Community Knowledge and Perceptions on National School-Based De-Worming Programme

Objectives: To determine the community level of knowledge, attitude and perception of soil transmitted helminthes and the national school-based de-worming programme in selected villages of Busia County in Kenya. Design: A cross-sectional survey. Setting: Busia and Bunyala districts in Busia County. Subjects: A total of 384 participants were studied. Main outcome measures: Socio-demographic characteristics, then knowledge, causes and effects of Soil Transmitted Infections on health and education, prevention strategies, knowledge of national school-based de-worming programming, implementing strategies of the programme, benefits of the programme, community satisfaction and health seeking behaviour. Results: Eating the uncooked food as a cause for soil transmitted infections constituted 27.16% (63) followed by 16.38% (38) not using latrines, 15.95% (37) eating left over foods, 12.93% (30) eating cold food, 10.78% (25) eating not well cooked pork, 9.48% (22) eating contaminated soil, and 7.33% (17) changing of diet. One head teacher interviewed stated that “One can be able to notice if his/her child has worm infection if the child eats without getting satisfied, eating all the time and yet his belly is big.”Community Health Extension Worker in the FGD stated that: “During floods seasons most of the areas in Budalangi become flooded and all latrines are filled with water and the excreta start overflowing. Most of the residents don’t have shoes especially the children and therefore they are prone to the worm infection.”99.57% of the parents were aware of the national school based de-worming programme of which (92%) learnt about the programme after their children were de-wormed in their various schools. Seventy five percent (174) were satisfied about the programme; 65.1% (151) and 10.3% indicated that the programme improves the children’s health and student’s school performance respectively. Conclusion: Most of the parents do not have adequate knowledge on worms, their causes and signs and symptoms of the intestinal worms. Low educational levels and poverty levels also contribute to the lack of awareness on intestinal worms and putting the prevention measures across the board. The study also found out that the community perception towards the de-worming programme was good because the de-worming programme improved the children’s health and performance in education

Social Networking Sites in Kenya: Trigger for Non-Institutionalized Democratic Participation

The paper argues that Social Networking Sites (SNS) are creating communicative spaces that enables non-institutionalized democratic participation. The creation of the backbone infrastructure for ICT in Kenya has the potential to contribute to democracy by guaranteeing that access to technology that would lead to greater democratic participation. The paper is based on the computer-mediated communication theory which explores the question of who is speaking, the nature of the medium and the effects of communication events for the participant. It is also based participatory democratic theory which favours more direct forms of democratic involvement of citizens through the media. In addition the theory of media, politics and public opinion acts as a springboard for the paper because it focuses on the relationship between public opinion and the media. The paper concludes that there is a growing trend in Kenya for SNS to shape modern politics than ever before. Increased communicative spaces may serve to promote democracy in Kenya. The paper recommends that focusing on SNS to achieve democratic participation would be in line with achieving vision 2030 for the country

Examining the Prominence of the Political Corruption News in South Sudan

Purpose: The purpose of the study to examine the prominence of political corruption news by newspapers in South Sudan Method: The study used descriptive research design to address the research objectives. The target population in this study was Sudan Tribune, Juba Monitor, The Dawn, Peace Day, Sudanese Online newspapers, international and local NGOs, journalists who work for the media station and lecturers and students from Juba University. The researcher can identify every single element and the sampling frame was the five newspapers, also local and international NGOs, students and lecturers from Juba University Findings: The findings indicated that media houses shied away from giving priority to political corruption news for the fear of their lives, intimidation and torture. This further saw the coverage of political corruption news on a quarter of a page, hence confirming the fact that the public in South Sudan was denied the opportunity by the print media to question the government on corruption in the country Unique contribution to theory, policy and practice: The study had the following recommendations: The various media regulatory policies and the constitutional rights should be implemented by the instruments of power including the police, the government and the judiciary. This would assure journalists and media houses of their freedom to access information and freedom of expression, while shielding them from intimidation, torture and killing. The legislature, in collaboration with the media regulatory bodies in South Sudan should enact laws that protected media houses and journalists, especially in the cases where they covered sensitive but important information. Those who infringed on the rights of journalists and media houses should be pursued and arraigned in the court of law, where punitive action would be taken against them. This would further reaffirm journalists of their safety

