‘The world in your hands’: smartphones and women’s connectivity in Sudan

Griet Steel explores women’s digital connections in Sudan, where women’s physical mobility is very much restricted as a result of traditional gender norms. Griet explores the significance of smartphones in family relationships across physical distance and discusses the associated limitations and possibilities for empowerment. Griet is a cultural anthropologist and postdoctoral fellow at KU Leuven the who works on new technologies in urban Africa

Estrategias de vida y rutas de desarrollo de jóvenes rurales en Nicaragua: los casos en Muy Muy y Matiguás

Existe una preocupación creciente en la industria del desarrollo sobre la situación de hombres y mujeres jóvenes creciendo en contextos de pobreza. Sin embargo, aún hay una escasez de investigación que dé cuenta de lo que ocurre en la vida diaria de los jóvenes y la forma en que éstos experimentan y tratan de manejar las situaciones de pobreza. Los estudios de juventud generalmente consideran a las personas jóvenes como pasivos receptáculos de las decisiones y políticas definidas por los adultos, y tienden a ignorar la capacidad que tienen las personas jóvenes de generar riqueza. En el presente artículo enfatizamos la necesidad de hacer investigación más profunda sobre las estrategias de vida de los jóvenes y su transición hacia la adultez. Sobre la base de estudios de caso de jóvenes rurales nicaragüenses, analizamos cómo los jóvenes de Muy Muy y Matiguás negocian sus estrategias de vida con sus padres, con la perspectiva de acumular recursos necesarios para lograr independizarse. En el desenvolvimiento de sus estrategias de vida reconocemos a los jóvenes como agentes activos del desarrollo de sus hogares y localidades. En esta medida, promovemos que las instituciones de desarrollo razonen sobre las iniciativas de los jóvenes en sus intervenciones de desarrollo. En este sentido, el presente estudio tiene la perspectiva no sólo de enriquecer el debate académico alrededor de las estrategias de vida de  os jóvenes sino también de proveer insumos a las organizaciones que implementan estrategias de desarrollo con jóvenes en Nicaragua y la región

Exploring synergies between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and involuntary resettlement guidelines: The case of Mozambique’s natural gas project

This paper explores synergies between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, comprised of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as its roadmap, and existing involuntary resettlement guidelines. On one hand, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development views displacement as a humanitarian problem but fails to address the potential effects of SDG-induced processes of economic and physical displacement and involuntary resettlement. On the other, involuntary resettlement guidelines pay limited attention to the sustainable development of resettled people as well as to the society in which resettlement becomes embedded. This paper explores possibilities to establish synergies between the SDGs and involuntary resettlement by drawing on the case of Mozambique’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which was showcased in the Government of Mozambique’s 2020 Voluntary National Review (VNR) of SDG progress. The paper will critically analyse how Mozambique as a ‘donor darling’ remains silent about displacement and resettlement processes induced by an LNG project that is used to show its commitment to multiple SDGs. The paper shows that there is a misalignment between how SDGs are used to evaluate a development project and how involuntary resettlement guidelines are applied to the same project. The paper argues that, to truly ‘leave no one behind’, the SDGs and involuntary resettlement guidelines need to be realigned by integrating SDG-induced displacement and resettlement into SDG10 on migration and inequality, into SDG16 on conflicts, and SDG17 on global partnerships

Understanding the cumulative socioenvironmental impacts of energy transition-induced extractivism in Mozambique: The role of mixed methods

The global energy transition is very resource intense, and scholarship is rapidly increasing to show its impacts in various resource extraction frontiers in the global South. These emerging studies are clarifying the social and environmental impacts of extracting particular energy transition resources (ETRs). However, there is still limited attention on the cumulative socioenvironmental impacts of extracting multiple ETRs from the same region. This paper proposes to mix geospatial and qualitative research methods to examine the cumulative socioenvironmental impacts of ETR extraction. We apply these mixed methods to study the impacts of an expanding frontier of graphite and natural gas extraction in Mozambique. The geospatial results show that patterns in socioenvironmental changes, including a surge in built-up and bare areas and water-covered surfaces, and a shrinkage of vegetated areas – some of which are ecologically sensitive, are starting to emerge in the project areas. In combination with qualitative methods, we identified additional impacts including an increase in solid waste and air and noise pollution, and an inception of extractivism-associated conflict in certain project areas. When single commodities are analyzed, using single methods, some of these impacts may be overlooked or underestimated. In order to fully understand the sustainability implications of the energy transition process, it is instrumental to combine geospatial and qualitative research methods to monitor the cumulative socioenvironmental impacts at its upstream end

Inclusive agri-business models, gender, and Kenyans' experiences in successful entrepreneurship

