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This paper investigates the effect of foreign ownership on firm performance in the South African informal sector. Using the data of 1097 informal businesses sourced from the World Bank Enterprises Survey conducted in four Township provinces in South Africa (Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape and Western Cape) in 2020, the paper aims to address two issues: what is the effect of foreign ownership on performance in the South African informal sector and what factors drive foreign-ownership gap in the South African informal sector if it exists? The empirical analysis uses the multivariable decomposition technique and finds a performance gap between locally and foreign-owned businesses in the South African informal sector. A decomposition of factors shows that differences in endowments can explain the bulk of the gap. Discriminatory/unexplained factors, likely capturing the business culture, also play a significant role. Caution is given when seeking to curb foreign business participation in the informalsector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the scourge of infrastructure vandalism in South Africa and Zimbabwe, with a particular focus on electricity and rail transport companies within the two countries. The paper sought to document the manifestation of infrastructure vandalism; identify the socio-economic impacts of infrastructure vandalism; and explore the challenges of curbing vandalism. The paper reveals that vandalism mainly manifests through copper cable theft; vandalism of transformers, pylons and rail infrastructure; theft of transformers; and tampering with railway points machines. Vandalism of infrastructure comes with direct and costs to the utility companies, as well as negatively impacting the economy, essential services, and the overall community safety. Involvement of employees in the criminal activities, corruption, incessant power cuts, well organised crime syndicates and a weak legal framework were identified as the current challenges to anti-vandalism efforts. The paper also proffers mitigatory measures to deal with the scourge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines leveraging social capital to regenerate the ecotourism sector in Cameroon. Using a qualitative approach, in-depth interviews were held with local community leaders, governmental stakeholders, and NGOs. These informants possessed nuanced knowledge of the state of ecotourism in the region, thus constituted integral stakeholders in the ecotourism–community–social capital nexus. The findings of the study indicate that notions of social capital can be leveraged in the traditional hierarchy of communities to influence support for regenerating the sector. This can also address problems affecting the successful (re)development of the sector, stemming from the geopolitical crisis, where levels of trust (associated with social capital) in national authorities may be influenced by traditional authorities, like community leaders. The novelty and theoretical contribution of this paper lie in its unique conceptualisation of regeneration of ecotourism, through the lens of social capital and the nuanced geopolitical situation which contextualises the landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adverse impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global tourism industry necessitated several responses from policymakers in order to support the industry's recovery and post-pandemic growth. Southern Africa hosts tourism-sensitive and connected economies, with many tourists who arrive in one country, often visiting neighbouring countries. Using the United Nations World Tourism Organisation's policy framework for COVID-19 mitigation, recovery, and stability for the tourism industry, this paper critically examined the Southern Africa's level of support for mitigating the impact of the pandemic and their recovery strategies for the tourism industry. Data were collected from publicly available policy and strategic documents. Findings reveal non-compliance to referenced benchmarks, lack of regional policy direction from SADC, and divergent levels of support among the member countries. The paper recommends, among others, a revision of the SADC's regional tourism programme, collaborative tourism governance through increased regional integration, and improved destination attractiveness of the Southern African region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the perceptions of rural communities in the Sekhukhune District Municipality, Limpopo, South Africa, towards sustainable heritage tourism development. It aims to comprehend local attitudes by analysing community views, recognising benefits and challenges, and assessing the potential for sustainable practices. The study, utilising a quantitative approach through a structured survey, reveals diverse opinions among rural residents. While acknowledging tourism's positive economic and cultural prospects, concerns arise about environmental impact and traditional lifestyle disruptions. The paper's significance lies in its distinct focus on rural communities, expanding beyond urban-centric research. It enriches the sustainable tourism discourse by presenting local perspectives and suggesting strategies aligning community aspirations with tourism development goals. Overall, the research highlights the necessity of involving and empowering rural communities, advocating for context-specific approaches that harmonise tourism growth with the preservation of rural heritage. This study provides crucial insights for policymakers and stakeholders shaping effective and inclusive strategies for sustainable heritage tourism development in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African energy sector is faced with competing priorities concerned with ensuring environmental sustainability, energy security, and balancing its citizens’ socio-economic needs. The decarbonisation agenda has put a spotlight on the quality of jobs in the energy sector, particularly those in the coal value chain. This paper aims to bring some focus to the subject of decent work as per the International Labour Organisation’s definition and highlights the emerging themes in the South African energy sector. Our research shows that, although the country is on the path to decarbonisation, a clear definition of a job and decent work is needed. We show that if the country is to depend on the Renewable Energy industry, it is imperative to ensure that this industry has the capacity to provide the necessary skills and training to its new workforce and provide fair and just working conditions that would lead to decent work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how four major challenges in the ocean economy is linked to the 15 global challenges and the sectors that are influenced by these challenges. The ocean is