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All Outputs (29)

Going entrepreneurial: the dark side of donors and trade union support to informal workers in Accra, Ghana (2024)
Journal Article
Asafu-Adjaye, P., & Rizzo, M. (2024). Going entrepreneurial: the dark side of donors and trade union support to informal workers in Accra, Ghana. Review of African Political Economy, 51(182), 573-591. https://doi.org/10.62191/ROAPE-2024-0038

This article analyses donor-funded aid programmes to support trade unions’ work in the informal street food sector in Accra, also known as ‘chop bars’. It reviews the programmes that this aid entailed, against the backdrop of socioeconomic stratifica... Read More about Going entrepreneurial: the dark side of donors and trade union support to informal workers in Accra, Ghana.

The statecraft of large transport projects: Bus Rapid Transit in Johannesburg (2023)
Thesis
Harber, J. (2023). The statecraft of large transport projects: Bus Rapid Transit in Johannesburg [PhD thesis, SOAS University of London]. https://doi.org/10.25501/SOAS.00040986

In 2006, the nascent City of Johannesburg undertook the most ambitious infrastructure project in South African local government history. The Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system was to be not just a new way to move people around the city, but a... Read More about The statecraft of large transport projects: Bus Rapid Transit in Johannesburg.

The Groundnut Scheme and Colonial Development in Tanganyika (2022)
Book Chapter
Rizzo, M. (2022). The Groundnut Scheme and Colonial Development in Tanganyika. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of African History. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.1270

The East African Groundnut Scheme (EAGS) in Tanganyika stands among the most dramatic examples of failure of British late colonial developmentalism and imperialism. Frantically planned and launched in Tanganyika in 1946, the EAGS was the most colossa... Read More about The Groundnut Scheme and Colonial Development in Tanganyika.

The Impact of Informal and Rural Labour Markets on Poverty Reduction: A Mixed Methods Study of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) in Northwest Tanzania (2022)
Thesis
Goetz, J. M. (2022). The Impact of Informal and Rural Labour Markets on Poverty Reduction: A Mixed Methods Study of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) in Northwest Tanzania [PhD thesis, SOAS University of London]. https://doi.org/10.25501/SOAS.00036605

This thesis explores labour markets, their importance to rural non-farming income-generating activities in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the ways in which they affect poverty outcomes of artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). It engages critically w... Read More about The Impact of Informal and Rural Labour Markets on Poverty Reduction: A Mixed Methods Study of Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) in Northwest Tanzania.

Trade Union Responses to Economic Liberalisation in Ghana (2021)
Thesis
Asafu-Adjaye, P. (2021). Trade Union Responses to Economic Liberalisation in Ghana [PhD thesis, SOAS University of London]. https://doi.org/10.25501/SOAS.00036112

This study draws on three case studies to investigate the response by trade unions in Ghana to economic liberalisation. The first case study documents trade union struggles to counter the commercialisation and privatisation of electricity in the coun... Read More about Trade Union Responses to Economic Liberalisation in Ghana.

Workers’ Power in Resisting Precarity: Comparing Transport Workers in Buenos Aires and Dar es Salaam (2020)
Journal Article
Rizzo, M., & Atzeni, M. (2020). Workers’ Power in Resisting Precarity: Comparing Transport Workers in Buenos Aires and Dar es Salaam. Work, Employment and Society, 34(6), 1114-1130. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017020928248

The growing precariousness of employment across the world has radically altered the conditions upon which the representation of workers’ interests has traditionally been built, as it has posed challenges for established trade unions: individualized e... Read More about Workers’ Power in Resisting Precarity: Comparing Transport Workers in Buenos Aires and Dar es Salaam.

Taken For A Ride: Grounding Neoliberalism, Precarious Labour, and Public Transport in an African Metropolis (2017)
Book
Rizzo, M. (2017). Taken For A Ride: Grounding Neoliberalism, Precarious Labour, and Public Transport in an African Metropolis. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198794240.001.0001

The growth of cities and informal economies are two central manifestations of globalization in the developing world. Taken for a Ride addresses both, drawing on long-term fieldwork in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and charting its public transport system’... Read More about Taken For A Ride: Grounding Neoliberalism, Precarious Labour, and Public Transport in an African Metropolis.

The Invisibility of Wage Employment in Statistics on the Informal Economy in Africa: Causes and Consequences (2014)
Journal Article
Rizzo, M., Kilama, B., & Wuyts, M. (2014). The Invisibility of Wage Employment in Statistics on the Informal Economy in Africa: Causes and Consequences. The Journal of Development Studies, 51(2), 149-161. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2014.968136

This article challenges the claim, along with the statistics that support it, that self-employment is by far the dominant employment status in the informal economy. The article begins by reviewing key insights from relevant literature on the informal... Read More about The Invisibility of Wage Employment in Statistics on the Informal Economy in Africa: Causes and Consequences.

Testing Claims about Large Land Deals in Africa: Findings from a Multi-Country Study (2014)
Journal Article
Cotula, L., Oya, C., Codjoe, E. A., Eid, A., Kakraba-Ampeh, M., Keeley, J., Lokaley Kidewa, A., Makwarimba, M., Michago Seide, W., Ole Nasha, W., Owusu Asare, R., & Rizzo, M. (2014). Testing Claims about Large Land Deals in Africa: Findings from a Multi-Country Study. The Journal of Development Studies, 50(7), 903-925. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2014.901501

Despite much research on large land deals for plantation agriculture in Africa, reliable data remain elusive, partly because of limited access to information and practical and methodological challenges. International debates are still shaped by mispe... Read More about Testing Claims about Large Land Deals in Africa: Findings from a Multi-Country Study.