This paper seeks to review briefly the available evidence on the extent and types of child labour in the commercial agriculture sector in the Africa region. Information and data are included from ...case-studies carried out on the child labour situation in commercial agriculture in Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania and Zimbabwe. The purpose of these studies was to document contrasting conditions and hazards of child labour in commercial agriculture, to analyse the relevance and efficacy of measures already taken to improve working conditions among children and to reduce the use of child labour, and to identify additional feasible measures and activities.
Review for sub-Saharan Africa, examines the English-language literature and focuses on four important dimensions of exclusion: (i) exclusion from agricultural land; (ii) exclusion from agricultural ...livelihood; (iii) exclusion from formal and informal employment; (iv) exclusion from organization and representation.Paper is organized in six sections. The first section discusses concepts of exclusion. The main body of the review examines the four dimensions of exclusion listed above. In each of the sections, material is selected to exemplify different analytical positions, and the review is not intended to be exhaustive. In each section, attention is paid to processes of exclusion, and to ethnicity and gender as social identities which form the basis for exclusionary practices. The final section identifies considers the trajectory of exclusion in terms of changing interrelationships between the dimensions. The discussions on the four dimensions of exclusion include some comments on policies to combat social exclusion, but no attempt is made to provide an overview of policies. There are important, relevant and complex debates proceeding in relation to a number of key policy issues, including land reform (through the introduction of individual titles to land); democracy; gender; and dismantling apartheid. author
The socio-economic consequences of the HIV/AIDS epidemic are felt in a growing number of countries and increasing mortality rates among adults are threatening economic and social well-being.This ...study looks at the status, needs and skills of orphans, especially those orphaned by AIDS and shows that:when a husband dies of AIDS in a family, the mother is also often living with HIV/AIDS and dies shortly thereafter, leaving children as orphansmost parents, even if they are aware of their terminal illness, do not attempt to make any alternative living arrangements for their children before their deathAs a result, children are left in the household with limited or no resources. As the epidemic spreads, these child-headed households are becoming more and more frequent in rural areas. Children in such conditions are deprived of their childhood and the opportunity to go to school. Economic hardships lead them to look for means of subsistence that increase their vulnerability to HIV infection, substance abuse, child labor, sex work and delinquency.The study documented available family and community resources with the intention of facilitating future development of community-based interventions for children affected by HIV/AIDS in Kenya. author
Bibliography presents summaries of and comments on eight different texts, each providing important contributions to the subject of Muslims, education and social change in West Africa. The aim is to ...introduce the reader to a broad range of cultural, religious and political issues relevant to this field which is made up by three different types of educational institutions: The Koran school, the Western-type formal school and the modern Arabic school. The central themes discussed are the encounter between different forms of knowledge, the conflict between old and new types of Muslim 'knowers' and the strong local tradition of Muslim critique of Western education. The bibliography is divided into two parts: Part One: The School of the Koran and the School of the Government. Muslim Encounters with New Forms of Knowledge, and Part Two: New Muslim 'Knowers'. Islamism and Modernized Arabic Education. The bibliography is concluded by a discussion raising the problem of how broad scholarly generalisations about Islam and Muslims easily distort the complexities of real life in West-African societies and elsewhere. author
In urban areas of Cote d'Ivoire, human capital is the endowment that best explains welfare changes over time. In rural areas, physical capital especially the amount of land and farm equipment owned ...matters most.Empirical investigations of poverty in developing countries tend to focus on the incidence of poverty at a particular point in time. If the incidence of poverty increases, however, there is no information about how many new poor have joined the existing poor and how many people have escaped poverty.Yet this distinction is of crucial policy importance. The chronically poor may need programs to enhance their human and physical capital endowments. Invalids and the very old may need permanent (targeted) transfers. The temporarily poor, on the other hand, may best be helped with programs that complement their own resources and help them "bridge" a difficult period.Results from analyses of panel surveys show significant mobility into and out of poverty and reveal a dynamism of the poor that policy should stimulate. Understanding what separates chronic from temporary poverty requires knowing which characteristics differentiate those who escape poverty from those who don't.In earlier work, Grootaert, Kanbur, and Oh found that region of residence and socioeconomic status were important factors. In this paper they investigate the role of other household characteristics, especially such asset endowments as human and physical capital, in the case of Cote d'Ivoire.In urban areas of Cote d'Ivoire, human capital is the most important endowment explaining welfare changes over time. Households with well educated members suffered less loss of welfare than other households. What seems to have mattered, though, is the skills learned through education, not the diplomas obtained. Diplomas may even have worked against some households in having oriented workers too much toward a formal labor market in a time when employment growth came almost entirely from small enterprises.In rural areas, physical capital especially the amount of land and farm equipment owned mattered most. Smallholders were more likely to suffer welfare declines. Households with diversified sources of income managed better, especially if they had an important source of non farm income.In both rural and urban areas, larger households suffered greater declines in welfare and households that got larger were unable to increase income enough to maintain their former welfare level.Households whose heads worked in the public sector maintained welfare better than other households, a finding that confirms earlier observations. The results also suggest that government policies toward certain regions or types of household can outweigh the effects of household endowments.Surprisingly, migrant non Ivorian households tended to be better at preventing welfare losses than Ivorian households, while households headed by women did better than those headed by men (after controlling for differences in or changes in endowment).The implications for policy makers? First, education is associated with higher welfare levels and helps people cope better with economic decline. Second, targeting the social safety net to larger households possibly through the schools, to reach children is justified in periods of decline. Third, smallholders might be targeted in rural areas, and ways found to encourage diversification of income there.This paper, a joint product of the Social Policy and Resettlement Division, Environment Department, and the Africa Regional Office, Office of the Chief Economist, is the result of a research project on "The Dynamics of Poverty: Why Some People Escape Poverty and Others Don't, A Panel Analysis for Cootie d'Ivoire" (RPO 67870). The full report is available on the World Bank FTP server
The concept of a poverty function is introduced, modelling the shortfall of household consumption from the poverty line as a function of reduced form determinants such as human capital and land ...holdings. The model is estimated using a tobit and data from Uganda. Parameters from the model are found to be similar to those from consumption functions, indicating that the poor receive comparable rates of return on their assets to the non-poor. Education of both men and women appears to raise the welfare of the poor as well as the non-poor, in both urban and rural areas. author
This study’s emphasis on agriculture’s elevated role in Malawi’s medium-term adjustment strategy and its articulation of the sector’s key role as the engine of growth and employment aptly makes an ...important point. Dr. Ng’ong’ola’s survey of a holistic medium term strategy — to include poverty alleviation, agricultural recovery, private enterprise development, control of population growth, health, education, food security, women and gender issues and the environment — reinforces a renewed action plan aimed at putting an African country back on a path to economic recovery and real sustainable development.
