Efficiency-and-Effectiveness in Project Management, an Impetus for Accountability to Stakeholders: Evidence from Non-Governmental Organizations in Kenya

Against the backdrop of a fast shrinking resource-base, most organizations strive to implement project activities in a timely manner, while incurring minimum cost as possible. In the process, client needs and corporate priorities should be balanced. The objective of this study, therefore, is to assess the extent to which efficiency-and-effectiveness influence accountability to stakeholders by NGOs in Kenya. The research is anchored on the normative stakeholder theory. As adopted in this study, the normative stakeholder theory holds that NGOs in Kenya ought to balance the interests of founders, donors, development partners, the government, regulatory board, the target beneficiaries of projects undertaken by NGOs, and the general public. Probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling method was used to sample NGOs from which respondents to the questionnaire were drawn. The study also sought to establish the relationship between accountability to stakeholders and efficiency-and-effectiveness of the respondents in serving their stakeholders by testing the alternate hypothesis. The ANOVA results showed a statistical significance p= .043 while the p value was set to be significant at p< 0.05 level. There is a significant association between accountability to stakeholders and efficiency-and-effectiveness (p<0.043). It was found out that having efficient and effective systems and approaches in serving the project beneficiary community enhances accountability to the stakeholders. The null hypothesis was thus rejected at 95% confidence interval and concluded that efficiency and effectiveness in project governance has influence on accountability to stakeholders. Keywords: Project management, Efficiency and effectiveness, Accountability to stakeholders, NGOs, Keny

The Role of Oversight Boards in Observing Rule of Law: Are NGOs in Kenya Compliers with Regulatory Requirements or Fugitives?

The purpose of this study was to examine the role played by oversight boards in observing rule of law by Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Kenya. The objective of this study was to assess the extent to which rule of law as observed by NGO oversight Boards in Kenya influence accountability to stakeholders. A descriptive survey research design was used in this study and questionnaires were employed to collect quantitative data in an attempt to answer the research question. Test of hypothesis was done to establish if there was significant relationship between rule of law and accountability to stakeholders among the respondents. The ANOVA test of hypothesis revealed no significant relationship between accountability to stakeholders and rule of law (p<0.970). This shows that rule of law indicators like renewing NGO’s registration on time, did not have any significant influence on accountability to stakeholders. The results of a regression analysis done on the indicators of rule of law show a higher significance level (P<0.406). To a greater extent, most decisions made by oversight boards are communicated to the management team. In regard to involving boards in playing oversight role, fewer NGOs do not involve their boards in decision-making, P<0.833. This latter scenario represents disconnect between the management and the board; oversight is minimal and the board is largely asleep or absent, a characteristic of NGOs run by founder-directors and the board formed only to meet statutory requirements. Keywords: Kenya, NGOs’ Oversight Board, Rule of Law, Accountabilit

Influence of Herbicides Application as Desiccant on Protein and Sugar Content of Soybean Seed

Soybean, Glycine max is an annual crop belonging to the family Fabaceae, which has 40% protein, 20% oil and 30% carbohydrate and plays a very significant role in world agriculture. Some farmers hasten the maturity and desiccation of soybean crop by applying herbicides without giving attention to the effects on seed. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of herbicides as desiccant on protein and sugar content of soybean seed. For this, three cultivars of soybean seed SB 19, SB 25 and SB 3 were planted and applied with three types of herbicides Glyphosate, Paraquat, 2,4-D. The herbicides were sprayed at three stages of soybean seed development R6, R7, and R8. The herbicides effect was highly significant (P ≤ 0.001) on the protein content in two locations and were highly significantly different (P ≤ 0.001) on the sugar content in all locations. All the herbicides showed reduction in sugar content in all locations and were also lower in protein content as compared to the control. It is concluded that using herbicides as desiccant have negative effect on the protein and sugar content of soybean seed. Keywords: Herbicide, Stages of application, Protein, Sugar. DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/9-18-07 Publication date:September 30th 201

Aberration of Metals Competing for Iron on Exposure to Lambda Cyhalothrin and Aflatoxins in Dietary Fish from Selected Aquatic Sources in Kenya

