Sustainability and Consumer Education on Food Sustainability

In order to minimise food waste, there needs to be significant change at all stages of food production and consumption. Household food waste makes up 70% of all food waste in the UK. 65% of this food waste is avoidable, but significant changes in consumer shopping and household food management behaviours are necessary. Whilst consumer awareness of sustainability is rising, it does not always translate into action by consumers to implement sustainable practices in their lives. The food sustainability and sustainability awareness survey found that consumers are eager to live more sustainably, however lack of education and a disconnect between their actions and behaviour inhibits sustainable practice. Consumers need to learn how to approach sustainability holistically and understand the connection between their daily actions and climate change. Personal, social and financial barriers each contribute to how individuals approach sustainability, financial barriers being the biggest barrier to green consumerism. The majority of consumers feel a responsibility to be more sustainable, however they also believe the weight of the environmental crisis and sourcing solutions should be placed on the food production sector and governments. The survey also revealed that there is an interest in educational resources on managing household food waste, food sustainability and climate change. Informal education avenues such as educating on food sustainability online or on urban farms show promise. Urban farms and community gardens provide idyllic spaces to educate on food sustainability, along with feeding local communities, creating employment and fostering community spirit

A study of health and safety practices in small and medium sized enterprises: -A case of Botswana

TThe purpose of this research is to understand the views of different employees in small and medium enterprises about what can be done to improve the health and safety in work places. In order to carry out this research, questionnaires were used to collect the views of different employees concerning this topic in these organizations, and literature was also reviewed. From the findings ,it shows that when good health and safety practices are not put in place, accidents ,major and minor injuries can happen, and it is what most of the employees in other companies have so far experienced. This implies that if health and safety is not managed effectively, both the two parties being employees and the organization would suffer because for the organization to function effectively, it needs employees and for the people to survive, they need to work.health, safety, injury, accident

The importance of road transport infrastructure development and maintenance in trade facilitation : a South African case

Road transportation is the most frequently used means of transporting goods and people in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Furthermore, because of the region's geographic nature, where many of the countries are landlocked, imports and exports of goods happen primarily by land and in this case by road transport. This is primarily due to the fact that other means of surface transportation like rail and navigable rivers are not well developed. Nonetheless, the lack of complementarity between the two land transportation modes, that is rail and road, has led to the over usage of the road. This has invariably led to congestion and deterioration of the road network with minimal investment in both the development and maintenance of the road infrastructure. Though there is an acknowledgement of this problem and attempts to address it through efforts like the Programme for Infrastructural Development in Africa (PIDA), and regionally in SADC thorough the adoption of the SADC Regional Infrastructure Development Master Plan Vision 2027 (RIDMP), much effort still needs to be put within individual countries to develop and maintain primary road networks that are able to connect to regional trade corridors

Disrupting and democratising higher education provision or entrenching academic elitism: towards a model of MOOCs adoption at African universities

Published ArticleChallenges of broadening access, escalating cost, maintaining desirable quality and enhancing meaningful learning experiences in African higher education (HE) have spurred debates on how to restructure higher education delivery to meet the diverse needs of heterogeneous learners and adapt pedagogical models to the educational realities of lowincome African countries. In view of these complexities, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been advanced by Western Consortia, universities and online platform providers as panaceas for disrupting/transforming existing education models African universities. MOOCs have been touted as disruptive innovations with the potential to create new niche markets for HE courses, disrupt traditional models of instruction and content delivery and create new revenue streams for higher education. Yet academic elitism which manifests in the exclusive selection of top American universities to develop, host and deliver MOOCs, MOOC providers’ use of university brand and reputation as benchmarks for charging recruitment fees on headhunters recruiting MOOC graduates and their complex business models involving the sale of students’ big data (e.g. learning analytics) for profit seem to be inconsistent with claims about philanthropic and egalitarian drive of MOOCs. Drawing on disruptive innovation theory and a review of mainstream literature on MOOCs adoption in American and African tertiary sectors, this study argues that behind the MOOC rhetoric of disrupting and democratizing higher education lies the projection of top academic brands on the marketing pedestal, financial piggybacking on the hype and politics of academic exclusion

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A BUSINESS SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (BSR) MODEL TO PROMOTE THE LONG-TERM SUSTAINABILITY OF HOSPITALITY SMMEs IN THE FREE STATE REGION

Published ThesisThe advancement of a business competitiveness and promotion of a good reputation are often hailed as the prime motivations for businesses’ engagement in socially responsible behaviour. Although social responsibility literature tends to focus on large organisations and hence the buzz term “corporate social responsibility”, the emergence of the term “business social responsibility” (BSR) resonates with small business entities’ commitment to fulfil the needs, desires and aspirations of their stakeholders and community at large. However, the activities of Small, Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMMEs), especially those in the hospitality sector, continue to be eclipsed by those of large corporations due to their perceived small scale and impact. This raises critical questions about the actual extent, significance and long term sustainability of the BSR activities of small hospitality businesses in view of their limited financial base, unsophisticated marketing strategies and their concomitant limited visibility at the national and international level. In view of these challenges, this study explores an ideal BSR model that will guarantee the Free State Province’s hospitality SMMEs’ long term sustainability. Drawing on a positivist epistemology and a survey approach, 120 questionnaires were distributed to owner/managers and employees of the hospitality SMMEs in the Free State to establish their BSR activities and unravel the relationship of these activities with firm sustainability. A total of 92 questionnaires were duly completed and returned yielding a high response rate of 76.6%. The findings suggest that although most hospitality business owners/managers understand what BSR is, their engagement in its associated activities remains informal and ad hoc. Most SMME owner/managers also acknowledged that BSR promotes sustainable community development and improves the competitive advantage of small businesses. Based on the study findings, a BSR model that promotes the long-term sustainability of hospitality SMMEs in the Free State Province is one that integrates and aligns business operations, the business’ competitive strategy and BSR activities to the appropriate combination of relevant stakeholders. It is also postulated that this systemic integration will align business operations with the goals and vision of the business and promote the business’ long term sustainability

