I och med ett ökat intresse för entreprenörskap samt den allt svårare situationen på arbetsmarknaden för invandrare väcktes under 1990-talet ett stort intresse i Sverige för invandrarföretagande. Företag som drivs av personer med utländsk härkomst har blivit en allt vanligare del av marknaden. Denna grupp av företagare har kommit att bidra med nya affärsidéer samt ny kompetens på marknaden.Det framkommer i flera utredningar och rapporter att många invandrare finner det svårt att få fäste på den svenska marknaden på grund av bland annat språkliga brister och begränsade kunskaper inom det regelverk som styr företagandet i Sverige. Vår studie fokuserar på att undersöka invandrarföretagares position på den svenska marknaden. Syftet har även varit att ta reda på drivkrafterna bakom valet att starta eget samt vilka tillväxtstrategier invandrarföretagen använder sig av. Vi har genomfört sju kvalitativa intervjuer med utvalda respondenter för att få en uppfattning om hur invandrare upplever det egna företagandet i Sverige. De kvalitativa intervjuerna har sammanställts för att sedan analyseras med hjälp av våra utvalda teorier som bland annat inkluderar Saras Sarasvathys berömda teori om causation och effectuation. I resultatet som vi har kommit fram till presenteras bland annat att det har skett en förändring sedan 1990-talet och att invandrare inte längre finner den utländska bakgrunden som problematisk, för den egna företagsstarten. Drivkrafterna bakom valet att starta eget beror till stor del på förverkligandet av sina egna idéer. Vi har även kunnat konstatera att invandrarnas bakgrund inte har någon påverkan på deras tillväxtpotential utan det är istället den entreprenöriella förmågan som är en betydande faktor. / Program: Civilekonomprogrammet

This essay examines sanitation workers who work with solid waste management and analyses their ability to create a sustainable livelihood based on livelihood assets and strategies. The study was undertaken in Babati, Tanzania and a qualitative method was applied, consisting of interviews and observations. The main findings were that sanitation workers employed four livelihood strategies, however, only two of these were sustainable and contributed towards a positive livelihood outcome. Multiple stresses were identified, such as low wages, inability to save money, unsafe work conditions, exposure to bacteria and other contaminants and no access to social services. Shocks were identified as work-related injuries resulting in extended time off work, wages being paid out late and sudden illness. This made the sanitation workers terms of employment in Babati almost equivalent to that of waste workers and waste pickers in the informal sector, despite being employed by the local government authorities. As a result, the workers were not able to attain a sustainable livelihood and the livelihood outcome appear to be a vicious cycle of debt and vulnerability. A key characteristic for this study is its examination of Tanzania’s political context and institutional framework as important factors that affect the sanitation workers’ resource base and strategies as well as their exposure to vulnerabilities.

<p>In many ‘Third World’ societies tourism is seen as a force for economic development and socie-tal change. Employment in tourism has increased, new destinations have been drawn into tour-ism circuits, and many ‘Third World’ governments have adopted ‘pro-poor’ tourism policies as part of their poverty reduction strategies. However, the tourism sector appears to be particularly volatile and can be subject to dramatic fluctuations, both in terms of volumes and tourists’ des-tination choices, which means that people working in tourism are exposed to globalising forces and preferences far beyond their control.</p><p>The aim of this study is to explore the contents and meanings of work within tourism as narrated by formal and informal tourism workers in an urban backpacker enclave in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The study is concerned with the ‘receiving end’ of international tourism, and specifi-cally with the experiences of people who make their livelihoods within the low-budget tourism sector, in which ‘Western’ backpackers are key actors.</p><p>In this study the tourism phenomenon is seen from the context of global asymmetrical power relations, but social relations at the local level in Yogyakarta city are given centre stage. The social relations that constitute the Sosrowijayan area as a place are complex. While back-packers come to Sosrowijayan in search of cheap tourism facilities, the general public in Yogya-karta construct the area as the centre of prostitution in the city. However, the inhabitants of Sosrowijayan draw boundaries between people and places in very refined ways.</p><p>These boundaries are gendered in the sense that above all female sex workers are blamed for the negative perceptions of the area. They are constructed as ‘outsiders’ because of their ‘deviant’ lifestyle and ‘choice’ of occupation (social class) and because they are said to be migrants from other areas in Indonesia. In Sosrowijayan boundary constructions also take place between male tourism workers who claim allegiance to different groups and categories within their profession or livelihood niche. They make distinctions between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’; the ‘insiders’ are born in the area, while the ‘outsiders’ are narrated as being from other parts of the city, or the country, and/or engage in sexual relations with Western tourists.</p><p>The study shows that relations of class, gender, and colonial and/or ‘race’ stereotypes come into play in encounters between tourists and tourist workers. Tourism workers consider themselves to be ‘providers of fun’ which means that they are supposed to meet the needs of the tourists, whatever those needs might be, such as material or sexual. In this relationship the Indonesian tourism workers might be interpreted as the racialised service class that make the backpacker-consumer possible. The study also shows that tourism workers in Sosrowijayan are not only immobile in comparison to the highly mobile backpackers from whom they earn their livelihoods, but also that they are at the receiving end of a type of mobility which is initiated and performed far beyond their control.</p>

