Doctoral Dissertation Research: Contributions of Citizen Science, Including Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI), to Development Evaluation in Kenya

本研究的目的是探讨公民在衡量国际援助项目的有效性方面所发挥或可能发挥的作用，以及地理测绘在评估国际援助政策，计划和项目中的作用。最近关于衡量对发展中国家援助实效的原则的国际协定暴露了发展援助学术界的知识差距。其中包括我们对发展中国家公民在衡量援助实效方面所作贡献的理解不足，以及缺乏证据表明地理测绘对改善援助成果衡量的潜在贡献。肯尼亚政府现行的项目监测系统适用于教育部门的国际援助项目，将与公民主导的监测和绘制这些项目成果的努力进行比较。 特别是，研究将侧重于评估肯尼亚的免费教育计划，政府将跟踪社区学校新入学人数等指标。 这项研究将通过一个名为Uwezo（斯瓦希里语能力）的项目审查公民的努力，他们正在绘制肯尼亚各地社区的地图，以确定最脆弱儿童的居住地。这项研究将审查政府的监测活动和公民项目，如Uwezo。定性访谈和焦点小组访谈将收集政府和公民主导的监测活动的利益攸关方和受益者的经验。定性分析软件将协助分析这些访谈的内容。 统计方法将用于分析来自政府和公民主导的监测活动的数据。传统项目监测方法的结果将与公民主导的绘图工作进行比较。这项研究将提高对公民知识和绘图在评估发展项目方面的效用的科学认识。这项关于公民自愿提供地理信息的研究的结果将增加关于现有人力和科学资源的知识，以更好地评估国际发展援助的投资。在肯尼亚的这项研究可能会直接应用于外国援助政策和国际发展奖学金和实践，而不仅仅是在肯尼亚的援助投资。由于该项目是博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将为建立以重要科学和公共政策问题为中心的强大独立研究事业提供支持。

The goal of this research is to examine the role citizens play or could play in measuring the effectiveness of international aid projects for which they are the intended beneficiaries and the role of geographic mapping in evaluating international aid policies, programs, and projects. Recent international agreements on principles for measuring the effectiveness of aid to developing countries have exposed knowledge gaps in the scholarship on development aid. These include a deficit in our understanding of the contributions of citizens of developing countries toward measuring the effectiveness of aid as well as a lack of evidence about the potential contribution of geographic mapping to improving the measurement of aid outcomes. Ongoing Kenyan government project monitoring systems as they are applied to international aid projects in the educational sector will be compared with citizen led efforts to monitor and map the results of these projects. In particular, the research will focus on the evaluation of free education programs in Kenya for which the government tracks indicators such as the number of new enrollments in community schools. The research will examine the efforts of citizens through a project called Uwezo (Kiswahili for capacity) who are mapping communities across Kenya to determine where the most vulnerable children reside. This study will examine both government monitoring activities and citizen projects like Uwezo. Qualitative interviews and focus group interviews will capture the experiences of stakeholders and beneficiaries of government and citizen led monitoring activities. Qualitative analysis software will assist in analyzing the content of these interviews. Statistical methods will be used to analyze data from both government and citizen led monitoring activities. The results of traditional project monitoring methods will be compared with citizen led mapping exercises. This study will enhance scientific understanding about the utility of citizen knowledge and mapping for evaluating development projects. The findings from this study of citizen volunteered geographic information will add knowledge about human and scientific resources available to better evaluate investments in international development aid. This study in Kenya might have direct application for foreign aid policies and international development scholarship and practice beyond aid investments in Kenya alone. Because this project is a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award will also provide support for building a strong independent research career centered on important scientific and public policy concerns.