The private sector and urban housing production process in Nigeria: A study of small-scale landlords in Abuja

The private production system continues to supply the majority of housing to the population of Third World cities. In Nigeria, statistics show that the bulk of urban housing units is supplied for rent by small-scale private landlords. This paper examines the process of housing production among this category of producers using, as a case study, the peripheral settlements of Abuja, Nigeria's new capital city. A predominance of small-size sole proprietorships is established among the small-scale house building firms, mostly for reasons of maintaining operational flexibility and cost saving. It is also found that the greatest attraction of investing in rental housing by small entrepreneurs is the hedge it provides against inflation and the stability and permanence it introduces into the capital base of economic pursuits. A strong influence of traditional chiefs in land supply is revealed, together with the emergence of a commercialised land market, resulting in speculation and contributing to rising land prices. It is shown that building materials are the most problematic of the key building components to the housing production process. It is argued that small building firms would make more profit if they had access to formal sector working capital and that the practice of using casual workers in project execution has the advantage of enabling firms to survive periods of job drought, but does not encourage growth of the firms, apprenticeship training and skills development in the house construction industry. It is concluded that what is needed to enhance the operation of this category of producers is for government to accept an enabling role that will seek to minimise the financial burden and risks to which they are currently exposed.     

Social capital of entrepreneurs in a developing country: The effect of gender on access to and requests for resources

This paper addresses gender differences in the social capital of entrepreneurs in a developing country. Social networks are often an important asset for accessing resources; however, they may also be a liability in developing countries, since entrepreneurs are often expected to support their contacts. Using a recent survey among urban and rural Ugandan entrepreneurs, we focus on the financial resources that entrepreneurs can obtain from their contacts on the one hand, and requests for financial support made to the entrepreneurs from these contacts on the other hand. Our results show that there are gender differences associated with access to, and requests for, financial resources.     

Framing home-care policy: A case study of reforms in a Canadian jurisdiction

Much of the literature on home-care services reform—an issue in the spotlight of policy debate across many ‘aging’ industrialized countries—has focused on the organizational, financial and clinical aspects of service provision. Less attention, however, has been paid to how particular issues and reform alternatives gain momentum in a given context; in particular to how a selective range of policy initiatives reach government's agenda and get incorporated into mainstream policy-making. This article seeks to advance our understanding of home-care policy by considering the influence of ideational factors on reform undertakings. More specifically, while concentrating on home-care policies in the province of Quebec, Canada, it examines how the organized perspectives and differing concerns of various stakeholders—i.e. their policy frames—appear to have shaped the form and content of policy. It is argued that framing provides a cogent and insightful means of understanding policy change and stasis in this area, most notably why managed competition or an all-out privatization of service delivery, as seen in other jurisdictions, has not been advocated by government in Québec.     

Colonial legacies, land policies and the millennium development goals: Lessons from Cameroon and Sierra Leone

This paper undertakes a comparative analysis of the land policies of Cameroon and Sierra Leone and arrives at the following conclusions: 1] the land policies of the two countries embody the politico-administrative philosophies of their erstwhile colonial master nations; 2] despite their marked differences, the policies share some features in common; and 3] land policies are critical in efforts to achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs). The analysis further shows that: 1] the land policy of Sierra appears better positioned than Cameroon’s to guarantee access to land for all as well as ensure environmental sustainability; and 2] Cameroon’s land policy appears to outperform Sierra Leone’s with respect to fulfilling the preconditions for eradicating extreme poverty and hunger by ensuring land tenure security, maintaining uniform land laws, and facilitating land markets.     

The Patient Transit Assistance Scheme: A case for social work advocacy!

Abstract

The Patient Transit Assistance Scheme is one of Queensland Health's initiatives designed to facilitate equity of access for Queensland residents to essential health care services. The purpose of the scheme is to help all Queenslanders, irrespective of where they live, to have access to specialist medical services. It provides direct financial assistance to patients and in some cases their carers, to facilitate access to specialist medical services irrespective of geographic location.

The findings of recent research conducted on social worker involvement with PTAS for patients diagnosed with leukaemia and associated haematological disorders will be used to argue that the problems in relation to the administration of this scheme require serious attention at the level of patient care and health policy.     

Policies supporting participation in leisure activities for children and youth with disabilities in Canada: from policy to play

Children with disabilities are at risk for lower participation in leisure. This study maps and analyzes disability-related leisure policies in Canada. Policy mapping and analysis were performed based on scope, social justice, disability models, and use of evidence. Few policies use scientific evidence, and their scope in supporting participation is often limited to organized sports, transportation, and financial incentives/exemptions. Few policies exist to support leisure promotion for children with disabilities. Action plans, benchmarking, and uptake measurement are rarely identified. Research-based evidence can be used to support socially-just policies to promote participation in leisure. Families should be able to identify mechanisms to guarantee access to their rights. Researchers, service providers, and families can use this framework of policy mapping and analysis to identify gaps where evidence can support policy development, to use these policies where services are needed, and to foster participation of children with disabilities in leisure.     

