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This paper evaluates the impact of an English and Business Computer Science program in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the world's second-largest French-speaking country after France. The program addresses the gap between academic training and market needs by combining English language proficiency with essential business and computer science skills. This combination aims to equip students for success in the business and technology sectors, where English is a key language. The paper details the program's implementation, outcomes, and evaluation, using surveys of employers and graduates, along with an analysis of student competencies and employability. The findings underscore the importance of English proficiency, along with business and technological skills, in aligning educational outcomes with job market demands, thereby improving student success.

This paper studies the association between caregiver--child interactions and early childhood development in literacy and numeracy in West and Central Africa. Data comes from Multiple Cluster Indicator Surveys (MICS) conducted in Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Togo between 2017 and 2020. A multilevel logistic regression is used to estimate the likelihood of being developmentally on track for 35,752 children aged 3-4 years. The results indicate that cognitively stimulating interactions with caregivers such as reading and telling stories are correlated with a higher likelihood of being developmentally on track. Interactions with mothers are associated with significantly higher odds of being developmentally on track but not interactions with fathers.

In this paper, we discuss challenges associated with implementing a policy for Ancillary Care (AC) for related and unrelated (serious) adverse events during an Ebola vaccine trial conducted in a remote area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Conducting clinical trials in resource-constrained settings can raise context-related challenges that have implications for study participants' health and wellbeing. During the Ebola vaccine study, three participants were injured in road traffic accidents, but there were unexpected difficulties when trying to apply the AC policy. First, because of the nature of the adverse events, the insurer refused to cover the costs. Second, the AC policy did not address treatments by traditional medicine, even though traditional medicines are frequently used and highly trusted in the study community. This highlighted a contrast between the researchers' well-intentioned AC approach and the participants' legitimate preferences. The way in which researchers should address their responsibility to provide AC is not straightforward; it requires contextualization. Our experience highlights the importance of involving community representatives and the local ethics committee to ensure development of an AC policy that is culturally and ethically appropriate. Additionally, the insurance contract should clearly stipulate which adverse events are linked to the trial participation, and thus eligible for coverage, to avoid controversies when claims are made.

The COVID 19 pandemic, which started to be seen in Turkey in March 2020, required some changes to the education process in our country and all over the world, and during this period, the courses were carried out online. Therefore, education activities for foreigners residing in different parts of the world in Turkish education were carried out following the new situation. However, this situation has brought various problems. This study aims to detect the errors in the written texts created online by the students studying in the form of distance education at Alanya Alaaddin Keykubat University TÖMER in the spring semester of the 2020-2021 academic year. For this purpose, 26 students were given topics such as fellowship, friendship, family, travel, technology, daily life, memories, cities, and countries. Then, they were asked to write a text about any of the topics of their own choice. The texts written by the students were evaluated by content analysis from qualitative data analysis. A total of 517 errors were detected as a result of the review, and the errors were categorically collected under three headings: Narrative disorders, spelling errors and punctuation errors. Nearly half of the errors detected are due to narrative disorders (49.51%). In second place are spelling errors (32.30%) and punctuation errors (18.18%) in last place. When looking at the errors evaluated at the level of narrative disorders, it was observed that impairments caused 71% of the 256 errors detected in the grammar level and 29% were caused by disorders in the level of meaning. Accordingly, it has been concluded that the students did not have sufficient feedback from the teacher on the language level disorders in the written texts created by the students during the online Turkish teaching process and that the students did not succeed at the desired level in applying the grammar rules. In this context, it is recommended that the lecturers show the necessary sensitivity to the application process of writing skills in online Turkish teaching to foreigners.

This brief report article presents the current educational challenges refugees face in Uganda based on their perceptions. The perceptions of the refugees were collected through an approach that ensured that refugee leaders, students, and non-students commented on the education of refugees in Uganda. 15 individual interviews with refugee students in Kampala in 2021 were complemented by data collected from 2 Focus Group discussions in 2020. The individual interview participants included 3 secondary school students, 10 university students, and 2 Vocational Education and Training (VET) students. Focus Group one was a group of refugee leaders in Rhino Refugee settlement area, and Focus Group two was for urban refugee youths in Arua City. This brief report article contributes to understanding the educational challenges of the refugees in Uganda through a broader focus that includes postsecondary education than concentrating on access to primary and secondary education, which are the main focus of research and policy interventions. Furthermore, the challenges presented, such as tuition fees at institutions of higher learning, the stigmatisation of refugee students, the lack of educational advice and career guidance for refugee students, and the COVID-19 effects, show that there is need to expand policy interventions to address educational challenges faced by the refugees.

