Lack of water access is an issue of global importance. The WHO and UNICEF’s Joint Monitoring Program estimated that in 2015 71% of the world’s population used a safely managed drinking water source and 89% of the world’s population used an improved water source within a 30-minute round trip of home. Madagascar’s national statistics lags far behind these global statistics with 54% of the population using improved water sources, 31% using unimproved water sources, and 16% with no service at all. This research studied water access in Madagascar with self-supply Pitcher Pumps attached on hand-driven tubewells. The term self-supply in this context refers to privately owned and constructed water sources that are not financially subsidized by governments or non-governmental organizations. Self-supply is typically seen in the form of private wells in rural areas of developed countries like the United States or in developing countries in the form of shallow wells or rain water harvesting. Self-supply Pitcher Pumps are common along the coast in Madagascar in areas where the first aquifer is shallow and in sandy soil. They are ubiquitous at the site of this study, the port city of Tamatave. People in Madagascar have benefited from increased access to affordable water because of Pitcher Pumps for decades, however, there are health risks associated with consuming the water due to lead and microbial contamination of the water. This study sought to improve microbial water quality of Malagasy Pitcher Pumps by testing two different types of well head protection: 1) a partially buried short 100-mm diameter PVC pipe collar placed around the rising main, and 2) a 50-cm diameter, circular concrete apron. The study was a mixed design experiment that allowed for between subject comparisons of wells over the same time period and for within subject comparisons of the same well sites with different types of well head protection. Wells were selected for the study that had a high risk of localized pathways of contamination and low risks of aquifer contamination relative to other wells in the area. Membrane filtration was used for microbial water quality measurements and detected a wide spectrum of bacteria grown at 37◦ C. In this study, data from 690 water samples of 44 wells (with and without well protection added) over a 9 months period was analyzed. Weak but statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) and marginally statistically significant (0.05 < p ≤ 0.10) correlations were found between bacteria concentrations and antecedent rainfall depth for wells with aprons but not for wells with a pipe collar or no protection. No statistically significant relationship was found between bacteria concentrations in wells and type of well head protection. The lack of reduction in bacteria concentrations with well head protection is likely due to the high density of on-site sanitation near the wells and the relatively shallow water table. Generally, study results indicate that there is a wide variation of bacteria concentrations both from the same well across many months and between wells that are near each other. The second observation is consistent with other studies of wells in the area. It appears as if the best solution for improving water quality from Malagasy Pitcher Pumps to a potable level is point-of-use treatment of the water.

La présente étude a pour but d'analyser le discours féminin francophone dans les textes d'Assia Dejbar,de Calixthe Beyala, d'Aminata Sow Fall et de Nedjma. L'intitulé de la recherche rend compte de deux concepts majeurs: l'interlangue et la radicalisation. Nous fondons notre réflexion en trois grandes paries, la première, définit l'interlangue et interroge l'existence ou non d'objectifs communs à son utilisation par les femmes romancières. La deuxième partie, analyse à travers de nouvelles approches théoriques et critiques sur la langue, les romans Nulle part dans la maison de mon père, Femme nue, femme noire, La Grève des bàttu et L'Amande. La troisième partie quant à elle, traite de la notion de radicalisation par la mise en évidence de la langue du corps, reflétée dans l'ensemble de l'écriture. La lecture des textes littéraires a permis de les scinder en deux catégories. D'une part, il y a les romans qui fustigent et luttent au moyen d'une langue pudique et réservée, et, d'autre part, ceux qui dénoncent et s'affirment, à travers une langue extrêmement transgressive et violente. / The present study aims at analyzing the female speech in the texts of Assia Dejbar, Calixthe Beyala, Aminata Sow Fall and Nedjma. The title of the research accounts for two major concepts: interlanguage and radicalization. We base our reflection on three main bets, the first one, defines the interlanguage and questions the existence or not of objectives common to its use by women novelists. The second part, analyzes through new theoretical and critical approaches on language, novels Nowhere in my father's house, Naked woman, black woman, The strike of the battu and the almond. The third part deals with the notion of radicalization by emphasizing the language of the body, reflected in the whole of writing. The reading of the literary texts allowed to divide them into two categories. On the one hand, there are novels that lash and fight by means of a modest and reserved language, and, on the other hand, those who denounce and affirm themselves, through an extremely transgressive and violent language.

