Jean-Claude Baraka Munyaka, Olivier Gallay, Edward Mutandwa, Lolemtum Joseph Timu · 8 authors
Climate change continues to undermine agricultural productivity and livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa, where smallholder, rain-fed systems predominate. Kenya and Zimbabwe, representing contrasting decentralized and centralized adaptation systems, provide insights into how institutional design shapes agricultural resilience. This study conducts a comparative institutional analysis of climate change adaptation across four dimensions: land tenure, governance structures, access to inputs and resources, and community-based support. Using a systematic literature review (2000–2025), bibliometric mapping, and a Composite Institutional Adaptation Index (CIAI), the analysis examines how policies and local institutions interact to shape adaptive capacity. Findings indicate that Kenya's devolved governance facilitates local innovation through County Climate Change Funds, while Zimbabwe's centralized approach promotes policy coherence but constrains local autonomy. In both contexts, tenure security, equitable input access, and integration of cooperatives, traditional leaders, and women's groups emerge as critical determinants of resilience. The study situates these findings within debates on adaptation finance and governance, including Locally Led Adaptation, Green Climate Fund support, and CAADP implementation. It concludes that effective climate adaptation requires multi-scalar governance systems that integrate formal and informal institutions, align finance with local priorities, and embed learning within agricultural policy.
Aim: This study investigates the use of bitcoin by nonviolent resistance campaigns to counter state financial censorship, a topic underrepresented in academic literature. Method: This study is designed as descriptive basic research with its methodological approach as case studies. The study presents a global dataset of 93 financial censorship events by government authorities from 1981 to 2023, encompassing the first global dataset of nonviolent campaigns that have employed bitcoin. Two nonviolent campaigns that utilised bitcoin are examined in detail: the Feminist Coalition’s EndSARS protest and the Freedom Convoy’s Covid-19 mandate protest. Additionally, the study explores the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice’s use of bitcoin despite not facing financial censorship. Results: Both the Feminist Coalition and the Freedom Convoy adopted bitcoin immediately following financial censorship events, allowing them to add significant contributions to their funds. Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice experienced limited impact from using bitcoin. The results suggest that bitcoin has supported nonviolent campaigns, particularly in response to financial censorship. Conclusion: This study shows how (a) nonviolent campaigns have used bitcoin against financial censorship, for private donations, and for alternative means for funding; (b) bitcoin is a nonviolent tool with many features and functions similar to previous nonviolent tools and tactics involving money; (c) bitcoin can be of great interest for human rights activists and NGOs, illustrating how misconceptions regarding its association with illegal activities should be reconsidered. On the contrary, this study illustrates how bitcoin enhances personal autonomy and serves as a form of resistance against financial censorship by enabling borderless, censorship-resistant, and permissionless transactions.
Nisha Bhat, Peter H. Kilmarx, Freeman Dube, Albert Manenji · 6 authors
BACKGROUND: We conducted a case study of the Zimbabwe National AIDS Trust Fund ('AIDS Levy') as an approach to domestic government financing of the response to HIV and AIDS. METHODS: Data came from three sources: a literature review, including a search for grey literature, review of government documents from the Zimbabwe National AIDS Council (NAC), and key informant interviews with representatives of the Zimbabwean government, civil society and international organizations. FINDINGS: The literature search yielded 139 sources, and 20 key informants were interviewed. Established by legislation in 1999, the AIDS Levy entails a 3% income tax for individuals and 3% tax on profits of employers and trusts (which excluded the mining industry until 2015). It is managed by the parastatal NAC through a decentralized structure of AIDS Action Committees. Revenues increased from inception to 2006 through 2008, a period of economic instability and hyperinflation. Following dollarization in 2009, annual revenues continued to increase, reaching US$38.6 million in 2014. By policy, at least 50% of funds are used for purchase of antiretroviral medications. Other spending includes administration and capital costs, HIV prevention, and monitoring and evaluation. Several financial controls and auditing systems are in place. Key informants perceived the AIDS Levy as a 'homegrown' solution that provided country ownership and reduced dependence on donor funding, but called for further increased transparency, accountability, and reduced administrative costs, as well as recommended changes to increase revenue. CONCLUSIONS: The Zimbabwe AIDS Levy has generated substantial resources, recently over US$35 million per year, and signals an important commitment by Zimbabweans, which may have helped attract other donor resources. Many key informants considered the Zimbabwe AIDS Levy to be a best practice for other countries to follow.