Increased mining activities in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: an opportunity to improve the nutritional status of children under five-years-old

Introduction: Household poverty and poor access to health and other social amenities are key drivers of malnutrition and poor child health in most low-resources settings. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in the backdrop of past instability, experiences a host of socioeconomic factors that effectively result in malnutrition among under-five children – despite immense natural resources. Recent stability and enormous mineral resource wealth has attracted mining companies to invest in the eastern provinces of the country, presenting an opportunity to improve the nutritional and overall health status of children in the region. We therefore sought to describe the prevalence of malnutrition in the region, cognisant of these developments. Methods: Seven hundred and sixty-two under-five children from 420 households in two districts in the eastern DRC were assessed in this survey. We calculated their malnutrition indicators and made comparisons between semi-urban and rural children; taking semi-urban as a good proxy for populations within the coverage of mining activities. For each indicator, all children whose appropriate parameters were available were included in the evaluation with a plausible z-score.Results: An estimated 21.5% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 18.5–24.5) of the children assessed were found to be underweight, with 6.8% being severely underweight. However, the prevalence of wasting among these children was estimated at 5.8% (95% CI: 4.1%–7.6%), which was lower than the national average of 16%. Of significance, the age groups six to 11 and 12 to 23 months were found to be more wasted compared to other age categories. Within the six- to 11-months age category, rural children fared better than their semi-urban counterparts at 5% (95% CI: 0%–13%) and 14.6% (95% CI: 13.6%–25.6%) respectively.Conclusion: We conclude that malnutrition among under-five children is a significant problem in the eastern DRC. Business investment in the region offers real opportunities to comprehensively address these pressing challenges that face communities. Businesses keen to address malnutrition need to be cognisant of the prevalence of the problem and its contextual drivers, particularly on the socio-economic front, to be able to conceptualise appropriate responses.Keywords: malnutrition; children under-five-years-old; mining; DRC; corporate social responsibilit

Upskilling and Reskilling for a VUCA World

Organizations are operating in a VUCA world, punctuated by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Recent technological developments have given rise to new jobs, new demands, new products, new processes, new work arrangements, and new methods of service delivery thus significantly disrupting workplaces and creating a need for new workplace skills. There is a growing anticipation of “new normals” characterized by skills revolutions, among other factors. Such a context poses serious challenges to human resource management in regard to developing and maintaining a competitive advantage amidst volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. The aim of this theoretical study was to assess the need for upskilling and reskilling and propose an organizational sense-response framework for upskilling and reskilling in a VUCA business world. The findings show that for any organization to ensure sustainability in the VUCA world, it must focus on its most valuable asset— its people. Organizations need to strategically develop employees’ skills based on organizational objectives. In such a dynamic world, people require competencies in different skills including but not limited to technological skills, self-management skills, social and cross-cultural skills, cognitive skills, entrepreneurial skills, and mastery of 21st century inter-disciplinary themes to exhibit good performance. The future of work is therefore likely to focus on continuous upskilling and reskilling people to be able to thrive amidst constant disruptions. The proposed framework shows that organizations need sensing and response capabilities for them to thrive amidst rapid change, especially in the external environment. The sensing capability ensures that organizations continually maintain awareness of external threats or opportunities. The response capability, on the other hand, ensures that organizations are able to determine how best they can adapt to changes, after assessing the relevance of those changes to their organizations’ current situations and long-term strategic objectives, as well as the possible benefits and threats of those changes

An Empirical Study of Factors Influencing Workplace Tacit Knowledge Sharing Among Insurance Employees in Kenya

Knowledge loss is a challenge that companies in the insurance industry often experience when employees depart with their experiences, trade secrets, insights, contacts, information, and relationships. To minimize knowledge loss and enhance their competitive advantage, companies are seeking different ways of increasing tacit knowledge sharing among employees in their workplaces. This study aimed at determining the individual factors that significantly influence workplace tacit knowledge sharing among insurance employees in Kenya.    The researcher used a survey strategy with a structured questionnaire to collect data for the study. A total of 274 employees completed the survey. The researcher analyzed the data using multiple regression. The results indicate that four of the individual variables, that is trust, self-efficacy, altruism, and expected reciprocity, significantly and positively influence workplace tacit knowledge sharing among insurance employees. Expected rewards were found to have an insignificant negative relationship to workplace tacit knowledge sharing. Therefore, insurance companies should promote a workplace culture of trust, continuous learning and development, altruistic practices, and reciprocal exchanges to motivate their employees to share their work-related tacit knowledge with their co-workers

THE EFFECT OF CAPITAL ALLOWANCE INCENTIVE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF EPZ FIRMS IN KENYA

This study intended to investigate the influence of the effect of capital allowance incentives on the performance of EPZ firms in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive and explanatory research design. The study used a stratified sampling approach because the number of the EPZ firms in Kenya was categorized into 4 strata. The total numbers of firms used in the study were 86 registered EPZ firms in Kenya according to Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA). The study adopted a census survey design. Census survey was adopted because the population of interest was small.  A sample size of all the 86 registered EPZs firms was used in this study. Primary data was obtained using questionnaires. Secondary data from the registered firms was collected on; ROA, number and value of jobs created and the length of stay of the firms. The secondary data was collected from operating EPZ firms in Kenya annual report. The study assessed the performance of EPZ firms against the tax incentives they benefited for the last ten years. The study used both descriptive and inferential statistics to conduct data analysis. Descriptive statistics included frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviations while inferential statistics were correlations and regression analysis. The study findings revealed that at 5% significance level, capital allowance tax incentive had a positive and significant relationship with performance of EPZ firms measured using ROA, number of jobs created and length of stay. The study concluded that increase in capital allowance tax incentive resulted to increase in both ROA of the firms and  the number of jobs and length of stay. The study recommended that stakeholders in tax policy should reconsider the economic value of capital allowances

