Download or read book Social and Political Dynamics of the Informal Economy in African Cities written by Kinuthia Macharia and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Africa, urbanites have used their ethnicity, friendship, and rural places of origin to cement their life in the cities, most particularly in the development of small enterprises. Social and Political Dynamics of the Informal Economy in African Cities explores how informal economies in African cities operate.
Download or read book The African Informal Economy written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2024-06-17 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The informal sector is a vital sustainer of the African economy, employing more than 60% of sub-Saharan Africans. The book examines diverse segments of the informal sector, putting into consideration their structure, dynamics, resilience and gender issues. Chapters are based on empirical research on women in the transport sector, vehicle maintenance artisanship, graduates in the informal sector, COVID 19, and the informal economy. Other chapters focus on the indigenous usury finance system, coconut oil production, herbal medicine, and the gig economy across countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Togo, and Burkina Faso.
Download or read book Power and Informality in Urban Africa written by Laura Stark and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2021-12-16 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Urban Africa is undergoing a transformation unlike anywhere else in the world, as unprecedented numbers of people migrate to rapidly expanding cities. But despite the growing body of work on urban Africa, the lives of these new city dwellers have received relatively little attention, particularly when it comes to crucial issues of power and inequality. This interdisciplinary collection brings together contributions from urban studies, geography, and anthropology to provide new insights into the social and political dynamics of African cities, as well as uncovering the causes and consequences of urban inequality. Featuring rich new ethnographic research data and case studies drawn from across the continent, the collection shows that Africa's new urbanites have adapted to their environs in ways which often defy the assumptions of urban planners. By examining the experiences of these urban residents in confronting issues of power and agency, the contributors consider how such insights can inform more effective approaches to research, city planning and development both in Africa and beyond.
Download or read book Reconsidering Informality written by Karen Tranberg Hansen and published by Nordic Africa Institute. This book was released on 2004 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book brings together two bodies of research on urban Africa that have tended to be separate, studies of urban land use and housing and studies of work and livelihoods. Africa's future will be increasingly urban, and the inherited legal, institutional and financial arrangements for managing urban development are inadequate. Access to employment, shelter and services is precarious for most urban residents. The result is the phenomenal growth of the informal city. Extra-legal housing and unregistered economic activities proliferate and basic urban services are increasingly provided informally. Recent decades of neo-liberal political and economic reforms have increased social inequality across urban space. After an introductory chapter by the editors, the contributions are grouped into the following sections: - LOCALITY, PLACE, AND SPACE - ECONOMY, WORK, AND LIVELIHOODS - LAND, HOUSING, AND PLANNING The case studies are drawn from a diverse set of cities on the African continent. A central theme is how practices that from an official standpoint are illegal or extra-legal do not only work but are considered legitimate by the actors concerned. Another is how the informal city is not exclusively the domain of the poor, but also provides shelter and livelihoods for better-off segments of the urban population.
Download or read book Seven Themes in African Urban Dynamics written by Garth Andrew Myers and published by Nordic Africa Institute. This book was released on 2012-02 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The growth of cities is one of the most significant aspects of the contemporary transformation of African societies. Cities in Africa are the sites of major political, economic and social innovation, and thus play a critical role in national politics, domestic economic growth and social development. They are also key platforms for interaction with the wider world and mediate between global and national contexts. Cities are variously positioned in global flows of resources, goods and ideas, and are shaped by varied historical trajectories and local cultures. The result is a great diversity of urban societies across the continent. Cities in Africa are not only growing rapidly but are also undergoing deep political, economic and social transformation. They are changing in ways that defy usual notions of urbanism. In their dazzling complexity, they challenge most theories of the urban. African cities represent major challenges as well as opportunities. Both need to be understood and addressed if a sustainable urban future is to be achieved on the continent. The Urban Cluster of the Nordic Africa Institute, through its research, seeks to contribute to an understanding of processes of urban change in Africa. This discussion paper by Professor Garth Myers, commissioned by the Urban Cluster, is a valuable contribution to shaping the research agenda on urban Africa.
