A B S T R A C TThis interdisciplinary review paper explores linkages between access to energy, women's empowerment and entrepreneurship. This will be discussed in the context of the informal food sector. Despite expectations that access to energy for productive uses empowers women by enabling them to generate an income, women in developing countries face a range of barriers when establishing and operating enterprises, including access to energy. The literature reviewed in this paper suggests that, although improved access to energy for women in the informal food sector may create a range of benefits for women, the empirical evidence base upon which such claims are made is limited. Access to a range of energy services suitable to their enterprise would provide women with building blocks to operate their enterprise, alleviate restrictions on growth, increase their sustainability, and provide them with increased control over enterprise operation. These may help to create an enabling environment for empowerment, rather than directly contributing to it. Consideration of the gendered dynamics and logics of entrepreneurship in the design of development interventions, in particular with regard to motivations for operating an enterprise, spatial distribution of enterprises, growth strategies and risk behaviour, may lead to more sustainable and empowered enterprises in the long-term.

Back Background ground South Africa, like many other countries is currently piloting National Health Insurance (NHI) reforms aimed at achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Existing health policy implementation experience has demonstrated that new policies have sometimes generated unexpected and negative outcomes without necessarily explaining how these came about. Policies are not always implemented as envisioned, hence the importance of understanding the nature of policy implementation. Methods Methods Qualitative data were collected during three phases: 2011-2012 (contextual mapping), 2013-2014 (phase 1) and 2015 (phase 2). In-depth face-to-face interviews were held with key informants (n=71) using a theory of change interview guide, adapted for each phase. Key informants ranged from provincial actors (policy makers) district, subdistrict and primary health care (PHC) facility actors (policy implementers). All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. An iterative, inductive and deductive data analysis approach was utilized. Transcripts were coded with the aid of MAXQDA2018 (VERBI software GmbH, Germany). R Results esults Five groups of factors bringing about policy-practice gaps were identified. (i) Primary factors stemming from a direct lack of a critical component for policy implementation, tangible or intangible (resources, information, motivation, power); (ii) secondary factors stemming from a lack of efficient processes or systems (budget processes, limited financial delegations, top down directives, communication channels, supply chain processes, ineffective supervision and performance management systems); (iii) tertiary factors stemming from human factors (perception and cognition) and calculated human responses to a lack of primary, secondary and or extraneous factors, as coping mechanisms (ideal reporting and audit driven compliance with core standards); (iv) extraneous factors stemming from beyond the health system (national vocational training leading to national shortage of plumbers); and (v) an overall lack of systems thinking. C Conclusions onclusions South Africa needs to be applauded for adopting UHC. Noteworthy among factors fueling policy-practice gaps are human factors, perception and responses of actors in the system to a lack of resources, processes and systems, through among others, ideal reporting and audit driven compliance with core standards, bringing about an additional layer of unintended consequences, further widening that gap. Utilizing a systems approach to address challenges identified, could go a long way in making UHC a reality.

Back Background groundSouth Africa, like many other countries is currently piloting National Health Insurance (NHI) reforms aimed at achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). Existing health policy implementation experience has demonstrated that new policies have sometimes generated unexpected and negative outcomes without necessarily explaining how these came about. Policies are not always implemented as envisioned, hence the importance of understanding the nature of policy implementation. Methods MethodsQualitative data were collected during three phases: 2011-2012 (contextual mapping), 2013-2014 (phase 1) and 2015 (phase 2). In-depth face-to-face interviews were held with key informants (n=71) using a theory of change interview guide, adapted for each phase. Key informants ranged from provincial actors (policy makers) district, subdistrict and primary health care (PHC) facility actors (policy implementers). All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. An iterative, inductive and deductive data analysis approach was utilized. Transcripts were coded with the aid of MAXQDA2018 (VERBI software GmbH, Germany). R Results esultsFive groups of factors bringing about policy-practice gaps were identified. (i) Primary factors stemming from a direct lack of a critical component for policy implementation, tangible or intangible (resources, information, motivation, power); (ii) secondary factors stemming from a lack of efficient processes or systems (budget processes, limited financial delegations, top down directives, communication channels, supply chain processes, ineffective supervision and performance management systems); (iii) tertiary factors stemming from human factors (perception and cognition) and calculated human responses to a lack of primary, secondary and or extraneous factors, as coping mechanisms (ideal reporting and audit driven compliance with core standards); (iv) extraneous factors stemming from beyond the health system (national vocational training leading to national shortage of plumbers); and (v) an overall lack of systems thinking. C Conclusions onclusionsSouth Africa needs to be applauded for adopting UHC. Noteworthy among factors fueling policy-practice gaps are human factors, perception and responses of actors in the system to a lack of resources, processes and systems, through among others, ideal reporting and audit driven compliance with core standards, bringing about an additional layer of unintended consequences, further widening that gap. Utilizing a systems approach to address challenges identified, could go a long way in making UHC a reality.

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The street food sector in Sub-Saharan Africa is a source of affordable and nutritious meals for the urban poor, while also being an important source of income for the women who dominate this sector. Despite the importance of this sector, many micro-and informal enterprises are labelled as "survivalist", beyond the reach of common development policies, which give priority to so-called growth-oriented enterprises. When given the chance to speak for themselves, do enterprises express any aspirations to grow? Contrary to the literature, our findings show that necessitydriven enterprises do aspire to grow and that this is true for both those owned by men and women. Using contextual interaction theory, this paper explains why it is possible for previous authors to come to such a different conclusion.