|
|
|
Sort Order |
|
|
|
Items / Page
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Srl | Item |
| 1 |
ID:
140717
|
|
|
|
|
| Summary/Abstract |
Provision of education and other basic services in fragile and conflict-affected contexts can be an important means of building positive peace. However, service provision suffers when government is absent or too weak to carry out this function. In such circumstances, the peace-building function of education may be lost unless other means of provision are developed. UNICEF supported education in Somalia in 1996–2010 as part of its mandate. Though it was not the only international agency working in education in Somalia, UNICEF took a leading role for much of the early crisis period. Facing variable instability and a lack of functioning government, especially in the south-west (central/south zone), UNICEF took advantage of shifting opportunities to educate thousands of children and adults. The agency's longstanding presence and focus on children, families and communities gave it unusual credibility. Close partnerships with local NGOs permitted outreach to diverse communities and capacity to exploit emergent opportunities. Instructional content provided basic skills; negotiated with stakeholders, it was suitable for both public and Qu'ranic schools. UNICEF varied activities according to local stability and partner capacity. Basic components were introduced first, additional components added as conditions stabilized and capacity grew. Efforts were evaluated and programme elements revised. Unable to rely on central government, UNICEF engaged flexibly with sub-national governing entities including nascent zonal governments to support educational provision.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 2 |
ID:
110348
|
|
|
|
|
| Publication |
2011.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
"Energy Security" has typically, to those involved in making energy policy, meant mostly securing access to oil and other fossil fuels. With increasingly global, diverse energy markets, however, and increasingly transnational problems resulting from energy transformation and use, old energy security rationales are less salient, and other issues, including climate change and other environmental, economic, and international considerations are becoming increasingly important. As a consequence, a more comprehensive operating definition of "Energy Security" is needed, along with a workable framework for analysis of which future energy paths or scenarios are likely to yield greater Energy Security in a broader, more comprehensive sense. Work done as a part of the Nautilus Institute's "Pacific Asia Regional Energy Security" (PARES) project developed a broader definition of Energy Security, and described an analytical framework designed to help to compare the energy security characteristics - both positive and negative - of different quantitative energy paths as developed using software tools such as the LEAP (Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning) system.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 3 |
ID:
117335
|
|
|
|
|
| Publication |
2013.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
The transition to a cleaner and more cost-efficient electricity system in China is political-economic as well as technological. An example is the reform of China's method of dispatching power plants, which potentially affects the economic relationships between consumers and producers, between grid and generating companies, and between central and provincial governments. Historically, coal-fired power plants in China all received roughly the same number of operating hours, regardless of efficiency or cost. In 2007, Chinese government agencies began to pilot "energy efficient dispatch," which requires that generators be dispatched on the basis of thermal efficiency. Using a case study of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southern China, we evaluated potential energy and cost savings from a change to energy efficient dispatch. We found that the savings are at best relatively small, because large, efficient generators already account for a significant share of total generation. Moreover, as an administrative policy that does not change economic incentives, energy efficient dispatch exacerbates imbalances and center-provincial tensions in the current system. We argue that incentive-based dispatch reform is likely to produce better outcomes, and that the keys to this reform are empowering an independent regulator with pricing authority and establishing a formal, transparent ratemaking process.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 4 |
ID:
060970
|
|
|
| 5 |
ID:
124169
|
|
|
|
|
| Publication |
2013.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
China's electricity sector faces the challenge of managing cost increases, improving reliability, and reducing its environmental footprint even as operating conditions become more complex due to increasing renewable penetration, growing peak demand, and falling system load factors. Addressing these challenges will require changes in how power generation is planned, priced, and dispatched in China. This is especially true for natural gas generation, which is likely to play an important role in power systems worldwide as a flexible generation resource. Although natural gas is commonly perceived to be economically uncompetitive with coal in China, these perceptions are based on analysis that fails to account for the different roles that natural gas generation plays in power systems-baseload, load following, and peaking generation. Our analysis shows that natural gas generation is already cost-effective for meeting peak demand in China, resulting in improved capacity factors and heat rates for coal-fired generators and lower system costs. We find that the largest barrier to using natural gas for peaking generation in China is generation pricing, which could be addressed through modest reforms to support low capacity factor generation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|