Browsing by Author "Aswani, Daniel Robert"

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    A Review of Relevant Literature on Development Communication and its Implications for Kenya
    (International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2014-11) Aswani, Daniel Robert
    This paper traces the evolution of development communication in terms of theoretical perspectives; approaches to development planning and what these perspectives portend for Kenya. Taking a Kuhnian position, the paper looks at the paradigmatic shifts in the field and explores learning points for a country eager to be industrialized by year 2030. The study takes a historical account of the development of the field and utilizes content analysis from vivid examples drawn from African countries and specifically from Kenya. The paper holds the view that the field has evolved for the better, dropping what has been falsified and adopting new paradigms. The new paradigms explain the failures of the preceding paradigm and explain development concepts in a coherent manner. This is a review of relevant literature on development communication.
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    Advancements and Challenges of Problem-Based Learning: A Case Study of Daystar University
    (IGI Global Scientific Publishing, 2025) Eboi, Anne Anjao; Kowuor, Rosemary Nyaole; Aswani, Daniel Robert; Radoli, Lydia Ouma
    The global higher education landscape is fast evolving, demanding that universities equip students with critical knowledge and 21st-century skills. Daystar University (DU) 's switch from teacher-centered models to Problem-Based Learning (PBL) reflects this shift. PBL stresses critical thinking and real-world problem-solving, essential for today's interconnected world. The chapter examined the challenges and advancements of PBL implementation at DU using qualitative methods involving interviews with 30 selected informants and document analysis. Findings show that while PBL has been integrated across various programs, challenges like resistance to change, insufficient faculty training, and resource limitations persist. However, significant progress has been made, including adopting technology-enhanced tools, increased faculty collaboration, and a growing culture of innovation among students. The study recommends targeted faculty development, improved infrastructure, and stronger support systems to enhance PBL's effectiveness in fostering more profound learning experiences.
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    Assessing Internal Communication and Teacher Burnout: An Empirical Study of School Administrators in Select Public High Schools in Kakamega County, Kenya
    (Journal of Humanities and Education Development, 2023-03) Luhombo, Killian Kinyungu; Omondi, Daniel Onyango; Aswani, Daniel Robert
    Extant literature suggests that burnout is one of the major factors contributing to declining teacher productivity. Studies have exposed a prevalence of burnout among the teaching fraternity, with administrators recording higher levels of burnout. This research study investigated the association that exists between internal communication and teacher burnout, among public high school administrators employed by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in Kakamega County as the target population. The research questions were: a) What is the perceived effectiveness of the internal communication in place based on official channels used by TSC to communicate with the administrators? b) What are the administrator burnout levels in select public high schools in the county? and, c) What is the association between internal communication and teacher burnout among the select public high school administrators? The study which utilized a correlation research design, revealed that all the respondents experienced burnout. The findings further established that there was a weak negative correlation of -.231 between internal communication and corporate burnout, with a statistical significance level of 0.016. This suggests a statistically significant relationship between internal communication and burnout characterized by a weak negative correlation. The study recommends that institutions endeavour to ascertain their employees’ communication interests in order to establish their internal communication system. Similar studies should be conducted in the different Kenyan counties so as to make comparisons as well as among administrators in private and international schools in Kenya, to provide more insight into the association between internal communication and teacher burnout.
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    Communication for Mangrove Forest Conservation among the Coastal Communities in Kenya
    (International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2015-06) Wekesa, Allan Siangu; Aswani, Daniel Robert
    Rural communities in coastal areas depend on mangroves as their primary source of income generation, fuel, medicine and other basic necessities such as timber for housing. The wanton depletion of mangroves is a cause of serious environmental and economic concern. Wise management of these resource is therefore essential for the sustainable use and for the cultural and socio-economic welfare of the coastal inhabitants. In this connection, awareness raising through information to all relevant stakeholders is decisive in order to save the mangrove forests. The aim of this paper is to analyze the contribution of the different forms of communication in the dissemination of information. The findings of this study indicate the use of face to face communication through village meetings and seminars were found to be more effective communication channels as opposed to mass media tools like radio and TV due to the high levels of interaction and feedback opportunities.
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    Exploring Terror Victims’ Expectations of Government Communication
    (International Journal of Media, Journalism and Mass Communications, 2020) Aswani, Daniel Robert; Mbutu, Paul Mutinda; Mwithia, Kinya Jesica
    At the time of a terror attack, victims yearn for messages from the government so that they can make decisions on their safety and security. When the government communicates, the victims form perceptions towards such communication. The perceptions that victims of terror hold are partly attributed to the expectations that the victims have of government communication. This study explored terror victims’ expectations of government communication. The study adopted a qualitative methodology and used hermeneutic phenomenological design. The findings showed that victims of terror have expectations of government communication ranging from the desire for personalized communication; agility in communication; transparent and prompt communication; well-coordinated messaging; and communicate power and authority. Different studies, both conceptual and speculative, point to the same expectations of the different audiences that consume government communication.
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    Perceptions towards Government Communication Strategies on COVID-19 Vaccination in Kenya
    (Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies (, 2021-10) Aswani, Daniel Robert
    Kenya, like most countries in the world, continues to battle with the effects of the novel coronavirus (nCoV) popularly known as COVID-19. The rise in infections cannot be compared with a paltry 3% of the population that is fully vaccinated – a concern that puts the blame squarely on the way government has communicated on vaccine uptake. While there is an appreciation of constraining factors such as vaccine nationality ‘wars’, it is disturbing that where vaccines are availed, there remains anecdotal evidence on what spurs the hesitancy to take up vaccine in Kenya. This study sought to establish what drives the hesitancy in vaccine uptake by exploring the perceptions of COVID-19 survivors towards the communication strategies utilized by government to urge Kenyans to get vaccinated. The social influence theory provided a lens for understanding this phenomenon. Government communication strategies are competing with many voices that either deny the form of existence of the virus and hence refute the place of vaccines, or speak of the inefficiency of the vaccine, or create conspiracies around the use of vaccines. Good communication strategies seem to be the missing link in spurring the take up of COVID-19 vaccines and pushing the population to herd immunity. Only then, can the country encourage socio-economic development. This study answered research questions that explore problems, prospects, and perspectives that COVID-19 survivors (n=10) had towards the government communication strategies. The study took a phenomenological approach utilizing lived experiences of the survivors (5 now fully vaccinated and 5 are yet vaccinated). Explicated data was presented in themes. Participants noted use of different government communication strategies such as publicized vaccination of senior government officials; use of influencers; and use of media briefings. Based on findings and personal reflections, government communication strategies used by the government were reactive, pompous (or ignorant), and/or contradictory.
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    A Review of Relevant Literature on Development Communication and its Implications for Kenya
    (International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2014-09) Aswani, Daniel Robert; Wekesa, Allan Siangu
    This paper traces the evolution of development communication in terms of theoretical perspectives; approaches to development planning and what these perspectives portend for Kenya. Taking a Kuhnian position, the paper looks at the paradigmatic shifts in the field and explores learning points for a country eager to be industrialized by year 2030. The study takes a historical account of the development of the field and utilizes content analysis from vivid examples drawn from African countries and specifically from Kenya. The paper holds the view that the field has evolved for the better, dropping what has been falsified and adopting new paradigms. The new paradigms explain the failures of the preceding paradigm and explain development concepts in a coherent manner. This is a review of relevant literature on development communication.
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    Torture and the Ticking Bomb, by Bob Brecher: A Review
    (Asian Journal of Humanities and Social Studies, 2017-10) Aswani, Daniel Robert
    A number of terror attacks have furthered the notoriety of terrorists. Such attacks include the ones in Bali, London, Nairobi, Kikambala, Dar-el-salaam, Kampala, New York, the fortune spent to bring down Osama bin Laden and more recently the sporadic terror attacks in different towns in Kenya culminating in the Westgate attack. Immediately after the 9/11 bombings, the then US President, George W. Bush declared that — in the war against terror — countries were either with the USA or with the terrorists. This declaration created an equal and opposite assumption that ‘those’ fighting terror were thereby justified in the manner they terror suspects. As a result, dangerous escapades have been reported in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. Simultaneously, tales of torture have surrounded the debate on the rationale of holding suspects at Guantanamo Bay. In a nutshell, the role of interrogators has come under sharp focus particularly in the inhumane manner that terrorism suspects have been handled. Complaints have ranged from rendition to torture. The role of the investigator in torturing a suspect, or what has been called interrogational torture, has been a topic of discussion in many civil society engagements around the globe.
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    Using Social Media In Crisis Communication: A Case Of Daystar University’s 2017/2018 Crisis
    (IOSR Journal of Mobile Computing & Application (IOSR-JMCA), 2021-07) Manyasa, Mavis Eleanor; Omondi, Daniel Onyango; Owino, Ruth; Aswani, Daniel Robert
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    Victims Understanding Of Government through Actions and Communication: The Case of Garissa University College Terror Attack
    (International Journal of International Relations, Media and Mass Communication Studies, 2020-12) Aswani, Daniel Robert; Mbutu, Paul Mutinda; Mwithia, Kinya Jesica
    This study falls within the government communication field. In the study, we aim at exploring what citizens make of government from its actions and communication. The study was contextualized in the government actions and communication during the 2015 Garissa University College terror attack. Terrorism is violent communication aimed at discrediting the position that governments protect citizens’ lives and property. How government deals with the attackers and how it communicates to citizens who eagerly await government communication reveals something about the nature of government. Although government communicates to the citizens, studies have been silent on citizen feedback based on the messages and actions of the government. This study adopted a qualitative approach and took a hermeneutic phenomenological design where terror victims’ lived experiences were interrogated to elucidate some perceptions towards government and government communication. Three methods were used to generate data, namely: interviews, observation and document analysis. The study findings revealed that terror victims interacted with government — an interaction that revealed a government that send mixed signals on its capacity to handle the situation
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    Victims’ Perceptions Towards Government Communication on Terror the Case of Garissa University College Attack
    (Daystar University, School of Communication, 2021-06) Aswani, Daniel Robert
    In this study, I explored the phenomenological question on what perceptions terror victims had towards government communication on terror (GCT) during the Garissa University College terror attack. During the attack, anxious citizens yearned for government communication to enable them to make decisions on their safety. A review of relevant literature revealed that GCT had not been problematized from the perspective of the terror victims. Through the study’s research questions, I sought to understand the expectations terror victims had of government communication, how terror victims experienced and understood the government based on its communication on terror, what terror victims perceived as the message typologies in GCT, and what individual and shared terror victims’ perceptions were constructed towards GCT. I targeted students and staff who survived the attack and their families, as well as the families of the 147 students and staff who died during the attack. Over a period of four months, I used the snowball sampling technique to conduct ten in-depth interviews. The study findings revealed the need for a comprehensive GCT. Further, the findings revealed a high ranking for action every time the government communicates on terror; and that GCT is at its optimum when it is considered in a continuum where communication punctuates messages on policies, precepts and procedures, interventions, relationships, and ultimately, the actions taken by the government. The study also established that the terror victims’ perceptions had sprung from their expectations of GCT. Several recommendations were drawn from the study findings and discussions, key among them, the urgent need to form a fully-fledged GCT unit to enable the government to deal with issues arising from terror activities. Finally, the government should make every effort to remain agile on matters communication.
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    X Space and the Revolution of Digital News Content: The Case of Generation-Z Protest Narratives in Kenya
    (African Multidisciplinary Journal of Research (AMJR), 2025) Ogutu, Raphael Nakhumbi; Eboi, Anne Anjao; Aswani, Daniel Robert; Radoli, Lydia Ouma
    The power of digital media in Kenya has been demonstrated in the active social engagement and production of news discourse during the recent Generation-Z (Gen-Z) political activism on X Space. The discourse confirms a growing mass participation in news discourse on digital media taking precedence over legacy media. In the age of disruptive technologies, and the production of social-political discourses, an active, critical and content-producing mass is quickly surpassing traditionally assumed passive audience. In Kenya, amid a digital media frenzy over the Gen-Z protests, citizen journalism overrides legacy journalism, and in some cases, raw footage captured at points of witness is uploaded online without as much censorship. The paper applied qualitative in-depth interviews of eight journalists to assess the Gen-Z political activism and production of discourses on X Space. Theories of disruptive technologies were juxtaposed against the agendasetting theory to identify the positive effects of digital narratives, including facilitating activism, active youth engagement in news discourse and social change. The study found out that a new form of youth activism has emerged, with the youth fruitfully engaging in X Space discourses, which culminate in actual street protests; Digital storytelling represents a powerful fusion of technology and social consciousness, where the young people project their voices of concern; Citizen journalism has fundamentally altered the dynamics of traditional journalism, reshaping the way news is gathered, reported, and consumed; and that during the protests, mainstream media played catch-up as it struggled to keep up with the many discourses emerging from X Spaces. The study recommends that traditional media aim to fully align with the opportunities presented in disruptive innovative developments; and that the Kenyan media grab the opportunity to reevaluate their approach to gathering and disseminating news in the modern age for sustainable business and to maintain their important agenda-setting and gatekeeping roles