becoming a focal point in the discourse on growth and sustainable development, both at national and international levels. Human aspirations and economic growth exert pressure on the ocean and the marine ecosystem and, therefore, constitute challenges for sustaining growth and ocean economy development. This conceptual paper analyses definitions of the ocean economy, the ocean economy's contribution toward world economic growth, the 15 global challenges, and specific challenges in the South African ocean economy. Four critical challenges are highlighted, firstly, pollution, which includes environmental disasters such as oil spills and dumping at sea, secondly, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, thirdly, climate change and, finally, disease events. As both private and public sectors should address these challenges, this research identifies possible reform measures for further consideration by these sectors to find possible solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying sound strategies to manage climate risks requires understanding complex systems, characterised by; a large number of potential factors that interact; multiple stakeholder constituencies with diverse values, deep and dynamic uncertainties. This paper assesses the general understanding and dominant narrative regarding climate change in particular societies in order to track the trends regarding the management of climate risk. In this regard, this paper considers climate risk from a Zimbabwean perspective between 1980 and 2021. The assessment of climate risk in Zimbabwe took cognisance of the fact that climate change is a subject that has received a considerable amount of attention in Zimbabwean focused literature. As such, secondary data were used to understand the dominant narratives regarding climate risk in Zimbabwe. The climate risk discussion in Zimbabwe has significantly grown over past four decades nonetheless, it is evident that the dominant narrative is biased towards climate change adaptation particularly on aspects of agricultural and livelihoods sensitivity from a water scarcity perspective. Other adaptation components such as the exposure to hazards, indigenous knowledge systems, ecological and infrastructure vulnerability, communication and gender dimensions of climate change also form the bulk of issues that dominate the adaptation centred narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to critically review the impacts of ecotourism in Ghana by synthesising the socio-cultural, economic, and environmental impacts of ecotourism. It relied on databases including Web of Science, EBSCO host, Scopus, Science Direct, Emerald, Google Scholar, University libraries as well as government institutions and personal contacts to gather 23 relevant published papers and nine policy documents and strategic plans for the review. The study found that whereas there are several studies on the positive socio-cultural, economic, and environmental impacts of ecotourism, the absence of quantitative analysis to monitor changes in biodiversity in terms of species population and distribution and economic returns to make an economic case for private sector investment are critical gaps. Advancing research on ecotourism and SDG interlinkages can provide directions for policy choices on maximising synergies and minimising trade-offs. The findings suggest that sustainable financing through public-private partnerships is necessary for catalysing positive sustainability outcomes of ecotourism projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the contribution of household non-farm enterprises (NFEs) to human capital development in children, measured through child labour and schooling. We use nationally representative panel data from Tanzania and control for observed and time-invariant unobserved factors in pooled least squares and household fixed effects estimations. Both contemporaneous and dynamic analyses are performed separately for boys and girls and for different types of NFEs, including those with and without employees, as well as father- and mother-owned NFEs. We find that father-owned and NFEs without employees are associated with less child labour on average. The impacts on schooling are not consistently estimated, except for girls and father-owned NFEs. Less child labour among boys is associated with father’s NFEs and among girls with NFEs hiring employees. Our findings indicate that NFEs may contribute to reducing the child labour problem, but they may be insufficient for resolving low school attendance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to reflect on the spending reviews’ capacity-building initiatives undertaken over the years, the experience and methodology employed. It discusses the feedback collected from survey questionnaires developed during and upon completion of each spending review capacity-building initiative and shares a case study of a completed and actioned spending review. The paper details the contribution of spending review training in building capacity of officials working in National and Provincial Treasuries in South Africa. It is argued that the spending review capacity-building initiatives contributed to the adoption of spending reviews as part of the annual budget process, culminating into the issuing of a government-wide guideline to use it as a tool in budgeting processes from 2021. This research not only contributes to the body of work on knowledge-transfer theory, but also offers lessons learnt in undertaking capacity building for public sector officials to promote knowledge transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of learning losses and altered schooling patterns in South Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021). Five major trends emerge from a review of the evidence. These include significant learning losses (38–118% of a year of learning), widened learning inequality, lowered grade repetition rates, increased secondary school enrolments and an unprecedented rise in candidates writing and passing the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination. School completion significantly increased in 2021 and 2022, spurred by COVID-19 adjusted assessment and promotion practices in Grades 10 and 11. Larger numbers of youth also achieved a NSC pass or Bachelor's pass enabling access to university. With twin pandemic shocks of learning losses and secondary school enrolment increases, remediating losses and realigning progression rules to effective assessment practices should be prioritised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite high rates of education expenditure, South Africa's education system remains sharply unequal and underperforms overall compared to other countries. One approach to addressing education inequality and underperformance is community-based peer mentorship. This paper presents evidence from the Nine Tenths mentorship