Democratic Leadership Style and Organizational Commitment of Academic Staff in Uganda Christian University and Kyambogo University

The study establishes the extent to which democratic leadership styles influence organizational commitment of academic staff in Uganda Christian University (UCU) and Kyambogo Universities (KYU). It was guided by three specific objectives; to establish the status of democratic leadership style, status of organisational commitment and finally the influence of democratic leadership style on organisational commitment of academic staff in UCU and KYU. The study utilized Contingence theory of leadership to extensively discuss the democratic leadership style. It was a descriptive cross-sectional survey design hinged on Plato’s deductive reasoning philosophy. The population involved lecturers, heads of departments and deans. These were sampled using simple and purposive random sampling. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and interview guide. Data was analysed at Univariate level using descriptive statistics means and standard deviations. Study hypothesis was analysed using Pearson’s Correlation Co-efficient index. Results revealed an insignificant relationship between democratic leadership style and commitment of academic staff. This study provides at least a facie evidence of how democratic leadership style should be devised to ensure organisation commitment of academic staff. The leaders continued efforts should improve work condition, ensure satisfaction and act in ways that increase loyalty of academic staff to their institutions

Autocratic Leadership Style and Organizational Commitment of Academic Staff of Uganda Christian University and Kyambogo University

The study established the extent to which autocratic leadership style influences organizational commitment of academic staff in Kyambogo University (KYU) and Uganda Christian University (UCU). It was guided by three specific objectives that were aimed at establishing; 1) the level of autocratic leadership style, 2) the level of employee commitment of academic staff and 3) the influence of autocratic leadership style on the employee commitment in the two universities.  The study utilized a descriptive cross-sectional survey design hinged on Plato’s deductive reasoning philosophy. The population involved mainly academic staff of the two universities and administrative staff. These were sampled using simple and purposive random sampling. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and interview guide. The first and second objectives were analysed using descriptive statistics means and standard deviations. The study hypothesis was analysed using Pearson’s Correlation Co-efficient index and Simple Linear Regression.  Findings of the study revealed that, the level of application of autocratic leadership style was moderate and the level of employees’ commitment was high. Findings revealed that there was a positive significant relationship between autocratic leadership style on commitment of academic staff in two universities. The current study concludes that autocratic leadership styles had a positive significant influence on the commitment of academic staff in UCU and Kyambogo Universities. To enhance the commitment of employees/ academic staff in Kyambogo and Uganda Christian University Mukono, the university council in the two universities, faculty administrative boards, deans, departmental heads should do emphasize more use of autocratic leadership style. This can be done through establishing a mechanism that ensures constant academic staff supervision, remind of duties and work, offer deadlines, warnings and routine approaches to non-compliance Keywords: Leadership Styles, Autocratic, Commitment DOI: 10.7176/JEP/14-18-02 Publication date:June 30th 202

Systematic improvements in humanitarian WASH services: Uganda refugee settlements

Provision of appropriate water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services is important in reducing morbidity and mortality that are caused by communicable diseases. However, there are a mix of challenges in accessing WASH services in humanitarian situations including vulnerability by age and disability. World Vison Uganda systematically implemented a three-one year inclusive WASH project in refugee settlements in Uganda to improve access for people with disabilities. The project involved engagement of key stakeholders to identify and discuss challenges and reflect on any past experience on similar projects, actual construction of inclusive facilities and conducting participatory accessibility audit of constructed WASH facilities. Lessons learnt in the accessibility audit of one project were keenly integrated in subsequent projects to increasingly improve design, implementation and access to people with disabilities in refugee settlements. Communities increasingly noted improvement in access to WASH and increased enrolment of children with disabilities in primary and secondary schools

Does gender matter in effective management of plant disease epidemics? Insights from a survey among rural banana farming households in Uganda

