This thesis is about the quest to build effective strategies to support the development of enterprise on the margins of the economy, to create jobs and reduce poverty. A core part of this challenge includes grappling with the role of markets in development, and of markets as a critical part of the context in which enterprise development in rural and peri-urban areas can either provide a path out of poverty – or instead serve to lock people into poverty. The thesis explores these issues by tracking the experience of the Mineworkers Development Agency (MDA) as it attempted to grapple with this challenge. MDA is the development wing of South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) , and was set up to create jobs and support enterprise development for communities affected by the loss of jobs on the mines. The thesis covers a fourteen-year period in MDA’s history, from its inception in 1988 until 2002. It tracks the learning process across several phases in the development of MDA’s approach. These included the development of worker co-operatives, the establishment of business service centres, value-chain work in the craft sector, and the commercialization of a juice product from the indigenous marula berry. In the process, MDA engaged with an emergent paradigm in the development sector called ‘Making Markets Work for the Poor’. Can markets really be made to work for the poor? Or even just made to work ‘better’ for the poor? Or is the process of inclusion in markets inexorably and inevitably one of making the poor work for markets? The thesis explores these issues in the context of MDA’s experience, locating this within a wider set of theoretical concerns over the role of markets in society, and the ways in which societies have protected themselves from the negative impacts of the development of market economies. It draws on wider political economy approaches to argue that markets are institutions that are socially constructed, and explores what scope there might therefore be to construct them differently. While recognising the importance of social protection, the thesis argues that there is a need to go beyond defensive strategies aimed at protecting society from markets, to identify new terms of engagement within markets to shape markets, and to harness their wealth-creating potential in ways that have different distributional consequences, as part of a long-term agenda of eradicating poverty.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T20:48:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Osmar Sanches.pdf: 736312 bytes, checksum: 34003117aef15c5e2a451633b5552154 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-05-25 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This work has as central objective analyze the behavior of the informal economy in RMSP (Região Metropolitana de São Paulo) in the period 2002 to 2008, and their possible determinants. The procedure used research is, in their vast majority, the bibliographical research, which has as a source some of the main authors and research institutes who studies the informal economy in the international sphere. In addition, are used empirical data supplied mainly by IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística) through its PME (Pesquise Mensal de Emprego) and datas from INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Geografia) through its ENOE (Encuesta Nacional de Ocupación y Empleo). It is also used a comparative analysis of the development of the informal economy between RMSP and RMCM (Região Metropolitana da Cidade do México). The focus of comparative analysis is the RMSP. The RMCM, in this case, serves as a reference, that is, in order to verify that the findings made for the RMSP has resonance in another reality. One of the conclusions of this work is that the determinants of the informal economy can be found in three major lines of the analysis: labor market, demographic aspects and economic growth. And from the observation of the determinants contained in these lines of the analysis with the informal economy, it was possible to reach other conclusions. In the case of RMSP, for the period 2002 to 2008, the informal economy presented a mild trend for reduction, went out of 45.11% of the population occupied and turning to 44.26%. Therefore, after these observations, the trend is for the RMSP the reduction of the informal economy observed is related to the growth of PIB on quarterly average rates around 4.5% over the last two years. This growth in PIB favored the reduction of unemployment a marked increase in the region, which possibly led people employed in the informal economy to find occupations in formal economy. However, the reduction of the informal economy has not been more marked due to the growth of PEA (População Economicamente Ativa) which has a strong positive correlation with the informal economy. The RMCM, for the period 2002 to 2008, presented a growth of the informal economy, and in 2002 the population occupied in the informal economy was in 51.10% from 52.07% in 2008. The trend is that this growth in the informal economy is related to economic growth little consistent in Mexico, which gave a lower capacity for generation of jobs for the region. In addition, the growth of PEA, the same way as for the RMSP, has stimulated a growth of the occupied in the informal economy / Este trabalho tem como objetivo central analisar qual o comportamento da economia informal na RMSP (Região Metropolitana de São Paulo) no período entre 2002 a 2008, e quais os