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This paper focuses on the Southern African Association for Research in Mathematics, Science and Technology Education's (SAARMSTE's) role as a platform supporting research dissemination and connecting researchers in early grades mathematics (EGM) in the Southern African region. A review of the Long Papers in SAARMSTE over the last 20 years supports the finding of the other review papers in this Special Issue: that there has been substantial growth of attention to EGM since 2013. However, two distinctions are marked when looking at conference papers rather than journal papers. Firstly, there is a particularly large expansion of work in the last 5 years, with a broadening base of participation in this work. Second, looking across all the formats of conference presentations indicates SAARMSTE's role in supporting and building EGM as a key focus of research attention, and bringing together regional and international groups with interests in this area. Given that conference proceedings usually offer a broader picture of emerging interests than journal papers, we reflect on the range of foci of attention within EGM in the SAARMSTE Proceedings, and trends within this. These trends also help us to point to areas that are likely to be of key interest in the next decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA), dry eye disease (DED) is often misdiagnosed or overlooked. This review summarizes a series of conversations with ophthalmologists in the region around a variety of climatic, lifestyle, and iatrogenic factors that contribute to specific features of DED in the MENA region. These considerations are further classified by patient lifestyle and surgical choices. All statements are based on discussions and formal voting to achieve consensus over three meetings. Overall, a deeper understanding of the disease characteristics of DED specific to MENA can better guide local eyecare practitioners on appropriate management and follow-up care. Additionally, population-based studies and patient and physician education on ocular surface diseases, together with the use of culturally appropriate and language-specific questionnaires can help ease the public health burden of DED in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the contributions to this special issue in the context of the African Renaissance and the subsequent need to re-define educational development from a multilingual, multicultural and pan-African perspective. Each contribution offers a different angle to the discussion: a critique of Arabization in Morocco, with questions about whether a new medium of instruction policy will prioritize people's own languages or French; an analysis of urban attitudes in Angola toward a new education policy providing for six mother tongues to be used in lower primary; a description of the challenges for stakeholders in the Seychelles to recognize that Seselwa, a creole, can be an acceptable medium of instruction; and an assessment of the opportunities and limitations in South Africa of classroom trans-languaging between African languages and English. A stronger voice needs to emerge on behalf of African languages and ways of knowing.

Cesarean delivery rates are rapidly increasing in Southeastern Europe (to more than 60%), North Africa (with a rate as high as 72% in Egypt), and in urban areas in Southern Africa (a rate of over 50% in Lagos, Nigeria). Data on the background to these increases are scarce, but likely to include poor birthing facilities in general hospitals, convenience for the doctor, private medicine, fear of litigation, socioeconomic status, shortage of midwives and nurses, and disappearance of vaginal instrumental deliveries. Options to reverse cesarean delivery trends are discussed. In this context there is a need to be better informed about how women are being counseled regarding vaginal or cesarean delivery. The long-term consequences in subsequent pregnancies for mothers and children may well be largely ignored, while these risks are highest in LMICs where higher birth numbers are desired. FIGO has begun discussions with obstetric and gynecologic societies, healthcare bodies, and governments in several countries discussed in this article, to find ways to lower the cesarean delivery rate. The requests came from the countries themselves, which may prove beneficial in helping advance progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During epidemics, such as the frequent and devastating Ebola virus outbreaks that have historically plagued regions of Africa, serological surveillance efforts are critical for viral containment and the development of effective antiviral therapeutics. Antibody serology can also be used retrospectively for population-level surveillance to provide a more complete estimate of total infections. Ebola surveillance efforts rely on enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), which restrict testing to laboratories and are not adaptable for use in resource-limited settings. In this manuscript, we describe a paper-based immunoassay capable of detecting anti-Ebola IgG using Ebola virus envelope glycoprotein ectodomain (GP) as the affinity reagent. We evaluated seven monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against GP—KZ52, 13C6, 4G7, 2G4, c6D8, 13F6, and 4F3—to elucidate the impact of binding affinity and binding epitope on assay performance and, ultimately, result interpretation. We used biolayer interferometry to characterize the binding of each antibody to GP before assessing their performance in our paper-based device. Binding affinity (KD) and on rate (kon) were major factors influencing the sensitivity of the paper-based immunoassay. mAbs with the best KD (3–25 nM) exhibited the lowest limits of detection (ca. μg mL−1), while mAbs with KD > 25 nM were undetectable in our device. Additionally, and most surprisingly, we determined that observed signals in