Appraisal of community-based childcare practices in rural Malawi: the case of Malili traditional authority area, Lilongwe District
- Authors: Alufandika, Dina
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Tribal government -- Malawi , Child welfare -- Malawi , Child development -- Malawi , Child care services -- Malawi , Community development -- Malawi , Rural development -- Malawi , Malawi -- Social policy , Lilongwe (Malawi)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (Rural Development)
- Identifier: vital:11945 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1005968 , Tribal government -- Malawi , Child welfare -- Malawi , Child development -- Malawi , Child care services -- Malawi , Community development -- Malawi , Rural development -- Malawi , Malawi -- Social policy , Lilongwe (Malawi)
- Description: The government of Malawi established the community based childcare (CBCC) programme with the aim of addressing early childhood problems and achieve national development in the long run. The CBCC programme, as one of the approaches to early childhood development (ECD), is guided by the national early childhood development policy. It promotes some practices that somehow deviate from the traditional childcare ways that communities have always known. Experience has shown that programmes that have elements of conflict with commonly held beliefs are bound to meet with resistance in society. The study employed a mini survey, focus group discussion, observation and document review to understand how the CBCC childcare practices in Malili intersect with commonly held beliefs about childcare as well as how they reflect on the national ECD policy. The study also focused on understanding the perceptions of community members on the CBCC programme. The study revealed that while some aspects of CBCC delivery conform to commonly held beliefs about childcare in the area under study, others diverge from such beliefs. Such convergence and divergence appear to be in line with the propositions of transformalist globalisation theory- one of the perspectives adopted for the study. The study also found that care practices at CBCC are not a true reflection of the national ECD policy as community members’ perceptions, poor community participation, poverty and lack of caregiver training in ECD contribute towards poor quality of care in CBCC, contrary to what is defined in the national ECD policy. The study also found that while both CBCC caregivers and sampled community members perceived the quality of care at the centers as poor, caregivers had a more positive perception towards the CBCC than community members. The study indicated that CBCC are centres of desperation for low economic status communities. Findings from the research have revealed that cultural values and commonly held beliefs, and exposure to new knowledge through globalisation play a role in determining childcare practices as well as perceptions towards them. In this sense the study has indicated that meanings that communities attach to development interventions influence their actions and perceptions towards it.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Alufandika, Dina
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Tribal government -- Malawi , Child welfare -- Malawi , Child development -- Malawi , Child care services -- Malawi , Community development -- Malawi , Rural development -- Malawi , Malawi -- Social policy , Lilongwe (Malawi)
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (Rural Development)
- Identifier: vital:11945 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1005968 , Tribal government -- Malawi , Child welfare -- Malawi , Child development -- Malawi , Child care services -- Malawi , Community development -- Malawi , Rural development -- Malawi , Malawi -- Social policy , Lilongwe (Malawi)
- Description: The government of Malawi established the community based childcare (CBCC) programme with the aim of addressing early childhood problems and achieve national development in the long run. The CBCC programme, as one of the approaches to early childhood development (ECD), is guided by the national early childhood development policy. It promotes some practices that somehow deviate from the traditional childcare ways that communities have always known. Experience has shown that programmes that have elements of conflict with commonly held beliefs are bound to meet with resistance in society. The study employed a mini survey, focus group discussion, observation and document review to understand how the CBCC childcare practices in Malili intersect with commonly held beliefs about childcare as well as how they reflect on the national ECD policy. The study also focused on understanding the perceptions of community members on the CBCC programme. The study revealed that while some aspects of CBCC delivery conform to commonly held beliefs about childcare in the area under study, others diverge from such beliefs. Such convergence and divergence appear to be in line with the propositions of transformalist globalisation theory- one of the perspectives adopted for the study. The study also found that care practices at CBCC are not a true reflection of the national ECD policy as community members’ perceptions, poor community participation, poverty and lack of caregiver training in ECD contribute towards poor quality of care in CBCC, contrary to what is defined in the national ECD policy. The study also found that while both CBCC caregivers and sampled community members perceived the quality of care at the centers as poor, caregivers had a more positive perception towards the CBCC than community members. The study indicated that CBCC are centres of desperation for low economic status communities. Findings from the research have revealed that cultural values and commonly held beliefs, and exposure to new knowledge through globalisation play a role in determining childcare practices as well as perceptions towards them. In this sense the study has indicated that meanings that communities attach to development interventions influence their actions and perceptions towards it.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Foreign direct investment in South Africa: the case of the East London industrial development zone