Crop diseases significantly suppress plant yields and in extreme cases wipe out entire crop species threatening food security and eroding rural livelihoods. It is therefore critical to estimate the extent to which shocks like disease epidemics can affect food availability and the capacity of smallholder farmers to mitigate and reverse the effects of such shocks. This study utilizes sex-disaggregated data from 341 households in Uganda to analyze: first, gender and access to agricultural resources and their control; second, whether men and women in the targeted banana-farming communities share similar perceptions toward the effectiveness of the banana Xanthomonas wilt (BXW) control technologies and their respective information dissemination pathways; third, whether gender and farmer perceptions influence on farm adoption of BXW management practices. Lastly, it determines the impact of adoption of BXW control practices on food security. Results show that whereas most household assets are jointly owned, men have more individual ownership, control, and decision-making on income from household assets than women. Perceptions on effectiveness of BXW control practices and communication channels also differed between men and women. Men rated cutting down of infected plants to be more effective than women, but tissue culture, removal of male buds and disinfecting of farm tools were perceived to be equally effective by both men and women. In addition, apart from newspapers which were more effective in delivering BXW information to men, we found no differences in the effectiveness of other BXW information sources. More importantly, the study finds both gender and farmer perceptions on BXW control to significantly affect adoption of BXW control practices and household food security. For better and sustainable management of plant epidemics in Uganda, it is therefore critical that existing gender-based and underlying perception constraints are addressed

Sanitation in informal settlements in East Africa (3ksan)

Improving access to sanitation in slums in East Africa is a challenge. The 3ksan project has been working to identify the barriers and catalysts to sanitation in Kigali, Kampala and Kisumu. Household surveys in the informal settlements in these three cities have provided insight into the different levels of service provision and demand, access to financial services, and perceptions of enforcement of the regulations. This paper presents key results from the household survey, highlighting the different challenges in the three cities

Studies of pigeonpea insect pests and their management in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda

Systematic surveys were conducted in farmers= fields in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda to determine the incidence, distribution and damage levels due to insect pests of pigeonpea seeds. Three surveys were conducted in eastern Kenya, one in 1992 and two in 1995. Two surveys, one per country per year - were conducted in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda in 1995 and 1996. Key insect pests were pod sucking bugs (dominated by Clavigralla tomentosicollis Stal), pod and seed boring Lepidoptera (Helicoverpa armigera Hübner, Maruca vitrata (= testulalis) Geyer, Etiella zinkenella Treitschke), and pod fly (Melanagromyza chalcosoma Spencer). Seed damage due to insect pests were 22, 15, 14, and 16% in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda, respectively. Damage levels indicated that pod sucking bugs were more damaging in Malawi (caused 69% of total seed damage) and Kenya (43%), while pod borers caused more damage in Tanzania (50%) and Uganda (54%). Pod fly caused more damage in Kenya than in the other countries. Pod borer damage was high in early maturing crops and pod fly in late maturing crops, while pod sucking bugs damage was high regardless of crop maturity period. Greater variations in seed damage were observed between locations in Kenya, Malawi, and Tanzania than in Uganda. Warm and dry locations had less seed damage than warm and humid, cool and dry, or cool and humid locations in Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania. None of the farmers visited in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda used conventional pesticides on pigeonpea in the field. Over 80% of these farmers used traditional methods in storage pest management. In contrast, 35 and 53% of farmers in Kenya had used conventional pesticides on long-duration pigeonpea genotypes in their fields

Business constraints and growth potential of micro and small manufacturing enterprises in Uganda

Ugandan micro and small enterprises (MSEs) still perform poorly. Studies associating poor performance of manufacturers with lack of finance and low investment ignore micro enterprises. Those focusing on MSEs are either exploratory in nature or employ a descriptive analysis, which cannot show the extent to which business constraints explain the performance of MSEs. Thus, this paper tries to examine the extent to which the growth of MSEs is associated with business constraints while controlling for owners’ attributes and firms’ characteristics. The results reveal that MSEs’ growth potential is negatively associated with limited access to productive resources (finance and business development services), high taxes and lack of market access