Physical planning within the framework of National Development Planning in Nigeria

Nigeria has had experience with 5 Development Plans. In each of these successive national and state development plans, mention is made of physical planning problems — especially the urbanisation problem in Nigeria — a problem compounded by the ever-increasing rate of rural to urban migration. In this paper, an attempt will be made to review the priority given to physical planning in each of the successive National Development Plans, to examine the constraints on effective physical planning in Nigeria, and to propose strategies that will ensure proper integration of physical planning with national development planning.     

E-government in China: deployment and driving forces of provincial government portals

Many countries expect e-government to increase the efficiency of public administration and revitalize government–citizen interaction. This paper reviews the existing research on e-government and expands it with a detailed examination of China, where e-government development is considered an important component of the national informatization strategy. To assess the status and driving factors of deployment, a detailed inventory of the e-government capacities of all Chinese provinces was created, allowing a more nuanced assessment than earlier studies. Although the data reveal that information delivery and basic interactional and communicative features dominate, the study also finds a range of advanced transactional and participatory services offered. Furthermore, despite strong guidance by the central government, distinct regional disparities are visible; these can be explained by differences in government spending on science and technology, economic resources, education, and urbanization rate.     

Participation in biodiversity conservation: Motivations and barriers of Australian landholders

Biodiversity conservation programs that appeal to landholders’ motivations and minimise their barriers to participation may result in both increased uptake rates and improved ecological outcomes. To understand their motivations and barriers to conserve biodiversity, qualitative interviews were conducted with 45 landholders who had participated in one of three different programs in Queensland, Australia. The results revealed that the landholders’ decisions to participate depended on the level of formal biodiversity protection offered by the program, potential changes to their property rights, personal benefits of participation, and the program objectives. Landholders’ motivations related to conservation, production, financial and experimental imperatives. Common barriers to participation were lost productivity, different interpretations of what constituted “conservation”, and limits to future development and land use options. Voluntary and economic policy instruments can be used to stimulate participation and overcome barriers, but must be applied with care to reduce the creation of perverse ecological outcomes, such as slippage and low additionality.     

论公共政策视角下城市规划的价值取向

城市规划具有公共政策的属性,实质上是一种公共政策,研究其价值取向,既是城市规划理论发展的应有之义,也是新时期我国城市发展的现实需要。在分析城市规划公共政策属性的基础上,结合我国城市规划向公共政策的转型,着重探讨了公共政策视角下城市规划的公共价值取向、民主参与取向、人本取向和空间正义取向。     

A Less Gendered Access to Land? The Impact of Tanzania's New Wave of Land Reform

Contemporary land reforms in sub‐Saharan Africa tend to be evaluated based on the state‐centric reforms of the past, which disadvantaged women. However, this article argues that the new‐wave of land reforms and their decentralised administration institutions and anti‐discriminatory legal frameworks may be different. Based on field research on the implementation of Tanzania's 1999 Land Acts, it identifies an institutional reconfiguration in which the formal institutions are gradually strengthened and the customary institutions slowly changed. This does not in itself pose a threat to women's access to land and some women, who are otherwise often perceived to be weak, are left better‐off. Nevertheless, access to land becomes socially more uneven.     

Broadening the Land Question in Food Sovereignty to Northern Settings: A Case Study of Occupy the Farm

Abstract

Land access is an accepted corollary to food sovereignty, long promoted by the transnational agrarian movement La Via Campesina (LVC). LVC's land access politics have evolved with increased incorporation of diverse perspectives, but remain largely focused on achieving ‘integral agrarian reform’ in the global South. Here, I take a case where food sovereignty activists (‘Occupy the Farm’ (OTF)) occupied land owned by a public university in California, the USA, in order to broaden food sovereignty's land access considerations beyond the South, and to analyze conditions where political actions (including occupations) can help achieve changes in land access regimes. The OTF action was successful in challenging cultural norms about property and achieving access, partly due to the occupation having foregrounded multiple appealing narratives that invited participation and wider support. These narratives included agroecology versus biotechnologies; community/public access versus privatization; participatory versus bureaucratic governance structure; and green space/food production versus urban development. The article tests the use of the ‘land sovereignty’ frame in expanding food sovereignty's land politics, to encompass land contestation contexts globally and deal with the particular conditions surrounding lands. The case indicates that land occupations in the North are potentially useful—but uncertain, and very context-dependent—tactics to promote land and food sovereignty.     

Class, Race and Residence in Black Johannesburg, 1923–1970

Abstract  This study examines the relationship between social class and residential differentiation in Johannesburg's African population on the eve of apartheid. During the high apartheid period, access by the African population to education, housing, jobs and even the right to live in the city bore little relationship to differences of social class. By contrast, in the 1940s and early 1950s, state policy on education, urbanisation and housing still differentiated the African population along the lines of social class. State control over housing for Africans was relatively unregulated, with the result that housing conditions varied tremendously by social class, ranging from squatter camps, rental accommodation in the form of slums and council housing, and even some respectable homes held in freehold title.     

