Social Capital and Soil Erosion Control in Agriculturally Marginal Areas of Kenya: The Case of Machakos and Taita-Taveta Districts

This paper evaluates the farmers perception of the soil erosion problem, and identifies and analyses social capital elements that motivate households to actively participate in soil conservation in agricultural production process. The data used in the study was generated using a structured questionnaire in a survey that covered 321 households in Kenyas semi arid districts of Machakos and Taita-Taveta Districts. Two modelling strategies were used: A Probit model was used to estimate the likelihoods of factors that may influence farmers perception of soil erosion problem, and a Tobit to estimate parameters of factors that influence terracing intensity. The results indicate that although perception of the soil erosion problem is relatively high in the study sites, its effect on soil conservation investments is not significant. In Machakos, the significant determinants of terracing intensity include land tenure, crop area, household size, and membership diversity whereas in Taita-Taveta they include age of household head and consumer-worker ratio. Results from the aggregated data show that lagged crop output, group membership density and diversity, cognitive social capital and location significantly influence the terracing intensity on farm household fields. The policy challenge is to establish and strengthen social capital elements that have a strong influence on communities undertaking soil erosion control measures for sustainable agriculture and rural development.Social capital, Marginal areas, Soil erosion, Perception, Two-step estimation, Kenya, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, C24, D23, Q15, Z13,

Serum vitamin D in patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease

Objectives: To determine the relevance of Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D3), and 1,25(OH)2D3 concentrations to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and various stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Materials and Methods: The study included 230 participants (>74 years) allocated to three main groups: 1-healthy subjects (HS, n = 61), 2-patients with MCI (n = 61), and 3- patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) subdivided into three stages: mild (n = 41), moderate (n = 35), and severe AD (n = 32). The cognitive status was evaluated using MMSE. Serum 25 (OH)D3 (ng/ml) and 1,25(OH)2D3 concentrations (pg/ml) were determined by competitive radioimmunoassay. Results: MMSE scores and 25(OH)D3 were decreased in MCI and all stages of the AD in both genders. MMSE variability was due to gender in HS (11%) and to 25(OH)D3 in MCI (15%) and AD (26%). ROC analysis revealed an outstanding property of MMSE in diagnosis of MCI (AUC, 0.906; CI 95%, 0.847–0.965; sensitivity 82%; specificity, 98%) and AD (AUC, 0.997; CI 95%, 0.992–1; sensitivity, 100%; specificity, 98%). 25(OH)D3 exhibited good property in MCI (AUC, 0.765; CI 95%, 0.681–0.849; sensitivity, 90%; specificity, 54%) and an excellent property in diagnosis of AD (AUC, 0.843; CI 95%, 0.782–0.904; sensitivity, 97%; specificity, 79%). Logistic analyses revealed that, in MCI, MMSE could predict (or classify correctly) with 97.6% accuracy (Wald, 15.22, β, −0.162; SE, 0.554; OR = 0.115:0.039–0.341; p =.0001), whereas 25(OH)D3 with 80% accuracy (Wald, 41,013; β, −0.213; SE, 0.033; OR = 0.808: 0.757–863; p =.0001). 25(OH)D3 was the only significant predictor for the severe AD and contributed to MMSE variability. Age and gender were significant predictors only in the moderate AD. In patients with MCI, 25(OH)D3 and 1,25(OH)2D3 were correlated men, but in case of the AD, they were correlated in women. Conclusions: MMSE and serum 25(OH)D3 concentrations could be useful biomarkers for prediction and diagnosis of MCI and various stages of the AD. The results support the utility of vitamin D supplementation in AD therapy regimen. © 2018 The Authors. Brain and Behavior published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Scaling-up sanitation and hygiene promotion through grant-making

Kenya losses USD 324 million per year due to poor sanitation (World Bank, 2012), and 19,500 Kenyans, including 17,100 children under 5 die each year due to diarrhoea. This paper aims to demonstrate how the Kenya Sanitation and Hygiene Improvement Programme (K-SHIP) is scaling up Sanitation & Hygiene promotion through grant-making while contributing to the country’s target of being Open Defecation Free (ODF) by the year 2020. KSHIP is funded by Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) through Global Sanitation Fund (GSF) and implemented by Amref Health Africa in Kenya. In 2016, K-SHIP competitively contracted 17 sub-grantees(SGs) who implemented sanitation and hygiene activities in 11 counties reaching over 235,663 people with S&H services. The capacity of the SGs was built and the model can be used as an advocacy tool for resource mobilization. 149 villages have been certified ODF which is associated with reduced sanitation related morbidity

Higher Education funding, Justice and Equity - Critical Perspectives

How governments choose to fund students in higher education (HE) is inextricably linked to the sector’s sustainability and efforts to achieve a just and equitable HE experience and outcomes for all students. The way funding mechanisms are structured and subsequently enacted within the university, has far-reaching consequences, with the implications reaching far beyond the walls of the institution (Shermer, 2021). In the context of austerity, marketisation, credentialisation and related neoliberal conceptions of education and society, student funding models have greatly transformed the sector and its role in enabling or hindering efforts to achieve a more just and equitable society (Quinlan, 2014). However, despite well-intentioned global and national-level policy commitments to achieving justice and equity in and through HE, the persistent effects of geography, race, wealth, gender, and class-based disparities in patterns of access, participation and attainment rates have undermined the idea of HE as a vehicle for just and equitable futures and transformation (Boliver, 2017). Higher education institutions globally find themselves at a crossroads of trying to maintain their core purpose as a public good on the one hand and compliance with global neoliberal policies, which are foundational to the modern university on the other. The tension between these contested and seemingly contradicting paradigms is made visible in how universities respond to issues of inclusion, equity and in how and what they choose to fund

Livelihood strategies in the rural Kenyan highlands

The concept of a livelihood strategy has become central to development practice in recent years. Nonetheless, precise identification of livelihoods in quantitative data has remained methodologically elusive. This paper uses cluster analysis methods to operationalize the concept of livelihood strategies in household data and then uses the resulting strategy-specific income distributions to test whether the hypothesized outcome differences between livelihoods indeed exist. Using data from Kenya’s central and western highlands, we identify five distinct livelihood strategies that exhibit statistically significant differences in mean per capita incomes and stochastic dominance orderings that establish clear welfare rankings among livelihood strategies. Multinomial regression analysis identifies geographic, demographic and financial determinants of livelihood choice. The results should facilitate targeting of interventions designed to improve household livelihoods.Livelihood strategy, Kenya, Smallholder agriculture, Cluster analysis, Community/Rural/Urban Development,