Knowledge Mobilization in Global Projects and Organizations

Multimethod Analysis of Factors for Reliable and Sustainable Rural Water Infrastructure Maintenance in Uganda

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 22:49:53 +0000

Multimethod Analysis of Factors for Reliable and Sustainable Rural Water Infrastructure Maintenance in Uganda Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 07/27/2022 - 16:49 Caleb Cord , Amy Javernick-Will , Karl Linden

Professionalized maintenance arrangements are growing throughout sub-Saharan Africa to improve rural water infrastructure functionality after decades of largely unsuccessful community-based management (CBM), but factors influencing their success are understudied. We used a multimethod approach to (1) identify influential factors on rural water system reliability and sustainability in the literature; (2) determine the most influential factors for professionalized maintenance through focus group discussions with a Ugandan maintenance provider’s technicians and field staff; and (3) identify statistically significant associations between these factors and breakdowns, downtime, and community maintenance contract status. Findings show that contract status, indicating consumer demand and payment, is influenced by service reliability, free repairs from NGOs, and the number of users. Handpump breakdowns are most likely during rainy seasons, when total downtime is longer for increasing distance from the maintenance provider’s nearest office, likely due to travel challenges. Based on compelling quantitative and qualitative evidence, we call for increased coordination among key actors for more successful professionalized maintenance provision. For example, aid actors such as NGOs must respect formal professionalized arrangements in the contexts where they work. Additionally, maintenance providers and their funders must ensure adequate resource availability to overcome travel challenges and ensure equitable service provision.

Cord, C., Fink, E., Javernick-Will, A., Mukanga, J., Bergeron, F., Harvey, A., & Linden, K. G. (2022). Multimethod Analysis of Factors for Reliable and Sustainable Rural Water Infrastructure Maintenance in Uganda. ACS ES&T Water.

Cord, C., Fink, E., Javernick-Will, A., Mukanga, J., Bergeron, F., Harvey, A., & Linden, K. G. (2022). ACS ES&T Water.

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Challenges and solutions to rural water service sustainability in East African countries: A ‘systems scaffolding’ perspective

Anonymous — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 22:57:52 +0000

Challenges and solutions to rural water service sustainability in East African countries: A ‘systems scaffolding’ perspective Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/25/2022 - 16:57 Jeffrey Walters , Nick Valcourt , Amy Javernick-Will , Karl Linden

This study maps and quantitatively analyzes the interaction of factors that drive (un)sustainable rural water service delivery in five regions across Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya by combining the knowledge and experience of 210 service delivery stakeholders, ranging from government officials, service providers and the private sector. We used semi-structured interview data combined with purposive text analysis and a suite of systems analysis tools to map and then structurally analyze leverage points within system maps that characterize challenges and solutions to sustainable rural water service delivery. The analysis of both challenge and solution system maps highlighted the need for more diversified planning and management frameworks centering on coordination, financing, and capacity building that can ‘scaffold’ effective operation and maintenance activities. The study also expands on a novel process for building and analyzing quantitative systems maps from qualitative interview data.

Walters, J., Valcourt, N., Linden, K., Javernick-Will, A., & Lockwood, H. (2022). Challenges and solutions to rural water service sustainability in East African countries: A ‘systems scaffolding’perspective. Environmental Science & Policy, 136, 564-574.

Walters, J., Valcourt, N., Linden, K., Javernick-Will, A., & Lockwood, H. (2022). Environmental Science & Policy, 136, 564-574.

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Identifying misalignments between the informal construction sector's perceptions and engineering assessments of housing safety in future disasters for capacity development.

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 22:53:23 +0000

Identifying misalignments between the informal construction sector's perceptions and engineering assessments of housing safety in future disasters for capacity development. Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 06/09/2022 - 16:53 Briar Goldwyn , Yarelis González Vega , Amy Javernick-Will , Abbie Liel

This study investigates areas where perceptions of those working in Puerto Rico's informal construction sector and engineering assessments of housing safety in future disasters misalign, identifying areas for construction capacity development to reduce hurricane and earthquake risk. We compared survey results from 345 individuals building and advising in the informal construction sector to the recommendations from our prior work assessing wind and seismic performance of informally constructed housing configurations. The study found four misalignments between perceptions and engineering assessments, where survey respondents did not agree with the recommendations. For wood-frame housing, our findings reveal builders and residents may not be prioritizing hurricane straps to strengthen key connections and avoid catastrophic failures because they do not view hurricane straps as efficacious. For reinforced concrete/masonry housing, we found builders and residents are associating heaviness with safety; building confined, rather than infill masonry; and building open-ground-story housing with weak columns, presenting seismic risks. Each of these misalignments was based on local expert insight about unsafe practices that are due to technical construction capacity rather than solely resource constraints. This study contributes to literature on the housing safety perceptions driving informal construction, provides an approach for comparison of local and scientific knowledge, and supports capacity development for disaster risk reduction.