This study identifies the competencies used by supervisors of teacher professional learning circles and examines those which should be developed to improve the facilitation practices of these leaders. Based on the competency standards for school principals in professional learning communities (Bouchamma, Basque, Giguère, & April, 2020), we conducted semi-structured interviews with supervisors of professional learning circles (cellule de base) and pedagogical units (N = 24) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Content analysis results show that although the professional learning circle supervisors in this study possessed 53% of the standard competencies that made up our coding list, other skills must be developed, or enhanced to lead teacher collaboration activities more effectively. The discussion highlights these competencies to better inform and engage learning circle supervisors in this professional development process.

The aim of this scoping review is to investigate the language policy's ideological basis which mandates the learning of English as a foreign language in secondary schools all over the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It also aims to reveal the current state of affairs with regard to English as a foreign language in the Congolese curriculum. Using the approach proposed by Arksey and O'Malley (2005), several published articles, books, journals and dissertations were consulted for our scoping review. Spanning a period between 1960 to 2020, the main focus was on educational language planning and policies in the DRC. After analyzing the selected publications, the results indicated that until today there is no language institution to regulate linguistic practices and teaching. The DRC's state-owned schools still use the old national curriculum, which was left by the Belgian colonizers with some modifications. Foreign language teacher education and production of academic materials need to be integrated in the budget planning and implementation processes to accompany the policy regarding the teaching of English language at secondary schools. There is also an expressed need for a language institution engaged in research and training of different languages such as French, English and recognized national languages.

This research compares the accounts of two experienced urban primary headteachers based in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo-DRC) with two others based in Sheffield/Doncaster (England), in order to make sense of their leadership pathways, challenges and approaches. Engaging these school leaders through leadership conversations within a narrative research tradition, the extracted data were analysed thematically and using phenomenological interpretive analysis. Despite differences in their stories of actions regarding the researched themes, a comparative theory of context(s) emergences which adds to how school leaders can think and act locally and globally and, in the case of African school leaders, decolonise their practice of any dominant normativity as they define what is best for their schools. This involved headteachers being attuned to their personal, professional and comparative dimensions of 'the gospel according to the headteacher' metaphor and ultimately deploying their connect comparative core values to rise above the subjective or objective scope of one's context in order to bring about change that primarily benefits children.

The global learning crisis literature raises several important questions and presents new notions of quality education, which tends to be outcomes-driven. Reliance on measuring tangible educational outcomes such as literacy and numeracy through large-scale standardised assessments has narrowed the definition of quality education and influenced education policy in low-income country contexts. To expand ideas of quality beyond standardised measures of learning, this article examines the cognitive outcomes-oriented notion of what is considered quality education, especially in low-income contexts. The author considers emerging literature on the role of social and emotional learning (SEL) in enhancing the quality of education and its contextualisation in low-income countries. Two SEL case studies (one from Tanzania and one from the Democratic Republic of the Congo) are also presented to explore the cultural adaptability and potential of SEL in non-Western contexts. Initial findings show the positive correlation of SEL not only with academic results but also with overall life outcomes with appropriate cultural contextualisation. Despite certain risks, SEL can be useful in low-income settings to expand and reimagine quality education beyond standardised measurements, through a flexible approach that draws upon local and global ideas and practices.

The purpose of this study is to identify and analyze, based on representations of physical education teachers, the obstacles to teaching of cuff volleyball in middle schools in Brazzaville, Congo. The theoretical model of Trinquier's representations, which is based on the "attitude" variable as an evaluative judgment variable, made it possible to distinguish the attitudes of teachers and to characterize this population in terms of representations, and therefore sociological anchors. A total of 86 physical education teachers responded to a questionnaire, and 18 structured and intensive interviews were carried out. These were addressed using categorical content analysis. Subsequently, classical statistical indices (numbers, percentages, confidence interval), chi-square test and multinomial regression analysis were used to analyze the attitudes observed on teachers. The results show that the lack of time, material and space, the plethora of effectives in classes, the specific perceptions to socio-professional, motivational, ecological and didactic variables, represent pedagogical misunderstandings by hampering the teaching process of this technical gesture. Thus, our data reveal the need to promote new methods of teaching volleyball cuff, contextualized in Negro African environment.

