Researchers, resource managers, and development practitioners increasingly recognize the value of integrating the input and preferences of stakeholders into decision-making processes. Increasing participation of stakeholders in policy decision-making is generally considered favorable since it helps account for public concerns, reduces conflicts, increases public acceptance of and compliance with the resultant program rules, and enhances the overall effectiveness and achievement of program objectives. As part of efforts to improve program planning and foster achievement of program objectives, this dissertation explores the perspectives and preferences of key stakeholders regarding the design of two programs: Ghana's conditional cash transfer (CCT) program known as Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty program (LEAP) and the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) in Michigan. The dissertation is built around three essays. The first essay uses qualitative and quantitative data collected in Ghana to explore the socio-cultural context of CCT program implementation in an African context. It examines perspectives of beneficiaries, program managers, and community leaders regarding Ghana's CCT program. The analysis focuses on participants' sociocultural attitudes towards poverty, perceptions of cash transfer as a poverty reduction strategy, and their experiences with LEAP implementation. The findings suggest that stakeholder groups hold a favorable view of CCT, but there is little support for giving money to the poor as a long-term poverty alleviation strategy. The Ghanaian CCT program is seen as fair and popular, but current payment levels are viewed as inadequate, impractical, and unreliable. The essay also discusses some of the challenges facing LEAP implementation in Ghana and suggests programmatic changes. The second essay reports the findings from a discrete choice model exploring preferences of Ghanaian households in a LEAP community regarding key CCT program elements including conditionality, targeting, and payment method. The results revealed a preference for CCT designs that target beneficiaries with limited or no productive capacity and are conditional on beneficiaries either investing in children's human capital or performing communal service, relative to unconditional programs. In addition, bank deposit was the preferred payment mode relative to direct cash payment and mobile money.The final essay also uses a discrete choice model to examine the decision of agricultural landowners in Michigan's Saginaw Bay Watershed to participate in filter strip program for watershed protection. It specifically examines the key programmatic, socio-psychological, and demographic determinants of landowners' decisions of whether or not to enroll in a CREP filter strip program. The study results indicate that making contract durations shorter with enhanced rental payments, and educating landowners about the efficacy, as well as the on- and off-farm benefits of the conservation practice would enhance participation in CREP.
Read
