Bachelor of Arts In Sustainable Human Development

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    An Integral Response to Challenge Of Leprosy a Case Study of Misufini Leprosy Centre
    (Tangaza University College, 2002-04-03) Mwinami, Vincent M.
    The researcher examines the phenomenon of people with leprosy, highlighting some of the major causes that lead to these people being discriminated against and isolated from their families and society to languish in poverty. The study explores the general attitudes of the society towards people with leprosy difficulties and comes up with possible strategies for intervention. People with leprosy are part and parcel of human life. But the society does not recognise them. The society views these people as a problem rather than as a priority in development plans. Drugs are being provided free by international organisations such as World Health Organisation (WHO), German Leprosy Relief Association (GLRA), and International Leprosy Presentation (ILEP). But due to lack of interest among the leaders, corruption, misuse of funds, economic instability, our government have failed to import them. The research clarifies that leprous people are keen on improving their life, but they lack sufficient support from the government and society. Given proper facilities these people could contribute more in their own development. This work is divided into six chapters. Chapter One gives background information on the area and issue of research, stating the problem, objectives, basic assumptions and justification of the study. The second chapter is a review of literature related to the study. The origin of leprosy, its causes and risks and the current situation in different countries are looked at. The gaps regarding studies on leprosy are identified. Chapter Three shows the research methodology used in data collection. In particular the sampling procedure and the tools used in carrying out this research are discussed. In the Fourth Chapter, we have analysis of data emanating from research findings. Chapter Five is a theological reflection on people with leprosy. Views of the society, from the Bible and the social teaching of the Church on the reality of leprosy are explored. The attitude of people with leprosy towards themselves, the researcher's experience with these people and role as a social minister are included in this chapter as well. Recommendations and conclusions deriving from the study finalise the chapter. Chapter Six is a project proposal for the work. It represents the pragmatic response to the issues highlighted in the study. The researcher has come up with a project proposal as a step addressing the real needs of the people with leprosy in Misufini Leprosy Centre (MLC).
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    Women as Custodians of Continuos Creation and Their Holistic Empowerment a Case Study of Oldonyiro Women Group
    (Tangaza University College, 2001-03) Achieng Origa, Vincentia
    Real development is only realised when it addresses the very needs of the people. Kenya like any other contemporary society undergoes many changes from all aspects of life that is economical, political, social, cultural and religious changes. All these affect women in one way or another. This study is based on Samburu women in Oldonyiro Division. The study seeks first to get the information from the Samburu community especially the women through questioner about the hash climate, cultural background of the Samburu people, their nomadic kind of life, occurrence of draughts, banditry or insecurity, economic problems, illiteracy and the poor attitude of the Samburu people. All these factors have hindered development in Samburu land in the past. Therefore, the researcher together with the community suggests other alternatives that will help eradicate these negative factors. The community would do this by initiating income-generating projects to improve the economy, improve the environment by planting trees, encouraging the government to enforce both formal and informal education, step up security in the area, helping the Samburu people to seek alternatives concerning their nomadic life, and some of their culture and their attitude towards life. All these factors have hindered development in the area for many years. Therefore, the women of Oldonyiro Parish have taken it upon themselves to embark on the development that would answer their very needs. They do this by initiating icome-generating projects in order to he self-reliant, and improving the environment by planting trees. They have planned to be the pioneers in initiating the informal education for themselves through seminars and workshops. They Vdould like to encourage the government to reinforce formal education especially to the girl-child who because of bad cultural practises have been left behind almost in every thing. This has jeopardised the equality between men and women in Samburu land and as a result the women have never been part of the decision making with the elders of the community. The earth is our common heritage, upon which our future development relies. Sustainable development will be achieved only if humankind accept the unique contribution of women and men as equal partners with a shared responsibility for the care of planet. Although both genders are equally dependent on the capacities of ecosystems, men and women's perception of the human relationship with nature are governed by tradition and their different gender related roles. Traditional rural women especially in Samburu land are nearer to nature than men. They almost have total dependency on the environment and therefore have realised that true development would not be achieved unless the environment is enhanced as this will enforce other kind of development in the area.
