This study focuses on the situational analysis of the informal sector in the three major cities in Malawi. An extensive literature study was undertaken to understand the origin of the informal sector and how it has grown in the business environment to which it is exposed in Malawi. This understanding was essential because it formed the basis for conducting the whole research. A sample of four respondent groups, namely government officials, industry representatives, the shop owners and the informal sector participants themselves was drawn, and personal interviews conducted. The purpose of the interviews of the first three respondent groups was to discover their perception of the informal sector in Malawi. This perception was vital for it was clear that these groups influenced government policies much more than the populace. The informal sector participants themselves were interviewed to learn how the informal sector operated, its scope and benefits, why it was growing and how successful it was in the three major cities of Malawi. The results show that there were mixed feelings among the people in each of the four respondent groups. Although many of the government officials were positive, mainly because the President of Malawi and other politicians promote the informal sector publicly, they still believe there is a need to control the sector's operations. The industries and shops that benefit from the informal sector are positive while the others are not. More than 80 percent of the informal sector participants are making a comfortable livelihood through their activities. The lack of employment and the desire to survive were found to be the two issues that enhance the growth of the informal sector in Malawi. The participants could further expand their activities if suitable loans were made available. A coordinating organization within this sector has emerged and is controlling the sector's activities. However, further research is required into the size and contribution of this sector to Malawi's economy. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development Studies)

Social and economic changes that happened in Brazil in the 1990s have changed the organization of female employment in the country. In this study, I examine the participation of women in the informal sector in Brazil in 1996 and 2005. Using micro-level data from the Brazilian Monthly Employment Survey, I find Brazilian female workers became older, more educated, and that female informal employment increased over the period studied. Although selfemployment was reduced, an increase in wage-employment in informal manufacturing was noticed, which indicates growth in subcontracting. Higher share of female headed households, lower income and higher poverty levels were predominantly found among informal sector female workers. Large share of female informal work in disadvantaged conditions indicates the existence of a dual labor market in Brazil. Globalization and the adoption of neoliberal practices in Brazil seem to have exacerbated the underprivileged condition of working women in the country.

M.Com. (Economics) / The motivation for this study has its origin in the observation that informal sector activities in South Africa had increased significantly since the nineteen-eighties. The initial interest was stimulated by the desire to discover more about the nature and extent of the informal sector, as well as the effects it is having on employment, income generation, policy making and general economic equilibrium. Investigating the occurrence of informal sector activities in the developed countries, the centrally directed economies and the Third World countries led to the conclusion that the different definitions for informal sector activities, the nature of such activities and the reasons why people become involved in such activities, differ from country to country. In South Africa it was observed that the formal sector's inability to create sufficient employment opportunities for all its citizens led to more and more people joining the informal sector. As far as the nature of the informal sector is concerned it was found that a variety of economic activities are being carried out, the most important being trade and hawking. The highest concentration of participants were found in the Natal/KwaZulu area. Marginally more male than female participants were involved in this sector. Most participants were younger than 40 years of age. Participants worked long hours and frequently have to provide a service for seven days a week. Most undertakings were operated solely by the participant or with the assistance of family members, employees are only employed in exceptional cases. participants experienced great problems in obtaining finance and appropriate accommodation. Little research had been done so far to identify and quantify the involvement of Whites in the informal sector...

This study explores both formal and informal arrangements for care of orphans in the Maseru district of Lesotho. The study adopted a qualitative approach using both in-depth interviews and documentary research as the primary methods of data collection. The research findings show that care of orphans in Lesotho is predominantly in the hands of non-governmental and church based organisations. The government’s role is limited to the provision of technical support, including the formulation of policies and laws and some welfare grant provision in the form of free primary education. Care of orphans in the communities is undertaken not only by the extended family members of orphans, but also non-relation community members. It is clear however that while such informal arrangements might provide care and protection to orphan, many are struggling in the face of extreme hardship and poverty. A crisis of social reproduction is therefore increasingly apparent in Lesotho.

