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31. Impacts of Access to ICTs on Employment Status in Botswana

Author:
Masedi K. Tshukudu
Publication Date:
03-2019
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis
Abstract:
It is clear that technology has brought about significant changes in the livelihoods of people, creating new forms of employment and advancing the traditional forms of employment for individuals. Many countries continue to invest in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) with the view to tackling some of the economic challenges such as unemployment. Botswana like other African countries has made annual budgetary allocations towards ICT Infrastructure. Despite, the Government’s efforts to invest and improve access to ICT, the country still faces a high unemployment rate, particularly for the youth. This study therefore, investigates the impact that access to ICTs has on the employment of individuals in Botswana. In order to provide a detailed analysis of the impact of ICTs on employment we apply a probit model for binary choice responses to being employed or not being employed, using the data from the 2014 Botswana Household Access and Individual use of Information Communication Technology Survey carried out by the Statistics Botswana. The empirical results provide evidence that access to ICTs collectively has a positive impact on employment in Botswana. However, disaggregating the ICTs forms presents slightly different results, e-skill training and access to the internet in Botswana are not significant in explaining an individual’s employment status, this may be associated with low uptake of internet and ICTs skills by individuals in Botswana. The policy message from this study is that there is a need for aggressive implementation of collective ICT. [In addition, there is need to improve collective ICTs infrastructure to create more employment].
Topic:
Development, Economics, Science and Technology, Communications, Information Age, and Economic Development
Political Geography:
Africa and Botswana

32. South Africa’s Changing Role in Global Development Structures – Being in Them but Not Always of Them

Author:
Elizabeth Sidiropoulos
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
South Africa’s engagement in global development structures has evolved since 1994, when the country re-entered the international community. The historical philosophical underpinnings of the African National Congress, the governing party, aimed to reaffirm the country’s place in the Global South and African firmament after the end of apartheid. This understanding is necessary in the context of South Africa’s priorities over the past 25 years, not least in the development debates. The last two decades have seen significant attempts to develop global norms that tackle the serious developmental challenges faced by developing countries. The paper explores these initiatives and divides them into three streams – those undertaken by the United Nations, those begun by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD-DAC), and those that may be understood as part of club governance processes (such as the G20, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), and the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA). South Africa’s engagement in these global development structures is analysed, along with its contribution to the evolution of African agency on the issues of global development. South Africa has strongly criticised existing power relations while undertaking strategic engagements with the North, centred on the vision of an African renaissance and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development initiative. The country has consistently argued that Northern aid cannot be put on the same platform as South-South Cooperation as they have different origins. Other African states and continental institutions have also ramped up their engagement on global development and development cooperation in recent years, which the paper also explores. While South Africa has always identified Africa as a core pillar of its foreign policy, its interests have not always cohered with those of the rest of the continent. Lastly, the paper explores possible avenues that South Africa might pursue in the current polarised multilateral environment. Its biggest challenge is the tension regarding its Global South identity, which has to balance its commitment to African issues and institutional processes, and its positioning via its membership of the BRICS as an emerging power that seeks to contest the current global power configurations.
Topic:
Development, United Nations, Multilateralism, and Economic Development
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

33. From Manifesto Promise to Policy Implementation: Analysis of Government’s Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Program

Author:
Gilfred Asiamah, Awal Swallah, Kojo Asante, and Samuel Baaye
Publication Date:
07-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Ghana Center for Democratic Development
Abstract:
The Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) with funding support from the Department for International Development (DFID) under its Strengthening Action Against Corruption (STAAC) program has initiated a project to track the implementation of the government's flagship Infrastructure for Poverty Eradication Program (IPEP).
Topic:
Corruption, Government, Poverty, Infrastructure, and Economic Development
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

34. Reforming EU Trade Policy to Accelerate Economic Transformation in Africa

Author:
Hannah Timmis and Ian Mitchell
Publication Date:
10-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Center for Global Development (CGD)
Abstract:
As the rest of the developing world has reaped the benefits of rapid globalisation, Africa has remained marginalised in international trade. The new European Commission has an opportunity to accelerate export-led growth on the continent by introducing a bolder, more coherent policy on trade, agriculture, and aid.
Topic:
Development, Diplomacy, International Cooperation, European Union, Economic Development, and Economic Transformation
Political Geography:
Africa and Europe

35. Gender Roles and the Care Economy in Ugandan Households: The case of Kaabong, Kabale and Kampala districts

Author:
Oxfam Publishing
Publication Date:
08-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
This report examines the distribution of unpaid care and domestic work in households in the Ugandan districts of Kaabong, Kabale and Kampala. It seeks to understand the connection between social norms and the gendered division of work, including how much time women, men, boys and girls spend on paid work and unpaid care work in a day, as well as how this time use varies between urban and rural areas and between the districts in the study. The authors look closely at childcare, who undertakes it and why. They also analyse what kinds of services are available in each district that might ease the care workload for women and girls. The report makes recommendations for the Ugandan government and relative authorities on how they can recognize, reduce and redistribute care work through policy changes, labour-saving devices and technology, better infrastructure and the provision of care services.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Economic Development, Domestic Policy, and Social Roles
Political Geography:
Uganda and Africa

