New Research on Policy Impacts in Developing Countries

Women hold out their voter registration cards as they wait to cast their votes in India. (Source: Browseyard.com)

As the US moves steadily towards its electoral process in November, I find myself pondering the purpose of democracy and how effective it is in the Developing World. Having immersed myself exclusively in Asia for the past two years (and much longer in parts before), this time living in Singapore and experiencing firsthand the merits (and demerits) of a "faux-democracy," as well as a range of governance mechanisms across Asia, I am struck by the significant differences between the US democracy and that of several Asian nations.

Recently, I was reading a "briefcase" of information provided by the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL), a respected economic think-tank based at MIT.

About a month ago, JPAL and the ADB had an "Impact and Policy" conference, that focused on research that highlighted how policy might impact three areas: governance, financial inclusion, and entrepreneurship. Thankfully, many of the presentations are linked to the main conference page, which I would highly encourage you to take a look at.

Among them are a few that have already caught my eye:

• a keynote address given by India's former Election Commissioner, who gives a quick overview of the world's largest democracy; one that is larger than the entire electorate of North and South America put together!!

• Fascinating research from Brazil  and Pakistan that highlights the need and impact of transparency/outreach prior to elections (eg. independent audits performed on corrupt vs non-corrupt politicians, released to the public has an immediate impact on how likely they are to be elected or re-elected).

• The impact that a good NGO can have on limiting fake drugs in Uganda.

• Data shows that poverty positively corelates with conflict. It also shows that political representation of all groups in high conflict areas, helps lessen conflict and violence in these areas.

There's much more...check it out here.

Starting a recycling program on my Singaporean campus

I work on this nameless campus in Singapore. Its supposedly one of the best universities in the world.

For all of Singapore's advancement, the idea of environmental consciousness and responsibility have still not made it here. People still eat shark fin soup everywhere, for example, and everything is overpackaged (I've been told its because of the rain...but seriously...
I've lived in some rainy, snowy places, and my stuff remains dry without the overpackaging). Not to mention the waste of paper, plastic and other resources out here.

Among other things, I'm trying hard to start a recycling program at our campus. No one knows what recycling here is. While this is NOT a third world nation, people here just don't get it. Everything goes into the same trash bin and it all ends up in the Singaporean incinerator. What's the big deal, people always ask me!

So I was thrilled when I found out that the University has an Office for Environmental Sustainability (OES). Apparently they do recycling and other stuff. So I wrote them last week, offering to drop by (its a drive away to get between the campuses). There was no phone number, so I emailed. This is what I wrote.

"Hi there,

we are water researchers at XXX at XXX campus. We have been extremely frustrated by the lack of recycling facilities on the campus and would like to start implementing one ASAP.

We'll be on your campus on tuesday, Aug 17 morning. Would you be available for a meeting after 11:30 AM?? We would love to hear your thoughts on how we can work with you to make XXX a greener, cleaner campus.

Thanks,"

Two weeks later (and WAY after my first request for scheduled appointment), I got this email from them:

Dear XXXX,

Thank you for writing in to us!

A list of recycling locations on campus can be found at : ------ website

Do you find that it is insufficient for XXX campus? Perhaps you can suggest to us additional locations and we can forward your request to XXX Campus Management Office(XXCMO). OES will support with recycling bins if XXCMO agrees.

Thank you!

Yours Sincerely,

Office of Environmental Sustainability

Wow. Two weeks later I get nowhere. No sorry. No explanation. No "let's meet up so we can figure this out together." So I went to the website. As an afterthought, somewhere at the end of a badly designed excel spreadsheet, our campus of over 2000 folks has four little recycling bins. I went hunting for them in the rain today. It took me a while to locate one of them. It was sitting as an afterthought behind the canteen. And inside the bin, I found one soft drink can (I know the person who threw it in there). Back inside, at the canteen dustbin where I went to dispose off my food remains, there were about 200 aluminum cans sitting under the little food scraps I threw in.

That says it all.

I have a LOT of work ahead of me...

