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The COVID-19 pandemic compelled many African countries to make decisions that limited livelihood choices. This article examines how informal traders (IT) in Kumasi, Ghana responded to the COVID-19. It explores the livelihood capacities, socioeconomic, sociocultural, and sociopolitical values of informal economics. Using data from multiple sources, the purchase and sale of personal protective equipment (PPE) emerged as the dominant livelihood activity. The results show that IT innovated their way of trading, realigned livelihood activities, and created cross-sectoral networks that enhanced social cohesion. The emerging informal market catalyzed spin-off activities that linked values of the informal sector to the public, distributing agencies, producing companies, and the government. We argue that IT constitute a 'natural' and 'indispensable' share of Ghana's urban economic, cultural, and governance space. The values of IT expressed within and between these distinct societal spheres should be amplified in the development discourses of countries like Ghana. Keywords: COVID-19, informal economics, intersectoral networks, impacts, livelihood, social cohesion, societal spheres, The advent of the SARS-CoV-2 infection, commonly called COVID-19, in the global public health space in December 2019 has once again exposed the fragility of life-support systems in cities globally. [...]

Background: Value chain interventions have become widespread throughout the international development sector over the last 20 years, and there is a need to evaluate their effectiveness in improving women's welfare across multiple dimensions. Agricultural value chains are influenced by socio‐cultural norms and gender dynamics that have an impact on the distribution of resources, benefits, and access to opportunities. While women play a critical role in agriculture, they are generally confined to the least‐valued parts of the value chain with the lowest economic returns, depending on the local, social and institutional contexts. Objectives: The review assesses the effectiveness of approaches, strategies and interventions focused on women's engagement in agricultural value chains that lead to women's economic empowerment in low‐ and middle‐income countries. It explores the contextual barriers and facilitators that determine women's participation in value chains and ultimately impact their effectiveness. Search Methods: We searched completed and on‐going studies from Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection (Social Sciences Citation Index [SSCI], Science Citation Index Expanded [SCI‐EXPANDED], Conference Proceedings Citation Index – Science [CPCI‐S], Conference Proceedings Citation Index – Social Science & Humanities [CPCI‐SSH], and Emerging Sources Citation Index [ESCI]), International Bibliography of the Social Sciences, EconLit, Business Source Premier, APA PsycInfo, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane, Database of Systematic Reviews, CAB Abstracts and Sociological Abstracts. We also searched relevant websites such as Consortium of International Agricultural Research Centers (CGIAR); the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); AgriProFocus; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF); Donor Committee for Enterprise Development; the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO); the International Labour Organisation (ILO); the Netherlands Development Organisation; USAID; the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; the International Food Policy Research Institute; World Agroforestry; the International Livestock Research Institute; the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office; the British Library for Development Studies (BLDS); AGRIS; the IMMANA grant database; the 3ie impact evaluation database; Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA); The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J‐PAL); the World Bank IEG evaluations; the USAID Development Data Library; Experience Clearinghouse; the proceedings of the Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy conference; the proceedings of the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) Conference; the proceedings of the North East Universities Development Consortium (NEUDC) Conference; and the World Bank Economic Review. The database search was conducted in March 2022, and the website search was completed in August 2022. Selection Criteria: The review includes value chain interventions evaluating the economic empowerment outcomes. The review includes effectiveness studies (experimental and non‐experimental studies with a comparison group) and process evaluations. Data Collection and Analysis: Two review authors independently assessed studies for inclusion, extracted data, critically appraised the studies, and synthesised findings. Results: We found that value chain interventions are successful in improving the economic conditions of their intended beneficiaries. The interventions were found to improve women's economic outcomes such as income, assets holdings, productivity, and savings, but these effects were small in size and limited by low confidence in methodological quality. The meta‐analysis suggests that this occurs more via the acquisition of skills and improved inputs, rather than through improvement in access to profitable markets. The qualitative evidence on interventions points to the persistence of cultural barriers and other constraints. Those interventions implemented in Sub‐Saharan Africa and South Asia are consistently more successful for all outcomes considered, although there are few studies conducted in other areas of the world. Conclusions: The review concludes that value chain interventions empower women, but perhaps to a lesser extent than expected. Economic empowerment does not immediately translate into empowerment within families and communities. Interventions should either moderate their expectations of empowerment goals, or they should be implemented in a way that ensures higher rates of participation among women and the acquisition of greater decision‐making power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discussion on the effect of natural resources on economic growth remains a contentious issue of scientific research. An emerging issue to this discussion is the role of political regime in determining the nature of the growth and natural resource nexus. Consequently, this study examines the effect of natural resources on the economic growth of Tunisia and how the country's political regime moderates this relationship using annual time series data over the 1970–2017 period. Regression analysis established that in the long‐run natural resources generally have positive effects on the country's economic growth, while political regime has mixed effects on economic growth. The interaction between political regime and resources indicates democracy enhances the positive gains from natural resources on economic growth although in the short run, the outcome is mixed. The effects of specific natural resource (oil, mineral, and forest rents) on sectoral growth are positive. Political regime interacts with oil, mineral, and forest rents to propel growth in the agricultural sector. The study concludes that democratic regime is crucial for the effective utilization of resources for long‐run economic growth in the country. Beyond natural resource abundance examined in this study, there is a further need to analyze the extent to which the economy relies on these natural resources and its effect on the economy in future studies. This would elucidate the "natural resource blessings" estimated in this study. The role of other measures of institutional quality on the subject matter can be explored in Tunisia and other countries in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence of flooding has increased tremendously in the Northern parts of Ghana, with little knowledge known as to how affected people respond. The research focused on the factors that influence household choice of strategies in response to floods in the Builsa-North district. A multivariate probit model was employed to examine the drivers of household choice of strategies in response to flood. The descriptive analysis indicates that a total of eight (8) response strategies are used, with early planting being the most dominant, while migration was the least used. The results revealed that age, extension services, NADMO services etc are significant determinants of response strategies to floods. NADMO is a government agency responsible for the management of disasters and other emergencies in Ghana. It further on recorded complementary and substitutable response strategies. Using response strategies, farmers face challenges such as low access to extension services etc. It is recommended that avenues must be created to deepen access to extension services available to farmers in other to provide adequate and quality information that will help resolve conflicts in farmers' use of strategies. NADMO services must be targeted at the elderly persons since they view flood phenomenon as acts of their deity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]