36. BALANCING AGAINST CHINA WITH THE ASIA-AFRICA GROWTH CORRIDOR: AN INDIAN-JAPANESE INITIATIVE TOWARDS THE INDO-PACIFIC

Author:
Carlos Eduardo Carvalho and João Paulo Nicolini Gabriel
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Conjuntura Austral: Journal of the Global South
Institution:
Conjuntura Austral: Journal of the Global South
Abstract:
The launch of a vision document for Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) at the African Development Bank meeting in Gujarat in 2017 reveals an important aspect to grasp the awkening of a strategy to face China’s rise. This conference of the African Development Bank (AfDB) is a landmark for this initiative. This bank is a mechanism for economic and social development with the participation of non-African members (e.g. China, India, Brazil, the United States, and Japan). The main contributors to the African Development Fund -linked to this bank -are the United Kingdom, the USA and Japan. Beijing does not figure among the most influent members of this organization. Thus, it was an opportunity for think tanks, supported by India and Japan, to introduce the idea of a corridor aimed to link Asia to Africa in order to increase co-operation in agriculture, social development and technology sharing.
Topic:
Development, International Political Economy, International Trade and Finance, Economic Growth, Banks, Trade, Economic Development, Trade Policy, and Economic Cooperation
Political Geography:
Africa, Japan, China, and Asia

37. Competitiveness-of ACP Sugar Exports in Global Markets

Author:
Tebogo Seleka and Thula Dlamini
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis
Abstract:
We employ the Normalized Revealed Comparative Advantage (NRCA) index on data for the period 1961-2013 to examine the competitiveness of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries in the global sugar market. Results indicate that the majority of the ACP states had comparative advantage in the global sugar market during the period 1961-2013. However, most of these countries also experienced declining comparative advantage, except for a few African countries that emerged from initial states of extreme comparative disadvantage to marginal comparative (dis)advantage. This occurred despite the fact that these countries enjoyed tariff free access to the highly protected EU market. Mauritius, followed by Fiji, Guyana and Jamaica, recorded the strongest comparative advantage among the ACP countries. However, it recorded weaker comparative advantage than the leading comparator non-ACP countries of Australia, Brazil and Thailand, which experienced considerable increases in comparative advantage over the considered period. Overall, there has been convergence in comparative advantage among ACP states since the signing of the Lomé convention in 1975.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Exports, Macroeconomics, and Economic Development
Political Geography:
Africa and Botswana

38. The Palestinian Diaspora and the State-Building Process

Author:
Taher labadi
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Arab Reform Initiative (ARI)
Abstract:
Displacement, dispersal, denial of nationhood, and global power shifts define the existence of the Palestinian diaspora, hindering their ability to connect to each other and to their homeland. This paper outlines diaspora-homeland relationships that, it argues, are shaped by both settler-colonial policies and globalization. “Diasporization” also impacts power dynamics among Palestinians, reflected in the shifting centre of gravity of Palestinian politics toward the Occupied Palestinian Territories and the growing marginalization of the Palestinian diaspora – especially those residing in neighbouring Arab countries. This paper also addresses the emergence of Palestinian diaspora elites who have been involved in inward-bound dynamics within the state-building process. Of particular note are increasing attempts to mobilize Palestinian “expatriates,” intending to strengthen their involvement in both economic development and state-building processes.
Topic:
Globalization, Diaspora, Colonialism, State Building, and Economic Development
Political Geography:
Africa, Middle East, Israel, and Palestine

39. Fifth Africa Think Tank Summit -- Tackling Africa’s Youth Unemployment Challenge: Innovative Solutions from Think Tanks

Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
The Fifth Africa Think Tank Summit was held on 5 - 7 April 2018 at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra, Ghana, under the theme “Tackling Africa’s Youth Unemployment Challenge: Innovative Solutions from Think Tanks”. The Summit’s theme was based on the fact that jobs and opportunity for the youth are top priorities in the world today and while needing jobs, young people are also critical in creating them. It is with that understanding that the African Union Commission declared the years 2009–2018 as the “Decade for Youth Development”. A review, as the decade winds to an end, shows that while some African countries are experiencing high economic growth rates, these have not translated into jobs. The unemployment rate on the continent was approximately 8.0 percent in 2016- 2017, which, translated into absolute terms, corresponds to an increase in total unemployment of 1.2 million from 2016 to 2017. The reality, against which the Summit’s theme was designed, was that across Africa, youth are three times more likely to be unemployed than adults! The Summit’s concept paper, quoting a report from the African Development Bank, notes that “half of all youth (in Africa) are either unemployed or inactive while 35 percent are in vulnerable jobs. While gender inequality remains a challenge, a big concern and paradox is that youth unemployment rate is increasing with the level of education, suggesting that Africa’s education systems are not preparing people enough for the labour market”. Thus, despite the numerous policies and strategies that have been implemented across African countries to address youth unemployment, these have not led to any major breakthrough in job creation especially among the youth. Given these realities and building on the successes of the first, second, third and fourth Africa Think Tank, the fifth was being organized to harvest evidence and proffer actions to tackle youth unemployment on the continent. The 2018 Summit was organized in partnership with the Government of Ghana and the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), a leading think tank in Ghana. Other collaborating partners were the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Union Commission (AUC), the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (CA), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Think Tank Initiative, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Regional Network of Agricultural Policy Research Institutes (ReNAPRI) and the Alliance for African Partnership (AAP).
Topic:
Development, Labor Issues, Employment, Youth, Labor Policies, Capacity, Unemployment, and Economic Development
Political Geography:
Africa, Ghana, and Global

40. Lessons Notes on Capacity Development in Africa

Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
Abstract:
ACBF with close to three decades of capacity building on the continent, it is high time to reflect on and share in a single document the lessons learnt in these efforts. This volume, therefore, tackles important questions including: what works, what doesn’t work in capacity development interventions and why? What are the implementation bottlenecks facing countries? What critical factors need to be reconsidered and what initiatives should be undertaken to effectively and sustainably support the capacity development efforts on the continent? What results have these capacity building efforts produced for African citizens? Are there adaptable generic capacity building tools that have emerged from over a quarter century of ACBF engagement with African institutions and societies?
Topic:
Development, Global Political Economy, Capacity, and Economic Development
Political Geography:
Africa and Global Focus