This research report investigates the impact of skills development programmes on the informal traders in the City of Johannesburg (COJ). The research would like to determine if skills development provided by municipality has benefited individual traders, in terms of financial performance and increased employment. The researcher will ascertain the progress between informal traders who receive training and those who did not participate in the training programme. The report would further establish if there were any impacts at all. Was the impact directly influenced by municipal training or was because of some externalities such as trader’s innovation or trader’s organisations? To what extent has training been able to reduce the skills gap in the informal business? This research is responding to the lack of previous work on the impact of training offered to informal traders. There is a strong commitment on the part of COJ to dialogue with informal traders. Informal trading is regarded as integral part of broader economy (The Star: 2006: 21). The research was conducted through in-depth interviews with informal traders operating at Metro Mall in the City Business District (CBD). The researcher conducted interviews with service providers and municipality. The hypothesis suggests that informal traders who receive training are more productive than those who did not participate. The lack of skills in the informal business prompted the COJ to deliver skills training in an attempt to improve the condition of the informal traders. (Simon McGrath 1994), referred to this scenario as “planning for what was traditionally unplanned”. The argument is that training does not make successful informal traders. The report will argue that while training is important to informal traders who arrive in Johannesburg lacking skills, training should be monitored and be accompanied by incentives for example to help those who may not have a start-up capital. The selection criteria will have to be reviewed such that most informal traders are given equal opportunity to acquire skills necessary for the development of their business. As long as these factors, remain un-addressed there are limited potential growth in the informal business. Training should be an integral process linked to various structures such that survivalist activities are replaced by sustainable entrepreneurial business. The duty of the planners as the practitioners in the built environment is to ensure that informal trading coexist with formal business without one affecting negatively on the other. They also have a duty of influencing municipal decision-makers in ensuring that informal traders training programmes reinforce the enabling environment that would allow them to benefit and improve their business undertakings. This may be accomplished by restricting competition from illegal informal traders operating outside the mall, providing incentives to informal traders after the training and organise special events that would attract more customers at the mall. This is because “planning is a profession concerned with the management and development of human beings and their settlements within urban and rural settings. It is about the organisation of human activity in a way that will help to realise their hopes and dreams for future” (www.wits.ac.za/depts/wcs/archschool.html).

Thesis advisor: George M. Barnett / Lifelong science learning is important for making informed decisions on science topics, and there is a need to engage broader and more diverse audiences with science. One opportunity for engagement occurs when students share science topics with a public audience. Research indicates this interaction can have benefits for students, but little is known about the impact it may have on audience members’ thoughts about science. Youth are different from typical sources of science information, and may elicit different reactions. This dissertation examines the impact youth sources may have on adults’ perceptions of and responses to science topics. Young adults (N = 399) were randomly assigned to one of two scenarios. Both scenarios stated two individuals would describe research they had done about local air quality on the news. One scenario identified the individuals as local high school students, and the other as research scientists from a local institution. Dependent variables included perceptions of the warmth and competence of the presenters, expectations of the quality of the information they would share, willingness to take action based on that information, and general trust in scientists. A subset of participants (N=22) was selected for cognitive interviews and asked to explain the thoughts that influenced their survey responses. Results showed multiple reactions to the scenario. Three groups were identified in the perceptions data: one expressed trust in the presenters, one expressed skepticism, and one based their perceptions on personal experiences doing science. Participants said intertwined thoughts about trust in scientists and assumptions about the presenters’ intentions influenced perceptions, with an overall assumption that youth would have good intentions while adults might not. Participants did not appear to separate their expectations of the information from the people who would share it. However, their willingness to take action was related to the action, not the presenter or information. Findings suggest youth may be an avenue for engaging individuals who have lower trust in typical science information sources. Implications for science education and communication are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Esta tesis presenta un Manual orientado a la Micro y Pequeña Empresa (MYPE) de la Industria Gráfica Offset como estrategia ante la informalidad existente de ese sector, utilizando como herramienta competitiva una esquematización de la propuesta de las políticas públicas y Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC) que brindan diferentes organismos públicos. La informalidad empresarial ha ido evolucionando con el tiempo, sin que se definan criterios exactos que determinen la formalidad de una empresa, se tiene que esta puede actuar en informalidad siendo aparentemente formal. En un modelo económico como el que posee Perú, mantenerse dentro de la informalidad garantiza desaprovechar ventajas competitivas que solo se obtienen con la formalidad. Hoy en día los costos de acceso a la formalidad ya no se consideran una barrera burocrática, pues es el Estado quien asumió otorgar a los empresarios las facilidades necesarias para acogerse a las líneas de la formalidad. Podemos aproximar el concepto de competitividad empresarial a la MYPE y convertir una micro empresa de subsistencia en una de acumulación ampliada, creando una relación entre el Empresario, el Estado y la sociedad. Para determinar una estrategia coherente de mejora competitiva de la MYPE de la industria gráfica y orientar sus conductas a la formalidad, se buscó analizar las diferentes alternativas provenientes del sector público, privado y las aplicadas en otros países; así se determinó que por medio de capacitación y acompañamiento, se puede alejar al empresario de comportamientos informales. La formalidad y competitividad de un micro y pequeño empresario, pueden reducir problemas sociales como el subempleo y la evasión tributaria. / Tesis

