ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper was prepared for the Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems (FIVIMS) Secretariat, as a contribution to the ongoing development of food insecurity monitoring systems at the national and sub-national levels, and was funded by DFID as part of a wider programme of technical support to FIVIMS. The views expressed here are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of DFID or FIVIMS. and Wilcock are available as stand-alone papers. 1 In addition to these written inputs, a number of interviews were conducted, mainly in Rome and London, with people engaged in livelihoods approaches in international institutions.

An international Summit was called for June 2002 aiming to reaffirm the commitments of the 1996 World Food Summit and intensify efforts to halve the number of hungry people in the world to 400 million by 2015. However, progress on achieving this target is open to question. This paper analyses recent policy debates in two areas: first, the right to food and freedom from hunger; and second, the measurement of food insecurity at global and national levels. It agrees that the “World Food Summit–five years later” (WFS–fyl) should reaffirm commitment to the right of all people to food and freedom from hunger and the commitment to raise the resources required to achieve this. A rights–based approach to food security implies that policies be defined and actions taken to reduce hunger by a range of local, non–governmental, governmental and international actors. However, reliable information on who the hungry are and where they are situated is required in order to track progress to WFS targets and identify and implement appropriate actions at the global, national or subnational levels. The inter–agency Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems (FIVIMS) plays a key role in generating information on trends of the numbers of food–insecure in the world, but the robustness of its “undernourishment” measure has been debated. The paper concludes by outlining practical ways to improve food security analysis, indicating the potential contribution of rights–based and livelihoods approaches.

This article examines the case of the Catholic Relief Service's (CRS) sesame support programme in The Gambia which has spanned more than 25 years. It outlines the transformation process from relief to development and the role that the production of an agricultural commodity, sesame, has played as a key building block. Following the drought of the 1980s, concerns to move away from dependence on food aid first led to agronomic trials of imported oilseed, then to the selection and dissemination of improved sesame varieties accompanied by an elaborate and costly support programme. This gradually developed into a long-term development-oriented intervention, paving the way for the development of a national women's farmers' organisation. The paper provides a case study of an intervention that has gone beyond the provision of seed to address agronomic research and extension, policy, marketing and institutional issues necessary for successful crop diversification.

Development Policy ReviewVolume 17, Issue 4 p. 397-418 Increasing Violent Conflict between Herders and Farmers in Africa: Claims and Evidence Karim Hussein, Karim Hussein Overseas Development Institute, London,Search for more papers by this authorJames Sumberg, James Sumberg School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UKSearch for more papers by this authorDavid Seddon, David Seddon School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UKSearch for more papers by this author Karim Hussein, Karim Hussein Overseas Development Institute, London,Search for more papers by this authorJames Sumberg, James Sumberg School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UKSearch for more papers by this authorDavid Seddon, David Seddon School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UKSearch for more papers by this author First published: 16 December 2002 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7679.00094Citations: 52AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume17, Issue4December 1999Pages 397-418 RelatedInformation

Computer conferencing is an important emerging technology that promises to have dramatic effects on coordinating the development of large‐scale engineering projects. The technology provides instant inexpensive access to all those involved in a project, thereby reducing project costs and enhancing quality. This article outlines key principles that are necessary to realize the full potential of computer‐mediated communication and coordination of group work in the architecture/engineering/construction (AEC) industry. The approaches proposed are based on an analysis of collaborative design discourse data in physical meeting settings. The interactions of group members have been modeled, and the results have been statistically verified. Based on this model, deficiencies in current computer‐mediated communication are outlined, and a set of principles for effective conferencing systems is formulated to address these defficiencies. Implementations of these recommendations have been integrated into a distributed collaborative design tool being developed by this research group.

This paper presents the CAIRO (Collaborative Agent Interaction control and synchROnization) system which is a distributed design negotiation environment that allows individuals to interact over computer networks without the physical and temporal constraints experienced in a traditional meeting environment. Requirements for a collaborative design negotiation environment are identified based on background research in meeting and negotiation processes as well as distributed artificial intelligence concepts. Furthermore, the paper describes an agent-based coordination and facilitation mechanism to support the design negotiation process, and a framework for effective documentation of meeting proceedings. These mechanisms are built on top of the CAIRO distributed communication infrastructure.

The Context Interchange strategy presents a novel approach for mediated data access in which semantic conflicts among heterogeneous systems are not identified a priori, but are detected and reconciled by a context mediator through comparison of contexts . This paper reports on the implementation of a Context Interchange Prototype which provides a concrete demonstration of the features and benefits of this integration strategy.

This research examines the conduct and consequences of the use of participatory rural appraisal techniques in four rural development projects in The Gambia. The research included a review of literature on PRA and the identification of a series of key themes that would allow an assessment of its utility. Fieldwork in The Gambia included reviews of project documentation, key informant interviews, and periods of village-based research using PRA methods. The conclusions of the study were presented and discussed in a national workshop. Research findings • PRA has had some positive effects, particularly on the agency side. It has served to motivate rural development workers, and instil a spirit of enquiry into support agencies; however, it is not certain if this initial enthusiasm can be maintained and translated into continuing benefits. • There are also some concerns about data quality and cost-effectiveness, as well as the high transaction costs of PRA use, particularly for villagers. • PRA has encouraged participation of the poor in data collection and the direction of project initiatives, but an idealisation of the nature of 'community' and a bias towards the literate draw into question its use for community mobilisation.