paper devices were directly proportional to kon. These results highlight the importance of ensuring that the quality of recognition reagents is sufficient to support desired assay performance and suggest that the strength of an individual's immune response can impact the interpretation of assay results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates digital inequalities in usage within African informal sectors. In particular, we examine whether the uneven digital diffusion is embedded in pre‐existing socio‐economic inequalities. After identifying three segments of informal firms, we rely on multivariate and decomposition analyses to identify predictors of usage of digital technologies for business purposes and explain usage gaps between segments. Our findings suggest that digital inequalities are rooted in the vertical heterogeneity of informal sectors, with some firm characteristics significantly predicting professional use of digital technologies. In addition, we find that there are both common and segment‐specific levers for addressing digital inequalities between informal firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The out‐of‐sight groundwater and visible but much less extensive surface waters on land constitute a linked terrestrial water system around the planet. Research is crucial for our understanding of these terrestrial water system links and interactions with other geosystems and key challenges of Earth System change. This study uses a scoping review approach to discuss and identify topical, methodological and geographical gaps and priorities for research on these links and interactions of the coupled ground‐ and surface water (GSW) system at scales of whole‐catchments or greater. Results show that the large‐scale GSW system is considered in just a small part (0.4%–0.8%) of all studies (order of 105 for each topic) of either groundwater or surface water flow, storage, or quality at any scale. While relatively many of the large‐scale GSW studies consider links with the atmosphere or climate (8%–43%), considerably fewer address links with: (a) the cryosphere or coastal ocean as additional interacting geosystems (5%–9%); (b) change drivers/pressures of land‐use, water use, or the energy or food nexus (2%–12%); (c) change impacts related to health, biodiversity or ecosystem services (1%–4%). Methodologically, use of remote sensing data and participatory methods is small, while South America and Africa emerge as the least studied geographic regions. The paper discusses why these topical, methodological and geographical findings indicate important research gaps and priorities for the large‐scale coupled terrestrial GSW system and its roles in the future of the Earth System. Plain Language Summary: The water on the land surface (surface water) and that beneath it (groundwater), along with the water that is continuously and increasingly used and managed in human societies, are connected and constitute a coherent natural‐social water system around the world. Many unknowns and open questions remain for how the small‐scale variations add up to large‐scale variability and change of this water system on land, as an integral part of the whole Earth System. Relevant research is crucial for reducing the unknowns and answering the questions, and this study's scoping review aims to assess how they have been addressed in published research so far. The aim is to identify key research gaps and priorities for further research on how the integrated water system on land functions and evolves on large scales, from whole hydrological catchments and in multiple catchments around the world up to global scale. The scoping review results show key research gaps and priorities to be the coupling of surface water and groundwater on land, and the interactions of this coupled water system with other parts and major challenges of the Earth System. Geographically, the gaps and priorities emerge as particularly large and urgent for South America and Africa. Key Points: Coupling of the ground‐surface water system is a key gap in terrestrial water research, particularly at large scalesResearch on terrestrial water interactions with other geospheres and key challenges of Earth System change is rare but impactfulMajor geographic gaps in research on the large‐scale coupled terrestrial water system emerge for South America and Africa [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the opportunities and challenges associated with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in academic library operations. In the quest to render fast, effective and efficient services, academic libraries have adopted different technologies in the past. Artificial intelligence technologies is the latest among the technologies currently being introduced in libraries. The technology which is considered an intelligent system, come in the form of robots and expert systems which have natural language processing, machine learning and pattern recognition capabilities. This paper examined the features of AI, the application of AI to library operations, examples of academic libraries with AI technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa, the need for AI in libraries and the challenges associated with the adoption of AI in libraries. The study concluded that AI holds a lot of prospects for the improvement of information services delivery in African academic libraries. Consequently, its adoption is a sinequanon to delivering robust library services in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A database of journal articles and conference papers that cover the economics of agricultural development in Africa during the period 2016–2020 was compiled. These papers are first described in terms of demographic and bibliometric criteria, followed by a network analysis of the main centers of origin and of influence of this research. Finally, three different processes were used to test the