- Authors: Marawu, Sithembele
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Investments, Foreign -- South Africa -- East London , Job creation -- South Africa -- East London
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (Rural Development)
- Identifier: vital:11942 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/559 , Investments, Foreign -- South Africa -- East London , Job creation -- South Africa -- East London
- Description: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been perceived by most developing countries, emerging economies and countries in transition as a major vehicle for development that would not only boost a host country’s economic development but also enhance its integration into the global economy. The common assumption is that presence of foreign companies in a host country, particularly a developing country, would lead to economic benefits; among them, transfer of technology, and skills and human capacity development. The establishment of special “development zones” and the roll-out of incentives to attract FDI are often predicated on the expectation by host countries that these benefits would be achieved. It is against this background that this study sought to find out the character of FDI in the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ), located in the Eastern Cape. The study focused on the institutional preconditions and incentives used by the ELIDZ to attract FDI into the zone, and on whether these had any bearing on labour and environmental standards as well as on local skills development. Empirical data for the study were collected using in-depth interview with senior management staff of both the ELIDZ as an organisation, and one of the foreign companies located in the zone (a “tenant” of ELIDZ). In addition, a mini survey was conducted with a random sample of employees of the selected ELIDZ company. Among the key findings of the study was that the ELIDZ had in place a range of incentives and preconditions for the attraction of FDI, and that there were concerted efforts on the part of ELIDZ management to compel companies operating in the zone to adhere to specific iv standards – especially on the environmental front. From the mini survey results, however, the study established that achievements on the labour front were mixed. While most of the responses indicated that ELIDZ was playing a positive role in terms of employment creation, a high number of responses (from surveyed employees in the selected ELIDZ company) pointed out that employment standards were in question. For example, 41% of respondents reported “unhappiness” with their conditions of employment, while 50% deplored the fact that they were not allowed to belong to unions. Furthermore, responses were nearly evenly split (53%/47%) between those who reported that their employment had resulted in the acquisition of new skills and those who reported that it had not. From these and other findings, the study concluded that ELIDZ was facing a “balancing act” by expecting foreign companies to create jobs, transfer technology and contribute to local skills development while at the same time adhering to strict environmental and labour standards. The study thus confirmed a major consensus in the FDI literature, while FDI could bring about important socio-economic achievements in a host country, foreign companies and host governments are not necessarily motivated by the same set of factors. Indeed, at least a small facet of the study’s findings seemed to confirm the well-documented anti-FDI sentiment that the faith placed in FDI by host governments (especially in developing countries) does not always have a sound basis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Marawu, Sithembele
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Investments, Foreign -- South Africa -- East London , Job creation -- South Africa -- East London
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (Rural Development)
- Identifier: vital:11942 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/559 , Investments, Foreign -- South Africa -- East London , Job creation -- South Africa -- East London
