Kenya's focus on urban vulnerability and resilience in the midst of urban transitions in Nairobi

ABSTRACT

Addressing urban vulnerability requires an understanding of the underlying determinants of resilience for individuals, households, communities and institutions – to withstand shocks, to adapt and to change. Analysing urban resilience utilises the results of five rounds of the Indicator Development for Surveillance of Urban Emergencies surveys conducted in three informal settlements of Nairobi. Results show a significant deterioration in food security and household hunger in marginalised urban populations, with other deprivations including insecurity, negative coping behaviour and inadequate access to water and sanitation. Within slum populations, there was a significant variation in income and expenditure (p?<?0.05) with lowest income quintiles spending over 100% of their income on food. Significant gender disparities have been shown in lowest income quintiles, with female breadwinners earning 62% compared with male breadwinners (p?<?0.05). Recommendations from this analysis include establishing thresholds for vulnerability and concrete dimensions for measuring resilience that can initiate and guide related interventions.     

The value of Namibia's forest resources: Preliminary economic asset and flow accounts

A national forest inventory completed in 2004 enabled the development of preliminary forest resource accounts for Namibia. The total woody resources volume was estimated at 257 million m³. Forest products used for fuel, poles, timber and non-timber were included in the accounts, but charcoal production on private land was excluded. Forest use directly contributed some 3 per cent of the gross national product, N$1 billion (US$160 million), and the total direct and indirect economic impact of forest use in the broader economy was some N$1.8 billion (US$288 million). The standing forest assets had an estimated capital value of N$19 billion (US$304 million), comparable with the values for fish, minerals and wildlife. On a national level, stocks are underused. However, some localised over-harvesting occurs, which might be ameliorated through community forest management and trade in products, but capture of resource rent by government should be restricted to commercial forest use.     

Identifying employment-creating sectors in South Africa: the role of services industries

This paper explores scenarios for employment creation, with an emphasis on services. It considers whether the government's current policies for the formal services sector will achieve its 2014 target of halving unemployment. New employment has mainly been found in the formal and non-formal services, and future employment will probably come from such sectors as business services, trade, finance and tourism. As at 2004, about 480 000 new jobs were needed annually to halve unemployment from 26.2 per cent to 13 per cent by 2014. This would require at least twice the average annual job creation since 1994. Two scenarios are considered: the first under current conditions with similar rates of growth; the second with substantial improvements in policy, especially the promotion of trade in services. The first scenario leaves the economy with the same rate of unemployment in 2014. The second sees a reduction in unemployment of 20 per cent.     

Trade in reed-based craft products in rural villages in the Eastern Cape,South Africa

Selling traditional craft products made from fibrous plants is an important source of income for economically vulnerable rural women. In the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, Cyperus textilis and Juncus kraussii have been used for centuries to make products of functional and cultural importance, such as sleeping mats and baskets. In the former Transkei village clusters of Mpozolo and Ntubeni, female crafters harvest the raw material and make and sell the products in their communities and in nearby towns. Interviews with 40 of them revealed what the trade contributes to their livelihoods and what enhances or limits their success. The findings show that crafting contributes vital income to vulnerable households, on average 26 ± 4 per cent of annual household cash income, over 40 per cent for the poorest households and 5–15 per cent for wealthier households. Lack of access to non-traditional markets was identified as the main constraint on the trade.     

苏北地区新农村建设模式探析——以邳州市为例

文章基于新农村建设实践的思考,选择江苏省邳州市作为实证研究区域,通过文献资料查阅、农村居民点用地现状调查和农户集中居住意愿问卷调查,探析苏北地区新农村建设的适宜模式。研究结果表明：①邳州市农村居民点布局分散,自然村的密度约89个／100km^2;人均用地面积较大,达181．5m^2／人;②所调查农户中有87％希望通过集中居住改善农村居住环境,但对未来基础设施配套和搬迁补偿等问题存有疑虑;⑨根据资金筹集、实施难易、建设周期等适用条件,邳州市宜于开展公寓化、村庄归并和村庄内部优化等三种新农村建设模式。     

Malnutrition: A poverty or a food problem?

The author discusses malnutrition as the ‘silent’ food problem — a poverty problem — separate from the ‘overt’ food problem of scarcities of food in markets. The dimension of malnutrition which is treated here is the important calorie deficit problem — a problem which is often not revealed by aggregate food consumption data. The author presents data estimating the orders of magnitude of calorie undernutrition and then discusses numerous options as direct approaches to reduce malnutrition in market economies: (a) consumer education, (b) food market intervention, (c) income earning opportunities for the poor, (d) income redistribution, and (e) target group oriented food distribution measures. The options are evaluated with regard to their cost-effectiveness. He concludes that the costs of (a–d) are prohibitively high and therefore, (e) — a programme along the lines of a food stamp programme — is the option most likely to eleminate malnutrition.     