<p>The aim of this dissertation is to explore how and under what conditions life strategies of young men and women unfold in the towns of Masasi in southern Tanzania and Montepuez in northern Mozambique. These towns are located in regions which in their national contexts are perceived as peripheral and rural. The thesis examines the life strategies of youth, with particular emphasis on livelihood, education and mobility. How the life strategies can be related to the representations of young people in national and local discourses, and how global processes are involved in young people’s daily lives are also examined. The fieldwork was conducted between 2002 and 2004 and the main part of the empirical material consists of structured and semi-structured interviews.</p><p>Many young people are under substantial pressure to support themselves and their families, but a conflict exists between the expectations on youth to contribute to the household economy and their possibilities to do so. There is also a contradiction between being needed for labour and being trusted with responsibilities. Harsh economic conditions, combined with a weak position in terms of power, increase the vulnerability of young people in these places.</p><p>Global processes influence young people’s lives, primarily expressed through changed patterns of consumption. However, there is a feeling of exclusion from globalisation in terms of work. Self-employment is promoted as a solution to poverty by the government and by various organisations, but young people contest this discourse and demand ‘real’ employment for themselves and for their children. Young people’s mobility experiences are mainly local due to a local social network and limited resources. Those with larger resources tend to be more mobile and the more privileged youth aspire to move to the larger cities or abroad. Agriculture is a complementary livelihood strategy, which implies that the rural economy still has an important function as a safety net within the urban landscape.</p>

Among the ever-growing studies on globalization and economic development, research studies focused on specific women's issues are few and far between. An increasing concentration of immigrant women in the ethnic markets across the United States has raised interest into the motivation and rationality behind these women in choosing this entrepreneurial niche as a main venue to enter the labor market in the North American economy. The implications of this phenomenon, both for the women involved and for the local economy, need to be ascertained and analyzed. This dissertation is a case study that uses the ethnographic method and several ethnographic techniques, such as archival research, focus groups, participant observation, and in-depth interviews, as means of exploring this research problem. The main goal of this study is to investigate the socio-economic relationship between immigrant women from Latin America and the Caribbean and The Redland Harvest Market Village in South Dade County, Florida. It seeks to understand why these immigrant women choose this ethnic market as a venue to enter the local labor market. This study examines the impact upon these women's livelihoods caused by their participation in the ethnic market as well as the ethnic market itself as a modifier of both immigrant women's relations of class, ethnicity and gender; and of the local economy framed within the Cuban economic enclave. This case study is guided by the following research questions. Do immigrant women improve their socio-economic status via incorporation into the ethnic market? Do immigrant women increase their sense of "empowerment" and "well-being" via incorporation into the ethnic market? Employing primary data, including 36 in-depth interviews of immigrant women working in The Redland Harvest Market Village in South Dade County, Florida, this case study identifies a variety of socio-economic elements that allowed for the separation of the findings into two conclusion sets: analytical and theoretical. Within the analytical conclusions, this case study points out several socio-economic variables. Immigrant women's livelihood is identified as the unit of analysis and its components are the main independent variables. Income is identified as the main dependent variable to modify the independent variables. At The Redland Harvest Market Village, immigrant women participate under certain conditions that limit their production value. Only Cash transactions and the low market value of the commodities offered in this ethnic market, yield a very limited income that constrains these women to a marginal and alternative subdivision of the informal sector within the local economy. However, this participation allows them to acquire some retailing skills useful in future entrepreneur ventures. In their private sphere, these women experience a perceivable gain in decision-making power within their family structure, despite obtaining limited financial independence. Within the theoretical conclusions, this study reveals similar levels of variation consistent with previous studies of female immigrants groups in the U.S. These women's socio-economic livelihood categories of ethnicity, class, educational level, labor skills and family structure hold patterns of similitude with women involved in zones of mass production in Southeast Asia and those working in the Maquiladora model of mass production on the U.S. Mexican border. The benefits obtained by these women from their participation in The Redland Harvest Market Village can be measured in terms of their gains in the degree of financial independence, decision-making, spatial mobility, and voice. The process of empowerment is completed through the creation of agency in these women livelihoods; an inventory of their capabilities or potentialities to live their life; and the actual funtionings or achievements of their capabilities. The sense of well-being and empowerment achieved through the introduction of a socio-economic modifier, such as earned income, is noticeable in the change in these women's disposition toward their role as individuals, wives, and mothers living within the community.

