A phenomenological study of time concept and management and productivity in a sub–Saharan African context

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
James B Abugre
Keyword(s):  
Time Management ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Phenomenological Psychology ◽  
Private Organizations ◽  
African Context ◽  
Flexible Resource ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Study Participants

The purpose of this article was to investigate the concept of time and its management in relation to productivity. Consequently, this work employed phenomenological psychology to unearth the experiences of employees on the concept of time management and its impact on productivity using Ghana as a study. Participants involved both local and expatriate workers sharing their experiences on the subject matter in a conversational style. Results indicated that clock time is considered a flexible resource in both social and professional settings. Findings also revealed that time management drives productivity, and its orientation is consequential to the cultural behaviors of local employees in both public and private organizations based on the quality of their corporate cultures. Hence, rigid timelines can turn around public organizations in sub-Saharan Africa and the world as a whole.

scholarly journals BioLPG for Clean Cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa: Present and Future Feasibility of Technologies, Feedstocks, Enabling Conditions and Financing

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (13) ◽  
pp. 3916
Author(s):  
Kimball C. Chen ◽  
Matthew Leach ◽  
Mairi J. Black ◽  
Meron Tesfamichael ◽  
Francis Kemausuor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Waste ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Green Economy ◽  
Energy Access ◽  
Liquefied Petroleum Gas ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Private Sector Investment ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Public And Private Sector

Energy supply for clean cooking is a priority for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, i.e., propane or butane or a mixture of both) is an economically efficient, cooking energy solution used by over 2.5 billion people worldwide and scaled up in numerous low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Investigation of the technical, policy, economic and physical requirements of producing LPG from renewable feedstocks (bioLPG) finds feasibility at scale in Africa. Biogas and syngas from the circular economic repurposing of municipal solid waste and agricultural waste can be used in two groundbreaking new chemical processes (Cool LPG or Integrated Hydropyrolysis and Hydroconversion (IH2)) to selectively produce bioLPG. Evidence about the nature and scale potential of bioLPG presented in this study justifies further investment in the development of bioLPG as a fuel that can make a major contribution toward enabling an SSA green economy and universal energy access. Techno-economic assessments of five potential projects from Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda illustrate what might be possible. BioLPG technology is in the early days of development, so normal technology piloting and de-risking need to be undertaken. However, fully developed bioLPG production could greatly reduce the public and private sector investment required to significantly increase SSA clean cooking capacity.

scholarly journals The Africa weather enterprise : filling a large gap

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Copping
Keyword(s):  
Private Sector ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
End User ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Single Person ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
National Economies ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
Warning Services

<p>The study focuses on the role of the private sector in the development and delivery of hydromet and early warning services (EWS) in sub-Saharan Africa, within the current landscape of the Africa Regional Weather Enterprise (ARWE).</p><p>The study was sponsored by the World Bank and conducted through interviews with 28 National Hydro­Meteorological Services (NMHS) and 87 participating companies who either work in or have interest in the region’s hydromet market, varying in size from single-person entities to large multinationals. Less than 4% of companies have their headquarters (and solely operate) in Africa. 157 projects were identified from the 65 most active donors financing hydromet projects in sub-Saharan Africa, and classified by sector and complexity, from niche to “full-chain” solutions.</p><p>The study analyses which and how private sector actors operate within the framework of national, regional and international hydromet projects, in which countries, which products and services they provide and in which end-user categories, from research and development, to innovation and capacity building initiatives.</p><p>The study further analyses the success rates of international companies winning tenders in sub-Saharan Africa , and the patterns leading to success.</p><p>The report concludes by drawing on lessons from the positive dynamics and gaps in partnerships and engagements between public and private actors. The results of the study create the need for sixteen recommendations to further improve the ARWE, with a key emphasis on PPE, to successfully complete African hydromet programs, and in turn satisfy end-user needs, to protect lives, property, and to support their national economies for the prosperity of all.</p>

scholarly journals Higher Education and Economic Growth in Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Bloom ◽  
David Canning ◽  
Kevin Chan ◽  
Dara Lee Luca
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Economic Growth ◽  
International Development ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Développement Économique ◽  
Education And Economic Growth