Submitted by Gizele Lima (gizele.lima@inpa.gov.br) on 2016-09-22T14:17:05Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação Maria Gabriela Fink.pdf: 2394610 bytes, checksum: cf20c8cd8c9fe4906534252b394e0538 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-22T14:17:05Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação Maria Gabriela Fink.pdf: 2394610 bytes, checksum: cf20c8cd8c9fe4906534252b394e0538 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-31 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Arapaima's marketing and capture were forbidden all over Amazonia due the dramatic situation of their populations. Currently, fishing is only allowed in a formal management system, although the informal fishing persists. Many gaps exist related to riverine communities’ participation and the success of community management systems in the short and long term. Thus, the aim of this study was to compare the perception, comprehension and cognitive aspects of local knowledge about the arapaima fishing and social institutions that interact in the system. We interviewed 64 residents of communities that have implemented arapaima management system (CMPP) and 18 in communities that did not have implemented it (SMPP) in Piagaçu-Purus Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS-PP), Amazonas. We observed that in CMPP communities there is a gradual evolution on local participation and understanding of co-management system. In this case, we could see a continuity of thought and collective behavior favorable to the system, ensuring compliance with local laws and regulations. In contrast, in SMPP communities, which access the benefits without sharing the system requirements (“free riders”), residents know their assignments, although in practice they do not recognize them. As consequence, we identified mismatches between residents and community leaders concern opinions and understandings. Between CMPP communities, these mismatches can also be seen, as well as the weakening of cultural concepts and informal institutions. We note that in both areas are occurring erosion of informal community management systems, rather than its continuity as a cooperative regulatory system for co-management. The greater the degree of knowledge about the formal rules, the lower the cultural competence over the informal rules. In all communities, Arapaima’s fishing economically important and guarantees local livelihoods as well as access to goods, through the dependent relationships between "patron-client". We believe that understanding and community empowerment to co-management system are extremely important for modifying the perception of the RDS-PP, as well as local participation and direct access to the benefits arising from the system. There are limitations in the process, which alerts the need to value and consider local knowledge in the different regulatory spheres. In addition another issue that may explain the phrase adopted to compose the title "Only live with fish, just like heron” affirmed by a research participant, portrays the importance of being stimulated other economic activities in order to reduce their dependence on one resource. Thus it is necessary to extend the action to other communities that are not involved in the co-management system, respecting the weight of Arapaima fishing for the Community, which as a traditional activity, presents meanings that go beyond the economic sphere. However, they are also considered and evaluated new sources of income as possible to ensure the continuity of the system and its perpetuation. Finally, the adoption of multilateral actions, integrated and collaborative involving the community and institutions are important to ensure not only the conservation of the resource, but also the knowledge and use of tradition as well as the transmission of knowledge, an assessment is needed periodic system, considering each context and local perspectives. / A comercialização e captura do pirarucu foram proibidas para toda a Amazônia por causa da drástica situação na qual suas populações se encontravam. Atualmente, a pesca só é permitida em um sistema de manejo formal, ainda que a pesca informal persista. Muitas lacunas existem em relação à participação das populações ribeirinhas e ao sucesso dos sistemas de manejo comunitário a curto e longo prazos. Desse modo, o objetivo desse estudo foi comparar a percepção, compreensão e os aspectos cognitivos do conhecimento local acerca da pesca do pirarucu e das instituições socias que interagem no sistema, entre os moradores de comunidades que implementaram o sistema de manejo do pirarucu (CMPP) e comunidades que não o implementaram (SMPP) na Reserva de Desenvolvimento Sustentável Piaguaçu-Purus (RDS-PP), Amazonas. Para tal, foram utilizados métodos comparativos fundamentados em entrevistas com 83 moradores, 65 nas CMPP e 18 nas SMPP. Observou-se que nas comunidades CMPP há uma evolução gradativa, quanto à participação local e compreensão do sistema de co-manejo, assim há uma continuidade do pensamento e comportamento coletivo favorável ao sistema, garantindo o cumprimento das normas locais e leis. Já nas comunidades SMPP, que acessam aos benefícios sem compartilharem com as obrigações do sistema (free riders), os moradores conhecem as suas atribuições, embora na prática não as reconheçam e assim são identificados desajustes nas compreensões e posicionamentos entre moradores e liderança. Esses desajustes também podem ser vistos entre as comunidades CMPP, bem como o enfraquecimento de conceitos culturais e instituições informais. Notamos que em ambas as áreas, estão ocorrendo processos de erosão dos sistemas informais de manejo comunitário, ao invés da sua continuidade como um sistema regulamentador cooperativo para a co-gestão. Quanto maior é o grau de conhecimento acerca das regras formais, menor é a competência cultural sobre as regras informais. Em todas as comunidades, a pesca do pirarucu é extremamente importante economicamente, garantido o sustento local e também o acesso às mercadorias, através das relações de dependência entre “patrão-freguês”. Consideramos que a compreensão e o empoderamento dos comunitários frente ao sistema de co-manejo são de extrema importância para a modificação da percepção acerca da RDS-PP, participação local e acesso direto aos benefícios advindos do sistema. Ainda existem limitações nesse processo, o que sinaliza a necessidade de valorizar e considerar os conhecimentos locais nas diferentes esferas regulamentadoras. É importante fomentar o diálogo e troca de saberes entre os comunitários, independente da presença do co-manejo, para que haja uma compreensão mais integral do sistema. Adicionalmente outra questão que pode explicar a frase adotada para compor o título “Só viver de peixe que nem garça” afirmada por um participante da pesquisa, retrata a importância de serem incentivadas outras atividades econômicas, a fim de reduzir a dependência destes sobre um só recurso. Dessa forma é necessário ampliar as ações para as demais comunidades que não estão envolvidas no sistema de co-manejo, respeitando a importância da pesca do pirarucu para os comunitários, que enquanto uma atividade tradicional, apresenta significados que vão além do âmbito econômico, mas que sejam consideradas as necessidades e possibilidades de inserção de novas alternativas e fontes de renda, como forma de garantir a continuidade do sistema e sua perpetuação. Por último, a adoção de ações multilaterais, integradas e colaborativas envolvendo os comunitários e as instituições são importante para garantir não apenas a conservação do recurso, mas também do conhecimento e da tradição de uso, bem como da transmissão desses conhecimentos, sendo necessário uma avaliação periódica do sistema, considerando cada contexto e as perspectivas locais.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T17:40:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo6205_1.pdf: 3626825 bytes, checksum: e83e6ff50016588ae49e0987159c1526 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / O crescimento desordenado do transporte informal nas principais cidades do País mudou a postura dos governantes locais frente a esse tipo de serviço, cujas posturas passaram da simples repressão policial para a regulamentação dessas atividades. O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar em que medida a inserção de uma nova modalidade de transporte, baseada em tecnologias usando veículos de pequeno porte VPP -, nas redes existentes de transporte público, vista como uma política pública, pode vir a propiciar maior mobilidade para a população de baixa renda. Através de pesquisas de opinião realizadas junto aos usuários, busca-se conhecer os impactos ocorridos em sua mobilidade, apreendendo-se ainda sua avaliação sobre a qualidade dos serviços de transporte após essa regulamentação. A dissertação se desenvolveu em torno de três eixos de análise. O primeiro consistiu na realização de um estudo de caso da regulamentação de VPP ocorrida na cidade do Recife, especificamente na zona noroeste, onde foi aplicada uma pesquisa junto aos usuários. As análises da tipologia regulatória adotada e do grau de adesão da sociedade a essa intervenção pública foram os outros dois eixos de análise desenvolvidos. Os resultados obtidos revelaram que a intervenção do poder público na regulamentação dos VPP, além de necessária para enfrentar os problemas vivenciados pelo sistema de circulação, foi aprovada pelos usuários de transporte coletivo e pela sociedade de um modo geral. Todavia, a regulamentação mostra sinais de fragilidade nos seus arcabouços institucional, operacional e regulatório adotados, o que leva à necessidade de uma permanente reavaliação da parte dos poderes públicos, com vistas a se evitar que a ação desregulamentada dos VPP s volte a ocorrer, levando à perda de qualidade dos serviços ofertados e à queda nos padrões de mobilidade

