Meta-evaluations in government and government institutions: A case study example from the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research

In this paper we draw on impact assessment work of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) to present an example of meta-evaluation – an evaluation of evaluations – in an agricultural research, development and extension setting. We explore quality issues relating to evaluation studies in the context of government institutions. Program evaluation standards (PES) are divided into categories of utility, feasibility, propriety and accuracy to provide a framework for the meta-evaluation. The PES are presented as a universal measure of evaluation study quality. The intent of using them here is to judge the adequacy of PES as a universal quality measure or meta-evaluation base and to extract useful insights from ACIAR program evaluation activities when developing a meta-evaluation model for the Limpopo Department of Agriculture (LDA). Our meta-evaluation is undertaken of 63 impact assessment reports. First, the literature guiding the conduct of a meta-evaluation is reviewed. Second, an assessment (the meta-evaluation) of the evaluation studies is carried out for 19 sampled reports from a population of relevant reports fitting the dimension of the analysis, and results are presented and discussed. Also, lessons learned are presented, using the framework provided by the meta-evaluation criteria. Third, taking into account the lessons learned, implications are drawn for a proposed systematic meta-evaluation of the LDA. Finally, we conclude that all the PES cannot be equally emphasized in a meta-evaluation model. At ACIAR, 70% of the standards were at least partially addressed. Therefore, we succeeded in using the PES in judging the ACIAR evaluation quality. As such, they can be an important base when developing an evaluation model but should be applied in a contextualized manner.Meta-evaluation, Evaluation Quality, Program Evaluation Standards, Evaluation Model, Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, Limpopo Department of Agriculture (South Africa), International Development,

Dietary pattern, household hunger, coping strategies and nutritional status of children in Sekhukhune District of Limpopo Province, South Africa

Globally, approximately one out of every nine people do not get enough food to eat. The situation is more persistent in the sub-Saharan region of Africa with an estimated 23.2% of the population experiencing food deprivation. The aim of this study was to determine the dietary pattern, prevalence of hunger, the association between household hunger and nutritional status of children under 12 years, and the coping strategies that mothers use to adapt to periods of food deprivation in their households in Sekhukhune district. An analytical study design was used. A structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to survey mothers/caregivers and their children from 180 households selected from nine villages by means of systematic random sampling. Anthropometric measurements were used to determine caregivers and children’s nutritional status.Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used to analyse the collected data. Descriptive and inferential (Chi-square (χ2) test) statistics were used. The results indicated that the main food items consumed by most children were mealie/maize meal, sugar, tea, iodised salt, bread, and meat. The findings revealed that 44.4% of households were food insecure, whereas 33.9% were at risk of hunger, and only 21.7% were food secure. The main coping strategies used were borrowing food from neighbours, family or friends, and borrowing food from the local shops.  Anthropometric indices were associated with food availability and the utilisation of coping strategies such as sending children to neighbours asking for food, credit from local shops, reducing food portions, or even sometimes sending children to bed hungry (p<0.05). About four to five out of ten children sometimes go to bed hungry. Households borrowing food from neighbours, family or friends, and credit from the local shop were the most common coping strategies. The need for nutrition education on low cost nutritious diets and sustainable food programmes intervention strategies are required in Sekhukhune District. In addition, positive response modes for coping with food deprivation, such as the use of wild foods and livestock should be encouraged. Key words: Household Hunger, Coping Strategies, Nutritional status of children, Dietary patter

Estimation of body weight in Nguni-type cattle under communal management conditions

(South African J of Animal Science, 2000, 30, Supplement 1: 97-98

Communicative interactions in desegregated South African classrooms

This research is based on a case study of a former all-white Afrikaans secondary school situated in Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa. The aim of this case study was to investigate and report on the complex and dynamic communicative interactions that were apparent in the events, human relationships and other elements as they unfolded and revealed themselves in desegregated classrooms in this school. I utilised an interpretive qualitative research design as my guiding methodology. This incorporated the use of semi-structured interviews, observation, video recordings, and narrative inquiry as sources of rich and layered data. My object of research was the patterns of communicative interaction that occurred between teachers and learners and between learners. My goal was to obtain a clear analytical view of the ways in which teachers and learners from diverse racial, cultural and ethnic backgrounds interacted with one another in the classroom. For this purpose I made use of multiple methods of data collection and included a variety of techniques that enabled me to triangulate the findings so as to ensure the credibility and trustworthiness of the empirical investigation. An analysis of the findings revealed that the school in which the study was conducted was beset by challenges that created communication barriers between teachers and learners and between learners and learners. Such barriers to communication became evident in the use of language, in the school’s failure to accommodate cultural differences, in the dynamics of class participation, in the use of both verbal and nonverbal forms of communication and in the prevalence of racism. However, some of the teachers and learners were conscious of these challenges and attitudes and strove to create a non-racist environment in their school that would negate the effects of the racist paradigm wherever possible. The study suggests that there is a need for the South African government to take the initiative to support all desegregated schools in various practical ways if the effects of racism are not to be passed onto the next generation of adults in our country. CopyrightDissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2010.Curriculum Studiesunrestricte

Value Chain Analysis of the Street Food Enterprises in the Rural Towns of Vhembe District, Limpopo Province

This study sought to analyse the value chain of foods sold by street food vendors in the Vhembe district town of Limpopo province. Data were collected using mixed methods, including structured questionnaires administered via face-to-face interviews. Analyses of the value chain activities and actors were conducted among the stages of street food production. Overall, the enterprise sold commonly consumed street foods such as porridge, chicken, beef, and local vegetables, targeting government employees, school children, and daily town visitors. The value chain analysis showed that street food activity in the Vhembe district included purchasing, storage, production, and consumption. The main actors involved in the value activities of the street food enterprise were inputs suppliers, formal and informal traders, transporters, local authorities, and customers. The profit margin calculation highlighted that street food vendors purchasing inputs from the informal vendors without any added expense could make more profit than using formal traders. Future policy interventions should promote value addition along the food sold in the street, providing cold storage facilities closer to street vendors\u27 stalls in the towns to encourage continued and safe production. The most prioritised production constraints should be addressed, such as access to finance, government support, and managerial skills

Genetic and Phenotypic Trends for Growth and Overall Efficiency in Bonsmara Beef Cattle

Animal Breedin

Association between nutrition knowledge, lifestyle, dietary practices and nutritional status among civil servants in western Nigeria

Nutrition knowledge plays a crucial role in promoting healthier eating practices, leading to the maintenance of healthy body weight. This is because  knowledge of dietary guidelines and healthy eating habits among adults has been positively correlated. However, in terms of dietary habits,  presumptions that the supposed civil servants in some parts of Western Nigeria are knowledgeable about basic dietary practices are yet to be  explored. Therefore, this study was designed to assess the nutrition knowledge, lifestyle, dietary practices, and nutritional status among men and  women civil servants in Ado, Ekiti State, Nigeria. A structured interviewer questionnaire was administered to civil servants (180 male and 220 female  elderly respondents, <60years old) to collect data on economic and socio-demographic characteristics, nutrition knowledge, lifestyle, and dietary  habits. Anthropometric measurements were also taken. The quantitative were coded, collated, and analyzed using SPSS. Descriptive statistics were  used to summarize data from categorical variables. Chi-square test, at a 5% confidence level, was used to establish any significant relationship  between food intake parameters and nutrition knowledge. Most of the respondents (66.7%) were affected by the delayed payment of their monthly  salaries. The total knowledge scores revealed that 13.25%, 41.25% and 45.50% of the respondents had poor, fair and good nutrition knowledge,  respectively. Unfortunately, this higher nutrition knowledge does not translate into good dietary habits. Data obtained revealed bad eating habits,  as a more significant percentage of the respondents regularly ate high-fat foods (99.5%), ate outside the home (85.3%) and did not take vegetables  (83.3%) nor fruits (60%) daily. There exists, however, a significant and positive relationship between nutrition knowledge and physical activity  (P=0.043), high-fat foods consumption (P<0.001), daily fruits consumption (P<0.001) and vegetable consumption (P<0.001). In conclusion, the  discrepancy between the respondents' high nutrition knowledge and their seemingly poor lifestyle and dietary behaviour show that nutrition  knowledge alone does not translate into good dietary behaviour.&nbsp

Tea Value Chains Viability in Limpopo Province of South Africa: A Cost–benefit Analysis

The research was conducted to investigate the production of value-added tea as part of the resuscitation of Tshivhase-Mukumbani Tea Estate. Data were mainly obtained from records kept at the Tshivhase-Mukumbani Tea Estate, through a review of literature and interviews of the selected respondents. Evaluation of economic viability of the value-adding initiative was based on Net Present Value (NPC) and the Benefit-Cost Ratio (BCR) calculated from time-series data obtained for the period 2005–2012. The quantity of value-added tea produced varied across years, geographical locations, and seasons, with production higher for wetter seasons. The NPV was consistently negative, while the BCR was below unity throughout the study period, implying that the value-adding initiative was economically not feasible. Initiatives for achieving economic sustainability of the value addition were (1) Improve the marketing of the made tea brand Midi Tea as organic and longer shelf life. (2) Good labor contracting management practices to deal with labor disputes and unrest. (3) Good supply chain and procurement management practices to reduce the cost of production (4) Monitoring the impact of climate variability and mitigate by providing irrigation (5) Intercropping tea with a suitable winter yielding crops such as avocadoes or Macadamia

Analysis of growth curves of indigenous male Venda and Naked Neck chickens

The objective of this work was to estimate and compare the growth curve parameters for live weight of indigenous Venda and Naked Neck chickens and carry out some analyses to test the existence of differences in the growth pattern between these breeds. The data were collected from the two breeds of chickens that were reared from day-old to 21 weeks of age. Two hundred chickens (100 of each breed) were used. Three different non-linear models, namely Gompertz, Logistic and Richards, were used to define the growth curves of the chickens. Models were compared using Coefficients of determination (R2 values), A parameter values, the Durbin-Watson Statistic (DW) test for autocorrelation, computing difficulty based on the number of iterations needed for convergence and size of residual variances. The R2 were high for all models: 0.996, 0.990 and 0.997 for Gompertz, Logistic and Richards, respectively. Residual variances were 2240, 5924 and 1154 for Gompertz, Logistic and Richards, respectively. The Gompertz model was observed to be suitable for explaining the growth of the chickens. Breed differences were observed in the growth parameters of chickens. The Venda breed was observed to be late maturing and heavier at maturity while the Naked Neck was shown to have a higher growth rate, reaching maturity earlier but attaining a lighter mature weight. Keywords: Growth parameters, growth models, breed differences South African Journal of Animal Science Vol. 37 (1) 2007: pp. 21-2

Estimation of the additive and dominance variances in South African Landrace pigs

The objective of this study was to estimate dominance variance for number born alive (NBA), 21- day litter weight (LWT21) and interval between parities (FI) in South African Landrace pigs. A total of 26223 NBA, 21335 LWT21 and 16370 FI records were analysed. Bayesian analysis via Gibbs sampling was used to estimate variance components and genetic parameters were calculated from posterior distributions. Estimates of additive genetic variance were 0.669, 43.46 d2 and 9.02 kg2 for NBA, FI and LWT21, respectively. Corresponding estimates of dominance variance were 0.439, 123.68 d2 and 2.52 kg2, respectively. Dominance effects were important for NBA and FI. Permanent environmental effects were significant for FI and LWT21. It may be beneficial to evaluate non-additive genetic merit of individuals and families in addition to their transmitting abilities. A breeding program that capitalizes on non-additive genetic merit may be desirable. Keywords: Non-additive genetic effects, Bayesian analysis, genetic parameters South African Journal of Animal Science Vol. 36 (4) 2006: pp. 261-26