This study investigates how family lineage descent groups influence the intergenerational transmission of education for the cohorts of 1940-1989 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The study applies both transition matrix and intergenerational persistence (IGP) methods, using the father's years of schooling as a proxy for parental education. The findings suggest a pronounced steady persistence in education for the estimated mean regression coefficient over a period of 49 years. Moreover, results by gender indicate that intergenerational persistence in education has significantly decreased for males in recent cohorts but slightly increased for females. Furthermore, findings suggest that intergenerational persistence has been decreasing in matrilineal descent groups in recent cohorts while increasing for the patrilineal descent groups. The study gives a good sense of the relationship between family lineage descent and intergenerational transmission of education in DRC. In addition, it indicates that there is both substantial upward and downward intergenerational education mobility in the country.

Art therapy reduces trauma-related psychopathology in refugee youth. Given the added stress of COVID-19 on traumatized refugee populations, we adapted art therapy for refugee youth and their families in the virtual space. We describe program development, implementation and experientials, and clinical recommendations illustrated through two cases. Observations and feedback support art therapy as a tool to address socioemotional functioning in families who resettle as refugees and foster positive emotions, sense of self and community, confer stress coping skills, and enhance resilience. In light of the persistence of the pandemic, the unprecedented number of global refugees, and their unique needs for mental health services, virtual art therapy can expand accessibility and reach of beneficial methods to address trauma in refugee groups.

Education can instil conscientisation and stimulate action against injustice. The Batwa ('pygmy') people in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have been severely marginalised. In 2012-2013, violent conflict broke out in Tanganyika, pitting Batwa against dominant groups. Our qualitative interviews evoked a causal relationship between conscientisation -- via non-formal human rights education -- and violence. Our article dispels this idea. Yet, it demonstrates that conscientisation can circulate beyond the confines of educational activities, and be appropriated by a range of actors, including those calling for violence. We thereby advance a critical discussion of the implications of transformative peace education in conflict-affected contexts.

Data from sub-Saharan Africa show that many students leave school without the skills they need. To address this issue, it is important to understand what factors influence learning. According to the Heyneman and Loxley effect established in 1983, in low income countries school quality influences how much students learn more than those students' backgrounds. Recent research suggests that this influential conclusion no longer holds, without discounting the possibility that this trend could still be observed in very-low income countries. The present work investigates this possibility by using the PASEC dataset, which includes ten countries in West- and Central Africa. Improving on Heyneman and Loxley's methodology by using general dominance analysis, this article finds no support for the 'Heyneman-Loxley Effect'. Both school resource and student background account for around half of the explained variance in learning. This suggests that both family- and school-related factors are important sources of inequality of opportunity in low-income contexts.

Purpose: This study examines whether education in developing countries directly impacts their foreign income from the top export sector. Design/methodology/approach: As most developing countries follow developed nations to shape their development, this study assumes developing countries as education-follower and developed countries as education-leader countries. Considering selected countries from the South Asian Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and African countries as follower countries and Group of Seven (G7) as leader countries, this study employs Dumitrescu-Hurlin Granger non-causality tests. Findings: This study finds that education-follower countries' achievements do not directly impact foreign earnings from their leading export sectors. However, findings also confirm that leader countries have a bidirectional causal relationship between tertiary education and earnings from high technology exports. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study urging research-intensive education with comparative advantages in international trade. Using educational attainment on export earnings from the leading sector, findings support dependency theory in education is still existed.

Research on teacher well-being that works from a localized socioeconomic perspective tends to neglect the nestedness of teacher well-being within wider systems. Randomized controlled trials are illustrative of such decontextualized ontological and epistemological foundations. In this article, we demonstrate the benefits of a system dynamics cultural political economy-informed analysis for research on teacher well-being in protracted crises. Zooming into teacher contract and salary policies in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we compare our largely qualitative research with two randomized controlled trials. Our article yields two insights for future systemic analyses of teacher well-being in protracted crises. First, such research necessitates a methodological design that captures the multiscalar systems in which teacher well-being is embedded. Second, such research requires an exploration of cultural, political, and economic dynamics that affect teachers and establish boundaries for teacher well-being.

