The entrepreneurship myth in small-scale service provision: Water resale in Maputo, Mozambique

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Zuin ◽  
Leonard Ortolano ◽  
Jennifer Davis
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sub Saharan

About 20% of the urban population in sub-Saharan Africa relies on resellers of utility water for their water supply, yet the practice has received little attention either in the academic literature or in sector policy. This study uses primary data collected from more than 200 resellers in Maputo, Mozambique, through in-person surveys, participant observation and focus group discussions. Despite the widely held assumption that all small-scale water providers are profit-maximizing entrepreneurs, this study suggests that this model does not characterize resale behavior in Maputo. Instead, three non-mutually exclusive motivations provide more persuasive explanations for why households resell utility water: (1) earning cash to meet daily subsistence needs; (2) obtaining a form of informal social insurance to deal with future needs; and (3) solidifying embeddedness in social relationships by satisfying the social norms of their communities. These findings suggest that programs and policies typically designed for small-scale providers may be inappropriate for water resellers.

scholarly journals Diagnosing the Urban Expansion-Land Conflict Nexus in Bamenda II, Cameroon

2021 ◽  
pp. 36-46
Author(s):  
Jude Ndzifon Kimengsi ◽  
Yvette Lum Awah
Keyword(s):  
Urban Poverty ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Urban Expansion ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Municipal Services ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Land Conflicts ◽  
Land Conflict ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Sub Saharan

Urban growth in the context of sub-Saharan Africa generally introduces attendant effects. Some of these include land use conflicts, pressure on municipal services and the challenges of urban poverty. While these issues have received significant attention, an issue which seemed to have eluded geographical literature, at least in the context of Bamenda, centres on the extent to which urban expansion triggers land conflicts. This paper analyses the trend of urban expansion in Bamenda II, and explores the relationship between urban expansion and land conflicts. A total of 80 households were randomly sampled, complemented by participant observation and focus group discussions. The Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient revealed a positive correlation between urban expansion and land conflicts. It is therefore necessary for policy interventions to regulate the pace of urban expansion with a view to preserving the last vestiges of natural and agricultural space. Further conflicts could be avoided through a clear demarcation of boundaries, including the facilitation of the process of acquiring land titles.  This will reduce the cases of land conflict and haphazard urban expansion.

scholarly journals Multilingualism in Vanuatu: Four case studies

2021 ◽  
pp. 136700692110231
Author(s):  
Mary Walworth ◽  
Amy Dewar ◽  
Thomas Ennever ◽  
Lana Takau ◽  
Iveth Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Language History ◽  
Speech Communities ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Original Contribution ◽  
B Mobility

Each of the 65 inhabited islands of Vanuatu hosts its own unique linguistic environment in which varying degrees of multilingualism are found. This paper defines various types of small-scale multilingual settings in Vanuatu and explores what sociohistorical factors have led to them. This paper is based on first-hand observations and primary data collected by the authors in four locations in the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu since 2016: two neighboring villages of Emae Island (Makatu and Tongamea), North Malekula, and on Maewo Island. The assessments of multilingualism in these examples from Vanuatu were qualitative, based on observations of sociolinguistic practices in each of these areas, as well as data from language history and language use surveys carried out in each place. Through defining and comparing the types of multilingualism present in the four case studies, we identify patterns in the social and historical processes that lead to various kinds of multilingualism: (a) interaction of linguistic and sociocultural identities and (b) mobility of both individuals and entire speech communities. The examples described in this paper are used to highlight the diversity of multilingualism found in Vanuatu and to explore how their differing linguistic environments and histories have contributed to their varying degrees of multilingualism. This paper makes an original contribution to knowledge about the small-scale multilingual situations in Vanuatu, offering descriptions of previously undocumented and endangered multilingual environments. Through an examination of the sociocultural motivations for multilingualism, alongside historical migrations of speaker groups and marked sociolinguistic identities, this paper contributes to research on why and how small-scale multilingualism can develop. Furthermore, this paper provides the foundation for future, more rigorous investigations into the small-scale multilingual situations of this highly understudied region.

