Regional Workshop on Medicinal Plants and Traditional Medicines in Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, 14-18 Apr. 1998 : proceedings

Co-published by IDRC (EARO) and ELC

Nutrition and public hygiene among children under five years of age in Mukuru slums of Makadara division, Nairobi

Objective: To determine the relationship between sanitation and malnutrition among children below five years. Design: A random sampling followed by an experimental design on microbiological analysis of food and water samples. Setting: Mukuru slums of Makadara division in Nairobi City. Subjects: Eighty food and thirty water samples from households within the study area were used. Results: Poor food and personal hygiene were observed within the households in the study area. Most of the respondents did not practice hygienic methods during food handling such as washing hands and vegetables before preparation. Food especially the leftovers was served at ambient temperatures. Sneezing and coughing over food during preparation were also a common practice which exposed consumers to contamination, Garbage disposal and proper drainage were also poor deepening on the sanitation problem. Microbiological analysis of water and food revealed that Escherichia coli (E-coli) and Salmonella spp. pathogens which are known causes of diarrhoea in children under five years of age. Conclusion: Poor hygienic and unsanitary practices are major causes of diarrhoea, hence malnutrition in crowded Mukuru slums of Nairobi City.East African Medical Journal Vol. 85 (8) 2008: pp. 386-39

Electronic communications in Nigeria

Electronic communication is still very weak in Nigeria as very few organizations are making adequate use of the facility. The major problems militating against the adoption of sending messages electronically in Nigeria include: - a low-level computing culture; - a poor telecommunications infrastructure; and, - a general lack of awareness. However, there are some positive developments which indicate that Nigeria might soon emerge out of the doldrums and join the global electronic network village. One such key development is the extension of the project for Capacity Building for Electronic Communication in Africa (CABECA) to Nigeria

Die Rolle von NGOs in der Entwicklungspolitik

Die Rolle entwicklungspolitischer Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) gewinnt an Bedeutung in einer Zeit, in der viele Entwicklungsländer verstärkt Krisen ausgesetzt sind, welche deren Regierungen zu überfordern scheinen. Als Konsequenz leiten immer mehr internationale Geldgeber finanzielle Ressourcen durch den NGO-Sektor.Gleichzeitig bleiben die Fragen offen, worin die Rolle von NGOs überhaupt besteht und ob das Vertrauen in sie wirklich gerechtfertigt ist. Da sich in Afrika südlich der Sahara ein großer Teil der ärmsten Länder dieser Welt befindet, ist die Erforschung praktikabler Entwicklungsmodelle für diese Region besonders dringlich. Diese Arbeit analysiert am Beispiel der Desertifikationsbekämpfung in Kenia die veränderte Rolle entwicklungspolitischer NGOs auf lokaler, nationaler und internationaler Ebene seit Beginn der 90er Jahre, welche den NGO-Sektor gestärkt hat. Zentral ist dabei der Aufbau partizipatorischer Strukturen in den Bereichen Politik, Finanzen und Kommunikation im Rahmen eines partizipatorischen Strukturmodells, welches dem NGO-Sektor und seinen Förderen beim zukünftigen Aufbau der Zivilgesellschaft dienlich ist. Im Zusammenhang damit analysiert diese Arbeit auch Schwächen von NGOs und bietet entsprechende Lösungsmöglichkeiten an. Der partizipatorische Strukturaufbau ermöglicht der Lokalbevölkerung Einflußnahme auf staatliche und privatwirtschaftliche Strukturen, wobei die neue Art entwicklungspolitischer NGO oft die Funktion eines Mittlers übernimmt (für gewöhnlich in Form einer Netzwerk-Organisation)

An African dilemma : pastoralists, conservationists and tourists - reconciling conflicting issues in Kenya

