Collaborative relationships between business and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), is offering innovative business practices, as a new and emerging concept. The potential of this phenomenon to offer market-orientated solutions to the social and developmental challenges confronting us globally is imminent. The significance of this concept for businesses in post-conflict settings in Africa is particularly relevant for Africa as the next growth market. Critically examining this evolving concept, this study looks at the perceptions and nature of collaborative relationships between business and NGOs in post-conflict settings, the contributory and inhibiting factors, as well as its characteristics towards closing the gap in knowledge.Twenty leaders of businesses and NGOs in Burundi, Sierra Leone and Liberia, involved in collaborative relationships, were interviewed. The concept was scrutinized in a qualitative study, using in-depth interviewing with qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. The methodology allowed innovative practices of collaborative relationships in post-conflict countries to be reflected on.The findings related to the embryonic and evolving nature of collaborative relationships between businesses and NGOs in post-conflict countries reflect a model of innovative cases for enhancing business processes. The model of Business Process Enhancement (BPE) is conceptualised from the results of this study. Concomitantly, the study presents new insights into the strategic potential of collaborative relationships and offers both business and NGOs in post-conflict countries a framework of the benefits, and the contributory and inhibiting factors. / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Malaria is one of the leading causes of death for children and women in Sierra Leone. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore and understand the lived experiences of women from the rural areas of Sierra Leone regarding malaria. A purposive sample of Krio women from the western rural area, aged 21-55 years, spoke English, and had taken care of someone with malaria described their perceptions and lived experiences with the disease in face-to-face interviews. The research questions were based on the health belief model and focused on knowledge, beliefs, and perceptions about malaria prevention and treatment. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to identify themes through coding. The findings indicated that (a) lack of doctors, medicines, and medical supplies at government clinics discourages malaria victims from visiting those clinics; (b) the use of traditional herbs is prevalent because of their effectiveness, affordability, easy access, and lack of side effects; (c) women were not aware of recommended comprehensive malaria control measures, which include the continuous use of durable insecticide nets, residual spraying, case management, and artemisinin-based therapy. The results also show that (a) pregnant women should not take prescribed medications to prevent or treat malaria because they harm the fetus, and (b) traditional herbs may be taken with Western medicines to treat severe malaria. Recommendations include: that the government evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of its current malaria programs in local clinics, and that future studies be undertaken to identify antimalarial properties in commonly accepted local herbs. Changes in policies and practices relating to the prevention and treatment of malaria will serve as building blocks for positive social change to reduce the malaria incidence rate in Sierra Leone.

From 1991 to 2002, the Sierra Leone government and the Revolutionary United Front waged war against each other, subjecting Sierra Leone to a civil war. This war devastated the nation and resulted in many human casualties. Although many researchers have investigated the role of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in counterinsurgency and conflict resolution, few studies have been conducted on the specific role of strategic processing tools used by ECOWAS during the Sierra Leone war to sustain a durable peace resolution in the country. Using Galula's conceptualization of counterinsurgency and conflict resolution as a guide, the purpose of this qualitative, I used an explanatory case study to determine the elements that made strategic processing tools effective. Data were collected through open ended interviews with 10 Sierra Leoneans that experienced the conflict, publicly available documents, and mass media reports related to the Sierra Leone civil war. All data were manually coded and then subjected to constant comparative analytic procedures. The key finding of this study was that conflict resolution was successful because intervention by ECOWAS was largely viewed by Sierra Leoneans favorably and legitimate. The ECOWAS use of force was vital for the peace process. However, there were occurrences of human rights violations that were not fully resolved through the procedural mechanisms in place at the time. The positive social change implications stemming from this study includes recommendations to ECOWAS to establish a disciplinary unit to oversee violations of international humanitarian law and other serious abuses by ECOWAS troops. These actions may advance peace among religions, political parties, and ethnic groups in the region.

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No description available.

