Appraisal of the impact of the gender of household heads on housing condition in Egbeda-Iragbiji, Osun State, Nigeria
February 2018
Housing is one of the basic needs of man, unarguably the third after food and clothing. It accounts for the social, cultural and economic value of a society; hence, quality housing is desired by all individuals. However, the rural areas have long been battling with challenges associated with condition and quality of housing. It is of note that many researchers have accounted for several factors affecting housing...
Combining indigenous wisdom and academic knowledge to build sustainable future: An example from rural Africa
February 2018
The paper presents the premise that sustainable development in Africa is only possible when it involves a bottom-up approach and brings in a multitude of local endeavors. In order for this to occur, community knowledge bases must be captured and utilized. This is shown here by using the case example of a community in Northern Ghana where a new college has been set up in the midst of a rural environment. The preliminary...
Introducing the Jaarsa Biyyaa customary dispute settlement institution among the Horroo society of Ethiopia
January 2018
This study deals with an introduction to Jaarsa Biyyaa (Elders’ council) among Horroo of Oromo society in Ethiopia. Even though numerous researches have been conducted on customary institutions of dispute settlement, there is an obvious gap of research conducted on the theme in the research area. The study addressed the Jaarsa Biyyaa customary dispute settlement institution among the Horroo society. To...
Indigenous conflict management and resolution mechanisms on rangelands in pastoral areas, Ethiopia
December 2017
Conflict resolution and peace building mechanisms remain problematic for most societies in Africa including those in Ethiopia, as most of them are trying to imitate western modalities rather than using their own indigenous institutions. Indigenous conflict resolution and management are proven as less complex and time saving, and participating parties in conflict solve their own problems and handle their affairs in a...
Empowering traditional rulers and grassroot mobilization for rural development in Cross River State, Nigeria
October 2017
This research empirically examined the impact of empowerments of traditional rulers on rural development in Cross River State, Nigeria. In order to guide the study, two research hypotheses were formulated. A survey design was adopted for the study and questionnaire was the main research instrument used to collect data from the respondents. Five hundred and twenty government certificated traditional rulers (respondents)...
Socioeconomic characteristics of prisoners and food insecurity occurrence and prevalence in Malawi’s prisons
July 2017
While Malawi’s per capita cereal production may be higher than her per capita cereal consumption, Malawi is a net cereal importer and thus food insecure. The food situation is much worse in Malawi’s prisons because inmates generally eat one meal per day. The objective of this study was to determine socioeconomic characteristics of prisoners and food insecurity occurrence and prevalence in Malawi’s...
Factors contributing to irregular migration: A case of Kasulu District, Tanzania
June 2017
Despite the fact that irregular migrants (IRMs) have often been facing a lot of challenges in sustaining their livelihood in Kasulu District, yet in recent years, there has been an increase of IRMs from within and outside Kasulu District in search of casual labour in the local community. The study therefore was undertaken in four villages in Kasulu, Kitanga, Kagera-Nkanda, Mvugwe and Nyachenda. Specifically, the study...
Discontents in Japan’s aid discourse in Africa: Land grabbing activism in Tokyo International Conference for Africa Development (TICAD) process
June 2017
Political resistance towards international development is a prevalent theme in global civil society and Non-Governmental organizations. The poor are often assumed to indubitably participate in resistance. However, the poor’s participation is both diverse and complex. To understand this complexity, this paper attempts to explain the poor’s acquiescence in incorporation into land grabbing deals. By examining...
Barriers to parent-child communication on sexual and reproductive health issues in East Africa: A review of qualitative research in four countries
May 2017
The increasing rate of risky behaviours among the East African adolescents has greater burden to the adolescent, family and the society. Young women in this region are exposed to potential sexual and reproductive health problems including sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions, contraception, sexual abuse and rape, female genital mutilation, and maternal or child mortality. This is...
