Understanding the Weak Performance of Technology in Urban Management

2016 ◽  
pp. 928-947
Author(s):  
Claire Simonneau
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Urban Management ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Land Information System

The article questions the appropriation of existing urban planning and management tools in Sub-Saharan Africa, through a multiple case study: the implementation of a land information system (or simplified cadastre) in three cities in Benin. An ethnographic exploration of the use of the tool is conducted. The first section presents the historical context of the design of land information systems, framed by the urban management paradigm, and unwarranted confidence in new technologies. The second section presents the theoretical framework and the methodology of the research, inspired by public policy analysis and development anthropology. The third section describes findings of the multiple case studies. A vicious circle is highlighted, made up of: lack of political support, obsolescence, and decline of cost-effectiveness. The fourth section discusses the results of the ethnographic inquiry. These are, essentially, the interpretation of the paradoxes, blockages, and conflicts in the implementation of the tool in light of social, political and economic dynamics that take place at the local level, although unexpected by the creators of the tool.

Understanding the Weak Performance of Technology in Urban Management

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 20-37
Author(s):  
Claire Simonneau
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Political Support ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Urban Management ◽  
Management Tools ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Land Information System

The article questions the appropriation of existing urban planning and management tools in Sub-Saharan Africa, through a multiple case study: the implementation of a land information system (or simplified cadastre) in three cities in Benin. An ethnographic exploration of the use of the tool is conducted. The first section presents the historical context of the design of land information systems, framed by the urban management paradigm, and unwarranted confidence in new technologies. The second section presents the theoretical framework and the methodology of the research, inspired by public policy analysis and development anthropology. The third section describes findings of the multiple case studies. A vicious circle is highlighted, made up of: lack of political support, obsolescence, and decline of cost-effectiveness. The fourth section discusses the results of the ethnographic inquiry. These are, essentially, the interpretation of the paradoxes, blockages, and conflicts in the implementation of the tool in light of social, political and economic dynamics that take place at the local level, although unexpected by the creators of the tool.

scholarly journals Wetlands in Ethiopia: Lessons From 20 years of Research, Policy and Practice

Wetlands ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Dixon ◽  
Adrian Wood ◽  
Afework Hailu
Keyword(s):  
Research Policy ◽  
Wetland Management ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Wetland Use

AbstractThroughout sub-Saharan Africa wetlands provide ecosystem services that are critical to the development needs of many people. Local wetland use, however, is often at odds with broader national policy goals in which narratives of conservation and protection dominate, hence a recurring challenge is how to reconcile these tensions through the development of policies and field practice that deliver sustainable development. In this paper we examine the extent to which this challenge has been achieved in Ethiopia, charting the changes in wetlands policy and discourse over the last twenty years while reviewing the contribution of the multidisciplinary Ethiopian Wetlands Research Programme (EWRP) (1997–2000). Our analysis suggests that despite EWRP having a significant legacy in developing national interest in wetlands among research, government and non-governmental organisations, its more holistic social-ecological interpretation of wetland management remains neglected within a policy arena dominated by specific sectoral interests and little recognition of the needs of local people. In exploring the impacts at the local level, recent investigations with communities in Ilu Aba Bora Zone highlight adjustments in wetland use that famers attribute to environmental, economic and social change, but which also evidence the adaptive nature of wetland-based livelihoods.

Land conflicts and social differentiation in eastern Uganda

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Kandel
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Social Differentiation ◽  
Land Conflicts ◽  
Current Period ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
Eastern Uganda

ABSTRACTRising competition and conflict over land in rural sub-Saharan Africa continues to attract the attention of researchers. Recent work has especially focused on land governance, post-conflict restructuring of tenure relations, and large-scale land acquisitions. A less researched topic as of late, though one deserving of greater consideration, pertains to how social differentiation on the local-level shapes relations to land, and how these processes are rooted in specific historical developments. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Teso sub-region of eastern Uganda, this paper analyses three specific land conflicts and situates them within a broad historical trajectory. I show how each dispute illuminates changes in class relations in Teso since the early 1990s. I argue that this current period of socioeconomic transformation, which includes the formation of a more clearly defined sub-regional middle class and elite, constitutes the most prominent period of social differentiation in Teso since the early 20th century.

scholarly journals A Strategy for Technology Development for Semi-Arid Sub-Saharan Africa

