Results of the first hydroacoustic survey of the Ugandan waters of Lake Victoria

A lakewide hydroacoustic research programme was designed in the Ugandan waters of Lake Victoria in order to ascertain the status of fish stocks. Data obtained from the hydroacoustic surveys were complemented with by catch data from multi mesh gillnets and frame trawls to validate acoustic estimates. Fish were distributed over the whole survey area, though the densities and species composition varied from place to place. Echo traces showed the fish formed schools during daytime and became more dispersed towards evening. Approximately equivalent indices of abundance were estimated for Rastrineobola argentea and Haplocromines. The distribution of the freshwater prawn, Caridina nilotica and the lakefly Chaoborus sp. was patchy. Dense swarms of Chaoborus larvae were observed to disperse from the lake bottom as the night approached thus assuring echo-traces formed by fish on the echogram and making their interpretation difficult. Caridina nilotica were observed to form dense echo-traces at the thermoclin

TRANSNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS IN THE COVID-19 ERA; STUDENTS’ RATING OF AN ONLINE AND MODULAR LEARNING PROGRAMME

Transnational educational partnerships among tertiary institutions have been around for a long time all over the world. There will always be cases where some institutions or countries have a better capacity and operational advantage over others. It is because of this rationale that educational institutions from two or more countries through collaborative partnerships and or relationships, rally or agree to counter contemporary challenges in their countries and they have been very successful in this for a long time. The COVID-19 pandemic created a disruption of education systems, affecting over 1.6 billion learners globally and hence the numerous surges of transnational educational partnerships. The study investigated the rating of a programme that is running under a transnational higher education partnership between two institutions in two different countries. An exploratory study of a qualitative design was adopted for this research and by use of a closed and open-ended questionnaire, data was collected. The questionnaire was designed to benchmark the three instructional strategies of the Community of Inquiry framework model, and these are cognitive presence, social presence, and teaching presence. Results reveal positive students’ ratings of the programme on all instructional strategies social, teaching, and cognitive presence with a few outliers. The study portrays an effective switch from a face-to-face lecture learning session programme, to online-modular learning without so many obstacles to affect the teaching-learning process. Future research could pick interest in more detailed experiences of students on such programmes, and this is in addition to the detailed responses for other stakeholders like instructors, administrators, and possibly parents.  Article visualizations

Increasing household toilet investments through CLUES: lessons from Ashaiman Municipal Assembly, Ghana

Community-Led Urban Environmental Sanitation (CLUES) is a planning approach piloted in Ghana as a sanitation demand creation and triggering method to increase household investment in toilet facilities. It is implemented by the Government of Ghana in Ashaiman Municipal Assembly with technical support from people's Dialogue on Human Settlements and funding from UNICEF-Ghana. This paper provides results from the implementation process. Within a year of actual implementation, over 800 households inAshaiman's largely informal settlements expressed interest in sanitation investment with over 300 already with complete functional toilets.

Gender and sanitation perspectives in Kampala's slums, Uganda

The perceived access to sanitation facilities for most urban slum dwellers in developing countries may have similar or varying viewpoints from the gender context. To comprehend such gender differentiations, this paper presents an analysis of results from a cross-sectional survey conducted in 2010 from 50 randomly chosen slums in Kampala. The findings show that sanitation has a greater effect on women than men. Gender positively correlated (Pearson chi-square values < 0.05) with the type of toilet facilities used (shared and private toilets) and satisfaction. The variables such as having separate toilet rooms for males and female, water for hand washing after using a toilet and a toilet room having a big space were also important gender attributes

Guidelines, Frameworks and Practices of School Guidance and Counselling: A Comparison between Uganda and Germany