High unemployment rates in many developing countries have prompted research to focus on sustainability and inclusiveness of employment in line with the sustainable development goal target 8.6. The democratic republic of Congo (DRC) in sub-Saharan Africa experiences one of the highest youth unemployment rates owing to its long-term socio-political and economic instability. Qualitative and quantitative research studies have linked low employability of university-educated youth in the DRC to tribalism, corruption, and insecurity. The current study sought to identify contextual factors that predict employability of information technology (IT) graduates in the DRC. The study surveyed 355 graduates (274 male, 81 female) using 43 questionnaire. Bartlett test was 3,930.05 for Chi[superscript 2] (p-value = 0.000) and KMO test scored 0.68. McDonald's Omega test of reliability of the instrument scored 0.77 with a total cumulative variance of 72.02%. Results of this study advance the conflict theory by pinpointing the true factors which influence the employability of IT graduates in unstable developing countries. This study has discovered that socio-political background of graduates, graduate academic competencies, graduate-employer relationship, and university employability strategies are the contextual factors that predict the employability of IT graduates in the DRC. The Cronbach's Alpha test of reliability for the retained contextual factors scored 0.78, 0.75, 0.63, and 0.53, respectively.

Migration, xenophobia, barriers and rights to education have emerged as a significant issue in recent South African history. While there is a growing body of work on migrants and refugees within South Africa, little is known of the histories and contexts from which migrants come and how these have shaped their educational trajectories. Using in-depth interviews with seven female migrants from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in Johannesburg, South Africa, and a complex notion of context, the article provides a comparative, relational 'assemblage' of the political economies framing educational experiences in the DRC and South Africa. Two main themes are explored: violence and school fees. Differences in the nature of fee-extraction and privatisation across the two societies are highlighted. The article further argues that NGOs and individual schools' initiatives in South Africa mitigate dominant trends to some extent.

This study inquired into the nature of identity among refugee youth living at Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi. Aged between eighteen and twenty-four, the sample comprised of twenty-two female (m = 20.18, sd = 1.89) and thirty-eight male (m = 21.68, sd = 1.92) participants, from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, and Somalia. The study hypothesized that the organizing structure of education and its related experiences fostered identity formation for the youth. The questions asked were: 1. How do long-term refugee youth at the camp construct identity? 2. How does the process of identity formation facilitate the youth's socialization within the camp? The study used the inductive analytical approach of interpretive description. The methods of data collection were in-depth qualitative interviews, participant observations and fieldnotes. Findings from the study demonstrated how the participants filtered their identity formation vis-à-vis concepts of education, resulting in two categories: liminal and aspirational identities.

Within the context of post-conflict DRC, we examined the impact of the Accelerated Learning Program for out-of-school girls' on student learning outcomes and traditional school enrollment. We found that the vast majority of girls advanced through the levels as expected (80%) and, on average, improved their numeracy and literacy skills. The impact on traditional school enrollment was less definitive with the percent of girls who previously attended school, as well as the age of, remaining stable over time, but there was also an increasing trend in the percent of girls who were enrolled in school until the end of the last school year.

The aim of the study was to identify and analyze the motor behaviors of practitioners of the traditional Congolese Ekienga activity, and to offer teaching content for this activity at primary school level in the context of physical education. The research, observational and didactic, was based on the one hand on the evaluation of the bodily gestures carried out during Ekienga in 34 adult men, and on the other hand the construction of teaching programs. The results obtained showed that Ekienga's internal logic allows the construction of knowledge and relevant teaching content in physical education at primary school in Congo.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo continues to balance a commitment to education in general, and girls' education more specifically, and additional challenges brought about through cyclical conflict. The Valorisation de la Scholarisation de la Fille project aimed to improve literacy and numeracy by providing scholarships, tutoring, and comprehensive professional development for teachers. Using a randomized control design (RCT), we tracked both the achievement and attendance outcomes of these girls over a period of three years. Several factors positively influenced student growth in reading and mathematics, including the proportion of female teachers in the school, girls' perceptions of the school environment, receipt of a scholarship, and tutoring (math only). Household survey data suggest that the project minimized/reduced an already existing gap between enrollment in school for control and intervention communities; and school data suggest increased enrollment for girls in upper primary school. The findings suggest that programs designed to provide increased access to education may be the most successful in improving outcomes for students.

