Sustainable livelihoods to adaptive capabilities: a global learning journey in a small state, Zanzibar

This thesis takes global learning out of the formal setting of a Northern classroom to a rural community setting in the Global South as a social learning process. It begins with a critical reflection of a large EU project to develop a global learning programme as a Global North South initiative. The focus narrows to Zanzibar, a small island state, to critically reflect on the delivery of the programme. And then further to focus on the global social learning and change that occurred in a rural community setting in the north of the island. Through participatory action research, I investigate the relevance of global learning as a social learning process, how norms and rules are shaped within a community setting and how these enable social change towards sustainable livelihoods. The thesis splices the intersection between critical and social theories of learning and engagement, to include critical social theories of Habermas (1984) and Wals (2007); critical race theories of Giroux (1997) and Said (1994) and distributive justice and entitlements theories of Sen (1997) and Moser (1998). It demonstrates the importance of dissonance and a safe space for deliberative dialogue, to be able to consider the global pressures and forces on local realities as the precursor to social change towards sustainability. I conclude by relating the learning from this small island state to the wider world and the current discourse on quality of education in a community development context

Relative expression (RT-qPCR) of <i>BNP</i>, Serca2a (<i>ATP2A2</i>) and <i>KCNA5</i> genes in samples from the RV Endocardium of controls (grey bars) and rTOF (black bars) hearts.

<p>Transcript expression is normalized to the reference genes HPRT1 and GUSB. Two sided T-Test Statistical significance of n = 5 Controls and n = 7 rTOF hearts (*P <0.05, **P <0.01, ***P <0.001).</p

The significant gene ontology biological processes in the RV Endocardium.

<p>The significant gene ontology biological processes in the RV Endocardium.</p

Fold change comparison between samples from the RV endocardium (rTOF (n = 7)r versus controls (n = 5)), RV epicardium (rTOF (n = 4) versus controls (n = 4)), LV epicardium (rTOF (n = 4) versus controls (n = 4)), and LV endorcadium (rTOF (n = 7) versus controls (n = 5)) based on microarray expression data of 14 genes.

<p>Statistical significance (*P <0.05, **P <0.01, ***P <0.001).</p><p>Fold change comparison between samples from the RV endocardium (rTOF (n = 7)r versus controls (n = 5)), RV epicardium (rTOF (n = 4) versus controls (n = 4)), LV epicardium (rTOF (n = 4) versus controls (n = 4)), and LV endorcadium (rTOF (n = 7) versus controls (n = 5)) based on microarray expression data of 14 genes.</p

Heatmap displaying the 153 most differentially expressed probes (p<0.05 FC>1.2) in the RV Endocardium of 5 controls pigs (T1 to T5) and of 7 rTOF pigs (F1 to F7).

<p>The red and green colors indicate relative transcript abundance (red = overexpressed, green = downregulated). The columns represent the 12 samples while the rows correspond to the 153 probes. Samples were classified using hierarchical clustering, according to similarity in change in relative transcript abundance.</p

Functional categorization analysis of the most significant pathways represented in the microarray-generated list of the 54 most differentially expressed genes (Ingenuity software) in the RV Endocardium of rTOF pigs.

<p>The p-values (blue bars) were calculated using the right-tailed Fisher’s exact test. The threshold (yellow line) is set to a p-value = 0.05. The ratios (yellow dots and curve) represent the number of molecules of the experiment related to the number of total molecules involved in the pathways.</p

Relative expression (RT-qPCR) of genes in control (open bars) and Fallots (closed bars) pigs’ hearts and Fold change comparison between samples of the four localizations.

<p>Transcript expression is normalized to the reference genes HPRT1 and GUSB. Two sided T-Test Statistical significance of n = 5 Controls and n = 7 rTOF hearts (*P <0.05, **P <0.01, ***P <0.001).</p