- Description: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been perceived by most developing countries, emerging economies and countries in transition as a major vehicle for development that would not only boost a host country’s economic development but also enhance its integration into the global economy. The common assumption is that presence of foreign companies in a host country, particularly a developing country, would lead to economic benefits; among them, transfer of technology, and skills and human capacity development. The establishment of special “development zones” and the roll-out of incentives to attract FDI are often predicated on the expectation by host countries that these benefits would be achieved. It is against this background that this study sought to find out the character of FDI in the East London Industrial Development Zone (ELIDZ), located in the Eastern Cape. The study focused on the institutional preconditions and incentives used by the ELIDZ to attract FDI into the zone, and on whether these had any bearing on labour and environmental standards as well as on local skills development. Empirical data for the study were collected using in-depth interview with senior management staff of both the ELIDZ as an organisation, and one of the foreign companies located in the zone (a “tenant” of ELIDZ). In addition, a mini survey was conducted with a random sample of employees of the selected ELIDZ company. Among the key findings of the study was that the ELIDZ had in place a range of incentives and preconditions for the attraction of FDI, and that there were concerted efforts on the part of ELIDZ management to compel companies operating in the zone to adhere to specific iv standards – especially on the environmental front. From the mini survey results, however, the study established that achievements on the labour front were mixed. While most of the responses indicated that ELIDZ was playing a positive role in terms of employment creation, a high number of responses (from surveyed employees in the selected ELIDZ company) pointed out that employment standards were in question. For example, 41% of respondents reported “unhappiness” with their conditions of employment, while 50% deplored the fact that they were not allowed to belong to unions. Furthermore, responses were nearly evenly split (53%/47%) between those who reported that their employment had resulted in the acquisition of new skills and those who reported that it had not. From these and other findings, the study concluded that ELIDZ was facing a “balancing act” by expecting foreign companies to create jobs, transfer technology and contribute to local skills development while at the same time adhering to strict environmental and labour standards. The study thus confirmed a major consensus in the FDI literature, while FDI could bring about important socio-economic achievements in a host country, foreign companies and host governments are not necessarily motivated by the same set of factors. Indeed, at least a small facet of the study’s findings seemed to confirm the well-documented anti-FDI sentiment that the faith placed in FDI by host governments (especially in developing countries) does not always have a sound basis.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Government-sponsored community development projects as poverty alleviation tools: evidence from Mdantsane, East London
- Authors: Gedze, Ntombebhongo
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture and state -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Eastern Cape -- South Africa , Poverty alleviation , Community participation , Mdantsane Township
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (Rural Development)
- Identifier: vital:11948 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1005995 , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture and state -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Eastern Cape -- South Africa , Poverty alleviation , Community participation , Mdantsane Township
- Description: The study investigates whether government-sponsored community development projects in the township of Mdantsane, Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa, have achieved the intended goal of alleviating poverty among the beneficiaries. The specific outcomes of poverty alleviation are: improved income, acquisition of new skills, reduced dependence on welfare grants. Four urban farming projects were selected, namely: Buffalo City Organic Producers, Sakhisizwe Nursery, Lusindiso Farmer’s Trading Co-operative and Mbombela Co-operative. Focus group discussions and a mini survey were conducted with project beneficiaries, while relevant government officials were interviewed. Conceptual insights were drawn from community development theory. The findings showed that the broader context within which the projects occurred was characterised by a pro-poor social policy, relative availability of resources with which to translate it into action, and a measure of entrepreneurial potential amongst community members. However, while one of the projects showed some promise (in the sense that beneficiaries acquired new skills and had a generally positive attitude despite not enjoying any improved income status), all the others appeared doomed and trapped in dynamics such as: excessive government control of the management of the initiatives, ineffective project monitoring, and the mischaracterisation of the initiatives by both the government and the beneficiaries. A distorted sense of ownership and perverse community participation seemed to prevail, which in turn robbed the initiatives of their poverty alleviation potential. The study thus concluded that specific benefactor-beneficiary dynamics are crucial for the success of a given anti-poverty intervention. A robust pro-poor social policy, availability of resources with which to translate it into action, and local entrepreneurial potential do not in themselves bring about success; they must operate in a certain way and be undergirded by certain principles for them to become a powerful mechanism for alleviating poverty. It is against this background that the researcher offers some recommendations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Gedze, Ntombebhongo
