The International Budget Partnership posted a short documentary on creating awareness of the Kenyan Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and how it’s spent. Essentially, CDFs provide members of parliament (MPs) a fund to spend on development of their constituency (i.e. schools, clinics, etc.). A local activist organization, Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI) is prominently featured as the group organizing and training citizens to research how the CDF is being spent and ask questions when there are discrepancies.
For those who want to learn more about the CDF in Kenya, there’s a decent introduction in this brief paper by a [Kenyan] economist at the University of Connecticut. The American Political Science Review recently featured an article [older, ungated version here] that used CDF data from India to measure the influence of voter attachment to parties on legislator effort, and ultimately, policy outcomes.
With the possibility of an HIV/AIDS impact evaluation study on the horizon and as I polish my job talk about the demand for HIV/AIDS interventions in Africa, I’ve been reading a lot about HIV prevention interventions. Here are some recent finds on the web:
Ugandan Insomniac shares this image from the Ugandan AIDS Vaccine Newsletter.
For weeks now, I’ve put off writing a post about [Mokgadi] Caster Semenya, the phenomenal young runner who won gold in the 800 m at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics with a time of 1:55.45 in the final. For those who aren’t familiar, Semenya is an 18-year-old runner from Seshego village, near Polokwane in South Africa’s Limpopo province who recently underwent “gender testing” to confirm she was eligible to compete in women’s events.
I have a series of issues with the whole story:
First, there’s a difference between sex and gender. Sex is a biological characteristic (itself not always deterministic), whereas gender is an identity. Semenya’s gender identity is not under dispute: she has always identified as a woman (or, more likely a girl — she is only 18). Her mother never questioned that she was a girl, and Semenya even has a birth certificate to prove she’s female. But major papers like the LA Times apparently don’t know the difference between sex and gender.
And, what is all of this saying to young girls about body image? Gregg Doyel, a columnist for CBS Sports is so sentimental about the saga, he’s called Semenya ugly. In the aftermath of the controversy surrounding her win, Semenya has gotten a makeover.
I also have issues with how identity more generally is being handled by the mainstream media. What does it mean to be Bantu? The New York Times said:
The Bantu, a group of indigenous South African people, may be more predisposed to being hermaphrodites but they do not always have obvious male genitalia, said Dr. Maria New, an endocrinologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. They are genetically female yet have both testes and ovaries.
I’m no scholar of gender nor familiar with much of the background here, and I’m certainly not the only one throwing up her arms and saying WTF, so here’s a blogger who has lots to say, and another one who tells us why we should be uneasy about the whole circus.
My posts have been rather short of late, mostly a compilation of links. This post will be no exception. I wish I could say my limited blogging has been a victim of whirlwind vacation adventures across the world, but it’s actually because I’m in the midst of applying to jobs in a downturned academic market. Blogging time has thus taken a hit. But after Labor Day…
Burundi is certainly very poor, and I am working with the landless Batwa, by far the poorest of the poor. But I am more struck by affirmations of human dignity than I am by human degradation, and I live quite safely here as a single woman. Public health in Burundi is what one might expect in a nation still emerging from a long civil war, but even in healthcare, there are bright spots; e.g., a well-functioning national tuberculosis plan.
Ugandan Insomniac
For weeks now, I’ve put off writing a post about 
