This study examines and problematizes how the Resolution 1325 has impacted women's inclusion in two developing countries. The study focuses on how the resolution 1325 has affected and increased women's inclusion in peacebuilding since the implementation in Rwanda (2009) and Sierra Leone (2010). To analyse the results a theoretical framing is used, which is Empowerment theory and Feminist Approaches to Peacebuilding. This thesis uses a comparative literature method to compare the impacts in the two cases and critical reading is used while searching for material in e.g. scientific articles and in reports. Based on the theoretical framing and the material that are used in this thesis, the study concludes that Rwanda and Sierra Leone have experienced different results from the implementation of resolution 1325. This study concludes that the implementation of resolution 1325 in Rwanda has worked as a tool to push gender equality further in peace processes as in the parliament and in the security sector, alongside women's organizations and activists since 2009. The results in Sierra Leone concludes that the implementation of resolution 1325 has progressed the work within peacebuilding as the proportion of women has increased in peace processes and in the police and security-sector since 2010. However, the development in Rwanda had come further before the implementation of resolution 1325 and therefore the results differ in these countries.

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Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This thesis extends the literature on the trends and magnitude of health inequalities in the area of maternal and reproductive health services in Sierra Leone, and particular across sub-Saharan Africa. It attempted to provide a good understanding of, not only the determinants of maternal and reproductive healthcare use, but also factors that enable health inequalities to exist in Sierra Leone. This is an appropriate topic in population health studies as it aims to address important questions on the research agenda in the context of sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in a country with poor health outcomes such as Sierra Leone. A proper understanding of not only the coverage rates of population health outcomes but also the extent of health inequalities as well as the factors that contribute to these inequalities is crucial for any government. The thesis applied various techniques in the analysis of DHS data (from 2008 and 2013 rounds) in an attempt to answer the research questions.

My thesis is an ethnographic study of Sierra Leonean living in London. I examine the interrelationships between diasporic orientations and the specific locality in which people are living. As such, my research is at the intersection between literatures on African diasporas, and research on new immigration and diversity, two fields which I argue deal with the same ‘problem' – that of the incorporation of migrants into some form of nation-state identification. In my empirical chapters I explore Sierra Leoneans encounters with diversity in a range of places within London, and engage with Brah's (1996) conception of diaspora space, as well as recent work on the topic of super-diversity (Vertovec 2007) as a way to elucidate such these interactions. I focus on key sites within Sierra Leonean London – a popular street market, the religious spaces of a church and a mosque, and the temporary spaces used for the celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Sierra Leonean independence. I explore how individuals manage the twin pressures of incorporation from both the UK and Sierra Leonean states, and how these pressures reconcile in efforts to create lives in the interstices of two cultural systems. I look at how a specific cultural heritage shapes their engagements with each other and with outsiders, and how encounters with others and the experience of life in London affect their relationship with their country of origin. The thesis argues that Sierra Leoneans living in London manage these pressures using a cultural imaginary rooted in postcoloniality – i.e. shaped by the enduring effects of colonialism and its aftermath. This legacy has resulted in a profound ambivalence towards both London and Sierra Leone, as poles of this relationship, with many Sierra Leoneans coming to see the diaspora as “home”: a productive ‘”third space” with resources and opportunities beyond that of their home country. The dependence of these diasporic spaces on the contributions of diverse ‘others'provides broader affiliations, that result in a less tightly-held national identity, with Pan-West-African and African identification, becoming increasingly salient.