Aspects of environmental quality of life that affect neighbourhood satisfaction in disadvantaged and advantaged Johannesburg communities

To ascertain which aspects of environmental quality of life affect neighbourhood satisfaction, a study was conducted with 303 tenure allocated residents of an informal settlement in Soweto, 160 residents of a squatter camp in the same informal settlement, and 375 black and 358 white residents of a middle-class Johannesburg suburb. Respondents rated their satisfaction with housing, public schools, public clinics, public transport, roads, personal safety, street lighting, household refuse removal, jobs, local government and the neighbourhood. Black suburbanites tended to be more satisfied than the other three groups with most of these aspects. Stepwise multiple regression analyses revealed that housing and personal safety accounted for 45 per cent (informal settlement), 21 per cent (squatter camp), 33 per cent (black suburbanites), and 28 per cent (white suburbanites) of the variance in neighbourhood satisfaction. The findings substantiated the importance of housing and personal safety in both disadvantaged and advantaged communities.     

Labour market discrimination in the North West province of South Africa

This article provides an econometric estimate of labour market discrimination in the North West province of South Africa. Using data obtained from the October 1995 Household Survey, it was found that in 1995 statistically significant gender discrimination exists against women in North West's labour market. The male discriminatory wage advantage of 127 per cent and the female discriminatory disadvantage of 195 per cent were ascribed to the overrewarding and underrewarding of some personal characteristics of males and females, respectively. Productivity differentials of 40 per cent in favour of females and a premium paid to women measuring 71 per cent also exist. Discrimination explains 50 per cent of the wage gap between genders, while productivity differentials and the premium account for 13 and 37 per cent respectively. The study supports 'affirmative action' and suggests policies that aim to alter the occupational distributions, and these may need to target educational decisions made prior to labour market entry.     

Care and Nutrition: Concepts and Measurement

Care is the provision in the household and the community of time, attention, and support to meet the physical, mental, and social needs of the growing child and other household members. The significance of care has best been articulated in the framework developed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). This paper extends the UNICEF model of care and summarizes the literature on the relationship of care practices and resources to child nutrition. The paper also summarizes attempts to measure the various dimensions of care. The concept of care is extended in two directions: first, we define resources needed by the caregiver for care and, second, we show that the child's own characteristics play a role in the kind of care that he or she receives. The literature summary and methodological recommendations are made for six types of resources for care and for two of the least studied care practices: complementary feeding and psychosocial care. The other care practices are care for women, breast-feeding, food preparation, hygiene, and home health practices. Feeding practices that affect a child's nutritional status include adaptation of feeding to the child's abilities (offering finger foods, for example); responsiveness of the caregiver to the child (perhaps offering additional or different foods); and selection of an appropriate feeding context. Psychosocial care is the provision of affection and attention to the child and responsiveness to the child's cues. It includes physical, visual, and verbal interactions.     

Challenges for Food Security in Eritrea: A Descriptive and Qualitative Analysis

Abstract: Food security is about ensuring that all people at all times have both physical and economic access to the basic food they need. In a number of African countries chronic malnutrition and transitory food insecurity are pervasive. Like most African countries, Eritrea is also a victim of the problem of food insecurity. Based on this historical and recurrent food insecurity in Eritrea, an attempt is made in this paper to assess the possible causes of food insecurity in the country. Furthermore, the paper captures the available food security policy proposals of Eritrea and eventually draws conclusions and extends possible recommendations and policy remedies suited to the country.     

The promotion of maize fertiliser packages: A cause of household food insecurity and peasant impoverishment in high rainfall areas of Zimbabwe

Child malnutrition is a continuing problem in Zimbabwe's communal areas. These include some high rainfall areas, which make a contribution to the country's maize surplus during non‐drought years. A survey of farmers and extension workers in four high rainfall communal areas was carried out to investigate the effects of following recommended practices for maize production on household economy and food security.

Thirty‐two per cent of communal farmers had applied all the officially recommended fertiliser to their 1990/91 maize crop, often by obtaining these inputs on credit in lieu of grain sales receipts from the subsequent harvest. Yet. yields were so low that 48 per cent of these farmers would have been unable to retain sufficient grain to satisfy their families’ minimum requirements, if they had reimbursed the full cost of the input credit.