Kenya is facing irreconcilable tensions by competing interests from conservationists, tourism developers and pastoralists. Concerns arising from the well-being of flora and, in particular, fauna by conservationists; tourists and commercial tourism; and the increasingly restricted use of traditional lands and herding animals by pastoralist indigenous communities, have populated the discourse of land use in Kenya. In this paper, we look into the varying perceptions of each group of stakeholders and seek to analyse the current narrative that gives priority to wildlife protection and the commercial exploitation of wildlife through high-end tourism development to the detriment of the rights and interests of pastoralism. As pastoral land becomes more appropriated, our analysis shows that the antagonistic relationship between conservationism, commercial tourism and pastoralism is likely to deteriorate. We therefore propose a more participatory model of tourism development that will allow pastoralist communities to have a voice in the process

Improved land management in the Lake Victoria Basin: Final report on the TransVic project

This report addresses the challenges of land management in the Lake Victoria basin of East Africa. In 1999 the World Agroforestry Centre launched a major effort to identify, diagnose and reverse degradation in the Lake Victoria basin, focusing primarily on the Kenyan part of the basin. Dubbed “TransVic,” this project was supported by a number of donor agencies and collaborators, with particularly strong support from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). Field activities in the Kenyan part of the basin were undertaken with Kenya’s National Agriculture and Livestock Extension Programme. This report summarizes the major achievements of TransVic from 1999 to the end of 2004. The project greatly improved understanding of land degradation processes, costs and hotspots, the linkages between poverty, degradation and water resource management, and the possibilities for and constraints to solving those problems through various technical and institutional approaches. The research and development agenda for the region is now able to concentrate on the investments in land and water resources that can curtail degradation and help restore these degraded resources

HSUS NEWS Volume 39, Number 03

Our family keeps growing: we make new pathways for new programs (John A. Hoyt) Spotlight Caucus no friend of animals Farm Animals Awareness Week Another success for Expo: record attendance fuels exhibitor enthusiasm (Geoffrey L. Handy) Disaster strikes the MMPA: Congress deals blow to animal protection (Naomi A. Rose, Ph.D.) HSI Taiwan: U.S. imposes sanctions (Teresa M. Telecky, Ph.D.) HSI Canada: seal hunt takes toll (Michael O\u27Sullivan) HSI Australia: IWC approves whale sanctuary HSI Europe: EU says: Norway, come on in (Betsy Dribben) The Humane Society of the United States 1993 Annual Report The Humane Society of the United States 1994 National Conference: Protecting Animals in a New World Looking for love in all the right places: an unlikely animal-shelter adoption (Kenneth D. White) Earthkind\u27s mission (Jan A. Hartke) Blowing the lid off canned hunts (Michael Winikoff) Inside a canned hunt Interview: Karin McQuillan - Murder most endangered (Deborah J. Salem

Los Proyectos de La Gamba: Gender Issues in Rural Sustainable Development Projects in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica

The University of Kansas has long historical connections with Central America and the many Central Americans who have earned graduate degrees at KU. This work is part of the Central American Theses and Dissertations collection in KU ScholarWorks and is being made freely available with permission of the author through the efforts of Professor Emeritus Charles Stansifer of the History department and the staff of the Scholarly Communications program at the University of Kansas Libraries’ Center for Digital Scholarship.In 1992 at the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED), Costa Rica pledged to make a political commitment to incorporate the sustainability of the environment into the socioeconomic development of the country. Costa Rica and various governments and non-governmental organizations at UNCED, agreed to use the document, Agenda 21, to design sustainable development programs. My field research in the community of La Gamba, Costa Rica, examines two smallscale rural sustainable development projects in a campesino community. The first project promotes the sustainability of an endangered animal called the Tepezcuintle, which the community uses as a potential source of income and protein. The second project involves a medicinal plant garden that provides the community with medicines, soaps, and shampoos. I utilize an analytical framework that examines the extent to which the projects are achieving sustainability according to the guidelines suggested in Agenda 21 for sustainable development programs. In addition, I examine the extent of women's participation in these projects based on the mandates pertaining to gender equality stated in Agenda 21. Moreover, my thesis explicates what the rural participants think about their projects, how they view sustainable development programs, and what suggestions they have for improving their projects