JoAnn Jaffe

Social Cohesion, Neoliberalism, and the Entrepreneurial Community in Rural Saskatchewan:

Social cohesion has become a magic bullet that policy makers imagine will rescue communities from the ravages of the market. Behind the apparent cohesiveness of rural community, however, lies another reality. This article examines characteristics of social cohesion in two rural communities in Saskatchewan. Although new forms of cohesion are emerging, these communities are riven with cleavages along multiple axes. Some of these local divisions appear to be deepening with global and regional processes of socioeconomic transformation. Long-term crises lead to strategies and solutions that precipitate new problems. Ongoing practices of inclusion and exclusion affect the possibilities of development in these communities.

A Low Pulse Food Intake May Contribute to the Poor Nutritional Status and Low Dietary Intakes of Adolescent Girls in Rural Southern Ethiopia

Poor nutrition in adolescent girls poses critical health risks on future pregnancy and birth outcomes especially in developing countries. Our purpose was to assess nutritional status and dietary intake of rural adolescent girls and determine pulse and food intake patterns associated with poor nutritional status. A cross-sectional community-based study was conducted in a traditional pulse growing region of southern Ethiopia on 188 girls between 15 to 19 years of age, with 70% being from food insecure families. Prevalence of stunting (30.9%) and underweight (13.3%) were associated with low food and nutrient intake. Diets were cereal-based, with both animal source foods and pulses rarely consumed. Improving dietary intakes of female adolescents with nutrient dense foods would ensure better health for themselves and for the next generation.

Underdevelopment by Design: How Agricultural Development Programs Increase Poverty and Inequality in Poor Countries—The Case of Haiti

AbstractThe best thing one can say about many development projects is that they have had little impact on their participants; the worst is that they have added to the misery and inequalities of target populations. It is the contention of this article that many of these ill effects are the unintentional results of how development agencies implement projects. The study will examine some institutional and structural aspects of projects that undermine positive results in the “development process,” such as requirements for numeric measurement of progress and bias in development approach. A large agricultural development project in Haiti will be used as a case study to illustrate these points.