policy relevance of the work. These include a simple enumeration of the policy recommendations in a sample of the papers, a megatrend analysis, and a comparison of their focus with the standard narrative of the role of agriculture in economic development. The results show that a large proportion of the literature is not forward‐looking, and is weak on policy relevance. We ignore a number of issues that engage the attention of those concerned with implementing structural change in agriculture across the many very different but very real natural resource, political, social, economic, and technological environments around the continent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high cost of building materials occasioned by the increased cost of constituent materials has contributed immensely to the problem of housing deficit faced in Africa and major developing countries of the world. Waste paper can be recycled into bricks but there are limited studies to that effect. Waste glass is used as partial cement replacement to reduce the cost of cement and is also used as a pozzolan. This study focused on the development of paperbricks from the wastes of paper and glass. Response surface method (RSM) was involved in the design of the experiment involving 4 factors: glass powder replacement of cement (A), curing duration (B), compaction pressure (C), and water/cement ratio (D). Box-Behnken method was engaged for the 4-factor, 3-level design. The result of ANOVA showed that experimental inputs had a significant effect on compressive strength response. Factors A, B, and C had a synergetic effect on the response while factor D had an antagonistic effect on the response. Combined interaction between the factors that the response depended on the interactive patterns of the factors. A statistical fit model was developed to predict the compressive strength of the composite. RSM optimization revealed a combination of 36.68%, 57.82 days, 8.50 MPa, and 0.364 for factors A, B, C, and D, respectively, predicting a strength value of 7.358 MPa. Validation experiment carried out using the optimal conditions yielded 7.54 MPa; a deviation of + 0.0247. Since the deviation is less than ± 0.05, the model was statistically validated and fit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on digital archiving and the establishment of open Access digital repositories in three selected Nigerian Universities. Despite the abundance of vital information kept in the traditional archives of Nigerian universities, many researchers cannot easily access it due to the seeming absence of proper digitization and online visibility. It is also observed that the practice of archiving and the management of information in the repositories in Nigerian universities is limited to the central library, which makes access to information in the satellite archives across the departments and in the administrative units very difficult. This paper therefore, intends to; determine the nature, existence and the roles of digital repositories in the three selected Nigerian universities and to identify the types of information sources and resources available in their digital repositories, among others. Qualitative research methodology was adopted. Data was purposefully obtained from the websites of the three Selected Nigerian universities. The findings of this study indicate that the Digital Repositories existed in the three selected universities studied with different names, and were found to contain volumes of scholarly information sources and resources, which were organized in a systematic and chronological order, but it is not well structured to specifically link resources in the departments, faculties and other units of the universities with the central repositories. It was also found that Digital Repositories were not always accessible, possibly due to inadequate ICT infrastructure and necessary staff skills for their effective maintenance. It was concluded that the repositories existed for over a decade and were providing information services to its users. It was recommended that, the management of the universities studied should imbibe strong maintenance culture to effectively manage the Digital Repositories for sufficient access to scholarly information sources and resources and should consider the installations and deployment of necessary ICT infrastructure, as well as the right software configurations including the provision of regular staff training for proper digitisation and digitalisation of work processes and procedures in the repositories for efficient results and the promotion of Digital Data Literacy in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared.

This paper is based on a study that examined authorship and collaborative research among scholars in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions with a focus on prospects for Africa. The study involved intensive documentary desk review of conference book of abstracts and conference proceedings to examine authorship and collaborative research. The study reviewed a total of 10 conference books of abstracts and proceedings organized or hosted by universities including ODL institutions in Africa. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise some thematic areas of interest. It is revealed in this paper that authorship in terms of co-authorship is high in some conferences but low in others in relation to collaborative research. Furthermore, authorship between two scholars was higher compared to three or more authors in collaborative research. This implies that co-authorship is trending in relation to collaborative research thus raising collaboration prospects for Africa. It is therefore recommended that ODL scholars should be encouraged to do more co-author publications from collaborative research in order to promote teamwork and comparative studies in knowledge production for socio-economic development relevant for Africa and beyond.