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture and state -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Eastern Cape -- South Africa , Poverty alleviation , Community participation , Mdantsane Township
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (Rural Development)
- Identifier: vital:11948 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/d1005995 , Community development -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Economic development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Poverty -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agricultural development projects -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Agriculture and state -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Eastern Cape -- South Africa , Poverty alleviation , Community participation , Mdantsane Township
- Description: The study investigates whether government-sponsored community development projects in the township of Mdantsane, Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa, have achieved the intended goal of alleviating poverty among the beneficiaries. The specific outcomes of poverty alleviation are: improved income, acquisition of new skills, reduced dependence on welfare grants. Four urban farming projects were selected, namely: Buffalo City Organic Producers, Sakhisizwe Nursery, Lusindiso Farmer’s Trading Co-operative and Mbombela Co-operative. Focus group discussions and a mini survey were conducted with project beneficiaries, while relevant government officials were interviewed. Conceptual insights were drawn from community development theory. The findings showed that the broader context within which the projects occurred was characterised by a pro-poor social policy, relative availability of resources with which to translate it into action, and a measure of entrepreneurial potential amongst community members. However, while one of the projects showed some promise (in the sense that beneficiaries acquired new skills and had a generally positive attitude despite not enjoying any improved income status), all the others appeared doomed and trapped in dynamics such as: excessive government control of the management of the initiatives, ineffective project monitoring, and the mischaracterisation of the initiatives by both the government and the beneficiaries. A distorted sense of ownership and perverse community participation seemed to prevail, which in turn robbed the initiatives of their poverty alleviation potential. The study thus concluded that specific benefactor-beneficiary dynamics are crucial for the success of a given anti-poverty intervention. A robust pro-poor social policy, availability of resources with which to translate it into action, and local entrepreneurial potential do not in themselves bring about success; they must operate in a certain way and be undergirded by certain principles for them to become a powerful mechanism for alleviating poverty. It is against this background that the researcher offers some recommendations.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Participation and paradoxes: community control of mineral wealth in South Africa's Royal Bafokeng and Bakgatla Ba Kgafela communities
- Authors: Mnwana, Sonwabile Comfords
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Political participation -- South Africa , Natural resources -- Co-management -- South Africa , Rural development -- South Africa , Mining corporations -- South Africa , Platinum mines and mining -- South Africa , Sustainable development -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Social Sciences)
- Identifier: vital:11952 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/526 , Political participation -- South Africa , Natural resources -- Co-management -- South Africa , Rural development -- South Africa , Mining corporations -- South Africa , Platinum mines and mining -- South Africa , Sustainable development -- South Africa
- Description: Resource control as a form of community participation in the mineral economy has gained much recognition. One prevailing argument is that direct control of natural resources by local communities is an important precondition for equitable utilisation of the natural resource wealth, peaceful co-existence between mining corporations and indigenous communities, and congenial relations between local communities and the state. Studies have also shown that the absence of direct community control of mineral wealth remains a major factor in the communal resistance and socio-political conflict witnessed in the natural resource-endowed regions of countries such as Nigeria, Ecuador, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, little is known about mineral resource control at the community level. Does community control necessarily translate to equity? How does local involvement in the mobilisation of mining royalties benefit different segments of the community? Indeed, how do different segments of the community “control” the wealth? What is the specific model adopted to engender broad-based community participation in the utilisation of mineral wealth – and does it matter? These theoretical and practical questions were the impetus for undertaking this study in the Royal Bafokeng and Bakgatla Ba Kgafela – two platinum-rich ‘traditional’ communities in South Africa’s North West Province that have significant control over platinum resources in their territories. Utilising ethnographic data collected in the two study communities in 2008 and 2009, the thesis examines the character of community participation in platinum wealth utilisation; specifically, the conditions under which community participation promotes