COVID-19-related school closures and the need for millions of learners to learn at home created additional pressures for parents and caregivers who were suddenly responsible for their children's education, often with limited support or resources. When schools closed, a flood of home learning materials and activities circulated online, but too few of these solutions focused on the home learning needs of learners with disabilities in low-income contexts, where online learning is rarely an option. The Enabling Education Network and Norwegian Association of Disabled developed guidance materials for all learners that encouraged appropriate, achievable, and low-stress learning activities in easy-to-read and visual formats, which are now available in online and printed formats. These materials were informed by an online survey that captured a snapshot of the extent to which home learning support and resources were provided, and recorded the perspective of parents, families, and education professionals about learners' situations in 27 countries in the months leading up to July 2020. In this paper, we focus on survey responses from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and northern Syria that describe the inclusive home learning provision available. We compared these findings with responses from other countries and identified four key areas of learning that emphasize the importance of localized approaches to inclusive education, drawing on community networks, and positioning teachers and parents as important community resources for education in emergencies.

In September 2019, the Democratic Republic of the Congo implemented a new policy abolishing tuition fees in primary education. A few months later, schools closed for 4.5 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic. How did the lockdown affect the implementation of the free education policy? Did it reduce or enhance its effects? This article examines the experience of schools and teachers in two districts in South Kivu that were affected by armed conflict. Based on a survey of 752 teachers and 637 parents, as well as 157 qualitative interviews conducted in 55 schools, we show that, supported by the free education policy, enrollment remained stable, and the relations between teachers and parents did not seem to deteriorate despite a near complete lack of teaching activity during the period of school closure. However, the hardships associated with the pandemic have made the financial circumstances of teachers on precarious contracts previously paid via tuition fees even more unsustainable. Their quitting the profession in increasing numbers threatens the stability of the school system. Thus, introducing free primary education is not a panacea in the context of a crisis. The sustainability of such reform requires an ambitious and comprehensive overhaul of human resources.

The world is witnessing an unprecedented growth of the English language worldwide. Now more than at any time in linguistic history people are powerlessly assisting the expansion of one global language, English, dominating other languages even in countries, such as Congo-Brazzaville, where its presence was not long ago barely observed. There has been a growing interest in studying the sociolinguistic change brought about by the lingua franca nature of English. English is increasingly used along other languages in Facebook communication. It is therefore important to thoroughly examine the main pragmatic functions of English/French alternation in a politically motivated Facebook interaction among Congolese users. In this study, a corpus of 265,147 words, including 9,330 comments were collected from October 2015 to July 2016, the time period highlighted by two major national political events, mainly the constitutional referendum (October 25, 2015) and the presidential election (March 20, 2016). The analysis revealed seven communicative functions (e.g., offering advice, astonishment, criticism, anger/cursing/insult, appraisal, hope boost and motivation, jocular mockery) trigger the use of English in politically motivated Facebook communication. The lingua franca function of the English language worldwide is on the top of the factors influencing and motivating Congolese Facebook users to resource to this language in Facebook interaction. The users tend to be driven by the mere idea that in order to put the communication on international scale, a global language is needed regardless of whether all fellow users understand it.

Though vocabulary learning strategies (VLS) have drawn continuous attention in SLA research in the past three decades, there remain many unanswered questions, many unknown caveats and many unexplored regions. Quite a few historical reviews of vocabulary learning strategies have been undertaken by researchers over the past years, tracing its growth over the years. However, no research until now has captured the VLS profile of learners from diverse ESL/EFL backgrounds and presented an analysis from a geographical point of view. This study aims to capture the VLS profile of the diverse learners and takes up the task of the geographical review of vocabulary learning strategies landscaping the VLS research over many countries. For this purpose, the researcher has chosen specifically the research happening in the backdrop of ESL/EFL contexts. Fourteen papers have been selected for review belonging to Philippine, Turkey, Algeria, Iran, Malaysia, Congo, China, India, Sudan, Libya and The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A detailed analysis reveals not only the juggling between the experiential and traditional modes of vocabulary learning but also the reasons behind the insufficient vocabulary size of the learners in myriad contexts.

