Urban investments in India over the past three decades have helped its cities advance in terms of improved infrastructure and better economic standards. However, the cities are simultaneously facing challenges of polarised and unequally distributed development benefits. This paper advances the inclusive cities’ agenda beyond the constructs of “pro-poor development” and develops a multidimensional evaluation and monitoring framework. Through the review and analysis of 20 smart cities in India, the paper presents the gaps and patterns of relationships within the critical factors of inclusion. The need to develop alternate development models that shall promote socio-economic transformation in smart cities in India is emphasised through this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to share the initiatives of development and offering of an International Agricultural Extension training course by Michigan State University Extension (MSUE). MSUE is a global leader in agricultural research, education, and extension and actively shares knowledge and technologies worldwide. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, this in-person course rapidly transformed to an online one-week short course for global participants working in agricultural extension. There is a great demand for developing extension expertise and advisory services in line with the emergence of new tools and technologies. The use of ICT was at the forefront in sharing knowledge and disseminating technologies. Several participants were interested in organising similar courses in their institutions and piloting some of the programmes that they learned. The short course designed and offered during 2020 will be further enhanced and offered with a focus on outcome and responses received through a separate survey. This paper focuses on the training and capacity building of the agricultural extension workers from developing countries and the US land-grant model of agricultural extension shared by MSUE.

Conservation agriculture’s (CA) potential to improve resilience to climate change, environmental degradation, and food insecurity across Africa is hampered by critical challenges, especially high labour requirements without mechanisation. Yet, whether medium-scale farmers owning 5–100 hectares of farmland and tractors can be the antidote for CA upscaling remains unclear. Based on insights from Zambia, the authors argue that medium-scale farmers can contribute to CA upscaling since they cultivate large farms and rent tractors to smallholder farmers. Harnessing the synergies between CA, mechanisation, and medium-scale farmers requires research on how they perceive CA, the enabling environment for mechanised CA, and appropriate policies.

Cost–benefit analysis of installed water conservation systems (piped water storage, water recycling, and rainwater harvesting) is important in management of water resources in urban areas. This study analysed water conservation systems installed in households in Nairobi County using 200 households’ questionnaires. Benefit–cost ratio analysis indicated that the piped water storage system and rainwater harvesting system were viable with benefits at 2.80 and 2.03, respectively, while the water recycling system was not viable at 0.80. This study recommends installation of piped water storage and rainwater harvesting systems for quality, quantity, and reliable water to be availed in households within viable economic costs.

Low-resource communities that rely on the environment face challenges in the forms of climate change and the overuse of natural resources. Behaviour science offers methods and strategies to mitigate behaviours that contribute to environmental degradation, as well as promote the adoption of desirable behaviours. We investigated the attitudes and beliefs of vulnerable communities. We conducted surveys across five villages on Selayar Island, a small island in Sulawesi Indonesia. Our results suggest a willingness to participate in behaviour-based programs and concern for families. When offering development programs to communities, the needs of the community should inform the design and implementation process.

Friendship forms the basis of 35 community partnerships between Australia and Timor-Leste. Friendship facilitates the ownership of project activities by Timorese partners bringing into the development relationship a mutual respect and a shared journey of a kind that is not typical in time-bound aid projects. This paper reviews different models of donor-recipient relationships. A case study is used to show how Friendship offers a development strategy aligned with solidarity through a long term commitment built on trust and mutual responsibility. The model should be considered alongside the many existing theories and approaches to effective community development.

Prize giving has grown exponentially, with agencies like the World Bank and USAID using them to help solve critical development challenges in low-income countries. This paper draws on findings from a DFID programme that has been experimenting with a suite of global prizes, including in Ghana, Kenya, and Nepal. The paper reflects on prizes used to deliver social change: where they work, why, and for whom. We find that development impact can be enhanced when prizes are not implemented alone. Complementary support is often necessary to help innovators participate, overcome barriers, and support innovation that leads to social change.

This article offers an ethnographic exploration of NGO “mission creep” as a result of obtaining funding. Many scholars express scepticism about funding on NGO goals, while others encourage a nuanced critique. This 18-month ethnographic study of two NGOs in Bangalore, India, explores NGO workers navigating the acceptance of funding while maintaining their original missions. When one NGO failed to uphold this goal, staff members created their own NGO. Findings indicate that even when NGO staff have experienced mission creep from funding and make conscious efforts to maintain their missions, they face structural barriers that make this difficult and perhaps impossible.

Indigenous traditional chieftaincy institutions in Ghana continue to gain recognition whilst wielding influence across socio-political divides. In this viewpoint essay, against the backdrop of the fight against the global COVID-19 pandemic, the author explores the potential roles of these institutions in fighting the pandemic. Particularly cognisant of their roles in Ghana’s transition from pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial, through independence to a democracy and its consolidation, this article argues that the existence of the chieftaincy institutions as change agents presents a wealth of opportunity to be harnessed for pandemic control, management, and containment.

This paper examines the adoption of improved pigeon peas in female-headed households (FHHs) and male-headed households (MHHs) in semi-arid Kenya and its effect on yield as a proxy for household food security. Cross-sectional data were obtained from 450 households through a multi-stage sampling approach. We applied the endogenous switching regression model to establish the determinants of adoption decision and their effects on yield. Results showed that adoption increased crop yield. The adopting MHHs had significantly higher yield compared with the FHHs. The difference in yield was explained by both observed and unobserved characteristics in gender of the household head.