Rapid and sustainable economic growth and progressive social and spatial development through industrial development, has been a persistent challenge for the Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). A commonly held "solution" to this challenge has been to provide access of manufactured goods from the SSA-region to the dynamic markets of the affluent North. This perceived wisdom led to the passing of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) in 2000 by the 200th Congress of the United States of America. In this exploratory study, the experience of Lesotho with AGOA, with specific reference to the economic and spatial development outcomes of the Act in the country, is explored. The findings of the study reveal that the larger settlements where the AGOA-factories are located have shown little improvement, neither from an economic, nor from a spatial perspective. The same applied to villages to which AGOA factory workers sent their remittances. This was due to the meagreness of the remittances a function of the low wages paid in the factories and the resulting limited disposable income to support small-scale businesses in these villages. While AGOA did result in the creation of tens of thousands of job opportunities for unskilled and semi-skilled Basotho youth, it did not provide them with portable skills for use after leaving the factory floor. AGOA was also not found to have motivated the youth or local entrepreneurs to tap into the manufacturing sector. On the spatial development side, a number of landlords in the larger settlements subdivided their land and built residential rental units for the factory workers. Some landlords also sold their land illegally and informally, resulting in haphazard land development. The research findings suggest that, while "trade and development boosting tools", like AGOA, may be useful in providing term-based job opportunities for unskilled workforce, they will most likely not have as significant a positive impact on (1) the local economy, (2) the creation of an indigenous industrial class, or (3) the building of sustainable human settlements. Other supporting instruments, in addition to tools such as AGOA, will need to be developed locally, to achieve these goals. In addition to the research findings providing an insight into the experience of Lesotho with AGOA, they should also be of assistance to scholars and policy-makers working on the development of trade-driven tools in support of struggling regions. / Dissertation (MTRP)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Town and Regional Planning / MTRP / Unrestricted

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, February 2015. / Due to its geographical location, poor economic situation and geological features that are characterised by mostly mountainous terrain, Lesotho is vulnerable to hazardous events associated with climate, such as drought, floods, heavy snow, and severe frost. This research explores factors underlying spatial vulnerability of places to natural hazards in south-western Lesotho. Prior vulnerability assessments in Lesotho have investigated vulnerability in terms of identifying populations that are most food insecure and vulnerable to hunger. By broadening the scope of vulnerability to include biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics, the study emphasises the concept of place vulnerability as a foundation for understanding Lesotho’s vulnerability to natural hazards. Spatial orientation of vulnerability within a geographical area provides an easy way for planners and decision makers to identify areas that may require additional resources in order to prepare for disasters. To date, no quantitatively based vulnerability assessment has been undertaken in Lesotho, so this study is one of the first to assess place vulnerability to natural hazards in Lesotho using GIS and it emphasise the role of geography of a place.