Download or read book The Informal Economy in Developing Countries written by Jean-Pierre Cling and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-12-19 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Informality is ubiquitous in most developing countries. Understanding the informal economy is therefore of utmost importance from a political, economic and social point of view. Paradoxically, despite its economic importance, knowledge is extremely limited regarding the informal economy. It remains largely unrecognized by researchers, is neglected by politicians, and is even negatively perceived as it is meant to disappear with development. This book aims to amend this situation by presenting recent high level research which studies the informal sector and informal employment. Fresh research into this subject is presented through empirical analysis which covers Asia, Africa and Latin America. Each chapter relies on data and a detailed knowledge of the context of the countries studied in order to question the dominant schools of thought on the origins and causes of informality. The results provide interesting insights into the constraints faced by informal workers, the dynamics of the informal economy and its link with poverty issues. On the basis of the evidences provided by results adequate policies could be defined to address informality issues. The principal characteristics of the informal sector testify to some profound similarities between developing countries: low qualifications and the precariousness of jobs, mediocre incomes and working conditions, atomization of production units and lack of articulation with the formal economy, etc. This general statement does not contradict the observation that there is a high level of heterogeneity in the sector and in informal employment within each country, confirmed by several chapters in this work. In the absence of a sufficient number of job creations, the informal sector essentially constitutes a refuge for workers seeking and is here to stay in the short and medium term, even in emerging countries.
Download or read book Women and the Informal Economy in Urban Africa written by Mary Njeri Kinyanjui and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2014-06-12 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this highly original work, Mary Njeri Kinyanjui explores the trajectory of women's movement from the margins of urbanization into the centres of business activities in Nairobi and its accompanying implications for urban planning. While women in much of Africa have struggled to gain urban citizenship and continue to be weighed down by poor education, low income and confinement to domestic responsibilities due to patriarchic norms, a new form of urban dynamism - partly informed by the informal economy - is now enabling them to manage poverty, create jobs and link to the circuits of capital and labour. Relying on social ties, reciprocity, sharing and collaboration, women's informal 'solidarity entrepreneurialism' is taking them away from the margins of business activity and catapulting them into the centre. Bringing together key issues of gender, economic informality and urban planning in Africa, Kinyanjui demonstrates that women have become a critical factor in the making of a postcolonial city.
Download or read book Social and Political Dynamics of the Informal Economy in African Cities written by Kinuthia Macharia and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Macharia (sociology, American U.) describes the major characteristics of Third World cities, which foil the efforts of classical sociological theories to explain such problems as over- urbanization in Nairobi, Kenya and Harare, Zimbabwe. Focusing on Kenya, he discusses the Jua Kali or informal economic sector (including women's networks) supported by an informal state bureaucracy, and small enterprise development and alleviation of poverty--concluding with policy recommendations. Includes basic maps and several bandw photos. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Download or read book Africa s Informal Workers written by Ilda Lindell and published by Zed Books Ltd.. This book was released on 2013-04-04 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africa's Informal Workers is a vigorous examination of the informalization and casualization of work, which is changing livelihoods in Africa and beyond. Gathering cases from nine countries and cities across sub-Saharan Africa, and from a range of sectors, this volume goes beyond the usual focus on household ‘coping strategies’ and individual agency, addressing the growing number of collective organizations through which informal workers make themselves visible and articulate their demands and interests. The emerging picture is that of a highly diverse landscape of organized actors, providing grounds for tension but also opportunities for alliance. The collection examines attempts at organizing across the formal-informal work spheres, and explores the novel trend of transnational organizing by informal workers. Part of the ground-breaking Africa Now series, Africa’s Informal Workers is a timely exploration of deep, ongoing economic, political and social transformations.
Download or read book The Long Shadow of Informality written by Franziska Ohnsorge and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2022-02-09 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A large percentage of workers and firms operate in the informal economy, outside the line of sight of governments in emerging market and developing economies. This may hold back the recovery in these economies from the deep recessions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic--unless governments adopt a broad set of policies to address the challenges of widespread informality. This study is the first comprehensive analysis of the extent of informality and its implications for a durable economic recovery and for long-term development. It finds that pervasive informality is associated with significantly weaker economic outcomes--including lower government resources to combat recessions, lower per capita incomes, greater poverty, less financial development, and weaker investment and productivity.
Download or read book Identity Economics written by Kate Meagher and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2010 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title traces the rise of two dynamic informal enterprise clusters in Nigeria and explores their slide into trajectories of Pentecostalism, poverty and violent vigilantism.
