Consumer Protection in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author(s):  
Nnamdi O. Madichie ◽  
Abdullah Promise Opute

This chapter explores two key areas of the text – notably “children as consumers: A focus on developing countries” and “consumerism and consumer protection in developing nations.” By integrating these two streams the chapter highlights the implications of the marketing activities undertaken by tobacco companies (i.e. Big Tobacco) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) for consumer protection in these countries and especially in the case of vulnerable groups such as children. By highlighting the marketing practices of global tobacco giants exploiting the weak regulatory environment in SSA, notably Malawi, Mauritius, and Nigeria. The choice of countries is based on a BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) documentary, which highlighted the marketing practices of Big Tobacco in these countries. In terms of structure, the chapter focuses primarily on the promotion element of the traditional marketing-mix as well as the public policy implications emerging from these.

Author(s):  
Nnamdi O. Madichie ◽  
Promise A. Opute

The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the implications of the marketing activities undertaken by tobacco companies in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and especially as it pertains to vulnerable groups such as children. Using illustrative cases of two SSA countries—notably Malawi and Nigeria—with disparate economic sizes but nonetheless critical for the discussion in question. Consequently, the chapter posits that the marketing practices of tobacco giants (i.e., Big Tobacco), exploiting the weak regulatory environment in SSA, is worthy of scholarly and policy attention. The chapter focuses primarily on the promotion element of the traditional marketing-mix (which also includes the production and its packaging and branding attributes, pricing strategies, and distribution/place elements) as well as the public policy implications of these four Ps. It also touches upon some of the institutional elements that handicaps governments from undertaking necessary corrective measures/action such as in the case of Malawi where tobacco accounts for a substantial part of the GDP.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1926 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiferaw Feleke ◽  
Steven Michael Cole ◽  
Haruna Sekabira ◽  
Rousseau Djouaka ◽  
Victor Manyong

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) has applied the concept of ‘circular bioeconomy’ to design solutions to address the degradation of natural resources, nutrient-depleted farming systems, hunger, and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Over the past decade, IITA has implemented ten circular bioeconomy focused research for development (R4D) interventions in several countries in the region. This article aims to assess the contributions of IITA’s circular bioeconomy focused innovations towards economic, social, and environmental outcomes using the outcome tracking approach, and identify areas for strengthening existing circular bioeconomy R4D interventions using the gap analysis method. Data used for the study came from secondary sources available in the public domain. Results indicate that IITA’s circular bioeconomy interventions led to ten technological innovations (bio-products) that translated into five economic, social, and environmental outcomes, including crop productivity, food security, resource use efficiency, job creation, and reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Our gap analysis identified eight gaps leading to a portfolio of five actions needed to enhance the role of circular bioeconomy in SSA. The results showcase the utility of integrating a circular bioeconomy approach in R4D work, especially how using such an approach can lead to significant economic, social, and environmental outcomes. The evidence presented can help inform the development of a framework to guide circular bioeconomy R4D at IITA and other research institutes working in SSA. Generating a body of evidence on what works, including the institutional factors that create enabling environments for circular bioeconomy approaches to thrive, is necessary for governments and donors to support circular bioeconomy research that will help solve some of the most pressing challenges in SSA as populations grow and generate more waste, thus exacerbating a changing climate using the linear economy model.


Green Finance ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 268-286
Author(s):  
Paul Adjei Kwakwa ◽  
◽  
Frank Adusah-Poku ◽  
Kwame Adjei-Mantey ◽  
◽  
...  