The majority (64 per cent) of farmers had deviatedfrom the recommended practice by adopting ‘low external input strategies’. A key feature of most of these strategies was the substitution of manure for part or all of the recommended fertiliser. In three of the four communal areas studied, this had improved the chances not only of recovering input costs, but also of achieving maize self‐sufficiency.

These results suggest that policy‐makers should shift emphasis from a dependence on costly external inputs to the integration of low levels of fertiliser with a range of more natural methods of soil improvement, in an effort to improve household food security in the communal areas.     

Does Productivity in the Formal Food Sector Drive Human Ebola Virus Infections in Sub‐Saharan Africa?

As the hunting, butchering, processing, and consumption of bushmeat is a potential source of human Ebola virus (EV) infections, the extent to which bushmeat is a substitute for food produced and sold in the formal sector suggests that the relative price of food could matter for the incidence of human EV infections. This paper considers if productivity in the food sector is a driver of human EV infections in sub‐Saharan Africa. We estimate count data specifications of country level human EV infections as a function of food sector productivity in sub‐Saharan Africa over the 1976–2013 time period. Our parameter estimates suggest that if productivity in the food sector was on average 1 per cent higher over the 1976–2013 time period, the incidence of human EV infection would have been 42.5 per cent lower. This is consistent with bushmeat being a substitute for food produced in the formal sector, as food productivity increases lower the price of formal food relative to bushmeat. Our findings suggest that as productivity in the formal food sector is a driver of human EV infections in sub‐Saharan Africa, policy interventions that increase food productivity would enable Millennium Development Goal outcomes related to hunger, disease mitigation, and sustainability of wildlife.     

A quantitative determination of the food security status of rural farming households in the Northern Province of South Africa

The majority of South Africans living in rural areas are food insecure despite high levels of national food self-sufficiency. The household food security position of two groups of rural farming households in the Venda region was evaluated quantitatively: one group produces vegetables that are sold or consumed locally, the other group produces cash crops – mangoes and other subtropical fruits. Using the collected data, food availability and energy, protein and fat requirements were calculated and balances derived. It was found that more than 80 per cent of the households had a negative balance of energy, protein and fat intake. The average energy, protein and fat coverage consumption was the same for both groups of farmers. A number of agricultural determinants were tested, but only non-agricultural determinants were found to be significant. These include household size, household (food) expenditure and proportion of the budget spent on food.     

Do home gardens improve the nutrition of rural pre-schoolers in Lesotho?

In this study, the contribution of household gardens to the nutritional status of pre-schoolers in Lesotho was investigated. The anthropometric status of children under five years of age was measured in five randomly selected villages in five districts of Lesotho during November and December 1999. In each district, the nutritional status of an average of 538 children was assessed. Production from household gardens was investigated to determine whether households had access to vegetables throughout the year. Despite a significant association between the presence of home gardens and lower incidences of wasting and underweight, the nutritional status of children in households with or without home gardens in sampled areas is poor. Some 49 per cent of children from households with food gardens were stunted, 29 per cent were underweight, and 24 per cent showed wasting. Many households do not produce enough vegetables rich in vitamin A to meet both their consumption and nutritional needs. Recommendations include intensified production of a wider mix of crops that include starchy crops, vitamin A-rich vegetables and fruit trees to ensure a significant impact on children's nutritional status.     

Food policy conflicts in Bangladesh

The objective of this paper is to show that the reality of a food policy aim of self-sufficiency is very complex and full of internal inconsistencies. In particular, the author stresses the conflicts of interest between the consumers and producers of foodgrains in Bangladesh, which create obstacles to the success of their recently devised development goals. He sets the scene by providing details of foodgrain production, food availability per capita and levels of malnutrition, and then introduces the policy conflicts in increasing food production. The author then discusses several attempts to resolve the conflict through price control, consumer subsidies, and direct aid to producers through encouraging the use of fertilizers and irrigation. This leads to the conclusion that government policy and outside aid must aim at both the production and the consumption of food in order for increased food supplies to reach those who need them most.     