Goldwyn, B., Vega, Y. G., Javernick-Will, A., & Liel, A. B. (2022). Identifying misalignments between the informal construction sector's perceptions and engineering assessments of housing safety in future disasters for capacity development. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 103105.

Goldwyn, B., Vega, Y. G., Javernick-Will, A., & Liel, A. B. (2022). International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 103105.

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Determinants of rural hand-pump functionality through maintenance provision in the Central African Republic

Anonymous — Thu, 09 Jun 2022 22:53:23 +0000

Determinants of rural hand-pump functionality through maintenance provision in the Central African Republic Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 06/09/2022 - 16:53 Eliza Fink , Pranav Chintalapati , Amy Javernick-Will , Karl Linden

While preventive maintenance services have emerged as promising interventions to improve the continuity of water service delivery, the operational and contextual requirements for sustained functionality within maintenance models are not well understood. This paper uses data analysis to better understand factors influencing the success of rural water service delivery within the circuit rider maintenance model in fragile contexts. Incorporating operational data from a large scale circuit rider hand-pump maintenance program in the Central African Republic, mixed-effect logistic regression models were used to identify determinants of water point functionality and payment compliance. Models were informed by data from over 16,000 maintenance visits across nine years. Faster response time, proximity to urban centers, and proximity to other hand-pumps emerged as significant factors for improving water point functionality, while proximity to maintenance program headquarters, pump functionality, and frequency of maintenance visits significantly influenced payment compliance. The observed high functionality rates of hand-pumps serviced by the maintenance program indicates the potential benefits of professionalized maintenance through the circuit rider model at promoting water system reliability in fragile contexts. Despite adaptability and resilience in implementation of the circuit rider model, insecurity and conflict remain barriers to sustaining service delivery in the Central African Republic.

Fink, E. L., Chintalapati, P., Lane, A., Wester, A., Javernick-Will, A., & Linden, K. (2022). Determinants of rural hand-pump functionality through maintenance provision in the Central African Republic. PLOS Water, 1(6), e0000024.

Fink, E. L., Chintalapati, P., Lane, A., Wester, A., Javernick-Will, A., & Linden, K. (2022). PLOS Water, 1(6), e0000024.

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Factors influencing public beliefs regarding the cause of induced earthquakes

Anonymous — Wed, 18 May 2022 06:00:00 +0000

Factors influencing public beliefs regarding the cause of induced earthquakes Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/18/2022 - 00:00 Andrew Tracy , Amy Javernick-Will , Abbie Liel

The central USA has experienced an increase in the frequency and magnitude of humaninduced
earthquakes. The earthquakes are caused by the deep-well injection of water produced
from oil and gas development. However, the novelty of these earthquakes and the
politicized nature of oil and gas have resulted in competing explanations for their causes,
leading to public uncertainty. To determine public beliefs about the causes of the earthquakes
and the factors that influence these beliefs, we administered and analyzed a household
survey. We found that the more individuals experienced the adverse effects of the
earthquakes, the more they agreed that they were caused by the injection of wastewater
from oil and gas production. Further, individuals with more positive perceptions of oil
and gas industry activity more strongly believed that the earthquakes are caused by nature.
These findings show that beliefs around technological, energy-related hazards are shaped
by hazard exposure and views about the human activity causing the hazard. Understanding
what the public believes to be the cause of the earthquakes is important, as it can impact
policy and personal interventions taken to mitigate risk.

Tracy, A., Javernick-Will, A., & Liel, A. (2022). Factors influencing public beliefs regarding the cause of induced earthquakes. Natural Hazards, 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-022-05386-9

Tracy, A., Javernick-Will, A., & Liel, A. (2022). Natural Hazards, 1-22.