seus possíveis determinantes. O procedimento de pesquisa utilizado é, em sua grande maioria, a pesquisa bibliográfica, que tem como fonte alguns dos principais autores e institutos de pesquisa que estudam a economia informal em âmbito internacional. Além disso, são utilizados dados empíricos fornecidos principalmente pelo IBGE (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística) por meio de sua PME (Pesquisa Mensal de Emprego) e dados do INEGI (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica e Geografia) por meio de sua ENOE (Encuesta Nacional de Ocupacion y Empleo). Também é utilizada uma análise comparativa do desenvolvimento da economia informal entre a RMSP e a RMCM (Região Metropolitana da Cidade do México). O foco da análise comparativa é a RMSP. A RMCM, neste caso, serve como uma referência, ou seja, para que se possa verificar se as constatações feitas para a RMSP têm ressonância em outra realidade. Uma das conclusões deste trabalho é que os determinantes da economia informal podem ser encontrados dentro de três grandes linhas de análise: mercado de trabalho, aspectos demográficos e crescimento econômico. E a partir da observação da relação dos determinantes contidos nestas linhas de análise com a economia informal, foi possível chegar a outras conclusões. No caso da RMSP, para o período entre 2002 a 2008, a economia informal apresentou uma leve tendência de redução, saindo de 45,11% da população ocupada e passando para 44,26%. Portanto, após estas observações, a tendência é de que para a RMSP a redução da economia informal observada esteja relacionada ao crescimento do PIB em torno de taxas médias trimestrais em torno de 4,5% ao longo dos dois últimos anos. Este crescimento do PIB favoreceu a redução do desemprego de forma acentuada na região, o que possivelmente levou as pessoas ocupadas na economia informal a encontrarem ocupações na economia formal. Porém, a redução da economia informal não foi mais acentuada devido ao crescimento da PEA (População Economicamente Ativa) que apresentou forte correlação positiva com a economia informal. A RMCM, para o período entre 2002 a 2008, apresentou um crescimento da economia informal, sendo que em 2002 a população ocupada na economia informal estava em 51,10% passando em 2008 para 52,07%. A tendência é de que este crescimento da economia informal esteja relacionado a um crescimento econômico pouco consistente no México, o que proporcionou uma menor capacidade de geração de empregos para a região. Além disso, o crescimento da PEA, da mesma forma que para a RMSP, estimulou um crescimento dos ocupados na economia informal

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T18:15:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Jose Carlos Brito Silva.pdf: 10582738 bytes, checksum: cf5493c30207a7fbda5b7e5f62e4d477 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-10-01 / This research analyzes and seeks to understand the increase in informal activities in general and mobile commerce as a particular case and the conflict between the public and employees of these itinerant trade. This analysis is performed as a result of the dynamics inherent in the capitalist system that is based on socioeconomic contradictions, among them the need to generate a surplus of labor to thus have its disposal an army reserve. In that sense this analysis takes into account the urbanization process as RMSP suffered by one of the promotion of unemployment which had their causes in several variables. The phenomenon of the increase in practice of these activities, named in this study as "independent work", practiced by itinerant workers in trains and other public spaces of RMSP, has widened from the 80's resulting from economic crises that hit the country causing huge recession unemployment and an economy that can be described as the results of politics applied at that moment. This unemployment is particularly accentuated in the 90s resulting from the economic opening process undertaken by the Brazilian Government as a way of integrating the country in the process of globalization. The way this integration, was made, marked by unbridled economic openness, reflected in several aspects of the economy of the country: it has a new territoriality of plants provided by the development of technical-scientific-media informational affectry RMSP mainly because this the most industrialized in the country, it also involves a process of productive restructuring in which the industrial sector loses its economic space and it is substituted by tertiary activities; as a consequence implemented a new model of administrative organization and the production process adopted by enterprises, the model flexible also called post-fordist, requiring a new profile with more and better professional qualifications to perform the tasks, now with a greater degree of complexity and flexibility. These changes reflected directly in the levels of unemployment now reaching ever higher rates. Informal activities in general and labor have become mobile, thus a way to ensure survival for the huge number of unemployed, to consolidate is not as alternatives but rather as a temporary work, by effective work. Just as the growing number of than practitioners in itinerant trade grew the conflicts that came to rely even violently with police actions undertaken. The territory of the CPTM trains as public spaces and great appeal to the trade due to the large flow of passengers, has become one of those places where this picture was reflected socioeconomic and conflict is