DETERMINANTS OF PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN LESOTHO

The study empirically examines the determinants of private investment in Lesotho over the period 1982 – 2013. The results indicate that private investment is positively influenced by the level of economic growth and public investment while it is negatively affected by increase in the price level. The highly significant and positive coefficient of economic growth confirms the accelerator principle in Lesotho while that of public investment outlines the significant role of government in laying down infrastructure to crowd in private investment. The negative coefficient of the general price level symbolizes the importance of price stability in stimulating private investment. In addition, the study confirms that macroeconomic instability negatively affects private investment in Lesotho. The Granger-Causality test reveals that there is unidirectional causality running from private investment to per capita GDP, and bidirectional causality between public and private investment. The policy recommendation following the findings is that government should engage in investment of infrastructural projects in the short-run to better aid smooth private investment in the long-run

Regional Research–Policy Partnerships for Health Equity and Inclusive Development: Reflections on Opportunities and Challenges from a Southern African Perspective

This article critically reflects on the experience and lessons from a health-focused social policy research project (PRARI) involving a partnership spanning multiple countries across southern Africa and Europe. It asks what factors condition the efficacy of the partnership–policy nexus. The PRARI-SADC partnership case study used participatory action research (PAR) to create a regional indicators-based monitoring ‘toolkit’ of pro‑poor health policy and change for the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The article addresses the partnership drivers, features, methodological context, and process of the project, and the wider implications for constructing partnerships for social change impact. Lessons drawn from this case study underscore the importance of PAR-inspired partnership structures and working methods while querying assumptions that the relationship between PAR and policy change is ‘seamless’. We argue that greater focus is needed on the wider institutional context conditioning the work of partnerships when considering the efficacy of the partnership–policy nexus

Factors affecting the health status of the people of Lesotho.

Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.Lesotho, like any other country of the world, is faced with the task of improving th

The implications of rural-urban migration on employment and household income with particular reference to Lesotho

The research investigates the impact of internal rural - urban migration III Lesotho on household income and employment. Using data gathered from the 2002/03 household survey, the 2006 nationwide census and a questionnaire on rural - urban migration in Lesotho administered to 500 respondents in Maseru and Leribe, we estimate a logit model of the probability of employment in Lesotho in 2008 given a set of independent variables. The independent variables are respondent's work experience; years of education completed; employment status in 2004; employment status in 2008; gender; job skill level; place of residence in 2004 and a categorical variable that measures whether or not the respondent is a rural - urban migrant. The results suggest that migration and work experience have no significant impact on an individual's likelihood of being employed in the country's formal sector. Also, it was found that the higher the level of education an individual has, the less likely are their chances of employment in the country's formal sector because of the lack of formal jobs in the urban areas. Over 50% of Lesotho's workforce employed in the urban areas was discovered to work in the informal sector. The study concludes that there is a lack of jobs in Lesotho's urban formal sector that results in a thriving informal sector. The advantages of informal sector jobs to the rural - urban migrant include an increase in their standard of living as well as that of their family members left behind in the rural areas but the disadvantages include low levels of investor confidence that lead to a decrease in overall economic development and growth in the country

Nilai-Nilai Tauhid dalam Syair Lagu Bimbo dan Implementasinya dalam Kegiatan Kemanusiaan

Music is a medium that can be used as a means of conveying monotheistic values, so that it is easily accepted by the community. Its entertaining nature can be used by singers or artists to incorporate the values ​​of tauhid, so that society has indirectly accepted it. The purpose of this study is to analyze the values ​​of tauhid in the Bimbo song lyrics and their implementation. This research uses a qualitative approach. The primary source in this study is the lyrics of the Bimbo song entitled God, Long Prayers, Remembering You, and Do not be Delayed. To analyze the song lyrics, the researcher used content analysis method. The results of this study indicate that: 1). The value of monotheism in the lyrics of the Bimbo song, namely Bimbo through its songs invites and educates people to monotheise Allah in terms of: believing that Allah Swt is God, the Creator of all creatures and maintains all of His creations; believe in and monotheize Allah Swt by concentrating all worship to Him; monotheize Allah by knowing the name and nature of Allah SWT, so that humans can get closer to and know Allah and only hope in Allah SWT, 2). Meanwhile, the form of implementation of tauhid, namely Bimbo, is not only limited to singing and playing music, but also lecturing. And from the results of the author's interview with Sam Bimbo, it turns out that Bimbo's songs also have an impact on other people who listen to them, then make the person feel moved to get closer to Allah SWT.   Keywords: Tauhid, Implementation, Bimb