This thesis is based on eighteen months' fieldwork in Tissana: a bustling multi-ethnic fishing town on Sierra Leone's southern coast. It tells the story of the successive waves of young migrants who, for several decades, have been arriving on the coast from rural areas seeking an alternative to the indentured labour conditions of a farming economy still shaped by the legacy of domestic slavery. Set against the backdrop of a rapidly changing post­‐war economy, and in an ecological context in which fish stocks are in treacherous decline, I explore the intersection between people's everyday struggles for economic survival and their taken-for-granted knowledge of the substance of the world within which those fragile livelihoods play out. In a region in which we have come to correlate ‘memory' with the collective scars of slavery and civil war, Tissana's older residents look back with nostalgia and remember the youthful energy, conspicuous consumption and seemingly easy ‘freedom' of their town's early boom years. In some respects, the pattern is familiar from accounts of resource rushes all across Africa: the convergence of large numbers of young strangers in an unfamiliar landscape far from the authority of village elders opened up a space in which a new kind of moral economy emerged. However, within just a few decades of its initial boom, the fluidity of Sierra Leone's fishing economy is already under intense pressure. Fish stocks have suffered a noticeable decline and, as catches become smaller and more erratic, people find themselves drawn once more into networks of dependency and reciprocity that offer their only viable hope of material security. A constant tension animating everyday life in Tissana is how people are able to work, through the strategic deployment of material gifts, to nurture the relationships that they rely upon for their subsistence, whilst simultaneously attempting to protect themselves from becoming entangled in other, less appealing social bonds. At its core, then, this is a work about the materiality of human relationships; of social bonds formed and lived under conditions of such stark economic uncertainty that, very often, ‘love' and ‘livelihoods' are difficult to disaggregate — and even more difficult to trust. Here relationships often have a peculiarly fleshy, ethnographically observable aspect. One can go a long way towards mapping the town's fluctuating networks of friendship, love, debt, and obligation simply by watching the gifts of fish exchanging hands on the wharf. The town also raises a quite particular set of problems for an anthropologist interested in the materiality of social life. I explore how the lived experience of poverty, and the anxiety of stretched livelihoods are entangled with quotidian discussions of blessings, swears, initiation societies, and ‘fetish' medicines: elements of social life that we might intuitively gloss as ‘ritual', but that are, in fact, integral to the everyday economic order. Here, my work builds on a long literature in Sierra Leonean ethnography. Anthropologists working in this region have often revealed how their interlocutors do not draw any sharp distinction between ‘material' and ‘immaterial' elements of the physical environment and the agencies that inhabit it (Ferme 2001; Tonkin 1979; Bellman 1984). My contribution to this literature is to explore how such apparently abstruse questions of im/materiality become relevant in people's lives through economic practice: through the everyday decisions people make, and the work they invest, in fishing, trading, and gift-exchange.

Magister Legum - LLM / The Republic of South Sudan became independent from the Republic of Sudan on 9 July 2011. South Sudan has an area of 644, 329 km2 and a total estimated population of around 12, 6 million.1The original state of Sudan was intensely divided along ethnic, religious and ideological lines. The general population of the Republic of Sudan is mainly Sunni Muslim whereas the South Sudanese are mostly Christian, with small populations that still practice African indigenous religions.2While the Republic of Sudan is predominantly Arabic-speaking, English and over sixty local languages are spoken in South Sudan.3 The new Republic of South Sudan was born after one of the longest and most ruthless wars fought in Africa. The war between the government of Sudan and the Southerners had its roots in 1955 as resistance to “Sudanisation” began in the run-up to Sudanese independence. Provincial administration4favouring the better-educated northerners over southerners and further conflict fuelled by "Islamisation" strategies and the inability to actualise a government framework that would ensure self-governance for the South led to a protracted civil war between the north and south.5 The Addis Ababa Agreement that ended the first civil war in 1972 did not resolve political pressures and when Sharia law was introduced in 1983, it reignited the north-south conflict.6 The Second Sudanese Civil War ended with the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005. The CPA ended a period of constant war between 1955 and 2005 barring an eleven-year truce that isolates two savage stages.7

Despite decades of the implementation of the directly observed therapy short-course (DOTS), Sierra Leone is ranked among the 30 highest TB-burdened countries. Several factors account for unfavorable treatment outcomes, among which are patient characteristics. Previous studies have only focused on treatment compliance without any consideration for the factors that lead to noncompliance to treatment. The purpose of this study was to investigate patient characteristics that are associated with treatment noncompliance (treatment not completed) among TB patients undergoing the DOTS program in Sierra Leone. A retrospective longitudinal quantitative design was used to analyze secondary data from the completed records of 1,633 TB patients, using the Andersen's behavioral model of health services utilization as a theoretical framework work. Descriptive statistics and bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were used to analyze the data. The results show that there was no significant association between treatment completion and age, gender, and TB-case category. On the other hand, being HIV-positive decreases the odds of treatment completion. Also, the educational level, geographic location, and year of treatment were significantly associated with treatment completion. Overall, program performance improved as the number of dropouts decreased significantly between 2013 and 2015. The social change implication of this study was that it identified HIV-positive patients and rural communities as areas needing specific attention such as the assignment of case managers to ensure compliance thereby improve DOTS program performance, thereby reducing the incidence and transmission of TB