Excess or deficiency of minerals may seriously disturb biochemical processes and upset internal homeostasis, leading to various diseases and disorders in fish species due to deficiency or excess of micro and macro elements caused by improper nutrition, avitaminosis or poisoning. The specific objectives of the study were to determine the iron levels and aberration of metals competing on exposure to lambda-cyhalothrin and aflatoxins in dietary fish from selected aquatic sources in Kenya. The concentration of elements cadmium, zinc, and iron in Oreochromis niloticus and Clarias gariepinus bred in Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute at Sagana and obtained from River Nyando was measured using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Iron availability was lower on treatment with Aflatoxin compared to Lambda-Cyhalothrin with a mean of 3.66 ± 0.84 mg/kg, but on subjection to zinc, competition was 3.82 mg/kg on consideration of zinc competition. The naturally occurring toxins cause micronutrient deprival and therefore relevant stakeholders be keen to prevent contamination from farm to fork

Kentucky Forestry Economic Contribution Report 2016

Forests play a pivotal role in Kentucky’s economy and in the lives of the citizens of our state. Forests are the single most dominant land type, covering nearly one-half of the state, providing a significant range of both economic and non-economic benefits to the Commonwealth. The majority of the economic contribution is derived from the harvesting of timber and processing of the wood resource. Analysis of Kentucky’s forest and wood industries in 2016 indicated an estimated direct economic contribution of $9 billion (down one percent from 2015). These industries employed over 27,700 individuals. Total economic contributions in 2016 were estimated to be$14.4 billion with a total employment of 60,225. The 2016 forest industry contributions were mixed compared to the previous year with the biggest declines coming from paper converters and the pulp and paper sub-sector, the latter can be traced to the closing of the Verso mill in western Kentucky. The economic contribution was generated from timber resources in all 120 counties of the Commonwealth, harvested by over 1,200 logging firms and processed at 722 facilities located in 110 counties. These industries include sawmills, pulp and paper mills, and a wide variety of secondary producers such as cabinet, barrel, and flooring manufacturers. The 2016 sawlog production estimate of 746 million board feet secures Kentucky’s place as one of the leading producers of hardwood forest products in the U.S. Analysis shows that each acre of woodland harvested in 2016 was responsible for producing a direct contribution of $21,763. Delivered log prices remained relatively stable in 2016 with strong prices for stave logs used for barrel production which continues a recent trend. This report highlights the economic contribution of the Kentucky forestry sector in both rural and urban Kentucky in 2016

Bundles and Hotspots of Multiple Ecosystem Services for Optimized Land Management in Kentucky, United States

Ecosystem services are benefits that the natural environment provides to support human well-being. A thorough understanding and assessment of these services are critical to maintain ecosystem services flow through sustainable land management to optimize bundles of ecosystem services provision. Maximizing one particular ecosystem service may lead to reduction in another. Therefore, identifying ecosystem services tradeoffs and synergies is key in addressing this challenge. However, the identification of multiple ecosystem services tradeoffs and synergies is still limited. A previous study failed to effectively capture the spatial interaction among ecosystem services as it was limited by “space-to-time” substitution method used because of temporal data scarcity. The study was also limited by using land use types in creating ecosystem services, which could lead to some deviations. The broad objective of this study is therefore to examine the bundles and hotspots of multiple ecosystem services and their tradeoffs in Kentucky, U.S. The study combined geographic data and spatially-explicit models to identify multiple ecosystem services bundles and hotspots, and determined the spatial locations of ecosystem services hotspots. Results showed that the spatial interactions among ecosystem services were very high: of the 21 possible pairs of ecosystem services, 17 pairs were significantly correlated. The seven ecosystem services examined can be bundled into three groups, geographically clustered on the landscape. These results support the hypothesis that some groups of ecosystem services provision can present similar spatial patterns at a large mesoscale. Understanding the spatial interactions and bundles of the ecosystem services provides essential information for evidence-based sustainable land management

Alternative screening method for drought tolerance in barley genotypes

Lack of genetically stable and durable drought tolerant winter and spring barley genotypes is one of the main contributing to low and unpredictable yields in Kenya and other parts of the world despite annual release of new and high yielding varieties. Therefore, the study was set to identify genotypes exhibiting tolerance to drought through physiological and phenotypic approaches. A total of 32 genotypes were planted in split-plot arrangement in completely randomized design replicated thrice. Genotypes were maintained under 20% and 80% field capacities. Phenotypic and physiological data were collected, converted to ratios then analyzed on Genstat version 14.1 VSN International Ltd at a 5% level of significance. Significant differences were observed in winter and spring barley in terms of growth, tillering ability, grains formed per spike, 1000 seed weight and MSI (p < 0.05). Spring barley expressed higher tolerance to drought than winter barley especially in terms of height, number of grains per spike and seed weight. Water deficiency in cells and tissues might have altered and inhibited physiological and biochemical processes. The phenotypic and physiological methods corresponded and confirmed tolerance to drought in most winter and spring genotypes grown in Kenya