<abstract> <p>Access to clean energy is necessary for environmental cleanliness and poverty reduction. That notwithstanding, many in developing countries especially those in sub-Saharan Africa region lack clean energy for their routine domestic activities. This study sought to unravel the factors that influence clean energy accessibility in sub-Saharan Africa region. Clean energy accessibility, specifically access to electricity, and access to clean cooking fuels and technologies, were modeled as a function of income, foreign direct investment, inflation, employment and political regime for a panel of 31 sub-Saharan countries for the period 2000–2015. Regression analysis from fixed effect, random effect and Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares show that access to clean energy is influenced positively by income, foreign direct investment, political regime and employment while inflation has some negative effect on its accessibility. The policy implications from the findings among other things include that expansion in GDP per capita in the sub-region shall be helpful in increasing accessibility to clean energy. Moreover, strengthening the democratic institutions of countries in the region shall enhance the citizens' accessibility to clean energy. Ensuring sustainable jobs for the citizens is necessary for access clean energy.</p> </abstract>


Author(s):  
Bakary Diallo ◽  
Sidiki Traoré ◽  
Therrezinha Fernandes

Universities and other tertiary institutions in developing nations around the world are facing major challenges in meeting the demand for increasing access to higher education (HE): limitations imposed by inadequate funding, poor infrastructure and sometimes lack of political vision, added to the demographic explosion, make it almost impossible for some of these developing nations to ensure access to all to higher education solely through the conventional face-to-face mode. In this context, the Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are providing an alternative to face-to-face education. Moreover, they have the potential to significantly increase access to quality higher education, improve management of tertiary institutions, increase access to educational resources through digital libraries and open education resources, foster collaboration and networking between universities, foster collaboration between the private sector and tertiary institutions, enhance sub-regional and regional integration and facilitate the mobility of teachers and graduates. In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the African Virtual University (AVU), a Pan African Inter-Governmental Organization initially launched in Washington in 1997 as a World Bank project, works with a number of countries toward reaching the goal of increasing access to quality higher education and training programmes through the use of ICTs. The AVU has been the first-of-itskind in this regard to serve the Sub-Saharan African countries. In this chapter, the AVU’s twelve years experience in delivering and improving access to quality higher distance education throughout Africa will be discussed. The AVU has trained more than 40,000 students since its inception; this is the proof that it is possible to achieve democratization of tertiary education in Africa despite many challenges.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol A. Tilt ◽  
Wei Qian ◽  
Sanjaya Kuruppu ◽  
Dinithi Dissanayake

Purpose Developing countries experience their own social, political and environmental issues, but surprisingly limited papers have examined sustainability reporting in these regions, notably in sub-Saharan Africa. To fill this gap and understand the state of sustainability reporting in sub-Saharan Africa, this paper aims to investigate the current state of reporting, identifies the major motivations and barriers for reporting and suggests an agenda of future issues that need to be considered by firms, policymakers and academics. Design/methodology/approach This paper includes analysis of reporting practices in 48 sub-Saharan African countries using the lens of New Institutional Economics. It comprises three phases of data collection and analysis: presentation of overall reporting data collected and provided by Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). analysis of stand-alone sustainability reports using qualitative data analysis and interviews with key report producers. Findings The analysis identifies key issues that companies in selected sub-Saharan African countries are grappling within their contexts. There are significant barriers to reporting but institutional mechanisms, such as voluntary reporting frameworks, provide an important bridge between embedding informal norms and changes to regulatory requirements. These are important for the development of better governance and accountability mechanisms. Research limitations/implications Findings have important implications for policymakers and institutions such as GRI in terms of regulation, outreach and localised training. More broadly, global bodies such as GRI and IIRC in a developing country context may require more local knowledge and support. Limitations include limited data availability, particularly for interviews, which means that these results are preliminary and provide a basis for further work. Practical implications The findings of this paper contribute to the knowledge of sustainability reporting in this region, and provide some policy implications for firms, governments and regulators. Originality/value This paper is one of only a handful looking at the emerging phenomenon of sustainability reporting in sub-Saharan African countries.


2004 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Obeng Gyimah ◽  
Rajulton Fernando

This paper examines whether childhood deaths elicit an explicit, conscious and intentional fertility response using the 1998 Demographic and Health Survey data for Ghana and Kenya . Using multivariate hazard models, childhood mortality experience was found to have long term fertility implications beyond the short term physiological effects. In both countries, women who have experienced childhood mortality were found to have significantly higher number of additional children than those without. The death of the first child in particular was found to be associated with the risk of a higher order birth consistent with recent findings in Cameroon. The policy implications of the findings are discussed.


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