Practical Action

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Founder of the community-based organization The Legend Kenya, Rose Mbone shares an account of how women have led the transformation of community and individual healing in the midst of collective trauma through their shared leadership and courage. Mbone grapples with police-community relations, including how women in informal settlements of Nairobi have found healing from trauma following extrajudicial killings of loved ones—mostly men—and, from this, built stronger social ties between police and the community.

ABSTRACT Action learning is becoming increasingly popular as an effective and powerful approach to learning and development. Originally mostly practised in the fields of organisational development and management education, it is now being applied in various contexts where the development of transversal skills such as critical and creative thinking, collaboration and problem-solving is vital. This paper explores how established action learning scholar-practitioners have developed their expertise over time. They examine their personal and professional journeys, reflecting on how they were attracted to the action learning community and how they developed their practice. Through their narratives, the paper aims to enhance action learning by providing valuable insights into its evolution as both theory and practice. Based on a symposium presented at the 9th Action Learning Conference, held in Manchester in April 2025, the four participants engaged in reflective discussions on their careers and contributions to the action learning community. Four themes are identified from these discussions. By sharing their reflections, the authors contribute to the ongoing dialogue in action learning theory and practice. Their insights serve as a resource for emerging scholars, practitioners and organisations seeking to deepen their understanding of action learning and apply it effectively in their respective contexts.

BackgroundIn our quest to improve pediatric neuro-oncological care in government tertiary institutions, growing calls to set up a recurring monthly MDT meeting finally came to fruition in 2024 despite the challenges characteristic of setting up a new program in a developing nation. A team comprising of, neurosurgeons, pediatric oncologists, radio-oncologists, pathologists, radiologists, and international collaborators from Cape Town and St Jude’s all convened for this monthly virtual meeting. Here we enumerate, reflect on, and map a way forward to address these issues.MethodologyAs we celebrate the first anniversary of the program, we are auditing the cases discussed, interventions done, morbidity and mortality, and explore growth potential going forward.ResultsWe have not only surpassed our expectations in terms of numbers but also realized tangible benefits brought by the multi-disciplinary efforts in streamlining neuro-oncological services in Zimbabwe. Challenges were encountered, and ongoing efforts are aimed at addressing these challenges through further engagement with the international community as well as public-private partnerships, notably the Kidzcan charity organization. Timely imaging, pathology, and radiotherapy capacity as well as the availability of much-needed surgical equipment are some of the notable constraints.ConclusionIn a nutshell, a multidisciplinary approach to neuro-oncological patients affords tailor-made individualized care to every patient and helps in formulating local treatment protocols best suited for our unique challenges. There is still room for improvement through further collaboration. This program can serve as a template for similar programs in resource-limited settings.

Despite CRDF allocation opportunities since the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries remain high. Existing evidence on the CRDF-GHG emissions nexus is based on aggregate climate finance without also considering the impact of recipient income levels. This study examined the effectiveness of climate-related development finance in reducing GHG emissions, examine the role of CRDF sources in emissions reduction, and assess the influence of recipient country’s income level. The study used panel data from selected African countries (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameron, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe). Pooled OSL, Random Effects and Fixed Effects were used to analyse the relationship between GHGs emissions as the dependent variable and CRDF, CRDF sources, and recipient income levels as independent variables. The results revealed a significant negative relationship between aggregated CRDF and GHGs emissions. An increase in CRDF leads to investment in mitigatory measures that subsequently decrease GHGs emissions. Furthermore, the study found that CRDF sources have significant heterogeneous effects on developing countries' GHGs emissions where CRDF from Asia result in significant reductions in GHG emissions, while CRDF from Europe increases emissions. The interaction between CRDF and recipient incomes was also found to significantly increase emissions. The study highlights the critical role of CRDF in reducing GHG emissions in the selected African countries. The study recommends a continuous flow of CRDF to developing countries, prioritizing funding sources from Asia complemented by measures to decouple economic growth from emissions thereby further enhancing the effectiveness of CRDF in reducing GHG emissions.

Texture roughness perception is crucial for autonomous robots to perform manipulation, quality inspection, and material discrimination in unknown environments. This work proposes an approach to combine vibration and force data using the VibroTact sensor for texture roughness classification. Vibration and force data are first processed by CNN and ANN models, and then combined using a Bayesian framework. This approach is evaluated by recognizing 15 textures with different roughness (7 soft and 8 hard textures) using individual ANN and CNN models, and is compared against the Bayesian combination of both methods. Texture data is collected by mounting the VibroTact sensor on a robotic arm and using three sliding exploratory procedures (vertical, diagonal, and circular sliding). The texture roughness recognition results achieve 100% accuracy using the combined approach, which improves the performance of individual ANN and CNN models which range from 87.50% to 100% accuracy. The results also show that diagonal and vertical sliding are optimal for recognizing hard and soft textures, respectively. This approach demonstrates its potential for industrial robotics applications that require texture discrimination.

Conductive gels hold immense promise for next-generation wearable electronics, owing to their inherent softness, biocompatibility, and multifunctionality. However, realizing their full potential in diverse and dynamic environments remains hindered by critical performance bottlenecks. Key challenges include: (i) poor underwater adhesion due to interfacial hydration layers, compromising long-term durability; (ii) swelling-induced mechanical instability, resulting from excessive water uptake and network distortion; (iii) frozen-state fragility, where ice formation disrupts ionic pathways and flexibility at subzero temperatures; and (iv) mechanical vulnerability to puncture, shock, and fatigue, highlighting the need for intrinsic self-healing or enhanced robustness. This thesis addresses these pivotal challenges through strategic material innovations and targeted design approaches.

: The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states that In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor; and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense. It guarantees defendants the right to confront the witnesses that stand against them, which is a principle known as the confrontation clause. Court cases such as Maryland v. Craig (1990) and Crawford v. Washington (2004) helped shape how state and federal courts interpret the right to confrontation in cases where witness safety is a large concern. The purpose of this research is to examine how the confrontation clause from the Sixth Amendment of the United States has been utilized in court cases, especially when witness safety is a concern, and how the fundamentals of said system could be modified for the future. As courts recognize the necessity of witness protection, the balance of the defendants right to a fair trial has been a rising concern. Current situations may be limiting fairness to both parties. In addition, witness protection programs may indirectly and directly require personal sacrifices from the witness, particularly on the part of third-party members, leading the equity of these practices to become a concern. To improve this flawed system, the legal structure must adapt to change, providing more funding and risk assessment to ensure more fairness.