Work opportunities and frictions for rural child migrants in West African cities

This chapter looks at the participation of rural children and youth in the urban labour market and, specifically, focuses on the first years of their migration. In Burkina Faso, the proportion of the working population employed informally was 74.3 per cent in 2001 but few studies have focused specifically on employment practices. This chapter examines the broad range of activities in which rural child and youth migrants engage, and the reasons behind their tactical choices as urban workers. The chapter addresses both diversities and similarities in children’s and youth’s experiences, and the transformation individuals undergo as they gain more knowledge about urban ways and the labour market. It is an empirical piece of work that demonstrates what constitutes young migrants’ negotiation of the urban informal economy in Burkina Faso

Rockefeller Foundation 2010 Annual Report

Contains president's letter; 2010 program highlights, including support for Africa's green revolution, sustainable and equitable transportation policy, and healthy communities; grants list; financial report; and lists of trustees and staff

Elites and institutions : literature review

Exploring elites and their relations to institutions can assist understanding the day-to-day realities of politics in Africa (Chabal and Daloz 1999, Amundsen 2001, Lindberg 2003). This review is a scoping exercise in what has been written on the subject in recent years. The main task of the review is to summarise current understandings of how elites work with and through political institutions in Africa. There is a huge literature in this subject area. We have tried to pick out a) that which is most pertinent and non-repetitive, and b) that which raises as many questions as it provides answers. On the whole we have focused on literature published in the last five to ten years and we have inclined towards the literature on Anglophone Africa. The review is presented as follows: Section 1 is an introduction to Africa’s recent political landscape and it introduces some of the major issues that appear in the literature. Section 2 provides some working definitions of elites, institutions and democratisation as three of the recurring themes in the review. Section 3 reviews literature broadly on democratisation in Africa and specifically on elections and elites. Section 4 examines how political parties have evolved over the last 15 years. Section 5 reviews the three branches of government and Section 6 briefly examines decentralisation and its relation to elites and politics. The remaining sections of the review move outside the more formal political structures to examine the media (Section 7), civil society (Section 8), women’s movements (Section 9), Trades unions (Section 10) and business associations (Section 11). The final Section 12 pulls out a number of gaps in the research that we have identified in the course of the review. Section 13 contains a complete bibliography of citations used in the review. It is crucial to remember that Africa’s experiences of democratisation are no more than 15 years old, and many scholars have cautioned that it is still very early to draw any definite conclusions (Amundsen 2001; Randall and Svasand 2002). Inhaltsverzeichnis: 1. Africa’s political landscape 3 * Diversity of ‘Africa’ 4 * Elections do not mean democracy 4 * Presidentialism 4 * Ethnicity 5 * Personal rule and patronage 5 2. Definitions 6 * Elites 6 * Political institutions 7 * Democratisation 8 3. Democratisation and elites 8 * Elections 9 * Elites and elections 13 4. Political parties 16 5. Branches of government 17 * The executive 17 * The legislature 18 * The Judiciary 20 6. Decentralisation 20 7. Media 21 * Radio 25 * Television 25 * Newspapers 25 * Internet 26 8. Civil society 26 9. Women’s movements 29 10. Trade unions 32 11. Business associations 34 12. Gaps in the research 36 13. Bibliography 3

‘Landguardism’ in Ghana: Examining public perceptions about the driving factors

Landguardism has become a bane in Ghana's urban land markets. Previous studies have qualitatively explored the drivers of this phenomenon from the perspectives of both state agencies and landguards themselves. Despite the insights uncovered, understanding of public perceptions about the factors driving landguardism in Ghana is still lacking. This paper fills this critical gap by drawing on data from 172 residents living in both the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area and the Greater Kumasi Area to ascertain their perceptions about the main factors driving landguardism in Ghana. The results from our exploratory factor analysis show that (1) challenges with state-led land rights formalisation, (2) customary land maladministration, (3) government policy failures in housing and land markets, (4) reliable and cost-effective landguard services, and (5) challenges with seeking legal redress, are the five main drivers of landguardism in Ghana. The study concludes that mitigating landguardism must consider multiple factors within which the concept sits. The political and policy implications of the results are elaborated

Rockefeller Foundation - 1999 Annual Report

Contains statement of mission and vision, president's message, program information, grants list, financial statements, and list of board members and staff