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System Approach and Implementation of the Education Programme in Kenya
Get PDFEducation policy in Kenya, has been under review through various commissions since independence. Nevertheless, none of these attempts have provided a panacea to issues and challenges facing the education system. Sessional Paper Number 1 of 2005, recommended a Sectoral Wide Approach Planning, focusing on access, equity, quality, retention, and completion rates both at the primary and secondary level of education (MOEST, 2005). Though the approach is referred to as sectoral-wide, the policies focused more on two levels of education, disregarding early childhood and university
Correlation of psychosocial support concerns and depression in Deaf adults at Nairobi and Kajiado Counties, Kenya
No full textThe Deaf are considered persons with disabilities owing to societal stigma resulting in inequality and discrimination. The sequential mixed methodology utilized a cross-sectional approach, with interviews translated and administered in Kenyan Sign Language. The MMSE screened for mental status, while PHQ-9 assessed for depression and WSAS for Psychosocial Support Concerns (PSS) concerns. Researcher-designed in-depth interviews explored qualitative themes. In addition, Focus Group Discussions, ethnographic observation checklist, and mental health providers’ key informant interviews corroborated data. Deaf adults (N=100, 83% response rate) reported inadequate counseling access (62%) while 55% reported no depression. However, 45% depicted clinically significant depression levels, with a notable 28% of Deaf adults also indicating suicidality. Content analyses revealed family, socioeconomic welfare and stigma as the topmost PSS concerns. The study found a significant positive correlation between depression and overall PSS concerns at 0.225 (p=0.024), and home management PSS concern with depression at 0.253 (p=0.011). ANOVA analyses revealed statistically significant differences between the depression categories’ effects on PSS concerns, F = 3.22, p =.026. T-tests analyses indicated that means for None and Mild Depression (M=8.93, SD=8.80) were significantly lower than for Severe depression, t (13) = -3.16, p = .007, 95% CI [-15.15, -2.85]; and Moderately Severe (M=12.64, SD=7.40) were significantly lower than for Severe depression, t (13) -2.67, p = .019, 95% CI [-9.57, -1.00]. The study implications are to design Deaf-friendly assessments. The study recommends Deaf-centric interventions and for further study, national census on Deaf mental health and development of instruments normed for Kenyan Deaf populations
The Political Economy of the Sokoto Caliphate after the 1850s: The Triple System and Its Dynamics
No full textDescriptionThree salient political-economic patterns – (1) agriculture and craft production with trade, (2) war economy, (3) economy of exploitation – in the Sokoto Caliphate have been inquired under the triple system by scrutinizing their similar and dissimilar features, their autonomous and interdependent characters, and their connected and disconnected specificities. In doing so, the complex dynamics and functions of the Caliphate’s decentral political economy were analyzed within its intricate form, and the research perspective attentively oscillated between the global and local scale by traversing various disciplines. Thus, it was tried to combine all different case studies concerning the political economy of the various parts of the Caliphate into a political-economic model not by reductionism and generalization but by following the overlapped patterns. Besides, this model was further tested and improved with the deep analysis of the primary sources, such as archival reports and letters, traveler accounts, oral collections, and juristical texts.</p
Towards Rebirth in Organisational Change and Development A Southern Voice
Get PDFIn divergent ecosystems around the world, there is a desire for visible, integral ecological transformation. A lack of ecological transformation is found within various domains beginning with the self, team, organisation and society, and is partly influenced by the loss of identity both within and without the larger ecology. Notably, the issue of identity and transformation remains a burning platform within the African context, for which the researcher proposes a solution grounded in the Southern relational path of community and reason (Lessem & Schieffer, 2009). In the context of this study, the researcher was invited to lead and transform a wealth banking business unit that had become a liability to the greater FNB brand, reflecting the lowest engagement scores at the time.
The research methodology was built on the foundation of the 4C Integral Research Approach (Call, Context, Co-creation and Contribution). Each one of the four research paths is integral, as each includes local Origination, local-global Foundation, all-round Emancipation and Transformation towards a consistent path to social innovation. Focusing on FNB Private Wealth Client Servicing as the research community, the researcher set up various communities of practice (CoPs). The applicable ontology was phenomenology, adopting Southern, communal frames from which to drive inclusive transformation, and the epistemology was feminism, encompassing integral research and participatory action research (PAR) as part of the Southern path.
The research design followed an integral design on the Four Worlds of South, East, North and West, contextualised using the 4C rhythm and the grounding, emerging, navigation and effecting (GENE) integral paths of renewal towards social innovation.
Data was gathered by qualitative means such as participative observations, community engagements, discussions and interviews. The researcher analysed the gathered data by measuring its quality in terms of valuable and truthful results of REBIRTH data analysis. REBIRTH is an innovative organisational change and development process located in the South, and has potential to be adapted and applied within FNB as the rebirth of the transformation journey.
REBIRTH, engaged holistically, is designed to cause inclusive transformation though enabling an organisation to re-engage the issue of identity as catalyst for inclusivity. It is a creative experience which starts in the Southern relational path, and unfolds into the four voices of global exploration, towards inclusive transformation and authentic identity. REBIRTH reconnects self, other, community and organisation to identity in Botho-Ubuntu, captured in the FNB case study vision as: “I Care (Heart), I Can (Head), I Commit. Botho-Ubuntu is an African philosophy which draws us back to the value of our humanness and offers an authentic lens through which to view transformational practice.
