United Nations Office for Project Services

ABSTRACT Following the Grand Bargain, there has been increasing focus on aid localisation and partnerships between international and local aid agencies. Yet there has been less scholarly attention on how and why international agency policies and partnerships can cause unintended harm to civil society organisations and their staff. Drawing on James Scott’s seminal work Seeing like a State, and interviews with Myanmar civil society organisation leaders in 2023, this article argues that international agencies often attempt to render civil society “legible” through processes of systematisation and codification. However, these processes can in turn sideline accrued experiential and contextual knowledge, or metis, which is necessary for local organisations’ survival, especially in times of instability. The article highlights several instances in Myanmar where the marginalisation of this more contextual knowledge results in unintended harms. The article concludes that international agencies’ acknowledgement of metis is a crucial and yet still under-recognised pillar of aid localisation.

Effective waste management is a major challenge for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Maldives due to limited land availability. Maldives exemplifies these issues as one of the most geographically dispersed countries, with a population unevenly distributed across numerous islands varying greatly in size and population density. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the unique waste management practices across different regions of Maldives in relation to its natural and socioeconomic context. Data shows Maldives has one of the highest population density and per capita waste generation among SIDS, despite its small land area and medium GDP per capita. Large disparities exist between the densely populated capital Male’ with only 5.8 km2 area generating 63% of waste and the ∼194 scattered outer islands with ad hoc waste management practices. Given Male’s dense population and high calorific waste, incineration could generate up to ∼30 GW/a energy and even increase Maldives’ renewable energy supply by 200%. In contrast, decentralized anaerobic digestion presents an optimal solution for outer islands to reduce waste volume while providing over 40%–100% energy supply for daily cooking in local families. This timely study delivers valuable insights into designing context-specific waste-to-energy systems and integrated waste policies tailored to Maldives’ distinct regions. The framework presented can also guide other SIDS facing similar challenges as Maldives in establishing sustainable, ecologically sound waste management strategies.

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of antenatal iron-folic acid (IFA) supplementation on child stunting in Nepalese children age <2 years. A retrospective cohort study design was used, in which a pooled cohort of 5235 most recent live births 2 years prior to interview from three Nepal Demographic and Health Surveys (2001, 2006 and 2011) was analysed. The primary outcome was stunting in children age <2 years. The main exposure variable was antenatal IFA supplementation. Multivariate Poisson regression analysis was performed. In our sample, 31% and 10% of Nepalese children age <2 years were stunted and severely stunted, respectively. The adjusted relative risk of being stunted was 14% lower in children whose mothers used IFA supplements compared to those whose mothers did not use (aRR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.77–0.97). Additionally, the adjusted relative risk of being stunted was significantly reduced by 23% when antenatal IFA supplementation was started ≤6 months with ≥90 IFA supplements used during pregnancy (aRR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.64–0.92). Antenatal IFA supplementation significantly reduced the risk of stunting in Nepalese children age <2 years. The greatest impact on the risk reduction of child stunting was when IFA supplements were started ≤6 months with ≥90 supplements were used.

"ENGINEER", established in 1973 by The Institution of Engineers, is a Journal for dissemination of Engineering knowledge, published quarterly.Cover DescriptionCover images show a schematic diagram of a Pumped-Storage Hydroelectricity (PSH) facility and one of the promising sites for PSH in Sri Lanka. The latter image was obtained from the publicly available JICA report on “Development Planning on Optimal Power Generation for Peak Demand in Sri Lanka”. The Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka acknowledges JICA for the image.If you are interested in contributing an Original Technical Paper based on research by the author(s) (intended for Section I) or an Original Article of Professional or Technical interest related to Engineering. (Section II) to this journal please go through the publication checklist which can be downloaded from here.