Enrollment rates for higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa are by far the lowest in the world at 6%. Yet because of conventional beliefs that tertiary education is less important for poverty reduction, the international development community has encouraged African governments’ relative neglect of higher education. This article challenges beliefs that tertiary education has little role in promoting economic growth and alleviating poverty. First, we review recent evidence that higher education can produce significant public and private benefits. Next, we analyze the relationship between tertiary education and economic growth. We find evidence that tertiary education improves technological catch-up and, in doing so, may help to maximize Africa’s potential to achieve more rapid economic growth given current constraints. Investing in tertiary education in Africa may accelerate technological diffusion, which would in turn decrease knowledge gaps and help reduce poverty in the region. We also review new developments and trends in the higher education scene in Africa. Le taux d’inscription dans l’enseignement supérieur en Afrique sub-saharienne est de loin le plus faible du monde, atteignant seulement 6%. Pourtant, parce que l’enseignement supérieur est perçu comme moins important que les enseignements primaire et secondaire pour lutter contre la pauvreté, la communauté internationale a encouragé les gouvernements africains à moins y prêter attention. Cet article conteste l’idée que l’enseignement supérieur joue un rôle peu important dans le développement économique et la lutte contre la pauvreté. Tout d’abord, nous nous intéressons à de récents résultats qui montrent que l’enseignement supérieur crée des bénéfices publics et privés. Ensuite, nous analysons la relation entre l’enseignement supérieur et la croissance économique. Nous montrons que l’enseignement supérieur permet de rattraper le retard technologique et, ce faisant, pourrait aider l’Afrique à maximiser sa capacité à accélérer sa croissance économique dans les conditions actuelles. Investir dans l’enseignement supérieur en Afrique pourrait permettre une diffusion plus rapide des avancées technologiques, qui pourrait à son tour réduire la disparité de savoir et participer à la réduction de la pauvreté dans la région. Nous passons aussi en revue les nouveautés et tendances dans l’enseignement supérieur africain.

Cross-Border Funding and Microfinance Mission Drift: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

2016 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-40
Author(s):  
Akem Forkusam
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Microfinance Institutions ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Mission Drift ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Ssa Countries

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has become the top priority for international funders and they are now increasing their cross-border funding to microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the region. This foreign funding is considered an additional source of capital for MFIs in the region who are facing difficulties in meeting the demand of the poor. However, these funds are provided by public and private funders who each have different motives. The paper examines the impact of these different sources of funding on microfinance performance and mission drift in SSA, which is the world’s poorest region. The study utilizes data from 212 MFIs in 30 SSA countries accessed over a three-year period (i.e. 2007, 2009, and 2011). The findings show that cross-border funding does not affect either the social or financial performance of MFIs when time and country effects are accounted for.

Leadership Training for 21st Century Librarians Using INELI-SSAf Model as a Case Study

2020 ◽  
pp. 75-88
Author(s):  
Rachel Ronke Ojo
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Leadership Training ◽  
Time Management ◽  
Public Libraries ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Gates Foundation

Leadership is an integral aspect of successful organisations including libraries. Helping librarians to acquire leadership skills in order to adroitly navigate libraries through 21st century changes and challenges of the information environment is crucial. INELI (International Network for Emerging Library Innovators) was birthed globally as an initiative of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to provide young leaders in public libraries across the world the opportunities to connect, learn, and explore new ideas and services that can transform their communities. INELI Sub-Saharan Africa (INELI-SSAf), an offshoot of the initiative for African public librarians, is a leadership training program with the primary objectives of exposing participants to concepts and practices about innovative information services in current times and assisting them to create within and across border networks for peer leaning. The topics taught include time management, advocacy, data management, smart risks, and innovations in libraries. (INELI SSAf is run by African Library and Information Associations and Institutions (AfLIA)).

How Could We Design Democracy to Make it Work in the African Context?

2021 ◽  
pp. 36-60
Author(s):  
Nic Cheeseman
Keyword(s):  
Good Reason ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
High Profile ◽  
International Pressure ◽  
Group Identities ◽  
African Context ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Goal Integration

Politics in Africa is becoming increasingly contested. This is true both in terms of electoral politics, with the margin of victory of ruling parties falling in many countries, and in terms of the capacity of citizens to access diverse sources of information with which to hold their governments to account. In turn, the continent’s more authoritarian political leaders—particularly those in resource-rich states insulated from international pressure to reform—have responded by employing new strategies to manipulate elections and restrict the flow of information. Taken together, these two trends help to explain why parts of sub-Saharan Africa has experienced democratic stagnation, and why so many recent elections have been controversial and, in a number of high-profile cases, violent. It is therefore more important than ever to understand how to design democratic constitutions in a way that manages the centrifugal forces that electoral competition can generate. This chapter discusses two strategies for achieving this goal: integration (the promotion of a single unified national identity through more centralized institutions), and accommodation (the recognition of subnational group identities through their formal inclusion in the political system). Although Alan Kuperman has recently made a strong case in favour of integration, this chapter comes to a different conclusion. While recognizing the risk that rapid institutional change will destabilize fragile political systems, I argue that we have good reason to encourage more inclusive political systems and so need to give greater thought to how they can be safely introduced.