For the past several decades, public attitudes toward immigrants in the United States have centered on questions of legality and documentation, as well as economic and social impacts of immigration, whether real or imagined, such as employment and criminality. How immigrants, writ large, perceive of and contribute to these debates is insufficiently understood and has been underexplored in research. In this article, we analyze the responses of Central African newcomer immigrant and refugee adolescents in the United States to anti-immigrant political discourse in the year and a half after the 2016 Trump presidential election. Through critical discourse analysis of focus group interviews with these youth, findings are interpreted through an integrated Western and postcolonial philosophical framework of fairness as it relates to legality, race, and inclusion. We conclude by offering implications for schools and their constituents, including civic education that occurs across the curriculum and affords students opportunities to grapple with global challenges related to distribution of power and resources, rights and responsibilities, and justice and injustice.

This paper examines three interrelated factors outside of formal provision of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in sub-Saharan Africa that have undermined TVET systems. The first is the process, pace, and levels of industrialisation, which has had a direct effect on TVET provision: low numbers of well-paying jobs requiring technical expertise. This has an indirect effect, which is the second crucial factor: lack of economic development and change in labour markets. There are very few jobs that would be considered 'middle class' or 'mid-level' in wealthy countries. Most people are in survivalist work. An international consensus since the 2000s on palliative approaches to development which address the effects but not the causes of the lack of economic development in Africa has resulted in mass poor quality provision of education--the third factor. Education systems are rapidly expanding and achievement levels rising, in the context of very little possibility of labour market rewards for most people, and substantial labour market rewards confined mainly to graduates. This reinforces deeply embedded cultural preferences for general education, which originate in the type of education systems established by colonial powers, as well as the relationships between educational credentials and elite jobs.

For refugees, education provides life-changing opportunities, including tools for effective social integration. This study explores higher education (HE) participation among refugee-background African youth in Australia. Drawing on policy review, national HE statistics and population census data, and using theoretical insights from critical sociology and a capability approach to social justice, the article (a) maps trends of HE participation, and (b) sheds light on policy silences and alternatives. The findings show that only one in ten refugee-background African youth (aged 18-30) transitioned to HE within the first five years of their arrival. The group also lagged well behind the general population in terms of undergraduate course completion. In light of these concerns, the article calls for "expanding the educational capabilities" of the refugee youth, specifically highlighting the need for policy recognition, early intervention, and substantive opportunities that can be converted into valued outcomes.

This teaching case study takes place in an American middle school and tells the story of Dorah, a refugee student from the Republic of Congo who experienced severe trauma. At Lincoln Middle School, the principal and her teachers encounter difficulties serving their refugee students adequately because of their lack of cultural proficiency. This case aims to help leaders in diverse contexts understand how to embrace and advocate for different cultures, beliefs, and norms to increase the cultural wealth of their communities. To achieve this goal, I provide a cultural proficiency model and a trauma-invested framework.

Maternal health-seeking behavior (MHSB) is crucial for maternal health. However, little is known about MHSB in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This study aims to evaluate the situation and socioeconomic associates of MHSB in the DRC. Based on the responses of 8,360 participants in a nationally representative survey, we adopted a K-modes cluster analysis algorithm to categorize women into three groups (i.e., infrequent service-users, partial service-users, and full service-users) according to their recent MHSB. Multinomial logistic regression was applied to identify the associated predictors of MHSB. The results show that most women (90.29%) did not receive integral maternal health services, including antenatal care, institutional delivery, and postnatal care. Compared with their counterparts, women who received higher maternal educational attainment, had good HIV-related knowledge, lived in urban regions, and lived in wealthier households were more likely to be partial service-users or full service-users. Women exposed to mass media at least once a week were more likely to be full service-users rather than infrequent service-users. The majority of participants who lived in Kasai and near provinces were infrequent service-users, indicating poor MHSB status in the region. Interventions to promote maternal health knowledge and awareness are highly recommended to improve MHSB in the DRC.

