Institute for Social Development (ISD)

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Browsing by Subject "Africa"

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    Demographic aspects of urbanization in Africa: A re-assessment of recent patterns
    (University of the Western Cape, 2018) Jambeinge, Theopolina Ndivahole; Tati, Gabriel
    In recent years, urban growth has been one of the major challenges in Africa. The increasing size and unwieldiness of towns and cities are a result of an on-going rapid urbanisation. The process of this rapid urbanisation in Africa is driven by the pursuit of employment and a better standard of living, which is rarely offered or available in rural areas (Okeke, 2014). Urbanisation brings about better services and livelihoods to millions, but poverty remains high in the rural and urban areas of Africa. Urbanisation is defined as an increase in the percentage of people living in towns and cities, which takes place as people move from rural to urban areas for better living standards. Urbanisation increases as a result of the extent and density of the cities.
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    Social protection responses to COVID-19 in Africa
    (SAGE Publications, 2021) Devereux, Stephen
    Most African countries implemented measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 during 2020, such as restrictions on business activity and travel, school closures and stay-at-home lockdowns for several months. These restrictive policies had adverse economic and social consequences that triggered a follow-up wave of expansionist public interventions intended to mitigate these effects. ‘Shock-responsive’ social protection measures included increased benefits to existing beneficiaries (vertical expansion) and registration of new beneficiaries on existing programmes (horizontal expansion). These approaches had the advantages of being quick and administratively simple, but the disadvantage of bypassing people who were made most vulnerable by COVID-19, notably retrenched and informal workers with no access to social insurance. On the other hand, setting up new humanitarian relief or temporary social assistance programmes was slow and susceptible to targeting errors and corruption. COVID-19 also prompted a reassessment of the social contract regarding social protection, with some governments recognising that they need to become better coordinated, more inclusive and rights-based.
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    What might a decolonial perspective on child protection look like? Lessons from Kenya
    (SAGE Publications, 2022) Nyamu, Irene K.; Wamahiu, Sheila P.
    Using decolonial perspective, this paper critically examines how certain child protection interventions in Kenya might increase childhood vulnerabilities among children from poor social backgrounds who are disproportionately represented in the justice system. Findings point to ambivalent child protection practices as a result of entrenched colonial legacies which criminalises juvenile ‘delinquents’, relying heavily on judicialisation while limiting social welfare investments. The study suggests alternative approaches to better child protection services that take into account southern-centric childcare practices and knowledge.