Matching Items (4)
Description
Diarrheal diseases caused by poor water, sanitation and hygiene continue to kill more children in Sub-Saharan Africa's burgeoning informal urban settlements than in any other part of the world. In recent years, Delegated Management Model (DMM), a partnership in which a utility delegates service management to slum residents have been promoted as new models to improve services.
This dissertation examines the benefits of DMM by comparing water services in three informal settlements in Kisumu city, Kenya: two slums where DMM has been implemented, and one, a control, where it has not. In addition, the research examined how school-based hygiene interventions could be designed to improve safe water and hygiene knowledge in urban informal settlements. This study compared outcomes of two approaches to hygiene education, one which combined messages with participatory water testing; the second used hygiene messages alone.
Results of the DMM study showed that DMM implementation had lowered water cost and improved provider accountability. However, unhygienic water collection and handling practices on the part of the service users could contaminate drinking water that was clean at the delivery point, thus preventing the intended health outcomes of DMM from being realized. Results of the hygiene education intervention showed that one week after the inventions, hygiene knowledge among students who received the intervention that combined hygiene messages with participatory water testing was significantly improved. Evaluation of the intervention 12 months after implementation showed that the hygiene knowledge gained was sustained.
The research findings suggest that: i) regular monitoring of water quality at the kiosks is essential to ensure that the DMM model achieves intended health outcomes, ii) sanitation conditions at kiosk sites need to be regulated to meet minimum hygiene standards, and iii) customers need to be educated on safe water collection and storage practices. Finally, school-based hygiene education could be made more effective by including hands-on water testing by students. Making sustainable impact on health and wellbeing of slum residents requires not only building effective partnerships for water delivery, but also paying close attention to the other points of intervention within the water system.
This dissertation examines the benefits of DMM by comparing water services in three informal settlements in Kisumu city, Kenya: two slums where DMM has been implemented, and one, a control, where it has not. In addition, the research examined how school-based hygiene interventions could be designed to improve safe water and hygiene knowledge in urban informal settlements. This study compared outcomes of two approaches to hygiene education, one which combined messages with participatory water testing; the second used hygiene messages alone.
Results of the DMM study showed that DMM implementation had lowered water cost and improved provider accountability. However, unhygienic water collection and handling practices on the part of the service users could contaminate drinking water that was clean at the delivery point, thus preventing the intended health outcomes of DMM from being realized. Results of the hygiene education intervention showed that one week after the inventions, hygiene knowledge among students who received the intervention that combined hygiene messages with participatory water testing was significantly improved. Evaluation of the intervention 12 months after implementation showed that the hygiene knowledge gained was sustained.
The research findings suggest that: i) regular monitoring of water quality at the kiosks is essential to ensure that the DMM model achieves intended health outcomes, ii) sanitation conditions at kiosk sites need to be regulated to meet minimum hygiene standards, and iii) customers need to be educated on safe water collection and storage practices. Finally, school-based hygiene education could be made more effective by including hands-on water testing by students. Making sustainable impact on health and wellbeing of slum residents requires not only building effective partnerships for water delivery, but also paying close attention to the other points of intervention within the water system.
ContributorsNzengya, Daniel (Author) / Aggarwal, Rimjhim (Thesis advisor) / Hartwell, Leland (Committee member) / Boone, Christopher (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Armed violence is a contemporary global challenge especially in the developing world. It impacts immigration policies locally and internationally. Uganda experienced a twenty-four year -long civil armed conflict, which the president of Uganda declared ended in 2008. Following government instruction, displaced persons have been returning home since then. Despite this official closure, in the course of resettlement, youth specific needs and concerns have been ignored. Female youth have been the most affected due to the interlocking nature of their undervalued gender, age, and marital and reproductive statuses. Despite the complexity of female youth’s social location, research and frameworks about armed violence have focused on men as the perpetuators, marginalizing the impact armed conflict has on young women. Using the case of northern Uganda, this dissertation draws on feminist and indigenous epistemologies to examine the experiences of formerly displaced female youth. First, I deconstruct the western dominant construction of the stages of human growth and development including childhood, youth and adulthood. In this research, I prioritize local perspectives on human development; emphasizing the ambiguity of the concept youth, highlighting its age and gendered limited applicability to northern Uganda. I also examine the local understanding of armed conflict centering its forms and causes. Further, I explore the challenges female youth face, and the strategies they adopt to cope in situations of distress. I argue that studying formerly displaced female youth from their standpoint is critical since female youth have been marginalized in previous research and programs with gender-neutral perspectives. They thus provide a new perspective to armed violence given their multi dimensional standpoint. Female youth have different needs and concerns, which may not feature in mainstream programming largely informed by traditional male dominated systems and structures. Young women’s experiences thus deserve to be acknowledged if female youth are to benefit from the post-conflict reconstruction phase. To fulfill this objective, I used qualitative methods of data collection and analysis.
