For a very long time, the development sector has used external consultants to gather baseline information before implementing a new project in a new community.  While the main advantage of that approach is that an outsider can see what community members may not see about themselves, there are more advantages in empowering communities to conduct Read more about Communities can conduct their own baseline studies if properly empowered[…]

How informal economies and mass markets fight poverty and destitution If there was no informal sector most Africans would be destitutes. African territorial markets and the informal sector are the real unsung heroes of the African continent. For decades, these self-organized institutions have quietly embraced the burden of helping poor people move up the economic Read more about How informal economies and mass markets fight poverty and destitution[…]

African policy makers may see formalization of the informal sector as a panacea to economic development but what makes informality more attractive has not been adequately researched.  Informal knowledge exchange is the order of the day in oral cultures where the bulk of the information and rules of engagement are not documented.  For instance, a Read more about Integrating Indigenous Knowledge Systems with Modern Science through informality[…]

Introduction Across Africa, it has become common practice for large-scale infrastructure projects to be decided and implemented by government departments, engineers and architectural designers without fully involving social scientists. Such projects include road construction, dam construction, residential housing and urban shopping malls. By not taking social science into account, social consequences of these projects and Read more about The Social Impact of Large – Scale Construction Projects in Africa – Emerging lessons from rebuilding Mbare Retail Market in Harare, Zimbabwe[…]

When African policy makers, development organizations and financial institutions talk about the need to formalize Africa’s informal economy, those discussions and decisions are often based on a superficial understanding of how African informal economies function. That most African economies are driven by the informal sector is no longer debatable. At the centre of the informal Read more about Why evidence should guide the formalization of African informal economies[…]

Poorly sequenced investments doing more harm than good in Africa Imagine the Japanese Embassy financing the building of a house at Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo for victims of Gender-Based Violence but a few kilometres down the road Malaleni food market traders continue to sell their commodities in the open space with no shed to protect Read more about Poorly sequenced investments doing more harm than good in Africa[…]