Spatial Equity in Devolved Healthcare: Geospatially Exploring Local Disparities in Maternal Healthcare Uptake After Devolution in Kenya

Devolved healthcare in Kenya was to ensure provision of proximate and easily accessible services throughout the Country, thereby improving local uptake as an outcome from patient perspective. Over five years after operationalization of the devolved healthcare, it isn’t certain whether or not there have been reducing spatial disparities and/or improving prospects of spatial equity in local utilizations of essential primary healthcare. The paper seeks to explore spatial disparities in maternal healthcare utilization and prospects of realising spatial equity after devolution of healthcare in Kenya. County of Siaya and 30 Wards therein were, respectively, selected as spatially heterogeneous and homogenous multiple cases for the study through retrospective patient-based surveys. The study leveraged on Kenyan webbased health information systems to capture spatial and attribute data on skilled birth attendance and antenatal care before and after devolution by each of the 220 registered health facility the County by Wards. Local utilization ratio, a new innovative indicator, was applied to effectively measure and analyse the spatial disparities in maternal healthcare through ordinary least square spatial regression analysis within spatio-temporal analysis realm using ArcGIS 10.3. Result showed significant positive spatial relationship in maternal service utilizations before and after devolution by Wards (p<0.01, R 2>90%). but stagnating or deteriorating spatial disparities irrespective of either increasing or decreasing uptake of the services. This trend points to lower prospects by devolved healthcare in realizing spatial health equity without improving quality and comprehensiveness of primary health services in Siaya County and related decentralised units in Kenya and beyond

Multi-Criterion Optimization of Ecotourism Opportunities within Freshwater Environments: A Planning Outline for Water-Based Recreation at Lake Victoria, Kisumu County

Water-based recreation is an ecotourism genre that attracts participation in most developed countries, but seldom cuts a niche in Kisumu County, Kenya. This paper presents synopsis of concepts from a study conducted in four beaches of Lake Victoria at the county, with the aim of demonstrating challenges and opportunities of recreational ecotourism within shore areas of the fresh water lake. To ascertain the dynamics that control recreationists’ involvement in recreationable activities at the waterfronts, a triangulation methodology was used. As such, observations were employed on environmental features at the lake shores to demonstrate their aesthetic status; confirmatory tests were performed on shore waters (beaches) to determine their quality integrity; and household survey was conducted on local communities to establish their ecological risk perceptions. Results point at poor observable status of the shores environments; adverse water pollution; and high risk perceptions. These significantly demonstrated influences against the recreational dormancy at the study sites. The authors suggest an outline of multi-criterion approaches for optimizing ecotourism opportunities within freshwater environments. These entail: management hierarchies for enhancement of recreational ecotourism; a recreational opportunity spectrum model; levels of progressive maturity for recreational ecotourism development; a dummy checklist for water pollution control; and decision trees for recreationable site location and water quality examination. Key Words: Multi-Criterion Optimization, Ecotourism Opportunities, Planning Outline, Water-Based Recreation, Shore Environments

Ecotourism for Community Empowerment and Social Inclusion: The Case of Abindu Sacred site in Kisumu County, Kenya

