Poverty alleviation

African Agriculture and The World Bank : Development or Impoverishment?

Upphovspersoner:	Havnevik, Kjell | Bryceson, Deborah | Birgegård, Lars-Erik | Matondi, Prosper | Beyene, Atakilte
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	Agriculture, Rural development, Sustainable agriculture, Farming, Smallholders, Land tenure, Commodity markets, Poverty alleviation, Structural adjustment, Development strategy, Africa, Business and economics, Ekonomi

African smallholder family farming, the backbone of the continental economy throughout the colonial and early post-colonial period, has been destabilized and eroded over the past thirty years. Despite the World Bank’s poverty alleviation concerns, agrarian livelihoods continue to unravel under the impact of economic liberalization and global value chains. Can African smallholders bounce back and compete? The World Development Report 2008 argues they can and must. How realistic is this given the history of World Bank conditionality in Africa? This essay explores the productivity and welfare concerns of Africa’s smallholder farming population in the shadow of the World Bank.

Understanding poverty in Africa? : A navigation through disputed concepts, data and terrains

Upphovsperson:	Hårsmar, Mats
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration | Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2010
Ämnesord:	Economic conditions, poverty, Agricultural development, Poverty alleviation, Development research, Development theory, case studies, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Africa South of Sahara, Business and economics, Ekonomi

In any international comparison, sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the most pervasive poverty. The study of African societies requires the study of numerous dynamics, processes and situations with links to poverty issues. Recent methodological innovations hold that research into poverty should be multidimensional, dynamic and cross-disciplinary. But how can such research be undertaken? This volume comprises two separate articles. The first provides an overview of major conceptual positions on poverty. With the focus on theoretical and methodological issues, it argues that the epistemological and normative elements have not been sufficiently emphasised in the attempts to bring different disciplinary approaches together. Such elements constitute fundamental dividing lines in the poverty debate. However, the article goes on to argue that the capability approach has promising potential for bridging these divides.The second article is an empirical study of recent poverty developments in Tanzania and Burkina Faso. Common to both countries – one in East and the other in West Africa – is that a largely subsistence agricultural sector dominates their economies. The article combines quantitative and qualitative methods to show that regional differences in the structures of agricultural production may in large part explain variations in poverty.

Why is agriculture so important to reducing poverty?

Upphovsperson:	Hårsmar, Mats
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2010
Ämnesord:	Agricultural sector, Agricultural economy, Poverty alleviation, Economic growth, Development theory, Africa South of Sahara, Asia, Business and economics, Ekonomi

Over the last few years, there has been both talk about and action regarding the long-term neglect of agriculture in development. An agricultural revival has occurred, with African governments committing themselves to spending at least 10 per cent of their budgets on agriculture. Donors such as the World Bank and many bilateral organizations are refocusing on the sector. This is partly due to the prevalence of rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa as well as in South Asia. Despite this, the debate on the appropriate role of agriculture in economic growth lingers on among academics and policymakers. In particular, agriculture’s contribution to broader economic growth is questioned. Should growth be driven by agriculture or by something else? Recent empirical studies and earlier theoretical work demonstrate that growth in the agricultural sector has contributed more to poverty reduction than growth in non-agricultural sectors. This paper discusses this issue and highlights some of the preconditions for the achievement of this outcome.

Situating the EPA negotiations : Issues and unresolved debates in Africa-EU trade relations

Upphovsperson:	Goodison, Paul
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2009
Ämnesord:	international trade, International negotiations, Economic agreements, Trade agreements, Common markets, Structural adjustment, Sustainable development, Poverty alleviation, Africa, European Union, Business and economics, Ekonomi

For a long time it has been necessary to move beyond sterile debates for or against Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs). The real issue is: what kind of EPAs will support African governments in their efforts to promote the structural transformation of their economies, so that they can move beyond the production of simple and unprocessed products to the production of a range of higher value products, for national, regional and international markets, and in the process help them tackle poverty and employment issues. This paper seeks to situate the ongoing EPA negotiations and debate around contentious issues in the context of the wider European Union (EU) trade policy and African aspirations for sustainable development and poverty reduction.

Begging and almsgiving in Ghana : Muslim positions towards poverty and distress

Upphovsperson:	Weiss, Holger
Utgivare:	Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År:	2007
Ämnesord:	Muslims, Islam, Economic conditions, Marginality, Poverty alleviation, Social welfare, Social security, Political islam, Ghana, SOCIAL SCIENCES, SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP

The vast majority of Muslims in Africa generally do not 'objectify' concepts such as poverty and religion in discussion. Poverty is a situation for 'ordinary' poor people in rural or urban poor areas where people seek to make marginal gains in income to avoid ever-threatening destitution and social disintegration. Most of these 'ordinary' poor people, especially poor and illiterate women, do not really believe that things can change. There exists, however, in all Muslim societies and communities in Africa a minority that criticize social and political conditions in society with the stated aim of striving for an Islamic solution to poverty and injustice. The common denominator for this group is that they are urban educated Muslims, having both a traditional educational background and, usually but not always, a modern, secular one, too. For them, the concept of poverty more readily forms part of a religious discourse involving feasible strategies for change. Their basic idea is to highlight the possibilities of generating new forms of financial resources by combining Islamic ethics and norms with a modern development-oriented outlook. Their vision is the usability of obligatory almsgiving in a modern context, namely that, instead of the traditional individual-centred 'person-to-person' charities, zakāt or obligatory almsgiving should be directed to become the source of communal and collective societal improvement. This study focuses on the conditions of poverty and the debate among Muslims in Ghana, a West African country with a substantial but largely economically and politically marginalized Muslim population.

Mining in Africa: regulation and development

Medarbetare:	Campbell, Bonnie
Utgivare:	London : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet & Pluto Press
År:	2009
Ämnesord:	Mining, Mineral resources, Economic and social development, Poverty alleviation, Macroeconomics, Regulations, Environmental protection, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Madagascar, Congo DR, Business and economics, Ekonomi

The continent of Africa is rich in minerals needed by Western economies. Yet the mining industry contributes very little to African development. Investigating the impact of the 2003 Extractive Industries Review on a number of African countries, the contributors find that a key dimension of the problem lies in the regulatory frameworks imposed on African countries by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. They aim to convince academics, governments, and industry that regulation needs to be reformed to create a mining industry favourable to social and economic development and environmental protection. The book takes a multidisciplinary approach and provides an historical perspective of each country, making it ideal for students of development studies. CONTENT Acknowledgements Introduction - Bonnie Campbell Chapter 1. Mining in Ghana: Implications for National Economic Development and Poverty Reduction – Thomas Akabzaa Chapter 2. Guinea and Bauxite-Aluminum: The Challenges of Development and Poverty Reduction – Bonnie Campbell Chapter 3. Mining, Poverty Reduction, the Protection of the Environment and the Role of the World Bank Group in Mali – Gisèle Belem Chapter 4. Mining and Protection of the Environment in Madagascar – Bruno Sarrasin Chapter 5. Governance, Human Rights and Mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – Marie Mazalto Chapter 6. Conclusion: What Development Model? What Government Agenda? – Bonnie Campbell Index