<p>The issue of women&rsquo / s access to land is a developmental issue. From a fundamental research view point, this study aims to explore the circumstances in which women access land in South Africa. The study examines the inequalities that may arise in the context of land access, land acquisition / land use, activities taking place on land and closely related issues focusing specifically on women in general, and women headed households in particular. The study is based on demographic characteristics such as age, gender, marital status, occupational groups, education, province of residence and ethnic groups. Bringing together the demographic variables and land related variables, the study captures the structural changes between 2004 and 2007. Using 2004 and 2007 GHS secondary data requested from Statistics South Africa, cross tabulation and bivariate statistical analysis by means of SPSS software was performed. The results obtained indicate that the inequality against women&rsquo / s access to land still persists. Some women have access to land for agricultural purpose but few own it. The findings suggest that a number of factors including age, place of residence, marital status, ethnic group, literacy, educational level, of women are associated with the ability of women to access and acquire land. The sustainable livelihood framework is a theory that guided this study. Diversification is commonly used to prevent time of risks and shocks. In general, the study shows that the proportion of women who had access to land was 16% in 2004. This figure dropped to 14% in 2007.</p>

The aim of this dissertation is to explore how and under what conditions life strategies of young men and women unfold in the towns of Masasi in southern Tanzania and Montepuez in northern Mozambique. These towns are located in regions which in their national contexts are perceived as peripheral and rural. The thesis examines the life strategies of youth, with particular emphasis on livelihood, education and mobility. How the life strategies can be related to the representations of young people in national and local discourses, and how global processes are involved in young people’s daily lives are also examined. The fieldwork was conducted between 2002 and 2004 and the main part of the empirical material consists of structured and semi-structured interviews. Many young people are under substantial pressure to support themselves and their families, but a conflict exists between the expectations on youth to contribute to the household economy and their possibilities to do so. There is also a contradiction between being needed for labour and being trusted with responsibilities. Harsh economic conditions, combined with a weak position in terms of power, increase the vulnerability of young people in these places. Global processes influence young people’s lives, primarily expressed through changed patterns of consumption. However, there is a feeling of exclusion from globalisation in terms of work. Self-employment is promoted as a solution to poverty by the government and by various organisations, but young people contest this discourse and demand ‘real’ employment for themselves and for their children. Young people’s mobility experiences are mainly local due to a local social network and limited resources. Those with larger resources tend to be more mobile and the more privileged youth aspire to move to the larger cities or abroad. Agriculture is a complementary livelihood strategy, which implies that the rural economy still has an important function as a safety net within the urban landscape.

