Ounongo Repository (Namibia Univ. of Science and Technology)
Ounongo Repository (Namibia Univ. of Science and Technology)Not a member yet
826 research outputs found
Sort by
An analysis of the strategies used to communicate human rights to women in the informal settlement of Greenwell Matongo in Windhoek
No full textLecturer published articleThis paper examines the communication of human rights by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare to women. It presents the communication channels used and assesses the women's knowledge and awareness level of human rights in the community of the informal settlement Greenwell Matongo in Windhoek, Namibia. Namibia's statistics regarding violation of women in Africa are high. Therefore, the violation of human rights of women in marginalised areas has become a major concern. We argue that it is important for every woman to know their basic human rights regardless of where they live and their level of formal education. As such, it is important that the most appropriate media of communication be engaged in order to disseminate the messages effectively to its intended audience. The study posits that relevant communication channels and information are vital in addressing and subsequently combating violation of human rights. This necessitates the need to educate the victims about where to go and what action to take should one be violated. Finally, this study advocates the best approaches to communicate issues on human rights to the most marginalised in an effort to reach and educate every citizen
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNAL LEASEHOLD RIGHTS AND INVESTMENT IN SMALLSCALE FARMS: A CASE STUDY OF KAVANGO WEST, MPUNGU CONSTITUENCY
No full textThe communal land reform initiative has been in place in many countries since the 19th
century, and the impact of land reform on agricultural production and investments has had
mixed results (Brasselle, Gaspart & Platteau, 2002; Chirwa, 2005a, 2005b; Do & Lyer, 2008;
Gavian & Ehui, 1999; Gebremedhin & Swinton, 2003; GOM & World Bank, 2006; Graham &
Darroch, 2001; Green & Ng'ong'ola, 1993; Li, Rozelle & Brandt, 1998; Mukherjee & Benson,
2003; Place & Otsuka, 2002; Purnell, 1995; Smith, 2004). Most of the initiatives were
designed to eliminate obstacles to economic and social development arising from defects in
the agrarian structure. Alufa (2015) observed that across most of the Sub-Saharan African
region, communal land was neglected in the past due to colonial administration. Countries
such as Ethiopia and Ghana realised the need to reform communal land soon after achieving
independence, with the main objective of enhancing development. Central to the newly
introduced tenure rights is the freedom to occupy, use, develop, and most importantly
tenure security. The central tenet is the desire to enhance confidence in the land user that
he/she will not be deprived of the bundle of rights he/she has for a particular piece of land.
It is therefore clear that land reform is an integrated programme designed to spearhead
economic and social development among previously disadvantaged farmers. The main
objectives of the land reform process are to ensure security of tenure, improve land
productivity, and enhance investment. The government of the Republic of Namibia enacted the Communal Land Reform Act (Act No. 5 of 2002) to ensure smooth administration and management of communal land resources. Different land tenure systems have been provided by the Act. The government designated small-scale farming in communal areas in order to develop these areas
commercially. Leasehold rights are among the rights provided for in the Act and have been
issued to the farmers by the Ministry of Land Reform through the Communal Land Board.
The literature indicates that there are mixed results on whether tenure security enhances
investment and agricultural productivity in communal areas. The objectives of this study
were to assess the level of investments made by beneficiaries of the leasehold rights, to
determine the relationship between access to leasehold rights and investments, and to
assess farmers' perceptions of the Communal Land Reform Act. This study used the
independent T-test and Binary Logistic Regression model as the main model to achieve
these objectives. The results indicate that a leasehold tenure system has a positive effect on a farmer's decision to invest in physical farm infrastructure. Private farmers were found to invest more
than farmers in the communal land zone. This is because individuals are more willing to
invest where they feel secure, supporting the evidence that land tenure enhances
investment. The finding that water-related investments are among the main variables
identified with a positive b coefficient in terms of water tank, solar energy investment,
generator and boreholes clearly indicates the positive effect of tenure security on
investments. Using the situational analysis, the farmers' perceptions of the Communal Land
Reform Act shows that private farmers have accepted the provisions of the Act in terms of
leasehold land rights, while the farmers in the communal land zone do not consider land
title in terms of customary land rights to have any significant impact on investments
Research communication: Enhancing academic capital or Influencing educational policy in the Ethiopian higher education context?
