eliminate their own discretion in the distribution of valued benefits to voters? I argue that the answer lies in the extent of partisan attachments among voters: politicians would be more likely to adopt non-discretionary or self-binding resource allocation rules in contexts where voters evince weak attachment to political parties. Non-discretionary distributive rules allow politicians to reach unattached voters with benefits without angering their loyal supporters who might otherwise expect to be favoured. They also signal politicians’ commitment to unbiased distribution of public resources, which, research shows, attracts unattached voters. Analysis of data on allocations of legislators’ development funds in Ghana provides strong support for this argument. This result is robust to controls for alternative explanations and thus advances understanding of when politicians in new democracies would pursue reforms designed to reduce or eliminate political discretion.

To explore the impact of fixed labial orthodontic appliances on speech sound production. Speech evaluations were performed on 23 patients with fixed labial appliances. Evaluations were performed immediately prior to appliance insertion, immediately following insertion, and 1 and 2 months post insertion. Baseline dental/skeletal variables were correlated with the ability to accommodate the presence of the appliances. Appliance effects were variable: 44% of the subjects were unaffected, 39% were temporarily affected but adapted within 2 months, and 17% of patients showed persistent sound errors at 2 months. Resolution of acquired sound errors was noted by 8 months post-appliance removal. Maladaptation to appliances was correlated to severity of malocclusion as determined by the Grainger's Treatment Priority Index. Sibilant sounds, most notably /s/, were affected most often. (1) Insertion of fixed labial appliances has an effect on speech sound production. (2) Sibilant and stopped sounds are affected, with /s/ being affected most often. (3) Accommodation to fixed appliances depends on the severity of malocclusion.

The editorial by Jeremy Shiffman, "Knowledge, moral claims and the exercise of power in global health", highlights the influence on global health priority-setting of individuals and organizations that do not have a formal political mandate. This sheds light on the way key functions in global health depend on private funding, particularly from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.