MIGRATION, TRANSLOCAL NETWORKS AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC STRATIFICATION IN NAMIBIA

Africa ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
pp. 606-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens Greiner

ABSTRACTRural–urban migration and networks are fundamental for many livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa. Remittances in cash and kind provide additional income, enhance food security and offer access to viable resources in both rural and urban areas. Migration allows the involved households to benefit from price differences between rural and urban areas. In this contribution, I demonstrate that rural–urban networks not only contribute to poverty alleviation and security, but also further socio-economic stratification. This aspect has been ignored or neglected by most scholars and development planners. Using ethnographic data from Namibia, I have adopted a translocal perspective on migration and stratification, focusing on the resulting impact in rural areas where modern urban forms of stratification, induced by education and income from wage labour, are on the increase.

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
William Agyemang ◽  
Emmanuel Kofi Adanu ◽  
Steven Jones

Like many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana has witnessed an increase in the use of motorcycles for both commercial transport and private transport of people and goods. The rapid rise in commercial motorcycle activities has been attributed to the problem of urban traffic congestion and the general lack of reliable and affordable public transport in rural areas. This study investigates and compares factors that are associated with motorcycle crash injury outcomes in rural and urban areas of Ghana. This comparison is particularly important because the commercial use of motorcycles and their rapid growth in urban areas are a new phenomenon, in contrast to rural areas where people have long relied on motorcycles for their transportation needs. Preliminary analysis of the crash data revealed that more of the rural area crashes occurred under dark and unlit roadway conditions, while urban areas recorded more intersection-related crashes. Additionally, it was found that more pedestrian collisions happened in urban areas, while head-on collisions happened more in rural areas. The model estimation results show that collisions with a pedestrian, run-off-road, and collisions that occur under dark and unlit roadway conditions were more likely to result in fatal injury. Findings from this study are expected to help in crafting and targeting appropriate countermeasures to effectively reduce the occurrence and severity of motorcycle crashes throughout the country and, indeed, sub-Saharan Africa.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (Supplement_B) ◽  
pp. B24-B26
Author(s):  
Corine Houehanou ◽  
Léopold Codjo ◽  
Philippe Adjagba ◽  
Arnaud Sonou ◽  
Hugues Dohou ◽  
...  

Abstract Hypertension constitutes a major health concern worldwide and particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. May Measurement Month (MMM) is a global initiative of the International Society of Hypertension for raising awareness of high blood pressure (BP). This work aims to determine the prevalence, awareness and levels of treatment and control of hypertension among adults participating in the MMM Campaign in Benin in 2019 (MMM19). A cross-sectional survey including volunteers aged ≥18 years was carried out in June 2019 in 13 rural and urban areas in Benin. BP measurement followed the MMM19 protocol. Hypertension was defined as a systolic BP ≥140 mmHg, or a diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg (based on the mean of the second and third readings) or taking antihypertensive medication. A total of 3637 people were screened with a female predominance (61.4%) and a mean age of 44.4 ± 16.1 years. A total of 1363 (37.5%) participants had hypertension. Of 1363 participants with hypertension: 64.5% were aware of their status and 43.9% were taking antihypertensive medication. Among 598 participants taking anti-hypertensive medication, 34.9% had controlled BP (systolic BP <140 mmHg and diastolic BP <90 mmHg). The results suggest a high prevalence of hypertension in Benin and that intensifying actions for its primary prevention, early detection and effective management should be encouraged.


Author(s):  
Sandip Sarkar

This chapter analyses the human capital base of population, workers, and migrants and compares the human capital base of the population and workers in rural and urban areas. The nature and extent of the private sector’s role in human capital formation are also looked at. This chapter finds that earnings of workers increase substantially at each successive level of education and returns are far higher at the graduate-and-above level. The contribution of rural–urban migration in increasing the urban population has been around one-fifth. In that sense, urban growth has been exclusionary. It observes that urban areas are considerably better endowed with the quality of human capital and the average returns to education are higher in urban areas compared with rural areas, and rural–urban gaps in average return to education are increasing over time. It calls for active policy to promote rural–urban migration that will boost urban as well as national income. In this regard it argues for an active policy of promoting the labour-intensive manufacturing sector which is likely to promote more migration and reduce the selectivity bias in rural–urban migration.


