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Does decentralised governance of primary education improve performance of pupils in Eastern Uganda? Perspectives of education managers
Get PDFThis study seeks to establish the role decentralised governance has played in the performance of primary schools in eastern Uganda. Exploratory and descriptive data drawn from 104 school managers and district officials participating in the study indicate that decentralised governance has strengthened management of the payroll, increased regularity of monitoring and supervision and introduced school management committees. Despite these improvements in governance, there is however evidence that the quality of primary education continues to be low. Only a small and declining percentage of pupils complete primary education, and with increasingly poor grades. This is because, for a number of reasons, both the supply and demand side of governance are still weak. Despite this, overall the author finds that decentralised governance of primary education is a positive development, as it has enhanced the supply side of governance. There is, however, a need to control negative practices in the supply side of governance, and to systematically develop the demand side of governance, if the performance of Ugandan pupils is to improve
Relationship between contractor satisfaction and project management performance
Get PDFDespite the fast growth of project-based companies and industries, studies of the satisfaction-performance (S-P) nexus of project participants are lacking. This study aims to explore the role of contractor satisfaction in affecting contractor project management performance along with considering external effects from other key participants. Two broad dimensions of satisfaction toward noneconomic factors and economic factors were used to develop hypothesized models. Structural equation modelling techniques were applied with data collected from 117 projects, showing that it is insufficient to simply conclude that contractor satisfaction influences project managerial performance and vice versa, and that satisfaction disaggregation is necessary. Additionally, it was found that noneconomic satisfaction contributes to performance, which in turn contributes to economic satisfaction. The theoretical and practical implications are further discussed
Monstrous Transformations: Cosmopolitanism and Nationalism in Post-Apartheid Afrikaner Art
Get PDFAccording to Ulrich Beck, the breakdown of nation-state power and the migration of people, culture and ideas through neoliberalism provides us with a unique historical moment that simultaneously holds the potential for unparalleled cosmopolitanism and rising xenophobia. This essay further explores and problematizes this distinction through an analysis of the video art and music of the rap-rave group Die Antwoord and the photographer Roger Ballen, both of which provide images of Afrikaner Identity with differing ramifications for the formation of cosmopolitan identities. In both, figures become living collages, their anatomy mixes with animals and inanimate objects, and they transform into stark colors of black and white. The cosmopolitan becomes something monstrous and frightening. If an understanding of this xenophobic seed embedded in cross cultural soil is placed in the context of the larger history of capitalist market expansion, within the cyclical movement of cosmopolitanism and nationalism in South Africa, then discourses of monstrous transformations can be seen as obfuscating cosmopolitanism and xenophobia as alternatives opposing one another – as dialectically related phenomena. Interactions between groups within capitalism might lead to innovative mixtures but only in ways that quietly reinforce differences which surface when competition over resources occurs in hierarchical social relationships. Through analyzing how identities fuse in the works of Ballen and Die Antwoord, the following article will display both the space of critique and the danger of co-option of cosmopolitan identities
The 1935 Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake: Natural Disasters as Public History
Get PDFThe history of natural disasters in Taiwan has frequently been linked to the practice of historical preservation, archival science, oral history, and museum curatorship. All are collectively hallmarks of a broad range of activities that fall under the umbrella of public history. The problem for Taiwan, however, concerns the legitimacy. Taiwan does not have a single national narrative. It has been subjected to waves of colonialism since the seventeenth century and does not presently have a fully post-colonial narrative. The earthquakes discussed in this paper occurred in two different periods of colonisation. In order to situate the history of earthquakes into a public history discourse, the field of earthquake-based research in Taiwan has to incorporate different audiences and integrate into a much broader understanding. By this, I mean that the present regimental academic disciplines in Taiwan need to be cross disciplinary, especially since public history is by its very nature collaborative. It illuminates a shared authority over a much wider area. It needs to. It is my argument that it is in digital humanities that Taiwanese academics work best in collaboration. Efforts have been made to digitise the personal experiences of those involved in typhoon reconstruction efforts. A natural synergy, therefore, for the understanding of earthquakes, as public history, is to emphasise access and broad participation in the creation of knowledge. Digital humanities enables this. Attention to this is particularly important in historical preservation of particular sites on an island that frequently develops and re-develops brownfield sites