Ecotourism, which is currently the fastest growing form of global tourism in the world, is more prevalent today than ever before. Communities that once had very little industry and misguided management systems have now been able to flourish with the employment of local people. By involving the local people in these programs and when a direct stimulus is returned to the community, rather than having the profits sent elsewhere, programs have been proven to be much more successful. When discussing ecotourism, it is also important to realize that these programs are not always beneficial to the local communities and many ecotourism ventures are controlled by outside operators. A useful way to discern responsible community-based ecotourism is to approach it from a development perspective, which considers social, environmental and economic goals, and questions how ecotourism can meet the needs of the host community in terms of improved living standards both in the short and long term. This perspective differs somewhat from those approaching ecotourism predominantly from an environmental perspective.The achievement of sustainable tourism development through community based ecotourism initiatives, require the building of community capacities to understand the importance of the resources they own. Most communities are unaware of the potential their cultural and natural natural resources offer. This study will focus on the potential of an ecotourism site, namely, Abindu in Nyahera, in Kisumu County, where there is possibility of organizing the community to run ecotourism ventures.The general objective of the study was to ascertain livelihood enhancement opportunities brought in the wake of ecotourism development in host communities, whilst the specific objectives are to: assess the likely identify key stakeholders in the ecotourism site; assess the level of female empowerment in the development of ecotourism in the community; examine the impacts of ecotourism ventures in the community. The Study examined this community in terms of an empowerment framework as a suitable mechanism for aiding analysis of the social, economic, psychological and political impacts of ecotourism on local communities.The study used qualitative methods to collect the data, namely,participant observation, key informant Interviews, and focused group discussions. Keywords: Ecotourism, Community based Ecotourism, Empowerment, Abindu, Kisumu

Optimization of Ecotourism Opportunities within Freshwater Environments: A Multi-Criterion Planning Outline for Water-Based Recreation at Lake Victoria, Kisumu County

Water-based recreation is an ecotourism genre that attracts participation in most developed countries, but seldom cuts a niche in developed nations. This paper presents synopsis of concepts from a study conducted in four beaches of Lake Victoria, Kisumu County in Kenya, with the aim of demonstrating challenges and opportunities of recreational ecotourism within the shore areas of the fresh water lake. To ascertain the dynamics that control recreationists’ involvement in recreationable activities at the waterfronts, a triangulation methodology was used. As such, observations were employed on environmental features at the lake shores to demonstrate their aesthetic status; confirmatory tests were performed on shore waters (beaches) to determine their quality integrity; and household survey was conducted on local communities to establish their ecological risk perceptions. Results point at poor observable status of the shores environments; adverse water pollution; and high risk perceptions. These significantly demonstrated influences against the recreational dormancy at the study sites. The paper discusses Pollution on recreational waters; risk perceptions and community participation; nexus between observable status, water quality and risk perceptions on recreational waters ; policy and Management Implications of the Study; and SWOT Analysis as a conclusive presentation of study focus . The authors suggest an outline of multi-criterion approaches for optimizing ecotourism opportunities within freshwater environments. These entail: management hierarchies for enhancement of recreational ecotourism; a recreational opportunity spectrum model; levels of progressive maturity for recreational ecotourism development; a dummy checklist for water pollution control; and decision trees for recreationable site location and water quality examination. Key Words: Multi-Criterion Optimization, Ecotourism Opportunities, Planning Outline, Water-Based Recreation, Shore Environment

Community Perception of Cultural Identity of Heritage Sites for Determining Local Participation in their Management and Conservation: The Case of Thimlich Ohinga and Seme-Kaila in Kenya

The study investigated the significance of cultural identity of prehistoric settlements in establishing community participation in their conservation and management for ecotourism promotion. This was accomplished using both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as, content analysis. The research employed value theory to interpret the data and provide clarity of the research findings. The study concluded that there is a significant relationship between community perception of cultural identity of the sites and community participation in their conservation and management for ecotourism promotion. High level of community perception of cultural identity of Thimlich Ohinga indicates high community participation in the conservation and management of the site. Low level of community perception of cultural identity of Seme-Kaila shows low community participation in the conservation and management of the site. KEY WORDS: Cultural identity, community perception, community participation, management, conservation, heritage site

Abindu Sacred Site: Socio-Cultural Capital for Ecotourism Promotion and Community Empowerment in Kisumu County, Kenya

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Converting Water Hyacinth to Briquettes: A Beach Community Based Approach

Attempts by the government of Kenya to control the noxious water hyacinth via various intervention efforts have had limited success only for the weed to resurge. The proliferation of water hyacinth in Lake Victori

Hydroclimatic extremes in the Limpopo river Basin, South Africa, under changing climate