OES has a great website, twitter feed, Facebook profile and godknowswhatelse. My little office has none of those. Not that that means anything.

Why I've been quiet

A lot of people have been bugging me about my lack of writing on my blog. This is for two reasons:

• I am in Singapore
• I am supposed to start a blog around water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) issues where I work now. Since there was going to be this overlap, I've focused on the other one.

Singapore (where I am at the moment) is a very difficult place to write from...particularly if you like the idea of freedom and have an independent mind (as I do). Say something people don't like, and you get put on a watch list; sometimes punished severely. If you 'google' around, I'm sure you'll find more interesting information on the subject. Essentially, i don't know what will tick someone off and then I end up with my head on a cross bridge (they have a few here!).

On the second, things are moving slowly where I work. There are many reasons for this. They are restructuring, and there is a war about what we can and cannot post, and the process we have to use. And then there is a war about the name, because it has to represent several different institutions at once.

And while these two issues resolve themselves, I'm working feverishly on keeping the rest of my work going. So I've been quiet.

Cool collage: Waste into Art

For the past several days I've been seeing a group of students busily doing an "art project" on the side of the building that's on the way from my office to the school cafeteria. (Usually that's not a good sign...but it is Singapore...you can't do too many bad things here!). On closer inspection, I was seriously impressed.

Here's a student working on it. The tools are simple. Used aluminium cans of various colors, a paper background with the design outlined, and some hardy glue, and of course people to do the work :-)

If you look closer, you'll see the remnants of drink cans (many are Asian specific drinks, so you may not recognize them). Some of the white pieces are pieces of Diet coke cans, the red pieces are from coca cola cans, and the black from coke zero!!

The kids were undergraduates in the Law program at NUS. They have to put together a float for their department, during some Uni parade. Low on funds, one insightful person came up with this design. I LIKE!!

CHECK OUT the BBC World Debate on Water...airing THIS WEEKEND

Panelists debate water issues at the BBC World Debate, filmed live on location in Singapore. Photo Credit: Institute of Water Policy

A couple of weeks ago, my colleagues and I helped put together the first BBC World Debate on Water. Its the first time that such a major network has done such a high profile debate on the issue of water (and might I say, about time!!).

The event was part of our attempt to bring more public dialoguing about water issues into the limelight. We purposely held it during the famous and very international Singapore International Water Week (a week-long conference that brings together almost 15,000 water geeks from all over the world), so that we could get an international and eclectic audience into the room who could then take their viewpoints to others. Only 250 people were allowed to attend the live filming, and they came from around the world...ranging from high school kids to high profile water ministers.

Feedback has been very positive thus far. And we are happy that you can all finally see it too!!

The BBC World Debate on Water will air worldwide THIS WEEKEND as follows. Please note that ALL times listed below are in SGT (Singapore Time). Please check local listings for the exact time in your country or area, (its supposed to be the singapore time converted into whatever your timezone is but I'm not sure):

BBC WORLD DEBATE
"IS THE WORLD RUNNING OUT OF WATER??"

On the BBC World News Channel
Saturday, 17 JULY 2010, 17:10 (SGT)
Sunday, 18 JULY 2010, 10:10 (SGT) and 23:10 (SGT)

Should you miss seeing it on TV, you can watch it online starting next week, directly on the BBC site at http://www.bbcworldnews.com/Pages/ProgrammeMultiFeature.aspx?id=196

Please feel free to forward this around. Also we would love to hear your feedback on the event. Do email us back with comments, questions, and/or suggestions about the event (eg. how we can make it better or other types of events you would like to see us host)!

Do email me at tworque AT gmail DOT com, with your feedback.

Update

I'm sorry I've been so quiet the past several months. I was in the process of jobhunting, interviewing and finally moving to a new country. I just moved to Singapore to take up a job at a startup water policy think tank. I'm planning on launching a blog for the organization. Lots of good water stuff will be coming up there. Look out!

My blogging here will suffer (no less than it already has!), but I will do my best to be more regular. Thanks for still sticking around...