Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Book Review, Fikresus Amahazion

International Journal of African Development

Book review for How Sub-Saharan Africa Can Achieve Food Security and Ascend Its Economy to the Initial Stages of Light Industrialization by Woldezion Mesghinna. 881 pgs.. ISBN: 978-145753-963-3.

Listen To The Voices Of Maasai Women In Kenya: Ensuring The Well-Being Of Their Families Through Collective Actions, Taeko Takayanagi

International Journal of African Development

This is an ethnographic study that provides insight into grassroots activities managed by Maasai women leaders in the Narok area of Kenya. Four women’s narratives were used as a basis of analysis to demonstrate their roles in facilitating grassroots activities to improve village women’s well-being despite gender discrimination and multidimensional constraints. The women’s group leaders commented that low literacy had a negative influence on Maasai women’s development; however, the issue of illiteracy could be overcome through cooperative learning during women group activities in their village. The results showed that the women’s group leaders played a facilitative role in improving women’s …

Nutrition And Trade Liberalization In Africa, Ismaelline Eba Nguema

International Journal of African Development

Trade openness and nutrition are concepts that are closely related. Openness could contribute to an improvement in nutrition under only certain conditions. These include improved export earnings, ultimately the import capacity of the countries participating in the exchange, and maintaining a sufficient level of agricultural production. The objective of this article is to analyze the link between trade liberalization and nutrition in Africa.

Trade openness and nutrition are concepts that are closely related. Openness could contribute to an improvement in nutrition under only certain conditions. These include improved export earnings, ultimately the import capacity of the countries participating in the …

Understanding Remittances In Eritrea: An Exploratory Study, Fikresus Amahazion

International Journal of African Development

Migration has been characterized as a fundamental component of the human experience, and today there are several hundred million international migrants around the world. Although migrants leave their home country, they maintain links, particularly through remittances. Economic remittances supplement the domestic incomes of millions of poor families and are vital for many developing countries. This paper explores economic remittances into Eritrea, examining the particular trends, amounts received, and how remittances are generally consumed. Additionally, the paper explores general perceptions about remittances and their impact upon society in Eritrea. Based on interviews and focus group discussions with individuals and households across …

Breaking The Poverty Trap In Africa: A Comparative Perspective On Poverty Alleviation, Abu Girma Moges

International Journal of African Development

An increasing number of African countries have recently registered improved rates of economic growth. Translating economic growth into poverty reduction, however, requires putting into place policies and institutions that promote a sustainable and shared economic growth process. The degree of success in poverty reduction depends largely on balancing the process of economic growth and the judicious pattern of income distribution so that an increasing share of the population benefits from the growth process and engages in more productive endeavors. Building the necessary policy and institutional framework to promote sustainable and shared economic growth is central in breaking the poverty trap …

Indigenous Knowledge And The Development Debate In Africa, Fidelis Ewane, Samson Ajagbe

International Journal of African Development

This research employs Bourdieu’s theory of habitus to explain the disposition of the donor community to integrate indigenous knowledge systems and practices into development projects. The theory’s objectivist perspective specifies the mechanism that links structural conditioning to social practice and regularities. It holds that power is culturally and symbolically created, and it is constantly re-legitimized through the interplay of agency and structure. This facilitates an analysis of the development field as social space characterized by indigenous and donor power relations. It argues that the reinforcement of indigenous knowledge as the main channel for development will generate transferable local capacities and …

Does Inclusive Growth Matter For Regional Integration In Africa? An Empirical Assessment, Mohammed Shuaibu, Mamello Nchake

International Journal of African Development

Inclusive growth is an important channel through which African countries can foster higher regional integration especially through trade. This is because many African countries are characterized by exclusive growth, small and fragmented domestic markets that are landlocked and often prone to external shocks. Using an augmented gravity specification, this paper conducts an empirical investigation of the relationship between regional integration and inclusive growth in Africa. The adapted model is estimated using ordinary least squares, Pseudo Poisson maximum likelihood estimator and the Blundell-Bond system generalized method of moment estimator. The empirical results reveal that inclusive growth plays a vital role towards …

A Framework Towards Technology Creation In Africa: Focusing On Ghana, Martin Yao Donani, Hannatu Abue Kugblenu, Azindow Bawa Fuseini

International Journal of African Development

Underdevelopment in Africa has been historical and a global concern coupled with the quest for good governance. Several efforts have been made in academia, national governments, the international community, and other institutional arrangements to reverse the trend. These efforts however are yet to produce a lasting result as Africa is still characterized by low productivity output, poverty and a widening technology gap when compared to other developing regions of the world. Conventional approaches used to address the African problem have consistently been devoid of indigenous technology development. Technology is here seen as paramount to every form of production on which …

Current Situation Of Agricultural Trade: What Effects Does It Have On Food Security In Africa?, Ismaelline Eba Nguema

International Journal of African Development

The history of food policy in Africa started with the beginning of independence with the adoption of the strategy based on the planned development model. However, the financial and administrative planning requirements were felt quickly. By the early 80s, the debt crisis led African economies to abandon the policy of self-sufficiency and to adopt a so-called liberal agro-food strategy. In this context, food security based on external trade and its requirements became integral parts of structural adjustment programs. Thus, Africa took a stand before the rest of the world in the controlling of extraversion. Despite mixed results, in January 1995, …

Deindustrialization In Africa, Richard Grabowski

International Journal of African Development

Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa has been characterized by deindustrialization. Conventional economists argue that this is due to a bad environment for business decision making. This paper provides a classical explanation for deindustrialization, the failure to solve the food problem. That is, food staple prices have risen rapidly resulting in labor becoming costly, although physically abundant. This has prevented the evolution of a comparative advantage in labor intensive manufacturing. Structural change is an important element of the process of economic development, especially in the early stages. Productivity grows by shifting labor out of agriculture where productivity is low, and into …

Weathering The Storm: Botswana's Culture Of Care, Lengwe-Katembula Mwansa, Gloria Jacques

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Botswana, a semi-desert southern African state ranked among the poorest in the world in the 1960s and 1970s, has emerged as an upper middle income country in the new millennium and a beacon of democracy and good governance on the continent and in the world. Since the discovery of diamonds, Botswana has prudently utilized the ensuing wealth to improve the lives of her citizens. Through a succession of National Development Plans the state has provided social services that have addressed many of the needs of the population. This trend has continued into the challenging era of the world economic crisis …

Do Foreign Direct Investment And Foreign Aid Promote Good Governance In Africa?, Adugna Lemi, Blen Solomon, Sisay Asefa

International Journal of African Development

The literature on the roles that governance/political and economic stability play to attract capital flows into African economies has been burgeoning. Good governance, liberalization, infrastructure, incentive packages have been regarded as cures to break the deadlock to reverse the economic plight, to attract inflow of capital and, in some cases, to reverse outflows of African economies. The flow of capital, however, has undesirable side effects on host economies’ working conditions, environmental standard, inequality, and culture, among others. These economic and social external or negative spillover effects are due to the phenomenon of “race-to-the-bottom” where companies invest in economies with lax …

The Lost Opportunity For Ethiopia: The Failure To Move Toward Democratic Governance, Theodor Vestal

International Journal of African Development

During the critical five year period leading up to the velvet revolution and the overthrow of Haile Selassie’s regime, there were missed opportunities to bring about peaceful change in Ethiopia’s governance. This paper analyzes the events of this period that led to the rise of the Derg and the revolutionary changes that followed and speculates on when strategic steps could have been taken to avoid the catastrophic events that ensued in 1974.