Browsing by Author "Amone, Charles"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6

Community Perceptions on the Contributions of Public Universities to Community Transformation
(East African Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 2024-08-06) Adebua, Asaf; Ologe, Daniel Ochieng; Edekebon, Elaijah; Oriangi, George; Ezati, Akullu Betty; Amone, Charles
Much as the role of higher education has been recognised for promoting development globally, communities surrounding universities in Sub-Saharan Africa are still grappling with poor quality health, low income, poor housing, unreliable electricity and othersocial amenities. This study determined community perceptions of the contributions of Gulu University to community transformation in post-conflict northern Uganda. A cross-sectional study design was employed to collect data while using researcher-administered questionnaires and geospatial techniques. Questionnaire data was analysed using principal component analysis, and descriptive statistics while geospatial data was analysed using buffers, spatial join tool, and overlay analysis in GIS environment. Findings revealed that the economic, political, spiritual and physical dimensions were important in explaining the transformation of communities surrounding Gulu University. The community surrounding Gulu University is perceived to have progressed well in terms of savings, business, commercial farming, and civil service; consumption of more than 3 meals per day, access to credit and remittances; easy access to health care, and quality education. The majority of the population can make free and independent decisions, are good at self-expression, exercise love for one another, enjoy living with community members, are at peace with one another, exercise kindness, waste is properly managed, and there is good access to water. However, there is slow progress in having alternative sources of income, only a few community members perceived: their level of education to have improved, participate in leadership and are taking part in politics. There is also a scarcity of respect for one another, endurance and faithfulness. The study concludes that (i) households need to think of alternative ways of generating income, given its relevance in enabling households to meet their daily income, (ii) education policies and other stakeholders need to provide more support for community members to pursue higher levels of education, (iii) more civic education to create awareness on the importance of participating in leadership and politics, and (iv) a need by religious sects to continue with more teachings on respect for one another, endurance and faithfulness in the community surrounding Gulu University.
Ethnic pluralism and the challenge of thematic curriculum implementation in Uganda
(Taylor&Francis Online: Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 2021) Amone, Charles
Uganda has been developing and revising its curricula since the time of British colonial rule. The latest revision of the primary education curriculum led to the introduction of the Thematic Curriculum in 2007. This curriculum requires the use of pupils' mother tongues as languages of instruction from Primary One to Three and then English from Primary Five to Seven. Primary Four is a transitional year. Several studies have indicated that the Thematic Curriculum has been a failure. Although various reasons have been advanced for the challenges of the Thematic Curriculum, the greatest setback seems to be ethnic pluralism. Using in-depth interviews with teachers, parents, education officials and pupils, I investigated how ethnic pluralism impeded the implementation of the Thematic Curriculum in Uganda. I found that most districts in Uganda are multi-ethnic and therefore multi-lingual making it difficult to choose the dominant mother tongue to use as a language of instruction. Even when the dominant language is identified, the pupils and teachers are in most cases from diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. This study recommends the introduction of a national language to be used as medium of instruction at the lower levels of education in Uganda.
Factors Influencing Public University’s Role in Community Transformation
(East African Journal of Arts and Social Sciences, 2024-07-17) Adebua, Asaf; Oriangi, George; Edekebon, Elaijah; Ezati, Akullu Betty; Amone, Charles
Paucity of knowledge exists on the factors that influence the capacity of universities to transform communities, particularly in the Ugandan context. This study examined the internal factors that influence the capacity of Gulu University to contribute to community transformation in Gulu City in Northern Uganda. A cross-sectional study design was used while employing self-administered questionnaire to sample 390 households. Logistic regression model was used to evaluate the influence of internal factors on Gulu University’s role in transforming the surrounding communities. Findings revealed that scholarships by the university (p=.000), enterprises developed within the community through Gulu University’s engagement (p=.007), religious meetings for spiritual transformation (p=.036), and the teaching done at the university (p=.045) had a statistically significant influence on the university’s role in transforming the surrounding community in Gulu city. The study concludes that universities, the central government, and other stakeholders need to focus more on scholarships for further education, enterprise development, supporting the church, and teaching in the university to realise multiplied transformation of the surrounding communities.
