In the last decade Zimbabwe has faced serious political, social and economic challenges which have affected the ordinary citizen. Among the economic challenges is the rapid growth of the informal economy which has become the main employer for most people. This growth is attributable to the shrinking formal economy which has left many people jobless and fighting to survive. The alternative is the informal economy which is accommodating millions of Zimbabweans providing a source of income and form of livelihood. Women tend to be overrepresented in the informal economy and among them is a sub-group of women who head households. Women headed households are among the poorest people in the world. The aim of this study was to determine and explore how the informal economy impacts on social and economic development of women headed households. This aim was realised through contextualizing WHH within a social and economic development framework; determining the nature and extent of the informal economy in Zimbabwe; conducting an empirical study which explored and determined the impact made by the informal economy in the social and economic development of WHH in Chegutu urban area of Zimbabwe and research findings, conclusions and recommendations were made to support women involved in the informal economy. A qualitative approach was utilised in the study and the case study was used as the research design. Data was gathered by means of semi-structured interviews. The targeting and snowball sampling methods were used to identify respondents. Findings from the study indicated that women headed households in the informal economy benefit from the sector. They are self-employed, it is their main source of income, main form of livelihood which caters for all their household necessities, it brings in sustainable livelihood and it has enhanced their self-esteem and economic independence. The informal economy however, posits many challenges for women headed households. For instance it creates many health and economic hardships. The informal economy lacks security, organisation, recognition, social protection and legal representation. There is lack of government and institutional support and resources are inaccessible to most women headed households. The study concluded that integrated social and economic development is the key to the eradication of poverty. Opportunities for active participation in the economy combined with sound social policy are critical for the empowerment of women headed households. Based on the findings and conclusions, recommendations were made to the government, municipality and NGOs to be more supportive of women headed households. This can be done by forming partnerships that focus on skills development to enhance human capital, develop poverty eradication strategies that are informed by social development framework, creating awareness of resources through information centres, subsidising education, medical care and rentals and engaging financial institutions to offer capital and credit facilities. / Dissertation (MSW)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Social Work and Criminology / unrestricted

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / The Quarterly Labour Force survey by Statistics South Africa (2019) portrays a very bleak future for the South African economy and labour force. The unemployment rate is 27.6% and youth unemployment stands at 55.2%. The National Development Plan (NDP) recognises the relevance of the informal sector and the value that it will contribute to the economy and to solving the challenges of unemployment in South Africa. The NDP projects that the informal sector, which includes domestic work, will create between 1,2 and 2 million new jobs by 2030. Few studies have been conducted on informal trading projects. This study explores the case of a ‗transitional‘ informal enterprise support project aimed at micro-enterprise development wherein 10 informal traders in Cape Town took occupancy of provincial government-sponsored kiosks on 9 May 2016. The Long Street kiosks (LSK) offer 10 traders per year a unique trading opportunity in the CBD free of rent and service charges for a period of one year, with access to a unique and potentially large market. The purpose of this study is to critically examine the role played in the informal enterprise development project by the Western Cape provincial government through its project manager, the Department of Economic Development and Tourism (DEDAT). This research attempts to investigate aspects of project design such as the selection criteria of the informal traders for the project, and selected results such as whether the project provided the traders with enough market exposure to the formal economy and whether their businesses were improved by participation in the project. The qualitative research approach was used for this study of the LSK project, which was a single case study, as both a unit of analysis and as a research method. The study involved a combination of two approaches, namely desktop research followed by interviews and focus group sessions. The study found that a number of limitations and shortcomings in the conduct of the project impacted on the mixed results and success achieved, pertaining to selection criteria, lack of financial and other resources, training, market-related problems, skill set limitations as well as environmental factors such as transport. The study nevertheless cast useful light on potential changes and recommendations that could enhance the project going forward and provides new insights on the complex relationship between the informal and formal economies and their relative potential for addressing the challenges of employment and economic growth.