In many ‘Third World’ societies tourism is seen as a force for economic development and socie-tal change. Employment in tourism has increased, new destinations have been drawn into tour-ism circuits, and many ‘Third World’ governments have adopted ‘pro-poor’ tourism policies as part of their poverty reduction strategies. However, the tourism sector appears to be particularly volatile and can be subject to dramatic fluctuations, both in terms of volumes and tourists’ des-tination choices, which means that people working in tourism are exposed to globalising forces and preferences far beyond their control. The aim of this study is to explore the contents and meanings of work within tourism as narrated by formal and informal tourism workers in an urban backpacker enclave in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The study is concerned with the ‘receiving end’ of international tourism, and specifi-cally with the experiences of people who make their livelihoods within the low-budget tourism sector, in which ‘Western’ backpackers are key actors. In this study the tourism phenomenon is seen from the context of global asymmetrical power relations, but social relations at the local level in Yogyakarta city are given centre stage. The social relations that constitute the Sosrowijayan area as a place are complex. While back-packers come to Sosrowijayan in search of cheap tourism facilities, the general public in Yogya-karta construct the area as the centre of prostitution in the city. However, the inhabitants of Sosrowijayan draw boundaries between people and places in very refined ways. These boundaries are gendered in the sense that above all female sex workers are blamed for the negative perceptions of the area. They are constructed as ‘outsiders’ because of their ‘deviant’ lifestyle and ‘choice’ of occupation (social class) and because they are said to be migrants from other areas in Indonesia. In Sosrowijayan boundary constructions also take place between male tourism workers who claim allegiance to different groups and categories within their profession or livelihood niche. They make distinctions between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’; the ‘insiders’ are born in the area, while the ‘outsiders’ are narrated as being from other parts of the city, or the country, and/or engage in sexual relations with Western tourists. The study shows that relations of class, gender, and colonial and/or ‘race’ stereotypes come into play in encounters between tourists and tourist workers. Tourism workers consider themselves to be ‘providers of fun’ which means that they are supposed to meet the needs of the tourists, whatever those needs might be, such as material or sexual. In this relationship the Indonesian tourism workers might be interpreted as the racialised service class that make the backpacker-consumer possible. The study also shows that tourism workers in Sosrowijayan are not only immobile in comparison to the highly mobile backpackers from whom they earn their livelihoods, but also that they are at the receiving end of a type of mobility which is initiated and performed far beyond their control.

Ziele der Arbeit sind die Bestimmung der dominanten Landnutzungsarten im Untersuchungsgebiet von Edd Al Fursan (Sudan) sowie die Kartierung und Analyse der Veränderungen der Landnutzung im Zeitraum 1972 bis 2008 mit Hilfe von multi-temporalen Satellitenbildern (Landsat MSS, TM und ETM sowie Terra ASTER). Des weiteren erfolgt eine Evaluierung des Einflusses von Veränderungen der Landnutzung auf die Lebensbedingungen der ländlichen Bevölkerung in Hinblick auf die Verfügbarkeit von Ressourcen mit Hilfe von quantitativen Untersuchungsmethoden. Um diese Aussagen treffen zu können, werden drei Methoden der Bestimmung von Veränderungen der Landnutzung angewandt, und zwar Post Classification Comparison (PCC), Change Vector Analysis (CVA) basierend auf Tasseled Cap Transformation (TCT) sowie Iteratively Reweighted Multivariate Alteration Detection (IR-MAD) mittels Maximum Autocorrelation Factor (MAF). Neben den fernerkundlichen Untersuchungen wurde eine sozio-ökonomische Feldstudie durchgeführt, die vorstrukturierte Fragenkataloge, Interviews und Gruppendiskussionen mit Personen in regionalen und lokalen Schlüsselpositionen und mit älteren Menschen durchgeführt. Fünf Klassen der Landnutzung und Landbedeckung ergeben sich aus einer Klassifikation der Satellitenbilder mit der Methode der größten Wahrscheinlichkeit (Maximum Likelihood), explizit die Klassen Grasland, Waldland, Brachland, bebautes und landwirtschaftlich nicht genutztes Land. Die Klassifikation schafft eine genaue Grundlage für die Kartierung, Quantifizierung und Analyse der Änderungen. Die Gesamtgenauigkeit der Flächenermittlung beträgt 83% für die Jahre 1972 und 1984, 85% für 1989, 87% für 1999 und 92% für 2008. Die Untersuchungen zeigen, dass die Post Classification Comparison (PCC) eine vollinhaltlich geeignete und leicht anzuwendende Methode der Flächenanalyse darstellt. Change Vector Analysis (CVA) beruhend auf Tasseled Cap Transformation (TCT) wird ebenfalls für die Kartierung und Bestimmung von Landnutzungsänderungen verwendet. Durch TCT wird der spektrale Bildinhalt in die Komponenten Greeness und Brightness transformiert sowie in dem dadurch neu definierten Koordinatensystem die CVA durchgeführt. Die Ergebnisse in Form von Vektoren der Veränderung mit messbarer Richtung und messbarem Ausmass der Flächendynamik beweisen, dass die Methode für die Kartierung von Vegetationsbedeckung und insbesondere von Entwaldung und Wiederbewaldung geeignet ist. Durch die Anwendung der Multivariate Alteration Detection (MAD) in Kombination mit dem Maximum Autocorrelation Factor (MAF) werden Veränderungen der Landnutzungsklassen während des betrachteten Zeitraumes visualisiert. Die Ergebnisse beweisen, dass die MAD für die Veränderungsanalyse in multi-spektralen Satellitenbildern sehr gut geeignet ist. Darüber hinaus wird nachgewiesen, dass die Kombination mit dem MAF die Ergebnisse der MAD entscheidend verbessern kann, da Rauschen und geringfügige Änderungen unterdrückt und signifikante Änderungen klarer herausgestellt und damit besser interpretierbar werden. Um die Ursachen für die Veränderungen der Landnutzung und den Einfluss dieser Änderungen auf die Lebensbedingungen der ländlichen Bevölkerung im Projektgebiet zu identifizieren, wurde eine Befragung mittels vorstrukturiertem Fragenkatalog, Interviews und Gruppengesprächen mit 100 GesprächspartnerInnen im Alter zwischen 42 und 65 Jahren in vier nach dem Zufallsprinizip ausgewählten Dörfern ausgeführt. Die Auswertung der sozio-ökonomischen Daten erlaubt die Extraktion der Faktoren, die Landnutzung und deren Änderung beeinflussen, und die zu bestimmten Auswirkungen dieser Änderungen auf die Lebensbedingungen in den Dörfern in Hinsicht auf die Verfügbarkeit von Natur-Ressourcen führen. Die Ergebnisse der Forschungsarbeiten zeigen, dass Fernerkundung und sozio-ökonomische Datenanalyse effizient verknüpft werden können, um anthropogene Einflüsse auf Art und Dynamik von Landnutzung sichtbar zu machen. In bezug auf die gegenständliche Zeitreihe wird durch die Untersuchungen bewiesen, dass zunehmende Bevölkerungszahlen im Gebiet von Edd Al-Fursan in direktem Wirkungszusammenhang mit Veränderungen der Landnutzung stehen.