This research study evaluated the projected future climate and anticipated impacts on water-linked sectors on the transboundary Limpopo River Basin (LRB) with a focus on South Africa. Streamflow was simulated from two CORDEX-Africa regional climate models (RCMs) forced by the 5th phase of the Coupled Model Inter-Comparison Project (CMIP5) Global Climate Models (GCMs), namely, the CanESM2m and IPSL-CM5A-MR climate models. Three climate projection time intervals were considered spanning from 2006 to 2099 and delineated as follows: current climatology (2006–2035), near future (2036–2065) and end of century future projection (2070–2099). Statistical metrics derived from the projected streamflow were used to assess the impacts of the changing climate on water-linked sectors. These metrics included streamflow trends, low and high flow quantile probabilities, the Standardized Streamflow Index (SSI) trends and the proportion (%) of dry and wet years, as well as drought monitoring indicators. Based on the Mann-Kendall (MK) trend test, the LRB is projected to experience reduced streamflow in both the near and the distant future. The basin is projected to experience frequent dry and wet conditions that can translate to drought and flash floods, respectively. In particular, a high proportion of dry and a few incidences of wet years are expected in the basin in the future. In general, the findings of this research study will inform and enhance climate change adaptation and mitigation policy decisions and implementation thereof, to sustain the livelihoods of vulnerable communities.This research is part of the on-going project no. C2019/2020-00017, titled “Climate Change and Water Security: Developmental Perspectives for Water-Linked Sectors in a Future Climate for Africa”, funded by the Water Research Commission (WRC) of South Africa.http://www.mdpi.com/journal/wateram2021Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorolog

A review of the water-energy-food nexus research in Africa

Notwithstanding the dispersed nature of the water, energy and food (WEF) nexus scholarship in the African continent, its strategic importance to the African agenda has gained widespread attention in research and planning circles. In this regard, the bibliometric science mapping and content analysis of the WEF nexus scientific publication trends, the conceptual, intellectual and social structures, as well as the inherent paradigmatic shifts in the WEF nexus body of knowledge in the African continent have been undertaken, using the nexus body of literature accessed from the Web of Science and Scopus core collection databases. The review results confirmed that, whilst the WEF nexus scholarship has expanded since 2013, there is also evidence of growth in the conceptual, intellectual and social structures of the WEF nexus in the African continent. These shifts have resulted in the emergence of hot topics (subfields) including modelling and optimization, climate variability and change, environmental ecosystem services sustainability, and sustainable development and livelihoods. The review further determined that these structures have evolved along two main perspectives of WEF nexus research development, i.e., the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary domains. In support of the interpretation of the visual analytics of the intellectual structure and changing patterns of the WEF nexus research, the shifts in positivist, interpretivist and pragmatic paradigmatic perspectives (these are underpinned by the ontology, epistemology, and methodology and methods) are considered when explaining WEF nexus research shifts: (a) From the unconnected silo paradigms that focus on water, energy and food (security concerns) to interconnected (and sometimes interdependent or nested) linkages or systems incorporating environmental, social-economic and political drivers (also viewed as subfields) in a bid to holistically support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across the African continent; and (b) in the evaluation of the WEF nexus scholarship based on novel analytical approaches. We contend that whilst the theories of science change underpin this apparent expansion, the macro-economic theory will find use in explaining how the WEF nexus research agenda is negotiated and the Integrative Environmental Governance (IEG) is the duly suited governance theory to bridge the inherent disconnect between WEF nexus output and governance processes uncovered in the literature. Overall, operational challenges and opportunities of the WEF nexus abound, transitioning the WEF nexus research to practice in Africa, motivating the need to take advantage of the scholar–practitioner research underpinnings, as contemplated in the transdisciplinary research approach, which is characterised by the dual quest for new knowledge and considerations of use. Yet, there is need for more coordinated and collaborative research to achieve impact and transition from WEF nexus thinking to WEF nexus practice.The Water Research Commission of South Africa. The APC was funded by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Transformative Agricultural and Food Systems.https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainabilitydm2022Geography, Geoinformatics and MeteorologySchool of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH