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ABSTRACTWhile disagreements about the value of rehabilitation programs persist, these programs are still largely seen as essential for the protection of the human rights of survivors of human trafficking, and the facilitation of their recovery and empowerment after trafficking. Consequently, it is not surprising that rehabilitation programs are a core component of the Nigerian government’s anti-trafficking policies. However, only limited efforts have so far been directed at ascertaining the extent to which these rehabilitation programs result in the empowerment of survivors in Nigeria. To address this gap, this paper explores the extent to which survivors’ perceptions and experiences in the rehabilitation programs reflect the ideals of empowerment. Drawing on qualitative data, we show that the government’s conceptualization of human trafficking influences their collaborative rehabilitation efforts, and that such efforts seem to simultaneously empower and disempower survivors.The paper concludes by considering the policy implications in the African context.

ABSTRACTThe aim of the European Union Forest Law Enforcement, Governance, and Trade Action Plan and its Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) is to tackle illegal logging and trade in illegal timber, improve forest governance, and foster economic growth in the forest sector. This study employs a Q methodology to assess areas of consensus and disagreement among forest sector stakeholders in Ghana on good forest governance practices as applied to the VPA process. The consensus among these stakeholders is that the VPA process has improved the participation of civil society in decision making and the establishment of a robust verification system to promote transparency and accountability, which are critical for sustainable forest management. However, while the shared perspectives among stakeholders highlight the crucial role of the VPAs in promoting improved forest governance in Ghana, there are still areas of disagreement or tension regarding the issue of accountability, tree tenure rights, and the participation of local communities in the VPA process. The paper concludes by considering the practical implications of the findings for effective forest governance practices in developing countries.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine whether Shell Nigeria’s Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) promotes corporate-community accountability as a basis for fostering sustainable community development in the Niger Delta. Design/methodology/approach: Shell Nigeria’s GMoU stand-alone reports were analysed through the lenses of accountability and transparency theoretical frameworks to explore the extent to which GMoU, as a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, is dialogically embedded and practised. Meaning-oriented content analysis was deductively used to isolate pertinent themes and generate findings from the background theoretical literature. Findings: The authors find that Shell discursively appropriates the meaning of accountability and transparency in a manner that allows it to maintain its social legitimacy and the asymmetric power relations between itself and host communities whilst restricting communities’ agency to hold it accountable. Shell does this by interpreting the notion of participation restrictively, selectively deploying the concept of transparency and accountability and subtly exerting excessive control over the GMoU. Thus, the GMoU’s potential to contribute to sustainable community development and positive corporate-community relation is unlikely tenable. Originality/value: Accountability and transparency are core and critical to corporate-community relations and for achieving community development CSR objectives, but are often taken for granted or ignored in the CSR literature on the Niger Delta of Nigeria. This paper addresses this gap in the literature by using accountability and transparency lenses to unpick GMoU model and contribute to studies on CSR practices by oil multinational corporations (MNCs) in developing countries. Indeed, the use of these lenses to explore CSR process offers new insights as to why CSR practices have failed to contribute to sustainable community development despite increased community spending by oil MNCs.

The efforts to rethink the role of business in development, especially in developing countries, have facilitated the emergence of an array of concepts. Africapitalism – i.e. the private sector's commitment to the socio-economic development of Africa – proposed and championed by Mr. Tony O. Elumelu, is the most recent addition. While the idea of Africapitalism enables a creative space for rethinking business-society relationship from a development perspective in Africa, the failure to clarify what underpins the idea and how it differs from similar other western constructs potentially limits both its analytical and practical usefulness. This paper attempts to address this gap in the emerging literature by seeking to initiate a conversation around the set of values that might underpin the concept. It also explores the implications of Africapitalism for management in Africa.

The pervasiveness of local protests against transnational oil corporations operating in the Niger Delta is frequently cited as evidence of the industry exploiting local communities in the vicinity of their operation. These transnational oil corporations (TNCs) have responded by embracing corporate social responsibility, operationalizing their policies via a number of different corporate-community involvement (CCI) strategies. Collectively, these efforts were meant to address criticisms of corporate misdemeanours, enable TNCs to secure their social licences to operate (SLO) and build positive corporate-community relations. However, few of these CCIs have had much of an impact, a direct result of the managers of oil companies not wishing to relinquish control over decisions concerning CCI, internal fragmentation within local communities, and unresolved legitimacy crises. The paper concludes by considering the theoretical and practical implications for CCI strategies in the extractive industries in developing countries.

•Centres analysis on local-level dynamics in mining communities in Ghana.•Uncovers variation in awareness in mining districts of Ghana's EITI.•Considers role of accountability mechanisms in raising awareness.•Highlights implications of variation in awareness for increased accountability.