Organisations In Africa Research Articles

Advocacy Campaign: Breast Care International Approach

Background and context: Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths among Ghanaian women, but it has been identified as 1 of the neglected noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). In 2012, GLOBOCAN reported that ∼2260 people were diagnosed with breast cancer in Ghana with a high age standardized mortality rate of 11.7 per 100,000. Although, it is acknowledged that early detection and prompt action reduces mortality, 80% of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients delay presentation. It is a well-known fact that cancers are now killing more people in Africa than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Due to lack of awareness about cancers and late reporting of the cases, a lot of cancer patients get very little intervention and support and that explains why most cancer deaths occur in Africa, especially women in rural areas. Breast Care International (BCI), a nongovernmental organization in Ghana, established in 2002, is a leading breast cancer advocacy organization in Africa providing an enabling environment to enhance early detection and reduce the late-stage presentation of breast cancer. Aim: To maximize personal and community wellness through community participation, excellence in public health education, empowering people to save lives and to end late-stage presentation of breast cancer in Ghana. Strategy/Tactics: To enhance early detection and reduce late-stage presentation of breast cancer in Ghana by disintegrating the myths and misconception about breast cancer. Program/Policy process: BCI has been conducting outreach awareness programs in Ghana to women groups, educational institutions, churches and social groups, especially those in deprived communities, educating them on breast self-examination (BSE) and then clinically screening the women. The involvement of breast cancer survivors to share their testimonies on various platforms to demystify breast cancer as an incurable disease and the misconceptions of it being from ancestral curses. Community-based nurses trained in basic oncology are to be deployed to the district level to create awareness about breast health and other NCDs at the grass root level with the aim of detecting breast cancer early for a prompt referral to health facilities for further management. Outcomes: BCI’s demand-driven outreach awareness campaigns and screening programs have been empowering women to perform their BSE and as a result most patients report to the hospital with lumps and abnormalities that were detected during their BSE. What was learned: Although, BCI has been intensively involved in breast cancer advocacy programs in Ghana, a concerted effort is required from opinion leaders, political figures, health service providers, organized groups and business organizations to assist to control the incidence of breast cancer in Ghana.

Youth Music Production and Consumption in Africa

In view of the need to promote perspectives that move beyond the familiar narratives of social problems among young people, this article examines their contribution to the production and consumption of popular music in Africa. The data used for this article were taken from a systematic review of the relevant literature and insights from theories such as structuration, Afrikology, diffusion of innovation and planned behaviour. These theories were synthesised for a better understanding of the role young people play in the production and consumption of popular music in Africa. The findings revealed that many youths have contributed significantly to the production of popular music in Africa, while some have also encouraged its consumption by developing entrepreneurship in the music industry in Africa. In conclusion, music production has become a viable source of survival for many youths, as well as a reliable means of entertainment for individuals and corporate organisations in Africa. By examining several cases of music production and consumption across Africa, this article establishes a cross-cultural conversation about the visibility and significance of youths in the production and consumption of popular music in Africa. This shows that policymakers and other stakeholders in youth development can encourage youth people to explore entrepreneurial opportunities in the music industry as a catalyst for sustainable development in Africa.