Craft globally, blame locally: How global neo-liberal development cartographies obfuscate social injustices against the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa
May 2017
For over two decades now, Sub-Saharan Africa has been superimposed in a coercive and contradictory neo-liberal development economism agenda. According to this paradigm, markets and not states are the fundamental determinants of distributive justice and human flourishing through the promotion of economic growth that is believed to trickle down to the poor in due time. Despite the global intellectual criticism of this...
An analysis of western diversity management theories in a Nigerian context
May 2017
Research has shown that the philosophy behind diversity studies emerged from the Global North. This also strengthens the assumption that the current diversity management theorizing is mainly Anglo-centric which gives priority to the Global North, and reflects neoliberal structuring. In view of this critique on the implementation of Western theories in the Global South, this study examines two key Western theories within...
Enhancing the middle class as a development resource in Africa: Insights from Northern Ghana
April 2017
One indicator of national economic progress is middle class expansion. While recent studies show an increasing sub-Saharan African middle class, there is no clear empirical appreciation of the factors driving this and how they may be sustained. This study uses data from Northern Ghana and a logistic regression model to identify the factors determining the probability of being in the middle class to provide public and...
Media and democratic imperatives in Nigeria’s fourth republic
March 2017
The media over the years have been globally acknowledged as the watchdog of the society and their information/monitoring roles considered a sine qua non for democracy and good governance. The media, popularly referred to as the Fourth Estate of the Realm, have been identified as a key institution that plays a critical role in defining the political, economic and socio-cultural reality of given nations. The importance of...
Does decentralization have a role in poverty reduction? The Ethiopian experience
February 2017
This article reviews the actual impacts of decentralization on poverty reduction in Ethiopia after the inception of decentralization since 2000s. Secondary document analyses accompanied by interview with few government officials were employed. The objective of the article was to investigate the tangible impacts of decentralization on Ethiopian poverty reduction program. The goals of decentralization in Ethiopia are to...
Killing Ebola: The militarization of US aid in Liberia
October 2016
In Liberia, the security-development nexus strongly emphasized the security side when Ebola became an international crisis with potential for global risk in 2014. In West Africa, 28,600 people had contracted Ebola and over 11,300 of them died. Liberia was the hardest hit with death from the disease, killing over 4,800 people. Similar to other interventions after 9/11, the US response to Ebola was intended to be a...
A survey of university students’ views on the nature and significance of nicknames to the Shona people of Zimbabwe
August 2016
Nicknames are an integral part of human experience in many cultures in the world over, and some scholars believe that they have a cultural significance to the relevant society. This study is a report of a survey of a purposively sampled group of fifty Great Zimbabwe University students’ views, gathered through a questionnaire, on nick-name usage among the Shona-speaking people of Zimbabwe. The group of respondents...
Drivers of north-south migration in the Wa West District: Economic returns or migrants’ sub-culture
August 2016
In Ghana, three regions (Upper West, Upper East and Northern) have the highest proportion of voluntary out-migrants but the percentage share of the population of these regions together has been less than 20.0% since 1970. This phenomenon is due to north-south migration which has been widely attributed to low socio-economic development and unfavourable physical characteristics in these regions. The study examines the...
Foreign Aid Effectiveness and Development Strategies in Eritrea: A lesson for Sub-Saharan African countries
July 2016
This study analyses foreign aid effectiveness and development strategies in Eritrea. It attempts to draw a lesson for Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. The study seeks to answer the following question: “what are the conditions for foreign aid effectiveness in SSA countries”? The data for this study was collected in 2015 in six months period from February to August. In this study, both primary and...
‘Moving, fishing and building’: A building-back-home culture of Ijo migrant fishermen in Nigeria
June 2016
This study investigates the building culture of migrant fishermen of the Ijo ethnic origin in Nigeria, who undertake prolonged sojourns in other communities as part of their livelihood. The study focuses on migrant fishermen and their socio-economic role as migrant workers. The aim of this study is to investigate if Ijo migrant fishermen operate a similar migrant labour ideology based on remittance theories as other...
