Empowerment through friendship: A process view of community-based tourism

This paper explores the ‘alternative’ empowerment roles of catalyst, facilitator and advocate in community-based tourism in the context of community development practice, drawing on findings from four community-based tourism (CBT) ethnographic case studies in Kenya. The paper uncovers the ‘friend’ or ‘neighbour’ relationship as a possible combination of these roles, proposing that the various roles may be points or positions in a continuum, a relationship that develops over time. Arguably, these roles could be realized between a community and an individual from within or outside the community. It is further proposed that understanding the roles and the relationships provides possibilities for community empowerment and sustainable community development within CBT settings. The findings point towards opportunities for the enhancement of empowerment, either driven by deliberate efforts of development practitioners or brought about in non-deliberate, organic manner through collaborative work of a wide range of actors. Research in this area has the potential to contribute towards understanding the processes through which sustainable community development and public social policies affecting communities can achieve global agendas such as poverty alleviation, partnerships and sustainability in what are considered marginal areas

Role of Social Capital on Uptake of Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Practices’ Combinations

Smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are faced with many challenges in the production of maize and legumes. Some of the challenges include soil mining, drought, soil erosion, input acquisition among others. These challenges cannot be alleviated with the adoption of a single agricultural practice but a bundle of combination. There was need, therefore, to evaluate if social capital among other factors influences adoption of the different combination of the six Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Practices among smallholder maize-legume systems in Kenya. The study used secondary data from Adoption Pathway project panel dataset collected from Bungoma, Siaya, Meru, Tharaka Nithi and Embu counties, in three waves:  covering 613 households in the baseline, 535 in the midline and 495 in the end line was used in the analysis. Eighteen possible combinations adopted by smallholder farmers, a Principal Component Analysis was used to reduces data dimensionality, such that Seven possible clusters were formed that were homogeneous within. An index of the different combinations in the cluster was then formed for each household. Using STATA software, a Seemingly Unrelated Regression model was used in the analysis of the seven equations against a set of dependent variables, among them social capital. The findings of the study showered that social capital is not significant in explaining adoption of different combinations of SAIPs that a household adopted except for cognitive social capital and participation level in group institutions where the household was a member. Other factors that influenced adoption of combination of SAIPs included age of the household head, received information about SAIP and input markets, amount of money that a household got as income and that which they saved. Additionally, the spatial distance of the farming plot measured as the number of walking minutes from the household homestead and the number of years one has been living in the village practicing maize-legume production also significantly influenced the combinations of the SAIPs that a household adopted. Policy interventions should encourage and promote better access to information and encourage participation in group institutions. Keywords: Principal Component Analysis, Clusters, Seemingly Unrelated Regressio

Performance-based financing as a health system reform : mapping the key dimensions for monitoring and evaluation

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Analyse de l'application de la Déclaration de Paris dans le secteur de la santé en République démocratique du Congo.

The authors analyze and present the position of stakeholders in the implementation of the Paris Declaration in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Five years after this Declaration concerning official development assistance (ODA), results are still uncertain and the road ahead remains long. Paradoxically resources provided through bilateral and multilateral cooperation have contributed to weakening the local health system. Principles such as alignment, harmonization and ownership are still rudimentary. Multiplication of project management frameworks and cutbacks in government healthcare spending have hindered efforts to rationalize healthcare sector funding. The effectiveness of ODA in the health sector is based mainly on pragmatic involvement on the part of regulatory officials and true commitment to the principles of the Paris Declaration on the part of donors. Efforts in this regard including the strategy to strengthen the health system and reform of health sector financing cannot succeed without improving governance at all levels.English AbstractJournal ArticleSCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

The problem of lost to follow-up of mother-child pairs enrolled in the PMTCT program in Dschang District Hospital-Cameroon

Summa r y : High rates of lost to follow-up (LTFU) in the Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) programs in Cameroon will only contribute in hindering the successful implementation of the program. The objective of this study was to determine the reasons of LTFU of mother-child pairs enrolled in the PMTCT program in Dschang District Hospital (DDH): Cameroon. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was carried out in HIV+ exposed children delivered in the DDH from1st Jan 2012 – 31st Dec 2014, who were greater than or equal to 18 months at the study period (1st August – 30th September 2016) and whose mothers were enrolled in the PMTCT program for at least 3 months. Children were considered LTFU if they did not return to the hospital for the establishment of their HIV status at 18 months. A complementary cross-sectional study was done whereby a structured questionnaire was administered to the LTFU group via telephone calls, in order to determine the causes of LTFU. Data was collected from hospital registers and analyses done using Epi info 7.1.3.3 software. Results: A total of 141 mother-child pairs were eligible for the study, 76 were reachable via phone calls and 36 (47.37%) met the case definition of LTFU. Out of the 36 (47.37%) children LTFU, lack of information, 19(65.52%); lack of support from male partners, 4(11.11%); Poor behavior of health personnel, 2 (5.56%); forgetfulness, negligence/time wasting, unavailability of results, fear of child being infected, and family problems were all listed at equal proportions of, 3(6.90%) as well as financial problem, 1 (2.78%) were all causes of LTFU identified in this study