Northern donors increasingly frame inclusive agri-businesses (IABs) as key drivers of transformative change in agricultural sectors in Africa. Building on the concept of inclusive growth, economic and development objectives are assumed to be complementary by Northern donors as IABs are supposed to profit from including previously excluded low-income and marginalized populations into their value chains. In development program implementation, these assumptions translate to specific selection criteria and support mechanisms for African agri-business entrepreneurs, and particular interpretations on what is considered success. By zooming in on the case of agri-business women and men in Kenya, this article demonstrates the discrepancies between Northern donor-funded programs’ definitions, support mechanisms and measurements of successful IABs on the one hand, and on the other, the realities and experiences of Kenyan agri-business entrepreneurs themselves. It shows that Kenyan agri-business entrepreneurs’ lived experiences, and how those experiences are shaped by gender, are only very partially acknowledged by Northern donors in their IAB approaches. In doing so, this article provides input for the design of alternative, more diverse approaches in development programs that aim to support agri-businesses in Africa

Urban Land Grabs: An Overview of the Issues

In current debates on land and resource grabbing, the question of urban land deserves, but has not attracted, sufficient attention. By the same token, debates on global urbanization and sustainable urban transitions only generally mention land in the side-lines. This chapter places attention on the emerging concept of ‘urban land grab’ and examines the relationship between intensifying urban land acquisitions and the experiences of urban dwellers based on the three major types of land investments observed in cities in the Global South: investments in rural and peri-urban land development and real estate; investments into infrastructure development for climate resilience and sustainability; and investments in building new cities. The chapter presents empirical cases from Khartoum in Sudan, Beira in Mozambique, and Konza New City in Kenya to highlight two key issues pertaining to urban land grabs: the complex alliances between investment actors and the various forms of economic and physical displacement. Solid attention is necessary to address these dynamics and advance the research and policy agendas on urban land grabs

Estrategias de vida y rutas de desarrollo de jóvenes rurales en Nicaragua: los casos en Muy Muy y en Matiguás

Existe una preocupación creciente en la industria del desarrollo sobre la situación de hombres y mujeres jóvenes creciendo en contextos de pobreza. Sin embargo, aún hay una escasez de investigación que dé cuenta de lo que ocurre en la vida diaria de los jóvenes y la forma en que éstos experimentan y tratan de manejar las situaciones de pobreza. Los estudios de juventud generalmente consideran a las personas jóvenes como pasivos receptáculos de las decisiones y políticas definidas por los adultos, y tienden a ignorar la capacidad que tienen las personas jóvenes de generar riqueza. En el presente artículo enfatizamos la necesidad de hacer investigación más profunda sobre las estrategias de vida de los jóvenes y su transición hacia la adultez. Sobre la base de estudios de caso de jóvenes rurales nicaragüenses, analizamos cómo los jóvenes de Muy Muy y Matiguás negocian sus estrategias de vida con sus padres, con la perspectiva de acumular recursos necesarios para lograr independizarse. En el desenvolvimiento de sus estrategias de vida reconocemos a los jóvenes como agentes activos del desarrollo de sus hogares y localidades. En esta medida, promovemos que las instituciones de desarrollo razonen sobre las iniciativas de los jóvenes en sus intervenciones de desarrollo. En este sentido, el presente estudio tiene la perspectiva no sólo de enriquecer el debate académico alrededor de las estrategias de vida de los jóvenes sino también de proveer insumos a las organizaciones que implementan estrategias de desarrollo con jóvenes en Nicaragua y la región

Going global – going digital. Diaspora networks and female online entrepreneurship in Khartoum, Sudan

The link between transnational migration and new information and communication technologies (ICTs) is of crucial importance for the way small-scale entrepreneurs in African cities capitalize on development. In Khartoum, well-educated women increasingly start businesses through digital mediation (communication mediated through digital devices such as networked computers and smartphones) by making use of social media platforms to develop digital communities and to sell typical female consumer goods, including cosmetics, garments, fashion accessories and perfumes. Although these bottom-up practices of e-commerce start as local in outlook and only partially materialize in the digital space, they have become important game changers in an environment where Sudanese entrepreneurs are often excluded from the world economy due to conventional gender norms and economic restrictions and sanctions. Through Sudanese business partners in the diaspora, some female entrepreneurs in Khartoum have built a network of transnational relationships that supplies them with international products for their online sales in Khartoum. Other female entrepreneurs benefit from the growing Sudanese diaspora to expand their area of operation and to sell their traditional perfumes, cosmetics and tiyab to an international public. It is argued that global digital connections offer a new dimension on how small-scale entrepreneurs in African cities could capitalize on transnational migration, which could provide new opportunities for improved well-being and bottom-up development. As such, the article makes an original contribution to debates about ICT for development, female entrepreneurship and changing practices of cross-border trade in the digital age