As threats facing wildlife and protected areas across Africa increase, demand for innovative and transformational leadership to tackle the challenges remains high. Traditional academic training ...programmes are playing a critical role in meeting capacity development needs, yet opportunities for strengthening leadership capabilities are limited. This was the rationale behind Mentoring for ENvironmental Training in Outreach and Resource conservation (MENTOR), initiated in 2007 by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service through a collaborative effort with various partners to support conservation leadership and capacity development across sub-Saharan Africa. Five independent programmes were implemented over a decade, each designed to combine rigorous academic and field-based training with mentoring and experiential learning for teams of 8–9 fellows selected through a competitive process. It was envisioned that this approach to leadership and capacity development would strengthen the resolve, capabilities and competences of the fellows and position them as conservation leaders. Using data from interviews and online surveys, we assessed three key aspects of the programmes: strategic relevance and design; progress, effectiveness and impact; and sustainability. Overall, we found that all five programmes successfully delivered the objective of strengthening leadership for conservation in Africa, with the cadre of professionals acquiring new skills and expertise to advance their careers, and developing life-long relationships and networks. We discuss the potential of this approach for developing African conservation leaders.
This study examined how young people perceive the revitalization of indigenous languages in multicultural environments. The research team gathered data from a stratified random sample of 200 ...participants hailing from diverse rural and urban areas in Ghana and Sierra Leone. Employing a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, the study employed questionnaires and interviews to gauge local community perceptions toward indigenous language revitalization in Ghana and Sierra Leone. The team also conducted focus groups to gain qualitative insights. The two data sets were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics, as well as thematic qualitative analysis to reveal the perspectives of study participants on the importance of indigenous language in maintaining cultural legacy. The findings underscored the significance of indigenous languages beyond communication, emphasizing their exposure to external threats such as cultural assimilation and the dominance of foreign languages. The research team calls on the Ministries in charge of culture in Ghana and Sierra Leone to prioritize initiatives aimed at recovering and safeguarding indigenous languages, as a critical step for cultural transmission and preservation.
Keywords: Native Culture, Linguistic Traditions, Cultural Ecosystems, Language, Indigenous Languages, Cultural Synergy
This study employed psychoanalytic theory to delve into the ways Sierra Leonean poets Celia Eva Beatrice Thompson, Princess Mildred Kailey, and Kayode Adesimi Robbin-Coker explored themes of despair, ...lust, and loss in their poetry. Addressing a notable gap in literary criticism, especially regarding Sierra Leonean authors, the research sought to raise the international stature of African writers and support students facing challenges with poetry in West African public exams. Employing psychoanalytic principles, the study uncovered deeper meanings behind the unconscious drives and emotions in these poets' works. It involved analyzing the occurrence of themes, detecting psychoanalytically significant lines and phrases, and identifying central themes and literary techniques used to express complex emotions. The analysis, which combined thematic and literary analysis, focused on the language, themes, and use of figurative language, diction, and other poetic devices in Thompson’s 41, Kailey’s 20, and Robbin-Coker’s 23 poems. This approach highlighted their distinct ways of depicting despair, lust, and loss. By integrating thematic analysis, the study offered a more profound comprehension of each poet's style. Ultimately, this psychoanalytic exploration aimed to enhance critical interpretation skills and helped in understanding the deeper psychological aspects of Sierra Leonean and other African poetry.
This study employed psychoanalytic theory to delve into the ways Sierra Leonean poets Celia Eva Beatrice Thompson, Princess Mildred Kailey, and Kayode Adesimi Robin-Coker explored themes of despair, ...lust, and loss in their poetry. Addressing a notable gap in literary criticism, especially regarding Sierra Leonean authors, the research sought to raise the international stature of African writers and support students facing challenges with poetry in West African public exams. Employing psychoanalytic principles, the study uncovered deeper meanings behind the unconscious drives and emotions in these poets' works. It involved analyzing the occurrence of themes, detecting psychoanalytically significant lines and phrases, and identifying central themes and literary techniques used to express complex emotions. The analysis, which combined thematic and literary analysis, focused on the language, themes, and use of figurative language, diction, and other poetic devices in Thompson's 23, Kailey's 41, and Robin-Coker's 20 poems. This approach highlighted their distinct ways of depicting despair, lust, and loss. By integrating thematic analysis, the study offered a more profound comprehension of each poet's style. Ultimately, this psychoanalytic exploration aimed to enhance critical interpretation skills and helped in understanding the deeper psychological aspects of Sierra Leonean and other African poetry.
The purpose of the research was to examine the constructivist referents in Oumar Farouk Sesay’s poem ‘The Song of the Women of My Land’. This required an analysis and understanding of the referents ...(terms that clearly and indirectly refer to persons, things or events) and whether the referents were used in the poem to express grief by women. The research questions were as follows: a) Does the poet use referents that suggest the death of traditions that celebrate old women, song bards, and songs from the past more than any other word? b) Is the poet more likely to employ poetic allusions to indicate negative constructivism? and c) Is the poem’s use of prosodic features related to the message? This study used computational and content analysis methods, which incorporate a careful poetry-reading critical approach, to identify and calculate constructivist referents. The referents were then manually broad-coded to include whole lines and verses. The exact words, phrases, and sentences related to the topic were coded and their frequency was determined. These were calculated by counting the number of times a referent appeared. The themes were then selected and interpreted, with a focus on relating them to the poem’s constructivist viewpoint. Finally, the main prosodic elements of the poem, as well as the referents that create them, were established. The results show that most referents by African poets are used to emphasise that traditional culture is dying and that the referents romanticise the fleeting nature of beauty in poetry and the pacifying effects of rural pastimes.
The study examined the practitioners and uses of contemporary Mende folk literature in South-eastern Sierra Leone. A qualitative research design involving 250 participants from 50 communities with 5 ...participants from each community was used in the study. Interviews were carried out using interview guide questions relating to folk practices, performance, and uses in the selected communities. Focus group discussions followed the interviews in 10 communities selected using simple random techniques. The findings revealed that Mende folk literature was endangered and, apart from occasional singing, household story-telling and riddling sessions done mainly by children and women, the only groups of people recognized as practitioners of Mende folk literature were the tribal and secret society heads and the community's griots, who mostly were elderly people. Mende folk literature should not only be of academic interest but rather a source of cultural rejuvenation.
Received: 26 July 2021 / Accepted: 27 September 2021 / Published: 5 November 2021
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