Financialization,resistance, and the question of women’s land rights

The financialization of food and agricultural land has been a critical driver of the “land-grabbing” phenomenon in the post 2007–2008 period: the potential for land to be both a productive and financial asset has driven interest in long-term land rentals and sales. Scholars and activists have highlighted the negative effects of these trends for rural populations. International institutions have promoted the recognition of land rights as a means to secure land from seizure, ensure equal participation in land acquisitions, and enable low-income populations, including women, to access credit. At the same time, activists are promoting collective land rights, customary modes of land tenure and the rights of Indigenous peoples. For activists, land reform models that promote the collective rights of peoples to govern land are critical to resisting individualized land ownership models that encourage the alienation of land. This article reviews these rights-based frameworks using a critical feminist perspective and argues that both the institutionalist and activist approaches require more nuanced understandings of gender and difference in order to effect gender-equitable change. This article concludes by mapping new feminist research directions that consider land and resources within the context of local–global processes, the global economy, intersectionality and global rights-based discourses.     

The Role of Parents in Introducing Children to Financial Services: Evidence from Ghana-YouthSave

Financial capability—financial knowledge, skills, and access to financial services—may help smooth transitions to adulthood for youth and is affected by socialization experiences with parents and other family members. Among a sample of youth and their parents enrolled in the YouthSave experiment in Ghana (n?=?4,065), this study examined whether physical access to financial services and/or visiting banks with parents or other family members was associated with youth’s perceptions and understanding of financial institutions. We found a statistically significant association between visiting the bank with a parent or other family member and youth’s attitudes (β?=?1.45, p?<?0.001) and understanding of financial services (β?=?2.96, p?<?0.001), controlling for other factors like household income and assets. Conversely, physical access (distance, travel time) was not associated with financial services attitudes or understanding. Parents may play an important role in introducing their children to financial services. Practitioners and policy makers should consider ways to include parents in efforts to promote financial capability among youth.     

Do gender regimes matter? Gender differences in involvement in anti-austerity protests - a comparison of Spain,Sweden and the United Kingdom

ABSTRACT

Responses to the Great Recession are varied across welfare states and gendered in their consequences. Combining gender, social policy and social movement scholarship, this paper investigates how the differential policy responses to the Financial Crisis in three European countries shaped gender-differences in anti-austerity demonstrations. We compare the involvement and characteristics of women and men in anti-austerity protests using data collected at street demonstrations (2010–2012). We conduct cross-national multi-level analysis of demonstrators from countries representing different gender regimes (Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). Our results show that gender regimes have a significant impact on women’s and men’s involvement in anti-austerity protests. We thus make an important contribution to research on gender differences in participation in anti-austerity demonstrations post-Great Recession. Our comparison of women’s and men’s participation in anti-austerity street demonstrations suggests that at the country or regime level resources matter more than grievances, but that grievances matter at the individual level. This innovative paper links scholarship on gender regimes with research on protest participation. Resources and experiences of grievances are shaped by gender regimes which provide access to decision-making and social support. We reveal novel insights into the connection between gender regimes and demonstration participation.     

The Land Question in the Food Sovereignty Project

Abstract

This essay explores the changing landscape of food sovereignty politics in the shadow of the so-called ‘land grab’. While the food sovereignty movement emerged within a global agrarian crisis conjuncture triggered by northern dumping of foodstuffs, institutionalized in WTO trade rules, the twenty-first-century food, energy and financial crises intensify this crisis for the world's rural poor (inflating prices of staple foods and agri-inputs) deepening the process of dispossession. The circulation of food is compounded by global financial flows into enclosing land for industrial agriculture and/or speculation, challenging small producer rights across the world. Under these conditions, the terms of struggle for the food sovereignty movement are shifting towards a human rights politics on the ground as well as in global forums like the FAO's Committee on World Food Security. This includes in particular the need to develop a discursive politics to reframe what is at stake, namely the protection and support of a production model based on social co-operation, multi-functionality and ecologically restorative principles.     

The Association of Alternative Financial Services Usage and Financial Access: Evidence from the National Financial Capability Study

This study examined the association of financial access and alternative financial services (AFS) using a nationally representative sample from the 2012 National Financial Capability Study (N = 25,509). Structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationship between financial access and AFS usage. Ordinary least squares regression was used to estimate the relationship between banked status and the overall AFS usage as a latent variable while controlling for sociodemographic variables, financial education, financial knowledge, and home ownership. Results suggested that being unbanked was positively associated with AFS usage after controlling for other covariates. Financial education and knowledge, age, gender, marital status, education, household income, and homeownership were significantly associated with AFS usage. These findings have implications for public policy and programs that work with the unbanked.     

The Rapid Rise of Supermarkets?

A series of articles, many of them published in this journal, have charted the rapid spread of supermarkets in developing and middle‐income countries and forecast its continuation. In this article, the level of supermarket penetration (share of the retail food market) is modelled quantitatively on a cross‐section of 42 countries for which data could be obtained, representing all stages of development. GDP per capita, income distribution, urbanisation, female labour force participation and openness to inward foreign investment are all significant explanators. Projections to 2015 suggest significant but not explosive further penetration; increased openness and GDP growth are the most significant factors.