PP129 The Need For Building Pharmacists HTA Capacity; The Nigerian Scenario

Introduction:The role of Health technology assessment (HTA) as a systematic approach in the evaluation of health interventions and technologies is becoming increasingly important as the quest for attaining universal health coverage globally continues to increase. Some developed countries in Europe and the Americas now apply HTA extensively in healthcare policy decisions, however, developing regions and countries like sub-Saharan Africa and Nigeria respectively, seem not to be making significant progress in this area. Given that evidence suggests that Nigeria and indeed several countries in sub-Saharan Africa are performing poorly on most healthcare indices as the region continues to be ravaged by predictable and avoidable epidemics and disease outbreaks, the need to build HTA capacity has never been more paramount.Methods:A review of HTA capability in Nigeria was done. Pharmacists in Nigeria's Capital were randomly sampled. Semi-structured questionnaires were administered. Descriptive statistics was used in data analysis. P values less than 0.05 were considered to be significant.Results:In Nigeria, there is no institution tasked with undertaking HTA and there seems to be limited knowledge, capacity and awareness on the issue. Pharmacists, being the most accessible healthcare professionals according to evidence, are a key group that could play an active role in HTA and its implementation in developing countries like Nigeria. However, out of 322 pharmacists randomly sampled, ninty-three percent were not aware of HTA and its application in healthcare decision-making.Conclusions:There is no paucity of healthcare programs and plans in Nigeria but they seem to fail due to lack of evidence-based assessment, decision-making and implementation. Hence, there is increasing need to raise awareness on the importance of HTA in healthcare decision-making; strengthen HTA capacity by developing and sustaining institutional capacity and adequate human resource for HTA; and creating regional annexes of HTA organizations in Africa.

Ethics and Procurement Performance of Humanitarian Organizations in Kenya

The purpose of this study is to establish the relationship between ethics and procurement performance of humanitarian organizations in Kenya. The study draws on data from 70 humanitarian organizations and makes use of multiple regression models to deduce the relationship. Findings show that humanitarian organizations in Kenya follow procurement ethics code. Further work is needed to examine the relationship between ethics and procurement performance of humanitarian organizations in Africa as this would give a wide range of conclusions and recommendations. Future studies could relate the independent variables used in this study to cost reduction strategy instead of agility strategy addressed herein. The results indicate that ethics is shaping up today’s humanitarian picture by ensuring that donors and other interested parties have confidence in supporting the humanitarian cause. This is the first paper to systematically analyze relationship between ethics and procurement performance of humanitarian organizations in Kenya.

ARMED CONFLICTS IN AFRICA: FRAGILE STATES AND RISING INSTABILITY

The first part of this article provides an overview of the development of entrenched armed conflicts in Sub Saharan Africa which continue or have resurfaced in 2016. The author (JVdB) aims to expose the underlying causes and nature of the violent contestation by drawing of the works of C. T. Call in order to break open the black box of ‘failed states’ and analyze their legitimacy, capacity and security gaps separately. In addition the author will provide short scenarios of how these conflicts are likely to evolve in the short and medium-term and which (structural) factors will dominate these trends. The second part of this article (by JR) mainly aims at presenting the basic preconditions for the activities of the major terrorist organizations in Africa. With emphasis on the importance of the north-east and north-west regions of this continent in context of terrorist threats. Hence the initial focus was put on Somalia, which as a permanent fragile state remains under the increased influence of the Jihadist organization Al Shabaab, which is an organization with a high potential for increased capacity in the coming years. Next, was sketched out the situation in Egypt, considering, in essence, the activity of the so-called Islamic State in Sinai Peninsula. In this Analysis it also pointed to the intricate internal situation in modern Libya after so-called Arab Spring and international military intervention, where, despite earlier appearances, the terrorist threat was too much positioned, mostly by comprised to the internal conflict between the different Libyan political parties. Finally, efforts were made to illustrate the current terrorist activity in the Mali area, highlighting the importance of Al Qaeda branch AQIM and the situation in Nigeria where Boko Haram group operates.

Managing across a corporate and product brand portfolio: evidence from a large South African service organization

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to understand how a large service organisation with a brand portfolio manages its corporate brand relative to its portfolio of product brands.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use an interpretivist research paradigm to investigate four research questions concerning the relative roles of corporate and product brands, the role of the CEO, the structures and capabilities that support the development of brand equity (including the role of the marketing function) and the role of employees in building corporate brand equity. A case study design was used, and the Tsogo Sun, one of the largest hotel and casino organisations in Africa, was the focus of the investigation.FindingsThe findings highlight the important role of both the CEO and the marketing department in optimising brand equity and managing across corporate and product brands. Employees were found to play a critical role and the need to clarify their relative roles as both recipients and expressors of brand identity across corporate and product brands emerged as an important theme.Originality/valueAlthough the corporate brand has received much attention in recent years, much of literature remains conceptual. In addition to responding to calls for empirical research, the paper also contributes to deepening understanding about how to manage a corporate brand alongside a number of product brands.

