This volume attempts to dig deeper into what is currently happening in Africa's agricultural and rural sector and to convince policymakers and others that it is important to look at the current... Show moreThis volume attempts to dig deeper into what is currently happening in Africa's agricultural and rural sector and to convince policymakers and others that it is important to look at the current African rural dynamics in ways that connect metropolitan demands for food with value chain improvements and agro-food cluster innovations. It is essential to go beyond a 'development bureaucracy' and a state-based approach to rural transformation, such as the one that often dominates policy debate in African government circles, organizations like the African Union and the UN, and donor agencies. Show less
Ordinary social violence, - i.e. recurrent mental or physical aggression occurring between closely related people - structures social relationships in Africa, and in the world. Studies of violence... Show moreOrdinary social violence, - i.e. recurrent mental or physical aggression occurring between closely related people - structures social relationships in Africa, and in the world. Studies of violence in Africa often refer to ethnic wars and explicit conflicts and do not enter the hidden domain of violence that this book reveals through in-depth anthropological studies from different parts and contexts in Africa. Ordinary violence has its distinctive forms embedded in specific histories and cultures. It is gendered, implicates witchcraft accusations, varies in rural and urban contexts, relates to demographic and socio-economic changes of the past decades and is embedded in the everyday life of many African citizens. The experience of ordinary violence goes beyond the simple notion of victimhood; instead it structures social life and should therefore be a compelling part of the study of social change. Show less
The voices of orphans and other vulnerable children and young people and of their carers and professional development workers are documented and analysed to both criticise the inadequacies of... Show moreThe voices of orphans and other vulnerable children and young people and of their carers and professional development workers are documented and analysed to both criticise the inadequacies of current social development work and to create a new, alternative theory and practice of project management in Zimbabwe and southern Africa. This is the first extensive and intensive empirical study of Zimbabwean orphans and other vulnerable children and young people. Chronically poor children and their carers can be corrupted or silenced by management systems which fail to recognise their basic human needs. Resilience in the face of such adversity is celebrated by the dominant project management ideology and practice but is a major barrier to achieve genuine sustainable improvements in the lives of vulnerable children. We propose a new person-centred project management approach aimed at delivering comprehensive services for orphans, which explicitly recognises the needs of orphans and other poor children to be fully socially, politically and economically included within their communities and which avoids the reinforcement of power based inequalities and their unacceptable consequences. The moral bankruptcy of much social development work in Zimbabwe and elsewhere in Southern Africa is described and we delineate an alternative project management policy and practice. Show less
This PhD thesis seeks to quantify the economic, social and environmental effects of the gold mining sector as a component of foreign direct investments in Tanzania and its contribution to poverty... Show moreThis PhD thesis seeks to quantify the economic, social and environmental effects of the gold mining sector as a component of foreign direct investments in Tanzania and its contribution to poverty alleviation. In addition to highlighting the socio-economic gains and losses, by exploring the corporate the social responsibility policies and practices, the book also traces the private-public partnerships with local communities around the two mines under consideration (Bulyanhulu Gold Mine Ltd. in Kahama District and Geita Gold Mine Ltd. in Geita District, north-western Tanzania). The book is expected to further stimulate the debate on the relationship between profit, corporate income taxes and corporate social responsibility as well as its implication for foreign mining companies. It also sheds more light on the contribution of the mining sector to Tanzania's economy. The book concludes that the economic growth associated with the mining boom, albeit limited, is significant to the rural communities around the mines. Show less
Decentralization by devolution is the means to transfer the responsibilities for service provision to the grassroots levels in Tanzania. The aim of this policy is to deal with the stagnation in... Show moreDecentralization by devolution is the means to transfer the responsibilities for service provision to the grassroots levels in Tanzania. The aim of this policy is to deal with the stagnation in the development of, among other things, secondary education. Despite this policy, Tanzania still provides a strong top-down influence on education. This study is about the effects of the central influence on the recruitment of teachers in secondary education. For this research, six ward secondary schools were visited. The dissertation reveals that the centralized teacher recruitment within the initiative to decentralize secondary education has failed to achieve its claimed objective of redressing the inequalities in the deployment of teachers in the country. As a result, the schools have structured their internal operations in order that they cope with inadequacy. The dissertation recommends therefore that the actual needs of schools in terms of the types of teachers required should be given consideration when teachers are posted in schools. Show less
'We cannot imagine life now without a mobile phone' is a frequent comment when Africans are asked about mobile phones. They have become part and parcel of the communication landscape in many urban... Show more'We cannot imagine life now without a mobile phone' is a frequent comment when Africans are asked about mobile phones. They have become part and parcel of the communication landscape in many urban and rural areas of Africa and the growth of mobile telephony is amazing: from 1 in 50 people being users in 2000 to 1 in 3 in 2008. Such growth is impressive but it does not even begin to tell us about the many ways in which mobile phones are being appropriated by Africans and how they are transforming or are being transformed by society in Africa. This volume ventures into such appropriation and mutual shaping. Rich in theoretical innovation and empirical substantiation, it brings together reflections on developments around the mobile phone by scholars of six African countries (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, Sudan and Tanzania) who explore the economic, social and cultural contexts in which the mobile phone is being adopted, adapted and harnessed by mobile Africa. Show less
This book is about the relationship between donors and aid recipients in bilateral development cooperation programmes. Using the example of the Dutch District Rural Development Programmes (DRDPs)... Show moreThis book is about the relationship between donors and aid recipients in bilateral development cooperation programmes. Using the example of the Dutch District Rural Development Programmes (DRDPs) in Bukoba, Tanzania, it examines the processes in which the aid beneficiaries are engaged, so that they can appropriate opportunities that accrue from the donors' projects. Carried out from 1987 until 2004, the programmes have not been evaluated as successful. However, instead of being guided by the pessimism of a perspective of failures, this thesis focuses on the processes in which aid is made relevant by the recipients. Aid recipients engage in organizing practices, that is, manoeuvre in a power-charged relationship in order to access and make use of the opportunities in an aid fabric. The overall conclusion of the study is that even though donor-funded development projects may not have achieved the donors' objectives, the resources (material and financial) that have come along with the projects have proven useful to the beneficiaries through the use of organizing practices with respect to livelihoods promotion. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
This book, the result of a collaborative study carried out by researchers from Tanzania, Israel and the Netherlands, assesses the sustainability of urban agriculture in two medium-sized towns in... Show moreThis book, the result of a collaborative study carried out by researchers from Tanzania, Israel and the Netherlands, assesses the sustainability of urban agriculture in two medium-sized towns in Tanzania: Morogoro and Mbeya. It first gives an overview of urban agriculture in Tanzania and a description of the two towns. Then it analyses the ways in which people in Morogoro and Mbeya carry out crop cultivation and livestock keeping. This is followed by chapters on food and income, environmental issues, and employment creation, the marketing of produce, and the legal and policy setting. A concluding chapter summarizes the findings, bringing together various aspects of sustainability, and discusses local residents' views on the future of urban agriculture. The study is based on field research carried out in 2000-2001. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
