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

Effect of Liquidity and Dividend Pay-out on Financial Performance of Deposit Taking Sacco’s in Kenya

Capital structure is one of the fundamental aspects to the success of Deposit Taking Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies.The study aimed to investigate the effect of two capital structure determinants; liquidity and dividend payout, on financial performance as measured by Return on Assets of Deposit Taking Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies, in Kenya. The study was grounded on the Pecking order and  Free cash flow capital structure theories. The study utilized a mixed research design using primary and secondary data for the period 2013 to 2017. The population of the study was 174 Deposit Taking Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies. Stratified and purposive sampling technique was employed. A regression model was used to analyze the data. Results revealed that liquidity and dividend pay-out had a significant and positive effect on the financial performance of Deposit Taking Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies in Kenya. 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 adequate liquidity and cashflow management. Having in place a robust dividend policy is also critical

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

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

Effectiveness of community participation in tuberculosis control

Background: The global prominence of Tuberculosis (TB) as a public health issue has seen various multi-stakeholder interventions adopted to meet this challenge. In low resource settings where health systems are hardly coping, community participation has emerged as a pivotal measure for successful programming. This study sought to determine the best approach of integrating community interventions for TB control. Methodology: The study evaluated the records of the 3110 new TB patients registered in three Local Service Areas (LSA’s), from quarter 1 2004 to quarter 4 2005. In a quasi-experimental study design, the performance of respective LSA’s was compared over time; taking cognizance of the community project in one of the LSA’s. Further analysis was done to establish the influential determinants of treatment success. Results: Bacteriological coverage, smear conversion and treatment success rates dropped in the interventional LSA, while the control LSA’s remained consistent. The defaulter rates dropped in all LSA’s, while the proportion of unevaluated cases increased in the interventional LSA. However, patients registered in the clinics had better chance of successful treatment outcome (OR 10.8, 95% CI 8.03-14.3) compared to their hospital counterparts. Conclusion: Community participation by itself is not adequate to improve the performance of a TB control program. Enhancement of the program’s technical and organizational capacity is crucial, prior to engaging purely community interventions. Failure to observe this logical relationship would ultimately result in suboptimal performance. Therefore, the process of entrusting communities with more responsibility in TB control should be gradual and take cognizance of the various health system factors

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

Relationship Between Foreign Direct Investments and Capital Flight in Kenya: 1998-2018

The study established the relationship between Foreign Direct investments and Capital Flight in Kenya over the period 1998 to 2018. Quarterly time series data for calculation of capital flight and Gross Domestic Product growth rate, inflation and Foreign Direct investments were collected from the Central Bank of Kenya and Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. Two Autoregressive Distributed-lagged model models were fitted. Regression coefficients for FDI were 0.44 and -0.040 in the short run and -0.501 in the long run. The p values were 0.008 and 0.015 and 0.654 respectively. The results indicated that a 1 % increase in current quarters FDI would lead to a 0.44% increase in capital flight and a 1% increase in previous quarters FDI would lead to a decrease of 0.040% in capital flight. Regression results showed a coefficient of 0.006 and - 0.004 for Gross Domestic Product growth rate in the short run, and 0.038 in the long run. The p values were 0.422, and 0.638 and 0.749 respectively meaning that Gross Domestic Product growth rate and the capital flight had no significant relationship. Regression results showed a coefficient of -0.001 and -0.005 for inflation in the short run and -0.088 for inflation for the long run. The p values were 0.844 and 0.363 and 0.253 respectively. This indicated that inflation and the capital flight had an insignificant relationship. The study recommends that government adopts strategic management on FDI inflow transactions to avoid possible leakages of the same money going out as capital flight

Health trends, inequalities and opportunities in South Africa’s provinces, 1990–2019: Findings from the Global burden of disease 2019 Study

Over the last 30 years, South Africa has experienced four ’colliding epidemics’ of HIV and tuberculosis, chronic illness and mental health, injury and violence, and maternal, neonatal, and child mortality, which have had substantial effects on health and well-being. Using data from the 2019 Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors Study (GBD 2019), we evaluated national and provincial health trends and progress towards important Sustainable Development Goal targets from 1990 to 2019.We analysed GBD 2019 estimates of mortality, non-fatal health loss, summary health measures and risk factor burden, comparing trends over 1990–2007 and 2007–2019. Additionally, we decomposed changes in life expectancy by cause of death and assessed healthcare system performance

Emergence of Abagusii Diaspora in Kenya’s South Rift, 1895- 2007: Opportunities and Challenges

Migration is a spatial phenomenon involving movement of people between distinct places, locations imbued with meaning and power and it has been there since time immemorial. It specifically refers to people changing their places of residence, where they live on a habitual basis, embracing not only their actual physical structures, but also in some sense the wider community in which they live. This study focused on the Abagusii migration patterns specifically to the South Rift (SR), Kericho County. It acknowledges the fact that their emergence in the diaspora just like any other ethnic group in Kenya, came to existence in the pre-colonial, colonial and post-independence period. The main aim of the study was to establish their movement, settlement, challenges, and opportunities they encountered in SR between 1895 and 2007. This research addressed the emergence of Abagusii before colonialism. The study focused on the period from 1895 because it was the genesis of the British colonial policies, which witnessed forceful movement of not only the Abagusii, but also other Kenyan communities. The study adopted qualitative research design where non-probability sampling techniques (such as opportunity sampling, snowball sampling, and purposive sampling) were used. Content analysis was done from documents in the Kenya National Archives (KNA) that were corroborated with information from field observations and interview schedules. Keywords: Migrations, Abagusii, Diaspora, South Rift DOI: 10.7176/HRL/50-03 Publication date: November 30th 201