fierce. This territory, which offers easier to enable practitioners of this activity a condition of legalization of the organization and activities to provide decent conditions for a significant number of workers was the locus chosen in this research as part of the complex and contradictory dynamics of capitalist economy / Esta pesquisa analisa e procura compreender o aumento das atividades informais de maneira geral e do comércio ambulante como um caso específico e os conflitos entre o poder público e esses trabalhadores do comércio ambulante. Esta análise é realizada enquanto resultante de uma dinâmica inerente ao próprio sistema capitalista que se assenta em contradições socioeconômicas, dentre elas a necessidade de geração de um excedente de mão-de-obra para, dessa maneira, ter a sua disposição um exército de reserva. Nesse sentido essa análise leva em consideração o processo de urbanização sofrido pela RMSP como um dos pressupostos de promoção do desemprego que teve suas causas em várias variáveis. O fenômeno do aumento na prática dessas atividades, denominadas nessa pesquisa como trabalho autônomo , praticada pelos trabalhadores ambulantes nos trens e outros espaços públicos da RMSP, se acentuou a partir das décadas de 80 resultantes de crises econômicas que atingiram o Brasil provocando enorme recessão econômica e um desemprego que pode ser caracterizado como conjuntural. Esse desemprego acentua-se de sobremaneira na década de 90 resultante do processo de abertura econômica empreendido pelo Estado brasileiro como forma de integração do País ao processo de globalização. A forma como se deu essa integração, marcada por uma abertura econômica desenfreada, repercutiu em vários aspectos da economia do País: empreendeu-se uma nova territorialidade das plantas industriais proporcionado pelo desenvolvimento dos meios técnico-científico-informacionais atingindo principalmente a RMSP por ser esta a mais industrializada do País; a mesma também passa por um processo de reestruturação produtiva em que perde espaço o caráter industrial e ganham espaço as atividades terciárias; implanta-se um novo modelo de organização administrativa e do processo de produção adotado pelas empresas, o modelo flexível também denominado pós-fordista, que exigem um novo perfil de profissional com maior e melhor qualificação para executar as tarefas, agora com um maior grau de complexidade e flexibilidade. Essas transformações repercutiram diretamente nos níveis de desemprego que passaram a atingir índices cada vez maiores. As atividades informais em geral e o trabalho ambulante tornaram-se, dessa forma, numa forma de garantir a sobrevivência para esse enorme contingente de desempregados, passando a se consolidarem não como alternativas temporárias e sim como trabalho de fato. Da mesma forma que crescia o número de praticantes no comércio ambulante cresciam os conflitos que passaram a contar inclusive com ações policiais empreendidas violentamente. O território dos Trens da CPTM, enquanto espaços públicos e de grande apelo para o comércio devido ao grande fluxo de passageiros, passou a ser um desses lugares onde este quadro socioeconômico se refletiu e os conflitos se acirraram. Esse território que oferece condições mais fáceis de possibilitar aos praticantes dessa atividade uma condição de organização e legalização da atividade visando proporcionar condições dignas a um número significativo de trabalhadores foi o lócus escolhido nesta pesquisa como uma das partes da complexa e contraditória dinâmica da economia capitalista

This dissertation analyses the consequences of seemingly placeless processes like the European integration and the increasing economic globalisation on Brussels and the people living there. The study shows that Brussels has become one of our time's most important international political capitals and a leading business node in Europe. European institutions, international organisations, headquarters and subsidiaries of transnational corporations are increasingly locating themselves in Brussels. Simultaneously there has been an influx of transnational professionals working in the international sector. This research shows that with the internationalisation of Brussels there has been concomitant economic restructuring with the emergence of an advanced service economy. The labour market has become polarised between those who have jobs and those who do not. Brussels has also experienced a spatial and socio-economic polarisation along ethnic lines. The thesis explores the connections between these changes and Brussels' international role. Drawing on the world / global city thesis of Saskia Sassen and John Friedmann, a theoretical framework is developed to analyse this. One of the important results of this study is that the world / global city thesis needs to be complemented with a thorough analysis of the place: the political and historical context, and also the role of the local agents, to enable an explanation of the observed development. The interplay between global and local processes needs to be clarified. It is also argued that to properly understand cities with an international role like Brussels, we need to know why international agents locate there. Michael Storper's concepts of 'economic reflexivity' and 'territorial specificities' are used to analyse the rise of Brussels into a reflexive world city - a city vibrating with specific knowledge, produced through inter alia social interaction and critical reflection, that some transnational agents find extremely vital to tap into.