1998 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 157-161
Author(s):  
John H. Sanders ◽  
Barry I. Shapiro ◽  
Sunder Ramaswamy
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Organic Fertilizer ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Inorganic Fertilizers ◽  
Strategy Evaluation ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Semi Arid

This article proposes a strategy for agricultural technology development for semi-arid West Africa. The strategy evaluation consists of two aspects: a) a review of the successes in the region; and b) analysis with mathematical programming of the potential impacts and constraints to various new technologies tested in the region. The technology development strategy indicates how further productivity gains can be made by responding to the two principal constraints of water availability and soil fertility. These constraints must be simultaneously resolved but the strategy needs to be adapted for different soil characteristics and economic environments. The major emphasis is on the importance of the rapid introduction of inorganic fertilizers combined with techniques to increase water availability; organic and inorganic fertilizers need to be considered complements in the semi-arid regions. Farmers are already introducing labour intensive variations of these techniques in the most degraded regions. The policy concern is to encourage government policymakers to put a high priority on fertilizer and increase the availability of inorganic fertilizer while research efforts continue to develop improved methods for complementary use of organic fertilizer.

Community Education in New HIV Prevention Technologies Research

2009 ◽  
pp. 328-338
Author(s):  
Busi Nkala
Keyword(s):  
Hiv Infection ◽  
Community Involvement ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Community Education ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Survival Sex ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
Health Programmes

An estimated 39.5 million people are living with HIV worldwide. There were 4.3 million new infections in 2006 with 2.8 million (65%) of these occurring in sub-Saharan Africa with important increases in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where there are some indications that infection rates have risen by more than 50% since 2004. In 2006, 2.9 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses (UNAIDS, 2006). The continued increase in new HIV infection is a call for concern. It is imperative that more innovative ways of combating the infections are found sooner. There is an enormous body of evidence that HIV infection is caused mainly by sexual contact. There is also undisputed evidence that there are other contributing factors such as extreme poverty, survival sex, gender inequality, lack of education, fatalism, religious barriers and others. This chapter seeks to support the need to do more research in finding new technologies and innovative ways of dealing with the spread of HIV. The chapter suggests that the involvement of researched communities be effectively involved. Involving communities in finding solutions will help, in that research protocols and health programmes will take into account the cultural acceptability of the new technologies and systems and ensure that recipients of health services become effective organs of change. The chapter seeks to highlight the fact that, if the recipients are involved in all stages of development of health programmes, including technologies, we may begin to see changes in how new technologies are taken up or may shift toward getting technologies that are acceptable. There are various suggested and implemented ways which aid in achieving the protection for individuals and communities; such as community involvement, community participation and community education (Collins, 2002; Gupta 2002), this chapter will focus on community education and a proposal for a community principle.

scholarly journals Open Innovation and Innovation Intermediaries in Sub-Saharan Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertha Vallejo ◽  
Banji Oyelaran-Oyeyinka ◽  
Nicholas Ozor ◽  
Maurice Bolo
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Technology And Innovation ◽  
Innovation Intermediaries ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Desk Research ◽  
Science Technology And Innovation

This study explores the innovation intermediaries’ landscape in sub-Saharan Africa, considering Science Granting Councils (SGCs) as the key intermediaries in the system. Based on extensive desk research, personal interviews, and an online survey, the study discusses the roles and functions performed by SGCs as intermediators and influences of science, technology, and innovation (STI) policy. The results of the analysis corroborate the need for institutional and systemic changes to enable SGCs to perform their role. The realities, resources, and constraints at the local level cry out for the adaptation of current and future partnerships to the local context. The study concludes that only by tailoring partnerships to the development of capacity at the local level can SGCs perform effectively as influencers of national STI policy and mediators of partnerships with foreign development actors.

scholarly journals Camp settlement and communal conflict in sub-Saharan Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerstin Fisk
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
General Relationship ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Interactive Effects ◽  
Marginal Effect ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
Refugee Studies ◽  
Communal Conflict ◽  
Sub Saharan