Rabies is a lethal zoonotic encephalomyelitis that causes an estimated 59,000 human deaths yearly worldwide. Although developing countries of Asia and Africa bear the heaviest burden, surveillance and disease detection in these countries is often hampered by the absence of local laboratories able to diagnose rabies and/or the difficulties of sample shipment from low-access areas to national reference laboratories. Filter papers offer a convenient cost-effective alternative for the sampling, shipment, and storage of biological materials for the diagnosis of many pathogens including rabies virus, yet the properties of diagnostic tests using this support have not been evaluated thoroughly. Sensitivity and specificity of molecular diagnosis of rabies infection using a reverse transcription followed by a hemi-nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-hn-PCR) either directly on brain tissue or using brain tissue dried on filter paper were assessed on 113 suspected field animal samples in comparison to the direct fluorescent antibody test (FAT) recommended by the World Health Organization as one of the reference tests for rabies diagnosis. Impact of the duration of the storage was also evaluated. The sensitivity and the specificity of RT-hn-PCR i) on brain tissue were 96.6% (95% CI: [88.1-99.6]) and 92.7% (95% CI: [82.4-98.0]) respectively and ii) on brain tissue dried on filter paper 100% (95% CI: [93.8-100.0]) and 90.9% (95% CI: [80.0-97.0]) respectively. No loss of sensitivity of RT-hn-PCR on samples of brain tissue dried on filter paper left 7 days at ambient temperature was detected indicating that this method would enable analyzing impregnated filter papers sent to the national reference laboratory at ambient temperature within a 1-week shipment time. It could therefore be an effective alternative to facilitate storage and shipment of samples from low-access areas to enhance and expand rabies surveillance., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

What role did law play in articulating sovereignty and citizenship in postcolonial Africa? Using legal records from the secessionist Republic of Biafra, this article analyzes the relationship between law and national identity in an extreme context—that of the Nigerian Civil War (1967–1970). Ideas about order, discipline, and legal process were at the heart of Biafra's sense of itself as a nation, and they served as the rhetorical justification for its secession from Nigeria. But they were not only rhetoric. In the turmoil of the ensuing civil war, Biafra's courts became the center of its national culture, and law became its most important administrative implement. In court, Biafrans argued over what behaviors were permissible in wartime, and judges used law to draw the boundaries of the new country's national identity. That law played this role in Biafra shows something broader about African politics: law, bureaucracy, and paperwork meant more to state-making than declensionist views of postcolonial Africa usually allow. Biafra failed as a political project, but it has important implications for the study of law in postcolonial Africa, and for the nation-state form in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This position paper summarises the current knowledge on the epidemiology, diagnosis and management of women of childbearing age with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Africa, as well as the available data on their use of reproductive health services. The aim is to provide guidance to health professionals on aspects of sexual and reproductive health in women with RHD. It reviews the diagnosis, management and counselling of women with RHD throughout their reproductive life. Additionally, this publication discusses potential ways of integrating obstetric and cardiovascular care at peripheral levels of the health systems, as a way of improving outcomes and reducing maternal mortality rates related to cardiovascular disease in Africa. Finally, the article proposes responses to fulfil the actual needs for better reproductive health services and improvement in care for women with RHD.

