The University of Zambia Journals
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Public Sector Management in Nigeria: Setting an Effective and Efficient Pace Amid Challenges and Prognosis
Get PDFRecently, there has been calls to resuscitate the machinery of Nigerian public sector administration and governance to make it conform to global standard or best practices, and in such a manner that national development can be achieved. Thus, this paper advocates a need for a result-oriented reforms in the public sector. Utilising a combination of desktop research and secondary data analysis, this study observed that certain ill-conceived reforms and personnel behaviour and practices have combined to constrain effective administration in government businesses in Nigeria and these include: poor governance, inefficiency in resource allocation or utility, inadequate revenue mobilisation and allocation, lack of continuity in policy making and implementation, poor information asymmetry, downed morale, incompetent and inadequate human skills and capacity among others. The paper therefore, recommends that to set the pace for administrative efficiency and effectiveness in the nation’s public sector, certain strategies must be considered: first there must be good governance and reorientation of government, secondly the ecological analysis of national administrative machineries is necessary in order to examine their relevance and efficacy in modern public sector practice; application of market-based management principles in public service delivery should be keyed into, standard ethical behaviours must be entrenched into the public service, human development and capacity building must take precedence in any reform agenda in the public sector; procedures and standards must be redefined or reoriented, effectiveness and efficiency in resource allocation is imperative, and the application of the principles of the new public management paradigm into the public sector can be enhanced so as to facilitate effectiveness, efficiency, profitability and optimality in the public sector
Faculty Agency, Neoliberal Reform, and the Emergence of Entrepreneur Academics in Zambia
Get PDFThis study investigates Zambian academics' construction and reformation of identity in the context of neoliberal reform of higher education since the 1990s. It employs interviews with carefully chosen academics to investigate how they recognised and acted upon several subject positions made available by a neoliberal climate. According to the research study, academics have agency in articulating and re-articulating their identities. Evidence suggests that, far from being passive objects in the neoliberal university's discursive constitution, these academics actively participate in the discourses and negotiate their identities to survive. The study will hopefully broaden the literature's notion of identity by increasing our understanding of how academics overcome material and contextual constraints
Factors Contributing to Low Performance in English Reading Comprehension in Selected Secondary Schools of Lusaka District
Get PDFThis article investigated factors contributing to low performance in English reading comprehension among Grade 8 pupils in three selected secondary schools of Lusaka District of Zambia. The study employed the descriptive research design under qualitative mode of inquiry to gather information from (27) participants who were selected using typical case and convenient sampling. Data was collected through comprehension lesson observation, interviews, and focus group discussion with in-service teachers and learners. Content analysis was used to analyse data by categorizing similar content, coded themes, and key words to emerging threads. The findings of the study revealed that there were multiple factors contributing to low performance in reading comprehension which included lack of knowledge by some teachers on the procedure for teaching reading comprehension and therefore, taught poorly. Some pupils had challenges reading comprehension text due to illiteracy, lack of understanding, limited fluency, aliteracy, low reading culture, limited vocabulary, poor motivation, limited reading time in class against long passages, inappropriate teaching methods by the teacher and lack of learning and teaching materials. In order to improve on the challenges in reading comprehension, the study recommended that schools should have frequent Continuous Professional Developments on how to teach comprehension. Teachers should also make sure that teaching and learning materials are relevant to the grade levels. Appropriate teaching methods should also be used for comprehension lessons to promote quality and effective teaching and learning. The Ministry of Education should build libraries in schools to support the reading culture and schools should have a reading hour every day of the week
Application of the Soil Water Assessment Tool (Swat) Using Remote Sensed Data on the Kabompo River Basin, Zambia
Get PDFA river basin-scale hydrological model of the Kabompo river basin located in the north-west