A review of diversity management in Nigeria: Organizational and national perspective
May 2016
This study analyses Nigeria from a socio-cultural, economic and political construct, and evaluates the concept of diversity from an organisational and national perspective to help enhance the practice of diversity management in Nigeria perspective. It focuses on multinational corporations (MNCs) and hinges on a framework developed to illustrate, as well as prompt further discussions on social related structures in...
Entrepreneurship and its link to corruption: Assessment with the most recent world and country-group data
February 2016
Entrepreneurship is an important intangible asset of nations. The relatively recent progress in its measurement, mainly with the Global Entrepreneurship Development Index (GEDI), suggests that previous questions related to its determinants and mainly its relationship to corruption, namely the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) needs to be re-addressed. The objective of the present paper is to assess the links between...
Financial literacy for developing countries in Africa: A review of concept, significance and research opportunities
January 2016
The objective of this review article is to show the concepts and significance of financial literacy and how it can contribute to improving socio economic wellbeing, financial sector development, poverty reduction and sustainable growth in developing countries in Africa. The review covered recent literatures on financial literacy; both theoretical and empirical. The review showed that level of financial literacy is low...
Fixed and mobile telephones in West African Economic Monetary Union countries: complementary or substitute services?
November 2015
The observation of the joint evolution of fixed and mobile phones penetration in West African Economic Monetary Union countries suggests that the demand of the two services does not develop at the same rate with increasing difference in favor of the mobile phone. This article is dedicated to relationship between fixed and mobile phone services. It tests empirically the existence of relations of complementarity and...
Reflections on the natural-resource development paradox in the Bakassi Area (Ndian Division) of Cameroon
September 2015
The Bakassi Area (Ndian Division) exhibits all aspects of the natural resource controversy. Blessed with a horde of natural resources which are supposed to serve as an engine of development, it would seem from an outside observation that this division is one of the most developed in Cameroon. Ironically, the presence of these natural resources has not, in any way been reflected in the much needed socio-economic take off...
Economic Studies in Togo show that Private investment has a ripple effect on both foreign direct investment and public investment
September 2015
In view of a macroeconomic context characterized by the revival of economic growth and the vision of having a better Togo in 2030, we have witnessed in recent years a major campaign to promote both domestic and foreign direct investment. Given the theoretical ambiguity of the relationship between these different types of investments, we offer in this paper an empirical validation of the interactions within the triptych...
The impact of cross carpeting and multiplicity of political parties in Nigerian democratic process
August 2015
The return to democracy in 1999 has ushered unprecedented hope on democratic process in Nigeria and, thus, heralded another opportunity for the country to launch a new strategy towards democracy, after many years of lost opportunities under a prolonged period of authoritarian rule. Indeed, the emergence of multiparty system in Nigerian Fourth Republic can be seen as a major breakthrough in the democratic process. The...
Technology production: A challenge for economic growth and development in Africa
August 2015
Africa has recently become the world second fastest growing region, but still, poverty has not improved accordingly. The paper makes the case that in order to further boost economic growth and promote development, African economies need to go beyond imitation and technology transfer and start producing technology. Some of the arguments are: innovation generates stronger growth gains than imitation and copying; stronger...
Audiovisual translation as a tool for teaching English Language to French-speaking students in Cameroon
August 2015
The process by which people acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language as well as to produce and use words and sentences to communicate is known as language learning. The present study aimed at assessing whether intralingual subtitling can be used to effectively improve on the learning of English language by French speaking Cameroonian students in the country. It involved exposing French speaking students...
Sino-Africa economic and Chinese foreign direct investment in Africa on bilateral trade relations
July 2015
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of Sino-Africa economic and Chinese FDI on Africa trade relations. China’s phenomenal economic growth rate has made the country rise to world leadership status, causing many analysts to ponder over its regional and international intentions and goals. Its investment is paying off now mainly in oil and other raw materials imports and manufactured goods. We used...
Reflections on Islamic marriage as panacea to the problems of HIV and AIDS
July 2015
Heterosexual intercourse is epidemiologically the leading factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS. Although the heterogeneous Muslims condemn condom use as leading to zina, the Muslim majority regions of North Africa and the Middle East have the lowest HIV prevalence in the world. Through the desk-top approach the paper evaluated Islamic marriage as a possible panacea to the problems of HIV/AIDS. The correlation between...
Analysis of the Algerian experience of agricultural and rural development
July 2015
This paper tries to reconstitute, according to a historic approach, the diverse phases by which the Algerian experience of agricultural and rural development passed to highlight the maladjustment of these policies because they all ignored the farmer as target of this policy. When these policies marginalize the countrymen in the institution of authoritarian regime, which is imperative model of development, the latter...
African growth, non-linearities and strong dependence: An empirical study
June 2015
The aim of this paper is to examine the behaviour of GDP growth in various African countries allowing for possible non-linearities that are particularly relevant in their case since they have been affected by various conflicts. Specifically, first we carry out standard unit root tests and then follow an approach that combines fractional integration and non-linearities (modelled using Chebyshev polynomials) in a single...
The (Un)identical twins: Public administration and public management toward improving education and training for effective governance in Ghana
June 2015
There are some disagreements between academics and practitioners on how to improve the performance of government officials in Ghana. While academics advocate for reforms in governance through education and training, practitioners may have differing interests and expectations. Such impasse has contributed to the lack of a unified framework of concepts in nation building. Core concepts for training public managers for...
Science and technology capacity in Africa: A new index
June 2015
In 2001, the RAND Corporation´s Science and Technology Policy Institute created an Index of Science and Technology Capacity for the World Bank, which ranked 150 countries on their potential to innovate and collaborate with more scientifically advanced nations. At that time, the African nation that ranked highest on the list was Mauritius, at number 59, and of the bottom 20 countries, 14 were African. In the...
Pedagogic possibilities of ICTs and technology affordances in an increasingly networked environment in support of sustainable development
May 2015
The research project seeks new opportunities/ directions of learning and teaching in an increasingly networked world, and how they can benefit people in developing countries in support of sustainable development. The research agenda is aimed at studying how interconnected information and communication technologies (ICTs) can expand the reach of educational opportunities and improve learning outcomes as technology...
Communicating co-operation or individualism? The paradox of the Shona Proverb
May 2015
This research is an examination of whether there are contradictions in the cultural worldview of the Shona people as the proverbs they use seem to promote co-operation but at the same time they are those that apparently encourage individualism. It stems from the realisation that the Shona, just like other African cultural groups, adopt a communal approach to life shunning individualism. Since proverbs are an integral...
Rethinking the water dimension of large scale land acquisitions in sub-Saharan Africa
April 2015
There is a new phenomenon in developing countries where land previously used by communities is being taken over by foreign investors (mostly from Europe, America, China, Gulf States, and other non-western countries) and governments for agriculture, mining and other economic projects. Findings from several studies have so far pointed to the controversial impact of large scale land acquisitions (LSLAs) on affected...
The contribution of savings and credit cooperative societies to income poverty reduction: A case study of Mbozi District, Tanzania
April 2015
This paper explores the contribution of Savings and credit cooperative societies (SACCOS) in reduction of rural households’ income poverty. Specifically, the paper looks at; activities undertaken by SACCOS that can lead to reduction of income poverty; comparing income levels between SACCO’s members and non-members; determining the impact of SACCOS to household’s income poverty reduction, and ...
Real wages and labour productivity in Tanzania: How do they link?
March 2015
Using data from national level surveys, the present paper undertakes an empirical analysis of the linkage between labour productivity and real wages in Tanzania. After making tabular presentations of growth in labour productivity and real wages by industry and sector (public and private), regression analysis is undertaken to examine the factors that influence incomes. Granger causality test is applied to examine the...
The persistence of western negative perceptions about Africa: Factoring in the role of Africans
March 2015
Africa has continued to be looked down upon by the Western powers. Negative perceptions and representations such as civil wars, hunger, corruption, greed, selfishness, diseases, poverty, and the like have been the defining characters of Africa and the Africans in the minds of many Western people. While the mainstream media has been blamed for much of Africa’s negative perceptions, little has been done to establish...