The Salamanca Accord advocating the implementation of inclusive education for learners with special needs was signed in 1994, as well as the Convention of the Right of Person's with Disabilities in 2006. Yet, Sierra Leone faces challenges to implement fully inclusive education in schools. The purpose of this mixed-method study was to examine teachers' attitudes towards inclusion in mainstream classrooms. The conceptual framework for this study was premised on Azden's theory of planned-behavior, which maintains that attitude and behaviors are products of experiences acquired. Using a Spearman rho correlations and descriptive statistics to analyze the data, gender, age, educational background, and teaching experience were examined to determine if they had any significant relationship with attitudes of teachers towards inclusion in Sierra Leone. In this mixed-method study, 100 primary and secondary teachers in Sierra Leone completed the Attitudes toward Inclusion in Africa Scale, and 10 teachers took part in a one-on-one interview. The results showed no significant relationship between the independent variables (gender, age, educational background, and teaching experience) and the dependent variables (attitudes towards inclusion). Despite the absence of a statistically significant relationship, the participants' interview data analyzed using Nvivo revealed an in-depth understanding of the negative attitude of teachers toward inclusive education in Sierra Leone. Findings may encourage positive social change by providing information that may be used by the Ministry of Education to develop a comprehensive inclusion model with the help of teachers. This study could be used to help create a platform for teachers' training that will ensure a positive attitude towards inclusive education in the country.

Female genital mutilation or cutting (FGM/C), a common practice among Sierra Leonean women, carries significant psychological and physical risks. Prior to this study, a substantial need existed for inquiry of the experiences and belief systems within this cultural group to better understand the effects of FGM/C on women and girls. Guided by feminist theory and the theory of cultural relativism, the goal of this phenomenological study was to review the cultural perspectives and experiences of Sierra Leonean women who underwent FGM/C to investigate their concerns about safety and their perceptions of the practices. In addition, this study explored concerns among Sierra Leonean women about the procedure performed on their daughters and to what they attributed the continued practice of FGM/C. Participants included a purposeful sample of 12 women from Sierra Leone who had experienced FGM/C. Data were collected via in-person, semi-structured interviews and analyzed thematically. Analysis revealed differences in participant definitions of FGM/C, cultural and social aspects of the procedure, personal beliefs and perceptions of the procedures. Results provide new understandings to help health and human rights organizations implement proactive safety measures for these women and girls. Positive social change from this investigation may occur via proper education about FGM/C. Goals include helping women understand the risks associated with the practice and to make their own informed decisions regarding the procedure. Findings revealed that a powerful strategy for protecting women's health and well-being related to FGM/C may be through education on the facts of the procedure.

<p>The recruitment, enlistment and use of children younger than fifteen to participate actively in hostilities is prohibited in customary international law as well as in several international legal instruments. The use of child soldiers is, despite of the prohibition, a widespread phenomenon with 300 000 as the estimated number of child soldiers in national armies as well as in various rebel and insurgent groups in the world today. Although the problem is world-wide; most recent focus have been on Africa where children have served and still serve in ongoing conflicts in various functions including but not limited to front line soldiers, messengers, guards and sex-slaves. Many of the world‟s child soldiers are girls that are facing the risks of sexual abuse and discrimination. In this thesis the 1996-2002 civil war in Sierra Leone will serve as an example of a conflict were children were used as soldiers.Prohibition against the use of child soldiers can be found in international legal instruments in both human rights law and international humanitarian law. It can also be found in instruments in the fields of international labor law and prohibition against slavery. The provisions differ in their definition of a child soldier; concerning age limit as well as the child‟s function during the conflict. There are also differences in the responsibility of states to protect children against being used as soldiers. This particularly affects girl soldiers since they often have their primary tasks behind the front line and thus are not usually included in the more narrow definitions of child soldiers.Two courts; the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) are used as examples of enforcement mechanisms. The SCSL as being the first court to deliver convictions for the use of child soldiers as well as thoroughly discussing the illegality of the use of child soldiers has been of importance in the fight against the use of child soldiers. The ICC will be the enforcement mechanism of the future and it has already prosecuted for the use of child soldiers. The SCSL has raised the awareness and started the struggle against impunity for those responsible for using child soldiers but it is the ICC that will have to continue the fight, although with some obstacles to overcome.</p>