Unity Under Allah? Cohesion Mechanisms in Jihadist Organizations in Africa

This article explores mechanisms fostering cohesion in jihadist organizations in relation to territorial presence. This article takes four types of territorial presence as its point of departure: (1) a clandestine network-based presence; (2) an accepted presence where the organization is tolerated by a state; (3) a semiterritorial presence, where the organization is allowed some control between phases of enemy offensives and withdrawals; and (4) a relatively permanent territorial presence, where the organization fully controls the territory in which it has bases. The article argues that each of these types of territorial presence opens up for different ways for organizations to create cohesion. Cohesion mechanisms thus vary according to type of territorial presence.

Improving oxygen therapy for children and neonates in secondary hospitals in Nigeria: study protocol for a stepped-wedge cluster randomised trial

BackgroundOxygen is a life-saving, essential medicine that is important for the treatment of many common childhood conditions. Improved oxygen systems can reduce childhood pneumonia mortality substantially. However, providing oxygen to children is challenging, especially in small hospitals with weak infrastructure and low human resource capacity.Methods/designThis trial will evaluate the implementation of improved oxygen systems at secondary-level hospitals in southwest Nigeria. The improved oxygen system includes: a standardised equipment package; training of clinical and technical staff; infrastructure support (including improved power supply); and quality improvement activities such as supportive supervision. Phase 1 will involve the introduction of pulse oximetry alone; phase 2 will involve the introduction of the full, improved oxygen system package. We have based the intervention design on a theory-based analysis of previous oxygen projects, and used quality improvement principles, evidence-based teaching methods, and behaviour-change strategies.We are using a stepped-wedge cluster randomised design with participating hospitals randomised to receive an improved oxygen system at 4-month steps (three hospitals per step). Our mixed-methods evaluation will evaluate effectiveness, impact, sustainability, process and fidelity. Our primary outcome measures are childhood pneumonia case fatality rate and inpatient neonatal mortality rate. Secondary outcome measures include a range of clinical, quality of care, technical, and health systems outcomes. The planned study duration is from 2015 to 2018.DiscussionOur study will provide quality evidence on the effectiveness of improved oxygen systems, and how to better implement and scale-up oxygen systems in resource-limited settings. Our results should have important implications for policy-makers, hospital administrators, and child health organisations in Africa and globally.Trial registrationAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12617000341325. Retrospectively registered on 6 March 2017.

Closing the gap: the potential of Christian Health Associations in expanding access to family planning

Recognizing the health impact of timing and spacing of pregnancies, the Sustainable Development Goals call for increased access to family planning globally. While faith-based organizations in Africa provide a significant proportion of health services, family planning service delivery has been limited. This evaluation sought to assess the effectiveness of implementing a systems approach in strengthening the capacity of Christian Health Associations to provide family planning and increase uptake in their communities. From January 2014 to September 2015, the capacity of three Christian Health Associations in East Africa—Caritas Rwanda, Uganda Catholic Medical Bureau, and Uganda Protestant Medical Bureau—was strengthened in key components of a systems approach to family planning—training, supervision, commodity availability, family planning promotion, data collection, and creating a supportive environment—with the aim of improving access to women with unmet need and harmonizing faith-based service delivery contributions with the national family planning program. Community-based provision of family planning, including fertility awareness methods, was introduced across intervention sites for the first time. 547 facility- and community-based providers were trained in family planning, and 393,964 people were reached with family planning information. 32,176 clients took up a method, and 43% of clients received this service at the community level. According to a provider competency checklist, facility- and community-based providers were able to adequately counsel clients on new fertility awareness methods. Integration of Christian Health Associations into the national family planning strategy improved through participation in routine technical working group meetings, and the Ministries of Health in Rwanda and Uganda recognized them as credible family planning partners. Findings suggest that by strengthening capacity using a systems approach, Christian Health Associations can meaningfully contribute to national and international family planning goals. Increased attention to mainstreaming family planning service delivery across Christian Health Associations is recommended.