Digital government has proven to be more cost-effective, efficient and sustainable than traditional analogue governance practices. However, many lesser developed societies are not ready for digital transformation, as many failed transitions have so far illustrated. This article comprises a summary of a qualitative inquiry into the latest international research findings and conclusions about the current state of digital governance transformation in Africa, and how such approaches and practices on the continent can be improved. It identifies and clarifies the main issues that promote readiness for and the success of digital governance transformation. The research found that specific strategic transformative initiatives and priorities are crucial to create the minimum readiness conditions for digital transformation of society and government. Appropriate digitisation strategies can improve the potential for successful migration of public sector management and governance systems from unsustainable analogue systems to more sustainable digital platforms. This can also facilitate organisational and societal cultures that are more in congruence with the requirements of complex new 4IR conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalization has intensified globalization and economic interactivity between countries both developed and developing, increasing the complexity and lack of transparency in economic activities. The increase in digital transactions poses a remarkable challenge for tax authorities yet the digital economy is slowly replacing traditional commercialization and transactions. Conventional international tax legislation has not kept abreast with the growth and complexity of the digital economy and its accompanying challenges with respect to taxation. In view of the infant nature of digital tax legislation in African countries as well as the auspicious possibility of increasing tax revenue to fund public expenditure together with the probability of contradictory outcomes of digital tax policy, through a critical literature review this paper assesses digital taxation through direct digital service taxes (DSTs) in Africa. The findings were mixed. While the possibility of tax revenue maximization and improved economic growth were persuasive, the arguments pointing to negative externalities emanating from poor digital service tax policy design were equally pragmatic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An enormous gap exists between Africa's current electrification rate and the 2030 UN goal to ensure universal access to modern energy. A study by Sanoh et al. published in Renewable Energy in 2014 [1] is a rare example of finding a cost minimal solution for the Africa-wide generation and transmission network. Unfortunately, however, the paper exhibits a number of relatively serious flaws that demand attention given the alarming paucity of such research on Africa. Five issues of the study by Sanoh et al. are identified and discussed in this commentary paper. Specifically, the study does not account for capacity factors when deriving required capacity additions, misses transmission losses when sizing generation capacity, models country-level import constraints incorrectly, introduces a supply option redundancy, and reports optimisation results that can be shown to be mathematically sub-optimal. As a result of some of these issues, the Sanoh et al. significantly underreport the required capacity to meet additional African demand in 2025. In addition to discussing these flaws, this paper provides potential approaches to avoid each of the five issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interrogates the context that Poverty Reduction Strategy operates as a development policy framework implemented in Benin and Nigeria, and how this provides opportunities and constraints for the objective of poverty reduction. Also, it argues that within the context of a neo-liberal ideology and strategy of development which guide the formulation and implementation of poverty reduction strategy, poor developing countries have not experienced a reduction in poverty or a promised development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Go to temples of science and ideas of Europe. Imitate the Tugendbund, 'the Union of Virtue', of which thousands of German youth are the members. Always keep the rule of 'Fit soul is in fit body' in mind" (Petrov, 2013, p. 72). This study aimed to show the similarities, in terms of expression, emphasis, and implication, in the about/mission/vision/goals/objectives of various science centers from around the world and in the basic themes derived from Snellman's statement above, namely, Science for all, Science Centers for all, and Human welfare that he made as a challenge to not only his people but to everyone. Document and content analyses were applied in the study. Within the scope of these analyses, this study investigated the about/mission/vision/goals/objectives sections of websites of science centers from around the world (Asia, Europe, Global, Latin America/The Caribbean, North America, Africa). From this investigation, similar basic themes, derived from Snellman's statement challenging his people/everyone to adopt this devotion to science, were found in the areas of i) expression in ASTC, CIMUSET/CSTM, CASC and SAASTEC; ii) emphasis in ECSITE, ASDC, ASCN and NSCF; and iii) implication in ASPAC, ASTEN, NCSM, ABCMC and Red-POP. These basic themes, as found in the about/mission/vision/goals/objectives of science centers, can, in effect, be narrowed down to the one theme of "cultural institutions will be a big part of human life" (Madsen 2017, p. 68) science centers in the global village (Touraine, 2016, p. 121) of the future.