or hinders sustainable community development. The analysis uses a “three-dimensional participation ladder” conceptual scheme, based in part on Sherry Arnstein’s (1969) “ladder of citizen participation” and subsequent typologies of participation. Among the key findings of the thesis are that despite observed benefits, the interface of resource wealth and community development is fraught with tokenistic participation, elite-targeted grassroots anger, and local tensions – all linked to the contradictory nature of participation. The thesis further reveals that in some instances the challenge of platinum wealth-engendered community development tends to undermine existing customary and democratic spaces for participation, and that this is exacerbated by community-level issues such as poverty and inequality. The findings of the study compel a shift of analytical focus from conflict as an epiphenomenon of collective community exclusion and deprivation (as in the case of many natural-rich countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere), to conflict as also resulting from collective community inclusion (in natural resource utilisation). At the policy level, the study generates insights that will, hopefully, assist mineral resource-endowed countries, such as South Africa, in dealing with the challenge of developing appropriate policy frameworks for regulating business and social partnerships between local communities and mining corporations, and within resource-rich communities themselves.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
- Authors: Mnwana, Sonwabile Comfords
- Date: 2012
- Subjects: Political participation -- South Africa , Natural resources -- Co-management -- South Africa , Rural development -- South Africa , Mining corporations -- South Africa , Platinum mines and mining -- South Africa , Sustainable development -- South Africa
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Social Sciences)
- Identifier: vital:11952 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/526 , Political participation -- South Africa , Natural resources -- Co-management -- South Africa , Rural development -- South Africa , Mining corporations -- South Africa , Platinum mines and mining -- South Africa , Sustainable development -- South Africa
- Description: Resource control as a form of community participation in the mineral economy has gained much recognition. One prevailing argument is that direct control of natural resources by local communities is an important precondition for equitable utilisation of the natural resource wealth, peaceful co-existence between mining corporations and indigenous communities, and congenial relations between local communities and the state. Studies have also shown that the absence of direct community control of mineral wealth remains a major factor in the communal resistance and socio-political conflict witnessed in the natural resource-endowed regions of countries such as Nigeria, Ecuador, Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, little is known about mineral resource control at the community level. Does community control necessarily translate to equity? How does local involvement in the mobilisation of mining royalties benefit different segments of the community? Indeed, how do different segments of the community “control” the wealth? What is the specific model adopted to engender broad-based community participation in the utilisation of mineral wealth – and does it matter? These theoretical and practical questions were the impetus for undertaking this study in the Royal Bafokeng and Bakgatla Ba Kgafela – two platinum-rich ‘traditional’ communities in South Africa’s North West Province that have significant control over platinum resources in their territories. Utilising ethnographic data collected in the two study communities in 2008 and 2009, the thesis examines the character of community participation in platinum wealth utilisation; specifically, the conditions under which community participation promotes or hinders sustainable community development. The analysis uses a “three-dimensional participation ladder” conceptual scheme, based in part on Sherry Arnstein’s (1969) “ladder of citizen participation” and subsequent typologies of participation. Among the key findings of the thesis are that despite observed benefits, the interface of resource wealth and community development is fraught with tokenistic participation, elite-targeted grassroots anger, and local tensions – all linked to the contradictory nature of participation. The thesis further reveals that in some instances the challenge of platinum wealth-engendered community development tends to undermine existing customary and democratic spaces for participation, and that this is exacerbated by community-level issues such as poverty and inequality. The findings of the study compel a shift of analytical focus from conflict as an epiphenomenon of collective community exclusion and deprivation (as in the case of many natural-rich countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere), to conflict as also resulting from collective community inclusion (in natural resource utilisation). At the policy level, the study generates insights that will, hopefully, assist mineral resource-endowed countries, such as South Africa, in dealing with the challenge of developing appropriate policy frameworks for regulating business and social partnerships between local communities and mining corporations, and within resource-rich communities themselves.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2012