Indonesian Land Rights and Development

Indonesia’s traditional land tenure system, called adat, satisfied the needs of many generations, but did not provide certainty or formal legal relationships conducive to development. The post-independence government has sought to mold the existing system into a more modern form that would better aid its development and has at the same time, sought to maintain control over the country’s natural resources, each to the disadvantage of local communities. The agrarian reforms that were passed created a dual system of law, and resulted in conflict between traditional rights and the modern, western-influenced, interests and purposes of the state. The lack of title registration has been a continuing impediment: the complex procedures, the time, and the cost of securing registered title has been beyond the capacity of many landowners. In dealing with the mix of laws and customary rights and the lack of clear titles, it is the practice of lenders to give a small level of value to land as collateral, not nearly as much credit as would be given in a more modern system. Character counts more than collateral for land users seeking financing. But registration is now coming. The new, technologically advanced, mobile LARASITA registration system recently created, is an important innovative step that is moving the country in a positive direction.* We begin, in Sections I and II, with a brief discussion of the current political structure in Indonesia and of Dutch and British rule. Section III looks at the customary law, called adat, and how it has been affected by Islamic law and European rule. Sections IV and V provide an overview of the central tenants of the Basic Agrarian Law Number 5 of 1960, the centerpiece of the national legal effort to modernize the adat land tenure system. Section VI focuses on the national government’s use of the Basic Forestry Law of 1967 to classify over 69% of the nation’s land as forest. This has the effect of frustrating the ability of local adat communities to farm large swaths of land. The Indonesian land titling system is discussed in Section VII. Section VIII focuses on important regional variations in adat and land titling and juxtaposes two regional variants – that of the Dayak people of Kalimantan, with their relatively less modern system, and the heavily sharia oriented system in Aceh. Section IX discusses the importance of land titling for access to financing. Then Section X looks at the new LARASITA land registration system, which, with its modern tools and thinking, is dramatically increasing land registration in substantial parts of the country. * The original form of this article was done as part of the Sidley Austin LLP Africa-Asia Agricultural Enterprise Pro Bono Program. The Sidley Austin program provides free legal support to small and medium sized agricultural-related enterprises and developmental non-governmental organizations in Africa and Asia. See http://www.sidley.com/Africa-Asia-Agricultural-Enterprise-Pro-Bono-Program/.

Time to Look in the Mirror: Producing Management Theory and Knowledge for Africa

This paper shares the presidential address I gave at the Third Biennial Conference of the Africa Academy of Management. My message focused on the responsibility of scholars interested in management and organizations in Africa to take up the complex challenges of producing management theory and knowledge for Africa. I argued that we have two major responsibilities at this juncture. One is to build a strong intellectual community association; and the second is to generate management theory and practice for the benefit of the continent.

Quality of Breast Cancer Information on the Internet by African Organizations: An Appraisal

Objective. The aim of this study was to appraise the quality of information on BC available at websites run by organizations in Africa. Methods. Three searches were conducted using Google search engine to generate a list of websites. The identified websites were assessed using European Commission (EC) quality criteria for health-related websites, which comprises different assessment areas including, completeness, transparency and honesty, authority, privacy and data protection, updating of information, accountability, and accessibility. Results. Thirteen (13) websites were included in the evaluation. Majority of the websites evaluated had low scores on the completeness and transparency of their websites. Scores on accessibility were however moderate and high for most of the websites. Breast cancer-specific organizations provided the highest quality information, particularly in terms of completeness. The overall lowest and highest quality scores were 9 and 43 out of 63, respectively, and 77% of the included websites scored less than 50% of the total quality score. Conclusion. This review has provided evidence of inadequate and inaccurate BC information provided by some cancer organizations in Africa. Considerable effort is required to make BC information on the Internet a valuable and up-to-date source for both professionals and patients.