The EFA conference in Dakar 2000 ushered in new momentum for ensuring universal access to education and advocacy for improved educational quality in all aspects (UNESCO, 2000). While significant progress has been made in expanding access in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly for girls, efforts to ensure improved educational quality in terms of learning, have not matched the drive for universal educational access. Rather, educational quality in most countries in sub-Saharan Africa has been seriously compromised by rapid expansion given the limited resources. In many attempts to ensure the delivery of quality education in developing countries, the thrust of delivery strategies has focused on increased allocation of inputs/resources to infrastructure development and supply of textbooks. However, the literature on the effect of such resources on student achievement is rather mixed and inconclusive with many studies noting that resources make little or no difference. While such approaches may be theoretically sound, most fail to focus on microelements at the school or classroom level such as capturing the teaching and learning experiences of both students and teachers and students. In an attempt to fill this gap, a new line of research has emerged which looks more closely at how resources are used by schools to support and improve instruction. This study follows this trend and examines the extent to which the Rehabilitation of the Basic Education Project (REBEP) in Sierra Leone contributed to improved learning and academic performance of students in five target schools after a series of interventions. Using a case study approach, the study revealed that while REBEP contributed to a significant increase in educational access, particularly for girls, performance in the terminal National Primary School Examination (NPSE) did not improve despite huge investments in the target schools. The study concludes that, in the context of Sierra Leone, and perhaps in many more countries in sub-Saharan Africa, unless and until critical school-level factors are appropriately and comprehensively addressed by policy makers, educational standards and quality will continue to be eroded particularly in terms of learning and that achievement of critical EFA goals and MDG by 2015 would remain an unfulfilled dream.

Current approaches to post-war state reconstruction are primarily dominated by the liberal peace thesis. These approaches tend to ignore the indigenous institutions, societal resources and cultural agencies of post-conflict societies, although such entities are rooted in the sociological, historical, political and environmental realities of these societies. Such universalised and `best practice¿ approaches, more often than not, tend to reproduce artificial states. The Poro and Sande are the largest indigenous sodality institutions in the `hinterlands¿¿a pejorative term attributed to rural Liberia and Sierra Leone. Both the Poro and Sande exercise spiritual, political, economic and social authority. In this thesis, I use critical realism and the case study approach to investigate: a) the extent to which the liberal peace practitioners who are leading state reconstruction in Liberia and Sierra Leone recognised the role and potential utility of the Poro and Sande institutions; b) the extent to which the Poro and Sande were engaged; and c) the implications for the quality and viability of the reconstructed states. This evidence-based research suggests that the liberal peace project sidelined indigenous institutions, including the Poro and Sande, in the post-war recovery and rebuilding exercises. The disregard for indigenous and emerging resources in the context of state reconstruction in Liberia and Sierra Leone has contributed to the resurgence of 19th century counter-hegemonic resistance from the sodality-governed interior of both countries. At the same time, the reconstructed states are drifting back towards their pre-war status quo. Authority structures remain fragmented, kleptocracy is being restored, webs of militarised patronage networks are being emboldened, and spaces for constructive dialogues are shrinking. This thesis underscores the need for indigenisation as a complementary strategy to help reverse the deterioration, and to maximise gains from massive investments in peacebuilding.

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No description available.

Sierra Leone is a low-income country where 7.3% of its expenditure comes from the state and the rest is from charity and private expenditure, and therefore there is no official budget for mental health. Although many postcolonial countries have ratified international laws, many still have colonial discriminatory laws like ‘Lunacy Acts’ as national law, one of these countries are Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone has ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights but hasn’t abolished ‘The Lunacy Act’ from 1902. ‘The Lunacy Act’ is a law against individuals with suspected mental health illnesses, therefore the focus of this thesis is mental health in Sierra Leone.  Scholars believe that part of Sierra Leone's issues are due to Sierra Leone's colonial history. For that reason, this thesis has a postcolonial outlook for a deeper understanding of why 'The Lunacy Act' remains in a postcolonial Sierra Leone. To achieve that goal, a meticulous qualitative text analysis is needed. A comparison with ‘A postcolonial critique of Mental health’ will be made to help dissect the true postcolonial meaning of ‘The Lunacy Act’. Although the formal colonization is over, the ideological ones remain. This is noticeable through, for example, science. Western imperialism is not felt through physical colonialism such as borders and people, but also within cultural and political hegemony. An example of this is 'The Lunacy Act'.   The negative view of mental illness in postcolonial Sierra Leone persists due to the cultural hegemony. It is stronger than the political hegemony partly because the Sierra Leonean cultural hegemony cooperates with the thought system of Western psychiatry, meaning that the global south is more prone to mental illness, according to the colonial racialized system. In other words, "The Lunacy Act" is partly a tool of Western psychiatry and capitalism and that is why it has not been abolished in postcolonial Sierra Leone.