Online Campaign in Kenya: Implementing the Facebook Campaign in the 2013 General Elections

The study investigated the implementation of the Facebook campaign in general elections in Kenya. The study utilized the mixed methods sequential explanatory design. Quantitative data was drawn, followed by qualitative data obtained from information rich respondents. Politicians who contested at the presidential, gubernatorial, senatorial, women representative and parliamentary levels in the 2013 general elections in Kenya comprised the study population. A sample size of 338 respondents was drawn. The quantitative data obtained from the administration of questionnaires was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data obtained from interviews with key informants was transcribed and divided into meaningful analytical units which were coded for content analysis. Findings show that most candidates were at the implementation stage of the Facebook campaign and consequently did not extensively implement the use of the technology. Additionally, candidates used conventional media in their political campaigns, confirming that in as much as the use of social media was on the rise in Kenya, the conventional media still played a key role in elections. The study recommends training politicians and their campaign staff on the strategic use of social media for political marketing

Type of News on Political Corruption in South Sudan

Purpose: The study sought to determine the type of news on political corruption by newspapers in South Sudan Method The study used descriptive research design to address the research objectives. The target population in this study was Sudan Tribune, Juba Monitor, The Dawn, Peace Day, Sudanese Online newspapers, international and local NGOs, journalists who work for the media station and lecturers and students from Juba University. The researcher identified every single element and the sampling frame was the five newspapers, also local and international NGOs, students and lecturers from Juba University Findings of the study Media houses shied away from giving priority to political corruption news for the fear of their lives, intimidation and torture. the coverage of political corruption news on a quarter of a page, hence confirming the fact that the public in South Sudan was denied the opportunity by the print media to question the government on corruption in the country Contributions Informed by the findings, the study had the following recommendation The various media regulatory policies and the constitutional rights should be implemented by the instruments of power including the police, the government and the judiciary. This would assure journalists and media houses of their freedom to access information and freedom of expression, while shielding them from intimidation, torture and killing. The legislature, in collaboration with the media regulatory bodies in South Sudan should enact laws that protected media houses and journalists, especially in the cases where they cover sensitive but important information

INFLUENCE OF COMMUNICATION STRUCTURE ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN SELECTED LARGE MANUFACTURING BUSINESSES IN ERITREA

uploaded on 21/01/2023Purpose: This research is intended to determine the influence of communication structure on employee performance in selected large manufacturing businesses in Eritrea. Manufacturing organizations, particularly the manufacturing businesses in Eritrea, face challenges in terms of increasing productivity. Having suitable communication structure can play a role and supports employees to achieve the required level of performance in the manufacturing businesses. Methodology: The study used a quantitative research design to obtain a quantitative data. The target population for this study was employees of the selected large manufacturing businesses in Eritrea with a population size of 4175 employees. The sample size considered in this study was 365 employees, which was statistically determined using Taro Yamane formula. They were selected from each selected large manufacturing businesses using proportionately stratified random sampling technique. Data was then collected using questionnaire and analyzed using both the descriptive analysis (percentage) and inferential statistical analysis (correlation, regression and ANOVA) methods. SPSS as a tool was used to conduct the descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. The analyzed data was then presented in tabular form and interpreted statistically. Findings: The study finding indicate that there was a significant positive relationship between communication structure and employee performance. The study concluded that communication structure did have influence on employee performance in the selected large manufacturing businesses in Eritrea. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Organizational communication as a field is gaining interests in the scientific/academic community because it is very essential in all dimensions of organization’s performance. So, as this study shown that communication structure has a direct influence on employee performance in selected large manufacturing businesses in Eritrea, it has a contribution to the theoretical concepts on the field of communication and can be used as a base for further study/research. Also, the study noted that since communication structure determines the flow of information in an organization, effective communication structure is a prerequisite for improved employee performance. Thus, this study revealed that it is important to have a relevant communication policy that address to have effective communication structure through which effective information flows achieved and thus ensures improved employee performance in manufacturing sectors

The Influence of Communication Climate on Employee Performance in Selected Large Manufacturing Businesses in Eritrea