Are areas that host encamped refugees more likely to experience communal conflict, and under what conditions? Building on insights from the refugee studies literature suggesting that settling refugees in camps can intensify intercommunal tension in host communities, this article investigates the effect of refugee encampment on the occurrence of communal conflict at the subnational level in sub-Saharan Africa. It first tests for a general relationship between the overall presence and population intensity of encamped refugees and communal conflict before assessing whether this relationship is moderated by local-level characteristics, including interethnic linkages and political and economic marginalization within the host region. The basic findings show that communal conflict occurs more frequently in regions where refugees are camp-settled. Tests for interactive effects indicate that refugee camps have a significant marginal effect on conflict only if they are located in areas with politically marginalized host groups. Origin country/host region ethnic ties are shown to exert significant moderating effects. Moreover, results from an extended set of analyses show that the form of refugee settlement matters, as the presence and population intensity of self-settled refugees are related to decreases in the occurrence of communal conflict.

scholarly journals Transit Migration in Niger

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-88
Author(s):  
Sébastien Moretti
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
Transit Migration ◽  
Migratory Routes ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Restrictive Measures ◽  
The Impact

Since 2015, the European Union has stepped up its efforts to curb irregular migration from sub-Saharan Africa through increasingly restrictive measures targeting transit countries along migratory routes, including Niger. While the EU has heralded the success of its policies to limit migration through Niger, EU migration policies have disrupted the economic system in Agadez, where transit migration has been one of the main sources of income and a factor of stability since the end of the Tuareg rebellions in 2009. This article discusses the impact that EU migration policies may have at the local level in countries of transit, and highlights the potential for these policies to fuel tensions between local and national authorities. The Agadez case study illustrates the importance of a multilevel approach to migration governance that takes into full consideration the role of local authorities and local communities in countries of transit.

Ethnicity and Power in Sub-Saharan Africa: Do Colonial Institutions Still Matter?

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Rabinowitz
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
Original Dataset ◽  
Multiple Case ◽  
Colonial Legacies ◽  
Colonial Histories ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Institutional Legacies

It has been sixty years since the first sub-Saharan nation declared independence. Over the past three decades, the region has undergone significant changes. Though few, if any, would question that colonial histories shaped African societies, it is unclear to what extent these legacies continue to be relevant to contemporary inter-group relations. Does it still make sense to speak about colonial legacies? And if so, which ones? This article explores these questions by examining whether ethnic groups who were privileged during the colonial period are more likely to hold political power decades later. To do so, I conduct a multiple case study analysis of twenty-five sub-Saharan countries from which I create an original dataset of how ethnic groups were positioned during the latter stages of colonialism. With these data, I run auto-regressive logistical models correlating former colonial position to executive power since independence. I find that many of the assumptions made in the scholarship about the importance of colonial privilege are not supported by these models. However, colonial institutional legacies may still help us understand inter-group dynamics and be the source of contemporary political grievances.

TRACING THE SEED: SEED DIFFUSION OF IMPROVED POTATO VARIETIES THROUGH FARMERS’ NETWORKS IN CHENCHA, ETHIOPIA

2016 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 481-496 ◽  
Author(s):  
YENENESH TADESSE ◽  
CONNY J.M. ALMEKINDERS ◽  
ROGIER P.O. SCHULTE ◽  
PAUL C. STRUIK
Keyword(s):  
New Technologies ◽  
Potato Production ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Potato Varieties ◽  
Seed Tubers ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
New Varieties ◽  
Sub Saharan

SUMMARYThere are many prerequisites for potato production to meet its full potential as a food security crop for subsistence farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. One of these is the introduction of improved varieties. Traditionally, the introduction of new varieties is by government agencies or Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). To understand the diffusion of seed tubers (seeds) of new potato varieties in farmer networks, we analysed social factors influencing the sharing of seed of improved potato varieties amongst farmers in Chencha, Ethiopia. We interviewed 166 farmers and analysed 146 seed transactions. We used seed flow mapping to visualize seed sharing amongst farmers. We found that the social networks of farmers are differentiated by wealth, gender and religion, and that this differentiation affects the dispersion of new varieties through the farming communities: Wealthier farmers shared seed tubers most frequently and poor farmers did not share seed at all. Seed sharing was influenced by, but not restricted to, gender and religion categories. Most sharing was with relatives (as gifts) and neighbours (in exchange for labour). There weas no equal access to seed for all households because of (i) the targeting of the better off farmers by the NGO (ii) differences in frequency of sharing and (iii) terms and motivation of the transactions. Our results show that wealthy farmers most effectively multiply and share the seed of new varieties with medium wealthy and poor farmers. This study shows that for the introduction of new technologies into a community, its dynamics of social differentiation need to be understood.

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