Browsing by Subject "Rwanda"
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Item A Program Evaluation of a Rwandan Milk Collection Center(2014-01-14) Balinas, Melanie ElizabethThe purpose of this descriptive, correlational study was to evaluate dairy farmers? adoption characteristics and use of a Milk Collection Center (MCC) in the Western province of Rwanda. A snowball sampling method was used to identify participants (N = 53). Farmers answered a research instrument related to their use and perception of the MCC and potential price points for educational services including, artificial insemination training, mastitis treatments, vaccinations at the MCC, training in milking techniques, on-site veterinarian services, and milk quality testing. The study showed that Rwandan dairy farmers had agreeable attitudes toward the Gisenyi MCC and were influenced by distance to MCC, access to credit, and low cost of technologies. No significant relationships existed between farmers? adopter categories (early vs. late) and their overall attitude toward the MCC. However, relationships existed between individual adopter characteristics and overall attitude toward the MCC. Farmers were willing to pay for certain educational services, such as artificial insemination training and mastitis treatments. Vaccinations at the MCC and artificial insemination training were farmers? highest valued services. Positive relationships existed between price points and importance of educational services. The MCCs must appeal to their target client, the dairy farmer, and listen to their wants and needs to be successful and have an impact. By drawing attention to the positive attributes of the MCC, participation increases amongst the farmers wouldbenefit the MCC and the Rwandan dairy market, in addition to helping dairy farmers have a more stable market to sell their product and receive the assistance needed.Item Innovative Cooperation and Collaboration: A Study on Rwandan Coffee Cooperatives(2012-07-16) Stellbauer, Robert MatthewThe purpose of this study is to describe and examine the attitudes of coffee cooperative members towards the ownership of the SPREAD cooperatives in relation to cooperative sustainability. In addition this study identifies barriers faced by member farmers and subsequently provides recommendations on ways in which SPREAD can help its member farmers achieve a more sustainable livelihood. Previous analysis of the SPREAD project and its member cooperatives has suggested that coffee cooperative members do not feel ownership of the cooperative and have not benefited from the cooperatives, leaving the sustainability of the cooperatives to question. The research questions used for this study focused on issues of sustainability, ownership and organizational impact and barriers. All of the cooperatives studied over the course of this project receive funds from the USAID funded project SPREAD. The population of interest comprised members from three of the fourteen cooperatives receiving aid from the SPREAD project. A sample of 52 individuals participated in the study, with the data being collected from mid-July to mid-August, 2009. Quantitative data were collected using a close-ended category-scale questionnaire. The close-ended category-scale questionnaires were analyzed based on the frequency and percentage of responses. Major findings of this study included that coffee cooperative members felt that in the absence of SPREAD, the coffee cooperatives would be unable to function. In regards to ownership, members felt as if they owned the cooperatives. The disparity between these two constructs shows that once SPREAD no longer supports the cooperatives, then sustainability is to question and further they are more susceptible to collapse.Item Ubuzima bugira icyanga aruko bufite icyizere, or Life has taste when there is hope: Transcendent trauma narratives of post-genocide Rwanda(2011-05) Osborne, Jen; Baake, Ken; Koerber, Amy; Zdenek, SeanThis dissertation proposes a structured model for a trauma writing workshop that provides opportunities for individuals to grieve and write about their traumatic experiences. The Kibuye Model offers comprehensive support for writers during this difficult but beneficial work. The model was found to be promising through narrative analysis of ten trauma narratives written by survivors of Rwanda’s 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Using a software textual analysis program called Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC), the narratives were found to be typical in style and form compared to other samples of emotional writing. The content of the trauma narratives focuses more on topics related to mass trauma and genocide, and several texts were found to transcend narrative structure through writers’ use of rhetorical figures. Findings and implications of this analysis can be used for further trauma writing workshop development and implementation, for writing groups who focus on painful experiences, and by mental health experts who employ the expressive writing paradigm. Please note that this study includes graphic descriptions of genocidal violence and psychological trauma.