There is dearth of research in happiness among Africans, because of no indigenous scale among the plethora of scales used in measuring happiness. Consequently, an indigenous happiness scale was conceived using a three stage method (stage 1 = 48, stage 2 = 408, stage 3 = 1468 participants). A sequential mixed method approach and cross sectional design were used for data collection and to validate the proposed happiness scale. The results indicated that the model fit was acceptable and confirmed one factor solution for the 23 items (SRMR = 0.065; PRATIO = 0.923; PNFI = 0.602; and PCFI = 0.615). The analyses further indicated that the scale showed a satisfactory internal consistency ([alpha] = 0.92). The scale had both convergent and discriminant validities with coefficients of 0.38 and -0.22 respectively. Therefore, the scale would serve as a "proxy" measure for happiness among the indigenous African population.

The growing population of young people in the world today makes them an indispensable factor in international, regional, national and local development today. The UN World Programme of Action for Youth (WPAY) and the African Union's African Youth Charter all attest to the concern development stakeholders pay to youth development. This paper analysis youth policy within 9 member states of the Central African Sub region, showcasing the vital, yet significant role that polities are creating in fostering an enabling environment for youth participation. It explores the tenets of youth policy within this sub region by depicting how the participation of youths in societal activities and decision making instances should be an asset and a prerequisite for sustainable economic growth and social development. It also expresses abysmal concern about the magnitude of youth unemployment and underemployment throughout in Africa and its profound implications for the future of our societies, particularly those residing in the Central African sub region. The study is descriptive and applies a qualitative approach based on expert interviews and desk research. It employs the explanatory case study approach, and the combined anthropological research techniques through the use of key informant interview, written records and non-participant observations. The authors also conducted research in major databases like google scholar, PUB Med with the search phrase being youth policies, participation and youth governance. The 2016 Youth Development Index Report indicates that all 9 Central African countries have a low index, and 4 of the 9 countries are ranked in the bottom 10 of the classification. The findings also reveal that conflicts, underdevelopment and lack of political willingness are customarily accountable for the lagging of this Sub region in youth policy matters. The paper also proposes indicators to monitor and evaluate Youth Policies in the Central African Sub region, using the model proposed by Tanya BASARAB, develop initiatives to promote youth participation, and encourage networking among youth organizations and institutions with the Central African Sub region.

Does social influence exerted through role modeling of collective action impact social change in contexts that are not conducive to collective action, such as long-lasting violent conflicts? We examined this question in two field experiments in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. We created two versions of an episode of an existing media intervention (a show aiming to promote positive social change), in which fictional characters either planned collective action (role modeling condition), or did not plan action (control condition) to address grievances. In Study 1, role modeling affected individual-level outcomes: it increased perceived collective efficacy and willingness to take action, but exacerbated intergroup attitudes and reduced tolerance. Study 2 tested the influence of role modeling on a group-level outcome (group discussions). Discussions following the role modeling show focused less on grievances, and included more positive lessons of the show, as well as more statements about collective efficacy and collective action. The findings highlight the influence of role modeling of collective action through media on efficacy and action for social change, but caution against unintended consequences on intergroup attitudes.

The transition of new graduate students from school to the labor market in Democratic Republic of Congo has been a major topic for debate over the last twenty years. This study identifies the factors affecting collaboration between higher education and the labor market in Kinshasa, the Capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Even though the demand for access to higher education is very high, results revealed that the current curriculum and policies have inherent inefficiencies that do not provide new graduates with sufficient skills to easily move into and be productive in the labor market (African Development Bank, 2012). Moreover, with an outdated curriculum and the high level of corruption, universities are now lucrative markets where professors trade grades for sex and money (International Governance Institute, 2011; Kutumisa, 2015; 2009; Zindi 1998; Simelane, 2001; Taiwo et al, 2014). The results of this study suggest the need for collaboration between higher education institutions and employers in order to design effective curricula and build up an educational environment that truly benefit current students and their future employers.