No full textA prerequisite for evidence-based educational policy formation is the timely provision
of scientifically solid and up-to-date information to policymakers. The extent to which
such research is translated into policy action, however, is dependent on the success of
communication strategies between researchers and policymakers. This study examined
the communication strategies of researchers who interacted with education policy
makers in Ethiopia. Data were collected from a sample of randomly selected 160 academic
staff from seven public universities and 65 policy experts from the planning and
policy department, Ministry of Education. A total of 12 interviews were made with
policy makers and policy implementers so as to augment the opened ended questionnaire
responses. Considering their roles in policy formulations and implementations,
their accessibility and time only top academic leaders were interviewed using a structured
interview checklist. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential
statistics. Results showed that inviting government representatives to attend research
conferences, sending copies of research publications to government offices and
disseminating via electronic media were the most frequently used forms of communication
whereas preparing policy briefs, conducting policy seminars, coaching policy
experts, and press briefings were the least exploited communication efforts. Statistical
analysis of research dissemination efforts revealed that there was no significant difference
between male and female (T (158) = 0.753, p> 0. 05). By contrast, applying
Tukey HSD test to academic rank, the level of education and length of work suggested
that the mean difference was significant for respondents whose academic ranks
were between assistant professors and lecturers (F (3,156) = 7.596, p<.05), whose
qualification levels were between PhD and MA/MSc ((F (2,157) = 5.496, p<.05) ,
whose length of work in HEIs were between 6-10 and 11-15 years (F (4,155) = 7.913,
p<.05). However, age was an insignificant moderator variable. From the study, it was
learned that effective dissemination of research results to policymakers was an essential
element of any research program; not only as a means of translating research results
into policy action, but also research outputs without appropriate communication
or active dissemination efforts was a wastage in so far as policy relevant ideas were
generated and tax payers money spent. Consequently, research dissemination should
be a planned process, goal and audience oriented and accompanied by various active
dissemination channels (face to face interaction, printed materials, internet, mass media)
using communication tactics (such as scientific conference presentation, workshops, seminars for policymakers, coaching or consultation, policy briefs, tool kits, enewsletters,
Web sites, newsletters, press release, best practice guides, leaflets, brochures,
posters , interactive CD or DVD etc.) leading to awareness, understanding and
action for an education issue identified as important such as quality and equity of education
The Flexible Land Tenure System in the Context of the Sustainable Development Goals
No full textThe purpose of this study is to investigate whether the Flexible Land Tenure System (FLTS) in
Namibia is in line with the Fit-For-Purpose (FFP) land administration approach which is
developed in order to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at national and
local level in developing countries by providing tenure security to poor people and creating
country-wide land recordation systems. The FFP approach is based on a Minimum Viable
Product focusing on the specific local tenure security needs, flexibility on survey accuracy,
legal and institutional frameworks and an incremental improvement as a foundation for
further development. The study is based on a literature study of the SDGs, the FFP approach
and the FLTS in Namibia. The literature study is based on contemporary theories on land
administration and how access to tenure security can contribute to poverty alleviation. The
study indicates that certain elements of the FLTS are complying with the characteristics of the
FFP approach and thus has potential to contribute to fulfilling the SDGs in Namibia. There is
however a need for further in-depth academic research
DETERMINANTS OF HOUSE PRICES AND NEW CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE NAMIBIAN HOUSING MARKET
No full textThe demand for and supply of housing are heterogeneous and differ across countries, provinces and
cities. In the Namibian context, the housing market has experienced a substantial increase in house
prices. Such an unexpected growth rate in house prices suggests that the Namibian housing market
may not be sustainable in the long term. This means that there is a high probability of a housing price
bubble in Namibia if the house prices continue to increase. The aim of this study was to conduct an
econometric analysis of endogenous and exogenous determinants of house prices and new
construction activity in Namibia. This study also attempted to establish whether there is evidence of
overvaluation of house prices in the Namibian housing market and this is important in identifying the
possibility of a housing price bubble in Namibia. In addition, the study is relevant during the current
period where Namibia is faced with a continuous increase in house prices. A restricted VAR model
with a Johansen cointegration approach was used to analyse monthly data from January 2000 to
December 2014. The selection of the data set was aimed at providing representatives for various
housing demand drivers and housing supply determinants. For modelling on the supply side, new
construction investment as a percentage of GDP was employed. The other variables incorporated as
exogenous variables include the economic growth rate, the consumer price index, nominal wages as
a percentage of GDP, the short-term interest rate, mortgage loans as a share of GDP and population
in the 15-64 cohort as a percentage of GDP. Results show that the house price index in Namibia has
proved more sensitive to changes in population, mortgage loans and inflation; whereas the
construction activities were found to be more sensitive to the house price index and inflation. Granger
causality results show that there is a bidirectional causality between the house price index and new
construction activity in Namibia. The study therefore found evidence of overvaluation of house prices
in the Namibian housing market, which may lead to a house price bubble in the Namibian economy.