abstract: Energy poverty is pervasive in sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria, located in sub-Saharan West Africa, is the world's seventh largest oil exporting country and is a resource-rich nation. It however experiences the same levels of energy poverty as most of its neighboring countries. Attributing this paradox only to corruption or the "Dutch Disease", where one sector booms at the expense of other sectors of the economy, is simplistic and enervates attempts at reform. In addition, data on energy consumption is aggregated at the national level via estimates, disaggregated data is virtually non-existent. Finally, the wave of decentralization of vertically integrated national utilities sweeping the developing world has caught on in sub-Saharan Africa. However, little is known of the economic and social implications of these transitions within the unique socio-technical system of the region's electricity sector, especially as it applies to energy poverty. This dissertation proposes a complex systems approach to measuring and mitigating energy poverty in Nigeria due to its multi-dimensional nature. This is done via a three-fold approach: the first section of the study delves into causation by examining the governance institutions that create and perpetuate energy poverty; the next section proposes a context-specific minimum energy poverty line based on field data collected on energy consumption; and the paper concludes with an indicator-based transition management framework encompassing institutional, economic, social, and environmental themes of sustainable transition within the electricity sector. This work contributes to intellectual discourse on systems-based mitigation strategies for energy poverty that are widely applicable within the sub-Saharan region, as well as adds to the knowledge-base of decision-support tools for addressing energy poverty in its complexity. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Sustainability 2015

abstract: Armed violence is a contemporary global challenge especially in the developing world. It impacts immigration policies locally and internationally. Uganda experienced a twenty-four year -long civil armed conflict, which the president of Uganda declared ended in 2008. Following government instruction, displaced persons have been returning home since then. Despite this official closure, in the course of resettlement, youth specific needs and concerns have been ignored. Female youth have been the most affected due to the interlocking nature of their undervalued gender, age, and marital and reproductive statuses. Despite the complexity of female youth’s social location, research and frameworks about armed violence have focused on men as the perpetuators, marginalizing the impact armed conflict has on young women. Using the case of northern Uganda, this dissertation draws on feminist and indigenous epistemologies to examine the experiences of formerly displaced female youth. First, I deconstruct the western dominant construction of the stages of human growth and development including childhood, youth and adulthood. In this research, I prioritize local perspectives on human development; emphasizing the ambiguity of the concept youth, highlighting its age and gendered limited applicability to northern Uganda. I also examine the local understanding of armed conflict centering its forms and causes. Further, I explore the challenges female youth face, and the strategies they adopt to cope in situations of distress. I argue that studying formerly displaced female youth from their standpoint is critical since female youth have been marginalized in previous research and programs with gender-neutral perspectives. They thus provide a new perspective to armed violence given their multi dimensional standpoint. Female youth have different needs and concerns, which may not feature in mainstream programming largely informed by traditional male dominated systems and structures. Young women’s experiences thus deserve to be acknowledged if female youth are to benefit from the post-conflict reconstruction phase. To fulfill this objective, I used qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Gender Studies 2016

In this paper we investigate entrepreneurship in the informal sector in Sub-Saharan Africa. Using data from the World Bank we examine the motivational antecedents for why individuals become self-employed within the informal sector. We build on research focusing primarily on data from the formal sector to generate a number of testable hypotheses regarding individual-level predictors of opportunity status. We test our hypotheses using multiple probit model regression analyses. Our results indicate that opportunity-driven entrepreneurs comprise a large portion ofinformal sector in Sub-Saharan Africa and suggest that there are important differences between the antecedents of entrepreneurship in the informal sector in the region and the findings of research focused on the formal sectors of developed countries. Despite a number of limitations, our paper sheds important light on an interesting and comparatively understudied topic but leaves much room for future development.

