An analysis of the role of Non-Govermental Organisations in the social welfare policy process: a case study of Zimbabwe

This study is an interpretive analysis of the roles of NGOs in the social policy process, using the case of postcolonial Zimbabwe. Assessing the period between 2000 and 2010 and the prevailing unique socio-economic and geopolitical crisis, the study engages the major contextual factors influencing evolution of NGOs and their engagement in the policy process. It focuses on the conceptual and state – civil society contestations on the legitimacy of NGO’s as well as an assessment of their impact on the social policy process. NGOs in Zimbabwe have played two major and two minor roles in the social policy process as identified in the study in terms of their prominence and impact on the policy process. That is: policy implementer role complementing state social policy provision, democratisation to pluralism the social policy arena as the major roles; educational role to developing interventions for better social policy and watchdog role monitoring government and other state institutions in meeting the social policy needs of citizens. The thesis argues that analysis of NGOs is embedded in understanding the role of the state and dialectical relationship between state and civil society. Using a neo-Marxist perspective and social democratic approach to the role of the state in social policy, the theoretical generalisations of the study are that NGOs have a legitimate role to play in the social policy process. However, this is defined by the nature and role of the state itself as central driving agent in social policy. Therefore, the roles NGOs are not exclusive in themselves but are anchored within the contextual framework and its definition of societal spheres within it. The thesis established the evolution of the NGO sector in Zimbabwe, its impact on the social, political landscape and argues that the democratisation agenda in Zimbabwe requires a political solution embedded in a transformative state as the panacea for building a redistributive and participatory social policy agenda that engages with non-state actors, NGOs included within a developmental framework. Conclusively, the thesis proposes a theoretical distinction between NGOs as service oriented entities and CSOs as forums for associational life and civic engagement

Investigation of teachers' use of language during teaching of evolution in South African life sciences classrooms

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Johannesburg March 2017In South Africa there are eleven official languages and every citizen has a right to receive education in any of these languages. Nevertheless, the language of learning and teaching (LOLT) in most schools is either English or Afrikaans. Of the two languages English is more dominant because it is a global language and is preferred by parents. In a bid to embrace the call by UNSESCO (2007) which encourages science learning and teaching to be done in the mother tongue, South Africa implemented the teaching of science in indigenous languages in the lower grades in primary (1-3). Nonetheless, this endeavor has its merits and demerits. In South African schools most teachers and learners are English Second Language speakers. This study investigated the South African life sciences teachers’ use of science classroom language (technical and non-technical components) when teaching evolution to grade 12 learners in public schools. The primary objective of this study was to establish South Africa’s life sciences teachers’ awareness of the difficulty of the science classroom language towards suggesting strategies that they use to assist learners to better understand the science language. Three grade 12 life sciences teachers from two public schools in Johannesburg were observed and audio recorded three times while teaching evolution. A follow-up interview with each teacher was conducted to obtain clarity on language related issues that arose from the observations. As a result, the empirical data consisted of nine recorded lessons and accompanying field notes for each lesson as well as three recorded interviews. The interviews and the field notes were analysed using an interpretive approach whilst a strategy known as content analysis was used to analyse classroom observations so as to conclude on the teachers’ preferred approach to language use during teaching. From the findings, it can be suggested that South African life sciences teachers who participated in this study employed a variety of strategies to present technical terms to their learners but lacked explicit awareness of the difficulty of the science classroom language.MT 201

Regard sur la Collection des Sanza de L'Institut des Musees Nationaux du Zaire

Sanza, often translated as "thumb piano", is one of the important traditional musical instruments in Africa. It is neither a percussion nor a wind instrument, and because of this ambiguity it has been a problem to the Western ethnomusicologists who are interested in the classification of musical instruments. The authors describe the forms, decorations, raw materials and playing techniques of various sanzas, based on the materials stored at the National Museum of Zaire, and attempt to classify them, mainly according to the type of resonance box. Also pointed out in this paper is the importance of the study of musical instruments for better understanding of traditional society