Grassroots volunteers in context: rewarding and adverse experiences of local women working on HIV and AIDS in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

Many nongovernmental organizations in Africa rely on grassroots volunteers to provide critical health services. Considering context and the interplay of individual, organizational, and societal influences on the experience of volunteers, this paper addresses three questions: What do grassroots volunteers contribute? What organizational processes promote volunteer engagement? What are the positive and negative consequences of volunteering? Eighteen members and staff of the Tanzanian HIV and AIDS NGO, KIWAKKUKI, were selected from 6000+ women volunteers to be interviewed. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for themes. Within KIWAKKUKI, volunteers contributed time and local knowledge, leading to an indigenous educational approach building on local norms and customs. Volunteers' engagement was motivated by the desire to support family members, reverse stigma, and work/socialize with other women. Benefits to volunteers included skills acquisition and community recognition; yet some volunteers also reported negative experiences including burnout, conferred stigma, and domestic violence. Positive organizational processes built on cultural practices such as collective decision-making and singing. The findings point to important considerations about context, including the synergistic effect training can have on local traditions of caring, complications of gender inequity, and how community health planning processes may need to be modified in extremely poor settings. This research also suggests good utility of the research framework (the Bergen Model of Collaborative Functioning) that was used to analyze volunteer engagement for service delivery in sub-Saharan contexts.

She’s homely, beautiful and then, hardworking!

Purpose There are assumptions in gender-related media research that increased female status would be accompanied by more and better representation of women. There are also expectations that an increase in the number of women working in the news media will increase the positive representation of women. The aim of this paper is to critique the representation of women leaders and managers in the Nigerian press to assess the extent to which these factors have influenced the representation of women in the West African country. Design/methodology/approach Using two methods, qualitative content analysis and interview, this chapter critiques the representation of women leaders and managers in Nigerian Guardian Life and Vanguard Allure (over a period of six months – the last half of 2014) to determine the way women in leadership and management are constructed by checking for frames on stereotypes, gender roles and trivialisation themes. The editors of the two publications are then interviewed to consider the philosophies behind the coverage patterns and assess their knowledge and awareness of the implications of the coverage patterns on the status of women in the sub-Saharan African country. Findings It was discovered that the Nigerian press are focusing on re-enforcing traditional gender roles and norms rather than challenging them, and women in leadership and management in the country do not apply sufficient agency in challenging the status quo. Research limitations/implications Even though information derived from this study cannot be said to represent the realities in all of Africa, it surely provides a good context within which issues about media representation of women in leadership and management in Africa can be better understood to assess how the cultures on the continent’s various countries affect the realities of the lives of women. Originality/value The bulk of feminist research is situated in the North. Not much feminist research is being done in the South, and there appears to be an inadequate engagement with the available few in the literature. This chapter bridges the gap by presenting much needed information about gender, media and organisation in Nigeria; a highly populous multi-ethnic and multi-cultural sub-Saharan African country. Even though information derived from this study cannot be said to represent the realities in all of Africa, it will surely provide a good context within which issues about media, gender and organisation in Africa can be better appreciated.

Transboundary river basin organizations in Africa: assessing the secretariat

Secretariats are an increasingly common feature in Africa's transboundary river basin organizations (RBOs). Non-secretariat-based forms of transboundary RBOs nonetheless also exist, and such forms of cooperation have often functioned effectively. These realities drive questions about the rationale and role for secretariats. This paper employs two approaches to compare secretariat-based RBOs vis-à-vis RBOs without secretariats in Africa. First, we compared the degree to which five governance instruments, determined to enable effective transboundary water management, are contained in treaties creating secretariat-based RBOs versus treaties creating non-secretariat-based RBOs. Second, the costs and benefits of six African transboundary RBOs – three with secretariat and three without – were compared based on a survey of regular costs and volume and number of projects. Key findings are that RBOs with secretariats have achieved stronger governance and secured more investment than RBOs without secretariats. Costs associated with operating secretariats appear justified by their benefits. These findings help to lay an improved basis for selecting desired models of RBOs in Africa's transboundary basins.

