Browsing by Author "Saruni, Kisiaya"

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    Factors influencing adoption of facility-assisted delivery-a qualitative study of women and other stakeholders in a Maasai community in Ngorongoro District, Tanzania
    (BioMed Central, 2020-02-14) Saruni, Kisiaya
    Tanzania’s One Plan II health sector program aims to increase facility deliveries from 50 to 80% from 2015 to 2020. Success is uneven among certain Maasai pastoralist women in Northern Tanzania who robustly prefer home births to facility births even after completing 4+ ANC visits. Ebiotishu Oondomonok Ongera (EbOO) is a program in Nainokanoka ward to promote facility births through a care-group model using trained traditional birth attendants (TBAs) as facilitators. Results to date are promising but show a consistent gap between women completing ANC and those going to a facility for delivery. A qualitative study was conducted to understand psychosocial preferences, agency for decision-making, and access barriers that influence where a woman in the ward will deliver. In-depth interviews, focus group discussions and key-informant interviews were conducted with 24 pregnant and/or parous women, 24 TBAs, 3 nurse midwives at 3 health facilities, and 24 married men, living in Nainokanoka ward. Interviews and discussions were transcribed, translated, and analyzed thematically using a grounded theory approach. Most women interviewed expressed preference for a home birth with a TBA and even those who expressed agency and preference for a facility birth usually had their last delivery at home attributed to unexpected labor. TBAs are engaged by husbands and play a significant influential role in deciding place of delivery. TBAs report support for facility deliveries but in practice use them as a last resort, and a significant trust gap was documented based on a bad experience at a facility where women in labor were turned away. EbOO project data and study results show a slow but steady change in norms around delivery preference in Nainokanoka ward. Gaps between expressed intention and practice, especially around ‘unexpected labor’ present opportunities to accelerate this process by promoting birth plans and perhaps constructing a maternity waiting house in the ward. Rebuilding trust between facility midwives, TBAs, and the community on the availability of health facility services, and increased sensitivity to women’s cultural preferences, could also close the gap between the number of women who are currently using facilities for ANC and those returning for delivery.
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    Indigenous Institutions and Rangeland Sustainability in Northern Tanzania
    (Tanzania Journal of Sociology, 2018-06-01) Saruni, Kisiaya
    This study attempts to underscore the role of indigenous institutions on rangeland governance and sustainability among pastoral communities in northern Tanzania. Ostrom’s institutional approach to governance of common-property rangeland resources is used as a conceptual framework to analyse indigenous institutional arrangement in relation to rangeland sustainability. Qualitative methodology is employed to capture narratives from indigenous people. A sample of 54 interviews and life histories as well as four focus group discussions from four research sites were obtained using a purposive sampling technique. There is strong evidence to substantiate that indigenous institutions play key roles as custodians of rangeland governance and are responsible for instituting norms and rules governing access and withdrawal of common-property resources and solving rangeland disputes. Therefore, Indigenous institutions should be recognized as an integral component of local resource governance. Furthermore, indigenous rangeland cooperatives should be formed to help preserve indigenous traditional institutions, which are crucial for sustainable rangeland governance.
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    Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Rangeland Governance in Northern Tanzania. Tanzania Journal of Population and Development, Vol 23, No 1& 2, 2018.
    (Tanzania Journal of Population and Development, 2018-09-02) Saruni, Kisiaya
    The article examines the role of indigenous knowledge (IK) systems in the governance of common-property rangeland resources among pastoral communities in Northern Tanzania. It draws on the political ecology approach to examine the role and state of indigenous knowledge on rangeland governance in the changing socio-cultural, political and ecological context. It employs qualitative methodology to capture the narratives from the indigenous people. Using purposive (non-probability strategy) technique the study obtained a sample of 50 interviews and life histories combined, and four focus group discussions from four research sites. Findings indicate that forms of indigenous knowledge—such as rangeland rituals and cosmologies, rangeland zonation, livestock taxonomy, water communism and pastoral mobility—regulate and maintain a harmonious relationship between indigenous people and the wider ecosystem. The article concludes that IK should be recognized as an integral component of local resource governance. Also, indigenous rangeland cooperatives should be formed to help the sustainability of IK systems and settling emerging rangeland disputes.