Participatory methods for health impact assessment

Participatory methods for health impact assessmen

A new mycobacterial rifampicin resistance

Rifampicin is a major chemotherapeutic agent used against mycobacterial and nocardial infections. However, drug resistance in many of these strains has emerged as a one of the major challenges being faced by researchers. High level resistance to rifampicin is primarily due to mutational alterations in the rpoB gene encoding the β subunit of RNA polymerase. A number of cases have been reported in which there is no mutation in this gene leading to the discovery of the inactivation methods: decomposition, ADP-ribosylation, glucosylation and phosphorylation. Decomposition occurs mostly in Nocardia, Rhodococcus and Mycobacterium species. I isolated a new rifampicin resistance gene isolated from the M. smegmatis 43756Km1. Its sequence showed that it coded for the enzyme 2-hydroxy-6-ketonona-2,4-dienedioic acid hydrolase. This enzyme takes part in the hydrolysis of C-C bonds of aromatic compounds especially in the metabolic pathway of phenylalanine. Rifampicin is bright red but is completely decolourised by iri-mediated decomposition but 2-hydroxy-6-ketonona-2,4-dienedioic acid hydrolase showed only 75% decolourisation. This may be because this enzyme does not completely breakdown the rifampicin molecule

Double Tuned Cosine Coil for NMR Imaging/Microscopy

The fabrication of a cosine coil having unevenly distributed struts is detailed. Placing the struts in such a manner enables a standing wave at the desired frequency and, hence, only one resonance frequency is obtained. This study details the fabrication of a cosine coil tuned to the LJ-7 frequency (77.76 MHz) and then double-tuned to the H-1 frequency (200.1 MHz) when operated at 4.7 Tesla. Double-tuning is attained by placing an LC trap in series with a capacitor used to single-tune the coil. Also, a method is suggested by which a cosine coil can be broadbanded in the lower frequency range simply by replacing a fixed capacitor

Green extraction technology for the extraction of iron from iron ore fines

Large quantities of iron ore fines accumulate near iron ore mining operations and cannot be used in conventional iron ore treatment processes. Existing iron ore fines processing techniques are associated with high costs, high energy consumptions and high greenhouse gas emissions. Greater environmental concern in the last few years creates the need to develop greener extraction techniques. In this study, a green method for the extraction of iron from iron ore fines using acetylacetone (C5H8O2) was investigated and several processes for the utilization of the extraction products were proposed. The extraction experiments were performed on iron ore fines containing 93 wt% of hematite. In the gas phase, it was found that the extraction increases with temperature and acetylacetone flowrate but decreases with bed weight. Very low extractions were observed at all the operating conditions under investigation. The highest extraction of only 3.88 % was obtained at 9 mL/min of acetylacetone after 6 hours. The low extractions were attributed to mass transfer limitations probably associated with the passivation of the active surface of the iron ore fines. In order to overcome these limitations the extraction experiments were performed in the liquid phase (leaching). Using a 2k factorial design method, it was found that temperature and solid to liquid ratio had significant effects on the leaching process. The highest iron extraction of 97.7% was obtained at 140 °C, 0.025:1 solid to liquid ratio and a particle size of 106 to 150 μm after 48 hours. An adapted form of the shrinking core model was used for the kinetic analysis of the leaching process and the best fit was found to be the chemical reaction controlled model. However, the calculated activation energy from the modelling was 4.22 kJ/mol suggesting that the process might be controlled by diffusion. The extraction products were easily separated from unreacted acetylacetone using a Heidolph evaporator and iron(III) acetylacetonate crystals were formed in the process. A preliminary study showed that the gas phase recovery of iron from iron(III) acetylacetonate using hydrogen is practically feasible. This work has shown that the proposed extraction method can be used as a platform for the development of two manufacturing processes; the production of iron nanoparticles and that of iron(III) acetylacetonate crystals. An economic feasibility study of the latter process was performed and the large net present value (NPV) of 1.153 Billion Rand, and high internal rate of return (IRR) of 63% were indicators of a profitable process

Knowledge and practices of breast self-examination among women admitted at a private clinic, Zimbabwe

Text in EnglishMonthly breast self-examination (BSE) is an extremely important part of health care for all women in every stage of life as a primary tool in the prevention of breast cancer. The purpose of this study was to determine the knowledge and practice of BSE among women at a private clinic in Zimbabwe. A non-experimental cross-sectional descriptive research design was used. The accessible population was one hundred women admitted to the selected private clinic. Data collection was done using a questionnaire which consisted of three parts: socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge about BSE and practices of BSE. Data obtained was analysed using EPI INFO version 3.3.2. Results showed that respondents were knowledgeable about breast cancer early warning signs and symptoms and BSE. About 28% of the respondents were aware of when to initiate BSE and 74% performed BSE, but their practice was poor. Educational materials should be freely available at hospitals and schools to enhance BSE awareness.Health StudiesM.A. (Health Studies

Survey of children accessing HIV services in a high prevalence setting: time for adolescents to count?

OBJECTIVE: To establish the proportion of adolescents among children infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Zimbabwe who receive HIV care and support, and what clinic staff perceives to be the main problems faced by HIV-infected children and adolescents. METHODS: In July 2008, we sent a questionnaire to all 131 facilities providing HIV care in Zimbabwe. In it we requested an age breakdown of the children (aged 0-19 years) registered for care and asked what were the two major problems faced by younger children (0-5 years) and adolescents (10-19 years). FINDINGS: Nationally, 115 (88%) facilities responded. In 98 (75%) that provided complete data, 196 032 patients were registered and 24 958 (13%) of them were children. Of children under HIV care, 33% were aged 0-4 years; 25%, 5-9 years; 25%, 10-14 years; and 17%, 15-19 years. Staff highlighted differences in the problems most commonly faced by younger children and adolescents. For younger children, such problems were malnutrition and lack of appropriate drugs (cited by 46% and 40% of clinics, respectively); for adolescents they concerned psychosocial issues and poor drug adherence (cited by 56% and 36%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Interventions for the large cohort of adolescents who are receiving HIV care in Zimbabwe need to target the psychosocial concerns and poor drug adherence reported by staff as being the main concerns in this age group

A Scoping Review of Gut Microbiome and Bifidobacterium Research in Zimbabwe:Implications for Future Studies

Background: Gut microbiota play a key role in host health, with certain Bifidobacterium strains critical for immune development. The healthy gut of breastfed infants is dominated by these pioneer microbes, especially the strains that feed on human milk oligosaccharides.Objective: This is a scoping review of gut microbiome research from Zimbabwe. It focuses on distribution and dynamic changes of bifidobacteria, and milk components that promote growth of microbes in infants, together with the distribution of associated gut microbes in adults.Design: Online databases were searched for publications from 2000 to 2023.Results and Analysis: Fourteen publications on microbiota of infants and adults were included in this scoping review. Most were cross-sectional, while three were clinical trials/cohort protocols. Publications focused on pediatrics (78.5%), pregnant women (14.3%), and men (7.2%). Zimbabwe has a high burden of HIV; hence 35.7% of study populations were delineated by HIV status. The laboratory methods used included shotgun metagenomics (62%) or 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Almost 85% of the studies focused on total microbiome profiles and rarely reported the distribution of different Bifidobacterium species and variants. None of the papers studied human breast milk composition. There were reports of reduced abundance of beneficial genera in pregnant women, children, and adolescents living with HIV. Additionally, gut microbiota was reported to be poorly predictive of child growth and vaccine response, though this was not conclusive.Conclusion: There are few studies that characterize the gut microbiome by Zimbabwe-based researchers. However, studies on strain level diversity of Bifidobacterium and other key microbes, and their role in health during and beyond infancy, lag behind in Zimbabwe and other low- and middle-income countries. Such cohorts are needed to inform future mechanistic studies and downstream translational work such as next-generation probiotics and prebiotics