A profile of children attending child-welfare clinics in Accra 1971

Aspects of family welfare and plannin

The African Capacity Building Foundation : rising to the challenge of capacity through a unique and innovative framework

The birth of the African Capacity Building Foundation on February 9, 1991, was the culmination of intense efforts and groundbreaking commitment to capacity building in Africa by Africa Governors of theWorld Bank, the Bank itself and the co-founding Institutions – the African Development Bank and the United Nations Development Program, as well as numerous other individuals. The successes chalked by ACBF towards attainment of its objectives have vindicated those who held the view that establishing an indigenous African institution, with focus on and commitment to the course of Africa's development was the right course of action at the time. Twenty years on, ACBF has supported nearly 250 projects and programs in 44 African countries and committed more than US$400 million to build capacity on the continent. Projects and programs supported by the Foundation have drawn synergy with and complemented countless other activities of various development institutions operating on the Continent. ACBF's support has been crucial in the building of development capacity in Africa, whether in ministries of finance and economic planning or central banks. For many among us who dedicated to this initiative and worked towards its realization,weremainhumbledby the opportunity to witness the twentieth anniversary of ACBF. . KeyWords: Africa, capacity building, capacity deficit, Consultative Group, disbursements, experimental framework, funding agreement, headquarters agreement, institutional framework, legal architecture, memorandumof understanding, sponsoring agencies, sustainable growt

Diffusion of Virtual and Augmented Reality in Pre-K to 12 Education: Experiences and Perceptions of Pioneer Teachers

The diffusion of the virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technological ecosystem into education is nascent. Research on VR/AR in Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12 (PK-12) education has been focused on the technologies\u27 effect on learning in various use cases. This study, grounded in Diffusion of Innovations theory (Rogers, 2003), uses a phenomenological qualitative research approach through interviews to understand the lived experiences and perceptions of pioneer teachers who have used VR/AR with PK-12 students. Critical trends and emergent themes within this study regarding pioneer teacher experiences of VR/AR adoption and integration surfaced through an inductive data analysis process. The introductory experiences of VR/AR impact teachers\u27 perception of the ecosystems\u27 benefits for teaching, launching their quest for information to narrow the knowledge gap that arises when adopting innovation. Pioneer teachers in this study use VR/AR in primarily two ways, for (i) The Exalted Journey (i.e., field trips to internal human spaces) and (ii) The Expression (i.e., student storytelling). Support from and access to funding provided by district/school leaders are critical for VR/AR adoption. Access to relevant content and VR/AR creation tools, bolstered by district-to-classroom level policies and protocols, proves essential for VR/AR integration in the classroom. Effective VR/AR classroom integration also depends on device availability, human resources, classroom structures, and classroom management. Teacher self-perception and educational context and philosophy affect teachers\u27 propensity to embrace VR/AR for teaching and learning. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of parts of this ecosystem was halted, particularly immersive VR through a head-mounted display; the pandemic\u27s long-term impact on VR/AR diffusion in PK-12 education remains uncertain. Access to VR/AR technology, inclusive of content and experience creation tools, classroom structures, resources, policies and protocols, teacher characteristics, and leadership support are crucial elements for districts/schools to consider when adopting and integrating this ecosystem into PK-12 classrooms

Perception of Organizational Politics, Psychological Safety, and Work Efforts of Senior High School Teachers

Politics is a phenomenon that can be experienced wherever there are more than two people present, and schools or work organizations are no exceptions. This paper focuses on investigating the extent to which Ghanaian Senior High School teachers’ perceptions of organizational politics and psychological safety relate to each other, and how it influences the teachers’ work efforts. A cross-sectional research design was used, which involves 275 teachers conveniently sampled from public senior high schools in the Tamale Municipality of Ghana. Standardized self-report questionnaires were adapted to collect the data, and it was analyzed using standard multiple linear regression. The results indicated that perception of organizational politics is a significant predictor of self-report work efforts of Senior High School teachers, but psychological safety was not. The results further showed that all the three dimensions of politics perception measured in the study significantly predict work efforts. This is with general political behaviour being the most significant predictor. Curiously, psychological safety perception had a significant positive relationship with politics perception. The findings from the current study suggest that perception of workplace politics is a critical determinant of attitude and behaviour of individuals at work, including work efforts. Among others, the paper recommends that pragmatic measures must be put in place to minimize workplace politics and perception ofsame in order to enhance work efforts in the workplace

Gender diffusion process within the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) : a baseline analysis

"Prepared for the Gender and Sustainable Development Unit (GSD)