Seed Management and Quality of Farmer Saved Seeds of Bambara groundnut from North Western, Northern and Eastern Uganda

   Bambara groundnut (BG) is a protein and energy-rich legume crop of African origin with the potential to contribute to food and nutrition security. There is limited information on seed man­agement and quality of farmer saved seed of BG in Uganda. This study was conducted to inves­tigate seed management practices and evaluate the quality of farmer saved seed from Uganda. Four hundred BG farmers were chosen using purposive sampling and information gathered on their seed management. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to interview the farm­ers. Seed colour and size determination, standard germination and electrical conductivity tests were done on seed samples collected from farmers. Results from survey revealed that farmers recycled seeds for more than 4 years (39.2%) and maintained mostly single landraces (52.5%). Seed was sun-dried on the ground (81%), stored in gunny bags (93.5%), and threshed mostly by hand (52.0%). Collected landraces had varied seed coat colours and significantly differed at p = 0.05 in their seed sizes, final germination percentage (FGP), electrical conductivity (EC), germination velocity index and seedling vigour index II (SVI-II). Local Bam landrace recorded highest SVI-II (485.3) and EC (0.52MSg-1) while TVSU 688 landrace recorded the highest FGP (96.0%) and lowest EC (0.06MSg-1)

Potential Economic Impacts of Allocating More Land for Bioenergy Biomass Production in Virginia

The growing attention to renewable energy and rural development has created greater demand for production of biomass feedstock for bioenergy. However, forest growth rates and the amount of land in most existing forests may not be sufficient to sustainably supply the forest biomass required to support existing forest products industries and the expanding bioenergy industry. Additionally, concerns about agricultural land use competition have dampened expansion of biomass production on agricultural land base. One of the ways to meet the growing forest biomass feedstock demand for bioenergy production is by allocating currently marginal non-forested land for growing bioenergy feedstocks. In Virginia, about 80% of forestland is under nonindustrial private forest ownership. The land use allocation decisions of these private owners are critical for the supply of the forest biomass feedstock to support bioenergy production. We apply a computable general equilibrium model to assess the economy-wide impacts of forestland owners’ willingness to plant pine on non-forested land for woody bioenergy in Virginia. We consider three counterfactual scenarios of biomass feedstock supply increase as intermediate demand for bioenergy production based on forestland owners’ willingness to accept biomass bid prices to set aside more non-forested land for biomass production in Virginia under general equilibrium conditions. Overall, the results show an increase in social welfare and household utility but a marginal decline in GDP. However, increased demand of biomass from logging sector depressed the manufacturing sector (the wood manufacturing sub-sector particularly), which also relies on the logging sector for its intermediate inputs. Results from this study provide insights into the bioenergy land use competition debate, and pathways towards sustainable bioenergy feedstock supply

Financing the Sustainable Management of Rwanda’s Protected Areas

Rwanda’s Nyungwe National Park is a biodiversity hotspot with the most endemic species in the ecoregion as well as the highest number of threatened species internationally. In addition to great biological diversity, Nyungwe National Park supplies significant ecosystem services to the Rwandan population including water provisioning and tourism services. Tourism in the Park has strong potential for improving the sustainable management of the Park for continued provision of natural habitat and critical ecosystem services. This paper explores quantitatively the economic impacts of adjustment in Park visitation fees and tourism demand as a source of revenues to improve Park tourism opportunities and ongoing operations and maintenance where budgetary restrictions are particularly acute. The methods developed in this paper are novel in integrating the results of stated preference techniques with regional economy-wide modelling approaches to capture multi-sectoral, direct, indirect and induced impacts. Such methods have strong potential for assessing revenue generation alternatives in other contexts where Park Managers are faced with the need to generate additional revenue for sustainable park management while facing diminishing budget allocations.Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS