International Journal of Professional Practice

Church’s Ecological Stewardship and Sustainability

Paul Maku Gichohi — 2025-08-24

Environmental stewardship underscores humanity’s God-given mandate to care for creation, affirming the Church’s moral obligation to safeguard the environment (Genesis 2:15; Psalm 24:1). Scripture emphasizes the interconnectedness of nature and the need for responsible human activity; thereby, positioning the Church as a central actor in fostering environmental sustainability, and mitigating climate change. However, despite biblical clarity on ecological stewardship, the Church globally has largely been passive in stimulating environmental consciousness among the congregants. Most initiatives, whether global, regional, or local, tend to focus on corporate social responsibility rather than inspiring lasting ecological commitment within congregations. A notable dogmatic gap exists in integrating environmental stewardship teachings into sermons, doctrines, and worship practices. This paper explored the dogmatic approach to strengthening the Church’s role in ecological preservation and sustainability, assessing how effectively churches employ theological teachings to inspire behavioural change. Relying on documentary analysis of secondary sources, it examined diverse cases of church-led initiatives, including educational programs, renewable energy adoption, sustainable building designs, conservation projects, support for sustainable agriculture, and advocacy for environmental justice. Findings reveal that while theological beliefs often drive such efforts, the absence of structured doctrinal integration limits their transformative impact. The paper recommends prioritizing congregants’ behavioural change by embedding ecological stewardship within core teachings, sermons, and doctrines. Sensitization sessions for pastoral staff should precede wider congregational rollouts, fostering deeper engagement. Additionally, the Church should strengthen collaborations, expand advocacy, and partner in developing environmental stewardship policies. By embracing a dogmatic approach, the Church can significantly influence attitudes and practices, contributing meaningfully to a more sustainable and just world (Proverbs 12:10; Revelation 11:18).

Hybrid Model Approach for Real-Time Detection of Anomalies in Cloud Virtual Private Network Traffic

Zipporah Momanyi — 2025-09-11

The rising use of cloud services such as OwnCloud has led organizations to rely heavily on Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) for secure remote access. While VPNs encrypt communication channels, traditional anomaly-detection methods are increasingly inadequate, despite the evolving threats. This paper aimed to design and evaluate a hybrid AI-based model for real-time anomaly detection in cloud VPN traffic to improve detection accuracy. A simulated cloud environment was created using three virtual machines, a client, a VPN server, and an OwnCloud server generating both normal and anomalous traffic. The hybrid model combined Isolation Forest, for detecting outliers, with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, for analyzing time-dependent patterns. Real-time data streaming and processing were handled using Apache Kafka and Spark. The results showed that Isolation Forest achieved a precision of 0.86, recall of 0.79, and F1-score of 0.82, while LSTM scored 0.88, 0.83, and 0.85, respectively. The hybrid approach outperformed both models, achieving a precision of 0.93, recall of 0.89, F1-score of 0.91, and the highest AUC at 0.97. It is recommended that organizations using cloud-based VPNs integrate this hybrid AI anomaly detection system. The IT security teams, working with network infrastructure providers, should deploy the model for real-time encrypted traffic monitoring, improving accuracy and reducing false positives. From a policy perspective, regulatory bodies and cybersecurity standards organizations should revise compliance frameworks to encourage the usage of hybrid AI-driven detection methods in encrypted environments, ensuring both performance and privacy compliance. Practically, IT managers and IT leads should prioritize hybrid model deployment and continuous retraining using traffic patterns to boost resilience, reduce detection latency, and enhance incident response. Although validated in a simulated environment, future research should evaluate the hybrid model using real-world VPN traffic to confirm its robustness under diverse operational conditions.

Financial Preparedness for the Implementation of CBET Curriculum in Public Technical Institutions in Mt. Kenya East Region, Kenya

Caroline Kananu Ringeera — 2025-08-24

The implementation of Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET) in public Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions is vital for aligning curricula with industry-required skills. Despite government funding, there is no structured financial support for execution of CBET. This study evaluated the adequacy of funding and infrastructure in preparation for CBET curriculum implementation. An exploratory research design grounded on mixed-method approach was espoused. The study targeted a population of 70,591 respondents, including 21 principals, 21 Board of Governors chairpersons, 1,263 trainers, and 69,158 trainees, drawn from Technical and Vocational Colleges, Technical Training Institutes, and National Polytechnics. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 19 principals, 19 Board of Governors chairpersons, and 19 class representatives, while proportionate sampling was employed in selecting 154 trainers from 19 TVET institutions with functional Building and Civil Engineering departments. Data were collected via questionnaires, interviews, and document analysis. Validity of the research instruments was ascertained for reliability. Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively (mean, standard deviation) and inferentially (correlation), while qualitative data underwent thematic analysis. Data was presented in tables and themes, and findings revealed inadequate CBET funding. The study concluded that inadequate funding of CBET significantly affects its implementation. The study recommends that the Ministry of Education establishes timely capitation disbursement mechanisms to address budgetary shortfalls, and set standardized minimum funding benchmarks for successful CBET implementation.