DOI No.: 10.24940/theijhss/2019/v7/i4/HS1904-025Manufacturing businesses, particularly the manufacturing businesses in Eritrea, face challenges in terms of increasing productivity in which their products are competitive in the market. The contribution of the manufacturing businesses to the GDP of Eritrea is Low and thus affecting to the economy of the country. Therefore, to increase productivity, the manufacturing businesses in Eritrea need to ensure that their employees are performing as intended. In this case, suitable communication climate can play a role since it can support to have effective communication among employees in an organization that actually supports employees to achieve the required level of performance. It was therefore that the objective of this study was to determine whether communication climate influences employee performance in selected large manufacturing businesses in Eritrea. The target population for this study was employees of the selected large manufacturing businesses in Eritrea with a population size of 4175 employees. The sample size of this study was 365 employees, which was determined using Taro Yamane formula. They were selected from each selected large manufacturing businesses using proportionate random sampling technique. Data was then collected using questionnaire and analyzed using both the descriptive (percentage) and inferential statistical analysis (correlation, regression and ANOVA) methods. SPSS was used as a tool to conduct the descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. This study was a quantitative research study based on a quantitative data. The study considered communication climate as independent variable and employee performance as a dependent variable. The study findings indicate that there was a healthy communication climate in the selected large manufacturing businesses in Eritrea and thus there was a significant positive relationship between communication climate and employee performance. The study concluded that communication climate did have influence on employee performance in the selected large manufacturing businesses in Eritrea

Influence of Framing of the Hashtag on Public Opinion Formation on Socio-Political Issues in Kenya

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of framing of the hashtag on public opinion formation on socio-political issues in Kenya. Methodology: The study adopted the descriptive qualitative research design. The study population consisted of the hashtags generated by Kenyans in the period between January 2014 and December 2016, journalists from 5 local television stations and members of public involved in hashtag development outside the media fraternity. Purposive sampling was used to select the 35 hashtags and snowball sampling was used to select the hashtag developers and respondents from the public and selected media houses. Results: The findings that the framing of the hashtag is done by both the media and the public and the higher percentage of hashtags are done by the public. The study found that 60% of the hash tags were non-ordered in terms of the grammatical structure. Findings revealed that the English language dominates the hashtags formulated with a few having a mixture of Kiswahili and English. Internet lingo was preferred to normal grammar. The selection of words was a key factor in the framing of hashtags. The wording of the hashtag mattered while the syntax did not. In conclusion, the framing of a hashtag was found to have a significant influence on public opinion formation but the grammatical structure of the hashtag did not matter. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: The media framing theory describes faming as the process of the media packaging information in a way that tells the public how to think about it. The study concurs with the framing theory’s argument that the way a message is framed will have an influence on the opinion formed by the respondent. Most of the respondents prefer short, concise hashtags that address immediate issues in the society. The results reveal that there is a paradigm shift in the framing theory in this form of synchronous computer mediated discourse. The ordinary citizens in Kenya frame 80% of the hashtags and only a small percentage of trending hashtags are formulated by media practitioners

Influence of Communication Patterns on Employee Performance in Selected Large Manufacturing Businesses in Eritrea

Manufacturing businesses face challenges in terms of increasing productivity in which their products are competitive in the market. Particularly, the manufacturing businesses in Eritrea face challenges in terms of producing a competitive product. The contribution of the manufacturing businesses in Eritrea to the GDP is low and thus affecting to the economy of the country. Therefore, the manufacturing businesses in Eritrea need to increase productivity by ensuring their employees are performing efficiently and effectively. In this regard, effective communication patterns (formal and informal patterns) can play a role by facilitating the exchange of pertinent information among employees in an organization that actually supports them to achieve the required level of performance. It was therefore that the main objective of this study was to determine whether communication patterns influence employee performance in selected large manufacturing businesses in Eritrea. This study was a quantitative research study based on a quantitative data. The study considered communication patterns as independent variable and employee performance as a dependent variable. The target population for this study was employees of the selected large manufacturing businesses in Eritrea with a population size of 4175 employees. The study considered a sample size of 365 employees. The sampled employees were selected from each selected large manufacturing businesses using proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Data was then collected using questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using both the descriptive (percentage) and inferential statistical analysis (correlation, regression and ANOVA) methods. SPSS was used as a tool to conduct the descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. The study findings reveal that there was a significant positive relationship between communication patterns and employee performance although the relationship was not so strong. It is therefore that the study concluded that communication patterns did have influence on employee performance in the selected large manufacturing businesses in Eritrea