Also in this issue

Featured Project
Working with the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, RTI is managing the development of a promising new drug to treat tuberculosis?one of the leading killers worldwide. This innovative drug, PA-824, is being developed through a unique public-private partnership that will allow it to be distributed to developing countries at the lowest cost possible.

Publications
Brinkerhoff, "Rebuilding Governance in Failed States and Post-Conflict Societies: Core Concepts and Cross-Cutting Themes."
Brinkerhoff, "Accountability and Good Governance: Concepts and Issues."
Crouch, "El Sector Educación: Estándares, Rendición de Cuentas y Apoyo."

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Battling Tobacco Use in Southeast Asia

Since October 2004, RTI has been providing technical assistance in seven Southeast Asian countries to 15 tobacco control research projects supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Thai Health Foundation, and South East Asia Tobacco Control Alliance. Tobacco control has become increasingly relevant in middle- and low-income countries. According to the World Health Organization, tobacco is the second leading cause of death in the world—approximately 500,000 people in Southeast Asia die from tobacco use each year. A recent extension to the contract granted additional funding for the project through April 2006.

A man smoking tobacco in a traditional Vietnamese pipe. [PHOTO: Hana Ross]

An RTI health economist, Dr. Hana Ross, has been providing technical and research assistance to local grant recipients through the program. She gives strategic advice to grantees on future tobacco control economic research and helps with the development of their research projects and reports. Through this support, and regional workshops and training sessions, the project is building capacity and intellectual capital in the region while cultivating a network of researchers. The research funded by the project will allow policy makers to weigh the economic implications of their decisions while formulating tobacco control measures. For example, the Vietnamese government is now considering introduction of a uniform cigarette tax as the result of one of the studies, which demonstrated that having a three-tiered cigarette tax system is not economically efficient and exacerbates poverty.

RTI is also providing inputs for the regional research agenda on tobacco control. This research has made progress to raise awareness of tobacco-related health issues in the region. According to Dr. Ross, “Evidence of this progress is that the majority of governments in this part of the world have signed and ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control,” which is the first global health treaty that binds the signatories to implement a set of policies to reduce tobacco consumption. Many countries also have adopted strict laws banning cigarette advertising and promotions, and are considering pictorial warnings on cigarette packs.

The project is an extension of work that Dr. Ross started at the University of Illinois. She is also working on a similar project funded by the Open Society Institute in the former Soviet Republics and Central and Eastern Europe.

More Information:
Hana Ross, e-mail hanaross@rti.org

Where Is the Money? A Snapshot of Education Financing in El Salvador

In the past decade, National Health Accounts (NHAs) have become a critical tool in helping more than 60 countries track the flow of private and public funds through their health care systems. The national accounts method, which uses a series of standardized tables to classify sources and uses of funds, is now gaining momentum in the education sector. Under a recently awarded USAID subcontract to the Academy for Educational Development, RTI will assist the El Salvador Ministry of Education (MINED) to establish a functional, sustainable National Education Account (NEA)that will provide a comprehensive view of education sector investments and outputs.

Offices of the Salvadoran Ministry of Education; the Ministry and RTI are working jointly to establish a National Education Account. [PHOTO: Gilberto Acevedo]

Together with counterparts in MINED, RTI will identify key issues to be examined through the NEA and assess available databases. For example, existing data from the country’s household survey include the amount a family spends on textbooks, school supplies, and transportation for education; however, no information on business investments in employee training is currently collected. In addition, new school surveys will be conducted to measure, among other things, how schools allocate and spend the resources they receive from local and central governments.

Training sessions and consultations will help involve and inform public and private education stakeholders about the value of the NEA. Engaging senior government officials and public and private sector leaders throughout the process will result in better participation in data collection, higher-quality data, and greater appreciation for NEA as a policy tool.

“As part of the NEA process, RTI hopes to strengthen El Salvador’s system of identifying, collecting, and analyzing education indicators, and help support the integration of data from existing education databases,” says Dr. Amber Gove, senior education analyst at RTI. Also, having a functional NEA is critical in helping improve dialogue: “National and local policy makers, donors, and other stakeholders can use NEA findings and discuss strategies for improving education services.”

This effort is a task order under the Educational Quality Improvement Program (EQUIP2), led by AED and funded through the United States Agency for International Development.

More Information:
Dr. Amber Gove, e-mail agove@rti.org

Community-Based Water Sector Management: Is It Really Working?

In February 2006, RTI and its partner PA Government Services began implementing a United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded project to evaluate USAID’s strategy and approach in increasing access to potable water in rural areas of the Dominican Republic over the past five years. The strategy included implementation of a pilot project, using the Total Community Participation (TCP) model, to manage community-based rural water systems. TCP facilitated the creation of community water boards and trained community members in health and hygiene practice.

Photo: According to UN statistics, only about 78% of rural areas in the Dominican Republic have access to improved drinking water. [PHOTO: Maurine Crouch]

This five-week project will work at three levels in the country—national, subnational, and community—to produce a situational assessment of the rural water sector and the National Potable Water and Sanitation Institute (INAPA). RTI staff will meet with stakeholders to inventory strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOTs) in order to identify issues, constraints, and key factors for success. Secondly, the team will evaluate the USAID water sector strategy and the TCP model as a method for adoption throughout the country. Finally, a review of multilateral and bilateral development work being carried out in the sector will be completed to determine possible future areas of collaboration.

Based on the evaluation’s findings, the RTI team will provide recommendations to USAID regarding its current strategies and future participation in the sector. According to Aldo Miranda, team leader for the project and director of RTI’s El Salvador office, “The TCP model is a departure from centrally operated systems, which are still common in Latin America and the Caribbean, as TCP sought to bring in citizen involvement to show operational improvements and behavior change results. Similar models have been proven to be effective in other countries in the region, and we now have the opportunity to evaluate the impact of the USAID’s TCP intervention in the Dominican Republic.”

This project is a new task order under the USAID Environmental Health Indefinite Quantity Contract, which RTI holds as prime contractor.

More Information:
Aldo Miranda, e-mail amiranda@rti.org