Msafiri Ponera

International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management DIRECT COFFEE EXPORT BUSINESS AND IMPROVEMENT OF AMCOS MEMBERS LIVELIHOOD IN TANZANIA EVIDENCE FROM PRIMARY CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES PULLED AWAY FROM KILIMANJARO NATIVE CO-OPERATIVE UNION

The current market reform has brought changes through which coffee business is undertaken in

Download

Direct Coffee Export Business and Improvement of Amcos Members Livelihood in Tanzania Evidence from Primary Co-Operative Societies Pulled Away from Kilimanjaro Native Co-Operative Union

The current market reform has brought changes through which coffee business is undertaken in Tanz... more The current market reform has brought changes through which coffee business is undertaken in Tanzania, in a traditional marketing system Kilimanjaro Native Co-operative Union (KNCU) could collect and market coffee on behalf of the primary co-operative societies dealing with coffee production in Kilimanjaro region, today some primary co-operative societies which pulled themselves away from KNCU are selling their coffee direct to the market for the purpose of generating income and improving their livelihood. Findings shows that Direct Export Coffee Business contribute positively towards AMCOS members livelihood in Tanzania including maintaining higher levels of income, making small farmers able to construct decent houses and send their children to school, and provision of health insurance to sustain rural livelihoods. The study recommended that, there is a need for government to intervene and provide enough support to these AMCOS including providing co-operative education and training...

Download

PONERA PUNLICATION 2017.pdf

Academic libraries in Tanzania play the pivotal role especially in teaching, learning and researc... more Academic libraries in Tanzania play the pivotal role especially in teaching, learning and research activities. They are especially important in collecting, processing, organizing and making information available to users. However, academic libraries face several challenges which include among others information explosion, budget deficit, shortage of library materials, and lack of support from the institutional top management, this paper addresses these challenges. Objectives of this study was to Identify benefits offered by library cooperation and resource sharing, to examine factors for successful library cooperation and resource sharing and finally to identify challenges facing the formation of library cooperation and resource sharing among Universities. The study predominantly adopted a desk study whose source of data was secondary. This was derived from books, various websites, periodicals, journals and newspapers. Findings of the study shows that library cooperation and resource sharing offer a number of benefits to staff students and researchers including exchange of documents through interlibrary loan and document delivery service, access to information at a right time by users and achievement of better academic performance among students. Study also found that in order to form sustainable cooperation among Universities library there should be commitment in membership among the cooperating institutions and clear guidelines on the management of the cooperation. Challenges facing the formation of library cooperation and resources sharing were also identified, these include budget constraints among the institutions, absence of library cooperation policy, lack of current materials in Universities library's collections and shortage of professional librarians to work in a networked environment. Study recommended that, there is a need to prepare a memorandum of understanding among the two institutions which will provide legal framework on how cooperation will be implemented, formulation of library cooperation policy to guide the daily operations of the cooperation, employment of professional library staff who can work in a networked environment, libraries should adopt and use computerized library services and finally the institutional top management should support the whole process which will result to the formation of library cooperation and resources sharing between MoCU and MWECAU.

Download

Msafiri Ponera Publication.pdf

The need for information among libraries and information users today has increased as a result of... more The need for information among libraries and information users today has increased as a result of the advantages that it offers in terms of the decision making power especially in political, economic and social aspects. Thus the right of access to information is no longer optional to any library users irrespective of their myriads as stipulated in Articles 18(1) and 18(2) of the Constitution of United Republic of Tanzania. With the help of Information and Communication Technologies, librarians have been working closely with library users so as to meet their information needs. Much has been done in Academic libraries such as the use of various information sources which are in different forms including print and electronic so as to suits the information needs of different categories of library users. In Academic libraries, staffs are expected to serve various categories of users including those with disabilities. In achieving this goal, the use of assistive technologies have been provided to library users with special needs to enable them to access the information at the right time and thus fulfilling the five laws of Library Science (i.e books are for use, every reader his/her book, every book its reader, save the time of the reader, and library is a growing organism). Despite the fact that right of access to information is a fundamental right to any human being including those with disabilities, still most academic libraries face challenges in serving students with disabilities. This paper seeks to investigate the challenges that academic libraries face in serving students with disabilities focusing on Moshi Co-operative University Library. The paper will also come out with solutions and recommendations to address the identified challenges.

