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Towards Sustainable Disaster Management: An Assessment of Levels of Community Awareness on Fire Outbreaks and Safety among Public Universities in Tanzania
No full text: This study assessed community awareness on fire outbreaks and safety among public universities in Tanzania with reference to The Open University of Tanzania and the University of Dar es Salaam. Specifically, the study intended to explore individuals’ awareness and knowledge on causes of fire incidents; identify individuals who had witnessed fire incidents; assess knowledge on essential facilities for firefighting and safety; assess the individual’s ability to fight against fire incidents using local and relevant firefighting gears available in one’s premise; examine the individual ability to use modern and specified firefighting gears and safety facilities and to measure the attempts made by the universities under study towards raising community awareness on using firefighting appliances and safety measures. The study adopted phenomenological qualitative research design. Questionnaires, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions (FGD) and observation approaches were used to collect data from 76 respondents obtained through purposive and random sampling. Data collected were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. Numerical data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics with the help of SPSS software. Qualitative data on the other hand was analyzed using content analysis approach. The study findings revealed that community awareness on fire outbreaks and safety was low. This comes as a result of inadequacy of trainings for facility users, lack of enlightenments for creating community awareness and cautions on fire incidences and poor fire outbreaks management. The study recommended on the improvement of integrative fire management and public fire disaster awareness (PFDA) strategies so as to create community awareness and safety on fire outbreaks. Â
The Impact of Climate Change on Food Production in Lugoba Ward, Western Bagamoyo
No full text This article focuses on the impacts of climate change on food production in Lugoba ward in Western Bagamoyo. The main objective of this article is to explore with other factors, the impact of climate change on food production in Lunga village. This study applied case study design as only one village is selected for this study. The sample of sixty six respondents was selected at random where questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussion, listening to peoples’ narratives and observation techniques were used for data collection. Information collected was analysed using MS Excel and contents analysis. The findings show that the development of Lunga village has not changed much since 1980s. In 1980s and before, life of the people was mainly relying on agriculture and livestock keeping. Even today farming is the main economic activity for people residing in Lunga village. People are still producing mainly for subsistence, very little is taken to the market for sale. Crops which are grown in the village include maize, millet, sweet potatoes, banana, cassava and beans. Other economic activities practiced in the village include livestock keeping, charcoal making, petty business and employment in civil societies. People are engaging in more than one economic activity because of climate change and drought. Climate change has impacted food production where harvest has gone down. The finding proved that in 2013, farmers harvested little while others harvested nothing because rainfall did not last long. It rained shortly and then stopped. The crops which were planted stunted andthen died. This paper recommends for villagers to grow drought resistant crops and highly follow the predictions of weather as given be Tanzania Meteorological Agency (TMA). It is also recommended that feedback of research findings should be sent to the villagers. Finally, the research recommends for other study in other villages focusing on food production and climate change.Â
Women in Urban Agriculture: Are the Policies Supportive? The Case of Morogoro Municipality, Tanzania
No full textThis paper is based on a study which examined the practice of urban agriculture in the policy context in Morogoro Municipality. It studied how policies support urban agriculture as well as acknowledging its contribution to the household economy. It involved in-depth survey of women who cultivate vegetables in open spaces. Furthermore, it focuses on women’s experiences and attitudes towards practice of urban agriculture. Purposeful sampling was employed to select two wards, while random sampling was used to select respondents among the women vegetables cultivators from the two wards. Findings show a mismatch between the benefits of urban farming and existing policies which affects women’s participation. In addition, from the findings, women’s participation in urban agriculture contributes to food security, increases household income and reduces poverty. The paper concludes that policies are not supportive to urban farmers and women in particular. Thus women practise vegetable cultivation on a small scale and end up earning little income. It is recommended that urban farmers should be assisted in transforming the practice of traditional vegetable cultivation into modern, sustainable and environmental friendly which will increase productivity
Dar es Salaam City and Challenges in Solid Waste Management. The Case of Manzese and Sinza Wards in Dar es Salaam
No full textThe focus of this paper is on challenges facing solid waste management in Manzese and Sinza wards, in Dar es Salaam city. In this paper different ways of generating, disposing waste and the associated problems are surveyed. About 102 people were interviewed. Different methods were employed in data collection which included direct observation, focus group interviews and questionnaires. Moreover, both secondary and primary data were collected. Sources of solid wastes are domestic, commercial and industrial enterprises. About 60% of domestic and industrial waste is deposited in landfills; the rest is burned, incinerated, taken to the dump or recycled. In major urban cities and centres, land suitable for waste disposal is becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. The study found that poor waste management is coupled with a number of problems such as eruption of diseases and foul smell. Stern measures must be legally instituted, reinforced and enforced to ensure that all residents adhere to them. Residents should be sensitized and educated on the importance of managing their waste in a proper and sustainable manner
The Impact of Government Expenditure, Money Supply and Inflation on Economic Growth in Tanzania
No full textThis study examines the impact of government expenditure, money supply and inflation on economic growth in Tanzania. Like the case in other countries both developed and developing countries, one of the fundamental objectives of macroeconomic policies in Tanzania is to promote economic growth and to make general price at a low level. Majority of researchers have entered on substantial debate on whether inflation promotes or harms economic growth. Motivated by this debate, the study conducted a study covering the period 1970 to 2011. An Augmented Dickey fuller (ADF) used to test for stationarity of data and the existence of co integration were tested by an ARDL bounds tests. The ARDL model was employed to estimate the impact of government expenditure, money supply, inflation and its relationship to economic growth of Tanzania. Results suggest that inflation has a negative impact on economic growth and also government expenditure and money supply have significant impact to economic growth both in short run and long run though they differ in magnitude. The study suggest the government to maintain a single digit inflation which is less than 3% to avoid its harm to economic growth and to be carefulin implementation of monetary policy and fiscal policy because inflation seems to be a major macroeconomic variable in the economy. In addition, the study proposes to upcoming researchers to add or remove other variable (s) either government expenditure or money supply in the model to observe further effect of inflation to economic growth