Author(s):  
Arup Mitra

In relation to urbanization, findings suggest that the unemployment rate after migration tends to decline. States with higher urbanization levels reveal a larger increase in regular wage employment after migration. With an increase in city size, the migration rate rises mainly because employment prospects are better in large cities due to agglomeration effects. Migration, urban informal sector employment, and the proportion of the Scheduled Caste population in urban and rural areas are all positively associated, suggesting that the socially backward groups are more likely to migrate from rural areas and get absorbed in the urban informal sector. This pattern is accompanied by a decline in the incidence of poverty in both rural and urban areas: even the urban informal sector activities are able to provide relatively better job opportunities and higher living standards.


Author(s):  
Charles Leyeka Lufumpa ◽  
Maurice Mubila ◽  
Tito Yepes

Given some of the key infrastructure challenges facing the continent, what is needed is a regionally integrated approach to confront these infrastructure challenges. The two main pillars of the infrastructure agenda are: (i) to strengthen the foundations for higher productivity in the main cities and (ii) to ensure a more even distribution of basic living standards. By clustering, firms increase the demand for infrastructure, thereby reaping cost savings from agglomeration. Inclusive growth also demands a more even distribution of basic living conditions in both rural and urban areas. This entails framing not only a coherent urban agenda, but also a commensurate rural agenda, to counter the incentives for rural–urban migration. What is needed is a broader vision of the technologies that can be deployed for service provision; the bundling of services wherever possible to increase effectiveness in peri-urban and rural areas; and a complementary rural development strategy.


2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-115
Author(s):  
Junghoon Moon ◽  
Joowon Park ◽  
Gu Hyun Jung ◽  
Young Chan Choe

The Internet has brought massive changes to human lives. Among the various positive and negative influences are the rural-urban digital divide, which refers to the information technology gap between rural and urban areas. The Korean government has made several effortS to close this digital divide. The main goal of this study is to identify how the personal and social lives of rural residents are affected by IT development in rural areas, and how the residents perceive the effect of IT development. To accomplish this goal, a survey research was conducted. A questionnaire was developed based on the current body of literature, and used to collect data. The questionnaire was distributed to rural residents in Korea and 272 responses our of a total of 300 collected were usable. Regression analysis methods were used for the analysis. On the analysis where the IT development index was used as an independent variable, positive relationships were found between the independent variables and some dependent variables such as perceived usefulness for jobs, IT usage skills, and tendencies of rural to urban migration. Findings show that rural residents are worried that IT development in rural areas may cause job loss in their respective communities, and decrease social interaction. However, positive perceptions were also apparent, as participants believed IT is useful for communications within the community, as well as better education and medical services.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Yaro ◽  
Ibrahim Wahab ◽  
Gloria Afful-Mensah ◽  
Michael Ben Awenam

Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is undergoing rapid transformation involving major changes in farmland ownership and farm scales from small to medium farms, with the widespread use of mechanisation and agro-inputs. Generally, households are increasing their farm sizes while others are dropping out of agriculture as the non-farm economy grows in both rural and urban areas. This study examined the changes in farmland sizes in two districts in the north of Ghana where agricultural extensification is still possible. Specifically, the study addressed the questions of the historical agrarian context; the magnitude and character of farm structure changes; the emerging spatial manifestation of farms; and the use of factors of production among the emerging socially differentiated farmers.


Author(s):  
Remus Runcan

According to Romania’s National Rural Development Programme, the socio-economic situation of the rural environment has a large number of weaknesses – among which low access to financial resources for small entrepreneurs and new business initiatives in rural areas and poorly developed entrepreneurial culture, characterized by a lack of basic managerial knowledge – but also a large number of opportunities – among which access of the rural population to lifelong learning and entrepreneurial skills development programmes and entrepreneurs’ access to financial instruments. The population in rural areas depends mainly on agricultural activities which give them subsistence living conditions. The gap between rural and urban areas is due to low income levels and employment rates, hence the need to obtain additional income for the population employed in subsistence and semi-subsistence farming, especially in the context of the depopulation trend. At the same time, the need to stimulate entrepreneurship in rural areas is high and is at a resonance with the need to increase the potential of rural communities from the perspective of landscape, culture, traditional activities and local resources. A solution could be to turn vegetal and / or animal farms into social farms – farms on which people with disabilities (but also adolescents and young people with anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicide, and alexithymia issues) might find a “foster” family, bed and meals in a natural, healthy environment, and share the farm’s activities with the farmer and the farmer’s family: “committing to a regular day / days and times for a mutually agreed period involves complying with any required health and safety practices (including use of protective clothing and equipment), engaging socially with the farm family members and other people working on and around the farm, and taking on tasks which would include working on the land, taking care of animals, or helping out with maintenance and other physical work”


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document