ContributorsNamuggala, Victoria (Author) / Leong, Karen (Thesis advisor) / Swadener, Beth B (Committee member) / Anderson, Lisa M. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
Large-scale land acquisition (LaSLA), also called "land grabbing" refers to the buying or leasing of large tracts of land, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by foreign investors to produce food and biofuel to send back home. Since 2007, LaSLA has become an important development issue due to the opportunities and threats for SSA countries. LaSLA has the potential to create local jobs, transfer technology, build infrastructure, and modernize SSA's agriculture. Nonetheless, it can also aggravate food insecurity, perpetuate corruption, degrade ecosystems, cause conflicts, and displace local communities. What drives LaSLA, what are its impacts on local people, and under what circumstances can we consider it as just and ethical?
To examine what drives LaSLA, I used country level data from 2005 to 2013 on economic conditions, natural resources, business practices, and governance to estimate LaSLA models. I find that LaSLA increases with increasing government effectiveness, land prices, and the ease of doing business, and decreases with stronger regulatory regimes. To assess LaSLA's impacts on local people, I conducted a comparative case study in Tanzania. I compare changes in peoples' livelihood between treatment villages (those experiencing LaSLA) and control villages (those without LaSLA projects). The results show that under current practices, the risks of LaSLA outweigh the benefits to local livelihoods, yet there are potential benefits if LaSLA is implemented correctly.
To philosophically examine whether LaSLA can be considered just and ethical, I apply John Rawls' theory of justice. The analysis indicates that from both procedural and distributive justice perspective, LaSLA currently fails to satisfy Rawlsian principles of justice. From these analyses, I conclude that if implemented correctly, LaSLA can produce a win-win outcome for both investors and host countries. I suggest that strong governance, rigorous environmental and social impact assessment, and inclusion of local people at all levels of LaSLA decision making are critical for sustainable and equitable outcomes.
To examine what drives LaSLA, I used country level data from 2005 to 2013 on economic conditions, natural resources, business practices, and governance to estimate LaSLA models. I find that LaSLA increases with increasing government effectiveness, land prices, and the ease of doing business, and decreases with stronger regulatory regimes. To assess LaSLA's impacts on local people, I conducted a comparative case study in Tanzania. I compare changes in peoples' livelihood between treatment villages (those experiencing LaSLA) and control villages (those without LaSLA projects). The results show that under current practices, the risks of LaSLA outweigh the benefits to local livelihoods, yet there are potential benefits if LaSLA is implemented correctly.
To philosophically examine whether LaSLA can be considered just and ethical, I apply John Rawls' theory of justice. The analysis indicates that from both procedural and distributive justice perspective, LaSLA currently fails to satisfy Rawlsian principles of justice. From these analyses, I conclude that if implemented correctly, LaSLA can produce a win-win outcome for both investors and host countries. I suggest that strong governance, rigorous environmental and social impact assessment, and inclusion of local people at all levels of LaSLA decision making are critical for sustainable and equitable outcomes.
ContributorsNkansah-Dwamena, Ernest (Author) / Kinzig, Ann (Thesis advisor) / Minteer, Ben (Committee member) / Perrings, Charles (Committee member) / Gabagambi, Damian (Committee member) / Aggarwal, Rimjhim (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been lauded as a sustainable framework through which corporations can contribute to society. However, in the wake of global social justice movements, society demands that corporations take a stance on social ills to contribute to a just society. The concept of corporate social justice (CSJ) has been introduced to frame such endeavors, although it has yet to be extensively applied to the tourism industry. Drawing on the conceptual framework of corporate social justice, this study explores how CSJ principles, including accountability, transparency, impact, and sustainability, inform the business operations of eco-rated tourism enterprises in Maasai Mara, Kenya. Ecotourism Kenya, the eco-rating agency, has guidelines for eco-rated facilities on community engagement and development that require these businesses to commit to: investing in people; implementing empowerment programs for local populations; and supporting community economic linkages. The study adopted a case study research design using Maasai Mara in Kenya as a site of inquiry. Guided by a constructivist epistemological lens, data was collected through semi-structured interviews with management officials operating the eco-rated tourism businesses and Maasai community members residing in the vicinity. Purposive sampling was used to select participants from eco-rated tourism businesses, whereas a combination of snowball and convenience sampling techniques was utilized in selecting key informants from the Maasai community. Accordingly, twelve participants from eco-rated businesses and eighteen Maasai community participants took part in this study. The findings indicated that eco-rated tourism businesses in Maasai Mara engaged with the tenets of CSJ, albeit in predominantly business-focused ways. Further findings also revealed other factors that seemed to influence the local community’s appreciation of the community empowerment initiatives by eco-rated businesses. These factors included: human-wildlife conflict, corrupt reserve land dealings, and exploitation of Maasai trade by some local tourism actors. Based on the findings, this study recommends that eco-rated tourism businesses in Maasai Mara enhance their engagement with the tenets of CSJ to reflect community-centered initiatives. Moreover, a keen reassessment of multi-stakeholder influences on the Maasai community’s full appreciation of benefits from eco-rated tourism businesses should be undertaken to propel further implementation of action-oriented solutions for the community.
ContributorsChepkwony, Mercy (Author) / Buzinde, Christine N (Thesis advisor) / Bricker, Kelly S (Committee member) / Nyaupane, Gyan (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023