Reasons for low birth registration in Sudan
March 2015
The birth registration environment in Sudan is mature but confused. This study was undertaken on the birth registration practices in Sudan with a view to ascertaining the causes and effects of low birth registration. The registration of births is not improved with time, there is no progressive procedure in the registration application and the registration system effect according to sex ratio, number of women in the...
The relativity of heterosexual norms and gender power on young people’s sexuality in Africa
February 2015
Within sociological discourse, young people’s sexual practices have become an area of particular interest as sociologists attempt to contextualise sexuality as multifaceted social experiences rather than as psychological or psychoanalytic processes. This study introduces a conceptual framework for investigating young people’s sexuality and sexual practices in African context. It was achieved through a...
Education criminality, graduates employability and the Maicibi’s formula: Friends or foes?
February 2015
A goat, a hyena and grass are dangerous bedfellows and thus cannot be friends. This analogy is similar to when one asks whether criminality in the education sector can enable or disable graduates to earn the necessary skills needed by employers; and further if Maicibi’s formula can be a moderating variable in this relationship. Studies in Europe (most likely with similar results in Africa) have indicated that...
Access of urban farmers to land, water and inputs for urban agriculture in Dodoma municipality, Tanzania
January 2015
This paper examines the access of urban farmers to land, water and inputs for urban agriculture (UA) towards household food security, employment creation and income generation in Dodoma municipality. A cross-sectional survey was employed involving 300 urban farmers from both squatter and non-squatter settlements. Structured questionnaires, focus group discussions, key informants, observations and documentary review were...
Resolving Nigeria’s dependency on oil – The derivation model
January 2015
Since the discovery of oil in commercial quantity in Nigeria in 1956 and the oil boom of 1970s, oil has dominated the economy of the country. Oil accounts for more than 90 percent of the country’s exports, 25 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and 80 percent of government total revenues. As a result, the economy of the country has been substantially unstable, a consequence of the heavy dependence...
Income distribution in rural Egypt—A three-village case
January 2015
Using household survey data, this paper examines the case of three villages in rural Egypt to shed light on the determinants of income distribution. We first employ decomposition techniques to identify the contribution of farm and non-farm income to overall household inequality. We then use regression analysis to identify the role of different factors in determining the level of farm and non-farm income. Based on the...
A progressive analysis on role of women in the socio-economic development in Sierra Leone
December 2014
This study highlights the gender gap in contemporary Sierra Leone society, and discusses the constraints and underlying attitudes which determine women’s disadvantaged position. As new resources, opportunities and structures are introduced in the course of development in Sierra Leone, gender differentials are becoming apparent. Women form a minority in the new wage labor sector, but majority of the petty traders....
An appraisal of the procedures for direct grant and conversion of statutory right of occupancy in Kaduna, Nigeria
December 2014
Land has remained an indispensable companion to man providing a base for his activities; thus, a basic necessity in life in which all activities has a link with. In most parts of Nigeria, Kaduna inclusive, land acquisition is a sensitive issue and is beset with a lot of problems. Thus, the introduction of the Land Use Decree 1978 which was an attempt by the Federal Government of Nigeria to solve these problems. But till...
Challenges confronting African students in Malaysia: A case of postgraduate Nigerian students at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) Kuala Lampur
November 2014
Students leaving their home countries to study abroad is a global phenomenon. African students are not exception to this global practice. Many African students do migrate to Western countries to seek for higher education, a tradition that originated during the colonial rule in most parts of Africa. The colonial government did not promote development of higher education in many parts of the continent. Africa with its...
Poverty and livelihood of coastal communities in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar
November 2014
This article discusses levels and forms of poverty among coastal communities in Tanzania. The objective of study from which this article is grounded was to explore and describe the impacts of global market on the livelihood of coastal communities along the Indian Ocean. A combination of sociological and economic paradigms of poverty analysis was adopted. The poverty analysis focused on three poverty indices namely, head...
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