Discussion and Implications. Food safety has been a significant PFID focus since the beginning of the program. This focus can be divided into two major areas: (1) providing food safety and regulatory training necessary to enhance in-country expertise to enter into international trade and to improve local food safety, and (2) establishing a professional-core personnel infrastructure to maintain sustainability after the project has terminated. During the first two years of the project, selected personnel have been trained in HACCP and sanitation principles. In addition, governmental food safety and inspectional agencies in Ukraine and Moldova are in the process of adopting regulations that mirror US HACCP requirements to facilitate international trade. Introduction to US Food and Drug Administration personnel have provided a mechanism to maintain long term connections with new and emerging regulatory changes. At this stage of the project, both countries are near sustainability in the area of seafood HACCP compliance and training. Certified HACCP trainers can now offer and manage all training efforts1. The first Association of Food and Drug Officials (AFDO) approved course is scheduled 1 The USAID MTE team acknowledged this achievement but understated the number of certified trainers. Page 17 of the MTE report stated that, “In addition, 4 Ukrainians and 4 Moldovans have participated in U.S.-based HACCP Trainer Courses and have been certified as HACCP trainers, capable of providing basic HACCP courses that lead to internationally-recognized certification.” In fact, the actual number of qualified trainers can be disaggregated as follows: five Ukrainians who completed a Train-the-Trainer (TTT) course in meat and poultry HACCP, four Ukrainians who completed a TTT course in seafood HACCP, four Moldovans who completed a TTT course in meat for June 2003 in Odessa, Ukraine. This is a significant milestone, as it will be planned, scheduled and taught by in-country professionals with AFDO approval. Thus PFID-MSP feels that sustainability has nearly been completed in this area. Similarly, PFID has established a cadre of technical specialists who are prepared to conduct appropriate food safety and quality procedures in both Ukraine and Xxxxxxx.
Discussion and Implications. Following up on stakeholders who have received training in association building needs to be addressed by the Project Partners. Guidance will be provided in this issue by the internal evaluation to be conducted in July. PFID-MSP acknowledges the need to develop a viable plan to attain sustainability of its information support systems, especially in Ukraine. This plan will be addressed in the revised Third Annual Work Plan. To make ISS sustainable in Ukraine after the end of the Project, WL is combining efforts of two projects to which it has contributed information technology services. These include PFID-MSP and “Improving Income of Private Ukrainian Agricultural Produces through Agricultural Extension”, another USAID-funded project implemented in partnership with the LSU AgCenter. A common web-portal is being established so all clients with Internet access can open it. For those without Internet access, two ways of information delivery are provided: mailing and fax. Second, ISS in its basic variant will be installed at stakeholder associations, which already have well-established communication mechanism with members. This will also contribute to ISS maintenance because ISS has a simple mechanism of introducing new information. Further, data will be automatically updated through interactive pages. Enterprises will be willing to place price information at the web site, and will do this accurately, because this service is free of charge. Funding of ISS maintenance will be acquired partially on pay-and-use basis applied for individual users and partially through inclusion of the cost of this new service into membership fees for members of associations where ISS will be installed. In addition, a governmental source of funding has been identified; after an ISS presentation Xx. Xxxxxx Xxxxxx, State Secretary of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine has ordered an allotment of funds for ISS maintenance.