Ce travail de thèse s'inscrit dans le champ des études sur la réception d'une part et des travaux sur le rôle des médias dans l'émancipation des minorités. tel qu'on peut le retrouver dans un courant des Cultural studies d'autre part.D'un point de vue théorique, j'ai réalisé une revue des principaux travaux de réception avec une attention portée particulièrement à la notion de décodage et à la construction des identités. La démarche empirique m'a conduit auprès des immigrés subsahariens et leurs descendants en banlieue parisienne, impliqués dans un processus transculturel de construction de soi. Et je me suis notamment appuyé sur les récits de vie pour observer leur relation complexe avec les mass médias. D'une manière générale, l'image de l'immigré et de leurs descendants renvoyée par les contenus médiatiques comporte selon eux une forte charge négative par conséquent nuisible à leur expression citoyenne. Les attentes d'une meilleure représentativité ethnique sont fortes et à défaut d'une alliance avec les médias de masse dans leurs aspirations, internet et les réseaux sociaux semblent constituer aujourd'hui une alternative pertinente. Internet en tant que média leur apporte une meilleure offre en matière d'informations, de solutions de visibilité et surtout une interactivité qui fait d'eux des récepteurs complètement actifs. L'histoire de ces trajectoires existentielles interpelle en effet la société en général et les médias de masse en particulier sur la nécessité d'accompagner la construction des identités dans un monde en grande mutation / This thesis deals with the topic of reception studies on the one hand and works on the role of the media in the emancipation of minorities on the other hand. Cultural studies which conceive the uses of the media as spaces From a theoretical point of view, I have made a review of the main works on reception, with particular attention given to the notion of decoding and the construction of identity. The empirical approach led me to treat sub Saharan immigrants and their descendants in the Parisian suburbs involved in a transcultural process of self-construction. I notably relied on their life stories to observe their complex relationship with the mass media. In general, the image of the immigrants and their descendants reflected in the media includes a strong negative connotation which is, consequently, harmful to their expression as citizens. Expectations of a better ethnic representativeness are strong, and, lacking an alliance with the media in these expectations, the Internet and the social media seem to constitute today a relevant alternative. The Internet is a more useful tool for them in terms of information, solutions of visibility and is especially an interactivity which makes them active receptors.The story of these existential trajectories calls out to society in general and the media in particular on the necessity of accompanying the construction of identities in an ever-changing world.

Développer de nouveaux produits pour les consommateurs à très faibles revenus d’Afrique Subsaharienne est un enjeu majeur pour les entreprises mondialisées. Un enjeu qui relève de la relation interculturelle comme l'affirme le courant du "Bottom of the Pyramid" (BoP). Une relation interculturelle que le courant essentialiste explique par la réduction de la distance entre des variables d'innovation. La thèse adopte une perspective constructiviste de la relation interculturelle dans le processus d'innovation: la différence naît de la rencontre. En effet, l'écosystème BoP est très dynamique et hautement ambivalent. Nous cherchons à savoir si dans cet écosystème aimer, comme modèle culturel de la dynamique de la relation, est un modèle plus robuste de la relation interculturelle que le modèle de la distance. L'étude de cas a pour objet le développement d'une solution de paiement mobile dans une banque mondialisée pour des marchés d'Afrique Subsaharienne. L'analyse des données est faite grâce à une grille qui se fonde sur la "Practice Based View" et les théories de l'action. Malgré de bonnes idées, des ressources à foisons et des leaders forts, les données font apparaître le défaut de résolution efficace de fortes ambivalences. Nous écartons la réduction de la distance comme variable explicative majeure, car plus les obstacles s'accumulent, plus le dialogue, qui résout la distance selon le courant essentialiste, est évité. Par un raisonnement abductif, qui s'appuie sur une étude de la dynamique de la relation dans ses dimensions cognitives et affectives culturalisées, nous montrons qu'aimer est cette relation hautement intégrative qui fait défaut dans cet environnement spécifique. / New product development for the markets of the very low-income customer of Sub-Saharan Africa is a major stake for globalized companies. This stake pertains to intercultural relationship as claimed by the scholars belonging to the "Bottom of the Pyramid" (BOP) stream. The essentialist current explains intercultural relationship by the reduction of distance between the variable of innovation (resources commitment, capabilities of actors, senior management involvement). This thesis adopts a constructivist perspective of the intercultural relationship in the innovation process: the difference emerges out of the encounter. Indeed, the BoP ecosystem is very dynamic and highly ambivalent. We want to know if in this ecosystem, love as a cultural model of the dynamics of the relationship, is a more robust model of intercultural relationship than the model of distance.The case study has for object the development of a solution of mobile payment in a global bank for Sub-Saharan African markets. Data analysis is done through a grid based on the "Practice Based View" and action theory. Despite good ideas, extensive resources and strong leaders, the data reveal strong ambivalences solved inefficiently. We close the option of distance reduction as main explanation for the more obstacles arise in the project, the more the dialogue, that is supposed to solve distance, is avoided. By abductive reasoning, based on a study of the dynamics of the relationship in its culturalized cognitive and affective dimensions, we show that loving is this highly integrative relationship that is lacking in this specific ecosystem.