Assessing the Extent to Which Staff Training Needs are Analyzed at Kenya Polytechnic University College, Nairobi

Training is concerned with adopting the individual in the job, in the shortest possible time, consistent with good quality. Systematic training can bring effective quality, reduction in wastage (scrap), a greater job-knowledge with a sense of purpose and achievement. Training should improve workers’ competences, equip them for higher level work, increase the quality of output or performance and enhance morale. A training need can be defined as the gap between the requirements for skills and knowledge inherent in the job and those possessed by the current job holder. Kenya Polytechnic has recently been upgraded to a status of University College. Thus, need to assess the training needs of its personnel. To ensure that resources do not go to waste, there is need to conduct a thorough analysis of training needs. Staff training is the key to any productive workforce in any organization. The staff needs to be self-propelled in updating themselves and rekindling their work morale and sharpening of their working skills. Technology is forever changing and work methodologies as the world continually becomes a global village. In this study, the extent of training needs analysis (TNA) conducted at Kenya Polytechnic University College which is undergoing transformation was established with the aim of find out why TNA was carried out. To achieve this, the study employed descriptive survey design where 73 questionnaires for data collection were administered. A pilot study was conducted to enhance validity of the instrument. The data was coded and entered in a statistical package for analysis. Simple descriptive statistics, frequencies and percentages were used in the analysis. The results showed that there was need to carry out TNA at KPUC in view of transforming it into University College. This was because most of the staff had not attended any TNA before, thus needed the training to enable them cope with the new rank of the college and its quality assurance demands, training needs were identified and this included need to revise the content, method of teaching, timing and duration of the training, From this study, it was concluded that there was need to carry out TNA at KPUC in few of transforming it into University College because most of the staff had not attended any TNA before thus needed the training to enable them cope with the new rank of the college and its quality assurance demands. Training needs were identified and this included need to revise the content, method, timing and duration of the training. KEY WORDS: Training needs analysis, training needs and work moral

National mortality burden due to communicable, non-communicable, and other diseases in Ethiopia, 1990–2015: findings from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Background: Ethiopia lacks a complete vital registration system that would assist in measuring disease burden and risk factors. We used the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk factors 2015 (GBD 2015) estimates to describe the mortality burden from communicable, non-communicable, and other diseases in Ethiopia over the last 25 years. Methods: GBD 2015 mainly used cause of death ensemble modeling to measure causes of death by age, sex, and year for 195 countries. We report numbers of deaths and rates of years of life lost (YLL) for communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional (CMNN) disorders, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and injuries with 95% uncertainty intervals (UI) for Ethiopia from 1990 to 2015. Results: CMNN causes of death have declined by 65% in the last two-and-a-half decades. Injury-related causes of death have also decreased by 70%. Deaths due to NCDs declined by 37% during the same period. Ethiopia showed a faster decline in the burden of four out of the five leading causes of age-standardized premature mortality rates when compared to the overall sub-Saharan African region and the Eastern sub-Saharan African region: lower respiratory infections, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and diarrheal diseases; however, the same could not be said for ischemic heart disease and other NCDs. Non-communicable diseases, together, were the leading causes of age-standardized mortality rates, whereas CMNN diseases were leading causes of premature mortality in 2015. Although lower respiratory infections, tuberculosis, and diarrheal disease were the leading causes of age-standardized death rates, they showed major declines from 1990 to 2015. Neonatal encephalopathy, iron-deficiency anemia, protein-energy malnutrition, and preterm birth complications also showed more than a 50% reduction in burden. HIV/AIDS-related deaths have also decreased by 70% since 2005. Ischemic heart disease, hemorrhagic stroke, and ischemic stroke were among the top causes of premature mortality and age-standardized death rates in Ethiopia in 2015. Conclusions: Ethiopia has been successful in reducing deaths related to communicable, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional deficiency diseases and injuries by 65%, despite unacceptably high maternal and neonatal mortality rates. However, the country’s performance regarding non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory disease, was minimal, causing these diseases to join the leading causes of premature mortality and death rates in 2015. While the country is progressing toward universal health coverage, prevention and control strategies in Ethiopia should consider the double burden of common infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases: lower respiratory infections, diarrhea, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. Prevention and control strategies should also pay special attention to the leading causes of premature mortality and death rates caused by non-communicable diseases: cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. Measuring further progress requires a data revolution in generating, managing, analyzing, and using data for decision-making and the creation of a full vital registration system in the country

Effect of leverage and firm size on financial performance of deposit taking savings and credit cooperatives in Kenya

Critical to the success of financial institutions' performance is there Capital Structure. The study aimed to, investigate the effect of two capital structure determinants, leverage, and firm size on financial performance as measured by Return on Assets of Deposit Taking Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies in Kenya. The study was grounded on Tradeoff, Pecking order, and Mogdiliani and Miller capital structure theories. A positivist approach was adopted utilizing a mixed-method research design. The population of the research study was 174 Deposit Taking Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies from whom primary and secondary data was collected. A stratified and purposive sampling technique was employed. Descriptive statistics and a regression model were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that firm size had a significant and positive effect on financial performance, whereas Leverage, had a significant but negative effect on financial performance. The study recommends having in place an Assets and Liabilities committee in each Deposit Taking Savings and Credit Cooperative Society that would help manage the assets and liabilities of the institution, ensuring sound liquidity and cash flow management. Critical factors that contribute to a firm size such as increased membership, deposits mobilization amongst others need to be addressed