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    The Participatory Integration of the Rural Youth in Sustainable Agriculture for Sustainable Development of Kamara Division, Nakuru, Kenya
    (Tangaza University College, 2001-04) Muchunguzi, Wilbert
    The right and obligation to authentic development is one of the principles enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human rights. And the issue of social integration of every individual, especially the disadvantaged people, in development was loudly expressed at the 1995 Copenhagen World summit for social Development' and later adopted as a guide by the Kenyan National Poverty Eradication Plan. These are just but harbingers that things, somewhere, were not moving the way they were expected to be. Looking back we see that, throughout history people have evolved natural units of settlement to meet their social, cultural and economic needs. This was the origin of rural communities where people strive for self-sufficiency and sustainability through available material, non-material and, most importantly, human resources inclusively. Today's rural communities seek to develop into more viable economic units within modernizing nations. How authentically this has to be brought about in the rural Kenya like Kamara division, remains the main concern. Contemporary popular development is mistakenly trapped in the local and global confusion characterized by economic, political and cultural dominance and influence that lead to social alienation. Those with no means of survival suffer deprivation the most. Unfortunately, the rural youth lie in this category. According to the Welfare Monitoring Survey of 1994, it was estimated that 12.6 million Kenyans lived below the poverty line. In rural areas, the incidences of poverty were 49%2. The effects of this is multidimensional destitution, which manifests itself in form of deficiency of material, social, economic and cultural needs and rights which an individual, household or community hold as vitally important for their survival. Deprived people experience food insecurity, insufficient income, deprivation of knowledge, low quality of life, lack of shelter, social inequality, lack of essential social services and reduced life expectancy. Since the youth constitute the biggest section of the rural population, they are the most suffering. Agriculture is the mainstay of livelihood for many of Kenyans. Since alternative sources of subsistence such as employment, industry, business and informal sectors outside agriculture are scarce, it employs more than 80% of the rural population. Small-scale farming, whose nature is subsistence (food security and reasonable income), dominates the Kenyan agricultural sector. Among the multipronged problems that face subsistence fanning are ecological, economic, political financial, sociocultural, technical, demographic, organizational and environmental. Inequalities in international trade policies also add fuel to the problems. Individually or combined, these problems destabilize the smallscale farmers and their ever scarce resources. This leads to unscrupulous exploitation of resources and unsustainable livelihood and future. We should not be shocked then to see poor fanning practices, forests and catchments inversion and destruction, environmental depletion, unpredictable weather fluctuation and recurring famines. The crown of all is rural massive unemployment, abject poverty and social alienation, which pave a way to rural-urban drift. Here begins people's vulnerability. Where does the future lie then? Which kind of legacy will the future generation receive; will they be able to meet their needs from the same resources uncompromisingly and live a decent life worth of their dignity if we fail to prepare now? What does all these call for? In fact this imposes a very serious social question for us all. It is a prophetic call requiring a critical listening in order to come up with effective interventions. The possible effective answer is participatory integration. Investing in people in collaboration and partnership should be the way forward. Proper mobilization and indiscriminate integration of the whole local population in harnessing the locally available resources) is essentially important to the sustainable agriculture and rural development process. Thus the youth will be able to act as carriers of the sustainable future.
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    The Contribution of Montfort Missionaries for the Development of Women through Mass Media in Malawi
    (2001-04) Harry Robert Chagoma, Henry
    "We can understand the meaning of development etymologically by looking at its counter part. The Old French [mediaeval stem] puts the word 'to envelop' as a related word In this sense it means to wrap-up something or somebody. A very good example is of a letter put in an envelope. The letter is hidden by an envelope. Develop is referred to the opposite way and it means uncovering, this is the process of showing what was hidden. Therefore we should understand development as a movement towards positive direction despite the prefix [de] de - velopment. Development focuses on human beings for human growth. It is through human development that one can promote other developments because it involves human beings. Whether we speak of development in psychological, economic or political contents, it must sustain life. In life sustenance people are able to get basic needylike food, shelter and protection just to mention a few. Development touches the idea of respect and recognition. It promotes self-esteem of human beings, whether poor or rich, since respect and recognition as human beings allow them to be responsible and not be used as a tool. Media play a big position either in negating people or promoting people to develop. Some women are viewed as subordinates or objects in the media in this situation the media under develop women. In such situation women can not be developed. Again, the other value of development should be the freedom of being able to choose. Development can't take place where people are silenced and can not decide. By undermining those we call subordinates, we are limiting development because we do not want the subordinates, for example, the women or the poor to know what is revealed [refer to the first paragraph of development]. The idea of having freedom to decide or to express needs promotes development. The present modern world of technology is encouraging women to use the same media, which dehumanises them. Therefore traditional African values of communication should complement the modern mass media to promote women's development.
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    The Challenges and Problems Facing The Elderly in Contemporary Kenya
    (Tangaza University College, 2001-03-31) Marango Wamalwa, Joseph
    Old age is inescapable if one's life is long. In the African setting as you mature in years, you become a reservoir of wisdom. Your next of kin will come to you for advice. In fact they would like to hear from you what you might say on many things pertaining to the family lineage, clan or the village as a whole. This comes to be realised of course if your life is exemplary. It is therefore not an accident for African people to have a proverb that says, 'Old is gold.' This sounds appealing and that is why the elderly were not despised in traditional Africa unless one was involved in unacceptable practices such as witchcraft. However, things have changed. To praise the elderly people today as a unifying factor in the community and to associate them with wisdom is downgraded as sacrilege. A certain dignified person in one of the top universities in Nairobi astonished many people, when he claimed that wisdom of the elderly is no longer functional due to modem education.' Just to answer him before going too far, let us think about the so-called industrialised countries. They are rich and literacy is almost 100 percent. But when you turn on the other side of the coin, you see that promotion of wars in other countries, breakdown of family cohesiveness and the lust to accumulate is the order of the day in their backyard. Now, is this wisdom? The wisdom we talk about is that which comes from the inside of a person for the common good of all. It is inherent. It permeates all spheres of life to bring about justice and peace. This is the wisdom that we derive from our elderly friends. Affluence is becoming the most honoured and adored commodity in the world. Definitely, Africa is not spared because this new culture is catching up very fast. The social and economic trends are not elderly friendly. Physical changes such as wrinkles on the face due to aging are not admired either. Therefore, there is a need to adequately put in place checks and balances to respond to these circumstances competently. Chapter one highlights the problem at hand. Chapter two is literature review. Chapter three explains the methodology used in carrying out the research. Chapter four is about data analysis that attempts to articulate the current situation on the ground. Chapter five contains the discussions and recommendations. Finally, chapter six presents a project proposal that may be useful to counteract this sprouting phenomenon.