Postconflict Community Development in Sierra Leone: Western, Cultural, and National Influences

Sierra Leone was torn apart by a terrible eleven-year civil war. Rebel forces raped and murdered civilians, burned down crops and villages, and looted homes and community structures in a quest to overturn the long-corrupt government. Since 2002 communities have begun the process of developing toward a sustainable peace. Using grounded theory and inductive analysis, this qualitative research study conducted during the summer of 2009 examines the development efforts of two communities in the Northern provinces of Sierra Leone, Lungi and Makeni. Findings reveal that there are three influences playing a role in their development: western, cultural, and national. This research describes the impact that these influences are having on postconflict community development and the ways in which they are working to affect change. This study shows that while western organizations are able to provide means for assistance, they often struggle to connect with the local people. Culturally, leadership and community-based initiatives encourage community cohesion and build on resilience, but are limited by the resources they can provide and the traditions that in some instances undermine issues of equality. Finally, national influences, which appear uniquely situated to link the resources of western influences with local cultural practices, are limited in their ability to make these connections in a way that successfully contributes to Sierra Leone\u27s development. This research suggests that postconflict community development in Sierra Leone would benefit from a more integrated and collective approach on the part of these three main influential systems. Although the findings in this research are not generalizable, they offer some insight for other countries struggling to achieve community development after conflict

Questioning Research as a Contextual Practice

Authoritative texts on research in adult education rarely question how research practice is shaped by its context of application. This paper attempts to develop a knowledge production perspective on research as contextualised practice, one that highlights the relationship between researcher understandings and the situations, participants, processes and texts of research

Detroit's Urban Regime: Composition and Consequence

This article examines the urban regime in Detroit, Michigan, specifically examining how the regime makes decisions about redevelopment and major capital projects. Detroit's urban regime, which emergedfrom the urban unrest of the 1960s, mobilizes resources, promotes cooperation, and manages conflicts between public and private interests to facilitate and justify redevelopment. Although political decision makers are represented in the regime, we argue that the business community's influence is pervasive, visible. and overwhelming. The participants in Detroit's regime are more adversarial and disrespectful of local political entities than regimes previously studied. Regimes may warp democratic processes to accommodate business interests because the financial decisions of economic institutions reverberate throughout the local political economy

General practitioners and national health insurance results of a national survey

Objective. To determine the attitudes of South African general practitioners (GPs) to national health insurance (NHI), social health insurance (SHI) and other related  health system reforms.Design. A national survey using postal questionnaires and telephonic follow-up of non-responders.Setting. GPs throughout South Africa.Participants. Four hundred and forty-three GPs were randomly selected from a  national sampling frame of 6 781 GPs.Main outcome measures. Acceptance of NHI and GP preferences with regard to financing, provision, benefits, coverage and the role of GPs.Main results. A response rate of 82.1% was achieved. Sixty two per cent of GPs approved of the introduction of some form of social or NHI in South Africa, while 24.1% disapproved. Approval rose to 81.6% if GPs were to maintain their independent status, e.g. own premises and working hours, to 75% if additional private top-up insurance was allowed, and to 79.9% if payment was by fee-for-service. Seventy per cent of GPs in the study stated that they had the capacity to treat more patients. The most important reason given for approving of NHI was to make health care more equitable and accessible to the majority of South Africans. A high proportion of GPs approved of increasing the level of interaction between GPs and district health authorities.Conclusions. Most GPs approved of some form of social or NHI system, provided that the system did not significantly threaten their professional autonomy or economic and financial situation

SIGGMA: A Survey of Ionized Gas in the Galaxy, Made with the Arecibo Telescope

A Survey of Ionized Gas in the Galaxy, made with the Arecibo telescope (SIGGMA) uses the Arecibo L-band Feed Array (ALFA) to fully sample the Galactic plane (30 < l < 75 and -2 < b < 2; 175 < l < 207 and -2 < b < 1) observable with the telescope in radio recombination lines (RRLs). Processed data sets are being produced in the form of data cubes of 2 degree (along l) x 4 degree (along b) x 151 (number of channels), archived and made public. The 151 channels cover a velocity range of 600 km/s and the velocity resolution of the survey changes from 4.2 km/s to 5.1 km/s from the lowest frequency channel to the highest frequency channel, respectively.RRL maps with 3.4 arcmin resolution and line flux density sensitivity of 0.5 mJy will enable us to identify new HII regions, measure their electron temperatures, study the physics of photodissociation regions (PDRs) with carbon RRLs, and investigate the origin of the extended low density medium (ELDM). Twelve Hn{\alpha} lines fall within the 300 MHz bandpass of ALFA; they are resampled to a common velocity resolution to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SN) by a factor of 3 or more and preserve the line width. SIGGMA will produce the most sensitive fully sampled RRL survey to date. Here we discuss the observing and data reduction techniques in detail. A test observation toward the HII region complex S255/S257 has detected Hn{\alpha} and Cn{\alpha} lines with SN>10

A Comparison of Young Children\u27s Writing Products in Skills-Based and Whole Language Classrooms

Whole language instruction and an emphasis on the writing process have had a significant impact on the teaching of writing. Many whole language teachers are already in practice, and more educators are moving toward this kind of teaching. However, comparative research on the value of whole language curriculum is limited. It is important to study children\u27s interpretations (Erickson and Shultz, 1992) as they are reflected in the written products they generate in different kinds of classrooms. We need to know more about the sense children make of their instruction, what they are learning about written language, and the kinds of writing they produce. The purpose of this article is to report on a two-year, descriptive study of eight, low-income children\u27s writing in skills-based and whole language instruction during kindergarten and first grade. Our focus was on the development of emergent writers in these two different kinds of instruction

Resource harvesting through a systematic deconstruction of the residential house: A case study of the 'Whole House Reuse' project in Christchurch, New Zealand

© 2018 by the authors. This study analyzes the case study of a deconstruction project called the 'Whole House Reuse' (WHR) which aimed, firstly, to harvest materials from a residential house, secondly, to produce new products using the recovered materials, and thirdly, to organize exhibition for the local public to promote awareness on resource conservation and sustainable deconstruction practices. The study applies characterization of recovered materials through deconstruction. In addition to the material recovery, the study assesses the embodied energy saving and greenhouse gas emissions abatement of the deconstruction project. Around twelve tons of various construction materials were harvested through a systematic deconstruction approach, most of which would otherwise be disposed to landfill in the traditional demolition approach. The study estimates that the recovered materials could potentially save around 502,158 MJ of embodied energy and prevent carbon emissions of around 27,029 kg (CO2e). The deconstruction could eventually contribute to New Zealand's national emission reduction targets. In addition, the project successfully engages local communities and designers to produce 400 new products using the recovered materials and exhibits them to the local people. The study concludes that there is a huge prospect in regard to resource recovery, emission reduction, employment, and small business opportunities using deconstruction of the old house. The sociocultural importance of the WHR project is definitely immense; however, the greater benefits of such projects are often ignored and remain unreported to wider audiences as most of the external and environmental costs are not considered in the traditional linear economy. It is acknowledged that under a favorable market condition and with appropriate support from local communities and authorities, deconstruction could contribute significantly to resource conservation and environmental protection despite its requirement of labor-intensive efforts