Consensus and contentions around community engagement in a South African tertiary institution: University of Fort Hare
- Authors: Mudefi, Elmon
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Community and college -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Administration , Education, Higher -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (Rural Development)
- Identifier: vital:11954 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/311 , Community and college -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Administration , Education, Higher -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This study examines the nature and character of consensus and contentions around the discourse of community engagement in a South African university context. This is against the background of the growing body of literature that advocates for the need for universities to make their impact felt in communities in more direct ways than through teaching and research. The examination is also against the background of the assumption that the success or failure of community engagement initiatives is, in part, a function of how stakeholders agree/disagree on the meaning and purpose of community engagement. The University of Fort Hare is used as a case study. Interviews and Focus Group Discussions were used for qualitative data collection, whilst a survey was conducted for gathering quantitative data. The study revealed that stakeholders attach different meanings to community engagement, with those possessing power and influence acting as key decision makers. Thus powerful stakeholders (in this case, the university and donor organizations) are at the core of the decision making process, while beneficiaries are pushed to the periphery. Moreover, both the meanings and the activities within which they cohere have important implications for the way beneficiary communities perceive university-community partnerships.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
- Authors: Mudefi, Elmon
- Date: 2011
- Subjects: Community and college -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Administration , Education, Higher -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , M Soc Sc (Rural Development)
- Identifier: vital:11954 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/311 , Community and college -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Education, Higher -- Aims and objectives -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape , Universities and colleges -- South Africa -- Administration , Education, Higher -- South Africa -- Eastern Cape
- Description: This study examines the nature and character of consensus and contentions around the discourse of community engagement in a South African university context. This is against the background of the growing body of literature that advocates for the need for universities to make their impact felt in communities in more direct ways than through teaching and research. The examination is also against the background of the assumption that the success or failure of community engagement initiatives is, in part, a function of how stakeholders agree/disagree on the meaning and purpose of community engagement. The University of Fort Hare is used as a case study. Interviews and Focus Group Discussions were used for qualitative data collection, whilst a survey was conducted for gathering quantitative data. The study revealed that stakeholders attach different meanings to community engagement, with those possessing power and influence acting as key decision makers. Thus powerful stakeholders (in this case, the university and donor organizations) are at the core of the decision making process, while beneficiaries are pushed to the periphery. Moreover, both the meanings and the activities within which they cohere have important implications for the way beneficiary communities perceive university-community partnerships.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2011
Land use, compensational justice and energy resource extraction in Nigeria: a socio-historical study of petroleum and coal mining communities
- Authors: Umejesi, Ikechukwu
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Compensation (Law) -- Nigeria , Right of property -- Nigeria , Mines and mineral resources -- Nigeria , Coal mines and mining -- Nigeria
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Sociology)
- Identifier: vital:11950 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/344 , Compensation (Law) -- Nigeria , Right of property -- Nigeria , Mines and mineral resources -- Nigeria , Coal mines and mining -- Nigeria
- Description: Scholarly and public analyses of state-community conflict in resource-rich communities, especially in Nigeria, often portray the compensational practices of the state and extractive enterprises as unjust and unsustainable. According to this view, at least three issues foreground the “unjustness”, namely: a) Inadequate compensation of land owners when land is expropriated or degraded in the process of natural resource exploration and production; b) inadequate periodic rents paid by extractive firms to land owners; and c) lack of, or inadequate socio-economic infrastructure in the host communities of extractive operations. Most analysts have therefore argued for a revamp of the compensation system and have presented the inadequacy of compensation as the underlying cause of conflict in Nigeria‟s mining communities (see Frynas, 2000b:208; Okoji, 2002:205). This thesis subjects the compensation discourse to a closer examination, especially against the backdrop