Download

Integrating Information Literacy Subject into Universities’ Curricular towards Achieving Life- Long Learning Habit among Students: A Case of Selected Universities in Kilimanjaro Region, Tanzania

European Academic Research, 2017

Information literacy (IL) subject plays a significant role in imparting life-long reading ... more Information literacy (IL) subject plays a significant role in imparting life-long reading habit among University students which also enables students to become skillful information users in problem solving. The current number of Universities in Tanzania is 68, where
25 are public universities and 43 private universities. Moshi district is among the areas in Tanzania where some of these Universities are located. Since information is an essential commodity in academic and socio-economic development, integrating information literacy subject in the Universities curricular becomes of great important. The main objective was to assess if Universities in Kilimanjaro region have integrated information literacy subject in their curricular. Specifically, the study intended; to examine how information literacy have been integrated at Moshi Co-operative University (MoCU), Mwenge Catholic University (MWECAU) and Stefano Moshi Memorial University College (SMMUCo), to identify the role that has been played by Universities librarians in imparting information literacy skills to students and to assess challenges facing the integration of information literacy subject in the Universities curricular. The design of the study is multiple-case study which MoCU, MWECAU and SMMUCo were used. The study found out that all three Universities have not integrated IL subject in their curricular. With regard to the challenges towards integrating IL subject, study found that, the current Tanzania Education Policy has not stated whether or not it is mandatory for all Universities in Tanzania to integrate IL subject in their curricular. There are no institutional policies which provide guidelines of integrating IL subject in their curricular and lack of librarian’s involvement in curriculum development creates more difficulties. The study has also recommended that, Tanzania Education Policy of 1995 has to be revised to accommodate this important aspect, there should be involvement of librarians in curriculum development and institutional top management should support the efforts of integrating IL in their curricular

Key words: Information Literacy, Curricular, IT, Universities, Tanzania

Download

Challenges Facing the Formation of Library Cooperation and Resource Sharing: Lessons from Moshi Co-operative

by Jaffar Ponera and Msafiri Ponera

Academic libraries in Tanzania play the pivotal role especially in teaching, learning and researc... more Academic libraries in Tanzania play the pivotal role especially in teaching, learning and research activities. They are especially important in collecting, processing, organizing and making information available to users. However, academic libraries face several challenges which include among others information explosion, budget deficit, shortage of library materials, and lack of support from the institutional top management, this paper addresses these challenges. Objectives of this study was to Identify benefits offered by library cooperation and resource sharing, to examine factors for successful library cooperation and resource sharing and finally to identify challenges facing the formation of library cooperation and resource sharing among Universities. The study predominantly adopted a desk study whose source of data was secondary. This was derived from books, various websites, periodicals, journals and newspapers. Findings of the study shows that library cooperation and resource sharing offer a number of benefits to staff students and researchers including exchange of documents through interlibrary loan and document delivery service, access to information at a right time by users and achievement of better academic performance among students. Study also found that in order to form sustainable cooperation among Universities library there should be commitment in membership among the cooperating institutions and clear guidelines on the management of the cooperation. Challenges facing the formation of library cooperation and resources sharing were also identified, these include budget constraints among the institutions, absence of library cooperation policy, lack of current materials in Universities library's collections and shortage of professional librarians to work in a networked environment. Study recommended that, there is a need to prepare a memorandum of understanding among the two institutions which will provide legal framework on how cooperation will be implemented, formulation of library cooperation policy to guide the daily operations of the cooperation, employment of professional library staff who can work in a networked environment, libraries should adopt and use computerized library services and finally the institutional top management should support the whole process which will result to the formation of library cooperation and resources sharing between MoCU and MWECAU.

Download

Uploads

Papers by Msafiri Ponera

Log In