The REBIRTH transformation journey was successfully tested within FNB Private Wealth Client Servicing and FNB Wealth Inland. Grounded in traditional and indigenous knowledge, it offers a new lens for leadership towards inclusive transformation, founded in Southern values and norms and grounded in the essence and philosophy of Botho-Ubuntu as an authentic Southern frame to reconstruct the complexity of today’s ever-changing world
Human-Centric Functional Modeling and Metatheories of Psychology
Get PDFThe newly emerging science of Human-Centric Functional Modeling provides an approach towards modeling systems that is hypothesized to maximize human capacity to understand and navigate complexity in those systems. This paper provides an overview exploring how Human-Centric Functional Modeling might be applied in psychology, and how this increase in capacity to understand complexity might be achieved within the discipline. One potential application is increasing our capacity to compare metatheories of psychology. Given that developing and/or understanding any one particular metatheory of psychology can be a life-long achievement, and assuming that understanding and comparing more than one or two such metatheories might be outside the cognitive capacity of most individuals, one potential key area of usefulness for Human-Centric Functional Modeling is that it provides a single universal way of modeling the human organism and its psychology so that all such metatheories might be compared in each context of their use in order to collectively converge on a single meta-understanding of psychology and of clinical interventions in psychology that best reflect observations
Primed, but not engaged: the poor performance of self-efficacy primes in promoting civic engagement, in a laboratory experiment in Uganda
No full textCivic engagement is considered an important element of a healthy polity. Yet, many attempts to induce it fail, and experimental evidence on ‘what works’ to induce it is limited. Further, most experimental studies in this area of research focus on self-reported or low-cost proxy behavior outcomes. This paper describes a laboratory experiment with 809 participants to measure the impact of short behaviorally-informed messages on civic engagement in Uganda. We randomly assign participants to three treatment audio messages, applying different self-efficacy enhancing techniques, and one control audio, and measure their effect on two primary components of civic engagement: a lab measure of attention to political and pre-political information, and a real-world activity measure: attendance at a community meeting. We find that short audio messages can prompt people to pay more attention to pre-political information, but do not encourage overall civic engagement behavior, and some treatments produce a significant negative effect on our measures of engagement. We also find that a rights-focused message, closely modelling current civil society practice, does not generate increased civic engagement. We conclude that one-off behaviorally informed audio messages are insufficient to generate civic engagement in this context
Professional Variables and Staff Readiness to Utilise Internet-Based Channels for Research Communication in an Era of Covid-19
No full textThis study assessed the professional variables of academic staff in African varsities and their readiness to Utilise Internet-Based Channels for Research Communication in an era of Covid-19. Drawing from Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, the study was guided by four null hypotheses. The quantitative research method based on the virtual cross-sectional survey design was adopted. A total of 8,591 academics in Africa
Oxygen Access and Affordability in Health Facilities in Kenya
No full textMedical Oxygen can represent a significant cost to hospitals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Contributors to the high cost include logistical challenges in transporting oxygen that also lead to intermittent availability. The high oxygen cost to the patient can limit use or lead to early discharge. Even where oxygen is in government health facilities and hospitals, its high cost often leads to periods of unavailability. Oxygen concentrators are portable devices that remove nitrogen from the air and are able to produce oxygen at concentrations of 85%-95%. Although the use of concentrators could solve the supply chain problems of oxygen cylinders, concentrators come with their own host of challenges. These include the need for a continuous, reliable supply of electricity (often not available in LMICs), a robust system for monitoring, maintenance and repair, and a clinical staff trained in their use.Open Society Initiative East Afric
The Challenge of Sustainable Land-Based Local Economic Development in Poor Communities of South Africa: The Case of Groblershoop, Northern Cape
No full textSince the advent of South Africa’s democracy, there have been many pressing questions; one of which has been: ‘to what extent has the newly found political and civil freedoms, which is guaranteed for all South Africans, translated into an a more economically-viable life?’ This research investigates whether local economic development (LED) interventions necessarily improve the livelihoods of poor communities. More specifically, the goal of this thesis is to explore some of the reasons why land-based economic development interventions often struggle to meet their main objective of improving the livelihoods of local poor people. It is hoped that the findings of this research will assist policymakers and local economic development planners in making more informed decisions.
Using a qualitative research methodology, a three- pronged approach is adopted to address the key goal of this thesis. First, a review of the literature on LED was conducted: a comparative study into its origins in wealthy, developed countries; and the experiences on the successes and failures of LED as a developmental tool. Secondly, a review was made of the experiences of the application on LED approaches in a South African context, with special reference to the policy and support of LED strategy. Thirdly, a case study of Groblershoop, which is in the Northern Cape, is presented. It focuses on LED that is based on land, and the role that it plays in the livelihood approaches of poor people. In conclusion, it is posited that while the potential of land-based LED is not disputed, the implementation of such strategies are often inconsistent with the overall objective of poverty alleviation and economic development. For this reason, local municipalities will not be able to do this without clear policy guidance; institutional capacity-building; inter-sectoral collaboration of political ‘champions’ to drive the process; and real empowerment of the beneficiaries whom the projects are supposed to assist