Vol. 10 No. 4(J) (2018)

Higher socio-economic status (SES) empowers an individual to have more access to a variety of materials relevant to achievements in life than would otherwise be possible. In theory, a child’s educational attainment can be influenced by hereditary and ecological variables; parents’ achievements are prompting children to achieve, or a deliberate investment that parents undertake in their children’s welfare, all suggestive of inter-generational effect in the process. A parent’s SES may therefore play a significant role in the child’s achievements. This paper attempts to determine the relationship between a parent’s SES and a child’s educational attainment and uses South African data collected at the national level. Employing descriptive statistics and OLS regressions, an inter-generational effect of parental SES positively influencing a child’s educational attainment is established. The finding supports policies promoting education as a fundamental poverty and inequality fighting mechanism in South Africa.

Adoption of improved technology tends to recalibrate labour use in agricultural production. The study examined how the adoption of various maize varieties impacted labour use in smallholder production. The study utilised a structured pre-coded questionnaire-based survey of 487 smallholder maize farmers in South Africa. The purposive sample was obtained from Ingquza Hill and Port St John’s Local Municipalities in the Eastern Cape Province. A multinomial regression model and Monte Carlo Simulation were utilised to analyse the data. Statistical Package for Social Scientist (SPSS) version 23 as well as Excel were the statistical tools utilised. Through multinomial regression analysis, the study found that weeding labour was the most significantly affected by a change in maize variety. It was observed that as maize variety transcends in use from Landrace to GMO, improved OPV and conventional hybrid, ploughing and weeding hours tend to decrease. The harvesting, storage and shelling hours tend to increase. Utilising the Monte Carlo Simulation, the study also found an increased impact of maize variety utilisation on harvesting as well as on shelling and storage labour hours. The study recommends that varieties be promoted taking cognizance of the labour dynamics to tier maximize suitability and labour-based productivity, reducing tedious labour use in ploughing and weeding, whilst promoting employment in harvesting, shelling and storage.

The purpose of this study was to examine if there are significant differences in the financial bootstrapping strategies of rural small businesses on the basis of owners’ demographic characteristics (level of education and gender). The research followed a quantitative research method with descriptive research design. A sample of 104 rural small businesses participated in the survey. Data was collected through the use of self-administered questionnaires in a survey. The participants in the study were rural small business owners in Fetakgomo Municipality located in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The study utilised the convenience and snowball sampling techniques to select the study participants. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, factor analysis and the T-test. The Cronbach’s alpha was used to measure reliability. The results of the T-test showed significant differences between gender and level of education and the financial bootstrapping methods used by rural small businesses. Recommendations are made to improve the awareness of bootstrapping by small business owners.

Entrepreneurship has been pointed out as a key contributor to sustained economic growth and development as it not only creates employment, but increased spending in markets, knowledge transfers, employment and innovation. However, very few studies exist that empirically measures the relationship between the three variables; economic growth, economic development and entrepreneurship. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to determine and highlight the importance of entrepreneurship as a contributing factor to economic growth and development. Traditionally, economic growth is measured by the gross domestic product (GDP) of a country. As no formal measurement of economic development exists, an index was created taking into consideration the Human Development Index (HDI), percentage population above the poverty line and employment rate. The entrepreneurship development variable is measured by the Total Early-Stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA). The study followed a quantitative research design and made use of secondary time series data with the sample period ranging from 2005 to 2016. The study area comprised five selected member states of the European Union (EU) which included Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary, Belgium and Poland. Findings suggest that economic growth, development and entrepreneurship seem to be inexplicably connected. As several other factors may also contribute to the fluctuations of economic growth and development results differed from one country to another. However, the analyses from the Dutch, Hungarian and Polish economies for the period under consideration reveal correspondingly healthy economic and social environments where entrepreneurial climates are flourishing. The analysis from Germany and Belgium, however reveal subdued entrepreneurial development. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the development of SME sectors especially in transition economies be centralised as important focus areas towards improving economic and social growth outlooks. In turn, policy stakeholders should ensure the creation of enabling environments structured around responsive micro and macro decision-making.

Conflict prevail when there is the absence of peace. African countries probably get the worst representation globally with the exception of Syria when it comes to conflicts and violence in the continent. Seemingly, every story emanating from the continent project one atrocity or another. Despite the shouldering of the larger share of the world’s conflict, Africa has relatively become more peaceful as well, however in Nigeria, the Boko Haram insurgence in the north is another epicentre. This paper centres on the intervention besides collaborative determination of ECOWAS – AU in mediating peace, and the peacebuilding mechanisms in resolving states conflicts, and to strengthen democracy in West Africa, with the case of Côte d’Ivoire. The organizations’ efforts in the Ivorian case reflect discourses and the dynamics of the operations of an effective regional organization, and the international community in addressing conflicts. The collaborative theory was embraced to put things inappropriate perception. Findings show that the implementation of the Contrivance and the Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance by ECOWAS were better prepared to meet challenges related to peace and security in the region. This paper concludes and recommends that organisations who mediate peace in any conflict zone must first understand the cause of the conflict, thereafter timely intervene, and take common positions in applying different mechanisms to prevent, manage and resolve conflicts. It is recommended that to prevent violence and human rights abuses in crisis situations, the organisations of ECOWAS and AU, and particularly SADC should improve interventions procedure.