Implementing radiotherapy in Africa: Focus on the needs in Rwanda

Cancer care is a concern in low- and middle-income countries. The needs of structure to treat patients are huge. Because of the cost of radiotherapy, and the need for highly specialized workers, providing radiation therapy in these nations is a challenge. However, some solutions exist that can dramatically improve future care. In this article, we reviewed the plight of cancer treatment organization in Africa, and more specifically, the status of radiotherapy needs and concerns within Rwanda.

Investigating the use of knowledge management as a management tool in the mining industry

The main objective of this research study is to investigate the extent to which knowledge management is used within the mining industry. Knowledge management includes the identification and examination of available and required knowledge and the subsequent planning and control of actions to develop knowledge assets to accomplish organizational objectives. A structured questionnaire is used for the study. A total of 300 mines were randomly selected from a research population of mining organizations in South Africa, Africa and globally. The respondents were all part of senior management. A response rate of 64% was achieved. A significant number of respondents indicates that there is no transfer of knowledge about the best practices within their organizations. Some of the participants indicate that their organizations do not have the required technical infrastructure to enable knowledge sharing whilst some agree that the culture in their organizations is not conducive to the sharing of knowledge. A statistically and practically significant positive relationship with a large effect is found between the construct of knowledge management and perceived business performance. The mining organizations in Africa are ranked the lowest in terms of applications of knowledge management principles

Freer but not free enough? Chinese journalists finding their feet in Africa

The high-profile appearance of Chinese media organizations in Africa has attracted considerable attention. How Chinese correspondents in Africa actually go about their work is, however, little understood. A posting in Africa gives journalists at Xinhua News Agency or China Central Television a degree of freedom not experienced in China combined with greater local visibility than a posting in the West and more market opportunities. At the same time, it carries the rather heavy responsibility to act as a pioneer of a new, distinctive global voice for China envisaged by the Chinese government. Based on interviews and observation at several Chinese media organizations in three African locations and in Beijing over the course of 3 years, this article suggests that Chinese correspondents in Africa are unable to make use of the opportunities their postings offer. While the greater investments of Chinese media in Africa have been framed to date as a challenge to their struggling competitors, in reality, journalists working for Chinese media not only feel some of the constraints that have characterized international journalism in the past decade but also face additional ones: the problem of finding and communicating a clear identity; of remaining relevant in a space where national media are growing fast and becoming more professional; of testing new styles without appealing only to a niche.

Organisational health and performance: an empirical assessment of smallholder producer organisations in Africa

Abstract We use recent data from 253 smallholder producer organisations (SPOs) in Ethiopia, Malawi and Senegal, factor and regression analysis to define organisational health, understand its determinants and relate health to performance. We find that latent health evolves according to a life cycle and that start up incentives and design rules are important determinants of an organisation’s progression through this life cycle. Health, in turn, is found to explain SPO performance measured in terms of profits. Healthier and more profitable SPOs are those with an economic justification at establishment, those initially pursuing defensive objectives and those SPOs that have put in place a strategy for capital formation. More educated presidents contribute to the health of an SPO but it is also shown that when the president of the SPO is female, profits are lower while the organisation is not healthier.

Historical dictionary of international organizations in Africa and the Middle East

Editor's Foreword, Jon Woronoff Acknowledgments Acronyms and Abbreviations Selected Chronology of African and Middle Eastern International Organizations Introduction The Dictionary Appendices Appendix I Charter of the African Union Appendix II Charter of the Arab League Appendix III African and Middle Eastern Organizations Classified by Field of Activity Bibliography About the Author