Seizing The Momentum

Agriculture’s vast potential to improve nutrition is just beginning to be tapped. New ideas, research, and initiatives developed over the past decade have created an opportunity for reimagining and redesigning agricultural and food systems for the benefit of nutrition. To support this transformation, Agriculture for Improved Nutrition: Seizing the Momentum reviews the latest findings, results from on-the-ground programs and interventions, and recent policy experiences from countries around the world that are bringing agriculture and nutrition closer together. Drawing on IFPRI’s own work and that of the growing agriculture–nutrition community, this book strengthens the evidence base for and expands our vision of how agriculture can contribute to nutrition. By highlighting both achievements and setbacks, Agriculture for Improved Nutrition seeks to inspire those who want to scale up successes that can transform food systems and improve the nutrition of billions of people.

Seizing Moments of Possibility focuses on ways to build strong support and forward momentum into your plans right from the beginning. Rick Maurer claims that too often the human side of change is an afterthought or an add-on to the "real" work. He believes this is a costly mistake -- and often avoidable. The book shows you how to identify those countless little moments during big projects that could turn dreary routine tasks into activities that actually engage people.

Many development programs that aim to alleviate poverty and improve investments in human capital consider women’s empowerment a key pathway by which to achieve impact and often target women as their main beneficiaries. Despite this, women’s empowerment dimensions are often not rigorously measured and are at times merely assumed. This paper starts by reflecting on the concept and measurement of women’s empowerment and then reviews some of the structural interventions that aim to influence underlying gender norms in society and eradicate gender discrimination. It then proceeds to review the evidence of the impact of three types of interventions—cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs—on women’s empowerment, nutrition, or both. Qualitative evidence on conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs generally points to positive impacts on women’s empowerment, although quantitative research findings are more heterogenous. CCT programs produce mixed results on long-term nutritional status, and very limited evidence exists of their impacts on micronutrient status. The little evidence available on unconditional cash transters (UCT) indicates mixed impacts on women’s empowerment and positive impacts on nutrition; however, recent reviews comparing CCT and UCT programs have found little difference in terms of their effects on stunting and they have found that conditionality is less important than other factors, such as access to healthcare and child age and sex. Evidence of cash transfer program impacts depending on the gender of the transfer recipient or on the conditionality is also mixed, although CCTs with non-health conditionalities seem to have negative impacts on nutritional status. The impacts of programs based on the gender of the transfer recipient show mixed results, but almost no experimental evidence exists of testing gender-differentiated impacts of a single program. Agricultural interventions—specifically home gardening and dairy projects—show mixed impacts on women’s empowerment measures such as time, workload, and control over income; but they demonstrate very little impact on nutrition. Implementation modalities are shown to determine differential impacts in terms of empowerment and nutrition outcomes. With regard to the impact of microfinance on women’s empowerment, evidence is also mixed, although more recent reviews do not find any impact on women’s empowerment. The impact of microfinance on nutritional status is mixed, with no evidence of impact on micronutrient status. Across all three types of programs (cash transfer programs, agricultural interventions, and microfinance programs), very little evidence exists on pathways of impact, and evidence is often biased toward a particular region. The paper ends with a discussion of the findings and remaining evidence gaps and an outline of recommendations for research.

In the story of every great company and career, there is one defining moment when luck and skill collide. This book is about making that moment happen. According to Frans Johansson’s research, successful people and organizations show a common theme. A lucky moment occurs and they take advantage of it to change their fate. Consider how Diane von Furstenberg saw Julie Nixon Eisenhower on TV wearing a matching skirt and top, and created the timeless, elegant wrap-dress. That was a “click moment” of unexpected opportunity. Johansson uses stories from throughout history to illustrate the specific actions we can take to create more click moments, place lots of high-potential bets, open ourselves up to chance encounters, and harness the complex forces of success that follow.

In this book, Richard D'Aveni provides a radical new framework for fighting commoditization. Drawing on an in-depth study of more than 30 industries, he provides a tool for diagnosing your competitive position and shows you how to strengthen it.

Recreational players today are bombarded with ‘revolutionary approaches,’ ‘secrets to success,’ and ‘play like the pros’ techniques all promising to take their game to the next level. Award winning teaching professional Greg Moran says, ‘No!’ “There are no revolutionary approaches or secrets to success, and trying to play like the pros is the worst advice a recreational player can be given. That’s why I had to write this book,” says Greg. The Truth About Tennis is a unique instruction book written specifically for the millions of recreational players around the globe. Greg has been playing, teaching, studying, and writing about tennis for over 50 years. He’s spent more than 100,000 hours on the court helping thousands of players from ages 3 to 93 improve their tennis. Quite simply, he knows what works and, equally important, what doesn’t. The Truth About Tennis will help you cut down on your inner chatter and information overload to reboot your path to improvement. It will refocus your attention on the techniques and tactics that will truly make you a more intelligent, confident, and winning player.

This handbook explores the theme of managing inside China and consists of chapters that communicate the major managerial concepts within the context of Mainland China. Its key emphasis is to clearly highlight the differences in the art of managing in China vs. the West, while acknowledging that these differences may be narrowing as a result of globalization. Chapters in the book elaborate on how management is affected as China experiences rapid change while some aspects of Chinese culture remain unchanged and steeped in tradition. The book goes further in exploring this complexity by juxtaposing China’s orientation towards interpersonal relations, or "guanxi", with the government’s emphasis on law, which is now becoming more rule-based than before. Business & Management academics and practitioners will gain useful insight into Chinese management practices and their contrast to established Western ones when they use the Handbook of Chinese Management as a reference.

Agricultural mechanization in Africa south of the Sahara - especially for small farms and businesses - requires a new paradigm to meet the needs of the continent's evolving farming systems. Can Asia, with its recent success in adopting mechanization, offer a model for Africa? An Evolving Paradigm of Agricultural Mechanization Development analyzes the experiences of eight Asian and five African countries. The authors explore crucial government roles in boosting and supporting mechanization, from import policies to promotion policies to public good policies. Potential approaches presented to facilitating mechanization in Africa include prioritizing market-led hiring services, eliminating distortions, and developing appropriate technologies for the African context. The role of agricultural mechanization within overall agricultural and rural transformation strategies in Africa is also discussed. The book's recommendations and insights should be useful to national policymakers and the development community, who can adapt this knowledge to local contexts and use it as a foundation for further research.

With this book series the Indonesian government, its people, and BRR wish to expres their deep gratitude for the many kind helping hands extended from all over the world following the December 26, 2004 earthquake and the tsunami in Aceh and the March 28, 2005 earthquake in the islands of Nias. ... within the pages of this book BRR would like to share those experiences and the lessons learned ... to building Aceh and Nias back better and safer. ...

"A presentation of the MESSY leadership model, outlining five key traits and mindsets that make it easier for educators to lead in a complex world"--