Namibian policymakers, through the Bank of Namibia, should come up with policies which ensure
that the majority of mortgages given by the banks are for constructing new houses instead of
financing the purchase of existing houses
Compliance & Cooperation in Custody: A function of Procedural / Interactional Justice (The case for a baseline study at NCS)
No full textPowerPoint presentationContents
1. Introduction
2. Compliance & Cooperation of Offenders: Relevance / Importance
3. Central Functions of NCS under Threat: the Namibian Budget ‘melt-down’ 2017
4. Bootstrapping from the Crisis: Procedural / Interactional Justice (PIJ) the magic recipe?
5. Paucity of Data: the Case for a Baseline Study
6. Theoretical Details: Procedural / Interactional Justice (PIJ) and desirable correctional outcomes
7. What to look for: the Parameters for a Baseline Study on PIJ at NCS
8. Conclusio
Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of master of integrated water resources management at the Namibia University of science and Technology
No full textCan Foreign Trade Propel Economic Growth in Nigeria? Evidence from Causality Analysis
No full textDocumented studies in the existing literature pertaining to causality relationships between foreign trade and economic growth indicators are quite enormous. This study investigates the dynamic causal relationship between foreign trade and economic growth in Nigeria during the period extending from 1995:Q1 to 2015:Q4. The study responds to the issue of omitted variable bias by incorporating trade openness and exchange rates as control variables. The study employed the granger-causality tests to determine the causal relationship, and in particular the direction of causality among the variables examined after carrying out the stationarity, cointegration and diagnostic tests. The study found a number of distinctive unidirectional causalities running from trade openness to exports, exports to exchange rates, real GDP to exports, trade openness to exchange rates, as well as from real GDP to exchange rates. These results suggest that, to increase and sustain economic growth, Nigeria should commit huge resources to its infrastructural development, diversification strategy, incentives pertaining to the country’s manufacturing sector, trade promotion policy, as well as having in place, an effective monitoring mechanism of curbing dumping activities of multinational corporations. The study recommends that, in future studies, efforts should be made to increase the variables used in the causality model. It is also suggested that future research endeavours, should engage other causality models in the existing literature to further investigate the issue under consideration
Education Expenditure and Economic Growth in Mauritius: An Application of the Bounds Testing Approach
No full textThis study examines the relationship between education expenditure
and economic growth in Mauritius. The study employed the ARDL bounds
testing methodology for the period 1976 to 2016. The study found that
education expenditure Granger causes economic growth in Mauritius in the
short run. In addition, the study also found that economic growth does not
Granger cause education expenditure in Mauritius in the short run. However,
in the long-run, the study found that there are long run relationships between
education expenditure and economic growth in both equations; and this
means that an increase in either of the variables will eventually lead to an
increase in the other variable. The study, therefore, found support for the
hypothesis that investment in education raises economic growth. This means
that Mauritius has the potential to benefit from further investments in
education in the future
Assessment of the workplace programme for HIV/AIDS in the tourism industry sector of Namibia
No full textThe aim of this paper was to assess the Work Place Programme (WPP) for HIV/AIDS in Namibia. The methodological framework consisted of the following stages: (i) defining the target population, (ii) clustering the producers, (iii) applying the selection criteria and (iv) applying the eligibility criteria. Data analysis involved descriptive and inferential statistical procedures, as well as the triangulation of data. The study was conducted in Namibia, in the capital city of Windhoek and the city of Swakopmund, which is a tourist hub between the desert and the coastline. The results show that of the 108 companies sampled, none had a WPP in place, while a few had some undocumented HIV/AIDS activities. Companies indicated that WPP implementation strategies had been inactive for long periods of time and that many HIV and AIDS activities were centered on World Aids Day. This was attributed to
budgetary constraints; there is perception that such programmes are the responsibility of the government. This prevented such programmes from featuring in the business’s strategic planning and not yet mainstreamed into company operations. This study suggested that effective HIV and AIDS policy need to integrate within the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR), is essential for adequate health care management in the tourism industry