The use of a feminist political economy framework to implement the African Union’s development plan
- Authors: Ngunjiri, Michelle Wangari
- Date: 2023-12
- Subjects: Feminist economics , Women -- Government policy , African Union , Sustainable development -- Africa Africa -- Economic policy
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/65891 , vital:74281
- Description: The purpose of this study was to determine if the African Union can achieve sustainable and inclusive growth through the adoption of a feminist political economy framework. This was done by investigating the potential gendered impact of the recently operationalised African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on African women. The specific indicator of sustainable and inclusive growth utilised was the “income poverty and equity parameter”. Owing to the contemporary nature of the trade agreement, a historical analysis of gender mainstreaming efforts within African Regional Economic Communities was undertaken. This aided in determining the arbitrary treatment of gender provisions in regional trade initiatives. Additionally, a nexus was drawn between the role of African hegemonies and the disregard for gender sensitivity in trade policies. It was found that despite the existence of gender mainstreaming tools, the achievement of sustainable and inclusive growth by the African Union will be unattainable. , Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences, School of Economics, Development and Tourism, 2023
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- Date Issued: 2023-12
An analysis of ethics and governance practices in the public sector: United Nations and African Union perspectives
- Authors: Shindika, Emmanuel Selemani
- Date: 2015
- Subjects: United Nations , African Union , Public administration -- Moral and ethical aspects
- Language: English
- Type: Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/26164 , vital:64946
- Description: Recent studies highlight the importance of improving governance and ethics in public entities, especially in Africa. However, doing so requires an understanding on what forms governance and ethics in public institutions, particularly at a national level. Such considerations necessitates that some focus on continental and world institutions, such as, the African Union and the United Nations. These institutions have been in existence for a number of years with mandates of improving member states governance and ethics, as well as, service delivery to the public. As such, this research primarily focuses on understanding the roles played by the AU and the UN in shaping governance and ethics to member states, as well as, of its employees. The focus of this inquiry was to understand individual narratives about how working for public institutions on a daily to day basis influences governance and ethics understanding and application. Therefore, in order to properly analyse the narratives from respondents, the study applied an inductive and qualitative approach in order to explore how the AU and UN systems influence governance and ethics for member s states and employees. Data was collected through semi structured interviews with UN and AU officials, as well as public servants of member states for those organisations. The study made use of a thematic analyses method of interpreting data. A total of six major themes emerged, they are as follows: ethics a part in governance; effectiveness of AU and UN systems; disciplinary role; ethical guidelines and standards influence on public sector; member states adherence to the UN/AU ethical conduct; and implementation gaps in ethical guidelines within member states. Interviews were conducted in four countries namely; South Africa, Tanzania, Mauritius and Botswana. Findings from the study pointed that the AU and UN systems have loopholes in dealing with issues of governance and ethics. Moreover, member states respondents also pointed to the loopholes in those two organisations. The research suggests that member states should tighten their public entities ethical compliance assessments and follow suggestions from the UN and AU. Final recommendations and suggestions for further research are provided. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Management and Commerce, 2015
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- Date Issued: 2015
The evaluation of cultural diversity in the institutionalization of the African Union
- Authors: Nhlapo, Lebohang Lorraine Z
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: African Union , Multiculturalism , African cooperation , Globalization
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MPhil
- Identifier: vital:8337 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1020624
- Description: This research was conducted to assess cultural diversity in the institutionalisation of the African Union (AU). Most researchers have found interest on the subject of cultural diversity that edifice the African Union because “Africa does not have a single culture not in religions, not in economic systems, and especially not in languages, the number of different languages spoken on the continent, numerous dialects not included, range as high as 2,000 or more languages. While some languages, such as Swahili, are spoken by millions, other languages may be spoken by only a handful” (Robert & Feldman, 2008: 267) The AU member states heads are quiet aware of the forces of cultural diversity in the Union, hence several workshops were carried out between member states heads to put together the cultural policy for the Union. There are also numerous policies on African cultural diversity that were approved previously by different organisations that intended to unify Africa before the African Union was formed. Those policies are aligned within the AU cultural policy - The Charter for African Renaissance that will be reviewed in length in Chapter 3 in the literature review. What comes as a mystery is that, even though the Charter for African Renaissance has unified and adopted various policies ethnic and religion segregations within states and between states is still visible in most African countries (ethnicity, language and religion will also be evaluated and a sample of various cultures found in African countries will also be discussed in Chapter 3 under literature review). The Charter for African Renaissance contains guiding principle and objectives of the AU pertaining cultural diversity and these objectives needs to be met. However the biggest well known challenge about policies is that in most cases they remain on paper and shelved, they never make that much difference to the society that they intend to change. As Cloete and Wissink (2000) will put it that “policies only exist because they need to bring about change, however, it is also possible to change policies on paper, whilst effecting no real social change" (2000: 239). African cultural diversity policies are as well littered with failed institutions and initiatives that have not been followed through to completion, or of promises that have been broken. The driving force for this research is that Africans has seen many false starts in the last few decades and they are desperate for change, they need to see democracy, development and institutional building in the African countries. African Union on the other hand has existed for a decade but it has not yet achieved its objectives. How do we know that this is not just another focus for a misplaced enthusiasm? Will the current initiatives of the AU fall by the wayside? Will the world continue to mock Africa as the land of broken promises, of criminalized and failed states that inevitably subvert the best intentions of their peoples and their development partners? Unfortunately these questions has influenced this investigation but cannot be answered by this paper. However this paper intends to find out if cultural diversity has an impact in the missed opportunities and broken promises of Africa and this will be examined in the structures of the African Union.
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- Date Issued: 2012