programme in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) as a way to improve academic performance among matric students in under-resourced secondary schools. Using school matric pass rates from 2012 to 2021 and student admission metrics for participants in 2020–2022, a strong association is found between the activities of Nine Tenths and improved academic performance. No-fee schools where Nine Tenths is active record pass rates that are 28 percentage points higher on average than schools without Nine Tenths. Matric students who participate in Nine Tenths increase their Admissions Points Score (APS) by 4.23 points on average, and every student between 2020 and 2022 earned a bachelor pass. While the evidence suggests that Nine Tenths is effective, the programme operates on a relatively small scale and is not broad-based in its implementation. The programme shows is a promising example of community-based interventions to address schooling inequality independently and more efficiently than the current education policy in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the conflict in South African government development policy and law between a people-centred participatory approach and a neoliberal growth-centred approach. In particular, we discuss how this conflict has played out in a series of related court cases from 2021 to 2022. Methodologically, the case study is based on three court judgments with individual fishers, community representatives, civil society organisations and legal entities connected to the Eastern Cape Wild Coast as plaintiffs. The defendants were the multinational company Shell and subsidiaries with two South African government ministers. Our analytical framework was informed by Jürgen Habermas' 'instrumental reasoning' which was operationalised through Sherry Arnstein's heuristic model of participation. Different interpretations and expectations of public participation found in government policy documents and law in South Africa are explored. The findings underscore the central importance of appropriate levels of inclusion in public participation, as protected by the South African Constitution, in the process of Exploration Right Applications by mining companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the effects of the government's COVID-19 economic stimulus and relief package (emergency/one-off income grant of ND750) on household food security in Namibia during the period of the lockdown. The analysis reveals that a household that received the income grant ($42 equivalent) experienced about 11%−17% reduction in food insecurity compared to their non-recipient counterparts. We also found that the effect was relatively higher in female-headed households than in male-headed households. The positive effect is supported by a higher proportion (53%) of the beneficiary households who were satisfied with the policy. These findings underscore the need for the government of Namibia to institutionalise and sustain the income grant policy as a safety net and extend it to cover other vulnerable households in the post-pandemic. Such a programme should be gender-responsive and targeted at household heads who make decision over food consumption and other household arrangements for a bigger impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews government employment and compensation trends using data derived from the government's payroll. Employment levels and average pay grew strongly in the 2000s, but in the last decade, headcounts have stagnated or fallen, and increases in average pay have been moderate. The distribution of pay between government employees is compressed, especially when compared to income inequalities in society. The paper suggests attempts to reduce government's wage bill that rely on blunt, across-the-board measures will have their largest impact on core public services – basic education, healthcare and criminal justice – and are likely to erode the value of these services and the quality of service delivery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of costing new and existing government programmes is to mobilise and systematise information to present different options for how to move forward. There has always been a need for such information, and this need will remain, given the imperatives to improve the use of government funds to meet social needs. It is therefore important to build capacity in government to do costing studies, and to use costing information in policy-making and management processes.This paper explores the history of policy costing in South Africa. It shows how the experience gained from the early policy costing projects fed into the methodology for Spending Reviews developed by the Government Technical Advisory Centre (GTAC) in 2013. It then documents key methodological lessons learned from our experience with costing policies. The paper ends with a few observations regarding the outlook for policy costing in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change continues to exacerbate social and economic development challenges in local communities the world over. This paper advances a human development approach to climate resilience innovations, showing how local innovation initiatives can be conduits for increased equity, agency, efficiency and sustainability vis-à-vis effective responses to climate impacts. Based on a scoping review of literature (journal articles, books, theses, occasional papers etc.), and through a discussion of four case studies focused on technological and institutional innovations in selected rural South African communities, a major finding is that local innovation initiatives vis-à-vis livelihoods are laden with opportunities for improved social, economic and ecological well-being. Appreciating and supporting these local innovations will open up viable and transformative pathways towards effectively responding to the impacts of climate change and variability. The paper contributes to an interdisciplinary integration of innovation and climate change research by exploring climate resilience through a transformative human development lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses a participatory approach to assess the level of understanding of the Water-Energy-Climate Change (WECC) nexus in South Africa. The aim is to initiate the development of well-coordinated, systematic, and holistic strategies to promote efficient management of the WECC and its implications in the country. The assessment follows the learnings from the Integrated Water Resource Management framework, which promotes a participatory approach in the administration of water resources. The paper reveals that, despite the reasonable level of understanding of WECC, it is still insufficient to promote an integrated approach mainly in policy development and planning for water and energy resources while averting climate impacts. This is exacerbated by limited coordination and consultation among various stakeholders. However, minimal efforts to promote an integrated approach in the management of the WECC sectors is observed. Despite these developments, the paper proposes that the participatory approach is feasible to promote holistic strategies and collaboration among stakeholders mandated to manage WECC sectors. Until approaches such as this are adopted within the institutional framework, this nexus will continue to impede the country's sustainable development endeavours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass urbanisation in cities of the global South, is causing cities to evolve, with informal settlements being central to this evolution. While local government is the official point of interaction for urban informal settlement dwellers, those interactions are often characterised by a lack of meaningful participation. Engaging with the co-production literature and two case studies of informal settlements in Cape Town, South Africa, this paper examines how they shed light on the shifting and constantly evolving roles and practices of local government and community actors within a co-production engagement. Based on the findings from these cases, the paper argues that co-production as a practice of collaboration between the local state and citizens can allow for the forging of new relationships, built on trust, sharing of resources and a more equal distribution of power where communities can shape the outcomes of service delivery projects to respond to their needs and demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa’s has been battling with energy crisis for many years, and with the ongoing power cuts, the nation has been plunged into darkness experienced almost every day in major cities such as Johannesburg. This paper conceptualises and positions the role of electrical and mechanical energy in food processing and preparation within South Africa’s low-income households. The study aims to understand how households’ choices and decisions made around food access, preparation and storage are affected by energy infrastructure. Urban studies on informality show that energy is a key input in food processing, preparation, and storage. This study focused on the intersection of infrastructure systems and sought to understand the energy needs and livelihoods strategies of South Africa’s low-income households. A secondary focus of this study was on indigent energy policies that supports the provision and access of energy services to indigent households in South Africa. The study adopted a case study approach, low-income households’ energy needs in Alexandra township, Johannesburg. This study utilised in-depth interviews and policy document reviews. Data was analysed using correlation and cross-tabulation methods. Findings reveal that measures adopted by the city authorities in the provisioning and access to infrastructure are largely fragmented and uncoordinated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the short-term impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on firms in a developing country i.e. Zambia. This is motivated by the characteristics of the Labour market in developing countries where informality dominates, and female workers form a larger proportion of the informal workforce. The Zambian version of the World Bank Enterprise Survey conducted just before the pandemic (September 2019 to March 2020) and during the pandemic (June 6 to 17 July 2020) is used to explore the experience of firms in terms of changes in the number of employees and firm survival. Results suggest that informal workers are more likely to lose their jobs while firms that are at least partly owned/managed by females are also less likely to survive. It is argued that policy actions that protect informal workers are salient especially since future pandemics cannot be ruled out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With mega state housing projects needing large land parcels and that are often located in the periphery, this paper investigates what impact relocating residents to Golden Gardens housing development has had on the quality of life and their financial wellbeing. Using primary data obtained from residents living in the Golden Gardens housing development, the findings show that respondents' access to and quality of physical and social facilities, such as refuse services, water, and electricity, has improved. Respondents were also unanimous that staying in their Golden Gardens homes has significantly improved their security. However, many residents currently living in Golden Gardens used to live closer to work and social activities than they do now, which means that they used to spend less each month on transport than they do now. The high-commuting cost has increased household expenses, meaning that the respondents' financial wellbeing has been negatively impacted. These results imply yet unmet long-term objectives of human settlements as envisaged in various government policies and programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews South Africa’s efforts to realise the right to water from a welfare policy perspective. ‘Free basic water’ (FBW), initially a water sector policy, was later recognised to be part of the country’s wider social protection framework. However, while the principle of providing poor households with free basic services has been sustained, FBW has not provided reliable access for many of its intended beneficiaries. Analysis of the policy, implementation and performance of the programme identifies unresolved policy tensions between welfare objectives and other government priorities, reflected in the choice of targeted rather than universal welfare strategies. It is concluded that these welfare policy tensions have weakened the outcomes of the free basic water policy which are more usually blamed on operational and institutional failures. While the FBW principle is generally accepted, practical performance is often weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between health expenditure and income in Botswana and its implications for health policy. We employed micro-data drawn from the Household Income and Expenditures Surveys, 1993–94 and 2003–04 and macro-data from 1981 to 2016 to estimate the income elasticity of health expenditure. We estimated the arc-elasticity of private health expenditure, and the short-run and long-run income elasticity of public health expenditure, with control for the impact of technology, structural breaks, and the dynamic aspects of health expenditure. The results from the empirical estimations indicate that the demand for healthcare is a necessity in the short run and especially at the household level in Botswana. Furthermore, our results also establish that non-economic factors such as countryspecific epidemiology are critical in explaining income elasticity of health expenditure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is growing interest in the literature and policy circles regarding the performance of cooperatives in South Africa, no study has yet synthesised the body of knowledge on how to assess cooperative performance in the country. This paper aims to fill this gap by examining the literature on the performance of cooperatives in post-apartheid South Africa, based on a scoping review of 20 studies published between 1994 and 2021. Most of the reviewed studies adopted a qualitative approach, lacked a clear definition of cooperative performance and standardised metrics/criteria for assessing cooperative performance. The studies often relied on view of study participants to determine the performance of cooperatives. Moreover, the reviewed studies often framed the performance of cooperatives from an economic viewpoint. Clear definition of cooperatives, the development of robust indicators for assessing their performance and greater emphasis on quantitative studies on the performance of cooperatives in South Africa beyond economic and financial indicators is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early childhood development (ECD) access and quality inequalities can manifest as school and labour market outcomes that are persistently unequal by race, gender and geography. Using the General Household Survey 2019 and Early Childhood Development Census 2009–2014 data, we find that household socio-economic status, proximity to ECD centres and the mother’s educational attainment are positively associated with ECD enrolment. Having an economically inactive or unemployed adult in the household is negatively associated with enrolment rates. This paper also evaluates the programme gains (value added) of five ECD programmes in the large-scale cross-sectional the Early Learning Outcomes Measure study. We find gains that are surprisingly large, considering that these programmes served mainly poorer children, and because contact time per week for three of the programmes was only 2½ to 8 hours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines community perceptions of the impact of solid waste management (SWM) on human health and the environment in Diepsloot, Johannesburg, South Africa. It is argued that poor SWM has negative impacts on human health and the environment. Using semi-structured telephonic and one-to-one interviews with members of a community of Diepsloot and environmental non-governmental organisations involved in SWM in Diepsloot, it finds that mismanagement of solid waste affects human health and the environment. The consequences of this situation include respiratory disorders among the people and the destruction of aquatic habitats and reduction of the bullfrog population, among other negative impacts. This situation is a result of the community’s collective ignorance on SWM issues and poor service delivery. The results highlight the need to improve service delivery and a change in community attitude towards SWM in Diepsloot, which will reduce the impact of SWM on human health and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The level of detail, coverage, accuracy, completeness and time range of personnel expenditure data available in the transversal payroll system used by South African national and provincial government departments, PERSAL, offers opportunities for wage bill analysis that is not possible with the more common and well-known approaches of using either highly summarised tabled data, reported data or survey data. This paper describes a methodology that was developed to extract trends in the wage bill and personnel numbers. The key drivers of total wage bill growth have been identified as personnel growth and salary growth and this paper demonstrates how to disaggregate total growth into these two key drivers. The full-time equivalent is proposed as a measure for annual headcounts, as it provides an accurate summary. Appropriate stratification when analysing the impact of remuneration policies is highlighted. The structuring of payroll data as employees’ career trajectories enables the analysis of changes at the personal level, adding insight to into personnel movements and improvements in salaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the development of spending reviews from their origins in a set of budgetary innovations in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s – notably zero-base budgeting (ZBB) and Planning, Programming and Budgeting Systems (PPBS) – to their application internationally for budget management and fiscal consolidation. Spending reviews have been successfully developed and applied in mostly advanced economies but, because they rely on advanced tools of fiscal analysis and established public financial management systems, their application in low- and middle-income countries is more limited. Many countries use spending reviews to identify budgetary savings or to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the government's spending policies and programmes. The reviews can either be comprehensive or target specific programmes or areas of spending. Finance ministries are the cornerstone of an effective spending review process, which requires strong analytical skills and tools, as well as reliable data. Line ministries also play a key role and good use can be made of external experts. Political oversight and good governance are fundamental to success, but countries have followed a variety of models in designing their spending review processes; simpler approaches are available for countries with low capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the causal influence of financial anxiety on future work commitment with social support and socio-psychological wellbeing as mediators amongst crisis-induced redundant tourism employees remains limited. Using data collected from 547 COVID-19-induced redundant tourism employees, this paper examines the influence of financial anxiety on future work commitment with social support and socio-psychological wellbeing as mediators. The findings reveal that financial anxiety has a negative influence on social support and social and psychological wellbeing. Social support has a negative influence on social wellbeing, while social support has a positive influence on future work commitment. Both social and psychological wellbeing has a negative influence on future work commitment. Meanwhile, the influence of financial anxiety on future work is fully mediated by social support and socio-psychological wellbeing. Insurance uptake and establishment of welfare funds amongst tourism employees can be used to buffer the effects of financial anxiety on future work commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Namibia, the commercialisation of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) is often promoted as a means to improve rural livelihoods, especially for vulnerable communities. This paper analysed how NTFP value chains are integrated into and contribute to the livelihoods of Khwe and !Xun San harvesters. Accordingly, the working conditions, employment and upgrading opportunities of the globally traded Devil's Claw were compared to those of regionally traded products, including Natal Oranges. A mixed-method approach was applied to collect data in Okongo Constituency and Bwabwata National Park. Findings revealed that while NTFPs contribute to the harvesters' income generation, the income is insufficient to sustain their livelihoods. Interestingly, the results of both regional and global value chain integration do not lead to improved livelihoods. Further research is needed to analyse the synergies between the government, traditional and local authorities, NGOs, and other institutions in implementing laws that promote equitable sharing of benefits from NTFPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper articulates state response to homelessness through multi-agency intervention in South Africa. While it argues strongly on relativity of homelessness, it however agrees with previous authors on common constituents of the concept. Based on secondary sources this paper delves into what constitutes homelessness and why there has been homelessness in the country, due to one or a combination of structural and individual related drivers. It further explores the state's use of a multi-agency housing focused approach that integrates appropriate legislations, social services interventions and public works, where over 3.3 million houses have been delivered in the country. While in-depth review of available data indicated significant increase in housing provision, the strategy is confronted with human, material, and rising need concerns. Importantly, there is no certainty yet on the extent to which the 'street homeless' and marginalised groups of the poor are served equally to other categories of the homeless. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an introduction to this Special Issue of Development Southern Africa that evaluates the impact of COVID-19 in South Africa, one year into the pandemic. All of the papers use evidence from the National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM), a five-wave longitudinal survey conducted from April 2020 to July 2021. As we write this article in June 2022, South Africa has just returned to the same level of GDP that it had at the end of 2019. This two-year period marks one of the most tumultuous in the country's economic history. We showcase results pertaining to employment, income support, hunger, schooling, early childhood development, mental health, and vaccine hesitancy. We also reflect on the policy learnings that can be gleaned in each of these domains and draw on some of the international lessons learnt to point to the way forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When disasters happen in the world, government departments and NGOs collaborate to support survivors through various interventions. Whether these interventions respond to the gendered impacts of these disasters is an area that has not been given adequate research attention. This paper provides a gendered analysis of the interventions targeted at Cyclone Idai survivors in Zimbabwe's Chimanimani District. It draws from data generated through focus group discussions, in-depth interviews, and key-informant interviews with cyclone survivors and representatives from government agencies and NGOs that provided humanitarian assistance in Chimanimani District. The study revealed that the interventions were implemented without comprehensively integrating gendered issues due to the absence of a clear gender responsive national policy framework for disaster management in Zimbabwe. The study recommends gender sensitive training to those who assist in distributing humanitarian assistance and the need to address gender-skewed responses caused by treating gender as synonymous with women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the conceptualisation of gender mainstreaming by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and its member state Botswana, and the SADC Gender Protocol Alliance. Critical discourse analysis based on Norman Fairclough's work is used to find out how gender mainstreaming has been conceptualised to take into account the informal sector of Botswana. The findings of the study show that gender mainstreaming is limited by structural barriers of transforming unequal gender relations, and limited coordination between government institutions, the Botswana Informal Sector Association and the SADC Gender Protocol Alliance. The paper suggests that for gender mainstreaming to be effective, it requires a clear understanding on how various policies define gender problems and shape gender relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of national health insurance on the choice of healthcare facility among diabetic and hypertensive patients in Ghana. The data for this paper came from a secondary source, and the conditional mixed processing approach was utilised to investigate the influence of health insurance status on healthcare facility choice among diabetic and hypertension patients. The study reveals that when compared with uninsured individuals suffering from hypertension/diabetes, insured individuals are more likely to attend formal healthcare facilities and herbal clinics/hospitals and less likely to attend traditional/spiritual healing centres instead of chemical shop/self-care. This work addresses the problem of unobserved heterogeneity (selection bias) by employing the conditional mixed processing approach to account for the potential that health insurance is endogenous to the choice of healthcare facility, which if not accounted for might lead to biased estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how the informal economy is enhancing urban sustainability in the context of global South urbanism. It uses evidence collected through ethnographic methods from Norton – a small Zimbabwean town to demonstrate how the informal economy is driving sustainable urbanism in its small ways in the absence of a functional formal economy in the town. While it acknowledges sustainable concerns around informal urbanisation, the paper argues that the sector can be an asset that can be harnessed to advance the sustainable urbanisation agenda. The study argues that some of the sector's activities are playing a big role in; natural environment stewardship, skills development, promotion of social cohesion, indigenous knowledge systems and Ubuntu as well as contributing towards economic development. The paper argues for city and national governments to put more efforts to harness these seemingly small contributions in the quest to build more sustainable cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the determinants and challenges affecting women sole owners of tourism-related enterprises. It identifies factors that determine sole ownership, assesses the extent to which women participate as sole owners and the challenges encountered in establishing and operating enterprises. Primary data on 475 women-owned enterprises is analysed using a probit model. We find that post-primary education, attendance of specialised training in tourism, engagement in other economic activities, and being previously employed reduces the likelihood of solely owning a business, while initiation of the business idea increases it. We recommend offering women entrepreneurial education to enable them acquire experience, develop right attitudes and foster networks for entrepreneurship. Furthermore, increasing awareness on availability and access to the Women Development Fund (WDF) and strengthening the enforcement of laws governing ownership of land could provide women with start-up capital and means to access formal loans that require collateral. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data from a household survey in Botswana were analysed to assess the effectiveness of food transfers. Food transfers have been contentious, and much assessment has focused on market participation while overlooking direct impacts on hunger. This paper quantitatively assesses food transfers while controlling for selection bias. Responses to food insecurity questions and Body Mass Index of the head of household were tested for association with socioeconomic variables using logistic and ordinal regression. Respondents who were female (p <.0001), lived outside major cities and towns (p =.0002), lived in larger households (p <.0001), or had never received formal education (p <.0001) were more likely to report hunger and be underweight. After controlling for selection bias using several Propensity Score and Exact Matching methods, we showed that food transfers reduced the proportion of respondents reporting hunger (p =.017 with Optimal 1:2 matching). This demonstrates that food transfers targeted the hungry and alleviated household food insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing destination competitiveness from a tourist perspective has been limited, especially for distressed destinations such as Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has been facing ongoing political and economic challenges for more than two decades which puts pressure on the growth of the tourism industry. However, all destinations compete in the same space for tourists' attention, forcing marketers to continuously develop strategies to enhance competitiveness and increase tourist returns and recommendations. This paper focuses on identifying competitiveness factors that influence tourists' intention to return and recommend. Based on a sample of 450 international tourists to Zimbabwe, results show that unique to a distressed destination, the residents' hospitality and friendliness is the most important predictor for the intention to return. This emphasises the role of residents in making the destination more competitive and attractive. General amenities, attractions and destination management are also significant predictors of return intentions. Tourists' intentions to recommend are largely predicted by the destination's resources. Encouraging visitors to revisit and recommend can assist a distressed destination in increasing visitor numbers on a limited marketing budget. Understanding these factors could also help managers to improve the negative image of the destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to ignite a conversation on the challenges of the ongoing 'novel' surrounding the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic in the Southern Africa region. The global COVID-19 pandemic started with the outbreak in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. It is understood that different countries, regions and territories will have different, context-specific challenges in fighting the pandemic. These will differ from country to country and therefore necessitates contextual research. By sharing African perspectives on swift action against this coronavirus, this paper is intended to appraise the nexus between the coronavirus and tourism in order to prepare tourism practitioners for the recovery strategies that will be needed to address the damages caused by the pandemic. This paper points to tourism researchers focusing on the Southern African region and possible key areas for further research as the coronavirus situation unfolds. It draws from published material and document analysis, including from academic research, media reports and social media platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malawi has decentralised development planning structures to create a representative system of local government and a base for participatory democracy in development. This paper, which is based on data collected through literature review supplemented by key informant interviews interrogates the extent to which decentralisation has generated opportunities for increased women's participation and representation in local government development structures. The paper contends that although decentralisation has generated opportunities for increased women's participation, men's domination supported by systemic, institutional and patriarchal norms and weaknesses in the enforcement of policies complicate the situation. Therefore, pragmatic policies and actions must be pursued to improve women's participation at local and national levels. These should include the introduction of specific quotas in local government structures, building public awareness on gender perspective, enforcement of existing gender policies and concrete action which translates into women having a voice, power, and the capacity to organise and mobilise themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes sources of resilience in Zimbabwe's supermarket value chains and the strategies for building resilience. Although Zimbabwe has witnessed a steady growth in the number of supermarkets, that growth has been disrupted by the volatile operating environment. Data was collected from an online survey of supermarket managers, websites and secondary sources. The study found that franchising, extensive branch networks, mergers and acquisitions and multiple store formats have provided major supermarkets such as OK, TM/Pick n Pay and Spar with an adaptive capacity that has enabled them to operate for several decades in Zimbabwe's volatile food retail sector. These findings have implications for improving government policy making and supermarket managers' knowledge on developing resilient food systems under a turbulent macroeconomic environment. Further, the study provides key insights on strategies that are indispensable for building the necessary resilience ingredients required by supermarkets to absorb shocks and recover in a timely way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flood-induced displacements are a common feature in rural Zimbabwe and there seems to be a lack of deliberate policy and political commitment from the government. Several factors have increased the susceptibility of communities to flood hazards, ranging from poor housing structures, lack of building standards to ensure resilient structures, and climate change. This paper is an outcome of a one-year study from March 2018 to March 2019. The study adopted a qualitative approach which entailed the use of semi-structured interviews and questionnaires. Fifty participants were purposively sampled for the study. Study findings reflect a gap in political attention as a root to addressing internal displacement. Lack of social and economic capital also plays an attributional role as a factor that has exacerbated the plight of internally displaced persons. The study recommends the government to adopt an Internally Displaced Persons policy and establish a commission that monitors rural settlement structures to enhance community resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interaction between family structure and household well-being has received considerable attention in research over the past decades. Very few studies, however, go beyond linking marital component of family structure with household income. This paper uses cross-sectional and panel analytic techniques with data from National Income Dynamic Survey (NIDS) to investigate the effects of family structure on household well-being. Findings from this study show that intact married and cohabiting households have significant positive relationship with household reported well-being, and subjective wellbeing, respectively. Furthermore, extended households, households headed by females and grandparents, have significant negative relationship with household income and consumption. Lastly, bigger household size has significant negative relationship with household reported well-being. Based on the findings, policy towards economic empowerment for poorer households, enhancing income generating, and livelihood projects are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using findings from a study on 'Understanding the dynamics of youth development and socio-economic empowerment: A study on social policy and strategic responses for improving youth employment in Botswana', the author examines the nexus between youth empowerment programmes and youth employability in Botswana. The specific objectives were to explore how youth empowerment programmes can be modified to stave off youth unemployment, and to enhance the capacity of the government and private sector to design and implement programmes for promoting employment. The findings shed light that the policy implementers do not have adequate capacity to help the youth realise socio-economic empowerment. Several challenges have continued to affect the attempts to implement sustainable youth empowerment programmes. This paper recommends that there is need to involve the youth in policy formulation and implementation in order to achieve employability through youth programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the extent to which globalisation has affected the post-apartheid state's ability to fulfil the right to adequate houses enshrined in the South African Constitution (Act 108 of 1996). Underpinned by the rights-based approach to development (RBAD) which provides a mechanism to promote, protect, and fulfil various rights, the study employed a quantitative methodology. A survey was the preferred data collection method and a questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument. The probability sampling technique of random cluster sample was used in the study and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse questionnaires focusing primarily on descriptive statistics. The sample size consisted of 500 survey respondents selected from two towns in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape Province. We used an alpha level of.05 for all statistical tests. The study was premised on the following null hypothesis (H0): the right to housing is equally distributed among the population. The findings indicate that the right to houses is not equally distributed among the population, X2 (2, N = 500) = 56.37, p <.05. Therefore, the null hypothesis (H0) is rejected. We can conclude, therefore, that there is a statistically significant difference amongst the groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional industrialisation and integration form part of the economic policy priorities of a number of countries in Southern Africa and of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Manufacturing can be seen as a key driver of domestic and regional industrialisation and growth, given its ability to exhibit high backward and forward input-output linkages. While most input-output research for African countries explores domestic input-output linkages, this paper investigates inter-country intersectoral linkages among five Southern African countries for the years 2000 and 2015. We find that linkages tend to be highest in the manufacturing sector, particularly in 'food and beverages', across the countries in the study. We also find that the highest inter-country linkages are found between neighbouring countries. These findings suggest that regional growth may benefit from promoting manufacturing, especially agro-processing sectors. Regional integration may benefit from a specific focus on bilateral relationships between neighbouring countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate South Africa's implementation of educational Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which is led by Gauteng and the Western Cape Provinces, for participation in the global knowledge economy. Accordingly, the two provinces are in the forefront of educational ICT implementation aimed at preparing learners for participation in the global knowledge economy and national development. The paper uses Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to examine South Africa in comparison with fourteen developing countries to establish that its approach towards implementation of educational technology is not appropriate, sustainable nor effective for a developing country. Experiences of developing countries such as Vietnam, Zambia and Kenya, which are in the medium and low Human Development Index (HDI) categories, show that national technological cultures of people have not evolved into what is characterised as the 'Net Natives', which is one of the primary driving force for the adoption of blended pedagogies as an approach for implementing educational technology, to enhance participation in the global knowledge economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]