In this dissertation the question of why people want to stay in the county-side has been analysed from an economic-historic perspective. The specific research question has been: Using which formal economic means of sustenance could those who remained in Ängersjö parish ensure their survival in the years 1950 to 1990? A number of different types of sources have been used, including income tax registers, data on migration, agricultural statistics, parish registers, interviews, and printed public statistics. The population of Ängersjö parish decreased through the entire period of investigation. In the early 1950s the population pyramid in Ängersjö resembled Sweden’s quite considerably. After this point, the tendencies towards depopulation grew stronger. By the early 1990s, the population had returned to the levels of the early 1800s, i.e. before the forest became valuable. This time, however, the proportion of older inhabitants was much larger. Most of the remaining households supported themselves through wage labour in the forestry sector, which essentially was a male preoccupation. At the margin, supplementary incomes, such as the renting of cottages and capital revenues, could add to household earnings, and contributions by women probably played an important part in that context. In addition, informal economic activities, such as berry-picking and the exchange of labour, could expand the means of support by a maximum of 20 percent. In spite of all these efforts, most of the remaining households earned less than an average Swedish industrial worker. The income differences could to some degree be compensated by lower housing and living costs, but many households probably enjoyed a lower material standard of living. Demonstrably, most of the remaining inhabitants of Ängersjö were willing to pay the economic price associated with the “feelings of freedom” or the upkeep of their ancestral home of which many inhabitants spoke. / Flexibilitet som tradition

Contesting international strategies for combatting child labour that derive from modern, Western conceptions of childhood, several developing country organizations have embraced the principle of child protagonism by declaring that working children can become the leading agents in struggles to advance their interests when they are mentored in forming their own independent organizations. This thesis first explores how an African NGO, informed by its urban animation experiences, developed its own specific discourse of child protagonism and employed it as the basis for establishing an African working children’s organization designed to provide compensatory literacy and skills training and to empower members to improve their own and other children’s working conditions. The thesis considers this foundational child protagonism discourse in light of data collected in Senegal by means of participant observation and interviews in grassroots groups and associations of working children, as well as in the offices of both the local NGO and its international NGO donor. Fieldwork revealed limitations of the specific child protagonism practice pursued over the past two decades. Specifically, redirecting resources from direct pedagogical accompaniment of grassroots working child groups towards bureaucratic capacity building for the “autonomization” of higher hierarchical levels of the organization, as well as towards international meetings, has resulted in the organization’s diminished impact for vulnerable groups in Dakar, particularly migrant girl domestic workers. Deepening implication with international donors has forced shifts in the priorities of the local NGO and the working children’s organization it facilitates, yet the two have been largely successful in buffering donor probes precisely into the ground level effectiveness of their child protagonism strategy. No previous independent research has sought to confront the discourse of child protagonism with a comprehensive examination of a working children’s organization’s practice, from its most local processes to its international dimensions and donor relations.

Through the broader contextualization of ethnographic fieldwork in Havana’s newly reformed housing market, this study theorizes the Cuban late socialist condition through a lens of utopian ideological conflict. A popular narrative of free market utopia has emerged in the face of the state’s recalcitrant ideology of state socialism. The popular narrative is reproduced through growth in the informal economy, while the socialist utopian narrative is maintained by the ubiquity of its bureaucratic apparatus. Inspired by postmodern theorist Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation (1994), this thesis theorizes the Cuban state narrative as an ideological simulation, supported only through its strongest simulacrum – the government bureaucracy. Previous work on Cuba has cited the importance of access to government-purchased goods to fuel the informal economy and individual wealth accumulation. This study highlights the reproduction of a narrative of free market utopia in the desire for access to transactions as intermediaries, particularly as the deals increase in hard currency value. The passage of Decreto-Ley Number 288, which authorized the buying and selling of homes has served to rapidly capitalize the market and encourage further development of an informal network of brokers. Greater economic hybridization in the housing sector, among others, is gradually eroding the totalizing nature of the state’s socialist utopia. / text