The Emerging Market of Sub-Saharan Africa and Technology Adoption

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice S. Etim
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Phones ◽  
Personal Development ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
The United States ◽  
Emerging Economy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Mobile Technologies ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Study Participants

In the United States, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries and several emerging economies in Asia, mobile technologies have become ubiquitous and core to everyday lives. The same cannot be said for many countries in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). The availability, affordability and use of information and communication technology (ICT) continue to pose a major challenge to the progress of this important emerging economy and their participation in a networked and “flat world.” Writers (Bishop et al., 1999; ADB, 2003; Fisher et al., 2004; Elijah & Ogunlade, 2006; Etim, 2009; Ssewanyana, 2007) argue for the use of ICT to enable the SSA population in the area of economic and personal development. This paper examines the emerging economy of SSA adoption of mobile technologies in comparison to the U.S.A and reports a study on the features that SSA students desire in mobile phones. The key finding was that study participants desired Internet access via mobile phones.

African Biography and Historiography

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Southern Africa ◽  
Entry Point ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African History ◽  
Political Biography ◽  
Biographical Dictionary ◽  
African Context ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Vast Range

Biography in the African context can take many forms, from brief entries in a biographical dictionary or obituary in a newspaper to multivolume studies of single individuals. It can encompass one or many subjects and serves both to celebrate the famous and illuminate obscure lives. Biographies can be instructional as well as inspirational. Sometimes, it is hard to draw a line between biography and autobiography because of the way a work has been compiled. An attempt is made to understand this vast range of forms, with reference to social and political biography. The main focus is on work produced since the 1970s, with examples drawn from all regions of sub-Saharan Africa (although Southern Africa is better represented than others, as is English-medium material). Matters that preoccupy biographers everywhere, such as the relationship between writer and subject and the larger relationship between biography and history, are raised. Biography can be an excellent entry point into the complexities of African history.

scholarly journals Youth Resilience to Drought: Learning from a Group of South African Adolescents

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (21) ◽  
pp. 7896
Author(s):  
Linda Theron ◽  
Motlalepule Ruth Mampane ◽  
Liesel Ebersöhn ◽  
Angie Hart
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sociocultural Context ◽  
Disadvantaged Community ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Youth Resilience

Exposure to drought is on the increase, also in sub-Saharan Africa. Even so, little attention has been paid to what supports youth resilience to the stressors associated with drought. In response, this article reports a secondary analysis of qualitative data generated in a phenomenological study with 25 South African adolescents (average age 15.6; majority Sepedi-speaking) from a drought-impacted and structurally disadvantaged community. The thematic findings show the importance of personal, relational, and structural resources that fit with youths’ sociocultural context. Essentially, proactive collaboration between adolescents and their social ecologies is necessary to co-advance socially just responses to the challenges associated with drought.

DENOMINATIONAL AFFILIATION AND FERTILITY BEHAVIOUR IN AN AFRICAN CONTEXT: AN EXAMINATION OF COUPLE DATA FROM GHANA

2008 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 445-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
STEPHEN OBENG GYIMAH ◽  
BAFFOUR TAKYI ◽  
ERIC YEBOAH TENKORANG
Keyword(s):  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Fertility Behaviour ◽  
Sample Data ◽  
African Context ◽  
Lower Fertility ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Religious Differences

SummaryAlthough studies have examined religious differences in fertility in sub-Saharan Africa, it is argued in this paper that using women-only sample data may be conceptually problematic in patriarchal African societies where the influence of husbands on their wives’ reproductive preferences is paramount. The present study contributes to this discourse by examining the relationship between religion and fertility behaviour using matched-couple data from Ghana. Guided by the ‘religious values’ and ‘characteristics’ hypotheses, the results indicate significant religious differences in fertility. Compared with Traditionalists, Christians and Muslims have lower fertility, albeit these differences diminish significantly after controlling for socioeconomic variables. The impact of wife’s religious denomination on marital fertility is attenuated after controlling for husband’s religious affiliation. Also, fertility was found to be higher if couples belong to the same faith compared with those of different faiths.

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