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Institutional influences on local government support for professionalized maintenance of water supply infrastructure in rural Uganda: A qualitative analysis

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 06:00:00 +0000

Institutional influences on local government support for professionalized maintenance of water supply infrastructure in rural Uganda: A qualitative analysis Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 02/14/2022 - 23:00 Caleb Cord , Amy Javernick-Will , Karl Linden

Professionalized maintenance arrangements are emerging and growing to improve rural
water service sustainability across sub-Saharan Africa, where local governments often act
as rural service authorities. Uganda’s Ministry of Water and Environment released a novel
policy in 2019 to promote professionalization, outlining requirements of local governments
to support professionalized maintenance under a new framework for rural water service
delivery. We identify how responsibilities of local government actors shifted under this policy
and then use Organizational Institutional Theory to explore how the institutional environment—
composed of regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive pillars—influences these
actors’ fulfillment of assigned functions under the new policy and support of professionalized
maintenance arrangements. To do this, we collected, transcribed, and qualitatively coded
data from semi-structured interviews with 93 Ugandan local government actors at all hierarchical
levels across 22 sub-counties in three Ugandan districts. Due to infrequent references
by interviewees to regulative influences on action such as formal rules and policies, we propose
that the new policy alone is unlikely to motivate essential local government support.
Allocated responsibilities must align with widely-cited normative and cultural-cognitive influences,
including relationship expectations, typical processes and routines, political dynamics,
notions of identity, perceived self-efficacy, and cultural beliefs. We recommend
leveraging existing institutional influences where possible to motivate actions aligned with
the policy. For example, local government actors can fulfill community expectations of them
to solve prolonged nonfunctionality by connecting communities to professionalized maintenance
service providers instead of performing individual out-of-pocket repairs. Improving
understanding of local service authority perspectives is essential as professionalized maintenance
arrangements emerge and grow and as new policies expand and shift essential
support functions.

Cord, C., Javernick-Will, A., Buhungiro, E., Harvey, A., & Linden, K. (2022). Institutional influences on local government support for professionalized maintenance of water supply infrastructure in rural Uganda: A qualitative analysis. PLOS Water, 1(2), e0000003.

Cord, C., Javernick-Will, A., Buhungiro, E., Harvey, A., & Linden, K. (2022). PLOS Water, 1(2), e0000003.

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Pathways for securing government commitment for activities of collaborative approaches

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 23:12:59 +0000

Pathways for securing government commitment for activities of collaborative approaches Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 02/09/2022 - 16:12 Kimberly Pugel , Amy Javernick-Will , Muhammed Mussa , Lemessa Mekonta , Desta Dimtse , Martin Watsisi , Angela Huston , Karl Linden

Decentralization in many African countries makes local governments responsible for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) service provision. Yet service provision is complex and requires concerted inputs from many actors, thus local governments are increasingly collaborating with internal and external stakeholders. These ‘collaborative approaches’, which bring together diverse stakeholders to solve complex problems facing service delivery, have been found to strengthen service provision when they obtain support and commitment from local government decision makers. However, the ways to obtain this commitment remain understudied. This cross-case comparative study investigated how collaborative approaches in Ethiopia and Uganda obtained government commitment for their activities. Results draw upon experiences of 13 cases where sufficient commitment either was or was not gained. Deep case knowledge of the research team, aided by Qualitative Comparative Analysis, revealed that the collaborative must (a) be seen as legitimate and credible, (b) align activities within government mandates, and (c) demonstrate the value of the activities to decision-makers. Together this strategy provides a reliable way for collaborative approaches to secure government commitment for their activities. Notably, the results also show that commitment can be obtained even amidst turnover and political dynamics.

Pugel, K., Javernick-Will, A., Mussa, M., Mekonta, L., Dimtse, D., Watsisi, M., ... & Linden, K. (2022). Pathways for securing government commitment for activities of collaborative approaches. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 12(3), 258-270.

Pugel, K., Javernick-Will, A., Mussa, M., Mekonta, L., Dimtse, D., Watsisi, M., ... & Linden, K. (2022). Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 12(3), 258-270.

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Pathways to consumer demand and payment for professional rural water infrastructure maintenance across low-income contexts

Anonymous — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 06:00:00 +0000

Pathways to consumer demand and payment for professional rural water infrastructure maintenance across low-income contexts Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/05/2022 - 23:00 Caleb Cord , Amy Javernick-Will , Karl Linden