‘Voice’ and ‘exit’ in Japanese firms during the Second World War: Sanpo revisited*

During the Second World War, the Japanese government and private sector searched for and implemented new mechanisms for coordination and motivation. One of these was sangyo hokokukai (sanpo). The Sanpo unit was basically an organization of the employer and employees of each firm, which held meetings to moderate labour relations. As a result of government policy to promote sanpo units, around 70 per cent of the total workers in Japan were organized into sanpo units in the early 1940s. As the members of trades unions and the workers of the companies that had factory committees were only 7 per cent and 5 per cent of the total workers in 1936 respectively, sanpo was the first large‐scale mechanism for Japanese employees to have a voice. This article examines the role of sanpo, using prefecture‐level and firm‐level data, based on a framework integrating the ‘voice view’ of unionism and transaction cost economics. It was found that sanpo reduced the participation rate in labour disputes, and enhanced labour productivity at least for some of the time.     

Sources of capital and income for communal area farmers in Kavango: Implications for agriculture and rural development

A survey based on a structured questionnaire was conducted at the beginning of 1995 to identify sources of capital and income for rural households in Kavango. The survey, which covered 80 households, revealed that there was a high dependence on external income sources. Pensions were the major source of income for the highest proportion of all households (33 per cent), followed by wages (23 per cent) and brewing (10 per cent). Other sources of income of similar importance to brewing were crop sales, non‐formal work and cash remittances.

Livestock were a minor source of income but a major source of capital and food security. Households with smaller cattle herds depended more on cattle for income and food security than those with larger herds. Cattle were a highly valued production resource that was only consumed during times of crisis and only in the absence of less valuable assets that could be easily liquidated. Grain storage was more popular among groups with the lowest income. By various criteria, female‐headed households always tended to be in the group of households categorised as the poorest of the poor. However, given sufficient income, over one third of them would purchase cattle to diversify their investment portfolio.

This article presents a number of potential strategies for improving the incomes of rural households in Kavango. These include the promotion of equitable livestock ownership and better use of the grazing resource through community management, intensification of cropping and the implementation of labour‐intensive programmes to develop rural infrastructure.     

Perceptions of economic and financial conditions of households in 2000

'The economy grew by 3,0 per cent in 2000. This was the fastest growth since 1996, buoyed by a strong recovery in household consumption spending and an increase in exports of over 7 per cent in real terms' (Trevor Manuel, Minister of Finance, Budget speech, 21 February 2001). 'Growth won't solve our problems. The faster the economy grows, the faster will be the creation of jobs for the highly skilled. So there will be more, not fewer, problems with income disparity' (Iraj Abedian, Standard Bank Group Economist, cited in Financial Mail , 2001a). The aim of this article is to examine the extent to which economic growth, experienced in 2000, improved the financial and economic conditions of South African households, by analysing a national representative survey of 2 700 adult South Africans conducted by the Human Sciences Research Council in September 2000. The survey results were analysed by disaggregating data by race, gender, area type, province and Living Standard Measure (LSM). The theme emerging from this article is that although the majority of households were negatively affected financially and economically, proportionally more Africans, women, rural residents and poor households were hardest hit. Although South Africa achieved a 3 per cent economic growth rate in 2000, there is limited evidence to suggest that this growth trickled down to the majority of households.     

Rates of return to education of blacks in South Africa

The aim of this empirical study was to calculate private and social rates of return to education and to test the hypothesis that education is a major determinant of earning differentials for blacks in South Africa. Data for 23 278 working men and women were extracted from the 1985 Current Population Survey files. This comprised a sample representative of the black population in the Republic of South Africa excluding the former Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei territories. Lifetime earnings profiles were constructed from these data for five educational levels, namely, no schooling up to Standard 1; Standards 2 to 4; Standards 5 to 7; Standards 8 to 9; and Standard 10. Schooling was assumed to account for 60 per cent of the earnings differentials between these profiles. Imputed average household outlays on schooling were taken as the private direct cost of education. These were supplemented by estimates of per pupil spending by the various government departments responsible for black education, to calculate the social costs per year of primary and secondary schooling. Indirect costs in the form of imputed foregone earnings were included from Standard 5 (age 15) onwards. The private internal rates of return to education of males were found to be about 16 per cent at primary level and 24 per cent for secondary schooling. Corresponding social rates of return are about 6 per cent for primary and 15 per cent for secondary education. Estimates for females showed negative rates of return between no schooling and Standards 2 to 4, the private and social rates being estimated at ‐1 per cent and ‐4 per cent respectively; from Standards 2 to 4 to Standards 5 to 7, a private rate of 12 per cent and a social rate of 4 per cent are reported; and for the remaining secondary school phases private rates of about 32 per cent and social rates of about 15 per cent are estimated. The study confirms that education is a major determinant of earnings differentials and education expansion can be regarded as a powerful earnings equaliser.