The objective of the study is to identify how micro-enterprises can be integrated into local value chains by using the so-called "value chain approach". The "value chain approach" has become a relatively popular approach among donor agencies and NGOs engaged in Private Sector Development in recent years, being based on insights from studies on global value chains. The study includes investigation into the following points: 1) Which business linkages exist among micro-enterprises and with enterprises of different sizes and sectors, and how are they related to the upgrading process of micro-enterprises? 2) What influence does the legal status of micro-enterprises have on the development of business linkages and on the upgrading process? 3) How can the development of business linkages and the upgrading process (and, therefore, the integration into value chains) be supported and enhanced within the framework of PSD? The empirical study was conducted in Uganda. It includes a combination of qualitative and quantitative approaches: (1) a questionnaire-based survey among micro-entrepreneurs, and (2) expert or key informant interviews, using a semi-structured interview guideline. The study provides an assessment of the relevance and applicability of the "value chain approach" to micro-enterprises and local value chains in the context of a developing country characterised by low levels of industrialisation, as well as policy recommendations for practitioners (from public and private sectors, as well as donor community, NGOs and civil society). Furthermore, the study highlights the importance of the issue of informality of micro- and small-scale enterprises. (author's abstract)

Contesting international strategies for combatting child labour that derive from modern, Western conceptions of childhood, several developing country organizations have embraced the principle of child protagonism by declaring that working children can become the leading agents in struggles to advance their interests when they are mentored in forming their own independent organizations. This thesis first explores how an African NGO, informed by its urban animation experiences, developed its own specific discourse of child protagonism and employed it as the basis for establishing an African working children’s organization designed to provide compensatory literacy and skills training and to empower members to improve their own and other children’s working conditions. The thesis considers this foundational child protagonism discourse in light of data collected in Senegal by means of participant observation and interviews in grassroots groups and associations of working children, as well as in the offices of both the local NGO and its international NGO donor. Fieldwork revealed limitations of the specific child protagonism practice pursued over the past two decades. Specifically, redirecting resources from direct pedagogical accompaniment of grassroots working child groups towards bureaucratic capacity building for the “autonomization” of higher hierarchical levels of the organization, as well as towards international meetings, has resulted in the organization’s diminished impact for vulnerable groups in Dakar, particularly migrant girl domestic workers. Deepening implication with international donors has forced shifts in the priorities of the local NGO and the working children’s organization it facilitates, yet the two have been largely successful in buffering donor probes precisely into the ground level effectiveness of their child protagonism strategy. No previous independent research has sought to confront the discourse of child protagonism with a comprehensive examination of a working children’s organization’s practice, from its most local processes to its international dimensions and donor relations.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) states that local governments are responsible for the creation of a socioeconomic environment that enables citizens to make a living for themselves. It is on the grounds of this responsibility that the study is based on the relationship between street traders and the City of Cape Town within the Cape Town CBD. This relationship is investigated with the aim of assessing what the nature of the relationship is between street traders and the City of Cape Town. A survey was conducted wherein 71 street traders were interviewed and to complement the survey interviews were conducted with individuals from local government and the private sector who deal with street traders on a daily basis. The survey results indicated that there is a positive relationship between traders and the City of Cape Town, but that local government does not live up to expectation when it comes to the facilitation of informal business development. At the hand off these findings; policy interventions are put forth that would lead to the creation of a facilitative relationship between the City of Cape Town and street traders. Proposed policy interventions are focussed on the improvement of channels of communication between street traders and local government. The proposed policy framework places emphasis on the active participation of local government in the formalisation process of informal traders. The study concludes by proposing policy intervention that would promote a facilitative relationship between street traders and local government and contribute to a sustainable street trading economy in Cape Town. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die grondwet van die Republiek van Suid Afrika (1996) daag elke plaaslike owerheid uit met die taak om ’n sosio-ekonomiese omgewing te skep wat dit vir landsburgers moontlik maak om ’n bestaan te kan maak. Dit is op grond van hierdie verantwoordelikheid dat die studie gebaseer is op die verhouding tussen straathandelaars, binne die sentrale sake kern, en Kaapstad se plaaslike owerheid. Die verhouding tussen straathandelaars en die Stad Kaapstad is ondersoek met die doel om die aard van die verhouding te omskryf. ’n Vraelys is uitgedeel aan 71 straathandelaars en om die opname te komplementeer is onderhoude gevoer met individue van beide die openbare en privaat sektor wat saam met straathandelaars werk op ’n daaglikse basis. Die resultate van die vraelys het gewys op die positiewe verhouding tussen handelaars en die Stad Kaapstad, alhoewel dit aan die lig gekom het dat plaaslike owerhede nie voldoen aan verwagtinge ten opsigte van die fasilitering van informele besigheidsontwikkeling nie. Beleidsmaatreëls wat ’n fasiliterende verhouding sou bewerkstellig; sowel as ’n beleidsraamwerk word voorgestel aan die hand van die bevindinge van die opname. Die voorstelle is grootliks gegrond op die verbetering van kommunikasie tussen die plaaslike owerhede en straathandelaars sowel as die aktiewe deelname van die plaaslike owerheid in die formaliseringsproses van informele handelaars. Deur die implementering van die voorgestelde beleidsmaatreëls is die studie van mening dat ’n fasiliterende verhouding tussen straathandelaars en plaaslike owerhede gevestig kan word met die doel om ’n bydra te maak tot ’n volhoubare straathandel-ekonomie in Kaapstad.