This Master thesis is the result of a study in which we looked at people's livelihoods - through the sustainable rural livelihoods analytical framework - from a coordination failure perspective. During three weeks spent in the district of Ribáuè, Mozambique, enabled us to conduct interviews with people from many different social categories and understand the conditions in which small-scale farmers live. The paper tackles issues related to development in general and governmental intervention and contributes to the debate about the type of growth which is on-going in Mozambique. What are the coordination failures that impact people's livelihoods in Mozambique, a country where strong economic growth does not seem to help the poorest to get out of poverty. / The Mozambican economy is characterised by a high level of employment in the agricultural sector. Most farmers are small-scale and farm for subsistence. As development at global level will continue to pressure these farmers to increase their productivity, the question is to know how this will affect the small-scale farmers’ capacity to improve their livelihoods. The economy of the African continent is predicted to rise substantially and countries like Mozambiquehave been praised for their staggering economic growth. However despite growth, the situation remains unchanged for many small-scale farmers. The intention of this research is then to look into the conditions in which small-scale agricultural activities take place. This study was carried out is the district of Ribáuè, located in the northern provinceof Nampula, Mozambique and adopts an abductive approach as it investigates coordination failures around farming activities. In other words, aspects concerning agricultural activities that are difficult to observe, will be included. The starting point for this argument is that it is impossible to obtain sustainable development (i.e. including small-scale farmers) without taking a holistic approach. Through this study, it becomes clear that small-scale farmers face a variety of obstacles from which patterns can be extracted. Strong emphasis is put on the importance of surrounding factors such as infrastructures, access to credit, wage work opportunities, access to inputs, extension services, and market access.  All these factors impact people’s livelihoods; and by investing in all of them in a coordinated way, it creates synergetic effects and boosts the potential for further development of each feature. This inter-connectivity becomes clear when considering that wage work opportunities are created when investments are made in the rehabilitation of infrastructures or the expansion of extension services. Furthermore, market access increases when the connectivity of remote farmers is improved and their livelihoods develop when their surplus can be sold. The amount of surplus farmers have is in turn affected by their financial capital, access to inputs, and access to extension services. Singling out one of these features as more important than the others risks missing the point and hindering sustainable development. This calls for big versatile government investments, in the form of big push policies, to ensure that these areas inter-connect and to create the highest possible levels of synergy.