scholarly journals Understanding cause of stillbirth: a prospective observational multi-country study from sub-Saharan Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mamuda Aminu ◽  
Sarah Bar-Zeev ◽  
Sarah White ◽  
Matthews Mathai ◽  
Nynke van den Broek
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Cause Of Death ◽  
Expert Panel ◽  
Healthcare Providers ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Abstract Background Every year, an estimated 2.6 million stillbirths occur worldwide, with up to 98% occurring in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). There is a paucity of primary data on cause of stillbirth from LMIC, and particularly from sub-Saharan Africa to inform effective interventions. This study aimed to identify the cause of stillbirths in low- and middle-income settings and compare methods of assessment. Methods This was a prospective, observational study in 12 hospitals in Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. Stillbirths (28 weeks or more) were reviewed to assign the cause of death by healthcare providers, an expert panel and by using computer-based algorithms. Agreement between the three methods was compared using Kappa (κ) analysis. Cause of stillbirth and level of agreement between the methods used to assign cause of death. Results One thousand five hundred sixty-three stillbirths were studied. The stillbirth rate (per 1000 births) was 20.3 in Malawi, 34.7 in Zimbabwe, 38.8 in Kenya and 118.1 in Sierra Leone. Half (50.7%) of all stillbirths occurred during the intrapartum period. Cause of death (range) overall varied by method of assessment and included: asphyxia (18.5–37.4%), placental disorders (8.4–15.1%), maternal hypertensive disorders (5.1–13.6%), infections (4.3–9.0%), cord problems (3.3–6.5%), and ruptured uterus due to obstructed labour (2.6–6.1%). Cause of stillbirth was unknown in 17.9–26.0% of cases. Moderate agreement was observed for cause of stillbirth as assigned by the expert panel and by hospital-based healthcare providers who conducted perinatal death review (κ = 0.69; p < 0.0005). There was only minimal agreement between expert panel review or healthcare provider review and computer-based algorithms (κ = 0.34; 0.31 respectively p < 0.0005). Conclusions For the majority of stillbirths, an underlying likely cause of death could be determined despite limited diagnostic capacity. In these settings, more diagnostic information is, however, needed to establish a more specific cause of death for the majority of stillbirths. Existing computer-based algorithms used to assign cause of death require revision.

Slaves and society in Western Africa, c. 1445—c. 1700

1980 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Fage
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Western Africa ◽  
The Social ◽  
African Slaves ◽  
Limited Supply ◽  
Sub Saharan

Published European first-hand accounts of the coastlands from Senegal to Angola for the period c. 1445-c. 1700 are examined to see what light they throw on the extent to which institutions of servitude in pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa were autonomous developments or a response to external demands for African slaves. It seems clear that when, in the early years of this period, European traders first approached societies along the western African coasts, they were commonly offered what they called ‘slaves’ in exchange for the goods they had brought. But it would be wrong to conclude from this that a slave class was necessarily a feature of western African coastal societies when these were first contacted by Europeans. It is clear, for instance, that the Europeans preferred to deal with societies which had developed monarchical governments, whose leaders had control of sufficient surpluses to make trade worthwhile. The evidence suggests that in these societies most individuals were dependants of a ruling and entrepreneurial elite, but that there was also social mobility. A category of dependants that particularly attracted the notice of the European observers was women, whom men of power and wealth tended to accumulate as wives (and hence as the potential mothers of still more dependants). The necessarily limited supply of women may have been a factor encouraging such men to seek to increase their followings, and thus their status, power and wealth, by recruiting other dependants by forcible, judicial and economic means. While many such dependants, or their offspring, would be assimilated into the social groups commanded by their masters, the latter were certainly willing to contemplate using recently acquired or refractory recruits in other ways, such as exchanging them for alternative forms of wealth.

Transcontinental Modernism. M&G as an Unité d’habitation and a factory complex in Mozambique

2010 ◽  
pp. 70-73
Author(s):  
Ana Tostões ◽  
Maria Manuel Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Social Program ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Industrial Complex ◽  
Architectural Heritage ◽  
Technological Approach ◽  
The Social ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Overseas Territories ◽  
Architectural Modernism

With the aim of contributing to the documentation and conservation of the modern architectural heritage, this paper presents Monteiro & Giro Complex (M&G), built during the 50’s in Quelimane, Mozambique, with the goal of stressing the modernity of the social program and the technological approach. If one wants to gain a better understanding of the worldwide Diaspora of architectural modernism, it is essential to document and analyse the important heritage of sub–Saharan Africa. Modern architectural debates have been reproduced, transformed, contested and sometimes even improved in distant lands and overseas territories. These contradictory aspects of Modernist practice are revealed in the programmatic, technological and structural M&G industrial Complex.

Information technologies and seaport operational efficiency

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Adabere ◽  
Kwame Owusu Kwateng ◽  
Esther Dzidzah ◽  
Francis Tetteh Kamewor
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation ◽  
Information Technologies ◽  
Operational Efficiency ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Positive Direct

PurposeThe introduction of information technology (IT) in port operations has been a tremendous contributor to transformation in world trade. This study was carried out to examine the influence of IT on the efficiency of seaport operations.Design/methodology/approachThe study is quantitative in nature, and it relied on a closed-ended self-administered questionnaire to collect primary data. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the theoretical model and hypothesis.FindingsThe results indicate that IT has a positive direct effect on port operational efficiency (OE) and an indirect effect on port OE through organizational culture (OC). The mediating role of OC is statistically insignificant.Originality/valueThis is among the first few attempts in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that provides researchers with a contemporary view of IT and seaport operations.

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