Modelling transformation of communities by public universities in post conflict northern Uganda using economic and demographic factors
(East African Journal of Education Studies, 2024-07-02) Adebua, Asaf; Oriang, George; Abola, Benard; Amone, Charles; Ezati, Betty Akullu
Scarcity of knowledge exists on how economic and demographic factors of surrounding communities influence the capacity of universities to transform them. This study examines the dimensions that contribute to community transformation in the context of the community surrounding Gulu University in post-conflict northern Uganda and the economic and demographic factors of the surrounding community that influence their transformation by Gulu University. The study employed a cross-sectional research design with a sample of 390 households. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data on household economic and demographic factors and data on dimensions of community transformation. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to determine the contributions of the dimensions of community transformation, while logistic regression model was employed to determine economic and demographic factors that influence community transformation by Gulu University. The independent variables tested in the economic and demographic categories included age, gender, household size, occupation, alternative income, savings, credit, remittances, and education, while transformation formed the dependent variable. Findings revealed that the economic, physical, political and spiritual dimensions contribute more to the transformation of the community surrounding Gulu University, while the economic and demographic factors that had a significant influence on community transformation included occupation in civil service, business, and commercial farming (P=.004); and the level of education (P=0.044). The study concludes that the economic, physical, political and spiritual dimensions with their associated variables contributed more to community transformation. These can be used by other related studies to measure community transformation by universities in the context of developing countries. Furthermore, policies need to focus more on supporting the improvement of the business environment to promote commercial farming and university education since they have a higher multiplier effect on community transformation. Consequently, community members need to focus on business, harness commercial farming and achieve university level of education
Perspectives from the local community on strategies for community transformation in Uganda’s public universities
(East African Journal of Education Studies, 2024-07-01) Adebua, Asaf; Oriangi, George; Abola, Benard; Malinga, Geoffrey M.; Ezati, Betty Akullu; Amone, Charles
Several Universities in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) rarely have a clearly defined strategy for transforming communities. This is partly because some are still built on colonial models, which place a strong focus on theory, rote learning, and memorisation, where learners duplicate the content during examinations with little or no impact on the community. As a result, the surrounding communities continue to grapple with high levels of poverty, illiteracy, poor housing, disease, and poorquality health and hygiene. This study explores the strategies Gulu University is using to transform the post-conflict community of Gulu City, northern Uganda. A cross-sectional research design was used involving 390 households. Selfadministered questionnaires were employed to collect data on community perceptions of the operationalisation of the different strategies employed by Gulu University to transform the community. Descriptive statistics was used to determine the most outstanding strategies and their associated variables, while chisquare test was performed to assess the relationship between community perception of the existence of Gulu University and the strategies of community transformation. Findings revealed that, first, Gulu University’s strategy of knowledge application has been perceived by the surrounding community to have worked well by increasing employment opportunities, providing young people with opportunities for meaningful livelihood activities, reducing crime, and fostering enterprise development in the surrounding community. Second, the strategy of partnerships and community projects has paid off by providing scholarships to help community members further their education. However, there is still more to be done in terms of knowledge generation strategy through skill training, knowledge transmission strategy through technology transfer, primary health care, better farming engagements, and innovative business services, as well as partnerships and community projects strategy via enterprise development. Furthermore, findings indicated that there was a significant association between community perceptions of transformation and the existence of Gulu University. The findings highlight potential areas of focus for Gulu University and other Ugandan universities for formulating policies that higher institutions of learning can employ to transform communities. Besides, future research should explore the dimensions of community transformation that influence the role of higher institutions of learning in transforming communities.
Polygamy as a dominant pattern of sexual pairing among the Acholi of Uganda
(Springer Link: Sexuality and Culture., 2019-09-30) Amone, Charles
Polygamy has of recent been a focus of attention of scholars, traditionalists, human rights activists and feminists. Whereas human rights activists and feminists regard polygamy as oppressive, discriminative and barbaric, traditionalists view it as an institution that serves the interests of all members of society equally. This research evaluates polygamy in the traditional Acholi society with a view to illustrate why it was dominant and whether the people perceived it as oppressive to women or not. I conducted Key informants’ interviews with married people, elders and traditional leaders among the Acholi and reviewed a host of literature on the subject of polygamy and gender equity. Polygamy was common in the traditional Acholi society. The view that polygamy is barbaric, oppressive and unconstitutional is recent and alien to the Acholi people. The study recommends that polygamy should be viewed from the perspective of the culture of the affected people.