Public History and Contested Heritage: Archival Memories of the Bombing of Italy
Get PDFThis article presents a case study of a collaborative public history project between participants in two countries, the United Kingdom and Italy. Its subject matter is the bombing war in Europe, 1939-1945, which is remembered and commemorated in very different ways in these two countries: the sensitivities involved thus constitute not only a case of public history conducted at the national level but also one involving contested heritage. An account of the ways in which public history has developed in the UK and Italy is presented. This is followed by an explanation of how the bombing war has been remembered in each country. In the UK, veterans of RAF Bomber Command have long felt a sense of neglect, largely because the deliberate targeting of civilians has not fitted comfortably into the dominant victor narrative. In Italy, recollections of being bombed have remained profoundly dissonant within the received liberation discourse. The International Bomber Command Centre Digital Archive (or Archive) is then described as a case study that employs a public history approach, focusing on various aspects of its inclusive ethos, intended to preserve multiple perspectives. The Italian component of the project is highlighted, problematising the digitisation of contested heritage within the broader context of twentieth-century history. Reflections on the use of digital archiving practices and working in partnership are offered, as well as a brief account of user analytics of the Archive through its first eighteen months online
Rebecca S. Wingo, Jason Heppler and Paul Schadewald (eds), Digital Community Engagement: Partnering Communities with the Academy
Get PDFMobilising knowledge on newcomers: Engaging key stakeholders to establish a research hub for Alberta
Get PDFAs immigration to Canada increases, so, too, do the complexities associated with serving various groups of newcomers, including immigrants, refugees, temporary foreign workers and international students. A range of stakeholder groups, such as grassroots community organisations, immigrant service provider organisations and academic researchers, have developed knowledge about how to best serve newcomers as they integrate into life in Canada. To date, there have been few opportunities for members of these and other stakeholder groups to work together to ensure that the needs of newcomers are being efficiently met. In this article, we describe a multi-step process of reciprocal knowledge engagement involving diverse stakeholders and led by the Newcomer Research Network at the University of Calgary. This engagement has the ultimate goal of developing a knowledge mobilisation hub focused on building capacity in community-engaged research with newcomers. In order to understand how we will reach this goal, this article outlines the efforts, priorities, challenges and important lessons learned that occurred as part of the multi-step process undertaken to establish a knowledge exchange with newcomer communities at its core
Performance management in Ghana’s local government: a case study of Ada East District Assembly
Get PDFThis article examines performance management in Ghana’s local governments through a case study of the on-the-ground experiences of staff at Ada East District Assembly, in the south-east of the country. The study found that performance management is envisaged in the preparation of action plans. However, the evidence also showed that severe logistical constraints, poor capacity resulting from inadequate training and poor supervision remain key challenges. In practice it was shown that performance management may achieve its intended results when accompanied by continuous employee performance evaluation
Migration and Inequality: A Structural Approach
Get PDFMigrants are omnipresent in cosmopolitan societies. Propelled from their homelands by poverty, violence, and environmental disasters—and the promise of better opportunities and security—migrants have found their way into metropolitan regions. At the same time, we see steep increases in economic inequality. These changes, which are intrinsically connected to the rise of neoliberal polices, have pushed immigration to the top of the political agenda for both the political right and left in many nations. The right seeks to erect walls, restrict immigration, and deport the undocumented. The left seeks amnesty, sanctuary policies and other measures to advance human rights in response to the migration crisis. Yet neither approach addresses the underlying causes of migration nor growing inequalities that together animate populist revolts on both the left and right across the globe.
In this paper, I employ a framework that foregrounds capitalist accumulation at the center of these processes. Focusing on urban areas in the US, I highlight the ways economic, social and political structures contribute to growing inequalities between immigrants and the native born -- as well as sharp inequalities within each group -- which, in turn, affect patterns of immigrant incorporation, politics and options for reform. The paper examines US immigration and immigrant policy, assessing their impacts on inequality and immigrant incorporation processes and outcomes. I conclude by pointing to contemporary social movements and evolving political alignments, which have the potential to achieve more egalitarian outcomes capable of sustaining social cohesion in metropolitan regions, as well as more stable and robust democratic systems across borders. Given that immigrants and their offspring comprise nearly one in four people in the U.S., addressing such inequalities is theoretically important and a pressing political concern. 
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