Browsing by Author "Mwatha, Regina"

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    Addressing the Practical Gender Needs of Refugee Women for their Economic Empowerment: Perspectives from the Ampain and Egyeikrom Camps in Ghana
    (International Journal of Business Management, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, 2022) Ofosu-Koranteng, Monica; Mwatha, Regina; Okemwa, Pacificah
    This paper looked at how the practical gender needs of refugee women are addressed to promote their economic empowerment. The study focused on the Ampain and Egyeikrom refugee camps in Ghana's Western and Central regions. A case study design was used to conduct the study, and a multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 104 refugee women. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected using a semi-structured interview guide, focus group discussions guide and key informants interview guide. Data was analyzed and presented in descriptive statistics and verbatim quotations. The results revealed that refugee women’s practical gender roles had the potential to limit their full participation in the economic empowerment interventions. These included food provision, childcare, and other household chores such as cleaning and washing. However, planners identified these roles and duly addressed them to reduce the negative impact of refugee women's practical gender roles on their economic empowerment. Planners addressed these practical gender roles by working with relevant stakeholders to ensure that complementary and support services were provided. The education directorate provided a school and crèche where women could keep their children and attend to their businesses. The study recommends continuous close collaboration with existing stakeholders and robbing more agencies for collaboration, including the private sector.
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    Effectiveness of Elearning for Educational Advancement in Selected Universities in Nairobi City County, Kenya: The Role of Gender-Based Factors
    (Research Journal of Education, Teaching and Curriculum Studies, 2024-08) Thua, Josephine Nyambura; Okemwa, Pacificah; Mwatha, Regina; Malenya, Francis
    eLearning has provided a favourable education platform for access to timely, quality, and cost-effective education advancement in Kenyan universities. It has not, however, achieved its expected potential and suffers numerous challenges that affect its full implementation. A notable challenge is its effectiveness in catalysing educational advancement by enhancing transition and completion rates in various academic programs. This study aimed to assess the gender disparities that influence the effectiveness of eLearning in select universities. The indicators for effectiveness were defined as the functionality of the eLearning Management Systems (ELMS), benefits accrued from eLearning and progression and completion rates in the programs offered under eLearning. This was a descriptive study using multistage sampling with a sample size of 395 students and 32 KII. The questionnaire, key informant interview guide and content analysis were used as the data collection tools. Data was quantitatively, and qualitatively analysed. Analysis of the ELMS found that the instructor’s availability and guidance on inline interaction was the most effective functionality of ELMSs with means of 4.10 and 4.31 for males and females, respectively. The least concern was the provision of technological devices for eLearning, 3.49 and 3.42, for males and females respectively. There was notable gender disparity in information received during course registration, protection of student data, academic progress data, and support by technical staff. The composite means were 3.81 and 4.01 for males and females respectively. Most females (3.92) found that simplification of e-materials was the most important enabler for eLearning whereas males (3.68) stated that eLearning had improved their accessibility to educational advancement. The highest gender disparities influencing eLearning were the cost-effectiveness and availability of e-materials. These factors influenced completion rates which were slightly higher for males than females as previously reported. This study provides data that can be used to formulate gender-responsive policies that promote, enhance, and sustain the effectiveness of eLearning by minimizing gender-based disparities that would otherwise negatively impact educational advancement
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    Security Constraints Threatening the Utilization of Maritime Resources in the Context of the Indian Ocean
    (JAIS, 2024-01) Nkubitu, Joel Mukaria; Sirera, Merecia; Mwatha, Regina
    The purpose of this article is to investigate security constraints threatening the utilization of maritime resources in the context of the Indian Ocean and implications on peace in the region. The contention of the study is that the Indian Ocean has huge economic value and potential in terms of exploration of offshore gas and oil, short and deep-sea shipping, marine aquatic products, aquaculture and fisheries, blue biotechnology and ocean renewable energy. However, it is faced with a myriad of security threats, such as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, transnational organized crime, environmental maritime crimes, among. The research objective was to assess the implications of maritime security constraints on the utility of the Indian Ocean blue economy. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design together with a phenomenological approach to achieve thick description on the concerns of the study. The targeted populations were security agencies operating in the area and the business community or investors since they were the key stakeholders in the development of the blue economy. To obtain the sample for study, cluster sampling and stratified random sampling was applied to proportionately select primary respondents, whereas purposive sampling technique was utilized to select key informants to obtain a sample of 384. Primary data was collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. SPSS (Version 24) software was used to compute descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Thematic analysis was also used to analyze qualitative data from open-ended questions and presented along quantitative data. The results from questionnaire and tools were triangulated to obtain a thick description. The findings of the study revealed that Indian Ocean had huge blue economy potential in terms of provision of livelihoods to the coastal people in addition to the investment opportunities to several onshore and offshore businesses, such tourism, transport, mineral exploration, among others. However, this potential is faced with a myriad of security issues, such as large sea area, sophisticated piracy networks and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing.