Search

Das Luangwatal im Osten Sambias ist eine der letzten großen afrikanischen Naturlandschaften mit weitgehend intakten Lebensräumen. Durch seine besondere klimatische Stellung als Trockengebiet fungiert es als Brückenhabitat zwischen den Trockensavannen Ost- und des südlichen Afrikas inmitten eines Meers aus Miombowald. Dies zeigt sich in diesem Verbreitungsgebiet durch eine Reihe von Tierarten und einer Tendenz der taxonomischen Eigenständigkeit einzelner Arten wie der Rhodesiengiraffe und dem Cookson-Gnu. Das Gebiet ist durch mehrere Nationalparks geschützt. Die Pandemie und die damit verbundenen Reiseeinschränkungen führten zu einem Zusammenbruch des Tourismus und negativen Konsequenzen für die Lokalbevölkerung und die Tierwelt. Hervorgehoben wird die essentielle Rolle des Tourismus beim langfristigen Erhalt dieser wichtigen Großlebensräume., The Luangwa Valley in Eastern Zambia is one of the last big African natural landscapes with largely intact habitats. Due to its special climatic status as a dry area, it acts as a bridge habitat between the dry savannahs of Eastern and Southern Africa in the middle of the Miombo forest belt. In this distribution area, this is manifested in a range of animal species and in the tendency towards the taxonomic independence of individual species such as the Luangwa giraffe and the Cookson’s wildebeest. The area is protected by several national parks. The pandemic and the associated travel restrictions led to a collapse in tourism and negative consequences for the local population and wildlife. The essential role of tourism in the long-term preservation of these important large habitats is emphasized.

Straipsnyje analizuojama Adomo Bremeniečio pateikta informacija apie sembus. Ketvirtoje kronikos knygoje suformuotas lietuviškoje istoriografijoje įsitvirtinęs naratyvas apie kilnius sembus – homines humanissimi ir žiauriausią gentį kuršius – gens crudelissima. Nepažįstamų kraštų ir žmonių aprašymas Adomo Bremeniečio kronikoje konstruojamas pagal klasikinei ir viduramžių istoriografijai būdingą modelį – „mes“ ir „jie“. Adomui „mes“ – tai civilizuoti krikščionys, o „jie“ – barbarai stabmeldžiai, kurių pasaulis baugus, nepažįstamas, keistas ir grėsmingas. Sembai ir kuršiai kaip tik ir buvo tokio pasaulio dalis. Kas lėmė tokį skirtingą kaimynystėje gyvenusių dviejų Vakarų baltų genčių apibūdinimą? Itin palankus požiūris į sembus, kurie tuo metu yra tokie pat stabmeldžiai barbarai, kaip ir kuršiai, neatitinka visame kronikos tekste matomo svetimųjų aprašymo modelio ir skatina ieškoti galimų paaiškinimų. Sakso Gramatiko pasakojimas apie Semboje įsikūrusius ir asimiliavusius danus, Adomo Bremeniečio – apie Baltijos pakrančių amazones, susilaukiančias palikuonių su atvykusiais prekiautojais ar karo belaisviais, pagaliau skandinavų centrus sembų žemėse fiksuojantys archeologiniai tyrimai leidžia kelti klausimą, ar homines humanissimi buvo sembai, ar Semboje įsikūrę „civilizuoti krikščionys“ – danai ir jų palikuonys? The article analyzes the information about Sambians provided by Adam of Bremen. In the fourth book of the chronicle, a narrative about Sambians – homines humanissimi and the most brutual tribe of the Curonians – gens crudelissima, is established in Lithuanian historiography. The description of unfamiliar lands and people in the Chronicle of Adam of Bremen is constructed according to the model of classical and medieval historiography – “we” and “they”. To Adam, “we” means civilized Christians, and “they” – barbarian idolaters whose world is frightening, unfamiliar, strange and menacing. The Sambians and the Curonians were just part of such a world. What led to such a different description of the two Western Baltic tribes? The particularly favorable attitude towards the Sambians, who at the time were as idolatrous barbarians as the Curonians, does not correspond to the pattern of description of strangers seen throughout the chronicle, and encourages the search for possible explanations. Saxo Grammaticus’ account of the Danes settled and assimilated in Sambia, Adam of Bremen’s story of the Baltic coastal Amazons with incoming merchants or prisoners of war, and archaeological excavatings indicating Scandinavian trading centres in the Sambian peninsula, allow the question to be asked whether homines humanissimi were the Sambians or perhaps “civilized Christians” settled in the Sambia – Danes and their descendants?

The article speaks about the key influence of the sea basin on the formation of amber­succinite as a mineral and its deposits as the first intermediate collectors. The transformation of biogenic­sedimentary deposits of prototypical amber into succinite occurred only in the sea with glauconite environment of Kyiv, Obukhov and Mezhyhir sea basins, which surrounded the Ukrainian shield in the end of the middle and late Eocene — early Oligocene. These basins were part of an unique palaeo­strait that connected the tropical Tethys ocean in the south­east and the North Atlantic in the north­west. And only within this palaeo­aquatic area the most valuable type of fossil resins was formed — amber­succinite. Spatially it covers the Baltic­Dnieper province of amber­succinite, which includes the «amber» countries of Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus and Ukraine in the south­east. Based on the lithofacial and palaeo­geological analysis of the Eocene­Oligocene marine sediments (Baltic­Dnieper province) and of the primary sources of the deposits eroded in the Eocene­Oligocene, the authors discovered the age­related and genetic dependence of the amber­succinite content in the marine deposits. Intensive late Eocene erosion of the coal part of the Buchak suite resulted in an accumulation of a huge mass of pro­toamber in the coastal part of the Obukhov Sea basin. Sea currents transported the protoamber to dif­ferent parts of the seabed, including remote parts of the shelf, outside the turbulence area. The latter is associated with unique (up to 80 % of the world’s reserves) industrial deposits of the amber­succinite of the Upper Eocene Prussian suite in Sambia in the village of Yantarniy, which is a stratigraphic analogue of the Obukhov suite of Ukraine. In Ukraine, this type of deposits has not yet been discov­ered and have never been predicted. Based on the analysis of the geological structure and distribution of marine Eocene­Oligocene sediments, as well as on the palaeohydrological grid of the Ukrainian Shield and its slopes in the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, and on the numerous findings of amber­succinite, the authors consider the territory of the eastern and southeastern margins of the Ukrainian Shield (Dnieper Basin) to be perspective for the exploration of large industrial deposits of amber­succinite in the Upper Eocene sediments of the Obukhov suite.

Zusammenfassung „Nachhaltige Investitionen“, „Grune Fonds“, „Grune Anleihen“ und „De-Risking-Strategien“: mit den ambitionierten Zielen der „Sustainable Development Goals“ (SDGs) bringen fundamentale Veranderungen der Strukturen in der Entwicklungsfinanzierung mit sich, die sich mit den Begriffen der Finanzialisierung und Risikominderung (de-risking) gut beschreiben lassen. Die Finanzierung erneuerbarer Energieprojekte gibt Aufschluss uber diese Prozesse und zeigt, welche neuen Abhangigkeiten und veranderten Machtstrukturen mit der wachsenden Bedeutung privater Finanzierung und offentlich-privater Partnerschaften in der Entwicklungsfinanzierung und speziell am Energie-/Entwicklungs-Nexus einhergehen. Dieser Beitrag widmet sich den aktuellen Entwicklungen im Bereich der Finanzierung von erneuerbaren Energien am Beispiel der sambischen Energiewende. Hierbei wird die Durchfuhrung zweier transnational orchestrierter Projekte fur erneuerbare Energie (Scaling Solar und GETFiT) vor dem theoretischen Hintergrund von Finanzialisierung, insbesondere der sogenannten subordinate financialisation – einer untergeordneten Finanzialisierung – sowie von postkolonialer Staatlichkeit beleuchtet. Der Beitrag verdeutlicht einerseits, wie die schnelle Finanzierung und Durchfuhrung solcher Projekte mit einer marktbasierten Risikominderungsstrategie unter Beteiligung internationaler Institutionen und Investoren gelingen kann. Auf der anderen Seite fuhrt dieser Prozess jedoch auch zur Marginalisierung sambischer Unternehmen und erschwert somit einen moglichen Industrialisierungsprozess und die damit verbundene Schaffung von Arbeitsplatzen. Hinzu kommt eine verstarkte Abhangigkeit Sambias von internationalen Investoren, die die politische Handlungsfahigkeit massiv einschranken. Schlagworter: SDG, Sambia, Energiewende, subordinate financialisation, de-risking, postkoloniale Staatlichkeit ----- Financialisation and “De risking” in Zambia’s energy transition: Perspectives for Sustainable Development? Summary “Sustainable investments”, “green funds”, “green bonds” and “de risking strategies”: the ambitious goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are accompanied by fundamental changes in the structures of development finance, which can be welldescribed by the terms financialisation and de risking. The financing of renewable energy projects sheds light on these processes and shows which new dependencies and changed power structures accompany the growing importance of private financing and public-private partnerships in development finance, specifically at the energy/development nexus. This paper is thus dedicated to current developments in the field of renewable energy financing, using the Zambian energy transition as an example. It examines the implementation of two transnationally orchestrated renewable energy projects (scaling solar and GETFiT) against the theoretical background of financialisation and, in particular, the subordinate financialisation strand, as well as postcolonial statehood. On the one hand, the article shows how the rapid financing and implementation of renewable energy projects can succeed with a market-based risk mitigation strategy involving international institutions and investors. However, on the other hand, this process leads to the marginalisation of Zambian companies and thus impedes a possible industrialisation process and the associated creation of jobs. In addition, Zambia becomes increasingly dependent on international investors, limiting its space for political manoeuvre. Keywords: SDG, Zambia, energy transition, subordinate financialisation, de-risking, postcolonial statehood ----- Bibliographie: Elsner, Carsten/Muller, Franziska/Neumann, Manuel/Claar, Simone: Finanzialisierung und „de-risking“ in Sambias Energiewende: Perspektiven fur nachhaltige Entwicklung?, PERIPHERIE – Politik • Okonomie • Kultur, Nr. 162+163 (2-2021), S. 275-297. https://doi.org/10.3224/peripherie.v41i2-3.06 ----- Open-Access-Lizenz: Dieser Beitrag ist ab dem 25.10.2021 im Open Access unter der Creative-Commons-Lizenz CC BY 4.0 (Namensnennung 4.0 International) verfugbar. Weitere Informationen zur Lizenz und den Nutzungsbedingungen finden Sie hier .

Zambia's social policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic is unfolding against a background of severe financial challenges, a squeezed social sector and limited state capacity. There are also concerns about the upcoming general election in August 2021, which is already beginning to shape policy and spending decisions. Much of Zambia’s social policy response has focused on the formal sector, despite the country’s large informal sector, high unemployment rate and food insecurity across urban and rural areas. A Covid-19 emergency cash transfer (ECT) has been the most significant social policy intervention to help the poorest households to cope with the effects of the pandemic. However, this programme has been largely driven and funded by international donors, while the government has increased payments to agricultural subsidies and empowerment funds. Claims that the ruling party is using the ECT for election rigging suggests that there is some political interest in this scheme, but other more powerful constituencies - particularly farmers and young people - continue to be prioritised. This reflects the political dynamics of Zambia's social protection response more broadly, with domestic incentives shaping the level of government support and funding directed at various programmes.

Aus theoretischer und empirischer Sicht ist zu diskutieren, ob die Genossenschaften positive Auswirkungen für ihre Mitglieder haben. Das Forschungsziel dieser Dissertation ist die Erklärung und Bewertung der Auswirkungen, die landwirtschaftliche Genossenschaften auf ihre Mitglieder in diesen Kontexten haben. Die Leitfragen lauten: (1) welches sind die sozioökonomischen Merkmale der Landwirte, die Mitglieder von Genossenschaften sind? und (2) welche spezifischen Auswirkungen haben landwirtschaftliche Genossenschaften auf ihre Mitglieder? Die Fragen werden in einer systematischen Literaturarbeit und drei empirischen Artikeln behandelt. Die systematische Literaturrecherche zeigt die empirischen Belege für positive Effekte von Genossenschaften finden sich in den Kategorien Zugang zu und Nutzung von landwirtschaftlichen Betriebsmitteln, Einkommen, Preise sowie Status und Entscheidungsmacht von Frauen. Im zweiten und dritten Artikel werden die Eigenschaften der Mitglieder und Preiswirkungen von Genossenschaften im argentinischen Wein- und Milchsektor untersucht. Landwirte, die an Genossenschaften verkaufen, erhalten in den untersuchten Fällen niedrigere Preise für ihre Produkte als Landwirte, die an anlegerorientierte Unternehmen verkaufen. Das vierte Papier analysiert Mechanismen, die zur Inklusion benachteiligter Haushalte in sambischen Maisgenossenschaften beitragen. Inklusion entwickelt sich in Genossenschaften, die Engagement zeigen und entweder vulnerable Mitglieder mit Finanzdienstleistungen versorgen, soziale Identität fördern oder benachteiligte Mitglieder dafür entschädigen, dass sie keinen Zugang zu subventionierten Betriebsmitteln haben. Die Gesamtergebnisse zeigen, dass Genossenschaften im Allgemeinen mit den am stärksten benachteiligten Landwirten zusammenarbeiten. Sie erzielen verschiedene positive Wirkungen für ihre Mitglieder. Dennoch gibt es auch einen relevanten Anteil von Fällen, in denen es nicht genügend empirische Belege für ihre Auswirkungen gibt., From both theoretical and empirical perspectives, whether cooperatives provide their members with benefits remains open to debate. The research objective of this thesis is to explain and assess the effects agricultural cooperatives have on their members in developing contexts. The guiding questions are: (1) what are the socio-economic characteristics of farmers who participate in cooperatives? and (2) what are the specific effects of agricultural cooperatives on their farmer members? The questions are addressed in a systematic literature review and three empirical papers. The systematic literature review finds that what is known about cooperatives is based upon a very limited set of cases. The most conclusive evidence of positive effects corresponds to the categories access to and use of inputs, income, prices and women’s status and agency. The Paper Two and Three explore member characteristics and price effects of cooperatives and Investor-Oriented Firms in the Argentinean non-varietal wine and dairy sector, respectively. Farmers selling to cooperatives receive lower prices than farmers selling to Investor-Oriented Firms in the studied cases. Since cooperative members differ from other farmers in terms of size, assets and the cost of accessing the market, it can be concluded that cooperatives deal with more disadvantaged farmers at the expense of lower prices. The Paper Four analyses the mechanisms that contribute towards inclusion of disadvantaged households in Zambian maize cooperatives. Inclusion develops in cooperatives that show commitment and either provide financial services to vulnerable members, promote social identities or compensate disadvantaged members for not being able to access subsidised inputs. The overall results show that cooperatives generally work with the most disadvantaged farmers. They create multiple positive effects for their members. However, there is also a meaningful share of cases with a lack of sufficient evidence of effects.

Background: Despite increased enrolments at primary schools in Zambia, more than half of the children in Grades 1–4 are unable to meet the required minimum standards for literacy. Aim: The study set out to examine the effects of using a phone-based mobile literacy game (Graphogame) to improve literacy skills in children and adults in rural family settings. Setting: The study was conducted in the Katete District, a rural town in the eastern province of Zambia. Methods: Participants were 73 Grade 2 learners (52% boys, mean age 9 years and 48% girls, mean age 10 years) and 37 parents (mean age 36 years). Three literacy tests, measuring letter-sound identification, phonological awareness, spelling competence and word recognition, were administered to both the children and parents. Parents also reported on their level of education, familiarity with smart phone use, availability of home reading materials and home literacy activities. Results: The findings showed that children who were exposed to the Graphogame performed better than the control group on all literacy measures. Furthermore, parent’s performance on the tests improved after the intervention. Conclusion: The findings suggest that technology can improve literacy skills in both children and adults in rural areas of Zambia. peerReviewed

This document presents the preliminary findings from the quantitative data generation and analysisconducted as part of the project “Financial decision-making, gender and social norms in Zambia”.Using a series of specially designed behavioural experiments,we generated an extensive set of insightsinto the normative environment within which spouses in Eastern Province, Zambia, make decisionsabout individual money holding and saving. Here are some of those insights. Spouses in EasternProvince, Zambia, are willing to compromise household-level earnings in order to maintain individualcontrol over money. Wives, but not husbands, are more likely to compromise household-levelearnings in order tomaintain individual control overmoney, when they can keep thatmoney and theiractions hidden from their spouses. Individually-held behavioural prescriptions, i.e., the “shoulds” and“oughts” that individuals have in mind and reference as guides for their own behaviour and asbenchmarks against which to evaluate others’ behaviour, inform decision-making about maintainingindividual control over money at a cost to the household. Further, when individuals know that theirspouses will find out about their descisions regarding maintaining individual control over money (ornot) at a cost to the household, the individuals take their spouses’ opinions about what they shoulddo into account, i.e., they compromise. There is strong but not unequivocal evidence pointing to theexistence of a social norm, i.e., a “should” or “ought” that is collectively held and enforced bymembers of a community, forbidding saving in secret from one’s spouse, with the secrecy not thesaving being the problem. Assuming it exists, this social norm forbidding saving in secret from one’sspouse applies to both husbands and wives, and this is acknowledged by both husbands and wives.However, the extent to which violations of this norm are tolerated depends on who is doing theviolating and who the evaluating. In patrilineal communities (as compared to matrilinealcommunities), both husbands and wives are especially intolerant of secret saving by husbands and inboth patrilineal and matrilineal communities, wives are less tolerant than husbands of secret savingby husbands and more tolerant than husbands of secret saving by wives. This relative tolerance ofsecret saving by wives notwithstanding, just under one in three wives and one in six husbands thinkthat a man is justified in beating his wife if he discovers that she is saving in an e-wallet or has joineda savings group without his knowledge and, as grounds for wife beating, saving in secret is on a parwith neglecting the children, visiting friends or family in secret and refusing to have sex. For furtherinsights, see the main text of the report.

The article is the publication of an ash-pan discovered almost three decades ago in the southeast part of the underground burial site of the Mount of Giants (the southern outskirts of Pionersky). This ash-pan, as well as a number of plots in eight other Sambian burial grounds, contains the remains of kurs (a rite of the Aschenplatz-2 type) that appeared on the Amber Coast in the mid-11th century after the termination of contacts between the Prussians and the Scandinavians. This westward movement of inhabitants of the Lithuanian coast was accompanied by or preceded by the settlement of the Curonian Spit beside the Curonian Lagoon, and was largely due to the unwillingness of the Prussians (for cult reasons?) to engage in navigation and settle on the seashore. The Curonians took their place in northern Sambia.

In many countries around the world, civil society organizations are facing increasing restrictions that constrain their autonomy, capacity and/or freedom of action. While the general phenomenon of shrinking civic space and the adoption of legal restrictions in particular have become more widespread since the early 2000s, there are also cases in which governmental attempts to adopt restrictive NGO laws have been frustrated, aborted or, at least, significantly mitigated as a consequence of domestic and/or international resistance. This PRIF Report takes a look at four such cases (Azerbaijan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan and Zambia) and identifies conditions and dynamics that help understand successful resistance against legal civic space restrictions.

Diese Studie untersucht vergleichend die Beziehung zwischen ausländischen Direktinvestitionen (ADI) und inklusivem Wachstum in Sambia und Malawi. Unter Verwendung eines erweiterten neoklassischen Wachstumsmodells sowie von Daten für den Zeitraum von 1970 bis 2014 stellt die Studie fest, dass ADI einen positiven und kausalen Effekt auf das Wirtschaftswachstum in beiden Ländern haben, obwohl der Effekt für Malawi im Verhältnis zu Sambia größer ist. Unter Berücksichtigung der unvollkommen funktionierenden Arbeitsmärkte in beiden Ländern identifiziert die Studie die Schaffung von Arbeitsplätzen als den Hauptkanal, der die Geschwindigkeit und die Verteilung von ADI-induziertem Wachstum verbindet. Außerdem erhöhen ADI die Einkommensungleichheit in beiden Ländern. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass ausländische Direktinvestitionen in beiden Ländern nicht zu inklusivem Wachstum geführt haben, da sie Wirtschaftswachstum und Beschäftigung angekurbelt, aber die Einkommensungleichheit erhöht haben. This study comparatively investigates the relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI) and inclusive growth in Zambia and Malawi. By using an extended neoclassical growth model and data covering the period 1970-2014, the study finds that FDI has a positive and causal effect on economic growth in both countries even though the effect is larger for Malawi relative to Zambia. Furthermore, by taking into consideration imperfectly-functioning labor markets in both countries, the study identifies employment creation as the main channel linking the speed and distribution of FDI-induced economic growth. Also, FDI is found to increase the level of income inequality in both countries. This suggests that FDI has not led to inclusive growth in both countries since despite boosting economic growth and employment, but it has increased the level of income inequality.