The objective of this study was to examine three well designs: drilled wells (20-30 m deep), closed dug wells (>5 m deep), and hand-dug open wells (<5 m deep), to determine the water quality for improving access to safe and clean water in rural communities. Heterotrophic plate count (HPC), total coliforms (TC), Escherichia coli (E. coli) and turbidity, were used to assess the water quality of 97 wells. Additionally, the study looked at the microflora diversity of the water, focusing on potential pathogens using outgrowth, PCR, and genome sequencing for 10 wells. Concentrations of TC for the open dug wells (4 x 10(4) CFU/100 mL) were higher than the drilled (2 x 10(3) CFU/100 mL) and closed dug wells (3 x 10(3) CFU/100 mL). E. coli concentration for drilled and closed dug wells was <22 MPN (most probable number)/100 mL, but higher for open wells (>154 MPN/100 mL). The drilled well turbidity (11 NTU) was within the standard deviation of the closed well (28 NTU) compared to open dug wells (49 NTU). Drilled and closed wells had similar microbial diversity. There were no significant differences between drilled and closed dug wells. The covering and lining of hand-dug wells should be considered as an alternative to improve access to safe and clean water in rural communities.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo avaliar o papel da autoridade estatal e do desenvolvimento na estabilidade dos Estados da África Subsaariana e a influência que têm nos processos de falência estatal e de eclosão de guerras intraestatais. Desde o fim da Guerra Fria, a corrente de pensamento que fundia segurança e desenvolvimento tornou-se predominante para analisar as causas e fornecer sugestões de políticas para impedir que os Estados sucumbissem a dinâmicas de violência, fomentadas por necessidade, ganância e agravo - todos gerados e intensificados em situações de subdesenvolvimento. Palco de boa parte dos países menos desenvolvidos (PMDs) do mundo e da grande maioria dos conflitos intraestatais que ocorreram nos últimos trinta anos, a África Subsaariana foi retratada como locus immutabilis, cujos problemas tinham poucas ou nenhuma solução possível. Desta forma, o subdesenvolvimento endêmico da região foi usado como guarda-chuva conceitual uma vez que intensificaria as consequências nocivas de certos tipos de regimes políticos, da distribuição desigual das riquezas e oportunidades econômicas e da incompatibilidade étnica que existiria em seus países. Seguindo esta linha de pensamento, bastaria resolver a situação do subdesenvolvimento nos Estados da África Subsaariana que seus processos de falência seriam revertidos e as guerras civis não mais aconteceriam. No entanto, é possível questionar esta relação entre segurança e desenvolvimento dado que países que têm o mesmo nível de subdesenvolvimento diferiram em seus destinos, tendo alguns sucumbido às dinâmicas violentas e outros não. Este trabalho pretende, portanto, identificar as causas das guerras civis e da falência de Estados na região. Este trabalho argumenta que é a baixa autoridade estatal (e não o subdesenvolvimento) a condição determinante para o advento de guerras civis e da falência de Estado na África Subsaariana. Para chegar a tal resultado, analisou-se os dados de 44 Estados da região fornecidos pelo Worldwide Governance Indicators do Banco Mundial e os mesmos dados utilizados pela ONU para classificar os PMDs. Também se utilizou análise qualitativa sobre a história dos países onde a paz imperou desde a independência para avaliar as fundações da autoridade estatal. / This thesis looks forward to assessing the role of state authority and development in the stability of Sub-Saharan African states and their influence on state failure processes and on the outbreak of intra-state wars. Since the end of the Cold War, the current of thought that merged security and development has become prevalent in analysing the causes and in providing policy suggestions to prevent states from succumbing to dynamics of violence fuelled by need, greed, and grievance - which are generated and intensified in situations of underdevelopment. As the stage for most of the world\'s least developed countries and the largest number of intrastate conflicts that have taken place over the last thirty years, Sub-Saharan Africa has been portrayed as locus immutabilis, whose problems had few or none feasible solutions. In this regard, the region\'s endemic underdevelopment was used as a conceptual umbrella since it would intensify the