Current Sponsored Research Projects

Crops, Cellphones and T-Cells: Technology Change for Livelihood Security in Sub-Saharan Africa

Dates: November 2004 – July 2007
Funding Source: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Countries: Sub-Saharan Africa, Kenya
Principal Investigator: Laura L. Murphy, PhD (lmurphy2@tulane.edu)
with Paul Harvey, Overseas Development Institute, London

Go to Dr. Murphy's webpage

Link to the Flier for the study

Full original proposal

Summary

The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to escalate worldwide. AIDS has become the leading cause of death in SSA, and HIV/AIDS intersects with chronic poverty and livelihood insecurity to undermine the prospects for long term sustainable human development. Communities are responding with technologies ranging from ‘software’, such as new social institutions to care for PLWA within communities; to ‘hardware’ such as lighter ploughs which can be managed by women and children in farming in areas hard-hit by the epidemic. These innovations can provide rich insights into the nature of appropriate technology and the suitable policy framework to enhance local innovations for human security, yet remain unexamined in any detail.  This study thus aims to address this broad research question:

Given the reality of HIV and AIDS: What development policies and programs are needed to encourage appropriate technology change for livelihood security and long-term, sustainable human development? Two distinct questions have been pursued through a desk-based literature review and fieldwork:  (1) How are African communities affected by HIV and AIDS actually responding through the adoption, adaptation, innovation of technologies to enhance their livelihood security?  And  (2) How does the development policy framework of governmental and non-governmental actors either facilitate or hinder technology innovation for livelihood security? 

Mixed methods are used to generate a comprehensive literature review and inventory of technology changes; as well as 2-3 rich, in-depth case studies of community-based technology change and its relation to specific agency and government policies, in communities in Kenya and Malawi. Final products include journal articles, a book manuscript, a summary report for the development community.