Rural WASH project in Zimbabwe: monitoring and feedback mechanism for accelerating progress

A large scale Rural WASH Project is being implemented in 33 districts of Zimbabwe since June 2012. Failure of formal and routine monitoring mechanism during the initial phase of implementation led to development of innovative, rigorous but a very simple monitoring, feedback and reporting mechanism. This was built and integrated into the routine monitoring and reporting system of the implementing partners without creating additional burden. This mechanism proved to be extremely successful in tracking the progress at logframe/national, provincial/regional, implementing partner, district and indicator level on monthly basis. The mechanism was linked to development of corrective action plans at various levels aimed at accelerating progress. Each month a comprehensive graphical report is prepared and shared at national, provincial, and district levels with all stakeholders including donors. The overall progress on the project so far is well on track which was substantially behind before initiation of this monitoring mechanism

Gender impacts on rural cycling decisions : a case study of Bugesera district, Rwanda

Papers presented virtually at the 41st International Southern African Transport Conference on 10-13 July 2034In recent years, cycling mobility has attracted increasing interest from researchers. However, most available data on bicycling has focused on transport planning and policy development to address urban-related issues related. Only some studies have sought to understand rural cyclists' daily mobility decisions. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is an innovative tool that addresses spatial differences, even from a gender perspective. The study, therefore, assesses the impact of men's and women's cycling decisions in rural communities of low-income countries. The study targeted bike taxi customers and owners. Fifty participants of different gender, social background and occupation were recruited and handed a GPS device to collect their travel tracks in Nyamata and Mayange, Bugesera, Rwanda. Tracks collected contained road network data, distance (Origin-Destination), Elevation and Speed. Additional information was obtained through a survey, Focus Group Discussions and mapping of participants' daily activities. Limited gender inequality between male and female cyclists confirms that travelling speed has no impact on cycling decisions, reinforcing the notion that cultural norms and the lack of bicycle education, among many others, are the main barriers to more female cycling in Sub-Saharan Africa. Creating policies that encourage bicycle education at the school level, and teaching the value of cycling use for health and the environment, will help destigmatize cycling and remove cultural norms and restrictions

The ESKE Project : a South-North educational and knowledge exchange framework to enhance food security and livelihoods

Office for Students; UK Research and Innovation; Research England; Brunel University London; QR Global Challenges Research Fun

Quality changes and shelf-life prediction of a fresh fruit and vegetables purple smoothie

The sensory, microbial and bioactive quality changes of untreated (CTRL) and mild heat−treated (HT; 90 ºC/45 s) smoothies were studied and modelled throughout storage (5, 15 and 25 ºC). The overall acceptability was better preserved in HT samples being highly correlated (hierarchical clustering) with the flavour. The sensory quality data estimated smoothie shelf−life (CTRL/HT) of 18/55 (at 5 ºC), 4.5/12 (at 15 ºC), 2.4/5.8 (at 25 ºC) days. The yeast and moulds growth rate was lower in HT compared to CTRL while a lag phase for mesophiles/psychrophiles was observed in HT−5/15 ºC. HT and 5 ºC−storage stabilized the phenolics content. FRAP reported the best correlation (R2=0.94) with the studied bioactive compounds, followed by ABTS (R2=0.81) while DPPH was the total antioxidant capacity method with the lowest adjustment (R2=0.49). Conclusively, modelling was used to estimate the shelf−life of a smoothie based on quality retention after a short time−high temperature heat treatment that better preserved microbial and nutritional quality during storage.The financial support of this research was provided by the Ministerio Español de Economía y Competitividad MINECO (Projects AGL2013−48830−C2−1−R and AGL2013−48993−C2−1−R) and by FEDER funds. G.A. González−Tejedor thanks to Panamá Government for the scholarship to carry out his PhD Thesis. A. Garre (BES−2014−070946) is grateful to the MINECO for awarding him a pre−doctoral grant. We are also grateful to E. Esposito and N. Castillejo for their skilful technical assistance

Inventory management concepts and implementations : a systematic review

Inventory is a central management function. It is a cornerstone of supply chain management and logistics in the material management system. Depending on the organisational objectives, inventories in warehouses may be needed to fulfil customer or humanitarian demands. Controlling inventory is critical to operational success and organisational performance. This research reviews inventory management concepts and implementations in the face of increasingly demanding human need. Demand is a critical variable in the inventory control system, and its characteristics affect inventory treatment. Important demand characteristics include its level of certainty, which could be deterministic (i.e., known with certainty) or stochastic/Bayesian (i.e., known but uncertain), and its structural dependency (i.e., independent or dependent). This review considers the deterministic independent and dependent natures of demand and their respective impact on inventory management in operations.Voorraad is 'n sentrale bestuursfunksie. Dit is die hoeksteen van voorsieningskettingbestuur en -logistiek in materiaalbestuurstelsels. Afhangende van die doelwitte van die organisasie, mag voorraad in pakhuise nodig wees om aan klante of humanitêre eise te voldoen. Die beheer van voorraad is van kritieke belang vir operasionele sukses en organisatoriese prestasie. Hierdie navorsing hersien voorraadbestuurskonsepte en die implementering daarvan te midde van toenemende veeleisende menslike nood. Aanvraag is 'n kritieke veranderlike in die voorraadbeheerstelsel en die kenmerke daarvan beïnvloed voorraadbehandeling. Belangrike aanvraag kenmerke sluit in die vlak van sekerheid, wat deterministies (d.w.s. met sekerheid bekend) of stochasties/Bayesian (d.w.s. bekend, maar onseker) kan wees, en die strukturele afhanklikheid daarvan (d.w.s. onafhanklik of afhanklik). Hierdie oorsig oorweeg die deterministiese onafhanklike en afhanklike aard van aanvraag en hul impak op voorraadbestuur in bedrywighede.http://sajie.journals.ac.zaam2023Industrial and Systems Engineerin

Using transportation problem in humanitarian supply chain to prepositioned facility locations : a case study in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Over the last two decades, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been plague by conflicts that has caused the lives of millions of Congolese in the eastern parts of the country while displacing many more. These multifaceted man-made conflicts have contributed to the crumbling of the regional infrastructures and transportation system, to insecurity, poverty and many more. Despite the region huge human, minerals, forestry and energy potential for development, the DRC authorities and international organizations operating in the region have largely failed to ensure farmers, miners, scholars of the Eastern Congo safety during their day to day routine. It is for such reason, humanitarian reliefs are needed to supplement any shortfalls in term of foods, medicines, shelters and others. This research aimed at optimizing prepositioned relief supply to the region. This study intends first to identify potential prepositioned relief locations in the three most conflicts heated provinces in the Eastern Congo (Ituri, South Kivu and North Kivu). Then, the study uses transportation problem in minimizing the total costs and the total time of distributing goods from supply points (sources) to a number of demand points (destinations). The model outcome reveals that by incorporating all transportation modes into the operation, humanitarian organizations are more flexible against infrastructures, health or security challenges that often ravage Eastern Congo.http://link.springer.com/journal/131982021-09-02hj2020Industrial and Systems Engineerin

Patient satisfaction survey: Kouga sub district

Commissioned by the Eastern Cape Department of Health, Kouga sub district, FebruaryThe objective of this study was to conduct a patient satisfaction survey in 12 selected facilities in Kouga Sub District. Facilities were selected from the municipal areas of Sundays River Valley, KouKamma, and Kouga. Respondents were generally satisfied on most domains except for a few items under Service Standards domain. There is room to improve these areas and to maintain areas that are working well