harmful consequences of certain types of political regimes, of the unequal distribution of wealth and economic opportunities, and the ethnic incompatibility that would exist in their countries. Following this line of thought, resolving the situation of underdevelopment in Sub-Saharan African states would suffice to reverse processes of state failure and civil wars would no longer happen. However, it is possible to question this relationship between security and development since countries that have the same level of underdevelopment had different outcomes, having some of them capitulated to violent dynamics and others not. This thesis therefore aims to identify the causes of civil wars and state failure in the region. It argues that it is the low level of state authority (and not underdevelopment) that is the determining factor for the advent of civil wars and state failure in Sub-Saharan Africa. In order to achieve this result data from 44 countries in the region provided by the World Bank\'s Worldwide Governance Indicators and the same data used by the UN to classify the LDCs were analysed. Qualitative analysis was also conducted about the history of countries where peace has prevailed since independence to assess the foundations of state authority.

En Afrique subsaharienne, le nationalisme « imagine » une identité nationale homogène enracinée dans la mythologie de la spécificité africaine qui représente la femme comme un symbole des racines culturelles (le trope de la « Mère Afrique »). Ce travail analyse comment la romancière subsaharienne (la femme objet culturel muet, extra-historique et apolitique) s’approprie le discours nationaliste africain (réimaginer la nation) pour définir une autre identité pour la femme. L’étude sonde l’hypothèse d’un sujet marginal qui se révèle dans des « lieux frontaliers » selon sa ressemblance et son altérité par rapport aux sujets dominants. Elle analyse la nationalité politique (citoyenneté), la nationalité culturelle (africanité), ainsi que leur enchevêtrement dans la nationalité féminine. And They Didn’t Die et Nehanda évoquent les mouvements de libération en l’Afrique du Sud et au Zimbabwe pour recontextualiser l’appartenance culturelle de la femme « pot de culture » entre la tradition de la modernité. Matins de couvre-feu et L’Ex-père de la nation révèlent la désillusion après les indépendances du Sénégal et la Côte d’Ivoire pour déstabiliser la dichotomie des espaces public et privé – un État centré sur l’homme (le « Père-de-la-nation ») et une sphère domestique féminine. Destination Biafra traite le nationalisme ethnique au Nigéria pour aborder la problématique de la nationalité au carrefour des nationalités politique et culturelle : Un Etat (espace géopolitique) définie par des frontières modernes et une Nation (« communauté imaginée ») supranationale définie par une culture précoloniale. / Nationalism in sub-Saharan Africa « imagines » a homogenous national identity embedded in the mythology of African uniqueness, which represents the woman symbol of cultural roots (the “Mother Africa “trope). This study analyses how the sub-Saharan female novelist (the woman as a mute, extra-historical and apolitical object of culture) appropriates African nationalism (re-imagines the nation) to define a new identity for African womanhood. The study tests the hypothesis that a marginal subject reveals itself in “border location” according to its similarity or difference to dominant subjects. It analyses political nationality (citizenship), cultural nationality (Africanness), and their interaction within the representation of female national identity. And They Didn’t Die and Nehanda evoke liberation movements in South Africa and Zimbabwe to recontextualise women’s cultural affiliation (the woman “pot of culture)” between tradition and modernity. Matins de couvre-feu and L’Ex-père de la nation depict the post-independence disillusionment of Senegal and the Ivory Coast to subvert the dichotomy of public and private spheres which construct a male centred State (the “Father of the Nation”) and the woman-centred “domestic” sphere. Finally, Destination Biafra highlights ethnic nationalism in Nigeria to illustrate the problematic of the intertwining of cultural and political nationalities resulting from the paradoxical construction of the African nation-state: A State (a geo-political space) defined by modern borders and a supranational nation (“imagined community”) delimited by the symbolic borders of a pre-colonial culture.