This study sought to review the school guidance and counselling program in Uganda as an underdeveloped country in comparison with that of Germany as a developed one. The study was prompted by the unending unemployment and the rising poverty levels, especially in the underdeveloped world. These are some of the most challenging bottlenecks to economic development in the third world and can only be solved by a well aligned and strategically designed education system as per Goal 4.7 of the United Nation’s Strategic Development Goals.&nbsp; The study applied a qualitative thematic approach to collect data from existing frameworks, guidelines and studies on school guidance and counselling of the two countries. The study established that the easy access of guidance and counselling program information from various sources in Germany helps students to make informed decisions for their future career, which boosts the country’s attainment of intended educational, manpower goals and objectives. Unlike Germany, Uganda misses a lot of information, for instance, on opportunities that would help international students and immigrants to make informed decisions toward their future careers. The study recommends that the Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports considers overhauling its School guidance and counselling program since there are numerous gaps as compared with that of Germany. Germany can also consider developing school guidance and counselling curriculum to standardize that practice across the country

Ecological sanitation uptake, knowledge, beliefs and practices in Kabale Municipality, Kabale District

Ecological sanitation is a promising novel innovation being promoted in many developing countries to boost sanitation coverage. This paper aims to share findings from a cross sectional study to assess ecological sanitation uptake, knowledge, beliefs and practices in Kabale Municipality, Uganda. A total of 806 respondents were interviewed, randomly selected from 32 of 77 (42%) villages in Kabale municipality. We held 6 focus group discussions and 10 key informant interviews. Ecosan coverage was found to be 20% (163/806) and 82% of the respondents knowledgeable. Factors reported for the uptake included education, occupation, religion, age, promotion methods, positive beliefs and the geological formation of the municipality

Prevalence and determinants of the cleanliness of shared toilets in Kampala slums, Uganda

Aim: Keeping shared toilets clean is a key public health challenge household users face in urban slum settlements of most developing countries. This paper provides insights on the cleanliness of households' shared toilets and the factors that influence their cleanliness, as well as influencing the inclination of the users to keep them clean. Subjects and methods: This analysis is part of a cross-sectional study conducted in 50 randomly selected slums in Kampala, Uganda between October and November 2010. A total of 1,500 respondents were interviewed, using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results: Out of 1,019 respondents using shared toilets, less than 12% reported having very clean toilets. Some of the significant factors influencing the cleanliness of shared toilets are: the ease or difficulty in keeping shared toilets clean, the number of households sharing a toilet room, effortful cleaning behaviour and cleaning intention on the part of the users. Conclusion: The findings show that most slum dwellers use toilets that are not hygienic

Assessment of vegetation in Murchison falls national park five years after the completion of oil and gas exploration

Uganda discovered petroleum deposits in commercially viable quantities in 2006. Most areas such as Murchison Falls National Park (MFNP) where petroleum has been discovered overlap with wildlife and nature conservation with high biodiversity and sensitive ecosystems. This study sought to study the vegetation frequency index, relative abundance and diversity in former oil pads five years after the completion of oil and gas exploration in MFNP. We counted all observed plant species following a systematic random sampling technique using a (1mx1m) quadrat for herbs, (5mx5m) quadrat for shrubs, and (10mx10m) quadrat for trees. Data was collected using a 60m line transect to record the identified plant species. The study used a total of eight quadrats per transect and the total number of transects were 32. A quadrat was placed every after 7m along the line transect in and outside the oil pads. Each transect begun from the center (placard) of the oil pad going in directions of center to north, center to south, center to east, and center to west. This was carried out for purposes of replication and the same procedure was carried out for the control area. The same procedure was conducted at a frequency of wet (4th-30th April 2019) and dry (1st-30th June 2019) seasons. The counted data was later transformed and analyzed using t-statistical tests and chi- square tests in SPSS version 20 software. The study recorded uniform and non-uniform plant species and the mean vegetation diversity of 1.9±0.06 in oil pads and 1.71±0.12 in control areas. The study identified 31 different plant species, and among these, seven plant species were recorded in oil pads, eight in control areas. The results of vegetation relative abundance and diversity between oil pads and control areas were generally similar. However, the study observed some plant species such as Desert date (Balanites aegyptiaca) in control areas that were completely absent in oil pads. Further studies focusing on edaphic assessments, soil chemical, and biological analysis to better understand the impacts of oil exploration in the protected area are recommended