Discussion and Implications. PFID-MSP will follow the Evaluation Team’s recommendation to eliminate improved animal production schemes from its remaining work-plans. Eliminated activities include support of the pig out-grower scheme in Moldova and the Khmelnitsky Fish Xxxxxx Credit Union. Regarding the Livestock Auction Agency, the Evaluation Team stated that the magnitude of raw material problem and its current structure in Ukraine and Moldova is beyond PFID-MSP’s scope and resources to make a likely impact. PFID-MSP admits that as with the beginning of any initiative in an emerging market, this activity cannot show immediately tangible results. Preparatory measures, not the auctions themselves, were to be conducted in 2002 and, in a very short period of time and with minimum resources, the Project Activity succeeded in creating an infrastructure with procurement sites, office premises, and runways. PFID-MSP’s view is that promoting a targeted pilot activity in livestock marketing, with emphasis on open shared market information, would provide a useful model for the rest of the Ukrainian food industry. It also contends that such sharing of market information fostered a programmatic linkage with the Project’s information support system. In essence, PFID-MSP feels that establishing proof of concept through this activity will spur the industry to replicate the model in other appropriate oblasts, thereby providing a vital service presently lacking in the Ukrainian food industry. Discussion of this issue among PFID-MSP partners revealed that definition of PFID-MSP’s role would be appropriate in this activity. At the April 4th meeting, these were identified as policy formation, capacity building and economic monitoring/analysis. To further clarify its role in the activity, WL stated that it was the organization that spent considerable time analyzing the economic viability on both a macro- and micro-economic level (refer to Annex B of the Fourth SAR). It was WL that first advocated a field-driven idea of auction establishment as a primary market element and created a core field group in Volhyn oblast. Xx. Xxxxxxxx, PFID/WL economist, worked extensively to organize the core group, as well as to develop a livestock procurement scheme and business plan for the Livestock Auction Agency. She also contributed to the development of the Provision of Livestock and Poultry Auctions, which the Government approved to provide a legal framework for auctions throughout Ukraine. The principal reason for pu...
Discussion and Implications. PFID-MSP accepts this recommendation to change the Moldovan partner for the reasons mentioned in the MTE Report. In addition, the LSU AgCenter would like to respond to USAID management by providing the following clarifications and explanations. While the lack of experience in project management and technical assistance delivery of the Moldovan partner was recognized early on and corrective action taken by the LSU AgCenter management, it must be recognized that this particular partner established a core group of scientific personnel who are now competent to carry on the kinds of activities that are most lacking in Moldova to support the food industry. No doubt, as pointed out in the MTE Report this core group of scientists lacked business expertise, and was strengthened by the addition of the Economist from the private sector. Additionally, it must be recognized that the original Team Leader for the Moldovan partner passed away in October 2002 (due to sudden illness) leaving a void that needed to be filled quickly. The LSU AgCenter acted quickly by advertising the position (position description was reviewed by USAID/Chisinau) and hiring a replacement. The selected candidate (interviews of final list of candidates was conducted by Drs. Velupillai and Hubchen and one Moldovan team member), a former team member, is a capable leader with good management capabilities and has a good knowledge of the Moldovan food industry. On this same subject, the MTE Report’s Annex VI outlines a “Summary of USAID Guidance Regarding the Moldovan Partner”. A detailed response to these actions are found below to demonstrate that corrective actions were taken by PFID-MSP to the satisfaction of USAID management (all referenced e-mails are found in Annex A): • June 4, 2001 – Concerns with Joint Stock Company “Ocean” (Annex VI, first page). Once the LSU AgCenter received this communication, immediate action was taken to disassociate PFID Moldova with this entity. To date no activity or interaction with this company has taken place. • February 8, 2002 Teleconference (Annex VI first page). This mentions that the program director was in Ukraine, and was unable to come to Chisinau at USAID Mission request. PFID-MSP would like to clarify this by stating that the request to the program director to join Xx. Xxxxxx and USAID/Chisinau in Chisinau came after the program director had already left the US on his journey to Ukraine. As the program director was unaware of USAID plans to meet in Chis...