Huvudämnet för denna studie är de svårigheter som etniska entreprenörer möter för att etablera sina företag, hur och i vilken utsträckning de drar nytta av sina sociala nätverk, användningen av informella system och konflikthantering. Urvalet av studien består av assyriska entreprenörer som är verksamma inom olika sektorer i Sverige. En detaljerad intervju genomfördes med 20 assyriska entreprenörer. Resultaten av studien visar om den viktiga roll som det privata sociala nätverk som assyriska entreprenörer spelar i etableringsprocessen av företagen och hur entreprenörerna hanterar sina företag. Syftet är undersöka vilka svårigheter assyriska företagare i Sverige har att hitta finansiellt kapital under etableringsfasen och vilka finansieringslösningar de har utvecklat. Tidigare forskning har visat att invandrarföretagare upplever diskriminering vid tillgång till kapital, vilket kan leda till att många företagare lägger ner sina företag. Därför fortsätter forskningen att undersöka problemet med invandrarföretagares tillgång till kapital.  Den här studien är inriktad på den teoretiska grunden för studier om entreprenörskap i småföretag. För det första uppmärksammas betydelsen av faktorer som finansiellt kapital, humankapital och socialt kapital som påverkar företagsstarten. För det andra visas genom en analys av befintliga teorier om etniskt entreprenörskap att det är nödvändigt att beakta teorier om mänskligt, socialt och kulturellt kapital tillsammans. För det tredje betonas att konflikter kan ha en betydande inverkan på företagets framgång. / The main topic of this study is the difficulties that ethnic entrepreneurs face in establishing their businesses, how and to what extent they benefit from their social networks, the use of informal systems, and conflict management. The study's sample consists of Assyrian entrepreneurs operating in different sectors in Sweden. A detailed interview was conducted with 20 Assyrian entrepreneurs. The results of the study show the important role that private social networks play in the establishment process of businesses for Assyrian entrepreneurs and how they manage their businesses. The purpose of this study is to investigate the difficulties that Assyrian entrepreneurs in Sweden face in finding financial capital during the establishment phase and what financing solutions they have developed. Previous research has shown that immigrant entrepreneurs experience discrimination in access to capital, which can lead to many entrepreneurs closing their businesses. Therefore, research continues to examine the problem of immigrant entrepreneurs' access to capital. This study focuses on the theoretical foundation of studies on entrepreneurship in small businesses. Firstly, the importance of factors such as financial capital, human capital, and social capital that affect business start-ups is highlighted. Secondly, an analysis of existing theories on ethnic entrepreneurship shows that it is necessary to consider theories of human, social, and cultural capital together. Thirdly, it is emphasized that conflicts can have a significant impact on the success of the business. / <p>QC 20230525</p>

Using a mixed method design, this study explored financial knowledge, behaviors, and economic socialization in a sample of men (N = 155) incarcerated in a Midwestern county jail. A financial knowledge assessment, adapted from the FLLIP assessment (Zhan, Anderson, & Scott, 2006), was administered as well as a survey of financial behaviors and criminal history characteristics. Based on responses to the quantitative survey, a theoretical sample of participants (n = 12) was selected to participate in in-depth, qualitative interviews regarding economic socialization to the formal economy, particularly banks. Quantitative analyses revealed that the mean financial knowledge score for the sample was 59%, with Whites (M = .68; n = 46) scoring significantly higher than non-Whites (M = .55; n = 108). Factors related to financial knowledge were explored through bivariate and partial (controlling for age and race) correlational analyses. Hierarchical linear regression was conducted to determine the demographic factors, criminal history characteristics, and financial behaviors that predicted financial knowledge. Results revealed that having filed a tax return was the strongest predictor of financial knowledge. Qualitative analysis, using a grounded theory methodology, revealed that the majority of the men were distrustful of banks and other financial institutions. There appeared to be two pathways to distrust of banks: (1) anti-bank socialization through family and peers, which was solely experienced by the older Black men in the sample and (2) usage problems, which was the predominant pathway for the White men.

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