Download or read book The Informal Economy Revisited written by Martha Chen and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-07-14 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This landmark volume brings together leading scholars in the field to investigate recent conceptual shifts, research findings and policy debates on the informal economy as well as future challenges and directions for research and policy. Well over half of the global workforce and the vast majority of the workforce in developing countries work in the informal economy, and in countries around the world new forms of informal employment are emerging. Yet the informal workforce is not well understood, remains undervalued and is widely stigmatised. Contributors to the volume bridge a range of disciplinary perspectives including anthropology, development economics, law, political science, social policy, sociology, statistics, urban planning and design. The Informal Economy Revisited also focuses on specific groups of informal workers, including home-based workers, street vendors and waste pickers, to provide a grounded insight into disciplinary debates. Ultimately, the book calls for a paradigm shift in how the informal economy is perceived to reflect the realities of informal work in the Global South, as well as the informal practices of the state and capital, not just labour. The Informal Economy Revisited is the culmination of 20 years of pioneering work by WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing), a global network of researchers, development practitioners and organisations of informal workers in 90 countries. Researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and advocates will all find this book an invaluable guide to the significance and complexities of the informal economy, and its role in today’s globalised economy. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780429200724, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license
Download or read book Tanzania s Informal Economy written by Alexis Malefakis and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-04-15 with total page 221 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The market places and street corners of Dar es Salaam are home to a thriving informal economy of street vendors selling secondhand clothing and other goods. These street vendors often live a precarious existence, under pressure from state authorities and international markets. In addition to these external pressures, the experiences of such vendors are also shaped by a complex interplay of internal tensions, rivalries and conflicting communal ties. Such internal dynamics are a common part of informal economies around the world, but have largely gone unrecognised and unexamined by academic scholarship. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and extensive interviews with vendors living and working in Dar es Salaam, Malefakis's book offers a nuanced portrait of those trying to carve out a livelihood in a major African city, one in which ties of kinship and ethnicity are often viewed as a barrier, rather than an aid, to success. In the process, Malefakis provides an invaluable new perspective on the way in which co-operation, or lack thereof, functions in an informal economy, as well as insight into the lived experiences of those who depend on such economies.
Download or read book Informal Sector in Sub Saharan Africa written by Jantjie Xaba and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book African Cities and the Development Conundrum written by Carole Ammann and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 10th thematic volume of International Development Policy presents a collection of articles exploring some of the complex development challenges associated with Africa’s recent but extremely rapid pace of urbanisation that challenges still predominant but misleading images of Africa as a rural continent. Analysing urban settings through the diverse experiences and perspectives of inhabitants and stakeholders in cities across the continent, the authors consider the evolution of international development policy responses amidst the unique historical, social, economic and political contexts of Africa’s urban development. Contributors include: Carole Ammann, Claudia Baez Camargo, Claire Bénit-Gbaffou, Karen Büscher, Aba Obrumah Crentsil, Sascha Delz, Ton Dietz, Till Förster, Lucy Koechlin, Lalli Metsola, Garth Myers, George Owusu, Edgar Pieterse, Sebastian Prothmann, Warren Smit, and Florian Stoll.
Download or read book African Markets and the Utu Ubuntu Business Model A perspective on economic informality in Nairobi written by Njeri Kinyanjui and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 2019-03-06 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The persistence of indigenous African markets in the context of a hostile or neglectful business and policy environment makes them worthy of analysis. An investigation of Afrocentric business ethics is long overdue. Attempting to understand the actions and efforts of informal traders and artisans from their own points of view, and analysing how they organise and get by, allows for viable approaches to be identified to integrate them into global urban models and cultures. Using the utu-ubuntu model to understand the activities of traders and artisans in Nairobis markets, this book explores how, despite being consistently excluded and disadvantaged, they shape urban spaces in and around the city, and contribute to its development as a whole. With immense resilience, and without discarding their own socio-cultural or economic values, informal traders and artisans have created a territorial complex that can be described as the African metropolis. African Markets and the Utu-buntu Business Model sheds light on the ethics and values that underpin the work of traders and artisans in Nairobi, as well as their resilience and positive impact on urbanisation. This book makes an important contribution to the discourse on urban economics and planning in African cities.
Download or read book Which Way to Livable and Productive Cities written by Kirsten Hommann and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2019-04-18 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For African cities to grow economically as they have grown in size, they must create productive environments to attract investments, increase economic efficiency, and create livable environments that prevent urban costs from rising with increased population densification. What are the central obstacles that prevent African cities and towns from becoming sustainable engines of economic growth and prosperity? Among the most critical factors that limit the growth and livability of urban areas are land markets, investments in public infrastructure and assets, and the institutions to enable both. To unleash the potential of African cities and towns for delivering services and employment in a livable and environmentally friendly environment, a sequenced approach is needed to reform institutions and policies and to target infrastructure investments. This book lays out three foundations that need fixing to guide cities and towns throughout Sub-Saharan Africa on their way to productivity and livability.