of underdevelopment, pervasive poverty, environmental damage and continuing corporate-community conflict in Nigeria‟s resource-rich rural communities. The main argument is that, because of some of its underlying neoliberal assumptions, much of the compensation discourse is flawed – which is why the discourse obscures the true character of state-community and corporate-community conflict. This more so, because the discourse relies mainly on post-colonial (that is, post-1960) experiences and contemporary advocacy literature, ignores the interplay between history and contemporary developments in state-community relations, and treats compensation as an independent variable. Drawing on the concept of collective memory, and utilising historical, ethnographic and survey data from two of Nigeria‟s oldest petroleum and coal-mining communities, the thesis examines how the evolution of the Nigerian state and collective memory about aspects of that evolution have shaped state-community relations in the extractive sector. It situates state- iii community resource-related conflict within the wider socio-historical matrix of state and community contestations for ecological and natural resource sovereignty. The key finding of the thesis is that within the context of socio-ecological rights, compensation demands by local communities are textured. In the case of the communities selected for the study, such demands are often made outside, rather than within, local ethnographic ideas of “justness” and “fairness”. Hence, land-related grievances associated with natural resource extraction persist, regardless of whether or not local demands for compensation are “adequately” met by the state and extractive corporations. The thesis enriches and extends our understanding of natural resource conflict by privileging both the sociological and historical contexts of the conflict and raising questions about the dominance the state enjoys over local communities and indigenous ecological spaces.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
- Authors: Umejesi, Ikechukwu
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Compensation (Law) -- Nigeria , Right of property -- Nigeria , Mines and mineral resources -- Nigeria , Coal mines and mining -- Nigeria
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , PhD (Sociology)
- Identifier: vital:11950 , http://hdl.handle.net/10353/344 , Compensation (Law) -- Nigeria , Right of property -- Nigeria , Mines and mineral resources -- Nigeria , Coal mines and mining -- Nigeria
- Description: Scholarly and public analyses of state-community conflict in resource-rich communities, especially in Nigeria, often portray the compensational practices of the state and extractive enterprises as unjust and unsustainable. According to this view, at least three issues foreground the “unjustness”, namely: a) Inadequate compensation of land owners when land is expropriated or degraded in the process of natural resource exploration and production; b) inadequate periodic rents paid by extractive firms to land owners; and c) lack of, or inadequate socio-economic infrastructure in the host communities of extractive operations. Most analysts have therefore argued for a revamp of the compensation system and have presented the inadequacy of compensation as the underlying cause of conflict in Nigeria‟s mining communities (see Frynas, 2000b:208; Okoji, 2002:205). This thesis subjects the compensation discourse to a closer examination, especially against the backdrop of underdevelopment, pervasive poverty, environmental damage and continuing corporate-community conflict in Nigeria‟s resource-rich rural communities. The main argument is that, because of some of its underlying neoliberal assumptions, much of the compensation discourse is flawed – which is why the discourse obscures the true character of state-community and corporate-community conflict. This more so, because the discourse relies mainly on post-colonial (that is, post-1960) experiences and contemporary advocacy literature, ignores the interplay between history and contemporary developments in state-community relations, and treats compensation as an independent variable. Drawing on the concept of collective memory, and utilising historical, ethnographic and survey data from two of Nigeria‟s oldest petroleum and coal-mining communities, the thesis examines how the evolution of the Nigerian state and collective memory about aspects of that evolution have shaped state-community relations in the extractive sector. It situates state- iii community resource-related conflict within the wider socio-historical matrix of state and community contestations for ecological and natural resource sovereignty. The key finding of the thesis is that within the context of socio-ecological rights, compensation demands by local communities are textured. In the case of the communities selected for the study, such demands are often made outside, rather than within, local ethnographic ideas of “justness” and “fairness”. Hence, land-related grievances associated with natural resource extraction persist, regardless of whether or not local demands for compensation are “adequately” met by the state and extractive corporations. The thesis enriches and extends our understanding of natural resource conflict by privileging both the sociological and historical contexts of the conflict and raising questions about the dominance the state enjoys over local communities and indigenous ecological spaces.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2010
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