Volume 1 - Issue 2 – June 2026
Explore the latest collection of interdisciplinary peer-reviewed articles focusing on developmental partnerships and structural transformations across the African continent.
Table of Contents
2 articlesResearch Articles
Transformative learning among the Batwa: effects of an integrated literacy, numeracy, and civic education intervention in South-West Uganda
Charles Kyasanku, Edwardi Kansiime, Alfred Buluma
Uganda's Batwa Indigenous community has faced severe marginalisation since being forcibly displaced from their ancestral forests in the early 1990s, when Bwindi and Mgahinga National Parks were established. This displacement deepened poverty, discrimination, and inequality, drastically limiting education; pre-intervention child enrollment was around 10%, with adult literacy far below national averages. This study evaluates a community-based intervention combining functional adult literacy, civic education, and transformative teaching methods, grounded in Mezirow's Transformative Learning Theory. Conducted in Kisoro and Rubanda Districts, the programme sought to shift perspectives among Batwa adults and host communities, promote gender-inclusive education, and build community resilience. Using a mixed-methods, pre-and post-intervention design, researchers gathered data through focus groups, interviews, observation, and baseline/endline assessments. Results showed significant gains: adult literacy rose from 34.5% to 70%, and civic knowledge improved sharply, with understanding of civic institutions increasing from 15% to 70%. Dialogue-based sessions addressing patriarchal norms also produced measurable gender equity progress. However, numeracy improvements were modest, indicating a need for more contextually relevant mathematics teaching. The findings support culturally responsive, integrated interventions for addressing overlapping exclusion barriers and recommend embedding similar approaches into national education policy prioritising community ownership, collaboration across stakeholders, and sustained funding to break cycles of intergenerational marginalisation.
Cultural convergence among educated elites in Sub-Saharan Africa: a reassessment of Hofstede's cultural dimension
İbrahim Hakan Karataş, Anthony Muwaga Mugaga, Onoyona-Ekeocha, Isoken Erhowo, Daniel Kumah, Hatice Uslu Kocabaş
This study examines the cultural orientations of highly educated individuals in four Sub-Saharan African countries—Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda—using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions framework. While Hofstede’s national cultural profiles have long served as reference points in cross-cultural research, empirical data for many African countries remain limited and outdated. This study addresses this gap by applying the Values Survey Module 2013 (VSM 2013) to a sample of 226 university-educated respondents, grouped by nationality (55 Ghanaians, 60 Nigerians, 42 Tanzanians, and 69 Ugandans). Cultural dimension indices were calculated and compared both across countries, against Hofstede’s reference database, and in relation to developed economies and Türkiye as an emerging country benchmark. Descriptive results revealed relatively similar cultural patterns among respondents in the four countries. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) further indicated that nationality had no statistically significant effect on the cultural dimensions. These findings suggest that highly educated populations in the sampled countries exhibit broadly similar cultural orientations despite belonging to different national contexts. The results underscore the importance of considering socio-structural factors, such as education and globalization, when interpreting cultural values. The study contributes updated empirical evidence to debates on cultural change and raises questions about the extent to which national cultural models capture emerging cultural patterns among educated populations in Sub-Saharan Africa.