Becoming and Remaining a 'Force for Good': Reforming the Police in Post-conflict Sierra Leone

The Sierra Leone Police Force has its origins in the British colonial administration of the country. After Independence and with the consolidation of one-party rule the force slid into disrepute. The outbreak of civil conflict in 1991 largely decimated the force but the gradual restoration of peace provided an opportunity for police reform. This research report covers the aspects of the political and institutional environment that helped engender change, as well as constraints faced by the reform agenda. It considers how the officers actually carried out the task at hand, and shares lessons as to what reform tactics worked and which were less successful. While several challenges remain, the reform programme, centred around local needs policing has been largely successful, hinging on – among other factors – the appointment of a British Inspector General of Police, perceived to be neutral and above political machinations, supported by a core of reformminded officers; long-term external technical and financial assistance; and a conducive political environment for change.Thie report was produced under the auspices of the RCUK Global Uncertainties Programme on Security in an Africa of Networked, Multi-Level Governance

A ‘Force for Good’? Police Reform in Post?conflict Sierra Leone

The Sierra Leone Police Force has its origins in British colonial administration. After Independence and with the consolidation of one?party rule the force slid into disrepute. The outbreak of civil conflict in 1991 largely decimated the force but the gradual restoration of peace provided an opportunity for police reform. This article covers the aspects of the political and institutional environment that helped engender change, as well as constraints faced by the reform agenda. It considers how the officers actually carried out the task at hand, and shares lessons as to what reform tactics worked and which were less successful. While several challenges remain, the reform programme has been largely successful, hinging on – among other factors – the appointment of a British Inspector General of Police; the availability of a core of reform?minded officers; long?term external technical and financial assistance; and a conducive political environment for change

Selection of modalities, prescription, and technical issues in children on peritoneal dialysis

Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is widely employed as a dialytic therapy for uraemic children, especially in its automated form (APD), that is associated with less burden of care on patient and family than continuous ambulatory PD. Since APD offers a wide range of treatment options, based on intermittent and continuous regimens, prescription can be individualized according to patient’s age, body size, residual renal function, nutritional intake, and growth-related metabolic needs. Transport capacity of the peritoneal membrane of each individual patient should be assessed, and regularly monitored, by means of standardized peritoneal function tests validated in pediatric patients. To ensure maximum recruitment of peritoneal exchange area, fill volume should be scaled to body surface area and adapted to each patient, according to clinical tolerance and intraperitoneal pressure. PD solutions should be employed according to their biocompatibility and potential ultrafiltration capacity; new pH-neutral, glucose-free solutions can be used in an integrated way in separate dwells, or by appropriately mixing during the same dialytic session. Kinetic modelling software programs may help in the tailoring of PD prescription to individual patients’ characteristics and needs. Owing to advances in the technology of new APD machines, greater programming flexibility, memorized delivery control, and tele-dialysis are currently possible

Proceedings of the 13th annual conference of INEBRIA

CITATION: Watson, R., et al. 2016. Proceedings of the 13th annual conference of INEBRIA. Addiction Science & Clinical Practice, 11:13, doi:10.1186/s13722-016-0062-9.The original publication is available at https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.comENGLISH SUMMARY : Meeting abstracts.https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13722-016-0062-9Publisher's versio

An analysis of governance of Daughters of Charity schools: Basis for framework and strategy to strengthen governance of the school system

This study aims to design a framework and strategy to strengthen governance of schools owned and managed by the Daughters of Charity. Specifically, it describes the governance practices, structures, patterns, dimensions, and the roles, functions, compositions of the Board of Trustees. It also analyzes and assesses the performance of the governing boards of the schools of the Daughters of Charity. This research is a case study of a school system, particularly the governance of the school owned and managed by the Daughters of Charity. Two data gathering techniques were used. The qualitative technique included documentary, issue scheme and interaction analysis while the quantitative technique made use of the answers to the two sets of questionnaires with the Likert scale used to measure the responses. The responses were treated statistically by the use of weighted mean average and paired t-test. The respondents were the officers and members of the Board of Trustees. It was revealed that practices were circumscribed within the domains of PARTICULARLY DECISION-MAKING with special emphasis on CONSULTATION and COLLABORATION. Governance structures were multifarious and they supported the practices, patterns, and dimensions of governance in the school system. Pattern of school governance was noted to be eclectic, encompassing bureaucratic, political and collegial patterns. Dimensions covered the planning, implementing and evaluating phases of school governance. The roles of the Board of Trustees converged into four categories, namely, legislative and policy making, as an appraisal body, as guardian of financial resources, and as a judicial body. The Board set the direction of the institution, saw to it that the school has adequate material and human resources to implement its programs, to appoint key officers, and generally to be there when needed by the institution. The Board of Trustees was made up of officers and members of the congregation of the Daughters of Charity, local ordinary, alumni and parents. All of them have proper educational background to cope with the demands of the educational apostolate of the congregation. Consultants on legal and financial matters were available when the need arise. Analysis and assessment of performance of the Governing Board resulted in the identification of the strengths and weaknesses of the governing board and ultimately of the governance of schools owned and managed by the Daughters of Charity. These were used as the basis for the formulation of the framework and strategy for strengthening of governance in the school system of the Daughters of Charity