Discussion and Implications. This recommendation is well received by the LSU AgCenter, and in fact several proposals as described in Annex B have already been submitted to various missions. Two proposals are pending review at this time. Project management felt that, first, PFID-MSP needed to establish a track record during Year 2, when it actually began implementing project activities and, second, for a successful Associate Award the following are necessary: • A marketable product or service that PFID-MSP can offer to Missions together with a credible track record of TA that could be cited to the targeted mission; • A match of the product/service offered by PFID-MSP to the Strategic Objective and Intermediate Results(s) of the targeted Mission • Funding available at the targeted mission. By the latter part of Year 2 of the program, PFID-MSP did have successful products and services that it could market. It is for the above reasons that the program director pointed out to the Evaluation Team in Kyiv that the potential for Associate Awards perhaps was over rated (at the bottom of page 20 of the MTE Report, the LSU AgCenter contends that the program director was misquoted). While the recommendation is correct that PFID-MSP should prepare and implement a strategy to market products and services for these awards, our experience has been that even if our proposals are welcome at missions, they have usually committed their funds for their own programs. We did come close to receiving funds from the Kyiv Mission last year; however the funding did not materialize. We have now submitted a modified version of this same proposal as an independent proposal to the USDA’s Emerging Market Program. Another example is a concept paper submitted to USAID/Jakarta and response from Mission (Annex C). Despite the above attempts by the PFID-MSP, the LSU AgCenter agrees with the recommendation that a focused strategic marketing effort can produce results. This action will be taken, especially with the assistance of the WFLO. As a starting point, Annex B is provided to document the actions taken thus far to receive Associate Awards. Further an analysis of potential USAID Missions has been completed, and attempts will be made to contact these Missions. As pointed out by USAID management on April 4, 2003, USAID Washington will be kept abreast of these actions so that any assistance they feel are appropriate would be received by XXXX-XXX.
Discussion and Implications. Rates of Occurrence Severity of Incidents
Discussion and Implications. In this scoping review, research articles were collected, analyzed, and summarized to assess the state of the literature regarding acculturative stressors experienced by adult refugee women in resettlement in the United States and the impact of these stressors on their mental health. The articles included quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods studies that examined a variety of refugee women from across multiple ethnicities that have resettled across the United States. This scoping review highlights the diversity of the findings on acculturative stressors across articles and study populations, and also highlights the remaining questions and subjects to be covered in the study of acculturation and adult refugee women. This review also presents a compelling example of the need for including an intersectional approach to the four part refugee trauma framework, in order to address the landscape of acculturative stressors related to resettlement in the United States.
Discussion and Implications. One of the main ideas guiding the marketing field over the last twenty years is the importance of market orientation. Under this mandate, firms create value when all functions of the business are aligned to address the needs of customers. While this conception of marketing has been broadly embraced, a sole emphasis on customer needs may not be sufficient given a changing stakeholder landscape. The emerging literature on Stakeholder Marketing has identified this change, proposing Stakeholder Orientation as a necessary evolution for firms. However, despite advancing the definition and propositions, literature to date has provided few empirical studies of the causes, consequences, and conditions for Stakeholder Marketing. In addition, scholars have pointed to the need to advance knowledge about the value and performance outcomes of holistic stakeholder related studies, calling it a major limitation of marketing research (Xxxx et. al 2011). This study contributes to the formation of Stakeholder Marketing literature by proposing and empirically testing the Constituents-Based Marketing capability. I adopt the view of capabilities as complex bundles of skills, knowledge, and processes that enable firms to coordinate activities and make use of their assets (Day 1994). Given the newness of this phenomenon, I relied on a theory-in-use approach, executed through the in-depth qualitative interviews of 70 managers in a multi-national firm. The research process led to the identification of three behaviors that were increasingly being used by managers in order to connect the needs of multiple stakeholders to the design or promotion of their product offerings. By proactively seeking to understand the need of relevant constituents, building opportunities for complementarity into the design or promotion of their offering, and synchronizing activities across constituency groups, the managers were demonstrating a heightened sensitivity for the increasing inter-relation of stakeholders in the market. While literature has recognized the importance of considering multiple stakeholders, its impact on the marketing organization and capabilities has not been fully studied, in part because the commercial constituents were the dominant focus in the value creating process. I measure the presence of CBM capability across 44 geographic business units and its consequence on three types of performance measures: sales growth, employee engagement, and trust in the company. An instrumental v...
Discussion and Implications. This research has investigated how 12-grade school students in one of the schools for gifted students in Nur-Sultan understand an effective English lesson and what their expectations are towards effective teaching strategies used by their English teachers. It has also attempted to discover what pedagogical and learning theories support the participants’ understanding. This chapter further discusses the results of the study relating them to the available literature in order to answer the research questions. The chapter includes the implication as well, to clarify to the reader where the inference come from, what evidence they are based on and how they are aligned with the issues being discussed. The chapter outlines six subsections. First, LCE discusses the participants' understanding of group and individual work and how they are aligned with principles of constructivist learning theory. Second, context-related pedagogy analyses teaching motives and policies in relation to communication methods in class, teaching styles and issues of control. Third, authentic learning and diversity of skills is discussed in relation to the literature. Fourth, as well as the fifth, I discuss the relationship between the students’ preferences of effective learning and the studies in the field. Finally, the section notions of learning analyzes cognitive principles of effective learning based on the narrative of the participants and provides some implications in relation to school teaching and learning in Kazakhstan. Learner-centered education: learning in groups Students’ recall of ‘a good’ English lesson included necessarily group activities that would be notably interesting and quite engaging. The assumption around students’ understanding of group work effectiveness contributes to the constructivist pedagogy that implies effective group work activities supported by teacher’s skillful instructions (Xxxxxxxxx, et. al, 2013). Xxxxxxxxx’s (2007) study also found that students who worked in groups or pairs showed higher scores than those who were not involved in group learning. Mutual construction of knowledge and communicative skills coincide with Xxxxxxxx’x (1978) ZDP that offers overcoming learning challenges with the teacher or more knowledgeable peers. Constructivism in teaching involves the diversity of the notions of pedagogical approaches such as active learning, problem or project-based learning, learning by doing; however, one of the widely-discussed ones is LCE. The...
Discussion and Implications. This report examined associations between problematic substance use, including an SUD diagnosis and accessing medication, inpatient, or outpatient substance use treatment services, and child support order compliance. Our findings demonstrate that NCPs with PSU are less likely to be in full compliance with child support orders compared to NCPs without PSU. These findings are comparable to those found in other research in this area, including Xxxxxx & Xxxxxx (2019); as the authors point out, there is no formal mechanism in the child support system for screening SUD in NCPs or CPs. Furthermore, differences in full compliance rates based on PSU remain significant, even while controlling for a wide range of sociodemographic characteristics, including race, age, income, and amount of child support ordered annually. Some sociodemographic characteristics were also associated with child support compliance. For instance, minoritized populations such as Black, Native American, and Hispanic NCPs were less likely to be in full compliance with child support orders compared to White NCPs. Xxxxxx also plays a vital role in predicting compliance. As income increases, it increases the likelihood that NCPs are able to comply with child support obligations. When the child support order amount increases, it reduces the odds of being in full compliance. Prior research suggests that child support payments are associated with child well-being (Xxxxxxx et al., 2013; Xxxxxxxx, 2017). Implementing programs that connect NCPs with PSU to existing programs and resources to support recovery efforts or reduce problematic substance use may help promote compliance. To achieve this goal, it will be necessary for state and county officials to support the development of screening tools, provide funding for county or state employees to assist with these efforts, and assist child support system employees with implementation of new case management strategies. Services that facilitate access to addiction Another potential mechanism through which this population could be supported is through the expansion and streamlining of a support program that assists NCPs with SUDs in applying for a modification of child support orders through the court system. This difficult-to- receive option (Xxxxxx & Xxxxxx, 2019) is unknown to many NCPs and a laborious task in which the onus is on the NCP to initiate and complete the application process, which involves extensive paperwork and documentation and can be cha...