PhD, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, 2010 / Informal settlements are a growing world-wide phenomenon. Up-to-date spatial information mapping settlements is essential for a variety of end-user applications from planning settlement upgrading to monitoring expansion and infill. One method of gathering this information is through the analysis of nadir-view aerial imagery and the automated or semi-automated extraction of individual shacks. The problem of shack detection and delineation in, particularly South African, informal settlements is a unique and difficult one. This is primarily due to the inhomogeneous appearance of shack roofs, which are constructed from a variety of disparate materials, and the density of shacks. Previous research has focused mostly on the use of height data in conjunction with optical images to perform automated or semi-automated shack extraction. In this thesis, a novel approach to automating shack extraction is presented and prototyped, in which the appearance of shack roofs is homogenised, facilitating their detection. The main features of this strategy are: construction of an anisotropic scale-space from a single source image and detection of hypotheses at multiple scales; simplification of hypotheses' boundaries through discrete curve evolution and regularisation of boundaries in accordance with an assumed shack model - a 4-6 sided, compact, rectilinear shape; selection of hypotheses competing across scales using fuzzy rules; grouping of hypotheses based on their support for one another, and localisation and re-regularisation of boundaries through the incorporation of image edges. The prototype's performance is evaluated in terms of standard metrics and is analysed for four different images, having three different sets of imaging conditions, and containing well over a hundred shacks. Detection rates in terms of building counts vary from 83% to 100% and, in terms of roof area coverage, from 55% to 84%. These results, each derived from a single source image, compare favourably with those of existing shack detection systems, especially automated ones which make use of richer source data. Integrating this scale-space approach with height data offers the promise of even better results.