Systems for regular, preventive maintenance of infrastructure are needed to ensure safe water access globally. Emerging and growing across rural sub-Saharan Africa, professionalized maintenance arrangements feature legal, regulated service providers who maintain infrastructure in exchange for consumer payment through contracts. However, little is understood about the conditions that enable service providers to retain consumer contracts, an important component of their sustainability that indicates consistent demand and payment. This paper uses fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis to identify combinations of operational, natural, physical, political, and social conditions enabling high contract retention across 22 implementation cases in Uganda, uncovering 2 pathways to success. In both pathways, consistent expansion by the service provider normalizes concepts such as tariff payment and local government participation increases trust and accountability between the service provider and consumers. The predominant pathway features one additional condition, coordinated sector aid, ensuring consistent implementation and mitigating harmful dependencies. The alternative pathway relies on large user communities and ease of access to those communities to counteract uncoordinated aid. Thus, operational, social, and political conditions may be suf!cient to enable high contract retention irrespective of natural and physical conditions. This paper uncovers the combined efforts required of service providers, service authorities, international donors, and local aid actors to ensure the sustainable maintenance of rural water infrastructure for reliable safe water access.

Cord, C., Javernick-Will, A., Buhungiro, E., Harvey, A., Jordan, E., Lockwood, H., & Linden, K. (2022). Pathways to consumer demand and payment for professional rural water infrastructure maintenance across low-income contexts. Science of The Total Environment, 815, 152906.

Cord, C., Javernick-Will, A., Buhungiro, E., Harvey, A., Jordan, E., Lockwood, H., & Linden, K. (2022). Science of The Total Environment, 815, 152906.

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Gendered Knowledge Accessibility: Evaluating the Role of Gender in Knowledge Seeking among Engineers in the US

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Jun 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Gendered Knowledge Accessibility: Evaluating the Role of Gender in Knowledge Seeking among Engineers in the US Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 06/03/2021 - 00:00 Cristina Poleacovschi , Amy Javernick-Will

Women are heavily underrepresented in engineering companies. Gender issues arise in daily interactions where employees may not seek knowledge from others when they need it, even if they know who possesses the knowledge, because they may find the knowledge holder difficult to access. In this research, drawing upon social role theory, it is proposed that knowledge accessibility varies across four different types of gender groups (women seeking knowledge from women, women seeking knowledge from men, men seeking knowledge from men, and men seeking knowledge from women). The hypotheses were tested with data collected from an engineering organization. Based on 530 knowledge-seeking interactions provided from 312 engineers, it is found that, in general, women perceived higher levels of knowledge accessibility than men. Knowledge accessibility represents the time and effort that individuals spend in the process of knowledge seeking. Moreover, the highest perceived accessibility was when women sought knowledge from other women; in contrast, the lowest perceived accessibility was when men sought knowledge from women. The theoretical and managerial implications, especially career-related implications for female professionals in a male-dominated industry, are discussed.

Poleacovschi, C., Javernick-Will, A., Wang, S., & Tong, T. (2021). Gendered knowledge accessibility: Evaluating the role of gender in knowledge seeking among engineers in the US. Journal of Management in Engineering, 37(1), 04020094.

Poleacovschi, C., Javernick-Will, A., Wang, S., & Tong, T. (2021). Journal of Management in Engineering, 37(1), 04020094.

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Dilemma of the Tropics: Changes to Housing Safety Perceptions, Preferences, and Priorities in Multihazard Environments

Anonymous — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 23:00:00 +0000

Dilemma of the Tropics: Changes to Housing Safety Perceptions, Preferences, and Priorities in Multihazard Environments Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 03/27/2021 - 17:00 Briar Goldwyn , Amy Javernick-Will , Abbie Liel

This study seeks to understand how housing safety perceptions have changed after a specific hazard event: the 2019–2020 earthquakes affecting the US Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. The research team conducted and qualitatively analyzed 52 semistructured interviews with households, informal builders, and individuals involved in formal construction on the island to understand risk and safety perceptions related to both hurricanes and earthquakes before and after the 2019–2020 earthquakes. The study found that, after the earthquakes, trust in informal construction processes decreased; trust in formal construction processes and self-efficacy increased; and perceptions of expected earthquake damage and views on the relative safety of building materials changed, including a notable shift to doubt the safety of concrete construction. Because household risk and housing safety perceptions directly affect decisions about safe construction materials and practices, it is critical to both understand these perceptions and investigate how these perceptions may change with the experience of a less frequent or less familiar hazard event.

Goldwyn, B., Javernick-Will, A., & Liel, A. (2021). Dilemma of the tropics: changes to housing safety perceptions, preferences, and priorities in Multihazard environments. Natural Hazards Review, 22(3), 04021012.

Goldwyn, B., Javernick-Will, A., & Liel, A. (2021). Natural Hazards Review, 22(3), 04021012.

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