Demographics Characteristics as Predictors of Job Satisfaction of Commercial Bank Employees in Tanzania
No full textThis paper presents results of an analysis of job satisfaction of 234 employees of a commercial bank in Tanzania. The study’s main objective was to analyse differences in job satisfaction overall and its dimensions, based on employees’ demographic characteristics. Spector’s (1994) job satisfaction survey instrument with 36 items in nine different dimensions was used. Descriptive statistics, independent sample T-test, and analysis of variance techniques were employed. Overall job satisfaction was significantly higher for the older, married, junior, experienced, less educated, and rural based branch employees. Significant differences were found in: (i) satisfaction with pay, benefits, contingent rewards and operating procedures across education, job rank and branch location groups; (ii) satisfaction with pay, promotion, and supervision based on age, marital status and working experience groups; (ii) satisfaction with benefits, operating procedures and communication across marital status groups; (iii) satisfaction with communication across marital status; (iv) satisfaction with communication across experience groups; and (v) satisfaction with nature of work across job ranks. These results lead to a conclusion that demographic characteristics of employees are important factors that managers should take on board when designing and implementing measures to enhance employees’ satisfaction with the job overall as well as with its different facets
Determinants of Capital Structure: Panel Data Evidence from Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange
No full textThis study jointly investigated the relationship of a set of capital structure determinants; namely asset tangibility, size of firm, profitability of firm, growth opportunities, going concern, risk of bankruptcy and non-debt tax shields. It employed both static and dynamic regression techniques to account for static and dynamic effects on total gearing of firms listed on the Dar es Salaam stock exchange. The results indicated that firms have high debt adjustment costs; as a result, adjustment speeds towards optimal capital structure were low. It confirmed that most capital structure determinants were statistically significant. Their role accounted for about 0.798-0.928 of variations in the capital structure variability. Particularly, size of firm, profitability of firm and going concern, were negatively related to capital structure gearing while growth opportunities and non-debt tax shields were positively related to capital structure gearing
EXPLORING THE DUAL MODE OF TEACHING AT THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF TANZANIA
No full textWith the increasing demand in both lifelong learning and advanced initial training, dual mode has become a necessity. Many individuals are in need of higher degree qualifications, developing new job skills, and developing competence in their current jobs for better survival. In this view many need education of some form. Based on the demand of higher education the government of Tanzania introduced the Open University of Tanzania (OUT). which is a distance learning institution. However, the OUT after considering the demand from the market found itself providing dual mode of teaching. This paper aims at exploring the dual mode of teaching as practiced at OUT in order to highlight on aspects related to the dual mode such as its management, demand, competition, scalability, sustainability, perception of the end users of the product and the way forward. Data were collected from students and lecturers of the Open University of Tanzania. Findings indicate that skills development, change of job, increasing professionalism, flexibility and increased interactions between lecturers and students enhance dual mode of delivery. It is recommended that OUT has to hasten admission process for students enrolling in executive programmes, intensive face-to-face, online learning, evening programmes and increasing access to skills development amongst persons with and without disabilities
METACOGNITIVE AWARENESS AND SELF-REGULATION STRATEGIES AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN SELF- DIRECTED LEARNING SITUATIONS IN NIGERIA
No full textConsidering the peculiar nature of distance learners, success in distance learning is said to depend largely on learners’ deployment of metacognition and self-regulatory processes. Despite various support programmes put in place by the National Open University of Nigeria to help students navigate through learning, many students perform below expectation on semester examinations. This study sought to determine whether metacognitive awareness and self-regulation were the underlying factors of poor performance. The study adopted descriptive survey design with a mixedmethod approach. 600 undergraduate students selected through various stages of sampling techniques participated in the study. Data were collected through questionnaire, focus group discussion guide, and academic achievement records. Findings revealed that students appeared to possess fairly high level of metacognitive awareness and self-regulation. No significant difference was found between the high and low achievers on these two variables. Overall, findings showed that metacognitive awareness and self-regulation were not the underlying factors of poor performance. Therefore, other potential factors should be explored
Prison Education in Tanzania: Policy versus Practice
Get PDFScholarly literature is increasingly suggesting that prison education can save society from reoffending costs. As a result of this view, international and local prison education policies are being developed to guide educational activities in prisons. This qualitative study explores prison education policies and practices in five Tanzanian prisons. It addresses the question: Do current practices adequately reflect the intention and substance of the policies? Methodologically, this study employed diverse data collection mechanisms including document analysis from international to local levels. The findings suggest that Tanzania prisons have yet to fully embrace international prison education policies. The main governmental prison education policy of Tanzania – the Prison Education Guide – is not rooted in the laws of the country, suggesting that, in this respect, Tanzania has yet to comply with the 1999 Arusha Declaration on Good Prison Practice. The Prison Education Guide was interpreted differently in every prison. Educational programmes suffered from a lack of resources, accentuated by the shortage of funds. Thus, many prisoners did not have access to educational programmes. Accordingly, it is concluded that the current practices do not adequately reflect the intention and substance of the policies as there is a big gap between prison education policy and practice in the Tanzanian context. A perspective transformation from prison authorities and more collaborative approaches both internally in prisons but also externally with various stakeholders to improve prison education in Tanzania is recommended.