Livelihood adaptation in refugee camps is often fragile and inherently problematic owing to their physical characteristics and policy restrictions. The Uganda refugee policy applauded as progressive exhibits internal contradictions which influence livelihoods. The purpose of this study is to explore the significant role of adult education in livelihood adaptation. The study used qualitative research methods of interviews and focus group discussions. Purposive sampling technique was used in selecting 70 participants from eight Common Interest Groups, of both refugees and Ugandan nationals. The findings indicate that access to agriculture extension education and financial literacy facilitates the acquisition of relevant skillsets for adaptation. The study concludes that adult education provides immediate, relevant skillsets for adaptation.

With an increasing immigrant population in the United States, higher education institutions and community organizations offer a variety of adult English as a second language (ESL) courses. Given that English language learners (ELLs) come from various backgrounds, they face unique challenges. Thus, it is pivotal that adult ESL instructors effectively address the needs of diverse ELLs in their classrooms. This qualitative study was guided by Critical Language and Race Theory introduced by Crump (2014) to explore how adult ESL instructors promote culturally responsive pedagogy. Participants of this study were seven adult ESL instructors teaching at a community college in the southeastern United States. Data were collected through face-to-face, semistructured interviews, journal entries, and classroom observations. This study contributes to the body of research that highlights the importance of promoting culturally responsive pedagogy in order to create an inclusive language learning environment.

Immigrants and refugees from the Democratic Republic (DR) of Congo represent one of the largest migrant groups coming to the U.S. Yet little has been written about this unique group of migrants, particularly regarding their experiences of identity development and cultural integration. Therefore, this paper critically investigates how migrants from DR Congo conceptualize their lives in the U.S. We use notions of "identity" and "language investment" as defined by Norton as well as Bourdieu's concepts of cultural, social, and linguistic "capital" to analyze interview data from 15 migrants currently living in a small community in the Midwest. Using the tools of qualitative data analysis we argue that while DR Congo migrants believe acquiring various forms of capital will help them achieve their imagined identities, their new experiences are burdened with unforeseen obstacles, both obvious and hidden, which impede the process of integration into U.S. society.

Despite the wealth of evidence that early learning opportunities are crucial for young children in crisis, little evidence shows a commensurate commitment to early childhood development (ECD) provision in refugee and humanitarian programming. The Kyaka II refugee settlement in Uganda is a case in point. Home to over 125,000 Congolese refugees, Kyaka II settlement has quadrupled in size over the past three years and is now populated well beyond its intended capacity. Close to the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this settlement received approximately 3,500 new Congolese arrivals each month in the pre-pandemic era; numbers are sure to rise again when the borders reopen. Typically, over 65% of the arrivals are children, many of whom have suffered extreme trauma after witnessing the brutality of war and displacement. They face serious child protection risks and have few safe places to go during the day. While a number of NGOs are providing primary education, ECD provision remains limited. Bringing education to children living in refugee camps and other challenging circumstances requires sustainable education solutions. This article discusses several important ways Children on the Edge made sustainable education a reality in the Kyaka II settlement.

My qualitative research in South-Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo suggests that teachers link experienced violence to their role as state representatives. Three elements evoke the militia's distrust: literacy, cell phones, and mobility. Reportedly, militias assume that teachers use these elements to cooperate with the military. This article therefore understands these elements as symbols of stateness, and it demonstrates how a state with overall weak capacities can have significant meaning for teachers' everyday lives in the form of the state-image. Thereby, the article sheds a critical light on approaches that frame teacher (re)deployment in conflict-affected contexts around normalcy and resilience. As teachers cannot escape their affiliation to the state, they live in an unsettling proximity to people who turned against them and who might again do so. Since reasons of the conflict remain unaddressed, teachers become reluctant representatives of a state system in which they themselves are structurally neglected.

This article provides a comparative analysis of Christian faith-based schooling in five African countries, including data on the proportions of faith-based schools, financing models, and forms of organization vis-à-vis the state. The case studies represent different forms and models. In all of the countries, at least one in six schools is run by a church. Christian churches do not see themselves as 'private schools' but as public providers working for the public common good. Faith-based schools contribute not only to making sure that children go to school and learn while in school, but also to sharing ideals ranging from social justice and equity, to peace and democracy, and social participation and inclusion. The article concludes with some reflections on future challenges for faith-based schools, mainly related to their funding and the lack of data to assess challenges and opportunities.