The recent Typhoid Fever Surveillance in Africa Program demonstrated an overall adjusted incidence of typhoid fever 2–3 times higher than previous estimates in Africa. Recently, a single-dose typhoid conjugate vaccine that allows infants as young as 6 months old to be vaccinated was prequalified by the World Health Organization (WHO). This Vi-based conjugate vaccine demonstrated robust immunogenicity after 1 dose in infants and children 6 through 23 months of age in India with no safety signal, and is currently being tested for the first time on the African continent in Malawi. The WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts recommends studies to evaluate co-administering Vi-typhoid conjugate vaccine (Vi-TCV) with routine childhood vaccines in typhoid-endemic countries. The Burkina Faso immunization schedule includes yellow fever vaccine (YFV) at 9 months and meningococcal A conjugate vaccine (MCV-A) at 15 months, in addition to measles-rubella vaccine at both 9 and 15 months. Co-administration testing of Vi-TCV with these routine vaccinations will provide the data needed to support large-scale uptake of Vi-TCV in sub-Saharan Africa. A randomized, controlled, Phase II trial of Vi-TCV co-administration with the vaccinations routinely given at 9 and 15 months of age is planned in Burkina Faso. The overall aim is to assess the safety and immunogenicity of Vi-TCV when co-administered with YFV at 9 months of age and with MCV-A at 15 months of age. A total of 250 participants (100 infants aged 9–11 months and 150 children aged 15–23 months) will be enrolled. Clinical Trials Registration. NCT03614533. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Call for Papers for the IARIW-TNBS Conference on "Measurement of Income, Wealth and Well-being in Africa" October 7-9, 2021, Arusha, Tanzania The International Association for Research in Income, Wealth (IARIW), in partnership with the Tanzania National Bureau of Statistics (TNBS) will host a conference on "Measurement of Income, Wealth, Well-being in Africa" October 7-9, 2021, in Arusha, Tanzania. There is no registration fee for the conference, but all delegates, must be IARIW members, either through individual or institutional membership, or join the IARIW Delegates are responsible for their own travel and hotel costs. [Extracted from the article]

The subject of entrepreneurship has generated swathes of interest from a variety of stakeholders seeking to address economic challenges in Africa. At the heart of this interest is the fact that the businesses created by entrepreneurs create employment opportunities which, in turn, have the potential to reduce poverty at all levels of African society. Yet, while research into entrepreneurial activity is well established in the developed countries of the western world, there remain large gaps in knowledge about key issues such as why entrepreneurs in Africa start businesses, how these businesses are sustained, and the specific contextual influences and challenges which affect African entrepreneurs' decision-making and behavior. In this introductory paper, we highlight the importance of attempting to understand how African entrepreneurs, working outside the strictures of strong formal institutions, navigate difficult challenges and make decisions using fragments of informal traditions originating from prevalent African philosophies such as Ubuntu. We also draw attention to the need to assess the notion of entrepreneurial business success or failure in Africa from a cultural context perspective which takes into account considerations aside from the solely rational-economic. We conclude with a series of questions which remain largely unanswered but will, we trust, be addressed in future research on entrepreneurship and Africa's cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Strategic Consequences of Chinese Racism is a book-length academic research article commissioned by Andrew Marshal, director of the Department of Defense Office of Net Assessment (ONA). Owing to the significant policymaking power of ONA, Strategic Consequences indicates potential soft-power tactics in use by the Pentagon in countering Chinese influence in Africa. This paper examines Strategic Consequences' three key arguments. This paper examines the argument that Chinese society is more racist than U.S. society and finds this argument is likely correct. This paper examines the argument that Chinese racism is a stabilizing force for the Chinese government and finds this argument is likely correct. Finally, this paper examines the argument that U.S. anti-racist culture acts as a useful tool of soft-power influence in Africa, and finds this argument is likely incorrect. This paper concludes that ONA has accurately gauged the strategic value of Chinese racism for the Chinese government but overestimates the U.S. capacity to counter China in the field of soft power competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International child protection standards aim to ensure that non-governmental organisations 'do no harm' but the current approach to reporting abuse may actually leave children unprotected and, in some cases, expose them to greater risk. This discussion paper gives voice to concerns raised by local practitioners in Africa and places them within the context of available research in order to stimulate a debate aimed at enhancing the impact of current safeguards. Drawing on systems theory and the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the article illustrates how the current model of reporting often fails to take into account the significant disconnect between formal and informal protection mechanisms, as well as the unpredictability of individual decision-making. Examples from research and practitioner experience illustrate how reporting procedures may provide a route to protection which is impractical and undesirable to local people, and may ultimately be unhelpful to local practitioners. The article calls for further research to inform changes to the current approach and for a review of funding requirements in order that local organisations have greater scope to engage communities in the co-creation of procedures, thereby indigenising responses to ensure that they are realistic and genuinely respond to the specificities of children's lives. Key Practitioner Messages Formal reporting procedures may actually offer routes to protection that are inaccessible or unacceptable to local people., Reporting procedures should be developed with a much greater participation of local people., There is a need for investment in piloting and implementing locally led approaches to capacity building., The engagement of donors is critical in order to develop a new approach to evaluating 'child safe' organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]