of Zambia was developed using remote sensed data to address key water resources management
problems of water allocation to agriculture and ecosystems, effects of land-cover change on
the flow regime and potential impacts from mine tailing dams. Because of paucity of observed
data in the Kabompo basin, the model primarily depended on remote sensing datasets for
calibration and validation. Methodology included the use of a semi-distributed; ArcGIS based
Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) software for hydrological modeling. The Kabompo basin
was discretized into 177 sub-basins with a total of 1004 hydrological response units. Remote
sensing data sets that included weather data, drainage network and slopes, landuse/ land cover
and soils were used to create a database for the sub basins using ArcGIS. The simulated flow
from the SWAT model was calibrated with ESA ERS-2 and ENVISAT radar altimetry river stage
data. The model’s results showed good correlation with observed data giving a Nash Sutcliffe
coefficient of 0.87 and an R² value of 0.93, after calibration. The simulation results obtained
from the model can be used in a number of water resources management activities like water
rights, water allocation, and flood warning. It’s also able to simulate long term data of a wider
area including inaccessible locations which makes it to be more convenient than conventional
hydrological techniques. Hence it is concluded that remote sensing is a useful tool for
hydrological modeling in the generation of hydrological data where it is lacking or in ungauged
and inaccessible areas. Its wide use in a country like Zambia would greatly improve water
resources management
Quality Assurance in Scientific Journals
No full textThe Journal of Natural and Applied Sciences (JONAS) is a peer-reviewed journal. Peer-reviewed journals provide a system of filtering
papers based on quality and interest to the target community. This is an accepted practice in the
academia where the “peer-reviewed journal” is used as a proxy for evaluating the quality of the
research work itself. Th
A Critical Reflection on the loss of the Popularity of History as a Subject among Learners in Secondary Schools in Zambia
Get PDFThe current status of history as a subject in most Zambian secondary schools
is a cause for concern. There seems to be a loss of popularity of the subject
among learners in most Zambian secondary schools. In this theoretical
paper the author seeks to bring out some scholarly reflections based on
narratives and lived experiences about history as a subject in relation to
the loss of its popularity as a subject in secondary schools in Zambia. Using
the narrative social construction thematic analysis method the author made
scholarly interpretations of the narratives about history as a subject in the
Zambian senior secondary school curriculum. In this account the author
provides basic education about the significance of teaching and learning
history in every society before narrowing in on reasons that may have led to
its loss of popularity among learners
Effectiveness of Task Shifting In The Delivery of Health Care Services at Kasama, Lukupa and Milima Health Centres in Zambia
Get PDFTask shifting is a viable option to respond rapidly to a health workforce’s crisis and could be clinically effective for the management of health system. A study to determine the cost effectiveness of task- shifting to the healthcare system in the service delivery was done. The study revealed that effective task shifting can increase productivity, efficiency, that is, to increase the number of healthcare services provided at a given quality cost or to produce the same level of healthcare service at less cost and more effectively and efficiently. However, task shifting alone will not address the problems. In order for task shifting models to function effectively, they should be combined with the strengthening and reorganization of the health services, adequate training and an enabling health policy framework. Task shifting with health system supports in place could ensure the equivalent care for diabetes patients as patients treated by physicians
Anaemia Types and Severity in Patients Aged 1 to 14 Years at the Children’s Hospital of the University Teaching Hospitals in Zambia
Get PDFAnaemia is a condition in which either the number of red blood cells or their oxygen-carrying capacity is insufficient to meet physiologic needs, which vary by age, sex, altitude, smoking and pregnancy status. The global estimate of childhood anaemia indicates that 293.1 million children are anaemic, and 28.5% of these children reside in sub-Sahara Africa anaemia is a significant public health problem with a high age-standardised death rate of 11.18 per 100,000 in Zambia. We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 392 anaemic children aged one year to 14 years. The study was conducted at the Children Hospital, University Teaching Hospitals, which is a third-level referral Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia. The aim was to determine the most common type of anaemia, it’s severity, and the most affected age groups among children aged 1–14 years. Out of 392 participants, 219 (56%) were female. Maximum haemoglobin recorded was 10.9g/dl, a minimum of 2.0 g/dl, a mean of 7.8g/dl and a standard deviation of 1.86g/dl. 200 (51%) participants had severe anaemia, and 192 (49%) had moderate anaemia with none having mild anaemia. Microcytic hypochromic anaemia was the commonest (60%), followed by normochromic normocytic anaemia (26%) and the least was macrocytic anaemia in 14% of the participants. An analysis of variance showed that the difference in mean haemoglobin concentration between age groups was not significant, F (7.94) = 0.83, p > 0.57. A Chi-squared test was used to determine the relationship between anaemia types (microcytic, hypochromic) and age groups. The interaction was not significant (Chi-Square (1) = 1.28, p-value = 0.73. Microcytic hypochromic anaemia was the most prevalent and all age groups were equally affected. We recommend the country’s National Food and Nutrition Commission to revisit the Zambian National Strategy and Plan of Action for the Prevention and Control of Vitamin A Deficiency and Anaemia of 1999 to 2004 and implement the measures stated in the strategic plan
Social Cash Transfer mediating socio-economic inequalities faced by the elderly
Get PDFThe study aimed at investigating how community-based mediation can be used to promote the socio-economic rights of the elderly in the implementation of the social cash transfer scheme. Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were adopted to collect comprehensive data from the participants. 10 Social Welfare Officers were interviewed on their role of administering the SCT and 102 elderly participants from the age of 65 years were aided in responding to the questionnaires by asking them questions. Participants were included based on their willingness and voluntary participation. Including that one was 65 years of age and above, and was a beneficiary of the SCT. Thus, the total number of participants who were available for the study were 112 distributed as 102 elderly recipients of the SCT and 10 social welfare officers. A semi-structured interview of 15-30 minutes was used as a research technique to collect the data from the social welfare officers. The findings show that the Social Cash Transfer (SCT) programme is key in mediating the social-economic inequalities faced by the elderly to other members of their community. It was observed that the mediation varied based on the level of formal education attained by the participants. Participants with tertiary education revealed better utilization of SCT and improvement of livelihoods
Spiritual Beliefs and Cultural Heritage Preservation: A Case of Mwela Rock Art Site in Kasama District of Zambia
No full textThis article investigates the role indigenous environmental beliefs play in heritage preservation at Mwela rock art site in Kasama District of Zambia. The study that saw the birth of this article was prompted by the knowledge gap on the role spiritual beliefs play in effective heritage preservation of Mwela rock art site. A case study design which is one of the qualitative approaches was used so as to have an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon. Data was collected through observations, interviews and focus group discussions from a sample of 16 participants out of which 5 were subjects of the Bemba Royal Establishment (BRE) that included 4 village headmen and 1 village headwoman, 3 focus group discussions representing three responses from members of the National Heritage Conservation Commission (NHCC), 4 elderly men and 4 elderly women respectively. Typical case sampling which is one of the purposive sampling techniques was used to sample BRE subjects, NHCC members and the elders. Data was analysed according to emerging themes from research questions. The study revealed that indigenous environmental beliefs play a critical role in heritage preservation of Mwela rock art site because of the local people’s spiritual attachment to the cultural landscape. Taboos (Imichiliko) that led to death, madness, bareness, illness and disappearance were effective in the preservation of the heritage site. However, the coming of NHCC to manage the heritage site has discouraged indigenous environmental beliefs from being recognised and incorporated in preservation practices. The recommendation is that indigenous environmental beliefs be adopted and incorporated in the formal heritage management of Mwela rock art site. This study was grounded in the cosmopolitan type of framework, which states that morality and co-existence does not demand abandonment of local allegiances but encourages cross- cultural understanding and recognition of interconnectedness in cultural heritage preservation. Furthermore, this analytical framework recognises the existence of varying value systems that include formal heritage management system and traditional management systems